My 2009 De-Stash "PROJECT"

I have too much yarn, and I keep buying more so my 2009 goal is to knit more of what I already have. I'm picking out projects that I want to do and that I already have the yarns for and I'm devising random ways to pick 1 or 2 at the start of each month. Hopefully my end result will be a lot of stash de-stashed and not a bunch of UFOs. So far I've decided on 6 sock patterns, one for every other month. I'm not ambitious enough to take on 12. I've also got 3 hats picked out so far, but I'll probably pick more. I'm also going to FINALLY do my hermione mitten and fuzzy felted slippers....

So here are my lists, for anyone who is curious, and also for myself to help keep track:

Socks

(since there are 6, I'm going to roll a die to randomly select one every other month, or sooner if I work quick enough)

1. Fawkes in Lorna's Laces, Flames
2. Hedwig in Comic Fibers, Sorcerer's Stone
3. Uzume in Cosmic Fibers, Kazua Takoa
4. Monkey in Skinny Duet, Mona
5. Zombie Socks in Cosmic Fibers, Burke & Hare
   
6. Anastasia in Cosmic Fibers, Mme. Defarge

EDIT: I switched out the Flutter-by Socks for Zombie instead. ;) I'm still iffy on Mme. Defarge for the Anastacia socks, but not so much that I can up with an alternative... If I maneage to get all 6 done early then I'll go back to the flutter-by's... 

I'd also like to do Jaywalkers with my Ravenclaw 2nd Year yarn.... I had a lot of trouble narrowing this down last night. LOL Now I'm thinking of changing it all around... Oy Vey!

Hats:

This is a short list. I haven't picked all of then yet... I also haven't decided how many I should do, or how to pick them.

1. Foliage in Malabrigo Chunky, Sapphire Magenta
2. Hermione's Cable and Eyelet Hat in Wool-Ease, Grey heather
3. Star-Crossed Slouchy Beret in Malabrigo, undecided on colorway (I'm thinking Jewel Blue or Roanoke)

Other Projects:

Also a short list right now

1. Hermione's Cable and Bobble Mittens in Cascade 220, 9404 (ruby)
2. Felted Furry Foot Warmers (Plain Version) in Lambs pride bulky, blue magic & Fun fur, fiji

I'll do more updating once I pick out some more projects... I have a lot of yarn to de-stash so I definitely need more projects. :)

Scarves:
I'm iffy on including these. I HIGHLY doubt that they will ever get done in one year with the other socks and hats and mittens and other things that I want to do

1. Clapotis in my Noro Silk Garden --> I'm scared of it, and it'll be a big undertaking.
   
2. longish skinny scarf (Possibly Omo) in Cosmic Fibers, Sweeny Todd
3. Finish my Lace Ribbon Scarf in Lorna's Laces, Hawaii
4. Sara's Scrunchable scarf in Bernat Chunky Twist, Denim Rag
   

Merry Christmas! (from 3 days ago)

Christmas has come and gone. I gave away all my presents. My 2 favorite reactions to them being Aynsley who loved her hat and fingerless gloves so much that she let me take multiple pictures and put them on immediately, and Veronica (of course)... Veronica started a ravelry thread to show off the Cullen charm bracelet that I made her. :-D I am a very proud gift giver.

My Christmas highlights.... These are all going to be points of laughter:

• My dad trying to fit the hat that I made Shannon on his head. I laughed really hard. And I took a picture of it! I think he had been drinking to allow this! :)
• Me singing for "Rock Band." I laughed at myself a lot! I got a 100% on Duran Duran's "Hungry Like the Wolf" and a "flawless rating." My mom's response to this "yea, you sounded flawless." LOL I should note that I cannot sing. AT ALL. :)
• My mother spilling hot chocolate everywhere. I'm not sure whay this was really funny to me, but it was... After I realized that my iPhone wasn't hit. Also one of my Bella Mittens smells a little like hot cocoa. It'll need to be washed.
• Aynsley taking a picture of Bella's fingerless gloves with an apple in hand. And when anyone asked what we were doing we replied, "you don't want to know!" LOL They would just roll their eyes at us anyways...
• Mauricio surprised me with a Pink iPod nano! YAY!

I think that's about it. Here are pictures of my Christmas knitted gifts... and my Christmas project. There's Aynsley's green unoriginal hat, Aynsley's Bella Fingerless Gloves, and Shannon's pink hat. I cast on my Bella mittens of Christmas Eve, so I'm including those. :)

  

  

Snow in the desert!

It has snowed all day here! Normally, that's impossible, and I'd agree with anyone who thought that I was lying... but I have picture proof! That's the desert behind my house covered in snow! :)

I took Rocky outside to play in it... He didn't like it so much... He kept hiding under anything that didn't have snow on it... LOL He is so cute!

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And for fun because I'm bored :)

1. Name a movie that you have seen more than 10 times: Roman Holiday, the Little Mermaid, Knocked Up, Old School ... many, many more

2. Name a movie that you've seen multiple times in a theatre: Harry Potter (all 5), Batman (both), Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, Pineapple Express... And Old School holds the record... 9 times in the theatres!

3. Name an actor that would make you more inclined to see a movie: Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael Caine

4. Name an actor that would make you less likely to see a movie: Tom Cruise, Angelina Jolie

5. Name a movie that you can quote from: Wedding Crashers, Old School, Knocked Up, Pineapple Express, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Juno, any of the Harry Potter movies ... Just about any movie I've ever seen LOL

6. Name a movie musical that you know all the lyrics to all the songs: Grease :)

7. Name a movie that you have been known to sing along with: Any and all disney movies :)

8. Name a movie that you would recommend everyone see: Old School (hahaha)

9. Name a movie that you own: Old School (LOLZ, this movie could ALMOST answer every question) .... I have WAY too many movies to list out

10. Name an actor that launched his/her entertainment career in another medium but who has surprised you with his/her acting chops: I think Mandy Moore is a better actress than a singer

11. Have you ever seen a movie in a drive-in?: Yes. :)

12. Ever made out in a movie?: no... gross.

13. Name a movie that you keep meaning to see but just haven't gotten around to it: ??? I can't think of one right now. Which would probably be why I haven't seen it... I forgot.

14. Ever walked out of a movie?: No

15. Name a movie that made you cry in the theater: Promise not to laugh? I can't really say I've cried at a movie.... Maybe Serenity and I almost cried in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

16. Popcorn?: Nope

17. How often do you go to the movies?: It depends on the time of year

18. What's the last movie you saw in the theater?: Role Models

19. What is your favorite/preferred genre of movie?: Comedy, Suspense-Thrillers, Superhero action movies

20. What was the first movie you remember seeing in the theater?: 

The Little Mermaid, or All Dogs Go to Heaven

21. What movie(s) has/have changed your life?: none? 

I've been stuck at home unable to walk for 3 days

And since that has been the case I've been a very large knitting kick. I can't believe how much I've got done this week. :) And I'll be working on some more as well. First of all, I finished Luke's Slytherin scarf. It's just shy of 10 feet long. It's a dark green and a dark grey/silver so it's not exactly the same as the movie scarf, but I think Luke doesn't care about accuracy. ;) I'm so proud of myself for finally finishing it. When I did finish it, last Sunday night, I did a happy dance around my room out of pure joy. :) It's long and thick and warm and I hope he loves it... Even if lately he is a real jerk about 90% of the time.

I have also knitted and finished a hat for Aynsley. (She requested it, and saw the yarn before hand, and saw the ravelry post and pictures... So it's not a surprise, but it is a gift.) I did the Unoriginal Hat by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. Which I have been wanting to do for a while, but hadn't got around to it. I used to different green Caron Simply Soft strands held together to get a bulkier knit and create some variegation in color. It's kelly green and lime green. (Which the picture doesn't show very well, but my camera is MIA and my iPhone is the best I have right now.) She saw the pictures and says she really likes it.

I also knit Aynsley a surprise present. Which I'm not talking about or posting about because it's a surprise! :) Let's hope I actually manage to keep this surprise a surprise. I'm not so good about it usually. ;)

I'm going to do some more knitting today, and maybe finish up some WIPs that have been sitting around and/or start work on my mom's knitted pillows. :) Probably the latter, because I'm not really feeling like finishing anything I've already started...

******

In other non-knitting business, my Christmas shopping (and knitting) is pretty much done. There are a couple of things I'd like to pick up still, but there's no rush on that. :) Except for 1 thing I want to get before I can send off Veronica's present. :)

We had a bunch of our mail stolen a couple of weeks ago. So we've been dealing with changing cc numbers and figuring out if packages have gone missing. It's such a hassel...

I went in for treatment on my foot again. Which is why I can't walk. It's a more aggressive treatment this time and therefore much more painful. I've watched a lot of tv and done a lot of knitting. Not too much walking though... I'm not looking forward to work tomorrow, because my foot is still really hurting. Hopefully I can manage to get a shoe on it...

For the rest of the week... Thursday is the holiday luncheon for work... I'm not really looking forward to it, because I don't really like most of the people I work with. But it's also payday so I have a paycheck to look forward to. :) Friday I'm going to go to Sara's dance recital and the Nutcracker... Well, I'm going to be cutting it close but I am DETERMINED to make it to both. I don't want to disappoint Sara, but I also don't want to give up the Nutcracker tickets because they are expensive. (Plus, I know a little girl dancing in the nutcracker too.) Saturday I'm babysitting Sara and Ellie. So I'll be busy at the end of this week, nothing going on in the beginning though. :)

Excuses... Excuses...

Apparently, despite my new resolve and my constant thinking of only knitting, the only knitting that I got done this entire week was done on Sunday, while I marathon watched season 2 of Dexter... and not much progress was made on any one thing because I was way too A.D.D. seriously switched between all three of my WIPs constantly... Plus, I was paying A LOT of attention to Dexter. New season starts the 28th!! Then I finally joined the masters team this week, so I've been getting up around 4:30am to go swim, and then go to work from there... Then I come home and pass out... Today I cleaned out my room, and baby sat. ... Basically this post served to make several lame excuses for not knitting... Tomorrow is breakfast at Nana's, I'm not sure if I'm going yet though... I'll see if I feel up to facing my stupid aunts and uncles when I wake up. Right now I'm leaning towards the NO. Then Mauricio and I are meeting up with some friends at a bar to kick of football season.  Should be fun! But it's unlikely I'll get any knitting done tomorrow either. lol...

... sigh ... MONDAY :(

No knitting for me today. :( Although, I did some this weekend.... I'm feeling pretty craptastic at the moment so I decided to skip out on most activities tonight. I started a pair (yes, a PAIR! 2 at a time!) of socks... It's my first time trying it this way so hopefully that works out and I start finishing quicker. I also worked on Luke's scarf quite a bit this weekend. There's still a ways to go, but I'm thinking I might actually finish it in time for Christmas. HA! I'm going to bed now. I don't care if it is 8:30 and that's considered lame by some people. I'm exhausted

Quick Post

I've been working slowly towards completion of my 2 scarves. Which are now currently my only WIPs.... I had to either frog the others or put them into a deep hibernation. I am determined to get both my lacy ribbon scarf and Luke's slytherin scarf done before Christmas. More than likely, I'll keep my lacy ribbon scarf for myself but decided that it needed a deadline too. BUT Luke's scarf HAS to be finished in time for this Christmas, sooner if I can help it. It's been OTN for far too long. However, I did order new needles, and as soon as those get here I'm starting on some new socks! wii! We'll see how that interferes with my new "must finish scarf" resolve. lol

That's it for now... I'll upload pictures of my WIPs eventually.

Finished!

I finished my banana republic knockoff hat.... I'm now calling it the "cute as a button hat." I LOVE it. It is so cute, it fits perfectly. The colors are wonderful. It *almost* makes me excited for cold weather so that I can wear my hat... Or maybe I'll just crank up the AC and wear it around the house. I'm not in that big of a hurry for winter.

I improvised the original hat pattern a little bit... I switched needle sizes because last time I tried to knit this yarn on 10.5s (the suggested size) the fabric that resulted was way to stiff. And I only knit the brim to be slightly larger than the button. 

My 2 latest knitting projects

I haven't updated in a long time.... (I just recently added some posts from my other blog to this one, to make up for it.) BUT my new goal is to at the very least blog once a month. So here it goes.

I've got 2 projects that are currently OTN that I am actively (or actively-ish in one case) knitting.

The first is a banana republic knock-off hat. (Link goes to the ravelry page) I saw the pattern and thought that it was absolutely beautiful and that I had to have it. (I also saw the extremely over priced hat at banana republic  and decided I was happy to be a knitter.) I did some slight modifications to it... For one I used size 13 needles, last time I tried to knit lion brand thick and quick with 10.5s it was way way way too tight. I also only made the brim as wide as the button so that my button would look neither too large or too small. I've yet to actually take a picture of it and it has been more or less held up by me. I just need to finish decreases and close up the top, but I've yet to do it. My goal is to finish today! (I'm setting a lot of goals in this post. haahaha)

The second project is Veronik Avery's Lace Ribbon Scarf from the spring knitty. I fell in love with this scarf when I first saw it and cast-on yesterday/friday/i don't really know when my weekend has blurred together. I had some trouble at first and had to frog it and rip out rows and switch needle sizes.... Now I'm halfway through the first repeat and some of the earlier rows look a little goofy, but it's coming along. And looking pretty good. I'm using Lorna's Laces in hawaii. (Link to my ravelry to show off the colors.) The colors are just so pretty and so perfect. If I don't mess this up too bad it'll probably be my favorite scarf ever.

My birthday present

My spoilee (Ronnica) from HSKS5 sent me a birthday present in the mail. She is just about the best spoilee ever! (It's early, my birthday is on Friday, but I'm not going to complain about that.)

She is also my long lost twin... So this year at Hogwarts has been a little like the parent trap. It has definitely been my favorite of all the swaps I've done. And I've definitely gotten myself a great new friend out of it.

My Swap Package!

I got y swap package for HSKS5 in the mail yesterday, but didn't have a chance to blog or take pictures until right now. Let me add that I am thrilled that it is FINALLY the weekend... Even though monsoon season may or may not ruin my weekend plans. But that's neither here nor there... My package came at a great time. I just found out one of best and oldest friends is planning on moving to Montana in a few weeks. I'm horribly depressed about it... Hence being at a movie at 10pm, I was hanging out with her. :( Anyway, my package cheered me up and here are some pictures.

This is the bag, which is beautiful, and everything inside of it.

2 patterns: a shawl one and a sock one

and instructions for spinning!

My hand dyed yarn!

I love love love these colors.

Fluff and a spindle, for me too learn to spin

I'll be honest and admit I look at this and see something that Rocky would like to shred and throw all over the room and a stick. It's odd too me that it will (with luck) turn in to yarn. I'm very excited to teach myself though...

A little yellow bag with my other goodies

a note from chrysta, a shawl stick (love this, and needed one), a bracelet, stitch markers... and of course some of my favorite needles!

for funsies

1. I Love Lucy, 2. Chicken Enchiladas, 3. sin city, 4. Shades Of Sunshine Yellow, 5. David Beckham, 6. Margarita, 7. Maui Wowie!, 8. Frozen yogurt with fruit on top, 9. Blood smear. Extreme macro, 10. rocky, 11. Sassy, 12. Dobby

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favourite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favourite colour?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favourite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favourite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.

Choose 1 image from the FIRST page of results, remember the image you choose doesn’t have to be exactly what you were looking for - just the image you like best from the first page.

Copy your URLs to the Mosaic Maker here and publish your mosaic to your blog.

Updates: A new yarn, a new swap, and an old hobby makes a comeback

I've graduated college, FINALLY. I have been the busiest I think I ever was in the last few weeks. It was not my best semester grades-wise, but I'm done. I'm finished and I passed everything, and that is what really counts in the long run.

A LONG time ago during all of my craziness of graduating and having a grad party and finals and .... so on and so forth I got the second installment of the Nefarious club. It's Mme. Defarge, who is a character in a Charles Dickens book. (I can't remember which, a Tale of Two Cities maybe. I've never read Dickens, and I've never really wanted too.) Despite that I've never read the book, and I don't care for Charles Dickens the yarn is absolutely beautiful, as always. 

I joined HSKS5, which I wasn't sure I was going to do. Mainly because I was so busy I couldn't see myself having the time, but then I realized, DUH, most of the swap takes place after school is finished. So I can totally do it. I switched houses and went down the dark side (but not really). I'm slytherin this time instead of Ravenclaw. I like my partners they both seem rather nice. My spoilee in particular is awesome. I've sent her a large amount of emails.  She's actually my age, which is pretty cool. (So for the duration of HSKS5, if I haven't blogged a lot it's because I'm using my "character blog" dobbysmyhero.)

The last thing I've started doing is making row counter bracelets. When I was younger I loved beading, so I have TONS of supplies for and I kept seeing the bracelets and thinking they were cute, so I decided to make some of my own. I have a slytherin colored one, which I believe is rather large and a ravenclaw one that I made, but put one too many "1" beads. I'll probably do something to fix the two of them, but I am rather impressed with the results. 

I think that I'll be trying to make some more too. Although I need more elastic for the little beaded rings, I'm out of the tinier clear kind and the white that I have is just too bulky. I had to use it for the slytherin bracelet and I can't say that I liked it. It works and it's functional, but not nearly as pretty as I would like. I also made a gorgeous Gryffindor colored one for my spoilee, but I'm not posting it so that she gets to be surprised. (There are pictures on y Flikr account though... if anyone is clever enough to get there to see the pictures I won't care.)

I also finished my pink scrunchable scarf about a month ago. Not in time for my trip to San Francisco, like I wanted, but it's done it time for the 90+ degree heat. (I'm joking, obviously.) I'll have to wait until next winter to wear the scarf. It's very beautiful though... Pictures are on my raverly account. I'm having some uploading issues today.

Happy Happy Yarn Day

Okay, so it isn't actually "yarn day." I just got 4 skeins in the mail, so I am calling it "yarn day." I had ordered 2 skeins of Lorna's Laces in the Hawaii colorway and a skien of Cherry Tree Hill, and those came today. I have been wanting these colorways for FOREVER and despite my "no buying new yarn until you've knit you're other yarn" rule that I've inflicted upon myself, I bought them anyways. Last week was a really bad week and I need cheering up.

Here's a couple of pictures to show off the pretty colors:

I also got my first installment of the "Nefarious" sock club today. It's so awesome. I love it. It's a silky sock kettle dyed yarn in the colors of one of my all time favorite bad guys, Hannibul Lecter. It's really beautiful. (Although, I suppose it's weird to call something associated with Hannibal "beautiful." I really love silk yarn though...
In other knitting news, my current WIPs (the pink scarf, luke's scarf, and the hedwig socks) have all had progress made on them... I have a couple of photos of the scarves, but those are even a little old as I've made even more progress on them.

In non-knitting news, my contacts came today and now I don't have to wear my glasses all the time or swim blindly anymore. HOORAY!

My HSKS4 swap package....

My swap package was in the mailbox when I came home today. It brightened an otherwise not-so-good day. (I hate Mondays.)

Here are some pictures. I actually restrained myself from ripping everything open so that I could take pictures I thought the presentation of the package was so beautiful.

Outside

Inside

Unwrapped
And here are a few close ups of some of the items....

These are the stitch markers. Which I absolutely love. I think that they are so beautiful and so perfect.

LOVEThis is the yarn. It's Blue Sky alpaca silk. It's pretty much the softest yarn I've ever touched, and the most beautiful I have ever seen. My picture just doesn't do it justice. I it. I could not have asked for better Ravenclaw colors too. It's perfect. It's so soft and smooshy that I *almost* don't even want to knit it. I just want to rub it on my face (which I have been since the picture was taken).

Here are pictures of the bag, pattern, and needles:

I also got a keychain sock blocker, which I've always wanted.

I also got some wool washing soap, English Breakfast tea, and a Pecan Grizzlie (Yummy)....

Unfortunately the weather has taken a rather large spike upwards (it'll be approaching 90 this weekend!) so it's melty and I'm hoping that it hardens up so that I can enjoy it.

Thank you so much Cressida Townsbury! My package was perfect!

updates

YAY for school being out. I did manage to get some knitting done between then and the holidays. I haven't been on the computer as much though because I come home from work and knit while I watch The Office dvds that I got for christmas. I was hoping to start blogging more at work, but my internet access is restricted to only the reservations site at work. I was not happy about this. But oh well, I always come home to do my blogging.


First in my knitting progress, I finished a hat and a scarf combo in one week. My cousin made my mom this really pretty loose knit scarf and I tried to copy the style of it. The one I did doesn't look at all like my mom's scarf, but I like it. I knit too tightly to ever make one like my cousin did, plus I used a bulky yarn instead of a worsted one. When I wear the hat and scarf together I get tons of compliments and people ask me where I got them from. :)


Second I'm about to finish my hatmione. I plan on doing that today. I'm about to start the decreases. Which I actually could have done sooner, but I'd been working on the hat over at Mauricio's house and I never brought any dpns over there. SO my goal today is to finish that. I'm actually not too crazy about the hat. I like the pattern, and it was well done, but I think mine looks sloppy. I don't know why, but I'm just not as thrilled with this as I thought I would be. I'm excited to finish it though. I think when it is finished and blocked, I'll probably like it more.


I decided to frog Luke's slytherin scarf and start it over using 2 strands of yarn at a time and knit in 1x1 rib. I decided to do the tube when he was planning on moving to Boston. He ended up staying here (in Las Vegas) so there is really no need for a tube scarf. The double strand will be thick still, but he'll mostly wear it while he's out coaching at the pool. Which he has to do at night and the pool is outdoors. I'm *hoping* I get this done in the next couple of weeks. I think that I'm going to rip it out and start over again though because it's on 10.5s and I think that it's just too stiff and too skinny.


The last thing I've done with my knitting was start another scarf. (SIDENOTE: I've been in a scarf knitting mood lately. It's very odd for me. I've never really liked doing scarves, because I never finished them, but lately I've been doing tons of them. Probably because I'm the 2ish cold months of the Las Vegas winter and can actually wear them.) This is a cabled basketweave scarf done in my Adrienne Vittadini Emma. It's super pretty. It's a fun knit too. Although I realized that my 3 balls (or whatever they want to call it) wouldn't be enough so I scoured the internet to order 2 more so that it'll at least be a decent length scarf. It's so pretty. My mom, Aynsley and Mauricio were all amazed at how pretty it was. I think that Aynsley will probably end up doing one too eventually.