Wow!! It's Been A While

but I'm still crafting, and staying busy. Now I know that the majority of you crafty bloggers are involved with the ravelympics. I on the other hand decided not to participate in the festivities because quite frankly, I have too many projects on the needles right now. In stead, I like Saun decided to see if I could finish a few projects I already had started. To my surprise, I think I am doing pretty well.

I finished knitting the Nepal Vest from Katia and I even hit a road block along the way. The original back panel piece I started with didn't color coordinate well with the front two pieces so I had to go with a different colorway. I now only have to block the pieces, put them together, tassle (which I'm still not sure about) and then I'm done. I'm also done knitting my version of the VS dress. I finished knitting it on Thursday, and it looks great. I still have to make the lining but that shouldn't be hard. I'm going with a black lining as I went back to the Gap and I didn't have too many choices on the selection of tank tops they had. I'll have pics up soon. I still need to work on the other sizes too. I started working on the sleeves for the minimalist cardi again. The sleeves are halfway done. I want to cast off by the end of the week and get the sweater put together. After that I have plans for the baby overalls and baby jacket with moss-stitch edging. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

In sewing news, I'm at a stand still right now but I'm hoping to cut the pieces out for the dress and vest/top by next week finally. I've been so slow in getting this done. There just never seems to be enough hours in the day.

As fall is just around the corner, I've been starting to put my focus more on designing more as it is an aspect of knitting that I've been fiddling with but don't really concentrate on. My day job is really busy and there is so much going on that I don't get too many chances to sit down, create and practice. I'm definitely going to have to change that, by carving time out/planning a schedule that can fit it in to my week. Weekends, would be an opportune time, but I tend to be busy with family obligations then too. I'll just have to see and make it work I guess.

I received my issues of Vogue Knitting and Interweave Knits in the mail. I have only skimmed through them, but they look good. I also picked up an issue of Knitscene. That looked really good also, so I'll be given my take on them soon.

I also visited two new online knitting magazines. The first one is Knotions. All the patterns are free. I haven't knitted anything from it yet, but they look pretty good. The articles aren't bad either. If you haven't checked it out yet, go by and visit. I think this is a site to bookmark and keep an eye on for the future.

The second magazine is Twist Collective. An amazing designer came up with an awesome concept (Kate Gilbert) and she told a few other amazing designers, and the magazine was born. The patterns are timelessly beautiful. Of course the patterns aren't free, but who cares, I'd put a dollar or two out for Ysolda, Cookie A and Pam Allen just to name a few any day.

So, have any of you gotten hooked on the Twilight Series yet? I purchased book one and four since I could get them on sale last week. I wanted to see what the hype was all about. Let's just say I wasn't disappointed. I started reading Twilight late Thursday night and finished it over the weekend. I could not put the book down. Knitting even took a back seat to this book. I don't want to give anything away, but if you haven't read the book/started the series, you need to. It's a beautiful story. I can't wait to read Stephanie Meyer's second book New Moon. I'll be picking up my copy by the weekend.

That's it for now, but I hope to have pictures up soon. Have a great week