All about chem...

No knitting for me this week. I'm up to my ears in midterms and homework, so my sweater is going to have to take a couple days off. I made some progress on it last week though, and hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures this weekend. I also ordered some sock yarn and tiny tiny tiny needles to attempt socks on.

New Knits

Finally found the camera cord last night. Ryan offered to help me look in my room, and found it after about 2 seconds of looking. Somehow I missed it, oh well. Now some knits:

Simple Mittens
Yarn: Lion Brand Wool in Ocean Blues
Needles: US7 and US5
Time: A couple days
These didn't take very long to make and were easier than I expected. The very top is more pointy than I would have liked, but looks better once they are on.

Shake Your Pompoms Ski Hat
Yarn: Red Heart Designer Sport in Pistachio and Cocoa
Needles: US7 and US8
Time: A week or so
To make the hat warmer I really should have made it with something other than acrylic yarn. The cheapo yarn also makes it too stretchy and annoying to wear with curly hair. It stretches out too much and makes my head look kind of huge. I'm trying to buy better yarn from here on out, so hopefully this will be the last of the Red Heart for a while.


In a Twist Wrist Warmers
Yarn: Don't remember, it was from a million year old crochet project
Needles: US6
Time: 2 days
I love the cable knit on these, it was really fun to make. The cables don't show up very well on the photos though. The yarn worked better than I expected considering that I only made these to fill time until I can start my sweater. If only I wore wrist warmers...
All patterns from The Knitter's Bible:Knitted Accessories by Claire Crompton.

Now I'm just waiting until the yarn I ordered comes in the mail. Once it's here I can start work on my sweater pattern. Exciting!

Camera Shy

A couple days ago I finally finished the chocolate and lime ski hat I had been working on. Hoping to post some pictures I went to get my digital camera only to find the battery dead, and my battery charging cord missing. It was just a day full of bad luck. Either way, pictures didn't get posted (obviously), but hopefully they will be soon. One good thing did come out of my camera disappointment though. In my frustration I picked up my needles again and cracked out a cable knit wrist warmer. I still have to make the other one (1/3 complete), but the project was super quick, and took me less then 24 hours to make. It probably helps that I got sucked in an America's Next Top Model marathon and sat there mindlessly knitting. The cable knit was deceptively difficult looking, and fun to make. I messed up a few times, but the ribbing and pattern help to disguise it, plus the yarn is a solid color. The only sad thing about the project is that I totally don't wear wrist warmers (a little too emo?).

Tomorrow I have no intention of going to school or working (Sorry Dad). Instead I'm going to spend my morning sipping mimosas, eating french toast and watching the inauguration. I hate to pass up any opportunity to watch Anderson Cooper. Between his awkward chemistry with every other CNN anchor and his pretentious white hair, he's captivating. Not to mention, I figure college is probably the only acceptable time in my life when drinking in the morning is okay. After my CNN-athon I'll take some time and sort through the wreckage that is my bedroom. Hopefully I'll be able to find my camera cord, otherwise my camera problems are bigger than not being able to post my knits.

Beginning

Hello! I made the choice (after looking at about a million other sites) that it might be a good idea to start a knitting blog. Hopefully I can use this as a place to post things that I'm working on, along with my completed projects. The idea is for me to improve...a lot! Most sane knitters probably don't start blogging until they want the world to see their work and talent. I am not one of those knitters (unfortunately). Instead, I think that this would be a good way for me to look at any progress I'm making and hopefully have some knitting accountability.

By the end of the year I would like to:

Make a piece of cable knit
Make a decent sweater
Make socks
Try to Swatch and Gauge for EVERY piece I knit
Start using GOOD yarn (goodbye Red Heart)
And possibly make something WITHOUT a pattern (scary)

That's a lot in a year, but I'm feeling strangely positive about it all.

Tonight I hope to finally be done with a lime/chocolate ski hat that I'm been working at for a week or so. Once finished I'll post some pictures, along with recently finished mittens.

-Rachel

p.s. Yes, the blog is named after my hamster, Nibbles. It is extremely difficult coming up with a clever title that hasn't been used before...so for now, it will be Nibble Knits.