Knitting Chart Keeper DIY Make Over

  Mmk, so I recently bought the Knit Picks chart keeper. I love it, but was a little upset that I spent so much money on something that was 90% pretty and 10% ugly ass magnets painted a tacky purple. 

  Enter Washi tape, and X-acto knife. The tape was on sale at Joann's for $1.19 instead of $1.99.  Not a huge sale, but I'll take it.  All I did was roll out some tape, put the magnets ugly purple side down, and cut around the magnets. Here are some in progress and finished pics. 

  Now they're pretty silver!! I considered using a patterned tape, but Washi is pretty transparent, and I was worried the purple would come through. 

Notes: 

  Watch your blade, because it can cut through the magnet fairly easily. 

  Make your cuts as close to the magnet as possible.  The tape doesn't stick perfectly, and if there's a bit hanging over the edge, it likes to peel off when you're grabbing the magnet. 

  So, for $1.19 + tax and about 7 minutes of my time, I'm super happy!!

Trapeze Mystery KALYarn Over Help

I noticed a lot of people having trouble with the y/o being at the end of the needles, I know that many people were switching to wood needles for the gripping quality.  I didn't want to go buy new needles, so when I cast on, I tried to find a better way to keep the stitches n my metal needles.  I ended up not working the y/o until I was actually working the first stitch on the next needle, essentially working two stitches at once, so the y/o never had the opportunity to fall off. I did a little video showing how I did it.  It seems to work just fine, and I hope it helps.

Knitting and NASCAR

I was working on the Ninja Kitty that I'm making for a deployed friend, and had NASCAR on the tv. I was distracted by my driver, Kasey Khane, taking the lead AGAIN. w00t! I looked down at my knitting, and realized that I didn't remember which row is was on. So I literally thought to myself "how many stitches are on the lead lap?" Lap? Geez, my hobbies are starting to blend together.
I'm also kicking major butt on Skywalker. I just started the Planet Stitch section, and haven't really had any issues, as long as I pay attention to what I'm doing. I've officially decided that, thanks to Laura Nelkin and her Craftsy class, I'm in love with knitted shawls, and can't wait to do more!!

*sigh* Here We Go...

Alright, so over the weekend I frogged the cursed Skywalker WIP back to the lifeline, FOR THE SECOND TIME. I'm not mad, mind you, just supremely frustrated in my own inadequacies. However, thanks to the incredible foresight of one Laura Nelkin (the virtual, online, pre-recorded version of her anyway) I can actually do that without starting completely over. For which I say "holy crap thank you soooooooo much because there's simply no way I would have picked this thing back up if I had to start over from the begining." Anywho. I promised pics documenting the aforementioned torture, so here you go.

Step One: Something Looks Wonky.

Step Two: *sigh* I'll Have To Do ALL THIS AGAIN.

Step Three: Don't Look and Just Pull It Fast Like A Band-Aid(All rights reserved, blah blah blah, trademark.)

Step Four: Yay! I can START OVER!!! Wait... Why Am I So Happy About That?

Step Five: I'll Get You This Time My Pretty...

I'm not sure if you noticed, but I was getting the first 6 rows done just fine. Because of that, I decided that once I got there, I wanted to move my lifeline up to that point. I figure there's no point going back further if I know that my problem is happening after that point. So far things are on track, and I've done rows 7 and 8. I seem to really notice issues at 9. This time, because I'm not really sure if I was actually having a problem or not last time, I'm just going to keep going to the end of the chart. I know for a fact that the very first time I tried it, I got off on my stitches, so my staggered openwork stuff wasn't staggered properly. I think that last time it just looked funny, but might have been ok. This time, I'll find out for sure.
Anywho, such was my weekend project. I know, I lead a life of never-ending excitement and wonder. I'm so lucky!!!

Hi, My Name is Sarah, and I'm a Craftsy-aholic.

Mmmmmk, so, I've recently discovered and fallen in love with Craftsy.com. Specifically, I love Laura Nelkin's classes Mastering Lace Shawls and Knitting With Beads. I started with Knitting With Beads(KWB) and knit up the awesome Pioneer Cuff for myself, my mom, and sister. Before moving on in the KWB class though, I wanted to strengthen my lace knitting skills, and Mastering Lace Shawls seemed an appropriate course to take. Plus, I love Laura's teaching style, so I'll probably take anything with her as an instructor. Anywho, here's the deal, I keep getting stuck at the same place on Skywalker. I've already ripped back to my lifeline once, and I'm about to do it again so I can try to figure out what happened. I know I can post pictures on the class and get help, but I really want to try to figure it out on my own first. I really have no idea what I keep messing up. Maybe I'm not appropriately channeling The Force... I'll work on that... Having said that, if it doesn't work the second time, I'll definitely have to call in reinforcements.
I'll take pics and document my suffering this weekend when I frog back to my lifeline and start this section over this weekend. May The Force be with me, PLEASE!!

All Knotted Up

So, I've finally reached the point in my knitting career where picking up where I left off on my stockinette scarf is no big deal. I'm nearing the end of that Noro scarf I mentioned in my first post. Being a "I'll work on it whenever I don't have anything else going on" project, I haven't been bothered with how long it's taken me. What I AM bothered with is this:

Can you see that? See that giagantor freaking knot in my yarn? The one with the long tail thingies? It's riiiiiiiiiight there... *points accusingly with disapproval in her eyes* I know I probably shouldn't be so mad. I mean, they're a big company that literally makes millions of these things, but STILL! It kinda irked me that I had to cut it out and fix it. I was SOOOOOOO close to being finished, and would have had no joins anywhere along the length of the scarf. That would have been something super fun to brag about... but did I get that chance? NOOOOOOO, I DIDN'T! Grrrr. So, I'm gonna pout for the rest of the night and think about MAYBE making up with it tomorrow... maybe. But tonight, it's totally sleeping on the couch.

What Good Is a Clean Floor, Really?

So, my craft room, or chick room, as I like to call it, has long been a place that brought to mind images of me gingerly picking out a path to wherever I wanted to go trying to avoid deadly obstacles. Of teetering towers of boxes that stood as nifty little reminders of the great "combining of the assets" from when my husband moved in with me. We never got around to organizing, and it was really starting to get on my nerves. So, I spent the last, oh, month or so, slowly reclaiming my haven. Don't get me wrong, it still has boxes, but they are on shelves now and everything is out of my way. More importantly, everything it out of my table's way. You know, so I can like, sit at it, and stuff.
Anywho, so I reached the final stage of the cleaning process today. The floor. I used my Spot Bot to clean up the spot where my fingernail polish remover spilled (Spot Bots are awesome, by the way, anyone with carpet should get one), and vacuumed up the last reminders of what the room once was. When all was said and done, I made myself a pot of tea and stared at my floor for a bit. Not the room as a whole, but the floor. Finally I realized that the carpet was trying to tell me. This is how that convo went:
Me: Why am I staring at the carpet?
Carpet: Because I'm so clean and nice looking and you haven't seen this much of me in a year and a half.
Me: Holy crap, my carpet is talking to me. What did I put in my tea?
Carpet: Would you just listen to me?
Me: Sorry, you were saying?
Carpet: I was simply going to remind you about that wire blocking kit you bought a month ago with the intention of fixing that lace scarf you knit two years ago. I would be perfect for that. Plus, my room has a door, so you know what that means...
Me and Carpet: NO CATS!!!
Me: Good idea carpet. Thanks!
So, I busted out the kit, and got to blocking. I gotta say, I like using the wire MUCH better than thousands of t-pins. Waaaaaay less of a pain. I think it'll turn out nicely.
Pics will be posted later.