HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Happy new year everyone and be safe!!

Genuine happiness requires peace of mind or a degree of mental composure. When this is present, hardship counts for nothing. With inner strength or mental stability, we can endure all kinds of adversity....Dalai Lama

Christmas is here!

Well actually in 4 days, this will probably be my last blog of the year. I've sent/given most of my Christmas knitting presents.. whew ! I still have 3 hats, a scarf and a mitten to finish, it should be done before Christmas (cross fingers). At least all the ones that needed to be mailed were already sent out. I think I will have to start earlier next year if I want/decide to do this again. I wish I had taken pictures of the presents before sending them out but I was too much in a rush. I also got to see a friend today, we use to work together before I quit.I gave her their presents, she also gave me one of her homemade pie and a cake, she's wonderful and she looks really good. I do wish I'm back to work, well maybe :) I will cut this blog short as I need to finish a few more projects so enjoy your day !

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Yummy cake given to me by my friend Rachel, it looks so good! I had to take a picture before it disappears.

 

WIP Wednesday and Totoro Hat

10 days before Christmas! Oh my., I started knitting Christmas presents since August and still I have more to go at least in my mind. I should just be happy on what I have now instead of thinking adding more stuff like hats, mitts to go with the scarf. On top of that I will have to wrap and mail them too.And then I have some other projects in between. Well today's WIP Wednesday is a Faire Isle ear flap hat for Brianna's mom. My daughter gifted her an ear flap hat last week for her birthday and Brianna's mom loved it so Brianna ask(thru my daughter) if I can make one for her mom and she will supply the yarn (how sweet!). I told her I'll make one and not to worry about the yarn since I have the blue and white in my stash.I also finished my daughter's Totoro Hat and of course as usual it was small , thank God for blocking. I keep on forgetting to adjust the size even if the instructions says it will fit an adult head :)
Here are my pictures, enjoy and have a nice day!

Totoro Hat! If you are wondering what Totoro is, It was a character from a Japanese fantasy anime movie called My Neighbor Totoro.

Earflap hat, I still have to work on the sides and ties!

Those little voices in my head....

Did you ever have that time when you just want to scream at your brain to stop thinking, I swear sometimes i want to have an on and off switch for my brain to stop running a million miles per hour :D There is so much to do and so little time maybe because it is just 16 days before Christmas and I'm not finish with my knitting presents, I need to do some finishing touches on some and additional accessories, i guess others will have store bought  presents or a Christmas card (that's it). I have to buy the Christmas tree so we can start decorating for Christmas, my son put up Christmas lights and decorations outside yesterday and I did some garage cleaning, the girls dump all their new guitar boxes ( they had an early Christmas present from their dad) need more work but its less clutter. We also have some home improvement going on,replace the sink, needs new carpet, paint the girls room, fixed backyard, we're also turning a loft into a bedroom for my son, he use to have his own room and the girls shares a room but when he went to college the youngest one took over his room and when he came back she would not give it up, both girls want to have their own room. It would be less of an issue if we do not have to submit a permit but of course we have to follow the rules and go thru proper procedure, we decided to build it ourselves (which means hubby and son) since it is cost effective but this person at the city building department is giving us a hard time when we try to submit the plan requirements, she knows we are not engineers/architects and kept on asking for stuff we do not understand instead of explaining it layman's term. She scribbled some notes on the papers and basically shun us out and told us they will be closing soon and she has other people waiting. We'll try again Monday and hopefully get a more helpful person. And also I need a job, left my job 3 months ago reason would be another story. I'm trying to write all this out so my brain will stop thinking. Of course I still worry about my children constantly and my mother who is in the Philippines, it's her birthday on Christmas day I wish I could be with her , have not seen her for more than 3 years. Oh and I was also able to finish the baby blanket, hat, booties and mitts that I was knitting in time but my nephew has to delay his flight to Australia, he was in a car accident, he is alright but needed some medical attention. That would give me more time to make another set of baby stuff . I'm currently working on a Totoro hat for my daughter, still have my lace shawl on hold :( wont be able to work on that until next year. My other daughter and my son is also requesting for beanie hats. I better stop this and start knitting. Enjoy your day!
Here are some pictures of the baby stuff I made :)

 

On being a Mom....

So its now December and I am trying to finish this baby blanket  that i want to give to my niece Carol , she is in Australia , her husband who is currently here in California will be leaving on December 7, halfway there and I also should be able to make hats and gloves. I should stay away from my laptop to concentrate on this. Knitting this baby blanket reminded me when my kids where babies. I use to tell my husband when they were little that I wish they would grow up fast so I can stop worrying, he will tell me that I should not wish for that since that would mean we are also older. Now that they are 21, 18 and 15 yrs old, I still worry and a million times more than when they were younger, now I wish that they are  still babies. It just comes to say that parents would really not stop worrying about their kids. I remember when they were younger , i worry about what kind of food to feed them,what clothes to wear, if they have enough sleep or if they are watching too much TV, when they are in school , are they having fun, do they eat their lunch, little things.When they  get hurt, most of the time band-aid, hugs and kisses are the cure.I miss the time when they come to my room at night and sleep with us. We are their best friend and best buddies. Now I still worry about pretty much the same things plus drugs,alcohol,sex, driving, if they are choosing the right friends to be with, if they are using good judgement, if they are telling the truth where they are going, if they are safe. I worry that I have not given them enough advised or if I was too loose or to strict on them. It pains me to think that my children will get hurt or will lie to me about things, I have always been open to them and assured them that they can always come to me no matter what. I'm not a very religious person, I do come to church and believe in God and I always pray to keep my children safe.I guess I worry too much but what can I do, I can only hope that they have listen to me and their dad about making good choices, my youngest one calls them lectures, every time we give them the parent talks.Now more than ever I understand why my mother was too strict with me when I was growing up, I miss her.

It's MONDAY...

Weekend went by fast, didn't get any knitting done,Saturday morning was nice, it was raining, i love the rain then we went to my brother in laws house to celebrate his birthday and watch the Pacquio Vs Marquez fight, it was not as exciting as their previous fights, oh well both of them made so much money. Sunday was laundry day and did some organizing around the house.We are also trying to replace all the faucets in the house, so much work so little time. Housechores gets in the way of my knitting :)



Oh!I have to post this picture of my new styrofoam head, it came in Thursday, my daughter told me it creeps her out:D , she looks great to me.



 
I also made some progress on my lace shawl, It seems I have been knitting this for a long time and yet it still looks small even for a shawlette, did 3 repeats of the lace pattern already. I will make sure to use lace needles next time since the needles I am using is blunt, it makes it harder and slower to work on the yarn, in fact I decided to stop working on it until I get a lace needle. I have ask some knitting friends on g+ what will be the best knitting lace needles, got several suggestions and I will either order online but  will visit my local yarn store (lys) first to see if they sell any. I normally go to Joann's but they do not sell the lace needles in-store.
Well here are the pics Happy knitting and have a fun Monday!

WIP Wednesday

Happy WIP Wednesday! What do I have on my needle right now? Hmm, lets see a Lace shawl, another shawl, a scarf, a cowl and a helmet liner. What did I get myself into. I'm suppose to have only 3, oh well I guess I have to control  myself casting on another project until I finished one. Speaking of finish project I was able to make me a fingerless mitts yesterday, my hand got so called on MOnday and I could not knit wearing gloves, i'm glad i actually finish it or else it will be the 6th project on my needle. Moving on to my Lace Shawl ,so far so good, I'm on the last row of the lace repeat, I'll probably do one more repeat (oh no!!), since it seems really small, of course I'm still keeping my lifeline, especially now that I have gone that far, probably farther if I just work on this one, good luck on that, I tend to work on other projects when I get too tired of the pattern or gets frustrated, that's why there's always an easy project on my needles to switch into just to get me going. Enough of my babbling, here are some of my pictures. Enjoy your day and keep on knitting, i know I will :)

Here is my progress on the lace shawl that I am working on , the cable needle does not want to cooperate hence the wonky edge, Hopefully next picture will be a finished project.

Finished Fingerless mitts :)

This photo shows folded cuffs!

Shawl/Shawlette Progress....

Okay so far I made it to the first 22 rows of lace and working on the repeats. I did not have to ripped back my work since I have place a lifeline but im still keeping it just in case.It looks wonky right now hopefully it will look better after blocking.

Happy knitting and Enjoy your weekend!!

Lifelines in knitting

Wow it's November already, hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween, I still have sugar rush just by giving treats to little monsters and also big ones in my neighborhood. I manage to have 3 projects in my needles so far, 2 projects are pretty much the easy shawl and the one row scarf, yes I'm still working on my Christmas presents, hopefully ill get them done by the end of this month. I actually challenge myself by knitting my first lace shawl. I use a pattern that I got from Ravelry, it should be a beginner lace shawl/shawlette but I actually frogged it so many times but I am not going to give it up, so far I am on Row 9 ... 63 more to go :D and I do not want to ripped my project back from the beginning if I make another mistake which I am sure will happen so I decided to try the lifeline which is pretty much a scrap yarn threaded through the live stitches on the project, as you continue knitting,the scrap yarn will stay on the stitches and if for some reason you make or I make a mistake and needs to rip back I only have to rip back up to the lifeline (scrap yarn on your stitches), this makes a lot of sense and it would help prevent frustration from starting all over again especially when working on lace pattern. On the picture below is what i have knitted so far and as you can see there is a white scrap yarn for my lifeline, I will keep going and plan to place lifeline maybe every 5 rows just to be safe. I will try to post more pictures of my progress. Happy Knitting!!

To Block or Not To Block!

Until last night I did not know that I can block Acrylic yarn. I have been using mostly acrylic yarn since it is the least expensive and easily available to me so I can do what I love to do, knitting :) hopefully someday I will be able to afford the fancy yarns. I have always been happy with the way my knitted projects look even if it was not block. If you have seen theEar flap hat I made for my daughter which came out a little too small so I was going to make her another one, however my son requested me to make one for him first which ended up too big I don't know why since i even did a gauge swatch so I knitted another one, And of course it turn out to be a little too small and I am not making another one, I heard and read about blocking but most of them were about other fancy yarns and that acrylic cant be block since it is not a natural fiber but I remember someone had mentioned that we can block acrylic so I did a Google search and lo and behold I found Bead Knitter Gallery, she talk about acrylic can be block, this is the link ( http://beadknitter.blogspot.com/2009/03/you-can-block-acrylic.html?showComment=1319658734282#c2787138813915084037). I followed her instructions and started steam blocking the hat , I was so happy with the result , it fits perfectly and it looks great. I have been steam blocking since this morning and I can say I'm a fan of blocking now.

Below is the example of a before and after for the Earflap Hat

     This is the hat before blocking,edges were uneven and you can see some puckering on the hat.

This is the hat after blocking edges are straight, no puckering and I actually like the texture too.

Happy Friday and have a good weekend!

DALAI LAMA

Posted by Dalai Lama on g+


'The more adept we become at cultivating an altruistic attitude, the happier we will feel and the more comfortable will be the atmosphere around us. But if our emotions fluctuate wildly and we easily give in to hatred and jealousy, even our friends will avoid us. So even for people with no spiritual beliefs, it is important to have a peaceful mind'. by Dalai Lama

Peace to all and happy monday!!

Fingerless Mitts

Photos of the most recent FO's, fingerless mitts I made for my daughters. The pattern is available in Ravelry, http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/alices-mitts.

FO Fridays

Its FO Fridays so here are some of my finished projects. It is also I LOVE YARN DAY Today!!!!

Earflap Hat I made for my daughter, As I suspected its a little bit small, so I will have to make her a new one .

 A simple easy lace scarf. I used 2 yarns together. A very light rose finger weight yarn and a ribbon yarn (from one of my recycled sweater stash).

This is a hat and scarf for one of my friends 9 yr old son. Basic Ribbed hat and One row handspun scarf. For the yarn. I used Joans sensations Rainbow Classic.

HAPPY FRIDAY !!!!!

WIP Wednesday

I started this earflap hat for my daughter on Monday, and I should finished it today. Im thinking it might be small for her since she wears her hat differently, she does not pull it all the way down, I guess Ill just wait and see until its all done.

Gem's Purple Shawl

I finally finished the shawl,I'm making for my friend Gem. I hope she will like it.

Here it is...

FO's and WIP's

Here are some of my FO's (finished objects) and WIP's (work in progress). Happy knitting and have a great weekend!
                                           This is my Cozy Wrap.

                                          Shawl and more scarves!

My work in progress (WIP).  I try to only have 2 projects in my needles so I can switch back and forth when I get tired of working on one project. It's too overwhelming for me if I have more than 2.

Your Yarn is the STAR!!

I love working with yarns that have texture like boucle, fun fur ,homespun etc.. They always give you different final product and you don't have to use difficult pattern. I have always just use garter stitch to make simple scarf and yet they look like something that was complicated ( from a non knitter point of view :D ). 

I tried using lace patterns on some yarn with texture but ended up frogging them in the end since the designs does not show much. For me just using plain knitting works well with textured yarn. I found this yarn from my stash and taught I could make another scarf to add to my Christmas knitting projects/presents.This should not take long as I'm using a size 17 needle and just knitting every row.  Ill post a picture once its done. Happy Knitting..

This is what i have done so far:

Love Thy Hands!!!!

If you're like me, once I get into a project. I will knit, knit and knit until my hands and fingers gets really tired. One morning I woke up and felt like my fingers were frozen especially my little pinky, I could hardly move them, I realized I have been knitting the previous night, almost non stop. I just get so into knitting, I forget to stop and take a break. I learned to discipline myself as I don't really want to have wrist injury or pain that will prevent me from knitting.

I have this Chinese Balls that was gifted to me and I find it very helpful to take a break and use them to exercise and relax my hands and fingers. I also walk around and do stretches for my neck and back as well.There are many sources available on the Internet to get information on hand exercises for knitters.  Now if you are already experiencing pain in  your arm, hand, neck or back , you may want to see a doctor. Take care of yourself . Happy Knitting!!!

What's on your needle?

I have been working on a scarf  for a friend. This scarf is very easy and I have to remember only 1 row,it is also reversible. I ve got this design from Ravelry, its called One Row Handspun scarf by Stephanie Pearl- McPhee. If you have not joined Ravelry, I highly recommend it. It is a very good resource for patterns, knit along, ideas, tips etc.. You are welcome to friend me, my user name is rvespinosa.
For this scarf I cast on 26 stitches (to make it wider or narrower add or remove stitches in groups of 4 )
Row 1: *knit 2, knit into the back of the next stitch, purl 1. Repeat from *till there are 2 stitches left. Knit 2.
Repeat that one row every row until  your scarf is long enough or you run out of yarn.

Recycling Old Sweaters

I spend most of my free time today recycling old sweater by turning them into yarn. I saw some old sweaters that my children no longer like, I remember seeing a video about turning old sweater into yarn, so I tried it and its pretty easy, you just have to find all the seams and once I basically deconstructed them by separating the arms, front and back , all I had to do was wind them into ball of yarn, now I just have to find a project for this yarn, in the meantime it will stay in my yarn stash. Happy knitting...

Shawl #1

Knitting Christmas presents...

So I finally decided that I will be gifting knitted items as presents for Christmas, this is a gutsy move for me as I have never given any of my knitted projects except of course to my own children and husband. I've knitted tons of scarves and hats. My daughters would have scarf and hats to match any of their outfit, the only problem is they can only wear them during winter here in California. I am making really simple shawls for my sister in laws and female friends , scarf and hats for boys and male adult.  So far I have finished 3 shawls and more to go.I have all the yarn I need for the project but  I feel that I need more yarn , as every knitter will say you can never have too much yarn :D. I will be taking pictures of my finished projects and share them here. In the meantime.. Happy Knitting and Be well.