Monday, October 29, 2007

M is for...

Mail!

My second package from my SP11 pal came in the mail today. There were things for the girls

The girls have already poured over the royalty pictures, and we played the game tonight (Curly came in first, then Lily, then husband, then me)


somethings for me...

The wire knitting book looks pretty cool, and the bright wire is awesome! She also included a package of cool sheepy tissues which I don't see in the picture.

somethings for hubby

He was so excited to have a little yarny goody. Amusingly enough, he is allergic to mint, so although he appreciates the thought, he handed them over to me (the yarn he kept though... hmmm...).


and some things for all of us:


The book contains both recipes and knitting patterns, and some pictures of the knitted gingerbread house made in England, on display summer of 2007. It was knitted by over 00 knitters across the world to raise funds for a couple of charities in England.


Very cool looking pictures in the book.
Thank you to my SP11 Pal - The package was great - it really brightened up the day (and the gingerbread men are for tomorrow's snack)!


M is also for Memories.

My report on Rhinebeck is old news now. If you want to know what we did, go here for my husband's take on the day. I really had a great day and weekend (I had a 5 hour nap on that Sunday). The trees were gorgeous on the drive to and from the fair grounds (2.5 hour drive each way). The girls had a blast doing the fun kid things, and there were tons of things for all of us to look at.

One of our favorites of the day was the act put on by Matt Jergens. During one of his shows he juggled a chain saw. He also juggled fire torches while on a 6 ft tall unicycle.


During a different show he balanced a basket of eggs on a long pole, balancing the end of the pole on his chin. I managed to catch this photo right before he umm... dropped the eggs.


We went through each of the vender areas (well, most of them) and then I went back for two things. One of the things I went back for was this gray superwash.

I bought them from Abi's Web and they are SOOO soft. I'm not quite sure what they will turn in to, but I got a couple so I would have options.


I also went back to Stony Mountain Fibers to pick up these.



I thought I had picked random colors that struck me that would maybe look well together (if I wanted to do some colorwork) I noticed while photographing them, that I picked up a rainbow.


(Red, Merino70/Tencel30; Hollyberry, Merino; Daffodil, Merino; Sage, Merino; Blue, Colonial Wool; Northern Lights, Colonial Wool; Dk Green, Colonial Wool)

My husband also picked up a set of stitch markers from them, and a Nostepinne.

My girls each chose something - Lily chose a little doll that looks like she's knitting and has a baby wrapped up on her back, and Curly chose three little finger puppets - a camel, a zebra, and a monkey.


M is also for Maternity, which is the type of clothes I am wearing now. Our third child, gender unknown, will be here sometime at the end of March. This is probably one of the reasons I knit less during the late summer/early fall this year. I've been too busy sleeping and eating and feeling awful.


...now back to knitting, hopefully something finished to show soon!

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

L is for...

a LONG TIME!

oh my goodness, so much time has gone by since I last blogged. I started a pair of socks for my husband out of yarn I spun. I have one heel done, and the second sock is starting the gusset increases. I'm working toe-up following one of cat bordhi's master patterns in her book.

I also completed a baby blanket and bear (sweater in planning) for my neighbor, who's little girl is now a week old.

...and since I won the contest, my husband drove the family to Rhinebeck! We spent at least 6 hours there on saturday, and while everyone was worn out and ready to go, no one was running for the car. Full report (along with pictures of purchases) soon. Lily has been sniffly for a couple days and I think it's hitting me now.

Oh, and I also got samples spun of wool, alpaca, and wool/alpaca. I knit up three small squares and now just need to felt them to see if it's the right guage, and if my sweet husband likes them for his slippers - and then i'm adding that project into my wips pile.

Yeah, pictures of all of this soon... I just didn't want to delay this post any more in case the sniffles hit me. I promise - not another week break between posts!

Friday, October 12, 2007

K is for...

Kompleted! :)




Yeah, I know it's a stretch, but I finished the yarn pirate socks! I've loved the yarn, loved it so much I cast on the day it arrived from my SP10, Chelle. It made an early appearance when the Yarn Harlot was in Northampton. It then got set aside through the summer - I wasn't knitting much, and when I was, it wasn't on these! I finished them Wednesday night and look forward to wearing them! ...plus, I believe I am winning the second part of the contest with my husband.


Of course, to win the contest I also had to plan our quilt. (the contest was clarified in the comments to the above entry).



There's the sketch of the quilt - and I measured our old one. It was 105 by 92.5 inches (the back of it is a king size flat sheet). Since we purchased 7 different materials (one middle square, three lights, three darks). The finished width for the strips should be just under 1.5" - so now we just need to figure out seam allowance and wash the fabrics before we can cut and start to sew.


K is also for Keen. As in, I'm keen to find out what I win. (when we were discussing what the winner would get, I said if I win I'd get some great yarn and fiber, he said I'd get those either way - I suggested socks, but he said I also get that either way...) So, what happens? I win the contest and start a pair of socks for him.




This is yarn that I finished back in June. I originally purchased the fiber from Leah at Yarn or a Tale. I did a pretty standard toe, but for the rest of the sock I am looking through Cat Bordhi's new book (New Pathways for Sock Knitters), which my husband finally let me touch last night.

...and finally, K is for Kids:



A couple weeks ago, my daughter Lily made a knotted necklace as part of her homeschool enrichment group. They were taught (by me) some simple knots and then they each made their own unique necklaces. She finished it very quickly and was quite impressed with herself. She told me I could put the picture on my blog, or on Ravelry (sheesh, she refered it by name, talk about crafts much?). She also wants to make more soon.


On another note, I am still looking for one specific spinning tool. It's a card that has different thicknesses of black lines, each of them labeled with the correct wpi number, so you could hold up a strand of yarn and get an idea by comparing the yarn with the lines... I know that probably doesn't make much sense, but I think it'd be useful and I have seen them, somewhere. Anyone know where (online) I can get one?

Monday, October 08, 2007

J is for...

Joy!


I actually turned the heel today (I keep typing hell and then having to fix it). I just have about 30-40 more rows and I'll be done with the second short sock and win the second part of the competition with my husband.


J is also for random Junk!

I talked to Hannah (who won the contest back when I was at the letter C), and started up a couple washclothes. I pulled out some random cotton and made up a pattern. I really like how it worked out.



The diagonal rib mixing with the way the colors moved - very cool.




I also grabbed a skein of Blue Sky Cotton and made a couple of others...





These will be mailed off... soon?

Hopefully it won't be another week before I post again!

Monday, October 01, 2007

I is for...

I won!



That's a finished project from knitting lingerie style. It's made with Valley Yarns Pelham, very pink, which is a soft bumpy cotton. It's a very comfy outfit and I'm so glad it's done.

I finished that Thursday. Unfortunately my husband spent the weekend recovering from a cold, so I felt a little bad winning the first part of the competition. ...but not bad enough to stop trying to win the second part.

Saturday we both bound off a short sock, his (almost done) can be found here, here's mine.



I knew I would have a couple hours of sitting Saturday night, so I cast on the second sock right away and got through the increases in the toes as quickly as I could, so Saturday night, while I was listening, I got to knit.




I is also for I-cord!

Today I'm trying to finish up the last I-cord rug for JoySchool. Last week I taught one day and used the rugs (borrowing a couple from my girls) and it helped me. I'm not sure how well they will work at the other house it is held at, but I enjoyed using them, and I think the kids did too.