The Never-ending Blanket

My friend was pregnant some time a year and a half ago, and i thought i'd be a great friend and make her some baby hats and a blanket. i got those hats done. they're in the slide show. but this bleeping blanket is still on the loom. that baby is now going on 8 months and my friend is pregnant with her second child!!! so i'm really gonna try to get this blanket done this time around. how embarrassing would it be if it isn't done in time AGAIN?!the issue is, i'm doing it on the longest of the knifty knitter long looms. so it takes forever to do a row, and even if i get ten rows done, you can hardly see it cause the project is so big! in addition, since the blanket has been on the loom for over a year, the loom is misshapen from the project and one of the pegs is unstuck and keeps on coming out when i knit!! its driving me crazy!!! but i think i'll do this. i'll finish off the ball of yarn i have now. then i'll have a small rectangle shape. the color is the same green-yellow of the baby sweater and hats. i'll get some all yellow yarn of the same weight and make like 4 smaller squares and 2 skinny rectangles and mattress seam them to the blanket around the outside of the rectangle!!! i might even do a different stitch on the smaller squares and rectangles for some visual interest! this way i'll be doing smaller projects that i can get done in a day or so and see progress happening!
here's a pic of what i've got done so far on the blanket:


And here's a "sketch" of what i'm thinking of doing:

Some stuff I've made

just some pics of other things i've made in the past.

The Hat

yup, i'm finally ready to post about this hat. it looks cool, but its a tad bit tight around my forehead. it was so much harder than i thought it was gonna be. basically, i was trying to make a "rasta" hat, or a visored beanie, for my hair. the problem with this is, the hat starts out one size, and then it balloons to a larger pouch where the hair goes to make room for the locs. so, my bright idea was to start the hat on the green loom, and slowly, over a couple of rows, transfer the hat to the yellow loom. doing it this way, i would end up knitting on both looms for however many rows it took me to complete the transfer. i couldn't just go up in one move, then i would have a hat with a ridge with an obvious difference in where the upsizing started. i wanted a gradual size change. the first part on the green loom wasn't too bad. the end part on the yellow loom wasn't so tough, it was the 8 rows i did during the transfer that almost did me in! actually, the first time i tried, i had to completely frog the project because it was coming out all wrong! that was pretty aggravating, after over an hour of knitting.
you know, i say i'll never do this type of hat again, but already i'm itching to try it again to see if it will be any easier since i know what to expect. we'll see. i've already got people asking me if i'm gonna make more to sell them.

a few details about the hat: i used the lion brand wool ease chunky yarn. i did the hat using two strand held together throughout. i used the e-wrap for the visor, then a row of purls, then a few rounds of the flat knit stitch. (this is what did me in. the hat is kinda tight where the flat knit stitching is. if i had only stuck with the purls or the e-wrap, i would have been okay!) then i go back to the e-wrap for the rest of the hat. i did a M1 to make the increase. but looking back on the tutorials on the M1, i did it wrong! you're suppose to twist the bar when you put it on the peg. i didn't do that part. so i ended up with 5 little pentagon shaped holes. check out the video to see how i delt with that! LOL! i added a few extra rows along the back of the hat to help increase the pouch. and i did a k2tog ( i think that's the correct term) on the last row to make the gather at the top of the hat not so bulky.


overall, i'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. there are some obvious errors, at least to me. but its not a big deal. okay. i'm gonna say it. i WILL try this again. just not anytime soon. i have too many other projects on my looms right now! enjoy the video!

Inside-Out Sock

so, i've got three pregnant friends right now. and my newest obsession since i got my ITA flexiloom has been baby booties. so i made these cute little booties for my friend. the whole thing is done with the flat knit stitch. cute and simple.

then i decided to get fancy and try to use different stitches on a different pair of socks for another friend. on this one, i did a few rows of the flat knit stitch, then i purled the body, went back to the flat knit stitch for the heel, and then purls for the rest of the foot. it looked HORRIBLE when it was done! HORRIBLE!! the heel was recessed because the knit stitch was tighter than the purl. the purls looked all fluffy and wrong! it just looked all wrong! i was getting ready to frog it when i thought, lets just see how this looks inside out. and viola! a beautiful sock! with the sock inside-out, the purls became knits and the flat knits became...? i don't know, but i like the way it looks. i'm glad i tried something different, now!

How much is too much?!

i've been on a looming kick lately. i've bought two more looms, and that wouldn't be so bad, except on of the looms was 55 dollars!!! i spent 70 dollars at A.C. Moore the other day on yarns, and then went back two weeks later and bought another 45 dollars worth of yarn. do you think i have a problem?! now, once again, this wouldn't be so bad, except i haven't paid my cell phone or cable bill!! i think i have a problem! so now i have a total of 11 looms, and i'm trying to get my beloved boyfriend to buy me some more for christmas! you can never really have too many looms, right! i have four projects going at one time and i'm actually thinking of starting another. so now i'm left asking myself this question: how much is too much?! LOL!!