Actually, not really, since my other journal will stay on Mindsay, but after a little research (and creating accounts on a number of different blog sites), I've decided to move my knitting blog from Mindsay to Blogger. Mindsay is very nice, extremely user-friendly (it has improved a great deal in the time I've been there), has some great people, and I feel a loyalty with it since it was my very first blog site (for my "regular life" journal), but it doesn't have nearly as many features as Blogger does... although I've noticed that Blogger does not have an Undo/Redo option on the Create Post page. Additionally, Mindsay requires that people sign up for an account in order to comment, which is unfortunate.

Out of the few (free) blog sites I looked at and sampled, Blogger was perhaps the most user-friendly and intuitive to navigate.

So, here I go.

So I've started a couple new projects.  I am ignoring that darn baby blanket for a while because I found a few mistakes that I made 4 rows ago and I don't feel like ripping it back right now.  Boo.

Anyways, here's the scarf I'm making for my dad:



And I just realized that I took a picture of the "wrong side" of the scarf.  The other side looks pretty cool too   I call it "Dad's Brown and White Rice Scarf."

Yarn: Love Knit (Brown Sepia 1205), Caron Dazzleaire (Off White 2615)
Needles: US 15

Holding the two yarns together, CO 16 sts
Purl one row, substituting a K1 for the last st
Row 1: sl1 wyif, *K1, P1, rep from * until last st
Row 2: sl1 wyif, P rest of row, substituting a K1 for the last st
Repeat Rows 1 and 2 until desired length achieved, ending on Row 2
BO

* sl1 wyif = slip 1 as to knit, with yarn in front

I also started the Scrunchable Scarf:


[Note:  Because of my sleep/work schedule, I have been "forced" to take pictures at night.  I don't like the pictures I took with flash, so you are stuck with these yellowed photos.]

The pattern's real easy and very pretty, and the yarn is very soft, but not too easy to work with.  The loopy parts keep getting pushed back and scrunched up.  I bought it from Ebay without a label, so I don't know which brand it is.  Eh, we'll see how it goes.

AND... now for a pretty exciting bit.  I just spun my own skein of yarn!!!   I bought some undyed alpaca fiber from Ebay (where else??) and used Megan LaCore's Videos (1 2 3) to guide me.

So here's the fiber.  I pre-drafted a little to smooth it out and take out some leafy/veggie matter.  I didn't get all of it out, so my yarn's a bit dirty.  Eh.  I still think it's cool   I intentionally left the fiber a little uneven to make the yarn sort of thick-and-thin (intentionally = I just didn't try very hard to even it out because I knew I wouldn't get it very even in the first place, it being my first time spinning and all).  Also, here's my drop spindle!

 
[EDIT: I have no idea why these photos are so huge... I have tried resizing them four times already... boo...]

And, here's half of it spun up.



Here's all of it wrapped around a chair back and twisted into a mini hank.  (As you can tell, like a proud mama, I took TONS of pictures of my first handspun )



Then,  I heated some water on the stove in two big pots to near boiling.  I squirted a little Dawn dish soap into one and carefully submerged the yarn into it.  I let it soak for a few minutes and then carefully (!) transferred it to the other pot of water only and let that soak for a while (I read that disturbing the yarn too much can felt it).  Then, I took it out, wrapped it in a clean towel, and squeezed it to take out some water.  In order to let it fully dry and to set the twist in the yarn, I hung it up overnight and weighed it down with a can of Progresso soup.  But, I think I put too much twist into the fiber - some parts of the yarn kinked up on itself and when I took off the can of soup, the hank didn't hang straight and twisted a little (i.e., it wasn't balanced... I think this is the right terminology).

Well, ok, so I actually haven't bought from this store yet, but I've been practically drooling over it for the past few weeks.  It's called The Painted Tiger and the woman who owns and runs it hand-dyes all of her yarn.  She specializes in sock (fingering) yarn and her signature color is single- and multi-rainbow(s).  As a sample, here are some links to ones that I really like:

Bulky- Aurora
Lace- Electric Blue
Worsted- Autumn Leaves

There are so many more that I like too   AND she just added some new ones!

Anyways, I haven't bought any yet because it's a little pricey, even though some things go on sale, and I'm a little short on funds currently... even though I have a job... weird how that happens.

Actually, let's not lie, I know what happened.  I just spent a week buying yarn on Ebay.  Five medium to large packages total.  Probably more than $200 in all.  I told you I went crazy!!  BUT most of them were really good deals, I swear!  I'll put up pictures of some of the cool ones I got. (Which reminds me, I need a header image for this blog.)

So no actual knitting content in this post.  I did make some headway on the blanket, but not enough to really take pictures and show people.  I also started a scarf for my dad, but haven't gotten super far.

 For some reason, I got a sudden urge to knit one night when I was at my mom's house and saw her pile of yarn.  It's weird, because I've seen her yarn before and never had any desire to start knitting or crocheting (which is what my mom does).  I got so excited, I stole some of her yarn, looked up some diagrams and videos online, and started knitting a little square in garter with a pair of cheap bamboo chopsticks and a small ball of blue.  I was pretty pround of myself

Later, I google-mapped the closest yarn shops to me and -- yippee!!  There's one just a few blocks away from where I work.  It's called Lamb Shoppe.  A day or two later, I went there after work and was amazed at all the different textures and colors and materials of yarn.  I touched freakin' everything in that store.  I ended up buying a pair of straight bamboo needles, a pair (I bought just one, do I still call it a pair?) of circulars, and, of course, some awesome yarn.  I got two colors of Misti Alpaca Chunky in Eggplant and Chartreuse Melange and one color of Lamb's Pride Worsted in Orange Creamsicle.  They were all a bit pricy (especially the alpaca), but it was my first yarn buy, so I figured it was ok to splurge a bit.

  
Here are the alpaca colors.  I love love LOVE this color combination and the yarn is super soft.  I still haven't figured out what I want to make with it though.


Here's the Orange Creamsicle.  Not so hot on the feel --  it's a bit itchy, but the color won me over.  It's very pretty

Then, I started searching patterns for my next project.  Oh, the patterns!  So many cool things to make.  I settled on the Meringue Zig Zag Scarf and decided to use a skein of soft, cream-colored yarn I had stolen earlier from my mom   It took me a couple weeks, but here it is, finished last month:

 

I was little inconsistent in the way I switched between the zig-zagging sections, so it's more curvy where I started, and then the turns get sharper in the middle and the end.  Also, I did YOs as the increases, which created little loops on those sides.  Apparently, I need to learn more increases.  I intentionally left the fringe uneven and wrinkly.

Here's me being all ANTM with the scarf:



Well, after my first encounter buying yarn... I couldn't stop.  Since then, I've been searching dozens of patterns online and buying yarn from Hobby Lobby, another LYS called Strawberry Tree, and another giant shop called Ebay.  Ack!  I have more yarn than I can possibly knit in the next several months (especially at my rate, which is really slow).  But it doesn't make me depressed (like when I buy nice shoes and realize I'll probably wear them once in the next year or two and not any time soon).  I get to sort through them and touch them and take pictures to put on my (relatively) new Ravelry account...

Speaking of which, my Ravelry username is immortaltiger007.  I have very few pictures up there currently (they're VERY similar to, i.e., the same as, the ones in this entry) --  I'm working on that!!  I might have a few more yarn pictures up on the stash page pretty soon.

So right now, I'm working on the Simply Elegant Baby Blanket for a coworker's new baby, who was born in July.  It is taking me forever though and I swear I started and re-started this blanket at least 4 times already.  I finally got to the last row of the first repeat last week and am almost done with the second repeat.  Perhaps it'll be done in time for the baby's children.

OK, so after years of ignoring knitters and all things yarn-inspired, I have finally become obsessed with knitting.  And, since knitting blogs are all the rage, I decided I'd start one to chronicle my trials and tribulations and put up pictures of my progress (what's a knitting blog without pictures??).

Of course, every knitting blog must have a catchy, yarn-related title/username.  I first came up with Mallory Knits.  Sigh... so many blogs start with [Name] Knits already.  Hm... how about Mal-Knits?  Nah, then it just implies bad knitting.  Titles with my name are out.  So, like the uncreative dork I am, I googled "words with nit."  I'm sure you see where I'm going with this.  Affinity, eternity, infinite, insanity, nitpicky, opportunity... then I saw sanguinity.

Sanguine (adj): (definition adapted from Merriam-Webster)
1: bloodred
2: consisting of or relating to blood; bloodthirsty
3: having blood as the predominating bodily humor; having the bodily conformation and temperament held characteristic of such predominance and marked by sturdiness, ruddy complexion, and cheerfulness
4: confident, optimistic, hopeful

— san·guine·ly adverb
— san·guine·ness noun

— san·guin·i·ty noun

It's a word I remembered distinctly from a Firefly episode and definition #4 is a pretty accurate description of my attitude towards this new hobby.  And thus, my knitting blog was born: