Not Quite Fearless Yet..

I have this idea that if I am truly fearless in my knitting then I will become some sort of "Super Knitter" and everyone will love me and all my senseless hand knitted gifts. And I will be wise beyond my years... and my kids will behave... Unrealistic I know, but I'm gonna make the attempt anyway. Maybe it will be good for my self-esteem to be able to look at a pattern and KNOW that "I can do that!" To further my ambitions I have taken on two new skills this past week:
(pic here)
Knitting on dpn's. I don't think I've done to bad. One Wrist Warmer down and one half done, but put on hold while I finish the Grub Afghan. (9 days left to finish it.. can it be done??) The first Wrist Warmer has several mistakes, but I'm doing better on the second.

And speaking of the Grub Afghan:
(Pic here)
My other new skill is knitting backwards. It makes things go so much faster to not have to turn at the end of every row... I couldn't figure out how to knit backwards continental style, so I had to learn to throw at the same time, so I guess I've actually learned three new skills in the past few days! Woohoo for me!! :)

I'm that much closer to being fearless.. I still have to conquer color work (stripes are no problem, intarsia and fair isle scare the bejeezus out of me...) and sweaters.. Makes my heart race and my palms sweat just thinking of it....

More Yarn!!

I found more yarn for the Grub Afghan!! And the color matches the original yarn better. I'm totally pumped... and now I've got to get busy. Her birthday is on the 17th and the afghan is less than one quarter done... guess what I'm working on non-stop for the next few days.....

Warning: Cute Baby Pics Ahead....

I made the cutest little beanie for my nephew before he was born. It took two months for his little pin-head to fit into it, but he wore it home from the hospital anyway. Last week my sister's family went on a trip and lost that hat in an airport during a layover. I was so upset.. and so was my sis. So when she raved about the yarn I am using to make the Monkey afghan I sat down and whipped out this for little I-man:
It was a little short so I added another inch of ribbing (which also made it fit a little more snuggly, cause he really does have a pin-head) and came up with this:
And here's some more pics of I-man in his hat.. just cause I think he's the cutest thing since mine were babies.....

I think the hat turned out pretty good. And I-man seems to like it. =)

Dye lots ARE important....

Ok, so I had this great idea for afghans for my kids. I saw a mitered square pattern in Creative Knitting that I loved. (It's very similar to this one: Mitered Squares Afghan) So I sat down and worked some samples and came up with an adaptation that worked well for me and started making the blankets. I was using a varigated yarn and figured I didn't need to worry about dye lots...... yeah right!


If you look really closely you can tell the top "squares" are a lot brighter than the rest. I hope I can find some more yarn that matches the more faded color better. Then I can toss in the brighter yarn here and there and it won't be so noticible.

By the way.. that's the Grub. This blanket is supposed to be done before the 17th of this month... her birthday. I hope I can find more yarn......

And here's the begining of the version I worked up for the Monkey (I have until the end of September to finish his....)

Both are being done in Bernat Softee Chunky. Grub's is in 40120 Country Ombre and Monkey's is in 40012 Nature's Way.

And so it begins....

I love to knit.. it's the only thing I get to do for myself.. of course I don't usually get to keep what I knit. I make it all to give away... except for all those washcloths. I adore my hand knitted (and crocheted) washcloths. Don't ask me to make you one.. I don't give them away. I'll make you a scarf, a hat, socks, or maybe even an afghan, but the washcloths are mine to keep!

If you want to hear about my fun adventures in homeschooling the Monkey and Grub then checkout my other blog: Grubs 'N Monkeys. I'll try really hard to keep it out of here.. maybe.