I bammed it up a notch!

Welcome Everyone,

this past week me and my fiance both quit drinking sodas and only drink water now. We also started working out every other day. It has been a difficult transition and I am glad that I have my very best friend doing it with me. We both want to be in the best shape we can be in for our wedding. Other than that we just been going to work and nothing spectacular going on.

Works in Progress - WIP's

Friday was the start date of the 3rd and last camp loopy project. The requirements are that the project has to be 500+ yards, use two colors, and a pattern I have never done before. As I mentioned before I am knitting Elfe by Astrid Schramm in madelinetosh tosh merino light in the cobalt and maple leaf colorway on size 4, 3.5 mm needles. So far I love the pattern, it's top down, but you don't separate the sleeves you knit them with the top body and then bind them off and bam finished sleeves. I absolutely love the yarn, even that it's a single ply. The colors are very vibrant and the yarn feels very soft. I heard that madelinetosh washes up nicely, so I guess I have to wait for my final say on the yarn till I am done.

Also on Friday the Olympics started and with that the Ravellenics began. Yesterday, I casted on Terence the Tap Dancing T-Rex by Rebecca Danger. I am using some Red Heart Soft that I had in my stash and for his belly I will use left over I have from Basil the Boogie Woggie Brontosaurus. I like the pattern so far, since Rebecca Danger is an awesome designer. The yarn well I bought it for a granny square blanket, since it was cheap and so far one granny square is done. The pink yarn is the scrap yarn for the after thought tail.

Finished Objects - FO's

Well, I had to kill time and the wait till Friday was kinda difficult for me, so I started and finished a couple little things. Yes, I could of worked on my socks, but what can I say?! In order to prevent my yarn balls from collapsing I knitted a ball sack *giggle* There have been a lot of ball and ball sack jokes in my house, because of this. I had some random Knit Picks Comfy Fingering in Marlin colorway. I will add a string to the top to tie it.

Next, I was going to knit a cable beanie for my fiance. I used the Vicki Howell pattern in Knit Simple Fall 2012 issue (no link on ravelry yet). Well, I knitted it in the Large/X-Large size and it won't even touch his upper ear. It barely even fits me, I definitely recommend making the slouchy version unless you are knitting it for a child. I used Cascade Pacific that I had won from somewhere (I think it was craftsy.com)

Lastly, you might remember that I said for the Ravellenic games I would try to knit as many Monster Chunks as possible. Well, I knitted one and said that's to easy, so I decided to cast on the T-Rex for a bigger challenge and Basil is lonely. I used left overs to knit the only chunk. I will gift him to the puppy, Charlie, at my local yarn shop.

Spinning:

For some odd reason I finished the second half of my Three Waters Farm braid much quicker then the first half. I got 210 yards, not a specific weight since I am still all over the place. I still have to wash and thwack it. I used the left overs on my bobbin, to practice chain plying I got the hand motion down and just have to work on getting better at it.

Now I am spinning an ...into the whirled English Shetland Combed Top braid in the Ambercrombie colorway, I bought at the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival. I am spinning this fractal, which means I split the braid in half lengthwise and spin the first half normal, then the second half I will split again either once or twice and spin those all from the same end. I just started the first half today. I absolutely love the colors and it's pretty easy to spin.

Enabling:

I found a cute pencil case at Walmart today for just $4. I am using it for my DPN's (double pointed needles). I made a case myself a while ago, but I mistakenly bought some knit picks dpn's that are really long (meant to buy the shorter ones). Well those don't fit in my self made case. Now I can use that case for some other notions.

Magazine Review:

I bought the new issue of Knit Scene Fall 2012. I just want to point out the patterns that I liked. Again the magazine is set up in categories: Zipped, Forever Knits, and Ethereal. I just noticed that all the patterns I like are from the Forever Knits section.

First pattern I can see myself knit is the Rhonda Cap by Brenda K. B. Anderson.

Next I really like the Agnes pullover by Ruth Garcia-Alcantud. The only reason I am hesitating to knit this is you knit it in pieces and seam it all together.

I also like Amherst Kerchief by Marjorie Dussaud. I like the colorwork and even the tassels, normally I am not a fringe or tassel kinda girl, however they work for this.

Last but not least, I like the Frances Cardigan by Amy Polcyn. However, again it is knit in pieces. I absolutely don't like the colors they chose for it, I think the red gets lost in the orange. There is no picture on Ravelry yet.

I also received my subscription for Knit Simple Fall 2012. I am not going to review it, since the only pattern I liked was the cable beanie I already knit.

Next week I am going to the Spinning and Weavers guild meeting and besides that just my usual working and knitting.

Thanks for reading and Happy Knitting,

Courtney