What to do with leftover sock yarn and lots of figs

Mom bought me this jar at IKEA a while back. She had seen it filled with yarn somewhere (Hmm... don't remember where) and said it was cute. I filled it with round skeins of green and purple yarn and it just looked squished. I set it aside, and for some reason it occurred to me the other day to make little balls of yarn and put in there. So I tried it with my leftover sock yarn, and I must say it is cute.

And on another domestic note, Nolamom, Emily, and I made fig jam. We have a fig tree in the back yard that is, after 10 years, giant and bursting with black mission figs.

We started by peeling the figs, and putting them on to boil with powdered pectin and some lemon juice.

Once that boiled, we added sugar and let it come back to a rolling boil. Then, after a minute, it was jam!

Here are our finished jars of jam. Tasty!

Two socks and one small crafter

Second sock is in the books. Yay! I had mentally moved on days ago, so I'm glad I could buckle down and finish the second Nutkin sock as to not let down my peeps at Twisted Tuesday Knit Night. Hair appointments are great for uninterrupted knitting time.

I am happy with the way they turned out. It is funny how this pattern twists. The photo doesn't show the pattern very well, but it is a larger size mock cable swirly pattern.

Love the yarn. True Love Fiber!!


Grace got a birthday present in the mail from Jean, a couple of crafty kits to keep her busy this summer. She has started with the loom kit, remember those? I remember them.

We had fun creating this together:

She is very proud of her creation and wants to make more. And she wanted me to blog her craftiness. She apparently gets how important it is to document your creativity!

The most easy craft in the world

I've been crafty! OK. Here's how. Grab some cute silk flowers, some floral tape, a package of pens and set aside about 5 minutes of your time.

Cut the stem of the flowers about one inch down like is shown here.

Grab your pen, hold the flower up top and begin wrapping the flower and the ink pen with your floral tape.

Wrap the whole thing, carefully avoiding getting the floral tape stuck to the cat. If you look really closely, you will see that both of my kitties were helping me with this project. Grande is just camera shy after the last time she was pictured on this blog. Click here for the naughty details: http://yarnpaperscissors.blogspot.com/2007/12/naughty-new-year.html

Now, do the same thing with your whole package of pens and you will have a bouquet of flowers you can stick in a glass vase.

Now you won't ever wonder where you've left your pen!

Lots going, nothing finished

I was cruising along in sock land, when I was reading the Ancient Pathways group on Ravelry and it was mentioned that lots of our group had the Juno Regina stole in our queue, and we should do a knit - a - long.

No one had to twist my arm. Two days later, I have this:

I'm using Redfish silk in a fabulous green color. I got it two Stitches ago. I am doing the two ends at the same time on one circular, and then I will graft it together. Since I have two skeins, it was meant to be. Plus, I like the idea of having both come out identical. I don't enjoy tangles so much, so I may put one aside on a holder (Lisa's idea) once the lacy part at the end is done, then do the other, then graft. We'll see when I get there. That's the plan anyhow.

Anyway, sock guilt overcame me last night, so I picked up the Nutkin again and did a repeat or two just to say I did.

Oh, and just in case you think I had abandoned my My So Called Scarf, not to worry. I am at the end of skein one. I think two will be more than plenty, and I have three, so I need to decide if I want to make two or if I have something else destined for the third skein of this Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend that is too lovely to waste.

All three of these projects use lovely yarn that is a pleasure to work with. It is not so much knitting as yarn fondling. Yum!

Knitters and Nutkins

Now that I have a new charger and I'm back in laptop business, I need to update the universe on Worldwide Knit in Public Day, last Saturday. I was invited to join my new knitting pals from Ancient Pathways at Borders, where we sat and knitted for a few hours. Most of us were working on our socks from the KAL I'm doing at Ancient Pathways.

Lisa, her daughter Abby (who was reading "The Mitten" and also knitting at age 5), Angela (of TrueLove Fiber fame), and Janice (of French 75 fame) smiling for the camera.

I'm sure you noticed how I'm cozying up to the sock yarn dyers. I assure you my motives are pure, mostly, even though a skein just happened to jump into my knitting bag. The skein on the top is what I'm referring to, and the skein on the bottom is the one I had to take home with me last Tuesday. The ladies are actually very charming knitters, as are the rest of the Ancient Pathways gang. I'm having a REALLY good time joining them on Tuesday nights for this knit a long. I know I'm living on borrowed time since the schedule gets a little crazy during the school year, but for now I'm hooked.

Plus, I finished my first Nutkin sock! Tracy this morning at Knotty Knitters volunteered to be my sock model. I knit this sock per the pattern using the cuff I hadn't done before, and their short row heel, but I cheated and used my own regular toe. The sock is a quick knit, but it does twist a little. I also don't know if I like the cuff, it doesn't really hold the sock up. It does make a nice finished edge though.

Isn't the yarn pretty? Very Van Gogh. This is a True Love Fiber sock yarn, wool and tencel. Nice! Now for the second.

Stork's Nest Scarf

Finished the scarf - and blocked it too, using my blocking wires I bought awhile ago but had not broken in yet. They worked well, but boy, it takes a long time to thread each stitch onto them! I don't have patience for blocking apparently.

Specs - Stork's Nest Scarf by Nancy Bush, from Piecework Magazine. I need to subscribe to Piecework, I really like the historical articles and they always seem to have Nancy Bush patterns.

Next up - back to the scratchy Noro sock, and starting tomorrow I start a knit a long at Ancient Pathways. We are making the Nutkin sock. I'll post more about that later.

Giant Weekend

Look who popped back into the family--
Hey, we survived May!

At times, I was not so sure.

We capped off the "month o'craziness" with a trip to SF. Of course, you see the Blackberry is never more than inches away.

Recognize this?

We were here-

Although the game wasn't very good (lost big time), being there was fun and it was nice to get out of town.

Enjoyed some gelato-

and went yarn shopping. I was waiting to see if Imagiknit or Article Pract had the Rowan Pure Wool DK I was looking for. No luck. Although Article Pract said they could order it. Such a hard decision, support the LYS or save on tax and order online? Haven't decided yet.

I need to take photos of the yarn I did console myself with. I was actually good at finding yarn for Mom (Panda Silk in reds, perfectly her) and Carey (multicolored alpaca, perfectly her too). I did get a little tiny bit for me too. I have been contentedly knitting Stitches yarn for the past few months, and I didn't go crazy wild , but I did find some sock yarn....

Happy Birthday to Alexander - He's 13 !!

Grace turns 7 on Father's Day.

And Bella starts Puppy School tomorrow night. My babies are growing up!

Doughnuts!

In honor of national doughnut day, I felt it was my duty to pass along this link. You simply must check this out. And, while you're there, do some exploring. I just love this site.

http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2008/06/felt_doughnuts_tutorial.html