Friday, October 28, 2011

Green Overload

Greetings, earthlings. Right now I could just as well be a martian, since apparently the only color I wish to knit is green. I finished green socks (they're out of state right now and can't take a photo), but I've been knitting a green feather and fan scarf in secret.....only during school, so it's still not done. That has been dragging on for weeks. Maybe I'll even take a picture of it soon.  Anyway, my wonderful father and grandfather gave me the best birthday present one can give to a knitter....a pick-yer-own-yarnfest. I go to the yarn sale and what do I get? MORE GREEN YARN. (It's very pretty green yarn, Cascade 220 in "Dark Spruce", but that's beside the point. It's green). I want to make that Patons Cable Cardigan with it but there is a limit to how much green I can stand.....
So friends, you'll surely not judge me for being won over by some Noro and starting a hat.
Yarn is color 84, beanie pattern can be found here, and I take back anything I've ever said about Noro yarns. It's gorgeous and more importantly, its not green. 
 I'm sure I'll be back to green things soon .
oh, and happy Halloween everyone!
<3 Maggie

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Birthdays and Yarn

Hey everyone! Yesterday was my birthday, y'all!!!!!! Thanks so much for all the birthday wishes <3
As a treat (and the reason why I neglected to check facebook for an entire evening--I know, I know) I went to see the Yarn Harlot talk at Vroman's. It was crazy. I accidentally got there half an hour early and every seat was taken and people were sitting in the aisles. I guess if you're a knitter you don't mind waiting, especially if the person you're waiting for is the knitting equivalent of Lady Gaga, only she wears pants.
I had to leave early and didn't get my book signed, but I still appeared on her blog. Look! It's me!
.....Squint really hard. You'll see it.
Anyways, back to the real world. :D
<3 Maggie

P.S. Micah, 15 feels the same as 14 only your mother creeps up behind you every few minutes and squeals "YOU'RE 15 NOW HONEY!"

Monday, October 24, 2011

Two-Timer: Dabbling in Crochet

 Apologies for yesterday's post, which didn't really make any sense. I was super tired. (This is zombie Maggie. Never disturb her). Um.....the gist of the matter was I am winding yarn balls on toilet paper rolls. Now, onto less confusing subjects.

This week, I had my first crochet lesson/club meeting where I actually got crochet (I lied. That was a few weeks ago but I'm only just now posting this). I can't say I'm good at it or even passable but I understand now how to do it. Knitting is always my first and only, but crochet--crochet is speedy gonzales! (No, autocorrect, not speedy gondolas). I'm making a lil purse bag thing out of some yarn that's been lying around for ages:


It was my 4th try. Don't tell anyone. I like my crochet skills to look effortless.
In other news? It's my birthday soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

<3 Maggie

Sunday, October 23, 2011

I've Got a Big Ball of Greyness

And I'm Going to Wind it All Somehow, Oh Yes.....
nobody know that song but me? Good. It will infest your brain and never come out. That's my strange Maggie way of saying I wound the entire. gray. cardigan. Remember that picture of the sleeve from a while back? Multiply that by eight because I'm too lazy to take a photo.
Eight skeins. Lots of dust and yarnlets. I got to try out my Soak wool wash for the first time--it smelled delicious. They all air-dried until my family got annoyed at me for reaching for a towel and grabbing a skein of yarn by accident (I hung them in the bathroom. It had hooks). So I slung them over the end of my bed. I realize I sound insane.
Now I must wind it. Luckily I found this neat tutorial on how to wind balls without a ball winder on the great wide internets. The purpose of a ball winder sounds really stupid until you realize how smart it is. The balls pull from the center so they don't go bouncing everywhere (get your mind out of the gutter). Oh, that reminds me. Ana saw a whirling swift at a yarn shop the other day. Do you think it will be enough to convert her to Knitterkind if I tell her you can buy them and have them in your home and use them as much as your heart desires?
Yarn. Winding yarn cakes. Watch the yarn cakes. Strangely compelling.

Friday, October 21, 2011

When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough....look at pretty pictures on the internet

Sometimes I get really stressed out.



This can be for a multitude of reasons. School,



Drama llamas,



Pressing issues like my socks not matching or accidentally dissolving a shirt in bleach.


When that happens, there are only two solutions.

1. Look at pretty pictures on the internet.
(via Color Me Katie)
via Books of Adam

There. I feel better already.

2. Drink lots of tea and knit, knit, knit.


<3 Maggie
(P.S.--the sock's almost done)

Sunday, October 16, 2011

10 things I love about fall

1. The changing leaves and all the fall colors everywhere
2. The way you do not look insane for knitting a sweater
3. The crisp weather that is cool, but not as cold (or rainy!) as winter
4. My birthday!
5. Halloween and Thanksgiving
6. Pumpkins and anything you can do with them--pie, soup, jack-o-lanterns!
7. The feeling of coziness everywhere
8. Making enormous leafpiles
9. Hot tea makes even more sense
10. Apples!

 
  I finished this picture in art class recently. I found a decorative photo of some apples in my knitting book, Vintage Modern Knits. They looked so pretty I just had to paint them. Now I'm hungry for apples--apple cider, apple pie, and an apple tree!

Monday, October 10, 2011

Brought to You by Adorable, Inc.

This post brought to you by birthdays! I guess October is the birthday month. Supracool Ariella wants you to know that she is now 15 and not a drug addict (or 15 and pregnant), just mildly insane like the rest of us.


That's right. The best part is, she's going to be a knitter someday. Ok maybe not right now, but if we keep playing Howl's Moving Castle at knitting club she's bound to cave sometime in the future. Joooooiiiiiin usssssssssssssssssss........
As an added bonus, I thought I'd mention she's so darn adorable that she can come and mooch knitting club cookies and nobody cares. Well, actually lots of other people do that but that's beside the point. Happy birthday Ariella!
In other news, this is my background. I'm not obsessed, I swear. Well. Maybe a little.


In a good way. 
<3 Maggie

Monday, October 3, 2011

Birthdays and Other Cool Stuff

Happy beginning of October everyone! This general area of time--end of September, beginning of October--is apparently where all the cool babies get born, so happy birthday to my minions friends Pilar, Clarissa, and Isabel! Babushkas growing up so fast. *single tear*
So here are some words of wisdom for you, as you enter adolescence's troubled times. 

In other news, I have an actual finished thing for you. Behold sock the first!



yarn--Classic Elite Alpaca Sox, color 1870. Love love love this yarn. Sock pattern: the Basic Sock from the Patons Next Steps Four booklet (I'm learning). 
They don't really fit, which is good, because I would be tempted to keep them. The yarn is so soft I want to buy a million skeins and build a yarnpile and live in it. (Come on. Don't look at me like that. How cool does a yarn castle sound?). I grafted my first toe, after....a youtube video and a first try that was not the shape of any human foot. I still have to block it and weave ends in but for now I'm pretty pleased. This was knit (in my opinion) too loose so I think I'll go down a needle size next time.
Green sock boring. We seen enough green sock, you say. Fine. I have something utterly riveting, mesmerizing, and amazing to show you. When you see it, it will take your breath away. You will be able to do nothing but stare at this picture in awe for the rest of your life and when you get taken to the mental hospital it will be framed and on your wall so you can continue to know the wonder that is this picture:




 
....the other green sock.
<3 Maggie