To Infinity and Beyond

Happy Friday!  Woo hoo!  It's almost the weekend!  This has been a long work week for me so I am hoping today goes by quickly.

It is probably a little known fact that I knit.  Did you know that my love for knitting - and sharing the stories of my life - inspired the name behind this blog?  Originally I wanted the title to be "Spinning Yarns" but that URL was already taken, so I settled on Lisa's Yarns.

Anywho, so I knit.  Not as much as I used to, but when there is a lull in my schedule, I find myself in my local yarn shop (which is a short walk away).  It's the very yarn shop where I learned to knit and purl 4 years ago!  In late July, I had an unplanned weekend so wandered into the yarn shop in search of my next project.  I was pining for fall and wanted to work on something warm and cozy for that season.

I settled on this very simple pattern.  It's called the "GAP-tastic Cowl" as it was inspired by a scarf that the author of the pattern spotted in GAP.  It was my first time making an infinity scarf.  I have always wanted to own one, but never saw one I really liked in a store (with a price tag I could stomach).

Here is how it turned out!

The picture is obviously a bit dated as it was taken before my haircut!

Here is an up close shot that shows the texture of the scarf

I am really happy with how it turned out.  I used my favorite brand of yarn (malabrigo), which is such a lovely yarn to work with.  It's so warm and cozy - it will be perfect for my walk to work when the temps drop!  I am glad I went with a neutral color as it will go with almost all of my winter jackets!  I want to pick up some more yarn this weekend so I can start working on another one.

Do you know how to knit?  If not, would you ever learn?  I love it because it's crafty, but there is a pattern to follow, which makes a type-a girl like me happy.  :)  I encouraged my aunt to take a knitting class and she fell head-over-heels in love with it!  She knits circles around me these days and I love hearing about her latest creations when we get together!!

10 Days of Thanksgiving: Day 3

Today I am thankful for my ability to create beautiful things.  

Anyone who knows me really well, knows that I don't have much of an artistic bone in my body.  I can be the queen of self-deprecation, and this is a popular topic when employing that humor device.  My childhood craft projects were not fridge-worthy (trust me!!  Just ask my mom!).  I actually HATED art.  Give me numbers or language arts any day.  Scissors, glue, and glitter?  No thank you.

That said, I really should stop proclaiming myself as the most untalented artist ever.  I am actually really good what some may consider an art form - knitting.  I sort of shrug it off as something that isn't an art form because I have to follow a pattern (oh how this math major loves anything involving a pattern!).  But at the end of the day, I create something beautiful.  Knitting was actually an inspiration for my blog title.  Originally I wanted my blog title to be "Knitting Yarns" and I would share my knitting projects and stories of my life - you know, kind of a spin off of "spinning yarns" - except the stories I shared would be honest, of course!  But since Knitting Yarns was taken, I decided on Lisa's Yarns.

I have shared far more personal stories than projects, so now is the time to show you some of the gifts I have made for others - and a project I kept for myself. I love to knit for others - I think one of the best gifts you can give is something that is handmade!  Here are some of my finished projects!

I knit this hat for my niece Anna shortly after she was born (and also a cream hat!)

I made the same hat for Charlie, but in a more boyish green.  And ahem, isn't he ADORABLE?  Quite the perfect little hat model!

A couple of Christmases ago, I made these ornaments - each family member got one!

Here are a couple other miniature ornaments I knit!  These are my favorite - but the most difficult/time consuming so I only made a couple!

Last fall I knit this blanket for my friend Brooke's baby boy, Owen.  Oh my goodness, this one took a long time to complete - I actually didn't finish it until Owen was a couple of weeks old.  For the knittings out there, this was knit on a size 6 needle!!  But it turned out beautifully!

I crocheted this blanket for my friend Heidi's baby girl, Elle.  This also took quite a bit of time to make!  And it was actually my first and last crochet project!  The finished product was beautiful, but the process was difficult for me as I really struggled with crocheting techniques and pattern reading.

Excuse the tiny camera picture...  Here I am wearing a hat I knit for myself (finally, a project I kept!).  I also made this hat for my friend Heidi's 30th birthday (along with a ruffled scarf) in a bright, fun pink!

Lastly, I also made a scarf for my mom, each sister, and each sisters-in-law (for a total of 5 scarves!) a couple of Christmases ago.  I would like to do this again someday and make them mittens or hats, I just need to find the time to do this (and start in like March!  Ha!).  You can see the pictures of their scarves in this post.

A Labor of Love - Part II

December is going to be one exciting month! In addition to all the holiday hustle and bustle, two of my closest friends will have babies! They are due just a day apart, next week, which is kind of crazy! Last month I showed you the blanket that I crocheted for one friend; today I am sharing photos of the blanket that I knitted for my other friend!

Before I bought my yarn, I found out that this friend was having a boy so I selected a baby blue color of yarn. I chose a simple, checkered pattern for the blanket.

The two blankets I made couldn't have been more different, but I am very happy with how they turned out!

What is my next project? Baby hats. Lots and lots of baby hats!!

Loving This!

Oh my gosh, I am loving the yarn-inspired wall art (spotted here, how to video found here) ! I am a math major who loves geometric shapes (yes, I am a dork), so this is quite pleasing to my pallet. Plus it brings back memories of playing with a Spirograph as a child. Loved that toy!

I fear the project is just a bit too much for me, though. I am not very good at 'art projects'. Trust me. Even though this one would require lots of precision and no 'free handing' it, I still fear it would be an epic fail.

Believe me when I say I am a terrible artist. Or call my mom. She'll tell you my artwork as a child was very, um, interesting...

Or take a look at these 2 pictures and tell me: which was drawn by 29 year old Lisa and which was drawn by my 5 1/2 year old Godson/Nephew, James?

When I was showing the drawings we had worked on to my co-workers (I am such a proud aunt!) I kept saying - "wait - did I draw this, or did James?" You can probably tell I did the first one since the names were written quite small (difficult for a kindergartener to write that small). But really, I am about at the same artistic level as my nephews (or perhaps below actually).

But hey - it's important to know your strengths! So I won't be taking on that yarn-inspired wall art project. But I do plan to save that how-to video and maybe in my next house, if I have a wide-open wall, I will commission the help my good friends, Amanda and Brooke, to help me out. They are both very talented at all things artsy!

Are you artistic? Do you enjoy drawing or do you view it as a total chore like I do/did?

Scarf unveiling...

I bet you were expecting a Ten on Tuesday post, weren't you? ToT is taking a little holiday break, but I will be back with more random questions/answers next week!

So today I am going to show you the scarves that I made for my mom, sisters, and sisters-in-law. I started working on these back in April, I believe? It was so hard to keep them a secret. No one, besides my mom, really knew that I was doing this!!

Without further ado, here they are!

The first one is for my mom - we saw a scarf that was knit from this pattern when we were shopping for yarn in the town close to my parents' lake cabin. My mom just loved the scarf but the shop owner didn't have the pattern. Luckily I randomly stumbled upon it while browsing a pattern site this winter. There are probably thousands of patterns, so it's extremely odd that I found this! It looks difficult, but it's not too tricky. It does require a lot of concentration, though! Many of the patterns I do are kind of 'mindless' but this one definitely isn't!


Here's a close-up of it - the entire scarf has that wave pattern going on. My mom loved it and I think she has worn it every day so far!!


I made this one for my younger sister, Abby. She LOVES green so I chose this variegated green yarn and found a checkered pattern. The odd thing is that it matches her winter coat PERFECTLY. I seriously couldn't have found a better matching scarf! Granted, she probably won't get a whole lot of use out of it since she lives in Arizona, but it is definitely keeping her warm while she is home over the holidays!


Here's a close-up of the checkered pattern.


I made this one for my sister-in-law, Julie. This one was actually the most time consuming. I am going to guess it took about 20-25 hours? The reason is that I used pretty small needles. It turned out great, though! Ribbed scarves are my favorite!


I made this one for my older sister, Emily. She is a teacher and this scarf sort of struck me as an 'academic' scarf. No idea why - maybe because it sort of reminds me of Harry Potter's scarf? The colors are similar.


Last, but not least, I made this scarf for my sister-in-law, Emily. Yep, you read that right, I have a sister AND a SIL named Emily. Gets a bit confusing sometimes - we definitely have to use middle or last names when referring to them! Anyways, I knit this one out of a really, really thick yarn and huge needles. I basically felt like I was knitting with baseball bats since I knit this right after I made my SIL's scarf on smaller needles. It turned out great and features a diagonal pattern that switches direction.


Here's a close-up of the diagonal pattern. It's kind of hard to see it, but it's there. :) This was probably the most frustrating pattern. You had to use a certain set of stitches to get the diagonal to go the direction you wanted it to go. One night I freaking could NOT get it to go the right direction. I knit & undid the same 10-20 rows over. and over. and over. I finally gave up and went to bed. The next night I got it on my first try!


So there you have it! I really enjoyed making these scarves and the recipients all seemed to really like them! I am currently working on another gift - it's so fun to have a hobby that makes fun gifts that people usually enjoy receiving. I mean, who doesn't like scarves, right?

I've gotten some questions about how I got started on knitting so will put together a post on that in early January!

Which of the scarves I made do you like best?

Fruits of My Labor

Thank you all for your sweet comments yesterday! I really am feeling much better - it was therapeutic to blog about it and admit that sometimes I feel overwhelmed. I try so hard to give off the impression that balancing everything is effortless - but it's so not!

I have a weekend of fun things planned, which always helps! I'm babysitting for 2 of my nephews on Saturday which I am SO looking forward to. There is nothing better than spending time with these two little munchkins! They are usually pretty generous with the hugs and "I Love Yous" So I am sure that will really help me re-charge my battery.

Another thing I've been doing to re-charge my battery on the weekends is knit The repetitive nature of this hobby is just so calming and soothing for me. I usually knit the same type of scarves over and over but lately I gotten 'adventurous' and knit some new patterns. Yes I did just used adventurous and knitting in the same sentence.

Here's the scarf and hat that I recently made!



My apologies for the crappy self-photo - where's a personal photographer when I need one?

It was my first hat and I love how it turned out! I am always knitting things and giving them away as gifts but I have decided to keep these 2 projects for myself! I've already bought 2 other colors of yarn and plan to make 2 more sets of this scarf/hat combo to give as gifts in 2010.

This Christmas I will be giving 6 scarves as gifts! I hope the recipients like the scarves. They are all wrapped up under my tree. I took pictures before wrapping them so I will be posting them after Christmas. I can't post them now since all of the recipients read my blog!!

I am hoping to learn how to crochet in 2010. I really wish I lived closer to my Grandma - she is a master crocheter. I would love nothing more than to sit in her living room with her and crochet or knit, side-by-side, while catching up on life!

Do you have any hobbies that help you de-stress?

I do still knit occasionally..

So when I first started this blog, I was knitting up a storm. I was probably making a scarf every couple of weeks or so. These days? Not so much. I just don't have the free time like I did before starting this final semester of grad school, which is kicking my arse, to be quite honest. I have never felt so burnt out & I just got the worst grade on a paper that I've ever gotten. In my entire life. So yah. Not really loving on school these days. Or actually, I'm loving Derivatives (go figure!) but am hating my strategy class...

However, I did manage to crank out one project in January/February. I knit this scarf for my cousin Julie for her birthday. I just hand delivered it to her last week when I stayed with her on Friday night.

She loved it so much, she might have even slept in it! Julie is super creative. She's always sending these hand-made cards or painting awesome pictures. She always adds her own creative touch to everything. I, on the other hand, am NOT creative. But I FINALLY have something crafty that I am actually sort of good at!

The style of this scarf was inspired by one that I saw at Banana Republic... and the cost of the yarn was at least 1/5 of the cost of the scarf at BR.

I had such a great time with Julie on Friday night. Neither of us are really phone talkers, but we have the kind of relationship where we can go months without talking and can pick up right where we left off. It helps that we are only 11 months apart and basically grew up together. I just wish we lived closer together; but soon enough, summer will be here & we'll see each other way more often since our parents both have cabins in the same area. Ahh, summer, you can't come fast enough!

'Tis the Season!

So, I haven't been doing as much reading as usual. Wondering what I've been doing? Well, knitting. A lot. I took a class at Bella Lana where I learned how to knit these little ornaments. And I've become addicted!!

They are a little time intensive... But worth the effort, I think. Here are some pictures of what I've been working on!

I was showing some of my co-workers a scarf I had knit for myself and was explaining how knitting is such a good hobby for me since it so soothing. Which, I went onto explain, is really important since I am sort of a high strung person. I got blank stares back. None of them knew I was high strung. What? How is this possible!! Granted I don't work super close with them, but still... I thought I just exuded an aura of stress... Guess not!

The Color Purple

While I have read Alice Walker's book, "The Color Purple," that's not what this blog post is about. After my honest, but 'downer debbie' post last week, I figured I better write about one of the many things that is making me very happy these days. And that is the color purple. Purple has never been a favorite color of mine... which is surprising given the fact that my bathroom is painted lilac with dark purple towels to accent the color. I can't remember what drove me to go with that color scheme. (mom do you remember?) I have no idea. My favorite color for the last 10 years has been pink... so just one color family over from purple, so I guess it makes sense that I am gravitating towards purple these days.

If you've been out and about lately, you probably have seen a lot of purple. It's sort of the 'it' color of the season... But I would like to say, I have bought my purple scarf, sweater, and hand bag because I loved them, not because 'purple is the new black'. I'm far too practical to be swayed by such statements.

So here are a few things that have caught my eye lately... none of which I own. Apparently all the purple stuff I've bought in the last couple months is so fashionable, you can't find it on the Internet anymore! Ha... or they've been discontinued because I'm the only one who has bought them!

And, had I not bought a purple scarf already, I'd probably knit something up in this color...

I might do a re-read of "The Color Purple" since I was probably 14 when I read it... so you may see that popping up here in the future... if I ever get through the stack of books collecting dust on my book shelf. What can I say, my bookshelf runneth over...

Happy Monday everyone!

Learning a new trick...

Another weekend has come and gone - can't believe it's Sunday already. This was a pretty quiet weekend for me. I'm really glad that by living by myself for the last 4+ years, I've become ok with alone time. Granted, we all seem to need our alone time to recharge, but this weekend, I went from Friday night to Sunday morning without seeing anyone I know... So yah, nothing like 48+ hours to make a person a little stir crazy.

After staying in to wtach a movie on Friday night, I decided I needed to be around people, even if I didn't know them... So I headed to Mass at Holy Family and then over to Eden Prairie Center. They have a big B&N in that mall. I wandered around for quite a while. You know how some people have a dream that they'll be in the produce section one day & will reach to grab a cantaloupe (or something) and at that very moment, a person of the opposite sex grabs the same cantaloupe - their hands touch, and the rest, as they say, is history? I have the same dream/vision, but instead of reaching for a cantaloupe, we are both reaching for the same book. Yah, that didn't happen on Saturday night... oh well!! So after buying a couple books that I didn't need (but are on my goodreads.com to-read list) and a knitting pattern book, I went to see a movie.

This is not my first time going to a movie alone. I've been to probably 1/2 a dozen, maybe more. When I tell people that I went to a movie alone, many people stop me and say, 'what? You went to a movie alone?' I also wonder why this provokes such surprise - since when did going to a theater require company? It's not like conversation is part of going to a movie. Granted, I miss having company during the trailers - it's not as much fun doing the thumbs up/thumbs down game alone... but aside from that, it doesn't matter if you are there on your own or with 10 people. I digress...

Anywho, I went to see the latest Nicholas Sparks novel that has been made into a film, 'Nights in Rodanthe'. Even though Richard Gere is old enough to my father, I still think he's pretty hot. Gray hair and all, I wouldn't kick him out of bed for eating crackers... back to the film, though. Richard Gere and Diane Lane acted together in the movie "Unfaithful" and had great on-screen chemistry in that movie. I was a little disappointed in their performance in this film, though. But maybe part of my disappointment had to do with how different their relationship was compared to the relationship in the book. The central theme of the relationship was different, but they way they interacted with each other during their time at the Inn was completely different. Not that this is surprising - the movie is never better than the book, but unfortunately the acting wasn't stellar enough to overcome the difference between the book and screenplay. It was entertaining enough though, but a bit of a downer... which I knew since I'd read the book and thus knew how it ended... Suffice it to say there was a whole lot of sniffling echoing through the theater. And I wasn't one of them! I cry pretty easily, but this film just didn't do it for me.

This morning my friend Amanda had a few of us over for brunch. Amanda & her husband have a little boy that will be 2 at the end of the month and another friend, Leslie, and her husband have a little girl that is around 3 months. It was great seeing both kids and getting caught up on what everyone's been up to. I have quite a few college friends in the MSP area, but we just don't see each other as often as we'd like due to everyone's busy schedules.

I spent the rest of my afternoon doing homework and watching 'Sex and the City: The movie'. Which is awesome, by the way. I saw it in the theater when it came out in June, but it was great re-watching it. Fashion, drama, and sassiness, all balled up into one film - who wouldn't love it! After that, I got down to business... and pulled out my new knitting pattern book that I purchased on Saturday night. I've knit four scarves now and am ready to learn some new tricks - CABLES! I love cable knit sweaters so was so so excited to start knitting some scarves that feature the cable knit. This of course requires some new tools (a row counter and cable turner).

Knitting cables is relatively easy... but requires counting stitches, so no more mindless knitting or multi-tasking (knitting while chatting on the phone or watching a movie). I started my first project which features a single cable through the center of the scarf. It's in the early stages, but here it is!!

Stay tuned to see how it turns out!!!

2 down, 1 to go...

Well, after taking a brief hiatus from knitting, I am back at it. I said I was going to knit scarves for my nephews... and once I say I am going to do something, I like to follow through... So the knitting needles were picked back up again lately. Also, I started subscribing to NetFlix so there is a steady stream of movies coming to my house every weekend. I've never really liked just watching a movie - I prefer to have something to do with my hands from cross stitching to sudoku to putting puzzles together. I'm not doing patterns yet, so knitting scarves is a good activity for me since there is no counting involved & now that I have have the knit & purl stitches down, I am able to knit while talking, watching tv, etc. My fingers seem to have a mind of their own!!

Here are the 2 scarves I have finished. I did knit stitches on both of them to keep it easy. The marroon'ish one on the left is James - I used a smaller needle for that one, so the stitches are a little bit smaller. Kolin's is on the right (sort of fire engine red... color isn't looking so great in the picture!!) - Emily picked the yarn out this summer when they were in Battle Lake for the week. It's a nice, thick yarn that's more plush. Hopefully both boys will like them!

Next up, I need to knit one for Andrew. His will also be a knit stitch (figure I better keep them all the same in case the boys compare... not that they would... but you never know...). He requested blue, and I am still on the lookout for the perfect yarn. I might go back to Bella Lana to get some yarn for him - it's a little more pricey but their yarn is so wonderful to work with. I thought yarn was yarn, but the stuff I got at JoAnn Fabrics didn't have much 'flexibility' to it, so it's not the easiest stuff to work with. I am sure I could find something at JoAnn Fabrics, but so far I haven't been successful...

At the end of the month, I am taking another class at Bella Lana where I will learn the cable stitch. I adore cable knit sweaters, so am excited to use that stitch for a scarf - maybe for myself? Or as Christmas presents for family & friends... Kind of nice to have a hobby that turns out scarves that people would actually appreciate getting (I think... err, hope...)

First project is complete!

I finished my first project this week! The scarf took a little longer than I thought it would... partly because of the size of the needles/yarn, and partly because of the technique I was using (knit 1, purl 1). I am happy w/ the finished product, though, and think I am going to become pretty addicted to this new habit.

I have started to work on Kolin's scarf. It's a thicker, red yarn that I am knitting on a larger needle. I quickly noticed the difference between the blue yarn I used and the red yarn I am using for Kolin's scarf. The red yarn is a lot thicker, so it made of more strands... thus, it's easier to accidentally split the yarn. It's also less stretchy so it's a little tougher to work with. However, it will knit up faster & probably be a little more 'plush'... I think/hope! We'll see!

A reprieve from reading...

So before I started this blog, I was reading about a book a week... then I decided to start this blog and the amount of time I spend reading has drastically diminished. I'm not sitting around with idle hands though - my new hobby is knitting! I started taking a class a few weeks ago and have taken to knitting like a house on fire!! I think this new hobby will be good for me, though. My family can attest to the fact that I can often be found curled up with a book at the lake... which means I spend alot of time solo instead of socializing with the family. Now I've gotten good enough at knitting - I can knit AND join the conversation.

I've committed (loosely) to knitting scarves for my 4 nephews, so I think I'll be doing quite a bit of knitting and a little less reading. My first project is the blue scarf in the picture above. It's going pretty well - have only have to go back & undo the knitting to fix a mistake a few times. Hopefully I'll become more prolific by the time I get around to knitting the boys' scarves. I've also decided to take another class at Bella Lana so will learn how to knit a sweater this fall as well.

I still have lots of time on the bus to spend reading, though, and the knitting will probably lose it's 'addictive' feeling soon, so I'll be back on track and reading a book a week in no time I'm sure....