Knitting Addiction

I have a favorite yarn store. It is in Kill Devil Hills, NC and called Knitting Addiction. I love this store because the owner is incredibly nice. She didn't bat an eye when I told her that I also crocheted. Then again, I was telling her of an experience with a lys in my town where the owner of that store DID bat an eye. I told that lady that I knitted and crocheted and she got all uppity with me and was really rude. Apparently you can't switch hit with yarn. LOL

Anyway, back to my favorite LYS and the owner Jeanne. She giggled a bit when I told her the story of my hometown LYS and the crochet story. I don't know if she didn't approve of crochet or not because she didn't let on. Good thing because if she had I would have to hate her too. People can "switch hit" with yarn, and I think it is a good thing. There are things that are better crocheted than knitted and things that are better when knitted instead of crocheted. If you can do both then you can have the best of both worlds. Right? Say 'right'.

Moving on. I don't get down to the Outer Banks but a couple times a year and I always try to get to the yarn store. She carries so many yarns that you just can't get in the big box stores. I love to touch and feel the yarns, wools, silks and cottons. They are just so yummy. Jeanne also displays incredible projects with the yarns that you need to make it as well as the patterns right there. Her patterns are $4.95 but if you buy enough yarn to complete the project the pattern is free. It is so good to actually see the project in true form so you know what it will look like before you begin. Jeanne is also so nice that she will sit down with you and teach you what you want to learn. Then help you with any problems that you have (knitting wise). She used to be a teacher so she is great at teaching knitting too. One can't help but fall in love with this store when they walk in. And if they don't then there is something wrong with them. LOL

I walked out with $113 worth of yarns and new knowledge of how to make cables. (Did I say I love this woman???)

Here is my first cable pattern that I made. It is a coffee cup cozy. It still needs a button and then it will go around a coffee mug. This will be so much fun to use in the winter time.

I made the cozy out of Peaches and Cream cotton yarn that I got at Walmart, in purple. I thought it would be a good practice yarn to use and I had just enough to make it. This pattern doesn't take much yarn. You could probably get at least three out of a skein of Peaches and Cream yarn.

I also bought these yarns: (sorry these photos are so dark and blurry. They were taken with my phone. It is all I have today)

Knitcol is a favorite yarn of mine. It is a little thicker than regular sock yarn but it feels so good. Knit them with #3 dpns. These skeins will be socks.

I really wish that these photos were a bit clearer. This yarn is so fun. It will also become a pair of socks. This is fun pretty colors AND sparkles. I love that I can make sparkly socks and with pretty colors. So fun! I had to buy it.

This is Princess by Elite, and it feels so snuggy. It is really soft yarn. Unfortunately Jeanne told me that this is discontinued by the manufacturer. I immediately went into mourning. I might need to get some more of this stuff.

This Mission Falls yarn is also being discontinued. I love this yarn too. I made a gator scarf with it and I love the way it feels. These skeins will become a pair of socks for my hunny.

This Merino 5 yarn is also soft but not fuzzy. Love it. It will be some more coffee cozies. I hope people like purple!

And finally, this is what I have been working on recently. This is a pair of socks using Red Heart Heart and Sole yarn. I love self striping/patterning yarns. I love to knit with them and see the pattern emerge. It is very motivating. I am knitting on #2 dpns and it seems to take forever to knit with #2's. I am about two inches from the end and then I have another sock to make. Then I can start playing with my new yarns I just bought.

I am hoping that I can make a bunch of presents for Christmas this year. I really want to make this a "handmade Christmas".

Story Tellers Kit Club

This past spring I joined Story Tellers Kit Club and thought I would like to get kits each month for scrapbooking. I love kits because they are already put together with coordinating papers and embellishments. I don't need to go searching for anything. It is all there in the kit. I heard great reviews from this club and I was anxious to join another club again. I love getting monthly "surprises" in the mail, even though I am expecting them and even though I pay for them they are still like presents to me, from me.

I got my first kit for $6 (can't beat that with a stick) and a discount on other past kits. I bought one more. I anxiously awaited the kits to come in the mail. I was so disappointed though when the first two came. They weren't packaged in a box, they were just in a clear cellophane bag. The post office had actually mutilated one of the kits in their automatic machines. It had punctured a couple holes in the kit's bag that it comes in. So sad but it didn't mess up any of the papers.

I looked at the kit and the paper was just okay. It was nice and heavy but it wasn't really my style of patterned papers. I set the kit aside. I forgot about it until the next month's kit came. I glanced at the kit and wasn't excited about it and planned to cancel the membership. But alas, I forgot until the next month's kit came. The kit's packaging again didn't protect the kit and it got damage. I again wasn't thrilled and I did cancel the club. At the same time I mentioned to their customer service that I was disappointed with the packaging and that two of the kit bags were damaged. They were nice enough to replace my bags and shipped two more out to me. But in the shipping one of them was damaged as well. I didn't worry with telling them though. It wasn't worth my time even though I would venture to bet they would have replaced it again. Their customer service is really good.

Here are a few layouts I did with one kit.

What I don't like is that the pp is not the kind that you can cut and use parts of on different layouts. It sort of is its own picture. I also didn't like the embellishments that you get. They are all die cuts and are slick. You punch them out and then use them on your layout just as they are. They are sort of difficult to use when you are used to using other types of embellies. The solid cardstock had a lot of linen in it and it tended to get fuzzy on the edges when you cut it.

I am still looking for a good kit club for the money. If you have any suggestions feel free to leave me a comment and let me know. I like to feel like I got a lot for my money, so I am looking for a kit that is packed with stuff.

Cute crochet flowers and hearts

First I have to apologize for not posting anything here in almost 6 months. I have still be crafting but I just haven't been posting. I will work on getting some great items up here particularly for Christmas gift giving.

Today I have been making these cute little gems. I just love these little flowers. I got the pattern from a friend of mine on Scrap Sisters Studio message board and I adjusted it just slightly to make a bit fuller petal. These little flowers are about an inch in diameter when crocheted with crochet thread and a size 0 hook.



The pattern is super easy too.

Little Crochet Flower

Chain 5 and connect to first loop with sl st.

Rnd 1: ch 3, 9 dc in loop. (counts as 10 dc)
rnd 2: *ch 2, 4 dc in next dc, ch 2 sl st in next dc* repeat from * to* making 5 petals. Tie off in back.


Now, check out these little heart gems! I {heart} these so much! I found the pattern online and I can't for the life of me find it again. I will edit this post when I find it to give the credit to the right person.



This pattern is super easy too. I memorized it quickly!

Super Cute Crochet Hearts

Chain 4.

3 tc in first loop of chain (all these stitches are in first loop of chain), 3 dc, ch 1, 1 tc, ch 1, 3 dc, 3tc, ch 3 and connect in loop with sl st.

To make a larger heart after you sl st at end do not tie off but continue around again for a second round.

Rnd 2: 4 sc in first ch 3, 2 sc in next 2 tc, sc around in each st to tc at the bottom of the heart. In bottom tc make 2 sc, sc around in each st to second tc. 2 sc in second tc, 2 sc in next tc, 4 sc in final ch 3 space. sl st to first sc and tie off.

See how easy that is???

Sparkly Cupcakes

I saw this big fat ribbon at Michaels the other day in the $1 discount bin outside of the store and I had to have it. I knew I wanted to make a card with it. I bought it and some other colors of big fat ribbon and came home and immediately made this card.

I love how the ribbon is polka dotted. I love the colors and the brown of the ribbon. I was not always a brown kind of person but over the years this color has grown on me. I used to hate how they made brown part of an infant color palette too but now I am loving how it goes so nicely with the pastel and bright colors. I played up the colors on the ribbon in the dots with matching cardstock. I had this cute cupcake bling in my stash. I got it in the $1 spot at Michaels a month or two back. I love that place (the $1 spot at Michaels). I love now that they are selling more scrappy stuff in that spot too now.

Back to the card. I put more dots around the borders to highlight the "dot" theme. It is blank inside but this card will be used as a birthday card.

Ugly Paper Challenge

participated in the Ugly Paper Challenge at Scrap Sisters Studio, a message board I love. Anyway, the challenge was to find, cut into 4x6 inch rectangles and send four of your ugliest papers to another participant.

Here is the "ugly" paper I received with a very cute card.

That card is so cute.

When I saw that grass paper I immediately thought that I could do an Easter card with the other papers as Easter Eggs "hiding" in the grass. This is what I came up with.

The idea was a good one but the execution wasn't so great. The papers that I was working with weren't really "Easter" colors which hurt the total effect of the card.

So I moved on and made a few other cards with the scraps of paper I had left. Separately the paper wasn't so bad, together they don't match.

This was a fun challenge.

Finished Sock with two toes!

I finished the sock last night that I had decided to put in an "afterthought heel". I am so glad I didn't chicken out and that I tried this method. So let's recap a bit. I was knitting a sock and I screwed up the heel because I had originally chickened out and opted to put in a regular heel but I messed it up so I ripped it all out. Then I knitted in a piece of waste yarn where the heel should go. I then just continued to knit the tube of the sock all the way to the toe.

Here is where we are now. Knitted tube and toe (real toe). In this picture you also see that I have two needles in the sock. I picked up the stitches just above and just below the waste yarn. It was easy because you can use the waste yarn as your guide so you don't pick up stitches in another row.



Then I used a small crochet hook and took out the waste yarn. I divided on side (can be top or bottom) onto two needles. Now I have three needles in and a "hole" but no loose strings. (how cool is that?? You aren't cutting any yarns)


You say, but you have a loose string right there on the bottom, I see it. Yes I do but that is the yarn I am beginning to knit with. One loose string.

Then you just knit another toe, exactly like you knit the first toe. Decrease 4 on every other round until you get to the last couple rounds of decreases and then you decrease every round (usually for me that is the last three rounds). Darn off like the toe of a sock, and voila, a heel.



How cool is that!!

Here are the things I like about this:
1. When using a stripe you have a full stripe. See how the stripe continues all around the sock even into the heel? A regular heel will give you unmatching rounds of stripes where you have to turn the heel. I never liked this look. This new heel (adding a toe) allows you to knit in the round and it makes the stripe flow better. Understand what I am saying???

2. It is pretty quick and not much counting or thought involved. Seriously, you knit a tube to the end then come back and add the extra toe for the heel. A toe is so much easier than a heel anyday. You can use this on patterned socks too because the pattern is never on the heel anyway so you don't have to worry about messing up the pattern.

3. You can do the heel and toe and cuff a different color and it will look so cool. Or even if you just to the heel in a different color. That would look fun too.

4. Did I say it was easy? No math involved???

Oh, and the sock fits great!

Okay, one little thing I didn't like about it. There is a part in the corners (side of your foot where the heel is connected) that the stitches get a bit stretched and it looks like a hole is there. I think you can fix this by making your stitches a bit tighter or picking up a row down, I think. I picked up a row down when I realized that I was going to have a "hole" and this seemed to help. I will perfect this problem on the next sock.

New Socks

I am knitting a new pair of socks.



I was going to knit them up with the same pattern I have been using. A basic sock, but on Friday I was reading the Yarn Harlot and she was talking about an "afterthought heel". She said that you can knit up the tube of the sock and knit the toe and then come back and add in the heel at the end. She said that you can pick up half the stitches and then cut a stitch under the row you picked up (gasp) and then pick up the row beneath too. Then you have a nice opening and you, ready for this?, knit another toe. YES, I said knit another TOE, where the heel should go. I did some more research and I was not liking the idea of cutting (gasp) a stitch. I was confused as to what to do with the cut strings on each side. Wouldn't they eventually make a hole? Nothing seemed to make sense to me.

So Saturday night I got the tube knitted up to where the heel should go and I got scared. So I just knit the heel, turning it and everything. About halfway through the heel though, I realized that I had messed up and I thought if I just finish maybe it will look okay, but in the end it didn't look okay. In fact, it was way too wide of a heel and it didn't cinch up like it should. So Sunday morning I ripped out the whole heel.

I did some more research on the internet and others were saying that you can just knit a piece of waste yarn where the heel will go later and continue to knit your regular pattern to the end of the toe. Then come back and pick up the stitches above and below your waste yarn and voila you have a hole for the heel. This made more sense to me because you weren't cutting anything.

So this is where I am. I am half way up the foot part of the sock about two inches away from starting the toe. If I am lucky (I am a slow knitter) I will finish the toe tonight and if I am industrious (or impatient) I will pick up the stitches where the waste yarn is and begin the heel (or second toe).

So far this seems to be a very quick way to knit a sock. (except for the ripping out of a very wide heel and starting over again). Heels are so hard anyway particularly if you aren't really using a pattern. I can't remember how far over to knit (or purl is it) to begin the turning part of the heel. I never seem to pick up enough stitches on each side either once the heel is turned which then makes for a bit of knitting fudge later.

Do you think I am crazy about knitting another toe into a heel spot? Let me show you something. Are you wearing store bought socks? Take one off or if you don't want to take it off grab a sock laying around close by. Look at the toe and how it decreases down to a sort of point at the end. A blunt point. Okay now turn it over and flatten out the heel, wide-ways. See how it goes down to a point too like the toe? It is a toe in the heel spot. See? Clear as mud right? Well trust me it will work (even though I haven't actually done it yet), but it will work. Those experts tell me it will and today I am trusting them.

I will post more photos of the whole process when I am done.

Smiles for now!! :) And head over to Skip to my Lou and check out what others have been working on this weekend.

Or here for a great giveaway!