Pet Peeve 1

I know I haven't been blogging much, and it's just because I haven't had anything to say. This week all I've had the time to do is a few rows on that cape. I STILL haven't started on that monkey! Anyways, I thought instead of an update on progress, I'd give a little rant. :)

One of the things I dislike is the view some people have on knitters. I am a college student, and am still a little embarrassed to admit to my college friends that I like to knit. I imagine in my head they are just thinking of the dinky things beginner knitters do. A plain scarf, a tacky scarf, a plain hat, fingerless gloves that are unadorned.

As an intermediate to advanced knitter (probably...) I do NOT make these things. I make it a point to steer clear from anything that looks too simple or ugly in my eyes. Perhaps this is because I want to continue growing as a knitter and want to branch out so I can do everything. But there is still that side of me that wants to be seen in people's eyes as a person who buys knitwear at a high price without even having the slightest inclination to ask if I made that myself - as if that were some sort of judgment that it doesn't look very well made.

I know I know, handmade is better than store made any day, but in my mind for some reason I don't think the general public would agree with that. Maybe it's that I see the "general public" as uneducated and judgmental.. which may be true.

I don't know. Anyone care to disagree with me on how non creative types see handmade items?

Not much progress...

I have been a really bad job of knitting etc this month so far.. I haven't even started crocheting the animal for February (which is a monkey btw). I have done a bit of spinning though.. so I guess I could talk about that. :)

I did a bit of spinning about a week ago. It was that blue stuff I got shown in the pictures for January. I spun it ALL. It's a lot and it didn't even fit on the bobbin... but I made it fit! My right arm was pretty sore the next day! I used the three-ply Navajo method after I spun it. Here are the lovely pictures:

January, check!

New Things!

I love getting things in the mail! It has to be one of the most exciting things to know something is coming for you, to know what it is, but to not know WHEN it's coming! Almost more exciting than waiting for Christmas since you know you're gonna like what's coming! Anyways, here's what I got!

I won this great book from a blog tour on Rhythm of the Needles! I've already marked the ones I want to make first!

This is some great roving from WCMercantile on Etsy. LOVE it! and I'm loving the color! I'm going to go do some spinning right now!

2012 Goals

So it would be more convenient, I've decided to repost my goals for 2012 here.

• Make a new animal (from the Chinese zodiac) each month. There's a link to the pattern HERE.
• Learn something new - such as how to knit real lace. Or maybe how to fit knits - make a cardigan, or maybe a blue one, or perhaps a sweater vest.
• Knit something with the yarn I made.
• Make the majority of my Christmas gifts for next Christmas.
• Design at least 2 pieces of knitwear. I've been meaning to do this for a while, but have never gotten the courage up to try it!
• Draw at least a little bit every day... I'm gonna need to catch up on this one.

So far I'm not doing so well on the drawing every day.... But I have already designed a piece of knitwear! I made this hat for a friend of mine. I didn't really sit down and write it out beforehand, although I did do a bit of thinking before I started. I basically knew what it wanted to look like and I was off! This was also partly because her birthday party was the next day and I hadn't started on it yet....

Still working on it..

I've been knitting a lot on the Neapolitan Tweed Cape, but I feel like I'm not getting any closer to finishing it! Below is how much I have now, and I'm supposed to continue in this pattern for 18 inches! That's 14 more than I have now!

But first I'll show you how I do my gauge to see if I'm using the right needles with the right tension. My fingers were crossed because I ordered these needles especially for this project from a great Etsy store called Rachael Made It. Anyways, so what I do is cast on the amount of stitches it says to in the correct pattern and knit a few rows to see if it's gonna work out! Not the correct way, I know, but it's worked so far! Hopefully this won't be the exception... So this is my gauge and it is perfect! 20 sts to 4"!

This is what I have now, actually I have a little more now adding up to 4 inches, and probably 140+stitches! CRAZINESS. The only thing is I'm not sure if I like how many of those random dots are showing up so close together... we'll see as it slowly become 18 inches! At which point I'll be at the first buttonhole. Oh boy.

Welcome!

So here I am on blogger.com rather than weebly. Here I'll be able to post better quality videos and link to other blogs I like to read! Those are the main reasons for the switch. Anyways, now for the important stuff:

I GOT YARN IN THE MAIL TODAY! I LOVE getting mail! And this was special mail, I ordered this stuff especially for a pattern that goes with this particular yarn from elann.com.

 The pattern can be found HERE. I'm really excited to make it! It will be the first thing I've made that is semi-fitted. I've only made gloves, scarves, and stuffed animals before. It will also qualify as finishing one of my resolutions for the year! I'll post those on a later post. Now for more homework so I can get on this cape!