OMG Y'all!

I need this yarn. Like, seriously.

Zombie BBQ? That yarn was made for me!

Free yarn!

There are few things I love more than getting free yarn. My lovely boyfriend gave me a $25 gift certificate to the Loopy Ewe for my birthday on Thursday. I just picked out what I wanted and I'm pretty excited about my purchase.

I got a hank of Cherry Tree Hill Fingering Semi-solid in Cherry (on sale for $12! w00t!) and a hank of Malabrigo lace in Taureg.

I'm definitely thinking I may make a Citron with the Malabrigo. That blue is just gorgeous and I think I'd just look smashing with it next to my face with my blue eyes and red hair. Not sure what I'll do with the Cherry Tree Hill. Maybe a pair of Monkeys? That would be awfully fun. I just couldn't pass it up at that price and I don't have any red yarn to speak of.

I also recently purchased some Malabrigo worsted from the Loopy Ewe. I'll post pictures of that as soon as I wind it into balls. Still no ball winder thanks to Joanne's website being ultra stupid. Grr. 

I did knit a fair amount on Manda's scarf last night while watching the new Star Trek movie. I knit through the whole thing, only taking a brief break for cake. I still didn't get entirely through the hood portion but at least it was progress. 

Just a quick progress update.

Guess what I'm still working on? Yup, that's right, Manda's Peak Island Hood Scarf. Yes, still. But I feel like I'm making some progress. I took some pictures just to show yes I am working on it!

I've got through the hood increases. Now I'm working on the length of the hood before doing the decreases and finishing the body.

I can tell it's going to be seriously warm and cozy. My Mom liked it and said "Oh you can make me one when you're finished!". Ha. Yeah, I laughed. I'm never doing an all seed stitch project ever again. I could perhaps see doing this one in straight garter stitch and just following the method for the hood increases. That would make it go by a lot faster. But now I've learned my lesson about seed stitch.

I've also picked up my poor neglected sock that I started before Christmas. I turned the heel and I am now decreasing the gusset. I'm only working on it when I can't handle the thought of another row in seed stitch, just as a monotony breaker.

I'm still loving how colorful this yarn is for a brown and can't wait to wear these socks.

So there you go! Sorry for not having much to update about, but I don't want to keep boring you guys with all the whining about seed stitch. I did want to post though so you wouldn't think I had ditched this blog for the food blog (seems as though my meals have been way more interesting than my knitting lately).

Only moderately related to knitting.

And by moderately, I mean not at all.

I just wanted to post a link to another blog I've started. It's a dedicated food blog that I've decided to start now that I'm experimenting more with food and branching out trying new recipes. I just figured I'd share it here in case any of you guys are into food too.

http://booandmae.blogspot.com/

Don't worry, I'll still blog my knitting! Still slowly trudging away at Manda's hood scarf. Halfway through the hood now. A scarf really shouldn't take this long but I swear when I'm working in seed stitch I'm only getting like 2 pattern repeats done in an hour!

Finally finished a project!

Alright, I finally finished a project despite my winter blahs. I worked on the Thorpe yesterday afternoon so I could finally give it to my friend Mike after promising him an ear flap hat, oh, say 3 months ago? I was worried as I was making that it was going to be way too big. And the problem with knitting top down is you can't try the hat on as you go if you're using 16" circs.

It is a very easy and quick knit. I got a little confused towards the end when switching from working in a circle to going back and forth but I just worked through the pattern and it turned out ok. It took most of a ball of Knit Pick's Wool of the Andes bulky weight.

And of course there are pictures.





It was a wee bit too big on me so I was worried at first.



But no worries. It fits Mike just fine!



My only problem is now Kevin wants an earflap hat. He was totes jealous of Mike's hat. Arg!

Winter blahs kicking in...

I didn't knit at all yesterday. Not one stitch. I'm not even sure I knit anything the day before either.

Must not let lethargic tendencies take over. Must keep knitting. Have scarf to finish. Still need to add wings to Cthulu! (First, figured out how to crochet again!)

I'm such a slacker!

Thrope!

So I finally managed to slough through the 28inches of seed stitch for Manda's scarf and have made it to the hood increases. It's amazing how a simple little change in a pattern like increasing every other row just suddenly makes a pattern interesting again. It definitely reminded me why I haven't bothered to knit myself any scarves yet. They. Just. Take. So. Damn. Long. AGGG! But it does look nice and it feels nice and I think it will turn out just swell once it's finished!

So in the meantime, to keep myself knitting and sane I started working on a Thorpe hat for my friend Mike since I promised him an ear flat hat ages ago and never got around to it thanks to Christmas knitting. A few thoughts 1.) WTF? Cast on 4 stitches and put them on 4 different needles?! IT'S IMPOSSIBLE! I couldn't keep them straight and needles kept slipping out all willy nilly. I had to just knit the first two rounds on one needle then divide and start knitting in the round. 2.) I definitely prefer working from the bottom up instead of top down for that very reason. I've got a stupid looking hole at the top of my hat that I'll have to sew up now. 3.) At least it's working up quickly.

I wound up two more balls of yarn on my swift from Kevin. Still no ball winder though. It's not bad as long as I'm doing worsted weight or heavier, but the fingering weight hank I wound took FOR-EV-ER. Stupid Joann's needs to get their website working already.

Sorry no pictures this time around! Maybe after I get some more progress made on the scarf or the Thorpe! I at least wanted to start the new year off with a blog before I got too lazy.