Nutcracker Knitalong Update!

The Nutcracker performances are over and I'm still knitting gifts!!!  How's everyone fairing with their Holiday Gift Knitting?  Mine is coming along although I might not finish everything quite on time...That's what the 12 days of Christmas are for, right?

I've finished a few Irish Hiking Beanies...might have to try a few more since they are a superfast knit and I need a few "boy presents".  I've also got a stockpile of mittens and shawls in my knitting drawer to share with family members.

Right now, I am working on a Raha Scarf by Nancy Bush.  The pattern is in Knitted Lace of Estonia by Nancy Bush which would make a lovely gift for any knitter on your gift list.  This scarf is about 50% complete.  I'm using The Sanguine Gryphon Skinny Bugga Yarn in Starry NightCracker.




Raha Scarf

I've also completed a few Noro Striped Scarves. What an easy knit! Here's one that I've completed. I love the way the colorways worked out. I used two different Noro Silk Garden colorways; one with primarily brown/gray tones and the other with pink/blue/green shades.



KCMomof2 shared her knitted Christmas Tree Skirt.  Wow! I love this pattern and have added it to my queue:

Snowball Tree Skirt

So, what knitting gift projects have you completed?  Share here!



And The Winners Are!

I'm happy to announce the winners of my Yarn Giveaway! Drum Roll Please!
The First Place Winner (Wollmeise Yarn) is...

First Place Winner Number 17 Jessie!

Jessie said...

I liked you on facebook :)
dodington at gmail dot com
November 16, 2011 1:52 PM


and  The Second Place Winner (Sanquine Gryphon Yarn) is:

Second Place Winner Number 76 Kristin!

Kristin said...
I just retweeted your tweet about the possible 2nd winner! Hope it happens !
November 20, 2011 12:09 PM

 Congratulations Jessie and Kristin! Please email your names and mailing addresses to me at iknit2purl2@gmail.com so that I can send your beautiful yarn!

Thank you so much to everyone who participated in my yarn giveaway! 



Yarn Giveaway!

Like all of you, I am planning some holiday gift knitting.  As I was going through my stash, I realized my hubby was probably correct and I do, in fact, have much more yarn than I need.  So...

Wollmeise Yarn 100% Merino Superwash in Kornblume

To celebrate my updated blog (have you seen my patterns page?) and my Facebook Page, I'm having a Yarn Give-Away.  Look at this great Wollmeise fingering weight yarn! It's 100% Merino Superwash in Kornblume (574 yards, 150 g), a vibrant blue with sublte variations, just perfect for socks or a shawl.

How do you get a chance to win?

•  "Like" my Facebook Page.  Come back and let me know that you have for an entry into the giveaway.

•  You can also follow me on Twitter  Come back and let me know that you have for an additional entry.

•  F ollow my blog.  Leave a comment here to let me know for an additional entry.

•  Tweet about it!   Then leave a comment here.

               "I just entered to win iknit2purl2's yarn give-away at http://bit.ly/gVI9QT"

                 You may tweet about it as many times as you like and each tweet may be counted as a separate entry as long as you come back and leave the link to your tweet every time you tweet for additional entries.

•Blog about it! Write a blog post with a link to this giveaway in your blog post. Come back and leave 5 separate comments with your blog link in the first comment (ie Comment #1, Comment #2..) for FIVE additional entries!


Giveaway Details:

•Participants must be 18 yrs old or older to enter.

•Participants must live in the US or Canada to enter.

•(1) Winner will be selected by random number generator and will receive (1) skein of Wollmeise 100% Merion Superwash 574 yd in Kornblume

•Giveaway runs from 11/16/11 - 11/25/11, 11:59pm EST

•Participants must provide an email address to be contacted if he/she wins. Email addresses will not be used for solicitation purposes.
 
PLEASE leave each individual entry in a SEPARATE comment so that they all get counted by the random number generator. Your comments may not show up immediately as all comments are moderated.

I'll announce the winner on Saturday November 26th so that I can send out early the following week!

Good Luck! And Thank You for reading my blog!


Update on November 18th...If my Facebook Page  gets at least 30 likes on it by Monday November 21 9am, , I will add a Second Prize (for a second winner), this delicious  skein of The Sanguine Gryphon Eidos fingering weight yarn to the Give-Away.    The Colorway is Scylla, a deep blue with touches of green.  At 420 yards, this 100% superwash merino wool yarn is more than enough for an average size pair of socks or shawlette. 

The Sanguine Gryphon Eidos Yarn in Scylla!!!

Thank you for joining in the Give-Away Fun!

A Princess of Yarnia

My Halloween costume this year really reflects my knitty alterego....a sparkly tiara for a Princess of Yarnia.  You know what I mean...one of the many who love to knit and love yarn, all yarn! Here's a sampling...

Red Heart yarn for Special Olympics Scarves 2012 project.  Great project that I have done with my daughter the past two years...can't wait to start this year in blue & red!

Pretty Lorna's Laces yarn....perfect for socks and shawls.

Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock....great colorways for awesome socks!

Sanguine Gryphon...more great colorways for socks and shawls.  And the reason for the missing tiara in the last two pictures?? I'm wearing it, of course!  Princess Yarnia is off to fill the trick or treaters' bags full of candy!

Happy Halloween!



A New Pattern to Celebrate Socktober!!!

Effervescence Socks by iknit2purl2 on Ravelry

To celebrate Socktober, I designed a sock pattern to share with all of you! Effervescence is now available  as a free download on Ravelry.  It's an easy knit, using the mock cable stitch.  By utilizing yarnovers and slipped stitches, you create a pretty cable pattern over a 2x2 rib.  This sock pattern alternates the mock cable stitch between the ribs which creates a bubbly, effervescent look over the sock.  And did I mention it's easy? An 8 stitch pattern over 4 rows creates this fun look!

The yarn above is The Sanguine Gryphon Skinny Bugga in Miss Spider.  At 450 yards, one skein of this fingering weight sock yarn is more than enough to make a pair of Woman's socks in size Medium.  For the pair below, I used Blue Moon Fiber Arts Lightweight Socks That Rock yarn in Turquoise.  Again, one skein (360 yards) was more than enough for a pair of Woman's Size Medium socks.

 

Block Party!

I think most knitters would agree, a knitter's idea of a block party is significantly different than what most people would think...I finally blocked some finished knitting projects.  I had so much to block that my small set of Knitpicks foam blocks wasn't enough to get the job done.  I had my mind on completing this huge task and so last week I went to Target and found these children's foam blocks:

And, now, some blocking progress!

I finally cast-off Romney's Kerchief....I couldn't get myself to do the recommended cast-off...it seemed like it would be just too time consuming. Last week, I decided to go up to size 10 needles and cast-off.  A bit of a risk, as I was almost out of yarn but it all worked out fine.

My Not At Sock Summit Socks...I loved knitting with The Sanguine Gryphon Skinny Bugga yarn although I was "meh" about the pattern....size 1 needles too...a never ending project but very nice results!

My Rose Lace Stole!! I love this! I love the lace pattern! I really love rectangular shape! I want to knit another rectangular shawl ASAP!

Andrea's Shawl - Loved this pattern too!  Such a pretty combination of green! And, surprise! Look!  The lace looks mostly like the pattern photos! (I thought I was making all kinds of mistakes!)




What did I learn from my block party? Wow, blocking can really accenuate lace patterns! And, all of my shawls blocked to the correct size.  Even the Rose Lace Stole which I was soooo worried about.  Now, to get some photos of all these finished projects onto Ravelry! 

Whatcha Been Up To?

I feel like I've been quite a bit MIA from my blog the past few weeks.   Between part-time accounting work, crazy kiddo schedules and trying to design some knitting patterns (more on that later), I haven't been able to sit down long enough to actually post something here in a while.

I'm having a lot of fun trying to design some socks.  I carry a graph paper notebook with me everywhere.  I'm almost at the point where I can write the pattern down and put something on Ravelry so stay tuned for an update.

I'm also knitting some socks for my husband.  I've knitted socks for my daughter (who says thank you and wears them), my son (who says thank you) and for me (I love my hand-knitted socks).  But I haven't tackled anything for my husband until now.  Of course, he wanted dark socks which I am finding are very difficult to knit in the evening.  I'm using yarn from The Sanguine Gryphon in Sooty Dancer (Bugga) which is knitting up quite nicely in this diamond pattern.  I wanted to knit something a little bit more interesting than a plain sock and this pattern isn't difficult and provides a nice, simple detail. Hopefully, perfect for my hubby!



I'm thinking of trying to knit a shawl or wrap soon but can't decide on a pattern...any suggestions?  My daughter's dance recitals and two, yes two, weeks of rehearsals are coming up (next week start's the rehearsals) so I am feeling a bit of a need to start a new project to get me through those looonnnnnggggg nights of rehearsals.  So...whatcha been up to?  Tell us here!