Rebate money = new yarn and projects! January 21, 2009

Yesterday I received my rebate card from Verizon.  They always get me on the fine print when I go to order a new phone!  The story in a nutshell is basically my lovely Chocolate phone I got the last time we were up for an upgrade somehow found its way into a drunken bath and died.  In its stead I bought a used phone off of Ebay which slowly worked its way to the junkyard (not my fault).  So this year I was overjoyed when I discovered that I could get a brand new phone with a huge discounted price!  Yay for me!  I can’t exactly say I’m a tech junkie, but if I can get a LG Dare for $30, I’m doing it!  Here’s where the fine print comes into play.  It’s $30 after a $50 mail-in rebate.  Doh!  But I sucked it up and bought the phone and have had it for a couple of months without any mishaps.  Yesterday I actually received my rebate card (it’s really cool; they put it on a Visa cash card).

I spent all day yesterday and most of my evening last night contemplating what I wanted to do with my new $50.  Should I splurge on one big item that I’d never in a million years buy?  No matter how many websites I checked and rechecked, I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to part my money with for.  I should have known all along that it would end like this.  Why did I bother to fight it?

I searched through Ravelry and tried making my search as detailed as possible without ending up with the same 2 results (or none at all).  It isn’t that I’m *that* picky; it’s that I like something simple and not too short or super long.  Okay, maybe I am that picky.  Either way it took me over 300 pages of looking to find the one.  From Stitch Diva Studios I paid for the Silken Scabbard sweater pattern.  It’s gorgeous!!!!  From there I picked yarn from KnitPicks (of course!) and bought some new needles!

With this sweater it’ll be my first chance working with interchangeable circular needles.  I know that fundamentally it won’t be different, but I’m kind of excited because now I won’t have to buy the full thing anymore; I can hopefully just buy the tips!  The pattern suggested using Elegance yarn, but I fell absolutely in love with Storm from the Merino Style Yarn.  Isn’t it beautiful?!

Needless to say with the help of a DQ pitstop last night and my splurge at KnitPicks, I now have to figure out what to do with the leftover 30 cents on my card 🙂

Socks for my dad are going great.  After a marathon weekend of knitting the first sock, my hand was feeling crampy so I took off a day or two from it.  Last night I knit a few rounds but was distracted and today I tried to pick it up again until my mom called.  Hopefully tonight I’ll get more done and then on Friday I hope to finish!

My uncle contacted me to let me know that he still wants me to knit a hat for him and he’s just working on buying the yarn.  We picked a nice blend of merino wool and qiviut and I can’t wait to see how that works out when it comes!  It looks like my plate will be full for awhile; my schedule looks like this:

1. finish socks for dad

2. start on purse(s) for Etsy

3. knit hat for uncle (if yarn is here) or

4. knit sweater for me

Not only that, but I want to look into baby rompers for my aunt who is pregnant!  They are going to have a July baby (just like mine!) and I think that some cool clothes are in order.  Literally!

I ordered new yarn! January 3, 2009

Last night I ordered 2 skeins of Semolina and 2 skeins of Cornmeal Palette yarn to put together a purse for my Etsy shop.  I love the bright yellow color, but didn’t want it to be solid because I thought it might be too much.  So hopefully the Cornmeal complements the Semolina well when I actually get the yarn.  In theory it looks great together.

I also ordered some Imagination Sock Yarn in Woodsman.  Yarn that switches color on its own always makes me a little nervous because while it looks pretty in the skein, sometimes when it’s knitted up it can look not so pretty.  I made sure to flip through Ravelry and see what other people have knitted up with the different colors of Imagination and felt that Woodsman would be the best color to knit my dad a pair of socks from.  The next thing on my to do list is either a) pick a pattern (I couldn’t find one last night that I really liked) or b) make it up on the fly (which I’m okay with).

I haven’t received any word on when the Qiviuit is coming for my uncle’s hat.  What I want to knit him is basically Swell from Knitty.com.  The original pattern I wanted to use was “Snowboarder hat that Rocks“, but it requires bulky yarn and if I plan to knit double stranded with the Qiviuit it won’t be the right thickness.

For right now though I will anxiously sit and wait ’til my yarn comes.  😀

I need to knit a new bag August 1, 2008

As much as I love my original knit bag, my knitting obsession has outgrown it.  Or, more accurately, the awesome huge knitting book I have is too large and heavy to be carried around in my svelte bag.  Oh darn, I’ll just have to knit a bigger and better one!

The gameplan is this.  Finish up my skein of yarn for the flying birds blanket and then pick out fabulous new yarn to cast on a lovely bag.  So I’m totally stoked because in a few more rows, my skein will probably be out and I’ll be like a giddy kid in a candy store!  The dilemma then will be this.  Order it from KnitPicks or wait ’til our next trip to town and buy it at either Prairie Yarn Store or Boucle Yarn?  Decisions decisions.  While it will be more fiscally responsible to order it from KnitPicks, I’ll be able to soft all the yarn I want at either of the LYS’s.

And just where am I on my two longest projects ever to knit?  I’m coming up fast on finishing my fifth repeat on the flying birds.  It still isn’t that big, but the more I look at it, the more I’m thinking I’m glad I only ordered the 2 skeins of yarn because now I can transform it into a color change blanket.  If it works out (I still to have to look at the colors available), I want it to start with the base green color and gradually lighten it to white.  Or, if this doesn’t work out, I’m just going to crazy with random rainbow colors.  My pointelle shawl is still sitting at approximately 12″ (maybe a bit longer or shorter; I haven’t measured it for awhile).  Shame on me.  😦  Maybe sometime this weekend I’ll be able to steal a couple hours to get something done with it.

All summer long I’ve wanted to knit a big floppy hat.  Yesterday I cast on for a cloche hat and an hour into the project read that it was a project to be felted.  I’m not working with feltable yarn.  *sigh*  I’m sure it could still look cool, but my yearning to do anything productive is at a terrible standstill.  But persevere I must, right?  On the flipside of this, the other Brittany dpn’s I have are fabulous.  They’re size 3 and wooden and amazing.  They don’t feel as flimsy as the other ones and I can only guess it’s because they’re a bigger size and longer.  Makes sense, right?  Sure it does.

Well, I better busy myself with something to do while the little terror of the high seas is at peace.  😀

Side 1 June 26, 2008

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Originally uploaded by scribblerdahl

I didn’t pin this down so that’s why the bottom is all curly. You can see I did 4 sets of ribbing and then stockinette stitch in between. It is 21″ wide and 12 1/2″ tall. The fabric you see behind it is what I plan to use as a liner. I also have this beautiful dark blue fabric with light blue stars on it that I am thinking about making pockets with to go on the liner. What’s up for debate now is if I plan on using it for toting around my son’s stuff or for my knitting. And to be honest, it could be used for both. Or I could just make another one for my knitting stuff! Hopefully by tomorrow I will have this finished so I can bring it to the Air Show on Saturday. I’m only a few inches into the back half of the purse though.

I decided to do the back in straight up st st because 1) I’m lazy and 2) so I know which side is the front. As far as the straps go, I was playing with the idea of doing bright white in a k/p rib, but it depends on if I have enough blue yarn left or if break down and buy another skein. I really don’t want to because I’ve had this white yarn in my house for at least 2 years. Something needs to be done with it.

KnitPicks e-mailed me and let me know that all of my things should be here anywhere from 5-14 days. I really hope it comes soon so I have something new to work on! I’m excited to knit together the shawl I found at Vogue Knitting and I really want to have it finished for when we go camping in a few weeks. If my yarn doesn’t come soon, I think I will buy a light colored yarn and crochet a floppy hat I also found online at Vogue Knitting. Anyhow, it’s back to the grind for me!