More Knitting (April YarnBox & KnitCrates!)

Got my April Yarnbox and decided to begin the McCarren Park Cap pattern that came with the lovely lavender yarn!


Fyberspates Vivacious DK in Lavender Haze! Gorgeous! My first purple yarn! ^__^

& This is the pattern in question:

Very pretty! I love the texture of the brim and the tab and the buttons!! Just love everything about it! At first I was worried it wouldn't look good in purple (I am quite partial to the mustardy yellow color the pattern author knitted it up in!) but after knitting some rows, it looks quite nice in purple too! :D

At first I was struggling with my gauge but now I think I am just gonna stick with the Size 4 US needles. :)




Also working on my first ever shawl and about halfway done! It's supposed to be a kerchief pattern but I decided to modify and continue knitting to make it into a shawl. :)


The pattern is called Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief and it's free on Ravelry! :)

Believe it or not I have two other projects in-work too. @__@;;

My April KnitCrate contained this gorgeous yarn:


(2 skeins actually but I was a derp and wound the other and forgot to put the cake in this photo! LOL!)

It came with the Jasminda Shawl pattern. It also came with a wraps per inch tool which is useful for identifying yarn which you have no clue what weight/type of yarn it is... and also some little cookies which unfortunately I didn't really like but oh well! I really just wanted the yarn and the pattern. The tool will be so useful though!


Jasminda Shawl Pattern (very difficult at first, see my Ravelry project entry for it for details on how to overcome the first few setup rows! @__@;;.)

Right now I am torn about my Knitcrate vs. Yarnbox subscriptions... Part of me likes YarnBox better for some odd reason probably because I just want yarn and I don't care about extras (although the tool I got in my April KnitCrate was fantastic!) and also YarnBox seems more professional for some reason. I like the fact that I can access my account and adjust color preferences and subscription type whenever I want. Whereas for KnitCrate, I can't do that without calling them or requesting a new billing link. Kinda weird. They do have store accounts but it's separate from their subscriptions....so odd to me! But I understand it's a small family business so yeah... not the end of the world. I think I will wait to see what my May KnitCrate and Yarnbox items are before judging! :)

Yay Portland

OK guys and gals as promised, here are some photos from my trip! :)


I *think* this is Mt. St. Helen...or maybe the pilot just lied to us. :P


Hilariously awesome carpet in the Portland International Airport...I even got the matching socks! :)


Yep, that's a gigantic fish stuck in those bricks. Southpark Seafood Restaurant. So good I went twice! Their cheese plate is soo good!


Trying on clothes in a thrift shop! Buffalo Exchange.


Totally amazeballz ramen I had the last night I was there! At Shigezo.


Some yarns I scored at Knit Purl PDX.


Hilariously cute sign in bathroom at Masu restaurant.


View from my hotel room!

Click the jump below to see more photos! :)

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Voodoo donuts!


Trying on clothes at the Bettie Page store. The girls there were SO nice! :)


Lunch at Broder near the Hawthorne neighborhood! I wanna move there! :)


Me looking derpy in my suit after presenting to like 200+ people. @___@;; stressful!


AMAZING chirashi and SUPER FRESH sea urchin (uni) sushi at Masu. Celebrated the night after my presentation with this meal, hehe.


Another shot looking out the window from my hotel room. 14th floor at the Hilton downtown Portland...


Octopus Pasta. The pasta was so tender and tasty but it was too spicy! >__<;
I even finished knitting a hat on the plane! xD


Went to an EPIC HUGE thrift shop called House of Vintage there and I REALLY wanted this cute dress but it BARELY did not zip on me. >__<;; one size too small!
Some of the items I did score on my trip. :) All vintage! Needs dry cleaned so badly. The skirt on the left is maybe from the 80s/90s and it's dry clean only. Bah. The dress on the right is 100% wool made in Italy vintage from the 60s! I am soaking it in Eucalan which I HIGHLY recommend to anyone who wants to wash 100% wool, 100% alpaca, and other such fibers!


More little treasures I found thrifting!


Delicious pasta!


An outfit I bought from the thrift shops. Most of it is vintage.


Cute "N" size batteries I purchased at Spartacus...I can use them in my vibrators ;P


Pretty vintage dress I bought but when I washed it the dyes bled. >___<;;
Brunch my friend had at Broder. Swedish style lunch and breakfast. :)


Found this at the thrift shop but I did not buy it...I just took a photo cause I loved the art-work. :)


Myself and my good friend Maria who drove ALL the way from Seattle, WA to be with me in Portland, OR for the weekend! We went to college together and worked on the Cube Satellite project together called COPPER which launched last year and is up in orbit now! :)



THE END!

Hope you all enjoyed my little travel picspam! :) Portland is a beautiful city, people there are so nice, lots of great food + shopping, and I WANT TO MOVE THERE! But it's so expensive. >__<;;

Just...knitting.

Belated Merry Christmas to everyone in the blogosphere! :)


My tree! ^__^

I'm trying to stay warm by knitting things again. Actually, I learned how to knit several years ago and I had only produced 1 scarf. It happens to be a very cute pastel green/pale mint green scarf which I do love but I only wear it with other equally cutesy and pastel-y things. So a few years back, I had purchased some wonderfully amazing 100% Baby Alpaca yarn by Cascade Yarns in a rather lovely shade of burgundy/red. (I think their colorway is "Ruby" actually.) Well, around Thanksgiving of this year, I decided to finish knitting that freakin' scarf...I had only completed about 1/3 of the project and I was quite disappointed in myself for stopping. Mostly because I hate leaving projects unfinished but also because this yarn is FUCKING AWESOME. It smells good. It feels oh-so-soft. It's beautiful. Did I mention it smells good? Omg. I never realized "yarn huffing" was a "thing" until I sniffed me some 100% baby alpaca yarn. Omg. So good. (Seriously just pick up a skein and sniff it sometime! Has to be 100% tho...or else it might smell different!) So anyway. I finished said scarf.

Now I have two scarves... and the addiction begins...(or continues? depends on how you look at it.)


Awww yeeaaaa! So warm! And gorgeous. Check dat yarn lustre! xD


It's just a garter stitch, so I am going to attempt crazier patterns soon. Right now I am working on a k2, p2 scarf in brown. Same type of yarn (100% Baby Alpaca Yarn) just different colorway.

BTW if you are on Ravelry (sort of like a Facebook type of site only for knitting/crocheting/weaving/yarn spinning, etc.) feel free to add me as a friend on there! :) And/or just creep on my projects mercilessly! I don't mind! ;3
http://www.ravelry.com/people/theflyingace/

Did I mention I enjoy drinking and knitting at the same time??

Wine + knitting...


Beer + yarn winding...(tangling, lol!)

Also this isn't really related, but I am sort of addicted to the band CHVRCHES. Seriously. IDK why I love to listen to electronic music whilst knitting (and drinking) simultaneously...but it does makes the project go by so much faster when you're listening to a favorite band (at least for the time being) and plus the alcohol makes my muscles relax and use less tension which is a problem often have as a n00b-knitter. (Try it, but don't get too drunk or you might drop some stitches, lol.)



Click Read More to see some more yarn porn and misc knitting related pix. :D

Treated myself to some knitting needles and other odds and ends for Christmas:


Received this cute knitting set as an XMas gift:


and some yarn:


Finished red scarf plus (an old pic of) my stash: