yarn yoga

Ok, enough with the not-so-cheerful stuff! Here's some non yarn related happiness for ya! Meet my beautiful blythe, Audrey! She was a Valentine's Day gift from my wonderful hubby. I recieved her February 8th from Hong Kong!

Here she is, still in her box:

Isn't she a doll?! (hehe, pun intended.. yea, i'm corny!)

Here she is in a new outfit from France. She got it February 16th.


I absolutely love this outfit. Her shawl is crochet'd. I plan to knit some clothes for her when winter comes around. As my sewing skills increase, I hope to sew her some fun summer things too. My girl is so french chic!

PS. She is giving me looks about posting her photos with such unruly hair. (Yes, I still haven't bought her a brush, but I will ~ I promise!) And I have to mention that her bag is suede.

Hope you like her!

More unpleasantries! I just got an email from the knitting garden that the beautiful yarn I ordered is on backorder. I'll have to wait 2-3 weeks before they ship my yarn. Yikes.

I'm going to be the last one to start the KAL I started for the vogue shawl pull-over!

Last night I went to sleep a little upset over all the work I had done without a finished project to show for it. Honestly, I'm a perfectionist and optimist at heart, so this can turn into a good thing. I think if I had had enough yarn to finish the sweater the way I wanted to (adding more rows to the top to cover more of my shoulders), the sweater may have been too long.

Here's the plan...

I'm going to frog it AFTER I finish my shawl pull-over from the current vogue magazine. My yarn should be in soon and I don't want to tie up my needles on this sweater that I'm a little tired of looking at. Once I have the time to get started on it again, I'll frog it. Only this time, I'll take a few inches out of the length and I may slim the arms a bit. Hopefully that will give me enough yarn to finish it completly, plus give it a more fitted look. I won't be posting any photos of it, it's not worth the bandwidth.

Trebuchet, Thanks for your suggestion of adding a complementary color. It is a nice idea, but I love this Orange Brandy color so much that I want it to stand alone. :)

I was rightfully worried when I got down to the last skein of yarn for my hourglass sweater.. Read on.

The hourglass sweater has been my first ever sweater along with my first ever pattern from a book. When I first bought LMKG, I didn't know what an errata was. I also had no idea that publishers would release a book that is based on patterns with SO many mistakes.

So, when I decided I would tackle this project, I went to elann.com and bought 12 skeins of their peruvian wool. These came in 109 yard skeins, 9 more yards per skein than cash iroha. Already, I'm 108 yds over what the pattern calls for. I do some research and find out, from various places, that the pattern doesn't call for enough yarn. I freak out a little, because elann was really low on the peruvian wool in brandy orange. I rush to elann.com.. and lo and behold.. None left. And there hasn't been since. So here I am with my completed sweater, with no chance in hell that I'll wear it. Not even in the house. If I move at all the shoulders slip off and come down to my boobs. I'm guessing that I'll need at least 2 more, maybe 3 skeins to get it to cover my bra straps and to even think about the hemming. I've emailed Elann in hopes of a miracle, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

If any of you have any Brandy Orange Peruvian wool in your stash, I'd be more than willing to take it off your hands.

Here's my take on the popular rag bag. This little purse only fits my keys and wallet, but I absolutely love it! This was the first project that I've ever used a sewing machine. I'm hoping to learn more about sewing and to eventually create some of my own clothes ~ from a pattern or my own design.

My aunt crochet'd the flower for me, but I am learning to do that on my own as well. I can make simple flowers. The pattern I used for my rag bag flower can be found on Lion Brand's website. It was a little too complex for my newbie knowledge.

I am an active member of craftster. Craftster is a great place for crafters or aspiring crafters to go and get inspiration and moral support from like-minded people. I owe a lot of gratitude to that site. Craftster is the place where I became so inspired by the knitting projects that everyone was showing off, that I had to learn to do it myself! And so the obsession was born...

I am a 25 year old college student. (I also work full time.) I am working toward a degree in business. I have SO many different interests in my life, that I feel business is the most all encompassing major I could devote 4 years to. Hopefully, it will cover anything I plan to do after I graduate ~ open my own yarn shop, run a gym/spa/yoga center/garden center/bookstore, work at a marketing company, whatever.

What's on the needles?

I'm currently working on the houglass sweater from 'Last Minute Knitted Gifts.' This is my very first sweater and it is nearly finished! I had some sleeve attachment issues, but with the help of Jessica I was able to overcome them. Thanks so much Jessica!! So now, I'm finishing up the neckline and have about 1/2 a skein left. I'm getting a bit nervous about the lack of yarn, but we'll just have to wait and see what happens. Elann doesn't carry the beautiful Brandy Orange that I'm using for my sweater, so I'll have to find a similar color to do the hemming with, if I happen to run out. I'm sure the hemming part will take a longer than I want it to, but I know better than to rush hemming! (My shrug in que to be frogged can atest to that!)

Here's an interesting article about Starbucks. I really like the lil bit o' psychology they slipped in there. I can totally relate, although my experience is with Joe Muggs in BAM. I'm betting that a lot of other bloggers out there can too!

Welcome to yarn yoga. Yarn yoga is about helping yarn reach samadhi. Samadhi is the absence of thoughs ~ no more wondering what it will be when it grows up. Samadhi is a pure state in which the yarn is it's destiny and can be fully content.

I am very much into yoga and am very much into knitting. Yarn yoga is the perfect combination of the two. I hope to share my journey with you and that you find it as enjoyable as I do.

Yarn yoga.. helping yarn find it's peace everywhere. :)