This Gal's 2013 Photos

Remember that time I started a 365 days of photos project and abandoned it after a little over a month? Me either, I guess we can't all be as awesomely dedicated as my mom, who is now onto her second 365 day photo project. But just because I gave up on taking and posting a photo each day doesn't mean I didn't take plenty of photos all year.

I learned a lot after sifting through all of my photos. The first one being that the photos I thought I'd hated after looking at them on the tiny little screen on the camera look so much better on the computer. Also it seems I really like taking photos of myself.

What are my plans for the blog this year? Well, there are two main things really. I plan on posting something once a week, something I've been trying to do but haven't been succeeding at. And the other thing is finding a place in this damn house to take photos of myself so I can finally post all of those posts I've written but haven't gotten up yet because I lack adequate photos.

This Gal's Unusual Christmas List

I started this list a few weeks ago, I'm not really sure why, but I'm glad I did. Sometimes I find that when I put my goals into writing they have a better chance at actually happening. When I revisited it a couple of days ago, I thought, 'hmm, this is like my own little personal Christmas list.' Obviously, none of these things can actually be done before Christmas, but it's like they always say, it's the thought that counts. I narrowed down my semi-long list to five of the goals I most want to reach and you can read them after the cut.

Staying Warm this Winter 60s Style

I set out and actually wrote an entire post about my current knitting work in progress. But more pressing things have come to light. And nothing, in my eyes, is more pressing than vintage fashion. As you will soon learn, I have a little bit of a thing for vintage clothing, movies, music... basically anything.  Surprise, surprise, I'm listening to Bobby Darin as I write this post.

With the weather taking a turn down Depressing Lane today, I decided to pull out my vintage coat from the 60s and wear it... for the first time, even though I bought it a years ago. 

Honestly, I have no idea why I haven't been wearing it every winter since I got it. I don't think I have ever owned a winter coat that's as warm as this one. We'll see if I say the same when it's 25 below zero before wind chill.

I think my favorite part about this coat is that it has the ILGWY tag on the inside, which is one of the tell-tale signs that an article of clothing is vintage. I do hope however, that one day I'll have at least a few articles of clothing with these labels in them that I won't be excited to see this one anymore.

One thing I did realized while wearing this today is, I'm going to need some new hats and gloves to wear with this since the ones I'm currently wearing don't go with it at all. 

Fresh-Off the needles: Spooky Socks

Look, Ma, I knit a pair of socks! And what a lovely pair of socks they are. They're a bit big, but I'd say they're not too bad for my first ever pair of socks. Plus, there was no second sock syndrome for this gal, so there's one more thing to be proud of.

I used the pattern Vanilla Latte Socks by Virginia Rose-Jeanes. The pattern was super, super easy to understand. I don't think I could have chosen a better pattern for my first time. What I really like about this pattern is that it gave you different options for both the heel flap and the toe shaping. It was sort of a build your own sock sort of thing.

I'd been putting off knitting a pair of socks, because it seemed so complicated, and just plain scary. I had heard so many horror stories about turning the heel that I didn't even want to touch a sock pattern, let alone try to knit one. But after I found Very Pink's sock knitting video tutorials I realized it was totally doable. Then I just took a deep breath and dove in, and if I got stuck there was always the video there to help me out.

The yarn is Knit Picks Felici in the Spooky color way, and I love it. I saw someone on Ravelry using it and knew I needed to make something out the Halloween inspired yarn. And I actually finished them in time for Halloween, too! Just one more thing to be proud of.

I'd always been a bit hesitant about using self striping yarn, for whatever reason, but after using it on these socks I know I'm going to be using it a lot more. And thank goodness, Knit Picks has a wide variety of self-striping yarn.

Skills needed:

Everything you need to know is covered in Very Pink's videos. Watch them here.

Check out my Ravelry project page 

Fresh off the Needles: Magical Mystery Tour Scarf

Finally! This has been a marathon project. Not literally, I'm not about to be like David Babcock and knit a scarf while running a marathon. It just took a really long time to finish and I'm still not completely done with it. I still have to weave in about three thousand ends and close up one end.

The idea initially came to me when I'd come across a lady who had knit herself the magnificent vest. At the time I knew I didn't have the skills to knit the actual vest but needed to own something with that color pattern, and this is what I came up with. 

I wanted to keep the scarf looking as much like a sweater as possible, so I started with about two inches of 2x2 rib. Then I proceeded with the color pattern that I charted out myself, after hours upon hours of staring at the different pictures of Sir Paul McCartney wearing that marvelous sweater vest. I then, finished it off with another two inches of 2x2 rib and closed it up with the Kitchener stitch.

With this scarf nearly finished, I plan on knitting the actual vest. And in the future, I plan on knitting a few other colorful sweaters the Beatles have worn. I even have a 'Beatles Sweaters' folder on my computer for when I'm ready to start charting out other color patterns.

Skills needed:

Knitting in the Round: 1
Long Tail Cast-On: 1
Reading Charts: 1|2
Knit: 1
Purl: 1
2x2 Rib: 1
Fair Isle:1|2
Kitchener stitch: 1|2
Weaving in ends: 1

Check out my project page on Ravelry for more WIP photos and other amusing commentary.

WIP Wednesday: Stash Bustin' Cowl

I promised myself that I'm going to work this year on getting my stash down to a reasonable size. The first stash busting project I've been working on is the Gap-Tastic Cowl by Jen Geigley. The yarn I'm using is Lion Brand's Vanna's Choice in Navy, from a frogged Ravenclaw House Scarf. An odd thing I've noticed while going through my Raverly project page, nearly everything I've knitted so far is in navy blue or some other blue tone. Which is weird seeing as my favorite colors are purple and green. I need to change that.

There's really nothing to this pattern at all, cast on the amount of stitches the pattern calls for, then knit in seed stitch for your desired length. With that said, this is taking me much longer than I would like. I started it a few weeks ago, and just haven't been making very much progress on it. But I'll keep at it, and it'll get done eventually.

In other stash related news, I've decided to use an antique dresser to store my stash in. It's great because it's basically just been sitting in the basement taking up space and storing stuff I really don't need anyway. Yes, I've always wanted a reason to have a vintage suit case, but this just wasn't it. I guess I'll just have to put the money I was going to spend on the suitcase towards a vintage typewriter. 

Knitting Season is Upon Us/Stash Busting Season

This weekend as I sat in my grandpa's house at the lake listening to the rain fall and the wind blow, all I could think was, "knitting season is upon us!" Of course, when I went to check the upcoming weather it turns out temperatures will hit the mid-80s during the early part of this week. Nevertheless, once my brain is in knitting mode it takes more than a couple of 80 degree weather days to get me out of it.

I'm still trying to figure out how my stash is so big after just two years of real knitting. So, this year I've made a vow that I'll challenge myself to make pretty things out of all the yarns currently in my stash... Just ignore that Knit Pick's tab I have open showing all their fun self-striping yarns. 

On the topic of my stash, it's grown so much I'm running out of space for it, and my sister is getting kind of fed up with it being all over the basement. So, I need somewhere to keep it. While at the lake my mom, my aunt and I went shopping and I saw a few vintage suitcases and thought they'd be perfect to keep my stash in. Now of course, I'm spending more time than I should on Etsy looking at vintage suitcases. And am quickly finding it may not be the best place to buy one after factoring in the shipping costs. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to go visit some antique shops instead. What a shame.

But before I decide on a suitcase, I'll be spending my free time on my Raverly account trying to figure out my best plan of attack on getting rid of most of my stash, and I'll compile a Top 10 Must Knit Patterns for this Fall/Winter. I can already tell, it'll be full of more hats than my family and I could ever dream of wearing.