Finally Found it!!!!

A LYS! an actual LYS!! I met this lady once outside the doctor's office, she was crocheting something and I intrigued as always sat next to her and started to ask her questions about her crocheting, we ended up her teaching me how to crochet and in the process telling me where she buys her yarn, I told her of my disappointment due to the lack of LYSs where I could buy the real stuff and not acrylic yarn. Well to my surprise such a place exists somewhere in the bad parts of town, I wrote down the name and asked for specific directions, she gave 'em to me and I vowed to one day on my own little self wander around those parts of town and see if I could find it. Anywho time passed by and I had forgotten about that place until this semester when choosing which hospital to go to for the Internal Medicine Internship, I chose one that is located in that part of town where the alleged LYS is supposed to be, and so again I vowed to one day after noon when i've left the hospital I could wander around. Well last night, my dad decided he wanted to eat out and so invited me and my mom to go to our version of "China Town" and as we are driving around "China Town"(which is nothing like China Town in the US or anywhere else) there it was!!! on the same street "China Town" is located, in a corner! With a painting of a ball of yarn as a logo and the name of the LYS Siragusa. It was obviously closed because of the hour, but I'm definitely going there sometime this week! Finally found the LYS! Praise God!
Well thats all for now...

Bluegrass

Something cute a special someone pointed me to.

Lyrics

If I was a flower growing wild and free
All I'd want is you to be my sweet honey bee.
And if I was a tree growing tall and greeen
All I'd want is you to shade me and be my leaves

If I was a flower growing wild and free
All I'd want is you to be my sweet honey bee.
And if I was a tree growing tall and greeen
All I'd want is you to shade me and be my leaves

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you were a river in the mountains tall,
The rumble of your water would be my call.
If you were the winter, I know I'd be the snow
Just as long as you were with me, let the cold winds blow

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you were a wink, I'd be a nod
If you were a seed, well I'd be a pod.
If you were the floor, I'd wanna be the rug
And if you were a kiss, I know I'd be a hug

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you were the wood, I'd be the fire.
If you were the love, I'd be the desire.
If you were a castle, I'd be your moat,
And if you were an ocean, I'd learn to float.

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

Neverending Lace

So the Lace Scarf has taken more than I thought it would only because the princess, my sister, wants it longer. It measures right now 57.5, even though the pattern calls for just 30 something inches, I just got tired of knitting and have been doing at leas 2 to 3 pattern repeats a day...

Blocking Acrylic

So I've been knitting this Lace Scarf, and as I stated before substituted the cotton yarn the pattern asks for, for Caron Simply Soft which is acrylic yarn. The scarf is a gift for my sister and as I explained to her that the scarf needs blocking because its Lace and so the pattern can be seen nicely, I began to wonder how am I gonna block acrylic! I've blocked cotton before when I began knitting the other lace scarf Branching Out, but never acrylic, the old legend was that it couldn't be done but I remember having read once in a website somewhere that it can. So I googled it as I do everything and voila!

Blocking Acrylic

"You need:

Blocking wires and/or rust proof pins, a cotton dish towel or a piece of cotton fabric, and an iron.

In Arctic Lace, I mentioned that you can't knit lace with acrylic yarns because they won't keep their shape when blocked. This is true if you follow the procedure above.

However, when I went to the Boise Lace Knitting retreat a couple of months ago, one of the other attendees, Pat Stevens, proved me wrong. Here's her technique for "killing" acrylic yarn to give it a gorgeous drape.

Wet your knitting, spin it out in a washer. Lay a sheet on the carpet. Pin the piece exactly the size you want. (I stretch my lace shoulder warmers pretty hard.) Lay a wet cotton dish towel or piece of fabric over it. With a hot iron press down all over the thing. Don't iron just press. I press until the top cloth is very dry. Then I leave it overnight to finish drying. It's that easy. I really press it a lot, it's the steam heat that makes the acrylic look and drape like rayon. You may want to knit a large swatch and test it out.

Edited to add this note in response to a question a reader sent me in email: Acrylic yarn gets "killed" by the application of the heat and it will remain dead after future washings and retain its new shape. You should only have to do this treatment once, as far as I can tell, whereas you normally have to reblock lace knitted in wool or other natural fibers after each washing.

Here's another tip that just arrived in my email from Renee' Wells, whom I also met at the Boise Lace Knitting Retreat (Renee' teaches some great classes on Japanese knitting and if you ever have a chance to take one of them, don't miss it!):

This can also be done dry. Sometimes I place the item on a towel with a wet cloth above. Press and then gently stretch the item into the new shape. You can pick up the cloth between wettings and see where more pressing is needed to even it out. The advantage to this method is greater stretch. You must be careful not to let the item hang over the ironing board it you are trying it there. The weight will skew the shape. I often kill acrylic baby blankets, they morph into lovely exotic feeling fibers! No longer just acrylic! And the mums that receive them use them over and over because they do hold their new drape."

Hopefully it will turn out great!

God bless!

My First Knit

This is the first thing I ever knitted, it ended up being a very deformed cloth. I had no idea what I wanted to do, I just knew I wanted to knit, whatever it was. It has tons of mistakes, I dropped who knows how many stitches, but I learned, and since then been able to knit socks, scarves, hats, and even lace! thank the Lord. I've met some wonderful ladies and a lovely community of knitters willing and ready to lend a hand, virtually speaking of course, whenever needed.
But now it is time to refocus my knitting toward something else, its time to really do this for God's glory as should everything in our lives be done, as Christians.
An amazing door has just opened up and boy am I willing and ready to jump through it!
Next semester I'm beginning the first of 3 semesters to come before I finish med school, I'm entering my Internship which lasts a year, hence the three "semesters". The hospital I wanted to go to sadly(or so I felt) was not an option this semester and so I was left with 4 other options, out of those four the one I wanted was full and so I picked one knowing that God has His will and not always will it be something we necessary like at least in the beginning. He didn't choose the handsomest king He chose David, He didn't choose the "better" son He chose Jacob. And likewise, this Hospital which I visited for the first time last week I think, while others saw it as unappealing and scary I saw it as a blessing!
My entire family from both sides have been raised catholic, most don't even believe in God or at least not the God of the bible. From my dad's side the first response after finding out I became a Christian, here that means "Evangelica" (Evangelical and sometimes confused with Pentecostal) my aunt said "But you were a catholic!" I simply sighed. Of course my aunt doesn't know me as a person, she only knows what she's heard from my mom and my mom would never speak ill of me even if I were a monster which I once was.
So what does this have to do with knitting for God's glory, with the hospital etc?
Well it all began last week when I visited my aunt's clothes shop, on the counter she had 3 gorgeous crocheted shawls!! I mean LOVELY shawls, incredible well crocheted shawls!! I was mightily impressed she told me she'd be willing to teach me! all I had to do was bring my crochet hook(s) and some yarn and away we'd go. Since I knew the hospital was somewhat in the area I asked my mom to take me there that I can finally see the hospital and see what its like from outside and the surrounding areas, the hospital I found out is at a walking distance from my aunt's house and from the shop.
But at that point I still wasn't sure I had passed my ob-gyn class (a long story) so while it all seemed orchestrated by God I just needed that last confirmation, that I would actually go to this hospital.
And today I found out I did pass! And as of May 6th will begin my Internal Medicine Internship at Padre Billini Hospital, and my "Internal Medicine" Evangelism at my Aunt's home!

Please pray for me and my Aunt!! Not just her, pray for her daughters, one of them lives there too and my grandfather a very stern and stubborn man who hates God and especially the bible, he also lives there!

God bless and Happy Knitting!
In Christ,
Rita M.

Lace Yet Again

Lace Scarf
Lion Brand^® Lion Cotton
Pattern Number: 70336AD

So I got this pattern from the Lion Brand newsletter I receive monthly, while I've had a bad experience knitting lace anything, the pattern seemed real easy, plus I have the yarn weight(although I'll be using Caron Simply Soft instead of the one the pattern calls for) needed AND the needles (I'll be using circular needles cause I've only got those in that size, 8) which is usually a rarity. So far its been going great! the pattern is not confusing and quick to knit. Hopefully I'll be done by either the end of the week or by next week.

Socks!

It has been quite a while since I last knitted something AND since i last wrote on this blog!! All due to lack of time for both things. I finally finished knitting the pair of cotton socks!! They are comfortable to wear, not too warm so they're perfect for the weather around here!
BEFORE


AFTER



I used the Silver's Sock Class pattern but had to adjust it for the yarn weight and needles I was using...i think I casted around 72 stitches...I should've casted at least 68 or something for a snugger fit. But oh well maybe sometime in the distant future.

Thats all for now!!
God bless! and happy knitting!

I finally learned to crochet!!

So during my vacation I had to make several doctor visits, because I little problem I had or have I dunno I'm still confused.. The thing is while at the waiting room or hall whatever you wanna call it, I met this lady who was crocheting something and so I sat down next to her to watch, and she was soooo nice she crocheted a sample just for me and was teaching me while she was doing it. And so I went back home joyful and excited about what I had just learned, grabbed my crochet hook and my crocheting yarn and started going at it. At first I was very frustrated cause I couldn't get the hang of it, but then I managed to do it. The next step was learning how to read crochet intstructions, that was even more frustrating for me, but in the end I got it. And the first I crocheted was a little flower, which didn't exactly turn out like the pattern said it would but nevertheless it turned out cute! I think I might crochet three little flowers in different sizes and in pink with plans of attaching them to a capelet I have which got stained with something and its too new to be thrown away..yes I'm practical...Well that'll be all for today
God Bless Everyone!
And happy knitting/Crocheting

No Time

I seriously have no time. But I do have time to say this one thing: I'm loving this life more than ever, and each day my love for the Lord grows. Through the hardships and through the joys. One thing I must advice, whenever you are going through a storm or a desert, have patience. By experience, I can tell you that the exit way could be either a year away, 4 years away, or 2 weeks away, only God knows when the time for the hardships to be over is. Pray incessantly!! REALLY!! NEVER EVER EVER stop praying it it'll be your oasis through the desert and the rainbow through the storm. Have faith in God and trust His will in whatever you are going through because He truly is in control of EVERYTHING. Nothing escapes our awesome God!! He truly is amazing!!! And Worthy of all worship and praise!!

God bless you all!!
Rita M.

Tiny Baby Sock

So This is the Tiny Baby Sock I've written of down below...I can't remember where I took the pattern from all I know is that I found it googling around and that the pattern belongs to Amy, (knittinghelp.com Amy), except the part about using 2 colours...It was fun to knit and it just looks so cute! Now I need to knit the other one..like always...
I find that knitting socks is great and fun and all that but knitting the second one always gets me....

Well thats all for today,
Happy Knitting and God Bless

The Highly Acclaimed Crazy Loops Scarf

Finished millions of hours ago...But didn't have any time or I guess I was too lazy to even take a picture of it, but finally, here it is....
BEFORE


AFTER

Pictures From My Trip to NY

Me kissing my Manos del Uruguay


Niagara Falls


Mosholu Parkway


The Christmas Tree


With the Cousins


Michi and I

3 AM Cable Hat With a Twist

So before I went to NY, like a week before, I thought to myself why don't I knit another hat? a prettier hat, so I looked for a pattern on the internet and found this one: 3AM Blue Cable Hat and thought to myself Cables? it shouldn't be that hard...so I started to knit my hat and finshed it within a couple of days but realized that following the pattern plus adding another cable pattern repeat the hat was still too short, I looked ridiculous and my head was starting to ache becuse i was forcing the hat down on me...

3Am Blue Hat
Originally uploaded by mo0nangel.

So I set out to find a way to fix it and thought, I can pickup the cast on stitches and go from there. But It was time to go to the hotel, and so I took my knitting with me, within the next couple of days (because I was definitely going to enjoy my stay there and not only knitting) I finished knitting the extra rows but then when it was time to cast off the real dilemma began...How on earth am I going to cast off for this hat without the end result be a super-tight-impossible-to-fit-in hat? Thank God for my trusty cellphone with internet access...I went to google and typed in the words: "Stretchy Bind off" and stumbled across this webblog: Weebleknits: Stretchy Bind Offs and used the last method shown which seemed to be the easiest one, but I must say that I had tried binding off the conventional way (the hat wouldn't even fit), I tried some other way, it wasn't stretchy enough...so I ended up binding off on my way back to the city, the day I was supposed to leave to NY...I finished BO when the bus arrived back to santo domingo. And Voila! 3AM Cable Hat with a Twist...

So I've been MIA, since December...

YARN PORN2
Originally uploaded by mo0nangel.

This is the recount of What I've been doing:
First for christmas day weekend I went to a Hotel with my family, left a day before the weekend was over and went to NYC with a cousin and her family, since the 25th until January 6th...Had an awesome vacation. When I got back home I started my 10th semester of medschool, then went to constanza for a weekend and then came back, and well I've been basically going to the hospitals, going to class and coming back home to get to some sleep. So that is basically my life since 2007 started.

I'm Back!

So I've been gone for a while...due to..well tons of reasons...one of those is lack of a computer, because my dad's laptop, which is the one I was using, wouldn't get connected cause of lighting that struck nearby and damaged it...So I'm stuck using this very very old computer or my brother's computer whenever he's not using it..in the meantime..
So after I got angry at my lace scaf...I threw it on the couch, spent weeks looking at it and finally frogged it and started over!! it had so many mistakes! I just couldn't bear looking at the thing. But after I calmed down, knitted the cutest little baby sock, its sooo tiny and cute! I shall post a picture of it soon..I decided that I needed to start over, even If I wouldn't finish it by the end of november. And So I've made progress! and have made little to no mistakes and am knitting faster with it!! :P darn yarn overs! I'll post a picture of it soon as well. I'm sooo inlove with it that two things happened: 1. someone offered to buy it from me, 2. I started yet another one with this very yummy cotton yarn I have..
Well that is all for now!
Until next time!
Happy Knitting and God Bless!!
Rita M.

LaceAnger!!

Well...I'm soooo angry at this scarf!! I mean I know its not her fault but whyyyyyy!! I've had to go back several times and re-knit a row or two!! Its soo frustrating...
These are 3 Things I've learned knitting Lace:
- Always Count your stitches after each row
- NEVER knit lace while you are doing something else, while someone is talking to you, while you are waiting to be picked up after class.
- Have Patience!!

I'm loving the scarf and all, but I just really feel like frogging it and start all over again!! *Tears*
I'm not giving up on this!! I will finish this Scarf before the motnh ends if its the last thing I do!!!
*sigh*

Thats all for now, Hope ya'll are doing better than I am.
Happy Knitting!
And God Bless!
Rita M.


PS:
This is what it looked like last week, its much longer now but I have made little progress:

Small Preview

Well here's a lacevember button I created, I used a picture of the Branching Out scarf i'm knitting, so lets call it a preview of my scarf :D When it's longer i'll take another picture and post it! In the meantime, this is all you'll get! *giggles*

Happy Knitting!
And God Bless!!
Rita M.

Lacevember

Well October is officially over! and its time for Lacevember , I've even joined the Lacevember KAL and I'm planning on knitting the Branching Out Scarf,
which seems to be a favorite for first time lace knitters like me or so I have been reading from other people's blogs, I casted on for this scarf last month and had to frog it because I messed up following the 5th row but its alright! I'll be knitting it now and hopefully it'll turn out great! :D
I'll be posting pictures up of my progress when I begin knitting the scarf!

Happy Knitting!
And God Bless!!
Rita M.

WoodWork?

What do you do when you have:
a.) 4 leftover "chinese" sticks from a bachelorette party.

b.) A pair of Scissors, Nail Polish and Sandpaper?
Tools .

...................................................................................................
GIVE UP?
...................................................................................................
4 wooden 3.0mm DPNS of course!! :P
Knitting Needles .


YAY Now I can finally knit those baby socks I've been wanting to knit with the sport weight yarn I have!! *giggle*

Happy Knitting!
And God Bless!!
- Rita M.

Pink Baby Socks

pinksocks
Originally uploaded by mo0nangel.

These were the lovely pink socks I was knitting...the pattern can be found at Knitting Pattern Central, as Super Quick Baby Socks, in the Baby section. They are super quick to knit and I really loved the pattern, the only I did differently was the leg part, Instead of 1.5 inches or ribbing I did like 4 rows of ribbing and the rest of stockinette st. oh! and I didn't use worsted weight yarn I used light worsted. I will definitely be using this pattern again in the future, each sock took me about an hour and a half to knit or 2.

Happy Knitting!!
And God Bless! :D