Wedding Ideas

I had an amazingly awesome idea for the wedding pop in my head as I was reading Ravelry’s With This String, I Thee Wed! one topic of wedding favors. I was reading through the ideas others had come up with. And it got me thinking about what I want to do for mine… So I have decided on…. Drum roll please



Small translucent/mesh-like bags filled with Tea, Cinnamon Sticks, Lemon Honey Sticks, and Sugar Cubes. If I want someone else to do what I want, it’ll cost over $500!!!! And if I want personalized tea covers, it’s like $150 bucks! WTF, I’m not going to pay that amount for my freakin’ name to be on 150 tea bags. I can make the amount of them myself and save 3/4’s that amount. I’ll just have to start on them closer to the wedding, probably mid-late September. It won’t take that long (hopefully) to put them together.

This will tie into what I’m doing for Bridal Shower Gifts. The wedding bags. I’m done with 11 of them, starting on the 12th. I was surprised to find out that my Shine Sport from Knit Picks was actually Shine Worsted. I like it TONS, but I’m just sad that my Hollyberry colorway is in Shine Sport. I was also unpleasantly surprised to fine that one ball of my Fedora Shine Worsted only made TWO bags. And the second bag I skimped on because I didn’t have a lot of yarn left. I barely was able to cast off with the remainder! *sigh* But I really like how they’re turning out. There will be 39 people invited to the shower, but I don’t know how many people will show up.

OOOOhhhh, I also determined that I will have pine cones as my place card holders. I’m going to dry a bunch out, spray them a misty golden color, and tie autumny colored ribbon around them with the name cards on them. Such a good Autumny scene I’ll have going on!!!! And I can have the tags be in mini shapes of Maple or Oak leaves! *Gasp* I cannot wait!

Yarn and Boredom

Sooooo, the afternoon after my last blog, I dropped off a coworker in Bethlehem and decided to find Tangled Yarns. Well, I found it. And I bought 4 skeins of Watercolor colorway yarn there... Oh and more stitch markers for my wedding shawl. Not because I HAD to, but I just wanted to... *Sigh* Then, Rob and I went to DC this weekend, to visit his cousin, Joe, and Joe's girlfriend, Jess. Out of sheer boredom at work, I decided to check out the local area on Google maps (I am a map maker after all...) then, I got the brilliant idea to see if there were yarn shops in the area where we were going to be. And the answer is.... YES!!!! Stitch DC was right across the street from the Georgetown Mall, where we were going to eat on Saturday night. Sooooooo, I convinced Jess to bug the boys with me to go. I just HAD to pick out something to knit up for Jess! She will, after all, eventually be part of the family. Of course, I won't get to working on her items until after the wedding and Christmas socks are done, but you know, that's okay with her! So I ended up getting 4 balls of Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk (Aran) in the Teal colorway for a scarf for myself and a total of 4 balls of Feza Iplik Cyprus Mohair for Jess' gloves and Rob's hat. Oh, I'm so excited to start on these projects.

What I'm not so excited about is still doing these wedding bags... *loud audiable SIGH* They're getting boring. I just need to hurry up and get them done. The only thing that is exciting about doing these is changing colorways. I have several yarns and colorways for this project (all one ball each): Knit Picks Shine Sport in Fedora (Brown), Hollyberry (Red), and Mallard (Green); Kraemer Yarns Summit Hill (Red) and Tatamy Tweed DK in Harvest Gold (dark yellow) and Ginger (Orange); and Lion Brand Vanna's Choice Solid (Yellow and Orange). So far, I've used almost all my Lion Brand in both colorways, as well as the Summit Hill and the Harvest Gold Tatamy Tweed. I just casted on my next little bag in the Fedora colorway.

I love the Shine Sport and this is the first time I am using it. However, I am a bit surprised at how much it sheds initially. I'm not a fan of the shedding... Oh well, the yarn is so soft and shines just so nicely! No wonder it's called Shine Sport! LOL.

Anyway, back to the bags. I was testing out different types of lace patterns and determined the one I modified from Interweave Knits Summer 2008, Wakame Lace Tunic by Angela Hahn was the one to use. I'm still using the bags that I made up as testers, and people can pick and choose their color and pattern from that. I hope everyone appreciates all the time and effort that has gone into these!!!! They're so pretty, if I do say so myself.

I've also been working on my wedding shawl. Which would be fine, but it's a very simple pattern. I picked it because I wanted to make sure it would be accurate and quick to knit up. Uggggh, I love working with lace, but there's just so many darn stitches on the needles. I have them sectioned off in groups of 12 because the pattern repeats every six stitches and I don't have enough stitch markers. The color is turning out beautifully (it's the Shadow Lace Yarn in Juniper Heather) although it's a few shades darker than my dress color... :( Oh well, because it's heathered, no one will notice, right? I already made Arielle's shawl for her, and I hope she likes it!!!!! Her stepmom says she will so I'm trusting Jackie right now!

Okay, I've seriously taken up too much time of my ranting about wedding bags and yarn and all the stuff I'm working on. Time to try and get the heck outta here!

Help, I'm Addicted to Yarn

So, I just bought my 4th, I repeat, my FOURTH order from Knit Picks in less than a month. And because I don’t want to pay for shipping, all my orders have been $50 or more! Why? I have no clue! Because I see pretty yarn and I must have it. What is going on in my mind!?!?!? I don’t need the yarn, I have tons of it, but I want it. To quote The Devil Wears Prada, “Because it’s preeeeetttttyyyyyy.”

I want to use one skein to knit up a cute little baby hat for a girl I met at Creation. I also want to make a wedding shawl for my friend. Hopefully 2 skeins of shimmer will be enough. I think it will. And I hope it matches her color for her bridesmaids. It’s a light green she said. Oh, well, if she doesn’t like it, then I’ll just keep it! LMAO! Just kidding. I’m sure Megan will like it but she’ll tell me it looks like scrambled eggs. Total inside joke, I’ll let you know if you wanna know.

Anyway, tons of pretty yarn, hopefully will come in sometime next week. YAY Yarn!

Arielle's Shawl is Done

I finished up the Julia's Shawl from Wrapped in Comfort on this past Friday. I was knitting at Creationfest, in between my camera working. I got to meet bands like Skillet, Thousand Foot Krutch, and Kutless! It was pretty awesome, especially when Skillet and Toby Mac had pyro going. Rob and I made sure to stay away from where the explosions were occuring. But in my off time, I was able to complete my shawl. It has a few little slips and I had to catch a few stitches so I figure only I'll notice. It's really pretty though.
I love the way my Knit Picks Harmony circulars feel in my hands. A few times, the interchangable needle came loose. I'm not exactly sure how but oh well. It was easy to tighten back up. They were so smooth to knit with, I found myself trying to "sticky up" my fingers so that the needles wouldn't slip from my grasp. But it worked out wonderfully. Plus the Knit Picks Shadow lace yarn was so nice to work with. The Juniper colorway is a bit darker than the green in the dresses, but I think with the lace pattern, no one will notice!


I really hope Arielle loves this shawl as much as I loved making it for her. Now onto mine!