Quick Knits: Bookmark

Sometimes you just want to finish a quick project. I knit this quick project as part of ravelry group knit a long (KAL). This was one of the first non-acrylic yarns I ever bought. I was on vacation in Wisconsin and saw a yarn shop. I bought a book to knit socks and this yarn. I had no idea what I was doing. That was back in 2007.

I had never really done much with it, but it's nice to see it in bookmark form. It's also pretty cool that the colors just happened to make little stripes. 

Additional Resolutions

You may have noticed two new boxes on the sidebar. I decided to add two new resolutions to my list. I want to knit a marathon and spin a marathon. How you may ask. Well a marathon is 26.2 miles long and yarn is measured in yards. Thanks to Knit Meter I can track my progress in miles. I look forward to showing you at the end of this what a marathons worth of projects looks like. I also hope that by resolving to spin a marathons worth of yarn, I will become a better spinner.

Here is were I stand today:

This is 113.7 yards of yarn. I have a long way to go but I'm pretty excited.

This includes several projects.
A finished scarf,

















a bookmark and the beginnings of a sweater.

Christmas Knitting: Butterfly Shawl

When I moved in July 2012 I really fell back in love with knitting. I decided to feed that new love and keep it alive. One of the ways I did that was by watching podcasts and hearing all the good yarn gossip.  I came across the Care of Magic Creatures pattern set and knew I wanted to make it. It works like a bracelet merit badge collection. For the frog merit badge, you have to learn a new skill and I decided I wanted to learn to spin.

I bought a kit on etsy and started immediately. On a trip to visit friends. I bought a massive 4oz bag of wool. I'm not much for rainbows so I separated out all the reds and yellows and decided to spin them separately.

Spinning is very relaxing and surprisingly easy.

When I saw the Nymphalidea Shawl I knew I wanted to knit it as a Christmas gift. The red and yellow yarn I had been spinning would be perfect. I started working on it but never felt like I would finish making the yarn in time.

Then a Christmas miracle occurred. My parents and boyfriend went in together and bought me Ashland Kiwi 2 Spinning Wheel. I was in complete shock and spent most of the day putting it together.

As soon as I did a little light went off in my head and I realized I could spin the rest of the yarn for my grandma's shawl. That is exactly what I did for at least half of Christmas day.

There it is on my spindle.

You may notice some purple. If you look at my spinning wheel picture you may notice that fiber matches my red yellow fiber + some purple. I just put a tiny bit in.

Did I mention my parents and boyfriend splurged on me. They made sure to get me a spinning wheel that came with extras. Like a niddy noddy













Then of course I wanted to see what it would look like in skein form.

I didn't have any more time to work on it until the night before I was suppose to give it to my grandmother, but I finished it, washed it, blocked it, and still had time to get it in a box and wrapped. 

I mentioned buying the brown yarn here. 

End result: She loved it. 

Happy New Year!! - Resolutions

Happy New Year everyone!!

Have you got a list of resolutions? Every year I like to look back and see how I did. Based on that I set my resolutions for the next year. Line through = Not Accomplished. Green = Totally on track. Yellow = about 50/50.

Last years:
1) Lets get Classy!
    - I donated a lot of my clothes. I'd love to have a more professional wardrobe. I have TOO many pairs of jeans (sizes 7-14, not joking). I need to fill up my wardrobe with some classically good pieces. 

2) Get fit.
   - I know this is everyone's resolution, but seriously I ate so much chocolate this Christmas. After my crash keto diet, well lets say I need to get on this. I bought the app Zombies, RUN! Looks fun. Just waiting to get the gym or for some snow to melt. Meanwhile, I've been playing a ton of Just Dance 4 (a gift from Andrew)

3) Continue with the consistent blog look, but be less consistent. 
  - I get really stressed when I don't have a block of blogs scheduled and then I just put off blogging until I can do a ton at once. Now that I have a new look to my blog, I want it to be a lot less formal. I'll TRY to post at least once a week, but who knows. You may get a week of photos and then a week of reviews. 

4) Work on that tithing. 
  - I found out that the church I attend will send you a list of your donations for tax purposes (if you write checks). :O This means at the end of the year I can see how well I did, even if I don't keep track

5) Finish that LA scrapbook!!!
  - 5 years later...

6) Knit something I can wear

7) Pay off a credit card
  - Last year was rough on me finically. I'm back on an even keel and it's time to eradicate my debt! 
8) One day a week w/o jeans. 
  - It shouldn't be too hard

9) Bring treats to work once a month
  - We have several bakers in our mists at work. I'd love to share my tasty talent. 

10) One savory and one sweet new recipe each month. 
  - Classics are classics but I have a pintrest board full of things to try! 

About half-ish. I will admit 2013 was full of awesome and busy times.

This years resolutions:
1) Finish one knitting/spinning project every month.
2) Use my kitchen at least twice a week (and not just for frozen pizza.)
3) Be able to run an entire 5k.
4) Take homemade lunches to work more often.
5) Finish paying off one thing.
6) Get out of town at least once a month.
7) Do a scrapbook and have it printed.
8) Tithe
9) Less wearing of jeans.
10) Knit Christmas presents in advance or at least have them all done by Christmas. 

Christmas knitting: Alicia

Remember that big box of yarn that was to be Christmas presents? Biggo yarn turned out to be a winner. 

I found a few things to make out of it. First a cowl/ infinity scarf.

 I was hardly about to wait and made her try them on right away.  I also made a hat and head wrap.

I think they all turned out pretty nice.














Did you do any Christmas knitting this year?

To see more about these projects check out my Ravelry page.

Yarn: Knit Picks shipment for Christmas Presents

I picked up some black Friday sale yarn on Knit Picks for Christmas presents.

I won't be able to post much about it because I don't want anyone seeing their present before they get it. I am pretty excited to get these presents underway. 

NaKniSweMo - Finished!

Ok I've been talking it up for awhile my hiro sweater. I really wanted to get it done and be able to wear it for Thanksgiving. I totally made it! It fits fantastically. I've had several people ask me where I got it. Then I get to proudly say - I made it.

I even won a prize for my sweater! More on that later.

I had a fantastic Thanksgiving. How was yours?
Did you do black Friday?