Mission DK : Accomplished!

I got three hanks of Berroco in a pretty teal, purple and beige color.  Unfortunately, there were no nifty colorway names-  just a bunch of numbers instead.  I love this yarn so much that I'm not sure if I am going to use it for the original purpose of motifs but rather a nice soft, drapey spring scarf instead.

3/4

My third scarf for the organization, Handmade Especially For You.

I really liked the fun fur on this scarf!  Three down, one more to go!

Sheep Thrills

My quest for a decently priced DK yarn is over, for the moment.  Instead of heading into the town over from where I work, I stayed a bit closer to home and visited Sheep Thrills after I picked up the baby from my mom's house.  Sheep Thrills is on Bear Road in a white house with a big red sign on the side of the house that says YARN.  The above pic is inside the fingering/dk portion of the shop. There were about four separate rooms with the yarns organized by size.  There was also a room where classes are held and where you can just hang out and knit if you want to.

Another view of the cozy yarn shop.  So cozy in fact that Hazel continued napping the entire time I was there and thankfully all the way home :-D!  Pictures of my purchases will follow shortly!

Flashback!

Remember this?

What we swap.

 In the last Lion Brand Swap on Ravelry, the theme was new yarns/patterns from Lion Brand that you wanted to try or that your partner wanted to try.  I have to say I was super spoiled by partner that I wish I would've gotten a little more for her and said, to heck with the spending limit!  Included in the swap gift to me (from l-r) a project bag (sewn by my partner), a cowl in tweed stripes yarn, an amigurumi owl (LOVE IT), Baby Knits by Candi Jensen, Vogue Knitting magazine, stickies, pencils, knitting needles, double pointed needles,  some crazy buttons, and tweed stripes yarn.

 Here's a close-up of one of the kick ass buttons that I'm so excited to use.

 My crafty partner even made me stitch/row counters for knitting and crochet.

 And of course, the OWL! 

 Here I am modeling the cowl which I plan on wearing to school at some point this week.

 This is the scarf I made my partner with some super soft Vanna's Choice in the colorway, purple.

I sent off to my partner some twizzlers and mint chocolate, a small project bag with a notepad and notebook, two skeins of cotton-ease and one skein of Fishermen's wool, and lastly a stamp with her first initial on it.

There hasn't been a posting for the next major swap but I am partaking in the min-swap fun of making amigurumi and also squares for charity to be put together into a blanket.  If you're on Ravelry, join in the fun!

Motif CAL update

Even though my quest for the perfect DK yarn was a bust at the big chain stores, I was very pleased with how these motifs turned out, even if they were crocheted using some crappy Redheart yarn.  I'm thinking about heading to a local yarn store that is in the town over from where I work to see if they have any sweet DK yarn in some awesome colors that won't break the bank.

Last of the Christmas gifts

 The pattern: Petite Scarf by Lion Brand

 The yarn: Vanna's Choice

Colorway: Sapphire

Yarny goodness

I've acquired some new yarn from awesome deals and an awesome swap partner!  Now what to make with 6 skeins of wool-ease in the colorway of wheat?

3 seconds

 ...3....

.....2.....

...1!

Motif CatchAL up!

I've been a little behind in my blogging about the motifs I've been making in Beyond the Square crochet book by Edie Eckman (group on Ravelry, come join in the CAL fun!).  I finished up motif #41 pretty easily but the next one, #88, made me scratch my head a bit.  I had to refer to my Crochet Answer book, another awesome Edie resource, for help on the dc2tog...it just wasn't  clicking with me.  Thankfully, I figured it out.  

Unfortunately, I absolutely hated this motif (#136).  The popcorn stitch was driving me nuts and I couldn't help but to think if there was an easier way to make them.  I posted on the BTS CAL wall that this motif was wrought with negative energy and frustration.  I feel so bad for the poor little motif.  It does seem to lie on my dining room table dejectedly. 

I also have come to the conclusion that I cannot work with the crappy Red Heart yarn anymore.  I've gotta search out some reasonably priced DK weight yarn.  It's odd that I don't have any DK weight.  Well, that's gonna change soon!

What begins with the letter A?

 I had an Amazon gift card burning a hole in my pocket.  

A few weeks ago, I decided to spend the damn thing.  I bought the latest Arcade Fire CD (LOOOOOVE IT!) and the pattern book Awareknits by Vickie Howell and Adrienne Armstrong... who funny enough, is married to Billie Joe Armstrong, lead singer of Green Day, my favorite band when I was in middle school but I digress.  I really enjoy the book a lot and it's got some useful tips of going green and staying green.  I really love the felted bag on the front cover but I'm not sure if I'm ready for that project yet.  I did queue up the Neck of the Woods scarf.  I believe I can handle a few knit, purl stitches.  I just have to search out the perfect yarn for it...I was even thinking of splurging and going to get the yarn it's calling for.

I love me some podcasts.

I tried out two other podcasts this week:

Here's to Ewe! and Yarngasm. 

Here's to Ewe!  is hosted by three chicks from Nevada (I think..).  They are total dorks and I love it.  I can definitely identify with their nerdiness and quirks.  I listened to their most recent episode but it left me wanting a little more so I have downloaded a few past episodes.

Yarngasm I didn't enjoy quite so much.  It's going to sound stupid but in the episode I was listening to, everytime there was a transistion to a new topic, there would be this sound byte of birds chirping and it drove me nuts!  I'm such a huge weirdo.  I can handle the dog barking at the end of the Knit Picks podcast but I can't handle birds chirping.  I'm starting to wonder if there's some sound wave that only I can hear which causes me to cringe.  I suppose much like dogs with that crazy whistle tone.

I am still into Knit Picks and decided to download all the past episodes and I'm slowly catching up on them.  Kelly Petkin's voice is super soothing and I love hearing her monologues about her fiber stories and experiences.  Stash and Burn continues to interest me and I'm trying to figure out how to get more of their past episodes as I only have about 10 or so episodes in my iTunes.  Something I'm going to have to figure out soon.  I'm thinking that I could probably find old episodes on their blog and then drag and drop them into iTunes.  Eh, not looking forward to doing that but we'll see!

Happy Stitching, people!

Score!

The bookstore, Borders, is going out of business at our local mall and the discounts have hit 40% off!  Unfortunately, the crochet and knitting books were very much picked over but I managed to find the second Amigurumi book from Ana Paula Rimoli:

I have the first one and I think her designs are so freakin' cute.  I'm having trouble where to start.  My fellow crochet buddy has been working on the cactus and turtles.  I'm thinking about what's in my stash and then going from there... perhaps the robots?  or the bears??  Decisions, decisions.

As for her first book, I have to confess I haven't made anything out of it although I've been into owls lately.  I don't know why.  Perhaps in the near future, I will revisit her first book and finally make something in there.  Lord knows I have a daughter that will enjoy it!

Giving back.

I finished my first official knitting project!  It's a garter stitch scarf in some crazy pink and fun fur yarn that was in one of the four knit kits put together by Handmade Especially for You.  I have three more kits to go and then I send it back to California!