Another FO well almost!

I cast on last night for Kendra's calorimetry while watching Jeopardy with my Mom. About 2 hours later I was almost done. By the time I went to bed I was casting off with this bind off. I just need to sew on the button I bought today. I love love love this pattern! I actually didn't follow the pattern to the t. A lot of knitters on Ravelry said that it came out humongous if you cast on 120 stitches as called for in the pattern but that it came out perfectly with between 80-100. I arbitrarilly chose 88 and am so glad I did. It fit my head stretched so hopefully it will be perfect for K! I have a big head and a lot of hair. K has a lot of hair and an average sized head.

Here are my specs I used Paton's Soy Wool Stripes in Natural Geranium. I cast on 88 stitches with I think size 8 needles. It took me about 3 -3.5 hours to knit. I still have a little less than half of a skein left. I will be making more in the future! I love the button I chose, the picture is bad. I really couldn't get my camera to cooperate tonight! Today was filled with Christmas shopping and decorating the house with Mom. Tomorrow is going to be Holly finishes her Christmas knitting day in my house. The only other thing I need to do besides sew on the button is make Andy's hat. I've decided not to make the gloves for Kendra. Unless I really get inspired this week and the yarn goes on sale! I found her a really cute Amaryllis kit at Lowes so it kind of takes the pressure off. They both will get a head covering of some sort, along with a sweater for their dog, she will get the flowers and he will get a tin of peppermint bark . I think they will be happy with it. If not I know I tried!

A F.O.

I have one less Christmas gift to knit because I am done with Malden's,(the dog) sweater. I really just needed to seam it but the vague directions of seam leaving 3.5 inches for the arms slowed me down a bit. Where do I leave the 3.5 inches for the arm was the big question. I searched online and measured dog sweaters and finally * think* hope*and* pray* I have the right place. It really doesn't look like much but I am sure it will look great on him. I modified the Need for tweed dog sweater pattern from the Lion Brand Website. I didn't want it to be all garter so I made the top stockinette with a garter boarder. I used Lion brand Wool Ease thick& quick in Pine.



Here is a really bad picture of the dog who will be receiving the sweater. He was playing with a cat toy and would not stay still for a picture but you can see his coloring.
I'll be sure to post a picture of him wearing it. He really loves being dressed up!
I'm currently looking for a pattern for Malden's daddy aka my brother Andy using the same yarn. I am pretty sure he will be getting a hat. I was tempted to make a scarf but the time crunch makes me nervous about starting something that will have to be 6 feet long! Malden's mommy aka Kendra my SiL will be getting a Calorimetry & Fetching both from Knitty and both knit with Paton's SWS or that new yarn at Joann that looks like Noro.

The joys of being a knitter at Christmas!

Today while I was out running a few errands I realized that Christmas is only 26 days away. I know you might be thinking well of course it is, today is last day of Nov. But it really hit me! Holy smokes do I have a lot of knitting to do and fast! All I can say is the stores and radio stations have really desensitized me to the whole holiday season. This summer I saw Halloween and Thanksgiving stuff displayed. The day after Halloween a local radio station started playing Christmas music every weekend. So now I am frantically trying to see what I can get done and what will be put on the back burner. I can't believe I have wait until now to think about all of this. Last year I was finished in Aug! My list of almost FO is pretty slim! I have to re knot my sister's no sew fleece blanket. I gave one to my SIL for her birthday and she loves it but all the knots were coming undone. I have to seam my bro and sil 's dog sweater. I have about another 2-3 ft on my other bro's scarf. If I ever finish it, it will be a miracle! It is such a boring knit! I haven't even thought about what I am giving Mom, bro and Sil. I decided I would put off the tree skirt until next year so I can actually spend time making it the best it can be! Somehow I don't think it is fair to only knit something for their dog! Mom is hard this year since she is losing weight. I really was hoping to knit her a sweater but she keeps shrinking so I have no idea what size to make. I might give her a swatch of the yarn I want to to use, a picture of the pattern and a lovely card saying it will be knit when she is at her goal. In fact that is exactly what I am going to do! Of course I will get her other gifts but I think this is a good compromise!
I was so tempted today to just get gift certificates for everyone but somehow I just can't quite bring myself to do it. We've always been really big on Christmas gift and everyone really appreciates when I knit them something. It just wouldn't feel right to hand out cards to Barnes and Noble or Dicks.
I hope all of you are farther along in your gift knitting than I am. I'll post pictures one I have actual FOs.

I had no idea

that it had been over a month since I have written anything here. I told everyone it would take me a while to get used to the idea of blogging. Life has been nutty here . I finally got the first oddball blanket a couple of weeks ago. Here are a couple of pictures. I used Caron Simply Soft in Autumn Red. My stitch is called Loop Pattern. I found in the 365 knitting stitches calendar on Dec 14th. The blanket is on it's way to Cristy in Georgia. If you want to know more about the blanket you can read all about it here
I am also going to be knitting on the 4th oddball blanket. It has a while until it gets here. I will be sure to post when it does!! :)
School is a hectic as ever. I only have a few more week of this semester- yippeeeee! I will pretty much be done after Thanksgiving. My professors this semester don't require us to take the final if we have an A average. Which I do after much hard work and about a million and a half flash cards.

The socks I had started in my last post were finished. However they were terribly wrong. I mean really really wrong. It was a horrible mathematical error of almost epic stupidity. I misread the directions for the decreases and decreased the ankle by 20% instead of 10. Of course with the after thought heel I was completely unaware of my mistake until I had finished and the sock recipient ( my sweet Mom) couldn't get them over her foot. I was so embarrassed! I frogged them and am now working on the same pattern with different yarn. I really was so upset by my mistake I can't look at the other yarn for a while. I know it wasn't the yarn's fault but something had to pay. I really enjoyed knitting socks. I have learned from my mistake and I am sure it will never ever ever be repeated by me! I love the colorway of the new yarn I am using. I'll post pictures soon.
Maybe stupidly I have started knitting a Christmas tree skirt for my brother and sister in law. Who have everything. Or if they don't have it they go out and buy it. I never really know what to get them and this is the first year they are living in their house so I just decided one day to make them one. I was going to make one for my Mom too but she loves the quilted one we have had for years. I am using this pattern. It's marked as advanced but I am not sure what is advanced about it. I guess I will have to see as I progress. I am hoping to have it done early so they can actually use it this year, but I will be happy if I finish it by Christmas. I have to knit 6 identical panels so this might get a little boring. I hope it turns out and more importantly that they like it! As I said earlier I am just never really sure what to get them. I was so happy this year for their birthdays, which are 6 days apart, they got a puppy. I put together a gift basket filled with puppy stuff. I gave them a paw print kit, a kong Wubba (Bentley's favorite toy), a bag of rawhides, a puppy toothbrush and toothpaste, a blanket, and a dvd called Bow wow tv. The dvd was a hand me down from Bentley. My 85 pound lab was scared of it. It basically is a dvd for dogs to watch while they are home alone. I put it on one day while I was getting ready to leave and he came running upstairs and hid in his bed. Which is exactly what he used to do when I vacuumed. I tried it a few weeks later and got the same reaction. I have no idea what the dogs that are barking are saying but my B doesn't care for it. Apparently Malden the
puppy barks back at them and really seems to like it! This further convinces me that Bentley doesn't understand that he is a dog.
Well all you readers out there in blog land I am tired. It has been a really long day and I really need to get some sleep. Thanks for stopping by!
xoxo,
Holly

Starting my first socks and shameless begging

Happy Friday!!
Yesterday I was looking at all the goodies that people were posting that they had gotten from there KH swap pals. I was shocked to see that someone already had a FO( finished object) made from their swap yarn. I began to feel like a bit of a knitting slacker which quite frankly I have been lately. So I did it. I cast on for my 2 at once on 2 circs socks. At first I was really intimidated by the cast on for toe up socks, but this pattern is different. It has you cast on half the stitches knit a row and then pick up stitches in the back of the row. They explain it way better than I can! Here is the progress I made last night while watching Gray's Anatomy. They don't look like much now but I can definitely see the potential ! Not too bad for my first pair of real socks if I do say so myself! I've knit Christmas ornament stockings so I figured I could go ahead a jump in the deep end of sock knitting without drowning.

Now for the shameless begging portion of today's blog. I only have one- yes one Pay It Forward angel. This is making it very hard for me to PIF! Please sign up! I don't want this amazing idea to die with me. It really will be so much fun I promise. I tend to spoil the people around me! Wouldn't you like that to be you?!? You know you want to, please just sign up! It's really easy to join just go down a couple of posts and put in a comment- pretty pleeeeeeeeeeease. Thank you! End of shameless begging portion of this blog.

I hope everyone is having a great Friday. Thanks for stopping by!

xox,
Holly

The best day

Last Thursday started out pretty normal but ended up being a great day!
First I got my A&P test back and I got an A! I was so surprised and excited. Then while I was at school I got a call that I had received an orange wrapped package. So I knew Danielle aka Secksiebrat was my secret theme swap pal! She had posted that someone was getting an orange box. I couldn't wait to get home and see what I had gotten. But before I went home I had to go take care of my neighbors cats. On Tues one of the cats, I will call him Houdini, had gotten loose and I was starting to get very worried about him. When I pulled into the driveway he was sitting on the front step giving me a look like what took you so long to get here. I let him in, did everything I needed to do for the cats, and rushed home to open my package. I was so excited to see all the goodies ! Danielle chose my theme Sock it to Me! I got 2 different kinds of sock yarn the two smaller balls are Dancing by Knit Picks and the larger is Lion Brand Magic Stripes. 3 patterns Kaylee, Rainy Day socks and the Knit Picks 2 at once on 2 circs. To keep with my theme she included super cute pedicure stuff, toe separators, a nail file, 2 little bottles of nail polish, and a foot soak and lotion. How could I almost forget the baggie of candy! It reminded me so much of my Halloween hauls from years ago!
What you want to see pictures? I aim to please!


Thank you so much Danielle!! I had so much fun with this swap!!! I will keep you all posted on my sock knitting adventures.

Wish me luck & yippeee!

Good morning! today is practical day in my A&P lab. Wish me luck!Now for the good news my secret pal emailed me yesterday and said she had mailed my package!!!! I will definitely be stalking the mailman for the rest of the week. So be prepared for some yarn porn! I am really excited to see what theme she chose. I am pretty sure it will get me out of my knitting slump! Lately because of the pressures of school I haven't been getting much knitting in. When I am knitting I have been working on a very boring Ohio state gray and scarlet striped scarf for my brother. It is knit in the round and it feels like it is never going to be finished! Here is my progress so far. Please excuse my dirty table! The flash really highlights everything doesn't it!

Pay it Forward!!!!!

Happy First Day of Fall ya'll!! I love fall it is one of my favorite seasons. Now if only the weather would cooperate and realize it is fall. It is almost 90 here today.

Pay It Forward Exchange I'm SO EXCITED to be a involved in the Pay It Forward Exchange! I found out about it from Becka! But I signed up under Jeanie aka Jeanius.

Let me tell you about it, these are the instructions: "It’s the Pay It Forward Exchange. It’s based of the concept of the movie “Pay it Forward” where acts or deeds of kindness are done without expecting something in return, just passing it on, with hope that the recipients of the acts of kindness are passed on. So here’s how it works. I will make and send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment to this post on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I do not know what that gift will be yet, and it won’t be sent this month, probably not next month, but it will be sent (within 6 months) and that’s a promise! What YOU have to do in return, then, is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

I will now Pay It Forward to you THREE, I wonder who you will be?! Please, be a PIF! You will enjoy it just as much as we do!"

And, remember...you have 6 months to get your gifts done! Come on, you know you would love to be one of my angels. Then, one day, but you don't know when....you will get a gift that I have made especially for YOU!

Please remember, you don't have to knit or crochet to participate, anyone who can make a nice handmade gift is welcome to join :)

Thanks,

Holly

Well Duh!

Hi again everybody! I just realized I posted my first entry and didn't introduce myself at all! So sorry about that. My name is Holly. I am 28 years old. I was born on April 's fools day, so I am not too to far from 29 which is incredibly close to the big 30 eek!!!
I love to knit! I have been knitting for about 9 years but have just really gotten serious about it in the last two or three years.
I have wonderful and beautiful black lab named Bentley. I also have two funny and sweet cats. Joey is a light gray tabby and Sierra is his litter mate she is a brown tabby. I am a full time student. I plan on going to nursing school next fall. So right now I am taking a bunch of prerequisites like Anatomy and Chemistry. Yeah, it's a great semester- lol!
I am really new to blogging. It is going to take me a minute to get used to posting. But I promise I will try to not let too much time go by without posting here. I am really looking forward to you all getting to know me better and having a place to show all my knitting off.
I really should be studying for a practical I have this week in A&P lab. Wish me luck my brain already feels mushy!

xox,
Holly
ps what's a post without pictures? My boys and my sweet and goofy girl

Surprise Themed Swap!

Hi! I am part of the very fun and sneaky surprise theme swap over on Knitting Help! I have been dieing to tell someone who my swappee is but I shall resist for just a little bit longer! Instead I will post everything I got for her. First we have the oh so amazing Mmmmalabrigo yarn in Geranio. On my screen the color isn't quite right. To me it is a really rich blend of reds with a touch of pink. I don't know if she has ever used this yarn before but I absolutely love it. The people at KH kept talking about eventually I broke down and bought it. They were right! I now feel it is my duty as an informed knitter to share the mmm love! It was so hard for me to package it up I just want to keep it and pet it for the rest of my life. LOL!
Next there are the two ideas I "borrowed" from my swap pal last time Dustina. She was incredibly kind and generous. The first thing is a magnetic board. It has been a complete lifesaver when working on patterns. I can use the magnetics to mark my location it's great! And I saw the cards while shopping in a obscure little bookstore and knew I had to get them for her. I used my whole pack in about two or three weeks when I got them! And everyone commented on how cute etc they are so in they go!

Finally there is the washcloth I knit for her with a mini bar of one of my favorite soaps. The washcloth is my attempt at completing the color theme she gave. Have I given it away who I have yet?

It has been a ton of fun being part of the swap! I highly recommend it to any one who is unsure just join the next one!
I guess I will say bye for now. Dinner needs to be made and the dog needs to be walked.
XoX, Holly