Central Ohio Binky Patrol

Happy Monday Knitters,

One of my new year's resolutions is to knit/crochet more for charity, so today I thought I'd share the charity I chose for this month.  In the Itty-Bitty Knits Group, they support a charity for each month that you can donate your knitted and crocheted items to.  The one for this month is the Central Ohio Binky Patrol.  They make blankets and other items for children in need as well as donate hand-made baby booties to pregnant teens to help remind them to make good choices during their pregnancy.  It is a great cause, and you can find out more information and how you can help by checking out their website The Central Ohio Binky Patrol or their Ravelry page here.  The baby booties project really spoke to my heart, so I've made a couple pairs to send off.  My sister has made some baby hats, and I hope to make one or two to send along as well.  It's so great to be able to help out someone in need.  I hope you all check out this charity, it's a great one! 

Happy Knitting!! 

Finished Objects Friday - Jan. 28

Hello Knitters,

I'm going to try doing a "Finished Objects Friday" on the blog while I'm working through all my WIPs.  I thought it would be a good place to corral them all together!  I'm going to show a picture of the project and then link to my project page if you'd like more information.  That will help make the posts not too long.  I hope you enjoy today's installment!



Newborn Boardwalk Socks



Baby Girl Tube Socks



Mom's Socking Stuffer Socks



Valentine Heart Tape Measure

Well, that's about as far as I've gotten, but it's progress none the less!  I'm working away on more WIPs (right now it's the confused moose), and hope to have lots to share by next Friday! 

Have a great weekend everyone :)

Happy Knitting!

(P.S. They are calling for -30 C here tomorrow....all I can say is brrrr..)

Maile Sweater

Hello Knitters,

First off, I want to thank everyone for all the great support of my goals for my WIPs and for the wonderful comments about my first "WIP Wednesday" post.  You all are so kind!!  I wanted to reply to all the comments, but for some reason the reply button is only working for the first comment.  I hope to get that fixed over the next few days.  I was up late last night trying to figure it out, but didn't get very far before I had to go to bed.  Maybe when I'm more awake I can figure out what I'm doing wrong. 

Anyways, I got a picture of my Maile Sweater although the colour is showing up more blue than it actually is.  I knit mine out of Knit Picks Stroll Tonal in the Blue Violet colourway.  I'm so happy with both this yarn and the pattern!  I highly recommend them both.  I'm currently working on a pair of matching booties and then I hope to find a hat pattern to go with it, or maybe a bonnet would be super cute. 

I'm not sure if any of you watch the Winter X Games, but they started today.  I'm a big fan of them and am looking forward to watching them this weekend, and I'm very excited about all the knitting I hope to get done at the same time!  I've made myself a list of projects to work on, so wish me luck!! 

Well, that's all for today.  Have a great evening everyone!!

Happy Knitting!!   

WIP Wednesday - Jan. 26

Hello Knitters,

I am taking the advice of my friend Suzanne.  She suggested that I do a "WIP Wednesday" on the blog to help keep me accountable, on track and motivated to finish my WIPs.  I know how much I enjoy reading other bloggers "WIP Wednesdays" so I think it will be fun to do my own!  I hope you all enjoy reading it too.

To start off, I thought I'd share all of my WIPs (these are all that I know of, there may be more hiding somewhere) to start off with and then each week I will share the ones I am currently working on and how they are coming along.  I'm going to list them from the oldest to the newest.  Some will be linked to my Ravelry project pages and others have yet to be added to Ravelry. 

1. Green Little Boys Vest
2. Drop Stitch Scarf
3. My Grey Cabled Slouchy Hat
4. Mom's Rainbow Socks
5. Red Guernsey Style Tote
6. Dotty Chicken
7. Pig with Wigs
8. Confused Moose
9. Daisy Baby Cardigan
10. Crochet Wedgwood Baby Blanket
11. Mittens Mousey
12. On-Hold Socks
13. Tea Party Monkeys
14. Gentian Mystery Socks
15. Mystery 220 January Colorwork
16. Pink Crochet Sneaker Baby Booties
17. Galapagos Shawl
18. Green Apple IB Swap Hat

Ok, WOW that's a lot of WIPs!!  I do have to say that some of these I started over two years ago.  However, my recent case of "startitis" didn't help matters any!  I'm going to be doing my best to work through this pile and get things a little more manageable.  Thanks so much for reading my first installment of "WIP Wednesday"!  Have a fantastic week everyone :)

Happy Knitting!!

P.S.  I just finished weaving in the ends of the Maile Cardigan - so pictures tomorrow if the weather cooperates!!

New Rules

Hello Knitters,

Last night I had a bit of a breakdown.  I've been feeling pretty overwhelmed by my knitting the last few weeks.  If any of you have me as a friend on Ravelry, you have probably seen the rapid increase of new added projects....to tell you the truth, that isn't even the half of it.  I have plenty more projects I've started that I haven't even added to my project page.  I know, it's not a good thing, and to be honest, its quite embarrassing....but I've been getting to the point with each project where I don't want to continue for some reason or another - be it a problem, or mistake, etc. - that I just put it aside and start something new.  This was all fine and dandy for a while, but then I started to get overwhelmed by all the half-finished projects piling up.  Mom had been noticing this and mentioned something to me last night, which brought out the truth.....I was feeling like my knitting was taking over and becoming a burden, not a joy.  Mom suggested that I make a plan in the morning of how to deal with it so that I could get back to feeling in control of my knitting and getting joy out of it instead of dread.  So, with her help, I made a plan and I'm going to do my best to stick to it.  I thought I'd share it with you all to help keep myself accountable and give you a heads up on what will be going on in my knitting life over the next while. 

My Plan of Action to Get my Knitting Back on Track

1. I can only have 3 current WIPs going at once.
2. When I finish one WIP, I get to start a new project (but I can only have one new project out of the three, unless I have deadline knitting) and the other two projects have to be from the WOHPs (Works On Hold Projects).
3. I have to work from the stash unless the project calls for yarn I do not have - this does not include my Jimmy Beans Wool gift certificate I got for Christmas from my sister, that I still get to spend on whatever I'd like, it also does not apply to when the new spring Knit Picks yarns come out, or any vacation or special occasion yarn purchases.

Sounds like a plan to me!  I think it's a great way to get things back under control.  And once I'm through all my WIPs and WOHPs, then I can knit all new projects, but I'm still limiting myself to only three WIPs going at one time.  That way things don't get back to how they are right now again.  I'm so glad Mom brought this up last night, I feel like things are going in the right direction now!  I'm excited to see how fast I can get though all my projects!  At the moment I have 17 projects that are on the go, 1 that needs to be frogged and 8 that I want to start.  Sounds like I lot, so I guess I better get cracking!! 

By the way, I finished the knitting part of my Maile Sweater today!!  I just have to sew the sleeves up, weave in the ends and put on the buttons.  Pictures will be coming soon!!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!! 

Sunday Swing Socks

Hello Knitters,

Yesterday I finally got to pick up my Knit Picks order, which means I got my sock blockers!!  It's neat to be able to get a better picture of the socks than when they're on my feet.  These ones are my Sunday Swing Socks knit out of Stroll Hand-Paint in Cartoons.  They're not the most beautiful socks ever, but I think they look fun and cheerful - great for a dreary winter's day.  The pattern, which you can find here from Knitty, was really a great one.  It worked well for tv knitting - it's not so complicated that you can't look away from it, but it's not boring either.  They fit great and are nice and comfy.  I'm looking forward to getting a lot of wear out of them.

This is a close-up of the stitch pattern

Another thing I picked up while out shopping yesterday is a pair of 9-inch circular needles to try doing some socks.  These ones are made by Clover, and I can't even begin to tell you how excited I was to find them.  It's taking a lot of willpower to not cast on for a new sock right away!  I have to first finish off some of my other WIPs before I can do that.  Have any of you tried such small circulars for socks before?  If so, please let me know if you liked/disliked them!  I'll be sure to let you all know what my experience is with them.

In Itty-Bitty Swapper news, I found out who my partner is this morning!!  I'm SO excited to start figuring out the rest of the projects I'm going to make and the "goodies" I'm going to put into the package!! 

Well, I hope you all have a fantastic evening!!  I'm off to work on some secret projects ;-)

Happy Knitting!!

When in Doubt, Cast On

Hello Knitters,

As if I don't have enough projects on the go right now, I had to start this last night.  I really don't have a good explanation why.  Here's the best that I can come up with: all of my other projects have gotten to the point where either I'm stuck and need to really concentrate to get them moving again, or I've lost interest in them and have no motivation whatsoever to pick them up.  I was feeling very ....shall we say "unsettled" about my knitting, so I thought to cure this I would start a new project.  Isn't that the way to cure anything??  My friend Rae Lynne was saying how she was feeling a similar way and to help her get her knitting mojo back she cast on for a quick and adorable little project.  You should really check it out, it's so cute!!  She is one amazingly talented knitter and photographer.

I'm hoping that this little knit will help get me out of this rut and back to my regular knitting self.  I'll keep you all posted on how it goes. 

Happy Knitting Everyone!!