It's ALIVE

Well Francis is finished.  I had such a fun time making this monster, and posing him.  At first I thought this was going to be a female Francis because of the purple color, but this Francis is a boy, as you can see he is wearing a tie, so that he can be dressed properly for the office. 

I taught him how to knit ha ha ha

Happy Knitting!

I Feel Like Dr. Frankenstein

I'm creating a MONSTER!  Here are some progress photos of Francis.  You can kind of see what I meant in the previous post about tye-dye yarn.  Its varies from dark purple to very light purple (nearly white).

Here he is with his toothy grin!  I'm very excited for Francis to be completed. All I have left is his ears and arms, and I will have to find her a cute bow to wear around his neck.  This will be my first full size monster. Up till now I have only made monster chunks, which are also very cute and addicting to knit. I already have plans to make Sammie or Maddox, or Daphne and Delilah (I just can't decide) for my next monster project.

Happy Knitting!

Knitosophy and Francis

I currently have 2 knitting projects sitting on my coffee table.  Apparently I can never have just one thing going on at a time. 

This past Tuesday I decided that I would like to have a new pair of socks, I probably have 25 pairs of socks but whats one more right?  Plus, only 3 pairs of the 25 are hand knit by me.  I decided to make the socks using the pattern called Kathy's Socks.  The pattern is from the 2009 knitting pattern a day calendar.
They yarn is called Knitosophy, its by Dream In Color.  The colorway is Laugh.

Here are a couple of progress photos.  I also have this project posted on Ravelry and I will be submitting it for the Eat Sleep Knit Sock-A-Long. 

Unfortunately the pattern isn't showing up that well but hopefully as I knit a few more inches it will show up more.

I started my second project last night, I didn't particularly feel like working on socks. Its another monster!  I decided to make Francis.  She is one of Rebecca Danger's Monsters, and I must say when she is complete she will be living in my new office at work.

So far I have completed the body, but I need to add eyes and stuffing before I can close up Francis' head.  I am using a semi varigated yarn, it actually looks more tye-dye to me. I will have progress photos soon. 

Happy Knitting!

What Was Lost Has Now Been Found

I got it back. My mojo that is. It took me a while but when I felt that small urge to knit I went for it. I decided that all I needed was a little instant gratification. I dug through my patterns and found the perfect thing. MONSTER CHUNKS! I set out to make one, and low and behold it was just the thing to bring back my desire to knit.

As for the fate of the little orange monster:

My boyfriend didn't like the monster chunk, he said he didn't like it staring at him, so he stuck it in a houseplant. I then decided that the plant was not a great place for a monster chunk to live, since they need lots of space to dance around.
The little monster now resides at the best place to dance, the YMCA. He is living on my brothers desk, keeping him company as he works. I'm thinking he might need a few more friends.

Currently I'm working on a baby blanket for a friend and I have also started my latest pattern from the Unique Sheep 6 Kingdoms Club. The blanket is going much faster than the other project (which is lace) but both are keeping me interested.

On a side note, I will no longer be selling hats at the Mad Hatter in the Bangor Mall :0( Unfortunately they are closing. So for now I will be taking orders for hats until I can find another place to sell them at. Maybe I should just think about getting a booth at a craft show? Anyone have any tips about craft shows?


Happy Knitting!

Help Me Find My Mojo

This is going to be a fairly short post since I am having knitting block (my version of writers block).

First I wanted to post some pictures of Christmas gifts that I knitted since I couldn't post them before, due to blog lurking relatives and friends.

Wine Cozy: For Jessamine with wine of course


Stethoscope Cover: For my Brother



Simple Scarf: For one of the girls at work (I never got photos of the others)

Bellas Mittens for Emma:

Dog Walker Mitten: For Gram

French Press Slippers: For Auntie and BF's Mom

Fingerless Mitts: For Annie

Now I have to talk for a short minute about this knitting funk I am in.

All of a sudden, after the holidays came to a close, I have barely been able to pick up my needles. Not to mention the fact that I haven't touched my spinning wheel in months. I don't understand how I got in this rut, I'm pretty sure that I knitted nearly every day of 2009 and I was hoping this year would be the same. So far though, I think I have probably only knit for about 4 hours this year, BORING.

Its going to be really hard to complete my 2010 goals (see previous post) if I can't seem to get the mojo to knit. I even have projects that I am working on that I am getting paid for that I can't seem to finish.

How do I get out of this rut?

Any good suggestions would be appreciated............

Happy Knitting

NEW YEAR CHALLENGE

Since I can't post photos of the knitted Christmas gifts that I have been working on until after Christmas. I would like to talk about the Challenge I have given to myself for the up coming year.

I have seen knitters challenge themselves in the past and fail but I am determined. I also know that at this time of year many people make promises to themselves that go uncompleted but again I am DETERMINED to follow through.

I know there are people out there with gigantic stashes of yarn fiber and other crafty things that fill whole rooms or multiple rooms. I'm not that kind of person. Don't get me wrong, I love yarn and fiber just as much as the next person, and maybe sometimes more than the next person, but my personality does not allow me to have that much "stuff".
I once though I had a large apartment, probably before my boyfriend moved and, and before we got our little dog. A time when all the space was devoted solely to me and my things.
Now, I'm beginning to think that our space is not quite big enough. When my mind starts thinking this way I usually go into minimalist mode and start freaking out about where I am going to put everything and how I can get rid of all the things I don't really need.

Last night I was looking around at my knitting baskets and my fiber basket and realized they are quite full/over flowing. Some of this is lazyness on my part because I keep throwing yarn in the baskets that should go back to its home upstairs.
The knitting baskets downstairs are supposed to be for "daily use". I keep WIP's in them and soon to be WIP's (aka new skeins of yarn that I'm just not quite ready to put in the bin upstairs). As for the fiber basket I have fiber from the Common Ground Fair that I haven't touched yet that looks up at me, each time I walk by,longing to become yarn at some point. I also have fiber that was purchased much before that which is half spun and needs to be finished soon.

So my challenge to myself is:

1. GET ORGANIZED

2. Finish all current WIPS (things that have been hibernating in my closet for some time)

3. Spin up all the fiber that I have (approximately 10-15oz.) before purchasing any more.

4. Make 15-20 hats for the Mad Hatter ASAP so that I won't have to worry about them for a while, unless I get a special order.

5. Complete all projects for the Unique Sheep Yarn Club (I have successfully completed 1 project so far which means I have 3 others to make and 2 more on the way).

6. STASHDOWN as much as possible, I really, really, do not need to buy any yarn. I should learn to make due with what I have, istead of running off to the store to buy something different.

A side note on the stashdown which will become my mantra: If I use up what I have instead of going out and buying more I will have extra money.

Extra Money = Extra Cash To Pay Off Bills (namely my junk car and student loans since I successfully paid off both my credit cards!)

Paid Off Bills = Money That Can Be Saved For Large Purchases

Large Purchase = House for Amanda, Mr. Bobcat and Becca

All in all I don't think this is a hard challenge and I really think I can stick to my guns and work toward the ultimate goal of saving money for a house.

WISH ME LUCK!

Happy Knitting

Tis the Season For Sweaters

I love kniting sweaters, but sometimes they can take forever to knit up, and sometimes I feel like I may be in over my head.

Recently I knitted up a sweater for myself called Buttony. The reason for the name, it has 12 buttons.

The sweater I made for myself, I have not had the chance to get a photo of yet. (Note to self, have Chris take a photo of me in my buttony sweater for the blog). I made it in a dark green worsted weight yarn, that has been discontinued. This was my first top down sweater, I love it!

So anyway, I wore the sweater to work one day and everyone loved it. Our building maintenance manager saw it and thought it was really nice.

I told him I made it. He asked if I could make one like it for his significant other for Christmas. He also asked me to make a sweater for him. The whole time I was thinking what the hell have I gotten myself into, why cant I ever say no?

I have been planning to do something nice for him for a while though since he gives me hockey tickets all the time to Maine games.

I knew it would be a big project to take on, especially since its getting to be holiday time and I wanted to get some knitting done for family members, plus I still need to make hats occasionally for The Mad Hatter.

But anyway, I obliged and I made both the sweaters, in record time. It took me about 6-8 weeks to make both.

The pattern I used for the man's sweater is called Curse Your Boyfriend. Which eludes to the mysterious sweater curse. If you don't know about it, Google it, it even has its own Wiki page.

For the other sweater I made Buttony. I used Miss Babs Yowza Whatta Skein in colorway Roasted Pumpkin for this sweater. It came out beautiful. Also, since I try to do something good for the environment every now and then, I used buttons made from Recycled Cotton, they were perfect. I do wish my photo quality was better though.

This is Luc's sweater. The pattern in the center I took from a celtic scarf pattern.

I hope you all enjoy! Happy Knitting!