The birth of a pompom...

Now... Late-night Manda would like to present: How a PomPom Is Born.

One...


Two...


Three...


Four...


Five!!! How cute!

Some knitting done.

My poor cell phone gets dropped/kicked/scratched way too much. I decided to knit a little cozy for it and this is resulting doo-hicky. I rather like it. I used Cotton-Ease left over from a project, measured my cell phone, swatched a bit, and cast-on. I was finished in one evening of tv knitting. It's knit in the round with twisted rib in purple and baby cables in light pink.

Cell phone case.

Quick knitting, instant gratification. Ahhh...

with phone in place...

And this is my pretty Lush yarn. I'm going to design my own sweater from it. But it must wait in the stash until the opportune moment... Have a good day all!

Yummy yarn birthday present to self.

P. S. Christmas knitting continues... But I'm going to try to be sneaky about it? Maybe, maybe not. I'm so proud of my first glove! I want to show it off. Plus, my brother has already seen it... I had to make sure it fit!!!

Adventures in Fair Isle.

I've started to swatch my sister's Houndstooth Clutch. I was inspired by Bruxknits' pattern for Elle(pdf). However, I'm going to use the construction of the Floral Felted Bag in Interweave Knits Fall 2004. This was my first attempt at fair isle. It was SO awkward at first, but I think I have a method now.

Before.

I'm also going to felt the bag, so in to the sink my swatch went. I really like how it turned out. I have a feeling it will be a cute bag and I'm sure I'll want to keep it for myself... Hmmm... Too bad my sister has an awesome coat that it will match perfectly. Maybe I'll just barrow the coat, too. Isn't that what sisters are for? :p

After.

And finally, a pic of the glove progress. Two fingers down, three to go... on this glove atleast. I'm really having fun figuring this out as I go. You can see my Weimaraner puppy posters in the background. You can also see my Sophie bag and my Fiona bag(pdf) hanging up all pretty. They make nice wall decoration. Mike asked me this weekend, "Why don't you use these bags? Or sell them?" He doesn't understand that they make me just as happy to look at as when I use them. Fiona is a great summer bag, but Sophie is a bit scratchy. You win some, you lose some. They all get used in their own special way. Even if it's just decoration!

Peace dudes!

Ok, good night all! Peace out! ♥

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Me! I treated myself to some yummy yarn. I can't wait until it gets here! Hurry Mr. Postman!!!

A start in the right direction

I have started my brother's gloves. I'm kind of winging this as I go... I hope it turns out. :) I've studied a couple other glove patterns, so I know the jist. Knit the cuff, then the thumb gussett, and then come all the little fingers. I've knit a pair of mittens before. Actually, they were for my mom last Christmas. I used a pattern, but it was nothing fancy. I have so much stuff that I have knit before I started blogging about it regularly. I should really start posting about all my "old" stuff when there isn't much to say about current projects. I would also like to set up a gallery of my finished stuff. I'll have to do that in all the extra time I (DON'T) have. Heh.

Glove cuff.

And just for my own purposes of making a matching glove: Gauge = 11 sts/2". CO 40 sts. Knit in 2x2 rib for 2". And I finished todays progress with 2 rows of knitting. *sigh* So tired. Good night. ♥

Fringe is fun!

Well, I'm back from the week of military h*ll. I spent many hours in chem gear and gas mask while "missles" and "small arms fire" surrounded the medical clinic that I was assigned to. Everything was simulated, of course. But it really hits you when you are standing with all this gear and shrapnel protective flak vest weighing you down that people are fighting and dying overseas in the very same uniform, so I really have no room to complain.

On a brighter note, I finished my cousin's poncho. Well, 99% finished. I still want to make two pompoms to attach to the drawstring I added at the neckline. I just wanted an excuse to make pompoms. Elizabeth is only 6 and is much smaller than me, but I tried to model it anyway. I will definitely add pics of Elizabeth in the poncho, cause I'm sure she will be super cute. I love the FRINGE! I fringed this baby during the Steeler's awesome game. Wee!

Finished poncho!

Then I had the awesome idea to have Libby, our chocolate lab, try on the poncho... Haha. Before she got hopelessly tangled up in the poncho, I got this shot of her trying to eat my camera. Libby is so crazy, but we love her.

Attack of the poncho wearing dog!!!

So that project can be put in the "Finished Christmas Gifts" pile. Now to the other three. How many days till Christmas??? ♥

What % Obsession

It seems I have figured out how to work the dynamic percentage bars for the progress of my knitting projects. My WIPs seem pretty pathetic now. It's evident that I have done a great job planning wonderful projects, but not enough progress. It all comes down to actual time I have to knit, which is not very much nowadays. Is it sad that I count having the yarn for a project 2%? I am considering making pattern aquisition worth another 2%....

In other news, if I don't post for a week, it's because I have to fufill some military duties. I am in the PA Air National Guard and have been assigned to a decontamination inspection deployment. This means I have to miss a week of school, which is not a good thing. Hopefully, I will have some downtime between playing war and I will be able to squeeze in some knitting.

Oh! and Happy Halloween! ♥ ♥ ♥

The goods.

Today, I made the trip to Knitters Underground and it was glorious! Unfortunately, I was having too much fun and forgot to take pictures. Ooops. Just imagine cones upon cones of beautifully colored wool hanging on the walls, super soft skeins of alpaca, cozy hanks of cotton, and of course the obligatory novelty fuzz yarns. Along with bunches of colorful sock yarn and tons of needles! It was really fun. The store is the bottom floor of a big white house and I'll definitely be visiting again. Soon.

I wanted to get some yarn for myself so badly, but I surprised myself with constraint. I found this gorgeous ultrasoft merino yarn in beautiful muted blues, but I resisted it's siren call. However, if those little beauties are still there when I next visit, those skeins will be mine. I did find perfect yarns for both Paul's hat (on the left) and Jason's gloves (on the right).

Woohoo! Lovely yarns.

Paul asked for a light olive green, but I could only find lime-y greens or dark olives, so I settled on tweedy brown silky wool. I LOVE THIS YARN. It's an awesome color and it is so soft! I can't wait to knit with it. My brother, Jason, asked for blue gloves. Well kid... I hope you like green cause you're getting green ones. Hehe. I couldn't find enough skeins in the blue, so I went for the equally nice green with brown flecks of fuzz mixed in. I want to start both projects right now. But I think I should finish something first... Or do homework... yeah. Homework. ♥

UnClapotis

Well, I didn't get to go to the LYS today. Bummer. Knitters Underground closes earlier than I thought (4pm), so Valerie was still at class. But never fear! I'm planning to go tomorrow before my classes. I'll have to take my list of pre-authorized for Christmas gifts yarn list. Maybe then I will be able to restrain myself? Maybe...

I've worked abit on UnClapotis (thanks for the name Lisa!) and I turned the corner!!! I'm typing this pattern as I go. So it's a bit slower than if was just making up as I went along. But I think it will be a nifty scarf when it's done and I want to remember how to replicate it. The pattern seems a bit complicated because I don't know how to properly simplify them. I'll see what I can do with it.

I've turned the corner.

And I wanted to share a picture of Valerie's fab poncho. This yarn is heaven to touch. Like I fluffy cloud of teal poofiness. I love it. Doesn't she look so cute! Yay Valerie!

And Valerie knit a poncho!

Have a great knitty night! ♥

Time for a yarn trip.

I'm so excited! Tomorrow, I'm going to visit a LYS with Valerie! One that I have never been to before. Wee! I need to buy yarn for some Christmas gifts. I have decided to (mostly) focus on the Christmas gifts I have decided to undertake until Christmas is over. Makes sense, eh? Haha. Here is the list:

~ Kaylee (sister) - felted houndstooth bag
~ Paul (sister's bf) - military style hat with brim
~ Jason (brother) - gloves... warm ones
~ Libby (chocolate lab) - pink sweater? (maybe if I finish everything else)

That list doesn't seem too overwhelming. It's mostly small items. Very do-able. I'll update tomorrow with the LYS goods and more knitting fun!
♥

And now, a post about current knitting.

I have been knitting as much as school allows and here is the proof! I finished my sister’s skinny striped scarf. It was itchy itchy but I washed it and it softened up. I think it’s pretty cute. I used a 1x1 rib on size 5 US needles. It used one skein of Lion Brand Magic Stripes in the Jelly Bean colorway with much of the red removed. In the first picture below you can see the silly little bundles of red I tied off on the sides.

I often knit this scarf while reading Biochemistry. Heh.


Fun skinny scarf. Pay no attention to the messy room behind me....

I also finished off a skein of Lion Brand Homespun in Baroque I had lying around in a seed stitch scarf. This was on huge 15US needles so it went really fast. Two nights of TV knitting and this baby was finito! I think that this may become a gift scarf. We will see.

Ooo la la.

I also started a Cotton Candy version of the Very Harlot Poncho for Mike’s little 6 year old cousin. She is a sweetie and I hope she likes it! Her mother was wishing she could give her a poncho for Christmas so I volunteered to knit one. I’ve wanted to use the Very Harlot Poncho pattern for awhile now.

It's so fluffy!

I also have been knitting my Cabled scarf row by row, writing down the pattern as I make it up. It’s mostly the Clapotis pattern, but apparently not Clapotis enough so no more knit-along. Oh well. I probably should focus on all my own projects anyway. I have so many knitting ideas in my head that I’m starting to get overwhelmed. I’m going to try to organize all my ideas so I don’t forget any. I was thinking about using a color-coded index card system… is that crazy and just-plain OCDish? I just need to straighten out my jumbled ideas for projects-to-be, Christmas gifts, current works in progress… I’ll update on how Project Knitting File-O-Fax goes.

A Picture Share!

Walking across campus.

DEAD CAR BATTERY!!! NOOOOO.

I just had the very frustrating experience of a DEAD CAR BATTERY. I just wanted to run to the store for some groceries, but nope. It wasn't to happen. My dad is thinking that since I only take my car out for short little 5-10 min drives, the battery was slowly exhausting itself and never really getting a full charge. I haven't really driven it for a long distance since the beginning of November. I need to drive home this weekend though. That's a nice long drive to let my battery charge, but I still need a jump! Have I ever jumped a car before?? Nooo. Do I even have jumper cables??? Nooo. I have seen it done a couple times. Boo. This is no fun. Atleast I wasn't in the middle of nowhere as Mikey pointed out. That would have been bad. Ugh. I really wanted to go to the store too. Just to get away from campus for awhile. On to knitting!!! Well. Actually that will have to be a seperate post because I didn't upload the pictures first. :) That Hello program is a bit odd in that respect... Or maybe I'll check out Flickr... yesh. ♥

The evolution of Clapotis.

I was cruising along on Clapotis when I decided that I really didn't like the way it was curling. Cara Mia is an acrylic yarn, so I knew blocking wasn't much of an option. Here is a view with a 3-point-hold-down-the-corners operation.

This WAS Clapotis...

It just wasn't what I was envisioning. So I ripped it all out. And stupidly, I did not wind the yarn as I frogged... A HUGE freaking knot ensued. After much frustration, I got it all sorted out.

Then THIS was Clapotis...

I have started anew and have made major modifications to the pattern. I'm writing the modifications as I go so they can be posted when I finish. I'm removing the dropped stitches and replacing them with a cabled panel. I love the diagonal construction of the scarf, so I'm attempting to make this work... We will see how it all goes. So far so good.

Finally, this IS the new Cabled Variation of Clapotis.

That last picture is a decent representation of the color. It's a bit more muted in real life. But hopefully this will turn out well. I'm swamped with school work, visiting friends (Hi Rach!), and interviews (eep!), so knitting (and this blog) gets pushed to the wayside. I wish I had all the time in the world to knit. But I have amino acids to memorize and extraction problems to solve. At least the leaves are gorgeous and the air is crip as I walk around campus! I ♥ fall!

My busy weekend.

This weekend was so busy, but I had a lot of fun visiting everyone back home. I have decided to share a couple pictures from the weekend, but fear not! There is knitting content at the end!

Friday night, I went over to one of Mike's relative's house and ate a delicious dinner. Ethan (my nephew-to-be) is starting to walk! He's really getting the hang of it and he is SO CUTE!

The cutie is starting to walk!

Then, on Saturday, I went to the Bands of America competition in Youngstown to see my brother perform. He plays the sax and the band did really well! I miss marching band a lot. It was such a fun experience in high school. I was in the band front (or colorguard). I miss it.

Bands of America Competition.

On Sunday I went to an apple festival in Hickory. I don't have any pictures of apples, but there was a display of birds of prey. They were so regal looking; falcons and hawks. I also got to see a woman making bobbin lace! It was amazing! All the little bobbins and tiny thread... There were a million pins, but it was really pretty!

Birds of prey at the Apple Festival.

And finally, the promised knitting content. I gave my mom her lacey mobius scarf! She was kind enough to model it for me in the two different ways you can wear it: as a hood or a neck wrap. Awww... doesn't she look pretty! I think it came out well. :)

The hood configuration.

The neck wrap: another way to wear said scarf.

Unfortunately, I also caught a cold while I was at home. Now I'm sniffling and coughing and just generally icky. Hopefully it will go away soon! Happy knitting! ♥

Random Picture

My favorite flower, the Gerber Daisy.

I want to start posting more random pictures. I take so many pictures that it would be fun to pick one every week to post. This picture is the result of a photo shoot with my absolute favorite flower: bright pink Gerber Daisies. I plan to use these as my wedding flowers, along with blue hydrangeas and white lilac. Oh the plans I have for my wedding. They are just dreams in my head right now, but someday they will all be real. And then I will be married to the boy I love. How exciting! ♥

Wire knitting. Part 2!

Presenting Valerie's knitted wire bracelet! Isn't it lovely? She used pearly gray beads and iridescent cylindrical beads to knit a garter stitch bracelet. I believe she cast on 3 stitches and used the same US 7 needles as I did. The garter stitch in the wire resulted in a more 3D effect, which gives it a lot of dimension.

Valerie's bracelet.

Another extreeeeeme close-up!

Lovely job Valerie! It's so fun to knit with someone else. I taught Valerie how to knit last year and she has made some really awesome stuff! Right now she is working on a poncho out of the softest yarn ever! I forget what it is called. It feels like a puffy cloud. It just nice to share the crafty bug with someone who really loves to "create" too. Thanks for knitting with me Valerie! ♥

Wow! I actually finished it!

I finally finished seaming Easy Street during Char*med last night. I really like the end result as it is warm and cozy. It was actually chilly enough this morning to wear it to class. I used Patons Shetland Chunky Frosted Rose (a little over 5 skeins) and the pattern was Easy Street from Patons Street Smart booklet.

My first sweater!

Easy Street from the back.

A couple of lessons I learned from knitting this sweater:

• I don't particularly enjoy seaming. It took awhile to seam-up because there was a 3 month pause between sleeves, but it's finished. Next time, I will not stop seaming after I start. If I seam it all in one go, it will much better.
• Next time, knit to fit!!! It's a little short in the torso and the arms. I hadn't quite grasped the concept of knitting to fit your body type when I knit these peices. I am quite tall and thus have longer than average measurements for arms and torso. Must remember this when knitting sweaters in the future.
• Order more than enough yarn for a sweater! Order an extra ball! I ran out of yarn at the neck line of this sweater. Much scrambling ensued, but it all worked out.

Overall, I am proud of my first sweater! I'm sure there will be many more to come! Yay for finishing! ♥

Knitting with wire.

This weekend, Valerie and I took a trip to Michael's. Valerie was flipping through Simple Knits with a Twist and she noticed the wire knitting among other cool "twists" on knitting. We were inspired to try, so we bought some 26 gauge wire and beads to experiment. I came up with this bracelet! I used US 7 (metal) needles and cast-on 4 stitches. I knit in stockinette which caused most of the beads to show on the purled side so that's the side I used as the "right" side. Then I wove the ends together in some weird grafting and tada! A pretty bangle bracelet.

Knitting with wire!

Extreeeme close-up!

Thank goodness the bracelet isn't too big. Knitting with wire isn't exactly easy on the fingers. My figertips were a little sore afterwards, but it was quick and fun! I want to make more! I wish I could find black wire. I think that would look really awesome. Now Valerie is knitting a bracelet. We only bought one spool of wire so we have to take turns. :) I'll post a picture of hers when she finishes. ♥

Oh goodie!

So, I started to write up my pink poncho pattern a week or so ago, when I realized my trusty scrap of envelope that I had scribbled on my notes on had disappeared. Now you have to understand... I moved from near LA to the middle of PA in 2 days, with a pit stop in Pittsburgh (haha) along the way. There was a high likelihood that the scrap of envelope had been tossed. I was sad. But wait!!!

What is this?!?

Could it be?? It is! The scrap of envelope was found today, right where it belongs, in my knitting binder. :) I had looked everywhere but where it should be! Yay! So pattern writing will commence. Also keeping the pattern scribbles company in the pic above is a new WIP!! Ooops. That makes 4... 5... eh. Who's counting anyway? It's Clapotis! From the Fall Knitty. I like the pattern and would absolutely LOVE to make it using the Lion and Lamb it calls for, but it's a bit out of my price range right now. So I'm using a lil skein from my stash. TLC Cara Mia which is sooooo soft. It's acrylic with a dash of angora, so I'm afraid I may have an issue with curly edges. We will see. But the pattern is way fun, with the dropping of the stitches! And the diagonalness. I am making a much more narrow scarf than the original pattern gives, using only 2 repeats of the increase section (instead of 6). I think it will make a nice snuggly scarf. Perfect for fall in State College. Long live scarves!!! The instant gratification makes me happy! ♥

Roll call!

Presenting, a roll call of my knitting projects!!!

First up is the Skinny Striped Scarf. Knit with Lion Brand Magic Stripes in the Jelly Bean colorway. It's a simple 1x1 rib. Unfortunately, I don't really like the reddish color in the mix, so I have been strategically eliminating most of it from the striping. This will lead to weaving in ends, which is what I was trying to avoid by using self-striping yarn, but oh well. This scarf was requested by my sister. I'm not sure how well it will live up to her request. She wanted something like this. I may have to search for softer yarn, as Magic Stripes is a bit scratchy for a scarf. Hmmm. Maybe a good washing will help. I still have fun with the stripes though.

Skinny Striped Scarf... ahhh, mindless knitting.

Next up is my Cozy Alpaca Cable Hoodie. This little beauty is knit with Peruvian collection Sierra wool/alpaca blend from elann.com in an awesome heathery denim color. The pattern is from Patons Street Smart booklet. I ♥ all of the sweaters in this booklet as you will see in the following paragraphs. :) I'm almost up to the armhole decreases in the back of the hoodie. I started this sweater awhile ago, but it languished over the summer. Now she's back in the rotation.

Cozy Alpaca Cable Hoodie... cables and bobbles are super fun!

Third up is Miss Limey Lacey Mobius Scarf. She is super cushy and soft in Peruvian collection Baby Silk a alpaca/silk blend from elann.com. Scrumptious! I got the pattern from elann as well. This mobius scarf thing is for my mom, who's birthday is coming up so I'm trying to finish before the big day (October 3rd). Miss Limey was born back in February, but being a slightly tedious project with tiny needles and tiny yarn, she has progressed slowly. I'm on the last skein so I think I'll definitely finish in time.

Limey Lacey Mobius Scarf... sooooo cushy and soft.

Now we move on to the Please Finish Me For Pete's Sake pile, which is small (phew!). My Easy Street Pullover has been one armed for a whole summer. It's getting cooler out (yay!) so it's high time I finished seaming the darn thing. Only one sleeve and side seam to go. This sweater is made from Patons Shetland Chunky from a pattern in the Street Smart booklet. I'm actually excited to seam it and be able to wear it now that I have pulled it out from the corner, so hopefully I'll have an FO to show soon.

Pink Easy Street Pullover... finish me pleeeeeease!

And for a peek at coming attractions, the Urban Aran. Also, knit in Patons Shetland Chunky. Also, a pattern from the Street Smart booklet. :) The only other sweater in the book is the Must-Have Cardigan and I will eventually make that as well. The booklet was a good investment for sure!

Mint Urban Aran... I have to exert much will power not to start this NOW!

There you have it. All present and accounted for. I have so many ideas for projects in my head though! Too much to knit, too little time! ♥

Fun at the Crowbar

Random pic for the day.

This is a non-knitting entry. Just a picture from 2 weekends ago. From left to right, it's Valerie, me, and Tessa. We've been best friends at PSU since we were freshman! That was so long ago it seems. School is busy, so I haven't been able to knit as much as I would like. *sigh* It makes me sad when I don't knit. I'm working on 3 projects right now. They are listed in my sidebar. I will have to make entries about each of them soon. ♥

Happy 1st Birthday Ethan!

Happy Birthday Ethan!

The pumpkin hat fits! It fits really well, actually, and I think it will get lots of wear during the fall. :) Isn't he the cutest little kid! When Mike and I are married, I will officially be Aunt Amanda to little Ethan. How lucky am I? His first birthday party was last Sunday and I went home so that I could go to his party. Fun times.

In other news, the school semester is almost 2 weeks old!!! I really love all (or mostly all) of my classes. I'm taking a bunch of fun classes as well as some harder required ones. Fun classes include intro to theater, yoga, and social problems (which doesn't sound that fun, but it's an infamous course at PSU). Even the harder classes are exciting because they are about the biotech field, which is what I did my internship in last summer and what I hope to find a job in when I graduate. There is Ch E 438, which is upstream bioprocessing, and Ch E 448 which is downstream bioprocessing/bioseperations! Yay! Then there is Biochemistry (with a hard*ss professor... not fun) and Biomaterials, which is a graduate level materials science course. However, the Biomaterials professor doesn't believe in exams so it should be relatively stress free. All this comes to 19.5 credits, which is rather hefty. But 7.5 of them are fun!!! So that makes it 12 credits which is definitely doable. *deep breath* I just have to keep telling myself that! :) ♥

The reluctant minisweater.

I had a couple issues with my minisweater before finally finishing. Here's my little story:

Back in California, the minisweater was coming along swimmingly. "Let me try you on for size," I said to my little sweater. So off the needles she came. Alas! The sleeves had about 2" too much floofyness to them. Hmmm. Strike one.

Sleeves that are too floppity.

Then, I took stock of my remaining yarn... Uhoh. Are the poofy sleeves eating up all my yardage?? I am determined to make this sweater out of one skein and I still have many body rows to go, not to mention the rest of the sleeves! Strike two.

Dwindling yarn supply.

Then! I notice the kicker. There is a previously unnoticed dropped stitch right on the front garter stitch band!!! Only about 10 rows from the beginning! Drats! Strike three...

A mischievous dropped stitch... front and center.

YOU'RE OUT! And out she came. I tried to rip back to the mistake, but the stitches were too much of a pain to pick up. So she came completely undone.

Oh no!

However, I cast right back on and knitted furiously on the plane home and a bit the first couple days of classes with my new improved pattern modifications and voila! She is finished.

Success!

I really liked this pattern and I loved the yarn. It's so soft and snuggly. It reminds me of tericloth. As for the modifications: I made less increases on the sleeve so the poofyness was diminished and I didn't knit the 7 or so rows of stockinette to lengthen the sleeves. I just started the decreases right away after I picked the stitches back up from the scrap yarn. I like the shorter cap sleeves. :) So there you have it. The story of the reluctant minisweater. I'll have to take a close-up of the button because it matches perfectly. Yay. ♥

So much has happened!

This last week has been absolutely insane. I had to finish up my internship at Amgen, pack up and move back to Pittsburgh, unpack, then repack to move up to State College. All in 2 days. But the worst part is that I forgot the power cords to my computer and monitor at home. So I haven't had the internet for the last week!!! I'M GOING INSANE. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am dependent on my computer and the internet. I've missed the internet so badly that I have come to the PSU computer labs to post and check out all the blogs that I haven't been able to read. I have pictures to post and words to write, but unfortunately they will have to wait until next week. I'm going home after the football game to visit and get all the stuff I forgot! Oh well. ♥ I will resume the knitting fun as soon as I can.