She Who Knits

Yarn Sale!

I'm having a yarn sale over on my {other} blog. Stop by and shop!

Click here to go to StellaLand!

PS- if you are still reading this in your RSS feed, I've moved! You'll want to bookmark me over here: http://stellaland.typepad.com

Psst...

I'm over here now:
http://stellaland.typepad.com

Kindly adjust your links so we can stay in touch!
If you'd like a button for your blog, here you go:

(just don't hotlink, kthx!)

Resolution!

One of my resolutions for 2008 is a carryover from 2007 and that's to SIMPLIFY.

If you know me, you know that I have three blogs:
Stellaland (travels and such)
She Who Knits (this one)
StellaBites (my food blog)

This year I bought a domain name where I hope to house all 3 blogs so I can keep everything in one place.
I need a little help doing this (I need to merge all 3 blogs to 1 platform and then make sure they are still in chronological order when I go live!).

In the meantime my blogs will be pretty quiet. I figure the less posts I have to merge, the faster I can get it done.

Stay tuned for the big reveal... hopefully this won't be a 2009 resolution!

One of my resolutions for 2008 is a carryover from 2007 and that's to SIMPLIFY.

If you know me, you know that I have three blogs:
Stellaland (travels and such)
She Who Knits (this one)
StellaBites (my food blog)

This year I bought a domain name where I hope to house all 3 blogs so I can keep everything in one place.
I need a little help doing this (I need to merge all 3 blogs to 1 platform and then make sure they are still in chronological order when I go live!).

In the meantime my blogs will be pretty quiet. I figure the less posts I have to merge, the faster I can get it done.

Stay tuned for the big reveal... hopefully this won't be a 2009 resolution!

Sock Wars II, the 411

Wow! I am getting tons of hits about sock wars from my post about last year's event. This year I participated but didn't even post about it. I'll post my death socks soon (I didn't win, but I lasted pretty long in the competition).

Apparently the Wall Street Journal picked up the story and published it on the front page of their website which, of course, has stirred up interest. You can check out the article here.

If you are interested more information about Sock Wars, you can join the Yahoo Group to be put on the notification list for the next tournament in the Spring. I do not have any additional information, nor am I the moderator or group organizer.

If it's free, it's for me!

What's better than something free?
Something that's free and well done in a professional manner.

I love collecting patterns, but it gets expensive (and heavy) when I keep buying books.

I just discovered Knitting Daily from a post on the ravelry forums.  They offer free patterns, daily posts, tips and tricks and best of all it's totally free! They are also affiliated with Interweave Press, so the patterns are professionally written (in PDF format), include photos and diagrams and great instructions.

I should probably go buy another 3 ring binder for all the patterns I plan on downloading! I've already found a few sock patterns I'd like to try out!

It's been a while

since I have been inspired by a knitting pattern. I've been spending my time putting together fabrics for future quilts and knitting obligatory gifts (still working on those mother's day socks!!!) But today in my Inbox, I received the November issue of Magknits. I am really loving the Basic Black sweater by Glenna C.

It's simple, feminine and won't add a lot of bulk. It's suggested to knit using DK Wildflower, which I have knit with before and not really enjoyed so I might try swatching it in Cotton Fleece. I'd really like to knit it in black as shown (plus it is the primary color we wear at work) but I have enough Cotton Fleece in pink from a failed GiGi attempt. It would be a great stashbuster and since I love knitting with Cotton Fleece, might actually have a better chance as a finished object.

While I'm deciding, I'll keep working on those obligatory gifts (stocking for nephew, did I mention those socks??)

Oh! and if you are wondering what I decided with the hourglass sweater sleeves, I moved to DPNs. However, I am getting a totally different gauge and need to increase my needle size. Apparently I am a much tighter knitter on DPNs! Stay tuned for more progress photos of the hourglass!

Busy Bee

Very little knitting going on here and that's bad for a few reasons:

1. I've only finished ONE Mother's Day sock (soooo late!!)
2. Sock Wars II has begun and I got my dossier and pattern yesterday. I don't think I will last as long this round as I did the first time around.
3. I've been commissioned to knit some bags for the Otto's MINI boutique for the holidays. Bought the yarn about 2 weeks ago, just need to whip out the winder and swift and start knitting!

Progress report once things start moving again!

Sockapalooza Socks Received!

I got my Sockapalooza socks last week! It's been a little crazy around here, so I am just getting to post about them now.

They are from Kris!

She really spoiled me! Check out my haul:

The socks are Blue Moon Fiber Arts Lightweight "Lovers Leap" colorway knit on size 2 DPNs.

I also got knit happens stickie notes, a sock blocker keychain, some lantern moon size 0 dpns and burt's bees lip balm! I am waiting to hear back what the blue tube is. Something tells me it stores DPNs! Great for travel! :)

Thanks Kris! Hope your sockapalooza pal treated you as great as you spoiled me!

Hourglass Sweater

Hourglass Sweater (body)

I started knitting the Hourglass Sweater at the beginning of the year, but had a few gifts to knit that took over my knitting time. Now that they are done (just in time for Christmas knitting, right?) I can spend a little more time on the Hourglass.

I finished the body and started working on the first sleeve. The pattern calls for 12" circulars and since I have a Denise circular kit, I had a 12" circular to use. (I did get a little cocky and try 16" circs, which were way too long to join, before I remembered I had the Denise kit.)

The problem is, with the 12" circs, I can barely get the needles together to knit the stitches because the tips are so long and aren't flexible!

Do I suck it up and try to find 12" addi circs? Do they even make them? (I know my LYS doesn't carry them.)
Do I switch to DPNs?

Having to knit TWO sleeves at a snail's pace pretty much guarantees I won't be wearing the sweater THIS fall!

What would you do?

Baby Steps

Before I started cutting the Amy Butler fabrics, I felt like i needed a practice project, so I spent 3 hours on Monday night putting together this quilt for my nephew.

I got the idea for this quilt from my quilting teacher when i took my class. She brought in one that she made using scraps from her stash and just looked so easy to do.

It's a small amount of 3 different fabrics and a yard of flannel for the back. Since it is for my nephew, I used trains as the theme.

You can see more photos over at Flickr.