Ball Winder and Swift

So, I am in the market for a winder and swift. I am curious as to where you have purchased yours and what the brands are? How is the quality and ease of use? What are the prices that I should expect to pay?

Thanks for your help!

Time to whine.

I think it is great that the online knitting world seems to be blog-centered. I love to read blogs. I feel a connection to those who expose their lives on their blogs. Seeing pictures is great. Being exposed to others creative output is inspiring.
However, it can be frustrating. My previous interests were always forum-centered. Being a member of an active forum is another great way to get to know people. And further more, it is a very easy way to ask questions and quickly get answers. Maybe I haven't looked hard enough, but I have yet to find a truly active forum for knitting. I am a member of get stitchy! forum and Knitting Forum. Whenever I ask questions or look for advice, at most I get one or two responses and they never tend to be what I am looking for.
And this is why I have decided to blog. So that I can have a place to ask questions and seek advice and hopefully get answers, ideas, and inspiration from a myriad of people with different points of view. I realize that it takes a long time to get viewers to come to your blog, never mind an actual following. But I have been trying to post comments on other people's blogs more often and such to try to get people to come out and read what I have to say.
Well, I will leave you with a picture of a bunch of baby socks and hats that I have made recently. My cousin is expecting triplets in December! Baby socks and hats are a great way to use up left over sock yarn!

Joining the Bandwagon for...

Koolhaas Hat! As you probably know, it is from IK Holiday 2007 issue. It reminds me a lot of Shedir, in certain ways. So I decided to make it out of Rowan Calmer. I am doing a light blue that I got on sale from my LYS - only $7 woohoo! I was originally going to make Shedir for my mom for Xmas, but when I saw this pattern, I thought it would be fun to give it a go. I cast on the same number of stitches as for Shedir - 128. Still divisible by 8, which is how many stitches that are in the pattern. Hopefully it works out! I am excited by it! I am doing it on Clover US 2 dpns. I have 1.5 repeats done out of 4, so not too bad. Here it is:



I am sure you admire my amazing photography skillz...just kidding. I can actually take nicer photos, but my camera isn't so great. It does better outside, but I took these pics at night. Oh well! I can't wait for it to be done!

Lets Try This Again

Sooooo, I had a false start to this blog thing. I really really want to be a blogger. I am not a great writer, but I feel like having this would be a good outlet for me and a good way to connect to other knitters. I am really still learning about myself as a knitter, so it is a never ending process of discovery. Seriously, I can not complete a single larger project. I have had two sweaters on the needles for about 8 months now. But I can focus and finish smaller projects like hats and socks. So that is what I have been sticking to! And my stash is getting a bit out of control, but that is okay! Destash is addictive, hehe!
Oh gosh, I have worked on so many things over the months. And I even was part of two different swaps! I will blog about a few things each time. I'm just so busy with school and I don't really like how Blogger works, oh well.

Odessa by Grumperina
Rowan RYC Cashsoft Baby DK
Color 809 - Blue Boy

I made this for my boyfriend's mom. The color is actually more periwinkle - the second picture accurately represents the color. Fun pattern to knit but it really hurt my hands. I'm not sure if it was the yarn or the needles - metal DPNs. This yarn is heavenly soft.

Worsted Weight Yarn from Aran Islands, Ireland
Woohoo! My best friend was in Ireland and look what she brought me! I dyed it using easter egg dye into a delightful combination of blues, greens, and yellows. It has yet to become a FO. I tried twice to make it into a Hemlock Ring Blanket which was made infamous by Jared at BrooklynTweed. It was just not meant to be. If you have any suggestions for it, let me know! It is a bit scratchy, so keep that in mind.

Welcome to my humble abode!

So, I'm completely new to this online writing thing. Never was able to do a livejournal or any of that stuff. Please cut me some slack while I get broken into this!
Let's see, the basics:
I am a college student.
I study Historic Preservation - this means I like old things (and, of course, cute old people).
I love to knit.
I enjoy dyeing my own yarn but am still very experimental at this point.
I am eating Jelly Belly jelly beans right now.
I prefer short knitting projects instead of larger, longer ones.
I heart heart heart crab rangoons. duh.
I have a cat. And a dog. But they live with my parents. *tear*
My roommates and I tried to have Sea Monkeys as a pet last year. It didn't work out. And no, I don't want to talk about it.
I enjoy photography. But I want a better digital camera.
I think I am a pack rat. It is mostly because I can find a propsed useful purpose in almost everything. Opps.
When I grow up, I want to have my own hippie farm.
And lastly, I like both cool and warm colors.

I will leave you with a finished object. I need to work on photographing other ones. And maybe even photographing some WIP *gasp*! It is a Flamingo Pink Shedir!



Not perfect, but I'm happy with it as my first intense cable project.

Come back soon!