What's on your needles Wednesday #5, late again

Yes, I know it is Friday not Wednesday. I finished the hat scarf. It is like a really long elf hat. My sister says snowboarders were them. I have no idea. I do know that it isn't easy to put on, and I am pretty sure the pattern had a BIG mistake in it. I made it work though. The two younger girls are fighting over it. I know I should make another, but you know me and my crafters ADD, I really don't want to. I tried to start one immediately with the boucle. But, I stopped as I remembered why I hadn't used it yet. I really don't like knitting with it. The other problem was that I was supposed to start it on size 9 circular needles 16". For some reason despite all the needles I do have, I NEVER seem to have the right ones for a new project. The first hat I started on size 9 dpn's. What a pain. I then went to the craft store to buy new ones. Of course they were out of them. Unbelievable! Because with the boucle you can't really see the stitches, I decided to make the pattern super simple, and leave out the decorative rib pattern. After about 5 rounds, I decided that I might just knit it on the machine and run a seam up the side. I have knit this yarn on the machine, and while it wasn't super fun, it would go a lot faster than by hand. The seam would take away from it a little, but because of the texture of the yarn, I don't think you would really notice it. Plus, I don't think the girls would mind.

Then I knit a simple hat/cap. I used yarn from my stash, Bernat camouflage in pink and grey. I was hoping to get the camo feel from it. I didn't really. It knit up in chuncks of the color, that pretty much stayed all on the same side. Basically if you wear the hat one way you see only grey and then if you turn around you see pink. Gwen thinks it looks tie dyed. No one has claimed it yet. Maybe I will donate it to charity. I have been planning on knitting up my stash of worsteds for charity anyway. Acutally I was hoping one of the girls would take the HUGE hints I have dropped and knit them up for one of the silver/gold awards. Maybe I need to drop a few more hints.

Then I knit another starfish wash cloth. I REALLY like this pattern. It is simple and quick. Plus it turns out pretty. I chose a Lily, Sugar and Cream in Mod Ombre. It is blue and greens with yellow. It reminds me of colors used in a beach house. Once again I am a sucker for blues and greens. Yesterday while I was knitting this I was thinking about what my favorite color was. If someone were to ask me my answer would be red. But if someone where to see the yarns I choose, or even the fabrics for my quilts(aside from the red and black one that spoke to me), they would think it was green or blue. There is just something about those colors and shades that I love. Maybe I am just kidding my self and those are my favorite colors, not red. Come to think of it I have more greens and blues in my closet than red too.

Right now I have nothing on my needles. I am hoping to attempt a crochet project. I learned to crochet when I was about 12. I made a granny square blanket and that was about it. I am going to attempt a hat with a beard attachment. You have to see a picture to truly understand it. Cory said he would like it, so I am going to try. Wish me luck. TTFN

Treadmills and other stuff

Today I jumped back on the treadmill after a week off. I was lacking motivation. Not sure why. I mean I am losing weight...slowly, but still losing. I feel better, and for the most part am sleeping better. I did lift nearly everyday this last week, and I also did some yoga. So at least I wasn't sitting around doing nothing. I will say that after a few days off, I was scared to go back. I was worried that I would tire quickly, and we super sore. I am happy to say that neither happened. It felt great and so do I. I may pay for it later but that is ok.

On a super happy note, Craig received a check for part of the settlement from his job at Qimonda. It took almost 3 years, and is not even close to what he is owed, but it is a start. As of right now, 2 more checks are expected. I have no idea how much they will be for.

Also, our house is finally leased!!!! Hooray! It leased for less than we wanted, and repairs are being done, so I am pretty sure when all the bills are done we will get no money to our November payment, but I am SO glad it is finally leased.

What's on you needles Wednesday #4

Today I will finally post pictures of some of the projects I have finished up lately. As I said before it has mainly been wash/dish cloths. I am using up the cotton yarn that I have been able to find. This last weekend we pulled the Halloween stuff out of the garage and I located my other yarn. Happy Day!!!! Now I can knit hats and sweaters and socks and whatever else I want to knit. First up will be a hat scarf that I saw on Caron's site. I will NOT be using the 1lb yarn that it calls for. YUCK! I truly dislike how this feels. I will make the first one our of some Caron simply soft in a bright aqua color. Jacque really wants hers to be multi colored. In my stash I found a purple gradient boucle that I had purchased years ago. I am afraid that it will be too light weight for this hat, but I will probably try. Why not...I have all kinds of time on my hands and I already own the yarn. Hopefully next week I will have pictures of this new project to show you.
For now here are the pictures I have been promising.

Starfish


Pile of projects



Lacey cloth



Chinese waves ( I used Peaches and Cream scents to knit this. It smells like lavender. I didn't know it was scented when I bought it. Jacque chose it because it was purple! Interesting to knit with, but not sure why you would want scented yarn. Wouldn't the scent wash out?)



Bee's Stitch



Lace again



Tawashi's




Fabriknit hat

Belated What's On Your Needles

Sorry, I just have not been in the mood to blog lately. I have been knitting. Lots of wash/dish cloths. I did not realize how much cotton yarn I had. And by cotton, for the most part I mean peaches and cream random balls. I will post pictures at another time. I have found a pattern I really like in that it is super simple and goes pretty fast. The pattern is called Bee's Stitch. Not sure why it is called that, but it essentially is a K,K1 in the stitch below, repeat, that is staggered with knit rows in between. I don't really have to think about anything while I am knitting and while I have made a mistake or two forgetting to stagger, the average person can't tell. LOVE that! I have also used up the ends of one ball on a scrubby or as the pattern calls it a "tawashi". It was simple and quick. I had to think a bit more on this one, but that is ok. In the end it was a little smaller than I had hoped, so I will probably need to increase the number of stitches, but all in all pretty good. Of course if I increase the stitches, it won't use up the end of a ball. Guess I should try it out before I go tinkering with the pattern.

I have a hat/scarf pattern that I really want to knit as I am really getting tired of wash cloths, but I don't know where my yarn stash is yet, so until I decided to finish unpacking the garage it will have to wait. TTFN