Devon's Contest

My "hostess" for the dishcloth swap has come up with a contest questionnaire, so here are my answers:
-What is one baked item you love making or buying and why?
Brownies. Fun to buy, fun to make. (Boxed, natch - I'm not Martha Stewart! But I do like adding vanilla, cinnamon, or ginger to the mix; this makes them taste less "boxy".)
-What is one item you love to knit and why?
Right now, my favorite item is dishcloths. I get distracted on larger projects, and the cloths only take a day or two.
-Favorite outdoor activity and why?
Photography. I'm not much of an outdoor person, but when I venture out, I almost always have my digital camera with me.
-Favorite way to relax?
Knitting something mindless while my fiance watches TV. Doesn't sound very exciting, but it works for us. :)

Summer Dishcloth Swap

I got my "spoilee" information for the swap today. This is going to be fun.
(For my "spoiler" - my questionnaire answers.)

I'm in the middle of a pile of cloths for my mom for Mother's Day (different sizes of the "Idiot's Dishcloth", knitted on #8s in oatmeal-ish colored Peaches & Creme). I'll take a picture when I finish the stack.

Blog: Now With Pictures!

So I finally got around to taking some pictures of my projects for the last couple of weeks. Yes, I'm a slacker.

First of all: I really did make the aforementioned coffee cup cozy! (Well, without the handle.) I used #5 DPNs and Cascade 220, cast on 44 stitches, did 2x2 ribbing for about 3 1/2 inches (people with medium/large hands may want to go to 4 or 4 1/2 inches long), and casted off in ribbing (instead of in knit), which helped keep it from stretching until the cup slips out of the bottom. It fits perfectly on a 20 ounce cappucino cup:

After that, I decided it was sock time. I found a basic pattern somewhere (I can probably find the pattern if someone's dying for it, but it really was very basic) and set off into Sockland:

It needed about an inch more ribbing and an inch more in the foot length. I should have frogged it and reused the yarn, but I bound off and wove in the ends. I want to keep it for a while. When I'm better at socks, I'll pull this one out and laugh, laugh, laugh.

I made a couple of Mason-Dixon Ballband Dishcloths for a momfriend having a birthday. We put them in a pink bag with some pink soap, a pink candle, and a card with a pink flower on the front. Good thing she likes pink:

And then I may have gone crazy making dishcloths out of variegated cotton:

Don't know about you guys, but the one on bottom is starting to make my eyes bleed.

You can see how all of this picture-taking madness affected the other cat:

(Answer: not one bit.)

My favorite thing about summer...

... is watching the cats enjoy being outside in the sunshine. When they're basking, they're much more likely to pose for the camera.

I took a picture of one of the boys and made a jigsaw puzzle out of it on jigzone.com:

Not that I'm biased or anything, but that's pretty much the cutest cat puzzle in the world.

I'm a bit slow with the pictures, but good news on the DPN-learning front: After a cup cozy, I made a sock! I will post with pictures (and more bragging, natch) in a day or two.

I've finally figured out how to use DPNs. Thank God for little old ladies at the LYS!
I'll be working on simple coffee cup cozies while I practice, and then it's on to socks. (I got Knitting Rules! for my birthday, and apparently the Harlot's sock enthusiasm is contagious.)

I'll start posting pictures next week with a vengeance. You've been warned.

Happy Birthday to my little (well, not so much "little" as "younger") brother!

I'd planned on making him a blanket out of lots of black and green squares with alien heads on them, but making the aliens was dull, dull, dull, and that project has been relegated to a drawer. Maybe it'll get done in time for Christmas... a few years from now.

Whaddya mean, I can't do everything?

I've discovered that I have a few limitations, especially when it comes to wrapping string around sticks.

A Few Things I Can't Do While Knitting:
• Make my cats stop trying to eat each others' ears. It's like they think cat ears are fuzzy popsicles or something.
• Carry on a decent conversation while trying to read a pattern. Sure, I can carry on conversations that sound like "Hey, how are you doing? Crap, hang on a second: what line am I on? Where am I - oh, CRAP. Hang on, lemme figure out what I'm doing here..." but nobody wants to hear that.
• Watch The Riches. Every time I try, I end up switching needles and knitting the wrong way for a few rows.