Too much on the needles and they are all big projects.

Hi Everyone,
pretty uneventful week, on Tuesday I got to see my friend Pam, who has moved, and I gifted her a knitting bag. Thursday I went to knit night with 2 wrong size needles, so I just hung out with everyone.

On the Needles:
New on the needles is the Summer Solstice Mystery Shawl KAL by Wendy Johnson. I am knitting it out of the 1st yarn I bought at Maryland Sheep and Wool festival 2012, Dream in Color Starry in the Sundown Orchid colorway on size 5 - 3.75mm needles. I absolutely love the yarn, it is gorgeous. The pattern gives the option to do 5 stitch nubs, 3 stitch nubs, beads, or nothing and I choose the 3 stitch nubs. I did finish the first clue, but as of now you can't really tell much. It looks like there is a ruffle edge.

The next thing I am going to talk about is technically off the needles, but I don't consider my projects a finished object till there useable. Anyway, it's the Pedestrian Crossing Cowl KAL, I finished knitting it and it just needs to be blocked and get buttons. I have not had the chance to go and buy buttons, but it has to be done by July 3rd, since that's the next time I see my friend Pam, who this Cowl is for. I love the way it knitted up and I hope she will love it.

The next project is the TTL mystery shawl. I am a little over half way done with clue 4. I taught myself how to do a Russian join for this shawl so I wouldn't have problems weaving in the ends, I wanted to do the felted join, but the yarn is a super wash and won't felt.

  

Once again I knitted on my Triangle Wrap during True Blood, which I will do again tonight. I am pretty close to be able to start the edging. It seems like this is my never ending garter nightmare, I mean project. 

My socks did not get any love this week and my 2 secret knitting projects didn't really get knitted on either.

Off the Needles:

Once again nothing, the Cowl kinda, but i need to sew on buttons first. However, I finished a project last month that was a secret knitting and the recipient, my dad, finally received them. The pattern is Classic Socks knit out of Wisdom Yarns Marathon Socks Miami the Everglades colorway on size 1 - 2.25mm needles. I ran out of yarn and knitted the toes using stash yarn.

Soon to be on the Needles:

Same things I have mention before. Next week on the 27th I will cast on the Westwood Blouse for Camp Loopy 2nd project, which has to be 800+ yards and have a color from my country's flag. Last week I didn't have the yarn yet, however I have a picture this week and finished my gauge. I got extremely lucky, since I purchased 2 skeins from The Loopy Ewe and 1 skein from Green Sheep Shop, they are all the same dye lot. I also ended up getting a camp loopy t shirt and a Lavishea lotion bar in cucumber melon, I absolutely love it. 

Then on the 30th Tour de Fleece starts and I will spin everyday for 15 minutes with Knitabulls. I think I will just spin my undyed Corridale for practice.

And July 1st me and my friend Pam cast on for the Knitabulls KAL, which I talked about last week.

Enabling: 

The first thing I received was the loopy ewe package that I just showed. Next I received my 2 custom bags from Birdleg Bags. I ordered "Madman in a Blue Box" (aka Doctor Who) and "Monsters Yikes" small bags. In the first picture you can see the glass bead on the zipper. The second picture shows the lining and Zipper tab, which makes opening/closing the zipper much easier. The third picture shows her label. She also included a notepad and hooks for the bags. I definitely recommend checking out her store.

I am still waiting on 2 more custom orders, I know one has been shipped and the other one should be shipped next week or the week after. 

Well that is it for this week, hope to see you again next week. Happy Knitting!

Another Knitter who is Destroying the Olympics

I am blogging a few days early just, because this is too upsetting to wait.
As most knitters/crocheters/spinners who have a twitter or/and ravelry account already know, there is this huge thing with the Olympics going on. Yesterday, Casey and Jess, the founders of Ravelry, received an email by a clerk from the US Olympic Committee asking them to change the name of the ravelympics, since they own the trademark Olympics. Ravelympics is a game that has been going on for 3 years, you join a team and cast on your project on the opening ceremony of the Olympics and have to finish it by the closing ceremony day. I, for example, joined my favorite podcaster Diane from Knitabulls for the toy toss category. I challenged myself to knit as many monster chunks as possible in that time frame.
At first I did agree with that letter, it made sense yes they own the trademark and any variation of it. Also, a lot of designers were charging for patterns that included the word olympics. However, I kept reading the letter and I came across this.

"We believe using the name "Ravelympics" for a competition that involves an afghan marathon, scarf hockey and sweater triathlon, among others, tends to denigrate the true nature of the Olympic Games.  In a sense, it is disrespectful to our country's finest athletes and fails to recognize or appreciate their hard work."

Excuse me? I do what now? I am apparently being disrespectful to athletes. Are you kidding me? So, let me get this straight, by wanting to cast on with thousands of other like minded people on the open ceremony date, which actually made me want to watch the open ceremony, I am being disrespectful?! Oh and what about my hard work? Knitters will never think twice to knit for charity or help to raise money for a good cause, but no we are not hard working. Well guess what, I will still cast on on that date, but not watch the opening.
Today, I ran across a blog post by Kay from the Mason Dixon Knitting blog and she asked Stephen Colbert to be so kind and feature "a piece on the Knitters Who Are Destroying the Olympics." In return he would receive a lifetime supply of hand knitted socks.
A copy of the letter that was sent to Casey can be found here.
More information regarding knitting socks for Stephen Colbert, such as shoe size and address, can be found here.

Well thanks for listening to my rant, and lets knit Stephen some socks and help ravelry win this nasty thing. 
 

Hi my name is Courtney and I am addicted to KALs

Hi again,
what did I do this week? I fought a nasty stomach bug, which today I finally feel almost back to normal. Yesterday me and my fiance looked at a wedding venue and we will be able to book our date in two weeks. We are trying to reserve June 1st, 2013 wish us luck. It is a gorgeous outside garden themed venue that looks like it came straight out of a fairytale. Also, that was our official first step to planning our wedding, which was very exciting. I also went a little insane last night, because I decided to take pictures of my "good" yarn stash and post it to my ravelry page, took me all night. I consider having a "bad" yarn stash and a "good" yarn stash. My "bad" yarn stash yarn is the yarn I bought when I first started knitting, such as red heart, caron, lion brand. My "good" yarn stash is yarn I have purchased at the LYS or online. The "bad" is not all bad I do like lion brand and patons.
Before I go straight into my usual agenda, as promised here are better pictures of my finished daybreak shawl.

On the Needles:
I can't believe I casted on another project and yes it's a KAL, as the title says I am addicted to them. I just can't say no.
Steven from the Dramatic Knits podcast announced the KAL yesterday and at first I was thinking that no I can't cast something else on, but then he showed the prize and everything changed. Also, I had the perfect yarn in my stash to get started right away.
The KAL is the Pedestrian Crossing Cowl by Melissa Sibley, I am using Universal Yarn Patchwork in the Purple Mountains colorway and size 8 needles. For being 100% acrylic yarn this yarn is extremely soft and definitely so far the best acrylic yarn I have ever used.

The next project are my Harvest Dew Socks, which I apparently am really taking my time with. I did finish the heel and am still decreasing the gusset.

Surprise the next project is a KAL. Its my Through the loops mystery shawl by Kirsten Kapur. I am still on track and finished the 3rd clue.

My triangle shawl actually got some love this week, I decided to knit on it every sunday during true blood. It is garter and I don't have to look down so perfect tv knitting. I won't post a picture since you can barely see the progress.
I am still knitting two secret knitting projects, that unfortunately I can't show for a very long time.

Off the Needles:
Nothing :( I hope that the Cowl KAL will be done next week.

Soon to be on the Needles:
You might be thinking "didn't she say she is addicted to KALs, but there are only 2 on the needles." Here is where the madness begins. You already know about the Kirsten Kapur mystery KAL and Dramatic Knits Cowl KAL. I also already talked about Wendy Johnson's Mystery KAL that starts next week.
Remeber all the washcloths I knitted for the baby shower? They were also part of Knitabulls May/June KAL. Well July 1st the next KAL starts, the requirement is to use a certain yarn. Me and my friend Pam are knitting with the same yarn the same thing. The yarn is from GnomeAcres on etsy in fingering weight in the Knitabulls Franklin colorway. We will be knitting TGV (high speed knitting) by Susan Ashcroft.

 Then the next KAL is the 2nd month of Camp Loopy starts on June 27th. I will be knitting Westwood Blouse in Kollage Yarns Riveting in the Lava Denim colorway. I have not received my yarn yet so I don't have a picture yet.
Also I joined Knitabulls Tour de Fleece team. My goal for that is to spin everyday for at least 15 minutes and that lasts from 06/30 - 07/22. Since that isn't enough I also joined her Ravelympics team, for that my goal is to knit as money monster chunks as I can and that lasts from 07/27 - 08/12. So I still have time to worry about that.
In about 2 weeks I will have 5 KAL projects on the needles and spin everyday, well I hope to finish the Cowl by then.

Enabling:
I actually have some enabling, I been ordering things like a mad woman and a lot of the things haven't arrived. I already posted a picture of the GnomeAcres Knitabulls Franklin yarn, for the KAL she also had for the Knitting in Circles Podcast Froggy Monkey. I purchased the fingering weight one, I will not be using that for the KAL though.

 The next thing I received was the ravelry bag, they had a contest for people to submit designs for their 5 year anniversary and for reaching 2 million people. It actually is not the design I voted for, but I really like it.

Review:
This week I have a magazine review. You might have already seen it being reviewed. However, I wanted to give my opinion. It is the Knitscene special edition accessories magazine. First off I really love knitscene, since they do target my age group, however as Lesley from the knit girllls said they went a little overboard this issue. They split the magazine into sections and the "out of orbit" section really is something from a different world that should of stayed away from earth. Apparently aliens do the robot too. Anyway, the first pattern I like is the Check slouch. I love slouchys and I love plaid, so why wouldn't like it, right?  The second pattern I want to knit is Sideways Argyle Beret I would like it to be a little more slouchy, but I love the argyle design. I have never knitted argyle and it's definitely on my must learn list.The beret seems perfect to learn argyle especially since they have an article in the magazine explaining colorwork such as the argyle beret and a cowl. I do enjoy the Lightning Kerchief it is just a simple striped shawlette, I particularly like the wave stripe at the bottom. Another shawl I like is the Aristida Shawl that one is not so typical, I really love the lace diamond pattern and I am not a huge fan of fringe, however with this shawl it looks great. The last thing I like in this magazine is the whole Mini Mitts section. I like them all :)
Overall this magazine was definitely a great buy. They have great patterns and 4 great tutorials. One for the intarsia argyle beret, the stranded colorwork on a cowl, dropped stitches mitts, and entrelac mitts.

This was my first time reviewing anything, if you have any suggestions or recommendations on how to review books or magazines, please leave a comment. Actually even if its about something else then reviews, I would enjoy to receive your feedback. Thank you.

This is it for next week. I hope you will join me again next Sunday.

One shawl done, many more to go

Welcome Everyone,
this week was once again pretty uneventful. Yesterday I was supposed to go to a babyshower, but the baby decided she wanted to be present and was delivered Friday evening. Other than that I just been a knitting machine.

On the Needles:
I casted on a secret knitting project about an hour ago. Unfortunately I won't be able to talk about that project for a very very long time.

I did make a little bit of progress on the Harvest Dew socks. I am on the last pattern repeat and then I can start the heel flap. I really enjoy knitting it and the pattern is turning out great.

The 2nd clue for the Through the Loops Mystery Shawl was released a day early on Wednesday. I started and finished the clue on Saturday. I love the pattern so far.

Again no progress on the triangle wrap and my other 2 project are a secret.

Off the Needles:
As you might of noticed the daybreak for camp loopy was not mentioned above. Yay, I finished it early this morning and right now it's blocking. I am so happy with it, it turned out gorgeous. In the pattern it says to have the top part in the colored yarn, however I decided to only have the stripes in the colored yarn. I almost ran out of the grey and didn't know if I was going to be able to knit one row and bind off, so I did that in the colored yarn. I will post pictures off me wearing it next week, since it is still damp right now.

I also finished all 8 washcloths  for the babyshower, well postponed welcome baby party. Those will count towards Knitabulls Washcloth KAL, with the Doctor Who and Butterfly washcloth I completed 10 washcloths for that KAL.

Soon to be on the Needles:
Well I just casted on the other secret knitting and on June 20th I am casting on Wendy Johnsons mystery shawl KAL, so nothing as of now.

Thank you for checking in and I will blog about my progress again next Sunday.

Shawls, Shawls, and more Shawls

Hello Everybody,
well I have been quiet busy this week. This is my usual day go to work, come home, make dinner, knit, go to sleep. Nothing exciting besides knitting and going to my LYS (local yarn store) has happend. So let's just jump right in. Be aware there are spoilers for Kirsten Kapur's mystery shawl KAL.


On the Needles:
Once again I will start with the one casted on most recent. The ones I talked about last week I won't reference the yarn used, you can check last weeks post for that information.

Yesterday I casted on Harvest Dew Socks by Rose Hiver. I am knitting those on 2.25mm needles and the yarn I received from my aunt who lives in Germany, it is called Uschi Wolle Universal in the Partie Colorway.

The 2nd project I casted on 06/01/12 was another shawl. Kirsten Kapur from Through the Loops is hosting a mystery KAL and I decided to join in. I am knitting that on size 4mm needles and the yarn is by Universal Pace Step (discontinued) in the coral colorway. I did finish the first clue, the 2nd clue will be released on 06/08/12.

My next WIP (work in progress) is the Loopy Ewe Daybreak by Stephen West. I forgot to mention last week that I am knitting that on size 3.5mm needles. I made pretty good progress, I only have 7 rows on the striped section left and then I just have to knit the border. The rows right now take forever, but I am slowly getting there. I love everything about this shawl, the yarn, the pattern, and the way its stripping.

I also made significant progress on the Baby washcloths I am making for a co-workers baby shower next weekend. I am knitting those on 3.25mm needles. I only have 2 more to go. I will block them, when they are all done.

I won't show the triangle shawl, since I made absolutely no progress on that and then I still have a secret knitting project going on as well.

Off the Needles:
I only finished one project and you haven't even seen it in the "on the needle" section yet. I started and finished a ruffle scarf yesterday. I did not use a pattern, I just went to my LYS and the owner showed me how to do it. I used size 5.5mm needles and the yarn I got from my father who lives in Germany, it is called Katia Rocio and there is no colorway name.

Soon to be on the Needles:
You guessed it another Shawl. What is it with me and shawls lately?! Anyway, I talked last week about Wendy Johnson's mystery shawl KAL, which won't start till 06/20/12. I decided to join and I already have my yarn picked out. I will use Dream in Color Starry in the Sundown Orchid colorway. I am very excited to use that yarn, because I bought it at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival this year.

I hope you enjoyed this weeks post. Also, I wanted to apologize for my crappy pictures but honestly I have no room except the floor and I kind of have to hurry, because of my two cats. Please join me again next Sunday. Happy Knitting.