smooshie baby sweater

I finished this sweater for my expectant cousin:
She's due soon (July) and it'll be bundled with the baby blanket I finished for her. I used Sirdar Confetti yarn, which is SO nice knit up! Although, it's a super-bulky yarn, and the pattern called for just bulky yarn, so it required that I fudged the pattern a little to adjust for the tension. Hopefully it'll be ok!

cheesecake cupcakes!

I'm on a cupcake kick now, don't know why. Not that my baking skills are all that stellar, but I'm getting into cupcakes nonetheless. Last week I had the idea of making cheesecake cupcakes, and just followed the recipe printed on the back of a graham cracker crumbs box. I wound up with these:
I used both regular sized and mini cupcake cups & trays, and made steller snackable cheesecakes! They turned out so good... will need to make them again!

rarely do I blog my cat...

... but I found this to be particularily hilarious...

Apparently my cat enjoys chinese food take out - the other day she spent twenty minutes half in the bag that the food came in the night before!

am I crazy?!?

I think I've officially gone bananas, starting up a sweater when the warm weather kicks in! lol...

My MIL bought this Aran with Wool yarn while she was in Ireland - 2 skeins, and enough to make a sweater, with the thinking of making something possibly for DH. This was like 2 years ago, and I've finally cast on.

I love the Aran Pullover pattern in the Knitting With Balls book, partially because the sweater looks awesome, and also partially because the guy modelling it is kinda hot. Plus, DH likes the sweater too.

Granted that the sweater calls for a worsted yarn, and I'm using aran weight (is it ironic that a non-aran weight yarn is being used for an aran sweater?!?) I'm still following it as is, because the tension is close enough, plus it'll come out a teeny bit bigger. According to a lot of people on ravelry, the sweather is a bit narrow anyway, so this slightly bigger tension will likely help.

Phew, let's see how long this takes me to knit!

Pictures, finally!

Finally, the camera program in the new computer is set up, and I can post pictures!

The blanket I finished 2 days ago for my cousin is called Heart Blanket, a pattern by Bev Galeskas, and officially my first finished lace pattern (short of a couple basic lace scarves). Phew, glad to get this one done!

I made it somewhat to the pattern specs: the 'large' version of this blanket is 9 hearts across (the small is 7 hearts across) but I only made it 12 hearts up - which is the small version, heightwise (the large is 14 rows of hearts). But, I managed to use exactly 6 skeins of S.R. Kertzer Northern Worsted, literally, w/o even an inch to spare! Kinda glad when projects work out that way!

finished, but pictureless

I've just finished a baby blanket I've knit for my cousin. But, since we've switched computers @ home, I can't load pics of it just yet. It's a blanket that I started back in February, and I'm glad to say that I've finally finished it last night, while watching Lost. Phew.

Pictures to come soon, I promise.

etsy stuff... knitting stuff...

First and foremost, to get it out of the way: I'm having a Clearance Sale @ my etsy shop, because I'm temporarily closing it down... so here are the deals:

~*~ SPECIAL FOR MAY 2009 ~*~

(check shop announcement for more details)

- All vintage patterns are BUY 2, GET 1 FREE. Please buy your three, I will refund the value of the third (equal/lesser value) and its shipping cost via paypal!

- WHILE QUANTITIES LAST: a free homemade sheep shaped bar of soap (3oz) will be included with EACH knit or crocheted item in my shop.

- HEMP KNITTING KITS ~ for the duration of their listing ~ come with a FREE bonus skein (100g) of hemp yarn (please check listing for more details) AND free shipping PLUS a free pair of bamboo knitting needles! Great deal for less than $20!

So, that's that.

Also, a while back (I may have blogged about this, I don't remember) I started knitting a baby blanket for my expectant cousin (who's currently 6 months preggers) ... I've been slacking off a little the last month or so, but caught up this week, and am about 2/3's done! Yay! Pictures will come soon, no worries...

Spring CreativFestival

Today was spent @ the CreativFestival @ the International Center... which was very cool, although I was truthfully a little disappointed. The autumn one is HUGE, and a part of me was expecting the spring show to be something like it - but it was only like a third of the size. Nonetheless, I walked out with a crochet kit and a book - $10 off! Score!

adventures @ Knitter's Frolic

I spent a couple hours today hangin' out in Toronto @ the Knitter's Frolic over at the Japanese Culteral Center... it was sooo much fun! I had found out about it from Linda over at Linda's Craftique, since she had a booth there and was obviously attending.

I did find some fantastic goodies - a knitting kit with 4 skeins of baby alpaca yarn, and 4 1-skein patterns, which are going to make fantastic xmas gifts, plus a couple goodies over @ Linda's booth: a black sheep tape measure & a beautiful shawl pin.

I also had the great fortune - while ordering a cup of coffee - to meet Amy Singer of knitty, who was standing in line behind me! (Cool!) We chatted for a little while, while ordering our respective drinks; it was pretty interesting to meet a knitting celeb! :)

cooking & knitting

I don't know why this idea has been stuck in my brain the last few days...

Wouldn't it be neat to have a knitting themed cook book? I, being the knitting dork that I am, thinks so. A few months ago I was watching Martha and saw a woman making knit-looking sweaters out of marzipan and thought that was simply brilliant. But what other knitting and crocheting themed items can be made with food? Is there a special knit-tini? Something involving crocheted spaghetti and meatball pompoms?

Have I completely fallen off my rocker with this idea, or what?