Tour of California

This week is the Tour of California and Tommorow is the day they ride through our part of the world. I love to see them go buy it's just a blurr of wheels and spandex. Unfortunately the weather has sucked so I'm not sure how much fun it will be standing out in the rain to see them go by but I will be out there anyway. The other thing going on is the lunar eclipse that will happen tonight. Again the weather is so bad we might not see it but I hope we will.

In knitting news I have finished all the parts of Tubby except for a million bubbles. I need to find some good info on how to do the eyes next. I have also been working in finishing the tree jacket but just realized I made a mistake in the pattern section several inches back.....ahhh do I frog again or ignor it? I really want to be done with this one. I think it will be fun to wear but I am so done knitting it.

A hat, A bathtub and new yarn

A hat A bathtub, yes a bathtub. If you remmember a few days ago I posted a link I found on Stacy sews site for this really cute knitted bathtub called "tubby". I thought it was so cool and unusual I had to get the pattern. So, here it is in it's early stages. I'm using some dishcloth cotton
that I had in my stash. If it turns out just so amazingly cool I may make another in a wool. I have lost a Dp in size 6 so I am working it on a circular untill I get another set of DP's.
And yes another hat, if your counting that's three in a week. This is not a pattern I just knit it in rib untill it seemed big enough and then decreased. The yarn is Nashua wooly stripes tweed. It's a really nice yarn a close alternative to this would be the sws yarn at Michaels.

Close up of the yarn

I also cast on for 28 Thirty its another Zephyr pattern, never mind that I promised myself I would finish the tree jacket this much ( also a Zephyr pattern). This yarn was from the clapotis that I frogged.

Iwas really good at the knit group today I didn't buy anything then on my way home I had to run into Michaels, I was looking for DP's in a size 6. They didn't have the needles but they did have the Bernat Soy yarn on close out for $2 a skien. That's crazy cheap so Happy Valentines day to me!! I bought all the pink they had left and 8 in sea mist. I am now off to ravelry to search for pattern ideas for this yarn. OHHH wait I can't start anything new. Except for maybe that other hat pattern I found that I love, It's called the Hawkeye hat.

hat crazy

Hat wars started on saturday. I was surprised at how easy the pattern was and it was a really fast knit. I was expecting something that would take awhile. Here it is modeled by G of course. She is such a good sport. She told me that she needed to have a "deadly serious "look on her fast because after all this hat is a weapon in hat wars. We had to take the picture 3 times because she kept laughing.

The details can be found on Ravelry: its called the binary hat and it is knit with Lambs pride worsted on size 8's.

Detail shot so you can see the cables a bit better.

While I was at knit group on thursday Heather said " Oh.. did you see this pattern" next thing I know I'm buying yarn and knitting another hat.
I started on thursday while watching survivor and lost. I finished it the next day. It's another fast knit.

The pattern is also on Ravelry: it's called Capitan it's knit with Berroco VIBE on size 10's. I have two little skull buttons on it. I should have taken a detail shot so you can see the buttons and the cables.

You can see the cables and the band a little more in this shot. It's a good fit on G. It makes me want to find another brimmed hat to make.

knitted bathtub

This week is going by really fast. I can't believe it's already thursday. Yesterday, I did a little more organizing in the scrapbook department but not much. I also listened to the new Stash and Burn podcast. There talking about startitis, which I clearly have if you read my previous few posts. I have several new projects going at once. The Basalt tank isn't going well and will need to be fropgged for the 2nd time. The yarn is ok ( I think) but I ma getting these huge ladders where the k2tog and the ssk are next to each other so I feel like I need to use smaller stitch markers and concentrate on knitting tighter in that spot. (I am tempted to switch to the recommended yarn though)
I was checking out blogs this morning and while I was at Stacy sews I found this knitted bath tub link. Is that the cutest thing? I have no idea what I would do with it but its so fun.
She has some other fun patterns too.
Well ,I need to get ready to go. I have some errands to run and I think I'll go to knit group.
I'm mailing off a goodie box for a crafster swap today as well.

Organizing

I'm in a few groups on Ravelry and one of the ones that just started is the Organized knitter here is the blog. I'll get a link on the side too, but for now this will do. So anyway, the febuary challenge has inspired me to organize all my scrapbook supplies. I would love to get them so organized and condensed that they fit in a couple of scrapbook bags and a file system ( for the paper) At the moment they are here and there and everywhere. That's probably the biggest reason I don't scrapbooks anymore, it's too much work to find the stuff. So I started by going through stickers. Here is a "in the process" picture. I have created stacks or piles for keep, toss, give away and summer school donations. This isn't all of them but at least I have a good start.
I have a Creative Memoried sticker Binder that is empty. I hope to get all the stickers and die cuts organized and put in there. Then I will move onto paper.

project regrouping

I t got this new yarn last week. It's by the Misti alpacca people but it's cotton. It's super ,super soft. It reminds me of the Blue sky alpacca dyed cotton that I love so much. The color is way out of my usuall color picks but I thought it might be fun for summer.
Yarn details: 83% Pima cotton/ 17% silk ,made in Peru by Misti international
191 yards Guage is 4 st on size 8
I am going to try and use it for the Roundabout leaf tank in the knitting nature book by Norah Gaughan. I won't be starting it anytime soon though because you may remember in a previous post I started the Basalt tank from the same book

I started it with Yarn Palace VIVACE yarn. It's a 100% bamboo

. I had a terrible time getting gauge and had to go up to a 7 which is too big for this yarn. I did complete one full hexagon before ddeciding that the garment wouldn't have any structure and would just hang loosely on my body. I love the yarn, love the pattern but they were not a good match. So, while having lunch with a friend I found myself at the scarlet skein in Atascadero. This yarn is a Bamboo cotton 50/50 blend. Could it be... a perfect blend of soft flowy bamboo with cotton to give it some body but still keep it cool for summer. and....it's the right gauge.

I was able to get perfect gauge on the first try. I went ahead and started the tank over and so far I am very happy with the way it feels. Only problem is I may have made a mathatical error when buying this. I might need another skien. I'll have to try and get into the store again nextweek and grab one.

So.. what to do with the Bamboo yarn. Turns out it is perfect for the Vixen Camisol from sensual knits. The gauge is perfect, the feel of the yarn is perfect. I think this is a great match. Besides look at the color. The only problem is that this pattern calls for a bulky weight yarn to finish the top portion. I'll have to look for something that matches that gives my the right gauge. That's done last though so maybe I can get that far in then come up with something cleaver. Again I worry about having enough yardage but I feel like I should have enough. I could probably make it shorter.

It's going to rain all day so after I take a quick run to the grocery store I should be able to get some knitting in.

UFO part 2

Just to make me feel better I will start with a finished project. The cat bed. It has a towel in the bottom because it was still damp. I modified the pattern to make it bigger. After some serious debating they finially decided they would both fit in it. Orang cat is a female about 3 years old. Very dominate and bossy. Sydney is a male 1 1/2 years old and very goofy and even tempered. Ok back to the UFO's

They call them pirates. This thing is almost finished. I stopped working on it when I realized how big it was. I should just finish it and find someone with a big head.

Ventage velvet from scarf style in the delicious touch me yarn. I soooo love this thing. So why is it a UFO ? because it is so dark it's hard to see what your doing and I feel like it's alot of work for something you can't even see. But I will finish it. It's sooo soft it would be stupid not too. I got a great deal on this yarn at Yarnology ages ago.

This isn't really a UFO because I have been actively working on it but I put it here anyway because I really want to finish it this month.

Also I have my boatneck bluebell from fitted knits waiting for the other sleeve.

There is also a felted bag by Nicky epstein it was an IK pattern. I have it hidden somewhere.

The hexagon blanket is also neatly tucked away.

That's it...I think.

So I would like to get as many finshed in 08 as possible. ( or frogged) I think if I pick one a month to work on, I can get through most of them in a year or less. My first goal as I said is to finish the tree jacket. I am also going to continue to work on other projects. There is no way I can focus on just UFO's. That would feel like punishment.

I did start the Basalt tank from knitting nature but my yarn is not right for the pattern so I am working on swatching for another pattern. Or another yarn for this pattern.

I have how many UFO's??? ( part 1)_

Here are most of the UFO's There are 3 more that I will put in another post. Blogger has decided this is enough pictures for this post. Black, white and grey strip scarf. No pattern, knit in the round as a tube.
UFO because: that it's a very slow, boring knit. This thing is probably 3 years old. I would live in it if I could finish it. Its the softest yarn I have knit with.

The lace panel skirt in hemp. I have been working on this since august 07

UFO because it's a complicated pattern on tiny needles and it hurts my hands

Hard to see but this is a scarf. My own pattern I think. I can't even remmeber.

UFO because I ran out of yarn and had to find more then lost interest.

This odd thing is also a scarf. stockinette stitch in a yarn that changes texture.

UFO because it reminds me of Dr suess. Probably will be frogged and yarn will be sold or traded

AHHH the ruffle scarf. Crazy big bird colored yarn. Will I ever wear this thing?? It's actually super soft and totally fun.

UFO, I don't know why

This is a nicky epstein felted bag pattern. Not hard to knit just fiddly

UFO because I lost interest.

This one is hard to explain but I'm pretty sure I have a blog entry on this from 06. Its a pokte. I'll have to check the spelling. Pattern created as I went. Request from Ginna.

UFO because ,it's well, not that fun to knit.

Socks: EEKK I think these are my jaywalkers.

UFO because there socks.

Another pair of socks. From Knit socks or sensational socks?

UFO: 2nd sock sendrom

Stash busting blanket. This is done with tunisian crochet in lion brand thick and quick ( I think)

UFO: just because it's really heavy now and I had other projects to do for X-mas. I just havent gone back to it.

I forgot all about this one, untill the other day at the yarn shop. Its the four seasons throw. It's a manos pattern but I was using cascade 200 held double. It's actually looking very cool but I got to a complicated block that took to much concentration and now I don't know where I am.

Hmmm that's 11 UFO's here and I have a few more to post. A couple of these may not survive though.