Ren Knits ^^

graduation! and such

Ren — Mon, 25 May 2009 03:34:10 +0000

in the month or so since i posted:

1. i graduated college

2. i left gainesville and moved back home

3. i went on a cruise (to the bahamas — nassau and freeport)

4. can you guess what else i did based on the pictures? (yes, i got a haircut. ^^)

5. i have been knitting, but only a little bit. i knit a few dishcloths and i’m working (slowly) on some socks.

happy (belated) Easter!

Ren — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 01:05:23 +0000

i hope everyone had a happy Easter! i know i did, at home with my family. (uh, yes, i took that picture today, and yes, the dove solid chocolate bunny is still wrapped up. let’s see how long that lasts…)

i love my little bunny nugget! (rav) i intended to make it for my mom for Easter, but i just finished it up today, two days late. i intend to give it to her when i go home in a few weeks, but i may like it too much to give away. LOL ^^

i’ve been super busy with school (and still am). it’s just two weeks until my last final exam and a little under three until i graduate, so hopefully i’ll have time for a longer post soon!

time flies

Ren — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 21:38:35 +0000

so, apparently it has been over a month since my last post. i’m not sure how to account for this, especially since i intended to post quite a few times. i spent the end of february finishing up my first module classes, the beginning of march relaxing during spring break, and now i’m bogged down with schoolwork in my second module classes. i certainly didn’t think i would have to work this hard on my last few classes, but apparently my professors have other ideas about that. however, there are only six more weeks until i am officially graduated, so i certainly hope i can survive! ^^

these are my ampersand socks (rav). i was worried that i wouldn’t have enough yarn (because i used a 50g skein), so i did the heels and toes in the solid color. i REALLY needn’t have worried because i think i have almost a half skein of the variegated yarn left over. i don’t prefer knitting toe-up socks (i don’t like how the cast-off looks), but i might next time because i can’t stand having so much leftover yarn.

one of my cousins had a baby this week and this is the hat i sent her (rav). i love that she had a girl… it’s so much more fun to knit girly hats, in my opinion. ^^

i also just finished up another dishcloth. i have no idea why i love making dishcloths so much… i suppose it’s because they are so easy. i need to find more people to gift them to!! i’m working on a set of wrist warmers, too, so i hope that i’ll post again before too long.

happy valentine’s!

Ren — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 01:22:49 +0000

happy valentine’s day! i hope everyone has/had a great day! ^^

this year, i did something a little different and sent out real valentines to a few of my family and friends. i mostly sent out valentines that i already had in my stationery drawer, but i just couldn’t help myself and made a couple. i think they turned out well and even my dad gushed about them (hopefully he wasn’t just saying so because he had to!) .

birthday time again!

Ren — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 20:29:29 +0000

today is my 22nd birthday! i had a nice, small birthday dinner on saturday when i was at home. corned beef & corn souffle (and vegetables i didn’t eat) and then cake & ice cream. yummy! we played some scattergories and had a generally good time. ^^ one of my favorite presents was a set of pearl earrings from my parents. i picked them out and i think they are just fabulous:

other than that, things have been really uneventful here. i haven’t posted in a month because i’ve had nothing at all to say. there hasn’t been any interesting knitting or crafting being done. the sum total of my knitting over january was sixteen blanket squares for the ghana project. super easy and i used up my acrylic stash.

i’m now working on a pair of socks and i’m about to kitchener the first one, so perhaps i’ll have a pair sometime soon. i tried to start a few toys, but got really frustrated and quit before i got very far. i think that’s one reason why i worked on super-easy squares for a while. i’ve had some trouble with my wrist again, so i’ve been trying to take it easy for that reason, too. i hope that everyone has a great week!!! ^^

key racks

Ren — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:10:39 +0000

right now, i am supposed to be finishing my finance homework and studying for tomorrow’s quiz. as you can see… that’s not happening yet. instead, i’m going to show you the last of my Christmas projects (i think!).

these are key racks, loosely based off of this tutorial from design*sponge. i started with the 5×7 plaque and a sheet of scrapbooking paper, and then i stamped and decoupaged until i was satisfied. i had never done any decoupage or worked with mod podge before, but i really like how these turned out. i love how they are totally different from each other, just as the friends i made them for are totally different. ^^ definitely a type of project that i would try again.

mom made this one for me while i was working on the others. i just adore the key on it, too. i will probably hang necklaces on it or something, since i certainly don’t have five sets of keys!!! ^^

i hope that everyone is staying warm! have a great week!

back to school (again)

Ren — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 05:48:07 +0000

this was my first week back to school… oh how i wish Christmas break lasted longer! things are insane around here because our gators just won the bcs championship. everyone is honking and screaming as they go by… what a commotion! it’s a good thing that i’m not trying to sleep yet!! : )

i just got the pictures from the kevat shawl (rav link) that i knit my mom for Christmas with lorna’s laces shepherd worsted. i think that this is one of my favorite knits. i’ve never knit a lace shawl like that before. i know the pattern isn’t terribly complicated, but i think it looks really good! mom loved it and wears it to church because it is COLD in the pew we sit in. blocking it was crazy, too — that was another new experience!

this is the lunchbox that i started out with for my dad. i got it free at the southern women’s show. i asked dad if he would want it and he said, “but it’s pink.” i asked, “well, if it wasn’t pink?” he replied, “but it is pink.” as though that couldn’t be changed?

this is what i ended up with after i recovered the whole thing. the fabric has different travel destinations on it (like paris and new york) and the pocket is globes. turns out that he really liked it once it was a different color. go figure!

anyway, i hope everyone has a great weekend! thanks so much for your concern about the surgery i had. i really appreciate that!

december?!

Ren — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 21:25:05 +0000

where the heck did december go? i meant to post three or four times, but got sidetracked doing other things. the month went something like this: knitting, Christmas knitting, final exams, doctors visits, neck surgery, Christmas, visit to the grandparents, time with the boyfriend, happy new year. i seriously can’t believe that i go back to school after a three-week break on sunday. i went to doctors/hospitals ten times in the last two and a half weeks, which is draining, to say the least, but my surgery went really well and my neck is healing up nicely. i almost have my full range of motion back, too. on the knitting front, i finished two projects before starting Christmas knitting, one big project for my mom (i haven’t taken pictures yet), stockings for the local nursing home, and two sets of notecards. i sewed up a lunchbox for my dad, too, but i think i’ll leave that for next time. also, i got a ball winder for Christmas! it was lots of fun to wind up a few yarns. ^^

these socks are finally finished! i really liked the yarn and i really liked the pattern, but i had major trouble following through with the second sock. they are the harris tweed socks (rav) knit on size 2 needles with mary jane’s attic superwash given to me by rhoda a while back. i love how bright these socks are and i want to use the rest of this yarn for wristwarmers or something. ^^

i’m pretty excited about this scarf. it’s a my-so-called-scarf (rav) in misti pima cotton/silk. i know scarves are better in wool, but every single wool i’ve tried has itched my neck (yes, even malabrigo). i need to wash this before i can wear it, but i’m sure hoping the cotton is better on my neck.

these are the stockings that i made for local nursing home residents this year. the total cost for the project was $1, since i already had nearly all the materials! dad distributed them and said everybody loved them. the project took a while to complete, but it was fun to do and totally worth it. ^^

these are made using a technique called quilling. i used the tutorial found here at reese dixon. these took me about an hour a piece to complete. they look cooler in person than in the pictures because you can’t really see the glitter here. i made them for a friend who really liked them. ^^

i used the mochimochi land heart pattern (rav) to make these heart notecards. i made a set in the spring and they were well-received, so i thought that i’d try again. this time, i used interfacing on the undersides of the hearts so that they stayed flat while i sewed them on the card. that made things SO much easier. i think i might like these even better than the originals… ^^ grandma didn’t even realize they were handmade.

sorry for such a long post!!!! i had so much to show before i forgot. happy new year!!!

spencer!

Ren — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 01:03:19 +0000

i’m afraid that if i don’t hurry up and post, kelly might just burst. a few months back, kelly knit up anne elliot spencer by canarysanctuary (rav). unfortunately, when she tried it on, it was too small. she had basically completed it, minus sleeves and buttons. as you can imagine, she was quite frustrated (i won’t link to her angry post about it! ^^). to make a long story short, she sent spencer off to me and it fit me PERFECTLY. yay! but, i kid you not, every single part of that shrug created problems for me. i think the thing is cursed, seriously. for instance, because kelly used a different yarn, there was a LOT of extra fabric around the armpits, so i had to sew in the sleeves while folding under some of the fabric… then i had to machine sew the excess and cut it off! i sure hope the edges don’t unravel, but i stitched over each part 4 or 5 times, so i think it should be fine. now it is finally done and it looks great. ^^

i have a few other things to post about, but i have to get to work on school projects. hopefully i’ll have time to post again soon!

pay-it-forward: finished

Ren — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 01:15:46 +0000

not too much has been happening in the last few weeks since i posted. my hands were hurting there for a while, so i was trying to relax and let them rest for a bit. i think it worked because i’ve been knitting again. ^^ i haven’t completed anything exciting (more dischloths! lol), but there is some knitting i’m super excited about coming up soon. yay!

i got my pay-it-forward goodies done a few weeks ago and sent them out to their recipients. the bags were all a little bit different (which made things more fun for me!). also, one bag had the smaller bag with it and the other bags had soaps. even though i enjoyed the pif, i’m glad to be finished with it. i’m well within the one year time limit, too. ^^