Old and New

First the old. Christmas day I stopped by my friends house to visit before returning to San Jose and realized that I never got a picture of the scarf that I knit her last Christmas. So she went and got it out for me and I got a photo finally. I really like this pattern, in fact I liked it so much that I made two last Christmas.

Irish Hiking Scarf, 2 hanks of Malabrigo in Dusty.

And for the new, Sensei got a new car. On my birthday. Wait, how does that happen? Oh right, his blew up! We got it in time for our trip to Disneyland. Sensei is really pleased with his new car, the windows roll up and down on this one!

Highlights...Lowlights

After 17 years, I finally got to return to Disneyland and I got sick! Yes, I have either a severe cold or the flu. Halfway down on our drive to Anaheim I started to feel, well, shitty. Took some medicine got some throat drops and started heavily medicating. I am still very weak and tired. I will have a better report of the day, I am just too tired and well, SICK!

Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas, stay healthy and safe!

Contest Answers

Sorry, I forgot to include the answers to the contest questions this morning.

1. I have 2 brothers, what are their professions?
Older brother Todd is a Sergeant Detective and younger brother Kelly is a minister.

2. What is my favorite football team?
Notre Dame Fighting Irish, that is right, losing season and all, I am still a proud fan!

3. What is my favorite color?
Red, a true blue red. No orangey reds for me!

4. Where did my fellow knitters and I go after the Stitch n' Pitch?
Jeni, Becky, Hannah, Cindy, Cookie and I all wandered out of the park looking for a bar to sit and watch the end of the game because it was so cold there. We ended up at a tequila bar Tres Agaves! And if you click on the link above, there is a picture of Lori, the winner of the yarn in that blog post!

And if you wanted to know what happened to me last year on my birthday click here. So far today I have not repeated history!

And the Yarn goes to.....

Lori (Monkeyroom) !! She has chose the new colorway Ravenscroft in Socks that Rock. Congratulations, Lori! This was fun, I will have to come up with another contest soon. The contest came down to a drawing, so many of you got all the answers correct. The process was very scientific (hahaha) names were placed on slips of paper, folded equally and put inside a hat, a Notre Dame hat. Sensei was granted the honor of picking, he initially had protested that I was using a Notre Dame hat, I told hit to get over it and just pick. So yes Lori, your name came out of a Notre Dame Fighting Irish hat!! I am sure that your alumni status at Penn is fully in tact still.

Not sure how much blogging will be done between now and Christmas, we are leaving tomorrow morning for Disneyland. Hopefully I will get some good pics for the blog. Wishing you all a happy and safe Holiday Season!

Didn't Finish...

Didn't even come close to finishing. Christmas knitting is no more. I completed only 2 of several knitted gifts for this Christmas. I have 2 more on the needles now. Do I care? Yes, a little. Will I let it bother me to no end? Absolutely NOT. I have bigger fish to fry right now. This has been the year of problems during the holidays. Remember Thanksgiving?? Well this holiday it is Richie's car. It died. I mean, stick a fork in it, it is done! It was a 1988 Honda Prelude, it served its purpose and now it is a charitable donation. So we went car shopping. Hopefully we will have the car situation resolved by Friday morning when we leave for Disneyland. We'll see.


And, you still have time for the Birthday Contest... I have several entries, it will be a drawing. I see that either you all read the blog or you are really good at searching fast! You still have time to enter.

So this is how the contest goes. Comment on this blog telling me which yarn you would like to receive if you are the winner. Then email me at twistedstitches71 AT gmail DOT com the answers to the following questions:

1. I have 2 brothers, what are their professions?
2. What is my favorite football team?
3. What is my favorite color?
4. Where did my fellow knitters and I go after the Stitch n' Pitch? (specific answer required)

All the answers can be found in my past blog entries. You must answers all the questions correctly for your name to go into the hat where the winner will be drawn. Contest will be closed December 19th at midnight. Winner will be announced on My Birthday, December 20th.
Good luck!

Friends

I have some of the nicest friends in the world. Last night I gathered with my former co-workers from my 3 year stint at Honda. These are the same friends that I also taught how to knit. We ate pasta, bread, drank wine and conversed, it was nice. Then after dinner we sat around and knitted. It was really funny, I looked over and realized that I had taught them all how to knit and how we all bonded through knitting. Each of them have distinct knitting personalities and it has been really fun watching them grow as knitters. After some knitting came the dessert. I thought we were having brownies that Danielle made, but there was a lot of commotion going on in the kitchen for just serving brownies! Then around the corner came my dessert plate... brownies with ice cream, caramel sauce and whipped cream. It was a sight to be seen. Sorry I have no pics, it was too good to stop to grab a camera. Thank you Holly, Colleen, Danielle and Jackie for a wonderful evening; you are great friends! And Jackie, I loved your card!

You all still have time to enter my Birthday Contest. Contest closes December 19 at midnight. Get your emails to me if you want to get free yarn! I am giving away your choice of either Socks That Rock or Silky Malabrigo, click here for more details. Good Luck!!

Merry Christmas Sweaters !!

So I finally got evidence of the wear-ability of the sweaters that I knit for my niece and nephew. Aren't they cute? Now you see why I would want to knit for them ALL THE TIME??? If you are on Ravelry and have seen this in my projects list, yes, my nephew has an uncanny resemblance to the little boy in the book for this pattern. And if you ever wondered what I looked like when I was a little girl? Take a good look at my niece. I will have to post a comparison picture later.
I would be remiss to not mention that I would have NEVER gotten these sweaters shipped out in time if it had not been for Nathania's help. Thank you for saving my knitting behind, again! Hope every one's holiday knitting is going smoothly. And there is still time to enter my Birthday Contest.

CONTEST-Revised

Yes, this is my first blog contest. It is the holiday season and my birthday soon and I am in a giving nature. Or maybe I just want to know how many people really read my blog?!?! Who knows and who cares? Cause I am giving away yarn! The winner gets a choice between two yarns, both highly coveted by many knitters I know. The first choice would be the all new Malabrigo, 50% Merino/50% Silk in the Stone Chat colorway. This yarn is in limited release at a few stores for test knitting and I happen to have one hank. The second choice would be Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock in the all new Ravenscroft colorway.

REVISED
So this is how the contest goes. Comment on this blog telling me which yarn you would like to recieve if you are the winner and EMAIL me your answers! (thank you Ariel for your suggestion!) Email me: twistedstitches71 AT gmail DOT com

1. I have 2 brothers, what are their professions?
2. What is my favorite football team?
3. What is my favorite color?
4. Where did my fellow knitters and I go after the Stitch n' Pitch? (specific answer required)

All the answers can be found in my past blog entries. The person who answers the most correctly wins, in the event of a tie, names will go into a hat and a winner will be drawn. Mom, you are not eligible, besides, you don't knit!

Contest will be closed Decemeber 19th at midnight. Winner will be announced on My Birthday, December 20th
Good luck!

FINISHED OBJECT AND LESSONS LEARNED

Since I am unable to blog about current Christmas knitting, I give you my finished Ribby Pulli. I have worn it several times, it is the warmest sweater that I own. Being what I would call a plump woman, this pattern can be worn by all shapes and sizes easily.



Here is the run down:

Pattern: Ribby Pulli Long Sleeve Funnel Neck
Yarn: Bottom, Cascade 220 in Jet (which really is more of a charcoal color) and on top, Blue Moon Fiber Arts Twisted in Obsidian.
Needles: Size 6, 7 and 8 Addi Turbo's
Size: The largest size in the pattern, I can't remember what it was off hand.
Were the instructions easy to follow? Yes and no, this was one of my first sweaters completed so I did not understand everything the pattern was telling me. With a little help it became more clear.
What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? The "like" part of the pattern is that it is knit in one piece in the round with only seaming the underarms. Also that the ribbing on the sides does the waist shaping automatically. The "dislike" would be the way that the ribbing on the sleeve was written and the decreases in the yolk. They were both a bit confusing for me.
Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made: I knit the entire sleeve on my size 7 instead of just the cuff part. And I am going to rework the neck, I didn't pay attention the the pattern and picked up more stitches around the neck than I should have. So I am going to pick the neck out and re-knit it to include a few of the ribs just on the side to continue the ribbing from the sleeve. Oh and I made the body about 3 inches longer than the pattern calls. I like my sweaters longer.
Would you knit it again? Yes. I actually am knitting it again for a friend after the holidays.
Conclusion: This is a good pattern for any level of knitter, even beginners that want to try a sweater. If I were to knit another for myself, I would knit one in a solid color. Also, I would knit a size or two smaller, this sweater is bigger than I would have wanted. My gauge was correct and other have mentioned the same problem.

Ok, current knitting. Flash back to when I sent my niece and nephew hand knit socks, just cause they are cute and I love them. The lesson learned, ALWAYS ship your hand knitted gift signature required! Their Christmas sweaters have been sent and I just got a text message from my brother that "The Eagle has landed" The box is in the safe hands of my brother and he is waiting to get the kids and let them open the box. I will post photos of the sweaters once they have seen them.