2014 Pumpkin Carving Round 1:
Bree – Voldemort/Reaper
The Dude – Monster Trick or Treater (Winner – of course)
Honorable Mention: Boris the Spider
red hair
ABRACADABRA!! HELIOPATH KAL REVEAL!
ALACAZAM! We have reached the end of the Heliopath Knit-Along road. Can you believe it? I have to say I am way impressed with everyone’s epic knitter-wizard skills. Seriously, talk about some effing talented crafters – I have never been so motivated and inspired by a group of knitters in my life!
So I’ll briefly breakdown my ‘finish’ of the Heliopath and then we can talk about the good stuff – THE PRIZES.
For the armholes, I had to keep trying my vest on – I know we still had to block, but I typically get nervous leaving the entire ‘fit’ up to blocking. I ended up knitting past the recommended 6″3/4 mark to almost 8″ and then did the three needle cast off for each side. Now instead of using DPNs and knitting the ribbing I chose to go totally out of order here and block now. Why did I do this? Well, for starters I was convinced this thing was not going to fit right. I know blocking can be a miracle-worker, but I spend the last two weeks in a wee-bit of a panic about if I had just spent ~$85 and over a month on something that will fit one of my petite friends not me. I even dropped an extra stitch under the arm because I was FREAKING OUT. Seriously, I kept stretching it (even considering the pattern ‘give’ measurements) and just getting more and more and more worried. Especially once I had opened up almost every stitch it was very worrisome and I ended up making the last minute decision to open up and extra stitch under the arm. Anyways, I digress… blocking before ribbing. Why else did I want to do this? Well I honestly wanted to crochet every finish on and i wanted it to not be ‘too tight’ or ‘too loose’ when it was all said and done. Plus, let’s be honest I can never just follow the damn pattern 100%. There I said it. So here it is.
So for the PRIZES! There is so much and we plan on picking the winners over the next few days as we make sure to tally and include everyone who participated. I will be sending messages out to the ones on Ravelry and Instagram who participated to confirm their entry. There is so much to win!
JustRunKnit! 4 Skeins!!! Enough for another Heliopath!
Pattern by ewe<3ewe yarn!
Pattern by the lovely Emma Welford!
So we will pick the winners and announce on Tuesday April 15th!
ABRACADABRA MY STITCHES!
XXX
GFK
Denver April 2014
Home Sweet Home. Well sweet old home. I flew into Denver for a quick visit Friday through Monday and boy was it fun! I got to see my family, go for a wonderful hike, eat some delicious food, finish my fantasy sleeve, hung with my badass super babe crew, visited Allegro Coffee headquarters, and attended a Game of Thrones premiere party! I will do a separate post on the Allegro visit and the Game of Thrones party in the next few days. Let’s roll the footage!
The Crochet Virus
Last month I contracted the crochet virus. Sigh. It has been getting in the way of my knitting and aside from the Harry Potter Heliopath KAL I’m co-hosting, I haven’t touched my knitting needles in three weeks! (GASP) Anyways, here are a few pictures of the crochet things I’ve been working on. Overall, I think crochet is just so easy. I don’t wanna discredit it as a craft because I’m not into craft shame-ing, but it’s just mindless for me. Single, Double, Triple crochet is like the best/easiest way to make something so pretty and as long as you’re in the groove it’s way hard to mess up like knitting. PLUS my knitting projects have become quite complex in terms of patterning, so crochet in the round has been the jimmy jam for me lately too.
Weekend Photo BLAST.
I had such a great productive weekend! I love when that happens. Even though the winter is really starting to wear on me and everyone else in Chicago, spring and summer are right around the corner (I just know it!). Let’s see. I have really been having a blast at the gym – I know right I hate to be one of ‘those’ people, but since I’ve regularly ventured back at the beginning of the year, I have seen major changes in toning. I haven’t lost anymore weight, but I can definitely tell that the gym has begun to tone everything. I’m obsessed with before and afters so here’s one of my lifestyle/physical change from July 2013 to March 2014. 7 Months.
Then I have been dying to try this small Chicago Diner chain since I moved here, but no one ever wants to go. Saturday after my run, I decided just to check it out myself and I am so happy I did! The Golden Nugget reminded me of the diners that I grew up eating in with my grandma and grandpa. I got the Steak Omelette which was just perfect. I know Chicago has any kind of eatery you could imagine, but I’m cheap as hell and sometimes picky as in I have specific cravings so this place will do just fine by me in the future.
Then came the time to touch up my hair – I had been getting it done, but things changed so I’m back in the saddle with my cheveux. I think it came out well. There is a slight dark band about two inches out I’ll have to address since a bleach shampoo cap didn’t even touch it, but overall I revived the red perfectly.
Then I went ahead and started my chest plate.
Just kidding – obviously they are fake tattoos!
Then because I’m becoming the queen of cheapskates I went to Aldi, Five Below, and a clothes shop Discovery. I’m going to start shopping only at thrift store here in the near future, because I’m over new-consuming, but my final hoorah at Discovery was great! I got two more tanks not pictured for a total of $27 so a week’s worth of new tops/a dress. Not too shabby.
Then of course…..
Sigh. Monday. Blerg.
xxx
GFK
Fair Isle Goat Pillow DONE
Well, it’s done. It only took total 10-11 hours which is not that bad considering it was my first real Fair Isle project. I’m really pleased that I did NOT try this as the glove. I think it would have turned into a AMF knitting project (angry mofo), if I had tried DPNs with my first time Fair Isle. Anyways, there’s a few mistakes – it happens. I really dig this as a pillow and will be doing more pillow/tapestry designs in the future. I will however go a step further and knit in the round next time. All my mistakes were on the purl side (WS) so being able to see the knit side the entire time would aid in banishing those little flubs.
SERENITY NOW!!!
Gee Whiz, it has been quite the week here in ‘Chiberia’ and it’s only Tuesday. First let’s just get it out of the way – it’s so cold I can’t even believe it. Second, Chicago has really sucked it up on being ‘prepared.’ The CTA (our transit system HA) ran yesterday with MAJOR DELAYS – that meant that instead of waiting an average of 5 minutes for a train or bus (even less most days) the wait for the bus was 15 minutes each way to work (exposed mind you) and 15 minutes for the train. The only saving grace yesterday was that a lot of people stayed home. This morning we were not so lucky because the buses are back to business as usual but the train still for some reason is running incredibly infrequent and late.
Regardless, the crap weather didn’t stop me from taking an amazing class at The Needle Shop on Saturday to learn the famous Amy Butler Gumdrop pillow. I had a blast. I met some great women and learned some awesome new patterning and hand sewing skills.
I also started a new sweater for my sick kitten Boris.
My neighbors and I exchange little ‘trinkets’ from time to time and this was what I made for their pup Lola.
I made some ‘winter shorts’ notice I’m wearing long underwear under them haha.
Sewing is interesting with two nosy sphynx cats.
Finally – a chuckle at how ridiculous Leopold looks in his winter outfit.
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a great day of new beginnings. I woke up with some congestion that has been upsetting my asthma and driving me insane. I’m going to grab some Mucinex for later, but any respiratory ailment scares me, because it can get so out of control so fast for someone with asthma. Bleh – woe is me!
Other than that, I embroidered (which is fast becoming addictive) and knitted on a little surprise gift for someone. I’m determined to get the pattern out of my Harry Potter book and start on the ‘Luna’ vest I love from there too this week. Anyways here is a few photos from my lazy 2013/2014 switchover.
2013 In Picture Collages
Let’s see… 2013 was a HUGE transformation year for me. From weightloss, to choosing a clear path, embracing my hobbies, adding to the tribe, ditching booze, finding a job, and traveling to Thailand – it was a year full of experiences and fun too.
Here are some picture collages to show case a very very few of the THOUSANDS of moments I caught on camera.
Weekend in Photos.
ghostfaceknitter.com 