Remember When

Remember when blogs were the "it" thing to do and everyone had a blog? 

Well, I being one of those so called "bloggers", is now what you call a "die hard" in a sense, in that I can't seem to part with my blog.  With all the daily things to get done and life's way of taking over, I've had no time to keep up my blogging, let alone get in good quality time to knit.  Yet, I still love knitting, and if I could I'd always have a block of time each day to solely dedicate to knitting, but yah, it just doesn't work out that way.

To top things off, I bet there is nobody readying this???  Any followers I had may have all given up and I'm blogging to myself. (funny but yet sad)  Regardless, I'm stubborn and will still post with the hopes there is some reader out there who happens upon this. 

With that, I did, however, manage to complete a project, yes!  It is "Nymphalidea", a free pattern published in Knitty.  I was determined to use yarn from my stash, which actually did work out nicely and I used beads from my stash as well.  The pattern was very easy, good beginner pattern, in my opinion, but me being an overachiever, decided to add beads.  Adding beads isn't exactly overachieving, but it is when the beads in question, are cheap to be honest, and a pain in the bootie to pull the yarn through.  I silently suffered through this entire pattern with these beads, and believe me, I was so damn thankful to finish my last beaded row!  I believe, even given the limited knitting time I had, I would've finished this shawl much much faster, but no, the beads from hell held me back.  I finished Tuesday 4/29, blocked 4/30, and did my little photo shoot 5/1.

So, voila, here is Nymphalidea...

Pattern: Nymphalidea Deep Fall 2013 from Knitty.com
Yarn: Schoppell Zauberwolle color #1535ombre (blue) purchased at Green Planet Yarn, Hand Maiden silk purchased at Knitting Arts long time ago - don't have label, sorry.

Started: Unknown
Finished: 4/30/14

Dimensions: Cast off at 138 sts.  Wingspan 62.5 inches, 25 inches left ridge, 32 inches right ridge, from middle peak to base 16 inches.

Notes: I knitted beads on Welt Row 3. 

New Pattern "Virgie's Fern"

The last 2012 Winter'ish pattern to release, still some days out there to enjoy wearing this, or to wear in the next Winter season.

This is "Virgie's Fern", a slouch hat, quick knit, using Bulky weight yarn.  The lace pattern repeat, is easy to remember and get into a rhythm.

Side View

Crown View

This is available at my pattern store at Ravelry or Craftsy.

I plan to have another pattern in the next month, the next one is a blouse, and I'm super excited about it! 

I hope you take a look at the new pattern!

~Rocky

Stitches West 2012 Recap

What a crazy weekend!  Helped out Suzi, who owns the Knitting Ranch, at Stitches West this past weekend.  Also there was Marisol, who was also helping out Suzi, we took some pictures, I'll have to steal them from her and share later.  It was crazy busy, and I got to see all of Suzi's wonderful yarns, from Evento a visibly luscious Virgin wool/Cotton blend, you won't believe how soft this yarn is!  And there's Heichi, a 100% silk blend, feels really cool and soft to touch, and Alta Moda Cashmere, need I say more?

And first time ever, I left Stitches with NO YARN or FIBER in hand.  I'm still thinking twice about that, but I found a different way to enable myself this time round.

Yes, got my first Offhand Designs Bag, he's a beauty.

This is the Scottie Adelaide, and it's luscious.  It is big, not crazy big, but its mine!

Another gorgeous one I left with is from Atenti, just all around a sexy bag!

This the Doctor Madrid, just plain gorgeous.  I also tried to find an Overnighter in Cowgirl Black but they were sold out, although I made a wee bit of a friend there and I'll be getting my hands on one very soon.  For the interim, I satisfied my love for the Cowgirl Black with this one.

This is Cosmo in Cowgirl Black, look at the soft furryness, and that awesome Cowgirl Black.  Can't wait 'til I get my Overnighter.

That's it for the bags, also got me a few key books.

From top clockwork, Knitted Jackets by Cheryl Oberle, signed by Cheryl herself.  She is so nice, enjoyed chatting with her about bees.  One pattern in particular in this book is Cusco, need to find me the perfect yarn for this one.  Next is Coastal Knits, so many patterns in this one, a fave of mines is the Gnarled Oak cardi.  Next up are 2 Ysolda pattern books that I picked up at Ysolda's booth where she was graciously signing her books and had the cutest photo booth.  Here's the picture I took with Ysolda.  She had on her gorgeous red dress.

I had a great time this year, definitely more eventful than last years, and I'm not upset about walking away with no yarn, I have more than enough yarn to keep me knitting for a long time, but actually my taste in yarn has been rapidly changing, and I've been focusing more on some important personal patterns that I've been editing, so I'm not too too worried about not picking up some yarn there.

I'll leave you with a long awaited FO, this was originally the Stop, Drop, & Weave scarf (weave for weaving in some novelty fiber), but I choose to not weave the fiber, it wasn't really to my liking.  This scarf had been done for years, just needed ends woven and blocking.  Finally got around to it. 

This week has been crazy busy at work and at home.  Enjoy!

~Rocky

Time..Cute Knits..New Knits

It's been a pretty active start to this 2012 year for knitting.  While other things are in disarray, knitting is coming along to a nice start. 

It is surprising that this month is almost over, how fast these days have been going by.  So other than knitting, what am I doing? 

Well, I'm working, just as I'm sure many of you are, I'm trying, trying to keep things going.  Much harder these days, wish things would get easier, but they never do.

It's nice to have knitting, its a nice break from all the stress.  

I've been finishing up a number of projects, which should I start with?  I'll start with the cute and fun ones, although I must say, cute and fun ones sometimes take more work than full projects, like sweaters, cardigans, etc. 

I made this cute Memento Owlet, such a cute little thing, I named it Halcon, and gave it to Lil' Nenelle.  This cute lil' owl, is all crochet, and somewhat free form crochet.  There was a pattern to follow, but alot of it was, create a flat round to the size you want, crochet round until  the base measures up, fill, seal closed, stitch some ears, and so on.  That's it, so I was on my own, the tricky part was really for me the ears and learning to use what I've learned this far in crocheting.  I'm pretty proud of this lil' guy, it was a small milestone in my limited crochet experience.

Next up a Balloon Tie Sock Monkey!  Such a cool pattern, basically its built off of the premise of actual balloon tying.  You knit a number of tubes, different sizes, all continuous, and stuff along the way.

This is what you get when your done.

Then, that's where the magic begins!  You learn to tie the monkey, and voila!  Your sock monkey is born...

I'll admit, it took awhile for me to figure out how to tie this thing, and yes, the pattern does come with instructions, but once I fully understood how to do the tying, it was easy!   I really want to make more, the design book I have for these has patterns for a tiger, tiara, you name it. 

One last fun knit, this Pin Cushion! Love it! So super fast to make.

For all these, used nothing but stash yarn, no extra purchasing, even better!

I also was able to finish a quick lovely cowl, it is Tweed Burberry Cowl.

This one is fast too, and so warm, again I pulled yarn from my stash, love the tweed black yarn.

I have alot of other projects going on, I'll share a couple:

New SusannaIC Mystery shawl - Clue 1

New Through The Loops - Sock Mystery  - Clue 4

Much more going on and more to share, as always, hope all of you are enjoying this first month of the New Year!

Just a little knitting

My mini-Christmas vacay was nice, and always too short. I made lots of tamales, and did a good amount of baking. I also squeezed in some knitting, primarily for Christmas. There were still a few things I couldn't get done or even start, but there's never enough hours in the day for us knitters, is there?

I wish I could just spend my days knitting all the beautiful patterns out there and then enjoy wafting though the many FOs...heaven 8) But reality always hits and I find myself always squeezing in some knitting, even if only a few rows, or even a few stitches.

I'm at the tail end of a few projects, and have a few news ones I need to get started, alas my New Year's knitting.

First on the needles will be a pair of socks, for the Through the Loops Mystery Kal 2012!

and then at least 3-4 more projects I'll be rotating.

I'll leave you some Christmas knitting...

The Mixt Cowl, on the top, wrapped twice, on the bottom, wrapped four times.

Knit with Cascade Ultra Pima, 1 skein.

1 pair of Knucks = 1 skein of Cascade Ultra Pima.

Mixt Cowl knit with 1 skein of Cotton Supreme.