Wednesday, October 21, 2009

WIP's

I've got a little bit of this and a little bit of that on the needles right now.  First off and the one I'm knitting on the most right now is Multnomah.  I'm just now done with the garter and getting ready for the lace.  The yarn is yummy...Stricken Smitten's Sinful Sock (merino/nylon/cashmere).

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Next is a vest from Fitted Knits.  It's the Back To School U Neck Vest and I'm knitting in Cascade 220.  I'm feeling the need to add a vest or two to my wardrobe and this one spoke to me.  It's great knitting for Knit Night.




I have another shawl in the works that is going to be over-dyed as soon as I'm done with it.  I'm only a chart or two from being done.  It's the Milkweed Shawl and I'm making it in BMFA Socks that Rock lightweight.  The colorway has not worked for anything I've tried to knit so I'm going to attempt to over-dye it to a caramel brown.  I haven't worked with acid dyeing beforem so I'll let you know how that goes.




Lastly I'm participating in Kristen Kapur's Mystery Sock '09 and loving the design so far.  I'm using my favorite sock yarn, Dream In Color Smooshy in the colorway Cinnamon Girl.  These socks will match my
Liesl perfectly.


Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Beautiful Colors

Just spent 3 days in Myrtle Beach and I'm in love with that place.   I never spent so much time out on the balcony just relaxing and listening to the waves.  I brought a ton of knitting and only knit in the car and just after waking in the morning.  It was 86 degrees both days and the waves were huge.  My tan has returned.  :)

We even woke up to watch the sun come up one morning... 




 
 

On the knitting front...this came in the mail last week.


A friend of mine spun and dyed all this.  Isn't it beautiful?  I'm almost done knitting it all up into items for her to sell at shows. It has been so much fun.  You can find her at handsandnotions.  Her dye work is stunning.  Please go check her out.  And for you spinners out there she does beautiful roving as well.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Alpaca Days

On Saturday, my knitting group had a luncheon and swap.  I was able to destash quite a bit and I restrained and only took home 1 skein of yarn and that was only had because youngest daughter loved it and wanted it for herself.  After stuffing ourselves on some wonderful food we headed out to Paca Pastures to visit the alpaca.  They were so cute...like teddy bears.






We were able to feed them and pet them.  They aren't fond of having the top of their heads patted but they did like being scratched under their chin.  Too cute.  When we were done we were able to purchase hand-spun alpaca, roving or fleece.  Once again I restrained due to my recent spending spree.  Overall though it was a lovely day and we had a great time....despite a little rain.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Finished after Four

Yes, it took 4 years but I finished it. This is a Christmas quilt I started for Christmas 2005. I had it all pieced before Christmas. I had it all layer up by the end of January 2006. However, it took until March of 2008 before I paid someone to quilt it for me. Then it took until July of this year before I added the binding. And now 2 nights ago I finished whip-stitching the binding. Finally done!

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Once upon a time it was to be a gift for someone. But now...it's mine...too much time has gone by and now I'm definitely attached to it.

Another quick sew project was the bag below. It's storing all my volunteer (school stuff, and Girl Scouts) folders. Cute, quick and instantly gratifying.

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I have a couple more quilt projects in the works. One more that is more than 4 years old...maybe 6. And another new one. Both are Christmas related so they will be done this year.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Eye Candy

Here is a little bit of eye candy for you. I ended my yarn diet with a rash of purchases.

First off some very squishy lovely Merino/Cashmere/Nylon from Stricken Smitten.

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And it came with some yummy tea which I loved. Great idea Desiree!

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Next is a little Wollmeise. I didn't mean to buy it but I happened upon the Loopy Ewe at exactly the right moment. I wasn't even stalking! It was the only color I could keep in my cart through checkout and it was my favorite. Yeah me!

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Last is a skein of Malabrigo Sock in color way Cote D'Azure. I can't beleive it took me this long to buy my first skein of this. And I got it 25% off at one of my local yarn shops, Cozy's.

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Monday, September 14, 2009

New Mittens

I just finished the Chevron Love Mittens and I love them. They are going to look great with my red coat. The pattern was so addicting that I knit nothing else other than them until they were done. I definitely have the colorwork bug and I am adding new projects to the queue daily.

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Pattern: Chevron Love Mittens (knitterlythings.com)
Needle: Magic Loop method on size 3 Addi Lace Turbo
Yarn: Vintage Appliance Kit (Brown Sheep Sport)

Friday, September 4, 2009

Colorwork

After finishing Liesl and having nothing to work on I decided to use Ravelry to inspire me as what to knit next. I first came across turtlegirl76's Orion Socks. I love them and soon bought these to make my own pair from.




This is actually more of a chocolate brown with a hint of pink running through it.

I however neglected to notice that the sock pattern for these socks is now unavailable. These socks were designed for Sock Summit. I did not go to Sock Summit and that is a very sore subject around here so we won't discuss that. I still plan on making them but I need to work out the pattern first.

While working on that, Knitterly Things updated her website with the Chevron Love Mitten Kits. I ordered/received the Vintage Appliance colorway and so far I have this...



I'm very rusty knitting with 2 hands but they are coming along nicely. I definitely see more colorwork in the near future.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Liesl



I just finished Liesl. Overall I'm pretty pleased. I used just 2 skeins of Dream in Color Classy in the colorway Cinnamon Girl. I was worried about length of the sweater but the yarn did what everyone said, and grew enough to add 20% more length to the sweater. I also opted for the picot bind off which I would normally not do. I don't tend to knit/wear things that can seem too girly but I figured with a full lace sweater, "what the heck". It turned out very cute and I learned something new.

The sweater is still in need of some kind of closure but I'm not sure what that will be at this point. A button, shawl pin, eye and hook closure, tie...I can't decide. For the photo I just pinned it. I almost want to use something removable so I can switch from closing at chest to closing at neck.

This is my third completed sweater of the year. Yeah Me! I'm going to block my Nantucket Red sweater today and try to seam it up this week. I've told myself I couldn't start another sweater until that one is done. I hate seaming and it's very easy to let it just sit. Why I did a piece sweater I do not know. It should be nice though when complete.

Friday, August 28, 2009

When You Have Gone too Far

I just came across this site, naughtyknitterz. They had this video that definitely needs to be shared. Take a look.

These Two

Once upon a time I was organized and tidy. I flew by the seat of my pants and never planned out much past the next week. Then the kids came along and I was less tidy and organized but managed to keep up with cleaning. Then the kids got older. They had friends and social lives. They had their schedules which became my schedules. So much for tidy and organized. There is no time for that. Now I find myself being totally ruled by my calendar. My somewhat carefree summer is now replaced with Girl Scouts, Volleyball, the oldest daughters babysitting schedule, Etiquette classes, running class, etc... Suddenly there are no free weekends. I have my calendar filled with items out through May 2010. What happened to flying by the seat of my pants. What happened to "Hey, there is a great TravelZoo deal...let's go!" ?? Okay, maybe that last one was a bit of a stretch if you know me...but still, where did "my" time go?



My time went to these two...and as much as I complain about the schedule I wouldn't do it any other way. They are worth it.

Friday, August 21, 2009

The Last Hurrah

Next week I will officially have both kids in school. I will have the house to myself. No preteen hanging around asking me to entertain her. In celebration of this event we were going to go camping but now the weekend looks, hot, rainy and humid. So instead we are staying home and relaxing. This means no household chores/projects. This means everyone sleeps in, a late morning big breakfast, going out for dinner, going to the pool (weather permitting), seeing a movie or two, etc. This summer has been full of homeowner projects that have taken up valuable family weekend time. Not this weekend...this is our last hurrah before volleyball, piano lessons, girl scout activities and lots of homework starts taking up all of our free-time. It should be fantastic.

Knitting:
I finished up my Seaweed Socks and they turned out great. The Ella Rae Lace Merino created a beautiful fabric with great stitch definition. The seaweed pattern is displayed nicely (other's have had issues with it). I used 2.25mm needles and made the medium size. They will definitely be a favorite pair.



Reading:
I finished Eclipse and I have to say I'm still enjoying the series. It has been great summer reading. I also read Janet Evanovich's latest book and I'm done with her until she makes the last Stephanie Plum book. They are getting repetitious and not as funny. I also feel like within a book Janet is writing some chapters and a ghost writer writing others. I'd rather it just be consistent. To finish off my summer reading I'm reading the latest Debbie Macomber, Summer on Blossom Street and I just picked up from the library While My Pretty One Knits by Anne Canadeo. That should be enough fluff reading for the year.

Now to begin our lazy weekend with a nap....

Friday, August 14, 2009

Friday, August 7, 2009

FO's

Finished a couple of items this week. First is my She-Knits Mystery Bag. The knitting went well and the bag was a cool design but my felting destroyed it so below is a picture of it pre-felting. It was an great experience and I would have never knit such a bag otherwise.


Second item is a Xmas gift for a friend who loves this color. It is the Scaruffle pattern. It was an easy knit and went rather fast. It would be great in a large variety of yarn types. I knit it in Sugar Bunny Blvd fingering weight yarn. It's so unlike me to be this on the ball for Xmas gifts. Onto the next thing.


Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Outer Banks

We spent the last weekend in Nags Head in the Outer Banks of NC. The weather was not kind to us but we tried to make the best of it. We visited the Bodie and Hatteras Lighthouses. We ate a few great restaurants. Did a little school shopping and then on Sunday morning we were finally able to play in the surf. I love the waves and boogie boarding. We had a blast seeing who could travel the farthest with each wave. My knees are all bruised/scraped from riding in until they scraped bottom. Youngest daughter (the fish that she is) discovered body surfing and said to heck with the boogie board. We couldn't get her out of the water.



Since we had to vacate the motel by 11am we packed up and headed onto Roanoke. We visited the Lost Colony site and toured the Elizabethan Garden that was put up in honor of the first settlers.



We then headed into the town of Manteo where I actually got to visit a yarn store! I don't' get to do that very often when we travel it seems. It was a lovely store called Fine Yarns and Gallery at Kimbeeba. Quite a name but a lovely store. I bought 3 skeins Mirasol Qina and 1 skein of Ella Rae Lace Merino. The Ella Rae reminded me of the beach and seaweed. So it is currently being knit into the Seaweed Socks by Wendy Johnson. How perfect. They are coming along nicely and I love the colorway. A wonderful thing about this store was they gave a 10% discount for NC residents! Yeah, a bargain on vacation yarn!



I'll post pic's of the socks soon, hopefully along with a very bright scarf I've been working on.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Knitting...What knitting?

Summer is definitely in full swing. Kids in camps, vacations to visit family, more camps, and soon a vacation to the beach. We just returned from a family trip to Michigan. The weather couldn't have been better and we were able to spend a lot of time sightseeing in our own home towns. It's funny being a tourist after having grown up there, but a lot has changed since we left 18 years ago. We spent a day at my grandma's cottage on Lake Huron in AuGres, we toured downtown Bay City, went to Chippewa Nature Center in Midland, had lunch at Zehnder's in Frankenmuth and attended a Great Lakes Loons game in Midland. A pretty nice vacation if I do say so. A few pictures of the trip are below.

MI Trip

As for knitting...there are a couple of things but I'm just enjoying the summer and doing some reading. Hope you are all enjoying your summertime!

Monday, June 22, 2009

Still Here

I'm still here. We've had a pretty busy week or two. My Girl Scout troop had a blood drive. It wasn't as successful as we were hoping but it's hard to get donors during the summer months, let alone a summer weekend. I however, donated for the first time ever and had a great experience. I will definitely do it again, and again...

I also took 5 girls to a local water park this weekend. It was close to 100 degrees that day so there was no better place to be. Fun was had by all but I was "done" by 5pm and ready to head home.

We've also just completed staining our deck and redoing the screen system on the screen porch. It's taken 4 weekends but it's done. Just in time for it to be too hot to even sit outside.

As for knitting, I've been busy with that as well. I finished my socks for the Toe Up KAL. I love these socks and pattern. I followed directions completely and they fit perfectly.



I've also completed clue one in the She Knits Mystery bag KAL. Not much to show there seeing as we've just made the bottom of the bag.

Lastly, I've completed the back and started the fronts of the Nantucket Red cardigan. This week I'm hoping to make some serious progress. So far so good.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Barrell Monster

Would this make you slow down in constructions zones? I think it's a very clever idea and so did the owner of the barrels. The City of Raleigh however thinks otherwise...and arrested the person who created it.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

UP

I just got back from seeing UP (in 3D) with my kids. What a great movie! I think it's the best Disney/Pixar has ever done. I came home wanting to hug my husband and the kids came home wishing our dogs had the collars seen in the film. Funny how we each got something different from the movie.

Monday, June 8, 2009

I've Created Monsters

This weekend I decided to make homemade, all natural dog biscuits for my dogs. One of my dogs, Lily, has liver disease and some of the ingredients put into some dog foods are not good for her. I made 2 different kinds which required oven baking for most of the morning. After each type of treat was finished my girls wanted the dogs to taste test them. And they loved them. Now my dogs are not dumb dogs and they came up with the following equation:

Mixing bowls + Oven + Trays = DOG TREATS!!!

Now everytime I go to bake anything, they are right on top of me waiting for a treat. The treats were obviously a hit but now I can't cook without them around. I wish it was this easy to get them to stop jumping on people.

As for knitting, I finished the last two items on my "To Finish" list. Socks for hubby and a scarf that has since been claimed by my younger daughter. I very happy to be done with both of those. Men's size 13 feet and a scarf that has been on the needles since December...DONE!




I'm mid way through the second Lacy Rib sock from the Socks From the Toe Up KAL. I'm loving these and they are moving along quickly. I'm not sure if I will do next months but I do like the concept of working your way through the book.

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Somewhere in Belgium?

Someone from Belgium "friended" me on Ravelry and I receive updates to her blog. I cannot read any of it but a recent posting of hers is lovely. I would love to be able to go to this yarn store.

Saturday, May 30, 2009

McCrabby Shawl





It's done. It's lovely and squooshy and the kids keep stealing it from me. I think I'll be making another. And thank you to DD #1 for being my model.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

The Wind Down

I really love this time of year when things begin to wind down. Volleyball season has ended. Girl Scouts ended tonight. End of the year events are happening at school. All this leads up to the easy breezy days of summer. Sleeping in, camps, vacations and no schedules. As the girls have gotten older I fight more for down time. Our schedules can get too crazy during the school year.

I'm trying to finish up some knitting as well. I want to move on from my spring knitting to my summer knitting. I need to finish up the items below.

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First is a pair of socks for my DH who wears a 13 shoe. Big socks! Second is my Crabby Shawl. I am loving knitting this and I think a second one is in order. I just bought 5 skeins of Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb on Ravelry and I think it will make a beautiful shawl. The last item is my drop stitch scarf. It's been my in the carpool line knitting and I just want to be done with it.

My summer knitting will consist of She Knits Mystery Bag KAL and the Socks from the Toe Up KAL. I'm sure I will throw something else into the mix but that's plenty for now. No over committing!

I've also began my summer reading. I've started the Twilight series and think that will be perfect beach/back yard reading. I didn't think I would like it but I'm hooked. Please hold back on giving me flack. I know it's drivel but drivel can be good for the summer.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Why Bother

I'm not a fan of cooking dinner. I like eating it but hate the idea of planning it and then having to cook it. This is not the greatest of traits for a stay-at-home mom. Today I did force myself to plan and cook a nice homecooked meal. The kids however, will not be here to eat it. They are eating at friends. That always seems to happen. Why bother? I guess the positive side would be that my husband and I will eat a nice meal in peace...provided he gets home before the kids do. For now, I'll enjoy the quiet and a cool evening on the porch.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Consistency

I mentioned in the last post that I would be knitting Shawl that Jazz. I went onto Blue Moon Fiber Arts and poured over all their colorways before choosing Crabby McCrabbypants. The name and colors just spoke to me. It would be perfect. The other night I was sitting on the couch next to a quilt I made years ago, knitting away on my shawl. I went to set my knitting down while I went to get a drink when I noticed that the colors in my yarn were the exact colors I had chosen for the quilt. And when I say exact, I mean exact. Take a look for yourself. If anything, I'm consistent.