Toes up! Needles to the side.

Hello dear Ramblers!


I have been put on a standstill for my sweater because I am on my last ball of yarn and alas, I have two whole sleeves and the neckband left...not enough. But an amazing person on ravelry had some for sale! Yes, she saved me about 15 bucks, lucky me!

But moving on to the exciting news, it pertains to the title of this post.

Toe up socks!

You read that correctly folks, Ashley has finally decided to do some socks and toe up! For those of you who don't know you can either start your socks at the top (cuff) or the bottom (toe). There are positives and negatives to each but for me the choice was clear - toe up!


Ashley's Reasoning (I know I usually don't have any but bear with me)

• Toe up allows you to try on the sock as you knit so you'll know if it fits!
• Never run out of yarn again! If you run out simply end the socks and get a shorter cuff
• I think toe up socks look cooler when someone runs up to you and said whatcha knitting?

See, that wasn't too much reason!

Anywho, I'm doing a very pretty pattern by Maureen Foulds and it is her new sock pattern Captain Hastings. I'm doing it to enter in two different knit-a-longs(KALS) and one is her KAL and the other is part of Eat Sleep Knit 's Yarnathon! For the Yarnathon a person needed to go beyond themselves and do something they have never done, I did it doubly because I have never done socks nor toe up! Very excited for these KALS and for the socks in general.

I know it doesn't look like much but great things have humble beginnings, like little baby Jesus :) 

That's about all I have for everyone today besides I'm sitting here waiting for a huge package today, I'm very impatient! I will let everyone know what is in it when it comes :)


Keep on rambling,

~Ashley

Warning : Sweater Update ! Okay warning over :)

Alright so I finally made decent progress - I have a couple more rows of the body left, sleeves, and edging.

Good Picture of my progress 

Goofy picture of my sweater :)




Alrighty, update over :) Hoping to finish at least the rest of the body tonight. Sadly, I have a ton of hours at work the next week so knitting and time with Thane will be minimized :( Ah well, money money money.



Keep Rambling Everyone,

~Ashley

The blog is not dead , I repeat the blog is not dead (Okay maybe CPR is needed)

Hellooooooooooo ,


Oh Ramblers I missed you so! There are a couple reasons for this terrible hiatus. One, the major one, is because I have had nothing new to report about. Same old, same old, I'm knitting hats for the store....I'm still knitting hats for the store, hey! I'm knitting hats for the store! And by the way - I really am still knitting hats for the store. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel - I have 3 left and am in no hurry now, which is a huge relief. A giant shout out to Machelle who is the best  person to work with, she hasn't rushed me one single time and is so kind!


Big News : The continuing story

Okay so test knitting right? I finished it! I sent it out to the designer on Friday and she hopefully got it today! Woot woot! It ended up being a different yarn than what I talked about last time because let me tell you : LOFT and I just don't see eye to eye and I will avoid that yarn like the plague. The designer was so kind and so amazing as to let me send the yarn back, PAY ME for the work I did correcting the pattern even though I did not finish, send me new yarn and let me do a different pattern that I adored! An amazing experience and I would wholeheartedly do it again! Also if anyone reading this is a designer and would love a test knitter, let me know and I can give you my references :)


Starteritis - Definition - The disease where you start way more projects than you should...and you start more. 
Cure : Start more projects

Some of you might think that this "disease" is a problem, well let me tell you right now, it's not! It's a wonderful thing that I have and I enjoy it, it's a lot of fun to start something new every other hour haha. Also if you pair it with finishing things every once in a blue moon you suddenly have a lot of things done!


Here's my list of Starteritis projects :


1. Sprig - Beautiful sweater I've talked about a few times, I just finished putting the sleeve stitches on scrap yarn!


2. Vampolka - I have recently decided on yarn for this and will be doing it as part of a KAL. I will be using yarn from Alexandra's Crafts that I bought at STITCHES Midwest (denim blue + white) and then a nice grass green alpaca that I won at STITCHES as well!

3. Clay's gloves - My poor amazing friend has been asking for half fingered gloves forever and  I finally found some grey yarn in my stash to use! I'll be using this pattern but altering it for half fingers.

4. Heliotrope hat -This beautiful cable hat struck me when I was looking through the magazine in the store and was the reason I bought it. Now I did end up deciding I like about 3/4 the patterns in it but still. The hat is so pretty and I'm using Knit Picks Biggo for it in the colorway Haze Heather

Those are all in addition to the hats that I should be doing, the old projects I should be finishing, and of course all the other patterns I should start soon!


I will be doing another post with my pictures of my new projects soon :) 

That's all folks, 
Ashley~

That one post that took a whole month to write

Hello dearest ramblers who are still reading this :)


Have I got a post for you today! So many things have been happening in my life that it has been a whirlwind of craziness so therefore I have not posted for two reasons : one being that I really didn't have much knitting news to speak of and two being that I just didn't have a ton of time. I still don't have time but I figured 5:30 am is as good as time as any to write a blog post!


Knitting news!

I am a test knitter ! For those of you who don't know a test knitter is someone who takes an unpublished pattern and tries it out to see if they can understand the pattern or if something needs to be rewritten. It is an awesome opportunity for me and I get to work with Brooklyn Tweed's Loft yarn! I am so excited for this, I'll be able to start working on it sometime this week!


Also a while back I was contacted by a lady who owns a shop in my town to make hats for her! This is a very big deal for me because she is not doing them on consignment, she is paying me upfront whenever I have the hats ready! It'll be very neat to see hats that I have made and designed the pattern for in a store! Chelle's is an awesome little shop run by a wonderful woman named Machelle. (The facebook page is linked) She is so sweet and the store has so many neat items you wouldn't find at any run of the mill place.

Non knitting news! 

I have a new job!!!! That deserved to be bolded and have a few exclamation marks because I have now been at my new waitressing job for a couple weeks and I'm LOVING it. I feel much better about it and I feel like this is a very good thing for my emotional state and well being. Plus, I'm making better money :)

But seriously people this new job will be a bajillion times better, NO exaggeration :) I should even be able to go visit my friends in Michigan someday WITHOUT asking for days off! Also should be able to go see the boyfriend's family for Christmas! Woohoo! And for family reading that I will be gone Christmas day but be coming back the day after or something like that.

Finally - Big news - I turn 21 in 18 days !!! Yay me!


Sorry for lack of posting and a pretty short post without pretty pictures :(

Keep rambling everyone :)

~Ashley

It's been a while

Well howdy there Ramblers,

I haven't been posting because a. I've been busy b. I haven't really had anything to write about and c. I'm lazy :)

However, I have two awesome announcements that I won't be able to actually post about until ...well a while from now .

1. I finished a scarf in three whole days and I feel very accomplished. It is a Christmas gift and I'm unsure if the person reads this blog so I am not going to post pics yet .

2. I am finally doing the most awesome hat for Thane :) To replace is very terrible first hat that I made him when we first started dating (we'll be dating for 2 years next week!)

3. I have a new job! That means knitting time will be halved....I am going to hold both jobs for about a month and if I like my new job (at applebees) then I will be quitting my other job.

4. Miss Babs yarn is so pretty and awesome and my friend / old co-worker got me some of her awesome yarn  ( thats the colorway I got!)

That's really all I have for this week sorry about being gone and then not even having things to post pictures of! If you realllllllllly need to see pics of the scarf or the finished hat email me :)

Keep on Rambling,

~Ashley

Alana, My Tunic, A Bag OH MY!

Dearest Ramblers,


I know you have missed my ramblings but never fear, my vacation is over, even as I am typing I'm keeping track of the time because, of course, I have to work today...Wah. Ah well, more money for yarn :)
Also a huge thank you to my friend's family for hosting me and the beautiful pictures and video you took for me :)

There were many amazing adventures that I went on during my vacation, the first and, to me, the most exciting : Meeting Alana Dakos!

I got to meet Alana, get my picture taken with her and then sit and talk with her for a while! Awesome lady and she signed my Botanical Knits book too :) My picture is on her blog twice 

Her class really helped me feel confident enough to finally seam my sweater up! Also I might have some amazing knitting opportunities with her in the future!

My tunic!

Top : Me posing with my pretty tunic on!

Above: Close up of the lace pattern 

My Oak Trail Hat : It's so soft and so much better than the first one I made. I used Cephalopod yarn that I bought from STITCHES! 

Also on my vacation my friend's mom taught me a little bit about sewing and I was able to make a knitting bag!

I have now stockpiled some fabric...Don't judge me, I like crafty things

Anyway,  I hope everyone has had a great week and I hope everyone enjoys my post :) I think I'm going to try to post every Monday in order to give me some structure! 

P.S : I'm going to do another post tonight or tomorrow about my fabric and yarn purchases!

Keep on Rambling! 

~Ashley~

You Give Me A Quiet Mind

So I'm not quite sure how that title ties in with anything but that's okay , I've decided I'm going to use song titles I like for my post titles~

Moving on! 

This post will be short and sweet and just letting everyone know I'm heading on vacation for 10 days and I doubt I'll post during that time but when I get back LOOK OUT there will be a yarn posting extravaganza like nobody's business!

*Alert!  Alert!  Completed Project* 

 As my gramma painfully reminded me ...while I start many a projects I do not finish them very fast.

A super bulky hat knit in Malabrigo Rasta! Very Pretty and didn't even use the whole skein :)

 Starting new projects

Oak Trail

Started knitting Oak Trail again in a pretty grey-lilac color that I got at Stitches from Cephalopod. I'm actually just finishing up the brim, you knit the birm flat then pick up an astounding amount of stitches to knit in the round, and it is so pretty and so soft! Just what I need to show my support of Botanical Knits when I meet Alana! Also just as a side note Alana is working on a new book : Botanical Knits 2! Cannot wait for it.

Lacier Cowl

Now mind you, I went into this project with a pattern and yarn and I only walked out with one : the yarn. I used a basic lace scarf as my template but then decided I was going to throw the pattern out the window...and thus my more lacey cowl, since it is lacier than the original pattern, was born! I received this beautiful 100 percent Pima Cotton yarn in the mail from my wonderful friend Amy, she's quite fantastic, and I just had to knit it up right away! 

Grand Army Plaza 

I love Good For Ewe yarns, a lot. Too much maybe? Nah, anyway, when I was in MI for my vacation I went to my home store A Grand Skein and of course I had to buy some. (this was a good month ago)

So I bought some of the lace weight yarn, in hopes of finding some pattern somewhere in the big knitting sea to knit it with! And boy did I find it, this shawl pattern is beautiful and I have recently finished the Skyline Tunic from the same book, no pictures until I sew it together. Which I will be doing after my "Sweater Finishing Class" which Alana Dakos is teaching!

Pictures for all these wonderful things will come later ~ 

Also I am being commissioned to make pot holders ! Yay money and getting rid of yarn I would never use anyway! So yes it has been good knitting lately.

Also bought some of those new fangled square needles and I like them a lot , I am knitting the Oak Trail hat on them at the moment. 

That's really all I have for you folks~

Keep on Rambling

Ashley~