Success!!!

Last Christmas, my gift for people was scarves.  I started knitting away and asked my Sweetie if he would like one for when he went riding on his bike (the kind with the motor).  He got to pick out the pattern, with my help, and the yarn.  The pattern looked a bit challenging, which was perfectly fine, but as I was running late on gifts for friends and family, his project was put on the back burner.  Finally, one chilly February day, I began what has become the most difficult and involved knitting project I have yet attempted.

The scarf is a take off the OBEY Giant sticker campaign that we found on knitty.com.  It entailed two techniques that I had never really tried before and wanted to: intarsia and fair isle knitting.  I had to look up a few tutorials on the 'net and in some of my books to get a feel for what I was supposed to be doing and then I really just winged it from there.  Let me tell you, it was quite the project.  There were times where I wanted so much to just put it away for good, but I stuck through it.

I am happy to announce that as of Sunday morning, November 6, 2011, after nine months of knitting (and letting it rest) I have finished my Sweetie's Andre the Giant OBEY scarf.  Just in time for winter!

I am sure that to a more seasoned knitter, it is not perfect by any means, but to me, it is the coolest thing and  I am so proud of this masterpiece.  I learned a lot while knitting this scarf.  I am so glad I kept with it and finished it.  I can't wait to see him with this baby wrapped lovingly around his neck (for warmth).

So many projects...do I really need a job?

I love to knit and bake!  I really love being able to take a ball of string or a mess of ingredients, play with it and have something useful, pretty, and delicious come out later.  I would be incredibly happy if I could knit, bake, and read all day, I think.

I don't even have to keep the fruits of my labors.  In fact, it really fulfills me to be able to make something for a friend's birthday or when they are feeling down.  My desire to give gifts, I believe, comes from my mother.  She has always been really good at picking out just the right thing for an occasion.  She loves to shop and scour the earth for that "one thing".  I, on the other hand, really didn't catch the shopping bug, but that doesn't stop me from finding that perfect thing.  I just take a different route.  There is nothing like a hand made gift: something that you put a bit of yourself into.  Please don't take this wrong, I don't make gifts to toot my horn and make it about me, but seeing someone wear or enjoy something that I have worked so hard on just for them gives me the best feeling inside. There aren't enough "thanks" in the world to compare with getting to see my friend being warmed by the hat I knitted for her or smiling after biting into one of my cookies after a rough day.

Because of this desire to make everyone in my life happy and comfy, I have found many, MANY ideas, patterns, and recipes that I am just dying to try.  The problem is, I don't have enough time to make all the things I have on my wishlist!  I am in the beginning stages of Project ADD, I think.  I hope it isn't serious, but I find myself wanting to start all of my wishlist at once.  I have been doing OK, keeping myself to only a couple knitting projects at a time, but it has been a difficult road.


As I have quite a bit of spare surfing time at work, I often find myself on pattern sites and recipe sites.  There are oodles of patterns and recipes that I have set aside for "next time".  I remember my dad saying that if my grandmother had a biography it would be called, "Recipes Clipped, But Never Made".  I can sympathize with that.  There are tons of recipes and patterns out there just waiting for my little hands to attempt.

Previous posts have touched upon John's scarf and PW's Christmas (which, with all the mentions between here and on facebook, is starting to tug at her to know what it is).  I told myself that I couldn't start anything else until I "caught up" on the scarf.  "Caught up" should really have a more concrete meaning to me.  Apparently, at the time, it meant, "Go to the yarn store, even though you are nowhere near finished with your current project. That way you can look at all that beautiful bamboo goodness and torture yourself until you start the project anyway."

And guess what I did. Yep, I started that project for PW four days later.  Hey, I did wait four days.  It is turning out beautifully, though.  The stitch pattern is lovely, simple and it isn't terribly hard, once you get the hang of it, and the yarn is gorgeous and there is a ton of love going into this thing.

BUT I guess, I am just not satisfied with working on those two projects.  I have a scarf in the works (at work, shhh) and a bag of yarn by my bed.  I keep thinking it is time to start hats for winter.  All my little nieces and nephews need to stay warm outside, right?!

The problem doesn't end with knitting though, I also have a cooking and baking problem.  That is something I have always enjoyed and have been pretty good at.  Unfortunately, my baking has suffered badly over the summer (which has made my zeal for recipes even stronger).  I just didn't have time or energy to cook much at all.  As I am rectifying that, John and I decided to get back on the more healthy track.  Meaning: cut back on the sweets!  To my dismay, a batch of cookies or a weekly cake is not quite in our diets.  Not like it used to be.  I am not complaining about the positive change in our lifestyle, but I do miss the act of baking and the excitement I see on the boys' faces when they come home and see what is on the counter waiting for them.  I need to realize that baking doesn't equal dessert.  Homemade breads, rolls, muffins... They are all yummy and BAKED.  It is just a matter of changing my perspective.

I have been looking at a recipe for black bean brownies for months.  Delicious, lower in fat and calories, and full of fiber.  It sits on my counter beckoning me to take the leap and just make them.  I vow to have a report on these within the next couple of weeks.  I have high hopes.  I will not be disappointed.

John's Scarf

So I started this project in January.  It was supposed to be for my husbot's Christmas present, but I "saved the best for last".  I knitted scarves for all my besties and his was the bestiest and the most difficult.  I have never tried intarsia before.  It is possible I bit off more than I could chew, but a little perseverance and a lot of making things up as I go, I eeked it out.  I may have been better starting with a smaller, less complicated project to learn on, but this is the one he picked out.

My goal is to finish the entire project before November.  I hope that I can do it.  I think I can...I think I can...

This is the hardest part. Hopefully *gulp!

The back!  Now I have to weave them all in.  Ugh!

Once I get further on this project, I have my sister's Christmas project all picked out.  I found the pattern on ravelry.com (love that place), and I think it is perfect for her.  I made the mistake of going yarn shopping for it and now I am so antsy to start.  Maybe that will help the progress of the previous.

The yarn.  Bamboo and cotton.  So soft and comfy!