WIP Wednesday - Can you spot the Difference?

Hello all!  I love WIP Wednedays but this week is a little challenging for me.  This past weekend my fingers flew on a project but it's still a WIP so I am asking you to spot the difference.  Shown below is the group picture from last week.

Last week's progress shot

Here are recent pictures of each project showing the progress I made.

Falling Water Scarf

Gryffindor Scarf

Karina Vest

Lego Blanket

First Socks

The difference should be obvious and there may also be a red herring in there.  So let me know which one you think is different and if you can't guess all will be revealed later in the week.

In other WIP news, I decided to take some inspiration from According to Matt and start a scrap blanket.  I had some yarn left over from my Green Merlot Hat and decided to make some Granny Squares.

Granny Squares (These are not what's different :P )

I also went through my stash to see how much scrap yarn I have and I was surprised at just how much was there.  I have come up with a dilemma though, what do you consider scrap?  I have some skeins of yarn that could feasibly be used in other small square projects and others that probably would only make 1-2 squares.  Where do you draw the line?

But, in general I really can't start putting them together as the colors right now are all pretty similar (Darn my love of Green!) plus I really don't have time right now to put them together.  This is definitely a long term project!

For other progress on amazing creations, check out the links at Tami's Amis!

<3 Heather

WIP Wednesday - WIP Overload!

I have freely admitted that I have Craft ADD.  I tend to start a ton of projects at once and then work on them over a long period of time.  Really I do this because one night I may want to work on something easy and mindless while watching a Penguins Game, other weekends I want to work on something that makes me think and pay attention.  Having lots of projects in motion helps me to meet my craft needs at any time.

Okay, that may be a lot of BS but that is how I justify the crazy :)

Anyway, in an effort to push through and see more finished objects I am going to show the progress of my WIPs each week and try and spot light the main progress I made during the week.

WIPs for the week of 3/4/2012

So in clockwise order, I have a Gryffindor Scarf, my Karina Vest, my First Sock, Lego Baby Blanket, and Falling Water Scarf.

I really got quite a bit done on the Gryffindor Scarf and the Lego Blanket.

I have mentioned the Gryffindor Scarf in a previous post but I made some progress and now it with the switch in colorway, it is starting to resemble the scarf from the movie series.  This is my mindless project as the 1X1 ribbing is easy enough to watch hockey while making progress.  It also helps that this is a gift so the pressure is on a bit.

The gold really makes the burgundy pop!

I also made progress on my Lego Blanket.  I am so excited to show the little stacks of rectangles, but I still have a long road ahead.

Stacks of Rectangles!

The original blanket is 9X9 which means 81 blocks.  I altered the color a bit and replaced the taupe color with green but I am still keeping with the 81 block theme.  Here is the breakdown of the numbers

• Red    -- 13/20 (1 Skein of Yarn Used)
• Blue    --  1/20
• Green  --  0/20
• Yellow --  0/21

As you can see, its still a mountain of crochet left to complete.

Speaking of completing I finished something this week that I have never showed before but I am super excited to share on Friday so please come back and check it out!

I hope to get some more progress on these but I am also trying to make headway in my "To Be Read" pile so finding balance is key.  How do you balance multiple hobbies?

Check out other wonderful WIPs on Tami's Amis Blog

<3 Heather

WIP Wednesday - Socks, Vests and Legos, OH MY

We are here again for another WIP Wednesday!  I love these days because not only do I get to share with you my progress but I get to check out what everyone else is doing and get inspired for more WIPs.  It's a lovely cycle.

I have a couple WIPs today, first here is an update on my sock from last week.

My First Sock!

I have another half inch done.  I love the yarn it is so soft and smooth and I really like how the 2X2 Ribbing is working up but I have been neglect of my sock at this time for another project.

As I wrote about on Monday, Sam and I took a knitting class to learn how to make the Karina Vest. We mainly took the time to swatch on Saturday but I worked on the pattern this week.  I started the ribbing but screwed up the knit 1 purl 1 pattern and ripped it out and started again.  Here is the work I have done so far:

Karina Vest

It really shows up pink in this light but it's a lovely orange Berroco Vintage Chunky in Pumpkin and it is so soft.  I just can't seem to put this project down. I still have a ways to go but I did the first 2 sets of shaping decreases and I checked my gauge and I am still right on track!

Next, I wanted to show you the new baby blanket I am working on.  I found this pattern on Pinterest and fell in love.  Really go check out the site and then come back.

Alright, welcome back :)  I mean how adorable is that lego blanket.  I have a friend who is due in a month and asked if she would like me to make the blanket.  I got an enthusiastic yes, so I went out and bought the yarn and set to work.

Aren't they adorable!  I did have to make a couple before I got the gauge but I really can't wait to get more colors to show you.  Alas, this had been on hold until I finish my exam today but I hope to get like 2-4 done a night.

Here are all of the WIPs, notice anything missing from last week?

You will have to just wait and see what I have in store for you on Friday!

As always, check out other WIPs at Tami's Amis

<3 Heather

Sam and Heather's Most Excellent Knitting Adventure!

I feel like this intro needs some air guitar #enernenrenrnerne#.  Anyway, goofy mood aside this week in Sam and Heather's Most Excellent Knitting Adventure takes us to Knit One in Pittsburgh, PA for a knitting lesson.  We both bought Living Social deals for a 2 hour advanced beginner's class in knitting.

our table during our lesson

Now, when we bought these I had finished the Penguin Hat and Sam hadn't tried knitting before so when I went to get the yarn for myself and Samie's Christmas Gift I asked what we needed to know for the class.  She said, we need to be able to knit and purl, cast on and bind off.  I passed along this information to Sam and she went wild with dishcloths and more dishcloths to be ready for our lesson.

Anyway, after several reschedules we finally had our lesson (During an intense hockey game too.  Alas, what I do for my knitting.).  We were early so we worked on some of our other WIPs but then we were able to get started. First we had a lot of yarn to wind.

Samie and our instructor Wendy!

We got to learn how to load the Swift

And the Yarn Winder!  I got pretty good at it

Anyway, once the lesson got started we started our gauge swatch and we all learned 2 things.

1. A gauge swatch help you to do the math to make the pattern work out.  
2. I cannot knit and hold a conversation.

Exhibit A

As you can see there is a hole in my swatch and I have a ridge in the material because I knitted where I should have purled.  I can watch hockey and talk to my dad while knitting but I can't talk to other knitters.  But really I am happy to understand the importance of a gauge swatch because we had some serious edits to do on the pattern for it to fit right and the swatch helped to understand the math.

There were other beginner classes going during the time we were there and they were learning how to knit a scarf.  I am super happy we chose the advanced beginner class.

Overall, my lovely Pumpkin Berroco Vintage Chunky yarn is amazing!  It is so soft and cuddly.  I am really excited to get this pattern going but I have an exam on Wednesday and all yarn craft must come to a stand still while I study.  Never fear, I have posts in the works for everyone!

I realized today, as I wrote this that I made homemade lasagna for my dad this weekend and didn't take any pictures for the blog.  Bad Blagger!  I will try and remember for next weekend!

Until next time.  Air Guitar out #nrterenenrennenr#

<3 Heather