Knittinggarden

I thought January was going to end before I got my first FO off the needles in 2009 and it almost did. Yesterday I finished the scarf I made from my first handspun yarn and I think it came out pretty well. It's not very long, but it's very soft! I'm going to give it away and I hope the recipient likes it. Here's the progression of this scarf: I took a spinning lesson in November. Here's the first bit of yarn I made: My friend, Goatlady, sent me a box full of fiber for me to practice spinning. The merino/silk blend (top right corner) was soft and beautiful, so I got a couple of spindles and started to practice with that and some of the others. It progressed pretty well, and soon I was humming along. As I documented recently, I made about 185 yards of yarn out of this fiber, and it looked like this when it was done: I decided to make the Yarn Harlot's One Row Handspun Scarf . I used size 8 needles, and it came out like this: I'm happy. Lots of WIPs to ...

The Princess turns 18 today! I can't believe that a whole year has gone by since I commemorated your 17th birthday. At 11:35 am today, you will be 18. You are beautiful and brilliant, talented and funny. You're thinking about college, I'm thinking about holding your hand to cross the street. How fast the years have gone! This girl started early with the phone (and look at the size of it!) These days it seems that it's permanently connected to her. Birthday parties were always lots of fun. Sometimes there was snow; lots of times we interrupted the Super Bowl to celebrate. Presents were frilly dresses and dolls. What will it be this year? (Hoping that the present I ordered will actually arrive with the mail carrier today.) The party dress this year was still blue, and it didn't look much bigger than the one you had when you were three! You looked wonderful, as always. And so as I think back over the last 18 years, I am thankful to be your mother. We don...

This is the merino/silk that I was practicing my spinning on and I decided to finish it up. It's very soft! It's not the easiest yarn to work with; it's fuzzy and tends to tangle during winding, but I love the color. I came out with about 2-1/2 oz which spun up into approximately 185 yards. The WPI are around 10-12. My dear Goatlady sent me this beautiful fiber and she just had surgery, so I'm sending good thoughts her way as I entertain myself with this (now) yarn. I used my little stone whorl drop spindle that I got from Zebisis designs on Etsy. It's a beautiful mix of colors that don't show up perfectly in the photo. I can't wait to make something out of this. Tomorrow is the train trip from Seattle to Portland for the yarn crawl. Have to get up really early to get to the train by 7:00 (am!) Enjoy your weekend.

for the first time in many years, I am proud to be a citizen of the United States of America.

While I realize that our weather is pretty mild compared to much of the country, I still found that getting away from this and into this to be very nice. This is the view from the trail that we hiked on a little ways up into the mountains. From there you can see down into the lush green valley and across to the surrounding mountains. It was beautiful. Our trees looked like this not long ago The trees there look like this: Fresh grapefruit and lemons every day! Palm Desert in January was paradise this year. I did not want to come back. Fortunately, there are things to look forward to. Next Saturday will be a train trip from Seattle to Portland which will include visits to at least three yarn stores. The middle of February will bring Madrona Fiber Arts Festival in Tacoma, which will include taking a lace class from Nancy Bush, meeting my separated-at-birth twin, Cathy-Cate , and more yarn shopping. I can't believe that it's January 18th and I've yet to complete a 2009 p...

This has been an adventurous year for me, knitting-wise. I've tried new techniques - knitting with beads, mitred squares, steeks, spinning on a drop spindle, to name a few. The report is positive - I learned new things and enjoyed the experiences. Some things took longer than others to learn, lots of them aren't perfected, but I'm very pleased with the experiences I had this past year. (Note: I'm only referring to knitting and spinning here, in many other areas this year is one best forgotten. I say this while hoping that my kids' college funds will magically regenerate themselves before they're out of college!) So I will share a few photos and wish everyone a happy, safe, healthy new year. Buddy sings when the Princess plays his favorite song. I need to get a video of this soon.... The kids all got jammie pants for Hanukkah. Aren't they cute? My last FOs of 2008: Sorry for the photo quality. Darkness and hurried photo-taking make for dark and impe...

I like snow as a novelty, but if I wanted to walk around with snow up to my knees, I'd move to North Dakota. Hello, this is Seattle...... Today it's finally warming up to the mid 30s, so the heavy snow sitting in all the big fir trees is starting to melt and drop. Sometimes the limb drops with it. I'm going to stay inside the house. Here's the snow on the roof. It's tile and steep, so no one's going up to shovel it off. Collegeboy and the Princess agreed to pose. Buddy has to leap around like a rabbit. He likes it! It is pretty, I have to admit it. Time to shovel a little bit of the driveway! Buddy, did you catch that rat yet? The sun came out for awhile one day. But not for long.

Here in Seattle, we normally have very moderate weather, but not right now. In keeping with much of the country, we are living with snow, ice, and cold temperatures. In fact, I'm looking at icicles hanging from the gutter outside my window. They're quite pretty. And right now, I'm looking out at snow; falling from the sky in small, gentle flakes, blanketing the trees, shrubs, and driveway. I like it. I don't have anywhere I have to go tonight. The Princess is gnashing her teeth since she'd like to be with her friends and unfortunately for her there's to be no more driving today. This is what I've been looking at the past few days: I love the powdered sugar look of the snow on these seeds, which are still hanging on the strawberry tree. I've been working on some knitted gifts. I finished the first a few days ago and presented it to its recipient. She seemed to like it. Aran Scarf from the booklet, Knitting Scarves Yarn used: Misti Cotton Needles:...

Too many ideas, not enough time. Too many beginnings, not enough endings. You can see where I'm going with this. I've never really gotten frazzled by the idea of holiday knitting. There haven't been that many people who've requested hand-knit items and I sure don't want to go to all the trouble to have my hard work underappreciated. So, unlike the lovely and talented Yarn Harlot, I don't tend to get into a frenzy. Until now. I'm threatening to frenzy, just a bit. Here's the scorecard: I decided to make a few items for gifts. I won't be too specific, but I had planned a couple of weeks ago to make three things. They are in progress. Then the Princess "sort of" asked for a scarf in Seahawks colors, since she works at the football games and it's getting really cold. So I put other things aside and made her scarf. Then I got caught up in the Noro scarf craze, and found some Cash Island on closeout. It feels a lot softer than the ...

As I write this last post of NaBloPoMo, I am looking back on what I've written each day. I saw a question on one of the forums I read on Ravelry asking if people had written something meaningful each day, or just taken up Internet space. I think I've done some of both. My blog was begun for me to document my knitting, display photos, and commemorate family gatherings, events, and milestones. I think I've succeeded in doing that. I don't aim for insightful social commentary and I like to keep my entries light and short for the most part. I use the blog as a journal, diary, and scrapbook and a place to share with my family and friends. So in posting every day during the month of November, I've taxed my little brain a bit to come up with daily ideas and I've accomplished a couple of things. I learned how to spin (sort of), I finished a big project (my Kauni sweater) and I've documented the autumn changes in the garden and commemorated a couple of family e...

At last! I started this sweater last January, put it down for the summer, and decided to complete it for NaKniSweMo. I finished a few days ago, but had to wait for someone to help me take photos. Pattern: Kauni Rainbow Cardigan by Ruth Sorensen Yarn: Kauni Effektgarn 8/2, Rainbow Needles: US 4 and 5, circular I had quite a bit of extra yarn, so I was able to pull off sections until I got the sleeves to match pretty well. I was also able to decide on the colors for the button band and search through until I got to a blue and a purple section. Here's a button: Photos are courtesy of The Princess. America's next top model? I don't think it will be me.

Today I received a package in the mail. That's not totally unusual, but this was something I didn't buy for myself. I had arranged to swap sock yarn scraps with my friend Goatlady (her Ravelry name) and she said she'd include some fiber, since she had a lot and I'm trying to learn to spin. This is what came: A box STUFFED with goodies! Lots of Cormo wool in a beautiful natural shade for me to use to perfect my technique. That will take awhile! Then there are beautiful braids of Interlacements fiber and a lovely, soft piece of cashmere to pet. I'd be afraid to try to spin it. Maybe someday. The plastic bag is full of little sock yarn balls for my blankie . (Scroll down and you'll see the beginnings of it.) I haven't counted them, but there are a lot! And many of them look big enough to make more than one square, so I can trade them later with other people. I can't say enough how much I appreciate all this fibery goodness. I also bought myself t...