Aaaarghhh...

Aloha everyone...seems that the site that does my image hosting is having some major problems. How sad my blog looks right now! But there is nothing I can do but wait and see if it will be a fixable thing. Hopefully my photos aren't lost forever. I did do the backup thing, but will need to upload everything again. And try to decide if i want to change hosts. But I have a very busy week of work and can't get to this until Wednesday. Apologies for the broken links...

Any advice? How do you take care of your images?

Beanie, baby...

Just a quick update with a couple of photos. My sister-in-law might give birth on October 1st. So I am trying to finish up a couple of quick projects to present to her when baby is born.

Here is a picture of the beanie almost done...



And here it is all finished and ready for a little baby's head...



I used the hat pattern from Ann Budd's book. Added the crocheted flower from a pattern by Melissa of Action Hero. And topped it off with an I-cord knot. The yarn I used was the Bernat Sox on 4.5mm dpn's and it was doubled throughout.

Has anyone picked up a copy of the Interweave Knits Crochet? I've always had a difficult time with crochet. But with such great projects out there, it's inspiring me to pick up a crochet hook and try my hand at it. Check out Crochet Me...there's some cool crochet there.

I am enjoying knitting for a baby. Now all I need is to make some matching socks or booties...

The Doldrums...

The knitting kind...not quite sure where I want to be project-wise. There are a few major items I'd like to knit but need to find yarn for them. I really would like to do the Flower Basket Shawl in the latest Fall 2004 Interweave Knits. There is also the Simone bag from HauteKnits. Check it out...Amy has designed a really cool little project. And I'm trying to knit up a couple of baby gifts for my sister-in-law due in October. How fun it will be to knit for a little girl!

Since baby is due soon, I thought of something quick and easy to start with, a rolled hem beanie. I found some Bernat Sox yarn in a fun multi-color and over at Action Hero, Melissa has posted her crochet flower pattern. The beanie pattern is from Ann Budd's Knitter's Book of Handy Patterns. The yarn is an acrylic and nylon blend which I've doubled for this project. The flower is so much fun to crochet, it's quick and the pattern is easy to memorize.



I am hoping to get some wind back in my sails soon. It's a bit frustrating to know I have projects that need to be done. And feeling like a slacker is never a positive thing for me. But then again, it's not a good idea to be so hard on myself. I haven't mentioned it before because I didn't feel it important or necessary to let y'all know in blogland what happens in my private life but maybe a bit of information will help alleviate some of my guilt at being unproductive. I have had some recent health issues which entails some days where I am dealing with a lot of pain. It's called adenomyosis...not a death sentence...but still can be frustrating at times. The only quick explanation is that this is sometimes called internal endometriosis. Also, with my promotion at work and the ensuing extra workload, I have had to withdraw from my classes this semester. Which has been the hardest thing for me to deal with. I was very sad when I had to hand in my withdrawal papers. So not awfully terrible...just need to do a mind shift which doesn't leave room for much else in my already over-crowded brain.

But life goes on...so does my knitting.

Happy Sunday

Yesterday I met up with some friends for a movie, some food, and knitting. We went to see Garden State. What a great movie. And a wonderful soundtrack. Zach Braff is a fox. But it is the story that will make you laugh, make you cry, make you laugh and cry. If you have been holding off on seeing it...don't. Grab a friend you'd like to share a warm fuzzy moment with and go see it.

Naturally afterwards, we had to find some food. Afterall, a vat o' popcorn and large soda is never enough. We went to a little hole in the wall in Chinatown to find some Polish piroskis made by an old Filipino lady. She has squid, chicken, or beef piroskis. She was sold out of the chicken and none was bold enough to do the squid. We opted for the beef. Doesn't it look yummy?



With our tummies full, we decided it was time to knit. We found a section of a certain large chain bookstore to sit and knit(I won't mention any names especially since we were kindly asked to move...I think they were anti-knitters). I had the immense pleasure and honor of teaching Hersha and Jason to cast-on and knit. Just look at their extreme diligence...



Then we moved to a little cafe called Mocha Java for more food and knitting and friendlier staff. I had some wheat pancakes. More gooey yummy-ness. It was so much fun. I'm looking forward to seeing Jason and Hersha's finished knitting. Especially Hersha's ever morphing project...from scarf to cat toy to sweater to poncho to table runner...she had us laughing the whole day. Here we are in our self-timer slightly blurred photo...left to right-Jen, Jason, myself, and Hersha...



Not much of my own knitting getting done. I seem to be in a bit of knitting slump. Not sure what I want to cast on for yet. Life seems to be a bit out of focus for me at the moment. Is it just an end of summer slump?

Perhaps I need to do some yarn shopping...

Meathead done and the jogless jog...

The hat is ready to be sent. It was really fun knitting Meathead. I was done within an hour, which I think is a record for me. Tomorrow it goes in the mail. I can't wait to see the complete project!

I'm done with the swatch for the tea cozy. It's too small to run the washer for felting. I will be hand felting it instead. Photos of the process will be up soon.

As for the Oli tank, I'm having a bit of a quandary. I didn't realize that there is an actual technique to disguising the color jog...when you change colors, there is a misalignment of the stripes at the beginning of a round. The stripes are higher on one side than the other. Like this...



I was under the impression that it was something I had to live with when knitting stripes. Then I ran across this tutorial. My dilemma is whether to rip and start over. Or to continue on and learn my lesson of the jogless jog.

What to do...what to do???

Honolulu knitters...

Last night was a meeting of the Honolulu Stitch 'N Bitch. We had several new members arrive and it was wonderful to see all the different projects. I will take more photos at the next meeting. I get so involved with everyone's knitting that I forget that I have my camera with me.

I did manage to snap this one of Jen with her scarf. It's done in Red Heart with a k2p2 stitch pattern. This is Jen's very first finished object. She is proud...as she should be. The scarf looks great. I am also very proud of her. I taught Jen to knit this past spring and she is doing just fine. Yea, Jen! I can't wait to see her next project...


My Meathead kit arrived! I'm very anxious to get started on this hat. Besides instructions on the how's and when, Larissa included several ounces of Web's natural 1/1 roving. Surprisingly, I managed to find the US19's required for the hat right at a local Ben Franklin(but was shocked at what they were actually charging me for it...ouch!). Silly me, I thought the tea was something required for the hat. I even read the pattern twice looking for instructions on what to do with it. Until I realized it was a little gift for me. Yum...can't wait to brew a cup and sit down to knit.



I guess by now everyone has seen the new Magknits. I love Frida. Not sure how often I will need to use a poncho here, but I want to knit it. One of the yarns recommended is the Mission Falls 1824 cotton. I have ten skeins in navy that haven't been assigned to a project. I also like the Swirt. I have several skeins of Trendsetters Zucca which is comparable to the GGH Esprit.

Do you have any favorites?