Disney in Lights

Cozy at Home

A very rare thing happened this weekend.  I have my own house to myself.  No kids and husband.  Just me and the dog.  It's lovely and I know I should be going out and having fun but instead I just felt like staying home, knitting, listening to podcasts and making my favorite soup.  Split Pea and Ham from The New Basics Cookbook
. 


This is the only recipe I really cook from this book as you can see by the split binding.



It takes a good couple of hours to make but it's the best. Carrots, leeks, onion, celery, spinach are all part of this soup.  It just has to be good for you.

 

Never mind the fat from the ham hocks...



Or the dash of Sherry at the end.  Soups on!

Mystery Socks

For the 3rd year in a row, I have participated in Through the Loops Mystery Socks.  Every October Kirsten sends out a clue a week and at months end you have a pair of socks.  I've never had a problem keeping up and every year I am more than happy with the result.  I thought I would show you all three pairs I have done, so to convince you to participate next year.  You can also go get any of these patterns now, for free!

First is this years sock.  I made it using Dream in Color Smooshy in colorway Bermuda teal.



This is last years using Dream in Color Smooshy (again!) in colorway Cinnamon Girl.



And the first years sock was made with Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock Lightweight in a club colorway called Incredible Shrinking Violet.

Another Gift Done

 The Dane Shawl (really a shawlette) is finished and it's just lovely.  The Smitten Boo is so soft.  The color way is Tulip Blaze and is a great color for this time of year...a pinky orange.  However, this is a Xmas gift and has to be put away for now.

I only used 254 yards on this little shawl and  have around 190 yards left. I think I will definitely use this yarn again in another project.  Maybe make a pair of coordinating fingerless mitts/wrist warmers.

 

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful that this was me last weekend....

Looking out at this...

Perfect Knitting Day

Today is the perfect day for knitting.  It's steadily raining.  I have the windows open so I can listen to the rain.

It's cool enough that a hot cup of coffee is needed.  The Oreos are not needed but taste delicious.

And I have two new projects on the needles.  EZ's Raglan Sweater for my hubby.  We've been together 19 years and this is the first sweater I will knit him.  I'm using Tahki New Tweed and it's working up great.

The other project I started is the Dane Shawl.  This is being made with Stricken Smitten's Smitten Boo (merino/bamboo).  I am in love with her yarn...all of them!  This is a Xmas gift for someone (shhh...secret).  I started this the same time as the sweater to offset the boring stockinette.  The sweater is great mindless TV knitting but when I have quiet time during the day I want a mindful project...and more Oreos.... :)

FO's

Wow, it's been awhile since there was any knitting on this blog. Well, there has been a lot of knitting, not a lot of show and tell. So here we go.

Pattern: Mondo Cable Pulli

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran

Needles: US 7 and 8

Mods:  I did k4p2 for the ribbing and I made 3/4 length sleeves

Pattern: Let it Be Socks

Yarn: Lornas Laces Shepherd Sock Stripe colorway Panther Pride

Needle: US 1.5

Mods: I opted for a standard 2x2 rib for cuff

 

Pattern: Acorn Fall Mitts

Yarn: Stricken Smitten Sport colorway Redwood

Needle: US 3

Mods: I did not twist any stitches

 There has also been a few preemie pumpkin hats for charity but I forgot to take a picture before I sent them off.  I'm participating in Single Skein September (started by the podcast Stash and Burn).  So the hats and mitts are part of that and I have an adult hat and scarf on the needles also.  Great way to make you use up those single skeins you didn't have a plan for. 

Recovery

My last post said you would have to wait to hear what I was thankful for. Well I was supposed to be thankful for my girl's weekend in Vermont. I headed up to Vermont to visit friends. Some knew I was coming and some were surprised. I was attending a bag party Friday night and then we spent the next night at a friends house on the lake where we suprised her with an "adult" party for her birthday. These were all good things and I am thankful to have spent time with everyone, however it was soured by bad news from my house.

The Friday that I arrived in Vermont, one of our dogs Lily took a fall down the stairs. It was a bad fall that resulted in her being paralyzed. A few years ago we had surgery done on her bladder to move it into proper positioning and it was stapled to her abdomen walls. The fall caused the bladder to rip away and caused a lot of internal damage. We had to put her to sleep. She was only 3.

Lily (Dec06-Sept10)

Within one weeks time we had one of our birds die, Lily die, and then the fish died. How the kids survived all this I do not know. DH was amazing, handling everything while I was in Vermont. All attention is now focused on our dog Henry. He is a little lost right now without Lily but we are spoiling him rotten.

Henry

To recover, we all went camping this weekend. Surprising cool mornings sitting around a fire, warm afternoons playing in the lake, and family time teaching the kids to play Euchre. Just what the doctor ordered.

Thankful Thursday

is postponed. You'll have to wait to find out what I'm thankful for on Monday...

Summer Blues

So this summer I tried not to buy too much yarn but as new store, coupon, or web sale presented itself, I found that I did added 3 sweaters worth of yarn to my stash. Evidently I am entering my blue mood.


The yarn on the left is Malabrigo Worsted in Bobby Blue purchased with a 20% off coupon at one of my local stores, Cozy's. I'm thinking of knitting this into Concur or Subatomic's version of the Shalom Cardigan.

The yarn in the middle is Blue Sky Alpaca Organic Cotton in colorway Azul. This was purchased at my first ever visit to Knitting Addiction in Kill Devil Hills, NC. I've wanted to touch this yarn for awhile now and once I did I had to buy it. I am hoping it knits up as good as it feels. Also, Knitting Addiction is currently my favorite store in North Carolina. It was huge, had all my favorite yarns and much more, and I wished I could have stayed and hung out awhile. It's a good thing it's 3+ hours from my house or my wallet would always be empty. This yarn I'm hoping to knit into the Lutea-Lace Shoulder Shell.

The last yarn is Malabrigo Worsted (again) in colorway Marine. I have wanted this colorway for quite a while but every time I went to look for it, it was sold out. My luck improved for the Loopy Ewe's anniversary sale. I was hoping to buy the Malabrigo Twist this time but that colorway was there in the Worsted and that was that. This yarn is hopefully going to be knit up into Weezalana's version of the Lion Neck Cardigan.

RIP - Luna

One of our dear little birds passed away today. She was the noisy one of the two and now the silence is sad. She will be missed.

August?

Wow! Where did August go? We went to visit family in Michigan the first week and then I blinked and the kids were back to school and it's September. Michigan was the only "real" vacation we took this summer. The heat kept us inside and away from doing our normal summer things in NC but MI was nice to us. Lake Huron was warm, calm, and clear.


The family cabin.
DD#1 Out sailing with her great uncle.

DD#2 Working up the nerve to ride the jet ski alone. Made her dad ride very slow. Too slow for dad. She finally rode alone on 3rd day but never cracked 15mph.

This photo is of a pier in Kitty Hawk, NC. DD#1 and I spent 2 days there while DD#2 was at camp. Very hot but the water was nice and cool. She took this photo and I took the one below of the sunrise...sometime around 6am.


Here's to hoping that we have a long, cool, beautiful autumn.

Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful for air conditioning! It's been one of the hottest summer's on record for North Carolina and definitely the hottest since I've moved here. It's miserable. This is the first time I've actually thought about moving back northward. I have basically hunkered down indoors. We left MN because we were tired of the endless winter months causing us to be locked inside. It feels like I've been indoors for 3+ months now and I'm only outside to go from one air conditioned building to another. The only way I'm happy outside is if I'm in a pool, and even that has warmed up so much that it's not refreshing. I'm hoping for an early fall, but until then I'll hang inside with my air conditioning.

Summer Running

Summer is now in full swing and the girls have me running. We live in a small neighborhood with little to no kids, so the girls have me running them to friend's, running them to activities with friends, and running me up a wall with their bickering when they aren't with friends. Ahhhh summer vacation....

When I'm not "running", I'm hiding from the heat and knitting. I'm working on the Mondo Cable Pulli and loving it. It is going to be my weekend sweater come winter. I'm knitting it in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran. I love this yarn. It's lofty, has great stitch definition, and it's very soft to the touch.


I've also finished the Daybreak I was working on. It will be a great accessory for the fall. It's knit up in Collinette Jitterbug and Madelinetosh Sock. I've had the Collinette for a while and I have tried to make several things from it but each time I frogged whatever it was. I was determined to make something out of it and started Daybreak figuring I had to have some other yarn in my stash that would work with it. However, I did not and ended up ordering the Madelinetosh, in color way Palomino, with hopes that it would work....which of course as you can see, it did. I love when a guess works out.

My Best WIP's

My best WIP's are now 13 and almost 11 years in the making. My 11 year old just graduated from 5th grade which ended the "elementary" years. I can't believe it went that fast. I've had 10 years of dance recitals, gymnastics, soccer, library story-times, softball, baseball, volleyball, piano, guitar, sleepovers, birthday parties, camps, American Heritage Girls, Girl Scouts, basketball, book fairs, school carnivals and fund raisers. I spent countless hours volunteering in the 4 different elementary schools we've attended in 3 states. Countless hours carpooling here and there. We've worn out one mini-van and bought another.It's been fun, trying, and tiring but I would do it all again if I could.

The middle school years are already upon us with my 13 year old. In fact the coming school year will be her last middle school year. I've already learned that middle schools don't need the help that the elementary schools do and I will have much more free time next year. However, middle school children need their parents more than ever. It's just a different adventure from here on out. Definitely more fun to do be had with my WIP's...

Late Friday FO's

Today I finished up a couple of items. It's good to get these off my plate. I've got so many more things I want to start and I don't want too many WIP's.


Pattern: Wollmeise Socks
Yarn: Hand+Notions Sock Merino/Nylon Sock
Needles: US 1

These are sample socks for Hand+Notions to use at shows. Aren't the colors amazing!?!


Pattern: Ginger
Yarn: Rowan Summer Tweed
Needles: US 8 and 9

Overall I'm not completely happy with this one. Shaping is wonky. I'm sure that was my doing in trying to length the torso. Because of this I cannot wear it with the v in back. Also, knitting with the Summer Tweed was tedious at best. Silk and Cotton equal no stretch at all. Had to take my time with it in order to keep stitches even and in order to give my hands a rest after knitting a bit. If I was to knit it again, I would definitely knit it in the round and maybe down a size for a more fitted knit.

However, I will be wearing it to my local Stitch n Pitch in a couple of weeks. Perfect garment for NC weather.

Thankful Thursday

A cold Corona, out on my deck in the evening, with my latest knitting....and no humidity. Priceless.

Dyeing is Fun!

Last night I dyed up the ugly shawl. It's actually the Milkweed Shawl knit in Sunkissed Sands BMFA Lightweight sock yarn. I loved the yarn in the skein but it was ugly knit up. So after months of procrastinating and obtaining supplies, I dyed up the shawl using an acid dye in the color chestnut. It turned out a lovely rich brown with red hues. The dye bath was not all used up when I pulled the shawl out so I threw in a skein of Knit Picks Bare worsted weight and I ended up with a beautiful muted pink. I love them both and now the shawl is no longer ugly and I have fresh new skein of yarn.


Dyeing was a lot of fun. I have dyed yarn before with the kids using Kool-Aid but the colors are pretty minimal and not really my style. The acid dyeing was easy and the colors so rich and beautiful. I could definitely enjoy experimenting with this and adding another hobby. At a minimum, I will no longer hide from an ugly yarn. If I don't like it, I'll change it.

Spreadsheet Fun

So just because I had nothing better to do while I was waiting for the painter to arrive, I decided to spreadsheet out my stash. Come to find out I am the proud owner of 37,800 yards of yarn. I wasn't sure how to feel about that number so I computed how many skeins of yarn I own. I have 200 skeins!

Now I have been actively trying to destash and I thought I was making some (not great) progress but didn't realize how much I was still sitting on. 200 seems high and so does 37,800. So I then calculated out how many yards I knit in 2009. That total came out to 13,000! So I essentially have about 3 years worth of knitting in my stash. Is that good or bad? Do I need 3 years worth? What if I only had one years worth? What if I want to buy more? Okay....now my head hurts. Conclusion: I basically need to keep destashing if I want more...I need to keep it under control. I'm sure that could be said for all aspects of life.

Well, I do have one FO for Friday. This was cute little knit and when I saw the sample at a LYS I thought I really had to make one. It was so soft and squishy. I was disappointed. It is soft and squishy but the yarn is extremely splitty (which I hate) and I did not have enough yarn in the skein to complete the pattern (pattern on skein wrap). I had to omit a row of bobbles and I ended up with only about 12 inches of yarn leftover. There was no gauge given for the pattern so I knit with the suggested needle size. I'm a tight knitter so I figured maybe the hat would be smaller but it wasn't. Finally, there was also a knot between every color change. Way too many issues for just one little skein of yarn.




Pattern: Sweetie Pie Hat
Yarn: Be Sweet Bambino Taffy
Needles: US 6
Size: 6-12 mo.

FO Friday

I just finished this adorable dress and I am hoping to give it to my cousin's new baby next month. I am hoping for a girl but we don't know yet. I am prepared with a back up blue baby vest if it's a boy. The pattern was a breeze and a fantastic use of all the sock yarn I have stashed. I may make another one in a solid color and then embellish it.


Pattern: Little Sister's Dress size 12mo.
Yarn: Madeline Tosh Sock colorway Vintage Apron
Started: May 6, 2010
Finished: May 26, 2010

These socks are great. I tried to use this yarn with the pattern provided in the Loopy Ewe kit but I hated the pooling that was happening. So I ripped out and found the Tidal Wave pattern. This pattern eliminated the pooling and created a great pair of socks.


Pattern: Tidal Wave Socks
Yarn: Fiesta Yarns Baby Boom colorway Spring Chill (Loopy Ewe Sock Club)
Started: March 22, 2010
Finished: May 14, 2010

Thankful Thursday

Today I'm thankful for National Public Radio. Not a day goes by that I don't learn something new while listening to NPR. My current favorites are The Story and Science Friday. The Story is a program about people and their lives. It always reminds me that my little world is not the only one out there and the person I'm standing behind in line at the grocery store could be amazing and have a great story to tell. You just never know...

Moved

I've moved to a new blog, which is why you are now here. Changed my Ravelry name as well to knitful. Sometimes you just need a change...at least I needed one.

I've been absent for a while due to lack of knitting, lack of blogging enthusiasm and problems with my own health. Evidently when you turn 40, your once very healthy body decides that's enough and turns on you. I have an ongoing back problem that seems to stump the doctors and last week I had 1/2 of my thyroid removed because I had two good sized nodules that came up suspicious when biopsied. However, after removal were found to be nothing.

Knitful = Thankful
Knitful = "full of knit"

When going through a bit of a medical scare, you tend to remind yourself of what are the important things in your life. What should you be thankful for? You also realize how sometimes you can wrap yourself up in things/thoughts for nothing. You can be full of **it. Thus the reason for the name change.

I hope to blog more with knitting goodness, Thankful Thursdays, and some cool photos as I learn to use my Nikon D3000.

Still Here

I'm still here.  Warming up to blogging again.  Be back soon....

Sock Mojo

I recently knit a sock using a new book that I have wanted for a while and received for Christmas.  I was knitting a toe up sock using the Riverbed architecture from Cat Bordhi's book New Pathways for Sock Knitters.  After I finished this sock I tried it on. It was longer than I wanted.  It was wider than I wanted.   It just didn't fit.  This sock was a lot of work.  A lot of math and charts and flipping around in this book.  There was no way I was going to knit another sock using this method.  This got me thinking about the socks I've been knitting lately and how I've become rather disenchanted with knitting socks.  One thing that dawned on me is the amount of toe up and "new construction" I've been doing.  None of the toe up socks seemed to fit as well as my others.  Why was I messing with something that was already working for me? Top down and magic loop socks I can do with my eyes closed and they always work.  So I ripped out the sock and proceeded to do what I've done before.  As you can see I'm moving along nicely.  The sock thus far, fits like a dream.  I'm starting to feel my "sock mojo" coming back to me. What a relief!  My sock yarn stash is good to go!

Pattern:  Olympian Socks
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Super Sock Select colorway African Grey
Needles: Hiya Hiya US size 1.5 (2.5mm)

Funny

I can't stop thinking about a comment Barbara Walker said in an interview with the Knitmore Girl's.  When asked what she is knitting now, she said "I don't knit"....

I find that extremely funny.

Knitting Catch Up

I thought I would show a few of the objects I've completed since my last knitting post in October.  Since that time I've completed a few items for me and a lot of items that were sent out to be sold.  I was knitting so much at one point that my hands actually ached and I had to stop for a week.  I only have pictures of some of the items that were sold.  Most were just knit and shipped out.  My knitting most recently has been on finer gauge yarn and the to be sold items were bulky weight.  A nice change of pace.  Pictures below are of my personal knitting.  You can see some of the other items here at my Ravelry project page.

First off I finished Multnomah.  This was sent to my grandmother for Christmas.



Next was the TTL Mystery Socks.



Then I made the Grace Lace Beret using Mirasol Yarn Qina.  This turned out beautifully.  It was a gift for my daughter's piano teacher.





Then I made Owl Baby Vest with the intention of sending it to my cousin for his new baby Henry.  However my gauge was off and it's too small for him already.  It's being put in the gift box for the next baby boy to come around.  It was knit with Cascade Yarn Cherub Collection DK.  This yarn is sooooo quishy.  It's hard to believe that it's washable.



I also completed 2 hats for hubby.  Both are Turn a Square by Jerrod Flood.  He liked the first hat so much he asked for a second.





The last item I just completed was so nice to knit.  It is Alana Dakos' Cedar Leaf Shawlette.  I knit it in Handmaiden's Lady Godiva yarn and I'm now spoiled.  What a lovely yarn.  Definitely worth the price.  This scarf/shawlette is going to get a lot of wear.