More progress on my Pomme de Pin!
I’m really enjoying the lace pattern, it’s really exciting and definitely not boring…
Its going really quickly, and I’m sure I’ll reach the 17″ in no time ^_^
Bertie found it very shortly after I took pictures, and decided to take ownership of it, haha.
I don’t have the heart to take him off… He’s just too cute. Oh my goodness, haha.
Bertie and I are quite sad that I haven’t posted in like a week and a half. Thats crazy, I’ve never done that before… and I hope I don’t do that again, haha.
What was I doing? School got extremely crazy, midterms right and left.. non-midterms that had to be done.. Homework and tests were coming out my ears. Plus, I wasn’t really feeling that amazing, so that didn’t help. Oh, the joys of college.
So because of all hectic school and being tired all the time, my knitting mojo went waaaaay down.
“Wat, Grace, how can your knitting mojo have gone down? You’re always knitting!” you may be thinking.
This is true, but I wasn’t like bouncing off the walls about what I was knitting, and wasn’t really motivated to talk about it. (This is not to say that I’m not knitting awesome things, I am. I’m so excited about all the things on the needles. Just at the time, I was so tired I didn’t even feel like knitting. It was a bummer, haha!)
During one of my study breaks, my mom and I watched Diane of the Knitabulls podcast, episode #102 from March 14th entitled “Knitting What Makes Me Happy”.
Diane is so adorable and sweet, if you enjoy knitting podcasts, I definitely recommend hers… check it out! But in this episode, she talked about how this year she was only going to knit on things that made her happy! She wasn’t going to be pressured to finish things she cast on, if they had become a little tedious or boring to work on.
I love that. I don’t consider knitting (and all crafting) as something that I have to do in order to get a sweater or a hat the end… because I need a sweater or a hat. I do it because I *love* to knit. The things I knit are fun, and I’m excited about how they’ll turn out.
That kind of got lost amongst all my school, and knitting wasn’t quite as excited as it had been without the school. I didn’t want to knit on something half-heartedly then throw up a blog post without the passion behind the project, if that makes sense.
So here I am again! Because I took Diane’s idea to heart, and cast something new on because I could and because it’d make me feel good, haha! Despite the fact that I have several sweaters going, a couple shawls going and a wall full of yarn.
Over spring break, my family and I made a crazy fast road trip in one day… Houston to College Station to Austin, then home. In one day. But it was AWESOME. In Austin we stopped by the Hill Country Weavers (Oh my goodness. One of the best yarn stores I’ve ever been in. If you have a chance to go there, GO THERE. NOW.)
and we saw their shelf of Brooklyn Tweed… both Loft and Shelter. My mom and I squee-ed a bit, haha :-P
We came prepared though! A couple days earlier I had found a Pomme de Pin cardigan by Amy Christoffers that had been done in Loft! It was absolutely gorgeous…(you can check it out here!) and that sold both my mom and I on making one. Before we had been kinda like “ehhh, it’s so cute. But I don’t know about what yarn”. Loft is the yarn.
So we came home with several skeins of Loft, in addition to many other things (eh heh. It’s nearly impossible to go in there and not want to buy everything. I challenge you to go in there with something in mind, and not come out with at least one thing extra, hahaha!)
This is my color… and it’s so beautiful. I love the little flecks of black that show up. So yes, I cast on on… Sunday. Then today after my last class, I was almost done with the first lace repeat. Holy banana, it’s so gorgeous! And squishy! And it smells good!!
My mom got the Almanac colorway, which is that bright blue… but yet subtle enough so it’s still really classy. It’ll be adorable.
What else did we get? Well, I ended up getting a couple skeins of various MadTosh…
The ones closest to the bottom are Merino Lite, the other three are DK. I’m not quite sure what I’ll be doing with them… but I know that whatever I do… it’ll be EPIC.
Bertie approves too ^_^
So, I’m back, knitting upon things that make me happy. I do apologize for my absence – I missed blogging!
Because I have lots of classes, I cast on something – I deserve a reward, people. Even though I have lots of other stuff going. I did it because I could.
Fellow knitterly-blogger, Amy of Knit, Purl…wait, what?, posted a picture of some fingerless gloves she was making on Instagram, and I was absolutely smitten. I had to make a pair.
So I picked up a skein of Cascade sock yarn at Yarntopia while I was at work, and cast on ^_^ How could I resist the purple? It was calling my name!
It’s the “zombie viXen” by Susan Claudino (free pattern on ravelry, woot woot!)
Lots of little cables, such an interesting knit. I’m trying to justify that I did cast these on, with the fact that I’m learning a new skill – cabling without a cable needle.
This is turning out to be more unsettling than I was expecting. With the little stitches and needles, when the stitches have to kinda just sit there and be moved… I get nervous. But! No big mistakes yet, I’m determined to master this skill.
Bertie is obviously a huge fan. Obviously.
I took this picture about 3 days ago… so it’s definitely out dated, because I’ve finished the body and almost both sleeves (eh heh ^_^)
But I loved the colors so much, so I had to post the picture, heehee :-P
I’ve been extremely busy last week and this week, holy banana, haha! But it’s been good ^_^
I had my birthday (20, waaat!), which I’ll post about soon. I sang for a wedding, along with my church’s girls’ choir (awesomeeee!) and did a little bit of celebratory things with my family when we could snatch a moments. Annnd then there’s homework, haha.
But! Knitting time did happen, lots of time in the car. So, my little Seagrass is almost 100% done.
Bertie has been helpful, obviously. So much so, that I’m going to finish the ribbing on the second sleeve tonight and pick up the edging and… who knows, maybe finish that, haha!
Anyways, I’ve taken pictures the past couple days of new and blog-worthy items… so, hopefully I’ll be able to write the posts to go along with them soon ^_^
Ahh, the time constraints of a college student.
Bertie would like to wish everyone a most happy Valentines day, may you be single or not. May it be filled with chocolate, at least one thing either red or pink (of any shade), and people you love.
Valentine’s day also means another thing for me this year, haha. This is my last day as a teenager. Which is a scary thing to think about. I’ve come to love being 19. But I shall be 19 no longer, come tomorrow.
Haha! So, I got an early gift for my birthday from my amazing parents. I got a new bed! A big girl bed, at that. It’s a queen. And it’s huge. Annnnd I love it ^_^ Now there should be enough room for both Bertie and I.
I’m working on some happy stuff right now. Mainly this (but you all know, there’s ton more :-P),
When I went to take pictures of it… I set it up all nice, turned around to get my camera, turned back around only to find…
That. He’s so helpful, isn’t he? My back wasn’t turned for more than 5 seconds. Little orange cat knows what he wants. Psh.
So I moved him, since I needed the picture. You can tell I offended him greatly.
Anyways! I’m loving knitting on this. I cast it on a couple days into February… This Seagrass by Cecily Glowik MacDonald.
I have about half an inch left on the ribbing section before I start on the lace pattern at the bottom. I’m curious as to if I’ll actually have enough yarn. Yard number wise, it says I will… But looking at it, I’m not sure. Oh well, haha! Just gotta wait and see ^_^
So, besides my Hitchhiker, I have another bring-to-class project that I’ve been working on…
These are the Ribbed Hand Warmers by the Purl Bee. I finished the first one back at the beginning of Jan…
I am quite enjoying knitting on these! It’s so much fun bringing DPNs to class and everyone being like “O.o… what are you doing?!” Ohhh, the joys of a knitter, heehee :-P
Bertie wishes everyone a happy Friday! ^_^
I always forget how hectic homework and school can be. I get home from school around 2ish, work on homework all afternoon, then after dinner realize that I haven’t written a blog post. Aggggh, school, why must you commender all my time?! Why!??!??
There are good reasons though, haha. Its definitely going to be worth it :-)
But! Just because I’m not blogging does not mean that I’m not making major progress on some old projects and possibly starting new ones ;-P (You all know me… I go weak at the knees when it comes to starting a new project)
The hands add a lovely touch. Yay for photobombing brothers. Joey stuck his hands in the frame right as I was taking the picture, haha.
Anyways, what is this going to be?! This row of deliciously squishy Shelter… is going to become Seagrass by Cecily Glowik MacDonald (ravelry link!) out of her semi-recently published book, Landing! There are quite a few adorable patterns in there I hope to make in the future :-P
We went to go see the Houston Opera put on Showboat (which technically, is a musical by definition… which is what they did! Made it even more epic, the opera people doing the musical songs ^_^) and I brought Seagrass to work upon, since it was just plain raglan increases every 4 rows, or whatever.
I actually didn’t do all the raglan increases, because by the time I had like 2 left (of the every 4th row increase kind), it was already a little longer than the pattern said it should be.. by the time you were *done* with ALL the increases.
Soooo, I decided to divide for the armholes, haha. And I’m glad I did. When I got home, I tried it on and it fits really well. Though, it is a bit hard to tell *now*, since its still on the needles and all that jazz. But, it doesn’t seem to be as baggy in the general sleeve area, like some of my other sweaters. So! It’ll be interesting to see how that all works out ^_^
Bertie has been helping me with school. By basically inhabiting my bed when I’m on my bed… and inhabiting my desk when I’m at my desk. Which gets extremely crowded, haha. My laptop, all my textbooks and notebooks, a cup of tea, *cough* maybe some knitting *cough*, and a cat.
Yeah, it’s kinda crowded, haha.
Christmas Project update!! Progress has been slow, but sure! Meadowbrook is turning out amazingly well!
When I went to take pictures, and something happened. And… well… I’ll just show you what happened.
He’s such a sweet cat, haha. So helpful ^_^
This color is quite neon, isn’t it? I love it, haha. It’s so awesome. And obviously, Bertie loves it too, haha.
This is going to be Geysir Stretch from Stephen West’s ChoreoKAL that he’s doing from November 16th – December 7th. You can find out more about that on his facebook page...
It’s a pattern every Friday between those days, Geysir Stretch being the first one (the 16th). Next one, Aurora, is coming out on Friday, the 23rd.
My yarn is Manos Wool Classica (the cream and the grey) and Manos Maxima (for the neon pink, haha). And I’m doing it on size 10s. (partly because I wanted it a bit more open, and partly because I couldn’t find size 9s ^_^)
At the moment, I’m almost done with section 2, which is repeat of 8 rows. As you can guess, since it’s a shawl, the rows are getting extremely long. But I’m NOT going to give up. No. I’m going to get it done!
Which is why I’m bringing it to school today to work on, haha.
There’s something about the yarn that makes Bertie go yarn-happy (or, basically how he acts when he’s on catnip, haha). Maybe there’s a sheep smell in the Wool Classica…That usually gets him pretty happy, haha.
My college gets out Wednesday, at 4:30 (when the schools close)… True, I’m done with classes by 9:00am, haha. But still, that’s pretty late! Anyone else getting out really late??
Finally, after all this time… I begin working on the edge on the Color Affection shawl.
There sure are a lot of stitches, haha. But I’ve had some help… :-P
We all know he’s such a big help. Getting cat hair all over the place…
Modeling things when I need it…
Oh yes…
He is such a helper ^_^
