I feel like I say it everytime I start a new post here but here goes…

WOW!  It’s been a long time!  Fall was a crazy time around my house with grandmothers passing away, my sisters wedding and of course the whole Christmas thing happening.  Things finally have settled back down.  I am getting over a whole GI virus thing, complete with ER visit over the weekend!  Wheeeee.

My projects have been solely knitting projects (as usual).  I am going to a pinterest project party on Saturday that I am excited about.  I just need to figure out which of my million pinterest projects I want to do, with what I already have around the house here.  There are SO many choices!  Of course I “joined” a book club too and have been trying to sneak in some reading time for that too.

Today I went to our LYS on the search for some new needles for my Hitchhiker scarf that I am knitting.  Last week I left my darling dog out of her kennel for under 10 minutes while I picked my niece up from school.  When we came home I found my project dug out of my bigger project bag, laying in the middle of the floor with both ends of my circular needles chewed (they were wooden needles), my yarn ball torn up and the plastic bag that held it all shredded.  That girl works fast.  LUCKILY she didn’t pull any stitches out of the project as it was still on my (chewed) needles.  The yarn was also unbroken, thankfully.  That night I was able to unknot and rewind my yarn without TOO much hassle.  I worked it off those needles by cutting the line and carefully working them off the line on to another set of interchangeable needles.  I would have stuck with those, but no matter how tight I screw them together, they always seem to come undone which is toooooo frustrating for me.  So, I picked up some new addi Turbo Rockets today.  I’ve heard many people love them so I thought I would check them out.  I’m also hoping they are less enticing to chew on.  I normally don’t like metal needles, but these aren’t bad so far.  They have nice pointy tips which are nice for the KFB’s on this project.

As far as my other projects, i’ve still got my super secret one going.  I have actually been working on it too!  It sat on the back burner for a long time.  When I restarted working on it I was really cooking on it, then somehow turned my work in the middle of a row and proceeded to knit another row or two after my booboo turn.  I was very discouraged it and looking at ways to tear back my project and was uninspired by those.  Laura came to my rescue and tore it back for me Sunday.  She is an angel!  I paid her in Panera cookies 🙂

I made a chunky cowl from a pattern I saw on Pinterest.  I don’t know why I am so obsessed with knitting cowls and keep knitting them.  I don’t even wear them!  I guess I’ll throw it on the pile.  Maybe i’ll donate it or throw it in when someone is doing a craft fair.  I really enjoy knitting in the round, I guess.  I love the mindlessness of it 🙂

I still have a corner to corner baby blanket in the works too.  That one has been pushed to the way back of the stove at the moment.

Variety is the spice of life, right?  I like to have options when I want to sit down and knit!  Don’t think I won’t start another project, either!  I have a baby jacket I want to work on, I just need to pin down the book that the pattern is in…

So.  What do you have going on your needles or hook?

Today our little group got together for our every few weeks or so gathering. Laura made some delicious stew and we all worked on various projects. I worked for a bit on my hitchhiker scarf then started my new project.

I bought the yarn for this project awhile ago and started a different cowl with it (project #4 that I blogged about on 10/3) and didn’t like it, you couldn’t see the pattern so well on this dark yarn. So today I ripped that out and started a new cowl, in the round. Mostly I’m posting this just so I can remember what I’ve done!  Here is a picture of it so far today (edited: sorry, pics got lost in blog transfer!). The yarn color is hard to capture!  The color is called “Lapis”.

I’ll keep you updated.

Wow. Time flies when you are having fun…or something.

Thought I would do a little update.

Ive been busy with cleaning around the house. I inherited a new couch and cabinet and have been rearranging things. I also have started tackling the pit that is our office.  I compiled all my craft supplies into one receptacle and put away my yarn boxes, finally. Turns out I have a lot of both craft supplies and yarn. Who knew?

My crafty projects are:

1) Super secret knitting project I haven’t worked on in awhile.  Need motivation!

2)  Corner to corner baby blanket. I’m about 2/3rds done with it.

3)  Laura and I are both working on Hitchhiker scarves that we started a couple weeks ago.  We were perusing our local yarn shop, which just moved and merged with another yarn shop, and decided we would both buy a skein (hank?) of new yarn and try a new pattern. Neither of us has put a lot of work into it but we are both plugging along. Evidence?  Ok!

Mine:

Time to go do some more cleaning!  Wooooooo…  Or knitting. That sounds like more fun.

Watching the boys in blue (GO KC ROYALS!) in the 7th World Series game trying to untangle this yarn mess to start on a Hitchhiker scarf, which Laura is also working on :).  Behold the mess:

Otherwise I have the usual projects still in the works, except for a hat.

I saw this somewhere on the internet and by golly it works!  This morning I made bacon in my waffle maker!  Behold!

Also, the first waffles tasted extra bacony!  Awesome bonus.

Wow. It’s been awhile. Oops.

I’ve currently got 4 projects going at the moment. All knitting.

#1 is my first attempt at a hat. I’ve been wanting to make some chemo caps and this is me dipping my toes in the water. I just got the pattern from my local yarn shop. Assuming I copied it correctly and turns out, I’ll post it when I’m done. 🙂

#2 is my super secret project I still can’t mention. Haven’t really worked on it in a minute. Must get with it!

#3 is the baby blanket I have been using as my mindless project. It’s just straight knit stitch for every line (with a yarn over at the beginning of every row). I’m just over halfway done with it.

#4 -last but not least is a cowl I just started on. It’s an 8 row repeat and so far I only have one set done. I’m adapting it from a pattern for a shawl I found at my local yarn store. No pictures yet.

So, that’s it around here. Back to working on my #1 project!

I’m a little nervous/excited for this first blog post.  Luckily it is a pretty easy one becuse I have lots of projects that I am working on.  I have four to show you today, and I’ll start with the non-knitting one.

This is one of a pair of pantries that I have in my dining room along with a very nice hutch.  This makes for a lot of wood with very little of any other color.  I have been struggling to come up with an idea for covering the doors on these cheap particle board pantries and this is my first attempt.   I saw a bunch of scrapbook paper with small hexagons on it and I really liked it, but I was worried that the hexagons wouldn’t be visible from any sort of distance.  So, the current plan is for the fronts to be covered with these multi-colored hexagons and then clear contact paper.  I am enjoying the little gaps and overlaps that are occurring.   I’ll keep you posted with the results.  Now, on to knitting.

This is a towel that will be used as a drying towel for my dog, Frank.  It is made out of good old Sugar ‘n Cream cotton.  I started with alternating the colors, but that got to be frustrating, so I am putting a block of each color in the middle.  I’m about a third of the way done.  I am really enjoying this knitting.  It is kind of mindless, and Frank will not care if I occasionally knit when I am supposed to purl.

This scarf has been pushed to the middle burner, not all the way to the back, but close.  I really wanted a project to showcase the Lion Brand Amazing yarn that I bought on clearance a long time ago.  This is a quick knit, and I thought I was done at two skeins, but it was really a touch too short, so I’m putting a third on, and I’m just not that motivated.  I do love the colors though.  I’ll post a picture of it stretched out when I am done.

This last project is one that I am both excited about and sick of.  It will be a cover for my nook.  I am playing with double knitting, and I foolishly decided that to really get a level of detail I needed to use fingering weight yarn.  This means that it is taking me a long time.  I am really excited about how it is turning out.  I am knitting it in the round using two double pointed needles, so I can easily keep track of the front and the back without using stitch markers.  This is being made with Knit Picks Comfy Fingering in Celestial and Whisker.  I think Celestial is a great name for a TARDIS blue.

We are going to try something new to make a weekly thing.   I thought each week one of us would talk about what we’ve been working on!  I’ll go first this time. I have a few projects in the works currently.

Yesterday my dad and I (my dad had the most to do with it) fashioned a dog enrichment toy. I had seen a couple videos on YouTube that inspired me. I’m pretty happy with the finished project, even if my dogs are struggling with figuring it out.

I have a super secret project on a set of needles currently. I will divulge more when it is delivered to the recipient.

I am perpetually working on my star pattern scarf. I pick it up about once a week or so and do a few sets of rows then tuck it back away.  I plan to have it done by Christmas so I can gift it.

The project I am most obsessed with right now is my corner to corner knitted striped dish towel.  I even snuck in a few rows as I was in line at Chipotle today. I got some looks but who cares?

I think that’s it!  Saturday we are having a crafting party. I plan on making some dice bags for the other half.

What are you working on this week??