It's a mystery - 2013!

2012 is done, and it really turned out to be one of the lowest years of craft productin for me.  I started out 2012 with alot of momentum; starting and finishing projects, and then hit a slump.  The sudden halt to my crafting, whether it be knitting, crocheting, sewing, you name it, simply was a result of my personal life getting in the way.  After all the craziness with changes last year, finally things are starting to gain perspective and I'm getting back into my groove with all my interests, which includes blogging.

I don't monitor my blog followers and don't know who, if any, read my posts, but if you do, thank you for your support! 

Now, I know 13 is known to be a superstitious number, but I think, for me, it'll be a good. 

So, I'm starting off 2013 with a fresh project, and it's aptly named, "It's a mystery".  This is the annual sock mystery kal hosted by Kirsten Kapur from Through the Loops.  We received the 1st clue today, and I cast on and finished the 1st clue.  Each clue to be released weekly, so I'll have time to give attention to other projects while waiting for the 2nd clue's release.  I love knitting mystery kals', its always nice to see the pattern progress and not know what the end result is.

This was last year's clue 2012:

 

Here's the 1st clue for 2013:

I went with Marmalade from Scout's Swag, a beautiful speckled yellow I picked up years ago in a dye class Scout held at Knit One Knit Two in Berkeley.  The first clue is only the cuff portion, and started off with a picot edging, which immediately made me happy with my yarn choice.  I think the speckled yellow is very fitting for the fun and flirty picot edging.  Now I'm really excited for the next clue!

Aside from this new project, I'm now actively searching my stash for a lace yarn to start another knit mystery hosted by Susanna IC.  This one is a shawl with beads!  This will be my 2nd time doing a Susanna IC mystery kal.    For now those are what's going to be hitting my needles,  but I have more to start, I'll share as those come to fruition. 

Last year's Susanna IC mystery shawl:

I'll be posting again, to share clue 2 of TTL Sock Mystery and clue 1 of Susanna IC Mystery too!  2013 will be a blogging year!

~Rocky

Bad Blogger!

What happened to me? I’m sure everyone is long gone 8( But I’m back, I’ll make sure to win your hearts again! So, let the fun begin!

I joined and am mod’ing another Traveling Scarves group on Ravelry, remember this is the type of group you join, typically with at least 10 other members. You knit small portions of each other’s scarves and send onto the next. Before you know it, your scarf comes back to you having been a small seedlet last time you sent it, now it’s a full fledged scarf. I’ve participated in 2 of these prior and got 2 great scarves out of it, not to mention I enjoyed the social part.

Here’s a couple of scarves I just sent a few weeks ago, they really are pretty.





Aren’t they gorgeous? This group is lengthwise scarves, #78, and for the top picture, I added Fiesta sock yarn, in Rhubarb colorway, it blended in pretty well. The pink one I added Noro silk, don’t know the colorway, it really blended in well.

Ooh! And and FO, a fun and such pretty one!

It’s Mary-Heather’s pattern, Simple Things, knit with Scout’s Swag sock yarn in, ???, gosh!, brainfart! Ok, let me think, it is “Tidal Pool”, I think, it’s just beautiful. This was made for my spoilee in the Twilight Edward vs. Jacob Eclipse swap, Vberry. These are her favorite colors, some of them at least, and I swear, it reminds me of the ocean. It’s knit with the full skein of Scout’s wonderful yarn, I had been loving this yarn for so long, one that I had got in Scout’s Swag Sock Club from I think it was 2009 or 2008, not too sure on the date. I was so happy to send this gem on.





But wait, you think my present is nice, Vberry returned the favor twice over. This was her gift to me, an Ulmus! Just look at these colors! I absolutely fell in love with it and cant’ wait until the weather gets a little more chilly so I can strut this gorgeous thing.





Isn’t it beautiful! So no more “bad blogger”, I’m in full blog mode now, so I’ll catch you Wednesday!

Please drop me a line 8)

~Rocky

Let's get it started!

I'm psyched out for this year! Is it too early to start talking about Stitches West 2009? This will be my 2nd visit and I can't wait, I tell you, I can't! All the wooly goodness makes me super-uber happy! I have alot of sharing to do, and geez, just don't know where to start? So excuse me if I'm all over the place 8-)

Since I'm talking about Stitches West, last year I saw Jennifer Hansen from Stitch Diva Studios there demonstrating her stash busting Tunisian blanket, which was totally gorgeous! I quickly bought the Jenkin's Tunisian Crochet hook in S with a stopper, thankfully, her blanket was such a hit that Jenkin's has these on back order still because of demand. After Stitches I went to a knit along for this blanket at Knitting Arts and started my blanket. I worked on it and found the method very easy and great "mindless" crocheting, or a cross between crocheting and knitting. I finally finished this, and am so proud of it. I love it so much. There are 9 different yarns in this, including Alpaca silk! It's so soft, and warm, this is fast to make if you actually spend the time working it, for me I put it away and finally decided to bring it out again.









I've been steadily knitting along on my Tech Square Afghan blanket, and finally, oh finally finished my Pocket Square! There are 3 pockets to it, a Kangaroo, Ribbed, and Pouch pocket. All are different methods and pretty darn interesting. I went on faith when following the directions, and thankfully the designer didn't fail.



In the middle is the Kangaroo pocket, method is fairly simple, you knit the center stitches to the desired length of the pocket, while leaving the sides on waste yarn, when your ready to knit the back of the pocket, you start knitting the live stitches on the waste yarn and when you get to the pocket front, pick up stitches in the back of it, in a straight line then continue knitting the remaining live stitches on yarn, and when you reach the same length of the front pocket, you use 2 needles, one for the back stitches and one for the front pocket stitches and knit the front and back stitches together, creating one seam stitch. Here's a close up:



This is the Pouch Pocket, the angle is looking at the inside or opening, that is lined with Red yarn. To start it off you take waste yarn and knit 2 rows of X amount of stitches you want for your pocket width, and then continue re-knitting the same stitches of waste yarn with the working yarn, and continue on your piece. When your ready to work the pocket, you remove the waste yarn, leaving 2 rows of live stitches, top and bottom row. You take these stitches and knit in the round, picking up a stitch at the corners to close the gap, and knit for however deep you want your pocket. You knit in stockinette so when you push the pocket inwards, it's knitted inside.



This is the back of the square:



The last pocket is a Ribbed square, you do a YO every other knit stitch, and then the next row you knit the knit stitches and transfer the YO's to waste yarn. When your've ready to knit the back of the pocket, you knit the YO's thru the back stitch, knit tightly, and keep going until you've reached the ribbing. You then seam up the sides.

Opening of pocket:



Out of all 3 pockets, all methods are pretty interesting, I like the Pouch pocket for being a loose change pocket, you really can't loose anything in it, the Ribbed one is nice, but you need to seam nicely, and the Kangaroo I love, very pretty and so many designs you can incorporate with it, I just don't care for picking up stitches on the purl bump side. I was so happy to finish this square, it had be hibernating for awhile because I was knitting other things or got stuck in the holidays.

I quicky cast on for my next square, the Entrelac square. I've made leaps of progress with this, almost done, but need to buy more yarn. It has 2 of my fave colors, green and red, oh my! I've never done Entrelac before, this is my first attempt, and I admit when I was first looking at the instructions, I was like, WTF, but mainly because the picture was far more confusing then the actual method. Anyways, I followed the instructions like a good little knitter, and sure as day, was speeding along in no time. This is why I love this project, you get something of everything and your smack ready for a real garment, like a sweater, or vest.



I'm loving the color combo, my hubby picked the 2 to go with out of my entire color scheme. So far these are all the squares I have done, the Entrelac is not shown yet cause it's not yet finished.



From a previous post, I never got the chance to post a picture of the Dayflower gloves I knitted for my daughter for Christmas, here's her pose (note she wouldn't let me show her face, kids??!??)



This is yarn scrumptous!

I also participated in a Christmas Stocking Swap with Yarnwhisperer on Ravelry for the Death By Socks group. All the members thought it would be nice to knit a stocking, no competition, but a way of knitting something nice for someone else.

Here's the stocking I sent her:



And here's the goodies and stocking she sent me:



I love the stocking, good color choice, and I love the Noro Kureyon Sock Yarn! All the goodies she sent, plus the lovely magnets and ornament.

Oooh.. and last, but not least, I received my Scout's Swag shipment, "Red Pear Tweed", I'm loving this color! Great for the upcoming Valentines day!





Phew! Sorry for the long post, but gosh I just needed to share all this, I have more, but I'll spare you and save it for another post.

8) R

All Over the Map

All my peeps, this is going to be a lengthy post because I'm just "All Over the Map" with great news, FOs, Yum-O treats, and anything else that sneaks into my post.

Breaking News
If you haven't already read or heard from "Scout" followers like me, is that Scout from "Scout's Swag", has signed a book deal to share, inspire, and teach all inquiring "dye-minds" about the "Dyeing" process. That is taking pure undyed wool and dyeing it into your own unique colorful yarn.

I've actually known about this for awhile, but I had to keep my lips sealed until Scout made the secret news public. When I took Scout's dye class awhile ago, she revealed the great news to her dye class students, and asked that we keep it on the down-low until her announcement, which came this past weekend. She announced it during a Y-Knit Podcast, which I have to say is a very good one. WonderMike & Stephen really are just wonderful with their Podcasts and Scout's Podcast has alot of good info in it, as well as info about her upcoming book.
Although we will have to wait awhile before we can get our hands on her book, expect it out in press around 2010, and if I'm lucky, I'll try my best to get my own signed copy. I'll end this by saying that Scout is very nice and very customer-service oriented, and great at her craft. Visit her at http://www.scoutj.com
Did I also mention that she is a photographer? She takes the most beautiful pictures too.

It's "Knitta" time
I did it! I finished my "Knitta Project 08" this weekend, and "knit tagged" my tree in front of my home. I know really that I should've of knit tagged
something out in public, like a stop sign pole, but I really wanted my 1st Knitta Tag to be in front of my house. I had such fun with this project, in all aspects. First I got to use my lighted knitting needles, and I got to take part in a tradition held by the Knitta Gang from Texas, and I got to use up some scrap yarn, and I got to display to my neighbors and passer-byers that there is a "Knitta Gal" living in my house. When I put it up earlier, I really thought my husband would think I was crazy, but
as always he appreciated it and liked it himself. Now onto my next knitta project, hmmm....

I'm just getting started
As I am an avid knitter, crafter, everything, I'm extremely passionate about cooking & baking, it is one of my favorite things to do. Before knitting, I spent alot of time researching about food prepping, food storage, food combinations, savory vs. sweet, traditional vs. modern, you name it. Some of my favorite chefs are, in no particular order:

~~Alton Brown "Good Eats"
I enjoy Alton because he really breaks food down into a science, and makes you understand the
physics behind food & he's goofy funny.

~~Giada DeLaurentis "Everyday Italian"
Giada's food is just perfect. It's always simple, elegant, and tasteful. I've cooked her recipes time and again, and there always delicous. I'm Mexican, but Italian is really my other love, right next to Mexican food.

~~Rachel Ray "30 minutes Meals"
What can I say, I just love Rachel. I've met her in person about 2 years ago, she was totally
nice and when I met her do you know what she said to me??? "Hello Gorgeous", such a compliment
from her! I was star struck, I didn't know what to ask her or tell her, all I could muster was
"I love your recipes". Her recipes are quick and Yum-O!

~~Ina Garten "Barefoot Contessa"
Hmm... Ina is just an all around faboulous chef. She has great ideas, and can mix up some
awesome drinks to go with her dishes. I love her methods, and her presentation.

~~Martha Stewart from ALL Marthas shows
This is the Queen herself, what can't she do?? My idol, who I strive to be, someday, even if
only in my dreams. Her recipes, methods, ideas, resourcefulness, I could go on and on

So now that you know my other passion, what I mean by "I'm just getting started" is that the holiday season is not far away, and during that time, I do a ton of baking and cooking. I'm at my happiest during this time of year, really I am, I'm just happy inside. I enjoy the smells, the feeling of warmth, the beautiful array of colors that nature takes on, the ambiance that the holiday's bring. I'm like a kid when I visit Michaels, because I just love seeing all the props for the holidays, and the scents. I'm starting to test out new recipes for baked goods and entree's, and this weekend I tried out a Chocolate chip Oatmeal Bar" recipe. I was a little skeptical on how these would taste, but boy, "YUM-O", they came out great. It's funny because normally when I make anything with Chocolate Chip morsels, its just all around sweet, but the Oatmeal ingredient in this recipe, really balances out the sweetness of the Chocolate Chips. When I eat one, I don't feel as guilty as if I'd eaten a cookie. And, after having these, I have all kinds of ideas of other combinations I can spin-off into, so I can feel myself just getting started for this upcoming holiday season 8-)


FOs from the past
I knitted the "K & K Cap" from Purlescence Yarns awhile ago, it was my first hat/beanie that I knitted. I used Cascade Cash Vero yarn in Black, and was just really proud of how it came out & how comfortable and soft it felt. Another fave of mines is this "Baby Purl Beanie" that I knitted using Lorna Laces Angel yarn. I can't remember the color, but it's just precious. I gave this as a present to my close friend/family for their new baby girl.

Whew.. now that's the end of this post.

P.S.
Tell me what do you prefer, short or long posts? Or are you in between? I prefer long, I read all sorts of blogs daily, so I like to have something to read, it's my version of the "morning newspaper".

With everything that I've wrote about, I had to provide pictures, so here yah go.....

Adding to my Arsenal

Well folks, I'm adding to my arsenal, 2 NECESSITIES for any yarnaholic, like myself *-) I've been wanting to make these purchases for quite sometime now, and what drove me to actually making the buy? Well the last straw came this weekend when I bought Scout's newest Swag in Peach Pit, and of course it came in a beautiful braid/skein, and I loved the color so much that I started to knit the Elm Row pattern I just purchased from Knitspot.
Anyways, since I don't have a winder, I decided to manually wind the yarn into a ball, I wrapped the skein around a chair, and started winding. I was ok for a minute (I've done this before with no issues), and suddenly started running into all sorts of problems. Well several pain staking hours later, there I was caught in tangle after tangle after tangle, ruining my new precious Peach Pit yarn. I was able to carefully get rid of a majority of the tangled mess without ruining the yarn, and by the time I was ready for my next class, I was down to a small amount of tangles. By this time I was tired of dealing with it, and made the decisive decision to cut the thread, although reluctantly.

So, after this disaster, I've made the purchase, and will be getting these 2 new treasures to add to my arsenal in my "Mini-Fiber Studio" I'm putting together.

I'll be getting in about 5-10 days, this large Umbrella Swift


And also this Plastic Ball Winder


I can't wait for these to arrive! I'll be ready for any skein that comes my way! When I think of all the yarn cakes I can make with these 2 tools, ahh.. I'm in heaven! I did do some searching on pricing, and found that VillageSpinWeave had the best deal, offering the Umbrella Swift & Plastic Ball Winder as a bundle, great pricing!

I know I sound crazy, but if you've ever had precious yarn in a tangled mess, you feel my pain.