Sunday Snapshot

Just a quick set of mitts I'm making up for my mom before I see her this weekend. She has been complaining of her arthritis acting up in her hand while she writes and as an MFA candidate for a creative writing program, that is kind of an issue. I'm making them up quickly because I'll be trekking up to Minneapolis this weekend for my great-grandmothers funeral. Its a very sad reason to be going home but my Grandma Hadlich lived a wonderful and long life, she was 102 when she died and I'm just thankful she is no longer in pain.

On a much lighter note, these mitts are made of out some wonderful Knit Picks DK Gloss Yarn I got from their lux fiber sale. A blend of merino wool and silk it is sturdy enough to last those long nights of my mama writing away by oil lamp but still soft enough not to irritate her delicate skin.

The pattern is very simple and straight forward though if I was going to knit them again I would do them in a thinner gauge yarn, maybe more of a fingering or sport weight. It wouldn't knit up as quickly but I think I'd like the delicate look more.

Sunday Snapshot

In an effort to help me update more reguarly I'm going to start snaping and posting a photo every Sunday of what is on my needles currently.

Todays project is a little cowl design I'm working on to eventually launch in my etsy shop.

Yarn Garage

On my trip home to Minneapolis my mother and I decided that the time had come to visit the yarn garage.

Located on 35th and Chicago, a mere four blocks away from my parents house it is exactly what it's name implies. A garage sized space FILLED with yarn.

It's literally wall to wall, floor to ceiling. Almost what yarn dreams are made of.

There are knit items EVERYWHERE. Tons of sweaters, sample projects, knit art projects. All kinds of crazy stuff.

My favorite was this knit wedding cake (!!!) Madness of knitting!

I also loved this alpaca, adorned in knit wear, welcoming you when you walk in. There was a class/meet going on when we were there. I got to meet Steven Be. Everyone there was so friendly and so helpful. Definitely one of the most inviting yarn shop/workshops I've ever been to. If your around Minneapolis be sure to stop in sometime, it's a yarn adventure!

Fiona's Two Boyfriends

I just got back tonight from nice little jaunt to Minneapolis to visit my family. It was great to see everyone and I was able to hand out some very very belated holiday gifts.

For my sister Fiona I knit up the Two Boyfriends Cardigan by Allyson, over at The Sweatshop of Love. One of her original designs it is a simple and easy to knit top down over sized cardigan but she keeps it fresh and fun by having each side a different color. A favorite color for each of your boyfriends. get it?

The stripes and color combo look like they were designed for Fiona. Just her style! I love the pockets and the buttons. I found the button's at Steven B's Yarn Garage which I visited with my mom and will post about next time. It was really fun, just like those buttons!

I've never made something that was so perfectly fit for the person. I wasn't so sure about it as I was packing it up to take but the moment she put it on it fit her perfectly and was so her style. She even loved that I had used blue and orange stripes on the pockets (I had run out of brown yarn).

I also gave my dad his "turtle" as he calls them. Essentially a cowl. A nice neck warmer for those Minnesotan winters.

Seflish Knitting

It's been a busy month around here without any internet access. Luckily my frown is getting turned upside down by my new internet connection! It took AT&T 10 days longer than they should have and I spent a combined total of two hours on the phone but it is finally working.

The good news about being on hold is that you can get lots of knitting done with your phone on speaker.
This week I started and finished my sleeves for my beatnik sweater.

I'm using Allyson's method of knitting two sleeves at once. It helps them fly by faster and keeps the mistakes the same on both. I am notoriously bad at counting rows so knitting them together means they are always the same exact size.

 I'm trying to keep on with the body of my sweater but I've gotten a little discouraged, I've got the shoulder shaping on the back to finish and then the entire front.

I'm taking the beloved mega bus up to Minnesota this weekend so I'm going to have lots of time to finish up my body and seem my sleeves into my sweater. After that I just have the collar to do. There is a slim chance I might finish in time with everyone else!! But I'm not holding my breath, it's more important to finish than to finish it in time with everyone else.

I've got a few more projects sitting around on my needles that I'll try to get up here in the next few weeks and once my (very belated) Christmas gifts for my family once I've finally distributed them.

The Beatnik Continues

The Selfish Knit Along is rolling right along and despite my best efforts I'm still about two weeks behind. It's been a crazy week around here complete with an ER trip for a very very sick husband. Thankfully David is doing ok and there was a lot of waiting around in the ER so I did get quite a bit of knitting done.

This sweater has cabled charts which I had never done before, its really no different than following any other kind of chart but there are small variations between them that I took Allyson's advice and color coded the different cables so that I could identify the variation quickly and find the description. 

I had a really good time of calling out "GREEN" or "RED" when I got to the right cable, although I'm sure it was a less endearing quality to my surrounding human beings. None the less, it gave me a little chuckle and kept me entertained. 

I'm really enjoying this pattern so far and I've pretty much go the charts down so that I really only need to double check stitches a few times. The trouble becomes in remembering where I am in the chart and in all of my increases. The little post it note up there comes in handy to mark where I am before I put it down and don't have a complete brain fart the next time I pick it up. So, the plan is to just keep plugging along and hoping that I can pick up some time along the way. Either way, I know I'll finish and that's what's important.

Snowpacolypse

Here in Chicago we were treated to a truly epic blizzard last night. THUNDERSNOW is new to my vocabulary but it truely was a sight to see. A thunder storm INSIDE a blizzard. I felt like an arctic adventurer braving the snow this morning to make it to breakfast. After a quick (and by that I mean a few blocks through knee deep or waist deep snow drifts) jaunt to our local breakfast place david and I holed ourselves up inside most of the day.

I had the very rare adult treat of a snow day from work! Unheard of! But considering that the side streets were impassable at most points much of Chicago was shut down today. Tomorrow I'll be hitting the slopes bright and early to make it out to the mall that I work in. But today I got to relax and luckily get a lot of knitting done.

I'm still plugging away on my Beatnik Sweater as part of The Sweatshop of Love Selfish Knit Along. It's going pretty well for just starting it a few days ago, I've gotten through to the waist decreases and am just getting ready to knit up most of the body before the waist increases. Super exciting stuff all around.

Looking good!

I'm very excited to have Friday off of work as well so I'll just be drinking lots of tea, firing up some movies and knitting my little heart out. I also have some new projects I'm working on and hopefully will have some more information about in the next few weeks. Until then I'll be glad that this isn't my car:

There are two cars under there! Promise!