Finished

Just finished a pair of mittens made from the "Warmest Mittens" pattern on ravelry. They were super easy and quick and I can definitely see myself using this as a go to pattern for myself and for gifts. I'm thinking about making a few pairs for the upcoming holiday season since I was able to finish them in a day!

Also, I have been making decent progress on my cousin's baby blanket. I am almost done with the fourth stripe and will be moving on to the fifth (out of seven) shortly!

I really love knitting when it's cold enough out to wear the things I make! So exciting! :)

Casting On

I'm starting a new project and I'm really excited about it! My oldest cousin is having a baby and she's the first in the family to do so. So, I decided that I wanted to knit her baby a blanket. I am going to knit this, it is a striped garter stitch blanket. I like the simplicity of it and I like the yarn colors I have chosen (similar to the ones that they have). Hopefully my yarn proves to be soft enough for a baby, and if not, I'll figure something else out!

Here's a fun instagram photo that I took of my yarn. It doesn't actually show the colors that well but I like it anyways :)

New

Starting a new project today. I'm going to make another GAP-tastic cowl because my first one made me so happy!

I learned how to crochet!

Granny square afghan, here I come!!

I decided that I wanted to learn how to crochet granny squares because I love them and it would be great to be able to make an afghan or two (or a million)!! They are so quick and easy that I can imagine myself making afghans for everyone I know. The only problem now is that my budget just doesn't have enough room in it for afghan amounts of yarn! Oh well.

Anyways, here are some pictures of the granny squares that I've completed. I am just making them out of sugar n' cream cotton because that's what I had lying around.

My favorite is the one where I start off with orange and then go to the white and then back to orange. I think that the switching of colors adds some interest compared to not switching colors and that it is a traditional granny square look. I have to work on my technique a bit more, but I'm excited to start working on making squares for an afghan sometime soon!

Do you crochet? How do you make your granny squares? What do you think the best yarn choice is for granny squares? Let me know what you think!

It's been a while...

It's been a decently long time since I've posted here. Things are so busy with school that I just don't have enough time to do all of the things I want to do. I wish I had more time to be crafty, more time to cook good food, more time to read books for fun, more time to exercise, and more time to relax, but school is just so time consuming and tiring. I finished last semester pretty strongly, but having a summer semester right afterwards is pretty difficult. Things in the summer are more accelerated so it makes for a busy two months. On top of that I'm trying to plan my wedding that is in two years. I know it's early to start the planning but if I don't do it now I won't have time to do it when things start to get busy.

Luckily, after this next week I will be done with classes for 6 months. My school has a co-op program in which you spend 6 months in school and 6 months working full time. Starting July 2nd I will be working full time and I can't wait!! I will have much more time to do the leisurely things that I like to do such as crafting and reading and wedding planning. 

Some things that I want to get done while I'm working:

- Start knitting myself an afghan. I haven't decided on a pattern yet, but I really want to knit an afghan to have in my apartment/future home. 

- Learn how to crochet granny squares in case I want to make a granny square afghan

- Knit some more potholders for my mom

- Find some fun things to knit for myself

- Read more. I want to make time to read a lot over the next 6 months because I don't get much time to do it while I'm in school.

- Get the big stuff planned for my wedding like the venue, photographer, DJ, florist, and cake person.

That's all for now!

p.s. I just got a Goodreads account and it seems like a really awesome way to keep track of the books you have already read, books you are currently reading, and books you want to read. I would definitely recommend it!

FO Friday 5

I finally have an FO!! 

I finished my friend's spiral rib legwarmers and I'm really happy with how they came out. I liked the pattern a lot, and even though it was tedious at times it was still fun to knit. However, I feel like I would have liked them a bit more if instead of just having the cast-on and the bind-off edges being the ends that there was some sort of edging. Oh well, my friend really liked them and that's all that matters!

Here are some photos:

That's all for now! This afternoon I will be finally finished with my finals and will have a week off for once. I can't wait to keep knitting on my shawl! 

For more FOs check out Tami's blog!!

WIP Wednesday 5!

So last night I cast on Lala's simple shawl and so far I've loved knitting it! I'm knitting it out of some berroco ultra alpaca in a purple/magenta color. I had the yarn in a skein for the longest time and finally got around to winding it into a ball. I really wish that I had been able to cake it because now I have to knit with my yarn in a bowl!

Sorry for the bad picture quality, it's dark in my apartment and the cable on my needles isn't very pliable so it's very hard to take a good picture of the shawl :(

Anyways that's all for now! Check out Tami's blog for more WIPs!

Instagram is finally on Android!

WIP Wednesday 4 (it's about time!)

So it has been a super long time since I've been able to post here, but luckily I'm on spring break this week and I have some time to blog!

As for WIPs I only have one. I am working on some spiral rib legwarmers for my friend. They are coming along nicely but I'm not enjoying the knitting as much as I would like. The pattern requires me to count rows and pay attention and so that makes it hard for me to knit while watching tv. I am using cascade 220 in a charcoal grey color and I am almost done the first legwarmer. I plan to finish them over the rest of my break since my friend has been waiting a long time for these (woops).

Here are some pictures:

The top picture makes it look like the legwarmer is wide at the bottom and decreasing in size towards the top but I think that's just from trying on. The bottom picture attempts to show a close up of the pattern. Another thing slowing me down on these is the fact that I have to use DPNs. It is good for me to be learning and I enjoy learning the technique, but it is much slower than using circulars.

That's all for now, check out Tami's blog for more WIPs!!

Spring Break!

Only one more class today and I am on spring break! I am looking forward to relaxing, getting some work done, and knitting! Not sure what I want to knit though. Maybe I'll knit a hat for when I go skiing next weekend or maybe I'll knit a scarf with some of my Christmas yarn... or maybe I'll do both! :D

Non-FO Friday

Wow, its been forever since I've posted here!

Here's what I've been up to:

School! I've been extremely busy with my school work this semester and have had to put a lot of time into it so that means less time for knitting :( I have missed at least 4 knit nights in a row and have knit maybe once a week for the past few weeks. It's awful! I just find that when I sit down at the end of the day my mind and body are so exhausted that even "mindless knitting" is hard for me to do.

That being said, I do have two things on the needles right now. One is a pair of legwarmers for a friend and the other is a dishtowel for myself just because. The legwarmers are coming along nicely and I have almost finished the first one, but the pattern isn't the most intuitive and I am still getting used to DPNs so it is slow going. I also can't really knit this while watching tv because I constantly have to look at what I'm doing so I miss most of the show! The dishtowel is just a basic garter stitch towel, nothing fancy. I had some extra cotton lying around in a color that I wouldn't want to use for gift knitting so I figured I would use it on myself.

Luckily this weekend won't be too busy so hopefully I can get some knitting in and my spring break is coming up so I really hope to get the legwarmers done for my friend during that time off as well. Also, I think that I might cast on something for myself! I need an instant gratification knit, probably some sort of cute scarf. If you have any suggestions, let me know!!

FO Friday 4

Surprisingly I have an FO this week! I didn't think that I would finish this this week and so easily!

My FO this week is Toast, a fingerless mitt pattern:

This was my first time using DPNs and I'm pretty pleased with how they came out! The yarn is Cascade 220 Superwash Paints in a purply-blue color that I love and it's super soft and squishy! The two mitts don't quite match because I cast on more stitches for the second one (to see if it would make a difference and if I liked the bigger size better) and the thumbholes aren't quite the same height but I don't mind. I think that I might make another pair but without the thumbhole and a bit shorter just so I can use the leftover yarn I have and so I can practice a bit more with DPNs. However, my first experience with DPNs was an enjoyable one and I didn't have too much trouble, it was just a matter of being persistent and knowing that it'll get easier the more I do it. 

That's all for me this week! Check out other FOs at Tami's blog!

WIP Wednesday 3

So this week I've tackled a knitting goal that I wanted to achieve this year: knitting with double pointed needles. I am making Toasty which is this cute and simple fingerless glove pattern. I've already finished one glove and feel pretty comfortable with DPNs so far so I think that I will try one more project with them and then get started on some socks! :D

DPNs!

I've found that my biggest problem with DPNs is a tiny bit of laddering, but I've heard that goes away after time and the only time you can see my ladders is when the fabric is stretched. Another thing that I've found challenging is picking up the right stitches for a thumb hole. It seems like it should be easier than it is but I had a hard time making it so that I didn't have any gaps around the thumb hole. However, for the second mitt I have cast on a few more stitches in hopes that it doesn't stretch as much when I wear it so I can avoid having ladders showing and can have the holes for the thumb show a bit less (I found a new technique on youtube that I want to try).

That's all for today, hope all of your WIPs are going well and if you want to see more WIPs check out Tami's blog!

FO Friday 3

So I'm finally back into the swing of things as far as the blog goes so I'm very happy about that! And as far as getting knitting done during the week while also doing well in school is proving to be not too bad. I have had time to knit during the night after dinner and I'm sure I will have some time to knit during the weekends too. Also, I have started attending a knit night at my LYS Mind's Eye Yarn. It's Wednesday nights and it's a nice way to break up my week and have a night to myself.

Ok, now onto the FOs!

Yesterday I finished my third Montana Scarf out of Lion Brand Vanna's Choice in the oatmeal colorway.

 It got pretty boring towards the end because I have knit this same pattern twice before, but it was worth the boredom so my friend can have a nice scarf! Also, over the past few weeks while I haven't been blogging I finished two other projects a GAP-Tastic cowl for myself and a GAP-Tastic Cowl for my Mom.

I made mine out of Lion-Brand Chunky in the nantucket colorway. I love, love, love how it came out! It's super chunky and bulky and warm and squishy and it makes me super happy! My Mom's was made out of a chunky yarn in a teal colorway and she loves hers too!

Alright, that's all for FOs today! Check out Tami's blog for more!

WIP Wednesday 2

Warning: There will be no pictures in this post :( I am at school and don't have my knitting with me. Maybe I will get a chance to post one later!

Right now I am working on my third Montana Scarf. I'm making it for a friend because I promised it, but oh my goodness am I getting sick of this pattern! Oh well, it's for a good friend and I'm happy with how it's coming out. I also plan to make a few more potholders to send to this friend too!

Other than that I don't have any more WIPs but I have a plan for what I want to start working on next and some goals for what I would like to accomplish this year as far as knitting and other things go.

Next on the Needles:
- Toast
- Legwarmers (Requested by a friend. I might not make tubesock ones, but the pattern seems helpful and basic)
-Oh, Brioche (I have some cascade 220 superwash paints that I think would look so pretty in this pattern!)

Knitting Goals for the Year:
- Get comfortable using DPNs (I just bought a set of a bunch of different sizes so I better like them! :P)
- Make a pair of socks!
- Overall expand my knitting knowledge and don't be afraid to try knew things!

Other Goals:
- Do well in all of my classes this semester. I have some pretty difficult classes this semester that will involve a lot of work and I want to make sure that I stay on top of my work and go above an beyond to get ahead and do well.
- Keep up with my blog and my knitting even though I am busy with school.
- Read often. I feel that when it gets into the semester I don't spend much time reading and I would like to change that.

That's about it! Figured I would share my goals with you guys (a bit late I know) and see if you had any other good goals that I should add to my list. Also, check out Tami's to see more WIPs!!