I am a ppphhhhwinner!

I won! I won, I won, I won! (And yes, I am going to brag because I never win anything)! The rockin sock club blog has been having strange problems with the letter "w," and it seems that anyone who starts a post with this letter cannot receive comments to their post. No one knows why, it just is "wonky." So Tina from Blue Moon ran a contest, that the most creative responses to the wonky blog problem would win a free skein of STR in the Waterlilies colorway (starting with a "w" of course.). And for some reason creativity or luck was on my side that day and I won a free skein of STR in Waterlilies!

I have to say that this yarn is beautiful in person. Too pretty for my feet - so I am on the search for a perfect pattern (a beaded lace wrap is coming to mind?). Anyway, here it is... waiting for the perfect pattern. I'm in no hurry to knit it though - I can just stare at it like this for a while.

Noni Garden Party Nightmare

Last spring, when I saw the new Noni Garden Party Bag pattern, I had to make it. I just imagined taking this bag to an afternoon tea, a wedding, bridal or baby shower, or any other girly event. I envisioned the bag in pink, which is not normally my color scheme, but for some reason, pink seemed right for this bag. So I bought the yarn and pattern and came home and finished the bag portion in a weekend, and started the flowers. Ugh, 9 flowers. The flowers were just not fun to knit. One, two, three even - fine. But 9? I got tired of knitting the flowers and so the bag sat until the first sign of this spring, when I made it my mission to finish.

So I knitted the rest of the flowers, prohibiting myself from picking up another project until this bag was finished (being knitted anyway). So I finished the 9 flowers and the bag, pictured here before felting (matchbox car for size reference).


Now, I had read about after-felting problems with the gigantic size of the flowers on other blogs, but I didn't think it would happen to me. I have had great experience with felting cascade 220, and my projects always came out to the finished size. The bag felted great. The flowers, not so. The flowers were huge after felting. So big, that they were half the size of the bag, not nearly the small cuteness on the pattern photo. So I felted for 4 hours! Put them in my dryer! Let them dry in plastic cups (to try to squish the petals down). Those suckers were not getting any smaller. After stressing about what to do, I decided to take a pair of scissors to the flowers and cut the petals down. I have never cut felted material, but I had read it would work. It did work for the most part - the flowers were smaller, but now a little rough around the edges and they lost the curl of the petals. Still, the flowers were too big. I sewed 5 flowers on my bag, and they just overpowered the whole bag. And I had to sew them so close together to be able to get 9 flowers on there, they didn't even look like flowers any more. So now what to do.

My last ditch effort to save this bag is to just sew one flower on the bag, and leave it at that. So if anyone has any suggestions how to fix this bag (without knitting 9 flowers again), please suggest away. Any ideas what can you do with 8 felted flowers?

Overall, I would say that the noni pattern wasn't the greatest. I have read other people's blogs about the same problem, and the pattern overall was at times wordy and confusing. The noni bags sure are adorable on the pattern photos, but mine didn't come out anywhere near as cute. Once I finish the bag, I'll put a photo (but I broke my vow and started knitting other things). The noni is sitting again - maybe until next spring.

Doin' the Jitterbug!

Yay, finally a picture. Here is my finished Colinette Jitterbug socks in the Mardi Gras colorway. The yarn is nice and heavy, and has a nice springy-ness to it. I followed the pattern on the label exactly for the large size, using US #1 needles. I had a little yarn left over, enough for probably another inch on both socks. Had I not worried about running low on yarn, I would have chosen a heel pattern, perhaps an eye of partridge heel. Still, a nice sock and definitely bright and colorful!

Rockin Sock Victory

I was so excited for my first Rockin Sock kit. For anyone who is in the club, you know all of the kinks that Blue Moon went through to get the club off the ground this year. The first kit was exciting - a toe-up pattern, which was entirely new to me. Short row toe, endless rows of ribbing, short row heel, and a cabled leg. Brilliant! But... knitting it wasn't quite as exciting. As many members did, I had problems with the cabling of the leg. All of a sudden my beautifully-fitting ankle sock didn't fit once the leg was on. The cables were too tight. Frog #1. I started the heel again, figuring maybe to go up a needle size. Still tight fit. Frog #2. Started heel again, only to realize I was putting the heel on the wrong side of the ribbing. Frog #3. Finally, finally, I think I've got it (major knocking on wood here). I am nearly finished the leg and so far it is a good fit. I increased needle sizes at the top of the foot to give it more stretch near the instep, and increased again for the leg and tried to knit the cable as loose as possible. Keep your fingers crossed!

In other news, I went to quarter auction last night. Wow, that was fun. I ended up winning a discovery toy bathtub thing and a longaberger purse... get this... valued at $200. I won it for a dollar. That's right! It isn't really my style purse, so watch out ebayers! Still haven't had time to download pictures, but I have some time coming up so I might just have to force myself to do it.

Bad Blogger

I haven't blogged in a few weeks. The laziness that occurred with downloading my pictures, still continues. I can blame DH, he has stuff on the camera that he wants to mess with, and I guess he's afraid I'll delete it by accident (which is totally possible)! So anyway, I wanted to wait until I had some good pictures to post, but um, that might be a while. And the other reason I haven't blogged is because I've had a few frustrating weeks of knitting (if that is at all possible).

While I was waiting not-so-patiently for my first rockin sock club kit to arrive, I was trying to be a good girl and finish something that was hanging on the needles for a while. So I tackled my Noni garden party bag from last summer. I 100% got guage when I knit this bag, so I wasn't expecting any problems. However the flowers remained GIGANTIC after felting. I had to knit 9 of those suckers, and I felted it literally for 4 hours and couln't get the flowers to shrink any further. They were way to big for the bag. So my solution was (because you have to be kidding me if you think I could reknit 9 flowers), to cut the flower petals and try to make a smaller flower. It worked, but the flowers lost the finished look and now they are somewhat rough. Plus, I still think they are too big. So the bag sits, waiting to be sewn together and lined. Maybe that will be a good project next spring.

So then my blue moon kit arrived. Yeah! I was thrilled about that. I worked feverishly on the first sock, ribbing for what seemed like forever and then I got to the leg portion (a toe-up pattern). A lot of people in the club reported problems with getting their foot in the sock after starting the leg. I was sure that wouldn't be me... but alas, I knitted 2 repeats of the cable leg pattern and wouldn't you know it, it was hard to get on my foot. This was also my first toe-up pattern so I followed the directions exactly, leaving 1.75 inches before starting the heel turn. It turns out I should have left more like 2 inches because the foot and heel is slightly too long. So guess what? I'm going to frog back to the foot and start the heel and the leg again. I think I am just going to continue with a ribbing pattern (as much as I hate ribbing) and just leave it at that.

In good news, I was able to rescue the acorn lace socks (from my previous post) without having to frog back to much. And, I am going to a claddagh tea tomorrow for st. patrick's day with a great friend. So hopefully I can drown my knitting sorrows with a good cup of comforting tea.

Socks, Socks, and more Socks

Remember the days of taking pictures with your one-click camera, then having to put the roll of film into its little plastic case, driving it to the local film developer, filling out the form on those envelopes, waiting 3 or 4 days for them to come in, then driving to pick them up (usually only to realize half of them came out blurry)? A digital camera seems so much more simpler, right? Take a picture with nearly all the settings you need in the camera, decide right then and there if it is a good picture, and then all you gotta do is plug it in your computer to download. Simple enough. But lazy old me has just not felt like dowloading pictures. No reason other than I just don't feel like doing it.

So anyway, I don't have a picture to include of the wonderful jitterbug socks in Mardi Gras that I completed last week! But I have to say the socks turned out to be pretty nice. I stuck exactly to the pattern on the label, making the size "large." I had some issues with pooling, but both socks pooled in almost the same way so they still look like a good match. I ended up with enough yarn leftover that I could have added an inch more to those suckers. Oh well. Better than running out, I guess. Anyway, the yarn feels nice, it makes a nice and sturdy sock. I'll post pics when my non-lazy self returns. (It is snowing outside and we're all toasty and laying around inside, so I can pull the lazy excuse).

In other sock news, I am enrolled in 2 sock clubs this year. I joined the Blue Moon Fiber Arts Rockin Sock Club. I am really excited about starting the club - the first shipment comes out this week. I am also in a sock club at my LYS, who sends different yarn and pattern every other month. The best part is, they are on alternating schedules so I will be getting a surprise in my mailbox every month! Yippee! I seriously doubt I'll be able to knit all the socks by the end of the year, but still... who doesn't need more sock yarn in their stash?

In sad, sad, sad news, I had started a fibertrends acorn lace sock in regia. I got almost down to the heel flap and I screwed up the pattern in a major way. I tried to back it out, but I guess with kids and other distractions in the background, I just ended up dropping stitches and messing it up more. So I took out all the needles and tried to rip out a few rows and put needles back in. Harder than I thought. So I just put it aside for now, but I fear it is going to be a 100% frog. I just can't look at it now... just can't look.

The weekend wasn't a total bust though. I had a fabulous evening last night with 3 friends. I can't remember the last time I was out with just the girls just gabbing and enjoying the night. I had so much fun, I felt like we should have broken out the pjs and sleeping bags and watch Sixteen Candles or something. Anyway, it was much needed and hopefully won't be so long before we all do it again.

Well, off to more laziness! Pictures later this week!

Fibonacci

Last month, my LYS had a discussion on the Fibonacci sequence and how it relates to knitting design and patterns. The thought is that since the Fibonacci numbers occur so frequently in nature, designs based on the sequence are very pleasing to the eye. The shop will be doing a Fibonacci KAL on a large tote bag, with each person choosing their own colors and how to incorporate the sequence into a striped pattern. Being that I have plenty of large totebags, and even a beautiful felted market bag that I rarely use, I decided to use the sequence in a booga bag (especially since I gave my first booga away as a gift). I will be using Cascade 220. Here is my colors and mock-up of a stripe pattern:

In other news, I can barely walk thanks to an "exercise" class I am taking at Xpose fitness. I discovered my inner diva alright... she is now cranky and tired and can no longer walk! I am sure it is doing me some good becuase I haven't been this sore from a workout in a long time. The class is really fun despite the pain, and I'll be there again next week! I also made some homemade toasted coconut marshmallows with the kids this weekend (you know, to counter-act my working out), but unfortunately they are getting eaten faster than I could take a picture. It was an Ina Garten recipe, and it was simple and fabulous!