Hello everyone.  I have been knitting, but not as much as I want to!  I need this job to finance my yarn obsession, but this job really cuts into my knitting time....LOL!

I finished the test knit and blocked it.  It is a little big for 6 months (in my opinion) but it is cute!

I did my FFE....First Felting Ever!  I am so excited.  I started these clogs in October of 2009 (yes, over 2 1/2 years ago) and I put them on the back burner.  Well, nothing like Ravellenics to get you to work on some old stuff....so I decided to do the second clog (in burnt orange of course).  When I made the first one, I held the yarn double for the sole, but single for the top and the part around the ankle.  Well, when you have not done something in 2 1/2 years, you tend to forget....so the second clog has the yarn held double all the way for all parts of the clog.  I was able to felt it small enough, but you can still tell that one is bigger than the other......but it does not matter to me.  I love them and will wear them with pride.  I will be making these again.  My daughter even likes them (she is picky).

Now I am working on the baby blanket test knit and want to finish some other things I have not touched in a long time.

I meet a fellow knitter during lunch today.  She donated two huge cones of chenille yarn.  I am going to use it to make some blankets for the Veterans.  They are due in December, so they will go on the back burner for later, but I got the yarn today and that was exciting!

And last but not least.....drum roll please......My worthless renter is FINALLY moving out!  The lady that lives across the street texted me that they are moving!  Yahoo!!!


Happy Tuesday everyone!

TODAY IS THE DAY!  LET THE GAMES BEGIN!  I saw this picture on the Yarn Company's facebook page and had to share:

Today the Olympics kick off which means that so do the Ravellenics.  I am having an Opening Ceremony party at my house today at 2:00 pm (CST) and we will all do the mass cast on at 3:00 pm.  I am not sure if I am going to cast on for a baby blanket test knit or the Honey Cowl....decisions, decisions!  I have sooooooo many things I want to do for the Ravellenic games, but only 17 days to do it (yikes!)


I finished my Milk Run Shawl for Camp Loopy #2 last Friday. 

I have also been working on a test knit for a little girl dress...it is very cute.  I am almost to the point to change colors.

OK, that is it for Friday....I hope to post more progress these next couple of weeks to let you know how I am doing in all my events.  Happy Friday Everyone!!!!!

Hi everyone.....Here is my first ever pattern written out.  I was given a protoype of a fish (in the picture) and I had to reverse engineer the pattern.  I mentioned it last Friday that someone needs these knit and is willing to pay for them (she will aslo have recurring orders).  I have decided not to knit them right now because I have so much going on with Camp Loopy and The Ravellenic Games starting this coming Friday, plus I am doing two more test knits (yes I am crazy....hence the title of my blog, knitphomaniac!)  For now, I have passed this opportunity on to my knitting friends and I am waiting to see if any of them want to do it.

I was so excited to have my first ever pattern written out that I decided to put it out here for free....enjoy!

Free Fishy Fishy Design:

Here Fishy Fishy

Sizes

Approx. 3” long and 1.25” tall

Yarn

1 Lily Sugar N Cream cotton white

1 Lilly Sugar N Cream Cotton your color choice

Needles

US 4 (3.5 mm)

Notions

Tapestry needle

Gauge

6-7 stitches per inch

Stitches

K – knit

P – purl

K2tog – knit 2 together

P2tog – purl 2 together

Kfb – knit into front and back of same stitch

Tail

With color yarn, CO 10 sts

Row 1:  k2, p2, k2, p2, k2

Row 2:  p2, k2, p2, k2, p2

Row 3:  k2, p2, k2, p2, k2

Row 4:  p2, k2, p2, k2, p2

Row 5:  k2, p2, k2, p2, k2

Row 6:  p2, k2, p2, k2, p2

Row 7:  k2, p2, k2, p2, k2

Row 8:  P2tog, K2tog, P2tog, K2tog, P2tog

Body

Change to White and leave about a 3” tail to weave in later

Do not cut yarn between colors, run yarn along side.

Row 1: k1, p1, k1, p1, k1

Row 2: kfb, kfb, kfb, kfb, kfb

Change to Color

Knit 2 rows

Change to White

Knit 2 rows

Change to Color

Knit 2 rows

Change to White

Knit 2 rows

Change to Color

Knit 2 rows

Change to White

Knit 2 rows

Change to Color

Knit 2 rows

Change to White

Knit 2 rows

Change to Color

Row 1:  k4, k2tog, k4

Row 2: k9

Cut Color string with about 3” tail to weave in later

Head

Change to White

Row 1: k1, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1, k1

Row 2: p1, k1, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1

Row 3: k1, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1, k1

Row 4: p1, k1, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1

Row 5: k1, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1, k1

Row 6: p1, k1, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1

Cut yarn with at least 3” length. 

Thread cut yarn on a tapestry needle, run tapestry needle through all stitches and take stitches off needle, pull yarn tight to bring all the stitches together to form a point/nose of fish.

Now, for the long white tail between the tail and body of the fish, thread the yarn on a tapestry needle, run the needle through the stitches on the back of the fish that meet between the body and the tail, this will help tighten the yarn to make the fish tail fan out better.  Once those stitches are tight, weave in ends to where the yarn is perpendicular to the stripes of the body, this will help enforce where the tail and body meet.

Do the same weaving in of long yarn tail between the body and the head as you did between the body and the tail.

Shape and block as needed.

You can use black yarn for mouth and eyes, or puffy paint application to get mouth and eye effect.

Happy Monday Everyone!

Wow, what a crazy week.  I do not want to bore anyone with yucky details, but I have a rental house and I have been trying to evict my renter for a couple of months now.....I had court yesterday and it was very stressfull.  The stress was enough to make me call a good friend.  I called Heather with Pyramis.  She has taken away most of my stress!  Thank you Heather!

Now to knitting...Wednesday, was a super day for me.....my knitting buddy from work came back from vacation after being gone for 18 days.  I missed her so much!  Then, my boyfriend sent me a link to a craigslist add where someone was looking for a knitter.  She wants 20 small fish knit for $65.00 and the knitter has to provide the yarn.  Here is a picture of what she had on the craigslist add:

I told her I would need to see it in person, so I met with her yesterday to get her 'prototype'.  I asked her if she was ok without the eyes and mouth (tedious yarn work for 20 fish) and she said she could make the eyes and mouth with puffy paint.  So I got the yarn (she wants 3 different colors, orange fish, pink fish and blue fish), and I knit one.  She did not have a pattern so I had to just wing it.  I think I did a pretty good job.  Mine is a touch bigger, but I think with practice, and maybe a needle size change, I can get it the right size.  Here is mine below hers:

Now, it took me about an hour to knit this little fish.  She wants to pay $65.00 for 20, and I have to provide the yarn.  The yarn was $8.61, so $65 - $8.61 = $56.39.  Divide that by 20 and it is about $2.82 per fish.  Now, I know that handmade crafts will never be sold at the price that reflects the time it took to make them, and I do not knit to make money, I knit because I LOVE it (However, I would love to find out a way to knit and make enough money so I do not have to work, but that is another story), but I think my time is worth a touch more than $2.82 per hour.  My delima now is do I tell her I can make them or no?  She did mention that she had another knitter willing to make them, but that knitter only worked off of patterns.  Maybe, if I give this lady a hand writtern pattern, she can ask the other knitter if she wants to do it?  What do you think?

Updates:
My Camp Loopy Project 2, Milk run shawl, is coming along well.  I decided to change the ruffle.  I hope I like it.  I have about 6-7 more rows (of 607 stitches) and then I think I can bind off.  I will post a picture once it is done.

Here is the pattern of what I am going to make for Camp Loopy Project 3:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/leftie

I finished the Lace Blanket Test knit, so I have decided to do another test knit.  This will be a dress for a little girl (6 months).  My daughter has a freind that has a 4 month old daughter and it will look great on her.  I am going to make it in pink and purple....I can't wait to show you all pictures.

The pillow KAL is coming along well.  I had a new clue yesterday, but I have not started.  Here is my pillow so far after clues 1 and 2. 

I hope to have more knitting updates this weekend or Monday!  Just one more week till the Ravellenic Games start....Yeah!

Happy Friday everyone!!!

Well, I swear I meant to post last Friday, but the knitting on the Study in Lace Baby Blanket got the best of me....but I did finish it.  Here is a picture of it laid out.  Then I took a couple of picture with my grandson playing with it.  The lighting is not the best, and the pics are a little grainy (he was moving) but he is just as cute as a button!

This weekend went by way to fast!  I did not get hardly any knitting time.  Saturday morning was a motorycycle ride with my boyfriend on his Harley to go out for breakfast.  It was a short ride, but it was perfect as it has been getting very HOT here in the afternoon, so we beat the heat by making it home around 11:00 am!

Then it was time to go car shopping for my daughter.....found her a 2006 Pontiac G6...she LOVES it!!!!

Now on to Suday....I decided I wanted to catalog my yarn in Ravelry.  I know, I know...I should have done this a LONG, LONG time ago!  But I just kept letting the time get away from me and I never took the time to do it.  Now I am spending 5 times as much time doing it because I have 5 times as much yarn (ouch)!  I spent a good 7-8 hours on Sunday loading up yarn in my stash, and I am only about 1/2 way done.  I have 69 yarns stashed so far.  I hope to stash some more tonight.....then I can start making projects from my stash...I will let you know how it goes!

Happy Monday Everyone!!!!

Well, I have been busy.....knitting!  I am on row 137 on the Milk Run Shawl.  I am hoping to get through 143 and then decide what kind of ruffle I want to use.  I am not sure if I am going to knit the ruffle that the pattern calls for.

On the baby blanket test knit....man this has kicked my butt.  I think the pattern is hard because there are some lace sections that have 12 rows as part of the pattern repeat and then other lace sections have 16 rows.  So when I am on row 15 of one pattern, I may be on row 3 or 7 of the other.  Also, it is only my second test knit so I think I am nervous about it and the deadline (mid July).  I was on row 13 of a lace section, and row 14 - 16 were stockinette, then I knitted 16 rows of garter and started the next section of lace, when I had one stitch too many.  I looked back, yup....I did an extra yarn over in row 13.  I did not catch it until 20 rows later because there was no more lace....Yup, I had to rip back.  Here is a picture of my hand showing how much I had to rip back, and then a picture of the re-knit (correctly) blanket.

Then, there is a KAL with Michelle Hunter....it is a pillow and I am so excited to do this one.  It is sponsored by skacel knitting and I hope I win a prize!!  There will be another KAL in October.

I have finished clue one....now waiting till Thursday for clue two!

Happy Monday everyone!!!

OK, so I am 40, but man does my grandson make me feel old(er)!  I watched him all weeked while my daughter went to Rockport.  Yesterday my whole body was hurting!  Really?  He is just a 20 lb, 8 month old that does not even crawl or walk (he kind of does 360's while laying on his tummy)!  But picking him up, and then putting him down, and then picking him up, and then....well, you get the idea, my back hurts, my legs hurt, let's face it, everthing hurts!

On the knitting front.  I am getting ready for The Ravellenics Games 2012....yes, the name was changed, but we are still doing the events!  I am a captain for Team Texas Yarnivore and proud of it!  I have been making projects in ravelry and getting things lined up.

This past Sunday I took a knitting class.....what?  a knitting class when I already know how to knit?  Well, this was a 'Learn How to Fix Your Mistakes' kind of class.  It was held at my LYS and taught by a wonderful teacher named Wendy.  I really learned a lot and now I feel more comfortable fixing my mistakes!!  I got some really cute buttons when I was there:

Here are some pics of the Milk Run Shawl and the Baby Lace Blanket Test Knit.  I am behind a few on the test knit blanket, but I am also ahead of a few, so I must be right on target to finish in Mid July!

Does anyone have any great plans for the 4th of July?  I plan on KNITTING!

Happy Tuesday Everyone!!!