Happy New Year!

I am having a quiet New Year's Eve this year.  I am just watching some TV and knitting.  I finished a slightly less slouchy sockhead hat.  I used a little over one skein of Knit Picks Felici yarn in the Time Traveler colorway. I still have about 3  more skeins in my stash (I might have gone a little overboard on this limited edition color,  especially since I e already used 2 additional skeins for a pair of socks!).

Here's to hoping everyone has a fabulous 2014!

Kelly

Tis the season for giving

I am happy to say that I finished all of my work Christmas gifts.  I decided to crochet ornaments mainly snowflakes.  This way us Floridians can get some of the snow too.  Below are the majority of patterns I used.  Next time I will have to remember to set them sooner.  I set them twice using a glue water mixture and pinned them to dry.   I did this twice because the first application still had these rather flimsy.   

I also finished the BF's mom's wrap.  I started this sometime last year with the directions that she wanted something red to wear for when she goes to church.  During the Great Yarn Organizing of 2013 I found the project just barley started.  I dug down into my memory (which is sub par at times) and some how happened to find the pattern was the Lacy Wrap.  As you can see by the photos my cat (Charlie) has claimed it as his own.  Every photo I took had him in it, and on the FO.  Now all that is left to do is pry it away from Charlie and ship it off....well that and figure out what the address is.  I made this out of Premier Yarns because it was acrylic and the label indicated that it would not pill.  So far it has kept it's promise.  I went with acrylic because I know she will be a little rough with it, like throwing it in the washer and dryer.  There will be no blocking to show the pattern.  All in all I am pretty happy with it. 

The last few days I have been knitting extra on my snowflake blanket.  I am still trying to determine if I want this to be a throw size or a bed size.  After I have all the knitting done I will be backing it with felt.  I would get a lot more of this blanket done but this is what I have to compete with....


 

Three adorable cats that are behaving themselves.  One is laying on the half finished blanket so I can not add any additional squares, one on my lap which I am knitting around, and the third laying on the yarn organizer.  Funny thing is that a few years ago a coworker bought this yarn organizer for me.  I have used it mainly for plying my handspun but it has come in extra handy for this project.  It has 6 compartments inside that I have stuffed with worsted weight scraps and the solid white yarn.  This weekend it has been the place to rest for my Mage cat with only minimal interference with the yarn. 

 

I have been putting off the next bit of my knitting organization.  I want to organize all the patterns I have printed out and throw away the half printed out ones.  I keep finding page 4 of 8 but where are the other 7 pages!!  Back when I first started knitting I was pretty good at keeping them all together.  But that was also when I had 5 patterns and 2 magazines.  I can honestly say that has increased significantly.  On my to do list will be finding my page protectors and a three ringed binder.

 

I want to try to end 2013 with a clean slate.  I don't know how many of you feel but I can say that the last part of this year has really kicked my butt. 

And the rush is on

I hope everyone had a Great Thanksgiving.  I can say that 99% of my stash is organized and is up on Ravelry!  The first part of my organizing was great and fun.  I only started to feel a little overwhelmed when I pulled out all of the acrylic yarn and dumped it out.  I did rewind a lot of yarn which two of my cats thoroughly enjoyed.  I found a few projects I put aside because I didn't like how they were turning out or I got bored with them.  Most of those got frogged.  I also cam across a wrap (Lacy Wrap) I was making for my BFs mother.  I put this one aside because I couldn't find the yarn for it.  Finding it reminded me that Christmas is right around the corner and I am WAY behind on my Christmas knitting.  I am hoping to get this wrap out in the mail before Christmas but I will also need to make something for his stepdad.  Possibly a hat.

I did finish my Oaklet Shawl with only a few yards of yarn left.  I also casted on and off the Wurm Hat.  I shorted the length of the pattern.  I am hoping the temperature drops down again soon so I can wear it!

My next organizing endeavor will be to organize my patterns and finish organizing my needles.  That will take a while.

I will leave you with my cat and scrap yarn.  I only put a few of these on her.....

Gearing up for Turkey Day

Sandy here.  I am pretty stoked that Thanksgiving is right around the corner.  For me that means a lot of vacation time which translates into crafting.  I tend to have TONS of projects going at one time which turns into a love hate relationship.  On the up side I just finished making the Trilobite knit hat for one of my fellow Geologist.  Last weekend we went on a brief camping trip and the weather was dipping into the chilly degrees for us Floridians (in the 50's!!).  I made the hat out of the durable Patons Classic Wool in Dark Gray.  I can say it was a big hit.  During our camping trip I taught her how to knit and we visited a few fabric stores to look at the quilting sections.

After many attempts to make socks with my stashed yarns from lime & violet in the Smoke and Scent colorway I frogged it for the bigillionth time.  On the way back from Georgia I casted on the Oaklet Shawl with the Smoke and Scent.  I am about halfway done with the body of the shawl and they yarn is not refusing the pattern.  I can't wait to see the finished product!  I do not have a photo my progress but I have the next best thing.  One of my cats curled up asleep with my yarn while I am knitting!

Welcome to 2 Krafty Stitches!

I just wanted to type up a quick introduction post to our new blog.

This is 2 Krafty Stitches.

We are 2 friends who met through a knitting group about 6 years ago. We were both relatively new knitters. I'm not sure how long Sandy had been knitting at that point (but I do know she is crazy ambitious and talented when it comes to arts and crafts! Her first knitting project was a cabled can koozie...in the round! Can you imagine?). I had been knitting for less than a year and had just started my sock-knitting addiction that continues to this day. The two of us clicked and found ourselves in charge of the group when the leader left.

Now we both head up Tampa Knitters. We have our weekly meeting at a local Panera. Our group is not-too-big/not-too-small, but just the right size. Sandy and I love to bring new things to the group and do little reviews, so we thought why not do it here! We will also be using this blog to share our current works-in-progress (wips) and finished objects (fos). We hope you enjoy visiting with us here in our little place on the web!

Kelly

(I know I said this would be a quick intro, but as you get to know me, you'll notice that I'm the long-winded one!)