12.29.2007

Hey! It's starting to look like a mitten!

Ok, the real reason that I wanted to post tonight was to say I got a Treasury on etsy you should go check out. My Treasury theme is "So Beachy." You can see it here. (Please note: it will expire on 12/31 @ 8:39pm, so check it out asap!)

But, hey! While I'm here, I will show you my Bird in Hand mitten #1: That's one good lookin' mitten, I think. Not bad for a girl who has not knit any real Fair Isle before.

And, while you're reading my blog, why not check out the details of my contest I am running?The details are here.

Have a good night. Happy Knitting!


12.27.2007

Inside out sock....and a contest!!

Inside out sock, you say? Well, yeah. All I am saying is you know that you might have been having a rough morning when you get home from work, take your shoes off and realize one of your socks has been on inside out all day. It was not a handknit sock, it was a Napoleon Dynamite sock, but still. Crazy day, I tell ya. :)

(And for those of you who don't want to read my blog, just want to find out about the contest, the info is at the bottom of this post. But, hey, while you're here, why not read the blog. . . . .)

Anyway, I hope everyone had a nice Christmas or holiday or whatever. Mine was pretty good. On Monday afternoon I went to my parents house, went to visit the grandparents with my dad and then hung out with Alex family. Tuesday there was much gift exchanging and eating going on. Overall, it was good! Pretty stress free, which I like. And, I got some good stuff too. My parents bought me a kitchen scale for yarn dyeing purposes, and my sister got me some Addi Turbos from The Loopy Ewe so I can knit my socks on two circulars! She also got me this:

It's a hoodie that says Knitting Like Crazy with my etsy site! I love it. I am now a walking billboard for my yarn. Good times.

Also, I signed up for a Indie Dyer Swap on Ravelry, and I got good stuff from my swap partner, Ruth:It's some hand dyed yarn in colors she thought I would like (Like? Um, I love them) and a project bag. I have been eyeing those little project bags for awhile, so I am quite excited to have one. Thanks, Ruth! (Btw, Ruth has an Etsy site with lots of good stuff....just sayin').

Between all the squeeling from all the good yarny gifts, there has been some knitting. First, I have completed one sock with the Panda Wool yarn from my Ravelry Secret Santa:
The cable, or I should I say 'faux cable' I took from a stitch dictionary, modified it a tad, and put it on my sock. I really love the way it came out. I was already to knit the second one, but then I got distracted. By this:

It's a Bears sock! I don't know why, on Sunday I felt the urge to knit a Bears sock. So, I got out some of my Superbowl Shuffle yarn and started a-knittin'. A-knittin' the Bears right into a victory, I think! I have noticed when I am knitting Bears-related socks, the Bears do well. I mean, I don't want to say it's all my fault for the bad season, but, well, it might be entirely my fault. I wasn't knitting any Bears socks until Sunday. Sorry!

Finally, I had been seeing the Bird in Hand mittens popping up more and more in blog/Ravelry-land, so I decided I need to knit some:

This is my first real attempt at Fair Isle. It's going well, I think. I only have a tiny bit of mitten, but I am loving it so far. This is likely what I will be knitting on this evening. I think this mitten might be addicting! :)

Well, that's all I have for knitting, but now, a contest!

Ok, so my dear friend, Mel (the one that I am teaching to knit), is going one of those Polar Bear Plunges in February. I think she is nuts, but it is for a good cause. It's for Special Olympics Wisconsin. Mel is such a good egg and does all kinds of stuff to help people with disabilities, and I thought it would be nice to try to help her. So, here is what I am going to do. It's all on the honor system here, but I figure knitters are pretty honest. You can donate to Mel's Polar Plunge here. Once you donate to her, send me an email (jenATknittinglikecrazyDOTcom) or a message on Ravelry (I'm knitlikecrazy) and tell me your name and that you donated. It doesn't matter if you donate $5 or $500, your name is going to be entered into a random drawing for some fabulous prizes.

The prizes?

Prize number one will be two skeins of custom dyed Knitting Like Crazy yarn. You can tell me the weight of yarn you want and the colors you want and I will dye it up for you. I typically dye with 100% Superwash wool or a Superwash Wool/Nylon blend.

Prize number two will be one skein of yarn from my etsy site. That's right, baby! Once I have emailed you to say you won, you can go to my etsy site, pick one of the available yarns and it's yours...for free!

The contest starts now and will end on January 26 at midnight, central time. The winners will be notified on January 27.

So, let the donating begin!

Hope everyone has a good weekend! Happy knitting! :)

12.19.2007

Another Wednesday Post. . . .

Apparently, I can only post to this blog once a week. It's a new rule I made for myself and didn't tell myself about said rule. Ah, December, why must you be so busy?

Anyway, much has been going on in the land o' me. First, I joined a Ravelry Secret Santa Yarn Exchange, and here is what I got: Panda Wool...yum! I may have a wee toe of a sock with this stuff. So nice! My package came from Kris in PA (quiet1 on Ravelry). Thanks Kris!

I finished some Fetchings in the last week: These will be gifted to someone this Christmastime. I do love them so. It will be hard to see them go.

Here are some specs:
The Pattern: Fetching from Knitty. I am sure none of you have ever heard about this pattern. :)
The Yarn: Kathmandu Aran, bought out of a clearance bin at I'd Rather Be Knitting a few months ago, one skein
The Needles: Size 6 dpns
The Results: Another fine Christmas gift!

Then, I started working on a pair of mittens:

The yarn is some that I dyed especially for my sister. She requested some yarn in the Bed of Roses colorway, and then she informed me that I am to take the dyed yarn and knit her mittens, a scarf, and a hat. What a nice sister! As it turns out, I love knitting mittens. Like socks, but faster! I am planning more mittens in the near future, especially these ones.

Other than that, I have been knitting a little on the Morning Glory Wrap and I am going to be starting on my sister's scarf tonight. I am going to knit My So Called Scarf. I have been dying to knit it for sometime, and I think the yarn will look nice with it. We shall see.

Anyway, that's probably going to be it on the blog before Christmas, so Merry Christmas and happy knitting! Hope Santa brings you lots of yarn!

12.18.2007

KLC Patterns for Sale

From now until the end of the month (1/31/10) 50% of my pattern sales will go to Doctors Without Borders to help with relief to Haiti.
Come Fly With Me Socks


Come Fly With Me Socks

Lacey! Feminine! Cute! What's not to love. Pattern available for just $5.00 in my store.

Spider Lace Socks
Spider Lace Socks


An easy lace pattern that can be adapted for all kinds of sock yarn. Just $5.00 in my store. Just click on the buy it now button above.



BEET DISHCLOTH

Beet Dishcloth

Perfect for all those beet lovers in your life.
Available for purchase for $2.00. A sweet deal!

FREE KLC Patterns

All of my free patterns are available as downloadable PDFs. Questions? Comments? Concerns? You can contact me at jenATknittinglikecrazyDOTcom.
Faux Cable Socks


Faux Cable Socks
download now

You don't need a cable needle for these babies! Get a nice looking "cable" without all that work.



iPod Nano Cozy


iPod Nano Cozy
download now

Perfect for those leftover sock yarn scraps. C'mon, you know your iPod needs a cozy!


Mock Cable Rib Socks

Mock Cable Rib Socks
download now

A very easy two row pattern repeat. Just as stretchy as 2x2 rib but so much more pretty!

Knitting Like Crazy Disclosure Policy


The Knitting Like Crazy Disclosure Policy
This policy is valid from 21 February 2010

Book and Product Reviews:


One thing that I like to do on this blog is book/product reviews for fiber related items (this includes knitting, crochet, spinning and general fiber related items). Some of these products I receive are review copies/items from companies. While I am not compensated in cash or any other way for these reviews, I do keep the free products that are sent to me (and occasionally use them as blog giveaways). That being said, the fact that I have been sent review material of something does not mean that I will give it a good review. I take a lot of time to read, study and review the materials I receive and work hard to make sure that I convey my honest opinion about these items. 

Also, on some occasions, I will receive an item and choose not to review it. I will notify the company it came from to let them know that I will not be reviewing the item, and will return it (at my expense) if they so ask. 

Going forward from the date above, I will be noting in my review if I received the item from a company as a review copy. If I have not noted it in the review, it can be assumed that I personally acquired the item. 

Podcast Reviews:
Podcast reviews are my own personal opinion. I have not received any item for free in order to provide these reviews nor have I been compensated in cash for the review. If a podcaster asks me to do a review of their podcast, I will do so. However, I will be giving my personal opinion about the podcast. This means that I will not give a podcast a good review just because the person asked me to do it.

Compensation:
I use affiliate links for the following websites. This means that I would receive a small percentage from any sales generated from these links.
  • Amazon.com
  • Craftsy.com
  • Interweavestore.com
 Any links to The Loopy Ewe online yarn store link back to my Loopy Ewe account. I do take advantage of their referral policy where any new customer sales that link back to my blog I will receive a $5.00 store credit. 

This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. For questions about this blog, please contact me at jenATknittinglikecrazyDOTcom.

Created 02.21.2010
Updated 08.12.2016

12.12.2007

It's in full swing, people!

Man, the days left in 2007 are just a-flyin' by! I can't believe it's already the middle of December. I am at work, thinking about how I should blog, you know, it's been two or three days, and I come home and I am like, crap, where did the week go?! I think everyone must be feeling like this, right? :)

Anyway, I have been doing my best to set aside knitting time. And, it's working. Things are getting finished. First, I have this little purse:
Look at that crap-tastic lining! I tried my best to sew/stitch it in there neatly, but I am no good at these things. I think it is good enough though! I love this little purse and I think the recipient will love it too.

Here are the specs:

The Pattern: I don't know, I made it up. I did some seed stitch, then some stockinette, then some seed stitch, etc, until I could fold into a purse-like shape. Then I knit a strap and attached it, threw some lining in it and some buttons on it and called it a day.
The Yarn: Patons Shetland Chunky Tweed, one ball
The Needles: Size 9
The Result: A fine Christmas/birthday gift for my coworker.

Then I finished my Lacy Socks, Part II: The Specs:

The Pattern: Toe up, modified stitch pattern from stitch dictionary. I swear, one day I will finish writing up the pattern. It's getting there.
The Yarn: Koigu KPPPM, that I bought at Mosaic earlier this year
The Needles: Size 2, my standard sock knitting needles
The Results: Pretty good. I love these socks, but the foot is slightly long for me. Next time I would start the gusset/heel parts a little sooner.

That's all for the FOs for the last week. I have been working on existing projects and not starting new ones, which is good. I am almost done with the Fetchings I have been working on, and hope those are done tonight. I have about six-seven more rows and a thumb to knit. That's about an episode of Friends, I think. I even picked up the Morning Glory Wrap again. Well, I picked it up, realized it was all sorts of messed up, had no idea where I was, ripped the whole thing out (only about three inches) and started over. It's going much better now. There are post it notes involved this time.

Hmm, what else? Well, I ordered some more yarn to dye, and I don't know what happened, these somehow came in the box too:

Harmony needles! Hooray! I will be knitting with these babies soon!

And, finally, I just updated my etsy site with this: It's called Sunset Dreams. It makes me think about taking a vacation somewhere warm.

That's all for now. Have a good week. Hope it doesn't go by too fast! :)

Happy knitting!

12.05.2007

Let's Be Honest Here. . . .

Well, much has been going on in the land o' me lately. Christmas shopping is in full swing, unfinished projects are everywhere...ah, December!

Anyway, here is the update on a project or three of mine. First we have this little purse:
One of my coworkers has indicated that she wants a knitted purse. So one ball of Patons Chunky Shetland Tweed later and we have almost a completed purse. I even bought fabric to line the inside. I am hoping maybe tonight I can finish this.
Then we have some socks:

The yarn is Koigu (yum...Koigu) and the pattern is my own. Remember the blue Lacy socks of earlier this year? It's the same pattern, but I went toe up this time. I am still trying to write the pattern to maybe put it on my website. One day. One day. These socks are going pretty fast. I started the first one on Sunday and had it done by Monday night. Of course, on Sunday I went to two knitting groups so there was a lot of knitting done that day!

Finally, there are the Fetchings:I knit the first one in a day, but Fetching number two has been sitting at the bottom of the knitting bag for a week or so. The goal for this week is 1) finish purse, and b) finish Fetching. These will likely be gifted as well.

There are a few other WIPs around here, but I am ignoring them for the time being. Someday they will have their turn. It's so hard to not cast on for new things. I bought a new pattern this week and I am so in love with it. I even bought some yarn to go with it, so when I have finished some things, I will be ready:


This is my first skein of Fearless Fibers and holy crap it is nice. So soft, so pretty. I want more!

Like I said earlier, on Sunday I went a-knittin' all over the Chicagoland area. First I went to the Northwest Suburban Knitting Group in the morning then it was down to Strands in the afternoon for some more knitty goodness. While I was at Strands I delivered much yarn:


It's all superwash worsted weight. I am really liking dyeing the heavier weight yarns. Hmm, I might have to dye more of that soon!

Anyway, the rest of this week is going to be a little low key. Tomorrow there will be some yarn dyeing and possibly some more Christmas shopping. Maybe I can squeeze some knitting time in there too!

Happy knitting!

11.28.2007

O Xmas Tree!

After seeing pictures of Lorna's Christmas decorations, I decided that I wanted to show mine off too. I thought some of you knitters out there might like some of my Christmas decor!

First we have the tree: It's a small tree, but living in an apartment there is not a lot of room. About three years ago I started a tradition of having a Christmas village, just like my mom:
I buy one new house each year. My town is growing. I hope one day it will have a yarn shop! So that's what's under the tree. On the tree we have these:
Knitted/yarn related ornaments made by me. The two "balls of yarn" I made by glueing some yarn onto a styrofoam ball and then winding away. I think I saw it on the Michael's website. I also made that red bell (it's one of the first things I ever knit) and the snow man. Usually they are not all bunched up on the tree like that, but I moved them--for show.

Finally, Alex's mom got us these:

Can we please talk for a minute about my knitting Christmas lady!?!?! She said she got it somewhere in the Pigeon Forge, TN area. She saw it and had to get it for me and got the Santa to match for Alex. I love all my decorations, but this new addition is obviously the best one!

I have some other stuff too that I didn't take pictures of. I made a couple of Snowman pillows with some fleece and I have a collection of snowmen all over the place.

That's it. That is Christmas in my apartment!

No knitting has taken place in the last three days. I must do something to fix that soon. Tonight might be the night for knitting we will see. If I can get the printer to work there may be yarn labeling tonight as well.

Happy knitting!

P.S. Sarah--I saw that you tagged me, but I was having a very hard time coming up with answers to the questions. I may take a stab at that again in a couple days. :)

11.26.2007

No knitting, but I am buried in yarn over here!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I would say mine was pretty good. I ate way too much but that's cool. It's Thanksgiving!

I have been knitting a little bit here and there over the last few days, but today I wanted to show you what I did in between all the eating:The yarn factory has been in full swing! And it's going to be open again in about ten minutes. I am excited about all the yarn I have been dyeing for Strands over the last few days, but I am even more excited about this:Bears yarn!?!?! Yes, please! There are a few skeins of this on my Etsy site. Perfect for all the Chicago Bears fans in your life! :)

That's really all I have to show for you now.

I taught Mel how to knit on Friday. She learned so so quick and she has the most even tension for a new knitter that I have ever seen. It was seriously remarkable. I can't wait to see her garter stitch scarf!!

Happy knitting everyone! Hopefully I will have some knitting to show off later this week. :)

11.19.2007

Socks and Sock Yarn. . . .

Well, quite a lot has happened in the last few days. Last Tuesday I went to a new knit night at the Panera in Elk Grove Village. I had such a wonderful time. It was my first time meeting these ladies, and they were all so nice. All of them are so funny and good knitters. A good time was had by all. I am definitely going to be frequenting their knitting events a lot more in the future. Perhaps even tomorrow. Hooray! Also on Tuesday, I made a trip to the post office to try to track down a yarn package that was MIA. What, oh what could it be?

Raven Series Yarn!!


I thought I was going to be good when this new yarn came up on the website. I thought I would just take a look, hope I got a BFMA gift certificate for Christmas and buy some then. Oops. Next thing I know I was hitting the order button. I just got this one skein of lightweight in the Grock colorway. I am not sure yet if it will become socks, or perhaps another Forest Canopy Shoulder Shawl. It's going to marinate in the stash while I think about it.

Then, on Wednesday, I got to meet Sheila and her son Kieran. We met at Harry's in Arlington Heights, had some dinner and chatted about knitting. We had a great time and I think that there may be some beer drinking/knitting in our future soon. Sheila and I live, like, a mile or two away from each other and we have been blog stalking each other for awhile. It was really great to finally meet!

Thursday night I had to skip my ballroom dancing class (we are learning to Hustle, it's awesome), to go spend the weekend in Western Springs babysitting three little kids. I, of course, brought all this knitting, but didn't get much done. How SAHMs can get any knitting done, I do not understand. I did get a whole pair of socks knit, but it was with some thick yarn, so it's not that impressive:
The Specs:

The Pattern: Twinkle Toes by Cookie A. as seen on Knitty Gritty (it's free!)
The Yarn: STR Heavyweight in Rose Quartz colorway
The Needles: Size 3 DPNs
The Modifications: The pattern call for size 4, but my socks were going to be way to big, so I used size 3s. Also, I didn't quite understand the directions for the heel part, so I did my own thing, and all worked out in the end.
The Results: I think that these are the best fitting socks I have ever knit. Cookie A. does know how to write some good patterns! And, with only 48 stitches they are very fast to knit!

When I got home last night, there was an envelope waiting for me that had this in it:
Sock yarn from Perfect Day Yarns! The colorway is called Nevermore. Sarah and I became Ravelry pals, and she just opened her own online yarn shop with her hand-dyed yarn and I just had to get some on her opening day. It's so beautiful and I can't wait to see how it looks knitted up!

And, finally, this morning while dyeing some yarn I finished weaving in the ends on these:

My Candy Cane socks! Here are some specs:

The Pattern: My own. Well, kind of. I used a mock-cable rib like the one for the scarf in Stitch N Bitch Nation. They are knit toe-up and I kept the mock cable going when I started the all around ribbing on the top. I think it was a nice touch.
The Yarn: Claudia Handpainted Fingering Weight in Peppermint Mocha colorway. I think this colorway might be a Loopy Ewe exclusive.
The Needles: Size 2 DPNs
The Results: Great. I think I might start knitting my socks exclusively toe up. I am liking it so much better. These socks are going to look great when I wear them for my Christmas Eve events, which includes hanging out at Alex's parents house drinking and being merry.

Well, that's all I have for now. This week is going to be a CRAZY one. A giant box o' yarn just arrived to dye for Strands, there is Thanksgiving Eve at the Last Chance Saloon in Grayslake, and I have to work three out of the four days of Thanksgiving weekend (I have Thursday off though...hooray!) Friday I am teaching my friend Mel to knit, so I am super excited about that! I can't wait for her blog to turn into a knitting blog. :)

Happy Knitting and Happy Thanksgiving!

11.13.2007

The FO goodness of wonderfulness. . . .

Well, here at Knitting Like Crazy many things have been happening. Let's see. Today I opened the Clearance Section of my Etsy shop. I have a ton more yarn to dye and I don't have lots of room to store it. So, what is a girl to do but slash a couple bucks off some of her yarn and put it on her Etsy site!? I will be updating that section often, so check back soon. Also in Etsy shop news, there is only a couple more weeks to sign up for the Knitting Like Crazy Sock Club.

Ok, enough of that. And onto the knitting. . . .

I mentioned earlier that I turned my Penny Rose socks into anklets so that I could try to squeeze a second pair out of the yarn at a later date. Here is anklet pair number one:Aren't they pretty! I highly recommend this yarn. Non-pooly goodness of wonderfulness, how I love this yarn! I am back to working on the Peppermint Mocha socks. I am sock number two.

But enough about the socks. I finished something else in recent days:
A Chevron Scarf!!

Here are a couple pictures of the back. First we have the yarn being carried up the side:
And now the back side in all it's purly goodness:
I love love love this scarf. It's loud and bright and happy and doesn't match anything I own, but I don't care. I am going to be wearing this baby proudly.
The Chevron Scarf Specs:
The Pattern: Chevron Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts
The Yarn: One skein STR mediumweight in Chapman Springs (a Christmas gift!) and one skein STR mediumweight in Sherbert (won in a contest on Knitspot!)
The needles: Size 5
The result: Awesome!
After all those FOs what is a girl to do but to start wildly casting on yet more projects? This time though I was able to finish them about as quickly as I started. Last night I managed to knit two Calorimetry headbands.
Calorimetry, The First:
Calorimetry, The Second:
The first one I followed the pattern exactly except for using a size 6 needle instead of the recommended size 8. It looks pretty good, but I did not want such a gigantic headband (although it will keep my head warm). For the second one, I used the same needle, but went to 100 stitches instead of the 120 in the pattern. And I did fewer short rows. I like the second one better.

There may be a Calorimetry, The Third, in my knitting bag right now. I don't know, it's one of those patterns I just want to knit a million times. At this rate I will be able to gift the greater Chicagoland area with headwear for Christmas!

Anyway, that's all for now. Tonight I am going to try a new knitting group in the Elk Grove Village area. I am excited, but honestly, I am more excited for tomorrow, when I get to meet Sheila!

Happy knitting! :)


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