A Sweet Treat - Do Not Eat!

Hey, that rhymes!



Aren't these guys incredibly adorable?

I can't tell you what they're for yet (and I'll try my hardest to actually remember to tell you once I can :P), but I just had to post them due to the aforementioned adorabubbleness.

They were created from this incredibly easy cupcake pattern, perfect for any of you beginning knitters out there because it's knit flat, then seamed up the back.  I knit all three flat as the pattern directed, but I think it would be much easier for me to create the cupcake itself in the round next time.  Possibly even the wrapper, as well, using a 1x1 ribbing instead of garter stitch.  Mostly because I hate picking up stitches, hehe.

I did find a pattern error.  It says to cast on 7 stitches, but it really only made sense if you cast on 6.  Otherwise, the number of stitches don't add up correctly.  It could be that I'm doing something wrong - I don't know - but it worked out perfectly when I switched to 6.

You can visit the project page on Ravelry to see each of the cute cupcakes by themselves :)  Just don't eat them!

FO: Knitted Spiral Hat

I give you my finished "Dizzy", by Berroco Design Team:

I had added this hat to my Ravelry queue back in late November or early December in an attempt to make a bunch of hats for Christmas gifts.  Lo and behold, Life kicked into gear and got in the way of accomplishing my goal; however, I still really wanted to make this hat because you have to admit it's pretty unique.

The yarn is Moda Dea Vision, which may turn into one of my favorite yarns to work with due to the color patterning.  I have another skein in pink, and I know exactly what I'm going to do with it, so that left me to use this purple-y skein I had sitting around.  Both skeins were purchased years ago to go with a free purse pattern I picked up in an aisle of ACMoore.  We all know how that goes, so both have been sitting in my closet ever since.  It was time I used them up!

Though the hat came out niceley, I made one or two mistakes because the pattern was a little difficult for me to read.  The first part is fine, where the pattern is written out for 5.5" (you do the same repeat during that amount of time).  But then the instructions turn into just that - instructions.  The last quarter of the hat is reading a paragraph with some knitting language embedded within it, which really threw me for a loop.  I figured it out, and it wasn't difficult, but I really had to pay attention.  If you know me, you know that's not something I like to do when I'm making something for fun, so it was a bit frustrating.  It looked so neat, though, that I had to finish :)

Of course, I still haven't learned that I need to make my main hat section larger than 5.5".  It's a bit short, but still adorable.

Overall, I consider this one a success.  And since posting it on Flickr, it was already requested to be added to a group - how cool?!

View this project's details on Ravelry.

FO: Bella's Mittens

Whelp, there they are - my first pair of knitted mittens (rav link). I'm so glad to have them done. Not because they were terrible to work on (because they weren't), but because I was so excited to see the final product.

The thinner yarn I chose actually worked out really well because they fit nice and snug. I'm sure a thicker yarn would have been fine, but my wrists are so tiny that I'm afraid they would have been too big. These are perfect for winter driving, and I can also be somewhat mobile with them, which is something I can't do with my store-bought mittens that are cute, but huge and clumsy.



They're warm enough, though I'm not sure I'd clean snow/scrape ice off my car with them. For that, I should probably knit some gloves with a lining inside. I had found a cute pattern awhile back and added it to my Ravelry favorites, but now I can't find it. Guess that gives me more incentive to organize my queue for the HPKCHC challenge. Which, by the way, these mittens are also my first finished project for that, so yay me!

They say people get really addicted to socks - I think gloves are my calling. Last night, I started another pair of gloves (well, fingerless mitts) just because I've recently found a use for them. I keep meeting people who say they look hokey, tacky, like something a homeless person would wear, etc. But whatever. When it's cold in one room of you apartment, but sweltering in another, just put on a pair of these and you're golden to go about your activities.

In other news, I've created a gallery on my Facebook Fan Page. I have so many more photos to upload, but didn't have the energy this weekend to crop them all and make them look nice, so these are what I already had done. I'll be posting updates on the most recent FO's this week, too.

Sigh... I should really make some more inventory for my shop, considering I have nothing. But I'm taking a short break and concentrating on stuff I've really wanted to make for awhile. Plus, I'm participating in a swap right now that I'm really excited about. We have to make stuff pertaining to our spoilee's favorite holiday, and my spoilee's favorite is Halloween (yay!). It's always fun to make some different things for a change, and I love how these groups I'm in have been challenging me and getting my mind off looking for houses, applying to grad school, and all that other junk. Apparently repetitious counting keeps me sane.

ATTN: B&N - Where are your knitting/crochet calendars?!

It's a sad day when I lose faith in Barnes & Noble.

For the past - I don't even know how many - years, I've always taken the B&N gifts cards I get for Christmas and buy desk calendars on sale. But not just any desk calendars: the Knitting-Pattern-A-Day and Crochet-Pattern-A-Day ones:



(Side note: it kinda miffs me that they're not really a pattern-a-day, and sometimes you end up with something really ugly spanning the course of three days or over a weekend, something that drove me nuts).

Anyway, I've always gone a week or two into the new year, almost completely missing the entire first month of patterns. B&N always had an amazing sale of 50% off desk calendars, so it was a steal, and I always had some fiber inspiration when I'd come to work in the mornings.

So last night, I was at B&N to get my mind off the whole buying-a-house drama, and got really upset at their terrible collection of calendars. They had a rack of wall calendars, and then maybe 20 desk calendars to choose from. And even then, none of them were duplicates. I understand the year just changed and everyone wants their calendars, but I've never seen such a poor display there before.

I was actually pretty miffed. I think I'm stressed out, haha. But I guess I'll see what Amazon can offer me. I think I've only ever made, like, five things off those calendars, but I won't be able to make it through my days without them!

Oh for the love, Amazon has them full-priced for $15. Totally not worth the $30 + shipping. WAH WAH WAH! Wait... no, the knitting one is only $8. What the heck, Amazon? Why would the less-intense crochet patterns be more than the knitting one? Whatever. But if you're interested, here's the crochet one, and here's the knitting one.

...heck, I'm just gonna freaking buy them. It's been a rough week. I'll review the patterns when I get them and let you know if you're missing out on anything :D