Spoiled Rotten

Hello Knitters! Wow, I must say when the weather changed, I became way too excited and wanted to knit with some new bright fun colors! First, I got out my new sock yarn and started to knit with it. After 2 rounds I was so frustrated I ripped the whole thing and re-wound the yarn into two separate balls. When knitting two at a time socks, the yarn becomes very tangled and you must untangle it with the balls of yarn... but that is impossible if the yarn is wound together! I spent roughly an hour or so rewinding :(

Then, I bought too short of circular needles to knit two at a time... ARGH! Talk about an off day!! So, to make up for it, I bought my summer yarns :)

I fell in love with the new Madeline Tosh sock yarns! I also let my little man pick out his sock yarn :) YUMMY! I love new yarn! Its like a kid in a candy store!

As for today, my family and I went to the St. Patrick's Day Parade with some good friends. It was beautiful outside. After a great day outside, we are all relaxing and its time to get going on some of this new yarn...

Until next time, keep knitting.

Quick Late Night Post

Hello all. I have been working on a quick project for my cousin. They recently had a wonderful baby boy. I started it about a week ago. Today I just tied in the ends.

Here is the finished product.

I will send it off tomorrow! When I was knitting the second sock, I let my son Nolan where the first to see how the size fit. He cried when I told him he had to take it off. I guess that means I am making a second pair soon!
We were busy here this past weekend. My brother and his boyfriend came and visited. They really seemed to hit it off with Nolan. It was great to have them visit. My main goal of moving closer to home was to make sure all of my family was closer. I really want Nolan to have a relationship with his aunts, uncles, grandparents... It is nice to see that is finally working out.
Well, now is the hard part, I am not sure what I want to knit next. I have 2 projects on needles. The scarf and my first attempt at 2-at-once socks. I decided not to start anything until both projects are done..... It is just hard because the weather is so nice and both projects are more for the winter. Hummm maybe I will start something new.....

Until next time, keep knitting.

TADA!

Hello knitters. I could not wait to post these pictures. I finished the citron shawl last night and I am just so freaking excited and proud! Check it out:

I am not a big fan of shawls so I will wear it like a cowl. Here is the whole piece:

And here is my favorite part, the beaded edge:

Okay so here are the details. I found the pattern on Susan Anderson's blog. I loved it. The pattern is called Citron Shawl by Hilary Smith Callis. On Susan's blog she added the beads and increased the size of the shawl. I also did these steps. Here is the link to the tutorial for how to add the beads.

As for the yarn I used Madelinetosh lace weight yarn in alizarin color. It's the first project I have ever made for myself and I am pretty proud!

Finally, Nolan had his first ever Shamrock Shake in honor of Paul's return.

Twins! They are just too cute and sweet!

Until next time, keep knitting ;)

New Sock Yarn

So I came home from work on Monday to find this in my mailbox.

I am in love. This is Turtlepurl Yarns on artfire.com. This is self stripping sock yarn. Here is the exact item I purchased (its sold now though :P) The coolest part about this yarn is that it is balled with two strands so you can knit two of the exact same stripping socks at one time. YIPPEE! This is perfect motivation to finish other projects.

I am taking a couple days of vacation this week to relax and work on stuff around the house. It has been crazy busy and I just want time to slow down. (Of course time to knit as well!) My husband is out of town all this week so it is just me and the bear. A bit of alone time during the day will be fantastic! Although, Nolan and I are having a blast hanging out every night.

  Keep knitting.

Citron Shawl

I recently saw the citron shawl (by Hilary Smith Callis) posted on Susan B. Anderson's blog and I fell in love. So with my gift card for Lakeside Fibers and I bought the material for making the shawl. I got Madelinetosh lace weight yarn in alizarin color.

I started the pattern about two weeks ago. Unforntunately, my dog ripped apart my first attempt. However, the second attempt looks much better and is coming along nicely!

With this project, I found a lot of stitch markers to be VERY helpful! However, they can get a bit pricy. I decided to pick up a bag of small rubber bands for $0.99 at Walgreens and used those every 10 stitches.

I have also gotten a bit farther on the gaptastic cowl. Its pretty fast but extremely boring to knit. Plus, I have never knitted myself something and I feel its about time I did so.

Finally, I have not worked on the project in a while but I will again soon. Probably after my shawl is done. Here is the current status of my 2-at-a-time socks.

I must say I recently started using addi TURBO needles and I love them! I just wish they were cheaper. I will start buying these needles as project requires different sizes. Which brings me to the my newly queued project, Spud from Spud and Chloe. I am so excited. A family member just had a baby and I think a cute Spud would be the perfect gift!

I will end with a cute picture of my little man... who is growing up way too fast!

Too cute even without pants! Until next time, Happy Knitting.

Not too much new going on, I have been pretty busy with a work and my son. Nolan is such a great kid however, lately he is hitting the terrible twos. It seems like he is throwing a temper tantrum every 5 seconds! I try so hard to just let him throw it but it is so stinkin' hard to watch him angry and do nothing. I just want him to be happy but not a jerk from getting whatever he wants.
The other night, there was  a bit of snow so we took him out in the grass and let him play around.

Here he is with my husband after they finished shoveling. Two of a kind! They are the cutest two around! This past weekend we took Nolan to the children's museum! He had such a great time and did not want to leave.

As for knitting, I am still working on my socks. I really enjoy knitting two socks at once. It is so much easier than I thought it would be. I have also started another cowl for my sister-in-law. I am making the gap-tastic-cowl. It's done on 13 circular needs and it feels like I am knitting with sausages! Its going by pretty fast so I should be done within a day or two.

As promised, I will do a "where to begin knitting" post for some friends. I love that so many of my friends want to learn how to knit! I find it so relaxing and just all around amazing. I love different yarns and the beautiful colors.

Until next time, keep knitting.

Holiday Happenings

Hello all. With all of the holiday fun, I have been so busy. I finished the steam punk cowl (inspira cowl) and it turned out wonderful! I gave it to my sister for Christmas and she loved it.

The picture with the pattern shows the women wearing the cowl around her shoulder... I am pretty sure that there is no way this cowl would fit over the shoulder unless you increased the number of stitches!
 My sister also started knitting and finished her first project. I am really impressed. I love how it turned out. The colors are just beautiful! She actually gave me the cowl as a present.

 I have started my next project which is knitting two socks at once. A friend showed me a youtube video that really helped explain each step of the sock. After the first inch or so it becomes extremely easy to see how the whole set up works. Plus you do not have to worry about second sock syndrome, which I have!

I am actually about 2 inches farther but I do not have picture yet!
As for future projects, my budget is starting to get tight and I have realized that I can buy pretty good yarn at craft stores such as Michaels and Hobby Lobby for a lot cheaper. I love the yarn store but knitting every project with yarn from a yarn store would be too expensive!
I am going to start a baby blanket soon. The pattern is pretty simple. I do not have a pattern to link to because it is in a book and I am not will to purchase the book. Its simply knitting and perling squares with color changing yarn. I am excited to find some color changing yarn after work tonight to start the project!
As for our holiday, it was absolutely wonderful. We saw family, had great food, and fun together! The first night my father took Paul and I out to eat at Piggy's in La Crosse. Unfortunately, Nolan was acting up and had to stay home with Paul's parents. We had amazing food at Piggy's accompanied by great music.
The following day, Christmas eve, we had a great dinner cooked by my mother-in-law. We saw the rotary lights at Riverside park. Finally, Christmas day we saw my mom, my father and went back and hung out with Paul's parents. We got so many gifts, we were absolutely spoiled. I received many items including a new knitting book, One-Skein wonders. It has some pretty cute projects that I am excited to get started on.

Happy Knitting and Happy New Year.