Knit Along (KAL)

 This year I’m approaching my knitting by trying to be more social.  I’ve joined a few KAL’s on Ravelry and am hoping that will help me stay motivated to finish projects.  Most of these KAL’s are in conjunction with podcasts I already listen to.  The two main ones are the Doubleknit podcasts Deep Stash KAL and Stash and Burn’s Use it or Lose it challenge.  I’m approaching both of these challenges with similar groundrules.  Pull yarn from my deep stash (for this blog I had defined ‘deep stash’ as anything I’ve moved with – pre 2009) and use it up.  I’m trying not to get ahead of myself by picking out all the yarn and defining projects for the entire year (I think that will take some of the fun out of it) and instead focus more on the yarn I feel like knitting during that month and finding a project that inspires me.  I think this will be a more effective approach in the long run. 

First project that I’m working for this challenge is the Bella Mittens made out of Catalina Chunky Alpaca.  This yarn is similar to Misti Alpaca, and I’ve had it for what seems like AGES.  I ‘think’ I bought it in 2007 or maybe even 2006 at a ‘knitting expo’ that was held in King of Prussia.  I can’t find any evidence that this expo ever existed, however I remember buying this yarn at some sort of festival.  Anyway, I bought 3 grey skeins and 2 black skeins and I can’t remember what my original intent was, but they’ve just been sitting around waiting to be knit.  My goal is to finish up the grey skeins this month, first with Bella mitts and then perhaps a matching hat.  So far it’s going well, the yarn is a little ‘sheddy’ but overall it’s nice and soft (alpaca, of course).   I am also counting this project in my 12 in 2013 challenge (another group on Ravelry) that I’ve listed a few projects that I’ve been wanting to knit for a few years now and am committing to knit this year.

The second project I’ve been working on is the Hobbiton Cowl (now named the Shire Cowl), from Fiddleknits A Hobbit's Journey pattern collection.  First, as you may know, I LOVE the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit books/movies and when I saw this collection (not long after seeing the Hobbit movie) I had to have it.  I was wishing I had seen it ‘before’ the movie so I could wear something festive, but at least now I’ll have something for the next movie.  I’m knitting this cowl as part of the Yarniacs Self-Indulgent KAL and since it’s categorized as ‘Self Indulgent’ knitting I decided to purchase some ‘special’ yarn for the occasion (I bought it in December so it didn’t go against my stash diet this year).  I’m knitting it in Madeline Tosh Vintage (??) in the colorway Terrarium which is a lovely, ‘shire-like’ shade of green, perfect for the Hobbit theme, plus green is my signature color.

I’m loving both these projects and am clipping right along.  The one KAL project that I’ve stalled out on is the Dream in Color December Kit pattern Seychelles.  Somewhere on the second lace repeat I made a mistake and am now off of the lace pattern.  I’m deciding on how far I should rip back and in doing that the project is slightly stalled.  I’m planning on addressing it this weekend.

Well, that’s where we stand so far on knitting projects and progress.  I’m going to try and get a WIP status bar put up on the sidebar of the blog so that you can see when things are completed. 

Catching Up - Cards & Calendars

Well, after a busy January I’m finally getting around to posting about a few of the projects I’ve been working on. 

First, I belong to a card exchange with a few of my family members at a LSS in Helena, MT (where some of my relatives live).  For the past few years, my mom, grandma and aunts have participated in making 10 cards with a given theme, each month and exchanging.  It has always seemed like fun, however I’ve always been a little intimidated by the commitment- I don’t have a great track record with follow thru – but this year I decided to jump in.  My plan is to get ahead…so I can’t fall behind.  I’ve completed my January cards (“winter” was the theme).  I’ve shamelessly stolen the design from a sample card that I saw from Maile Belles during the Papertrey Ink release last year (2011).  I loved the card so much that when the opportunity for a ‘winter’ theme card came up I couldn’t think of anything else. 

I love how these turned out…it was super easy to replicate, which is important when you’re making 10 cards.

While I had all my stamps out, I decided to whip up a couple birthday calendars that I can use to get better at sending handmade cards.  I drafted up  a worksheet in excel and printed out enough to make 3 calendars - one for me, my mom and grandma – since I’m sending her my cards to turn in for the exchange.  I used a combination of LawnFawn and Papertrey Ink tag-its stamps for each months ‘theme’.  I put the 12 months in the little binders (I bought mine at Staples) along with a sheet protector for each month that can be used to store pre-addressed envelopes (if I ever get that organized).  I think they turned out really cute!

Start as you mean to go on...

Welcome 2013!

Since this blog is all about goals I’m going to try to start off each month with a list of stuff I want to work on/complete for the month. I plan to revisit this list at the end of the month (along with tallying up the points earned).

I’ve listed 13 items, in the spirit of 2013, not sure if that is too lofty of a goal, but we’ll see how I do.

Christmas Knitting Recap - Hat for Pat

There isn’t much to write home about for this hat. I used about 3/4 of a ball of Lion Brand Wool Ease that I’ve seriously had in my stash since I started knitting. The Hat fit for a Boyfriend pattern knits up easy enough…it’s a 3x2 ribbed pattern. The decreases are done in order to keep the ribbing looking nice and neat. I was originally a little worried that it wouldn’t come down far enough to fit over my brother’s ears, but I washed it and blocked out a bit and it fit fine. It was seriously so quick and easy to knit that I cast on for another one to give to my brother in law (hopefully I’ll finish before we seem them to exchange gifts!).

Christmas Knitting Recap - Riva Cowl

I’m so happy with how this cowl turned out! I bought the yarn and pattern for this project after seeing one knit up at my LYS and thought it would make a great gift for my sister-in-law. I noticed that she had been ‘pinning’ a lot of bulky cowls, so I modified the pattern to make the cowl longer so that it could wrap twice around the neck (the original was more close fitting and wider). I cast on 150 sts and used 2.5 balls of Debbie Bliss Riva yarn. I love how it turned out so much that I bought more of the yarn during Yarnings Inventory Reduction Sale (discounted +40%), so that I could make another. It’s a good thing red isn’t my color or I might just have kept this one.

Happy Knitting, folks.
xoxo~rae

Counting Down

Well, I'm back from my Christmas visit to the Pacific NW and ready to kickoff 2013.  I had a pretty productive Christmas Season, at least more than previous years finishing pretty much everything I planned to give as gifts. Also, I’m about done with a hat for my brother-in-law, that I decided to knit from the leftover yarn from my brother’s hat.

Even though this month doesn’t count towards my 2013 Stashdown goal, I figured I’d tally the numbers anyway, as a practice for next year.

Completed Projects during December:
1. Lawnfawn Challenge Cards (x2) – 4pts (completed item)
2. Birthday Card for brother-in-law -2pts (completed item)
3. Wine Cork Trivets (x2) – 10pts (gift)
4. Wine Charms – 5pts (gift)
5. Bottlecap Magnets – 5pts (gift)
6. Handmade Christmas Cards – 5pts (goal follow thru)
7. Hat for brother – 12pts (gift + deep stash bonus)
8. Cowl for sister-in-law – 5pts (gift)
9. Leather Potholders – 5pts (gift)
December Total = 53pts

This was an unusual month since the majority of the projects are gifts and therefore got a few extra points. The points for December do not count toward my reward points (although I splurged a little at my LYS year end sale, so that is reward enough).

I’m super excited to start the stashbusting year…as it turns out, two of my favorite knitting podcasts are challenging listeners to knit from their ‘deep stash’ this year and using or losing yarn that has been languishing. It’s a perfect challenge to go along with my 2013 stash reduction goals and I can’t wait to get started.

Hope everyone had a great holiday season and I’m looking forward to 2013.

xoxo~rae

Mass Production

Forty-five handmade Christmas cards…for the second year in a row, we made all our Christmas cards. And, for the second year in a row, it came down to the wire…here we are 7 days before Christmas and my cards just got mailed. Better late than never, though.

Hope you got your cards in the mail.
xoxo ~rae