My last swap

I got sucked into one again.  Good thing I had a little extra cash lying around from my birthday or else I'm sure Michael would've been a tad mad at me.  It was a round robin swap because there was an odd amount of swappers so I sent to my wonderful friend Denise, in Seattle and I received a gift from Heather in Iowa.  Here is what greeted me in the mail yesterday when I got home:

Some nummy gummy bears and chocolate and two skeins of Knit Picks Capra DK in Harbor and six skeins of  Knit Picks Palette in Verdant Heather.  I have been wanting to try Knit Picks in the worst way and thanks to Heather's ESP, I'll be able to! :-)

March for ME!

Ok, this is so confusing.  But you remember that wretched Ashlar Cardigan I just couldn't seem to figure out?  Well, it's been laid to rest and I made this scarf instead:

It's the Neck of the Woods pattern by Vickie Howell from her book Awareknits.  I used Loops and Threads Haze in bulky roving in the colorway of faded denim.  I used a sweet skull button that was included in one of my swap packages a few months ago.  

I still have some of this yarn left and was thinking of knitting me up a cozy winter hat with it.  Or some cute little mittens...   Either way, I'm still keeping up on the 12 for me goal, whoohoo!

Knitting progress for July:  learned yo and k2tog!

Most Recent Swap

What I got!  Swap goodies from Heather :-)  Thank you!

I've been a part of a new Ravelry group called Veni Vidi Vixi in the 21st Century where we read literature, have discussions and swap fiber.  My lovely Ravelry buddy,  Denise asked me to help moderate and I was more than happy to help out!  What an awesome group!  We are about 60 members strong with a good portion swapping and discussing the books we've read.  I joined in when they were reading their first novel but was just in time for Life of Pi by Yann Martel (awesome book!) and now we are starting our summer book, Servants of the Map by Andrea Barrett which is a collection of short stories.  The last swap I participated in with this group had us doing a round robin swap of non animal fiber.  I received some Hemp yarn which I'm super psyched about.  I'm searching for the perfect project at the moment.  Does anyone have any ideas for me?

The booty or CNY Fiber Festival Part IV

 Some Alpaca Tweed hanks from A Touch of Twist...

 Soon to be swap gift...

 Two hanks from The Fiber Factory...

And representin' the 'Cuse!  I had to get some roving from them.  Here is the Corriedale fiber in and out of the bag!

Mini Swap - What I got

This package smelled LOVELY!!!

Thanks, Whitney!

Mini Swapping Part Deux!

 Here's my little Chuthlu made with Lion Brand cotton-ease in the colorway of lime.  Yep, that's my iPhone leaning near the little guy too!  If you're wondering, what the hell is a Chutlu, check out this link.  It may clear things up or create more questions, as it did in my case.

The pattern came out of the book Creepy Cute Crochet by Christen Haden.  The tentacles gave me a slight problem but I managed to figure it out with my crochet buddy Katie.  Unbeknown to me, there's a tutorial from NeedleNoodles aka Christen Haden out there.  Now you may also be wondering, why did I make him?  Well, my partner from our last swap wanted in on the mini-swap, unfortunately, there weren't enough people to get her a partner so I sent it to her as a surprise!  She loved it!  Whoohoo!  I love surprise crocheted stuff in the mail!

Mini Swapping

 For the last swap in the Lion Brand Swap group on Ravelry, there have been a couple of mini swaps posted.  I signed up for both, of course.  This was an amigurumi swap and my partner enjoys teddy bears and the color red.  I think I nailed it.

The pattern was from Lion Brand.  It's called the graduation bear but opted to just not make the graduation garb and make a little double crocheted scarf for him instead!

Vogue

In the last Lion Brand swap, my partner gave me an old issue of Vogue Knitting International from winter 2004/2005.  Over the last few days I've been drooling over some of the patterns in this issue.  I like the patterns so much that my beginner knitter self was like, I can do that one and that one and that one...

My favorite is a vest made out of Noro yarn.  It's a pretty sweet colorway and it looks like I could handle this project as a newbie.  I used to be an avid reader of Vogue even though I don't really consider myself super fashionable but I felt like I was after reading an issue.  Vogue Knitting is cool because if you like what the model is wearing in the photo shoot, there's the pattern and you can make it!  So awesome.

7 days 'til Tivoli!!

Regrouping

For those of you who are wondering about my March for ME project (or is it just me that keeps obsessing about it?).  I have decided that I will start my April for ME and work on the March for ME simultaneously.  Whenever that dumb sweater gets done, it gets done.  Whew, there I've said it and I feel so much better already.  The April for ME project will be a Masa bag inspired by one of my past swap partners.  Supposedly, I just crochet up a rectangle and do some creative folding of the fabric and voilà, it's a bag!  I hope it's that easy..  Masa bag project will commence mid week.  I have a spring recess for school coming my way and I'm hoping to make it a productive one- knitting/crochet wise.

Now...to work on those mini swap projects and new knit stitches!

13 days 'til Tivoli