Beautiful Socks

I finished my socks last night, and I love them. They are so warm and comfy. I cannot wait for the cooler weather, so I can wear them. And the colors are fabulous. Some of the stripes even match up perfectly, completely by accident :)

I used the Hedera pattern from Knitty. The lace pattern was pretty easy to memorize. I did drop a few stitches and have a few difficulties, but I think I fixed all the mistakes. I knit the socks with Read Heart Heart and Sole sock yarn in Congo. I was really pleasantly surprised by the yarn, considering it is Red Heart, but really I would have a hard time justifying buying some of the sock yarn I see in stores. $20 a ball....that's a little more than I want to spend on a pair of socks! I used size 3 dpns to knit the socks.

These were really fun to knit and so portable. I am really proud of my first socks.

Cool Movies

I love to watch movies, but I always wait to rent them on dvd, as I cannot justify the outrageous prices at the theater. This weekend, I saw The Forbidden Kingdom. I love Jackie Chan and Jet Li, so this movie was an obvious choice for me. It was awesome. I really enjoyed it. Great fight scenes, interesting storyline. Love it!

The week before, I saw The Fall. Wow!! This movie is so visually stimulating. I loved it. The storyline is great, and the characters are all so interesting. I tried to knit while watching, but I could not. So much visual interest....the colors....the effects.....the optical illusions. Love it!!

The Beginning of the Sock

I officially started my sock the day before yesterday. Here is my progress so far. I love the colors!! And the lace pattern is really cool, although you cannot see it in this picture :)

Pissed Off!!!

So I am getting ready to knit a pair of socks for a Ravelry challenge. I bought the yarn, I printed out the pattern, and I thought I was ready to go. Unfortunately, the dpns I have are the wrong size. My two local knitting supply stores are Fred Meyer and JoAnn's. No LYS. Neither of them carry the size needle that I need! I am pissed off once again. This town is a very annoying place to live as a knitter. I have a very limited selection of yarns and a very limited selection of needles. The closest LYS is over a half an hour away in another town!! Urgh!!! Now I don't know when I will start my socks :(

Exhausted!!

Well, I have completed my first week at school, and I am exhausted. But I love it. :) I am excited about the year ahead.

I have decided to try a sock challenge on Ravelry, and I will be beginning my first sock tomorrow. I am assured that it will be easy, fun, and possibly addicting. Like I am not already addicted to knitting!

This school year, I will be doing some charity knitting, and I am encouraging my students to join me. I am hoping to get some of them to participate and help me knit/crochet squares for a blanket for Project Linus. I am also hoping to start a local craft circle. This week, I will be making a flier to post around town. I hope that there are like-minded people in town who will join me at a cafe once a week to knit, crochet, bead, or whatever. Fun, fun, fun :)

Crochet Success

Ta da!!! My amigurumi chicken is finished. Here is a picture of him sitting with his little chicky friends. The pattern called for pipe cleaner legs, but I crocheted his little feet. I used felt for his eyes and bill.

The crochet is a little loose. He is by no means perfect. I think I may have used too big of a hook? But I still think he is very cute :) He is my first completed crochet project. Yippee!!



Then, I decided to try some granny squares. I call them Autumn Sunflowers. I got the pattern from a Better Homes and Gardens book. I think they will end up as a very cool project when they are assembled into something. Right now I am thinking of a granny square bag. Hmmm....

Trying to Crochet :)

So, I decided I wanted to try to crochet again. I started last night. I found a pattern for an amigurumi chicken to make for my honey. Why would I make him a chicken you may ask? Well, he is an artist and he recently painted a picture of a chicken. Also, he recently found a package of small, fuzzy, easter chicks and placed them all around my craft room. So, I thought it would be funny if I made him a chicken :)

Anyway, I pulled out my Complete Guide to Needlework and opened to the crochet chapter. I picked up my yarn and my crochet hook and started following the diagrams. Unfortunately, every time I made more than one stitch, they all became just one big loop. I stared at those diagrams all night. Nothing worked.

Today, I decided to give it another shot. I pulled out the book, my yarn and my hook, and started over. This time, something clicked. OMG!! I was crocheting!! I didn't want to stop in case I would forget how to do it again. It all seemed so magical. This is a picture of how far I got. The body is complete. It took me about 2 hours. I still have to make wings, feet and beak, but my chicken is almost complete.If you look closely, you can see that my stitches start out very loose and get tighter as I continued :) That is, if you can focus clearly on my horrible photo ;P I will try to take a better pic tomorrow when it is brighter. I was just so excited that I crocheted something that I had to post immediately. I can't wait to finish all the details. Hopefully, it will look a little like a chicken :D