Thank you, baby alpaca

Last night, I realized I had left some of my unfinished projects at work, so I grabbed all my knitting books and decided to try and figure out what my next project might be since I'm just about done with another iPhone cozy.  I saw a pattern for a simple scarf and was reminded that I have yet to use some of the most luxurious yarn in my stash: baby alpaca.

I purchased 2 skeins of the ultra soft, ultra expensive stuff back in March while on a church retreat in Marin.  I had every intention of one day making it into a scarf, and that day has finally come!  It's so incredibly soft to work with and knits up fast, and I think that's why I became so anxious to use it.  Lately, I've been working with a lot of acrylics on small needles, and I knew with this, I'd be using the good stuff, on size US10.  Awesome.

Anyway, I'm already looking forward to wearing it later in the fall and winter.  I would've loved to have tried a more lacy or creative pattern, but after a handful of attempts, I've realized that it's just a bit too fuzzy to really express a pattern other than a simple 1x1 or 2x2 rib.  That's okay.  I love it anyway :)

iPhone Cozy

I've been trying to find fun little projects to use up some of my yarn stash.  One such project I discovered is an iPhone/iPod cozy.  It's been a great project to use up some of my more colorful yarn.  It turns out pretty cute looking :)

If you are interested in purchasing a cozy in a color of your choice, just email starfishknits@gmail.com. 

Blankets

One of my good friends is finishing up a baby blanket and it looks amazing!  It reminded me of some of the blankets I have done for my friends' babies in the past and thought I would post the old photos here.  I seriously don't know how I ever had the patience.  I'm still working on gifts for my family and friends, but I have managed to find some time to design some new projects including a washcloth design.  I'll try to get that up here soon.  In the meanwhile, hope everyone who reads this is well!

For my friend's son, Grant

For my friend's daughter, Lilly

Starfish: Complete!

Finally finished my starfish this week!  Here's a picture of the finished project:

Now I'm back to focusing on Christmas gifts and prepping for my work's craft fair.  Soon, I'll be starting on my next big project, but I'd like to get some smaller things out of the way first.

Hope everyone is having a great Saturday morning!

Community

One of the things I've found to love most about the knit/crochet community is the way it brings people together.  Over the last few years, I've been blessed with many opportunities to meet new friends through a shared love of the craft.  It's amazing how easy it is to form friendships and start conversations when you both enjoy stitching together.  I love sharing new stitch patterns, learning new techniques, and admiring finished projects with others.  The best way to find other friends in the knitting community is to find a knitting circle you enjoy going to.  There are knitting circles all over the place.  All you have to do is just google for one in your area, and you'll likely find more than one within easy walking or driving distance.  I belong to one at my work, and just starting trying to attend one near my house on Saturdays when I'm free.  If you are just starting out knitting and want to learn some new tricks, I highly encourage knitting circles.  They are the greatest!

Other than that, here's a fun cartoon I found while putting together a yarn swap for my knitting circle at work.  Everyone brought tons of yarn and I definitely went home with more than I had brought with me.  Not necessarily the aim of the swap, but at least I have more yarn that think I could actually use, haha :)

Anyway, hope everyone is having a great summer!  And yes, I'm STILL working on my starfish...

Still IP

It's been a while since my last update.  I've been away on vacations and haven't been knitting too much, but I have made some improvement on my knitted starfish.  I really only have the underside of the starfish left.  Here's a photo.  In the meanwhile, I have another big project already in mind.  It will be my most ambitious project yet!

Hope you are all enjoying the start of summer!  I love the warm weather!

In Progress

So, I've made some small headway on my starfish.  I have the tops of all the arms completed and have started working on the underside.  I have one leg completed and, wow, was it frustrating.  Lots of new tricks to learn.  Hopefully it will get easier as I work on the other four legs.  Here's a photo of my friend Lara's completed starfish and the little bit I have done :)

When I want to read at a local coffee shop on weekends, I've been bringing along a book authored by my knitting friend, Lisa.  Lisa's in my knitting group at work.  She and so many other knitters in my group are such great teachers.  I love having such great friends when I'm stuck on a new technique.  Anyway, the book is called Knit with Love and features lots of cute, short stories about how knitting brings people together and the effects knitting has on people's lives and relationships.  It's been a great read so far.  I really need to get Lisa to sign it.  It's given me a bunch of great ideas for parties and fun ideas for charity knitting.  This last weekend, while reading, I was reminded of an idea that I had back in March. There are some women at my church who have expressed an interest in learning to knit.  How awesome would it be to teach others and then we could all donate a project to a local shelter (scarves, socks, etc.), or to a hospital (cancer caps, etc.), or just share them as gifts :)  What a great opportunity that would be not just to serve others, but also to grow closer in our friendships!

Well, I hope that you are all having a great month of May.  This is most definitely one of my favorite months of year because the weather starts to get so warm, the flowers are in bloom, and the trees are full again.  Enjoy!  Also, some of you have mentioned to me that you are interested in possibly receiving/purchasing a starfish.  I'm still finishing this one (for myself, haha), but if you would be interested in getting one, feel free to let me know.  It's a pretty labor intensive project, so I'm not sure yet what the price point would be, but I can keep you posted.