Back in Davenport after a great long weekend at home

After not having to study or do homework for four days, it certainly was hard to come back to school. After I unpacked, draped my damp laundry over my kitchen chairs because I didn't want to get out the drying rack, went grocery shopping, etc, I decided to wind my yarn up. Unfortunately, I looked at my Briar Rose yarn and decided that my ball winder would not be able to do the job. I think I'll have to either wind the yarn up as much as I can with the ball winder and then wind it manually by hand, which will probably happen. The other option is to just knit the project while the yarn is on the swift. Either way, the vest will not be the first thing that I knit after my mittens. I do have this whole bin of started projects that I should attempt to finish first before I start anything new. With most of my projects, it's like my C1 is out and I cannot concentrate on just one project, I must move on to more. Now with all of my new yarn, my C1 is out for the entire bin of projcts that have been started and must be completed eventually. (When referring to my C1, I'm speaking of my 1st cervical vertebrae - chiropractic talk).

It felt so good for some reason to use my swift again, certainly beats winding up my yarn by hand.

My new sock keeper works nicely with my socks; in the previous picture, I was just trying it out with my mom's socks.

Now that my yarn has been put away, I'm finding that my normal green bins that store my yarn is full. I've had to move to my striped bins, some of them are empty, but they are used for books, buttons, needles, etc. I suppose it happens all of the time where people run out of space before they get to their projects. I don't want to be in denial and say that I don't have too much yarn - that would be crazy because of course one can never have too much yarn. Well, okay so it would be nice to say that I don't have too much yarn, but I really should finish some projects. At least I don't go yarn shopping all that often. The last time I bought yarn was for my mom's birthday, which was last week. Before that, I was in Boston last December/January and purchased yarn on Newberry St. Awe man, I'd love to go to Boston right now.

I got my mom the Fiddlehead Mitten pattern and yarn from The Yarn Shoppe in Davenport. Her hands get really cold in the WI winters and due to slight frostbite from years back, I'm hoping that these lined mittens will do the trick. This will be her first fair isle pattern, so I think I picked out a good one for her.

Time to work on homework now.

Suede for the slippers

In Richland Center, on our way to the apple orchard, my mom and I stopped at Goodwill and found a suede skirt for $7. What a bargain! Now the slippers just have to be felted and the suede has to be cut and sewn on.

Mittens and Slippers

I think that I figured out my problem for the snowflake mittens. I do tend to knit a bit tight, yes, but I think that I was carrying the yarn over a bit tight too. I will try a go at it again today. Not that I am just sick of these mittens, I've been a bit frustrated at them, but I just can't wait to finish them, especially after having to frog them a few times.

As far as the slippers go, I ssee no reason why I can't felt them today. There is just so much to do. Today I'm getting new glasses, or ordering them. Also I'm going to an apple orchard in Richland Center, and I have homework to do. Luckily I have tomorrow off, so I don't have to head back to Iowa today.

Summer Wave Tank

At the wool festival, I told Vicki, my mom's friend, that I'd like to look at Briar Rose and I'd probably get into some trouble there. All of their things on display were very pretty, but the vest seemed to really stand out - maybe I am in just a really big vest mood or something? I like the lace edge at the bottom and the yarn that I picked out is just gorgeous. There was also a pretty cardigan sweater, but this would have probably hit the bank a little bit less. Anyways, I had a wonderful day at the festival, I am glad that I was able to attend. Hopefully next year I'll be able to go again; depending on how Boards go, if I have to take them or not. I found some great yarn and saw some georgous yarn too. It was just a huge candy store sort of day that was just beautiful.


Yarn:
Briar Rose Legend

Pattern:
Summer Wave Tank from Briar Rose Fibers

Needles:
TBA

Lace Ribbon Scarf

At the Wool festival, I was looking for some yarn for the Lace Ribbon Scarf pattern from knitty. There were a lot of pretty yarns at the festival of course, but way too expensive for a scarf and with my "I'm in graduate school circumstances." I could have gotten some gorgeous yarn for the scarf for $80, but for a scarf right now, I don't think so. I'll drop that much on a sweater or something, but not a scarf right now. After looking around, I noticed that Blackberry Ridge was one of the vendors, and they are not more than 20 minutes from my house; except they are only open a few times a year - I believe they mostly do online sales. Anyways, they have nice yarn for a better price. I saw the green and loved it; it will just make my eyes pop. They had a few blues that were very pretty, but unfortunately, it seems like my whole wardrobe is filled with blues. Blue isn't even my favorite color, purple and pink is. I haven't a clue when I will start the scarf since I have to finish the mittens first and maybe finish a few projects after that, but why not add a few more projects to the stash; I guess I will never get bored at least. My biggest problem is fining more time to knit, my knitting time is so limited due to a 31 credit load program. Even with an undergraduate credit load, it was sometimes difficult, depending on what was going on. This is why I have such a BIG stash and it seems like I get more yarn than I finish projects. The snowflake mittens will get done though.


Yarn:
(2) Blackberry Ridge Wool/Silk Lace Weight

Pattern:
Lace Ribbon Scarf

Needles:
TBA

Sock Keepers

Today, I went to the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival in Jefferson, WI with my mother and family friends. Last year, I missed it because I was in Europe for the semester, so it was really exciting to go again. While at the wool festival, I had my eye out for something called the Knitzi; it holds your DPN and sock project safely, so nothing gets broken. Unfortunately, I didn't find that- I really think that they are cool, but I found something similar from the Knitting Notions vendor. I really like the contrast between the walnut (dark wood) and the oak (light wood), but the whole string concept sort of frightens me because somehow I think that the needles are going to fall out and break, but that probably won't happen. I also like the sleekness of the Knitzi. Aside from liking the Knitzi, I am really happy with my find and I think that they will work just fine. It certainly beats already breaking $20 worth of needles. This concept would also be extremely easy to make - easier than the knitzi at least.

Felted Slippers

During my days at good ol' Platteville, I had started and nearly finished the Felted Slippers that I had received for my birthday. I just forgot to post about them. Originally, I thought that I ran out of the Pesto yarn for the sole part, so I left the slippers at home and put them in the sewing room closet. Now that I took them out and looked at them again, it doesn't look like I needed to put them away until I got more yarn. I will have to look at them again tomorrow though when I am less tired. Both slippers look exactly the same and I don't know why I thought that I needed to knit another sole (four soles are knit - two per slipper for extra support); we shall see though. If that is the case, they will just go into the washing machine tomorrow with a pair of jeans specifically for felting.

The slippers were really easy to knit up, although it is one of those patterns unfortunately where you have to pay attention. I tried watching a movie while knitting these up and it didn't work out so well the first time around, then I had to frog a great deal of it out. On my "scrap" copy pattern, I highlighted what I needed to follow and that made things a whole lot easier. I have this thing where I don't like to write/highlight on the original patterns, so I have to make copies of them if I need to write on them.

I would like to find, however suede for the bottom. Obviously, they sell stuff online for these slippers, but $20 is a bit much, especially since my mother is looking for suede for the bottom of her slippers too. Instead, our goal is to find an old suede jacket at a Goodwill store or something and use that. Hopefully we can find one for a fraction of the price. At my apartment in the quad-cities and at home, I usually traipse around in one of my glorious Birkenstocks, but during the winter it gets colder, so I have to put on socks. It will be nice to actually have some warm slippers instead of the Birks.

I will have to update later as to whether my project will still have to go back into the closet or if I can put it in the washing machine.

Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers 0980 (Wisteria) and Cascade 220 9345 (Pesto)
Pattern: Felted Clogs from Fiber Trends
Needles: Size 13 16" and 29"

Snowflake Mittens

I'm frustrated at the snowflake mittens; I can't even remember how many times I've started the project and had to frog it due to an incorrect gauge. Size 6 circs produced 22 sts at 2.5 inches, which doesn't even come close to the needed 27 sts at 4 inches. Size nine circs this weekend and hopefully that will finally work. The next question comes to will I have enough yarn? Plah plah plah.