FO: My First Sweater!!! March 25, 2008

Well, my friends, I’ve done it!!! My very first sweater is FINISHED!!! And here I thought making a sweater would be scary because it would take forever… (lol I’ll ignore the fact that I chose a beginner’s pattern….)

So since this is one of the bigger projects I’ve worked on (I actually did start a blanket once, but that’s a UFO for another story) it soon became the target of many kitty attacks. Here is one such instance. (She thinks she’s so cute! Look at that smug face! Grr!!)

Anyways, so the only real change I made to the pattern was the sleeves. I didn’t really want cap sleeves as I prefer the way ¾ sleeves look on my arms. So the first time I knit the sleeve, I didn’t make any decreases and just made a straight tube with my size 8 dpns and guessed on the length I should make it. But then when I tried it on it looked so strange.

As you can see, it was baggy in all the wrong places and the bottom rows of ribbing did the weirdest thing! I didn’t knit them long enough, so where they sat was exactly on my elbow. So any time I moved my arms, it would fold in this permanent crease halfway down the ribbing so it would just constantly pucker funny. Yeah, that got frogged fast.

So my next go with the sleeves went perfect. I decreased 4 stitches per stripe (13 rows each stripe) and managed to keep them lined up underneath the arm so they stay hidden. Yay!

Yeah, so here’s the picture! What do you think?

• And since I’ve started doing Finished Project pages, here is the link to the details of this sweater.
  
• And while I’m at it, I’ll even link to the Ravelry page for it! Wow! Fancy!
  

Oh yeah, on a different note, I just got Microsoft Word 2007 on my computer, so my blog posts might start looking a bit different since I’m using it’s “New Post” feature to see if it’s much easier than editing from straight inside of WordPress. I dunno, I might not use it again if I don’t like how the posts start looking. Plus I don’t like that I can’t use external photo hosting sites when I want to post pictures. They all have to get uploaded into my WordPress account, which might fill up kind of fast. Hopefully not. I haven’t looked into how much storage they allow you to have with your free blog.

If there’s anything you like or dislike about the way pages start looking, let me know and I’ll see if it’s something I can fix. Sorry if the pictures take a long time to load.

$0 in Paris: MY FIRST SWEATER! March 16, 2008

So a few posts ago I said that I was planning on making the Thermal sweater and that it was going to be my first ever full size sweater! But I’ve made a liar out of myself.

The yarn I want to use for that project is out of stock and won’t be available until April (teaches me to fall in love with the same yarn type AND color that the pattern was written in!) and I’m too impatient to wait until April to start in on a sweater.

So I’ve started the $5 in Paris sweater. And so far it hasn’t cost me a penny in yarn because I’ve knit the whole thing in scrap yarn and partially used skeins that I had lying around after I made a few baby blankets last year.

So here are a few pictures. Sorry the 2 in the mirror are so dark, but I couldn’t turn on the flash without getting a picture of a blinding white mirror that needs to be cleaned.

(ooh. free yarn! the before picture:)

and off the shoulders:

So yeah, now I just have to get the sleeves made and I’ll be done! woot woot. Thanks Pepper for recommending this project with that other yarn of mine! I love how fast it’s knitting and it’s super comfy and cute!

Oh, and in other news I’ve started making Finished Project Detail Pages for the projects I’ve blogged about. So far I’ve only completed one page (the Bubblegum shrug) but I’m working on them when I get a chance. You’ll be able to see all the project details by clicking the “FO’S: Project Details” button on either the top right corner of the page or on the right in the sidebar. Anyway, it’ll be really nice when I’ve got them up and running. Then I won’t have to make my blog posts as long, either.

My New Toy! March 13, 2008

So I’ve been wanting a new digital camera for a while now, but I’ve been to cheap to invest in one. But then my old digital camera did something I will never forgive it for:

{Enter Micaiah, front row of awesome concert, digital camera in hand and pointed}

{Enter Colby, guitarist from awesome band Bidwell, who also happens to knit (sexy, right?)}

{Colby: runs in front of Micaiah and makes an awesome face/pose for her camera}

{Micaiah: frantically clicks camera button, flash goes off, gleefully pulls up saved pictures to pridefully stare at the awesomest picture taken at a concert ever, when:}

Micaiah: “NO!!!!!! HOW IN THE WORLD DID IT NOT TAKE THE STUPID PICTURE??!! THE FLASH WENT OFF!!! CAMERA, I’M GOING TO PUNCH YOU IN YOUR STUPID FACE! I HATE YOU!!!”

Um yes. So now that you have relived this painful memory with me, look at what I got when I “stretched” (I hate to say blew, since that would make it sound like I wasn’t in control of my spending…) my camera budget (and ignore how horribly I take care of my nails):

And look at how beautiful the pictures are that it takes! :

YAY!!!

So I would like to say:

1- Look forward to MUCH better pictures of my projects, as I will now be able to actually focus on them up close without washing them out with flash. YAY!

2- Sorry if the pictures take longer to load now as the megapixels per picture have almost doubled what the old ones were.

XD YAY!!! So I still absolutely love my 35mm Canon way more than this one (I’m a dark room girl all the way) but for the speed, convenience, and VERY pleasantly surprising picture quality I am SO HAPPY about this digital camera.

Wish me luck on my next Bidwell concert this Friday. This thing had better take fast pictures of Colby, because I would hate to have to punch it in the face after I just spent what I did to buy it…

Past the point of no return… March 5, 2008

Wow, so I had planned on waiting until Chanel tried on the shrug before I did any more work on it. But I knew it was gonna be a while until she was feeling better. And I knew that I would be stuck at work on Saturday for 6 hours in a corner waiting for people to come buy jewelry, only to have a couple sales all day. So, with that in mind, I lost all sense of patience and decided to bring the shrug with me to work so I could have something productive to entertain me.

Anyway, I JUST finished this shrug about 10 minutes ago. Here it is!

Yeah, yeah, not too exciting, I know. It looks exactly like the last one. But it’s definitely bigger. Checkie:

I’m actually capable of squeezing into it! Which means I think it will fit Chanel perfectly!

Keep your fingers crossed everybody!

And Chanel: if/when you read this, I HOPE YOU’RE FEELING BETTER!!!! *poor thing!*

So I plan on starting a big project soon! A sweater! My first real sweater!! How exciting!!! I think I’ll end up doing the Thermal pattern from knitty.com though I have a friend thats been working on hers for over a year now. Kind of intimidating….lol. But its super cute, so why not?! Haha, plus, I’ve got plenty of boring Saturdays at the store for me to spend on knitting.

Later everyone!

LINKS (added 03-26-08)

• Link to Project Detail page for Bubblegum shrug
• Link to Ravelry project page for Bubblegum shrug