February 2011 ACI List

February 2011 ACI List:
– Gabriela Slouch Hat (re-do) / Friend / Knit / June 6
– Alpaca Warmer / Me / Knit / Whenever
– Baile ruffle skirt (test pattern) / Me / Knit / March 12

Sparks of Inspiration:
– Cuddle mat/bed for donating this year
– Numerous projects in my Queue on Ravelry
– Stationary Holder / Me / Sewing
– DP Needle Pouches / Me / Embroider+Sew / ASAP

Current Status:

Gabriela Slouch Hat – Friend:
– Yeah….haven’t worked on this at all 😦

Alpaca Warmer:
– I’m seriously contemplating nixing the project I just hate the seriously-stiff feel of it even though I love the over-sized stitches! Decisions, decisions…

Baile ruffle skirt – 40%:
– I LOVE this skirt! The shaping is great…stockinette still bores me lol
– Got past the increases and now just working on decreases. Once I’m done with that, straight knitting until the end.
– It looks too small but I think I lucked out when I decided to use wool, instead of cotton 😀 It stretches but is form fitting 🙂

Project: Sweet Cherry Slouchy Hat (test)

This was a test pattern with the Soft Angora (Cherry Tree Hill mill ends). Quick and easy! Fits nicely. I have to block it yet (and then weave in ends) so I can open up the lace work. I love the color – almost a muted burgundy. It was a great pattern, easy to follow instructions and repeats 🙂 It’s so great that I got my little Pixie to model for me 😀

– tres chic!

Nix the year-project

Alas, it’s January 22nd. I hadn’t even looked at the Capricorn Kitten pattern. Blast! So I think I’m going to push this ambitious-year-long project to next year 🙂

Instead, I’ll focus on the charity knitting/crocheting for shelter animals 🙂 Got my little lovely from there (well rescue group but still)

Fogginess….and more yarn

Ugh! I’ve been sick for the past few days 😦 Work was difficult because I wasn’t thinking too clearly and I’ve had too-many-to-count nosebleeds. Bleh!

I tried to work some more on the Alpaca Warmer – I had doubled the yarn to achieve the “look” of the stitch I wanted. I just wanted those BIG stitches that you see in Twinkle’s work (ie: Twinkle’s Town & Country Knits) but now I’ve found that the piece is waaay stiff! Maybe blocking will help? It’s 100% wool so I’d imagine a light blocking would do the trick. I just so love the over-sized stitches 🙂

Another highlight: Couples Retreat w/ the BF!

I loved this movie!!! 🙂 So cute! Love love love loved it!!

Also – found an amazing artist, Otis Frampton. He does some amazing work! I was perusing his Marvel Masterpieces collection and then found his 7×7 Sunday – basically, he draws (live on UStream) 7 7×7 head shots of whoever you want for $7 each (one per person of course). I’m thinking about hopping on UStream tonight and trying my luck 🙂 Well….I have to think of a headshot that I want first though….hmm…. 🙂

Another note – I bought KnitPicks CotLin for the Baile skirt test knit. I didn’t read the Rav comments before purchasing because I wanted to stick w/ the designer’s yarn content choice – cotton – even though, personally, I’m not a fan of cotton. The colors are amazing! I purchased Harbour, which is a lovely teal color. But after reading the comments, I found the following horrors:

1. The yarn pills while knitting (bleh)
2. Stretches (typical of cotton – allegedly the linen is so inelastic that it counters the stretchiness of the cotton)
3. Shrinks a bit (made no sense to me)
4. Color fades AND the color online is not as it is in real life

All those things considered….I’m dreading it now! On the bright side, recently (4 mths ago) someone commented that things had changed with CotLin – that perhaps KnitPicks perfected their formula. And the comments since then have been favorable.

My decision is that once I get the yarn, I’m going to test a swatch for gauge and all of that, throw it in the wash a few times to test the color-stay, stretching, etc. BUT I have a back up yarn: Cascade 220 Sport I LOVE Cascade!!! 😀 I’ll be getting the Azure color, which again is a lovely teal! (I can’t figure out why it’s always so hard to find Cascade yarns!)

In my fogginess of being sick, I think I’ve convinced myself that it’s okay to buy yarn. I’m severely contemplating (read: determined and already decided) on buying some yarn from DBNY.com – albeit, I’m not a huge fan of their shipping policy, etc but they do supply some great yarn. Here are my selections:

1. SWTC Tranquility in Carnation
2. SWTC Tranquility in Cerulean
3. SWTC Tranquility in Lemon
4. SWTC Sugar Sweet (not sure what colors yet)

The pink is going to be for a tank from Verena Magazine (I have a bone to pick with that magazine though). The cerulean + yellow (or the blue Cascade 220) will be for the Rhubarb & Custard sweater from AOK.

Since that doesn’t quite make the Free Shipping quota ($100), I’m going to have to add in some SWTC Sugar Sweet – a new yarn I hear. Just a bummer they don’t have the deep purple anymore But it’s probably for the best!

My biggest caveat with that is that I MUST have a project associated w/ the yarn before buying…not that that stops me at all

Sooo….I’ve clearly lost my mind while being under the weather 😛 And while the snow is quite beautiful…I’d be utterly satisfied with just a postcard rather than the wet soppy mess outside while the wind whips left and right…brrrr!!

Project: CoCo Clutch

I made this little lovely for my co-worker in TX 🙂 I love her to pieces and this just fit her and her sophistication and everything! The fleur de lis button is actually for her love of the New Orleans Saints but I think it goes with the purple just fine. In typical fashion, it was down to the wire for me…again! But the result was great 🙂

I skipped the gussets all together – I didn’t want it to be an actual purse so I left it as a flat envelope style clutch. She told me she uses it for her jewelry 🙂 The purple fabric inside was stitched to the exterior with gold-ish thread, to match the Saints colors but not sure if it came out right. I’m thinking purple may have been better but she liked it 🙂

Great side note – if I decide to knit this again (likely), I found a fellow knitter on Ravelry with notes on how to knit the piece and gussets together as one piece instead of multiple pieces to be sewn together 🙂

This project has now made me absolutely LOVE and ADORE SWTC Tranquility!! What an awesome yarn! I heard SWTC discontinued it though 😦 Will be buying more to carry me through 😛 (I think it’s a tell-tale sign of a great yarn when NO ONE on Ravelry has it in their Will Trade Or Sell stash!)