what do you mean "august 5th!!!"

umm... so her birthday is august 12th, right? well, her future mother-in-law decided to throw her a birthday party a whole week earlier! #@($*!

*sigh* ok, i think once this thing is done i'm going to take a little mini-vacation from knitting. much deserved, i think. or maybe i'll just switch it up to crocheting to keep my sanity. :-P

so, as promised, here is the booboo picture.

it's the 3rd to last row in the 4th panel, which i believe is a side panel. i know, i know i should've fixed it... but i'm crunched for time! bah...

so here's my current progress

as i said, it's about 5+ inches above the fan pattern, and i'm about 4 inches away from starting the fan pattern over again... hopefully i hit the next section by the weekend.

other knitting news... i have just joined my first knit-along! i will be knitting that lovely carla sweater that i posted about earlier last week. go here to join or see our progress! i will be starting later since i'm still waiting for my book + yarn, but i really can't wait. and hopefully (since i have this ridiculous deadline) i'll be finished with hush hush and start before the end of next week! lol... i just love working under pressure.

oh, and since i couldn't resist... look what i bought while at my birthday adventure last week!

yes, more hello kitty. gotta love it.

knitting on the road...

will someone try to get me for using that as an entry title? :-P

ok, so this weekend was my "birthday knitting" weekend! first, the presents:

• to the left, we have the '63 easy to crochet pattern stiches' afghan, which i purchased for myself while looking for satin ribbon at fabric bonanza... i thought, since my mom's a crocheter, it would be a fantastic little project to do together as an heirloom type thing! i'm really excited about approaching her with it.
• to the right, we have the wonderful denise interchangeable knitting needles set, given to me by my honey! what a wonderful boyfriend. thanks honey! i immediately started knitting my mom a shawl on them, but realized there's work to be done! so then... onto the progress of hush hush...

day 1 - before leaving for our road trip i had just finished the first 5 inches! *phew*

only one problem... it appears as if i missed an extra 3(k2tog) and one row of the fan pattern in one panel is out of line with the others... my family thought it was hardly noticeable, and rather than spending an hour frogging i just kept going. *sigh* (i'll get a pic for you later)

onto tackling the eyelet section...

day 2 - on the way to harrisburg, pa, eyelets are completed! how exciting! and what a steady picture considering the rough terrain on the PA turnpike! onto the endless stockinette stitching + decreases

close up of the eyelets...

day 3 - no picture as of yet, but i have about 5 inches of stockinette stitch + decreases already finished! but this couldn't have been accomplished without the assistance of my wonderful boyfriend, who (knowing i have to have this thing done by august 12th) drove a total of 12 hours this past weekend to give me knitting time during our road trip. thanks, honey!

so hush hush continues on... more progress to come.

o, before i forget - ebay update - i won both auctions! looks like i know what i'll be knitting next. :-P carla-along and honeymoon tank-along, here i come!

knitting blogs: inspiration or facilitator of compulsive spending?

so yesterday i'm going through the list of knitting/crochet bloggers on kimmy's blog (hi kim!) and i happen upon the carla knitalong on the my life in stitches blog. how awesome is this sweater?

so i, being the ADD knitter i am, go and purchase the "it's a tape thing" book from the knitting garden. THEN i go to ebay and start placing bids on rowan tape yarn. i figure if i don't win this auction, i could always go to elann and pick up some katia ola as substitute. then, while i'm on ebay browsing for yarn, i notice someone has GGH Muench Mystik. earlier i had seen on creazativity a finished knitty honeymoon tank. how fantastic! so guess who places a bid on that one? you got it. so yesterday, i have total bids up to $80 and a knitting book in the mail for $17. can i ask something?

what the hell am i doing?

i'm not even close to finished with hush hush. i have a deadline of august 12th, now (i had assumed the wrong date). not to mention i have a stash the size of a small mountain. oh, yes, and i'm poor. that too. :-P is there a "knitter's anonymous" anywhere? lol...

rising in the ranks...

i think i can stop doubting my knitting skills. i am now a "tangy" knitter on knitty.com. :-P here's what 6 hours on hush hush looks like:

looking more "doily" than "nightie", but just wait and see...

close up! i feel accomplished.

the funny thing is, this was all accomplished while i was hanging out yesterday. i left work and knitted on the subway. i met up with friends in a restaurant and i knitted while waiting for food. we went to a bar and i knitted while sitting on a couch (good thing this was the place i used to go for my 'flipknits' crew last year, otherwise the staff would have looked at me funny!). i came home and knitted until i fell asleep at 2... i think i just can't wait until i get to the stockinette part, because after this hem it's smooth sailing. one suggestion, made by the owner, was that since it is a "wedding"-ish gift is that i make it a tad shorter and knit a pair of undies to go with it, which i think is a fabulous idea. i'm going to see if the SnB bikini bottoms will suffice as a counterpart for this, which it should since it's a simple string bikini. we'll see.

this project is making me really proud of my skills... the owner of dfly said to me last night, "wow, joy, i'm impressed." which, from her, means a lot since a) she never gives compliments, and b) she used to knit with me a year ago, so she knows how far i've come along with my skills.

*sigh* if i could do this and only this for the rest of my life, i would. :)

p.s. i have added pictures of my finished items on my previous posts, so if you would like to take a looksie scroll down. o, before i forget - my finished SnB tank girl.

the more i look at it, the more i wonder if i should just scrap it and do it over again. i look like the michelin man in it, i swear. and yes, i really like light blue. just remember, hush hush isn't for me.

hush-hush, i will conquer thee

after 6 hours and a pattern mis-read, causing me to frog a whole entire row (which is 360 stitches, mind you), i have completed a whole FIVE ROWS. lol... it's not as bad as i think it is, though... once you get past the first 5 inches with the fan pattern it's mostly stockinette the whole way, which is a-ok with me. and the yarn! the yarn is so yummy... normally, i'm not so big on cotton but this yarn is gorgeous! i'm definitely making my next sweater and/or poncho with it. that is, after i finish this thing. :-P thank god i have friday thru tuesday off so i have tons of knitting time ahead of me.

kip on hiatus is now on hiatus!

hehe... with the arrival of my yarn for hush-hush, i now have to do a major knitting overhaul and use every chance i get to work on it. i started the gauge swatch on the train this morning, and although the needles are tiny and the yarn is thin, it's knitting up so softly i can't resist it! i'm probably going to make a tank top version of this for myself. :-P so hush-hush in the works until finished. everything else is going to have to take a breather until this thing is finished.

hush-hush, now...

a productive weekend, kinda sorta. friday night, after a nice nap, i finished the turtle top from hollywood knits.

a little warm for new york city right now, but definitely great for layering over a long sleeve t-shirt for ice skating at wollman rink...

other than that no major knitting, but i did manage to get over to my mother's place to grab my 6 spools of 3/2 pearl cotton from halcyon yarn!

WOO HOO! hush-hush can now begin! too bad the bridal shower was yesterday. :-P can i just say, halcyon yarns is amazing... this being my first order, i received this huge catalog of yarns and fiber equipment... it's so evil... for my next gift to myself, i'm going to purchase the drop spindle kit so i can learn to spin my own yarn! so excited. or maybe i'll just grab that adorable hello kitty latch hook kit i found at target for $10. :-P

yes, i'm still addicted to hello kitty. sue me.

kip on hiatus

i never realized how much knitting i get done on the subway... i've been studying SQL on the train for the past week and have noticed that, although i've made progress with the turtle top (that's knitted at home), i really haven't gotten much done this week. how sad. is this how it's going to be when my classes start in the fall?

crochetme and other things...

crochetme has its own URL! woo hoo! congratulations and great work, kimmy!

as for the realm of my fiber-work, (other than needing to charge the batteries of my digital camera) i have completed the back panel of the turtle top in hollywood knits! woot! only thing is the longer i look at it, the more i question the sizing. is it me or is that "hollywood knits" book made for really skinny hollywood/euro-waif sized people? hmmm... pictures to come.

um.... knitted pasties?

ok, i'm done doing the cups on the SnB Queen of Hearts Bikini... i figured make it simple so i only did one color. i heard from the craftster site that the bikini knits up pretty small so do one size bigger. since i find myself to be kind of conservative, i went to the 3rd size (37 st). now, i'm not a big girl... i'm far from. last i remembered a 34B was about average. after i was done knitting these, i was downright embarrassed! these things are TINY! but i figured, make one set and then either fix it later (crocheted edges, etc.) or just learn from this one and make another one with a larger gauge. aiyah.

so, as i always do, i'm thinking of modifying the pattern and making it cleo-esque. i figured all i have to do is make a band under the cups and then create an apron for it... and since the cups are black i can do whatever i want for the apron part. we'll see how it goes!

the trouble with lamb's pride...

is that whenever i go to my LYS to get some, they are out of the color i need! *sigh* friday after work i decided to head over to school products on 28th street to pick up one skein of lamb's pride bulky in winter blue and they're all out! damned SnB for making lamb's pride so popular i can only go to online stores to purchase colors i want.... so instead of just leaving, i figured i might as well pick up some supplies for my next projects. trouble! i left with the following:

2 skeins lamb's pride bulky in lotus pink, 2 skeins of lamb's pride bulky in old sage, 2 addi turbo circulars (size 2/32", size 3/32"), and 1 size P crochet hook! and the damage? $64.95. so what was a 1 skein of lamb's pride day (totalling $7) ended up being a knitting shopathon! i really need to learn how to control myself in stores like that. *sigh*

so what are the supplies for? well, i've been toying with the idea of making that SnB marsupial tote that everyone's been gaga-ing over. or at least make a felted purse. they look really fun. so that's what the yarn's for... and the needles? well, i just ordered my 3/2 pearlized cotton to make hush-hush from the latest issue of knitty! not for me, though. kaitlyn's getting married and other than just getting them something from their registry, it would be nice to make something for her. :) i'm waiting for the yarn, so it's not going to start until the end of the month, probably.

other knitting news... i'm finished with tank girl! it makes me look a whole lot wider than i am, though, so i'm wondering about it... maybe converting it to a sleeveless turtleneck or something. o well. but i still need to block it, so i'll post it once i'm finished.

pictures pictures pictures!

yay! i know, finally. here are the two completed crochet hats from last week. not too shabby for a beginning crocheter, if i must say so myself. now if i could only crochet a perfect rectangle...

the BBBB - sorry the navy blue is too dark you really can't see the stitches or the progress... but it's going so well! i can't wait to finish.

and last, but not least, SnB tank girl! - as you can see from the picture, the back has been completed and now i'm off to do the front... but guess who's running out of yarn! as usual... maybe i should just stock up before i start a project so i don't run out while i'm knitting. now i have nothing to do on the train ride home!

so that's my progress so far. as you can see, i've been productive. i can't wait to get started on my next projects!

the hawaiian baby...

so this is jedi's nephew (who, by the way, is the cutest baby in the whole entire world!!!)who will probably get the BBBB, if he doesn't drool all over it first.

sorry, had to show the cute baby. :)

the two project switch off...

i think i'm going to start sticking to a schedule for my knitting projects now, so i can satisfy my knitting ADD while completing them. the BBBB is half over, and dangit, i'm going to take pictures i swear! i still have decide who gets it, since there are no babies around whatsoever. maybe jonah might want another baby blanket... but what would a baby in hawaii want an alpaca baby blanket for? lol

fan-friggin-tastic

have i mentioned i love knitting? well, i love it.

this weekend proved to be super productive, and i'm really excited about it. i headed home last night on a mission to get things done, and i'm happy about the results... i finished a few inches on the Blue Sky BBBB and hit past the halfway mark on my SnB tank girl! wooooooo hooooooo... this means i'm going to have a finished tank by the week's end (if i don't run out of yarn, that is... and i'm getting scared that that might be the case after this next skein). i really should tackle this poncho, so i think i'm going to (you got it) frog the damn thing (AGAIN!) and start over, but this time crochet it! i feel confident enough, i think it's time... wish me luck!

*ribbit*

dare i say it... i'm frogging the jiffy BBBB. i put the two BBBBs next to each other and the jiffy BBBB is seriously like twice the size! not to mention i've already gone through two skeins on maybe 10% of the pattern. oh well... fine with me, i can concentrate on my other projects.

so now i'm trying to do more crocheting, and i got myself over to barnes & noble with my brother this morning, and i must say... there are some crappy knitting and crocheting books out there. not like i could make a better book or anything, but there really aren't many creative projects out there. i think i saw one thing where there was a project weaving knitting panels together, but that was the only thing i really liked, other than the knitted and crocheted beaded jewelry. one of these days i'll venture out that way...

well i know what i'm doing this weekend...

and that's knitting, honey. i'm sitting at the computer at my mom's house and i must say... for the past 10 hours all i've been doing is sitting on my butt, switching off between knitting and crocheting. i swear that crochet bucket hat is the best thing since sliced bread... i finished another one today. seriously. only thing is, as usual, i ran out of yarn, so i made a nice white stripe right above the brim... think michael jackson in moonwalker. i'll post pictures once i get back to work on tuesday. :) other than that i've switched back to the blue sky alpaca BBBB and have about 1/3 of my SnB tank girl done! as i said, sitting on my butt knitting all day.

maybe i should knit and ride and exercise bike or something so they don't think i'm lazy...

i am a crocheting superstar!!!

so wonderful things yesterday...

• i finished the lamb's pride worsted crochet hat!!!
• and while i was home i grabbed a skein of noro iro and guess what? i finished another crochet hat! how exciting. i love making these things. i wanted to make another one, but thought since i got a twinge in my right wrist that i should switch back to knitting, so...
• i started making SnB's tank girl with lamb's pride bulky in winter blue.
  
  it's my new project until i...
• go and pick up my BBBB yarn from my mom's house! it arrived yesterday, but since my godsis's mom signed i'll just pick it up this weekend.

what a productive week in the world of yarn! tee hee...

foiled!

just as i'm ready to finish my hat... i realize it's too big. so i frog it again... then i get down to the brim. after two rows i'm realizing it's not jutting out enough. so onto this morning, i frog it again, make the brim, and right as i'm finishing off the brim... I RUN OUT OF YARN!!! i can never win...

and i think i'm developing carpal tunnel...