It's an addiction

So, remember how I said that I couldn't buy any more yarn until I've used up the yarn in my stash??? Well, scratch that. I couldn't help myself. I went to Boomerangs, the thrift store up the street from my office and found an incredible deal on this brightly colored mohair. I justified the exception because it was a steal. I'm weak. I should be punished.

Almost there...
I finished the front piece while "watching football"(I call knitting while the game is on and my boyfriend is screaming at the TV "watching football"). Now I'm onto the sleeves which are a pain in the ass. How ridiculous is it that the short cap sleeves are the hardest part of this piece?

I really thought that I would have finished this weekend but, much to my chagrin, I ran out of the purple acrylic yarn I was pairing with the mohair. I broke down and bought another skein. It's funny this sweater has only cost me about $4 total. Anyways I hope to actually finish this week. Can't wait to be done and start a sweater for myself!

I feel like a Squirrel!
Clearly I have a stash problem. I never thought I did until I attempted to re-organize this afternoon. Apparently I can not be trusted to accurately judge the amount of yarn I already own. Do NOT, I repeat, do NOT let me buy more yarn or convince you that I'm in need of having more yarn or pursuade you that I have a project in mind that I'll need more yarn for. I will lie, cheat and steal to make additions to the overly abundant stash of unused yarn. I MUST use the yarn I have before I'm allowed to purchase anything else. If I make any excuses or try in anyway to manipulate you in regards to yarn in any way feel free to sucker punch me. No, seriously.

Here's the 3-hour sweater progress....
So, this is the finished back. I'm onto the front at this point, but have been a lazy knitter for the last day or so. I'm out sick today so maybe I'll knit while I'm resting. We'll see how much I can get done. I'd love to finish it this week if possbile so I can block and do all of the finishing and have it ready to go to Chicago early for my friend's birthday! I need to track down those cute little tags that say "made with love" or something equally as goofy to sew into the back of the sweater. Maybe I'm check out Windsor Button Co. or A Good Yarn today after my interview.

My First Sweater
I bought myself a brand-new digital camera for myself for Christmas! I'm so excited....I can finally post decent pictures of my projects! Yay for detailed illustrations.

So, my newest knitting project is the infamous 1930s Vogue 3-Hour Sweater. It took me about a couple of hours to knit about half the back....this project is definately not going to be completed in the said 3 hours! Though, to be fair, I'm NOT using the recommended US 15s for the body of the sweater, which would have probably shaved a bit of time off for sure. I'm using US 11s based on the recommendations of a bunch of ladies from Craftster.org. I also swapped out the US 8s for US 9s for the ribbed waistband.

The fabric is knitting up quickly and isn't as dense as it may look in the photograph. If I had followed the pattern and used US 15s, I think, that the body of the sweater would be turning out rather holey-- kind of defeating the point of a sweater ;-) Then again, aren't the short cap sleeves doing the same!?

Anyways, I still have a lot of work on the project to do. I'm using some lovely lavendar mohair that I bought ages ago at a thrift store held together with a strand of a light worsted-weight soft lavendar acrylic yarn from my stash (Caron Simply Soft in Grape). I'll post picutres of the finished piece. Hopefully that will be within the week. This is my first adult sweater. So far so good. Wish me luck!

While the cat's away, the mice will play!
Christmas gifting! Current mood: creative
I love giving Christmas gifts! I really do. It's so much fun getting to shop for fun things to give to the people in my life that I love. I just wish I was able to devote more time to actually making the gifts that I get to give others but the timing, especially this year, has been damn near impossible to do so. My creativity hasn't been completely lost. Here are some shots of some little guys I made for a friend...



Happy Holidays!

Chicago: It's my kinda town
So, I'm going to Chicago tomorrow. I've become totally paranoid that they are going to take my knitting needles away and/or my liquid eyeliner. These are things that I just cannot travel without! I need them.

I read and reread the TSA website for allowed and prohibited items. I know I can take 3oz containers of liquid/gel/paste products as long as they are in a ziplock bag and declared at security. What a pain in the ass. Maybe I'll just check my luggage this time so I don't have to bother with those pricks at security. Whenever travelling with Jorge one of us always gets searched at security. Hopefully it won't be me this time!

But the needles...I refuse to pack them. I have to work on Jorge's video game scarf that I started like 2-3 weeks ago and have made no progress on --damn work projects that take up all of the mental energy. I find that working whatever WIP I've got on my needles on a flight is a great use of time that I would otherwise spend in a state of anxiety (this is true with/without a dose of Ativan). Plus, I really want to finish it so I can give it to him. He loves his Kingdom Hearts video game and I know he's going to love his Kingdom Hearts scarf.

I found the charts for the Kingdom Hearts emblem on Crafster.org and knew it had to be made into something for Jorge. I decided on a scarf. Once I complete the knitting I will back it with a cozzy and soft piece of red fleece for extra warmth, to cut the ithcy-factor, and to cover the ugly back of an intarsia piece.

Though I already placed my order for the fleece with Joann's...they some how forgot to tell me that they were out of stock and didn't ship it with the rest of my crafting goodies. Damn them! Now I have to locate some red fleece, but at the rate that I've been knitting for the past few weeks, it won't be needed anytime soon. I'm looking to change that tomorrow in the air!

Wish me luck ;-)