Bright Spot.

Today is a beautifully snowy Friday.

I, however, had to drive 34 miles to work in it. Totally CRAPTASTIC.

The bright spot of my day is that I get to go home to this, my order from Three Irish girls. I ordered two skeins of each color from the Knitters for Newtown benefit offer. I think in the works are hats for the men in my life and socks for the ladies.

My heart started to pound...

Then skipped a beat...

Once I got a peek I GIGGLED.

Love the sweet & simple shamrock stamp!

And then this: yummy, yummy, yummy.

I can't wait to get home tonight and get it all wound into balls.


I won't start anything for a week or so. I promised Dee I would help with a baby gift. Dee is at THAT age, where everyone in her life is either pregnant or has a new baby. I offered to help by knitting a Chalice Blanket for her, because committing to knitting 23 rows per day for the next 6 weeks is just too much pressure and takes all the fun out of knitting something special for a friend.

This is how far I knit yesterday as I waited for my hair appointment. I am using Bernat Handicrafter Cotton in Hot Green. Very fun for someone who hasn't had a baby in 15 years!

Big weekend of wrestling for my son tomorrow. Good luck to you, young fella. I sure Love you a lot.

Later Knitters!

M



Duh.

A couple things happened this weekend that made me laugh.

#1: My friend...the DOCTOR...that has a PHD, did this:

Good thing it was a home made stitch marker. She had to cut it off the sock and redo the wire and crimp beads. Silly girl. I love her MORE because she does things like this.

#2 was me. My daughter called these 'ghetto stitch markers'. I started her Calorimetry headband in the car and found myself with two open cans of pop, but no stitch markers. I was forced to improvise.

The weather driving back from Madison was nasty. Not a horrible drive, but required close attention. Claire drove the whole way and we arrived home safely not long after lunch.

During the extended drive home I was able to finish the above mentioned Calorimetry headband for her. I think its absolutely adorable.

I also have a sneak peek at the Hawaiian Twist Socks I started...

More soon! Taking pictures with my phone makes for super easy blogging!

Later Knitters!

M

On a Dinner Plate?...Really?

Yikes! One week and so much to catch up on! Sheesh!

Claire and I are currently in Madison visiting the Vet Tech program at MATC. Weather permitting, we will be back home tomorrow.

Below are pictures of the Ichigo Tam I finished for my Mom. This is the first Tam I have ever made, thus the first hand knit item I have ever blocked on a dinner plate. It blocked out perfect, go figure.

My Mom was pretty excited about the hat, her surgery, notsomuch.

I only used half the skein of the Perfectly Posh Sport, so I knit a hat for Dee with the rest. Its called Etoile Hat. She loves it.

Dee brought me along to her knit group last night, and I finished the hat there. I enjoyed it very much. I don't have a knit group like that at home so I had a very nice time.

Dee bought me a skein of yarn from Knot Just Knits on a trip to Chicago last June. Yes, I started the socks right away, yes they made me crazy, YES I finally finished them! NO I will never make another pair again.
 

I bought yarn for two projects this weekend:

For Me: Trinity Scarf in February Dream in Color. I love the deep, dark pinks and tinges of black...

For Claire: Calorimetry in Berroco Flicker.

She picked out a beachy, seafoam color with a sweet little button!

One more project!

Dee bought me ANOTHER yummy skein of yarn this past week. She went to her Madison Knitters Guild meeting and listened to Sharon from Three Irish Girls speak, and bought this skein there.

It is called Hawaii 5-0 in the Finley Fingering base, and is absolutely freaking delicious!

I started a pair of Toasty Twist Socks that I will call Hawaiian Twist Socks. Oh my!

Whew! I know that was a lot, but thanks for visiting!

Later Knitters!

M

Rainy/Sleety/Snowy Sunday

Two days in a row? Can you handle this?

 

I fully intend to finish and block this Ichigo Tam for my Mom today. I take her in for some minor surgery tomorrow and would like her to have something fun to wear when she comes out of anethstesia. It was quick to knit and a very pretty pattern, but I have to say I'm not fond of passing slipped stitches over on such a short circular needle (too many stitches to control on DPNs. It was making ladders on the corners.). It was tight and awkward. I'm wondering if it would look similar if the (Sl1, K2, PSSO) was changed to a (YF K2 YB)...I might try a swatch with my left over yarn.

I cast on the lace edge for my All About Love Shawl. It is a 7 stitch wide, 4 row repeat pattern. After I knit about 140 repeats, I will pick up 225-230 stitches for the regular pattern of the shawl and truly get started. I'm not usually this patient, but I love, love, love how this lacy edging blocks out.

Looks like a dicey weather day here in MN. After a dusting of snow around 4:30 this morning, we now have freezing rain and are looking forward (?) to anywhere from 3-9 inches of snow over the next 24 hours. yipee.

Later knitters!
M

Yikes!

Long time, no blog!

I think I found a way to make the whole
"take high quality photos, upload them to my laptop, and blog about them"
a little bit easier. I started taking the photos with my phone. Let me know if you hate it.

I finished this Enamored shawlette for my bestie. It was originally supposed to be a Birthday gift for her July 30th, but I couldn't wait. She has been secretly oggling this Madelinetosh Merino Light in the Lichen colorway for about a year now. I found a onesie online ON SALE (can you imagine? Madelinetosh yarn? ON SALE?) and had no will power to wait casting it on.

 It's perfectly "her". A little dark, a lot soft, with some sparkle added in to make it (and her) Super Special.

I see her next Friday and can't wait until she wraps herself in it, and knows how much I love her!

Next up is a quick pick up at Amazing Threads. D's little Bear lost his Yoda hat, so I grabbed an easily washable yarn for her to make him another. I can't wait to see it.

Lastly, something for me. I've not been into knitting socks with sock yarn lately, but on a trip to 3 Kittens Needle Arts during D's last visit, I couldn't live without taking this yummy skein home. There is no 'Name' for this colorway of Ella Rae Lace Merino, but it was love at first sight. Blues and greens are my downfall. Its almost as bad as chocolate.

After spending an ENOrMOUS amount of time online looking for just the right pattern. I found a version of Sylvia Bo Bilvia's All About Love Shawl that I think will be perfect for me.

And the topper of the day is some family time. It is the Birthday of My Favorite Man. On schedule to celebrate? Pizza, cake, and Gopher Hockey. Just us and the kids, his favorite kind of day. You just gotta love this great Dad!

Later!
M

Procrastination

For those of you that are my close friends, you know how crazy-wicked-busy our life is.

For those of you that don't know me so well, lets just say I am not fantastic at being "Susie Homemaker". I hold down a fast paced job 45-50 hours per week, 30 miles from home. I'm not here...A LOT. My husband is Chef Tell, Joe Taxi, Mr. Fix It, and Magic Mike all wrapped up into one man. We have two teenagers that keep us hopping. This photo was from the first day of school 2012. Important day for us: it was Claire's LAST FIRST day of high school (Senior), and Cruz's FIRST FIRST day of high school (Freshman). Feels like they were both in diapers just yesterday...NOTSOMUCH!

There are many new things on the needles and several finished/blocked items! So Exciting!

In order to maintain my own sanity I plan to mete them out over the course of the week.

Lets go back to my blog entry from July 22nd. I crock pot dyed the yarn for a Summer Flies Shawl but only posted the un-blocked photos. This little bugger blocked out fantastically. I love, love, love it.

I'm still getting the hang of using blocking wires. If you have any input/tips/advice please share your thoughts!

This Age of Brass & Steam Shawlette was also a quick vacation knit with my own hand dyed yarn. I Kool Aid dyed the yarn with Grape, Orange and Lemonade using mason jars in the microwave. FUN, FUN, FUN. Quick, instant satisfaction method of dying.

This last FO was a total BLAST to knit. 

I have never had so much fun. I somehow stumbled upon it on Ravelry and instantly knew I had to make one for my cousin Paul for Christmas. The beard pattern is a little difficult to follow at first, but once I started it made sense. If I knew the men in my family would wear them, I'd make many more in a HEARTBEAT. Its called Dwarven Battle Bonnet. I bought both patterns (I and II), used pattern II for the helmet itself, and the Original for the beard. I can't wait for Paul to open this!

Let me know what you think! 

 Superdad Victor (aka Big Daddy) is my model (victim). He said it was really warm!

Later Knitters!

M