A journey of a thousand miles...

...begins with a single square.
This is the start of a project that will probably take me many years. I'm going to make a blanket out of sock yarn, like the one made by Shelly, http://www.shellykang.com/. *chirp chirp* Yes, I know that sound quite crazy, thank you very much. I am fully aware of the commitment I am starting, but that's the beauty of it: I am not going to rush this, I will knit it at my leisure and infuse it with good karma and happy memories, and end up with a piece of art that will keep me warm on a cool night. It also seems fitting that the first square of this enormous endeavor should be leftover from my first pair of socks(that were actually usable, that is).

First memory: Today I got my application for Lead 2008, a developmental program for a week this summer, by invitation only, for teenage girls who display good leadership potential. I've been selected as one out of five girls in my whole class(and my school is pretty big) to go to this thing, and gosh darnit I'm going. I think it will be pretty useful, as my plan is to own and manage my own business after college(a yarn shop, since you ask). I'm really psyched.

By the way, if you have any oddments of sock yarn you are not really attached to, I'll be glad to take them off your hands. I'm going to need all the help I can get, since this is what I have as of now:
But let's not forget the ineveitable leftovers from the socks for Thing 1, in this yarn:
Socks for young girl+good yardage of Tofutsies= plenty of leftovers

And of course the leftover from my latest pair of socks, basic toe-up in Trekking XXL, colorway 186.

Another pair of toe-up Trekking socks, this time with a twist(pun intended).
These are in colorway 188, which reminded me of stormy weather the moment I saw it.
I did a 3x3 rib and moved it over one stitch every 2 rows. The effect is lovely, but I found that I really don't like having to pay that much attention to my socks. I'll stick to stockinette, thank you very much.
The first handtowel of the set, and yarn for the other two. I really like the stitching at the ends that ties all the colors together. At first I tried to do the stitching as I went, but decide it would just be easier and faster to wait until I was done and use a darning needle.

These towels are quite simple, just stockinette with a nice wide seed stitch border. They require just enough concentration to keep my brain from turning to mush.

I'm Baaa-aaack!

Okay, there's been lots of knitting going on, but first, I have to tell you what happened last weekend.

The Small Ones and I were at our dad's house, and we went to this art fair on Saturday, where I met some interesting people. The first was a lady with a booth where she was selling jewelry she had made. I complimented her work, and mentioned how all the little cards the earrings were stuck through had pictures of sheep printed on them. She said that was because she collected sheep. In fact, her daughter owned a yarn shop, but she had collected sheep long before that(I wish I could have seen my face when she said "owns a yarn shop") I said that was really cool, I'm a knitter and I love sheep. She said that her daughter had some patterns published on the internet and I should check them out. She wrote the name of the shop on a card, though she wasn't quite sure how to spell it. It's "Knit Nueveau(noo-vo)" or however you spell the French word for "new"

Second interesting encounter happened shortly afterward, when we found this booth and some ladies who were medieval re-enactors. One of them was spinning on a drop spindle. I already knew sort of how to do it(from reading blogs) and I watched her and she showed me and after a while she let me try it! It was great. I only spun about a yard, but it was really even and she said I did really good for never having spun before in my life. I was riding that high all weekend. I'm going to have to get me a drop spindle real soon.

I realised a while ago that I never showed you guys the yarn I won in Annie's drawing, so here it is:
Ain't it purty? Smells good too. It's Brooks Farm variegated primero, 500 yards, 100% mohair. I adore it, but I can't for the life of me think of what to make with it. But for now I'm content with leaving it on my worktable as a pet skein.
(color sooo not accurate) These are Tita's Christmas socks, in all their glory(well, most of it. I spent five minutes taking this picure again and again, in various lights, and I couldn't get the color anywhere near right) I just might have to steal these. Maybe I could hypnotize her into thinking that she bought this yarn for me out of the goodness of her heart, not because she wanted socks.
This is a dainty little tote I whipped up from one ball of ribbon yarn from the dollar store. That brings be so much joy. My mom even bought the yarn for me, and even if I bought more it would only be a buck-a-ball. I'll probably sell this for $10-$15!
This is a Christmas gift, a clutch purse for my cousin. This is it before felting,
and after. I love felting. I also love how it freaks my mom out.

Tita and I are taking a crochet class at out LYS, and this is the square I made at our first session. It's from the book "200 Crochet Blocks" by Jan Eaton. The whole class, in fact, is on squares from the book. There are 30 block classes offered, one a week. Tita and I are going to 10 of them, on various weeks, in various months(it'll take a while to get through them all) By the way, this is the block called "Lemon Peel"
This is another Christmas gift, a slipper for our nanny. (yes, I know it's gynormous. It's going to be felted)
I FINALLY finished Thing 2's blanket! Yay me! I put so much work into this, I've decided I'm just going to put it away and give it to him at Christmas. He'll forget about it soon enough. Small boys are like that.
This is a Dobby Hat for my friend Wayne, who is the boyfriend of my friend Anna, whom I have also made a Dobby Hat for. He saw hers, and loved it, so I was planning to make him one for Christmas, but then his birthday snuck up on me, so here it is. I can't wait to see his face when I give it to him tomorrow.

So now you've all been suitably caught up, and I'm off to read blogs. Ciao!

I'm Not Dead

I'm sooooooo sorry I haven't posted in forever, but I was always forgetting or not having time or not having the camera, but now I'm back! And I've been knitting(and crocheting).

This here is part of a rug I'm crocheting with a very large hook and cut-up fabric. It's not even half the size I'd like yet, but I'm out of fabric. The colors are pretty basic, however, so I shouldn't have trouble finding some more. It's very comfy to stand on.
These are socks knit using the basic recipe, but with a k2,p1 rib. They're knit on US 2(2.75 mm) dpns, the smallest needles I own or have ever worked with.
This is part of "Knit Your Own Rock Star" from Stitch n Bitch Nation, but it's not gonna be a rock star. It's gonna be a doll for Thing 1.

These are squares for a blanket for Thing 2(current placement has nothing to do with final placement). I'm having fun with this project. I have no deadline and no pattern, so I can take it at any pace I please. I can also use a variety of techniques. The top middle square is my first intarsia, and it's not nearly as scary as people think. With only 2 colors, it's actually pretty easy.
This is a BagBag, a purse made of cut-up shopping bags. I've made one of these before, but bigger and at a tighter gauge. My mom showed it to a friend of ours, who has a booth in our local semi-annual craft fair. She loved it and told my mom that she was sure people would buy them. The one she saw took me forever, but I could make a bunch of smaller ones with bigger needles and they wouldn't take nearly as long. I'd really like to get a profit out of my knitting, so I'm gonna take her up on her offer.
This is my new and improved circular needle holder, made of a leg from an old pair of jeans. I've labeled it with both US and metric sizes, so it also serves as a conversion chart.
Did you know that today is World Wide Craft Books Day? No? That's cuz it's not. I just felt the urge to show you my knitting library.
We have here, from left to right:

+A binder full of patterns I printed off the internet(the blue folder is not knitting-related)

+Donna Kooler's Encyclopedia of Knitting

+A pattern booklet published by the Lion Brand Yarn company.

+the May and July 2007 issues of Creative Knitting

+Fast Knits, Fat Needles and Quick Crochet, Huge Hooks, both by Sally Harding

+Charmed Knits by Alison Hansel
+Simply Fabulous Knitting by Montse Stanley

+200 Knitted Blocks by Jan Eaton

+Stitch n Bitch Nation and Stitch n Bitch Crochet, both by Debbie Stoller(I have The Knitter's Handbook, but I'm letting a friend borrow it)

+1000 Great Knitting Motifs by Luise Roberts

+All 4 of the Yarn Harlot's books: Stephanie Pearl-Mcphee Casts Off; Knitting Rules, the Yarn Harlot's bag of knitting tricks; Yarn Harlot, the secret life of a knitter; and At Knit's End, meditations for women who knit too much. These four are my favorites.
+Knitting Tips and Tricks(expanded), contributed to by a whole bunch of people and edited by Pam Hoenig

What's in your library?

An aside note, why is nobody commenting? I know people have read my blog, but I've only gotten 2 comments! Please, if you read this, drop me a line. A single sentence will make my day.

PS: y'all go over to the sidebar and take my knitters poll and my Harlot quiz, pretty please with chocolate chips.