Burning the Midnight Oil

 I usually get idioms wrong. You know the saying "Killing two Birds with one Stone"? More than likely I have said "Killing a Bird with two Stones". Actually, I have said it that way. I get it all twisted, that is why for the title of this post I had to do a Google search to assure that I was saying the idiom correctly. My brain works in mysterious ways my friends.

Today's blog title is because it is passed the mid-night hour and I am sitting here in the semi-dark typing away. I prefer to be sleeping right now, but my body decided it was time to get up so here I am. I was thinking of picking up my March project or my April project and working on that, but my wrist is still feeling tender from whatever it is that I did to it on Friday.

Which means that today you get mostly my sleepless ramblings, Ravelry pattern day dreams and maybe a confession or two. Like, I have not been able to keep to my "no Yarn buying till November plan". Yeah, I cheated at the Homespun Yarn party last weekend. I only bought two skeins, but I still broke my yarn diet. I have no self control. For my second confession, I plan on breaking it again at Maryland Sheep and Wool in May.

By the way, what is up with Bottom-up tops? What is the point of designing and knitting or crocheting a garment from the bottom-up? I have found so many nice tops that I would love to make but I see the dreaded bottom-up tag and it is automatically vetoed. I have to try on tops as I make them, my main fit concern is at the top, not the bottom of my tops. I want to make sure that I make all pattern adjustments early on and the only way to do that, at least in my world is by trying it on as I make it. I have other pet peeves but I think I will stop here since I am sure you do not want to read all my crazy woman complaints.

Let us move on to the good stuff. Ravelry patterns that I currently covet. Folks, I must tell you that I can never die, my Knitting/Crocheting wishlist will take me a life time or two to complete. But I am sure I am not the only one with that problem.

First Pattern up is Miss Holloway:

Not my photo. This is the Ravelry project photo.

I love this pattern! It is by Sarah Wilson a.k.a The Sexy Knitter who I am a big fan of. If you look at my Ravelry queue you will find a hand full of patterns by her. Mind you there is no way in gods green earth that I will make the above pattern or some of the ones in my queue, such as this one. Why? you ask. Because I do not have the body requirement for such a garment. I would look like one big round-square. Yes, ladies and gentleman, I have created my own shape. It is called the "Knitting Chica Body". But it is a pretty pattern and I must put it out there for the masses that have the right shape to make this pattern work.

Next up is Fannie Fouche:

Not my photo.This is the Ravelry project photo.

Seriously folks, this Cardigan is beautiful. You have to go to the project page and look at the other detail shoots the designer has. I seriously cannot wait to make it and will be fitting it in somewhere into my knitting schedule. I may even knock off one of my 2013 planned projects just to fit this one in. I have already started hunting for just the right yarn and buttons for this cardigan. The designer Ellen Mason has some other very pretty retro deigns so be sure to check them out. There are two other cardigans of hers that I like but were vetoed due to them being bottom-up. :-/

Last but not least is Princess and The Pea:

You know a shawl had to be added to the list somewhere! This pattern was brought to my attention by my co-worker. It is a Lily Go design and if you know this designer you know she designs some of the most beautiful shawls. I currently have this and this one in my "I hope I get around to these patterns in this lifetime" queue.

Since this post is not already long enough I will add photos of my most recent sewing adventures. This was for a Google+ swap where we made each other project bags. Aside from the project bag I made my partner a tote bag so that she has something to carry any new yarn she happens to stumble upon.

Tote Bag

Project Bag, big enough to hold a cardigan.

Well, that is all I have for today. I am finally feeling sleep knocking on my door so I must go answer it's call.

Until next time, Happy Knitting!

~Knitting Chica

Hi, Long Time No See

It has been a while since I blogged. It has taken me these few weeks to get adjusted to my new work schedule/commute. Now that things seem to be more balanced I can get back to my normal blogging routine.

I hope that everyone in the East Coast made is through hurricane sandy safely. We did not suffer much of a disturbance in the DC area, at least nowhere near the devastation that happened in NJ/NY.  

Rest assured that just because I have not been blogging does not mean that I have not been knitting or crocheting. I have been doing both and this month is turning out to be a busy project month, with 3 hat projects, 1 sweater project and a pair of socks. Yeah, yeah, I know I am nuts. 

I have completed 2 out of the 3 hats, I am working on the sweater and the socks I have had to frog and I plan to start soon. Depending how the month plans out and if I do not totally fail at keeping myself on task I may get a 4^th hat in the mix.

I also got the Noro Crochet book and it is to DIE FOR! I want to crochet all the things on that book. I know I won’t, but a girl can dream, right? I will have a post later this week reviewing the book.

Finally, I wanted to say that with the New Year the blog will get a new look! I am super excited and I cannot wait to share it with you all. I hope you all end up loving the changes that will take place as much as I do.

 My goals for 2013 are to blog more and get myself better organized. In order to reach those goals, I need to start by putting in some serious attention to the blog.

With that being said, what changes would you like to see to the blog? What can I do to improve? What would you like to see more off? Or what would you like to see that you have not seen on here yet? I would love to know what you all think.

Until next time, Happy Knitting!

~Knitting Chica