I am back!

I am back with yarn and shoes. Photos to come as soon as I am a little bit less jet-lagged.

Books

another expensive aspect of being a knitting addict: books!

these two arrived yesterday:





and they are dangerous!

What I am working on

- the pink blanket
- the poncho
- the Bernat afghan
- the boy sweater
- the last two one hour/one skein scarves

that's it? and no photos?

I did received my Peruvian Collection Highland Wool and I am dying to start the Ribby Cardi. but 5 projects at once is enough. or maybe not? and after all, I am hoping to be done tonight with the scarves. I do believe that the Peruvian deserves to come to Italy with me.
I ended up buying the Austermann Stricktrends 012 for the Caprice Pullover from Hand Knitting.

Madil scarf

as promised, these are the photos of the Madil scarf. it's a very easy pattern and I am going to post it among my patterns before I gave it to the person I made it for and I forgot what I did.





as for my one hour/one skein scarves, here they are:





the yarn is Pattons Cha Cha and I have decided that I do not like working with eyelashes yarn at all. I already finished the second scarf (I do knit faster than I take photos) and I am on on a third one. I'll hope I can finish it tonight and make the fourth one too. at that point I am done with my eyelashes yarn and glad I am.

More free yarn

Yesterday I received another donation of yarn, this time from Plassard.

I am going to use these balls to make afghan squares either for PPR or Holly House.



I am not sure what to do with this:



I apologize for the bad quality of the photos - I was in a hurry.

Look at what I got!

Shopping again, this time on eBay. I just got 10 skeins of Austermann Caprice in the color I wanted and that was not available on Elann. Now I need to buy the pattern I want and I am all set to go!



and then from the same eBayer I bought 10 skeins of Four Seasons Eskimo


and I went to Faery Crafty to look for an appropriate pattern. Bad idea! I saw Simply Marilyn by Debbie Bliss that I absolutely need. Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Super Chunky goes for about $15/skein, so I am looking for a bargain online - another bad idea because I am doomed to see something else I like.
Back to the Eskimo, I found two patterns I like on Knitty:
- Banff by Jenna Wilson
- 3timesChic by Bonne Marie Burns.

On the completed projects side - yes, it does happens sometime - I am proud to report that I finished the Madil scarf and another of my 1 hour/1 skein scarf. Photos coming soon.

Shopping spree

I have been buying yarn like a mad woman today. I ordered the Cascade yarn fron Hello Knitty for the Valerie Poncho - must confess that I bought the pattern last week. And I bought the pattern for the Ribby Caddi too, so I ordered the Peruvian Collection Highland from Elann. Not satisfied, I bought a Daletta Grab Bag from Pattern Works.
And to top all that I went to the Knitter Studio and spend more than 40 bucks on Pierrot #321 by Madil for a scarf - but it is for a very special person so she is worth it. But buying it at One fine yarn would have been $10 less - this is what I deserve when I remember a birthday at the last minute!

Wish list updated

- from Hello Knitty
Cascade 220 3 skeins of Light Purple 8420, 2 skeins of Cobalt Heather 9457, 1 skein of Dusty Rose 8114
to make Valerie poncho

- from Elann
Peruvian Collection Highland Wool 5 skeins of Spiced Wine, 9 skeins of Grape Haether
to make Ribby Caddi
and
Austermann Caprice 11 skeins of Pewter
to make Caprice Pullover with shaped Sleeves (on the same page)

- from Herrschners Debbie Bliss Merino DK 3 skein in celery and 3 in violet to make a scarf

One more book

Books and knitting, one more reason to spend money, found this on sale:
Knitting for Babies & Kids

I am done!

Last night, around 2:30 am, crying a lot watching Stepmom, I finished the last square for5 Rose's blanket.

Next blanket for Holly House is going to Christine. I am going to use my eBay stash and pick a dishcloth patter for the squares from here - I cannot take knit only in white anymore, I need color and pattern.

Exquisite Little Knits

I went to the book fair and I bought Exquisite Little Knits: Knitting with Luxurious Specialty Yarns and I am already in love with half the projects in the book.

cheap stash and and not so cheap yarn

eBay_stash
Originally uploaded by lux2night.

my great eBay buy arrived - more stash for my afghan squares. that is for the cheap stuff. then an email from Herrschners telling me they have free shipping with $25 order or more. $25? piece of cake. I have eyeing Debbie Bliss Merino DK celery and violet for a while. a scarf? a sweater?

Making room for yarn

box
Originally uploaded by lux2night.

I have decided that the problem is not that I have too much yarn, is that I do not have enough room. I went through my closets and found many things that I do not wear anymore - mostly woman size large and medium, was I ever that big? maybe I was wearing them when pregnant, I don't remember. so here it is, a box for PPR. I actually found more stuff I can add, so I do need to find a bigger box.

Wish list

- from Hello Knitty
Cascade 220 3 skeins of Light Purple 8420, 2 skeins of Cobalt Heather 9457, 1 skein of Dusty Rose 8114
to make Valerie poncho

- from Elann
Peruvian Collection Highland Wool 5 skeins of Spiced Wine, 9 skeins of Grape Haether
to make Ribby Caddi
and
Austermann Caprice 11 skeins of Pewter
to make Caprice Pullover with shaped Sleeves (on the same page)

Fighting temptation

I am working on 6 projects:
- squares for Rose's blanket (I have 14 out of 18)
- the Red Heart Pompadour poncho
- the BernatBaby Coordinates poncho
- the Caron pink blanket
- the Bernat afghan
and I am in trouble again. It's needles on fire's fault. she mentioned this Ribbi Cardi on her blog and I went look. I want it, and I want the Peruvian Highland Wool for it. Already put the yarn in my cart ..... to buy or not to buy?

Bernat afghan

afghan
Originally uploaded by lux2night.

Yesterday I went to Michael's and I bought 3 skeins of Red Hearth Super Saver in camel to use with the free yarn from Bernat for the afghan.
I started following the pattern I chose, did not like it, started over. I am following the directions as for shape and stitches, but I am doing a basketwave pattern.

Surfing

I have been surfing all afternoon and ended up at Elann .... Italian yarn. After living here for almost 10 years, I have forgotten what I used to knit with when I was home. Need to reconnect with my roots (read: need to spend money on beautiful yarn).

basketwave blanket

blue_blanket
Originally uploaded by lux2night.

I am done!
I finished the blanket last night, it came out to be a 29" square and it is so soft. I am very happy with it - one down.
as for the rest of my projects, still working on the pink blanket and I am going to start over with the second poncho. I realized that I did not have enough yarn to do it as I planned and I found this very nice new pattern on the Bernat website that I can make with the Bernat Baby Coordinates I was using.
so my "to do" list is now:
- squares for Rose's blanket (I have 14 out of 18)
- the front of the poncho
- the new poncho
- the pink blanket
- the split scarf

Afghans with the free yarn

went online and I found a nice pattern on the Bernat website I can use with the free yarn they sent me.
it calls for two shades for each afghan, but I do not like the ones they sent me together, so I am going to buy more yarn to use as contrast. since I need 4 skein of the yarn I have as main color, and I have 24 skeins, I can make 6 afghans out of it!

I think I am going yarn shopping soon ....

The two blankets

pink blanket
Originally uploaded by lux2night.

in real life, these blankets are is so much nicer.

I love the Bertnat Breeze, it is so soft. the pattern works with any multiple of 10, I'll post the details in my patterns section.

as for the pink balnket, I do not love the Caron one pound yarn so much. I was working it double, but the result was too stiff and heavy. I started over and it is much nicer.

I need to start taking photos in the morning with natural light, so that pink is pink and not salmon.

Free yarn from Bernat

bernat
Originally uploaded by lux2night.

I received a big donation box from Bernat today! It contains 24 6 oz skeins in two different shades. I am going to make afghan squares for PPR
.