Too blue

I've made myself a few sweaters over the years. But for some reason the all tend to end up in the back of my cupboard. They're only worn when there is NOTHING else to wear. And I mean nothing! Why is that? Is my knitting that bad?

Well, I really hoped that I would end this bad streak with this sweater I made about a month ago:

I thought it was a shoe-in for best sweater of the year! Cute pattern. Easy construction. Nice bright yarn. (That I just happened to have sitting around...)

But it turns out... nope. As you can see, I couldn't even get a good picture of it!

I wore it once, and while I liked it... it just didn't fit right. My fault. I didn't adjust the pattern. So I gave it to my SIL who hasn't been cursed blessed with stupid big swimmer shoulders. I'm hoping it'll fit her better and she'll get more wear out of it.

And I guess that sends me back to the drawing board.

Attention Defi... Oooh! What's that?

I definitely, without a doubt, no question have ADD when it comes to knitting. They're are patterns I've been meaning to knit, would love to knit, would love to have the finished object. I've had these projects bookmarked/queued for months and in some case years and yet I never get to them.

But then there are other patterns that I see and Oh! I just have to make that right now! I don't know what the difference is. Do I have to be in some sort of a lull and need something new? Does the patten have to be amazing? Some combination?

I'm not sure. It just happens. Like this hat Quinn was wearing on this week's episode of Glee. The second I saw it, I knew it would be my next knit.

Sure I have like 4 other things on the go. And 3 things waiting to be started. Projects that need to get completed. Doesn't matter. This has my attention now!

So... it didn't turn out exactly as I would have wanted. The end is a little too pointy.

But all in all, for wiping it up in two days, I like it! I'll definitely wear it!

And now I can return to my regularly scheduled knitting queue. Well... that is until I see the next .... Oh! What's that? ...

Gifting

'Tis better to gift than to receive. Or at least, I think so! Hence this hat:

A gifting opportunity came up out of the blue, so I found a quick crochet pattern, grabbed some yarn from my stash and whipped it up. I like the stripes! I think I need more stripes in my life.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a better picture. But I did get it in the mail. That's the important part. Hopefully it is liked.

Letters to Winterlude

Dear new skates,

Are you sure you're skates? You don't hurt my toes. Or my heels. You don't make me fall over! A feat(/feet) I thought was impossible! You are the best skates ever. I am so glad we got the chance to meet and hang out.

Love, -me

Dear Killaloe Sunrise,

It's been awhile. Probably 10+ years and if possible, you taste even better than I remember! You are by far the best Beavertail out there.

Hungrily, - me

Dear nephew who is just learning to skate,

You are pretty awesome. Next year I bet I won't be able to keep up to you!!

Hugs, Aunt J.

Dear canal,

You may not be the longest skating rink anymore, but you still rock. Keep it up!

-me

Dear ridiculously big cowl,

You are ridiculously big. Mammothly big! But you keep me nice and warm, and for that I thank you!

Thanks! -me.

Dear cold virus,

It's not that I don't like you, it's just that... ... ... Okay. I'll admit it. I don't like you. I don't like the coughing, sneezing, or 11hours of sleep a night I've been getting under your horrible dictatorship. But I skated on the canal today even with you hanging around, so take that. Now virus, if you would be so kind as to vacate it would be much appreciated.

I am, yours sincerely, -me.

Almost two right hands

It's winter. Definitely, definitely winter. There's snow. There's ice. The temperature is in the negative degrees. & I love it.

After 6 years in California where winter is little more than a rainy season, I'm really enjoying having a real winter. It's such a novelty! I don't even mind brushing snow off my car in the morning. I know! Crazy, eh? Sure, that'll probably change by next year, and I'll be like everyone else and longing for summer, but right now, I like all of it! Especially that I have a reason to wear hats and scarves and mittens.

When it comes to knitting, mittens were one of my first loves. In high school they were pretty much all I made. I made mittens for my best friend. I made mittens for the boy I had a crush on in Gr11. I made mittens to be sold at the church bazaars. I made mittens for the kids I babysat.

And maybe I burned out on mittens, cause I don't make mittens too often anymore. I've made a few arm warmers, but those are different.

But with all that yarn from the ugly sweater I made the mittens above to match my hat. Amusingly I almost made two right hands. The pattern I used to use was good for either hand so I didn't think about it until I was just about to start the thumb. Good thing I realized it!

These mittens rock. I wore these mittens skating on the canal and they totally kept my hands warm! Wool is the key I think. It just keeps the heat in so well. It helps too that the cuffs are long enough to go inside my jacket. Both good things to remember for when I make my next pair or warm mitts.

Frugal or cheap or just crafty?

They say you learn something everyday. Well, while I'm not sure that's true about today, I did learn something back in December. Did you know that they have 50% off days at the Goodwill?

Okay, so that's nothing special or exciting, but it does have to do with this post. Because when I was in the Goodwill just a week before Christmas to look through the kids books and shoes (man, does my niece ever love shoes!) I ended up coming away with this:

You are probably wondering what this ugly XL sweater has to do with anything. Sure I got for the low, low price for $3. But who in her right mind would buy it?? If you aren't wondering that, you should be!

Well, I didn't buy it to wear it. I bought it for the cheap wool. Does that make me cheap? Or frugal? Or just plain crafty? I'm going to go for the third. That's the one that makes me feel the best at least.

Out of the unraveled wool I was able to make a hat, mittens and the biggest scarf/cowl thing in the world.

Here's the hat!

As you can probably tell, it's my own random design. A random cable thrown in for fun. And even more fun: another pompom!

The best part about this pompom is that because I made it with previously used wool, the strands don't stick straight out, but curl. I think that's pretty freaking cute.

Pretty ugly

Do you remember being 6? or 4? (It's hard being 4 as I'm learning via my nephew...) When someone would say something, "Yeah. She's pretty. ... pretty ugly!" (Or it's hard being 22. ) and then think they were the coolest person in the world for figuring out that put down? I remember that one.

Well, in this post when I talk about pretty ugly, I'm not really referring to that. More like, when something is so ugly, or so different that you think it shouldn't work and then it just DOES!

So awhile back I was chatting with steph, who send me the pic below and said: "... look at the hat attached. ... It's so super ugly but it's to the point of being freakin cool."

(Picture from... Well, actually, I don't know where Steph got it from... but somewhere. I didn't take is.)

Well, I immediately knew that I *had* to try to make her one that was just as cool. So I raided my mismatching yarn leftover from old projects. I put it all together. Made a random pompom (I used to hate pompom, but I think I'm coming around after this hat!). And voila!

My ugly version of the hat!!

Um... yeah. It's ugly isn't it? When I finished this hat... I almost didn't send it. It sat on my desk for a week+ and I kept thinking, I just didn't get the so ugly it's pretty thing right. The colours are TOO different to work.

And then it started to grow on me. Look at it for a moment. The weirdo combinations will start to grow on you too. I promise!

Although maybe it's about the girl in the hat looking like she likes it. Because the review: "you know it really isn't that ugly :) " and "You are so right about it growing on you, when I first saw it I was like wow that's pretty ugly and the more I looked at it I was like that is fun!!!"

So yay for being able to use scrap yarn and make something ugly into something... well, still sorta ugly, but more importantly is fun! You know, I like it so much, I might just try doing this again.