December Knitting

I feel extremely proud of myself this year. I had a list of things to knit for people for Christmas gifts--and I finished 90% of them! I will have photos of them all very soon--I just want the pictures to match the people I gave them to.

First project: Socks for my dad. I have never knit a PAIR of socks before. This was a challenge for me. I have knit single socks, but never a pair. I actually did it (with a magic loop, of course) and it wasn't too painful. I don't think I could do two separate socks--even now. They end up being the same exact size when you do them at the same time.

I also knit quite a few pairs of fingerless mittens. The first pair I made were for Marcus. (Sorry, no picture yet). Second pair were for Paige (again, no photo). Macey's mittens--also with no photo. A pair for Teal that ACTUALLY HAVE A PHOTO!! And a lacy pair for Taren that also have a photo (not a very good photo, but a photo nonetheless).

Teal's Owl Mitts

Taren's Lacy Mitts

My friend Nic gave me a ball of baby alpaca yarn (SO SOFT) for Christmas and told me that I must make something for myself (nice of him--I hadn't knit for myself for a whole month!) and I decided to make another Calcite hat because I gave the first one away for a white elephant gift (lucky girl, fought tooth and nail to get it).

Calcite Hat

Marcus also gave me some baby alpaca yarn for Christmas--I haven't had a chance to knit MY OWN mitts (he also told me that I must knit for myself) I've just fondled the yarn a little bit...so soft...very nice....can't wait for my mitts!

February Lady Sweater

Here is a picture of me wearing that sweater--I didn't have any good pictures of it when I made the last post.

And another!

And here is a hat I just made yesterday. I call it Calcite.. I'm currently writing up the pattern so it will be available on Ravelry very soon!

It's Been A While...

It's been a while. I am sorry--I have been extremely busy with school. (It's been hectic--just one of those semesters, you know!)

Anyway--back to business. I have been knitting/finishing some awesome projects in the last few months and would like to share them now!

The February Lady Sweater:

This amazing sweater took about 2 weeks total to knit. I LOVE it so much and wear it at LEAST once a week. I am working on another one similar to this one, but I am changing almost everything about it...except for the basic shape... I can't wait for it to be done! I should have a better picture of this, but I don't at the moment.

Twisty:

This is a pattern I recently designed. It is called Twisty, and is available for purchase on Ravelry. I am so excited that it turned out! I really love how the cables have that zigzag look to them and they are all interlocking with each other. I am working on a few other patterns that I will be posting very soon and I am equally excited for them too!

Owls:

These mitts are one of my favorites! I was very surprised how easy they were to knit up--and they didn't take very long at all! I was so excited when Teal asked me to knit them for her--and I'm glad at how well they turned out. I have decided that I am making more of these mitts for my friends for Christmas. I am changing them a little, but they'll still be just as cute (or cuter!)

Owl Cowl:

Wow. I never thought I'd enjoy knitting a scarf so much! It was way easy (I am definitely on an owl kick right now if you haven't already noticed...) This is one of the other patterns I will be writing up next to sell on Ravelry. I knitted it with very bulky yarn so it goes pretty fast. I have also thought of selling them on Etsy. I will post links when I do!

I have been knitting a few other things that I don't have pictures for yet. When I do finish them (or photograph them--whichever comes first) I will definitely post pictures. Other than that, I have no more to write today! (But hopefully I will write sooner next time...)

New Stuff

Today I started a new semester at the University of Utah. I REALLY love it there, but I was NOT ready to start school just yet. I have a chemistry class at 7 freaking 30 in the morning EVERY DAY! It's really not that bad...yet! I'm used to getting up early in the mornings. The problem I had today was paying attention. I haven't had to listen intently to someone who just stands there in front of you for an hour for a few months now--I need to retrain my body to be able to handle it again. I think it'll just take a few days.

Better news, though! I finished the Hemlock Ring Blanket I have been working on this month! I'm SO excited! It turned out really well! I knitted it with Classic Elite Waterlily yarn that I got at a discount store--I would totally pay $12/skein for this (even though I only paid $1/skein). This was my first real lace project that I finished. I am learning to love lace. I have learned a lot by trying this new technique for knitting beautiful things.

I will list them here:

1.) Lace is NOT scary (I will remember that next time I want to try something new, especially in knitting, that there are only 2 stitches plus a few small variations.)

2.) Lace is fairly easy (Especially if you know which row you're on at all times and as long as there are no mistakes in the instructions or charts.)

3.) Lace is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! (But only after you block it, which takes WAY too long--but maybe it's just because I am impatient...)

4.) Lace makes you look like you're a much better knitter than you really are (By simply adding a few yarn overs and matching decreases to a project, you can have elegant knitting that takes your breath away.)

I suggest that you all go out and try some lace knitting soon! It's still fairly warm outside, so lace is a little bit better than hats...(even though I just started knitting one today...)

Thanks for reading!

Moab, Farewell, and Life in General

Today was Saxxon's (my cousin) "farewell" talk. He will be serving in the Maryland Baltimore Mission (he leaves Wednesday.) I am so excited for him! I think he'll be a great missionary--he has an awesome testimony that will help him show others how to come closer to Christ. (He's also really outgoing, and easy to talk to--so he's got that in his favor as well.)

We all went to

his house after church today and we saw a local celebrity there--can you tell who it is? I'm on the far left, my dad's next to me, the "celebrity" is next to him, then it's Craig, my brother-in-law. Suspense killing you yet?!? It's totally the chicken farmer off of Napoleon Dynamite! Haha--we wanted to take a

picture with him so we asked and he was happy to do it. He's an awesome guy.

Anyway, this weekend I went to Moab with my singles ward. We had a blast! The first day, we set up camp, ate dinner, watched a movie with a neighboring singles ward, and played some awesome card games. Most people got about 30 mosquito bites in the first couple of hours. ("Most" meaning everyone but me--I wear my deet religiously.)

The next morning, we hiked to Delicate Arch--it was beautiful! Every time I do that hike I am amazed by it. It gets my brain thinking really hard. This was the first time I have gone to Moab since I decided to major in Geoscience. I think it is amazing how many things I didn't notice before. By just having one year of schooling in this subject, my eyes have been opened to a whole new way of thinking. I am SO glad I was able to see all the formations--it brought my lectures to life! It was like a million lightbulbs turned on in my head and put the spotlight on all the things I learned. I love school. I love hiking. I love Moab.

Later that afternoon, we all got together and played volleyball. I had a spectacular time! It was really windy at first, then the dark clouds started rolling in. We kept playing even when we heard the crashing of thunder and the sparks of lightning. We didn't even quit when the sky opened up and started pouring gigantic raindrops all over the soft dry sand (which quickly turned to mud.) What can I say--it was awesome and there were about 18 people playing at the same time. All of us on the court at the same time. I LOVED it

.

Even a little bit later that day, it started raining again, then it turned to hail for a minute. I got an awesome shot of the hail that I will showcase below.

The next day was the river rafting trip down the Green River (I think) which was awesome. If the water wasn't super cold, I would've jumped in. It obviously was, though, so I just stayed in the raft and got soaked anyway. All along the way there were mini battles between all the rafts--I think our boat got the wettest. (It was fun!)

--Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed it! (By the way, I haven't been knitting--so I'm sorry about the lack of knitting-related material. Maybe on the next post I will write about the bag I sewed with my friend--it's awesome.)

--Lindsay--

Las Vegas and a Lucky Beret

This week I went to Las Vegas with a couple of my friends. We had a good time--with a few exceptions.

1.) Vegas DOES have a TON of free things to do...BUT...you definitely pay for it (I paid for it by buying food there, the others also purchased food, but they also bought overpriced souvenirs :) )
2.) It IS awesome to see the lights and walk down the strip...BUT...the streets are lined with pornography--oh and I guess the billboards are too... (plus--there are people handing out pornography and throwing it all over the sidewalks so you can't even watch your step without seeing something you shouldn't.)

3.) People are free to do just about anything they want there...BUT...this makes the air (and everything the air touches) smell like cigarette smoke and alcohol--which is not very pleasant.

Other than that--I had a pretty good time! I got to go to the top of the stratosphere, I had a delicious burrito, and I saw an awesome aquarium while the creatures inside were being fed dead pieces of fish. It was pretty awesome.

I may not have gotten lucky in Vegas this week on St. Patty's Day, but it came a little bit later.

My mom is awesome--she made one of my favorite dinners (Posole--a spicy mexican soup) and she gave me a weave (my hair is super blonde now, but I like it!)

I also baked some yummy cookies with my sister yesterday when she came to visit. Peanut Butter cookies with Chocolate Kisses on top--mmmm! Excuse me for a minute while I go eat another...

Sweater, Appology, and Random Ramblings

Hello all! I've been working on a sweater this month, and I'm almost done! This is really exciting for me because I've never gotten this far. I started off with the sleeves (which was a really good idea,) then I moved on to one of the front pieces. I got sick of the cables, so I did the back (It was all just a K2, P2 ribbing.) I'm ready to do more cables now--which turned out perfect! I don't have any of the pieces totally finished, though. I wanted to be able to match them up as I went, so I've only finished each piece to just below the armpit. I haven't figured out the shoulder shaping yet.

On another note--I finally re-published my All Over Cables Hat pattern so that the chart actually shows up. (Sorry for the confusion!)

And now some thoughts from me: Holy crap! The weather has been SO nice these last couple of days! It's been warmer and it has been raining instead of snowing! I LOVE it. Almost all the snow in my yard has melted. I just want to be outside a lot more--which is good since I absolutely LOVE being outside! (Especially when it's warm.)
I just got a letter from the Mosquito Abatement telling me that I can work for them again this summer. I am SUPER excited! It's my favorite job in the whole world! Reasons why I love it? I get to be outside all day, I get to help the community by killing pests, I also get to know my way around the city better, and I become more observant to my surroundings. I also got a dollar and hour raise with incentive for a $0.50/hour bonus if I don't take too much time off--which is the most awesome thing ever!

I can't wait for summer!

Editing Patterns

I have edited a couple of my patterns to clarify some things.

For the Chunky Button Hat, I added a gauge.

For the All Over Cables Hat, I added a gauge, a chart, and some notes on the cable pattern.

I hope it helps! (Let me know!)

Thanks--
Lindsay

Chunky Button Hat

Hi--it's me again! I decided to write out this pattern today, which I am happy about. This is what happens when you have tons of ideas in your head and don't write about them for a long time! I guess I have to try harder...

Anyway--I have posted the link to this pattern in the "My Patterns" section on the left, but you can also access it here.

'Til we meet again!
--Lindsay

All Over Cables Hat

This is a pattern I recently made up. I have seen SO many hats that look like this, but I didn't want to spend $5 or more to be able to knit them. So after observing many of these hats in pictures and on people's heads, I got a feel for how to actually knit one! I am excited because the pattern turned out REALLY well. I just chose the wrong color of yarn (hence the black and white photo...)

Here is a link to the pattern, which can also be viewed by clicking on "All Over Cables Hat" in the "My Patterns" section.

Anyway, I wrote some notes on this pattern that I will paste below:

Notes from Linz:

For this hat, we will start by knitting ear flaps, then casting on stitches for the front and the back of the hat and joining the two ends together. I would say that this hat would be best for a knitter who is already familiar with hats, ear flaps, and cables, but I'll give a high five to anyone who chooses this for a first or second project :)

The main techniques that you need to know are:

The Knit and Purl Stitches,

Cables,

Increasing,

Decreasing, and

Weaving in ends.

Even if you have NEVER done cables, don't be scared! I'm here to hold your hand—they really aren't that bad! Cables are made by switching the order of stitches before you knit them. The cable needle will come in handy so you don't drop your stitches while trying to re-arrange them.

Anyway—enjoy this fun pattern!