New Books, Future Projects

My mother-in-law and I visited a close-out retailer store 2 weekends ago. I've heard about it but haven't been to one 'til then. Well, guess what?? I found knitting books for sale at only 30-33% of it's retail price!!! I got the Hollywood Knits by Suss Cousins and All Stitched Up by Jane Crowfoot. I couldn't help but buy it even though my husband just bought me the One-Skein book on eBay a few days prior. Gosh! Where else can I get such great deals?? Nowhere!

So anyway, I was still in a daze for the next 3 days. I couldn't help researching for other branches of this close-out store coz I was hoping to find more knitting books. Unfortunately, the 2nd store didn't have any... but the one on 84th St. has Hollywood Knits Style also by Suss Cousins. Yey!!!! I've almost completed all the Suss Design books that I have on my Amazon Wishlist! (I wonder if they'll have Home Knits too someday...)

So anyway, just last Sunday afternoon, I also found the book Adorable Knits for Tots --- omg! the patterns are soooo adorable! Makes me want to knit all of it for my future kids! Btw, I got it at Michael's with my 50% off coupon. =D

Yeah I know. I have so many knitting books now. That's it for me. Promise. No more books. (Unless I find Home Knits at 73% discount!) I think I have enough patterns to last me a decade. :P

Below are some of the patterns that I am itching to knit after my current projects are done. I can hardly wait to make those beautiful throw pillows for our new family room! Oh! The baby bonnet and the girls' daisy dresses... They are so adorable!!!!

Finished and Unfinished

It is not true that I have procrastinated from working on my projects.... only from blogging! In between running errands and my usual chores at home, I still found the time to knit and was able to finish and send off (to CA) my cousin's baby afghan. It's a 29" x 29" square and is very pretty. I actually want a lavander one for myself! (without the hood of course!) I also sent the cream beret hat to my friend Anne and the ribbed hat in roanoke gold to her twin, Grace. Anyway, they all should have gotten it already by yesterday and I really hope they liked it.

Here is where I am now with the baby sweater. I know I am taking such a long time to finish it... but it's my first sweater --- and my first time to do intarsia. It's fun to knit but kinda difficult. I have already sewn together the sides of the sleeves and the body... I just need my instructor to help me sew the 3 pcs together and to teach me how to do the neckline. I sure hope I'll be able to give this to our friend's baby before winter is over! haha!

I found some nice Lion's wool at the Hobby Lobby last week and tried to make the beautiful cabled clutch bag which I found in my One-Skein Wonders book. Unfortunately, until now, I couldn't find the right bamboo sticks to use as handle. I've seen some round and square plastic (bag) handles at Michael's and Hobby Lobby... but found no bamboo sticks. Oh well. I just have to keep searching, I guess. If anyone knows where I can find a pair, I'd appreciate it if you'll let me know. :)


Last week, I re-organized my knitting baskets and found more unfinished projects. If there is such a thing as a Second Sock Syndrome (SSS), I have the SMS ---- Second Mitten Syndrome. Sucks. I could've made a pair already by now if I just used the same kind of yarn! :P

Sweater Update

I finally learned to sew together the sides of the baby sweater. I'm currently working on the sleeves and should have it ready for my next class on Thursday so my instructor (Lydia) can teach me how to sew it to the body of the sweater. Everybody in class loved it and one of the ladies, Tiffany, plans to make one for her 2-year old boy too. Oh yeah... another thing about the class last Thursday was that my "classmates", who are all English knitters, got interested in learning continental knitting. They all think it's more efficient than dropping off the needles in making every stitch. Cool.

Project Update

I would say that for now, I have given up on the UGG-style baby booties. I found a berroco at Personal Threads last week though... so we'll see. Maybe I'll have interest in doing those booties again after I finish knitting my baby boy sweater.

Speaking of which, here is where I am now with my class project. Hopefully I'll be able to finish the sleeves before I go to class tomorrow so my instructor can already teach me how to sew it together.

In the midst of making the sweater, I got inspired to make a baby afghan for my preggy cousin, Rio. She's due to give birth to a baby girl by mid next month so I am trying to finish this project as fast as I can. Oh I'm so excited for her!! She'll be decorating her baby's room with pastels pink and green so this baby pink afghan would be perfect! I'm making it with Bernat Baby Coordinates (Sport Weight) using 2 strands together throughout the whole project. I like that it has some shiny element in the yarn, which unfortunately, you won't see it in this pic. (Sorry for the ugly shot) It's veeeeeery soft and pretty!! I can't wait to finish it!

My First Class Project

I've totally changed my mind about my first project for my knitting class coz I found this beautiful baby boy sweater from the book Total Baby Knits by Candi Jensen. I don't have any kids who could wear it yet, but I swear, this pattern blew my mind when I first saw it. I just gotta knit it. The pattern is called Fair Isle Friend and below is what the sweater should look like:


Pretty eh?? The pattern calls for Cascade Pastazas... but Personal Threads don't carry that yarn so I bought Gallaway yarns as an alternative. The main color that I am using is Gallaway Heather #711 and the 2 contrasting colors for the fair isle stitches are solid colors #152 and #83. Basically, it's the same palette as on the picture above.


It was a bit of a struggle knitting with 3 different colors at the same time but my instructor, Lydia, taught me ways on how to carry the yarns with my fingers. I started with the back piece and I am now at that part where I shape the armpit section. My target is to finish all parts of the sweater before next Thursday so Lydia can teach me how to sew the ends together.