Hello! Welcome to Ivory Pumpkin. Here you'll find snippets of things that I like and, hopefully soon, of things that I've created. Please stay awhile and browse.







Sunday, July 22, 2012

My Return to Knitting......

I have finally organized my yarn stash and have vowed not to buy new yarn until I've used a good amount of what I already have (this vow is, of course, pointless if I find some fantastic yarn that's on sale!). So I've got my knitting mojo back and have started on a couple of projects. Here's a peek at what's in the works.
This is going to be a cowl that's knitted in the round. My camera phone doesn't to the colors justice for either photo but, this a yummy milk chocolate brown with little cafe au lait flecks. I can't even remember what kind of yarn this is, I bought it so long ago. I'm not sure yet if this will be a Chirstmas gift or something for myself.

I don't know why half the picture got cut off. Anyhoo, this is going to be a short sleeved sweater knit in stockinette stitch with a seed stitch border at the bottom, neckline and sleeves. This is a gorgeous merino wool in a pretty forest green. This is the first sweater in which I've really paid attention to using a guage swatch. I usually knit things that don't require an exact guage but, this is such nice yarn and the sweater is so simple that I wanted it to fit really well. I knit a swatch, gave it wash and counted my stitches. I decided to go up a needle size since I'm a tight knitter. 

 I bought this yarn at the Stitches West yarn show a few years ago. That's one thing I miss about living in California - The Stitches West yarn show. It is held in Santa Clara, only about 30 minutes from my mom's house. You could walk around all day and not see all of the yarn! I was a great inspiration to go. Well, it's a good excuse to go visit!

I think moving forward I'll keep two WIP's on hand to work on maybe on knitting and one crochet. I have a lot of skeins of a lot of different  that I think most of what I'll be making in the coming months are scarves and other accessories for gift giving during the holidays. I already have a couple of scarves done. It's nice to have an emergency gift on hand! I'll take some photos of those for the next post.

Happy Knitting!

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Signs of Halloween....

Last post I was moping for Halloween and, I still am but, a few weeks ago I had to kill some time while my puppy was getting a mani/pedi. I wandered into a Michaels and look and what I saw!!!!!



Yes! Halloween and Autumn is peeking its head in at Michael's!!!! It was tickled when I saw this stuff. I think I literally giggled in the aisles. I was smiling when I left the store. I soooo wanted to buy a pumpkin or two and an owl but I have to be conservative with my personal funds right now. But, it's coming, it really is!!! I think seeing this delight even helped me get my knitting mojo back. I've started a fall sweater for myself and started on some scarves and cowls for holiday gifts.

Other things are falling into place too. I got a new job. I'm back doing admin work and I start right after the 4th of July. I'm hoping to save a bit of money with the additional income so I can make a trip back to California for the Dickens Faire around Christmas time.

Anyhoo, I hope you fellow Halloween lovers enjoy the photos. I'm going to make a trip back to Michael's soon to see what other Halloween goodies are awaiting!

Love,
joane