Up to my old tricks

I couldn't wait until the wedding was over so I could get back into my old habits, and maybe relax a little for a change. Well, not that I couldn't wait until the wedding was over - it was a beautiful and exciting day that I was looking forward to - but all you recent brides out there can surely remember the stress leading up to the big day and how you felt pulled in all directions. I was looking forward to settling down afterward, though, and just enjoy married life.

So of course I decided to sign up for a craft show on November 7th, two knitting swaps (an ornament-themed swap and a dishcloth-themed swap) for the month of December, as well as a Christmas card exchange on ravelry. This is all on top of other holiday-related and non-holiday-related events going on in my life up until the New Year. I guess I'm just one of those people who always needs to keep busy.

Those of you on ravelry should check out those swaps and join! Only if you have the time, of course :) I look at that list and think I'm crazy.

My current project list includes making one of my Bella hats for a recent commission (I'm purchasing the yarn and making it tonight!), a bunch of dish cloths and hats for the craft show (the dish cloths are a new adventure - I don't know why I haven't gotten into them before because they're so practical and quick, and there are such cute holiday patterns for them out there), and of course all of the projects left in the ruins of my yarn basket before the wedding.

Including my first pair of socks. Someday, I will finish the first one.

I can see how socks can be addicting, but I can also see how they might drive a knitter nuts. OMG. After hours of knitting, I had... 7" of fabric? I wanted to kill myself. Though I'm sure the result will be beautiful. I just can't see myself getting into making them full time. What was I thinking? Brainless, brainless Jenn.

Anyway, DH is in Philly this evening, so I'll have the apartment to myself (if you don't include our two furry children) for a little bit. I'm hoping to crank out some more projects while he's gone, as well as have some nummy leftovers from dinner last night and an hour of Ghost Whisperer all to myself.

Anyone have some fun Halloween plans? I'll have to think of a cute update :D

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

Whelp, I'm back, and I'm married!

I'm really looking forward to getting back into the swing of this blog, as well as diving head-first into all the projects I've started and never got a chance to finish because wedding stuff popped up, and fighting off all the new projects I've been drooling over but haven't had the time to pick up my needles or hooks to create.

But long story short, I'm incredibly happy to be a Mrs.

I've already changed my name over with social security and my bank accounts (well, except for one, which I'm thinking about getting rid of). You know, all the things that could really impact my entire life should they get into the wrong hands. My driver's license on the other hand... the thing that lets me get to work and maybe visit a bar on occasion... seems like it'll be the biggest pain of all. Why can I change my identity faster with our national government than I can with the state? Go figure. I hear changing my car registration might be a fun time, as well.

I'm still getting used to my new signature, though. I have to stop and think about it sometimes :P

Next stop: buying a house!

FO: Foliage Hat

So this hat has a bit of history for me, and I'm sure a couple of you might laugh at it. I know I do now, though in the past, my issues with it have caused an occasional eye twitch.

I'm just really, horrifically bad with lace patterns, it seems. Well, I'm not bad - if - I put stitch markers between every pattern repeat and religiously count off numbers. Why yes, Nick does give me strange looks whenever I sit on our couch going "One... two... SKP2... one... two..."

Anyway, I actually started this hat last year. A friend of mine wanted me to make a hat for his girlfriend has a Christmas (2008) gift. I had found this pattern and knew that pretty much everyone and their cousins had knitted this hat, and most of the reviews made it sound so easy. My knitting skills were getting much better, and I thought it would be a great intermediate project for me.

Well, it wasn't. I couldn't count. Somehow, after switching from my DPN's to my circulars (this hat is knit top-down) and would begin the next row, the YO's would be off, and my leaves would start migrating to the right, and I'd just get so fed up I'd throw my yarn in a pile and not look at it again for days. Rinse, repeat, and you pretty much have my whole late-October of 2008.

This year, I decided to try my hand at this one again. I had tons of cream-colored yarn left over from a commission, so I thought this might be a fun way to use it up (and for the record, I got like three hats out of one skein with my knitting - sometimes, it's just so much more cost-efficient than crochet!).

I only had to frog it once, which made me very proud! Eventually, I figured out that after switching to circulars, I should place a marker every 8 stitches, and that really helped me keep on track with the pattern, and see where I was messing up (for example, if I forgot to PSSO during the SK2P's or something like that, which was often the problem), or if I had forgotten to YO the row before.

Lo and behold, the pattern is actually easy, and I no longer refer to it as the devil's hat. And the result is actually quite pretty! A little big, I think, so next time I might use smaller needles, and I didn't switch to smaller needles for the ribbing as the directions said, so that's totally my fault. But it still looks nice, and super comfortable!

Wishing you all a great weekend!

Pre-wedding knitting-for-my-sanity

Wow, what a long time without an update! You can tell I got a little overwhelmed this summer with activities. So many weekend adventures, wedding planning, and all that good stuff took its toll, and I unfortunately didn't get to be as yarnily creative as I'd have liked.

I have, however, taken up more knitting in the past couple weeks as we approach the 2.5 week mark until the wedding. With almost everything done, and just waiting on RSVP's, I have no choice but to sit here, brood, and give myself migraines over the excitement and nerves I've been feeling. So I'm back to loving yarn again, though all my crochet stuff is still on hold while I try my hand at a whole slough of knitting patterns.

In recently finished projects, we have the below cabled hat (ravelry link):


And one of my Whitney Headbands, requested through Alchemy in my etsy shop (ravelry link):

Apologies for the junky photo of that headband. My good camera decided to die on me, so I had to resort to an older one whose quality isn't that great. But I did get a good review on it in my etsy shop, so I'm glad she loves it!

In other crafty news, I am almost done making one of these. Also, I ventured out in West Chester this weekend for a pre-bachelorette shindig with my Matron of Honor and future SIL, and I demanded a trip to a yarn boutique, haha. I entered the store not really knowing what my motivation was... until I stumbled upon a huge display of sock yarn. So guess what I'm making now?!

Yes, I purchased some yarn to make my first pair of socks EVER! I ended up speaking to another woman in the store who warned me that they are addicting. Right now, I'm almost done creating the heel flap on my first sock, and I'm nervously awaiting my attempt at turning the heel, and I can see how they can be addicting! I'm using a very basic pattern that allows me to just mindlessly knit miles of stockinette, which made for great TV watching yesterday while Nick was at his bachelor's weekend in Nashville (I bonded with some BuffyTVS, Vampire Diaries, and Vanity Fair). I'm still a bit slow working the smaller needles, but they are very fun and the yarn is beautiful. I will have to take a photo for my next entry, and I really wish I remembered the name. I can't wait to see if I can do this!

They were supposed to be a honeymoon plane ride project, but I just couldn't resist. Oh, well. I can always purchase more yarn and make Nick a pair, too. He asked if I would, and I told him to hold on a minute and see if I can make it through one sock, first :)

Anyway, wish me luck in these next few weeks before the wedding! I never understood just how stressful a wedding could be until I started planning my own. Who knew that there was so much involved in planning for something that's started and over in 12 hours? Seems like a pain to me! We have the marriage license sitting at home, and it was ready to go on Saturday. It's so tempting to just go and have it over with :P

A little crochet inspiration

I was recently browsing FreePeople and came across this lovely slouch hat:

So... I think I'm gonna try to make one. It looks simple enough, but I'm admittedly a little dumb with it comes to making slouch hats. I know they involve increasing and decreasing in the right places, though where those places are is apparently beyond me! I have yet to make one that doesn't just look ridiculous.

I think that will be my weekend project :)

PS: For some pre-weekend reading, why don't you read Vickie Howell's blog post about why all of our craft shows have disappeared from DIY and HGTV, and what we can do to bring them back!