Game of Hats

i've had a super secret series of projects going on since late last year, and now they're all finally done! one night, five of my closest friends and i all decided which Game of Thrones house the others would be in. by coincidence, they put me in House Greyjoy, who's sigil is a kraken...and you might remember my squid hat from earlier last year? what could be better? so i decided that it'd be a fun thing to do to make each of them a hand knit, needle-felted hat with their house sigil on it.

here, from top left: lannister lion for amanda, stark direwolf for john, baratheon stag for chris, arryn bird for sam, tully fish for alyssa, and greyjoy kraken for me.

i made them promise that, as a condition of this gift, i had to have a picture of everybody in their hats. so hopefully i'll get that soon ;) i used jared flood's turn-a-square hat pattern for stark and baratheon, and  hannah fettig's early morning beret pattern for tully, greyjoy, lannister, and arryn, both of which are lovely, simple patterns, and perfect for needle-felting! all of the hats were made with donegal tweed, 100% wool, 100% delicious.

oh! and this really helps my mile/month challenge! greyjoy, lannister, and stark were finished in and counted for last year's. but, i've still got 549 yards from baratheon, tully, and arryn! that leaves me 387 yards this month.

however, i did something else knitted and nerdy! using Erica Lueder's Hermione's Everyday Socks pattern, and using an Opal Harry Potter colorway, i give you: Hermione's Favorite.

this is actually the 'Ron' colorway, and i have to say, my favorite of those put out by opal. i'm so sad this yarn has been discontinued! but, my honey found this for me on eBay! mum helped me get the self-striping yarn to match for each sock at christmas, and she's such a master that they're only off from each other by a few stitches! i love this stitch pattern, it gives a perfect amount of texture to give these socks depth without detracting from the yarn's own pattern. and the stitch pattern translated super easily for toe-up socks.

and, i'd say these socks took about 400 yards! goal: met!

that also means i've gone over by 13 yds... what do you think, blogland, should yards roll over to other months?

better photos, as promised

it has recently been revealed that my honey is quite the photographer! so when i told him i needed good pictures of my knit gear, he happily grabbed my camera, gave me direction, and gave me these beauties! i've been promising better pictures for a long time now, here's the first wave!

my amriki vest (americano by cirilia rose)

my tbl pattern (coming soon!)

my desert summer wrap (sunshine wrap by amy butler)

my bee's delight cowl (honey cowl by madelinetosh)

my dahlia cardigan (finally finished/blocked/looking great!) (dahlia cardigan by heather zoppetti)

little blue riding cowl (riding hood scarf by amy butler)

i realized that i'd probably never find more yarn of the same dye-lot, that i'd want to buy it, or that i'd want to do all those big cables again. so! took out my bound off and cast on edges, 3-needle BO them together, and added buttons! no longer will this languish in my craft closet!

and while none of these projects count for 2012, i did just finish a secret-squirrel project, using about 254 yards! 936 yards left for january!

Euros Aestlight Scarf

thanks to my honey for the photos

aka 1st FO of 2012!! get some!

*deep breath* i'm ok, just excitable. My Euros (pattern: Aestlight Shawl) is an ingenious design by Gudrun Johnston who has a lot of other fantastic patterns I'd love to try. poor little euros was started in mid-november, but got put on the back burner for christmas knitting (i actually used a little of the 2nd skein to make my mum's turkish bed socks). i used colinette jitterbug in color #48/Florentina, and it is divine! so squishy and absolutely gorgeous colors!

instagram fun. follow me @kkpwnall

so, assuming that i used a skein and a half, i have 1,190 yards left to knit this month.

Euros is the East Wind in Greek Mythology

wtf 2011?

where the hell did 2011 go?!
i did have to put a lot of stuff aside in order to focus on myself and school this semester. i wanted to blog, i even thought up a number of posts. but, i really had to set some things aside.


one of the things that didn't get set aside was knitting!

malfoy socks, maeby's bear, amriki vest, tbl, poofy purple beret, celtic scarf, rita's cloche, dinosaur slouch hat, desert summer shawl, riding hood scarf, firefly triangle scarf, thigh high legwarmers (finally sewed those ends in!), rita's shiny triangle, paul/squid/octopus/greyjoy beret, flying sparks socks, oo la la moulin rouge mitts, faux-isle mitts, liesl, midsummer sample scarf, noro moster, accidental waldo sweater, sun-soaked cami, adventerous slouchy hat, bee's delight honey cowl, unicorn of the sea hat, dahlia cardigan, rita's tangerine gaptastic cowl, penny's santa hat, xmas stocking, mum's turkish bed socks, chris' bicycle hat, mum's haleakala mitts, & tbl #2. still on the needles: aestlight & hermione's every day socks.

not pictured: a 2nd midsummer scarf, redux of unexpected hat, another beret, & another turn-a-square, as well as some secret squirrel items ;)

using ravelry, and taking a conservative measurement, i knit 9.5 miles this year!

for 2012, i'd like to knit a mile a month. should the budget permit, of course.

happy new year, blogland.

survey time!

i like reading other people's surveys, and g-zoom found a good one for us to do! i've been thinking about my answers for a while, so here it goes!

A. Age: 21
B. Bed size: full, there's no way a queen would fit in my apartment
C. Chore that you hate: doing the dishes :P
D. Dogs: are awesome, i miss having one around! i've got two kitties, and live in a townhouse/apartment-type thing, so it looks like we'll have to wait til we get a place with a yard
E. Essential start to your day: fruit/greek yogurt/honey/granola parfait or a big cereal :)
F. Favorite color: rusty orange, deep purple, all greens, all blues, sunny yellow, and deep red... so basically every color.
G. Gold or Silver: always silver
H. Height: 5' 6"
I. Instruments you play: to varying degrees of success: cello, guitar, piano. i wish i had a ukelele to experiment with
J. Job title: um.... knitterly explorer
K. Kids: no thank you.
L. Live: fayetteville, ar; a beautiful little town to hang around in
M. Makeup essential: sometimes a little eye-liner when i want to get dressed up
N. Nicknames: rita, also :)
O. Overnight hospital stays: not so far as i know...
P. Pet peeves: uugh, let's not get into this right now
Q. Quote from a movie: 'LET SLIP THE HOGS OF WAR!' 'dogs of war, you idiot.' 'whatever barnyard animal of war!!' so...watch archer, futurama, parks and rec, pushing daisies, how i met your mother, and community, and then we can communicate effectively.
R. Right or left handed: write rightly, drive leftly. but yeah, i guess i'd be officially 'righty'
S. Siblings: 1 amazing and fantastic sister!
U. Underwear: yes. lacy or boyshorts.
V. Vegetable you hate: ocra...mushrooms...are pickles a vegetable?
W. What makes you run late: usually my own petard...
X. X-Rays you’ve had: just for dentistry. had an ultrasound once when i was having a lot of stomach pain (that eventually went away on it's own), does that count?
Y. Yummy food that you make: oo, i've started experimenting with c's and my stomachs! i've made balsamic chicken ravioli, cheese quesedillas, chicken and veggie fajitas (peppers, onions, marinated in italian dressing), pear and brown sugar pie
Z. Zoo animal: lions, elephants, octopods, owls, foxes, oooo and i fed a giraffe when we went to springfield!

also, this knitting meme floated around google+ for a while, and i never answered it, so here goes!
1) My favorite things to knit: hats and socks, though i've gotten hooked on sweaters
2) My least favorite thing about knitting: um...i don't have an infinite yarn budget, or 3 extra hours in the day to knit
3) My first finished object: you'd really have to ask mum about that. but since i picked it up again a yearish ago, the first thing i did was to make a bear hat!
4) If I could take only one yarn brand to my desert island: aaah, don't make me choose! um...koigu! or manos... no wait! spund and chloe... but louet... amy butler...?
5) My current knitting obsession: well i've got two sweater on the needles right now... i'm just addicted in general!
6) My best FO: i wear my jayne hat all the time! it's so cozy.

A to Z

I think these prompt and answers can be fun, and I haven't posted on here in a long time. What do you say Stitch, want to fill one out too?

A. Age: 25
B. Bed size: full
C. Chore that you hate: cleaning the kitchen and bathroom
D. Dogs: love them, want one
E. Essential start to your day: i wake up to music, ignore a couple of alarms, and then read email/facebook/google reader to ease into my day
F. Favorite color: orange and blue
G. Gold or Silver: gold in the summer, silver in the winter, rose gold anytime :)
H. Height: 5' 7" and a half (it counts)
I. Instruments you play: the radio... haha, used to play the clarinet in high school 
J. Job title: paralegal
K. Kids: not now, hopefully someday
L. Live: charlotte, north carolina
M. Makeup essential: mascara and a little powder
N. Nicknames: rita
O. Overnight hospital stays: none that i can remember
P. Pet peeves: oh man, i kinda have a lot. mostly they have to do with communicating with others. and bad drivers
Q. Quote from a movie: i have a bad memory on movie/ tv show quotes unless im watching them
R. Right or left handed: lefty, for the win
S. Siblings: 1 fabulous sister
U. Underwear: baggy, i need some new ones
V. Vegetable you hate: i like a majority of vegetables, but i mostly like veggies when they are cooked versus raw. but i will never eat a brussel sprout
W. What makes you run late: i don't like being woken up, this includes by alarm, and when i do finally wake up, i dawdle. also my hair takes forever to dry by blowdryer when i have to
X. X-Rays you’ve had: in 5th grade when i broke my wrist and my back when i was having nerve problems... i can't think of any others besides teeth
Y. Yummy food that you make: i love cooking! my favorite things to make are fajitas and chocolate chip cookies
Z. Zoo animal: giraffes and elephants, hands down.


 dude, where is T?!

PHOTO-DUMP (or, an apology for failing at photo challenges)

flying to and from Augusta, GA
clouds that look like a map of the world

a rainy-day fair in tontitown

a fancy new haircut!made an adventerous, unexpected hat (pattern by cassy dominick!)finally took a picture of these sparkling sockscelebrated an anniversaryclimbed a mountain to catch a sunrise.post-first day of class celebratory beer (killians irish red, at sideways)

oo, and you can follow me on instagram at kkpwnall!

and yes, i do like blurry pictures.