The Soapy Knitter

1. Laugh.

2. Chew a mouthful of food.

3. Knit 10 stitches.

4. Hold your breath.

5. Win the fucking superbowl.

(picture courtesty of www.cnn.com)

WOW! That was my first superbowl and what a game it was! I don’t know much about it but I got caught up in all the yelling, jumping, high 5’s and foot stomping going on at my house with my cuzzos and Tano and kids watching the game. VERY exciting time! I loved it. I think we’ll have another Superbowl party in coming years. It wasn’t half bad.

On to the knitting! Have you guys seen this new contest? I’m entering so get ready to cheer me on in April…if you think I deserve it. I have my yarn and a bunch of pages scribbled with designs all ready to go. Swatching begins TONIGHT!

Besides a crapload of Capitán’s, I’ve also knit other stuff. A friend asked me to knit her up some baby items for a coworker about to give birth. Here’s what I came up with:

Simple Baby Cardigan

Source: Lionbrand
Yarn: Järbo Garn Baby Pascal Solid in Gray and Yellow (yarn held tripled; used 2.2 skeins of Gray and 0.3 skeins of Yellow for the embroidery)
Total Cost: $12.87
Needles: Size US 10.5
Started & Finished: January 2008
Mods: I didn’t do the hood, as you can see. I opted for about 10 ridges of garter instead. I also did the whole body in the round up to the armholes, did 3-needle bind off on the shoulders. For the sleeves, I picked up stitches around the armholes and did those in the round also. I charted the name and embroidered it. All in all, a super-speedy knit.

Blanket Buddy

Source: 101 Designer One-Skein Wonders
Yarn: Järbo Garn Baby Pascal Solid in Gray and Yellow (yarn held tripled; used about a half skein of each color)
Total Cost: $4.95
Needles: Size US 10.5
Started & Finished: January 2008
Mods: none, except for the two-color variations.

Basic Baby Hat

Source: Knitter’s Handy Book of Patterns
Yarn: Järbo Garn Baby Pascal Solid in Gray and Yellow (yarn held tripled; used about a half skein of gray and a few yards of yellow)
Total Cost: $2.50
Needles: Size US 10.5
Started & Finished: January 2008

Not bad for a bunch of little baby gifts eh? I hear the recipient thought they were adorable. Personally, I fell in love with the Blanket Buddy and it was kinda hard to let it go.

I’ve been steadily knitting over the past couple of weeks on various projects (gotta get rolling on my Yarn Diet: Round 3!!!). I don’t have any yarn in mind yet that I’m salivating after for when I finish this round but I’m sure SOMETHING will come up. You know we knitters don’t exactly have a problem with that sort of thing! LOL

For now, here’s two things I knit up on Sunday. Stash busting!! WOO HOO!

Textured Cuff Bootees
Pattern Source: 50 Baby Booties To Knit
Yarn: Plymouth Encore Worsted
Cost: $5.29 per skein (used only a bit from each color)
Started & Finished: February 18, 2007

G-Luc’s Brown Beanie
Pattern: My own
Yarn: Plymouth Encore Worsted
Cost: $5.29 per skein (used only a bit from each color)
Started & Finished: February 18, 2007

I hope everyone had a LOOOVELY holiday. I know we sure did. We stuffed our faces and were all cozy and warm at home as a family, happily, together. I’m glad it was a beautiful day because my son, Alex, had made a comment to me a couple of weeks earlier about how this year it would be different because of “you know who” that she used to cook and what not. Well, guess what? Rosi G. kicked ASS with the cooking ya’ll!! We were all sooo happy with how it all turned out. It was just us and then later on that evening a couple of friends came over with their daughter and ate.

Rosi G. also did LOTS of knitting this weekend. In fact, I barely moved some days! LOL All I wanted to do was chill and knit. There was leftovers to eat so no cooking. WOO HOO!

I was looking at my list of WIPs the other day and I told myself, Rosi G. you are going to finish that freaking Kimono sweater this weekend. And so I did.

And I said, Rosi G. you gotta do something about that Underwater Afghan that you KNOW you’re knot wanting to knit. Straight Garter soooo boring. YAAAAAAAAAWN. And so I decided that I’m gonna rip it and knit an afghan with the Encore doubled up similar to My Greatest Masterpiece.

And guess what else I did this weekend? I broke my yarn diet. I sure as all fuck did. I mean, ferfuxsake, have ya’ll seen how I’ve been burning up those needles?? Whipping out FO’s like a mofo! HA!

So I treated myself to some jarn from the Yarn Tree for a MATCHING hat and scarf for me. Because I have tons that don’t match. LOL I bought some Catalina Chunky Alpaca. Good GRIEF is this yarn SOFT! No pix. Sorry.

But you see, I didn’t really cheat on the diet ya’ll. Why, you say? What excuse do I have for possibly going on Saturday night and going to the Yarn Tree and buying yarn??

Well, ya’ll. I made something else this weekend, too.

That’s a Baby Surprise Jacket. All about the EZ ya’ll. All about EZ.

Now you tell me: didn’t this knitter deserve a treat???? And that’s not ALL I did this weekend. But the rest will be for a post later this week! HA!