Knitting Class

I am taking a new knitting class at Center Street Knits. This one is a felted slipper class & the pattern was created by a Michigan native. Go Michigan! The first of 3 classes was held last Sunday. When my friend Emily & I originally tried signing up the class was full, & that was only 4 days after the class list came out. But we were fortunate enough that the teacher opened the class up to more students. I have never felted before so I am very excited & nervous that my slippers won't turn out. Last class we made all the slipper components & next class we will seam them all together. I just hope they turn out because I have dreams of making many felted items. Stay tuned for pics of my beautiful felted slippers.

A few weeks ago my aunt-in-law sent me some wonderful pics of her grandson wearing a hat I had made & given to him on Thanksgiving. Here is the adorable baby Eric wearing the "Olive You!" hat from Susan B. Anderson's Itty-Bitty Hats. He is so cute I could just eat him up!

I was going through Etsy today & found the cutest hat on the belugafiber webpage. It is called the Spring Cloche Hat Pattern & it is only $4. If you are interested in purchasing the hat you can go to the link above for her Etsy page or check out her blog. I am definitely going to buy this little cutie & whip one up for myself. I am also going to subscribe to her blog because it is just darling.

Gotta Go for Now.

More Later.

Brandi

2010 Crazy Already

I have been so behind on everything lately, especially getting the pics of some of the cool socks I have been working on. I finally finished the socks I was making for Steve. It took me longer than expected though. I wanted them done for Christmas, but alas they were not. Below is a pic of Steve's socks.

I made them with Alpaca sock yarn. They are very soft & the color doesn't look so great here but they are a lovely shade of brown.


I made these socks for myself. I got the yarn for Christmas from my mama. This is the Patton Stretch Sock yarn that you can find at Joann's. It is pretty inexpensive, but you will need 2 skeins of yarn for a pair of socks. They stretch very nicely. So much so that Steve thinks the fit is perfect even though our feet are an inch different in size. I think the color is wonderful. After knitting this sock I went to Joann's & got almost every color they had in this stretch yarn. I would only caution to be careful with your tension on this yarn. If it is too tight the sock will loose all of its elasticity.

I am currently working on a new winter hat for Steve. I am following the Jim Hat that I found on Ravelry. It is a pretty plain hat, especially since Steve wants it in all black. I hope to finish that by the end of the week. Wish me luck!

Gotta Go.

More later.

Brandi

Saturday Knitting

I spent a lovely morning at my local coffee shop knitting & chatting with my good friend Emily. We have both been slacking this week on knitting due to the crazy amount of things to get down before the holidays. I still need to get pics of the socks I finished last week. Hopwefully I can do that tomorrow or Monday. Fingers crossed.

Emily & I didn't get as much knitting done today as we did last week. Probably because there was much more drama to discuss this week about jobs & boyfriends. But we still managed to get a little knitting done which counts as a success in my book.

Have to get going. I have an Anime Club meeting in a few minutes.

More later.

Brandi

Exhausted

I am soooo tired right now. My puppies kept me up all night. They literally kept waking up every hour between 11:30 & 3:30am. What is so important that they need to get me up so many times in the middle of the night? I honestly have no idea. I'm sucking down coffee at work today but I can feel the eyes getting heavy even as I write this. I can't wait till 5pm!

Needless to say that with my crazy pups & my lack of sleep the last couple of days that I haven't gotten much knitting done. I went to my last class on Saturday & finished one of my socks. It looks lovely but there are 2 things I don't like about it. 1) I picked a Spud & Chloe sock yarn & it is made out of cotton & the material feels a little too rough to me 2) I made them too big. The pattern I was using, The Humble Sock from Ravelry, said to knit the foot of the sock until you get to 1.5 inches from the length you actually want it. I did that & my sock is about 1/2 inch too big. They still work great as socks, but I'm glad I made the prototype socks for myself.

I'll try to get pictures of the sock I finished for myself & the one I finished for Steve up later in the week. Hopefully I will get some sleep tonight & be able to concentrate enough to hook the camera up to the computer. Wish me luck.

Gotta Go

More Later

Brandi

New Beginnings!

This is my first official post on my new knitting blog. I have been a knitter for about 8 years, but just recently decided to venture out & try some more advanced techniques. I am currently taking a class at a great yarn shop called Center Street Knits on how to knit socks magic loop style. For those of you not familiar with magic loop, it is a technique of making objects in the round on one very long (32" or 40") circular needle rather than using DPNs.

I am having a ball with the class so far. The last class is tomorrow & I'll be learning hot to knit the toe & then I'll be finished with my first sock ever! I'll post pics tomorrow. Nancy, the owner of Center Street Knits, is the teacher of this class. If anyone lives in SE Michigan I highly recommend you stop by Nancy's shop. It is very quaint & I really just want to stay & knit there all day. Alas, my boyfriend & my puppies say that I have to come home at some point.

Center Street Knits is actually my first experience with a knitting shop. I know, shocking right?! I am a self taught knitter & want I couldn't figure out from books I used the wonderful videos on the Knitting Help website to solve my questions. Before the knitting class I was making blankets, scarves, & hats. I feel like I have stepped into a whole new world & it has reignited my love of knitting. I literally am knitting every moment I am not at work or doing chores at home. I am totally addicted!

Gotta Go.

More Later.

Brandi