Wavy

I started knitting Wavy (pattern here, Easy to follow graph here) Wednesday evening and continued on at our Borders knitting group on Thursday. I love how this is turning out. The jog where it changes directions bothers me a little but I think with careful blocking it will look less broken.

This scarf is soft and luxurious. The yarn is 100% silk, and I'd call it a boucle though it's not terribly nubby. The yarn used to be a short sleeved sweater that I found at a thrift store for $2 or $3. I did a google search and found 100% silk boucle yarn selling for $38 for 3.5 oz. At that price, I figure I have about $130 worth of yarn here. Woo hoo! Definitely worth the effort of unraveling. I thought when I started knitting Wavy that it would be a nice Christmas gift for someone, but now I'm wondering if I'll be able to part with it. Maybe this one is for ME!

I have a long way to go. This pattern calls for 10 repeats of 44 rows. So far I am through 4 of the 10 repeats. I may end up making it a little bit shorter, and possibly adding a ruffle to the bottom edge. I haven't quite decided yet.

New project!

Here is my latest project. Tamara was knitting a beaded bracelet at our Borders knitting group on Thursday and I was intrigued. I went online and found the pattern on HGTV--Carol Duvall and then yesterday hunted around until I found some 000 knitting needles (which I never thought I would buy a needle that small, but then, I said the same thing about the 3s, then 2s then 1s when I started knitting socks) and the On The Surface metallic thread and just went with it! It's fun! I'm going to try a couple different variations. I want to try a thicker rope so will add a couple stitches to my next one. I've since finished the pink/green one and added a toggle clasp to it instead of attaching it together. I like the idea, but I don't think I executed it quite right and so I'll work on that a bit too.

UPDATE: I tried working with 4 stitches instead of 3, thinking it would give me a thicker round bracelet, but it didn't want to twist, so I went back to 3 stitches (2 beads per row). However, I had threaded my beads in sets of 3 thinking I was going to have 3 beads per row, so now my rows are alternating solid and mixed. Oh well, I won't get the nice spiral colored effect of the pink and green, but I think it will still turn out ok. This one is lime and turquoise. Pictures to follow.

Meanwhile I am trying like heck to finish up all my projects for my upcoming classes so I can submit the info to Vicky for the newsletter. I guess I should get back to that so I have a least some of it ready to give her when I go to work in the morning.

The kids are home from school again today. They've only gone one day in the last 10. Last Monday school was cancelled because of ice. They went on Tuesday, then were off the rest of the week for mid-winter break. Today they were SUPPOSED TO go back. We really got dumped on yesterday, all day long and ended up with about 8" of snow, with some sleet/freezing rain overnight. I'm so ready to send them back! ;-)

This and that

Today my Sheep Tote class starts. There has been much excitement about this class and so I have lots of students signed up. I'm hoping it's not too overwhelming! It's going to be a long day...I am working all day in the shop, with my class wedged in the middle of the day, then I have an evening class from 6-8. I'll have just enough time to fly home, grab some dinner (that hopefully Mike has prepared by the time I get home) and fly back to the store for class. Of course I could always just stay up in town and grab something from Tacos, Eggrolls and More (everytime I say that, I want to say OH MY! afterwards LOL) which is a fairly new restaurant right across our back parking lot. Funny combination, but good food at a decent price. Since I love Chinese and Mexican food, they will be seeing a lot of me. They are the only ones in town offering Chinese (since the lousy Chinese restaurant --that never got any business because they were lousy-- closed down recently) T, E & M makes a really good eggroll ($.99) and a decent bowl of wonton (good sized bowl at $1.75). On the Mexican side, I've only tried their chicken burrito but it was quite tasty. They also offer a variety of gourmet soups which are quite delish!

Yesterday I worked all day at the shop by myself. It was pretty slow except for the lunch hour crowd. I straighted yarn bins, did a bit of knitting and basically just hung out with some Celtic music on the CD player to help keep me company in the quiet of the day. It was dreary and drizzly (Rainy days and Mondays.....) but it didn't get me down. I love my job and am happy to be there as much as possible.

I got quite a nice surprise yesterday. I have had my eye on some Noro Blossom, specifically color #5. I would oooh and ahhh over it all the time, but had no clue what I wanted to make with it, so I was holding off. All of a sudden it was gone! (Or so I was told by one of the other teachers who thought she had bought the last of it) When I was straightening the bin yesterday, I found 4 more hanks way in the back. Yeah! I grabbed those babies up, because who knows if/when we'll get any more of that color it. Noro is a yarn that trickles into the store 1 or 2 colors at a time so you never know....

Now.......I need suggestions as to what to do with 4 skeins of Blossom! Any ideas? HELP!

I'm working on several projects for our upcoming class schedule...fun summertime projects that I'm sure will draw some interest. I'm working out the details, and can't wait to share them here when I know they are a success!

And last, but not least, the new little knitting group that started last week at Borders in Rochester was a BLAST! There were only 4 of us, but we had SO much fun. It wasn't uncomfortable at all...we all just started talking away immediately and never quit. We laughed and talked and knit until they turned the lights out on us. It was great fun, and I can't wait to go again! My new friend Debbie and I are planning on going to dinner beforehand this week. I'm anxious to see if more people show up this week to join in our fun. I think we all would have stayed later if we hadn't gotten kicked out of the store when they closed. We were having a grand ol' time!

on that note......

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's off to work I go....

46 days and counting!

I'm taking a little trip at Easter to visit my sister, Diane. I used to visit her every year in the spring....no kids, no hubby....just me. It was always something to look forward to after a dreary winter. The last couple of years the tradition has been broken, and I haven't gotten to spend much time with her at all lately. She lives in South Dakota and I live in Michigan. She flew in for the weekend when we had our 25th anniversary party, but the party was basically the only time I got to see her. So I decided it was time to do it again. I'm ditching my family for almost 6 days for PLAY TIME FOR ME!

Diane is a knitter, too, and we are really looking forward to sittin' and knittin' together. In fact, yesterday I talked to her and she had some fun news for me! She was talking to her knitting buddies at their Saturday S & B and they came up with the idea of meeting at one of the lady's houses one of the nights I am there, everyone bringing a dish to pass, so we'll have dinner, sit 'n knit, etc. It's going to be great!

Speaking of sittin' & knittin'....There is a new group forming that is going to meet at the Borders store once a week about 25 minutes from where I live. It's not right around the corner, but a chance to meet new knitting friends, get out of the house, etc. I hope I am able to go this week and meet everyone. It's going to be the first get together.

Maria's Bag

I knit this felted bag for my good friend Maria as a combination birthday/Christmas gift. It was adapted from the Oregon Tote pattern available here. I just made it a little smaller than the pattern called for. The lighter colored variegated yarn was Lion Brand Fisherman's wool that I dyed with Wilton paste food coloring. The solid color was Patons Classic Wool.

Buddy Bag

Here is a felted bag I knit up for the shop. It is from a pattern by a local designer. Just thought I'd post a picture.

I am trying my hand at some designing myself. I am about 3/4 of the way through my first design...I'm hoping it's going to felt ok, or it's back to the drawing board (or knitting needles!) I am going to do 2 or 3 versions/sizes of the same concept for the pattern. I'll be teaching a class for this bag in the spring. I am also going to be designing 2 summer clothing items for classes. I'm not saying much more than that at this time. Mum's the word until I see how I actually do in the designing world, ya know?

A bunch of new pictures!

Mini Uggs! I have been wanting to knit these adorable baby booties ever since I first saw them, but I don't have any little bitty ones in my life right now. However, I mentioned them to Vicky and showed her a picture, and right away she wanted a pair for the shop. We put them by the checkout yesterday and everyone thought they were the cutest things! I am also knitting up another pair for her nephew who will be born soon. Poor yarn shop owner...no time to knit....very sad thing indeed. She sure keeps me knitting away though! (not that I mind, not one little bit...)



Here's the tote bag after I did the needle felting. I think it turned out pretty good for my first attempt.



A few washcloths I knit for Kim's bridal shower. I thought the first one (yellow) turned rather big, so I scaled it down (pink) which then was just a wee bit too small. The green one is "just right" and I'll make up a few more in that size. I am not using the cotton chenille as suggested. Instead I am using the wonderful Araucania Nature Cotton. SOOOO soft, and I love how it is spun thick/thin and so has little nubbies as you knit. I love the feel of it and the texture when it's knit up. The colors are great too. These will have a B&BW soap with them as shower prizes.



This past weekend I knit up a pair of fingerless mitts with the small amount of yarn that was leftover from the Sheep Tote. I basically made up the pattern as I went along and (after a few false starts) was pretty pleased with how they turned out. Mistaken Rib cuff and around the fingers, and a K1 P1 rib on the thumb hole edge.

So glad it's done!

Phew! I'm so relieved to have this project done. It seems like I knit on this bag forever! I stopped counting at 20 hours. I still need to do the needle felted sheep on the other side where there is no pocket...that will be the front. I'm glad that at least I enjoyed the yarn...the colors and feel of the yarn were great. It was just a lot of boring rounds to knit the main part of the bag. Plus, when knitting the pockets (by picking up along the bottom edge and knitting upwards) there was a lot of weight on the needles at that point being held up by a small amount of stitches. But...it's DONE and on display at the shop to advertise the upcoming class. I'll probably go in today or tomorrow to do the needle felting to finish it up.

The scarves from the last post are both off the needles, and waiting for fringe. The Alternating Elegance scarf is going to get a beaded fringe after all. Unfortunately nothing in my bead stash (which has got to be in the hundreds of thousands of beads)were the right colors, and even by going to the biggest bead store in the area I still had a hard time finding just the right colors. But I think I came up with a combination that will be a nice finishing touch for what has turned out to be one of my favorite projects in a while. The Stained Glass scarf has its black edges crocheted on the sides, and I am working on some "funky fringe" that is going to definitely be different! At the same time it will be used as an example for my "Embellishments" class coming up. I'll be glad when both of these items are completely done, though it does feel good to have freed up some needles. My Denise cases are starting to fill back up. I had so many things going at the same time that both cases were pretty darned empty. LOTS of UFOs around here, but I'm going to work on remedying that problem.

New Scarves

My mom had surgery on Thursday which meant 10 hours of knitting in the waiting room at the hospital. (She came through the surgery fine and is recovering nicely at home). I got a lot of knitting done on the felted bag I am working on for the shop (sample for upcoming class) but needed something to alternate with all that boring "round and round" knitting on the bag.

Here is the Alternating Elegance Scarf from The Little Box Of Scarves. I am using Fiesta Yarns Rayon Boucle and Gelato Ribbon in the Vanilla colorway. It's turning out so nice. I cut the pattern down by one repeat in the hopes of being able to squeak out 2 scarves from the yarn. I will put the second one on consignment in the shop and if I sell it, it will pay for mine. It was a splurge that I really didn't need to make the week after Christmas, but it was the last skein of boucle in that colorway and I couldn't take a chance of not getting it. Right?



I accidentally left the Alternating Elegance scarf at the shop when I stopped in to show it off on Friday and everyone who saw it fell in love. The pattern is so cool, the yarns are to die for. Such great colors (some of the other colorways are really awesome, but I liked this one because it reminded me of the beach) The Gelato is especially yummy. It's like butter through your fingers. SOOOO soft. The scarf is going to have a lovely drape, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to dive into my bead stash and figure out a cool beaded fringe for it.

The other thing I brought along to work on (each project went through the rotation twice at the hospital) was my version of the Stained Glass Scarf (also from Little Box of Scarves). The pattern calls for Noro Silk Garden and another worsted weight black, and larger needles. However, I have been wanting to do a scarf with the same Trekking yarn as the socks I have in the works, mixed with black, and this pattern seemed to be just right. I increased the stitches to 32, and am using size 6 needles, and the black I am using is Nature Spun sport weight. This picture shows the front and also the very cool pattern emerging on the back side.



Once finished, I will add some black to the outer edges to hide the fact that one side has just the Trekking yarn on the edge and the other side is the black and colors being carried up the side of each other. Somehow I think this pattern could have been written so that the black carried itself up the sides. If I ever do another one of these scarves, I will figure out how to do that. And I will use a worsted weight yarn. And bigger needles. This scarf is taking forEVER! However, the Alternating Elegance is going pretty quickly. The 2 rows that make up the fancy stitch go quickly and POOF you've knit an inch.


I ordered and received the book Crazy Heels and Toes recently and am anxious to start trying "Queen Kahuna"'s methods. I really think I'm going to get a lot of use out of this book, and highly recommend it. Her ideas break out of the box when it comes to sock knitting. Not that I have that much experience with socks, but I love her ideas that are different than any sock patterns I've come across so far. The fact that you can knit a gusset without picking up the edges of a heel flap sold me right off. The book is chock full of pictures for the visual learners out there. Very nice self-published book.

Happy New Year!

It's time for a little update!

Christmas was wonderful. All knitted gifts were graciously adored by all who received them. Even my understanding brother who got one felted clog early on Christmas eve, and wore it all evening on one foot until I got the other one finished during our celebration at our parents' house. (When I finished knitting the second one, he put it on his head and wore it as a hat before it went into the washer for felting) At least he got to take home a finished pair, even though one was still wet :-)

I got some great gifts as well:

A tapestry pillow that says "If I'm Sittin', I'm Knittin' " from my sister. I just love it! She also sent me The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns which indeed, will be very handy. It's been on my Amazon.com wish list since summer, so it was definitely something I wanted. She also sent me a beautifully painted Matrioshka set (Russian Nesting Dolls) from her recent trip to Russia.

I got a gift certificate to Knitpicks.com from my mom and dad, some yarn from my brother and his wife, the book Exquisite Little Knits from an online friend, a Hummel plate with a girl knitting on it, and my dear hubby also bought me the Knitting Lesson Hummel (which arrived broken in the mail --due to the inept packaging of an ebay seller. ) I am just heartsick about it....it's just beautiful He gets me a Hummel every year for Christmas and this one was going to be really special to me. Hopefully it can be replaced at some point.

Those are my knitting gifts, and I got many other wonderful items, including gift certificates for spa treatments, which I am really looking forward to taking advantage of.

I will post some pictures of some of my new goodies soon.

It's really nice to have my Christmas knitting done and now I am ready to get a few things going for ME! (oh yeah, I have some knitting to do for the store too....shop samples for some classes I'll be teaching in the next couple of months). Even though my holiday knitting came right down to the wire, I never felt stressed about it, and thoroughly enjoyed knitting for my loved ones.

I wish all of you a safe and fun filled New Year's Eve, and may 2005 bring good health, happiness, joy (and lots of knitting) to each and every one!

Spent the Gift Certificate!

Thursday I decided that was the day I would go spend my gift certificate. The first thing I got was.............drum roll........... a freakin' speeding ticket on the way there! That's what I get for being so excited about going to spend my money. Grrrr......It was on a road that I have only been on once in my life before. A dirt road at that. On our side of town the dirt roads are 55 mph. This one (on the slow side of town?) happened to be 25 mph. I was on this road for a while, and going about 30 mph. I came to a stop sign and the road I was on crossed over a 4-lane paved road, and there was pavement on the other side for the road I was on. Well, subconsciously my mind said "paved road, higher speed limit". I was going about 40 and I saw a cop coming the other way. The pavement went only as far as a subdivision over a hill and then it turned to dirt road again. Well I was just over the hill and saw that it was dirt up ahead, and was slowing down, and saw the cop coming and then saw him turn around behind me and put on his lights. Grrrrr..... He was very nice about it, and only wrote me up for 5 mph over the limit, but geez.....couldn't he have let it go? I've only gotten one other ticket in my life and that was in Kalamazoo when Kim was at WMU. I had an appt. back here and was running late. Anyway, I guess I'm going to get a court date and hope the cop doesn't happen to show up, so I can hopefully get it waived. That kind of put a damper on my morning, for sure.

Anyway, I got 4 skeins of Noro in some colors that Vicky doesn't carry, and 4 skeins of Cascade 220 because I LOVE the bright colors and Vicky doesn't sell Cascade either. (I chose a lime green, purple, turquoise and fuschia....will be using them for felting. Probably a Sophie bag)I got another skein of the Trekking XXL I had purchased during the Shop Hop. I am going to use it along with a strand of black and knit myself a scarf at some point, using the stitch pattern from the Fluted Bannister Socks. I think it will be quite lovely :-) I got another set of Addi Turbos in size 1 (I never thought I would buy size 1 needles. What's next? Size 0? What is going on here?) and some really cute knitting-themed note cards. I also got (oops, can't tell you, Diane is going to read this and, you know, it would ruin the surprise) I didn't come home with as many things for ME as I hoped. I got too caught up with getting yarn that I couldn't get on my side of town. Oh well.................

I had brought the owner a couple of my beaded pens as a thank you for the gift certificate. One had her name on it, and 2 had the name of the shop. Then I showed her some of my other pens with knitting phrases on them and she agreed to put them in her shop on consignment. Yeah! So hopefully they will sell and she'll want more. Then I will have more money to spend there. That $100 just scratched the surface of all I wanted to buy in that store. Oy!

I've already knit up some of the Noro into mittens for my niece (they will be felted) and another pair of Noro Fuzzy Feet are on the needles right now. (pictures coming in the next day or 2) I'm hoping to get everything knit that I want to for Christmas, but I'm not sure it's actually going to happen. I'd better be getting some packages in the mail soon, ya think? That's it, no more sleeping until everything is done and mailed.

I actually got some Christmas shopping done last night with Kim. I am so far behind in my Christmas shopping and preparations this year. I just don't know what's wrong with me! Anyway, we had fun ....though it was not pleasant going in and out of the stores in pouring rain at about 36 degrees. We had had such a pretty snowfall in the morning....a really moist snow that stuck in every branch and covered every surface in white beauty. Then the rain came. Made the huge snowman fall over. Made us all very sad. I didn't even get a picture of him before he was obliterated by the rain. Overnight all that wet turned to ice. What a mess.

Oh Twinkle Tree, Oh Twinkle Tree.....

Mike and I had decided that this was the last year for our Christmas tree and that we'd be getting a new one for next year. The old one had quite a few broken branches and was just looking very "Charlie Brown"-ish. Well, Target put their trees on sale for 30% off and I happened to have a 10% off Rewards Certificate, so we went to look at what they had left yesterday morning. We ended up coming home with a new tree, because I told Mike it would be silly to buy one at full price next year when we can get such a deal this year. I didn't want to wait until after Christmas, because I know by then there will be very little left to choose from.

Our new tree is soooo much nicer than the old one. It's taller, and MUCH fuller. I can't see through to the middle like on the old one, and this one is prelit with 1000 lights. Some of them twinkle which gives it a magical look. We set it up (which was snap!)just to make sure it wasn't TOO big for our room, and to make sure the lights all worked. Then we decided, what the heck, lets just take the ornaments off the old tree and put them on the new, instead of waiting to use it next year. It really didn't take that long and I'm glad we did it. I was pouting every time I looked at that old decrepit tree with some its branches that were just balancing on top of others because they were broken. This one is just gorgeous! Anyway, Mike hauled the old one out onto the front porch where it will live until after Christmas....It was nice pulling up and seeing it lit up on the porch last night. I thought we would just toss it, but we can get some more use out of it as an outdoor decoration.

OH HAPPY DAY!!

I left for work this morning in rather a foul mood, having to do with the torrential downpour that was happening outside. Isn't this December? Isn't this Michigan? Isn't it supposed to be a lovely, white, winter wonderland out there? UGH I hate when it rains like this in December. It's already so gray and brown out there without the mud that comes along with the rain..... I mean, it rained so long and hard today that when I was on my way home from work I saw someone rowing a boat across their flooded front yard. No lie. Cracked me up!

Anway, I stopped at the mailbox this morning to put something out to be picked up, but the mail had already come. I decided to flip through it quickly to see if there was anything interesting before leaving it in the mailbox for hubby to collect when he got home (before me) this afternoon.

Hmmmmm.....what's this? An envelope from one of the yarn stores that was on the Shop Hop several weeks ago. Ok, I got on their mailing list....this is probably a newsletter or something....

[Remember the drawing being held? It popped into my head, but I thought, no, it couldn't be. It's been nearly a month! I didn't really expect to win in the first place, because all 3 stores were JAMMED with people doing the Shop Hop, (and really, what are the chances) and had all but forgotten about the whole thing.]

Well, I think by now you can see where this is heading....I WON!!!! I got $100 gift certificate to a yarn store!!!! It was the one store out of the three that Donna (my neighbor that I went with) and I liked the best, too. I was whooping it up in my car by the mailbox when I opened it up, had to call my sister right away and tell her, and then called Donna to tell her too.

Vicky was excited for me too. FREE YARN!!!! YIPPEE!!! Tomorrow is the only day this week that it's not supposed to rain, so I may take the opportunity to try to find my way back over to that store (Donna was driving and I have no idea how she got us there, and it's a town I haven't been to more than once or twice in my entire life......but.....I think I can figure it out with $100 free yarn money in my pocket!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Can you believe it? When I went into work and told Vicky, and said how I can get free yarn for more Christmas gifts, she said I should use it to buy things for MYSELF. I suppose she's right...it's a gift from above. I may have to get a thing or two for "someone" else though. I mean, I am a sharing type of gal.



ps....here's a picture of the Noro Fuzzy Feet. I felted them last night. LOVE 'EM! I also felted another pair of clogs, and Jake liked those better than the Fuzzy Feet (which were to be for his teacher) so I guess SIL is getting the Fuzzy Feet and Jake's teacher is getting the clogs. Shhh....don't tell anyone.....I'm a gift switcher.....