Brief Update...

Just a quick update so you won't be worried that some enterprising young zombie hunter has done me in.

Baby Hat # 2 (or 3? Who knows at this point) is at the halfway point (I think...). Should be able to wrap that one up by the end of the week. It will be similar to the baby hat I posted down below. Same yarn, but I'm doing a small version of Odessa since it is such a fun pattern to knit and the little girl that is getting it is rather stylish.

I also started on my thrummed mittens this week. (Right on time! Just like I planned! OMG!) The first mitt is moving along quite swimmingly! Worsted weight yarn and larger needles help it work up quickly. It's so Fluffy! and Squishy! It makes me wish I lived in some butt ass cold climate so I would have a reason to wear them. But alas it doesn't get so cold in Virginia. I'll have to knit some plain ol' mittens for myself. No smoosh for me!

I've recently been eyeing drop spindle kits on Etsy. I'd love to learn how to spin yarn, just to further my obsession a bit. But I'm making myself hold off for now as my knitting time is pretty limited between, work, homework, class and my boyfriend insisting on hanging out with friends every weekend. Maybe I'll buy one for myself closer to Christmas as a present to myself for getting all of my knitting presents done (or mostly done...or at least halfway done.)

And holy crap, I got nominated for some sort of blogger award. I will post on that soon, but gosh, way to make a total n00b feel good about herself!:)

Roving, thrumming, and cascade 220.

I got another package from the Loopy Ewe today. (yes, I know, I compulsively buy yarn) This yarn is destined for a specific project though (normally I just buy and figure out a pattern later). I've decided to make a pair of thrummed mittens for Kevin's Mom. What happened to the convertible mittens you ask? My ADD is what happened. That and I got scared at the idea of doing fingers. I figured she could use something that could keep her fingers nice and toasty while she's out walking on cold New England winter mornings. Kev said it would be different from what she already has so it would be a nice change of pace.

So I've got two cakes of Casecade 220. One in Alki beach and one in Persimmon. The Aliki beach looked a little more...beigey online. In person it is a little grayish but still works with the roving. The roving is Glenda the Good Witch from Perchance to Spin. It might be a bit nice for a thrummed mitten project, but I wanted pretty roving and I know nothing about buying it. I'm hoping to perhaps maybe find a lady at the LYS to spin it/teach me how to spin after I get my thrums just to get a taste of spinning. I haven't decided what color I'll do for Kevin's Mom yet. Probably the Persimmon, it is such a lovely color.

The sock is coming along nicely. I'm about halfway down the foot now, and my heel came together so much better this time around. I'm just dying to get it done but it's taking forever. I can only usually get about 10-12 rows knit a day. But I am working on a baby hat finally, so that is slowing me down a bit. I have a feeling it's going to be a bit big, but babies only get bigger so it'll grow into it eventually, right?

Prioritizing

I’m starting to think about the holidays and who will get what for Christmas this year. Last year I made nearly all of the Christmas presents I gave. Scarves, hats, dish cloths…I was pretty busy right up until the last minute. I’m not going to make nearly as many presents this year seein’ as how the dish cloths I made my sister sat in a box for the entire year and I don’t think I ever saw my nieces in scarves/hats that I made for them. There are some gifts that I would like to make though and they will take more time since they will be more complicated than the standard scarf/hat patterns I did last year. So I need to prioritize what’s on my to-do list and figure out what needs to get made first. Sadly, this may interrupt my sock knitting (that is going along swimmingly! I’m working on the heel flap now!). Working fulltime and taking class/dealing with homework 2/3 nights a week doesn’t help with the free knitting time either. Boo.

So the list:

Newest Addition

I haven't been to my LYS in quite a while so I stopped by this afternoon on my lunch break to pick up some yarn to make some hats for a LJ friend's little girls (soon to come baby, and tot). She requested something in fall colors and this yarn is just perfect. It's got lovely shades of red, purple, brown and orange in it. And it was only $6 a hank for kettle dyed yarn. Not bad! Now on to the pictures.








I haven't settled on a pattern for a hat though. If anyone knows of a good pattern for little girls please feel free to toss it out there. I'm open to suggestions.