Breaking my rules

As I mentioned earlier, I've been trying really hard to not start lots of new projects when I have a bag full of wips I should be working on.  I'm also trying to make some money so I've been making projects that are meant to sell.  AND I'm trying not to buy new yarn since I have a closet so full of yarn that I no longer have room for all my clothes (seriously.  I have to space out my laundry loads over a few days, because if it is all clean at once, there isn't anywhere to put it).  This week I've been bad.  Not only have I started TWO new projects, but one of them is for me (selfish knitting!) and one of them involved buying 7 new skeins of yarn.  Oops.
But anyways...they're pretty awesome projects.  The one for me is a pair of legwarmers.  I found the most fantastically tacky pair of cable-knit clogs on clearance, and I just HAD to make a matching accessory.  The other project is a granny square rainbow afghan, since Etsy seems so fond of my first rainbow squares afghan.  Naturally, I had to buy yarn in every color of the rainbow :D If my etsy site traffic stays like this, there might actually be A LOT of rainbow items in my future.  Luckily, both of these will be relatively quick projects so I'll be back on track with de-stashing and stocking my Etsy shop within the week.

Wiping out the WIPS

In the knitting world, we refer to a work in progress as a WIP and I have a BIG bag of them....and a few other big bags of them at my parents' house.  Now that I'm all caught up on commissions (btw if you want a Link,  a Chaos Afghan, or even a Joker, I finally have time to make one), I'm starting to work through my bag of WIPS.  I've found some pretty cool stuff that I completely forgot about in there.
One thing I found was The Joker...and he's not even really a work in progress.  I'm all done knitting him, I've just been meaning to get him set up to mount on a wall.

This might be one of the coolest things I've ever knit.  It's called an "illusion knit" and its made entirely of solid color stripes.  On each stripe I follow a chart and switch between knit and purl stitches, so that when you look at it from an angle, you see the image.  I became aware of the illusion knitting technique from a website called Woolly Thoughts, but my awesome boyfriend figured out how to design the patterns himself so I can make whatever image I want.
I also found the rainbow spectrum afghan I mentioned in my last post, and I'm getting close to finishing it!  I'm currently working on attaching the 2nd to the last row of squares.  I'm really looking forward to seeing this finished.  Even though I've had a plan of how I would assemble it from the start, it's just impossible to realize the full effect of the color flow until it's all finished.  Hopefully I'll be posting back with pictures of the finished product in a couple days.  My afghans have been by far the best sellers in my shop, so I'm excited to add this one to the product line.

Rainbow in progress!

I'm finally getting closed to finished with my rainbow spectrum afghan.  It includes 49 squares with every color of the rainbow matched up with every other color.  I knitted all the squares for this while I was in Hawaii way back in August, so its about time I finish it up.  The last 4 squares are blocking at the moment, and I've joined the first few rows. I hope to get it completely finished and on the shop tomorrow!

Photo shoot in progress!

Tomorrow Niki's Knerdy Knitting will feature several new items!

Success on both!

I do not have the patience for this

I am sitting here waiting and waiting and waiting for 2 very exciting things.  I do not know what to do with myself in the meantime.  

1) My yarn is coming.  For 3 days the tracking information has said it is at the sorting facility in massachusetts.  Then suddenly, this morning, it was out for delivery in Chapel Hill.  My deliveries usually come by now, and its not here yet.  I want to touch my new yarn!  

2)  My hair dye is developing.  For the past year and a half I have been in law school and therefore not allowed to have a personality.  Now I don't have anyone overly uptight to impress until I go back to school in May, so YAY I get to have flaming red hair again!  But um...I haven't dyed my hair a bright color (and therefore used anything higher than 20 volume developer) in a year and a half.  I forgot how stinky and itchy it is...and how impatient I am to see what color my hair ends up.  15 more minutes until I can rinse. 

The stash is growing...

Best Boyfriend Ever ordered me a skein of every color of my favorite yarn EVER, Universal Yarns Classic Shades.  This stuff is sooo soft and comes in the most gorgeous colorways.  I can’t wait to see all 16 of these colors in person, I bet the website doesn’t do them justice :)  Its been almost a year since I’ve knit with this stuff so once I’ve started a project with my new order I’ll post a more detailed review and pictures.