2011 in Review – Part 1 of 3

So, since I’ve been so lazy about posting lately (for the last two years), I’ve been inspired to write up a year in review post to catch you up. Let’s see how this goes. I’ve been seriously bad about taking pictures too, so I’m not even sure I’ll remember everything. Oh, and concerning WIPs and FOs, they’ll get their own posts soon, I swear.

January 2011

All I really remember about January is that it snowed. A lot. Like multiple feet of snow within weeks of each other. Also, Tracey had a baby shower and I knit Baby V a February Baby sweater. (I’m just realizing NOW how appropriate this was, seeing how she was born in February.) In our basement renovation, we had the walls sheet-rocked and mudded.

Wedding-wise: Hired our awesome photographer, Sandra; bought a wedding dress; attended a bridal show (free cake!), CO for wedding shawl

February 2011

More snow. Baby V was born. Painted the basement. Took a crocheted sock class.

Wedding-wise: hired our JoP

March 2011

According to my pictures, we didn’t do anything in March. Our deck gazebos/awnings were destroyed by the snow. We had a family trip to the casino and discovered Mohegan is much better than Foxwoods.

Wedding-wise: hired our DJ

April 2011

We worked on the trim and building a bar in the basement. We also laid down the flooring! We threw my parents a surprise 30th Anniversary party at our house. I started working on my wedding parasol.

Wedding-wise: hired ceremony music, taste-tested the caterer and the cupcakes, had a makeup trial and booked the artist

OK, so this is getting pretty photo-heavy despite my worries before. I’ll be back with more! Next up – May to August 2011.

I’m not dead…

…just married!

Or, alternatively, “While everyone else was at Rhinebeck, we got married!”

A lot has happened since I last posted over a year (!) ago. I wish they were all good excuses, but the fact is that I’m a terrible blogger. I have so much to catch up with, including photographing FOs and updating Ravelry. But now I have all the time in the world, so it seems, having organized the best, most fun wedding ever on top of finishing my master’s degree. So stay tuned, friends, I’ll be back soon, I promise!

Crochet FO: Dead Simple Coasters

Or: I need a housewarming gift ASAP!

My friend Bex had a housewarming party about a month ago. When I realized I needed to come up with a housewarming gift, Kirsten Kapur saved me with her adorable crochet coasters. I raided my Sugar’n Cream Stash and came up with these cuties.

Pattern: Round Coasters (based on Kirsten Kapur’s basic pattern)

Source: Through the Loops!

Yarn: Random Sugar’n Cream from the stash

Hook: H hook

Notes: Bex is a huge fan of kitschy retro stuff, so I had a lot of fun picking out the color combos. Since I was running out of time, I stuck with the same two color themes. Otherwise I would have gone crazy!

Where I’ve crossed over to the Dark Side

AKA crochet!

In February and March of this year, I took a 6 week Crochet I class at WEBS. It was such a great class, mostly because crochet-guru Sara is such a fantastic teacher! I tried many times to teach myself to crochet using books, the interwebs, etc, but it never clicked. Sara’s brilliant because she teaches the basic single crochet stitch first, and then goes back and teaches you how to chain and crochet into the chain. I think that’s the hardest roadblock when you are trying to teach yourself, kind of like trying to knit into your CO row the first time. Anyways, the class was a great help and I can definitely crochet now! It’s so much fun, I highly recommend it.

We made several kitchen accessories as our class projects and they were a huge help in reinforcing what we learned the week before.

Sampler Dishtowel -

Blue Stripe = Single Crochet

Tan Stripe = Half-Double Crochet

Green Stripe = Double Crochet

Magic Double-Thick Potholder

Round Double-Thick Potholder

Granny Square Potholder

All projects used Reynolds Saucy and a G hook.

More crochet to come, I assure you…

FO: Last-Minute Ravelympics Hat of Awesome (aka Quincy)

Remember waaay back when, when everyone talking and knitting their way through the Ravelympics? Yeah, me too, even though it’s a fuzzy blur of Silky Merino, evenly spaced YOs, and Bob Costas. (OT: How gorgeous are those new Silky colors? Seriously.)

It’s no secret I failed on the Vine Bolero, but I managed to whip out my new favorite hat in the last remaining days of the Vancouver Olympics.

Pattern: Quincy (Ravelry pattern link)

Source: Brooklyn Tweed – Made in Brooklyn pattern collection (my own signed edition!)

Yarn: Malabrigo Twist in Grapes

Needles: US 10 & US 10 1/2 DPNs

Mods: None. This yarn is the softest, squishiest wool I have ever touched. Seriously. I want a swimming pool’s quantity of it. The being said, I’m not sure how much a sweater made with Twist would pill. I’m waiting to see what people’s experiences are first before I buy a sweater quantity.

This hat has the most interesting construction so it definitely isn’t boring! First, you start off making a garter stitch scarf with i-cord edges. Then you graft the edges together, after twisting the fabric.

Using the DPNs, you picks up stitches around the edge to create the crown of the hat.

It’s worth mentioning that this hat did not want to be photographed. The night before I was planning to take pictures, I left it at the yummy Italian restaurant near our house. After rescuing it and taking pictures in the freezing March dreariness, I realized I was wearing the hat inside-out. Oops! These are no excuses as to why it took me over a month to post this FO. Sigh.

Coming up: I cross over to the dark side… crochet!

You win some, you lose some

So, for prosperity, I just want to come clean and announce that my attempt at finishing the Vine Bolero in two weeks ended in an Epic Fail. Don’t get me wrong, I love the pattern and the yarn, but when it got to be Wednesday and I was still working on the yoke increases, I had to be realistic. I still managed to get a lot done and I’m still going strong. I’m hoping to have it finished by my birthday in May. That’s a more realistic goal.

But! I did manage to complete two projects anyways and I’ll post them soon, once I take some decent pictures. In the meantime, here’s a preview for one of the projects…

This is what my life has become.

T-minus three hours and counting…

I’m so ready for the Ravelympics / Knitting Olympics! It’s my first time officially participating and I’m jumping right in. Hopefully I’ll have a new sweater to wear in 17 days!

Pattern: Vine Bolero by Emily Johnson

Yarn: Malabrigo Silky Merino in Cape Cod Gray

Events: Sweaterboard Cross, Lace Luge

Is it 9 pm EST yet?

And yet, I’m tempted to CO again

Just for the record, here are my current WIPS:

- David Socks, for my David. I just turned the heel on the first sock and working on the gusset. (I’m using Dream in Color Smooshy, Black Parade)

- Featherweight Cardigan, for myself. Never-ending top down construction in lace weight, what was I thinking? (Those purl rows kill me.) (Madelinetosh Lace in Tart)

- Rococo Gloves, again for myself. I just put the thumb stitches on waste yarn. This is definitely not a boring pattern! Extremely well-written, given the complexity. (Knit Picks Swish DK in Marble Heather)

- Baby Chalice Blanket, for Dave’s cousin’s new baby girl, Amelie. I love love love the combo of yarn, color, and pattern of this. (Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Worsted in Watercolor)

Despite all this, all I want to do is CO for this. *sigh*

The -11 windchill is not helping things.

FO: Wedding Shawl #2 (aka Ishbel)

Holy cow guys, I can’t believe it’s been almost 3 months since I’ve posted something… maybe because I’ve been spending every spare minute on this WIP:

Dave and I finally found a house! We closed about a month ago and we’ve been painting, painting, painting. We bought some furniture from IKEA yesterday and spent today assembling about 30% of it. We’re hoping to move in next weekend!

Needless to say, I haven’t been knitting as much as I want to, but I’ve been doing enough to stay sane. Since I haven’t posted in so long, I do have a handful of FOs to show.

Pattern: Ishbel (Ravelry pattern link)

Source: Ysolda’s Whimsical Little Knits

Yarn: Madelinetosh Wren in Afternoon

Needles: US 6 25″ circular needle

Mods: None

Notes: I made this as a shower gift for my friend Kate who got married in October. This yarn is totally luxurious and a dream to work with… totally worth the cost! I need one for myself now. This pattern is very well-written and I can see why so many people have knit it.

FO: Kiila Sockdown Socks

Pattern: Kiila (Ravelry pattern link)

Source: Ravelry Pattern Store – I got it free by participating in Ravelry’s SKA group’s May Mystery Sock KAL

Yarn: Pagewood Farms Alyeska in Misty

Needles: US 1 1/2 40″ circs

Mods: My first attempt at TAAT toe-up socks! I didn’t knit the cuffs as long as the pattern called for since I was pretty sick of knitting k tbl rib.

This was a completely spontaneous project for me. I had just discovered the Sock Knitters’ Anonymous group on Ravelry and their May Sockdown challenge had just started. I had just order the skein of Alyeska and it was taunting me by sitting on my desk, so I grabbed my needles and casted on! I love the colors of the socks and how they didn’t pool too terribly. The cable details are a little lost in the dark yarn, and there’s some laddering along the cable edges, but I still like the way they came out!