New Year. . . . New Projects!

So I've decided on what to start knitting.... here's a preview of what's on my needles for the start of 2008. First off I had already knit one 'Fetching' fingerless glove in this dark blue color (before Christmas). The other day I cast on for the second glove and it took literally just a few hours and it was complete. I love quick knits like that :-)

For Christmas I got this Lucinda Guy knitting book from my inlaws (as well as her other kid's bedtime book). I've decided to knit the wildflower sweater.

This is done in Rowan 4ply soft, only I couldn't get that at my LYS so I opted for a 4ply cotton yarn of the same gauge.

And finally, I also cast on for Bobbi's Chicabean Scarf. The yarn I'm using is just an acrylic/wool mix. It's pretty soft so it should be nice to wear. I'm planning on doing the matching hat too.



All of these knits are intended Christmas (2008) gifts, but I won't say who they are intended for ;-)
We'll be staying home tonight and celebrating the new year quietly. Our neighbors canceled their new years eve bash cos their 10 year old has the flu so we won't be going next door to hang out.
Here's wishing you all a very Happy, Healthy and safe New Year.

What to knit.... what to knit?!!!

Well now that Christmas is over I'm eager to start knitting for Christmas 2008! I didn't knit many gifts this year, but I would like to do a lot more knitting for friends and family throughout the coming year and have some lovely 'pressies' ready for next December. Only two people got knitted gifts this year, my mom-in-law and my hubby's step-sister who came to visit from CA. Both gifts were the beautiful 'rainy day socks'. Mil's pair were the original pair I made in the greyish color... and the other pair was done in a lavender shade. Here's pics of the last pair I did.

So, my dilema tonight.... what to knit? I had told myself a few weeks ago that before I started anything new I should finish off what I already have on the needles - that being the Lotus Blossom top (still), a baby blanket and a shrug for Kristen. But I've poo-pooed that idea. I have to WANT to knit something, and if I don't want to knit a particular thing, then there's no fun in it at all. The shrug I started for Kristen has just been 'frogged'! The pattern wasn't making any sense at all so I've scrapped that and think I might cast on for a nice scarf with the yarn I was going to use.

I'm thinking of trying this gorgeous scarf from Bobbi
Thanks for sharing the pattern Bobbi. Ok, with that said I better jump off here and go cast on :-)

Happy New Year to you all.

Still here...... still knitting!

I'm still here, still knitting.... it's just that I'm working on a couple of Christmas gifts so I can't post pictures. I probably won't post again until after the holidays when I can show you what I've had on the needles and what I plan on working on in 2008.

In the meantime, if you want to keep up with my daily news (not very exciting, but...) my blog is at http://densdailylife.blogspot.com

Merry Christmas to you all :-)

An Itty Bitty Cupcake!

Just wanted to show the cupcake hat I finished yesterday from Susie's Itty Bitty Nursery book. I'm terrible at taking pictures, think I need to invest in a tripod and light box!

I used the yarn called for, I think it was Rowan Cashsoft DK, but in slightly different shades. I've done a darker pink and cream for the top.

Still on the needles is another pair of 'Fetching' and some 'Bon Bon Socklettes' because I wanted to try some socks using Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran!

Before and After

Here's a felted purse that I finished last week and hadn't shared with you yet. It was knit for a friend who wanted to give it as a gift to her mom... she is a member of the Red Hat Society :-)


Before...
.... and after

.... and a side view

More Pics

As promised in the post below, here are a few pictures of the WIPS (work in progress)
The Rainy Day sock was pretty fast to knit, I'm using size 4 dpn's and Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino. The second one is nearly complete.

Fetching 'fingerless' mitts... a couple of changes to this pattern, first not intentionally (but because I didn't read the pattern correctly) I did 4 cables at the wrist instead of 3 (and I hate pulling out, so I didn't) and I totally forgot to do the last cable twist at the top of the mitt! I didn't like the picot bind off on these, it seemed to make the end of the glove too wide. So I undid it and just cast off normal.

Another change I made was knitting 10 rows after the thumb instead of the 4 rows it called for, because it didn't even come up to my knuckles. I like how these turned out. These are knit in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran. This pair took just over a ball. Apparently if you follow the pattern to the T, you should be able to get them out of just one ball. I have another ball I bought in a navy blue color and I'm going to try and do that with just one ball.

And finally, here is the Cupcake baby hat on the needles... not much to see just yet, but I'm working on it ;-)

Two Little Monkies... and lots of other WIPS

I don't know why it takes me so long to post on here.... perhaps it's cos I'm too busy knitting?
I finished the monkey socks just days after my last post and have been wearing them a lot. I love these! I usually put them on at night when I put my feet up and knit, and my toes are super warm and cozy in them.

It's hard trying to take pictures of feet when a certain little man wants to play 'fetch'!

And just one more shot, because I was trying to be creative!


I have already finished one rainy day sock, have cast on and knit an inch of the cupcake hat, also in between all that I cast on for the 'fetching' fingerless gloves from Knitty.com, AND I've already finished them. I need to get off my butt and take pictures!
I shall go do that now....

I also got my Ravelry invitation this week, which surprised the heck out of me, cos I was very late signing up, and I thought it would take months. It's great looking at all the patterns, but I'm not so sure I will add anything myself (I'm just not that organized!). It's very addicting though, searching the patterns.

I Can't Wait. . . . .

. . . to knit these. . . .

but first, I have to finish . . . . these!

Then, I want to knit this. . . . yes, I finally have my own copy of Susie's new book

but first, I have to finish off a little hat already on my circular 16" Addy Turbo! (which I didn't take a pic of yet). . . . . then I want to knit this . . . . .

This lace scarf is featured in the September issue of Simply Knitting (a UK mag) and I fell in love with it the minute I saw it. You can see the yarn band but the yarn has already been wound for me and was 'downstairs' when I was upstairs taking these pictures!

And here's another look to it, featured on the first page of the pattern.

I've never knit lace before but my LYS had the exact yarn in so I bought a skein of it and hope to start on that soon too!

As you can see in the sock and hat pictures, I also have the yarn bought for those two projects too. It was 'lots of treats for Denise week' this week, cos it's my birthday next week and my Mom sent me my birthday card with lots of lovely dollars in it :-) I also bought some t-shirts in Old Navy - you can't beat $4 for t-shirts that (imo) wash great and last forever!

So, I've been knitting like crazy this weekend on the Monkey socks and I think I'm only a day or so away from finishing them.

I can't wait to get started on my new projects!

WhoooHooo - I Did It!!!

LOOK! I have a sock - my very FIRST completed sock - EVER!!! I'm so excited. I love it, love the feel of it, the look of it, the fit of it. Well actually I think the fit could have been a bit better around the leg. I really like the pattern (monkey socks by Knitty.com) but the only problem I had was that each needle started off on a purl stitch, and I couldn't for the life of me get that first stitch to stay tight. I think because of that, there is some extra looseness to the leg. BUT, I still love it. The yarn is 'Regia' merino and silk, fingering weight.
What do ya think?

This is the same picture but I used the flash, it shows the colors a little brighter I think.

Boo looks impressed, doesn't he? ;-)

OK, so one down, and one more to go . . . .

(oh, and I finished the felted purse, I just need to actually felt it! So I'll show pictures of that next time).

A New WIP!

Yes, I have something new on the needles (all 5 of them!) and I have managed to take a picture before the object is actually finished (which isn't hard to do because I find socks so s-l-o-w to knit). BUT.... I am determined to knit myself a nice pair of socks. The pair I had started I actually think are going to be a bit too small, and also knitting with size 0 needles was just killing me (not to mentioned the repetative knit3 purl2 pattern). I've seen these 'Monkey' socks from Knitty.com on lots of blogs and love the pattern on them. So that's what I cast on.

I made a start on this just over a week ago so I'm not doing too bad. I would be knitting these all day if I could, but I have also cast on for a felt purse for a friend that has to be finished by Oct 25th. So, right now I'm alternating between the socks and the purse, and I'm also patiently awaiting my copy of Itty Bitty Nursery that I pre-ordered (never again) from Amazon a few weeks ago. At least they've finally shipped it, but the est. delivery date is not until Oct 12th!

So, that's what's on the needles right now. Not the best of pictures (it's hard taking photos of your own feet!) but.....

Some FO's for you - with a little help from my model

I don't seem to get a chance to take many pictures of my wip's! (work in progress), but anything's better than nothing right... so here's some pictures of the hats I've finished off lately. I've shown a couple of these in the previous post, but this time I got Kristen to model them for me, along with the matching scarfs that I simply cut from fleece.

The first hat is the one I made for Kristen based on Susie's pattern from Itty Bitty Hats, with the fleece topper.

The colors nicely match the new coat I bought for her for this winter.

This is the pattern for the candy cane hat from IBH's but I did 4 row stripes instead of 2 row, and of course different colors.

This hat is the same one in the previous post, but notice the little bear in matching colors and matching fleece scarf (from a pattern I found on the web). I will try to make a pink one for Kristen next, she just didn't want to put this little guy down!

See what I mean! Here's she's modeling the snowman hat from Itty Bitty Hats.
And here's two more shots of Mr. Snowman.

And that's all for today folks!

Itty Bitty Hats

I haven't posted in a while so I thought I'd just show you a few little things I've been working on. I haven't had a chance to buy the recommended yarn for Susan's Itty Bitty hats, but I couldn't resist just trying one out with some yarn I had in my stash. I also made a matching scarf with the fleece (no sewing required, I just cut tassles at the end and tied them in to knots!)

I don't know who the green hat will be for yet, but I also made a pink one and decided it would be for Kristen. I just bought her a brown and pink winter jacket so I bought some leopard print fleece and pink fleece to make the topper on this one. I still need to cut a long piece of fleece to make the scarf for her.

I did finally finish my 'cozy shrug' but I wasn't too happy with how it turned out. The sleeves turned out way too long and rather wide. I have to buy a big button for it and once the weather cools down I might actually still wear it - I'll take a picture of it then, but for now you'll just have to trust me when I say ... "it's not that impressive"!

Goodies In The Mail

Don't you just love waiting for the mail to arrive when you know you've ordered something from Amazon? Last Friday my goodies arrived. I ordered Susan's book 'Itty Bitty Hats', and I just love it! I have spent all weekend just browsing through it from front to back, back to front - I just don't know what hat to knit first. I also pre-ordered Susan's new book 'Itty Bitty Nursery' but that won't be released until October.


And because I wanted to get free shipping from Amazon I topped my order up (to reach over $25) with the 'Knit 2 Together' book by Tracey Ullman. It was reduced to only $5.50.


I've seen this book reduced in the book stores too and it made me wonder if it was because it wasn't very good. I have to admit I've never been crazy about the front cover. There's just something about that sweater they have on that is 'disturbing' to me - it just looks a little (dare I say it) "deformed"?!!! Well I was pleasantly surprised with the book, there are some nice patterns in that I might one day have a go at. This one for instance which is the first pattern in the book, and looks so cute....
And this one looks nice....
I really like this lacy shrug too, but I don't think I would wear it much so I probably won't attempt that one....


And just for the record, they do have the pattern for the 'knit 2 together' sweater on the front of the book - which I KNOW I will never knit ;-)

It's back to knitting my chunky shrug tonight, I've only got one sleeve to finish, then pick up the collar and I'm done!!!

And on a different note... is it just me or is anyone else having problems uploading pictures in to their sidebar? Every time I try to do it from blogger it's enlarging and distorting the image? I had to upload the pictures of the knitting magazine to my server and then link to it from there?

Call Me Crazy But.......

........ I've changed my mind (again) and decided against knitting the Summertime Tunic with the classic silk. To be honest I'm not really enjoying this yarn, it already looks like it's 'pilling' and it hasn't even been worn! And also, while I'm knitting it, I can look down and see tiny black flecks of 'stuff/fluff' on my t-shirt (I'm assuming that's stuff from the raw silk in it?) hmmm, I just wasn't crazy with the look of the st st on the tunic. So while I was browsing, (yet again) all the lovely 'free' patterns out there in the big www, I saw 'Lotus Blosson'. I've seen this on the cover of Intweaves Knits just a month or so ago and really like the style, so that's what I'm trying now.

Of course this isn't 'growing' fast enough for me (and I'm just dying to get an FO on here at some point) so I went out to Michael's yesterday and found some super chunky yarn.

I saw this pattern in my July issue of Creative Knitting and thought I would give it a go. Hopefully we'll have cooler weather here soon, although in reality, I probably won't even need to wear this until at least January, even if I do get it finished next week!

I started it yesterday and did the back already. The yarn is Lion Brand 'Wool-Ease', the color is 'Spice'. It looks so Autumnal, don't ya think? I started the left front last night too but I read the pattern wrong regarding the inc, so I had to pull it out and start again this morning. It literally only took me half an hour to get back to the point I pulled it out! This is my kind of knitting ;-)

I'm hoping you can click on the pictures to see a larger image.

The socks are on hold for now!