So, Norma got me hooked on The Grand, which I've been watching on Netflix (think Downton Abbey, but with sex, betrayal, murder and more). Since I can't possibly sit and watch without doing something, I've been knitting up a pile of new dish scrubbies. Good thing because I have a bunch that need to be retired.
If you want to make some, just check out the Super Simple Dish Scrubbie page ot Ravelry or take a look at my dish scrubbie blog post.
I just finished knitting a pair of wool socks for Maddie, using Wendy's Toe-Up Sock pattern. You know the one, right? It was easy to follow and makes a nice fitting sock, plus the toe and heel are pretty much the same, so it's easy to remember what you're doing.
Next time I'll make the toe a tiny bit more pointy -- maybe one more wrap stitch on each side. You can see they are a bit squared off here.
The yarn I used was Regia 6 fadig in the colorway 5265. I purchased this yarn at the (very) local yarn store that shut down a few months ago. It was run out of the basement of a local woman's home only a few blocks from where I live, right in the middle of a old neighborhood. Sadly, she got lung cancer and moved out to the west coast to be with her son during treatment -- she has since passed away. So, it is a bit sad to be knitting with this yarn.
Next up was a Super Simple Dish Scrubbie because my old ones are getting pretty faded. And now I'm projectless, but itching to start something. Time to pull out the stash!
I do not like summer. The heat leaves me pretty miserable and somewhat lethargic, so it seems that I get so much less done during those long hot months. Now that it's cooling down, I'm getting back to the things I love -- baking, cooking, knitting, sewing and such things.
While watching Heroes on my iPad (I'm late to Netflix, but so digging it!), I finished my orange Herbivore. Well, I should say that I finished the knitting. This project desperately needs to be blocked and I don't have blocking wires. Can anyone recommend some good, inexpensive ones?
I also started socks for Maddie (who loves handknit socks -- yeah!) using Wendy's generic toe-up pattern from her first ever knitting book -- Wendy Knits: My Never-Ending Adventures in Yarn which I have owned for ages. In fact, my copy is an arc. I can't believe I hadn't tried it before -- her description of the short row toe was very easy to follow.
Which brings me to another Wendy Knits book:
Wendy Knits Lace: Essential Techniques and Patterns for Irresistible Everyday Lace, which I have had sitting on my desk for a few weeks, right next to my computer because I have wanted to post a review. Let me say that this book is all fancy-like with charts and illustrations and lots of pretty photos of great lace projects. I especially like the Stacy Shawl and I think that if I get brave, I might attempt the Vortex Spiral Shawl. There are also hats, mittens and gloves that would be nice smaller projects.
I leave you for now with a photo of Spike, my big orange fella -- sleeping in a bankers box. As you can see, it's a tight fit.
Herbivore is so difficult to photograph. First of all, the cloudy day is making it impossible for me to get the color right in any photograph -- especially orange. And then we have the bunch-up-ed-ness of this quickly growing thing on my little circular needle.
Despite it's lack of photogenics, this is a great little project. The pattern is very easy to remember and I can literally set it down and pick it up without any thought about where I'm at in the pattern.
And I'm doing well on my goal of keeping things neat and tidy on Ravelry. In fact, you can view the details of my Herbivore project over there.
I bought some yarn for the first time in a long time -- it's orange. How could I resist? I know I'm late to the party, as this is my first skein of Malabrigo, so I'm wondering what to knit with this orange-y goodness. I'm thinking perhaps Herbivore from Stephen West. Any opinion on his patterns? Looks like his patterns are pretty well received over at Ravelry.
This yarn is sock weight and I've got about 440 yards, but I don't want to knit socks. All suggestions welcome!
(I'm kind of excited to cast on -- yeah!)
It was a relaxing weekend -- one that lasted three days, which is always a bonus. We watched movies, I knit and Monday we went on our annual holiday shopping trip. Since it was ridiculously cold, we opted for and indoor mall instead of shopping downtown Chicago, but it was still a great day. Pete and I bought each other iPhones for Christmas, which brings us out of the dark ages of cheap cell phones. (We always opted for the freebies that the cell phone companies give you up to this point.)
More on the knitting... If you need some dish scrubbies, I have a generic pattern that I've been using for a while now and I don't think I've shared the "pattern" here. (I use the term pattern loosely, since these are crazy simple.)
Super Simple Dish Scrubbie
by BoogaJ of Black Sheep Bags
What you need:
Lily Sugar 'n Cream Cotton Yarn -- each ball will make several scrubbies
Nylon Tulle -- nothing too fine, you want the cheap stuff from the craft store
US 10 Knitting Needles
What you do:
Cut the tulle into strips. The wider the strip, the more difficult it may be to knit, but the more scrubbie your scrubbie will be. I like to cut strips about 1 in. wide. If you have a rotary cutter, use that with a ruler. If not, fold the tulle in half and in half again several times until you can snip off a row with one snip. (This will make more sense once you try it.) You will get *many* strips out of a yard of tulle.
Cast on 16 stitches with the cotton yarn.
Knit each row using the cotton and tulle held together. I like to fold or twist the tulle around the cotton strand so the cotton is encased. Just tie on a new strip of tulle when you get to the end of the one you are using.
When the piece looks nearly square (about 30 rows or so), bind off using only the cotton yarn. Weave in the ends of the cotton yarn and snip off any tulle bits that are sticking out.
That's it! You can make tons of these very quickly and with very little yarn.
Here's the Ravelry link for the Super Simple Dish Scrubbie!
I needed a break from the endless navy blue stockinette in the round that is the Dale of Norway sweater, so I dragged out the stash and found some comfy yarn that was from an unsuccessful project that I frogged years ago. I went on Ravelry. I love Ravelry! -- so easy to use up the stash with all that info and all those projects to browse.
I chose the Burberry Inspired Cowl Neck Scarf and knit it up in just a few days. As I suspected, there were a lot of cuts in the wound up ball from that frogged project (gloves, perhaps?) so I had lots more ends to weave in than seemed possible for such a small project. The Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran is super soft and non-itchy though, so that makes it totally worth the trouble.
Here's a really terrible mirror photo of me wearing the cowl, but you get the idea. Fun little project that has me wanting to do some more cable projects.
I've finished the colorwork band on the bottom of Besseggen and I'm into the long stretch of navy blue which goes on for quite some time. I'll post more photos of this sweater when I hit the band of colorwork around the chest.
In other news, I'm itching to start another project of some sort. Perhaps weaving, quilting or even *gasp* more knitting. Any fun knitting patterns out there I should know about?
Recently I was sent a review copy of Melissa Leapman's Mastering Color Knitting
Being the crazy on again, off again knitter that I have become, this book actually inspired me to pull out the yarn I bought way back in 2004 for a Dale of Norway sweater for Pete.
Believe it or not, I've almost finished the bottom band! For those interested in details, this is Besseggen from book #121. And thank goodness for Mastering Color Knitting
If you are knitting this and haven't finished, look away!
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What a fun little knit! This made a generous sized cloth and took only a couple of hours to complete. I can definitely recommend the patterns from KrisKnits. She has all kind of different motifs available for sale and for free too!
I haven't done a whole lot of knitting lately, but I've been itching to start a project. So when I saw the new October Mystery Cloth was up at KrisKnits, I pulled out my needles and some cheap-o Sugar n' Cream and got started. I'm only about 1/3 of the way in to this project, and I have no idea what it is yet, but it sure is fun!
And if you love chocolate, my busy chocolate review season has started. The samples are starting to roll in and I'll be posting lots of reviews over at the Chocolate Blog. Oh, and I have a new post over at Going Gluten-Free too!
This weekend we played around a bit with TTV photography. (More over at Pete's blog.) For those of you who have never heard of TTV, or through the viewfinder, basically you use a newer camera to take a photo through the viewfinder of an older camera. We have both a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye -- which I used for this photo -- and a Mamiya C33 Professional. Fun and cheaper than finding or re-rolling film for the old cameras.
And here we have a failure. I love the pattern -- Wisp -- I love the yarn -- Koigu -- I hate the color of said yarn. I was hoping that once I started knitting, it would look muted, but sophisticated, but after seeing it in the harsh light of day, it screams baby blanket to me. While I do have two matching skeins of Koigu in a different colorway, I'm pretty sure I won't like it knitted up into a scarf either as it is a yellow/purple combo. Ah well, time to tink and find another project. What are you knitting?
The second toe-up sock was so much easier than the first! After ripping and re-knitting various sections of the first sock a number of times, I was almost afraid to start the second. However, since I had already decided upon the toe, heel and bind-off, the second sock was a breeze.
After having knit all my previous socks using a dutch heel, I was worried about the fit on a short row heel, but Maddie thought they were comfortable, and they look as if they fit nicely.
Heck, I may become a toe-up sock knitter yet!
Well, I finally finished a toe-up sock and I'm still not completely sold. I used the magic cast on for the toe and that went fairly well, although I seem to remember tearing it out at least twice. Then there was the heel. That was ripped out twice -- I finally ended up using the easy short row heel from here. Then there was the bind-off. I couldn't make up my mind for over a week, then today I just googled "stretchy cast off" and chose one of the first ones I saw, which ended up being Jeny's surprisingly stretchy bind off.
Glad to have the first one completed, and the fact that I have some notes helps since I'll have to duplicate this Frankenstein sock.
Perhaps I'll cast on for sock number 2 tomorrow, or perhaps not. We shall see.
A guy hat. Grey on grey with a bit of brown thrown in -- this might work.
I guess I would have to call this my Olympic knitting project as 90% of it has been knit while watching the Olympics. I have noticed there is a lot of lull to the games, and I have plenty of time between the moments of action to get in a few rows here and there.
Neither of these photos shows off the color of this beautiful yarn -- Rowan's Kidsilk Haze in shade 596, Marmalade. It has a nice pumpkin-y warmth in person and thus the name -- the Pumpkin Ridge Scarf. The yarn has so much personality on it's own that I decided on a simple k2p2 ribbing rather than some fancy lace pattern. Besides, when it comes to clothing, my style is very simple (although colorful) and I figured this scarf would get more use than something fancy and lacy. If you have a couple of spare balls of Kidsilk Haze laying about, I highly recommend that you make one for yourself:
Pumpkin Ridge Scarf
2 skeins Rowan Kidsilk Haze
Size 6US Knitting Needles
Cast on 56 stitches.
For every row, k2p2 to end.
Bind off (using a tubular bind-off if you are feeling fancy).
I just purchased the Dessert Cloths pattern from Kris Knits. Maybe everyone already knows about her, but I just discovered her a few weeks ago, so I thought I'd share. She also has KAL's, and while I haven't done one yet, they do look fun. Maddie loves handknit washcloths, and now I should be able to keep her well stocked with all these fun patterns.
Lots more at her Ravelry page.
This past weekend I went a bit crazy with the knitting and finally finished up Maddie's fingerless mittens.
Super easy, quick and pretty much mindless knitting, these were an easy finish and Maddie seems to like them. More info at Ravelry.
I also started and finished another project which I need to steam block and photograph. More on that tomorrow.
In keeping with the brainless knitting theme, I made this washcloth for Maddie yesterday. She spied this Christmasy yarn at one of those big discount chains (while I was there looking for a magnifier due to my whimpy eyesight) and demanded (not really, she asked politely, but demanded sounds more exciting) that I knit her a washcloth.
Boring, perhaps, but yesterday was a bad day pain-wise and it took my mind off things a bit.
So there you have it. A washcloth. (More at Ravelry.)
Maddie was kind enough to model Baktus for me, and I have to say, it looks quite cozy on her, doesn't it? I love how you can put the point in front, wrap the ends around and tie it up all snug.
This was a quick and fun knit -- largely plain old stockinette with a tiny bit of shaping. I completed it in a marathon knitting session last week while I was watching old episodes of Lost at hulu. Stupidly, perhaps, I believed that I could watch all the existing episodes again before the season premier, but there are over 100 episodes and I started with less than a month in which to complete the task. Let's just say that I'm not through season one yet.
And while we are on the subject of TV, I have to reveal my pathetic TV secret -- I love watching The Bachelor. Really it's more like a family sport (although we have to hide Maddie's eyes at certain points). But we love having a running commentary about the craziness of the "characters" involved and the over the top dramas that unfold really get us going! Guilty pleasure for sure. Do you watch it? (Or admit to watching it?)
Sometimes you want a simple, yet functional knit -- especially during the holidays when you are already crazy busy. This was my goal when I went searching through Ravelry a while back, and what I discovered was Baktus by Strikkelise. This is a ridiculously easy knit and she has provided a free pattern for which you can use virtually any yarn at all. Really.
I purchased one skein of Siren Song by Fiber Optic Yarns last time Theresa and I were out at The Fold just before the holidays and I'm loving it. Since I have one skein, I weighed it before I started, and as I get closer to what I think is the halfway point, I keep weighing it every few pattern repeats. I think I'm about ready to start the decreases, so I feel like I'm home free.
I can't wait to have this snugly and functional scarf/kerchief/shawlette finished since it is frigid here in the Chicagoland area and supposed to get even colder. I've posted this project over at Ravelry too.
I do still knit -- in fact, I just finished knitting a pair of fingerless mittens! I used Sophie's Toes Sock Yarn in the colorway Pumpkin Spice. It is a lovely yarn that was a joy to knit with. I think this is a fun little project that would be great for holiday gift giving, so I have written up the pattern and am offering it over at Ravelry for only $1.
I unearthed some funky, orange yarn from Habu while tidying up the new den. This is A-48, Color 2 and is 100% silk. The texture is wild and there is really no reason to use any kind of stitch pattern here, so instead I cast on 30 stitches and started knitting on the bias. (Rows 1-3: Knit, Row 4: Kfb, knit to last 2 stitches, K2tog)
There are places where the yarn is almost as fine as a thread, and others were it is quite thick, so I actually find myself counting on most rows to make sure I haven't lost any stitches, thus it isn't the mindless, knit by feel, project that is best suited to TV watching, but I'm enjoying it nonetheless.
And hey, it's orange! It'll match my car, and that's pretty cool.
Update on WIP's -- the Regia socks were finished last night. I also finished the first of the watermelon socks for Maddie and added some length to the stripey Noro scarf. More details at Ravelry.
Today I discovered some socks (or rather 1/2 of one sock + a ball of yarn) that I started quite some time ago. This project lost momentum when I got to the heel, tried it on and decided it was too small despite being 64 stitches around. Today I had Maddie try it on and she loved it, so now I'm renewing this project for her.
Also posted over at Ravelry.
I've made a vow. I'm going to get stuff finished and clear out the many WIP's I have. In order to keep myself honest, I'm posting things here as I come across them and all knitting WIP's will be uploaded to Ravelry too.
Have you seen the new Addi Click needles? Wow!!
I finished knitting the Orange Bumpy Scarf -- first blogged here. At first I thought I would block it since it looked like it might end up a little short, but I've tried it on and at this length it can wrap around my neck leaving enough length to be tucked firmly into a jacket. Since I would hate to lose the bumpy texture created by those drop stitches, I've decided to leave well enough alone.
Very satisfying to go from idea, to hand spun yarn, to finished handknit.
As I mentioned, the current issue of Spin-Off really got me in the mood to spin -- and more specifically to spin yarn to knit up into the Morning Surf scarf.
Seeing as how this is shockingly orange (it's okay -- that's my favorite color) the name just wasn't working for me, so I have christened it the "Orange Bumpy Scarf".
For those of you thinking about making this scarf -- my yarn was about 11wpi if I remember correctly and I am using a US 8 circular needle and cast on 36 stitches to start. The pattern is something like 12 rows long, but super easy to remember and the drop stitches are not only fun, they really show off the handspun yarn. It's a great pattern for even slightly irregular yarn (mine gets a little thick and thin in places).
I'm having so much fun spinning that I just purchased some luscious fiber from Spunky Eclectic and spun up a bunch of it yesterday. More info and photos soon!
Okay, admittedly it doesn't look like much but I'm quite satisfied with this little piece of knitting. I've had a plan to make some scrubbies for a while and even purchased a cute little Japanese craft book with some patterns, but it all came to nothing because I couldn't figure out what yarn to use. Cotton such as Sugar 'n Cream seemed the obvious choice, but there is no real scrubbing power there. So when I saw the scrubbie tutorial at Berlin's Whimsy, I knew it was time to get knitting.
While at Hobby Lobby yesterday buying adhesive for patterns, I decided to walk over to the fabric section and pick up some tulle -- so cheap at $1 a yard -- which led to picking up some Sugar 'n Cream to match. The scrubbie pictured above is Maddie's combo -- pink tulle and a lavender ice yarn.
The tulle was easy to cut into strips with a long ruler and rotary cutter -- I think my strips were about 3/4" wide. Knitting the yarn and tulle together was a bit tricky because the edges of the cut tulle are easily snagged on the cotton yarn. It was also easy to knit too tightly -- thus the wonky little scrubbie. And casting off was difficult -- I did it way too tightly -- as everything wanted to snag but it's a scrubbie, so who really cares? It was quick and satisfying and ended in a usable item, so I'm happy! I think I'll use the tulle/cotton combo to make some cuter scrubbies -- maybe it's time to pull out that Japanese craft book.
I was in the library a few weeks ago and I came across a knitting book I hadn't seen or heard of before. It is called Knitting New Scarves
First of all, many of the scarves aren't knit using two needles and more than often are three dimensional as a result. Variety and unusual forms are the norm in this book and some of the scarves look like they would be a lot of fun to make.
I especially like the technique section at the back of the book that illustrates the steps involved in many of the projects. This is definitely a well illustrated book with many photos to help you work your way through these scarves.
I haven't started any scarves from the book yet, but I think I'll be playing with some of the techniques and perhaps tweaking them for use in my own designs. It's a pleasure to see something really new in knitting after all these years. Take a look at these scarves and find a little inspiration of your own!
I saw some tiny mittens on someone's blog (so sorry, I can't remember whose!) and followed the link to this pattern. They looked so cute and goodness knows I have lots of extra bits of sock yarn around! So I cast on last night while watching the Survivor China finale and had this little cutie finished before the show ended. Wouldn't it be cute on a holiday gift tag or card? Super easy too -- since it isn't going to be worn or handled much, I just tucked all the ends up into the mitten instead of weaving anything in.
Other than knitting tiny mittens, I've been making cookies with my mom & sisters and reading voraciously. I'm loving The Golden Compass
Every year I make Maddie a pair of handknit mittens. Her favorite so far were these knit back in 2003. (OMG -- how long have I been blogging?! And isn't she the cutest little thing! When did she grow up so much?)
Other years we've had varying success (complaints that the yarn was too scratchy or not the right color), so this year when we made an unplanned stop in Geneva, IL and found a parking spot *right in front* of Wool & Co., I decided it was time to start this year's mittens. I let Maddie walk around the shop and decide on the yarn that she wanted and the girl has good taste. She picked out a ball of Nashua Creative Focus Worsted -- 75% wool/25% Alpaca -- in a lovely, saturated teal blue aptly named Brilliant Blue.
I've never knit with this particular yarn before and was a bit worried since it is just a single ply yarn, but after knitting about an inch of K1, P1 ribbing for the cuff, I was impressed. This yarn has lovely memory -- making the ribbing nice and tight -- and is very soft.
I took the easy route (maybe I'm learning) and pulled out Ann Budd's The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns. I just love this book for simple items like mittens. I knit a wee swatch and found my spot in the table for mittens and I was off. Sizing for 6-8 yr old girls was spot on and I had mitten #1 knit in no time. If you have some holiday knitting to do for a girl or boy, I highly recommend mittens -- quick easy and fun to knit!
I've been seeing lots of Chevron Scarves from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts
So. I ordered up the book from the library (we have a great library catalog system that allows you to order books from all different libraries -- and it's quick too!) and dragged out my bin of Koigu. Yes, I have a bin. It's a small-ish bin, but a bin nonetheless. I had a bit of a Koigu obsession for a while about 3 or 4 years ago and purchased a skein or two at nearly every yarn shop I visited that stocked it!
I'll show you two color combos and you tell me which one you think would work best.
Okay, so what do you think? Combo #1 or Combo #2? I'll tell you what I thought -- Combo #1 hands down! In fact, that's what I chose and I started knitting away. After about 2 inches I thought it was going to be a problem, but I figured I just needed to knit a bit more. . . so I did. And it got worse. Muddy pools on one side and bold striped sections on the other -- how weird is that?
So on to combo #2. While it doesn't give the the bold contrast that I see in some of the scarves I have been admiring online, I do love the effect:
It's simple and quick and I'm feeling the return of my knitting mojo! Here are some more links concerning Chevron Scarves:
So Dale of Norway *finally* got a new website. (They may have had it for a while now -- I got so sick of checking the old site only to find it hopelessly outdated that I hadn't done it in ages.) And while the US / English version is still under construction, the Norwegian version is up and running and looking pretty nice! I was diggin' the new "Cafe" booklet that I have pictured above. Just look under "Kolleksjon" at the top to get to the currrent booklets and then click, click, click on the photos to get into the good stuff.
I also like this more fitted yet traditional looking ski sweater:
Now I just have to finish my current Dale of Norway sweater -- that would be Ingeborg which I have been working on for several years. And I also need to start and finish Pete's Dale of Norway sweater -- I don't even remember the name of his! (I've said it before and I'll say it again -- I am not a sweater knitter. But Dale of Norway makes me want to aspire to be one!)
I am very proud to announce that there is a new knitter in my household! This week Maddie learned to knit! She's been asking to learn for quite a while and has even had her own knitting needles (the cute Lion Brand ones with the kitty faces on the ends) for a couple years, but I didn't want her to try too early and get frustrated. Now that she's 6, I decided that it was time.
Since I knit in a kind of strange way, I used the book Kids Learn to Knit
So far she has knit a couple rows -- one row takes pretty about as much concentration as she can muster in one sitting :) But she always seems very proud after she is finished and yesterday she came and asked me if we could knit, so I'm taking that as a good sign!
Oh yeah -- Maddie's been doing more than just knitting. I just updated her homeschooling blog too!Well. . . looks like socks are the favorite by a long shot coming in at 43% as of just a minute ago. Speaking of socks, I'm making good progress on Pete's STR socks (er, sock -- I'm still on the first one.) I'll post a picture as soon as I finish the first one.
Since I have a pile of wrappers in the drawer, I thought it was about time for a chocolate update! So without further ado. . .
Okay, I know there are a lot of Green & Black's fans out there, so this may not be popular, but I have to say that I was a bit disappointed with the Green & Black's Caramel bar. First let me tell you that it's an organic milk chocolate bar with a soft caramel center. The little pockets of caramel are nicely divided so that you don't have to eat the bar all at once, so that was convenient -- it's a pretty large bar after all. The chocolate was rather soft, sticky and sweet though -- this is where they lost me. You almost couldn't discern where the chocolate ended and the caramel began. I guess I wanted a more distinctive chocolate and a saltier caramel maybe? I shouldn't have been surprised since the first ingredient listed is organic cane sugar and the second is organic whole milk powder, but I love a good caramel bar and I thought G & B would come through.
So far I've loved the Green & Blacks White Chocolate bar, liked the Green & Black's Maya Gold bar, disliked the Hazlenut & Currant bar so much that I threw half of it in the trash (I bought it at Target and discovered it was past it's sell by date, which could be the reason for it's "off" flavor), and found the Caramel bar dissatisfying. Hmmmm. . . I'm holding out for the Butterscoth bar, which I hear is *awesome* -- but I have yet to locate one. Any ideas where they are sold in the States?
The Violet Crumble is an Australian candy bar made by Nestlé that is unlike any mass market bar in the US that I can think of. The slogan on the wrapper says "It's the way it shatters that matters" and it did shatter! Actually the first thought that came to mind as I took my first bite was -- smores. It had that toasted marshmallow taste, combined with the chocolate -- then there was the crispness of the bar. I have to say that I'm usually not a fan of mass market candy bars, but I loved this one!
I've also tried the Cafe-Tasse Blanc -- White Chocolate Bar and it wasn't nearly as good as the Green & Blacks. I don't have much else to say, so I'll leave it at that. More reviews coming soon!
It's time to lay it all out. Well not all. . . I know I have more wip's than I'm showing here, but these are the ones I'll probably finish. (Well mostly. . .)
Keepsake Shawl knit in many colors of Koigu. I started this in 2004, I believe and I came up with a great system for knitting it so that I could just pick it up and remember exactly which yarn to use and which row I was on. So why does is sit? Who knows. I really want to finish this one up, so I think I will make it my #1 knitting priority.
Ingeborg, oh Ingeborg. I started you back when the knit-along began. Was that 2004 also? And every winter I pick you up and get re-invigorated . . . for about 15-20 rows. Maybe this will be they year that you get finished!
Trekking socks started for the "Trek along with Me" knit-along. I never did take a picture of me trekking along. Is it still going on? I'm *awful* with knit-alongs (see Ingeborg above) and should never, ever join them. These socks will get finished though. I love Trekking yarn! It just takes me several months to finish a pair.
New felted bag design I'm playing around with. It's a smallish bag and I'll finish it up in the next week or two.
What is this thing???? Why am I making it? Okay, this is the Amineko and I decided to make it with Encore from the stash. I should have gotten a different yarn. I didn't really want a red cat and I don't really care for this yarn, so I never work on this project and the featureless head is all that has been made. Time to rip this one out and start over with a new yarn, I think. This was my only crochet project in the works and it's a failure. Ugh!
Oh! My quilt! I love these fabrics and want to get back to work on this soon. The last month has been so busy and I really need time when I want to quilt, so this has been neglected. I know that cooler, quieter weekends are on the way though, so it will progress!
Mountain Colors woven scarf. I love how the weaver's wool from Mt. Colors is sort of striping, sort of not in this scarf. A free hour or two and some good podcasts to listen to and this will be finished!
I'm still making good progress on that lovely pink fiber from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. The third bobbin is well on it's way to getting filled up and then it's on to plying. I have no doubt that this will be finished up very soon.
Paradigm Lost cross-stitch sampler. I often want to work on this but there are several impediments to my progress -- First, I don't have good lighting pretty much anywhere in the house and I really need it to work with this dark thread on linen. Second, it's in a small basket, so I have to keep it stored off it's stretcher bars. So I can't just pick it up and stitch a bit -- it requires set up time. Third, my eyes get tired at night and that's usually when I find time to craft. Hmmm. . .
Elsa Williams Jacobean Crewel Embroidery. Not sure why this has stalled, other than the fact that I have so much going on.
I realized that I haven't listed the Kumihimo braid I'm working on either. And I'm sure there are other things. Maybe posting photos of my wip's on a regular basis will get me excited about them again. It seems to have worked. I'm already looking forward to getting in some rows on the Keepsake Shawl!
In other news, guess what tomorrow is. It's not my birthday, or wedding anniversary, but it is *an* anniversary for me. . .
What a busy weekend! On Friday, Maddie & I headed out early and went to the Joliet Farmer's Market to pick up some fresh fruit. I got some lovely peaches and blueberries -- fresh from Michigan. Then we hit Starbucks and any yard sale we could find on the way back home. All we found was an old copy of Richard Scarry's Going Places for only 25 cents which Maddie thought was a very funny book! Friday night I pulled out my King Arthur Baking Book and made a peach cobbler, which was really yummy! So far that book hasn't let me down.
Saturday morning found Theresa, Bonne Marie & I at Stitches Midwest. I think one of my favorite booths was Habu, where I picked up this orange, slubby 100% silk. They only had 4 cute little balls/bails -- whatever you want to call them. I love them because they are neat little center pull balls and they have a nice piece of tissue in the middle that you pull to get the starting thread out. How clever!
But I digress. . . So they had 4 balls in this perfect orange color and I decided that I'd just make a shrug. So far I swatched and the texture is quite nice due to the slubs. Hmmm. . .
My other favorite booth was the ribbon & button booth -- Nifty Thrifty Dry Goods in RI -- where I got this super-cute linen ribbon. It's a japanese import and it cost way too much, but I had to have a yard of it. She also had lots of vintage buttons that were not matching but went well together and were carded together. Not sure I'm explaining this well at all, but they were so wonderful! I could have just spent the day in this booth.
And since I was thinking of buttons, I took a picture of the buttons I got from Goodwill a few weeks ago for 99 cents. They were all taped up in a bag and you couldn't see what was inside, but I figured I couldn't go wrong for that price!
Sunday was spent at the river for my sister's birthday. The water was wild! We took my mom's boat up the river to a restaurant and just had a nice afternoon, but everyone was exhausted from their various weekend activities so we weren't a very lively bunch.
This week is for organizing. My office is a mess and it's time to take control!
I finished up the Brooks Farm scarf that I started while at MS&W. It's a shame that I won't have any need for it until October or thereabouts. Here's a closeup so that you can see the lovely colors in this yarn:
I finished something else in the last couple weeks, but I'm saving that for when I have time for a decent post. (hint -- remember this?)
I finished editing the first episode of Booga Talk too, but it's not up yet. Pete still has to have a listen first. I warn you, we are liberals and it shows.
Ya know when they have the good chocolate at the check out at Target and you buy a bar even though you had resisted it even when you were in the candy aisle? Well . . . I didn't really plan to buy any yarn at the Brooks Farm booth, but this followed me home. They had these scarves hanging all around the booth and I couldn't resist. I got up to the register and asked if they had the pattern and she whipped out this little half sheet of paper -- I was hooked.
The yarn is called "Four Play" (and the scarf pattern is aptly called the "Four Play Scarf") and it's a 50/50 blend of fine wool and silk. Really lovely stuff, I tell ya! The colors are so pretty and my photos do it no justice at all because we are on day number two of cold, rainy, dark, dreary weather. (No, I'm not bitter about this at all -- brrrrrrrr. . . .)
Oh yeah, I had to start knitting this scarf immediately and believe it or not, it requires two -- I said two! -- different needle sizes. So I walked on over to see Toni (of The Fold) and bought the needles. Yep, the needles ended up being about as expensive as the yarn. But I was caught up in the moment! I couldn't help myself! (Why did I talk myself out of throwing the Denise Needle set into the suitcase?)
*** Update *** I just went and checked and the pattern for this scarf is actually available as a pdf via the Brooks Farm website.
Where have I been? Or did this just happen in the last day or two? Stephanie's new book
. . . under the weather. You know, that feeling you get just before a cold? I'm planning on drinking lots of hot tea this afternoon. After all Saturday is my birthday and I really don't want to be sick on the day I turn 36!
So needless to say I'm kind of floundering through the day. I wanted to show you that I have been knitting though:
I've been working on a new bag design! I just love knitting felted bags. There's something about Cascade 220 and size 10 1/2 circs. It's my mac & cheese knitting. It's so comforting to me. I don't know what it is. So that's what I've been working on during the Olympics. It's perfect because I don't have to look at what I'm doing.
I also wanted to tell you about the yarn shop that Theresa and I got a chance to visit last weekend. It's called Peggy's Strands of Heaven and it's in downtown Plainfield, IL. The selection of yarn was really nice and shop was cute. It's an old building and she kept a lot of the original fixtures. There were places to sit and knit too. I didn't buy much as I'm trying to work down the stash, but I couldn't resist this summery Trekking yarn:
That's Trekking XXL in colorway 107. My Trekking 100 socks are my favorites to wear, so I think this is probably a good investment.
Now I'm off to finish up some work so I can get some rest this afternoon. I will not be sick on my birthday -- I refuse. (Me stomping my foot on the ground and crossing my arms. Hmph!)
In an effort to find some balance, I have been trying to relax a little more and this involved a bit of weekend crafting. First of all, I spun up a bit of some lovely alpaca that I had sitting around for ages. After the CVM fiasco, this stuff was like buttah'! I'm going for a lace weight and hoping to make a shawl with the resulting yarn. It's a gorgeous soft cocoa brown, which may be difficult to discern from my crummy picture.
And I've even been knitting! Shocking, isn't it? This is two pictures of the same thing. On the left with flash on the office floor and on the right with no flash on the radiator below the sunny window. The color is probably somewhere between the two but leans toward the darker picture.
What is this strange balled up mass of yarn? Why it's Morehouse Merino laceweight yarn in some unknown colorway which I purchased at MS&W last year. Now I bought this because of the color, but I didn't like the pattern that came with it. So I thought and thought and cast on and tinked and thought and thought some more. Then I decided I would make Melody.
Now I didn't have the pattern for Melody and I knew I didn't have enough yarn, but I just cast on a bunch of stitches and started knitting and I haven't looked back. This is just how I do things. Sometimes it works (& we don't talk about the other times -- ha ha.)
Speaking of Morehouse Merino, did you know that they have a book coming out? I'm eagerly awaiting it's release! And I'm eagerly awaiting another visit to their booth at this year's MS&W. (Why, yes! I plan on being there again this year. How about you?) Yes, right, back to the book. . .
Looks like it's going to have 40 designs. And I have to tell you that from what I've seen of their patterns, they are just nice simple things that you want and need to knit. Very much looking forward to this one!
And speaking of books. . .
Many have been arriving at the house (some as the unlikely result of a power outage -- may that poor squirrel rest in peace). I need to find time this week to tell you more about them!
Finished! (I would have posted them sooner, but TypePad has been messed up for the last couple of days.) These were so quick and easy! They were made using the seed stitch stripe variation of the mitten pattern in Holiday Knits
Maddie has tried them on and declared that they are warm & comfy -- so I think they are a winner!
