Hello. My name is Lisa, and I am a Knitaholic!

I am out of control again!  I spent this morning digging through my yarn stash and patterns looking for ideas for Christmas presents.  I had forgotten how many projects currently reside in "The Pile of Undone Projects."  Seeing some of them made me want to resurrect them immediately.  I counted everything up, and including the items in my WIP list on the side of the blog, there would be 18 projects on the knitting needles if I worked on everything I wanted to work on!  I would never get anything done!  Sigh.  So much to knit, so little time!  One of the projects that would definitely be on the "Must Knit List" (aka my "Wish List" -- I wish I had time to knit it!) is in this book pictured above.  The pattern on pages 102-104 of the book is for a scarf called Knotted Burgundy Sparkles.  It uses the yarn Paton's Brilliant in the color Burgundy Sparkles, and it is gorgeous!  The knotted fringe is the perfect finishing touch.  Guess what I just happen to have in my "Outta Control Yarn Stash"????  Yup.  You guessed it!  Patons Brilliant yarn in Burgundy Sparkles!  OH NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  The Knitting Gods are conspiring against me again!

It Was a Beautiful Wedding!

Saturday was a beautiful day!  The perfect day for a wedding!  And the wedding was beautiful, too!  Some of our relatives from Canada came down for the wedding, and it was wonderful to all get together and catch up on each other's lives.  Cheryle made a beautiful bride and my nephew Bill a handsome groom.  The unusual thing about this wedding was that the wedding party colors were black and white.  I had never seen a wedding where the maids of honor and the mothers and grandparents of the bride and groom were dressed in black, but it was very beautiful!  Many of the guests wore black, too, knowing the wedding party's colors.  I have to say that I was a little skeptical at first, but it turned out to be really elegant and beautiful.   

On a knitting note, I have begun the first Christmas knitting project of 2005!  I am knitting a poncho for baby Kayla, seen in one of the photos above.  I am using a free pattern from Lion Brand Yarns.  The yarn in the pattern is no longer available, but I am using Bernat Breeze in the color Summer Breeze.  I am going to depart a bit from the pattern and add a row of lavender fun fur around the hood and the bottom of the poncho.   I used this same Bernat Breeze yarn in Violet Crush last year for Megan's poncho.

Here is the pattern link:

http://freeknittingpatterns.lionbrand.com/patterns/kts-1108AD.html

here is the yarn link:

http://www.pagelinx.com/cgi-shopper/loadpage.cgi/smileysyarns/ezshopper?user_id=id&file=iriot.htm

 

Change of Plans!

No, the wedding has not been cancelled!  It is still on schedule for this coming Saturday!  What has changed is what I plan to wear. Again. Last Thursday, I found another outfit that I liked better than the original one I had planned to wear to the wedding. Blame my sister, Paulette!  I showed her both outfits and she picked the new one, too.  I hope I do not see anything else before Saturday that I like even better!  Luckily, I already had accessories and a bag, etc. that matched the new outfit, so it was not hard to pull it all together.  Unfortunately, the shawl I was knitting will not go with this new outfit.  So I have stopped knitting on that shawl and frogged it.  I was not completely satisfied with it, anyway, so it all turned out for the best.  But since I stopped working on that shawl, I have been kind of scattered in my knitting thoughts.  I have several projects in various stages of completion, and it seems like I jump from one to the other and never get anything accomplished.  I need to get myself a little more organized! 

Actually, there has been precious little knitting time this past week.  I had to work this past weekend, so I was off on Friday.  Rich was off, too, so we took the opportunity to ride our bikes the full length of the bike trail - a 14 mile round trip.  And, my sister Paulette and I joined a walking group from the hospital where we work, and every Tuesday and Thursday, we meet to walk one of the many walking trails around Lynchburg.  Paulette and I also walk a couple of times a week on our own at our favorite walking trail, Blackwater Creek.  We usually walk from 3 to 5 miles, depending on how much time we have and how hot or humid it is.  Sometimes it is so bad that we can barely stand to go the 3 milies.  But it is the end of August, so that should be over with soon.  I am looking forward to the cool fall weather! Once the weather gets cool and crisp, my energy usually returns in leaps and bounds.  I don't do well in this awful August weather. Between all the walking and biking, I have been pretty tired at night, and I don't get to knit very long before I start to nod off!   

After work on Sunday, I went to Barnes and Noble.  I found a couple of knitting magazines and a new knitting book as well as the 2006 Knitting Calendar.   Just what I need -- 365 MORE ideas to get me into trouble next year!  I glanced through it, and I see several things right off the bat that I want to do!  Actually, I like the 2006 one better than the 2005 one that I currently have.  I have honestly not found that many patterns in the 2005 one that I want to knit, but it has still been a lot of fun all through the year to turn the page every day and see what the next pattern will be.   I have posted a picture of the 2006 Knitting Calendar, as well as a picture of the India Sunset Scarf.  I just realized that I never posted a picture of the finished product.  So here it is, better late than never! 

Now about those knitting magazines......................................................  (to be continued!)

Extra, Extra, Stop the Knitting Needles!!!!!

Uh oh!  Another knitting project is on the horizon!  Another one of those last minute, whoops, I need to knit this like yesterday projects!!!!!  My nephew Bill's wedding is Saturday, Sept. 3rd, and I have just decided that my outfit needs a shawl to be complete!!!!!  I finally finished picking out and purchasing an outfit, complete with shoes and assorted other accessories, but it still lacked something.  Now I know what it is!  Luckily, I already have in my stash what I need to make a loose knit shawl, and the yarn matches my blouse perfectly!  The yarn is Eros.  The shawl will be just like the one that I knit for my friend Debbie last Christmas.  I have posted the picture again so that you can see what I am planning.  Since I have already knit this shawl once, I know that I can do it in a fairly short period of time, but ALL other knitting projects have temporarily been put on hold until its completion.  This shawl is knit on large needles, size 19's, so the knitting is pretty fast.  I have added a link to pattern that I am using.  It is a free one off the Lion Brand Yarn website.

http://freeknittingpatterns.lionbrand.com/patterns/ktr-triangleShawl.html

Totally Tubular!!!!!

As usual, I am knitting several things at once.  I finished knitting the Carnival Scarf, but it has not made it into the Finished Projects list because I still have not yet fringed it.  It's completion left me looking for another project to take its place at lunchtime.  I was all set to start another chemo cap, when I found another old project that had been sent to the "Pile Of Undone Projects" by last year's Christmas knitting spree.  It is the "Wild About Hairy" scarf.  It is one of those tubular "magic" scarves knit on circular needles.  I had knit about 1/4 of it last year.  When I spotted it in the Box Of Undone Projects, I could not resist rescuing it!  The yarn is GGH Apart, and it is in a gorgeous variagated color scheme of fuschia and teal and blue.  I have a real weakness for anything in those colors!  It caused quite a stir when I whipped it out in the lounge on Monday.  It is a yummy soft yarn, and everyone that saw it wanted to pet it.  Speaking of petting, since I do not have any new pictures of knitting content today (shame shame!!!), I thought I would post a picture of Rich's Border Collie puppy, Pepper.  Talk about soft and cuddly!  Unfortunately, she loves my knitting as much as my cats do, so I have to keep a close eye on the knitting bag at all times!!

A Picture and a Post

I thought that I would post a picture of the Pink Bling Bling Scarf that I made this past March.  It is made out of Berroco Laser FX and Berrocco Sizzle Bright.  It is a fun scarf to wear - very light and very "Blingy!" 

I just HAD to do it!  I just HAD to try one of those StockPot Scarves on the KnitPicks website.  I wanted a light and airy warmer weather scarf, so I chose a lightweight cotton yarn, Reynolds Saucy Sport and I am randomly adding in various colors of eyelash yarn (thin eyelash, not the Fun Fur type) throughout the scarf.  There are gorgeous shades of blues and tans and pinks.  It reminds me of a beach at sunrise, so I am naming the scarf Beach Vacation.  I will post a picture of it when it is complete.  Speaking of posting pictures of completed projects, I still have to post a pic of the India Sunset Scarf as well as the Night Life Scarf. 

There is another project trying to sneak its way onto the WIP list!  I have fallen in love with yet another sweater pattern (imagine that!!!).  This one is from the Aug/Oct issue of Cast On and it is found on page 26 -- the Diamond Coat.  Alas, the orange would NOT work for me as I would turn an odd shade of greeny-yellow.  But it just so happens that I have enough of the yarn that the pattern calls for - Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick and Quick in a much more flattering (to me) shade of navy blue.  Uh oh.  You see this coming, don't you?????  Also of note is the Campus Coat on page 22 of Cast On.  It is made out of Coats and Clark Red Heart Light and Lofty.  It is a cute car coat kind of thing.  Plus I just picked up the Fall issue of Family Circle Easy Knitting.  Dare I open it???????????????? 

A Happy Coincidence!

While knitting "The Blues" striped scarf, I made a really cool discovery.  The colors seemed very familiar to me and reminded me of something -- the Unikat Poncho I made last year!  I pulled the poncho out of summer storage and sure enough, the colors are exact!  So now I have a matching scarf for the Unikat Poncho this fall.  Now, if the colder weather would only get here!!!!  The Carnival Scarf is in the home stretch, and as well as another one of the chemo caps. 

It is time to start thinking about Christmas knitting!   In preparation for the Christmas Knit A Thon, I am in the process of trying to organize my yarn stash.  I am discovering all sorts of forgotten treasures!  I want to make a trial run of a couple of the free patterns the Knit Picks.  I have already mentioned the free pattern from the Knit Picks catalog -- the Potato Chip Scarf.  There is another free pattern on their website that I am anxious to try.  It is Stockpot Scarves:

http://www.knitpicks.com/Projects/Projects_Display_Yarn.aspx?itemid=50350220

I think they would make great Christmas presents and would be a good way to use up stash yarns, too.  Actually, Knit Picks has some really great free patterns online.  Check them out!