A Knitter In Queens

In Bloom

I was going to name the title of this post, "Sometimes Life Gets in the Way."  Since I last posted, a Quality Review, ECLAS (Early CHildhood Literacy Assessment) and upcoming school play have gotten in the way.  Thank goodness for spring break.  Well, I'm happy to report that the Quality Review went well, I'm almost finished administering ECLAS and practice for our first grade production of The Lion King is going well.  Did I mention that all the first grade classes will be performing together?  Yes, the entire first grade, about 115 6year olds and I've been made director.  It's been going well.  The kids have been practicing their lines, music and dance routines.

These last couple of weeks I haven't had much of anything to post about.  This past week, while on Speing Break, I spent a few days in Boston.  I took part in some much needed relaxation.  I can't believe it's been almost a month since I last picked up my knitting needles.  While in Boston, I made sure to stop by a couple of knitting stores.  I stopped by A Good Yarn and Windsor Button.  While at A Good Yarn, I managed to pick up Louet's Riverstone yarn for Knitwhit's new softie pattern, Bramble Owl.  Too Cute! I can't wait to cast on for this one.  While at Windsor Button, I managed to pick up a few skeins of Nashua's Creative Focus Worsted for the Emily Fingerless Gloves pattern I purchased on Etsy.  I tried these gloves on at Rosies Yarn Cellar and I loved the way they looked on.  Unfortunately, Rosies didn't have any colors that I liked and Windsor Button did.  Besides the knitting stores, I did manage to walk around the city and take in as many sites as I could.  One of my favorites was Boston Common.  The park was beautiful, everything was in bloom.

                                                                    

                                                              Boston Common

Now, the trees and flowers weren't the only things that were in bloom in Boston.  I managed to cast on  two new projects.  The first is a brand spanking new sock.  I'm using Trekking 104.  I picked up the skein at Loop about two and a half months ago when in Philadelphia.  At first, I thought I would get bored with the color.  Fortunately, that hasn't  happened and the sock is moving along quite nicely.  The picture below is a little outdated.  I have managed to knit up to the heel.  When these socks are finished they'll be given to my friend D.  I think he'll be happy with them.

                                                               

                                                               Trekking Sock

The next project blooming on the needles is Trellis.  My cousin is expecting and is due in the beginning of June.  Thursday, I found out she is having a boy.  I wanted to knit her something for the baby so I thought I would give Trellis a try.  I'm using Lion Brand's Cotton Ease in Stone.  I decided to knit the 18 month old size.  My mom always says, "Too big is a fit."  I love the way the cables and seed stitch look together.

                                                               

                                                               Trellis in progress.

Happy Knitting!   

Dolores Park Cowl

To be honest, I haven't really been doing a lot of knitting lately.  Since the cardigan, I've only cast on for one project, Parikha's Dolores Park Cowl.  There was something about it that made me want to cast on for it immediately.  I have a few cowls in my drawer, but nothing like Dolores Park.  I think it's the chunky yarn, it adds a nice touch.  Unfortunately, none of the yarn stores I frequent had any Malabrigo Chunky.  So, I went to PURL to find a suitable yarn.  I chose Cascade's Baby Alpaca Chunky.  This yarn is so soft.  My only complaint with it is that it sheds.

The pattern was cool and very easy.  I like to call it mindless knitting.  You know, it's the type of knitting you can do while watching TV and not worry about messing up.  I started the cowl on Thursday and finished it Saturday morning.  I love the way it turned out and it goes great with my black leather pea coat.

                                                                  

Pattern: Dolores Park Cowl

Yarn: Cascade Yarns Baby Alpaca Chunky (sh. 570)

Needles: 24" Addi Turbo Lace Circular Knitting Needles US 11

Started: March 20, 2008

Finished: March 22, 2008

Now that I've finished the cowl, I've decided to start a pair of socks I've been promising a friend of mine, D. I bought the yarn two months ago at LOOP.  For the pattern, I'm using Ann Budd's, The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns. I don't know why it's taken me so long to cast on for these socks.  Procrastination is rearing it's ugly head.

It's so nice to have a computer again.  This past week, while getting myself reacquainted with the computer world, I found myself living on Etsy for two days straight.  Have you stopped by?  I think I'm the only crafter who hasn't been on.  I knew of the site, but never really explored it.  If you haven't gone, take a look.  Here are a few of my faves:

- Orchid Lace Mitts Pattern

- Coriander Box Zipper Pouch

- That Little Scarf Pattern

- Bubble Lace Pendant

- Emily Fingerless Gloves

- Moop's Market Bag

Happy Knitting!

Something New

Well, hello there.  Please forgive me for my absence.  Lately, It feels like I've been saying that in every post.  Toward the end of last month, my computer decided to crash.  Of course, I decided to get it fixed.  So, I took my baby (computer) to my local computer dealer.  They basically told me that it would cost me more to fix it than to replace it.  When hearing their recommendation, I decided to get a second opinion.  The second opinion didn't turn out so great.  Basically, he told me the same thing.  Who knew my baby would be considered a dinosaur (according to the Geek Squad).  At this time I'm in total denial, hoping that somone, a company, anyone will be able to fix my laptop for a reasonable fee.  I've had my baby through thick and thin.  It's been with me through college, grad-school, blogging and an unfortunate egg incident.(Yes, I dropped an egg on my keypad.) It survived all of those years and events and it still kept going.  In the end, I decided it was time to say goodbye.  Keep in mind, while all of this is going on I have no access to a computer.  So, I came to the conclusion that I had to hustle and start shopping around for a new one.  This was also a long process.  I mean, a computer is a major purchase.  In the end, I purchased a Dell Inspiron 1525.  Isn't it pretty?  I also got to choose what color I wanted.  I chose black.  I'm happy with it.

                                                               

                                                                  My New Computer

Besides my computer drama, work has been overwhelming.  We're coming down to the last three months.  Last week was parent teacher conferences.  The week before, first grade had a week long celebration of Dr. Seuss' birthday.  Everyday, was something different.  Monday, was an intro day.  Tuesday was Oobleck Day.  We read the book Bartholomew and the Oobleck.  Then we made Oobleck.  If you have children, this is such a fun science activity.  You can find the recipe here. Wednesday, we had crazy sock day for the book Fox in Socks.  We also had a crazy sock fashion show.  Thursday, we made green eggs and (turkey) ham.  Friday, we had pajama day.  In addition, students saw a special show on Dr. Seuss, played games and completed different activities.  It was a great week.  Here we are on Friday wearing out crazy glasses. We only wear them on special occasions.

                                                                  

                                                                  D,H,me,L and G

Happy Knitting!

Frilled Edge Crossover Jacket v.2

For those of you thinking I abandoned my website, I'm still here.  I apologize for the silence.  I had every intention of posting.  Then as luck would have it, I got the Flu and Laryngitis.  As a result, any possibility of me posting went out the window.  When I'm sick I don't feel like doing anything, that includes knitting.  Fortunately, after a week in bed and some some much needed rest, I'm feeling better.  I still have a dry cough, but at least my 102.5 fever is gone.  Yeah!!

The last time I spoke to you all, I had just cast on another Frilled Edge Crossover Jacket from Debbie Bliss' Baby Style.  The jacket was requested by my cousin Sojna as a birthday present for her boss' daughter.  A year and a half ago I knit one for Kayla.  As a result of being sick, the jacket was left untouched for two weeks.  Then Sojna called, and told me that she would need the sweater a few weeks earlier than when she first thought.  Sooo,  once I got better I had to get to work on the sweater.  I used the same yarn, Felted Tweed but a different colorway.  The first time I used rage (red), this time I used herb (green).  I knit the sweater in the 2 year old size.  My favorite part of the sweater is the neck frill. It adds such a nice touch.

                                                       

                                                   
                                                   Frilled Edge Crossover Jacket

                                                   
                                                   Nicely Folded

                                                   
                                                   View From The Top

                                                   
                                                   The Tag

Pattern: Frilled Edge Crossover Jacket from Baby Style by Debbie Bliss (2 yrs)

Yarn: Rowan Felted Tweed in Herb (shade 146)

Needles: 24" Addi Turbo Lace Circular Knitting Needles US 7 & US 8; 47" Addi Turbo Lace Circular Knitting Needles US 7 (for neck frill)

Started: January 21, 2008

Finished: February 21, 2008

Since my cousin was giving this as a gift, I decided to give a little upgrade to the tags that I attach.  My friend D helped me with a template in Word.  I purchased the recycled paper from Michael's.  On the inside of the tag, I included the fiber content and washing instructions.  I think I'll use this tag from now on with any handmade gifts that I give.

While knitting the sweater I got a chance to use the new (well, their not so new anymore.) addi turbo lace needles.  I thought they only came in sizes US 00 to 6.  To my surprise, while shopping for needles I saw them in sizes US 7, 8 and 9. I decided to purchase the needles.  Immediately I fell in love.  That long pointy tip makes such a difference.

Happy Knitting!

Fair Isling Around

Since I last spoke, I managed to cast on two projects.  Over the past two weeks I've been drooling over Kate Gilberts Bird In Hand mittens.  I love them.  I've never done fair isle before, so this will be completely new to me.  I don't know what it is about fair isle that makes me nervous. It's probably the thought of having more than one strand of working yarn and keeping good tension.  Last week, I decided to get my feet wet and try my hand at some fair isle.  So, you could imagine my surprise when I saw Whitney's (from Purl) Giacomo Baby Hat.  Immediately I decided this would be the perfect practice knit.  First, it's a baby hat, so it's small.  Second, the pattern calls for my favorite, Blue Sky Alpaca's Sport Weight.  On Tuesday, I printed out the pattern and examined my color options and settled on five.  The pattern calls for four, but I decided to add another color to the pattern.  I had so much fun knitting this hat.  The pattern was really easy.  I think this was due to the colored chart.  Also, on each line you never worked with more than two colors at a time.  In the end, I would definitely recommend this as a great beginner fair isle pattern. 

                                                                  

                                                                  Giacomo's Baby Hat

Pattern:     Giacomo's Baby Hat

Yarn:          Blue Sky Alpaca Sport Weight       

                  507 - Natural Lt. Gray      808 - Relish      500 - Natural White      512 - Eggplant      813 - Pomegranate

Needles:      16" Addi Turbo Circular Knitting Needle US 5 & US 6

                   7" Brittany Bamboo Double Pointed Knitting Needles US 6

Other Materials: Clover Pom-Pom Maker

Started:       January 19, 2008

Finished:      January 21, 2008

The second project is per my cousin's request.  My cousin Sojna askedme to cast on another Frilled Edge Crossover Jacket.  The jacket is a gift for her coworkers daughter.  I'm using the same yarn as the last jacket, Rowan Felted Tweed.  This time I'm knitting it in col. 146 (Herb).  I love the color.  The green is so pretty with its bits of white, blue and black woven in.  I'm knitting the 2 year old size.  A couple of days ago I finished the back.  Now, I'm getting ready to start the front panels. 

                                                                  

                                                                  The Back

Happy Knitting!

Back In The Saddle Again

On Tuesday, for the first time in three weeks I picked up the knitting needles.  December was such a crazy month.  Parties, late nights and knitting don't exactly  go together.  As a result, I decided to go on a little knitting hiatus.  While on break I did notice all of the christmas gifts in progress.  They all looked so nice.  My favorite pattern/project of the holiday season was brooklyntweed's Koolhaus.  Everytime I see one of these,  I fall more and more in love with it.  This pattern is definitely on my to do list. 

As stated above, I'm no longer on a knitting break.  Over the break, I was asked by my friend D to knit a hat for Isabella.  She's outgrown the little cotton hats I made for her from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.  I decided to cast on for the Ear Cozies pattern from Fiber Trends.  I chose this pattern because I liked the way the hat covered the ears.  The pattern called for Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted.  I decided to work with Pear Tree Australia's 8-Ply.  I picked it up at PURL the other day.  I LOVE THIS YARN.  It's 100% merino and feels so incredibly soft.  I chose to knit the hat in two colors.  I started it in Blush (pink) but it looked too plain.  So, I decided to cast on and knit a few rows in Turkey (coral).  I then  followed the pattern in Blush (pink).  The hat gives you the option of knitting it up with a pointed top or a round top.  I opted for the rounded top.  Once complete I added a little pom-pom in Turkey (coral).

                                                                

                                                                 Ear Cozies Hat

                                                                

                                                                 Ear Cozies Hat

Pattern: Ear Cozies Hat by Bev Galeskas (Fiber Trends CH-34)

Yarn: Pear Tree 8 Ply  (Main - Blush  Trim - Turkey)

Needles: 16" Addi Turbo Circular Knitting Needle US 7
              8" Crystal Palace Bamboo Double Pointed Knitting Needles US 7

Started: January 1, 2008

Finished: January 1, 2008

The hat was pretty easy, however it did contain short rows.  My last experience with short rows was the Petal Bib.  I remembered  how to wrap the stitches but for the life of me couldn't remember how to hide them on the next row.  I decided to use a book I had bought a couple of weeks ago, The Knitter's Companion by Vicki Square.  This book was so helpful.  I'm a visual learner so I need to see how to complete a stitch before I can do it.  The pictures were really helpful.  I highly recommend it.

                                                                                          

Happy Knitting!                        

Happy New Year !

                                                                  

                                                                   

Wishing you and your family a happy and blessed new year!

Hello Again

Hi all! Just checking in.  All I can say is the upcoming break can't come soon enough.  Besides work and christmas shopping, I've been doing some knitting, but not the knitting you think.  Let me just say, I don't do well with Christmas/deadline knitting.  I had all these projects laid out, yarn and needles ready.  In the end I only got to one, Grumperina's Shifting Sands.  The scarf is gorgeous and I've completed about half of it.  I love malabrigo and watching the changes in color brought out by the pattern.  The others projects were not so lucky.  I don't know what it is.  When it comes to knitting I can't do deadlines, I have to go at my own pace.  I'm also sorry to say that I'm getting kind of bored with the scarf.  It's been sitting on the needles for about a week now.  I'm not writing it off, just putting it down for right now.  Besides the scarf, I came across Whitney's Felted Thanksgiving Oven Mitt from The Purl Bee.  So Cute!!!  Last weekend I picked up 2 skeins of Farmhouse Yarns Lumpy Bumpy in Harvest.  It took me about two days to knit the mitt.  I used about 1 and a half skeins. The pattern was written very well. 

                                                                                                      

                                                                                                                      Whitney's Felted Thanksgiving Oven Mitt

After knitting the mitt, I was so anxious to throw it in the washer machine.  I had one little problem, I have a front-loading washer machine.  I had every intention of taking the mitt to my Aunt Ersie's house to felt it using her top-loading machine.  But my curiosity and anxiousness got the best of me.  I couldn't wait.  It took about two times in the wash cycle to felt.  In the end, the top really felted and the bottom came out a little lumpy bumpy.  But hey, I love it anyway.  For my first felted project, I think it came out really nice and I totally intend on using it.

Pattern: Whitney's Felted Thanksgiving Oven Mitt

Yarn: Farmhouse Yarns "Lumpy Bumpy" (Harvest)

Needles: 16" Addi Turbo Circular Knitting Needle US 11 & 8" Crystal Palace Double Pointed Knitting Needles US 11

Started: November 30, 2007

Finished: December 3, 2007

Happy Knitting!

And The Winners Are...

I just want to say thank you to everyone who participated in the contest.  We all have a lot to be thankful for. 

As I said, I used random.org to pick the winners.  Pictures of the prizes can be found on the previous post. 

Now, on to the winners.  Drumroll please............

Prize # 1:     Stacey from Crimson Purl

Prize # 2:     Rina from Rahardjo-Knits

Prize # 3:     Courtney from Yarn Tootin'

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Happy Knitting and Shopping!

Giving Thanks

Hi all!  Long time no see.  It's amazing how three weeks can slip by.  I've been doing some knitting, but not a lot.  Besides the little to non-existant knitting I decided to go through my stash.  I decided to lay it all out and go through ALL of my yarn.  I can't believe how much yarn I have. When it was all said and done I have about 9 bins of yarn.  I think I have a problem.  (Whew! It felt good saying that.)  I have so too much yarn.  It's like I've become a hoarder.  I don't know how I got to this point.  Well, I guess I do.  I go into a yarn shop, I look around and find something I like.  I think, I can use this for ___________.  Then I buy it and it gets added to the stash.  Then I end up putting it to the side and not using it right away. So the stash grows and grows and grows.  So bad. Now, I've decided to take matters into my own hands and tone down the stash.  I've decided to donate some of the yarn to a local nursing home in my area. Don't get me wrong, I'm not donating it all, just enough to bring the stash down to a reasonable amount, if there is such a thing.

                                                                               

                                                                                                                                  The Stash

Last week my students were learning about Thanksgiving and the origin of the holiday.  In addition, the kids had to tell what they were thankful for.  Responses ranged from being thankful for their family to their Playstation 3.  Along with the students, I made my list too. My list included the following, 1. Health 2. Family 3. Home 4. Job 5. Friends 6. Food.  But last but not least, I added something else that I was thankful for. Number 7. My Friends in blogland (All of you who show your support and frequent the blog. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You.) 

In honor of my cleaning house, I decided to have a little contest. To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment to this post telling what you are thankful for. You can tell me one thing, two things, three things, however many things you are thankful for.  One comment per person. The deadline for comments is Thursday, November 22nd at 12 Noon EDT.  From the comments posted, I'll use random.org to choose 3 winners. 

Soooooooooooo, what do you get if you win?

PRIZE # 1:

                                                                               

 

What you get:

1. Noro Silk Garden  col. 213 (7 skeins)

PRIZE # 2

                                                                               

                                                                              

What you get:

1. Traveling Rhinos Handpainted Lace Weight Merino Wool (880 yds.)

2. Traveling Rhinos Handpainted Lace Weight Merino Wool (880 yds.)

PRIZE #3

                                                                               

What you get:

1. Opal Rodeo Sock Yarn (col. 1157)

2. Opal Rodeo Sock Yarn (col. 1152)

3. Opal Rodeo Sock Yarn (col. 1150)

4. Opal Sock Yarn (col. 2)

5. Opal Inspiration Sock Yarn (col. 5022)

Hopefully, I'll post the results on Friday.  Since Friday will be the biggest shopping day of the year, I'm not making any promises.  Again, I want to thank all of you for taking the time to stop by and read.  Have a wonderful and safe holiday.  Happy Knitting and Shopping!