Shamrock Knits

To Give and To Receive

I finished my second Special Olympic Scarf. I think I'll try to make it reversible the next time I try this pattern. We'll see how it looks at the color change section.

I also received some yarn goodness in the mail from my Secret Pal. Three skeins of yummy Noro Silk Garden. Thanks Jo!

Supporting our Troops

I haven't been sending many packages lately through the BooksForSoldiers website. Between working so much this year, and my dad and mom's health issues, it's been pretty hard. I do send donations every now and then. Unfortunately, the website may have to shut down this year because they haven't raised enough funds to maintain it. Last year, the site was targeted with viruses. They've spent alot of money and continue to need money to stop this from happening again. It makes me mad that hackers, or whoever, would do this to a site that is solely for supporting our troops.

It doesn't matter what political party you're with, or whether or not you agree with the decisions our government has made in this war. We all need to support the men and women that are sacrificing their lives to maintain our way of life. Their efforts allow us to have differences of opinions. Their sacrifices allow us to speak freely without fear of harm. Supporting these men and women is not the same as supporting the war.

The name of the site is a little misleading. It started out as sending books only. It has now grown to sending just about anything the soldiers are asking for. Here are some of the examples of what soldiers ask for. My basement is full of cards, used DVDs, used books, games, hats, snacks, batteries, fleece blankets, etc for send for packages. I hope the site will be able to continue on next year.

Last year, I received a thank you from a soldier from one of my Thanksgiving care packages. He said it was the only turkey dinner he was getting that year. I'm guessing he was on duty that day or was at a site that doesn't have a large mess hall. One group of marines I sent packages to were living in a house in a residential area. There were 50 marines in one building. They just got a microwave and refrigerator, so I sent them each the microwave dinners that don't need to be frozen. I also sent them a bunch of DVDs. The soldiers usually have their own personal stash, as well as a library of sorts.

If you can show your support by donating money to the site, it will greatly appreciated. Enough of my ramblings on the subject. Have a great day!

Special Olympic Scarves

At one of my Thursday nights with my knitting group, we came across a request for scarves for the Special Olympics. Our group decided to knit or crochet some and we'll send off in one package. Betty has knit 2 scarves already. She's such a fast knitter.

These are my contributions. One is a crochet wave ripple and the other is my cable knit pattern. I did this pattern for a gift last year or the year before. I'll probably buy 1 more skein in each color and make a couple more. There's also a Ravelry group for the scarves.

SP Gift

I got a package, I got a package. I actually received the package last week from my secret pal, but I haven't had a chance to post until now. The first pic are the non-yarn items: pom-pom maker, notecards, magnetic notepad, post-it notes, candy, and a scarecrow.

The second pic has 2 skeins of Sensations Angel Hair and 2 skeins of Caron Spa. I haven't seen the Spa yarn before. It's a bamboo blend that feels really soft. I love the green color. Thanks Jo!

No Medal, but Cash!

Well, I didn't get Tomato done in time to win a medal. This is where I'm at now.

It's all wrinkled from being shoved in my knitting bag. I'm almost done with the body. Then, I just need to do the neckband and the short sleeves. I'm pretty happy with my progress. I haven't had to rip out and restart, so that's a huge improvement for me.

As far as cash goes, I won one of the door prizes at Stitches! I've never won anything like that before. I won $400, which really helps with the hotel and purchases. Woo hoo!!!!!!!! Here's what I bought:

The first picture are a gansey pattern, drop stitch cable pullover, and multiple ornament patterns. The second picture are my glorious yarn and pin purchases. I bought 2 shawl pins, which are both in the tan alpaca yarn on the left. I bought 4 skeins of the alpaca, 4 skeins green Riata, 1 cone Merlot Coltrain lace, 1 skein variegated green/yellow Graceful Lace, 2 bags blue Araucania, 3 skeins grey Super Sock & Baby, and 2 skeins Shepherd Sock.

The Lorna's Laces sock yarn is for my secret pal. I need to wash the scarf I made for her and get the final package together. I haven't received anything from my secret pal yet, but we been in contact. I'm anxiously waiting my goodies. I haven't said patiently waiting, because who would believe that? :)

Still Competing

I'm still trying to compete. I'm almost finished with the waist shaping. I have about a couple more rows to go before I start increasing for the hips. I don't know if I'll finish in time though. I'm attending morning classes at Stitches every day. I still have homework swatches to do for Saturday and Sunday classes. There's a Ravelry meetup on Thursday night and a KIB Saturday night.

It's scary to say this, but so far, I've only had to rip back a few rows a couple of times on this project. This is a vast improvement over restarting several times. Even if I don't finish in time for the closing ceremony (which is during my Sunday Stitches class), I'm happy with the effort. Any time I can complete a project thr first time around is medal-worthy in my book. Here's the latest photo. I won't be able to post anything until Sunday night because I won't have an internet connection.

For those attending Stitches, I'll try to save some yarn for you. :)

The race has begun

I have started my blue Tomato. I swatched twice and decided to knit on size 5 needles. I would normally knit the 40", but I hear it runs big and to go down a size, so I'm doing the 35.5". I knit 2 rows after joining and tried it on. Sorry for the bad bathroom lighting picture

The additional stitches cast on in the front seem fine when flat, but when I tried it on, they were really loose and saggy. I've ripped back the 2 rows to that point. I'm going to cast on again, but with a tighter cast on. The first cast on was the backward loop ,since the pattern said to do this for the additional underarm stitches. It didn't mention anything for the front, so I did the same thing.

All in all, this is a pretty good start for me. It didn't seem too big, so I'm going to continue on. I didn't get a chance to knit much last weekend, so hopefully I can catch up.

Ravelympics

As if I don't have enough going on, I decided to compete in the Ravelympics. This is the summer version of the Knitting Olmpics. I was originally going to do Something Red by Wendy Bernard's Knit and Tonic, but I don't have enough yarn. I'm going to do her Tomato pattern instead. I know this is a quick knit for many, but I am the guage and pattern reading challenged, remember? I haven't decided yet, whether I'll be doing the fair isle pattern or not. If I do, I'll need to get yarn for that.

I have swatched with a size 7, but my gauge was a little too loose. The pattern calls for 18 stitches to 4 inches and I'm getting 16 stitches. I've heard that I should do a size smaller due to negative ease. I'm going to try swatching again with a size 6 needle and then decide from there. See, this may be more difficult than it seems. :)

SP Question 7

What is(are) your favorite place(s) to knit?

For machine knitting, I have a section of my basement set up. I like to have background noise around me, so I put in a movie. I don't have the cable hooked up in the basement and the tv has a tape player built in, so they're usually older movies. This is fine with me, since I've seen them so many times that I know what's going on without watching the screen.

For hand knitting and crochet, I usually knit on my bed or the couch and watch tv. I also knit during my lunch hour and meet weekly with a group of friends at a Barnes and Noble. Sometimes the only knitting I get done for the week is when I KIP (knit in public) with my friends. I haven't gone to a KIB (knit in bar) with Robin in awhile, so I think we should do that soon while it's still nice outside.

What supplies (besides yarn & needles) make the setting perfect for knitting?

Being surrounded by other knitters is really helpful. If I get stuck on the pattern or am not sure how to modify the pattern, someone in my group can usually help me out. I'm a visual learner, so having someone show me a technique really quickly is much easier than trying to interpret pictures from a book.

SP Question Catch Up

I'm finally catching up on my weekly questions.

Week 4 :

1) What yarn (that you don’t have/haven’t used) would make your stash “complete”?
2) What yarn do you never want to be without?

Those are tough ones. I don't think I have a yarn that would make my stash complete. Unless it's a never ending supply of yarn. In today's buzz words, a renewable supply of yarn would be great. I guess I would never want to do without a squishy wool blend; a light cotton blend; and wait for it.... acrylic. I know there's a gasp out there, but I like acrylic for afghans. With my cats, I need to constantly wash and prefer to dry my afghans.

Week 5:

1) Where is your favorite place to go for vacation/holiday?
2) Where is one place you’d like to go?

My favorite place vacation spot is San Diego at my aunt/uncle's house. I love the SoCal area and they're great to hang out with. The one place I'd love to go is Ireland. Ihaven't been anywhere in Europe, but I'm longing for Ireland.

Week 6:

What is your favorite type of project to take along on holiday/vacation?

I like to bring a crochet project. It's more portable and you don't haave to worry about airline security issues. I have brought sweater projects before, but not in my carry-on luggage.