Happy New Year

Just wanted to wish all my readers a happy new year! I'm not one for making resolutions, but this year, I will make a slight exception.
I want to blog more.
I want to knit more, and blog about it.
That's about it! I'm going to try to revive two of my sort of dead blogs, and I have plans for at least one more. I hope I'm not spreading myself too thin!
What are your resolutions?

Social Knitting

Over the holidays, I have been going from house to house with my family. We generally have at least 5 get-togethers that the four of us go to. I also go visit a few friends who are home from out of town.
This gives me tons of prime knitting time. So far, I have completed several feet of a few different scarves I had already started. I also completed a few dishcloths, most of which I gave away.
I do get strange looks on occasion, I usually just tell everyone I'm starting next years gifts!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Just wanted to wish all of you a Merry Christmas again!
I have great Holiday news! I went back to work yesterday, after being off for nearly a month. I didn't blog about this, because the reason for being off is private.
Either way, I'M BACK
I'll be going yarn shopping with my next pay cheque! Michael's is having a big yarn sale!

A short Hiatus

Just letting all of you know I may not be updating until the first week of January. The Holidays last forever for me.
First is Christmas, which is celebrated on the 24th, 25th and 27th.
Then New Years celebrations, the 31st and the 1st.
And then my birthday is on the 4th.
I will be busy over the next couple weeks. I might have time for an update here or there, but no promises.
Follow my blog and you will get the next update as soon as it happens!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Running into other knitters

I went to the local bookstore with Mom today. She had a couple things to buy, and I showed her a few books I wanted.
When I was in the knitting section, an older lady came up, and looked over my shoulder for a short moment. She then grabbed a book off the shelf with excitement and said "Oh, they finally have it!". I looked over at the book she was so excited for, and we started chatting about knitting for a good 10 minutes. We flipped through a few knitting books together, and I talked about knit blogs, and she talked about knitting with friends.
It's crazy how a Mason-Dixon or a Yarn Harlot book can bring two vastly different knitters together.
I gave her my card, with my blog address and email, and I really hops she sees this post! If you do, I'm really sorry to have forgotten your name!

More Free Advertising

I found an other free advertising website recently. It's called the Banner Homepage. You upload a 125x125 banner (the same size as Project Wonderful) and once it's accepted, it is shown automatically. Right now, it is pretty much taken over by money making websites... I think both of my blogs are the only exceptions to that.
This is where YOU come in! I would LOVE to see more DIY/Etsy related banners up there.
Please blog about this! Post your banners! I want all of you to get more free exposure!

I WANT THIS!

One of my favourite blogs is called Shut Up, I'm Counting. Cass is a knitter, a mother and a pet sitter. Most of her entries have something to do with one of those. Lately, she has posted a bit about her new Etsy shop, called CassQuotes. She sells hilarious wall hangings there. This one is my favourite, and definitely applies to me.I have no idea where I would put it, but it would save a whole lot of explaining when we have company over. My parents friends come over now and then and wonder why there is yarn in nearly every room of the house, and then ask my Mom what she is knitting. My mother is not much of a knitter... She can, but she rarely does. She will tell whoever is over that I'm the one knitting. Like I said before, I have purple hair, and don't really look like the knitting type. This wall hanging would be perfect. The skull and crossed-needles are a nice touch.

Phog Lounge <3s Windsor Artists!

Like I said in a few posts, I have several scarves at Phog's Tshirt Art Show. Tom recently posted a video showing one of his shirts, and my scarves make an appearance in the last 2 seconds.
It's a super short video, and watching the entire thing is very much worth it.

No News Is Good News

I'm one again VERY sorry for the lack of updates! I've been away from home for the past few days, and had very limited internet access.
I also didn't bring ANY knitting!
Shocking, right?
Not really. The place I was staying is home to a smoker, and that is something that I would like to keep my knitting away from. I do not have a problem with smoking what so ever, if you choose to smoke, that is up to you. I will not tell you not to smoke near me if I am in your house. I figured it was a good idea to just keep the knitting at home.
This is something that is sometimes looked over when people think of knitted items. They absorb odors like there's no tomorrow. I hate leaving a smokers house and smelling of it.
Keep this in mind before you bring your yarn traveling with you over the holidays!

Two more scarves gone!

Went back to Phog last night, and 2 more scarves sold! I'm not sure which ones yet, but I was pretty happy.
I have been asked by a couple friends to knit items for them. Most of them want toques/beanies/skull caps, and one wants a dread tam.
Dear readers, do you have any simple patterns that a scarf addict like myself could manage? Please do leave them in the comments!

Phog Lounge

I took a picture of the scarves at Phog the other night. When I got there, I looked to the back wall, and saw quite a site. My scarves took up nearly the entire wall. Samantha was the only other person who brought scarves in. I tried my best to get all of them in, but with the bad lighting, only having a cell phone to take a picture with, and the wall just being COVERED, it proved impossible.
The entire top row is mine. The right half of the bottom row is mine. The one that sold is the darker one that is hanging lower than the rest of the others on the top row.I'm hoping to sell a few more of these soon. I will be headed back to Phog some time this week to check on them.

Knitting Updates!

I have quite a few things to update about today! I haven't been knitting as much as I usually do, but I have been doing knitting related things.

My stash has been separated into two different areas. Before this, I had several large Rubbermaid type totes stacked on the floor in our basement. I also had a few zip up vinyl bags, like the ones bedding generally comes in, with random left over bits. Lastly, all of my cotton was stored in a cardboard box perched precariously on the very top of all the rest of the bins.
My mom decided to clean the multi-purpose laundry room a couple days ago, and my stash was moved and some what organized. We found a few more tote bins, and put all of the yarn into them. The bins are now stacked neatly against a wall, instead of being a yarn peninsula into the middle of the room.
Thanks Mom!

I was supposed to get the yarn for the Who scarf yesterday. Unfortunately, the person I am knitting it for, Will, was sick and was not getting out of bed. Hopefully, he is feeling better today, and will be ready for yarn shopping soon!

I am still working on the Baby Boucle blanket (try saying that after a couple drinks!) and it's super warm. I just started on the third skein, which means I have finished 1/3 of the blanket. I am using 3 skeins on each half, and it will be a litle small, but I think it will do the job of a lap blanket for while I'm at the computer. The yarn I am using for this is taking quite a large portion of one of the storage bins. I am trying to cut down on the footprint my stash makes. Now, all I have to do is avoid the temptation to fill it back up!

Last night, I went out for a friends staff party at one of the bars in the downtown area. It happened to be right around the corner from Phog, where I have my scarves shown in the Original T-Shirt Art Show. I went in to check out the rest of the stuff that was being shown, and ran into a friend who was admiring the scarves. I asked him which one he liked the best, and he chose this one. I said Oh, really? I just finished that one a couple weeks ago. After giving me a confused look, I showed him the tag with my blog address and his eyes got rather large. "You knit ALL of these?" I pointed out Samantha's scarves, and said that yes, I had knit the rest of them. He seemed fairly impressed.
Later on, just before getting ready to head home, Tom came over and handed me some money. I was a little confused and I saw a lady wrapping a scarf around her neck. He pointed in my general direction. I walked over to her and thanked her for her purchase. She hadn't planned on purchasing anything, but with the way the weather was, a scarf was more or less necessary. The scarf she bought was one I knit last year, or maybe the year before. I used Bernat Galaxy, in the Pluto colourway. For being mostly man made materials, it is a very warm yarn. She informed me she would check out my blog! If you do happen to come across this post, I would love to have a picture of you wearing your new purchase!

My take on the Dr Who Scarf

Last year, a good friend of mine, Tyler, asked if I would knit a Dr Who scarf for him. I had heard of the show, but I couldn't understand why he would want a scarf from it. After he sent me a picture of the scarf, I could see why he wanted it. There are websites illustrating how awesome this scarf is.
I told him that if we split on the cost of yarn, I would knit it for him. We chose Lion Wool Ease Thick & Quick, mostly because of how bulky it is, and how much quicker it would knit up.
We chose a few colours less than what the scarf has, because we were going more of a tribute than a replica.
It's also much shorter than the original. I was worried with the weight of the T&Q that it would stretch out and cause problems down the road.
As you can see, Tyler is pretty stoked. His friend has actually requested a scarf for himself. This is something I am more than happy to do, as long as he buys the yarn!

A blanket for myself, perhaps?

I think the blanket I will be knitting for myself is currently on the needles. It's a corner to corner knit, in Bernat Baby Boucle in the Water Slide colour, and was supposed to be a baby blanket.
I didn't expect this at all... I have 6 skeins of the stuff, and I think that will be just enough to make a lap blanket, maybe larger.

I was planing on doing a Homespun blanket in rainbow stripes for myself, but I love how this yarn feels! It's a fairly thin knit, but surprisingly warm! Blue isn't usually my colour, especially this sort of blue (it has little purple flecks in it).

I bought this yarn from Michael's, on sale again, with my Mom a little while back. Fairly recently, actually. This is going to be a fairly inexpensive knit! If I remember correctly, each skein was $1.50. It was actually her idea to get it. Oh, mother, you are so contradicting in your ways! She wants me to stop buying yarn, but encourages me when it's on sale!

The Holidays

I have decided not to purchase Christmas gifts for my friends this year. Many of us are either not working or working very little. I would much rather meet for coffee or a quick supper with them than stress over what I will get them.
This being said, I am still buying gifts for my parents, my brother and one aunt. On my Mom's side, it's a rather large family, and once you turn 18, your name is put into the Secret Santa. I'm not going to say what I got for my aunt, because I think she might read this.
All this being said, I still enjoy making a wish list for myself. It's nice sometimes to browse.

I just purchased this shirt for myself.
But I would totally love just about any of their other shirts. 1AEON is based out of New York, and has a pretty cool selection.

This painting is by local artist Denial, AKA Daniel Bombardier.Totally love his style. He can be found on Etsy here.

And one huge thing I would totally love, is anything to pamper myself with. Lately, I've been stressing out over just about everything, and a nice relaxing bath complete with a delicious smelling bath bomb would be ace.These cute cupcakes come in 5 different scents, and I would probably be tempted to eat them. Oh, Feeling Smitten, I think I love you!

Knitters are a Nice Bunch

I think it's a requirement for knitters to be nice people. Really. You always hear stories about a group of grandmothers knitting their little fingers off so that anyone who is cold can be warm. It may have something to do with knitting "for the boys" back in war time.
I have donated items to different places before, the maternity floor at the local hospital, the local St Vincent de Paul, Keep Canada Warm!, and others.

There are countless other charities out there looking for just about anything that one can knit!
Keep Canada Warm!/Blankets For Canada as well as Warm Up America! are looking for squares to be sewn into blankets.
Mother Bear Project is looking for knit bears to be sent to children who have been affected by HIV/AIDS.
I follow a blog here on blogger called Crafty Angels. The women in Chicago knit and crochet for local groups as well as groups over seas.
I am a member of Homespun Helpers on Livejournal. They have set a goal of 4000 handmade items donated to charity in 2008.
After all of your gift knitting this year, please consider knitting some items for a charity deal to your heart. If you can't, for whatever reason, consider donating any leftover yarn in your stash to a group that can use it.
Happy holidays.

More scarves!

I dropped my scarves off at Phog Lounge for The Original T-shirt Art Show yesterday.
I'm really hoping to sell at least a few of my scarves there. That would be super awesome.
I have been kind of busy the past couple days and not knitting as much as I normally would! No new dishcloths to report or anything.
Looking forward to catching up on all the blogs I follow!

The craft show

This is something I would rather not talk about, but for the sake of my readers, I will.
The craft show sucked. There is no nice way to put it.
It was not well advertised, there were issues with parking, we were told tables would be assigned in a first come first served sort of way, this wasn't the case. I was stuck in a back corner, surrounded by the yard sale part of this supposed craft show.
I didn't sell a single scarf.
After the cost of the table, I can buy myself a Hot n Ready pizza.
No pictures, either.

Tomorrow is the craft show

The title says it all.
I haven't been a good blogger and photographing what I've been making. I also haven't kept track of my goals...
I'm hoping some of my customers will allow me to photograph them wearing their new scarves tomorrow. That would be interesting.
I am hoping to have at least a few pictures from the show tomorrow.

For locals, the show is st
K of C hall in Amherstburg, Ontario
It's from 10 am until 4 pm
If you go, look for me! I have purple hair! Say you found me here, and I will give you $5 off any purchase over $20!

Congrats Jess!

My friend Jessica just had her baby!
November 27th at 1:17 am.
Baby Scarlett weighed in at 7 pounds 15 ounces.
I went to see them both today, and they're doing great.
Like any knitter would do, I brought her a blanket. The Rainbow one, actually, and as soon as I get a picture of Scarlett I will put it up!

Socks and why I choose not to knit them

Fair warning, some of the links are Not Work Safe.

When one thinks of knitting, most think of scarves, sweaters and socks before anything else. I do, anyway. Some might think of willy warmers, prosthetics and stuffed animals, but we don't usually talk to those people.
A couple close friends have asked me why I do not knit two out of those three seemingly core knitted garments.

The simple reason is attention span.
I have a short one. Some days I wonder how I have cranked out over 20 dishcloths in the past 2 months. They're simple garter stitch with a few YOs and some k2togs here and there.
Sweaters and socks have shaping, short rows, heel flaps. Some of them have lace!
They're just a whole pile of different stitches one after the other in different orders on every single garment! Except socks, they're different on every other one, unless you only have one foot. But still, you get my point!
Why doesn't this captivate me?

Like I said, attention span! These things take time!
In the time it takes you to knit a sweater, I could easily knit 4 or 5 scarves. Maybe 10 dishcloths. A couple baby blankets. Any number of items. And you will only finish one!
And if you knit socks, once you're done, you think YAY! I FINISHED SOMETHING! But NOOOO! You have an other one to knit! Like I said, unless you only have one foot.

Plus, sweaters and socks have to actually FIT something. With a sock, it has to fit over your foot, around your calf, and be long enough so your toes don't poke out the end. With a sweater, you have sleeves for goodness sake! Some people have abnormally long, orangutan-like arms that drag on the ground. You probably wouldn't notice this until the sweater you spent 10 years knitting for them doesn't quite look right when they put it on.
Dishcloths, scarves and blankets are kind of a one size fits all sort of thing.

Long story short, I would rather knit my boring scarves, dishcloths and blankets than stress out over so many issues with socks and sweaters.

Work Holiday!

I have a needed but unwanted break from work.
This means more knitting time! I would love to have more reading material, because I sit at the computer and knit usually.
If you have a blog that you would like me to read, or a suggestion for a blog I should read, please post a link here!

Crocheted Beret

Yes, I know this item is crocheted, but it's totally awesome. It's a really pretty beret by LazyTCrochet that I would totally wear if hats like that make my head look misshaped.
Tricia was one of the first people to advertise on my blog through Project Wonderful. Because of this, I have been looking through her shop on a fairly regular basis, and I love everything I have seen!
Check her blog out, as well!

Rachel's Blanket

This is the giant Ruffles blanket. It's actually surprisingly warm, being acrylic and all. Rachel has sent the money order, and as soon as I get it, I will be sending it off!
These pictures are, once again, taken by Samantha.
Yes, it was THAT cold out. Don't let the leaves throw you off, it felt like the dead of winter.
These were the only 2 pictures that came out somewhat nicely. I'm not a fan of having my picture taken, and I was just goofing around the entire time.

Finished Scarf!

I would have wrapped it around my neck to show how long it is, but I didn't want my colour to rub off onto it. The reason I'm covering my face is because it too was purple.

Seed stitch love!

I went digging through my ever expanding stash a couple nights ago to find something to make a boyish scarf. I found one skein of Wool Ease Thick & Quick in Goldenrod. I sort of remember when I purchased this yarn, actually. I went to Michael's with my mom a few years back to get some picture frames for new prints we had in the living room, and I wandered over to the yarn section. There was a HUGE bin of discontinued colours from a bunch of different brands marked down from up to $10 to as low as 50 cents. I got about 3 skeins of this same brand of yarn in different colours for a dollar each.
Looking back, I wish I would have bought all of it, the T&Q at least. I love this stuff. Knits up super quick, and is super warm.

I'm doing this scarf on 10 mm needles, 13 stitches wide in Seed Stitch.
I love and hate seed stitch. I love to knit while watching TV, or reading blogs or basically, anything but watching what I'm knitting. When I have to switch between knit and purl after Every. Darn. Stitch. I tend to screw up. Which leads to swearing and throwing and frogging.
But I do love how squishy it is when it's done!

Sorry!

Ok, so, yeah, I admit it, I did get over excited last night, and say I beat my challenge. But up until this very second, I'm not sure if I have...
Last night, when I was calculating, I accidentally put 200 instead of 100 into my calculations...
So, I am no where near where I thought I was.
I am at...

32 732 stitches!

Which is more than I thought I would have, but less than my goal. I have 5 days to knit 17 268 stitches, or 3 454 stitches per day. That will not happen, cause I do have to work nearly every day this week, and I still have to get everything ready for the show.
I'm still happy with how much I've knit, though!

The baby blanket

I literally JUST cast off the Sunshine State baby blanket!
It was a pretty quick knit, and the Homespun didn't get splitty and lame until the very end.
I would take a picture right now, but my hands are still stained purple from my hair and I don't want it to rub onto the blanket.

I don't think I'm going to accomplish my goal of 50 000 stitches this month. Life is just getting in the way, which is awesome, but not so great for my goal. This is fine. I have knit quite a bit this month, and I plan on knitting as much as possible until the end of the month.
I still do plan on making a donation to charity, but I'm not sure where I should donate to. Suggestions are welcome!

Olive Coloured Scarf

This scarf is made from what I had left from Louis' blanket. Right round half of one skein of Olive Homespun.
I'm a bad knit blogger, and don't measure my finished items usually, so I can't tell you how big it is... The colour is fairly accurate (on my screen, anyway). I think Homespun is starting to grow on me again.The scarf is long enough to wear tucked through itself, or wrapped once. I am somewhat tempted to keep it for myself, but after today, it will probably clash with my hair! It's going back purple after work :)

Louis' blanket

Today, Samantha (would you like me to link you, sam?) and I had somewhat of an impromptu photo shoot. I wasn't anticipating being the model, but that's just how it went. Please, do excuse the fact that my hair needs to be re-done, this purple will not stick to my hair. Well, nothing will stick to my hair, I've absolutely killed it with all the bleaching I've been doing lately.
Also, I still haven't finished the ends. I'm a terrible procrastinator like that. This is what it looks like close upHomespun, 4ish skeins of Olive and the same amount of Deco. Unsure of that size needles. Basic "Grandma's favourite dishcloth" pattern, only giant sized.

More pictures of other finished items coming over the next few days! And pictures of the cookies I made for the cookie party!

Christmas Gifts

Some of you may be wondering why I haven't posted anything about knitting Christmas gifts. The truth is, I rarely knit gifts for others.
I know, I know. Shame on me, but I can never decide on what to make for anyone. I put so much time into some of the gifts, and to have the person just forget about the gift is heartbreaking for me.
This year, I will try to change this. There is one person I know I will knit a gift for, I can't say anything about it, cause I'm pretty sure s/he reads this.

What are you knitting for holiday gift giving this year?

Blogs I Follow, Part 2

I GOT THROUGH ALL MY BLOGS!
I am so happy right now! It was a seemingly small task, but it got harder and harder as time went on. I kept adding blogs, and obviously the ones I had initially kept updating.
I did manage to get just over half of the blanket done since I started catching up.
I have been quite productive since I moved my laptop into the basement. My wireless isn't working right (not sure if it's the computer or the internet itself) and the only available plug in is in the basement. It is a little chilly down here, but over all, its not too bad.

Tomorrow is the cookie party at Samantha's, and I will come home with pictures! Not sure what I'm going to bring with me. The scarves I've recently finished are a must, probably some dishcloths and maybe a couple blankets.

Hand knit scarves

In this post, I went on and on about how many of each item I needed to sell. I didn't give prices on any of them.
When I was talking about the scarves, I meant my NEW scarves. I have quite a few left over form last year, or even the year before that are out of style. Fun Fur, overly bright, odd dimensions or any other reason made them unappealing to potential customers.
This year, I am trying to make a few more appealing scarves, putting one price on all of them ($20) and giving gifts with purchase.
If someone buys 25$ or more, I will have a basket of what I call "ugly scarves" and they will get to choose one. This is an incentive for customers to buy more, and it will help clear out my inventory.

Does anyone have a suggestion as to how to clear out more of what I've made?

Blogs I Follow

Google Reader is either the best or worst thing ever invented.
Through Blogger Following, I follow just over 100 blogs. Seventy five or so are yarn related in some way. About 10 are people blogging about their day to day. The rest are craft, money or blog related.
Since "the weekend I forgot about the internet" AKA was super busy, I have had at least 50 entries lined up to read. Tonight, this number sits at 80. I am hoping to get it to 40 or lower before I go to bed.
How many blogs do you follow?
I am still working on the Homespun baby blanket. It's around 95 stitches wide, and I'm almost through one skein. I'm thinking 100 stitches would be a nice number to end off on.

Craft Show Preparation

Eleven days until the craft show! I am getting excited and anxious, because it is my only show this season.
I have chosen to only do one show this year because of work restrictions. I am required to work 4 out of 5 Saturdays as well as Sundays. The Saturday and Sunday I choose to take off cannot be on the same weekend. (I know, right?) This greatly reduces the number of weekends I had available to actually DO the shows.
The show I am doing is on Sunday November the 30th, at the Knights of Columbus hall, in Amherstberg, Ontario. The reason I chose this one is because the K of C has helped my family in the past, and I would like to return the favour.
There were other local shows I could have participated in. Some of which had more press coverage. And by press coverage, I mean they had small ads placed in the classified section of the newspaper.

I have wondered before what makes a "successful" craft show.
For myself, it is mainly the income.
This is how I figure out how much I would like to make at any given show. This is my take on what several other people have posted.
My costs
-My mom is awesome and drives me to and from my shows, so transportation is eliminated.
-Food-I buy lunch for my Mom and I while we're out at the show. This, as well as a mid day Tim Horton's run totals to around $15
-Purchases from other crafters-I try to spend under $20 at any given show. Since the holidays are coming up, I may spend more. Also, I heard there are 2 baked goods tables at the show this year.
-Taking a day off work- I break it down like this
Usual Sunday shift: 6 hours
Sunday pay: $8.95 an hour
6 hours * $8.95= $53.70

This means I have to make $88.70 just to cover my costs of that day. I would obviously like to actually make money, so I do have to pull a profit.

If I say I am making 50% profit on all my items (I am not, considering the time it takes and such), to break even I would have to sell at least $177.40.
This would work out to 9 scarves, 36 sets of dish cloths, 4 baby blankets or any such combination.

At larger shows, many would say that this is EASY. But I'm at a small town show. A small town show that is mostly populated by people who work(ed) in the failing auto sector.
If I could break even at this show, and have at least 10 people visit my blog from the show, I would be happy as a clam. If I could make $200 at this show, I would be ecstatic.

Because of all of this, I am knitting my little fingers off. If I hope to make as much as I do, I would need to have at least DOUBLE the amount available to be sold. This means 18 scarves, 72 sets of dishcloths, and 8 baby blankets. I am no where near this, but I do hope to get at least 20 scarves and 8 blankets made.

Pictures?

A friend just messaged me asking when I would post pictures of what I have been knitting lately. I promise pictures soon! My camera has gone missing again.
I will ask Samantha if she could photograph my scarves and a few other things on Friday when I go to the cookie party.
I will also try to take pictures at the craft show on the 30th.

Scarves and Blankets!

I finished a scarf with 1500 stitches. That was the Creamsickle one. It's somewhat short, but I sort of like it.
I have decided to start on an other baby blanket. I have not yet sold one, but I'm thinking Christmas-time would be a time where people would be wiling to spoil babies. Especially if it's their first. It's going to be the corner to corner one, done in Sunshine State (Homespun).

I went into Michael's today, and they had quite a bit of yarn on sale. Some cotton was $1 or $1 off. Homespun was $5 a skein. And they had glow in the dark on for like $1 a skein.
Guess how much I bought...



NOTHING! I realized I should knit from my stash at least until the New Year. I am planning on moving, and I don't want to have to bring TOO much yarn with me!

I fail

I know I will not reach my goal of 30 posts this month.
This weekend has been filled with everything but knitting.
I may not even meet my goal of 50 000 stitches.
But, this month is going fantastically, and life is awesome!

An other scarf!

I finished a second scarf, this one with 2688 stitches. This brings my total to...

21920!

Nearly halfway there! And I'm one day shy of halfway through the month! By the end of tonight, I could probably finish the other scarf I just started.
This scarf is being made from what I have left from the Creamsickle coloured baby blanket.
Not much else to update about!

A giveaway?

Dear readers,
I am thinking of doing a giveaway. I have quite a few knitting books, and I don't think I will ever use some of them.
For those of you that have done a giveaway in the past, is it hard to do? Is shipping for the books expensive? (especially from Canada, to the U.S)
How do you decide how to do the giveaway?
Please help!
-Nicole

A cool new site!

I was reading my blog list this morning, and an entry in one of my favourite blogs came up.
I love reading Michelles Charm World. She makes the cutest stuff! Her entries are well written, and even though it's not my preferred type of crafting, I LOVE reading it! I think she's turning me over to the plastic side more and more!Anyway, she posted a new site called Own The Hour. Basically, you pay ONE DOLLAR for one hour of advertising. I guess or one hour, that is a little much, compared to Project Wonderful, where I sell my ad space for usually under 20 cents a day.
The way I see it, one dollar is nothing. Skip the donut with your Timmy's tomorrow morning, if you're worried about it.
If you got one or 2 sales from that one dollar, it was probably worth it.
Of course, I don't yet have an Etsy shop. But this is one of those sites that needs to be promoted before it can actually do what it's supposed to do!

Sorry!

Yesterday's meme was a sorry excuse for an update. I worked a really odd shift, and I didn't feel like knitting much once I got home.
BUT! I did figure out how much knitting I've done since the beginning of the month.
These numbers are all approximate, cause I'm counting rows and not individual stitches.
blanket: 12000
dishcloths: 4000 (I'm saying each one is 2000 stitches. I calculated it, and it's somewhere around there)
scarf: yellow-3232
For a grand total of.....

19232 stitches!

I know I said I had more done in my twitter update, but I sort of miscalculated...
I will check my word count later on today, if I remember to do so.
I am also starting on an other Homespun scarf. It's olive green this time.

I have been tagged!

This is the first time this has happened anywhere other than LiveJournal.
I was tagged by Pegasus Handmade Soaps.
THE RULES:
Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their name as well as links to their blog.
Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

I have NO idea what sort of facts to leave about myself...
1) I hate and love my hair every single day. I am slowly killing it, and I often think I should shave it all off and start over.
2) I own so much yarn that I have started giving it away. I am in the process of making up a bag for Sam. But I'm attached to it. I am a hoarder. I was going to give a bag to a girl that hates my guts. THAT's is how much I have...
3) I went vegetarian just over 4 years ago. For animal rights reasons, because I don't like the taste, and cause it was a cool thing to do. I'm still vegetarian, for the first 2 reasons, and because the thought of eating meat makes me nauseous. Despite all this, I work in a deli, and I slice lunch meat.
4) I am a texting addict. The bill before last, I sent or received exactly 4000 texts. Last bill (that I got yesterday) was 3400 texts. A life goal is to eventually send/receive 5000 in a month. I know I can do it...
5) I don't want to have a traditional job. Yeah, I want to be a hairstylist, but I think it would be cool if I worked in a prison, or in the army.
6) I often go for weeks without shaving my legs. I'm lazy. If I can find a guy that doesn't care, I will be happy.
7) I think I'm borderline OCD.

I tag anyone who would like to be tagged! If you do chose to tag yourself, comment and I will post a link to your blog.

THE BLANKET IS DONE!

I finished the blanket around 9:30 last night.
It's a terrible cell phone picture, but there it is! That little box in the middle is a cell phone. For size comparison and all. Ignore the mess all around. That's the living room floor, and I can't just shove furniture out of the way to take a picture!
I noticed after binding off, that one skein DIDN'T MATCH THE REST! AUGH! AUGH UGH UGH UGH!
See that lighter band at the top of the blanket? yeah, somehow, one skein didn't match the rest. I don't know what to say to Rachel. She's paying for this... It's a Christmas gift for her boyfriend... I can't just take that part out... It will be a tiny little blanket if I did!
Any suggestions?

Twitter?

This is posted to both of my blogs.
I have signed up with Twitter. Mostly because "everyone is doing it". But also because it's an other way to promote whatever you have to promote. In my case, my blogs. And eventually a store of some sort (more than likely Etsy).
Now, this is my Twitter
http://twitter.com/3rd_timesacharm
I hear you can follow it, like Blogger.
Follow mine, I will follow yours. Promise!

Missed a day!

Sorry I missed yesterday! I was out and about from 8 am until midnight!
I left early to run some errands with mom. We had planned to go to some craft shows, but she assumed since a show was on Sunday, it would have been Saturday as well. (wrong)
We did go to Zellers and I picked up some more dishcloth cotton. Two of the large skeins of Bernat. I'll post the colours when I start using them.
On the topic of dishcloths, I saw some at the ONE craft show we did go to. They were priced at $3 each. I'm thinking 2 for $5 is reasonable. (Thank you for the input, Barbra!)

I'm definitely finishing that blanket very soon. It is almost the size I wanted it to be, and I know once it's off the needle, it will stretch out a bit. Right? It's acrylic...

What does "killing acrylic" mean? I know it involves an iron, but what does it DO exactly? Does anyone know?

Almost done?

The Sickness is back, and worse than ever. I feel like my nose is made out of pool noodle. You know the ones you fill with water, and then blow into and water shoots your little brother in the face out? Yeah, that's my nose right now...
I'm still working on the blanket. I think I may finish it after I'm done this pattern repeat.
It's getting unmanageable.
I'm kind of tiring of the colour.
I really want to knit dishcloths!
There are other reasons, but Sabotage by the Beastie Boys just came on, and that requires dancing.

Feeling better!

I think that karma thing is starting to pay off!
Woke up this morning with only a slight sicky feeling. My nose is not stuffy, and I'm not coughing nearly as much.
But I did have a terrible headache. That's due to grinding my teeth while I was having a dream that directly involved my ex boyfriend. I did find out that dreaming of an ex suggest that your subconscious is telling you not to make the same mistakes with a future partner.

In knitting news, I finished the other half of that dishcloth yesterday. I now have a set of three in that really pretty Creamsicle colour.
I'm not sure how I should price these when I go to the craft show at the end of the month, or if a set of 3 is a good number.
I was selling them for 2$ each, or 3 for 5$. I know I will never make enough money off of them to quit my day job, but I would like to get more than just covering my costs. Does anyone have any suggestions?
I knit 6 rows on the blanket yesterday. I was happy with that number, because I did have a fairly busy day.

Sick, Sick, Sick

Not feeling great today... I really didn't sleep well, and my throat is not happy.
I knit half of a dishcloth yesterday, as well as 4 rows on the blanket. Once again, only half of what I wanted to do. I did get quite a few other things done around the house, though.

I've already reached over 25 followers between the 2 blogs!

That's a party in itself! If I can keep that number steady, or even increase it by the end of the month, I will be quite happy. Even if I don't meet my other challenges.

I have a question for all of you! I'm getting ready to start on an other dishcloth set but I never know which colours of yarn to use. If you had to pick a colour of cotton dishcloth, would you pick
-A colour to match your kitchen decor
-A neutral colour like beige or white
-A happy bright colour
-A favourite colour
-A colour to match the season/holiday
-Something else
If you could comment with your answer, and include what colour you would love to see in dishcloth form, it would be greatly appreciated! I have tons of cotton to use, and it's always super hard to pick which one to use next!

An other dishcloth!

Yesterday, I spent most of the day knitting. I'm up to 18 rows knit since the first of the month. I'm a little behind, but today will be spent knitting, in between chores and such.
I finished an other dishcloth while watching movies with a friend. I started this one yesterday morning, and finished it last night. One cloth a day, plus at least 8 rows on the blanket a day would be really nice!
I'm reading all the updates on Google Following. Does anyone have a suggestion for an other blog I should read?

A dishcloth

I just finished an other dishcloth. The colour of this one is awesome! It's called Creamsicle, from Bernat Handicrafter. It's mostly white, with some really neat orange and yellow mixed in. I don't know how many I will sell at my craft show, seeing as it's kind of a Christmas show. But hey, maybe it matches someone's kitchen colours.
So far today, I've knit 4 rows on the blanket. I'm already halfway through my daily quota! I'm going to try to play catch up with the rows I missed since the first of the month. I happened to tie on the last skein on the November 1st, so I have a nice marker to show how much I've knit so far! How convenient!
I've been posting quite a bit on the Etsy forums lately. I've found quite a few new blogs to follow, and I know I've gotten at least 2 followers that found me through there.
An other challenge for the end of the month? Have 25 unique followers between the two blogs. That would be cool. That challenge isn't a priority, though. If it happens, sweet, if no, no big deal!

Daily updates?

I think I'm going to try to update this blog, and the other one, every day this month. My craft show is on November the 30th. I'm trying to get at least 10 dishcloth sets ready for then. Also, I want to finish Rachel's blanket by the first week of December.
My updates might be as simple as posting how many cloths I finished that day, or how many rows on the blankets, but I need some sort of motivation.
It's also NaNoWriMo (google it), which I am not taking part it formally, but it would be cool if all my blog posts this month added up to 50 000 words. Or if I could knit 50 000 stitches in a month.
*gets inspired*
Fifty thousand stitches in a month is doable. Each row on the blanket is 200 stitches, if I remember correctly. That comes out to 250 rows. I'm SURE I've done close to that on this blanket....
I'm currently trying to calculate the number of stitches in a dishcloth, but my math is broken. I KNOW there is a way to calculate 1+2+3+4...+45 without punching it all into the calculator. I don't even think that would be precise, but it would be pretty darn close.
Does anyone know of the formula I need?
Either way, 50 000 stitches in a month works out to 1,667 stitches a day, which is 8.3 rows of the blanket A DAY! When I knit for a while, I easily do 15 rows a day, usually more.
I think NaKnitMo is ON!
Anyone else with me? I'm starting a couple days late, but hey, I'm a procrastinator!
Added later: I updated the other blog, and I have a challenge for myself! I need all the encouraging words you followers can muster!
I WILL UPDATE TOMORROW WITH MY OFFICIAL RULES FOR MY CHALLENGE!

Little Mady

My cousin Chantell had her baby a little while back, and she is absolutely beautiful!
This is the first picture I saw with my blanket in it. (the striped one Mady is sleeping on)
I still haven't been able to see her in person, I always seem to be working while my family is out visiting.

I'm hoping to get pictures of all the babies I have made blankets for. This is hard to do, seeing as they kind of live all over the place, and I haven't met most of them!

Hopefully, I'll meet them all at Christmas!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween, everyone! Hope your night is going great!
I'm sitting at home, knitting the blanket, and handing out pop corn to little, and not so little, ones. I threw on some angel wings and a halo, but I'm wearing all black? I love this holiday, and these past couple years, I just have not been as into it.
We usually get around 20-30 kids. We're at 10 so far. One girl was dressed as a bunch of grapes. Made out of a garbage bag and at least 100 purple balloons. It was fantastic.
For those of you who are handing out candy, what was the best costume you saw?

Upcomming craft show!

I have a craft show on November 30th at the Knights of Columbus hall in Amherstburg. It's from 10 am until 4 pm.
I'm really excited for it.
I'm hoping to have at least 10 bundles of dish cloths ready for it, as well as a few extras, maybe 2 in each colour, if people want more than 3 of one colour.
I am still working on Rachel's blanket. I've used about 1/3 of the third skein. It's big enough for me to use it while it's on the needle. I set it on my lap and I stay pretty toasty underneath it.
More updates soon! I promise

An other new blog!

I am a serial blogger.
http://iampayingitforward.blogspot.com

I have finished quite a few dishcloths lately. I'm working a whole lot this week, so I might not update nearly as often as I usually do.

A day of knitting

This morning I was rudely awoken by a stabbing pain in my abdomen. Turns out, I have some sort of stomach flu.
Because of this, I spent the day in my pyjamas, knitting my heart out.
I've started on the third skein on Rachel's blanket. I'm about 3 inches past that point, and if I can keep up with a pace anywhere near this, I will be happy.
I have also decided that I will be working on a few scarves for my upcoming craft show. Many of the scarves I have done are no longer in style, and I'm basically just carting them from place to place.
I have been selling dish cloths outside of my craft shows, and I'm trying to make them more appealing to people at the craft shows.
I sell them for $2 each, or 3 for $5 wrapped in a little bundle. I'm trying to figure out the best size for that price. I don't want to make them huge, otherwise they're not worth knitting, but I don't want them to be so small they're sort of useless.

New Favourite Item!

This one isn't as new as the others, because it was posted a while back, but Wishing I was Knitting at the Lake is a GREAT blog!
I'm not a huge college football fan, but this scarf is awesome.Cathy has the pattern available for the "M" in dishcloth form.
I simply don't have the patience or wrist strength to knit on such small needles for so long. I still think it's awesome.

The blanket!

I lost my camera AGAIN, but I realized I would be a terrible knit-blogger if I didn't post a single "In Progress" picture of this blanket.
I'm getting pretty close to finishing the second skein. The deli department employee in me tells me each skein is around three quarters of a pound (340g). So, if that is correct, this blanket will weigh in at 3 pounds. This weight is only relevant when it comes time to ship the blanket. Which I hope is at least 2 full weeks before Christmas, if I have to ship from Canada. If I do manage to get across the border before Christmas, I'm hoping one week MINIMUM shipping from Michigan.
This picture was taken while I was changing from the large needle to the small needle, about half was across. That little rectangle in there is a regular hockey card. Why a hockey card? It's the only thing I could find that is a standard size that one could see on top of the blanket in a cell phone picture. My brother (who owns that hockey card) will argue with me saying it's a standard size, because apparently, that set is MILLIMETERS smaller/larger than the standard size. Either way, it shows the scale of the blanket. The colours, not so much. There is quite a bit more variegation than the picture shows. BUT! you can sort of see the way it ruffles! If you squint. Or something. Maybe I'm making this up. I can see the ruffles, where I used the smaller and larger needles, and the colour variegation.
But I might be crazy.

A follow-up

I started a dishcloth with the bamboo needles.
The main difference I have noticed is the sound. I've never been a fan of aluminum needles clinking together. The bamboo needles make a soft "swish" sound as the yarn slides along them. The yarn also slides along the needle more easily. The best part of these needles is their short length. They're 9 inches. Which is something I'm sure I could have found in nearly any material.
Overall, I'm not giving them rave reviews like most others have. If two sets of needles, identical in every other respect, were placed in front of me, I would choose the bamboo over an other material. But, I'm not about to replace all my needles with bamboo.

Bamboo needles

Today, I was in the general area of a Michael's and I said to my chauffeur (Mom) that I would like to purchase a new set of needles. I have been knitting dishcloths with the same set of red Boye aluminum needles since... I started knitting dishcloths. They're bent, the red is wearing off, and the tips are not as pointy as they used to be. I also wanted something shorter that wouldn't poke the other passengers on the bus.
There was one type of needle that fit the last detail there.
Clover bamboo needles.
I decided to purchase a pair, and I will be using them as soon as my current cloth is done! I will post my thoughts here once the first cloth has been finished.

My left arm has been getting tingly lately. I think it's time to ease up on the knitting a little bit.

One order completed

My Grandma lives in a nursing home that has had a few craft shows in the past couple years. The first craft show I ever did was actually there.

The nurses that work there are very supportive of these, often stopping by every couple hours throughout their shifts.

One such nurse has purchased dishcloths from me in the past. Twenty at a time. I was floored when she said this. She didn't specify colours, she just took a stack of 20 random ones. This was at the first craft show I did. Since then, she has purchased probably 30 more.

I got a call from my Grandma last week, saying she wanted 10 more. I had about 15 cloths made, and I brought them out the Heritage Village with me, to see if I could sell any there. After none sold, I bundled 10 of them up, attached a business card and sent them out with my Mom.

I promise I will improve my photography skills! There are a few colours there. Three each of the pastel rainbow, rainbow and burgundy/cream/navy, and one white with pink and blue speckles.

Rachel's Ruffles blanket is coming along fantastically! It's my TV knitting. And Internet knitting. I'm surprised at how much I still enjoy knitting it, being Red Heart Comfort Prints and all... (It's sort of scratchy and stiff, until you wash it a couple times)

I should get back to knitting. I figured out if I wanted to have Rachel's blanket done for 2 weeks before Christmas, to allow time for shipping and such (she lives in Ohio) I need to knit 14 rows a day, which is one pattern repeat. I haven't kept up on this since I got back from Heritage. If I can get at least one and a half done today, and every day for the next week, I will be a happy camper.

A new favourite Blog!

My knitting friend Samantha just started a(n other) new blog.
Sam designed all of the ads I use for this blog (which I still have to post) and is an all around awesome person.


My favourite knitted item of the moment, by Sam, of course:

Much of the yarn in that scarf/cowl was mine at one point. She will be starting an Etsy shop soon, and when she does, I will add a link!

Selling my wares

Just this past weekend, I went out to Heritage Village for their Autumn Treasure Hunting Flea Market. My Mom and I stayed in our camper and my aunt and uncle in theirs.
I had my knitted scarves, baby blankets and dishcloths, as well as some hemp jewelry and a few no-sew blankets on a table to hopefully sell a few.
I sold one scarf, 2 no-sew blankets, 2 necklaces and a bracelet.
I had hoped to sell more than that, but people were trying to lower my already low prices. I had one scarf priced at $15, and they wanted to give me $10. I had to stick to my prices. I'm not really doing all of this to get rich. My prices are only slightly above cost of my yarn, which means I can't give any sort of discount without taking a loss.
I'm happy with the feedback I was given, but I would really like to have sold more.

I'm hoping to have a lot more stuff made up before my next show. I am waiting on an application package for a Knights of Columbus craft show at the end of November. Some local high schools also have shows before the Holiday season (hurrah for being politically correct!).
The Village also has a fall craft show, but with a $65 entry fee for a Saturday and Sunday, I'm looking at a cost of around $260 just to go out. The reason for the extra $200? I work two jobs, one at minimum wage, and one slightly above. I get 4 hour shifts at one, and 5 at the other.
This all means I would have to sell at least $500 worth of product, because most of the stuff I make I simply double the cost of materials to get the price.
This isn't worth it, to me.

For anyone else who does craft shows, keep in mind the loss of your wages from work. Also, things like travel fees, cost of food once your're there, you will probably end up buying things from other crafters etc.

Comming soon: pictures of my friend Samantha's new scarves.

My new favourite blog

I'm a huge blog reader, you can see this here in the blogs I follow...

One of my new favourites is Divine Bird. Jenny Bannock has been blogging at WordPress since July 2007 about her adventures in knitting AND spinning. I just started reading in the past month or so, but I've gone back and read almost all the entries.

This is perfect reading for me when I'm knitting. An awesome layout, perfect font size so I don't have to scroll all the time, and just enough pictures.

There is also a Divine Bird Etsy shop, and I want this, even though I don't knit socks. I think it would just sit on top of my stash for the next 20 years.

The second blanket

I've started Rachel's blanket. It's the Ruffles style.
170 stitches.
6 rows on the big needle
4 rows on the small needle
The Coats and Clark site is down right now, otherwise I would have a picture of the colour I'm using.
Ok, so, it's 200 stitches wide 8 rows on the big needle, and 6 on the small.

DONE DONE DONE!

I JUST bound off the blanket! There are a lot of ends to be woven in, but I'm taking a short break from it for a little bit.

I'm going to be starting Rachel's blanket tonight or tomorrow (I'm back at the office tomorrow, so prime knitting time!)

My favourite knitted item of the moment:

It's by CubistLiterature. I read his blog all the time. He has some really neat shirts, as well.

I think once a week I'm going to have my "favourite knitted item of the moment". Now I just need to find a better name.

SO CLOSE!

I have around 90 stitches left on the needle for Louis' blanket. One problem... I'm running out of the cream colour...
I'm going to the craft store with Chris today. If the yarn is on sale, I'll pick up a skein just in case. If I don't end up using it, I will add it to my Homespun stash. If I do, I will still have some left over, and add the remainder to my stash.

In other news, Mom is loving the Knifty Knitter. Which is great. Now we just have to find somewhere to donate the resulting hats. Any suggestions?

And a question. In the next little bit, I know I will be headed out to the pub/bar with friends. I hate just sitting around while I'm there (especially the non-dance bars). Would it be a Bad Idea to bring some knitting with me? I'm talking like... A dishcloth here... Please let me know!

A camera

I really wish I had a reliable camera. Mine eats batteries like it's nothing. And since it's a point and shoot, it's either over exposed or dark and grainy. Even when I use it outside.
I've started to lose interest in Louis' blanket. I knit a row or 2 at a time... But I'm still pushing myself.
I taught my mom how to use a Knifty Knitter yesterday. She had knee surgery done Monday, and she's stuck sitting around most of the time. She has carpal tunnel in both hands and holding knitting needles pretty much sucks for her. So she tried the smallest loom to make some baby hats, and she's already finished one. I want to have 30 hats done by Halloween and bring them somewhere. I was thinking the hospital, but they're a little big for newborns. Unless all newborns come out with a head as big as mine was. (I was almost 9 pounds, and my head was huge compared to my body. No health issues, though!)

Suggestions!

I have piles of worsted weight acrylic and other synthetics floating around my stash. Not really floating, more like reproducing.
I gave a HUGE skein of what I think is Red Heart to my friend Chris today so he could learn to knit. It was a neat jungle camouflage sort of colour, and I had no idea what I would ever make with it.

I'm not the biggest fan of that yarn, but it's cheap... I think we, my Mom and I, got it a few years back when we knit for the Downtown Mission. Basically, we would get huge amounts of inexpensive yarn and knit scarves for local charities and gave them around Halloween to distribute to those who need it. This is before either of us knew that acrylic isn't very warm... At all, really. The scarves were beautiful, though. All kinds of awesome colours, different sizes. We made them with the intention that children would receive something handmade to show someone cares.

This year seems like it's going to be a particularly hard Winter. Many local people are out of work because it seems like everyone is out of a job. Which is almost true. I live in Windsor, Ontario. We make cars. Most of the plants we have here are too outdated to produce high-demand cars, and they're just sending the work elsewhere.

Both my parents are directly affected. My Dad works at a feeder plant. He makes a part that is included in most cars and some airplanes, the lumbar system. He started working there a week before Labour day, 2001. Then 9/11 happened, and they lost the contract for airplanes. Since then, he was off for just over a year because of a severe car accident that almost killed him, (The only time I've ever been as happy that my parents insisted on owning a Chevy Avalanche; it saved his life.) was laid off for a week at a time every 6 months or so, until demand would require them to go back to work. Just recently, he was informed he was "indefinitely laid off". The letter included something that said if he didn't hear back by June 2011, to consider the plant closed. Pretty tough.

My mother works for the Big Three. She will be out of a job within two years. Pretty terrible. She will be about 2 weeks shy of her 50th birthday (which is strange to think; I remember when my Dad planned an entire surprise 40th for her, and didn't let me know until about 12 hours before) so this means shes not eligible for most pension benefits.

My best friend's dad is laid off from an other one of the Big Three. My uncle had to move out of town to continue to work for the same auto company. The list goes on.

I read in the local newspaper about extra strain on the local food banks and social benefits and shelters and everything else. They're asking us to dig deep into our already shallow pockets to help out others. I would love to help, but I have to take care of my own, first.

All this to say I need suggestions. Suggestions of what to do with all this acrylic. I would LOVE to knit piles of stuff for the local people that need it, but that's hard for me to do. Since I count on some income from my knitting, it's hard to force myself to knit for charity. Also, I don't do hats or mitts. If any of you could suggest some super easy scarf patterns, or anything else I could make, that would be awesome!

When I'm up I can't get down.

Updates here at Knit, Nicole, Knit! Might be a little sporadic in the next little bit (yes, more than usual)
My boyfriend and I just broke up, and this is hitting me surprisingly hard considering it was my idea.
I'm going to keep on knitting, I have a LOT of stuff to do! I have one craft show for sure in October, and maybe one at the end of November. (that last one is a maybe, because I'm kind of hoping to have moved to Ottawa by then)

Also, I am selling adspace at the bottom of this page. If you have something that you would like to advertise, you can sign up for ProjectWonderful and bid on the spaces here.

Frustration

1) Realising the yarn you want to use has gone up in price.
2) Having to buy 6 skeins for a project.
3) Realising you don't have enough, so you go buy more.
4) Noticing the colour doesn't quite match.
5) Checking the label and THE DYE LOT IS THE SAME!
6) Not noticing this until the very end of the project.

Ottawa

Got back late last night from my trip to Ottawa. I had a great time, but that's neither here nor there.
I taught nearly everyone I was with to knit.
I had Louis' blanket with me, in hopes that I would have it finished to get it to him. This didn't happen, but that's OK, cause he may just become my room mate before Christmas.
While I was there, everyone said how cool it was that I knit. A couple expressed interest in learning. Chris, the guy I drove up with, mostly.

In through the front door

Once round the back

Out through the window

Off jumps Jack

Was repeated several hundred times during the few days I was there. Chris and I have a knitting date tomorrow, hopefully.

I think I lied

I just re-counted my stitches... i have 203... and i've got about 20 or 30 rows since the half way point...
that means i probably had 223 stitches...
i really need to get going on this! sorry for the typos in this post!

213

Stitches.

The blanket for Louis topped out at 213 stitches. That's a crazy amount... It's a tiny bit smaller than what I was hoping for. But I'm already going crazy with this... And, if I bought more yarn, I would be losing money on this... If it were a gift, that's to be expected, but this is something he asked for me to knit for him...

I'm in the home stretch now... I see the end!

More yarn!

I needed more yarn for the Homespun blanket I'm doing for Louis. I'm going up to Ottawa this Saturday, so I'm busting my butt to get it done.
I picked up one skein of each colour and used the 40% off one item coupons from Michael's (my mom got one, I got the other)
I also picked up 3 skeins of Bernat cot'n tots (or something like that) 2 solid pinks (one light, one dark) and a variegated pink/white. Those are all for ribbon cloths.
I also got 6 skeins for some Bernat baby something. Those were on for 3$ a skein, and I think an extra 25% off... Maybe, I'll have to check the receipt.
Louis' blanket is kicking my ass... I'm nearly at the halfway polint, so the rows are 200 ish stitches long... Takes me a lot longer to get the rows done... But, with the temporary job I have (a secretary type) I'm getting MINIMUM 4 hours of prime knitting time each day, and at least 2 more of slightly distracted knitting time.

SO sorry!

My apologies for neglecting this blog!
I have been working on a new blog over the last couple days.
www.coitalcomedy.blogspot.com

Scarf of Epic Proportions!

I found this scarf a little while back in a LiveJournal community I'm in. Right away I though that it would require a blog of its own.

Cassie, a knitter from Georgia, took on the task of knitting the Super Mario Brothers level 1-1 into a scarf after her boyfriend, Jason, suggested she try her hand at "geek knitting".

She trucked along for a while, and then decided to take a break. Jason tempted her to finish it by saying he would propose to her once it's completed. That's a reward if I ever heard one!

Cassie has been making the pattern up as she goes along, and is knitting the entire scarf in Intarsia. All the little details, such as the question marks, the coins and the Goombas will be added in later. This seems like a great idea to me! Much less to fuss around with for the time being.

So far, the scarf is about 6 feet long, and she's about a third of the way there. This is a task of epic proportions. I can't wait to see how it turns out! And the ring she gets!

Picture taken from Cassie's blog http://themarioscarf.blogspot.com/

Dishcloths and blankets

Don't worry, I haven't disappeared, I'm still knitting away!
Louis' blanket is getting bigger and bigger, and heavier and heavier. I'm thinking 200 stitches at its widest will be big enough. But I'll have to see how much yarn I have...
I've been doing some work on some dishcloths. I had one of the ribbon ones going, but for one reason or an other, my brain wasn't able to count, so I had to undo all but 3 rows. I figured, if I was going that far back, I might as well undo it all.
I'm also thinking of pricing on the dishcloths... For the plain dishcloths, $3 each, or 2 for $5. And the larger ones, either with a design (like the ribbon) or any sort of pattern, $6 each. And then I can do 2 small and a large for 10$. I am sort of selling myself short on these... But I enjoy knitting them, and my cost for materials is fairly low. Also, most of the time I knit them, I'm either on the bus, or watching television.

Organization

My stash lacks organisation. I have everything everywhere.
I've had quite a lot of scraps donated to my mom and I to do charity knitting. Because of this, we have a lot of small leftover balls of unknown yarns.
We also are easily tempted by sales on pretty yarns. This is why we have piles of somewhat scratchy acrylic. Red Heart, Bernat etc etc etc.
I have my blanket yarn. Two skeins of this, 2 of that. Seven colours of Homespun for MY eventual afghan (as soon as I find a pattern I like). Four skeins of one colour to pair up with some others and make a few blankets.

My goal for Christmas-time is to have ALL of my yarn fit into the storage I have for them. One way to do this is making these. I'm sure I could make them out of other types of yarn. Soft acrylic, maybe? Make a whole pile of them, and then tie all the ends in, sew them up and donate some to the hospital, some to the Downtown Mission, give some away? Oh, the possibilities!

Let the Games begin!

Just woke up, and I'm watching the Opening Ceremonies. And the first thing I thought (right after "Holy, that's a lot of people!") was "I wonder how many people are frogging for the first time?"
I can't wait to see what everyone is knitting!
I will certainly participate in the next Knitting Olympics. Unless I'm there, participating in the opening ceremonies. Since the Olympics are in my home country in 2010, I figured now is the best time to go!

The Olympics (mostly non-knitting related)

I'm not participating in the Ravelympics because of my wrist issues. But this is important to me.

Canada's Sikh hockey players to don turbans at Olympic ceremony
Indo Asian News Service
Last Updated: August 06, 2008 23:20:03

Toronto, Aug 7 (IANS) Four Sikh players in the Canadian hockey team and their assistant coach will don red turbans at the Olympic opening ceremony Friday.
Though the players - Ravi Kahlon, Bindi Kullar, Gabbar Singh and Ranjeev Deol - don't wear turban in their daily life, they said they want to don it at the world stage to highlight their Sikh religious symbol, reported Canada's Canwest wire service.
Assistant coach Nicki Sandhu said he too will join the four players in wearing the turban on the occasion.
However, two other Goan-origin players - Wayne Fernandes and Ken Pereira - and chief coach Louis Mendonca will not wear turbans at the ceremony.
Forward Ravi Kahlon said they want to challenge the identity issue by wearing turbans at the opening ceremony.
'I want to show that you can wear a turban and still be Canadian,' Kahlon said. 'When some of them first heard about this, a few said, 'This is the Canadian team, not the Indian team'.'
But a turban is a Sikh religious symbol and in no way an Indian national symbol, Kahlon said.
'This is no different than wearing a cross on your chest or a Jewish yarmulke during the opening ceremonies, which nobody would have any problem with,' the Indian-origin player said.
'We're a country of immigrants and this is a celebration of Canada and the fact that in our country, you can be anything you want to be,' he added.
He said he was born to Indian-origin parents who went through the immigrant experience. 'My dad had to cut his beard and lose his turban to get a job when he came to Canada in 1970. Now we can choose to wear a turban or not and it doesn't affect anybody making a living. Now we can celebrate that evolution of our country.
'During the opening ceremonies, I want people to think about Canadians coming in all kinds of packages, and yet we're all still Canadians.'
It's that part of Canada, he said, he has chosen to celebrate when marching into the massive Bird's Nest Stadium Friday behind Canadian flag-bearer Adam van Koeverden Friday.
Team captain Rob Short, who learnt hockey with Kahlon in the city of Victoria, said he supported his Sikh players' decision to wear turban at the opening ceremony.
Short said: 'The Sikh community in British Columbia has been very good to us - it raised $15,000 in one weekend to help in our preparations for Beijing - and as captain, I have no problem with this (turbans in the opening ceremonies).'
'We all bring something of our backgrounds to our national team and as Canadians at the Olympics. This is a part of who Ravi, Bindi, Ranjeev and Gabbar are. My parents are English and that's why I came to play field hockey and not ice hockey,' the captain said.
Source
This is something that has been all over the news.
I, for one, support these men. Religion is a form of self expression. Being Canadian, they have that right.
I wish them the best of luck.

Hundred and One things

I have quite a large amount of bookmarked websites on my computer. From blogs I regularly read, to things I would like to knit, to sites I fill out surveys on for money, to home made tortillas. I don't know when this happened. (sometime after Christmas, I'm sure. If it happened before, I swear I didn't steal this computer!) But on every other computer I've ever used, I had MAYBE 5 book marks...

I have NO idea how to categorize these things! Right now, my most used ones are:
-Blogs
--Crafty Blogs
--Knitting Blogs
--Other Blogs
-Crafty Stuff
-Games
-Hair
-Knitting
--Patterns
---Dishcloth
---Other
--Shopping
My problem is, within the blogs, some fit into crafty and knitting. And then occasionally, neither. And then, the patterns, let's not get started there! I have so many random patterns in there, I don't know how I find any of them!
I'm looking for suggestions, my dear readers, how should I categorize my links?

Taking it easy!

Well, I'm back!
I've been keeping my wrist somewhat immobilized as often as I can. Also, I've been observing my typing and knitting posture more. I've noticed how bent I often keep my wrists. I now try to keep them straight to reduce the strain. This slows down my typing and knitting, but I guess I'm better slow now, than handicapped later!
I'm chugging along on the Homespun blanket for Louis. It's 115 stitches wide on US 11 needles. I still LOVE the way the Grandma's dishcloth pattern looks blanket-sized. I don't know how wide this will get to. I should have bought 4 of each colour, instead of 2. That would make it a little easier to figure out where half is... I might be able to get to Michael's and find the same dye lot.

I'm trying to increase traffic here. If anyone has any suggestions on how to get the name out, please, do tell!

Bad Timing

I think I may have carpal tunnel.
It's a combination of knitting and typing.
I'm taking a break from both for a little while, sadly...

Full sized blankets!

I splurged again. Over $100 on yarn. This is getting to be addictive.
Here's a break down on what I bought:
3 skeins of Lion Homespun in Olive
3 skeins of Lion Homespun in Deco
These 6 skeins will become a blanket for my Ottawa buddy, Louis. They are amazing colours, and I really like working with this yarn for some reason. I've started it on the diagonal (my favourite way to do blankets) on 8mm needles.
4 skeins of Lion Homespun in Sunshine State
These were originaly $8 a skein like the rest of the Homespun, but they were marked down to $3 each. My Mom suggested i get 3 of them and make a baby blanket, but I noticed there were 4 there in the same dye lot. I figured I should get all of them for a couple reasons. First of all is my own security. I don't want to run out half way through. Second, I wouldn't want anyone else to find that one gorgeous skein and realise there's not much to do with just one skein.
3 giant skeins of Red Heart Comfort Prints in the 4026 colourway.
These, along with an other skein I already have, will become a blanket for my Ohio friend Rachel. This one will be the Ruffles blanket, with a few modifications. Mostly, shorter sections on the small needles, maybe only 3 rows.
1 giant skein of cotton.
This doesn't really matter what colour. I'm pretty sure it's Sugar and Creme, but its irelevant. It's going to be used for dishcloths. Obviously.

Looks like I have my work cut out for me for the next little bit.

I want to get into Harvesting The Fam, but it's a juried show, and I'm really nervous about that.

Babies are comming!

Congrats to my cousin Kristi! She had baby Alyssa Marie at 4:04 am today!
I went to my cousin Chantell's baby shower today, and gave her my most recently completed blanket. She loved the blanket, from what I can tell!
I'm almost hoping more people I know will have babies so I can keep making blankets for them!

So uninspired

I just finished the very last blanket I had on the needles. It didn't come out as perfect as I would have liked it to, but this yarn was too much to frog back and try to pick up the stitches. There's a few random holes, cause by unintentional yarn overs, like I said here. If I was selling it, I would have tried a whole lot harder to fix my mistakes...
Sadly, I only have one terrible quality picture. My batteries died on me again. Story of my life, right?

I didn't have a baby to model it, so I wrapped Tails in it. Keep in mind, Tails is about 2 feet tall, and his head is bigger than mine.

Other than this, my family is on vacation right now. They have been for about 2 weeks, and they come back tomorrow. (Tomorrow is also my Mother's birthday. She's a hard person to buy for...) I've had to fend for myself. Haha. Right. I've eaten mostly junk food, partied and been a slob... Everything is back to normal now.

I also got my report card the other day. I finished with a 77 in my hairstyling course. I'm actually very happy with this. I don't know what any of the other girls got, but I know I either got the highest or second highest mark. As for co-op, I got a 52. I'm OK with that, since basically, I'm happy to have gotten out of it alive.

I have nothing on the needles right now. I still need to get the yarn for the commissions. The yarn store is sort of out of the way, and I don't drive... Hopefully this week!

An other blanket

My mother's family is... fertile. Two cousins of mine are pregnant at the moment, and this has influenced my knitting to lean even more into the baby oriented. They're both having girls.

I finished an other baby blanket out of multi coloured Baby Clouds. I forgot to measure it, but at its widest it's 70 stitches wide. I had half of it done in a day. It took me about 3 days total, only knitting a few rows at a time. An other terrible picture, it's STILL raining almost every day.

The colour variegation is amazing. Green, blue, pink and yellow dominate, but there's a bit of purple and white, as well.

I've also been asked to knit 2 blankets for some friends of mine. I'm planning on doing one diagonally with Lion Brand Homespun, diagonally, like the one in this post, for Louis. The other will be a Ruffles blanket, for Rachel. Both of these will be full size afghans. I have no idea what to charge for something like this, and I can't find the website I used to use to calculate prices of handmade items. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know!

It's Summer!

Over the past few days, it's been high school exams all over the place. I was a lucky one, and only had 2; one practical, and one written. I aced the written, that's for sure, and I did much better on he practical than I had hoped for. The main thing: We had to be able to roll a perm in 45 minutes. It took me 38. I did a victory dance when I found that one out.

I have kept up with my knitting, which is a good idea. I have the pink and white striped blanket that I finished a few days ago. It's fantastic. I forgot to measure it, and I'm icing my knee right now, so if anyone is curious, I can measure it later.That's the one! Sitting on the ugly, over stuffed, under-sized couch. For size comparison, I guess? if it was twice as wide, I would consider keeping it for myself.

This is just to show the colour contrast. Its a very soft, really girly baby pink. I used one pink skein and one white skein of Bernat Baby Clouds. I bought them both on sale at Michael's.

I have something to request of all the readers. I want to know about how many of you come here regularly. If you could just leave a comment on here and state your name, and how you found this blog, that would be fantastic!

Finished a blanket!

I just finished the Ruffles Blanket. Its (I think) 35x24. Kind of a strange size, but it will do the job. Probably perfect for a stroller, or maybe a crib. I did mess up some of the row counts (it was supposed to be 7 rows on each needle, some places it's 5, others, 9)

Here is an other terrible quality picture, with bad lighting and a messy room!

Note the laptop set up i have going on. A thick heart shaped pillow, with a big Ripley's Believe It or Not! book, and my mouse is on a Jack Skellington head-shaped pillow.
Saturday was WWKIP day. I had planned on a bit of knitting on the bus, which I did do. I got hassled by a couple gangsters. A sweet little old lady looked at them and said "SHE's the one with the pointy metal sticks..." they shut up right away.

the blankets, ohhhh, the blankets

Finally getting around to updating!

As always, life is dramatic. Colin's dad had a heart attack last Saturday. He's doing much better now, still very weak, but alive. A week or so before that, a friend of the family passed away. Cancer...

Been working my usual shifts. Got a lot of the information on the buyout. That's happening September 26th. I'm hoping by that point, I will have started selling on Etsy, and I will have an other job.

As for the blankets... When I have several things on the needles at once, I tend to bounce around between projects. This way, I knit a lot, but I don't see a whole lot of progress... The exception to this, is the Ruffles blanket. I can see each repeat very easily in that pattern. It's a very simple pattern, but oh so cute. Its about 3 feet wide, foot or so long... That sounds backwards, but it makes sense to me! I think it will come out to stroller blanket size.
Sorry for the low quality picture... My camera didn't want to photograph the awesomeness of this blanket. You can sort of see the ruffles.

I still have the pink and white striped one on the needles. That one is making slow progress, noticeable, but slow. Finally, the Bernat Baby Blanket yarn. Super soft, super fuzzy. All the fuzz has been causing some headaches. There are a few small holes that resulted from either a YO, a missed stitch, or something. About 3 of them.

Pardon the mess that is my bed. It's been super hot lately, and I sleep with no covers on. That's the polka-dot mess at the end of the bed.

Other than all this, I went to a Stitch and Chat for Blankets for Canada. I knit one 8 inch square so far, but I'm going to start on an other one as soon as i finish one of these blankets. I'm determined to make at least 50 items for charity by labour day.