Rosemal Hat and Mittens

I got the latest issue of Knitter's Magazine, and was not very impressed. Several of the patterns were for items I had actually seen in person at last year's Stitches. It is more than a little weird to know that the items you are seeing in a brand new magazine you get in the mail you have actually TOUCHED. And some of them were much scratchier than any garment I'd wear. Just sayin'.

Anyway, just as disappointment set in, I saw Rosemal. A darling mitten and hat combo made from Mission Falls 1824 Wool. I don't own any of that yarn, and loved the particular color combo shown in the magazine, so I have managed to find most all the colors and am ready to make them.

Meanwhile, I couldn't wait for all that so I started them in dk weight, using leftover Rowan Pure Wool dk from my mom's cardigan I made for Christmas last year.

They fit Grace and were tons of fun to make. All those colors, the embroidery and the fair isle made for some quick and entertaining knitting. The weaving in of the ends was a pain though, over 30 per mitten.

She loves them!

First Communion

May is the month of milestones around here. On May 2, my little Gracie celebrated her First Holy Communion. She had a wonderful mass and was very excited to receive the sacrament.


The Mass was followed by a nice luncheon at a local restaurant, and the cake and presents were popular!

One of the highlights of the day was that her godparents Mark and Jean were able to travel from Wisconsin to be with her on her special day. This was the first time we had seen them since they moved almost 5 years ago.

As my gift to her, I knitted Grace a lace veil to wear with her dress. I used a pattern for an altar cloth from First Book of Modern Lace Knitting. I used the center panel which was knitted first, and then added the border. The border pattern and instructions were found in Victorian Lace Today. It went together very smoothly, considering I was sort of winging it.

Grace looked beautiful. She wore Emily's dress. It was very special to see both my girls wear the same dress. There haven't been many hand-me-downs in our family, so this was a bonus. Interestingly, Grace's friend Brianna is the sister of Emily's best friend Karley. Brianna also wore the same dress her sister did. Here are the two girls together -

One of the traditions is to make a banner that is displayed up in the front of the church. Here is the banner Grace and I made - it coordinates with the banners her sister and brother made. They are now all three hanging in our hallway, Grace is very proud of that! And we are very proud of her.

Turkey Cookies

Gram and Grace got together the day before Thanksgiving and made some cookies to bring to the family feast. Grace was really looking forward to this "Gram time" and she loves making cookies, so she had a blast. The cookies were cute too.

Note the perfect aprons - Cookie Maker and Cookie Taster, which defines their talents nicely. Fun!

Two socks are better than one

Pumpkin socks are in the books.

They turned out really nice. Love the pattern, so easy, and love the yarn, so pretty.

Grace was a witch this year. Emily reprised the pirate look and Alex apparently went as a teenager. Trick-or-treating was at Lori's house this year, a change of pace for us that was a fun twist to the evening. Note: Bella does not make a good trick or treat companion.

Now on to November's first major event: Emily turns 15 today! Happy birthday my eldest child. We are proud of you and we love you.

I Peaked Early

I was a 4-Her as a kid. I learned to sew, cake decorate, do all sorts of crafty things (except knitting, which now that I think of it, was a major hole in my crafty education at the time).

I entered lots of those things in the various fairs held all around the valley and even the State Fair. I won lots of ribbons (you always got either a first, second, or third unless your project was dreadful) and I saved them in a shoe box that I covered with a pretty paper and kept them in the closet of my room.

When I got married and moved away from home, they disappeared. I didn't have them, and Mom swore she didn't have them. We looked for them lots of times over the years, but I had pretty much given up hope.

Well, you can see where this is going. Found! Not at my house either! Ha! But all gloating aside, I was glad they were found. And what I discovered as I went through them is that for once, I may have actually impressed my very hard to impress children! Wow. Who knew their mother actually did all that?

And, look what else I found- you're seeing that correctly, SECOND place in TRACK - long jump no less. Who knew of my athletic potential. Not me, I'd forgotten that entirely. Of course, seeing that make Alex snicker. But I had proof. Ha.

This week marked the first day of school. My baby is in 2nd grade. My giant boy is in 8th. The last year of them ever going to the same school, unless Alex gets held back several times in a row. Emily has refused first day of school photos for years.

On the knitting news, I finally got a decent photo of my Undulating Waves Scarf I did for Ravelympics. I still haven't blocked the Juno Regina.

My ribbon winning days are getting fewer and farther between, but I did just win a few medals!

Action Jackson Part 2

Grace enjoyed art camp so much that we decided she needed more opportunities to sling paint on canvas. This time, we (okay, Mom) decided she would do a piece of artwork for the small bathroom off the kitchen.

We went to Joanns and got a 18x24 canvas and some paint in our new color scheme (chocolate, green, orange, magenta) and got to work.

First we base coated the canvas the chocolate brown color. We worked together on this part, and Grace made sure I was doing it right.

Then, once it was dry and the yard was shaded enough to prevent all artists from sweating too much, she went to work.
Mom's job was to fill up the paint plates quickly and get out of the way!!

I must say, Grace is an excellent paint slinger!
The final product turned out perfectly!! We let it dry overnight and it is now proudly hung in the bathroom with new chocolate brown towels. We need a bright new mat and a couple of new accessories, and our mini-makeover will be complete!

A bonus is that our lawn is now very colorful!

Artist at Work

Grace, after Jackson Pollack week at Art Camp:
Her instructor said they were impressed with how she "got into" her artwork:

Next week at camp is Georgia O'Keefe week. I'm curious what she is going to look like on Friday.

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!

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!

Odd and Ends

1. School started. Job started. Time departed.

Kids are cute--

And getting old. Alex is in junior high and Grace is in first grade. Wow.

2. My job is a lot of fun. Cuts into the knitting and blogging time, but I did actually finish a sock during football and Orthodontist waiting time (that's the other job).

I also have turned in the paperwork to enter the fair. I am entering a shawl, socks, and the chicken. I was a little disappointed that I only have three things to enter. Oh well. I still actually have to finish the socks too. I have 3 weeks. Normally very doable, but with the life crunch going on it is going to be a close call.

3. Ravelry is great. I know I have said that before, but now I have proof. I have for several months now been trying to find a copy of Simply Knitting's March issue to get the patterns for the little barnyard animals by Alan Dart who designed the knitted chicken I made. The issue has been sold out, and the only time I found it on Ebay the bidding was over $20 not including shipping from England. Well, last week I joined in a Simply Knitting fans group on Ravelry and posted on the forum that I was looking for issue. A wonderfully kind Raveler responded and mailed it to me! Without asking for anything in return! Isn't that fabulous? I plan on knitting her a sheep. Hopefully she will find that charming and not weird.

Hopefully the next post will include some mystery stole action. Stay tuned!

Summer Plums

I blocked the Shetland Triangle. It grew. It "bloomed". Blocking really brings out the pattern and makes it look like a completely different animal. Blocking lace is a pain, and I wish I really knew what I was doing. But it turned out okay.

I decided that I didn't want the points as pointy as the pattern. I also didn't bind off loose enough to get it that pointy, and I bound off as loose as I could. I should switch needles next time.

I love this color, a deep plummy purple, but it photographs different each time.

My swimmers!

Excuses, Excuses

Today is the start of Mystery Stole 3. Argh. Have I downloaded my clue? No. Have I swatched? No. Have I decided on beads? No. Have I finished the Shetland Triangle yet? No. Do I have my socks for June done? You guessed it. No.

Here are my excuses.

The Shetland Triangle pattern called for fingering weight yarn and I am using laceweight. It calls for 8 pattern repeats, I have done 12 and it is still little. I know blocking will stretch it, but since I am not running out of yarn and it is smallish, I press on. Here is what it looks like at this minute, after 12 repeats-

I haven't finished the sock because I have been knitting endless rows of lace. See excuse #1.

I am painting Grace's room. We are going with a "Hawaiian Monkey" theme (sounds weird, but it'll be cute, I promise). This involves modifying the existing Hawaii room of 8 years ago and two children ago (it used to be Emily/Alex's room, and recently was Alex's alone).

I am modifying the Pink Hotel painting (our family favorite Hawaiian spot) and adding the monkey girl in a hula skirt to the other wall. And I also painted the walls pink/green. For the record, I have done this painting project 98% on my own (Alex gets 1 1/2%, Grace 1/2%).

That's all my excuses.

I'm knitting as fast as I can, and yesterday that caused grief when I discovered I had missed a yarnover three rows back, which meant tinking back around 750 stitches to fix it. I was overjoyed! I am now back on track and after one more repeat I am going to do the edging. I have one more day to finish the socks in June. All is not lost yet. (Yes, I know the world will not stop turning if I don't finish on time but I have self-imposed deadlines).

Happy Friday!