riizu.blogspot.com

March was a very good month for me with this yearl long gift-a-long. I managed to finish two gifts, and even have the yarn so I can start two others. I have the yarn and the patterns, now all I need is the drive to knit them! I did start the second sleeve of Thermal this week, and hopefully will have it finished in April! Here is the march wrap-up, and below that, my list for April. Happy Spring everyone! (Even if it is snowing today...)

MARCH WRAP-UP:

1. Gift Item: Tura Maeve Dress in blue (pattern) (ravelry)
Recipient: My niece-to-be
Occasion: Baby being born
Deadline: March 30 (shower date)
Other info: It was a huge hit at the baby shower this weekend. Thank you so much for all the comments and the support!



2. Gift Item: No Sew Slippers in Bohemian Green Tea (pattern) (ravelry) by Kate Pullen
Source: 10,000 Great Ideas
Recipient: Chris, my boyfriend
Occasion: Cold Feet are an occasion right?
Completed: March 25, 2008




APRIL LIST:

1. Gift Item: Thermal (ravelry)
Recipient: Myself
Occasion: Because I haven't knit anything for myself in awhile and thought I was due
Deadline: This month baby
Other info: So I finally got off my lazy butt and started the second sleeve. Now there's even hope of me finishing this sweater in April as I had hoped! Pictures ^___^

2. Gift Item: Cabled Fingerless Mittens
Recipient: Anna
Occasion: Christmas
Deadline: December 2008
Other info: I have the yarn, and I plan to knit using a cable pattern from a book I got for my birthday. This item is being carried forward from March.

3. Gift Item: Hand bag or Purse
Recipient: Chantelle
Occasion: Christmas
Deadline: December 25, 2008
Other info: something like the pics below

The first mitten is complete! whew! I delayed and procrastinated… I'm not sure why, but at least now I feel like I can move forward… onto the second mitten XP

Pink and Blue Endpaper Mitts (pattern) (ravelry) by Eunny Jang
Source: eunnyjang.com
Recipient: Myself
Occasion: Bad circulation
Completed: First mitten completed March 25, 2008

Yarn: 2 skeins of Rowan 4 Ply Soft in Blue Bird (discontinued) and Tea Rose
Needles: US 1 and 2
Other info: I didn't make the edging near my fingers as long as the pattern. I like my fingers to be a bit more free.

The last couple days have been de-stashing days. I had some left-over yarn from my neck warmer I knit last week, and decided to kit some slippers for Chris.





Gift Item: Green Tea No Sew Slippers (pattern) (ravelry) by Kate Pullen
Source: 10,000 Great Ideas
Recipient: Chris, my boyfriend
Occasion: Cold Feet are an occasion right?
Completed: March 25, 2008

Yarn: 1.5 skeins of Patons Bohemian in a pretty Green Tea
Needles: US 11 and a crochet hook for finishing
Other info: I also added a crochet edging around the hole for the foot to keep the slipper on better.

How many badges do you have? Here are mine ^__^

After a couple hours spent finishing, seaming, and crocheting edges, it’s finally blocking! I had to block it in two stages, because of the ruffled skirt… and I have yet to decide whether or not to sew and create a picot edge or not. The open-lace edge is quite pretty on it’s own, and I don’t think I have enough yarn left anyway…







Gift Item: Tura Maeve Dress in blue (pattern) (ravelry) by Paulina Obregón (scroll down for English translation)
Source: All you knit is love
Recipient: My niece who is due born in April
Occasion: Baby being born
Completed: March 17, 2008

Yarn: 2 skeins of Garnstudio Safran in a pretty blue colour
Needles: US 5 / 3.75mm and a crochet hook for finishing
Notions: I'm thinking of making crochet chains and leave it as a tie-back

What Liz Means

You are relaxed, chill, and very likely to go with the flow. You are light hearted and accepting. You don't get worked up easily. Well adjusted and incredibly happy, many people wonder what your secret to life is. You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing. You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long. You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start. You are incredibly wise and perceptive. You have a lot of life experience. You are a natural peacemaker, and you are especially good at helping others get along. But keeping the peace in your own life is not easy. You see things very differently, and it's hard to get you to budge.

What Your Shamrock Says About You

You are a high achiever. Success comes fairly easy for you. At times, you can be slow to act. You don't like to be outside your comfort zone. You don't really consider yourself a lucky person. In your view, people create their own luck. You are stylish, in a classic sort of way. You are particular about how you like things.

Bristol Neck Warmer

I knit this up in one night using some yarn from my stash. I used the Bristol Neck Warmer pattern (free) as a guideline, really. I only used the pattern for dimensions and button placement… not a whole lot else. I also only did a garter stitch because anything else wouldn’t have showed up in the pretty yarn colour.

Pattern: Bristol Neck Warmer
Source: www.cabledsheep.com
Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/riizu/bristol-neck-warmer
For: Myself
Yarn: 1.5 skeins of a Patons Bohemian in Green Tea that I bought at Wool Tyme on impulse
Needles: 5mm
Notions: I bought the buttons from MaggiesMess’s Etsy store.
Time line: Finished in one night in February

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Tura Maeve Dress in blue

I received the Yarn (from Nordic Mart) on Thursday, and started it pretty much right away. I finished the bodice within hours of receiving the yarn in the mail, and decided to block it before going any further just to make my life a tad bit easier. You can see the pattern here (scroll down for English translation), and the Ravelry link here.





Pattern: Tura Maeve Dress by Paulina Obregón (scroll down for English translation)
Source: All you knit is love
Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/riizu/tura-maeve-dress
For: My niece who is due born in mid-April
Yarn: 2 skeins of Garnstudio Safran in a pretty blue colour
Needles: US 5 / 3.75mm and a crochet hook for finishing
Notions: I'm going to have to figure out something to fasten the back, since I don't want to use buttons for a newborn dress… maybe small strips of ribbon? Or maybe just a crochet chain…
Time line: This needs to be done by March 31st!

First things first, head on over to MariKnit's blog. She's holding a contest to celebrate her 100th post! Woo!

As I mentioned in my last post, poor Endpaper was doomed to the land of the frogs, and I had to restart with larger needles. I was sad, but coincidentally, the Yarn Harlot posted on her blog about having to frog what she had been working on, and I didn't feel quite so bad about it. Anyway, here's a pic of how far I've gotten this time, and it fits now ^___^

I have a terrible cold. I'm coughing and not sleeping (hence the 4AM post) and I'm exhausted!!! At least there's Ravelry to keep me entertained. I would knit if I weren't so damned tired. I'm up because I was feeling so sad about keeping my fiancé awake. It's not his fault that I can't sleep, and he shouldn't have to suffer.

I frogged Endpaper on the weekend. It was very sad, but they just weren't going to fit. I had to go up a needle size, which hopefully will help them to knit up faster, since I'm very slow with fair isle. It is fair isle, right? Not intarsia? Anyway, almost done the first repeat of the pattern and as soon as it's worth showing, I'll take a progress pic or two.

I guess I can post old progress pics can't I? I don't want to leave this post photo-less so enjoy pics of a knitting that no longer exists. Yay~! You can see more info on my ravelry page.







So here I am, browing blogs, and I discover a post about "dead girl"… please enjoy the stupidity. I know I did. XP

Anyone hear of Mystical Creation Yarns? Apparently she's run a bit of scam involving crap orders and playing dead… she recently created a second business, Visionary Yarns…

read more about her here:
http://moderngypsy.livejournal.com/1648691.html

Hot Cocoa Swap 2007/8!





So here's a sample of all the wonderful goodies my buddy sent me last week. There are a few items missing in the pic, but you'll see those things later on. It was a wonderful experience, and I would totally do this again!



The mug also came with some cookies that didn't last the evening mmmmmm as well as a container of hot cocoa:



The organic hot cocoa is delicious! It puts the other stuff I have in my cupboards to shame.



On a chocolate note, Chocolate scented soap? Great idea! She also sent me a chocolate bar with peppers in it that is also long gone.



This is awesome! It's smaller than the one I have and will fit nicely in my knitting bag!



And she's encouraging me to knit my first pair of socks! The photo doesn't do the yarn justice, it's very very pretty colours ^_^



Awesome stitch markers. I especially love the sheep with the "loves to knit" tag attached.







Thank you so much for such a wonderful swap!

More info:
Hot Cocoa Swap (blog)
My spoiler's blog
Questionnaire
Blog Challenge (Scavenger Hunt)
Blog Challenge #2
Blog Challenge #3
Blog Challenge #4

And just as reference, I knit Bubby for my swap recipient: