Goodies!

So it's been raining now for about forty eight hours. What better time to hunker down and post? Pretty much that same here since last time I posted. Nothing new. Still busy with school, work, and work. I don't know if I mentioned it ever but I am taking five classes and a lab and I work two jobs. Somehow I still find time to spend with Andrew, and even a little time to knit. Pertaining to my business I worked my little self pretty hard last weekend and decided that as a reward I would buy myself some goodies using some of my tips. (I'm a server.) Here's what I bagged:

Except KnitScene. That was a gift, of sorts, from the best guy in the whole world. I say of sorts because we were checking out and I put it in his pile to cut down time with the intention of handing over the cash. But, like stubborn men do, he refused to take my money. So it was a gift. Of sorts. Thanks babe. Sometimes your just so stubborn I get a knitting magazine out of it. So yeah, as you can see I got the lastest edition of KnitScene (more on that in a minute), Socks from the Toe Up by Wendy Johnson (aka Wendy Knits), and Yarn Harlot by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (aka the Yarn Harlot). Wowzers thats a lot of links.

 Anywho, I knit my first pair of socks for Andrew's dad for Christmas. They were standard, stockinette, cuff down, BIG men's socks. I didn't really love making them. But then I crocheted a sock from the toe up (maybe another post...) and I loved it. I could try it on, fix mistakes. However, the no stretch thing wasn't really working for me, for socks atleast, so I decided I might try knit socks from the toe up.  Hopefully it will be more fun because I really don't want to give up on this yet. On Yarn Harlot, I do own Free Range Knitter and have read it twice. I love her blog and I figured I should a) get another one of her books before I commit the other one to memory and b) support a fellow knitter who I love to read anyways. I just finished the first short story and  I got a good knitterly laugh.  Her books are like a good knitter inside joke, that is when they aren't like good knitting sage wisdom. Highly recommend.

 Then there is KnitScene. I have been eyeing this bad boy since it came out. Whenever we go to a store that has it I would casually pick it up and browse it, convincing myself that I don't need another knitting magazine. Justifying this thought because there weren't any patterns in there that I loved. So we're in Stop and Shop (or something) and I casually pick it up for the 899th time and it strikes me. All of a sudden. There it is. The Helleborus Yoke cardigan. (rav link) I was just like, "Wow, that's a beautiful cardigan. I would really wear that! And what? It's short sleeve and knit with bulky weight. I could probably knit that, too." So now when I casually picked it up it was to oogle Mathew Gnagy's work of art. I played with the idea of buying it until saw it had short rows and was one of the most complicated patterns in the magazine (bummer.)  But then, my inner knitting Superman came out and said this to me, "You love the pattern, Elise. If you can't knit it today you will undoubtedly be talented enough to knit it someday. If you don't buy the magazine now when that day comes you won't have the pattern and then you won't be able to." So I bought it. Or rather, Andrew bought it or me. Oh yeah, please ignore the poor photo. It has been raining for two days and there is no natural light. At. All. So thats the Helleborus. I like it, a lot. I hope to knit it someday(soon).

WIPping out knits!

I'm in love. The moment I saw this shawl I knew it was meant to be. "What am I talking about?" you ask? Gundrun Johnston's Aestlight Shawl. Truth be told, I do love all the new shawlette's that I have seen lately. But this one is special. Knit with one skein (one skein!) of Malabrigo sock and mainly in garter stictch this baby must be so smooshy and soft. But my favorite thing about it is the lace. All the trianglular shawls I've seen are extrmeley lacy (rav link). I don't think I would want to spend all that time (and frustration) knitting intricate lace that's only gunna be bunched up around my neck. Maybe someday, but for now there is Aestlight. Just enough lace. Also, one of  my Ten for 10 goals is to knit something with Malabrigo. This shawl is just perfect in every which way. Not to mention my amazing boyfreind offered to take me to a yarn store and buy me any skein of yarn I wanted for Valentine's Day. Isn't he the greatest?

However, before I could get this yarn and cast on for this little delicious I had to do something. Finish my WIP's that have been  on the needles since the week of finals. Without further delay here are my very own Coronet and Bella' s Mittens!

Aren't they pretty? I lurve them both. The mittens are Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick & Quick and Coronet is in some wool acrylic blend called none other than Wool Blend. Grammie gave it to me. Despite the fact the label looks about thirty years old it is very soft. It should be noted, though, that Bella's Mittens are really really heavy and thick. And hard to operate anything in. I am sad to announce that I couldn't even button my coat when I was wearing them. So, not sure how much use they will get. But they are beautiful none the less. What's that? You want one more close-up? Oh, alright, alright.

Hehe. Pretty. So I whipped these out in a matter of a week. I really wanted to be finish these in time to get my malabrigo for V-day. The minute I saw Coronet I wanted to knit it, and since it was my first cable I knit a test one first. This is not the test one. This is techniclly Coronet numba two. And Bella's mittnens? If the pattern hadn't exsisted I would have taken a poor swipe at writing my own  I loved them in Twilight so much.

Six Free Patterns? Sign Me Up! Literally.

I just had to post this. If you head on over to crochetme.com and become an official member today you will recieve a free download of six free hat patterns! I have long loved the site and visited often without ever committing to membership. That said, I have also coveted the Stone Path Hat pattern for almost as long. Long story short, get yourself over there and sign up if you haven't!

Represent.

So, in my first post I mentioned that one of the big reasons I am starting this blog is to help represent crochet in the blogosphere. Staying true to my promise I present the mini wrap sweater (rav link).

This adorable little sweater is brought to you by none other than my favortite magazine, Crochet Today. I'm not sure in what issue it was originally published but I got it in the special "gifts" issue.  Personally, I think it is the perfect gift for my little cousin's first birthday. Also, I'm trying to maintain tradition seeing as I gave her mother a crocheted baby blanket at her shower.


This is my first garment-like attempt in both knitting and crochet so I was a little hesitant. However, after a few days of mulling it over I started to get really excited. I convinced Andrew to take me to AC Moore so I could get the yarn. I went with Bernat instead of the recomened Red Heart Baby Econo just because the Bernat was softer. Usually I am all about them natural fibers, but let's be real people. It's a baby sweater. The thing will be covered in food, dirt, or other less pleasant materials in a matter of minutes.  Anywho, I swatched (yes, that does say swatched) Monday night and here was my progress as of the next morning.

I know, I know. It's not much but by nine or so I was crusing along. By Thursday morning (if you haven't noticed Tuesday and Thursday mornings are usually the few moments I get to steal away and crochet) it was defintley slightly more impressive.

See? Adorable. And so quick to crochet. This is literally probably two and half hours of work. Which is good because knowing babies that is about the time it will take her to grow out of it. But in all seriousness it has been a lot of fun to crochet so far. Right now it has two sleeves and just needs a bit of finishing. Hopefully I will stop dragging my feet and finish it this week. Even more hopefully, I will get an adorable pic of the little cutie wearing it.

Welcome, welcome!

If you are reading this it seems you have somehow found your way to my blog. And I welcome you with open arms. My name is Elise Michelle, and I am a blog-lover. There I said it. I have been trying, rather unsuccessfully, for some time now to develop a blog that I love and expresses who. This will be my third attempt. Hopefully, third time's a charm. Recently I read a post on Kim Werker's blog that was asking, in one form or another, "Where have all the crochet blogs gone?". After reading this I felt inspired to rise to the challenge of representing crochet in the blog world.