The Bottom of the Rabbit Hole

Bet you didn’t know there was a bottom to rabbit holes. Usually when one ventures into one, there is nearly never a bottom. My particular rabbit hole is the one that had me “Knitting. All. The. Things.” I’m not saying I don’t want to keep knitting all the things, but I am realizing there is a limit. I only have so many sets of needles and so many hours in the day/night to knit. I do need to sleep and eat and work (occasionally) so I am still a kind person. I do suffer from “hangry-ness” on occasion. That feeling where you are so hungry, you are an unbearably angry person. Plus I am married and do need to pay some attention to my darling husband.

Realizing these limitations, I have decided to stop “queuing” things. At least until I get back from Vogue Knitting Live next weekend. I am in the process of looking through my library on Ravelry as well as my physical library and deciding what projects I want to cast on or at least acquire yarn for, comparing it against my queue. I know I shouldn’t be looking at all that with my numerous WIPs, but the trip is coming up and I can’t go into that Marketplace without a plan!!

Plus, I’ve wrapped up a few projects lately. I bet you’d just love to see them!!! Almost as much as I’d like to show them off 🙂

First up is that fun little shawl from the Mother Daughter Knit-along. Technically I finished casting off for this about a month ago, but I just pulled it off the blocking boards a few days ago and wove in the ends!!!!

Next, I also made the pompoms to go on top of the little Reflector Hats I made for Will & Nora. It’s definitely getting cooler and I wanted to be able to give them so they can wear them!!

 

I bought a pompom maker from Michael’s a few weeks ago. It’s the version made by Boye. So simple to use! I took two strands of the bulky yarn and wrapped them around and around. A little snipping and a little tying and VIOLA! PomPom!

Finally. I’ve cast off.

It’s soaking.

3 needle bind off for the tops of the shoulders.

I have a whole cake of yarn left. And just a touch of the 2nd cake.

I’ve just to to lay out my Whispers top and weave in the ends. Then I get to wear it!!!!!!

And go on adventures to Chicago. With my mom! For Yarn!!! And Patterns! And Needles!

I’ll try to get in a WIP Wednesday post and if I’m real good, I will have a few more things finished!!

Until then

v’s & bumps,

Jenna

 

You know what I am?

A Slacker. That’s what I am…on the blogging front, but not on the knitting front! Since I haven’t been writing here, I have been knitting my little fingers to the bone. Along with traveling, and I even picked a book back up! I know, scandalous!

In case you’ve noticed it is not Friday, but I have avoided the stash dive this week because I need to work on the projects I have and the stash dive gets my fingers itching to start something new 🙂

First, let me tell you a little about my trip. First I got to meet my niece! Payton Elizabeth. So. Stinkin’. Cute!!!

And She looked so good in my blanket 🙂

I got to hold her and love on her.

And here is my brother the proud papa!

 

They went to the doctor on Tuesday just before her 2 week old mark and she’s already surpassed her birth weight. She is a healthy little eater and did I mention she’s cute!!??!!

The visit wasn’t all baby holding, I did help my favorite knitting bud get her stash and projects onto Ravelry. My mom was pretty inspired that I keep my Ravelry page updated with my yarns and projects (speaking of, I have a few skeins to add) that she wanted my help to sort her projects and get them into an organized system. I almost convinced her to get her own yarn cabinet, but she doesn’t have any where to put it. yet.

I helped her take pictures of her projects. This should look familiar

 

It’s the Momma Daughter KAL, but my Mom’s version. Here’s the link to her project.

She is coming along. My mom also had some really cool projects started. 23 total that she considered WIPs even though there were like 5 or 6 that weren’t started but had the yarn and pattern paired together. I don’t know how she has resisted starting those, but she has. It was fun playing with her yarn! And I know she loves having it organized.

Here are a few more of her project pictures. If you’d like to see more of what my mom is working on, head on over to her rav project page here.

Have you helped someone else get organized with their yarn before?

v’s & bumps,

Jenna

 

 

 

Let’s Be Honest

It’s late. It’s Wednesday. I failed once again to get good, natural light photos of my WIPs. And I am still feeling the KNIT ALL THE THINGS bug! It is taking a good amount of self control not to walk over to my cabinet, pull out some yarn, wind it, and just cast on to knit. It doesn’t help that my hands have been aching from golf and knitting so I’ve been spending a lot of time on Ravelry and reading up on blogs. My queue has grown (Libby’s Settler Shawl pattern just launched on her blog Truly Myrtle…and I have just the yarn to cast this on, and I’m sure I could come up with some needles…do I really need to justify this????)

And I’m traveling tomorrow to go see my NEW BABY NIECE!!!! She will receive her Midsummer Baby Blanket in person…You know what this means, right? Airplane knitting time! So now I really need to pick out which projects are going with me. Plus I’ll be with my Mom who is the best knitting buddy. So I need to bring projects to just work on. Can’t I just pack up my whole cabinet and bring it? I don’t think I need clothes, I can just pack a whole bag of yarn. That’s not crazy, right?

How about an update?

Truly I’ve only been knitting on these projects:

My Whispers Top is coming along. I know it seems to be going slow, but it is the easiest to do while reading blogs or watching TV or in a group 🙂 I just love the Rowan Fine Art I’m using for this.

These socks are a little tougher…those are on the US Size 0 needles that are only 9 inches long…my hands tend to hurt some when I’m working on these, and passing the yarnover over the 2 stitches makes it a little tight. I’m thinking about ripping back to the ribbing and going 1×1 rib all the way down…or maybe rip it all the way back and work a little 2×2 or 3×1 rib for the cuff. I’m going to keep trying because I love the stranded look that the pattern uses to highlight the yarn (Pagewood Farm Denali Hand-Dyed Sock!!!)

Then there is this awesome hat…the MariGOLD Slouch. Just a fun knit with some cables and worsted weight yarn and US size 8 needles are just flying. I’m in love with it and have a hard time putting it down. I’m still wondering if I should keep this or end up gifting it. I don’t like to just knit stuff and then determine who to give it to, I like to knit with a recipient in mind. We shall see!\

So I totally feel like I should pull out the rest of the goods from my WIP trunk. Maybe these can travel with me on my adventure.

 

Remember the Tumbling Bunny? I do 🙂 Only down side? I don’t know what I did with the pattern and my flight is tomorrow morning at 7:30am…

And there is Jordan’s Cozy Man Scarf…it’s gotten some love over the last few days trying for a little mindless knitting and easy on my hands. I took one photo with the flash and one without. Neither really capture the true colors, but the Mountain Colors Twizzle is magnificent.

And here we are with the Momma Daughter Knitalong. It has been temporarily put on hold since I picked up all the edge stitches. This is because I may be a little further along than my mom. I’m trying to wait so I picked up the Man Scarf and started the socks and and and and keep staring at my yarn cabinet and pairing them up with my Ravelry queue in my mind, over and over.

Oh yeah, then there’s Jabe’s Flurfy Scarf. This hasn’t come out of the bin in a while. Maybe not since the time I met up with a group here in STL. It’s been hibernating.

Finally, the Skinty Stripe Scarf that has also been in hibernation. I worked on it in mid-June for a little road trip to Omaha. I do love it.

So this evidence suggests that I should NOT cast on anything new and just drag most of it on the plane with me so I can have something to fiddle with as I fly. Thoughts?

Have you been bitten by the KNIT ALL THE THINGS bug??

v’s & bumps,

Jenna

Linking up with Tami & Nicole.

Hello & Happy Saturday!!

All from St. Louis of course. This has been my first move as a married person and it has certainly been different from any other move I have ever done. My very first move away from my parents’ home where I was for 18 years was to college in Memphis, Tennessee. I loaded up all my clothes, shoes, and linens into my mom’s car for the 6 hour journey. When we arrived, we went and bought anything else I could possibly need moving into a relatively furnished dorm room.

I moved in and out of college housing for the next 6 years, getting a bachelor’s and master’s degree. Then I finally moved into a condo with one of my best friends. That was a challenge because it was my first real place with stairs (I’d avoided them throughout college because I didn’t want to trudge up and down them everyday). My parents, brother, and boyfriend (now husband) really made that move possible. I was lucky enough to stay put there for 2 years while teaching school. Then there was the quick move to Louisville which involved renting a shipping crate, packing it jam full of everything I had acquired and having it hauled by a trucking company, delayed for a week, and finally unloaded by my husband and me into our SECOND floor apartment just a month before our wedding 1,000 miles away.

Thankfully, we made it to this move, with another 2 year lease (yay! no packing for at least that long) with the help of my father-in-law. He’s moved a time or two and was able to really help us pack our truck chock full. We made it the 240 miles with only a broken shelf, 2 broken glasses, a broken plate, and a broken hurricane lamp. Much better success. My only complaint? Yes, we are on the SECOND floor again, with daily stairs 🙂 Ah well, I guess it is better to be making the noise than hearing the noise. And the stairs are in our unit so hopefully my cats can get some exercise and stop being the fattest ones around.

All of this being said, it is really wonderful to wake up in a new place that already feels like home AND be inspired to write a post. It could have something to do with the Monster cup of coffee I poured myself.

I have been struggling with time and ideas since we arrived, couple that with our week of no internet and you’ve got a girl who hasn’t been posting and over 200 posts to read in her bloglovin feed!!

You guessed it, it is STASH DIVE SATURDAY!! Since my stash is happily on display in the other room, it was so easy to just swoop in and pick out a skein to highlight. Here is the photo process of deciding.

Hmmmmm, maybe something on the top shelf?

No, no. How about the DK/Sport weight shelf?

Oooooh yes, How about green? I love green.

And it’s Smooshy!!!!

It’s Dream in Color’s Smooshy with Cashmere. This may be my only yarn I have with Cashmere…so it must be made into something special. I want it to be something that will be close to my skin since it is so soft. I also love this color, Emerald Darkness, and really want it to be visible. So probably not socks since I don’t have any clear shoes…Maybe a shawl or scarf or cowl? But the catch is that I only have 1 skein…
Ideas:
1. How about this Nautilina Scarf by Sybil R on Ravelry? The colors look fun, and I’m sure I could pair this with another gorgeous yarn from my stash or perhaps break the diet?? Her pattern is available free on her blog, Knitting and so on.
2. Mayhaps The Age of Brass And Steam Kerchief by Orange Flower Yarn on Ravelry? Plus there are some very lovely yarns on the Orange Flower Yarn website that would be amazing in this pattern. Oh the temptation…
3. Maybe I should stop adding patterns to my queue and just look through that? Or the books I have here at home, but where is the fun in that adventure?? Maybe the Churchmouse Yarns & Teas Welted Fingerless Gloves (here on Ravelry). These have been in my queue forever and I may even have the pattern somewhere…I bet the softness would be so nice on my hands.
4. Or perhaps Jared Flood‘s Ptarmigan cowl (here on Ravelry). I bet the lace in the round would be beautiful in the green I have. And another doozie that has been in my queue for far too long.

The hard part about looking at all of these beautiful patterns is that I really should not start anything new. I’ve been working almost exclusively on the Midsummer Baby Blanket for my soon-to-be-here niece. I’m literally 4 rows away from starting the 4th color. It’s a little bulky to travel with since I have a big bag full of yarn. I don’t want to leave any of it behind because I’m paranoid that I will run out of a yarn I need RIGHT THEN! Here is the progress.

I’ve also been working on the Mother-Daughter Knit-along which is the Putney Shawl in my Kentucky Festival purchase 🙂 I love that this project is still very portable and very brainless. And Sis likes it. Here is the progress.

If you had the Smooshy in your possession, what would you make it?

v’s & bumps,

Jenna