A Bit-Knit Obsessive

Hot Cocoa Kisses

2011-03-25T17:59:00.025-05:00

I think this was my favorite part of the kit. This adorable mug with the delicious hot chocolate (yup, the cocoa is gone)! The cocoa came from Melony at Untie the Ribbons.

These are coasters that I believe were made by Petite Threla and an adorable gift tag made by Jame of A Forest Frolic.

The adorable hot cocoa stitch marker was made by Dee of Fyrestorm Creations. You can even see the marshmallows on top!!! So freaking cute!

The yarn was dyed by Curious Creek Fibers. Let me tell you, this stuff is amazing. It's a dream to work with and has great stitch definition! The color is also to "dye" for...I know...that's terrible... I think what I love even more was that she included sample skeins of some of her other yarn! Wasonga and Meru. Yum!

The bag is adorable. It was designed by Knit Purl Sew What?

Last but not least are the patterns! The first one was designed by Jane Robbins. It's called Hot Chocolate Mittens, and they are beautiful! The pattern on the right is my Marshmallow Kisses pattern. I tried to capture a cup of hot cocoa in this pattern. At the top of the leg, I put x's for the kisses and then the zigzagging cables were supposed to represent whip cream and the bobbles are marshmallows, of course!

A bit about me...

2011-03-25T16:56:00.003-05:00

So, I figured I should post on here, since Jennifer Jett of Woolgirl listed my blog in the information section of her newest kit, Hot Cocoa Kisses. I don't know about you, but I'd be disappointed to visit a blog and see that it hasn't been updated in nearly a year. D'oh!

So, since it's been so long, I figured that maybe I should write a little about myself. I'll post pictures of the new kit later on.

I live in Illinois, in the West Suburbs. I'm married and my children are two small chihuahuas that are definitely Mama's girls. If I'm around, my husband is chopped liver...well, maybe not chopped liver. They'd probably like that. :)

I actually work full-time (more than full-time actually) as a restaurant manager of a small privately owned restaurant in the western suburbs of Chicago. I am attending school as well, and just recently received my acceptance letter to nursing school!!! I'm very excited about this. I cannot wait to be doing something other than food service!

I came to be designing for Jen purely by accident. I had a pattern that I had written and I sent her an email asking if she would be willing to offer it for sale in her online store. I figured that with Woolgirl being so popular, asking her would be a great place to start. When I heard back from her, she said that she would be delighted to sell it in her store, but that she'd rather use the pattern as a part of one of her kits (the very first Glinda kit). I was stunned. I in no way expected that and was shocked that she liked it enough to want to include it in one of her famous kits, and Glinda no less! Well, I accepted, and the rest is history. It has been a pleasure to get to know Jen over these last few years, and I hope that our friendship will continue for years to come! She is truly one of the sweetest, most thoughtful people that I know.

Later on, once I have a chance to sit down with my camera, I'll take pictures of the amazing Hot Cocoa Kisses kit that she put together. I have to do it soon, because that hot cocoa that came with the kit is about to disappear before I can get a picture of it!

A little bit of an update...

2010-04-21T22:51:00.005-05:00

So, for those that may not know, I'm back in school. I started in the Fall of 2009, and in January of 2011, I'll be applying for the nursing program at the College of Dupage. It's a two-year program, so as long as everything goes as planned (I'm not holding my breath) I should be graduating with an ADN and be a Registered Nurse in May of 2013. The tentative plan after that is to continue school to get a BSN, but I'm just taking it one step at a time. First things first, I have to get accepted to the nursing program.

So far so good, though. My GPA is a 4.0, which is really important, since the program is so competitive. Only 110 spots and the school gets hundreds of applicants each year.

This summer, I have the pleasure (yeah...) of taking a Certified Nursing Assistant course. I get to learn how to give old people sponge baths and how to use mechanical lifts and all sorts of other fun stuff... Wish me luck :)

Moving

2009-03-28T20:49:00.003-05:00

Yup, it's true. We are moving! Don't worry, it's definitely a good thing. We'll be closer to work for both of us. It will be cheaper than our current rent and we will be minus one annoying/messy/disgusting housemate. See? All good things.

Part of the moving process though, is packing. I don't know about anybody else, but I HATE packing. The other times we've moved, we've always waited until the last minute (I know, bad move on our part) and then it's a crazy frenzy to get everything packed and on the truck before we have to be out. Fortunately, we've learned. We have already started packing for our April 24th move. All books (minus the knitting books, of course) have been packed. All the art on the walls of the living room and dining room have been removed. DVDs and games are all packed as well as all the CDs and cassettes. I think we've made some good headway on the packing, though now those two rooms look very naked.

On a side note, if anybody knows anybody that is looking for a 55" Flat screen TV, it's for sale. It's an older tube model, but works just fine and the sound is good as well. It is probably not going to fit into our new space, and we really don't want to even try. Send me a message if you want it!

Woolgirls Easter Kit 2009

2009-03-23T16:13:00.004-05:00

Okay, it's official. I'm a Woolgirl kit junkie. Here is the latest kit! A Vintage Easter kit that I just got it the mail today!

Here is the whole she-bang opened up. Pretty, isn't it?

A cute little handmade Easter Bunny stitch-marker.

Handpainted notecards. Aren't they cute! I'm torn between keeping them for myself, or giving them away to another knitter that will appreciate them as much as I do!

The inside of the Vintage Easter box and a bag of Jelly Beans!

Some yummy Sock yarn from Madelinetosh in the color Clover. Not my usual color but I really like it!

A notepad to keep track of all things yarny :)

A cute little origami bunny made by Jen at woolgirl.

A handmade pouch in some Vintage Easter fabric.

I still have yet to post all the awesome photos from my first sock club shipment! There is just so much in Jen's kits! What a wonderful surprise to come home to, today!

Loads of good new!

2009-03-02T18:32:00.004-06:00

Well, it's been a good long while since I posted anything. Lots has happened in the last few months, and too much to even try to catch up on here. Lots of frustrating ordeals and whatnot that Nick and I have muddled through and we are slowly coming out the other side of.

My main reasons for posting are:

1. My pattern has been published!!! Details in a minute :)

2. I'm down 20.2 pounds!!!!

This last thing I am so incredibly excited about. I joined weightwatchers at the end of December. I didn't want to wait until January first, because I felt like I just needed to get started. No use in putting off the inevitable. It's been 9 weeks and I haven't felt at all like I've been dieting. It's all about the choices we make.

I have more energy than I've had in a long time. My clothes are baggy (yay!) and it's noticeable, which is always nice too. I simply cannot express just how happy I am. I feel like I've finally gotten some control over my body. Before, I felt like nothing I could do would help. The Atkins diet made me feel gross and I couldn't stick with it for any length of time because it felt like a DIET. Weightwatchers is not a diet, and I never feel hungry or deprived. It's awesome!

Okay. Now on to the other good news.

About 6 months ago, I contacted Jen from Woolgirl about the possibility of her selling my sock pattern. We exchanged a few emails, one of which had my pattern in it, and Jen LOVED it! She told me that she would be happy to sell it in her shop, but would be even happier if I agreed to let her use it for a special Sock Kit. After months of planning on her part and nail-biting on my part, the Glenda the Good Witch Sock Kit has finally been released! Woohoo! Here are some pictures:

This is the Glenda the Good Witch Kit as it arrived at my house

The Yarn is Madelinetosh and there is an adorable project bag made by Amy. If you wanted to order a bag from her, you could contact her at ablt4@msn.com .

My pattern :)

Plus lots of other fun goodies!

A sugar cookie recipe with a star and a crown cookie cutters.

A wand and a pencil with Glenda's saying "Are you a good witch or a bad witch?"

A Glenda sticky pad and bookmark.

A Glenda stitch marker made by WeeOnes.

And a homemade soap wand and a baggy of Good & Plenty!

So much fun and so exciting!!!

Yay for Weightwatchers!

2009-01-12T19:37:00.002-06:00

I'm down 8.2 pounds in just two weeks! I feel full and I can eat anything I want. I'm so incredibly excited about this program!

That's the only thing of real interest I have to report. Lots of things OTN, including Stricken, and a Hooded Cable Scarf. There are others but those are the big ones I'm working on right now.

Weight loss goal

2008-12-08T22:57:00.002-06:00

I'm hoping that posting this here for all the world to see will be enough to get me motivated to lose weight. I'm at the heaviest that I've ever been, and I have got to do something about it. I've been thinking about joining weight watchers to see if that is something that could work for me. We've toyed with the idea of joining a gym again, but Nick and I were both so bad about going that it was a HUGE waste of money. We also plan on moving in May of 09, so we don't want to buy any equipment that we are going to have to move. I looked up how much it would cost to join the YMCA of Oak Park...would you believe that it costs more to go there, than the fancy gym we belonged to before?? I find this very disturbing. How are the poor people supposed to afford a healthy lifestyle that involves exercise if they cannot even afford to go to the local Y? Not sure exactly what I'm going to do yet, but the ticker will keep track of my progress.

Just an update...

2008-06-06T15:38:00.002-05:00

Life has been busy, busy. I've gotten quite a bit of knitting done, just haven't really had too much time to write about it. Most recently I finished a pair of socks using the Yukon leaves pattern and knitting with Interlacements Tiny Toes:

I also knit up an itty bitty baby sweater for Chix with Stix using the Sock it To me Baby Pattern and some Berrocco Sox yarn:

The other really exciting news is that we are adding to our family. On June 21st we'll be picking up our second puppy! Her name is Bridgette and we are going to keep that name. So, we'll have Abigail and Bridgette! Here are a few pictures that the breeder has sent us:

Hell of a day!

2008-03-25T16:38:00.005-05:00

So, once a week, I have to open the restaurant that I work at. No big deal, normally. I get up around 4:30am, arrive at work around 5:30 and start to turn things on to warm up for when we open at 6am.

My routine this morning was the same:
Turn off alarm/turn on lights.
Turn on the grills in the kitchen, the toaster, the syrup warmer and the donut machine.
Make coffee.

Then I usually put on my makeup while the coffee is brewing and I wait for my cook and my first server to arrive.

Laura (my server) was a few minutes early this morning, so I didn't actually get a chance to put on my makeup. The moment she walked into the kitchen she yelled my name and said "Why is there smoke back here?" to which I replied, "what are you talking about?" while running into the kitchen.

Sure enough there was smoke, and a lot of it too. There was a horrid burning smell and flame licking up from behind the deep fryer. Laura's yelling about the fire and starting to panic and I'm trying to figure out what the hell is causing the damn fire, so I pull out the fryer. It's hard to see, but there is some sort of hose on fire, so I try looking to make sure there's no flame coming from the fryer itself...nope. Laura's yelling that maybe the red handle on the front of the fryer turns it off...nope again. That handle opens up the drain for said fryer and spills oil all over my shoes and jeans. Damn.

I'm plum out of ideas, and I really didn't want to use the fire extinguisher if I don't have to, so I start calling my boss while I have Laura call 911. We're told to wait outside, just in case it's a gas fire and something explodes... O_O

The first to arrive to the scene was a Downers Grove police officer, who immediately asked for the damn fire extinguisher (a girl can hope, right) which I grudgingly gave to him. I escorted him back to where the fire was and without thinking twice he pulled the pin and aimed. He had to use the entire contents of the extinguisher before the fire finally flickered out. :bigsigh:

Then he just dusted off his hands and went on his merry way, leaving me with the fire department, who had shown up just a minute previously. They checked things out and unplugged some stuff, but ultimately couldn't figure what had started the fire. They left shortly thereafter, saying the health department would be in later today. Great.

So there I stood amidst smoke and the powder from the extinguisher still in the air and a kitchen that looked like it had seen much better days...and we should have opened 15 minutes ago. I had already had to turn customers away, since I didn't know if it was safe or not to let them in. Now I had to turn them away, because I had a kitchen that was literally covered in the fine yellow powder from the damn fire extinguisher. Everything had to be washed. It doesn't seem like much...but when you have a full kitchen...it's overwhelming. The grills had to be cleaned, the floors swept and mopped, and mopped again. Every last dish and utensil that was in the kitchen needed to be cleaned. Every pot, pan, spatula, you name it, it had to get washed...and I still hadn't had my damn coffee.

So I go and pour myself a coffee, still no makeup on, roll up my sleeves and start washing dishes. I washed dishes for an hour and a half...during which I managed to spill my damn coffee down my front :shakeshead: Jimmy came back after having gone home to take a quick shower (I had woken him up when I called him) and the cleaning continued. We weren't really ready to open for business until nearly 8 am.

By 8, I was exhausted, and I still had another 7 and a half hours to go before I could go home. I ended up running next door to Kohl's so that I could at least buy a clean shirt (and put on my makeup while I had a chance). The rest of the day consisted of one inspector after another until we were given the double thumbs up and we could continue business normally.

So, what caused the fire? Freak accident.

The theory is that there was a very small gas leak in the hose that connected the gas line to the fryer. When I turned on the flat grills, the flames apparently shot out towards the back of the grill because they are set up on some type of horseshoe-like coil or something (I still don't quite understand that part). There was enough gas from the leak that the flames from the grill traveled over to the hose and ignited. Everything next to that hose also lit up because of the grease that was behind the fryer.

I'm lucky that we caught it in time, and I'm damn lucky the thing didn't blow up in my face when I was stupidly trying to figure out what was on fire. All that was left of the burnt sections of hose was wire mesh. All of the rubber casing had burned or melted off. It's a miracle, frankly, that the damn thing didn't explode.

I'm still in shock.

Some Knitting...

2008-03-08T20:18:00.005-06:00

Some things I've been working on:

Socks for my boss's wife's birthday

A scarf for my FIL that I just can't seem to finish:

Firestarters - though I've only got one done for now...my sock pattern has taken over everything else:

And totally not knitting related, but super funny - here is a series of photos that my husband took of our new puppy today. Her name is Abby, and she is just so incredibly goofy :)

And we've also discovered that she can wink ;)

Thank you, thank you very much! :muah:

Wow, I've been busy!

2008-03-08T00:44:00.002-06:00

It's been so long since I last posted, that I can't even begin to catch up. Suffice it to say, I've knit several pairs of socks and other various garments since I last updated. If you really want to see all I've done, check out my projects page on Ravelry. My username there is beppermee. If you have not signed up for Ravelry yet, go do it now! Do not do anything else until you have put your name on that waiting list. It is the absolute best knitting resource ever!!! Not only can you look up patterns and yarn, you can see what other people have made with specific yarns or you can see what people have used to knit certain patterns. On top of that, you can manage your stash, library and needles all in your virtual notebook. And if that weren't enough, the knitting community is awesome! There are literally thousands of forums for every possible interest you could have, even outside of knitting. I could write all day about it, but your best bet is to sign up and start exploring yourself. Go, go!

Now, onto something more project related - my most recent endeavor that I'm involved in is the creation of my very first pattern. It will be a sock pattern, for a sock club that is being started by a fellow knitter that is also a fantastic dyer. I'm really excited to be writing my very first pattern. Now I see why some people have written so many. It can be quite exhilarating. I just have to finish test knitting that pattern, and find a few other people that would be willing to give the pattern a try, and then it should be good to do. Angela (the dyer) has even said she will sell the pattern for me in her shop! I'll post photos of the WIP later today, as well as some of the other things I'm currently working on. I really have to finish up some of my UFOs.

But what I really want to do is write another pattern...I feel a new obsession coming on...

Uh-oh!

I know, it's been a while...

2007-08-27T16:57:00.001-05:00

I've just been incredibly busy...but I promise to post on Thursday with some of my WIPs and my new FOs.

On a side note...I've asked for a raise at work, because I work way too much and too hard for the pitiful pay I was getting before. They've agreed, but I'm still waiting to hear on how much they will give me. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Stitches Midwest Market

2007-08-10T19:22:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately, I was unable to attend any classes at stitches Midwest, but I was able to attend the market...
Let's just say that I spent way more money than I planned. Here are some of my recent acquisitions:

Okay. Starting from the far left, we have Lorna's Laces in the color argyle. Here's a closer look:

The next was another Lorna's Laces in the color Purple Iris:

Next is Koigu KPPPM in dye code P829B:

After that, I got some hand-dyed yarn from a shop called Ellen's 1/2 pint Farm LLC:

My last "stash" acquisition was a self-patterning yarn by Sockotta:

Fortunately/unfortunately, depending on your viewpoint, it doesn't end there :) I bought my first swift:

...and ball winder:

As well as some sock-blockers from a shop called Purrfectly Catchy Designs. They have a website as well as an Ebay store. They also sell purse handles, stitch markers and sock patterns. Here are my sock-blockers:

My last purchase were a set of Addi turbo circular needles in size 1 with a 40" diameter. I got them from a booth where there was a lovely woman named Liz giving a demonstration on how to knit 2 socks on one circular needle using magic loop. She passed out instructions as well as her business info, so that if you have any questions you can call her. Here are the needles:

Here's a list of all the vendors' sites that I shopped from. There were so many there, that I will only list the ones that I actually purchased products from.

I bought my Lorna's at Jimmy Beans Wool. Starting August 20th, they are going to offer a specialty color of Lorna's that was absolutely gorgeous, and I think you can only buy it online.

I can't remember who I bought the Koigu from, as they did not give me a receipt for my purchase :(

The lovely blue yarn came from Ellen's 1/2 Pint Farm LLC. She had many wonderful yarns in some absolutely gorgeous colors. I had a hard time choosing just one. I think I returned to this stand three times before I finally decided on one.

The Sockotta came from Sutter's Gold 'n Fleece. This was the same shop where Liz was giving the demonstration on how to knit the 2 socks on 1 circular needle.

Those were my adventures for the day. Tomorrow or the day after I'll post my current progress on my Cookie A. Twister Flower sock!

A bit about me...

2007-08-02T12:11:00.000-05:00

I'm a newbie to blogging, so you'll have to forgive me while I try to get the hang of this.

I first started knitting about 6 years ago, but only ever knit scarves, since that was all I was comfortable with. Then, back in November, I decided to knit scarves for all of the servers that work for me. Well, let me tell you. After the first two scarves in garter stitch, I started to get bored and wanted to do something a little more exciting. That's how I came across the knitting help site. It's a wonderful site with videos of almost any technique you can think of. While I was browsing around her site, I came across this really neat scarf idea. It's the pattern for the elongated scarf at the bottom right-hand corner of the page. I unfortunately did not think to take any pictures of my scarves, so I have no record of them :(

After that, things just started falling into place. A wonderful gay friend of mine that knits turned me on to stitch n' bitch. I bought all of Debbie Stoller's books and I've never been the same since :)
I read each of them from cover to cover, and pored over all the interesting patterns. My first sweater was from her book, Stitch n' Bitch Nation. It's the men's sweater with the flame pattern on the sleeves. My husband saw this sweater and wanted me to make one. I told him I'd try (the pattern was riddled with techniques I had never dreamed of learning) and went and bought the yarn and needles required that afternoon. That sweater took me about 3 months to finish, but it was so exciting to be learning all of these new techniques (intarsia, increasing, decreasing, seaming, color changing, reading a pattern, duplicate stitch, etc.) that it didn't seem at all that bad. It was euphoria every time I was able to figure out/master a new skill. This sweater was knit in Lion's Brand wool-ease. Here is what the FO looks like:

Here's a close up of the sleeve:

While in the midst of this project, I joined my local stitch n' bitch group. A good number of these women were working on socks,which seemed foreign and scary to me. They were using a large number of pointed sticks and yarn that looked like thread to me. I said, uh-uh, no way will I ever be able to make socks. That's just too scary. Our group then decided to make some baby hats for the Afghans for Afghans project. The yarn needed to be wool, so I made my first foray to my LYS. I'm sure I looked lost and confused, because Kelly came up and asked if I needed some help. There I bought my first 2 balls of merino, fingering weight yarn and a baby hat pattern. I made three baby hats for the project, all of which were knit with Claudia's hand-painted merino yarn. Here is a picture of all the hats knitted by my stitch n' bitch group:

As you can see, there were also some gloves and mittens and sweaters in the mix. This project was a really rewarding one.

After that I made a shawl, which I ended up not particularly liking. I'm not a fan of the pattern or the yarn I used. I think I'm going to donate the FO and the rest of the yarn to a local charity.

Then, for some reason I started feeling brave. I saw all these women making socks and they kept telling me how it's not that bad, really. I had had a brief encounter with the double-pointed needles to make a pair of thumbless mittens for boss' granddaughter, so I figured I would give it a try. I went and bought the book Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch. If you don't have this book already, it is a must. It's loaded with useful information, and I completely taught myself how to knit socks from this book.

This was my "class" sock, which was knit in Lions Brand wool-ease:

Right after I finished that sock, I got so excited that I knit up this pair of baby socks in Claudia's hand-painted yarn:

I think they look better folded over like this:

(I know, I know...this is starting to get boring) :)

I got started on this sock knitting frenzy. I have made 3 adult sized pairs since April of this year and am working on my fourth. Here are the ones I've finished so far:

This first pair was a birthday gift for my boss. It's hard to see, but it has mock cables. These were knit with Fortissima Socka yarn. I was very proud of these.

These were a birthday gift for my husband. They are knit in the woven stitch with Regia Bamboo yarn. Here's a close up of that:

This next pair was my first real exciting encounter with lace. I knit it with Panda Cotton, which is actually made mostly from bamboo, with a bit of cotton, and a little bit of elastic. It was a fairly simple pattern. This is the monkey sock pattern by Cookie A, which you can get here for free:

And a close up:

While completing these socks, I decided to take a stab at a baby sweater for my nephew. His birthday is coming up at the end of September, so I figured I had better start now, since my last sweater took 3 months. This was my major knitting project while we were on vacation in lake Geneva. I worked on the baby sweater (it's from a wonderful wallaby sweater pattern) while my husband read the final Harry Potter book out loud. I finished that baby sweater in 5 days!! Here is what the FO looks like:

It was a wonderfully easy, seamless baby sweater pattern. I knit it with Debbie Bliss Cashmerino yarn. If you are interested in one yourself, the patter is written for all sizes between children's size 2 to adults XXXL. You can purchase a copy yourself here.

My current project is another Cookie A sock pattern, which I'm knitting with tofutsies sock yarn. Here is where you can see a picture of what the socks should look like when I'm done. I haven't gotten terribly far because this pattern is far more complex than anything else I've done before. I'll upload pictures as I go.

That's it for now. If you've made it all the way through this without falling asleep, kudos to you! If you have any thoughts or suggestions on how better to keep this blog, please send me a note. I am always open to constructive criticism.