Blanket Update

I am now (counting the end triangles) 300 squares into the blanket :) I had estimated 700-800 squares, so I'm not quite halfway... this thing may never end.

Today I spent most of the day piecing a quilt- hopefully it will be quilted over the holiday and then I can send it on to Sarah. I like the piecing design a lot, but am not sure how the quilting will go... that's always the hard part.

Blanket Update

A reader asked how my blanket was progressing, so I thought I'd show a picture. It's definetly getting there. You'll notice I also started adding a black edging to the bottom and sides to make it have a flat edge. Except the corners will be truncated, because it's just too difficult to figure out how to fix that :)

I'm really happy with the progress, and I think I have enough yarn to either complete it, or at least be very close. (I have 100 balls in my bag right now- that's enough for about 200 squares, then I have a swap of 40 coming- so that's 80 more squares, plus the leftovers of all the balls already here- so enough to make the blanket twice as big as it already is...) As such, I'm sad that I am no longer going to participate in swaps. That was probably the best part- getting so many gorgeous yarn colors, without having to buy each and every one of them!


And except for the Dye-it-Yourself swap I have outstanding, here is my last- and probably favorite swap. StimpyLab. I just love it. Here is her etsy shop link (she also makes cute stitch markers). She uses one of my favorite bases (one I have a bunch of to dye), and her color sense is great. Plus she uses a neat speckled technique, so it's really unique.


Oh, and I guess there is ONE other swap. I hit a Wollmeise update last Friday (um...ooops?) so I have 4 skeins of that coming and joined a swap for it. But it probably won't go into my blanket, but to a special wollmeise only throw pillow.

Blanket Update...

115 squares completed.

Blanket Update

90 out of 800 squares complete for 11.25%

This has all the "Mini Mini Skein" swap yarns (minus the repeat, and one I think is alpaca so I didn't want to chance). My favorite was a rainbow-ish color that I used for the base of a large square... at 3 grams, it isn't enough for a big square, but I wanted it to stand out. (I also really like the glitter yarn that someone sent.)

It also has some Lion Brand Magic Stripes I picked up when I first started knitting.

Tonight I'll probably do one more large square in the upper right hand corner- yarn Suzy gave me this weekend. I want to make it a large square because it is from her first pair of socks!

I have two more swaps outstanding, so that will be about 40 more colors (assuming no repeats) but I need to find some more!

Oh and in case you missed it yesterday:

Aren't I awesome?

A FULL day

I present to you the DNA scarf! It's 3 feet now, so I'm getting there. (I have plenty of time! It's not even summer yet, much less winter!) This will be Kevin's graduation present, as hopefully he will be getting a job at a DNA company.

I'm really enjoying this pattern, but man do I keep messing it up! Just really stupid mistakes since i'm not really paying attention to the pattern. The picture is courtesy of Kevin. He got a new camera: a Canon Rebel T1i. (He also got an awesome lens for it.) So I'm having him take all my pictures now.

So what else happened today? Well, I went to an ice skating competition at the mall. It was a very small competition- just 2 hours, but I wanted to be around to congratulate all the kids I skate with. While I was there I knitted on my sock yarn blanket. My first swap came back- I have 38 new colors to knit with (there was 1 repeat, and I got one fewer skein then I sent-40. No big deal, though I'm a little annoyed with the "swap Mom" because she had put my name in the thread as an unidentified package, and when I PMed to apologize, I mentioned that my name WAS on the bag (and there it was on the bag when I got it back) PLUS I labeled my skeins with my name, it would not have been difficult to determine who I was... I've hosted swaps before and she was being lazy... sorry, just ranting) Anyhow- the yarns I did get are very nice, and I can't wait to start working with them. One seems to have either angora or alpaca in it, so I'm going to toss it aside. I don't want alpaca in the blanket, and angora doesn't really fit with the whole "sock" theme. Kevin helped me wind the yarn, and this particular skein gave him fits. Poor thing. Guess he won't be helping again.

Then, earlier this morning I made lotion bars. I got this kit from Brambleberry.com and loved it. It contains enough stuff to make at least 15 lotion bars (about 1 oz each). I made 5- 1 unscented, and 4 with different scents I have. I really like the Energy scent that comes with the kit. (Not completely in love with the Chipotle Caramel I also selected. It smells like a jelly belly- maybe Caramel Corn? Not like actual Caramel, but like scent. Bummer. But I am going to give it a few tries. I need to get more Pineapple Cilantro next order. I love that one so much and use it all the time.) Anyhow- the lotion was super easy to make, and so easy to use. It's a softer lotion than the bar I got from Chagrin Valley- which sometimes doesn't melt easily and you have to press hard. This melts on skin contact and is perfect. It is a little oily feeling compared to commercial lotion, but that's because it IS oil. The skin absorbs it and you don't feel oily after a few minutes. It's so luxorious feeling I've wanted to reapply it so many times today. Which is silly, because it's so moisturizing, there is absolutely no need to reapply. I've got lots of them though, so if you're interested in one, I might be up for a trade... (Remember, they are my first ones, so they aren't perfect)

And then, two more things today. First the super exciting one. I caught a Wollmeise update on Claudia's site for the first time. I have 2 grab bags headed my way; Blacks/Browns and then one that is a total mystery. I just cannot wait.

Lastly, Kevin and I played Killer Bunnies for the first time. Uh- that did not go well. I feel like that even though you CAN play with just two people, it doesn't really work. Lastly, we kept forgetting rules, and killing off bunnies that shouldn't have been killed, etc. So finally, we just gave up.

And now- Spaghetti Frittata is ready! Time for dinner.

Is it a blanket yet?

42 small squares, 1 large square- so many more to go.

Also- see the transition strip? The house is getting really really close to being done. Yay Kevin!

Two posts in one day :)

Here's the blanket so far. Um- you can see this blanket as a LONG way to go. The side of each square is about 2 inches. I'm thinking I'll probably do 20 squares across for the base row, this only has 6 so far. Every 20 or so squares I'm going to do a "double" (which has the area of 4 squares) like the rainbow one in this picture.

And a sneak peak of the front entry way- Kevin is in the process of grouting it.

Do you like the diamond tile? Kevin thought to add that detail and I think it looks nice- and his cuts are SO good.

I finished my Tiger Socks quite awhile ago, but never took pictures (so they sat in the living room waiting for me to take one...). I finally asked Kevin today to take them for me (so that I could put the socks away!) and he took a few- with Elsa's help :)

I am really loving these socks. They practically knit themselves, besides the fact that it took me quite a few tries to get the right gauge. They aren't as thick as I thought they would be -the yarn is at least sportweight, and possibly DK- but they are really warm and cozy. The calf increases went well, but I probably should have decreased more at the top, and yet they stay up. (A constant problem with my handknit socks is that they fall down and bunch.) The pattern breaks up once the calf shaping starts, but I still think they look really good. One of the two socks has a gigantic pool of black on the back, but honestly, no one will ever see these- they are just for me. People might see the feet of them, if I wear them with pants, but I'm not a knee-high with a skirt kind of person. I wish I was. I love knee highs.

I've made the best progress on my sock yarn blanket as I could have. You'd think the huge amount of socks I've made I'd have lots and lots of leftovers, but without duplicating them (because I don't want to so early in the blanket) 15 or so squares is nothing in the grand scheme. I took a yarn blank and made it into mini skeins and dyed it up all different ways so I could do more knitting while I'm waiting for swaps. So far I've finished knitting 22 small squares and 1 large square (that takes up the space of 4 squares). I'm estimating the need for 800 (small) squares to make it large lap blanket size.

I went to Yoga yesterday, so won't be going today. It was a different instructor this time- the owner of the studio. She teaches a good class. I felt really badly because through her talking through the class she suggested I sink lower in ackward pose, and well I was already fighting the knee pain so I shook my head "no" and she kind of added "and she says no" and kept moving with the class. As I left class she asked if I had injuries (which I detailed to the other instructor) and I told her I felt so badly and had meant to say something to her (which I was planning on doing before she started the conversation) I felt SO bad ignoring a sugestion in the first class I've taken from her. I appreciate critiques and don't want instructors to be hands off - because I want to do this well, but I can't squat as low as most of the people my age do in ackward pose, and I can't even do camel pose. I'm really enjoying the classes at this studio. My 7-day pass is over and I went ... twice. (And wouldn't have except I replaced my Sunday class with Saturday because it was "free") I just can't go all the way across town on weeknights- I'm too tired. I think what I'm going to do is get a 10-class card to this studio and the one I like less here in Coralville, then I'll do one during the week in town and one during the weekend in Iowa City.

Mini Yarn Skeins!

What's in the picture? Teeny tiny skeins of yarn. Aren't they cute?

And why are there so many of them?

Well I've taken on a new "lifetime achievement project" now that Daffodil Design is done. I'm going to work on a sock yarn blanket made up of mitred squares approxmately 2 inches each. These mini skeins are for a swap- where other people will send me their sock yarn, so that I won't have so many repeats in the blanket. It will take almost 1,000 squares I think to make this blanket a blanket size, so I can't do that on my own.

The assorted skeins are just 2.5 grams- teeny tiny, but a square only takes around 2 grams. The larger skeins are 5 grams, they can be used by people making bigger squares, or make 2 squares. They are part of a dye your own swap. I cannot wait to see what I get back! I love hand dyed yarn.

Do you have leftover sock yarn you'd like to get rid of? I'll be happy to take it off your hands! I'm going to need all I can get, and I'd be glad to send you some assorted skeins back as a trade if you are doing the same project.

This is all because my sock drawer is filled, so I need a break from socks for awhile. I'm also thinking about starting Kevin a DNA scarf (again... the last one did not work) and taking a "Knit One Below" class at the yarn store. The classes are all done in 3 sessions, and I don't need that long to learn a technique (just show it to me in 10 minutes) but it's not too expensive, and it will be nice to socialize with other knitters.