My Mom's knitting project

My Mom is staying with us this week. She brought along her knitting project: a cream yellow baby afghan. The pattern is nine blocks of different stitches. I'm really impressed with the way it is turning out so I'm thinking that will be a project I will do in the near future. It's so fun planning out my next projects!

Project: blue, fuzzy, and soft sweater

I started a project for myself over the weekend. I'm using yarn that is the softest I've ever felt. The sweater pattern is simple: ribbing, stockinette stitch, a square neckline, and straight arm seams. It should be fun.

New title

So I've finally decided to declare this a knitting blog to track my knitting achievements and trials. However, I will probably mention other goings on just because I want to, and I have the awesome power of saying anything I want. :)

I figured out the picture thing...

Thanks to my friend Melissa for telling me about Picasa and Hello. That was quite easy to post the pictures.

I figured out that it took me a month to knit the baby sweater. I was happy with how it turned out, except I know that next time I will do some kind of reinforced buttonhole stitch. They are kind-of flimsy and I'm not sure they will last long after putting it on and taking it off a baby several times. We shall see. It was fun to finish a project in such a short amount of time.

Finished baby sweater. 

Here's the sweater on a bear model. 

This is another bear model showing a hat I finished awhile ago. 

Baby sweater sleeves

So I started the sleeves this weekend. The pattern says to knit them on regular needles, but I thought I'd try double pointed needles in the round. As a beginning knitter, I wanted to see how that went. So far, so good.

Maybe later I'll figure out the picture thing and post a few photos.

I thought this was incredibly funny.

I'm originally from Portland. I moved to Springfield about a year ago.

You Know You're From Portland, OR When...

Two-thirds of the people you know are from California, yet there is no sun. You can list five reasons why Starbucks is evil. You blame everything that's not right on ex-Californians. You remember the date, severity, time of day, where you were, and how long you were out of power for every winter weather event for the last five years. You know what and when the Columbus Day storm was. Bonus for having been there. You go to a coffee bar and see two guys get into a fight over who makes the best India Pale Ale. You own more than 10 articles of clothing that have microbreweries/brewpubs printed on them. Bonus for embroidered stuff. You can go a whole week without seeing the sun or a person of color.. You have a bookstore, coffee bar, and brewpub all within walking distance of your house. You think downtown is scary 'cause you were panhandled there ... once. When you drive out of town, every other guy in a pickup looks like the governor. When you drive out of town, even the Hondas have gun racks. When the weather gets above 50 degrees you put on your shorts, but you still wear hiking boots and your parka. When the weather gets above 60 you replace your hiking boots with sandals. You think people who use umbrellas are wimps. You can recount more than five anecdotes about why the East Side is a crime-infested jungle ... OR ... You can list more than five reasons why the West Side is a boring, snobby, white-bread suburb. You know what it is in between the East Side and the West Side, and how to pronounce it. You are sitting at a red light surrounded by Subaru Legacy Outbacks. A tree or mudslide has ever damaged your house or car. You live equidistant to a symphony hall, a winery, and a volcano. You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends from Portland, OR.

Get Your Own "You Know You're From" Meme Here



More cool things for your blog at Blogthings

Started a baby sweater

I started a new knitting project: a cute little baby sweater. I picked it to learn more knitting techniques on a small project. Michael's had some pastel variegated yarn that I thought was so cute!

I'm excited to work on my new project!

Learning to knit, again

Growing up, my Mom tried to show me how to knit several times. I would start a small washcloth project, but I never finished one. Then I decided to learn on my own. I borrowed a book from the library and started and finished a washcloth. I was so stoked!

From the excitement of that success, I decided to try some more projects. I bought a Learn to Knit kit that provided yarn, needles, and instructions for a baby hat and a pair of booties. And, guess what. I finished those too! However, I learned the importance of guage. I knit the hat on size 8 needles, and it's kind of big for a newborn. I knit the booties on size 3 and liked that much better, so currently I'm knitting another hat on size 3 needles. And I also decided to expand my skills by knitting the hat in the round on double pointed needles. So far I have 3 rows.

All in a month's time. I think this time knitting is stuck in my brain.

New to blogging

Okay, so I admit I am new to blogging. I first heard about it from my Uncle Brian. He is a big techy and knows all about new fun going-ons. Then I hear from my friend Melissa, and she created a blog for her preparations for a missions trip to Germany.

So I thought I could spend a few minutes creating a blog. I really don't know what I'm doing, but I'm always game for new things. I'm not sure if blogging is supposed to be sort of a journal, or more of a newsletter type thing. Please bear with me, and maybe we'll discover some new interesting things.