A Pattern Fetish

I think I have one. Yes, yarn gets me all excited, but due to my budgetary restraint, I can muster up yarn willpower....I cannot resist the temptation for free patterns. or not so free patterns, come to think of it.

I really need to get ahold of my need to collect more as I have easily 20 magazines and 7 books plus 650+ free on Ravelry. I don't need anymore, and yet....

I have a new book coming from Amazon and I cannot wait for it to get here.....

5 Reasons To Try And Lose Weight

5: I will be healthier.
4: I will look and feel better and sexier.
3: I will be able to wear the cute clothes.
2: Better bedroom time (Come on, you know what I mean!)

And the Number 1 Reason I am trying to lose weight:

The smaller I am, the less yarn I will need for the clothes I want to make. Less yarn to fit = more yarn I can buy! :)

Bring it on!
Theresa

Priorities!

So I need desperately to prioritise my works in progress.

It is devastatingly sad that my startitis is getting this bad. Let's run through the projects I have going...shall we?

Hazel Projects:

1. Her Uggs...they are 1/2 finished...meaning one shoe is finished and I've yet to cast on the 2nd.

2. The Can-Can skirt I'm designing her...I frogged the first trial, deciding life will be much better if I just rip it out and start all over...this time working from the top down so that I can have much better size control. So right now it's occupying one of my Boye's interchangeables as only a cast on.

3. A Pull-over I'm designing for her. I'm really really excited about this one, and I love knitting up the stitches (it's lacework).

4. Her slippers I designed her...I found the cutest baby slippers at Target while I was Preggo...the only problem was that they only came in blue and white and the largest they got was 3-6 mos. I looked at them and thought...I can make these. So I bought them, took them home and knitted them up. The first pair was HUGE. But I managed to get this pair the correct size. I think I want to add a little something to them, though, as they still don't seem girly enough for me....

Other People Projects:

1. Adam's ManBag...I designed a purse for Lindsay for her birthday, and once Adam saw it, he wanted me to design him one, smaller (to hold just one or two books), plainer, and more masculine. I got it started, but, and this is really the only explaination I can come up with, lost interest and haven't gotten farther than....

2. A Scarf for Lindsay for christmas. I was originally going to make and keep it for myself, but, about 2 triangles in, I realized that it's the end of September and I haven't even begun Christmas projects, yet. Then Brett pointed out that it matches the purse I made her, so, hopefully she'll like it, as it's her first gift.

3. Adam's Juggling Balls...I made one of this poor belated birthday present. And They're actually very fast, I just need to get on the other 2...Poor Adam.

I've got a ton of other projects that I'm itching to start, but I think, for the sake of preventing any more UFOs (UnFinished Objects to laymen), I need to knock some of these out of the to-do list....that way I can get started on more christmas gifts...and there's a LOT!

No time!

I haven't had time to knit much lately...sewing too much. Will write more later.

My first hank winding

So, last night, I wound my first hank with my new Wool Winder. Love it.

For some odd reason, though, I chose to wind my 100% silk laceweight from Fyberspates as my test run. Thankfully, God sent a knitting angel to watch over me and my yarn.....
While I was at IKnit, I debated buying a Wooden Umbrella Swift from Loop. Their kinda expensive and I wasn't sure if I wanted to try to find the space to use it....After last night, however, Brett insists I have one. I used him as my swift. :) For those of you dedicated readers who don't know what a swift is, it's a contraption that holds a hank of yarn neatly so that you can wind it into a useable ball (you cannot knit or crochet from a hank...it is certain death of your yarn if you try). His response to me using his hands as my make-shift swift (say that 3 times fast) was that I need to find and order one off the internet and see if they're willing to expedite it :) He had it easy....atleast I started small....that hank held 440 yards of silk, the bigger one...it hold 2400 yds.

Hey, I'm not completely cruel, he had a beer and I was letting him watch soccer. His hands were mine......

IKnit Day 2008 (oh, and London, too)

Where do I begin???? IKnit Day was wonderful and glorious and HOT. Wow. I walked into the convention center and it was sweltering....full of women (and a few men) and just tons of wool (and other glorious materials). I've never actually contemplated being naked in public before then, but, being in the craziness of IKnit, I would have been more than happy to bare all just to get through it! There were knitters EVERYWHERE. 1/2 of the room was dedicated to stalls for shopping, and the other 1/2 was the mainstage, and workshop areas. Chairs with knitters doing what they did best filled every little nook and cranny of the mainstage 1/2...save 2 aisles on both sides of the stage for passerbys...It was crazy.

In my naive little head, I thought it would be best to hit the stalls and so some shopping before the yarn was all picked over. Silly me thought I would actually be ABLE to get to the stalls. Knitters are rude!!!!! There's no queing for a chance to look...people WILL and DO cut in front of you.

I have to admit I was a little overwhelmed with all the possibilities of yarn. My first purchase was at the Purlescence stall. I got cute little Pattern Markers!!!

I just think they're so fun. The only things is, with traveling, they don't seem to stay on my pattern too well, but that's OK, they're cuteness makes up for their travel ineptness!

I got some really pretty China Palace silk DK....

I think I'm going to knit up something for Hazel out of it. I can't quite decide. There's plenty for a shrug for her, which I think would be darling. Can't quite decide, though.....I just love the colors.

Then I managed to snag a Sushi Sock Roll from the Easy Knits stall. I'm so excited to get started this one. I just need to decide what socks I want to knit up with it....Look how gorgeous the colors are!

I can't just knit a plain ole borning sock with this gorgeous stuff. Hmmm....

Then I saw the most amazing incredible gorgeous breathtaking wool I have ever laid my eyes (and hands) on. And it was stupidly expensive. But when I saw it (and touched it) it was like "AHHHHH...AHHHHHH...Ahhhh" The heavens opened up and a choir of angels sang. I stewed about it for a while....and stewed about it more. Then I sucked it up and bought it....

I hate these pictures, though b/c they aren't showing the colors. The bright blues are bright purple in real life.....Oh, these pictures just make it look boring.....

Yikes!!!! I gotta get ready for mom & tots!!!!! Will type again later!

Way cute!

She is WAY cute Carli! I hope she won an award!

Finished Grandpa's hat! Yeah! Pics to come!

My alien!

She's finished!!!!!!

She won't win any awards, but she's fun! Now, just for a name and home planet......

Who Said They Need Faces?

Really? Who Said Alien's need faces? Do something crazy with it instead!

I would say yarn or Harlot is a tough choice...I wonder what I would do? I'd really have to think on that!

Dad likes his scarf so far...I'm glad, I"m finally getting the ang of the cables...be a real shame to have to rip it all out!

Love,
Theresa

I hate Aliens

Ok, so not really aliens, just their faces....

The lips I made don't work, so I tried embroidering on a pair....no go. Looks really bad....

Think I'm gonna work on something I like to get me motivated

My alien

So part of the I Knit Day 2008 is the entry of a knitted or crocheted alien of your own design. It can't be based off an alien in any story or tv show or movie, it has to be ENTIRELY your creation. I wasn't sure if I wanted to do it or not, but as I've been going along, I've been having SO much fun making this gal up. She has a head, body, legs, feet, and arms. Right now, I'm working on her hot pink lips.

I'm struggling something awful on her eyes, though. I don't want to embroider them on, as I feel that's the easy way out, but everything I've knit so far, has been too big. I may try to add on some bobbles...if those don't work, I may fall back on the whole embroidery thing....

Guess I should focus on the rest of her for now....maybe I'll have a moment of genius....

5 days till I Knit....and counting....