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busybusy
Posted on | January 24, 2012 | 11 Comments
And distracted – I have so many things I want to do all at once!
I did finish a couple of things, here’s one:
Roniroos by Suvi Simola – cute pattern, fun to knit, horrible name (makes me think of Underoos), need to buy a top to wear under for proper finished object photos! Also need colder weather – it’s in the mid 60s today. Sigh.
Encouraged by Blogless Lynn, I started working on the fringe of my Lady Eleanor scarf/stole, that has been sitting in the abandoned WIP stack since 2008!
Cutting fringe? Easy. Tying fringe? Tiring and a PITA. I finished 2/3 of the first side and quit.
This WIP is now Mack’s favorite place to sleep.
There has been spinning –
Around 800 yards of polwarth dyed by the fabulous Adrian, a fiber club offering but I don’t remember the month. Chain-plied to make the most of the beautiful colors.
I’ve also been playing with my hand cards. This fiber (BFL/silk) is another Hello Yarn club offering that I separated out by color, carded and spun:
I’ve been thinking of doing this for awhile. Yes, it results in small skeins, but it’s perfect for colorwork and while I love the look of a multi-colored skein as much as the next person, the project options are limited. At least in my world. This is all part of keeping in mind the question: Will I actually use/knit/wear this?
Finishing these spinning projects cleared off most of my bobbins – just in time for the January Spin-In in Destin! Tonni and I are headed out early in the morning for several days of spinning and hanging out with fiber peeps, I can’t wait! I’m bringing my handcards and multi-dyed roving and plan to come home with lots of little skeinlets!
That is…if I don’t get distracted…
everything in sight
Posted on | January 10, 2012 | 16 Comments
The title refers to how I’ve been eating – oof! Terribly, and too much, and now that my pants are uncomfortably tight I need to get myself back to the gym and back to my salads!
It also refers to what I want to knit. Quite simply – everything in sight! But I am determined to be more mindful in my knitting, not just cast on willy-nilly. I have criteria that needs to be met:
- Is this appropriate for my climate? This is a big one for me, as I love warm, wooly sweaters that don’t get worn in our 75 degree winters.
- Is it a style that will look good on my body type? The boobs pose a particular problem with some patterns.
- Is it something I will actually wear, why exactly do I want to knit this? Often I’m attracted to a pattern because it uses a technique I want to learn, or even because I like the color of the yarn used in the original design! If it’s gray, it’s an automatic favorite.
I have a few sweaters that need to be finished – blocked, buttons sewn on, etc. that will provide more discussion on my criteria, but in the meantime I have been knitting…
Cowls! I’ve gone cowl crazy!!!
Infinitude Scarf, knit in white Berroco Ultra Alpaca that has been languishing in my stock for YEARS. I had four skeins, I kept thinking that I needed to knit one thing with all the skeins because 800 yards is enough for a vest at least, and I finally said enough is enough – knit with it already! It’s super soft and drapes really well – only mod I made was to knit seed stitch sections instead of purl sections.
A Very Braidy Cowl, which was oh so fun to knit. The pattern was great, mine is longer because I wanted to use up as much of the yarn as possible. It’s Sublime Angora Merino and it is LUSH.
You can see the lushness a little better in this work-in-progress shot. God, I love this yarn. It’s been discontinued, of course.
The black cowl is the Destroyed Cowl and it won’t get its own photo until it’s blocked. Love it, but stockinette ROLLS like a mutha and also I screwed up the kitchener join so only one side is “destroyed” properly. Kinda disappointed because it’s probably the one I’d get the most wear out of, since it’s black… I’m considering knitting another one but in garter stitch, and with sock yarn, but doubled, so the destroyed strands really stand out.
Just thoughts…
I had a Organization Victory this weekend!!! I’ve often lamented about our small small house and the current state of my various stashes. When I started buying quilting fabric, I had to appropriate a couple of bookshelves from my son’s room and the fabric was precariously balanced on them, looking sloppy and getting dusty. On Saturday I bopped into the local antique store to look for a tall bookshelf and found this:
It’s a repro lawyer’s bookcase, and each shelf is a unit that stacks on top of the shelf below it. I’ve been looking at this bookcase for about a year, they used to have a red and a blue one but the blue one is what was left. I hated to spend the money (especially when one of my goals this year is to be fiscally responsible), but I also believe that when you find the PERFECT solution – you should jump on it.
It now holds all my fabric AND all my craft books AND
my quilting WIPs! My goal is to finish up those WIPs and get all that stuff stacked to the left in the bookcase! I was able to move THREE bookshelves out of the bedroom as a result of buying this bookcase, which I consider a major victory in physical and mental de-cluttering!
Huzzah!
new year
Posted on | January 5, 2012 | 11 Comments
Returning from a long blog absence … what do you say? The absence wasn’t intentional and nothing was wrong. Just busy, as we all are, and the blog was one of those things it took awhile to get around to.
Fall colors are gone, but were incredible. We managed several backpacking trips before holiday craziness descended. I hope to get back to the woods soon – there’s nothing like the woods in winter – grey, quiet and cold.
The boy turned 16 on Tuesday, which is incredible to me. Was it really that long ago that he arrived – almost three weeks early and in time to attend the baby shower in his honor?
I have a lot of plans for 2012, knitting and otherwise. I’ve completed several projects, some aren’t keepers but some are, and I need to photograph and blog, document my time, my efforts. I intend to finish up languishing projects – keep working on myself and my health and be more mindful when I start new projects. I intend to be more social, reconnect with old friends and nourish relationships.
Thank you for coming along and making the journey worthwhile!
Asheville
Posted on | November 3, 2011 | 13 Comments
SB and I went to Asheville for a combined hiking/SAFF trip.
I mostly took pictures on the hikes…
all taken with my phone. It doesn’t make sense to carry two cameras any more.
We hiked to three waterfalls
and visited with an alpaca.
The cabin we stayed at overlooked a field of sunflowers.
The owner told us to pick some, before the frost got them.
We rode on the spectacular Blue Ridge Parkway
and laughed at the quirky surroundings.
I would’ve gotten closer, but an aggressively-barking dog kept me away!
It was a great trip, Asheville is beautiful and I love North Carolina. I bought very little at SAFF and sadly didn’t see many of my peeps. More later!
meet Karl
Posted on | October 12, 2011 | 19 Comments
Have I ever told you about my husband’s menagerie? I think a few menagerie members have appeared on the blog, but I don’t think I’ve ever outed his collection to the public at large.
And I’m not going to out it now, but I am going to show the newest member.
Meet Kiwi Karl.
The week of SB’s birthday, he told me how excited he was to meet the new menagerie member that was sure to arrive in time to celebrate his birthday! That same day, Deep Fall Knitty came out and once I saw the Kiwi pattern, well, I knew what I had to do.
I cast on this bad boy Wednesday morning and finished him Friday afternoon. Great pattern, simple to knit, used sock leftovers!
Karl now hangs out with the rest of the menagerie. He fits right in.
Carnival
Posted on | October 10, 2011 | 13 Comments
I went to Indiana to visit my family this weekend and we went to the West Side Nut Club Fall Festival. When my sister told me the “fall festival” was happening, I pictured a small gathering of rides put together by local schools – similar to what we have here in Alabama.
I was mistaken. According to Paul Harvey, the Fall Festival is second only to Mardi Gras in terms of festival size. Here are some of my favorite pictures, taken with my HTC Thunderbolt and Vignette app.
The food is the real draw for this festival. Four blocks are closed off and lined with food vendor booths. Brain sandwiches were highly touted, also Deep Fried Pepsi, DF green beans, DF oreos, pretty much anything you can imagine and then some. I was tempted by so many things and finally succumbed to the Deep Fried Snickers. It was delicious!
People watching is always fun. I couldn’t have staged this photo any better!
I love the sights and sounds of a carnival – they hold so many emotions. Joy, thrills, excitement, expectation, anticipation, hopefulness, happiness.
I’m already planning next year’s trip!
not much, how ’bout you?
Posted on | September 21, 2011 | 23 Comments
It’s about time I ended this blog break! No reason for not blogging really, just a lack of taking photos and keeping busy.
I finished Avocado Cables – my Blanket for Birmingham!
It was a lot of fun to knit (although a hot thing to knit during the summer).
I hope it will bring some comfort to the tornado victims. Now I have to concentrate on this:
Lots of squares from my friends across the country – thank you! I’m waiting on a few more squares, but I think I’ll start seaming this weekend (if we’re not in the woods).
My obsession of late, really since January, has been eating healthily and working out. I absolutely have an obsessive personality and while I haven’t given up my old loves (spinning, knitting) or even my more recent love (quilting), my time over the past couple of months has been spent educating myself on nutrition and workout plans. I’ve read so many books and done so much research! Of course, it’s stuff we all know, for the most part. Eat good foods. Move your body. Enjoy treats occasionally.
We went day hiking a couple of weeks ago, back to one of my favorite places. The last time I tried to hike there, in 2009, I turned around halfway because it was too steep and my knees were killing me. This time – no problem! I was sweating profusely (it’s still really hot here) but I didn’t get out of breath and my knees only bothered me a little bit on the downhills.
Here’s a before and during progress picture. In the 2010 photo, I’m wearing a size Large men’s shirt and bustin’ out of those pants – there was a lot of wiggling just to get them on that morning. In the photo taken a couple of weeks ago, I’m wearing a ladies’ Large and the shorts I bought in June are loose. Yes, I’m even posting my weight for all to see because it’s really not about weight, it’s about losing fat and being fit. It’s the SIZE that matters! Heh.
So, progress. Sometimes it’s not happening as quickly as I want – like when I looked at all the pictures from our hike and immediately focused on my big butt, my cellulite-ridden thighs, batwings, etc. It was depressing. After all my hard work, I still have so far to go. But after going to bed early to avoid eating ice cream, I woke up, looked at where I’ve been, and realized that it’s okay that I’m not where I want to be yet. It’s a journey – a marathon, not a sprint.
And I’ll get there.
keeping on
Posted on | August 23, 2011 | 17 Comments
Ah, the spinning continues. . . slowly! I have two bobbins done for the second mega-skein, just started the third last night.
I knit a sleeve with the first skein and it’s perfect. The stitch substitution is spot-on and I just love it. I think this sweater will be my winter coat! I decided to spin more before continuing the knitting, which is slow-going and monotonous. And necessary. When this mega-skein is finished, I’ll have to knit awhile to build up my spinning reserves.
Because yeah, I want to wear this NOW!
This weekend I made tomato jam, the last item on my list of my must-make-this. I wish I could say all these tomatoes are from our garden, but I got them at the farmer’s market (the little ones are ours). Our tomato plants have “the wilt” and it’s just a matter of time before they are history. At least our yield far surpassed last year’s whopping ONE tomato crop! We’ve gotten enough to have a homegrown tomato on our lunchtime salads most days, which has been nice.
I borrowed from several recipes and the ingredient list of a locally-made tomato chutney that we love, and it will either be really, really good, or a complete waste of time!
I’m letting it age for 30 days or so and then we’ll do a taste test. My goal is a spicy-sweet jam to serve with cheese and crackers, but I’m worried that I made it too spicy. If it’s good, I’ll post the recipe!
Had to take this photo last week – can you see the moon?
summer in the past tense
Posted on | August 12, 2011 | 21 Comments
Someone asked me the other day how my summer was, and I was so happy to hear summer associated with the past! Oh, I how I love fall and winter and spring and endure summer! It’s usually about the time that I succumb to the annual Summer Cold (brought on by the lack of fresh air, I’m certain) that summer’s heat begins to wane, and in every knitter’s mind that means one thing:
WOOL!
This week I’ve cast on for two distinctly winter projects.
EZ’s Nethers with sale Koigu seconds I learned about from Lynn, now enabling folks on Facebook. I’m making these very fitted, which has caused me to doubt myself because increasing two stitches every three rows looks like a lot on the needles, but when I try it on, it fits my calf perfectly, so onward I plow.
Except for last night, when I decided that this massive 740 yard skein of 3 ply cormo/alpaca blend:
would make a lovely Adeline. I learned how to do a tubular cast-on (fun!) and then tried to swatch the cable pattern. Now, I don’t cable with a cable needle. I never have, I find it too fiddly and bothersome. I admire those who do and can because they have infinitely more patience than I!
This cable pattern most definitely requires a cable needle. So I pulled out my Treasury (the second is my favorite) and found a slipped stitch pattern that I think mimics the cable pattern quite nicely.
What do you think? If the gauge is even remotely close, I think it’s a winner!
Of course, I have a lot more spinning to do before having enough yarn for the sweater. Right now I have about 1,000 yards and I’ll probably need another massive skein, which means about three weeks’ of spinning, if the last skein is any indication. Happily, I have plenty of fiber!
And I have pink and purple from earlier in the summer, for your Friday Eye Candy.
I’ve always loved fuschias.
We found a lovely one this spring and I splurged.
It was worth it.
Have a great weekend!
think pink
Posted on | August 5, 2011 | 13 Comments
When I learned that Project Spectrum’s August color was pink, I didn’t think I’d find much in my photo folders to work with.
I don’t know why I thought that!
Every color can be found in nature.
All one needs to do
is look!
Happy Friday! Let’s have a great weekend!
keep looking »