and I’ve made a lot of progress as well… I’m just started the ribbing at the bottom… which is awesome!

Our Julissas are moving moving along, and I can’t wait to see mine and Hannah’s all finished. And then maybe… we’ll be able to wear them together :-P

I have the cutest cat ever. Ever ever ever. ^_^ (We’ll ignore the fact that I am biased, haha)

So last night, while catching up with the most recent episodes of Downton Abbey and Once Upon a Time (which are both AMAZING tv shows, I highly recommend them) I hung out with mah ladybug. (which, thinking about that.. it’s really fun to say. “Me and my ladybug. We’re tight.”… haha :-P)

This was during Downton Abbey, and I adore this yarn. Er, fiber. Whatever you wanna call it. The colorway is called Toasted Macaroon (how could you not love something named *that*??)

It’s 100% Super fine merino top from Colinette

I used this… braid/bump/roving/whatever to try spinning thicker, and try and get a worsted… and I think I succeeded, haha, for the most part. I ended up getting 366 yds, which is pretty awesome. It’s soft enough it could definitely go around my neck, or be close to my skin. Awesomeness.

And during Once Upon a Time, I niddy-noddied (definitely a verb. Oh yes) some green stuff that I had plied about a week ago… or something.

I got 140 yds of a worsted, I think. I got the fiber from Northbound Knitting, and it was absolutely amaaaaaazing. I have one more braid from there, and I can’t wait to use it.

Yes, I have the cutest cat. in the entire world. End of story.

Sooooooo… I really really really love Julissa. ^_^

It’s turning out so well. Last night I was able to finish the waist decreases and begin the increases. Major progress.

So because of that. I feel justified for starting something new.

YES, YES, I KNOW I SHOULDN’T. But I couldn’t help it.

Before you judge me, haha, let it be known that I did finish TWO ENTIRE projects that were old and collecting dust in that UFO bin that keeps on laughing at me. Two whole projects.

Plus, Hannah, who lives way to far away in my opinion, told me she was going to be making it. And I wanted to soooo sooo bad. And, I mean, we were going to the yarn store. How could I not?? KALs are just too much fun. Even more so when you do them with friends.

Haha, you’re probably wondering what are we’re making…

Pattern: Julissa by Vanessa Smith

Hannah’s Project info
Needles: US7 (4.5mm)
Yarn: Malabrigo Rios
Colorway: Augus

My needles: US4 and US7 (3.5mm and 4.5mm)
My yarn: Liberty Wool by Classic Elite Yarn
Color Number: 7815 (Olive) (Dye lot: 5739)

I just got past the second waist decreases, and have awhile to go, still. But It’s going pretty quickly! I officially started it on… Friday, Jan 20th. So I think I’ve made pretty good progress since then, haha.

Also, being the good knitter that I am, always working towards my goals, I’ve been working on old stuff. Like I said at the beginning, haha.

The leggings.. I got that far, then ran out of yarn. But that’s ok, cause as you all know… I love going to the yarn store ^_^

Because I ran out of yarn for the leggings, I pulled out my next “It’s gotta get done” project.

Trillian, which… I don’t remember starting, or getting the yarn, or anything, haha. All I know… is that I need to get it done :-P I adore the yarn, though. It’s Mint Chocolate by Colinette. It is pooling, which isn’t my favorite, but it’s not enough to make me hate it, haha.

My mom and I had a bit of trouble figuring out the whole “weigh the cake, then when you have so much left, start decreasing” because… there were a lot of confusing things, haha. BUT, we figured it out, and I know that I have a looooong way to go before I start decreasing, haha.

Either way, haha, here is what came of said “photo shoot” :-P

(that one is definitely amusing. When I showed my dad, he said he thought that it looked like Bertie was singing the Hallelujah Chorus, or something. Which totally makes sense. Then my dad continued to demonstrate, haha. It was amusing :-P)

Jeeves is such a weenie. This picture makes me laugh, haha :-P

There were many many more pictures, which gives even more support to the rumors and not-really-rumors that I am, in fact, a crazy cat lady.

Hi, my name is Grace, and I’m a crazy cat lady.

^_^

Half a finished object! Woot woot!

I got this project… a long time ago. Definitely before Thanksgiving, I believe.

It’s from Noro Accessories, which is an amazing book, I highly recommend it!

The pattern calls for Silk Garden sock yarn, but I went the normal Silk Garden (Color number is 84, and the dye lot is S, if anyone is interested), and I like it better, actually. They would have been lighter weight, but as a dancer, I like to keep my calves nice and toasty… it makes me happy, haha. Plus, they look really cool, haha.

Feelin’ pretty good about myself. I stopped working on these because the pattern wasn’t lining up and I was just frustrated. But when I picked them up again last night, I had no trouble whatsoever with the pattern lining up. I must have been miscounting or something, but I didn’t have that problem. Thank goodness, haha. Otherwise, I think they might have ended up back in the bag sitting in the time-out corner of shame.

So! Another project out almost completely out of the UFO bin. Progress ^_^

I realized that the things I’m working on… they’re all really big. So I started thinking “…something small…that’d be nice…”

I could have been a good person, and worked on one of the many small things I have going on right now in the UFO bin, but no.

I cast on a hat with some yarn that I spun. Myself. And I’m really. really. excited about it.

It’s just a plain hat, nothing special. Cast on 80 sts, 2×2 rib…

But *I* spun the yarn.. so it makes it… really awesome, haha.

Also, these colors really remind me of cherry coke, just cause. So therefore, this hat.. will be the Cherry Coke Hat, haha.

But yesterday evening… I did my first 2-ply. With a make shift Lazy Kate, haha.

Two Toms boxes. With a little hole punctured on the side. Pretty brilliant, if I do say so myself, haha. I have an actual Lazy Kate coming, that attaches onto my Ladybug, but it didn’t arrive when the wheel did. So it should be… coming sometime soon.

But in the meantime, I’ve figured out a way that’s pretty awesome.

Soooo, thanks to the Toms boxes, I was able to… obviously, ply some yarn.

Which, I think, turned out pretty well for my first try at plying.

I think now.. it’s possibly a worsted…? Maybe? I’m not sure, but whatever it is, it’s a lot thicker.. than it was, haha, before plying.

It’s also nice and squishyyyy too, which just makes me happy.

I dunno what I’ll make with it, I got… 176 yds, so I’m thinking.. a cowl. because, yes, it’s *that* soft.

my total is now 6 squares for the Mitered Cross blanket

This is the most recent addition… it has not yet had the ends woven in. Right after I finish a square, before I start the next one, I always weave in all the ends. Haha, I’ve heard enough horror stories about the terrifying amount of ends when it’s all complete… so I’m hoping avoiding that will preserve a little bit of my sanity, haha.

Here are my most recent spinning endeavors, haha, and I’m very happy with how both of them turned out. Both still need baths, but that’s no biggie.

The one on the left, I got from Northbound Knitting (along with 3 other braids, which I’ll gush about in just a minute :-P) and it’s… Cheriot Combed Top in the “Femme Fatale” colorway. It was about 4oz… and I was able to get probably around 2.5 oz on the bobbin, so I have some left that’ll be a mini skein. Out of the 2.5oz, I got around… 286 yards of like a fingering, I think. Which is pretty sweet :-P

The one on the right… that’s the end of the shipment of fiber I got right after Christmas, haha. It’s from Three Waters Farm. It’s 100% BFL in the “Fall Foliage” colorway. And it was also around 4oz. I got around 375 yds, I think. I’m still a bit wonky in my calculating how much I got, but it’s all a work in progress. And practice makes perfect :-P

So the 3 other braids I got from Northbound Knitting…

Aaaaagghhhfhgha, they’re just so prettyyyy. And soft, too. I can’t wait to spin these up.

So yeah, if you’re in the market for more fiber, I really really recommend these two Etsy stores. Both have amazing service, and the quality of their fiber is just outstanding. And the color of them should speak for themselves… they’re just amazingly brilliant. So. Cool.