I'm a Loser . . .

My family and I just came back from spending the weekend in Connecticut, gambling at the Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods. It was fun even though I lost a little. We spent the first day at Mohegan Sun. It was incredibly crowded there, and hard to find empty seats at slots my sister and I wanted to play. It was very nice to walk around there, very scenic, but I only won a little bit of money at the beginning of the day and nothing the rest of the time. We went to Margaritaville for dinner. I thought I would be safe and eat Chicken Quesadillas, but even those were a little spicy for me.

On Saturday, we went shopping in Mystic for a little bit, and then played at MGM and Foxwoods. My sister and I played a lot of "Super Jackpot Party"! Whoo! I did win some money there and both my sisters won on those machines, too. In the end, everyone liked doing their own thing. Mom likes to play the penny slots
v e r y slowly. Dad likes Blackjack. My sister Michelle and her fiance, Mike, like the poker tables, and my sister Kimberly and I play the slots.

I got a lot less knitting done than I had hoped. The only project I worked on was the flat feet sock, and I am still about 40 rows from the end. I'm about to go back to that now! See ya later.

So We Meet Again!!

Well, now that almost two years have gone by . . .

Seriously, it doesn't even seem like half as long, but it's still my fault for not having come by lately. I figured since it was the first day of a new year, this would be one of my resolutions.

This year I am going to try and follow along with the 2009 theme going around Ravelry (I'm SamanthaNJ), attempting to stitch up 100 skeins of yarn during the year. I finished off three skeins as I watched the New Years shows last night. I know I started knitting those skeins last year; I hope it's not cheating. :-) I was working on Noni's Happy Stripes Trivets. It was the last three trivets in a set of 8 and a pair of mitts I made for my mom. She recently redid the kitchen and I wanted to make her something. Here's a pic of one:

I'm going to work on a pair of socks today, from some Flat Feet I LOVE!!! This is one of my favorite color sets:

I'm going to go see Marley & Me, now!

Welcome!!!!

Welcome to Yarnspirations! I just set up this blog before heading to bed, so hopefully I will have some pictures for you very shortly.

I would like to introduce myself. My name is Samantha, I am 26 years old, and I live in New Jersey. I am a high school math teacher and love crafts of all kinds. My grandma taught me to crochet 20 years ago. About a year and a half ago I wanted to expand my horizons and try knitting. I picked up a starter kit and went to work. I could wrangle out the little 2" swatches they had you practice the knit and purl stitch on, but when I went to anything wider my stitches kept falling off the needles. What the . . . .!!!!

Well, after trying this for several hours, I resigned myself to the fact that I could have crocheted two scarves in this same amount of time and all I had to show for myself was 2 itty-bitty swatches. Away those needles went!!!

Last February I decided to pick up those knitting needles and try again. I don't know what happened, but I had no problems this time!!!! I was able to cast on, knit and purl a two-strand (fun-fur, ack!) scarf with no problems. After I finished three scarves, I went straight to a shirt and then after that jumped right into socks. Since I picked up those needles a second time I have been fearless and unstoppable. In the past year I have now knit: 8 scarves, a shawl, all the parts to that shirt, knitted flowers, 2 pairs of thrummed mittens, 2 pocketbooks, 5 finished pairs of socks, 3 half pairs of socks, and I have almost finished the cap shawl from Victorian Lace Today.

By the end of the summer I plan to have another couple of pairs of socks finished, a shawl for my grandma, two scarves for my mom, a new pair of mittens for me, a felted water bottle holder, a couple of felted coin purses, and maybe a hip scarf (the first pattern in Victorian Lace Today).

I still want to teach myself how to do cables, Fair Isle, sweater knitting, steeking, Intarsia, and dyeing yarns. I would love your input on any of these topics!

I will be posting pictures of my current and past projects soon! Please bookmark my site and leave your information behind if you would like me to visit your site, too!

Knit away!
Samantha