Knittinggarden

More Details about the Spinning

knittinggarden@gmail.com (Knittinggarden) — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 20:17:00 +0000

I'd like to keep a record of how my spinning progresses, so I'm going to put in a little more info about the knitting I've done with my handspun. I documented the first project, the One Row Handspun Scarf, and now I'll show photos of fiber to finished product for the other two items I've made.

The second finished object I accomplished was the socks. These were made from the Interlacements wool roving I got in the gift box of practice fiber from Goatlady. I spun half of it into thick/thin yarn (that's so soft!) but haven't used it for anything but a swatch yet. I think it might turn into some fingerless mitts.

Anyway, I spun the balance of it to continue practicing, and managed to achieve a sportweight two-ply yarn. As I mentioned yesterday, the colors were not maintained in any kind of order; I just grabbed handfuls of fiber and thinned them down so I could spin easier. The resulting yarn was quite mixed up, but very colorful!

I knit a basic, toe-up sock so I could more easily use up all the yarn, but I had plenty. There's more than enough left to make a square or two for my sock yarn blankie! Here are the socks again:

The project I just finished was spun some time ago. I got a braid of Targhee roving soon after I took my first spindle class in October of 2008. This sat until after I got my Ashford wheel and worked up my courage to try to spin nice roving. (By the way, I recommend using the "nice" roving. It's more fun and you'll pretty much always get something you can use.) So after my successful initial effort with the Interlacements wool, I got going on the Targhee. It still came out quite thick and thin and pretty bulky, but it wasn't bad. Here's how it looked during the spinning:

Here's the finished yarn:

And here's the finished product (again). You'll notice the difference in striping between the two as again, it was just grab a hunk, divide, and spin.

My task in spinning this year will be to try to work with the colors so I can get them where I want them; i.e., progression, striping, etc. I think I'll take a Spinning for Socks class at my local LYS which promises to help with that.

Happy New Year and Return to Knitting!

knittinggarden@gmail.com (Knittinggarden) — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 00:47:00 +0000

I can't believe that the last time this blog had any significant knitting content, the calendar read August! Let's see, the reason I started a blog in the first place was to document my knitting. We seem to have strayed pretty far from documenting anything, let alone knitting, in the last year. I guess we'll just have to remedy that, starting right now. I will blame Ravelry for my lack of blogging, since I do spend a bit of time there each day, and my projects are quite a bit more up to date there than they are here. I'm just going to list the items briefly here; you can check out the information on my Ravelry projects page (if you're on Ravelry) if you want to know more.

Sweaters first: I made DH a vest per his request and had yarn left, so I decided that a matching sweater for Buddy was in order. Aren't they cute?

The next sweater I made was for niece Chelsye's expected baby girl. We won't know how well it fits a real baby until March, but Teddy seemed to like it.

Socks next:

I finally finished the Little Square Socks out of Casbah, but I don't really like them. The yarn is great, but I'll have to try another pattern with the next skein.

Then I made DH some more bed socks, per his request. These are Cascade 220 superwash so are extra warm. They were very quick to make and were started and finished on our cruise.

I made some plain ribbed socks for Mom out of some sport weight Zen String yarn and they came out very nicely.

I made the Sock Knitter's Anonymous September Mystery Socks and they were fun. They were designed by Nancy Bush, and I used a yummy merino/silk blend yarn. They were supposed to be yellow!

These are the socks I love the most. They're just a plain stockinette toe-up pattern, but are made from my own handspun yarn. I spun the rest of the braid of colorful wool that I received as practice fiber, and this yarn came out to be about sportweight, so I decided to make socks. I just grabbed random handfuls of fiber, so the colors aren't in the same order, but I really love them. They're so cozy and fun.

On to scarves: This is a Scrunchable scarf made from Knit Picks Merino style that I made for my friend, Anne. I need one of these, I think. They feel great.

Another Scrunchable Scarf made out of Knit Picks Merino Style that I sent to the Red Scarf Project. I managed to send three scarves this year, two new and one that I had made a couple of years ago but never used.

The second new Red Scarf. This was made from Knit Picks Swish DK. Same pattern.

This is the Noro Striped Scarf that I worked on for most of the year, off and on. I ended up loving it so much that I kept it for myself.

This is the only shawl I've finished lately. I got this done right before our cruise, so I could take it with us. It's Sivia Harding's Diamond Fantasy shawl made out of Malabrigo sock. It's artistically posed on our balcony on the ship.

A couple more gifts: A Classic Watch Cap with cable section for my brother-in-law. I like this hat a lot. It's made with Knit Picks Wool of the Andes.

These are hand warmers I made for my sister. I used some handspun (I think this was the second fiber I spun on my wheel.) It's Targhee and quite thick and thin, but they're warm and toasty.

I think that gets me caught up in time to start a new year of knitting. So many things in progress, so many in my brain waiting to be cast on.....never a dull moment!

I wish health and happiness in the new year to you all and hope that you never run out of inspiration for whatever it is you like to do.

A Holiday Adventure

knittinggarden@gmail.com (Knittinggarden) — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 00:23:00 +0000

Knitting and gardening have temporarily been interrupted to bring you this holiday adventure tale, courtesy of DH and the intrepid Buddy. Hope you enjoy it!

ICE GATOR!

Ice Gator relaxing on the bench

Ice Gator hears some noise and heads to the frozen pool to hide

Ice Gator does his Apollo Ohno interpretation - Go for the Gold, Ice Gator!

While relaxing after skating, he hears the approach of an Alaskan beauty...hmmm

She doesn't notice Ice Gator

Careful now, just a little closer....

Ice Gator goes Ninja. Careful, Alaskan beauty! Look out!

Ice Gator makes his move! Gotcha!

I'll stash her for lunch later.

Back to my hideout across the frozen pool.

Slow going, but I'll make it. Wait! Is that Buddy the Wonder Dog?

It IS Buddy the Wonder Dog. Can I keep the frozen girl away from him?

Oh, no! Buddy sees the Alaskan beauty's predicament and readies himself for battle.

The Alaskan beauty is saved by Buddy the Wonder Dog. CHEERS!

It's all in a day's work for our hero, Buddy

A Matched Set

knittinggarden@gmail.com (Knittinggarden) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:36:00 +0000

There just might be a few collections around my house. Candles, martini glasses, menorahs, baskets, yarn, and fiber all seem to have plenty of company around here. One of the other cupboards that is crowded is the mug shelf in the kitchen. For years, we've collected coffee mugs from places we've been, and I enjoy the conversation that ensues when I use a selection of these for coffee at a dinner party.

Ever since the Princess started college last fall, my desire was to get the last college mug so I could complete the set of the kids' schools. For Chanukah, she brought me my coveted mug.

Behold the story of our kids' higher education, as told through the mug collection.

I love it.

Challah for the Choliday

knittinggarden@gmail.com (Knittinggarden) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 23:32:00 +0000

Lucky us! The Princess learned how to make homemade Challah a couple of weeks ago and treated us to a loaf or four when she came home.

She and friend Ben were whirlwinds in the kitchen to a spectacular result. We had the first loaf for dinner the first night of Chanukah, Ben took a loaf home to his family, and two more are in the freezer for our family last night of Chanukah dinner tomorrow.

Here's a little photo journal of the Challah experience.

Happy Holidays to you!

Vacay(s)!

knittinggarden@gmail.com (Knittinggarden) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:53:00 +0000

Since my whole post just disappeared, I'll try again! My absence from the blog hasn't totally been out of laziness, but vacations! In mid-October, DH and I flew to Florida, where we embarked on a week-long Caribbean cruise. We left from Fort Lauderdale, stopped at Half Moon Cay, Grand Turk, Grand Cayman, and Costa Maya. Without writing a whole travelogue, I'll hit the highlights with some photos. Hopefully they will stay put this time!

The ship was big:

Are we having fun yet?

Knitting was done

On Grand Cayman, we went snorkeling from a 78 foot catamaran. It was fun; the water was crystal clear and there were lots of colorful fish to see.On the way back, we stopped at a beach where rum punch was served by crew members in inner tubes! It doesn't get much more convenient than that!

We had a couple of formal nights. No photo of the Malabrigo shawl being worn, but here's a shot of it on our balcony. The cream colored Mystery Shawl was worn a couple of times. It's so cozy!

This chef enjoys his food...and it was good!

We had an "exciting" bus ride on Grand Cayman but ended up at a lovely beach restaurant for lunch, then visited a turtle farm. It was great.

Costa Maya was so interesting - we went on a visit to the ruins at Kohunlich, which was a 2+ hour bus ride (Mexican bus) from the harbor. It was worth it to see these thousand-year old ruins, though. A very educational (and hot) day.

When we arrived back in Florida, we left on a short driving trip through part of the south that we'd never visited before. Next post will cover that - I'm through fighting with blogger for today!

In My Room.....

knittinggarden@gmail.com (Knittinggarden) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 17:02:00 +0000

Once upon a time, there was a college boy who lived with us. He went away to school, he traveled to Australia for a semester, then he returned to us for the summer. The summer dragged on and on and his room got messier and messier.

He finally found an apartment to move into, and moved from our house on September first. Shortly thereafter, I claimed the room as my own. It didn't start out much better than when he lived here.

But the stuff I was moving in was much more exciting (at least to me) than the stuff that he'd moved out. After cleaning, carrying, storing, shopping, and arranging, my new yarn and fiber room was complete.

I have a lot of my yarn displayed in these shoe organizers. I know it's not the best way to keep the yarn clean and dust-free, but I love being able to look at it and touch it whenever I want to.

Buddy likes to visit my room. He has a blanket to sleep on in here now.

I love my room. I wish I could spend all of my time there. In a perfect world.....

We Interrupt our Regularly Scheduled Knitting Content

knittinggarden@gmail.com (Knittinggarden) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 22:19:00 +0000

for a quick commercial message.

We own a condo in Palm Desert, CA, which is available for vacation rentals. It was previously listed on a vacation rental website, but we decided to take it off of there this year. So I have started another blog which details all of the amenities of our condo and gives contact information.

We have lots of availability for rental this winter, so please check it out and contact me if you are interested in a trip to the sunshine sometime during the upcoming cold season. It's a great place to visit.

There's a link in the sidebar, or use this one: Palm Desert retreat.

Thanks for reading!

What I Learned at the Fair

knittinggarden@gmail.com (Knittinggarden) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:39:00 +0000

Ever since we've lived in this house, we've gone to the Evergreen State Fair in Monroe, Washington most summers. When the kids were little, they'd go on the rides, we'd watch the pig races, look at animals, and of course eat lots of scones. As my interests evolved over the years, I've enjoyed looking at the displays of fresh produce, flavored vinegars, and flowers. I always love looking at the handmade quilts that are on display and the knitted items caught my eye the last couple of years.

In reading blogs, I noticed that some people actually entered their knitting into the fair! Of course, people have to enter or there wouldn't be anything there to look at, but I always thought you had to be some kind of expert to enter. I was reading Yarn Pirate last year and she entered some handspun yarn and items knitted from her handspun into our own Evergreen State Fair (she lives an hour or so north of me.) Last year I was interested in seeing her work, so I made it a point to find it and see how she did. She had ribbons on her items and that got me thinking that maybe it wasn't so far-fetched for me to actually enter something of mine.

So I looked at the entry categories and dug around in my closet and came up with two items that I thought looked impressive enough. One was my Kauni cardigan and the other was my Pillars of Fire socks. (Ravelry links) The socks were ones that I didn't think I'd messed up in any way, they're made in beautiful Wollmeise yarn, and I hadn't worn them much so they still looked new. The cardigan always gets a lot of attention, so I thought it would be a good entry.

I filled out the forms and turned them in. When the fair opened, we went out to see how I'd done. The knitted items were in one room and were mostly in glass cases. The handspun items were in another room, and were displayed on shelves, hangers, and dress forms. The handspun area was what I'd remembered from last year, not the encased-in-glass knitting display. Here's a photo of the area last year.

Anyway, we looked in the cases and found my stuff. The cardigan had a white ribbon on it and the socks had a blue! I hadn't won one of those great big rosettes that say "best of category" or "best of show", but I was happy. Ribbons from the fair! Woo-hoo!

Buddy was a little too close when I went to take a better photo of my socks. See his feet?

When I went back to pick up my items, I understood more about what goes on. Each item is judged and an evaluation form is filled out by the judge. I thought they just looked at the item, decided whether it looked cool, and awarded ribbons. Wrong. They really rate them on lots of categories; finishing being a very important one. I found that I had received 97/100 points on my socks, being graded down slightly on degree of difficulty, presentation, and because they noticed the end that I'd neglected to weave in. Oops.

It seems like the ribbons are awarded based on points; so there can be multiple blue or red ribbons in a category. The big winner is the person who gets the rosette, I guess. You can see that lots of the socks in this case have ribbons on them.

My sweater was a different story. I received 72/100 due to "technical errors". This meant that they really looked at the outside and the inside of this sweater, which was the first colorwork I'd done, and the first sweater in the round with steeks that I'd done. I'm not that good at finishing, and this judge totally knew that! So that's what I really learned - how the judging works. It's not enough to enter something that looks nice; it has to be technically perfect as well. (An aside - the judge spelled steek as steak, so too bad I can't get points for spelling.) This was so helpful for next year, since now I know the judging criteria and I can choose a project to enter that is more carefully finished. Probably not another sweater, but you never know!

I'd really like to work on my spinning until it's good enough to enter something into the handspun category. In a forum post on Ravelry, the Yarn Pirate declared that she wouldn't enter the plain knitting category because it was too hard. So I guess my stumbling in and entering and winning a blue ribbon was beginner's luck. It's sure whetted my appetite for next year. I want one of those big fancy ribbons!

Since we can't finish the post about the fair without showing some of the other essential items, here they are. Goats, scones, and Elvis. I hope you had a chance to go to the fair this year and that I've encouraged you to enter something. It's fun!

The Princess Goes To College

knittinggarden@gmail.com (Knittinggarden) — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 02:51:00 +0000

Yes, I'm way behind on posting again, but I'm trying to keep things in chronological order, so I must document the leaving of the Princess before moving on to other things. Way back in August, I went to the Sock Summit, I returned from the Sock Summit on Saturday, and we had a large graduation/going away party for the Princess on Sunday. Note: I wouldn't recommend organizing a big party when you're going to be out of town the days immediately before it is scheduled to occur. It is possible, but it isn't enjoyable.

That being said, we had a wonderful time. The Princess has begun her college career at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, so we decided on a casino theme. We set up some card games and a little roulette wheel in the basement, but everyone stayed outside, since it was a nice day.

Elvis came.

We had balloons. Here's Ben filling them up with helium.

We decorated and set up. A little kiss for Ma from a helper.

We had food. The enchilada bar is what's enticing all the people into the line.

We had karaoke:

Collegeboy makes up in enthusiasm what he lacks in tune-carrying ability.

Grandpa delighted the crowd by reprising his version of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" in a non-existent foreign language, which he used to sing to entertain the kids on road trips.

It takes a real man to sing "I Feel Like a Woman".

We found out that Dad really can sing.

All in all, we had a lot of fun, the Princess made everyone cry with her slide show (at least she made me cry) and then all that was left was to actually take her to college.

That was a long day! We got up early, flew from Seattle to Las Vegas, checked her into her dorm, went shopping for all the stuff that we couldn't bring with us, then went back to the dorm and got everything put away. She set up a shrine to the boyfriend on her desk,

I took a quick photo of her with a couple of new friends,

then I left and went back to the airport to come home.

She seems to be getting out of her room a little bit.

It's quiet around the house now - the son who had been living with us this summer finally moved out, so I'm in the process of making plans to turn his room into my spinning/yarn/fiber room. I can't wait to see how it's going to turn out.

We Came, We Knitted, We Conquered

knittinggarden@gmail.com (Knittinggarden) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 00:50:00 +0000

Sock Summit 09 is over and what can I say?

I thanked my lucky stars every day I was there that I didn't give up when the server crashed on registration day and I got to go. Apart from the inauspicious beginning, it seemed (at least to an outside-observing-attendee) spectacularly well organized. From opening the registration desks on Wednesday to having one of the largest trade-show marketplaces that I've ever seen, to handing out the world-record-attempt tickets early in the morning, to having volunteers staffing every classroom, I saw very few long lines, no teachers lacking supplies or technology or chairs, and just no unpleasantness in general. It was great.

I drove down from Seattle on Wednesday with my friend and when we walked over to the Convention Center from our hotel, this is what we saw.

And then as we were taking photos, a couple of knitters who were leaving the building asked if they could take our picture together in front of the signs. What a way to feel welcome right off the bat!

I didn't have my camera with me always, but have a few more shots. Here's my ticket to the world record event .

The link takes you to a local Oregon news clip reporting on our attempt (which I think was successful) to break the world record for the most knitters knitting together for 15 minutes (with straight needles.) There were cameras there, there were witnesses, and there was an official from the Guinness Book. The hope was to fill the ballroom with 1600 knitters, but I think we only got 935. Still should be enough. It was really fun. If you watch the video to the end, and you know what I look like, you just might see me.

That room was pretty full. Here are a couple more shots. Tina and Stephanie were happy (and slightly blurry due to camera operator error.)

I thought I'd document my knitting at this momentous event. I decided to knit a swatch out of my first wheel-spun handspun. Here's how big it was when we started,

and here's how big it was when we finished.

I didn't take any pictures of the marketplace, but it was impressive. I couldn't find my way around without the map and even with that I managed to get lost plenty of times. The goodies I got:

Fiber! Superwash merino top blended with some sari silk and angelina. I think it will make an elegant stole if I can get my wheel spinning refined enough to make it thin enough. This is the black shiny fiber on the left and came fron Enchanted Knoll Farm. The beautiful purple on top is merino/nylon pencil roving from Fiber Optic yarns. This will make great sock yarn. The other two luscious items are from Crown Mountain Farms. The beige fluff is baby camel/merino and the gray is Alpaca/silk. Both are unbelievably soft and squishy.

Yarn: I didn't get too much sock yarn since I already have cough, cough a bit... but couldn't resist the Schoppel Wolle Zauberball in browns, possibly for a pair of socks for DH. The sample showed cool uneven stripes when it's knitted up into a plain sock and it feels really soft. I also got a sweater's worth of Madelinetosh Worsted in the Norway Spruce colorway. (Not all skeins are shown.) I haven't decided which pattern I'll use for this. (These were both purchased at the Webs booth, where there's a quantity discount. It helps....also having a friend, and I mean you, Goatlady, along to talk me into buying mass quantities was instrumental.)

The only other yarn I bought was a beautiful skein of merino/silk/nylon/silver! from Kitchen Sink dyeworks. This was too pretty to pass up and will hopefully make a lovely scarf. I bought one of the last two "City of Roses" skeins from Knit/Purl, too. I had looked at this online and even started to reserve some twice, but never did. I think the colors in it are wonderful and the fact that it was a limited edition for Sock Summit makes it really special. And the Knit/Purl folks are so nice, too!

You didn't think I could leave without a new spindle or two, did you? I've heard of Avi Wasserman for awhile, and loved this little one. It's made out of olive wood from Israel with ebony and silver. I thought it was beautiful. You can see I already tried it out with some of the baby camel. Works great. I purchased this at The Fold's booth.

The other one I couldn't pass up is this Ken Ledbetter. I fell in love with the painting on the whorl and had to have it. The colors of the flowers and the delicate painting kept me from putting it down once I picked it up. This came from Carolina Homespun, and it's difficult to stop with one at their booth. Into the spindle collection it goes.

I was disappointed when I realized that I'd missed the date to buy souvenirs, which were supposedly being sold only online and picked up at the event. Luckily there were extras and I got a couple of things I wanted as remembrances.

And my sweet friend, Goatlady, brought me a ravatar pin that she'd had made for me. I love it and appreciate the thought so much!

I also bought an Ashford Niddy Noddy, but everyone knows what they look like. Now to put everything away.

Final Preparations

knittinggarden@gmail.com (Knittinggarden) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 16:03:00 +0000

It's going to be busy and wonderful. Tomorrow I leave for Portland, OR to attend Sock Summit, the place where everyone who is anyone in the knitting world (or alternatively, was lucky or persistent enough to survive the server overload and crash and get tickets) will be this week. Living in Seattle, there was no way I was staying home for this. A quick drive down the freeway and I'll be there!

I managed to get into some classes and the welcome gathering, which I think is going to be awesome. I'm meeting up with my good friend from Tennessee, Goatlady, who I haven't seen for over a year, and am really looking forward to that. I will attempt to take some photos for posting next week, but I'm sure there will be plenty to see in the knitting internet universe.

In getting prepared to go, I finished a couple of projects. You saw the baby stuff I made yesterday, but I also finished Shawl That Jazz (in time for the weather to come down out of the 80-100 degree range) and also my Asparagus Cables socks.

The shawl is made from Dream in Color Classy, purchased at The Loopy Ewe. The colorway is Nightwatch, and I used about 3-1/2 skeins on the project. I think this will make a nice, casual shawl that will be handy for cool evenings.

The socks were made from nummanumma Toasty in the colorway Pesto. I also purchased this at The Loopy Ewe. The yarn is great, though I had a little splitting trouble, mostly when I was making (or fixing) the tiny cables. I don't know the reason, but I had tons of trouble with the second sock, so I am really glad to be done with them!

I'll be back from Portland on Saturday because we're having a huge graduation/going away party on Sunday for the Princess, who leaves for college on August 18th. I hope I've got it organized enough...when I come back it will be time to finalize food and decorations for the 80 or so people we're expecting. And also to arrange with the weather gods for a day of sunshine and 75 degrees. Not asking too much, am I?

See you later. I'm off!

When you make a baby a blanket....*

knittinggarden@gmail.com (Knittinggarden) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 15:10:00 +0000

she's going to want a hat to keep her head warm.

And when she gets the hat, she's going to want matching booties.

I hope she likes them.

*With thanks to Laura Numeroff and her wonderful children's book, If You Give a Moose a Muffin.

Yarn!

knittinggarden@gmail.com (Knittinggarden) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:10:00 +0000

It really doesn't take much to entertain me, so with getting my spinning wheel I really hit the jackpot. I spun pretty steadily for the first three days, determined to see what I could make. I had some very brightly colored wool fiber left from the box of practice stuff sent by my good friend, Goatlady, so I took some of it without regard to order of color, and got going. I spun about one and three-quarters bobbins before I ran out of the fiber that I had put into my bag. (I later found a bunch more, but I had really done enough for my first attempt.) It's a little less than three ounces total.

I understand drafting pretty well from the spindle, but of course had lots of control and wheel setting issues (as would be expected from a first try). I actually find it quite fascinating to compare the different sections of my finished yarn and see which look perfect (to me) which could be better, and which are totally unspun.

Here are the two bobbins when I'd finished spinning them.

This is the plyed bobbin. I managed to get more onto it than I had thought I would be able to.

Yarn skeined up but not washed.

Finished, washed yarn. See how some of the strands look really good?

And how some have that "artsy" unspun look?

The final skein.

I know I'm simple, but I smile every time I look at my yarn.

It's Official - I Fell Over the Edge

knittinggarden@gmail.com (Knittinggarden) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 22:18:00 +0000

She's an Ashford Traditional, about 15 years old. I think I'm the third owner. She's in good shape and I'm busy learning the ins and outs of using her. Already signed up for a class at Village Yarn and Tea later in the month so I can be sure I'm on the right track.

What could be next?

The Dog Days of Summer

knittinggarden@gmail.com (Knittinggarden) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 18:26:00 +0000

Don't worry, he's not dead and no animals were harmed in the process of obtaining this photo.

I hope you enjoy a happy, safe 4th of July that includes a chance to lie on your back in the sun and be as carefree as Buddy for a few minutes.

Time Flies....

knittinggarden@gmail.com (Knittinggarden) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:00:00 +0000

and then your baby graduates from high school. As I predicted in this post, yesterday arrived quicker than I could've imagined. From the first day to the last, time sped by. Back to school night turned into the Homecoming assembly, winter holidays morphed into college visits, and the whole thing rushed headlong into moving up, moving on, and commencement.

The Princess tried on her cap and gown.

She struck a pensive pose.

She waited patiently at the back of the alphabet for her row to walk to the podium.

She posed for a few photos.

The brothers came in - one from a semester in Australia.

One from Eastern Washington. I guess the barbers are on strike there.

And then she was off to the school-sponsored all night party which, by her quick report this morning, was loads of fun.

Now we're on to the next thing.

Princess Goes to Prom

knittinggarden@gmail.com (Knittinggarden) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 05:35:00 +0000

A Quick Update

knittinggarden@gmail.com (Knittinggarden) — Sun, 31 May 2009 17:47:00 +0000

I'm continuing with my bad habit of not updating the blog very often, but that's all I'm going to say about that. I got a new computer (yay for the iMac) and am slowly learning how to work everything that's different from my old PC. I like it a lot, but definitely don't know all the ins and outs of it yet.

On the knitting front, I finished a few things since last time. My sister's late birthday present has been finished and given, so I can reveal it: A shawl I based on the Snowdrop Lace scarf pattern, but made wider and longer so it would be a stole. I used Knit Picks Bare merino/silk fingering weight yarn and I think it came out well.

I also finished my Wollmeise Die Auster socks and like them a lot. They're plain stockinette and were knit that way as an example of the colorway on the Wollmeiseaholics board on Ravelry. Not many people have this color, since it was a Spring Fling gift last year, but I wanted to knit it up and this gave me a good reason to.

I also whipped out a few Catnip Mice for Bob, Mason and Emily. Here they are:

Perhaps we can get a few action shots of them being used?

Despite other intentions, I had to cast on the new kit from the May installment of Woolgirl's Embrace the Lace club. This cashmere yarn is incredibly soft and the blue is beautiful. I made it through the first repeat the other day and now have an idea of how the pattern works. It will be very pretty.

All for now. The next couple of posts will likely feature the Princess; prom and graduation are looming.

Oh, and I remembered why I wanted to post: I recently noticed that The Red Scarf Project

is up and running again and will accept scarves from September 1 through December 15, 2009. If you get a chance to make a soft scarf for a young adult who has aged out of foster care, do it! They are much appreciated.

Living in the Present Moment

knittinggarden@gmail.com (Knittinggarden) — Mon, 11 May 2009 20:17:00 +0000

I do yoga. I actually practice quite a bit of yoga, and have for some time. What's one of the first directions you get when the class starts? "Come into the present. Leave the past and future alone and just concentrate on the present moment." Sometimes I have trouble doing that, but for the most part, it's possible.

So I can't figure out why I seem to totally be living in a different time period in the rest of my life. For example, I'm in a book club. It's existed for over five years, and we meet the last Tuesday of the month. Always have. Here's what happened at the end of April. I returned from my knitting extravaganza late Sunday night, April 26. Monday was my birthday and we went out to dinner. I know I mentioned book club a couple of times on Monday..."tomorrow is book club. Tomorrow I'll find out about etc. etc...." You get the picture. I knew it was tomorrow.

Fast forward to tomorrow, Tuesday night. I'm sitting on the sofa, knitting and watching tv with DH. Again I say something about book club being tomorrow. My alert DH says, "I thought it was Tuesday." "Yes, Tuesday, I answer." Then in my great wisdom, I figure out that we're watching the show that we watch on Tuesdays. Book club is at 7:30 on Tuesday. It's now 8:45 on Tuesday. Ooops!

The worst part was that it was a book I had suggested. I read it twice. I loved it. I was so looking forward to the discussion. I forgot to go. (The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian. Read it. It's great.)

And apparently I'm still not over the problem. Today my Collegeboy called me about summer quarter classes and a bill that needed paying. I had paid the bill and saw that the bank had scheduled the payment to go out on the 11th, guaranteed to arrive by the 18th. I told him, "no problem, it's supposed to be there today." To my credit, it only took me a few minutes to figure out that I was on the wrong week. I'm ready to go back to normal time now, please.

A knitting update: I've been working on several things, as usual. My main emphasis is a gift I'm making for my sister's birthday, so no photos now. To my credit again, I realize that her birthday was last Wednesday, so I'm just late and not under the impression that it's some other day!

I took a tiny break from that project to whip up a pair of children's socks since I read that afghans for Afghans needed some more for their current campaign. I used some of the Cascade 220 that was in my fabulous big box and they only took me a couple of days to make. I did them two at a time on Magic Loop and if I hadn't decided to get a little fancy with the colors, they would have been done sooner. They'll be in the mail by tomorrow morning.

I'm noticing a theme in my WIPs. It's apparently the season of green. I'm doing a stockinette plain pair of socks from last year's Spring Fling yarn, Die Auster. It looks more green in person.

These will go up on the Wollmeiseholics Anonymous group page (on Ravelry) illustrating all of the colorways in plain socks. I'm liking them a lot. They're on the left.

I have one of my Wendy Knits Asparagus Cable socks done, too. I like how this looks, but I needed a break from the tiny little cables.

I hope to get back to these before too long.

Next up will be a change in color. This yarn was my April KAL prize in the Spring Fling group. It's The YoYo String and Fluff superwash merino in the Spiced Up colorway. It's very soft and I'm looking forward to getting started. This color is not one I would ever choose for myself, but I think it will look great in the Sock Knitters Anonymous May mystery sock as designed by Yarnissima. I need to get a little farther into my sister's gift before I cast these on, but I'm having a hard time waiting.

It's too bad that I haven't' figured out how to get more done when I magically transport myself into the future all the time!

Singing and Flinging

knittinggarden@gmail.com (Knittinggarden) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 22:25:00 +0000

I'm back from the second annual Loopy Ewe Spring Fling and it was great. I can't say enough about how well organized it was. Sheri and her family, friends, and employees did a super job of making sure everything ran smoothly and everyone had a great time.

I took only one class this year, Advance Lace Knitting with the inimitable Anne Hanson. She was lovely to meet and full of tips and inspiration. I just may have to try one of her big projects soon.

A couple of fun things: I organized a swap of small sock yarn scraps for people making (or thinking about making) a sock yarn blankie. You can find all the details of how to make this beautiful blanket right there on Shelly Kang's blog. Several people brought bags of yarn, and a few of us sat right down on the floor to swap.

It was loads of fun. Now I have to get going on this project! I have tons of tiny balls of yarn just patiently waiting to join the party.

Of course, a highlight of the trip is always the trip to Loopy Central. This time we saw the new, expanded Loopy Central with even more yarn and accessories for our shopping pleasure. My twin and roommate, Cathy-Cate, found plenty that tickled her fancy.

Don't we look happy to be there?

Another activity that I might have tried, aided and abetted by the lovely Adrienne, was spinning on a wheel. I have written about my adventures in drop spindling, and I do enjoy that, but if you want to get yarn, a wheel is much faster. Something like this just might have to come live with me.

And last but not least, I was recruited to participate in the traditional entertainment this year. The talented Tammy didn't disappoint and this year we had a rollicking tribute to all things Loopy. Give a listen if you so desire. (I didn't know it was being videotaped, and it sure shows how I need to stop fiddling with my clothing.)

A Welcome Sight

knittinggarden@gmail.com (Knittinggarden) — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 00:49:00 +0000

A girl and her dog enjoying a bit of Seattle's elusive sunshine.

Out of the Blue

knittinggarden@gmail.com (Knittinggarden) — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 21:04:00 +0000

So the rain finally stopped for a couple of days and I decided to work in the yard. Lately, it's hard for me to drag myself away from knitting/spinning/rolling little balls of yarn to trade and go outside, but it's also hard for me to drive into my driveway and see a garden filled with dead ornamental grass that should have been cut down weeks ago. I took care of that, then moved on to start to tidy up the long garden that runs beside the driveway. This will take longer, but I contented myself today with cutting more dead grass and stalks from last summer.

Here's something I saw while I was out there. Pretty, huh?

The tulip and the rhody blossom I photographed last week are opening nicely in the slightly warmer weather we have today.

While I was out there chopping away, a man came down the driveway with a big box. This was a BIG box. Here it is in relation to Buddy. Yes, Buddy did wonder why I was trying to make him sit or stay next to a big cardboard box that didn't smell interesting to him. The neighbors probably did, too.

Anyway, I had no idea what could be in the box. I hadn't ordered anything that large - but it was indeed addressed to me. When I saw the return address, I knew what it was. I also quickly finished my yardwork and hauled that big box into the house.

Some history: About two years ago, my husband told me that some people he had met at an out-of-town conference were in town and would I be willing to fix brunch for them at our house. Now I am a true introvert and, while I do enjoy entertaining, don't normally jump at the chance to get up early (not a morning person) and fix food for strangers. DH, who never met someone who wasn't a potential friend, talked me into it.

So I fixed the meal and waited for them to arrive, deciding of course to be a gracious hostess, but not really looking forward to the event. Well, they arrived...they were nice...the wife was a knitter...no more information is necessary. We hit it off immediately and even had time to make a quick trip to my LYS before they had to leave for the airport. We were both obsessed with dishcloths at that time, and got to sit and knit for awhile together. A totally fun morning!

Since then, we hadn't really kept in touch besides a couple of emails at the beginning. Recently, DH was in contact with her husband and mentioned that she might be interested in my blog. Well, she read it and then emailed me to tell me that she had enjoyed finding it and catching up with what I had been doing. Also, she wanted to tell me that she had given up knitting in favor of quilting (imagine that!) and....here's the good part....she was planning on packing up all of her yarn and sending it to me. Now you know the reason for all of this history. The box I got today was full of yarn!

It was so much fun to open it and look at everything. There's a huge pile of wool and wool blends; some I've tried and love, like Cascade 220 and some I haven't tried, like Pastaza, Lopi, Silky Tweed, and even some Noro Silk Garden. I can see a few sweaters, hats, mittens, and scarves and also lots of charity knitting with the partial skeins.

There's also an assortment of acrylic (good also for charity knitting and baby items) and novelty yarns. A couple of patterns and a pattern book, Nicky Epstein's Fabulous Felted Bags, rounded out this wonderful gift.

Whew! Looking at all this yarn can really wear a person (or dog) out.

I can't thank you enough, Carolyn, for your kindness and trouble in packing all this up and sending it to me. It really made my day and I appreciate it so much.

This sudden yarn windfall coming right before my trip to visit The Loopy Ewe might be fortuitous. Now perhaps I won't need as much of a yarn fix? Oh wait, no sock yarn in the big box!

P.S. After blogging for almost two years, I just realized how to upload more than one photo at a time. What a day!

Winter or Spring?

knittinggarden@gmail.com (Knittinggarden) — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 21:44:00 +0000

I know a lot of the country is having it much worse than we are (special regards to my good friend, Goatlady, in Tennessee who was hit by a tornado the other day. They and their animals are okay, but their house sustained some damage, so all good thoughts and prayers are sent their way.)

Anyway, I went out for my afternoon walk with Buddy today dressed like this:

That's my winter jacket, and around my neck is my new Darkside cowl that I recently finished. I made it out of handspun (not by me) wool and it's soft and handy to have around the neck when it's cold and windy (even in April.) I've never made or worn a cowl before, but I liked the way it blocked the wind from the neck and didn't add the bulk that a scarf does. Now I see why they're so popular! It looks like this when it's lying flat.

I really liked working with this yarn. It's handspun, hand-dyed merino that I bought from an etsy vendor and it's really soft. I made the Amanda hat with it earlier, but didn't like how it looked on me, so it exists no longer. I want to make a tam-style hat with the rest of the yarn, possibly the one designed by Brooklyn Tweed in the last issue of Knit. 1 magazine.

We returned from our brisk walk and I decided to photograph some of the flowers that are starting to bloom.

Here's the first rhody starting to open:

And a camellia:

Tulips are pretty reliable:

The plum tree is looking good:

I wasn't inside five minutes when the dark, threatening sky fulfilled its promise. Rain, but rain that was partially white and made extra noise on the roof.

There's something wrong with this picture.

Spring Finally Here?

knittinggarden@gmail.com (Knittinggarden) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 01:45:00 +0000

I hate to say it out loud.....We've had a month of bad weather (snow a couple of days ago...in Seattle!) and a month of illness. Today was in the 60s, mild and just a perfect day all around.

My goal was to spend a little time in the garden. I got my roses pruned, finally, and a little weeding done. Luckily I did a good job of putting my dahlia/vegetable garden to bed for the winter, and it's not looking too shabby. I weeded around the garlic that's starting to sprout, then mulched with some of the straw from under the rabbit cage. Good organic fertilizer, that. Growing garlic is really easy and we love having all that fresh garlic to enjoy from midsummer on.

The raspberries got a little weeding and mulch, too. They're just starting to sprout some new leaves.

So are the roses.

You'll never guess what's doing the best already. Good thing our little rabbit likes dandelions.

In keeping with the spring theme, I sat outside for awhile and worked on my Asparagus Cable socks. This is an easy and fun pattern, available at The Loopy Ewe in the Wendy Knits section.

I'm using Numma Numma Toasty in the Pesto colorway. Can't wait to finish.