I am feverishly working on a blanket that is headed to the state fair if I finish it in time. If my SIL is having a baby girl, then it will also be a gift for her/her hubby/new baby….if they are having a boy, I have an idea for his blanket that I’ll begin in Aug.(after fair submission deadline). I am learning a TON and hope the blanket turns out as I’ve imagined it will. :). So far, I think only one square of the blanket really could use a re-work and luckily it was one of the easy ones.
I looked at the winners of the Vanna’s Choice contest and am definitely inspired to use more color than I had first planned….or really more than I was using b/c I was getting so irritated with the colorwork. So, I’ve got my second wind on that and finished 2 multi-colored squares this weekend. This brings the square count to 4 solid squares done and 4 (really 5 because one is double-wide) multi-colored squares done. There will be 16 squares total and a border. I have tons of other things I’m looking forward to working on, but I’m forcing myself to focus on this. Thank goodness for a deadline. :)
In other news, I saw a preview for a show in the CW fall lineup called Vampire Diaries and while it is probably inspired by the Twilight craze, I’m really looking forward to it. I caught up on True Blood this weekend while I was knitting up a storm. :)
(5/31/2009 9:47 pm)

So, at some point in the not too distant past, I heard someone (probably in a movie) say something looked a “hot mess”. At the time, I had a hard time thinking I’d work that phrase into my daily vocab. Turns out I was wrong. I attempted this hat:
http://jlyarnworks.blogspot.com/2008/07/hermiones-cable-eyelet-hat.html

It is really pretty and I’m quite sure that if a person can read the pattern and knit, it works out beautifully. I, evidently, cannot read a pattern. I confused this with the other hat I was considering that was worked on circular needles in rows. So about 1/3 of the way in, I realized something was wrong, but wasn’t sure what, so I kept going. Things didn’t look quite right, but since I was feeling negatively towards the alpaca I was using, I thought maybe it was to blame. So, 2/3 of the way in, I thought, hmmm. this isn’t right. This looks a hot mess……..
So, I ripped a couple of rows out of it to see if I could salvage it and figured out what I had done. I had been so excited by my new found continental speed that I had been paying no attention to the pattern and how it was really supposed to look at the beginning and the fact that I should have been working in the round. I pretty much invented my own pattern to decrease at the top and ended up with a hat that any non-knitter would be pleased with. :)
and I felt a strange sense of accomplishment that I ripped and then picked up 110 stitches. This is huge progress for me. :)

Here are a few pictures for you to admire or laugh at depending on your mood.

(5/12/2009 10:20 pm)

I’ve finished my first cable knitting project, steamed it, and actually done the assembly. That is the shocking part. :) It doesn’t look perfect, but I’m happy with it. My husband actually laughed when he saw it and said, “that’s the tiniest purse ever”, so, I explained that it is just for shopping/going out when all you need is a credit card and id. I’m thinking of wearing it later today to a college softball game. :)
I’m working feverishly on the huge navy blanket which I feel like I’ll never finish and the crocheted cables blanket.
I want to get started on some slippers, but have told myself I must start another knitting project, not a crocheted one to further my skills for the GAAA. If my SIL has a boy, I may knit a blanket for him. But, I won’t know whether to go for a girly blanket or a boyish one for another two months, so I’ll have to come up with a different knitting project for the immediate future….not to mention the fact that I wonder if I’m actually up to knitting a blanket. Last time I tried to use circular needles, it did not go well…. I found a pattern for a vintage bridal coat that I would love to do in black, but I think at this stage of the game, that project might end in tears….so I’m still hunting.
In other news, I just saw the second Harry Potter movie (watched the first one a couple of weeks ago) and I know I’m way behind the curve, but they are not half bad little flicks…and no, I haven’t read any of the books. :)
(5/2/2009 9:14 am)