My new home...

In case there are still folks randomly arriving here by some cosmic anomaly, I am blogging over at Greenberry Street now. Still charity knitting (and more) now, so come on over!

Hey, fellow knitters!!!

I know, it's been a long time! I may not have posted, but I have knitted a tad here and there. This is my latest: a Harvey Kimono from "Natural Knits" by Louisa Harding.




It's for the first grand-bitty of a dear friend. I hope it fits him!!!!

Up next: finishing the boot socks I started for my honey...

Unbelievable...

I actually cast-on a pair of adult socks. (From this book by Ann Budd.)

Wasn't sure I'd ever do that :-)

I also swatched (A small miracle in itself!) for an adult sweater. This one.



I always said I'd probably poke my eyes out with my knitting needles before I'd finish an adult sweater. Guess I'll find out!

And not only that, it's for me.

No one in my immediate family, myself included, owns anything that I knit. It's all been for charity or friends.

Now that I've sorta started something for myself, every time I see a cool new pattern I think, "I'd love that for myself!" And it doesn't matter what it is, either! A scarf, more sweaters, socks, blankets....

If this continues, I'll have to change the name of my blog from "Givin' Knit Away" to "Keepin' It All!"

WOW! Another FINISHED OBJECT!

And it's a DOOZY!! I started it in 2006 (according to Ravelry.)

2006!!!

Seriously...

So, without further ado, I present....




ANNABELLE!!

Remember that I finished her clothes first, so she wouldn't be nekkid?

Well, she's wearing 'em now! (But she's going commando because I haven't made her undies yet :-))

I'm not overly happy with her face, but I knew I wouldn't be. My embroidery skills are a bit rusty. Maybe I'll leave it, maybe not. Eh...

She may be due for a trim on those luscious brown tresses of hers. Just a tad on the long side, unless you braid them or make a ponytail. Then it seems to be OK. Jury's till out on that one, too.

But, she's FINISHED!!!! And dressed!

Oh, yeah. That.

Her V-neck sweater is a bit too low cut. When her skirt is appropriately situated around her little waist, you can see the waistband showing through the neck of the sweater. Grrr... I made a FLOOZY doll! :-) We're gonna have to have a talk. We may be in the market for some better fitting attire....

I've got STUFF to show you!!

No, seriously. I have FINISHED OBJECTS!! And they're so significant that I had to spell out FINISHED OBJECTS!

First, I finished my mom's mary jane slippers from The Purl Bee. However, they don't look much like mary janes. I decided to skip the strap because I don't think that #1 she wants to mess with a strap and #2 they fit fine without one.

I also added a knitted buttercup from Nicky Epsteins "Knitted Flowers" to give them a little "oomph." I like....






I think I'll save them for her birthday in January. I gave her felted slippers on Christmas a year or two ago and it wasn't so good. They didn't stretch enough after felting to actually go on her foot. Yeah, nice.

So we'll try a different occasion, and hope that it goes over better!!

Come back tomorrow for another FINISHED OBJECT!!

When Plans Go Awry

Today was my day off. I had big plans.

I was going to stuff and assemble the several-years-old doll that I finally knit all the pieces for. Didn't touch it.

I was going to cast on my first pair of adult socks. Didn't touch it.

I was going to work on my Rambling Rows afghan that I haven't touched since the beach. Didn't touch it.

I thought about casting on for my first ever project for ME - a sweater. Or two. Didn't touch it.

So what did I do today?

I voted.

I cooked. Real food. On the stove and everything!

I bought Iron Man shoes for my baby. Because the puppy ate his Spiderman ones.

I changed the comforter and sheets on my bed to my heavy faux-suede one. Hello! It's almost November!!

So what did (or didn't) you do today??

Two posts in one week. Might be a record!

Nah, it just means that I'm actually KNITTING!

This is a cruddy shot of my red wagon hat redo:


and both of the final hats together:




I redid the handle on Hat #2. The embroidery didn't work, so I made the i-cord again but this time it looked MUCH better after it was attached. So, the hats are

*finished
*delivered and
*paid for!

Which has now freed me up for more knitting. You'd better sit down for this.......

It's ALL the body parts of the knitted doll that I started somewhere about 2004!




Now, time for stuffing and assembly. And choosing hair color. And style. And a face.

Dang.

I thought she was almost done :-)

Well, at least she won't be nekkid when she's complete. Remember her outfit?




Now, I know I have some Poly-fil around here somewhere...

Wow. My second post for October!

I haven't posted lately because I have been knitting furiously on my projects.

NOT!!

Well, I do have another FO. It looks incredibly like my last one! Oh, yeah. That's because I made 2 of them for twins! See?

The handles are different because, frankly, I hated the way the first one turned out. It just looked lumpy to me. I simply embroidered the second one and, while it looks smoother, it still isn't great. I haven't embroidered in a while either and it shows.

But I am a perfectionist. We'll see what my boss thinks.

That's right - I said my boss! She commissioned me to make these, and it only took me since JULY 25th to make them.

JULY 25th, y'all!!!

I am so embarrassed by that. It almost makes me not even want to give them to her. (Yes, the babies are still small enough that the hats will fit!)

Of course, I WILL give them to her ASAP because I want them out of my house!! I discovered during this foray into paid knitting that I don't like it. I want to knit what I want to knit, when I want to knit it. This was NOT fun knitting. Either hat. I'm so sick of them now that I just want them out of my sight! (I know: I'm terrible!)

So, please don't ask me to knit anything for you. (Not that any of you would.) If I feel like making you something out of the kindness of my heart, then so be it. But I will NOT be knitting by request anymore.

Now I seem to be in the mood to polish off some UFO's. I only have an inch or so to finish a doll arm. Then I'll have all her parts and will be ready to stuff and assemble her. I already have an outfit waiting.

I also want to work on my Rambling Rows blanket that I started at the beach. Funny how cooler weather brings that "knitting fever" back, huh?

How about you? Do y'all have the fever??

I'll get by with a little help from my friends.

Well, I THOUGHT I was back to knit-blogging! Oh well...

I need to make those Mary Jane Slippers for my mom pretty quickly, so Red Wagon Hat #2 is on hold. I started the slippers, not too much trouble, until I got to the finishing details. Namely, the attached i-cord, which begins with a provisional cast on.

I'm not afraid of new things, so I read the tutorials for the provisional and gave it a shot. It's the crochet chain method.

I don't crochet, though I can fumble through a short simple chain if I must.

Usually.

Today, I couldn't tell the front from the back, even though the tutorial had photos complete with little pointing arrows and everything.

I threw my knitting across the bed laid my knitting aside, and stumbled off to find a better way. And I found it here at Knit and Tonic.

Ahh, much better!

Now, on to the attached i-cord tutorial here, by the Purl Bee folks. Cool!

Just thought I'd share those two handy-dandy lessons with those of you who still knit. And blog :-)

Look! It's a bird, it's a plane, ...it's a POST!!!

AND a finished project!




This little guy is one of a pair. I have to make another one just like it for a new set of twins born 2 days ago. Ugh...

I like fast knits, and this on size 6's with those tails to tie in a knot is NOT a fast knit. At least, it wasn't for me. And my embellishing skills? Let's just say that I need to practice more :-) I think on the second one I'll skip knitting the wagon parts and just embroider the whole thing. Maybe that will look better!

Anyhoo, I'm SO exicted because my one TV show is back tonight: Grey's Anatomy! Don't bug me from 9-11pm, OK? :-)

Back in the saddle again!

Hey all you patient bloggy knitters! I'm still alive!

I'm knitting again!

I didn't forget my blog password! :-)

This happened to me once before. I completely lost ALL interest in knitting. I mean, I still loved it, I just didn't feel like knitting. It lasted about a month, and then it was over.

Kinda like now.

So, here I am, with the first of two Little Red Wagon hats for twins on my needles, and still a few WIP's. Oh, and another project that I really need to cast-on for my mom: the Mary Jane Slippers from The Purl Bee.

So hopefully I'll actually have something to blog about soon! In the meantime, my everyday blog is at A Quest for Relevance, in case you have an inquiring mind and want to know what I'm up to. :-)

Nuttin', honey.

Um, yeah. Nothing to see here.

Very little writing, and even less knitting.

My "real" blog is at A Quest for Relevance if you want to see what has (or hasn't!) been going on...

Happy Olympics watching!!

Which Came First: The Doll, or her Clothes?

The Clothes, of course! We can't have a nekkid doll!

Who by the way, is patiently waiting for me to finish her second arm. Then I can stuff and assemble her, making both of us very happy! It shouldn't be too much longer.

But I already have my next dilemma: what color will her hair be? Decisions, decisions...

I have pictures!

Believe it or not, I actually picked up my knitting needles! I took three separate projects with me to the beach for those down times, and I only touched one. But I touched it a LOT! See?



This is the smallest size of the Rambling Rows afghan. I don't have any baby boys to knit for, so I'm thinking it may end us as a lap blanket for the Dempsey Center. I wonder how many months (or YEARS!) it will take to finish now that I'm back in my busy, everyday world!

Here's a closer look at the squares. I'm using an unknown fiber (likely acrylic) from a Mill Ends bag. I love the blue, brown and cream color scheme. There's been a tad bit of pooling, but I can live with it. I can't wait to see it finished!

This top photo is better for actual color.


This photo is better for texture. Lots of garter stitch!!



I also have some doll/clothes progress, but I'll save those for another post :-)

Happy knitting!!

I'm back!

Fresh off a week's vacation, I have lots to say for a change! After sorting through a gaggle of emails, I'll post goodies, with pics :-) It's good to be home!

Long Time, No Post

Hey y'all! An actual knitting post! WOO HOO!!

Just thought I'd check in, since I am doing a tad of knitting. I pulled a WIP from the depths of my closet, and am actually making progress! It's a doll from "Toys to Knit" that I started, um, years ago.

I'm a Fearless Knitter now, so I decided to take those flat pieces with scads of seaming and convert them to in-the round pieces. So far so good! I had to buy Size 3 circulars for it, and here I have to say:

Mrs. Saleslady at Yarn Paradise that unfortunately I don't remember your name,

THANK YOU for showing me the Addi Turbo needles. I am in love with them, and since you are responsible, you are officially my new best friend.:-)

Love,
Givin' Knit Away

More to come. Really. Pinky swear :-)

Happy 4th and Happy Knitting, y'all!

So here's the story...

Yeah, I know. I'm awful.

The thing is, I just haven't been knitting much! This blog was an offshoot of my main blog. I discovered that I had a good number of male readers, and somehow I just felt like there was a lot of knitting posts at the time that really wouldn't appeal to them.

So, Givin' Knit Away was born.

I LOVE the title. I really don't care for my other blog title, but I'm kind of established with it now. So eh.

Anyway, since I'm not knitting much, I have little to say here, but I don't want to shut it down.

For now I guess, if you come here and there's nothing new, you can always go to my other blog to see what I'm up to.

I just wanted to explain my hiatus. I really haven't deserted y'all. :-)

See? More knitting!

preemie booties 3,
originally uploaded by givinknitaway.

I have actually been knitting! These are the tiniest preemie booties. Aren't they sweet? These are for the Itty Bitty Knits KAL on Ravelry, for June. Yep, June! I'm done! I'm not doing the end of the month scramble this time. Maybe I can actually get ahead for July!!

What have y'all been knitting?

Proof that I've actually been knitting

I finished the Fishtail Hat that I made for the Dempsey Center! It used almost exactly one ball of Debbie Bliss Pure Cotton. It is soooo soft. And shamelessly modeled by my unsuspecting six-year-old's head :-)

See? I really have been knitting! And you all just thought I was a slacker...

Knit in Public Day is coming!

Have y'all heard about Knit in Public Day? I just found out this week! It's on June 14th. Check out the website here for more info. See if you can find an event in your area, or set up a virtual one!

Happy Knitting!