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.

Palmer College of Chiropractic

I officially got accepted to Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa. YAY!!! I'm really excited, extremely nervous, but excited. School starts on 13 July, so I'm in for a short summer. I better knit away.

Snow Flake and Square Mittens

I meant to post this when I got the yarn, but finals, graduation, moving, and the infamous spring cleaning gone bonkers sort of came up. My roommate went to Galena with her parents a week before graduation and they found their way into FiberWild, the yarn shop. As it turned out, Amy, the owner of FiberWild, is going to publish a book and she was looking for testers and my roommate told Amy that I could be a possible tester. I went to Galena after graduation and picked out a pattern and yarn - this is so exciting. Unfortunately, this project sort of started off on such a late start because of going through the house at home and just cleaning everything (going through stuff and getting ready for a garage sale).

To be frank, I've never done fair isle mittens, nor top down mittens. The only fair isle project that I've ever done was the sweater, which was "fairly easy" - pun intended. I found a more user friendly method for the turkish cast on, well actually I took a method from online and part of Amy's directions and blended them together for an easier cast on. The thing that I like about the cast on that I found online is that you do a slip knot so your work won't come apart. The thing I don't like about these directions or something that I found didn't work so well was the end: step 3 into step 4. I could never get the correct amount of stitches on each needle when doing this, I would always be off by one on a needle. Well, the cast on was not a problem, it was pretty simple and quite nice. I must say, I've started this project three times already. Twice on size four needles, and once on size five. With the size five needles, I was off by an inch for my gauge. I have casted on a size six needles, so hopefully this time is the charm. What I have gotten done so far, and then took out was very pretty.

I really like doing fair isle. It sort of does look intimidating, but it really is easy. I find that patterns that I have to pay more attention to seem to go a lot faster for some reason. It could be just me, who knows.

More knitting tomorrow.

Yarn:
Classic Elite Yarns - Fresco
(1) Sweet Lilac
(1) Purple Haze
(1) Pea Pod
Needles:
(2) size 6 29"circs
Pattern:
Snow Flake and Square Mittens from FiberWild by Amy

Early Birthday Gifts

Spring break is coming to an end and I have to go back to school tomorrow afternoon (it is also my birthday tomorrow). This weekend ended up turning into my birthday weekend because I won't be home all day for my birthday tomorrow. My mom took me to see Duplicity and we had cake and ice cream. In addition, I got to open up my gifts. I ended up getting a ball winder, the ball umbrella, a Fiber Trends felted slipper pattern, Cascade 220 Wisteria (2) and Pesto (1) yarn, and size 13 circs. She also made me a coin purse since mine was stolen in Krakow, Poland. I was really happy to get the ball winder and the umbrella - yay, no more ball winding with a stick and wrists that hurt.

Yoga/Pilates Mat Bag

Pattern: Om Yoga Mat Bag from Stitch and Bitch Nation
Yarn: Sugar 'n Cream Solid (3 large balls)
Needles: Size 8 and 9

Last year, I started this project and finished the strap, but the bag was never very successful. As usual, I've had a few knitting ADD moments, so I picked up this project again. I ended up trying the lace pattern twice before it started to work. I found out that I have to not multi-task when working on it and I have to really focus on the pattern to eliminate mistakes. Thus far it is going really well, but really slow. I guess the key is that it has worked out thus far without any mistakes.