Frogged!

Here is a first for me. Ever finished an entire project and then frogged the whole thing!?

My most recent fruit cap was frogged and restarted this morning. I think I must have made an accidental decrease or just simply cast on the wrong number of stitches in the beginning. I attempted to m1 to fix it so I would have the correct number of stitches going into the leaves at the top, but in my haste I did it incorrectly and ended up with a large hole. This combined with some earlier stitches that looked funny, I attempted to rip back to before that funny stitches (about half the hat, only to discover that I still had the wrong number of stitches and ripped out the whole thing and recast-on. Luckily its a small and quick project, so it won't take me too long to finish it again.

In more happy news, I am finally feeling like I am getting the hang of lace knitting. I worked on Branching Out for awhile last night, and I feel like I am starting to understand what I am doing, although I still don't think I would do well at unknitting mistakes, so I am still using dental floss for lifelines.

We're Blocking

Okay, so I am blocking Not Your Standard Issue Sweatshirt (NYSIS). I am not really an experienced blocker, I have done it twice before (one time steam, one time wet). Actually, NYSIS looked pretty good without blocking, but I wanted to add some length to the body. It was just ever so slightly too short for my taste. I know blocking purists would gasp to see that I am blocking after I sewed all the piece together, and a only used a few pins. But I am not a purist, and so here it is in all its glory. If I decide I really love blocking, perhaps someday I will invest in blocking board. But for now, my living room floor with towels and garbage bags to protect the carpet will have to do.

I still can't believe NYSIS is done! I am itching too start my next sweater, but I have some gifts I need to work on first.

One project down.....

Well maybe two...the wedding is over and was perfect.

Secondly, I intended to have the Not your Standard Issue Sweatshirt done for the honeymoon, but alas, it was not meant to be. I was so close. I am now done except I have to make and attach 2 tassels and I am going to do a rough block just to stretch the length a little bit. I have not quite readjusted to East Coast time, so I may do the blocking tonight.....Once that is done I will post pictures. I just love the Knit Picks Main Line that I used to knit it. It is soft and bouncy!

I am almost done with another fruit cap for a coworker, and also started another pair of Fetching fingerless mittens for myself using some of the leftover Knit Picks Main Line Yarn I had after finishing Not Your Standard-Issue Sweatshirt. I loved the pair I made my sister for Christmas and really want a pair for myself for the fall.

I finally got my invite to Ravelry; I have now put in all my projects and stashed all of my yarns. I love it! It speaks the the super-organized person that I am, especially now that all the wedding planning is behind me and I have more time on my hands. Look me up, I am Hausknits.

Although I left the knitting at home for the honeymoon, I did purchase a beautiful skein of hand-painted yarn in Ketchikan, Alaska. It is from a company called Raven Frog Fiber Arts out of Sitka and it is simply gorgeous. The color is called River Bed, and it reminds me of all the colors that we saw in the landscape in Southeast Alaska. I can't wait to see how it knits up. I haven't decided what to make with it yet, but I don't think I will do socks. I am thinking about a Soft Drawstring Pouch from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts.


Our Alaskan honeymoon was amazing. Everyday we looked around us and we amazed that there are places in the world that are so awe-inspiring and amazing. I am currently sorting through the 1400 pictures that I took so that I can give friends and family the "best of" version and not all 1400 pictures!

I finally finished the last Harry Potter book on the honeymoon. It was a little predictable, but I loved it anyway! I then started A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. He also wrote The Kite Runner, one of my favorite books. So far, I am about a hundred pages in, and this one is a very good read. I will reserve saying it is as good as The Kite Runner until I finish.

I also never posted about The Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick. I finished this awhile ago, but with all the wedding stuff, I stopped posting for awhile. I enjoyed the book for a few reasons, the first being that I am decended from Issac Allerton, one of the men who sailed on the Mayflower, so pretty much anything related to that, I find interesting on a personal level. However, Issac Allerton does not have a lot written about him in history and was rather unscrupulous in his business practices within Plymouth Colony and ended up leaving the colony at some point, so there was not much in Philbricks book about Allerton. However, I thought Philbrick did an excellent job in portraying some of the darker history of the Plymouth colony and the subsequent war that ensued between the Natives and the early English settlers in New England. The Pilgrims we not always so nice, as many might think from the traditional Thanksgiving story. Overall though, I thought this book was a bit dry and tough to read at points. Especially when compared to Philbrick's In the Heart of the Sea which really took the whaleship Essex story and really made it read like a fictional novel that rally kept my interest.

Well that's all for now.

MIA

Been a bit MIA on the blog scene lately. I just got married on Aug 11, and things have been a bit hectic. I am currently exploring Ravelry, as I received my invitation while I was away on my honeymoon. I will post more soon!