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~