It's been a while

Well so much for knitting in the summer. It seems I've been unable to get any knitting done since my youngest DS became mobile.  He is a monkey! Climbing on everything it takes everything I have to keep up w/ the boys & keep DS2 out of everything. The first thing he does when he sees yarn is start tangling it up so needless to say my poor yarn has been in hiding for a while.

So here we are officially in fall & I am finally back to knitting & preparing for the craft fair at my work this year.  This is a very large craft fair that they have done for years & years.  I know a few people I work w/ that participate in it each year & they always sell out.  Some of my other coworkers are very interested in purchasing what I make so fingers crossed I will make money at this one.

I have knitted up 3 wallets that I have to felt & sew in the linings I hope to have my next post cover a wallet & a purse I've felted & lined but for now they are still just WIP.
I have also knitted up two pair of fingerless gloves .    The pattern is one I found outside of ravelry but it is on there. I follow this blog called "A Friend to Knit with"     This pattern is called Toasty very simple, quick & easy.                          
                                                                    One set in Red

& one set in Brown

I'll also be making another set in gray but this is all I have for now.  I am planning on quite the list of items so hopefully I am not being to overly ambitious.

I hope to start blogging more regularly as well but again it all depends on what time I can sneek away.  I did manage to get very organized this spring. I got my circular knitting needle organizer case from Namaste for Christmas & My DH got me my KA interchangeable needle set.  He also picked me up a plastic tool box that is working very well for organization as well. I will try to post some pics of that & another post on what I just learned about the differences in 4/medium weight yarn.

Hope to talk to you all much sooner than last time. :-) Happy Knitting!

Feeling Intimidated...

So I've been AWOL for quite sometime when it comes to knitting. I have been getting a few knitting projects in here & there & I still have to finish the post I started about the goodies I got for Christmas: My interchangeable needles & Circular needle case. So Yes now I'm realizing it has been over 6 months since I've done a post. WOW!!

So just yesterday I finally started my classes I sent away for to become a Certified Knitting Instructor. I need to double check & make sure I haven't passed the time frame already for completing the class. I feel like I don't know how to knit at all. LOL!!! I am so intimidated.  By the end of this class I will have designed a sweater & knit one too.  It is asking me why certain stitches do what they do & why is it important that they do that. I am like I don't know I just knit what the pattern tells me to & don't ask questions. LOL!  I guess I need to be prepared to answer questions about why if I am planing on ever teaching a class. 

In addition to my class I am also planing on participating in the Craft Fair at my work in Dec. This craft fair is very large & always does very well. So I am trying to make list's of things to knit. A friend I work with that does the fair every years thinks I need to focus on Purses & wallets but I need to sell them for around $80 to compensate for materials & time.  She thinks people will pay it & I will sell out. I have yarn for 3 purses & so I think I will start with those & then maybe some other new items. :-)

Fingerless Gloves

This project is honestly about 7 years in the making & here is why.....  As a newly married woman who learned to knit about a year earlier I wanted to take on another project besides washcloths & scarves so what did I choose? A set of fingerless gloves for my DH. So DH & I went & picked out some worsted weight acrylics yarn. It took me quite a while to get them done but I did it only to find out they were to big & bulky for him to wear. :-(  I was so sad I spent back then literally months making these & they are useless. So fast forward to the next winter. I decide that I am going to pull it all out & roll the yarn back up & remake them. I only ever got to pulling them out I never remade them. YEARS go buy & every winter I tell him I need to remake his gloves & every winter it never happens. Well with all the the gifts I was making this year & how my knitting seems to have taken flight. I thought I am REALLY going to make them this year & we address the problems w/ the previous ones & decided to get new yarn.

So off to the craft store we go & he remembers that the worsetd weight yarn was way to thick. He is using these while he flies RC airplanes & he wants to be able to feel his transmitter(aka controller) thru the gloves. So what does he pick out?????? Sock Yarn.  So I found a pattern for gloves from Patton's that used the exact sock yarn we got & size 2 DPN. SIZE 2!?!?!  I have never knitted a project w/ needles that small. Size 3 yes but never Size 2's. Well I started it while I was also knitting my SIL purse & all the hats for Christmas so the first glove took me over a month cause I really rather work on hats w/ chunky yarn & size 10's then super fine weight yarn w/ size 2's. And because the last pair was to big I had him doing test fits on them every couple inches. The second glove I did in only a few days. I am proud to say that they are a major success & he loves them.  They only took 7 years but hey at least I got them right this time. ;-)

12 Hats for Christmas

In my family we give presents to all the "kids", ages ranging from 6months (my baby) to 18 years old, presents. Well w/ maternity leave from June-Oct money was a little tighter than normal. So I decided to order allot of bulky yarn from www.joann.com & make all the kids hats & heck while I'm at it I'll make two extra for the family gift exchange.  This was a grand total of 12 hats & all this while I was also knitting my SIL purse, which she loved BTW. (see my previous blog "For the love of Felting" for pics)

So I ordered 8 skeins of Lion Brand Wool Ease Chunky yarn & started searching for Chunky hat patterns on ravelry.com.  I had to improvise on a few but here they are:

This pattern was called the "Man Hat" I made it for my 18 year old Male cousin. I also made a 2nd one for the Adult family gift exchange & my Dad ended up w/ it & I never thought my Dad would have wanted a hat from me. I've only ever seen him wear one when I was very young but he seemed very excited & please w/ it. My DH has also put in a request for this hat. It is such a great pattern & turns out thick & warm.

This next one was a little tricky. I found a slouchy hat pattern that was close to the hat from Hot Topic that my 14(I think) year old cousin.  The pattern had the same spacing between the ribbing but was for a slouchy hat not a Barret like the Hot Topic one. Well once it was knitted it wouldn't slouch AT ALL, EEEKKK!!!  I guess my chunky yarn was chunkier than the yarn they used. So I started to brain storm & decided to turn it into a Barret.  I put it around a plate & sprayed the top w/ water knowing my yarn was 20% wool that if I added some heat to this equation it should(hopefully) shrink the middle together enough that I could make this work.  & here is how it turned out.

This next was was a Barret patten I just made up as I went.  I used 3 sizes of knitting needles because when I started it I thought I had DPN's in a size I didn't have. So I CO(casted on) the stitches w/ size 9's  so it would be tighter around the head then switch to size 13's to make it bigger & looser w/o having to add stitches & then finding out when it came time to decrease no 13 DPN's I used size 11's LOL!



Here are the most perfect Snow Hat's!  I made them for a brother & sister who are 6 & 3. (again I am guessing at some of the ages)

Here are Father & Son hat I made for my BIL & my nephew only to figure out at the last minute my nephews hat was way to small, so sad.

I also braved a cable needle for this first time EVER!!! I have always been so afraid of them & now I am able to tell all you knitters out there to fear not it is super easy!  Wish I would have know that years ago.  This hat was for my 12 year old cousin & I made the same hat in red for the adult family gift exchange & my SIL (same one I gave the purse too) ended up w/ it & she is very happy w/ it!



In addition to these 10 hats I made one for my FIL that I forgot to take a pic of. And I made one for my other SIL & started one for my newest niece but didn't get my nieces done after I realized that my nephews was to small, from the father & son hat set. So they still need to get them from me.  I took the Dec 22nd -26th off from knitting. I have actually purchased some knitting gloves by Lion Brand that seem to help w/ the wrist & arm cramps allot!  Come the 27th I got the itch that only my knitting needles could scratch & I am just finishing up my DH fingerless gloves. Look for them in my next blog! :-)

For the love of Felting!

Felting:   A fabric of matted, compressed animal fibers, such as wool or fur, sometimes mixed with  
                 vegetable or synthetic fibers.

I enjoy felting very much. I love to see the final outcome it is always a little amazing how different the item looks. I haven't felted in about 6 years but this summer I got a pattern at a LYS (local yarn store) at the Ocean (pattern from "Two Old Bags") & when I showed my SIL she loved it & said Oh you can make that for me anytime. SO I knew Christmas would be the time. :-D  It has been a very tricky secret to keep since she is one of my knitting buddies but I got it done in time for our family celebration at my parents house.

I am kicking myself for not taking a pic of it before I felted it but it turned out so nice that everyone I show can't believe I made it.  It called for a button closer & knitted I-Cord strap but I tweaked it a little but adding D rings a magnetic closer & a leather strap & a decorative flower.  When I took it to work I had coworkers offer me cash on the spot & 2 others wanted to place orders. When I felt something it is about oh I would say 5x the size of the finished product so it takes ALLOT of knitting.

Here it is, ENJOY!!!

CHRISTMAS IS COMING!!

WOW after Christmas I currently have 3 different blogs that I will be posting w/ all the Christmas presents I've been making.  I am really building my knitting calluses on my fingers.  We have so much going on this month I am shocked that I am able to get as much knitting done. So After Christmas if I am successful I will have completed near 20 items between the craft fair & Christmas. CRAZINESS!! 

Speaking of Christmas my wonderful DH has told me that as my gift from him I can buy a set of interchangeable knitting needles!!!!!!! I am just a little excited. :-D  I did research for days on interchangeables between the:
Denise set: http://www.knitdenise.com/
Knit picks: http://www.knitpicks.com/needles/Interchangeable_Circular_Knitting_Needle_Tips_Cables__L300312.html
Addi Click: http://www.paradisefibers.net/Addi-Click-Interchangable-Knitting-Needle-Set-p/47036.htm

The popular choice on ravelry was Addi Clicks but they are steel & I really don't enjoy knitting w/ that. I love my Bamboo needles.  Knit picks is pretty reasonable & they have 3 types, bamboo, acrylic & steel. But the major problem I had w/ both of these sets were that they didn't go smaller than 24" circular. I live off of my 16" circulars & was looking into maybe even buying some 12' Addi Turbos, even w/ the dislike of steel needles, just to have them for baby hats. 

The Denise set is the most affordable & it is acrylic & has rave reviews from almost everyone & it went down to a size 16" circular.  So I was just about to buy them when I was doing a little bit more research on Ravelry's forum & someone stated that they like their Knit Picks but LOVE their Bamboo KA needles.  What was this???   I had been googling for days & the brand KA had never come up?  Back to google! 

Low & behold they there were: http://www.jimmybeanswool.com/knitting/yarn/KA/MidSwitchExchangeableCircularNeedleSet.asp?specPCVID=17675&advSourceID=9
I fell in love almost instantly! *SIGH* They were amazing! Not only are they the bamboo needles that I have grown to love they are also able to go down to as small as 9.5" circular & has tips all the way down to zero!!!  The set I am going to get has size 2-13 w/ 8 different cable lengths! Including the length that will make magic loop easy in every size!

I had just told my DH that now that I figured out the Magic Loop I needed every size needle in a 40" circulars.  DH had been asking me what I wanted for Christmas & I didn't really have an answer & then I remembered seeing interchangeable knitting needles at my local yarn store. Thus the research began.  Now will I not only have to not buy a bunch of 40" circulars but I will also never be w/o a size needle again!!  These can be used as straights, circulars & w/ magic loop no need for DPN's!  The catch is I have to wait until January to order them but when I get them I will post pics & a review of them & tell you if they are as wonderful as I am expecting them to be.

The Craft Fair

Well I made it to the craft fair however I didn't sell much.  I am still going put the left overs in my etsy store I just need to take pictures of the items. :-)

Here is some pics of my table set up

So now I have completed that I am on to knitting Christmas presents only now!!  I have a list of a min of 6 items I am planning on, this is aside from the 10 washcloths my MIL ordered to give away as gifts at work, w/ a possibility of up to 13 items & only 5 weeks & 2 days to go.  I updated my countdown so that it is for Christmas now & not the craft fair.  Lets see what I can get done some of the projects are things I have never made before but because family may read this blog I can not post what I am making until after Christmas, so you will all have to wait & see. :-)