Been Awhile

So sorry for the absence! Grad school got a little crazy and in between all that I moved from university housing to a little studio in the city (which I love). Also, and most importantly, I got engaged! So I've been busy trying to make plans for the wedding. We found a venue and a girl to make the bridesmaids' dresses. Our date is October 1, 2011 so the colors are fall, fall, fall! All the girls are going to be in different fall colors like gold, brown, pumpkin orange, a merlot purple, and red. I think it will be really beautiful!

However, among all this craziness, I have managed to accomplish a LOT of knitting! It really helps me manage stress. I plan on borrowing my fiance's fancy camera to take pictures of all of my FOs. Until then, you can check out what I've been up to on Ravelry. My username is knitzophrenia.

Currently, I'm working on finishing my first sweater. I'm knitting the Tempest cardigan from Knitty. I kinda like to think of it as a test sweater as it's acrylic (and not the nicest acrylic, let me tell you). I like the pattern and it wasn't very difficult at all. I decided to go with a plain sweater and nix the stripes because, let's face it. Wide stripes aren't very flattering on all of us, especially those of us who are...let's say, busty. Anywho! I'm almost done with the second sleeve and then I have to block it, seam it, and knit the button bands. So I'll keep you (if there are any of you reading) updated. Hopefully I'll be able to finish it while I have this 3 week break from school before fall semester starts up.

I also just finished my first fair isle project. I knit the Scandanavian Socks from the Little Box of Socks by Charlene Church and Beth Parrott. They're going to be a Christmas gift for my mom. I used the Classic Elite Yarns alpaca/wool/nylon sock blend. It. is. AMAZING!! It's so soft and has such a pretty halo without shedding too terribly much. They're going to be perfect for my mom to keep her feet cozy around the house and inside her boots. I think she's going to love them. However, they're not exactly the same size. One is just slightly tighter than the other. I'm keeping my hopes up that I can fix a little of that when I block them.

I'm going to end my post here so it doesn't get too long. I'm not even about to try to make up for all the time I didn't blog. I hope there are still some people out there reading!

Keep on knitting!

Cozy Up To Your Morning Jolt!

So I know I said I would post the socks I knit up, but I just made a coffee cup cozy this afternoon and had to post it! Also, my socks need washed so they get back into shape before I can photograph them.

I made this cup cozy from a pattern in Durant's One-Skein Wonders book that I recently purchased. I thought it came out so well and I knit it up so quickly! That's a huge selling point for me, as I can be an instant-gratification kind of person. I always take my coffee to class and since I haven't invested in a really nice stainless steel thermos that will keep my coffee warm, this was the perfect thing to make. Now I can keep my coffee hot throughout my 2 1/2 hour classes (if the coffee lasts that long) and I won't burn my hands carrying it to class.

Although I can't reveal the pattern to you (whoever you may be), I can tell you that I made the cozy with Debbie Stoller's Stitch Nation Bamboo Ewe yarn in a steely, almost lavender gray that is just gorgeous. I salvaged the yarn from some leg warmers that I made and was unsatisfied with. Let me tell you, that is one hard working yarn! I must have unraveled the leg warmers once or twice while making them and then a third and final time when I decided that I hated the pattern I used and the stitch definition is still fantastic. I really recommend this yarn. Plus, it's so cheap! I know the pictures aren't great because they were just taken on my phone, but hopefully you can get the idea.

Until next time! Keep knitting!

Not Feeling Creative Enough to Think of a Title

Now I'm really sorry for not blogging for a month. I'm doing real well at blogging regularly, huh? 2 posts and I'm already slacking off. I could give all sorts of reasons for why I haven't been posting, but it's really just plain laziness. I have barely been working (boo) and school has been completely manageable so far this semester.

Anywho! More about the knitting.

Although I haven't been blogging, I have been doing tons of knitting! Since my last post, I have finished a cable-knit pillow, a pair of alpaca socks, a scarf, and am very close to finishing a pair of leg warmers.

I put a picture of the pillow I finished below. I think it turned out all right for my first attempt at cable knitting. I accidentally put one of the buttonholes in the wrong spot. Still don't understand how I did that because I was trying to pay close attention to make sure I got it right and I still mucked it up. Otherwise it's pretty darn cute! I used this pattern and altered it by just adding more stockinette stitches on each end so that it would fit an 18" pillow. As you can see, it fits quite well! I just used an acrylic yarn because I got a bunch of it super cheap and I didn't want to waste good yarn on a new skill. All in all, it's a pretty cute pillow and in the future I'll probably make a mate for it.

I have to get going for class a little early today because of all the snow in Philly. We got dumped over the past two weeks and it takes at least an extra couple minutes to get anywhere now. I have to navigate around the 6' high snow mounds (no kidding). I'll post pictures of my socks and my scarf (and the project I'm working on concerning scarves). Hopefully it won't be another month before I post again.

Hats Off to You!

Okay...sorry for the short absence (if anyone is reading this and noticed). I've been busy working and knitting away at my current project. I'm about halfway through a cable knit pillow cover, which I will show you upon its completion in a week or so (yeah, right).

I start school up again on Tuesday. I'm actually very excited. Although this month of R&R with nothing seriously productive to do has been wonderful, I'm getting that itch. It's an anxious feeling I get when I haven't used my brain for awhile and I just need to get back into a classroom, read a book, write down some definitions. Something! So yes, I'm a huge nerd, if you couldn't already tell. But a happy one because I get to study, knit, cook, eat, and live in Philly. All of my favorites. Life is good sometimes, huh?

For this post's project, I give you my first hats! I made these as Christmas presents for my baby cousins Robby and Mary who live in Texas. I used a really fantastic worsted weight wool yarn in a light green for Robby and baby pink for Mary. I found a free pattern online here for a seed stitch baby hat. This pattern was originally intended for preemie babies but there is a size included for a newborn, which I used for Mary since she was just a month old when she got it. For Robby's hat, I altered the pattern a little by adding on (using my gauge, of course) a couple more inches. I don't think the hat fits him perfectly because I couldn't ask my aunt exactly what the circumference of his head was since these hats were a surprise, so I guessed and figured if it was a bit big, he'd grow into it. Mary's fits quite well with room to grow.

Here are some pictures I took of the hats flat and some my aunt took of my baby cousins wearing the hats.

The lessons learned here were purling, seed stitch, ribbing, knitting with double pointed needles in the round, and decreasing. This was a giant leap in my knitting skills and further provoked my knitzophrenia (Christopher's wording, not mine) because I felt so accomplished and a little proud of my work!

That's all for tonight. Now for some Rock Band to fulfill my desire to become lead vocalist for a rockin' band.

First Attempts

I said I would start at the beginning, so that's just what I'm going to do! A friend of mine taught me to knit and at first I was extremely hesitant that I would even like it because I am not crafty or creative whatsoever and I tend to get impatient and mess things like this up (hence why I only sew when absolutely necessary). She taught me to knit and I did a few rows with her and went on my merry way. Then as I was working on my scarf by myself I realized that I screwed something up horribly and my knowledgeable friend was nowhere to be found--leaving me to panic alone. In my desperation, I turned to YouTube, hoping for some comforting how-to videos and boy did I find them! The friendly women on YouTube were there for me day or night to fix my mistakes, teach me all the different methods of casting on and off, to increase and decrease. I was in heaven. I think the easy-to-access (and free, might I add) tutorials fueled my infatuation with knitting and turned me into a crazy monster with birch wood needles (my boyfriend will attest to this). If any of you out there reading this have a yen to knit and just don't know how to get started--YouTube. It's a beautiful thing.

Short story long, a couple weeks later I had already made 2 basic scarves, one for me and one for Christopher. The scarves are identical aside from the color and the simplest of simple. Just plain ol' knit stitch all the way through, but they gave me a lot of good practice. There are plenty of errors in these scarves, but I love them because they're my first attempts! I used Cascade yarn, acrylic (I am ashamed to admit this, but I didn't know any better), and size 8 birch wood needles by Brittany. I got my supplies from Rosie's Yarn Cellar on Locust St. and continue to get most of my yarn and needles from there. They're extremely friendly, helpful, and understanding to those of us with very low budgets.

Here are pics of the scarves. Sorry they're poor quality, but I didn't have my camera with me and had to use my video camera.

So that's all for now. I'm going to get to knitting and then head to Reading Terminal for some veggies to make my mother's stuffed peppers tonight!

What It's All About

Hello blogosphere (is that term even used anymore?).

I am a new knitter and I am new to Philadelphia, PA. I'm a full-time grad student, a part-time kitchenwares salesgirl and now an obsessive knitter. I only learned this crafty little skill this past October and it has consumed most of my free time. It has even taken the place of some homework time, I am afraid to admit.

I guess I'll start with my first seven projects that I finished between October and now. Then I'll just continue to keep anyone who is bored enough to read my insignificant little blog abreast to my current knitting adventures. I'll try to add the patterns I have created meself, simple, though they may be, to the postings as well as advice on the techniques I learn along the way. In an attempt to keep out of trouble, I won't show the patterns for projects I've gotten out of books or had to pay for. Luckily for you, dear readers, since I am a student and have little to no money, I try to find as many free patterns as possible on the worldwide webbernets (beautiful things, those webbernets) and will link you to as many of them I as can.

So that's all for now seeing as I have to get up early to sell cookware tomorrow.

This is Katelyn, signing...er...casting off (cheesy, I know).

Goodnight, blogosphere (I've decided I don't really care if this term is used anymore or not).