In the Thick Of It

And now, it's that time in the projects where you're just in the thick of it, chipping away at your project row by row.  There isn't much to say when you're in the thick of it, you're just busy knitting.  You're not at the start anymore, but you're not where near the end either and and so I'll let do the pictures do the talking for me.

On the blanket, the first color pattern is down.

Purple is my favorite color so I'm so glad the general consensus on this was to do it in purples.  It looks cute and girly but it's also a refreshing change from pastel pink.  I've made a rule that I must weave in the ends after each 4 stripes of color, otherwise I'm going to be crying at the end with the amound of ends to weave in.  (There will be many)  The pattern is quite simple and this should knit up reasonably fast.  (And so far, it has proven to be excellent playoff knitting because I'm paying a lot more attention to the game than the actual knitting.  GO FLAMES.)

My mystery project is also trucking along in it's "meaty" stage.

I guess I can reveal that it's another set of mittens since that is fairly obvious now.  I'll try to keep the pictures vague but OH MAN I'm excited about seeing it take shape.  I keep worrying about the placement of the thumb and the length of the hand, but I've already told myself I'm well enough ahead on this project that ripping it back will not be the end of the world.  (BUT OH MY would it ever suck.)

So there you have it- there isn't much to say since there's a lot more to do.  My May goal is to finish the mittens and get well into the blanket.  Let's see what happens.

So Much Happening!

Gah!  I don't even know where to begin- but there is a LOT going on, on the needles over here.

Firstly- I present to you... THE LAST HAT.

That brings the grand total to 18 hats for charity this year!  And I'm glad this project finished when it did because I JUST started to think to myself, "I'm sort of sick of hats..." This is a lovely colorful bunch that will keep 18 babies heads' warm.

Not a bad little stash buster- this is all I had left- which I couldn't get another hat out of.  (I tried!)

Charity work is far from over because... OMG the worsted weight acrylic stash is out of hand!

More WCOBB blanket sign ups for me!  Speaking of WCOBB- I got 2 blanket sections done this month.

Plum Pudding:

Star Wars:

It's not a secret that I LOVE Star Wars so when that blanket came up I HAD to be apart of it.  I had so much fun knitting (and designing) my section...

I'm inspired to possibly start another one.  OR, even go further and design a whole blanket in that theme.  (I have so many ideas!!)  Either way it was fun and it got the creative juices flowing.

Thankfully the creative juices began flowing just in time for me to cast on the mystery Stampede project!

I've already ripped it back 20 rows and had to get going again.  The good news is now I'm in a  bit of a "zone" and I've devoted some time to get it going.  I do have a bit of a concern that I will need to test this weekend on someone- but I need to get further before I can test my concern out.  (I'm already mentally preparing to rip out more rows... *sigh*)

NOTE TO SELF- next project design should not be a secret from the person who's body you could easily use to measure things on.

AND- because I'm an over achiever (and out of mindless projects) I procured the yarn for the baby blankets and cast it on.

As you can see, PURPLE was the big winner in my little poll.

This project is one of those "looks harder than it is" deal-ios and will be great for TV (and playoff {GO FLAMES}) knitting.

Checking In

As discussed in my last blog post- I had finally decided on some April goals to achieve.. let's check in... shall we?

1) Finish charting the pattern for my next Stampede Mystery Project by April 15

I AM SO CLOSE guys.  So close.  I should finish it today at Parker's nap time.  All that remains is to figure out how I'm going to do a small border on one part.  In the last 2 days things have really come together and I'm so excited to cast on.  Since this is a surprise for my husband, I can't knit on it while he's home, so I'll need to make the most out of preschool/naptimes.  BUT I'm on track to start this, well before I had started last year.  PROGRESS.  My goal is to start knitting on Friday, even if it's just a little bit done.

2) Select a pattern and buy the yarn for the next baby blanket

Funny story on this one.  I had selected a pattern and procured yarn and all was well and good and then we found out that baby is a GIRL and I decided everything I had selected was wrong.  I had originally selected "Jackson's Blanket" and bought the yarn to go with it....

.... but it just doesn't feel "right" now.  And so I'm going in another direction with THIS pattern.  Right now I haven't bought the yarn because I can't decide whether to do in pinks or purples.  VOTE NOW... shades of PINK or shades of PURPLE?




So what am I going to do with the yarn I bought?  I had considered returning it but the truth is the color is a great "we're not finding out the gender" color and I'll likely want to knit that other blanket at some point for someone else.

3) Finish the Hats

Again I'm so close to this one.  I've added 2 more additions to the pile.

 

I likely have 1 or maybe 2 more in the leftovers and then I'm done.  That little pile yielded a lot more hats than I thought it would!

Other than that I've had a couple of charity blankets show up that have also required a bit of attention- but let's save that for another day?

Hope you're April has been as productive as mine!  (So far...)

Spring Distractions

It's official, I'm kind of sick of hats.  That hasn't stopped me, mind you, from knitting 2 more, but my heart just doesn't care anymore.

Thankfully I'm nearing the end of my little flirtation with bits and bobs and so far I've knit past my estimate of 14 hats, bringing the total to 15. This is all that remains for hat yarn.

Knowing that I was sick of hats I needed something else to "play with" when I'm not cranking out ideas for "ye olde Stampede entry"... which here's a little teeny hint:

I needed something fun and distracting and frivolous... and I all of a sudden I KNEW what I needed to do.

SPRING OUTFITS FOR THE BUNNIES!

OF COURSE!  These guys can't wear their red and white Christmas sweaters in APRIL?  What was I thinking?! 

 

Dress Pattern:  Seasonal Dresses Pattern by Julie Williams

Yarn: Fingering Weight scraps

Needles: 2.75 mm

Notes: Julie Williams writes extremely well thought out and thorough patterns.  If you ever want to cut your teeth on anything she has written I would HIGHLY recommend it.  Her patterns are worth every penny you pay for them!  (The Bunnies- which were knit previously are linked here.)

 

Sweater/Shorts Pattern: Textured Sweater Pattern by Julie Willams

Yarn: Fingering Weight Scraps

Needles: 2.75 mm

Notes: ADORABLE.  And I love, LOVE, LOVE that she leaves a little spot for the tail to poke through in the shorts.  Cute factor is off the charts!

(Sheesh... these two can't keep their hands off each other!)

Little distractions are fun but I'm still focusing on the big ones too.  I haven't conquered much on my "to do" list for April (except knit hats).  I think I'm going to add "finish the hats" to the April list too.  I'm formulating an idea for the baby blanket for July and am hoping to pull the trigger on the yarn soon.  And the mystery project should get a bunch of undivided attention on Friday when I have a little more free time.

Much is percolating and happening over here- stay tuned!