The Aztec

The Aztec is a beanie I designed for my husband, and finally finished. I had actually been formulating a design I had in my head for a long time, but the first prototype ended up being frogged for several reasons.

The first thing I didn't like when I initially started working the design was the yarn choice. It was originally Black Malabrigo, worsted weight, while I love Malabrigo, it just didn't have the feel I was going for or the texture I wanted to really capture the pattern. Here's the first one, the pattern was in the beginning stages, nothing original, nothing fancy, but it just didn't work.



I frogged it and the project hibernated, until about a week ago. My husband had been asking me when I was going to knit his beanie, and I finally got back in the groove with the design. I was a bit discouraged from the first go around, but enough time had past that I could really get into it. I had this vision of cables, but cables that had a look like columns. Columns like that of Greek architecture:



The original pattern was just straight cables, your basic knits & purls. I switched up the stitch count and then let my husband pick a yarn from a few skeins I decided would be good for the pattern. He choose the Cascade Yarns Venezia Worsted yarn in Gray, which is Merino Silk, a blend of 70% Merino Wool and 30% Silk. It is very soft and warm, yet airy at the same time.

Here's the final piece completed; I'll be putting together the pattern and publishing it for free on Ravelry if anyone is interested in it. There are so many beanies out there that have cables, but this is a pattern I felt gave me the exact look I was going for.



I went for a "rope" looking brim, and it came out pretty neat. It's one of the details I was quite happy with as the beanie took shape.







I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, and I'm going to knit another one, this time for my son, who fell in love with it, but prefers black.

I'll post probably Tuesday with the new pattern and have another new project on the needles that I'm loving!

It's the "Karma" tank from the Custom Knits book (fabolous book!)....



Oooh, and one last awesome tidbit, Twilight swept the MTV Awards! And the New Moon trailer is great, and a huge tease! I've added the trailer to my site, in the "Interesting" section!

What a surprise!

Today I came home for lunch, as I usually do to make me a quick bite to eat, and there was a package waiting for me. I was caught completely off guard as I had swaps going on and no orders I'm waiting for. What did I get?

My Aunt Virgie from Bremington, Washington sent me the best gift, just because 8-) It is my very own "Edward" Apple paperweight! I love it! Something so simple and little yet so wonderful! I, as you know, am a Twilight fan, and this is super. I've placed it atop the top shelf of my book case in my office next to all my other Twilight paraphernalia.



I'll have to call my Auntie tomorrow to give her a HUGE thank you!

In other fibery news, what's on new on my needles?

The "Aztec" beanie, this is my own design, I'm knitting this for my husband. I'm using Cascade Yarns Venezia Worsted Weight yarn in color #131. This yarn is Merino Silk; the color is an ash gray, perfect for a man. My husband named it "Aztec" because it reminds him of the Aztec calendar. I've been meaning to knit him a beanie of his own for awhile now, and I did try with a different yarn, Black Malabrigo yarn, but I just wasn't getting the right stitch definition from the Malabrigo, so I frogged it.

I started this version the other day, but haven't made much progress because I need shorter circulars, these are 24'inch, and it's rather slow knitting because I to constantly adjust the stitches as I knit. I'll be picking the right length US7's up tomorrow to finish the "Aztec". I really like the way the stitch definition is coming out with this yarn. I really can't wait to get the right needles so I can finish this.





I'll keep you posted on the progress of this, I hope to finish it this weekend, but I have allot planned that won't involve knitting 8( We'll see if I can squeeze in an FO!

Have a good weekend!

~Rocky

A Mellow Mother's Day

This Mother's day was one for the record book, very mellow indeed. I got some good rest in and then my husband took me to Starbucks for a Grande Vanilla Rooibos. I've weened myself off of the Venti White Mochas and now have the Grande Vanilla Rooibos, which is just a black tea packet of vanilla flavored tea with steamed milk. It's de-li-sh! No sugar needed, simple and tasty. For the past two years I've been working on changing my eating habits. I had first started out by eating my dinner on a child sized plate with child sized portions, and also eating more in between meals. Then I weened myself down from no coke except 7up, and then down to eating more healthy raw vegetables, and so on. Come to present day and now I only drink plain water, milk, or sometimes juice, no soda. I also eat much differently, more chicken, alot more veggies, no sweets, unless I feel like it. I've actually learned to not crave anything sweet, which is pretty cool and I've learned to really love water, I never new I could. I tried having coke the other day, and ugh, it was gross to me. I even tried having one of my Venti White Mochas, and boy did I get sick, my system was rejecting it. I've also started running for the last 2 months, I run between 1-2 miles every other day, and I'm loving the feeling. I've lost so much weight, and I feel great.

A great feeling this Mother's day, sorry for the digression there, I'm just felt like sharing some of the my adventures. My husband treated me all weekend, just being at my beck and call, even though he really always is for me like that. I had a BBQ'd tri-tip, grilled asparagus, and stuffed mushrooms for dinner, hmmm! Ooh, and a drumstick for desert, YUM-O! Plus roses from my hubby. My kids bought me an awesome Twilight t-shirt from Hot Topic, I love IT! My Mother bought me the book "The Host" by Stephenie Meyer with $40 in it for spending.

Here's my happy face!



To all Mother's, "Happy Mother's Day!"

It's all about the bag *HSK7 spoiler*

It started out rocky, but turned out okay, yes it's all about the bag.

For my HSK7 Swap, the last of my active swaps, we had to knit a bag for our spoilee. To be more specific, we would knit what the spoilee picked on their questionnaire when we joined the swap, my spoilee choose a bag.

The original bag I started to knit didn't turn out at all, I was actually quite annoyed. I decided, after much procrastinating to frog it and start over, but with a new pattern. I went with Drops 109-13 Pleated bag. This was a quick knit, and very easy. I was surprised at how easy, for some reason Drops designs can seem so enigmatic to me?

What did I knit it with? Again, I went with Blue Sky Alpaca 100% Organic Cotton yarn in color 621, which is a rich chocolate brown. Did I mention my spoilee has the same taste in colors as me? I love this color, so I know she'll love it too. In fact all the yarn I bought her I longed for myself!

Without further ado, here's the photoshoot!



See the pleats? This was the first time I knitted a pattern with pleats, and it's nothing difficult, basically cables, but not repetitive. What don't I like about the pleats??? The holes! Because your twisting a large amount of stitches, you get a nice hole left, no matter how much you try and close it up. I didn't like it, so I mattress stitched close the holes.

Some more angles:







I was so happy that I was able to finish this in time to send my package. I wrapped it and sent it on it's way. I can only hope it will be accepted and liked!

It's amazing how fast things come to an end, my HSK7 swap is all done now, kinda sad, it is, at least for now, the last swap I'll be in for awhile. I've intentionally slowed down my participation in alot of things to make room for my "unknown" project.

On the horizon now, I have my project to focus and research on, and some real true luxury knitting. YES, the BEST kind of knitting there is! I have to see what to make me, I have alot in mind, but I really want to make me some garments to start wearing.

Let's see what I cast on in the next few days 8)