House of Steph

F is for....

Failed, Felted and F'd Up Turn-a-Square.

From the top, it actually looks kinda nice...  And actually, I like the yarn and color choices...  But put the two together, and you get a mess:

Before I felted it, the brim of the hat came down past my glasses.  Wrong, all wrong.  

Pattern:  Turn-a-Square by Jared Flood

Started:  August 20.  

Finished, miserably:  August 30.

Yarns:  Araucania Nature Wool and Noro Silk Garden

Needle:  Sz US 6 and US 7 16" Circular (could have used a smaller needle, ya think?)

...And it's too bad... Because it would have been a nice hat.

Funny thing is... It looked too small for an adult hat while I was knitting it.  My intuition told me that 'something' was wrong, but I couldn't nail it down.  Oh well.  Try, try again.  

I cast on last night for a burgundy version.  We'll see how that one turns out.

I love yarn....

For the first time, I am thinking my stash is getting a little out of control.  For the longest time all I had was in a basket on the bottom shelf of my bookcase.  And then, when I would get new yarn I would start a new project.  Oh times how they change.  I blame it on Ravelry.  Not a day goes by that I don't go to the Ravelry site.  I can't get enough, and hence, can't get enough NEW yarn!  :)  Here's a little peek at SOME, not all of the new yarn...

This lovely yarn is to be used for the February Lady Sweater--Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock Heavyweight:  

So glad I decided to get this!  It's knitting up so well.  Such a beautiful fiber...  Can't wait till my sweater's done.  Um, yeah...  In like a couple of months or so...  

This LOVELY sock yarn was given to my by my awesome yarn friend, Aimee.  Yarn Pirate Superwash BFL--420 yards!!!!!  Color is Neptune.  Gorgeous.

I hope that one day I'm able to make socks.  This color is so awesome.  I love it.  Thanks, friend!  :)

Mom sent me this LOVELY stuff a couple of weeks ago!  Jojoland Melody.  These are definitely her colors, so I'm sure I'll be making something nice for her with it.  I'm thinking the Lace Ribbon Scarf by Veronik Avery would be beautiful with this yarn.  

So now, my stash is in the living room in a "working-on-it" basket, and it's in my room, in three BULGING baskets with some spilling over the sides, and I even have some yarn in a flower pot I'm not using.

In the working pile, I have the February Lady Sweater for me and the Turn-a-Square hat for Joe, and I just finished Mom's birthday scarf!  It's Punta Yarns Merisoft.  Love how squishy and soft this scarf turned out.  I just might have to make one for myself!

Happy Birthday, Mom!  (It was yesterday)  So glad your present got there on time this year!  haha  Love ya.

The Turn-a-Square hat should be done tomorrow.  I'm decreasing now, so it should not be long.  That's all for now!

Needle Rolls are BACK

Back in action.  I've finally gotten the motivation to make more needle rolls to take over to the shop.  So that's just what I did on Thursday night.

A funny thing happened to me not too long ago...  I was out with a certain friend of mine a couple of weeks ago.  We were knitting at the Cheesecake Factory while cheating on Weight Watchers by having cake and beer.  Just so happens that when her purse was open, I caught a glimpse of Amy Butler fabric.  Why?  Because she has a cute little notions case made of Amy Butler goodness.  Just so happens it's one of MINE I made, like, three years ago!  How could this be??  A friend of hers bought it for her as a gift a couple of years ago as a gift from Charlotte Yarn!  Wow!  Such a good feeling to see something I MADE put to good use.  And how weird that??  I love it:

Obviously, not a very good shot of it, but you get the idea...

So, seeing this, the wheels start turning.  Why, why, why, haven't I made anymore needle cases for the shop??  I only have one there right now, but Remi keeps asking me if I'm going to make more...  They take, like NO time.  What's wrong with me??  Lazy.  

And shameless, for all this self-promotion.  It's decided.  Hah!  Here's some more...  

Hope you like!  And if anyone wants one, let me know.  :)

Finished Object! Two-Tone Ribbed Shrug

I finished the Two Tone Shrug on Saturday--hooray!  

This was a quick and easy knit, although the ribbing did get a little borrrrring for me...  I would have finished it a little sooner if it hadn't been for the massive number of hours I worked (audits and all) before my vacation started.  This was supposed to be finished last weekend before the shop had its Sunday Ice Cream Social.  Aimee was my inspiration for this project.  (Thanks, friend!)  And I couldn't be happier with the outcome!  I wore it to the movies today.  :D

Here's a couple more shots:

Gosh, I love these jeans!  :)  And the shrug is pretty good, too.  haha!

Lots more pictures on Ravelry.  :)  Lots.

My KnitPicks order came today, too.  :)  Love to get YARRRNNNNN in the mail!  Hooray!  

Everyone's Jaywalkers look so cute in KnitPicks Felici, so I decided to get some in hopes that I might actually TRY socks one day.  WHEN I do try them, the Jaywalkers will definitely be my first project.  

Notice I also got some Harmony straight needles, too.  Yum!  

I've got lots of fun knitting and crocheting going on at my house during my vacation (started on Friday) and lots more to go!  I even started a sneaky project for the Ravelympics, even though I didn't declare it.  Yes, such a rebel, I know...  

Beach tomorrow and home on Thursday.  Hopefully B will hold up his end of the bargain (with the driving) so I can get some knitting done in the car.  Four hours...  ugh.  Time to go get packed!