Yarn Along: Hippo Hat & Gonna Be A Movie Read

LOOK! I'm posting early for Ginny's Yarn Along!

I'm making a hat for my little friend G. She turned one year old today, so I'm a little late, but I'll call it a Valentine gift. :) Designing as I go, but I hope it looks like a hippo face. I don't know what's wrong with me lately, but I had to redo this hat 3 times before I got a size that I liked. Frustrating.

I ordered The Knitting Circle after I read that Katherine Heigl is going to be in the HBO movie. I don't always love her movie choices, but I do love Katherine. I'm LOVING this book. It's speaking to me in ways I didn't expect and making me think about my knitting and mourning in new ways. While reading it I realized after Mom died I started crocheting LIKE MAD and then taught myself to knit and haven't stopped. Now it's a really weird day if I don't knit or crochet for at least a little while... and often it's for hours at a time. 

Meanwhile, the support the people in the knitting circle give each other is reminding me a lot of my "home" Ravelry group. The Organized Knitting Club may only meet online, but we've bonded really well. It's a pretty awesome group and it's been so great getting to know them while also using my stash and feeling more productive. YAY!

January 2012 Finished Objects

Well.

Thanks to the OKC Stash Down I have been a busy little knitter this month. Check it:

ELEVEN finished projects in one month! I'm pretty excited about that. Granted, one of them was a UFO from last year and most are small, but they're done and I pretty much love all of them!

Here's the run down:
Top Row:
Winter House Cloth- One of many I plan to make for Christmas gifts this year.
"Pebbles" Hat- The pattern name is actually "Republic Hat" but this was made to go with a Pebbles vest. It matches really well with the band of garter at the bottom & the little buttons. Perfect.
Dizzy Hat- A very sweet girl from the OKC sent me this Debbie Bliss Rialto from her stash. She apparently doesn't know I'm stashing DOWN this year. I felt a huge compulsion to use the yarn as soon as it got to me so it didn't go into my stash! Luckily, the yarn is AWESOME. Very springy, so it's super easy to knit with. I made this little hat for myself. It's tiny but I like the way it looks sitting on the back of my head :)
Insomnia Baby- Also thanks to the Stash Down I have a compulsion to use up every bit of a skein. So this little gnome was meant to take up some left over Malabrigo. I still have some though...

Middle Row:


Grandma's Favorite- An experiment for the Christmas cloths. I'm still not sure how I feel about this pattern but I have a TON of Dishie to use up, so I forsee another go at this one later in the year.
Elise Shawl- This was originally going to be for a swap but I was really unsure of the color for my partner. I like it but I'm not sure it looks good on me. This is sitting in the gift stash until I figure out what exactly to do with it.
Radicowl- I LOVED crocheting this and love wearing it even more. I get tons of compliments on it, too. I can totally see making more of these in the future. It's just SUCH a yarn eater, being crochet and all.

Bottom Row:


Pebble Vest- I've made this vest more than once. It's a great, quick baby knit but it is definitely newborn sized. Made this for a friend-of-a-friend who is always super excited to see me knitting & crocheting.
Zinnia Rialto- This is a baby hat that used up every last inch of the Debbie Bliss Rialto I was gifted. I LOVE the way it turned out. This is staying in my gift stash for a very special baby.
Hat Fit For A Best Friend- I've already blogged this. It served its purpose, keeping Clay nice and warm on his trip. :) I washed it for him to avoid accidental felting & it held up pretty well.
Another Zinnia- I frogged not one but TWO baby knits for my high school BFF's newest arrival. I gave up on cute sweaters as time was getting short and just went with this little hat. I'm pretty pleased with it. I kind of love that it's both knit & crochet. This may become my go-to girl gift.

I'm really loving how productive the Stash Down is encouraging me to be! I should have a LOT more finished projects this year and hopefully have some gifts ready for birthdays and Christmas without having to rush.


What have you worked on this year? Any accomplishments you'd like to share?

FO Friday: Hat Fit For A Best Friend

Clay is one of my best friends. Not just like the title "Oh... he's my BFF". No, like when you talk about things a friend should be- Clay is one of the best.

He's also a little bit of a nerd. He likes rocks and movies about cavemen. He wants to learn to can his own fruits & veggies. His dream vacation for as long as I've known him was Iceland. Iceland. Who desperately wants to go to Iceland? Well- he got his wish last year when his partner booked a trip for them and I was so excited for him.

Another big dream of his was to go to a wilderness survival training. This year I decided that would be his birthday present. I researched several in the area and found one with good reviews that didn't seem to be a secret militia training ground or something. Basically, I printed the brochure and said "this is your birthday present" because there weren't gift certificates or anything and I wanted to be sure he'd want to do it and that he picked a date himself. He's going this weekend and is so excited it's ridiculous. 

But it's going to rain... possibly SNOW... yes... SNOW in Southern California this weekend. 

So, in order to give his (admittedly large) ears some protection, I made him a hat. It's nice, soft wool that will keep him warm even when wet. I made it a little longer than normal so it covers his whole ears instead of just the tops like the pattern calls for. 

Ha! Doesn't he look cute? It's an awesome pattern with some cool decreases. Every other knit ridge disappears about an inch from the center, then the others do until you have just a little star at the top. The variegated yarn makes it a little hard to see put here is Clay graciously letting me photograph the top of his head outside Chipotle.

For info on the yarn & link to the pattern as well as my notes- check out my Ravelry page.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

WIP Wednesday- The Wall

I've missed a few weeks, but it's Wednesday and time for Ginny's Yarn Along.

So that means I'm supposed to show you what I've been working on, right? Ok. Are you ready?

Are you sorry you asked? 

I've hit something of a wall, people. I wish I could be like The Bloggess & steadily blog through depression, but my weeks of relatively silence suggest otherwise. I have, instead, tried to knit my way through it but my propensity toward crafting ADD has gone into overdrive. What you see above is multiple WIPS, some new, some old and some about to be thrown the eff out. And yes, they are all laying on my tile floor because that's pretty much how I feel about them right now. I may or may not have kicked some of them into place. They may or may not still be laying there as I type.

I'm not reading anything. I'm just getting through my own day. I know that I feel a sense of accomplishment when I finish a project, so I'm hoping I have SOMETHING to show you by this weekend. 

In the meantime, I'm taking a very basic Intro to Sewing class on Saturday with some friends. I'm excited about this as my father gave me a very beautiful sewing machine THREE Christmases ago, which is still in its box! Sewing projects are more "immediate gratification" so I'm hoping that will help me get moving on some FINISHED projects. 

What are you working on? Do you recognize any patterns you've made in my pile o' WIPs?

Swap: We Love Lucy Christmas

Oh man.

I love swaps.

I love the We Love Lucy Ravelry Group swaps especially. It seems people are REALLY good stalkers in that group. You might remember that in the last Lucy swap I was totally floored by the fact that my partner somehow figured out that I bake cupcakes.

This swap I had the amazing Izzy. It turns out we're VERY similar people, which is pretty awesome when it comes to a swap partner. We both like bright colors, make up, nail polish & Downton Abby.

Issy did an amazing job finding things that I loved so much I literally squealed when I opened them. No joke. Actual squeals of delight. Observe...

This is what the box looked like when I opened it:


And here's all the little packages wrapped up so cheerfully:


Inside all those packages was this amazingness:



Ok... "When Bad Things Happen To Good Knitters"? Best book ever. It's a great, easy to follow, step-by-step guide to all the knitting tricks I need to learn! It's awesome! There are very clear pictures and I can't wait to really read through it!


The yarn is King Cole Galaxy (a wool/acrylic blend with little sequins throughout- so cute) in red and purple and King Cole Baby Alpaca (100% alpaca- my favorite fiber) in a mossy green & a subdued lilac. They all feel beautifully soft and I love all the colors.

I LOVE that she included matching buttons! It made me want to decide on a project right away. At least one ball is going to become a Juliet scarf. The other... I'm think some kind of cowl or maybe a slouchy hat (since I look so awesome in them ;)!) with a little button on the edge? Your recommendations are welcome!


And the nail polishes... so awesome. I know Rimmel London is heavily advertised, but I don't think I've ever actually seen it sold in stores here. I'm going to have to really keep my eye out because the colors she sent (a vibrant blue & a very sunny yellow) are SUPER saturated & dry really quickly. She also sent a crackle top coat which is so cool. Look:


Yeah, that's right. I already have it on! I love it soooo much!

I also gasped when I opened this little beauty:


HA! A posh little Hello Kitty vainly checking herself out in her mirror! I love it!

She also sent this awesome little key chain made by her daughter! How adorable is that? And this totally cute candy tin featuring one of my guilty pleasures!

The handmade gift from Issy also floored me. Check out the longest Queen Anne's Lace scarf ever:

That's it folded in half, people! It has to be 10 feet long! I'm so excited about it, too. I've been crocheting for a million years but for some reason every time I've tried this pattern I just can't get it! The colors are so bright & cheerful too-- made with King Cole's Wicked. In her note Issy said this was to wear to see Wicked this month! This is AWESOME because the dress I'm wearing is what I like to call a little "boob-tastic", so draping this multiple times will help keep me warm & not flashing people! The colors are very "Over The Rainbow"! It's absolutely perfect.

Finally, her very cute and thoughtful card said this tea is for my little sister, who, as you know, is recovering from a coma. 

How incredibly sweet is that? I'm so touched that she thought of my little Sarah that I could just cry. Of course... that's immediately followed by the thought that English Breakfast is my favorite tea and this looks really delicious. :) We're so close to Christmas that I might not see Sarah until Christmas Eve, so I think I'm going to wrap it up and put a little note saying it's from Issy in England. :) Sarah was really interested in the little gift I made for Issy and asked what she'd be sending me in return, so I think she'll get a kick out of receiving this! 

I'm so happy to receive all these amazing things! Everything is just perfect! Yay swaps!!

Matryoshka Baby Shower Details

So now that I've had a few days to recover, I thought I'd share a little about the big baby shower!

Choosing a non-traditional theme was a challenge. While matryoshkas are popping up all over in jewelry, stationary and such it still wasn't like I could pop into a party supply store and pick up lots of matryoshka paper goods. We also wanted to keep things classy with a simple blue & white pallet. We used several shades of blue, which made things look less matchy-match.

The tables:

The flowers were simple tissue paper with pipe cleaner stems. Jen wrapped the inside of the vases with light blue tissue to conceal the pipe cleaner. We picked up some rubbery doilies at the 99 Cent Store. I have to admit, I was leery of them when we made the purchase, but Jen has a much better eye for those sorts of things. I think having them made a big difference in the look of the table. The confetti is also paper. We got a couple bags at $4 a pop from Party City- a big party supply store in town.

The favor boxes were these printables I purchased from Fantastic Toys on etsy. The pdf came quickly and was beautiful. They were kind of a pain to make, but that's not a design problem... I just don't think they're meant to make 30+ at a time. If I never see these things again it might be too soon. They were a hit though. We used the 3 biggest sizes (the pdf comes with 5 sizes) and filled them with butter mints bought at WinCo in the bulk section.


Other decor:

Jen bought these cardboard 3D letters (and exclamation point!) from Paper Source and covered them in tissue paper. I loved this little addition to to food table. People also grabbed these to use in the photo booth.

We had only a few traditional matryoshkas to scatter about, but they were nice little accents. We had planned to hang blue, aqua, white & a few green paper lanterns from the ceiling but it didn't work out. The white ones looked cute on the food table though.

I used the images from the invitations to spruce up some basic Avery name tags. We asked people to write their name & how they were related to one or both mommies. I chose the classic "friend of mommies". My sister decided to go with a more obscure reference coupled with a really old nickname. :)

Those same invitation dolls came up again as cupcake toppers. (Look, if you pretty much completely redesigned & totally recolored images using just MS Paint, you would reuse the heck out of them too!) The cupcakes were ordered sight-unseen from Bakalicious. I had NO time to make 3 dozen carrot cake cupcakes and no desire to try to figure out how to transport them anyway. I jumped on yelp, saw that this lady had fabulous reviews & that she delivered and just decided to try it. She was a joy! The cupcakes were light and moist, the frosting was just sweet enough but still fluffy and they looked beautiful. At $2 a cupcake she was by far the best buy in the North LA area. I highly, HIGHLY recommend ordering from her if you're in the area. I plan to use her again for an upcoming party.

The activities:
Along with two classic games (Baby Tray Memory- try to remember all the baby items shown to you- and Pregnancy Trivia- answer questions about the mommy-to-be's pregnancy) we tried two newer ideas.

Ice Ice Baby: This was, honestly, a little creepy looking... but everyone had fun. I purchased a matryoshka shaped ice cube tray and froze tiny plastic babies inside. We handed these ice babies out along with plastic bowls to catch the water. Without breaking the ice (it must be melted) and without leaving the room, the first person to get the baby out of the ice wins. My sister & Dr. Steven (an Ob/Gyn) ran to the sink and fought over the hot water while a coworker ran to the iron! Dr. Steven got the baby out first, which made everyone laugh. The whole thing lasted maybe 30 seconds. I would suggest not letting people use anything but natural heat.

Onesie Decorating: This is an increasingly popular activity that takes a lot of prep work & a lot of time at the party, but I think it's worth it. We purchased a bunch of onesies in different sizes on sale. Then we collected fabric paint (flat, not puffy paint), some stencils, fabric markers, iron on letters & some decals. We brought a small table-top ironing board & iron and set up a little table. Throughout the shower people went up and made their onesies. I was really afraid the mommies would end up with 30 hideous things no one would want their baby to wear, but there were actually some cute products! The less-adventurous people used the iron-on decals while the more artistically inclined used the other supplies. We strung up some jute and let people hang their creations up with clothespins to dry/show off.

Handmade Gifts:
I am a firm believer that children need handmade presents. I can't tell you how disappointed I am that I'm almost always the only one bringing something made especially for the baby to most showers now. Come on grandmas! If you can't pull out your needles, hooks & sewing machines for your grandbaby, when will you?

Ok... end rant... here are the special handmade items made or purchased for Jack

I bought this adorable personalized hanger from Floating Owl Designs on etsy. It was really well made, came on time & she was a pleasure to work with. I can totally see buying the grown up versions for future brides. (The little suitcases were purchased from Land of Nod. They were packed with clothes, books, shoes and....)

"Ella Funt" made with KnitPicks Comfy Sport in Planetarium. Colorwork done in Comfy & Shine scraps from a blanket I'll be gifting at the family shower. (Details on Ravelry.) This was a really fun, remarkably fast knit- especially considering I'm a new knitter & this was my first fair isle project.

"Owlet" made with KnitPicks Comfy Bulky in Arbor (now discontinued). As I've said before- I LOVE this pattern. I plan to make a bunch of them for the babies in my family this Christmas. (details on Ravelry)

I totally missed getting a picture of the "car snuggy" that a friend I don't know made. It was a crochet square- maybe 24x24 inches. So a small blanket- meant for the baby to snuggle with in the car. Totally cute, quick present idea.

And finally.... I saved the pregnant mommy's brother's girlfriend's gift for last because it is INCREDIBLE:

This was a needle felted elephant, done entirely free hand. It was just over 12 inches tall! If you've never needled felted you might not understand the incredibleness of this. It's HUGE for this type of project and she didn't use any sort of form underneath. It's just polyfil covered in wool fiber & felted by hand with a needle tool. The girl who made this is an incredible artist. She's made beautiful sculptures for each of the family members but even knowing that, this still blew me away. I think she was glad someone knew what kind of work had to be put into it. :)

Overall, I think the baby shower was a huge success and totally worth all the work & stress that went into pulling it off. Of course, when my other best friend said it looks like he & his partner will be adopting before the end of the year & was I ready for another baby shower I almost socked him. :) But I am... or I will be... just let me take a nap for like a week.


What is YOUR favorite baby shower game/theme. Any suggestions that will make the next party totally awesome?

Lucy Swap (Caution: Pic heavy post)

I recently participated in Round 4 of the "We Love Lucy" group swap on Ravelry. All the folks in the group are fun so I knew it would be a fun swap. I didn't know, however, that my partner was going to spoil the crap out of me. We were required to send yarn, something handmade & goodies totally about $24 USD.

Here's what came out of the package:

Isn't it pretty all wrapped up? I love the gift bag, too. So cute.

As I unwrapped the little gifts I found a treasure trove!

First, the yarn. Norah gave me some awesome Fyberspates Scrumptious DK.

Scrumptious is right. It's a great single ply worsted weight that has a similar look as Malabrigo. BUT it has this great sheen and amazing softness due to it's 45% (!) silk content. Holy cow. I love it.

Then there were these two amazing skeins:

What's particularly awesome about her giving me Riot is that I just commented a couple days ago about someone else receiving this same yarn in a different colorway on the Lucy forum. It's a wool acrylic blend that is super soft & has amazing long repeats. I couldn't be more pleased with the color.

Norah also went above & beyond in the handmade department too. She made these adorable lizard bookmarks to go with the book she gave me.

I particularly like the one with the tongue! :) And the book looks like a great summer read.

She also felted this cute little bag to put the awesome knitting bracelet in!

The bracelet has knitting related charms and cute felted purple balls. Totally my color.

The other handmades are a lipgloss holder with some awesome gloss inside and a little chain to hang it from my purse (how did she know I always lose my gloss in the bottom of my huge bag?) as well as this beautiful "friendship ring" square. I plan to tack it up on my inspiration wall when I finish converting the spare room into my craft room. :)

Then this is where she totally blew my mind:

Ok, first off, I love the little coin purse! And I REALLY love that she put a coin in it because it's totally bad luck to give a purse without money! :) But in her card she wrote that she added the cupcake charm because she knows I bake cupcakes. I can stalk better than anyone I know and I can't for the life of me figure out how she knew that! Did I post a blog about it? It's not on twitter. I have NO idea how she knew this but I LOVE the charm. I'm actually moving it to my "real" charm bracelet, which I've been adding to since I was in high school.

And ok, last picture:

CHOCOLATE!!! :) I'm seriously salivating over the Cadbury bar. The black box is some super fancy 71% cacao dark chocolate. Norah said this is to enjoy with my wine. :) I think it deserves a special bottle so I'm going to be cracking open a bottle of my favorite dessert pinot that we picked up at Homewood in Sonoma. YAY!

There is also a cute magnet that says "Go without a bra- it pulls the wrinkles out of your face" (HAHAHA!) and this adorable little bird ornament. It will be hanging from my lamp in my bedroom I think.

If you haven't tried a swap on Ravelry I really recommend it. For me, I don't have many friends who craft (or at least who crochet or knit) and it's great to share fun packages with like minded people.

The Internets Are My Friends

Someone on the Ravelry forums recently asked how social media has influenced our craft-lives. First, I found it hilarious that many early posters claimed they don't consider Rav "social media". I think SM gets a bad rap. People think it's only myspace, facebook & twitter... and that none of those sites have any real value.

So my answer? My answer was that:

• I read blogs (SM1) that inspire my creativity
• I finally taught myself to knit using youtube videos (SM2) I found on Lunch (SM3)
• I use Rav (SM4) for inspiration, guidance, venting & sharing
• I share my projects through facebook (SM5)& have discovered other crafty kindred spirits amongst my friends
• I find & share inspiration on pinterest (SM6)

I'm sure if I thought about it more I'd find even more ways.

Here's my current issue: I'm wondering if all this inspiration is to my detriment. You already know I'm totally failing at the whole "don't buy more yarn" bit. As you can see in my side-bar over there, I'm also totally failing at the whole "finish your WIPs" thing, too. The problem is that I see new projects and HAVE TO make them NOW. So I buy the yarn & it sits in my stash.

I current have 6 WIPs-- 4 of which I could finish up rather quickly if I just stuck to my guns. I've decided to take next week off from Ravelry in an attempt to use my stitching time for actual stitching instead of browsing. We'll see if this helps!

I'm a Knitter Now

I'm definitely NOT saying I'm giving up crochet. Crochet is my first love and still what I turn to when I want to make something quickly and have full confidence that it will work out the first time. However, having finally gotten the hang of knitting, I've gone ahead and made a couple major purchases.

After getting a "try it set" of Knit Picks Interchangables a couple months back I confirmed my original hypothesis that I'd like the Harmony Wood tips the most. Am I sorry I shelled out the $20 for the try it set? No. I would have driven myself crazy thinking I'd made the wrong choice otherwise. Besides, I have a crazed need to switch back and forth between projects, so having more than one set of the most commonly used tips isn't a bad thing.

So... I purchased a full set of Harmony Interchangeable needles, as well as an extra, longer cable (I have visions of knit blankets dancing in my head) and a couple of the smaller sized fixed circulars since the interchangeables only go down to size 4. I also purchased a full set of 6 inch dpns (sized 0-3). Honestly, I think I should have gotten the 5 inch or even maybe the 4s... but oh well. It's done. Along with a few extra little things for my on-the-go knit kit and here's what you have:

And you didn't think I could order from Knit Picks and NOT get any yarn, right? Yes... I continue to fail at the yarn diet just as miserably as I do on any food diet. Behold my shame:

To my credit: none of this is "stash" yarn. It all has a very specific purpose.

4 skeins Comfy Bulky in Arbor: For an Owlet for A&O's bun in the oven. A is one of my oldest friends and she LOVES owls, dark green and anything handmade. This is one of approximately 5 gagillion projects I have in mind for this baby. I've already cast-on for this. :)

3 skeins Wool of the Andes in Winter's Night: For a pair of the ever-so-popular French Pressed Slippers for myself. This is really a test-knit for Christmas. I've never felted anything before. If these go well I hope to make several pair for presents this winter. 3 skeins of WotA makes a large pair. At $1.99 a skein for many colors, this is a super cute uber cheap present!

2 skeins Chroma Worsted in Midwinter and Mix Tape: For a Noro Striped Scarf. Honestly, I researched the way different colorways worked together forEVER and then at the last minute made a completely random choice and now I'm not so sure about it. We'll see how they work out. If it doesn't I love this yarn enough to get two more skeins that work better and make two scarves!

And finally, because you aren't sick of looking at the million ways I spend money yet... here's the whole list o' goodies I purchased:

Have you made any fun fiber purchases lately? Or do you have any recommendations on how I can stop buying every yarn that catches my eye? Seriously... I have a problem!

Pardon My Rant

Have you noticed sort of a sibling riverly between crocheters and knitters? I've seen it a lot on Ravelry but never experienced it in my personal life until last week. I went to a local yarn shop for the first time on Thursday. When I walked in I had my crocodile clutch (which has been my constant companion since I finished it) and as has happened every time I've gone out with it in public- a lady at the shop asked about it. She was a customer working on a knitting project. I could tell she was a relatively new knitter. She asked if it was easy to make. I replied it was actually pretty easy if you knew how to crochet. She asked the shop owner if she had a pattern that was similar and that's when it happened.... The owner replied "No. We're a knitting shop." Um. Ok. She turned around to me and said "Of course, crocheters are welcome, but we just don't sell any crochet patterns.... or supplies.... and we don't teach it." Yeah. Was that supposed to make me feel better about it? I honestly felt like leaving, but I thought that would seem petty or something. I ended up buying a few little odds & ends for a swap I'm in this month and at the last minute asked about the "ongoing free sock class" I had read about on their website. The owner said she had a pattern that used Malabrigo Worsted & size 6 dpns, so it was easier to learn before moving down to sock weight yarn and spaghetti-thin needles. I ended up spending quite a bit there once I paid for the dpns (size 8s for me and my apparently tight knitting), the yarn and the pattern. In the meantime I chatted with the other customer about Ravelry and gave her my email address if she wanted to learn to crochet. I was also kind of miffed about the pattern. The owner admitted it was written as though you were in a class. This probably explains why I got confused on the heel once I was home. It uses short rows, but didn't say that, so I just thought the stitch count was off. So for a not-totally-clear pattern the $6.50 price I paid seemed REALLY high. Maybe I'm spoiled by all the free patterns available, but that seemed really steep. So imagine my annoyance when I logged the pattern into Ravelry & saw that the download is only $4 there! STILL too high, if you ask me, but that's almost 40% less! Are they charging me that much for the 3 pieces of paper and the sheet protector? I didn't need that! What's MORE annoying is that we had been talking about Rav, so she really could have just showed me how to do a circular join & start me on my ribbing and then give me the option to go on Rav to buy the pattern. I had dpns full of worsted weight yarn- what else was I going to do with it? I would HAVE TO download her pattern. Now I'm perplexed. The shop has some great yarns at reasonable prices. They have a weekly knitting night, which I'd LOVE to join. It's relatively close, there's drive-through Starbucks on the way & it's near the cemetary so I can visit mom and kill two birds with one stone. But the anti-crochet attitude and the weird pattern issue really bother me. I can't decide how I feel about the shop. I'm thinking of maybe scoping out some other local shops and seeing if one's a better fit. What would you do?

On Being Proactive

I've gotten totally out of control on my spending. There are certain things I've somehow ended up stock-piling over the past 18 months. These things are make-up, wine & yarn. The make-up and wine I've gotten a handle on. The yarn on the other hand...

Remember how I'm on a yarn diet this year? Wanna know how many skeins I've purchased while on this "diet"?

90.

Yeah. 90 skeins of yarn. WHAT ON EARTH?! Now keep in mind, 62 of those skeins came in one box from Japan. But seriously? Where did the other 28 come from? And I'm going to be honest... that doesn't include acrylic. Yeah. There's more. You can take on, I'm gonna guess 20 skeins of acrylic to that.

I bought enough Bernat Satin for a small throw to more or less replicate this awesome blanket I saw on pinterest (though I'll probably do squares instead of hexagons because I don't like the edges).

I can also blame pinterest for another 4 or so skeins. I have a ton of Red Heart Super Saver (yuck) in turquoise and blue from making Special Olympic Scarves. So I decided to use the turquoise for a blanket like this.

Of course that meant buying red, sage & off white acrylic. Why not just make a blue & turquoise one to use up all the yarn and not buy more? Good question. Because I have a problem! That's why!

Then I bought yarn for my Lenten commitment, which was REALLY stupid because I already had a bag full of baby yarn.

So how am I being proactive? On my long weekend off I photographed my stash (minus the acrylic) and updated my stash page on Ravelry. I am now diligently matching up my 2011 gift list with projects in my queue.. and those projects with stash yarn I already have. I think I can get through all of 2011's "MUST Makes" with my stash.

I'm hoping to get my whole stash back out for a "Flash Your Stash" photo by the "official" day (April 1). Let's hope it's at least a teeny bit smaller than it is at the moment. :)

Are you participating in Flash Your Stash? Do you buy yarn just for projects or do you stash too?

Japan

On Thursday night the NET team came in. They all had dinner with me & then the girls spent the night while the guys went around the corner to stay at the home of one of my church friends. The guys came back for breakfast in the morning.

I was in a daze Friday because I literally stayed up the entire night watching the tsunami coverage on my laptop. I'm horrified at the loss of life and the incredible damage to that beautiful country.

It seems crafting- particularly crocheting & knitting- is joined tightly at the hip with charity. I don't know any crochet/knitters who haven't lifted a hook or needles to make a premie hat or afghan square or scarf for the homeless at some point. So it's no surprise that there have been tons of posts on Ravelry lately asking how we can help & where to send blankets/sweaters/hats...

The truth is, I don't know that any of that is going to help at the moment. In fact, while I've earmarked money for donation, I haven't actually donated yet because so few aid organizations are actually able to get into Japan at the moment. This article explains some of the reasons to wait a little while.

There are some ways to donate that are immediately helpful. The Huffington Post lists a bunch of organizations taking action and in need of our support.

But for those of you itching to stitch up something special right away for Japan, I've found one way to do it so far. If you knit socks, this guy is accepting sock donations. I'm sure he intends for people to buy socks and mail them, but who wouldn't love a pair of handknit socks at a time like this? Wool would be great because it stays warm when wet, too.

If, like me, you can't knit socks, I'd suggest making something for auction/raffle and donating the money.

Have you found any other creative ways to help Japan? Please share!

Lent

Sometime just before Advent last year I came across this great project on Ravelry. This lovely lady made a premie hat every day of Lent & donated them to a local hospital.

I've thought about it often since and was very happy to start up on Ash Wednesday! I'm a fast crocheter, though, so I've modified it a little.

I'm still making a hat a day, but some are premie hats (going to the NICU at my friend's hospital) and some are full term which I'm contributing to Bundles of Joy on Rav. They make all kinds of knitwear for the OB Ward at the Pine Ridge Hospital. There's a lot of poverty on the reservation and most people don't have anything to take their newborns home in, so I'm excited to be making full-term baby hats for them as well.

Even the full term hats only take about 15 minutes so when I feel like crocheting more I'm also making some little jackets, mittens and maybe booties. All of those will probably go to Bundle of Joy.

In the next few weeks I'll be sharing some other charitable knit/crochet projects I'm planning to work with! If you know of any worthy causes, let me know! I think I'd like to continue a commitment to charitable crochet/knitting throughout the year.

Recent Projects

I've been a bad blogger but a pretty good crafter. Life has been pretty busy, with the NET team coming next week, several baby showers, work being a little crazy & my own stuff going on. I hope to have time to go over all the fun things I've been making in detail soon... but in the meantime, here's a quick run down of the knitted & crocheted items I've completed recently:

Forest Vest

Made for Baby Flores. This is actually the first knit item I've ever cast off! I was pretty pleased to have completed it. There's some MAJOR flaws, but I still really like it. I've been on the hunt for good semi-solid/tonal yarns ever since this project. If you know of any good ones PLEASE let me know!

Granny Love

Made for Baby G. I took some grannies I've had for a while and put them together into a quick blanket. I love the retro feel.

Cuddly Sweater

Also for Baby G. Man... I love me some KnitPicks Comfy. It's so soft and has great stitch definition. This project was SUCH a learning experience. I had to rip back about 6 rows at one point!

Frilly Scarf

I just wanted something to throw on that would add some classy interest to my everyday wear. I've been wearing it pretty often and I love the femininity.

Rainbow Clutch

Remember when I talked about Knit Picks Chroma making me break my "no stash buying" rule? Well... this is what some of the Prism colorway ended up as. It's a pattern test for a gal on Ravelry. I'll go into detail on the project & include a link to the pattern once she's done with it.

What have you been working on?

Magic Queue Ball

I happily participated in the Magic Yarn Ball Swap again on Ravelry. I was paired up with the coolest girl in school, who happens to live in New York.

Here's the ball all wrapped up:

And this is the lovely card that came with it:

(I love Dia de los Muertos!)

As I unwrapped it lots of amazing things came out... including milagros, which totally tickled me. These two little ornaments are already up with my mom's display of calaveras.

And everything all together (including some AMAZING Jade Sapphire Silk Cashmere yarn that I can't wait to use!)

If you're on Ravelry, I highly recommend this swap group. Everyone is great & so creative. I love getting to know all of them and always have a great time shopping for my partner.

Have you participated in any swaps? What are some of your favorite ones?