Still knittin' blue

How weird is that?

I don't like blue. It is my least favorite color, except for maybe grey. And I've been knitting the giant blue jellyfish (or some may refer to it as the Hemlock Ring Blanket) for awhile now, and I'm getting bored. I'm on row 100 of 117, which sounds like I'm almost done, but I'm not since each row has over 400 stitches and growing. When I look at the project, I like how it is coming along, but I'm amused that I am knitting in blue.

I finished the striped socks. They were blue! And grey. And I liked them a lot, mostly because the self striping yarn striped very well. I haven't taken a photo of them yet, mostly because they are in the knitting bag which is in the car and not by the camera. Lazy. Sorry.

Then I went and started the Koolhaas Hat, you know, my Jared Flood hat from Holiday Gifts. Its blue too! Well, more like periwinkle, but what's going on? Am I crazy? I like this a lot too, the yarn has bits of purple in it and is very pleasing to look at while I'm crossing a zillion little cables. It makes me happy.

I missed Naughty/Knotty Knitters this morning since I was at training this morning for work, but I hear that we had a visitor that had seen us knitting at the coffee shop and this morning brought her knitting to join us. How fun is that? I am way too much of a chicken to do that, but it sounded like it went well. Aren't knitters cool? The funny thing is that when she arrived, it forced the "Cindy's gone let's talk scrapbooking/photos instead of knitting" girls to get back to the task at hand. Ha. Ha Ha.

I taught a person at soccer practice (a coach that I didn't know) how to do magic loop. That made me happy too.

By the way...

Happy Birthday Emily. I do hope you like your Pirates loot from Disneyland. You're the best. I love ya babe!

Post-wedding panic = need to shop

Oh. My. Goodness. I've just received two DVDs filled with images from my wedding. The photos are lovely. I will post the cream of the crop when my panic attack is over. How on Earth will I make a scrapbook of normal size from literally 900 images from my wonderful wedding day? Not to mention photos from showers and all that. YIKES!

This type of problem will only be solved with serious shopping. Shelly! Mom! When exactly are we going to that scrapbook store in Bakersfield?

I'm married!

There are about a billion things to do when planning THE social event of the season. I'm choosing to blog the creative few that I managed to take pictures of during the crazy season before my wedding. First, the cookies. NolaMom, the cookie-baking fanatic mixed up batch after batch of cookie dough, chilled it all, rolled it out and baked close to 200 wedding cake-shaped cookies. For a while there, cookies covered the whole house. Cindy and I got together and frosted and frosted and frosted and then we decorated the cake cookies to look just like the beautiful cake Melinda from Dede's Decor created for me. (I'll post those pictures as soon as I get them back from the photog.) The result:

After two whole days of packaging the cookies, I started work on the guest book. (I feel I should mention here, in the interest of full disclosure, that I started the book the day before the wedding) I do realize that you can hop on over to Michaels and buy a guest book for 12 bucks, and have little to no stress about the whole thing, but really, is that me? I think not.

I made a 6 by 6 album using just a few papers and embellishments, added photos from our engagement shoot and left space for my guests to sign. The result is so fun. I just can't stop looking at it. And, it is great that people wrote more than just their name. Instead of getting just a record of attendance, Gary and I have a book filled with wishes from our closest friends.

So... after guests signed the book, this is a little video of what they got to see, thanks to the oh so bouncy camera work of my co-worker, Shawn. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSum_ZN-S8U

I can't wait to show you the scrapbook I'll create for the wedding and the honeymoon. Want to know about the honeymoon? It was truly wild...

Sea lions in San Simeon, just across the street from the zebras. Yes. Zebras, right off the highway.

Hangover cures

Is it possible to have a wedding hangover when you aren't the bride or groom? I feel like it has taken me all week to get back to normal and I'm not quite there yet.

I have taken up the "sock-er" practice socks again just to have something easy to knit. The wedding may be over, but kids and sports schedules are busy and this week started with some unhappy news at school that left everyone with the blues so knitting helps lessen the stress. Is it a coincidence that my two WIP's are blue, not a color I knit very often? Hmmmm...I do like the stripes of this yarn.

I haven't blogged about some of the things I am working on because they may (will) end up as Christmas gifts. Blogs aren't good surprise keepers. However, I haven't nailed down what I am making for whom yet, so if I show these and Santa ends up delivering it to you, please pretend you've never seen it before, ok?

I have a knitting crush on Jared Flood. I started the Hemlock Ring Blanket a few weeks ago and have been enjoying it a lot. This is a design that is based on a vintage doily pattern, just made with worsted weight yarn and with a few more repeats added in. The photos on Brooklyntweed (Jared Flood's blog which is excellent) make you want to cast on everything immediately, so I decided to jump in with this one. Right now mine is in the "looks like a jellyfish" stage since it is on circulars, but many photos on Ravelry and the Yahoo group make me hold out hope for greatness once it is off the needles. I'm not using wool since I want it to be washable. Cross your fingers.

He also has a hat featured in the new Holiday Gifts from Interweave Knits. I want to make that too, but don't really have a hat wearing audience to knit for. Any requests? I may make it anyway, being the process knitter I am.

It is Wedding Day!

And the pillow was done six hours before the rehearsal. No sweat.

Congratulations Carey and Gary!

Clear the Cobwebs!

I'm back!

It is all Carey's fault. Really. She had to go and conjure up a wedding full of opportunities to create things. We have all taken the bait. Tracy masterminded the shower, Cheri is helping with the flowers, Mom has made the flower girl basket, and baked, oh, a billion cookies for wedding favors in between keeping Carey on task (Not an easy task) and supplying Dad with a never ending Honey-do list. We girls got together last weekend to decorate those cookies, and Carey swears she will blog the photos of that.

Carey herself is, of course, doing lots too. She designed and printed the invitations and programs, and along with Mom, is putting together the whole sha-bang. I'm sure I have forgotten to mention about 80% of what they have done.

Anyway, having waited until the last minute (did anyone expect anything less?) to do the ring bearer pillow, I figured I should get busy. I intended to do a silk ribbon embroidery in the corner design, but it has been a very long time since I did any silk ribbon embroidery and my supplies were a little dated looking and not all the right colors for this fall wedding. I looked all over town in the usual places and was very disappointed to find most every place had stopped selling silk ribbon. Crafting fads! By chance I found a beautiful supply at the new quilting store in town, Cottage Quilts. She printed me a pattern of a heart that I immediately knew was perfect for the pillow.

Here is what it looks like so far -

Still have to finish the beads.

I'm really liking it. I had a few fits of indecision on what to do with the pillow edges. A ruffle would be too busy I think, so I am making some tassles. I will also try to put a little ribbon or strap type thing for little Patrick to hold on to.

Will post finshed photos sometime before the wedding. Ha! Like I'm not going to finish seconds before the rehearsal.

We had October Good Things last night. We decorated little monogram letters. I chose H for Halloween. We had a lot of fun, almost everyone was there, and the projects were cute. Tracy made raisin pound cake, yummy!

At the risk of beating a dead horse, I got my stuff back from the fair. My socks had in fact gotten a first place - I thought they hadn't received anything, but apparently it wasn't labeled or something.

And, the biggest shocker was I had an extra jumbo ribbon in the bag. I won the People's Choice award for the Home Arts Building! Way to stuff a ballot box friends and family! You make me proud.

Scenes from the County Fair

My Mystery Stole won best of show! I was very surprised and happy. My chicken also got a first place. My socks (and the other socks I saw) got nothing, which helps keep me humble in spite of the purple ribbon. Such is the luck of the fair.

Ribbons, corn dogs, cinnamon rolls, and Chris Daughtry. Quite a night at the fair.

Eye Candy for Fall

I love the Bay Area. Always something to do, great yarn stores, just wish it were not 3 hours away. This weekend the three Musketeers (Carey, Nolamom and I) went up to see a quilt show in Livermore and the TKGA yarn show in Oakland.

The Alden Lane Nursery in Livermore was decked out for fall. I love the pumpkins and fall flowers. Aren't they great?

The yarn show in Oakland is much smaller than Stitches, but this year it seemed even smaller than before. We took our time, but were done looking in the market after an hour and a half. I was happy to see Terilyn Needlecraft there, I got some of their laceweight yarn at Stitches at the Bay Area Knit Coop booth at Stitches, and that was what I used to make the Mystery Stole. This time I got some pretty green silk/wool that I am leaning toward using to maybe make the Forest Path Stole. I also got some silk laceweight at another booth that was incredible. Lace seemed to be the yarn of the day.

Since we were done early, we made a detour to Bake Sale Betty's (fab bakery and Betty has very interesting electric blue hair) and Article Pract. I was just there not too long ago, but managed to see some nice stuff. I really like their selection. It is probably a good idea that I don't live closer. I did manage to restrain myself pretty well.

Now all I have to decide is what to start first. I am working on another pair of plain socks ("sock"-er practice socks) and have a Twisted Flower to finish, but I'm ready to start a big lace project. Or mittens. Or a blanket. Decisions Decisions.

Doesn't Maurice look like he's guest hosting Blue's Clues?

September Socks for School

I'm taking a complicated sock break. I'm actually cheating, since I need to finish a pair of socks in September and the Twisted Flower socks take so long I may be in danger of not finishing in time. I decided to finish up the pair of plain Koigu socks I started when I went to the Teacher retreat in August.

There is something very satisfying about plain stockinette after a run with lace and cables. Interestingly, I feel the same in reverse. I guess I crave variety.

These socks are on their way to be a silent auction item for Emily's high school auction fundraiser. Being low in self esteem, I'm terrified no one will bid on them. Not everyone understands the joy of the handknit socks from handdyed merino. Maybe I can pay Lisa or Tracy to bid on them just to save my ego. Don't you love friends?

In other news, today was the red-letter day for registering for next year's Stitches West. I was poised at the laptop at 7 am this morning and of course couldn't get through on the internet so was reduced to phoning them over and over until I finally got through at 7:26 on the cell phone on the way to school (my co-pilot Alex did the dialing). I signed up for classes from Cat Bordhi, Candace Eisner Strick, Melissa Leapman, and Lucy Neatby. Two full days of sock knitting classes, plus a half day of knitting backwards (totally cool) and a half day of knitted borders. Plus a ticket to see Vickie Howell. Plus, I got in at the good hotel this time. Total knitting heaven. I wish it were February now.

Patience is a gift from God, so is a sock to knit

Does knitting make you a more patient person? I have read all the mystical spiritual things about knitting and agree with them for the most part. When I am knitting I am happy (unless I have messed up, then I may be uttering less than happy sounds) and even thinking about yarn or my next project can transport me into a better "place." Yes, I don't count sheep, I count balls of yarn. Close enough.




Anyway, I like to always have knitting with me when I have to wait. I seek out car trips (and hate to have to be the driver) and don't mind waiting for the kids as they are shuffled about town during their activities. I am very proud of the fact I have something productive to do, no idle hands, yada yada.





However, I have noticed that when something dreadful happens like I finish my project at hand and I have nothing to do, I am more impatient than ever. To the point of wanting to strangle the person responsible for making me waste my valuable time THAT I COULD BE KNITTING. Yes, I know it is my own fault for not packing two projects with me at any given moment, however I usually shove my sock du jour in my purse and heaven help me if I try to cram even more than that in the abyss of my handbag.





Anyway, today I was waiting at the doctor's office and worked on the toe of the Twisted Flower sock. Then I got sent to the lab and got down to the final stitches, and since I didn't have my kitchener cheat sheet and needle with me, I had nothing more to knit. I looked around at the other 7 or 8 people in the room all doing absolutely nothing but staring at the ceiling and waiting and I wanted to say "People, where is your knitting?! I know my problem, but how can you just be wasting your lives away like that?"





Maybe they were praying. Maybe they noticed the woman who finished her purple sock and was sitting with them with a crazed look in her eye. Or maybe they were counting balls of yarn in their mind's eye. I'll never know.

Has it been a week already?

I'm sorry for the lack of blog entries. I'm swamped. No excuse I know, but something has had to give, and I'm not keeping my head above water very well. Love the job, but I am a busy mama!

In my spare moments (uh huh) I have been trying my best to make progress on the Twisted Flower socks. I have thrown in the towel for making the fair deadline with them. The Waving Lace socks will have to substitute. I have made progress on the TF sock, but it is slow going with the cables and twisted stitches. My new revised goal is end of September.

I did block the Mystery Stole, and persuaded Tracy to be my model. I am pleased with the results, although I probably wouldn't have made this pattern if I would have known about the asymmetrical part. I love the wing, and wish I had matching wings at each end. Ah, such is the chance the mystery presents. Oh well. I did learn a few things, and this is by far the biggest lace I have attempted. I now feel pretty confident with lace, and will come back to it again soon.

Tracy was a sport for posing. I tried to crop out as many body parts as possible, but I think she makes a fine stole model. I'll use her again. (She needs an agent to negotiate a better price next time).

Stamping humor

OK, Tracy asked for stamping humor. Here goes:

At the end of a very long life, a dedicated stamper and scrapbooker passed away.

She awakens to find a glorious craft room filled with every imaginable scrapbooking item: Papers of every color, texture and design, the latest in gadgets to make the most attractive pages ever. She finds eyelets, punches, stickers and ribbons in every color. She finds templates and scissors and ink pens of every color. The best part is it is all organized and labeled! Her work area is pristine, just waiting for her to create cards and scrapbooks for the rest of eternity!

She says to herself: Ha! See, it didn't matter that I wasn't always the most nice person and that I didn't do anything for anyone else but me! It didn't matter that I never set foot in a church and that I cheated on my taxes! Ha!

And then she realizes.... there's no adhesive.

Knitting humor

Here's a joke for you. (An old standard, but a good one.)

A highway patrolman pulled alongside a speeding car on the freeway. Glancing at the car, he was astounded to see that the blonde behind the wheel was knitting! Realizing that she was oblivious to his flashing lights and siren, the trooper cranked down his window, turned on his bullhorn and yelled, "PULL OVER!" "NO!" the blonde yelled back, "SCARF!"

Sock in Progress

I finally got going on the sock.

I'm using Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Blackberry, which corresponds nicely to the Project Spectrum colors I'm supposed to be using. I finally got with the program, yes I did!

I'm knitting the Twisted Flower sock by Cookie A., my favorite sock designer ever. This is not a speedy sock. This represents my work for the day. I have a deadline of Friday, September 14 for this sock, since fair entries are due that day. I need the knitting fairy to add some speed to the needles. I'm back to magic looping these, and I noticed that my Knitpicks Options circular #1's are not straight anymore. I know I tend to bend the wooden dpn's, but I didn't realize I was so forceful on the metal needles.

I have very little else on the needles right now, except for the few hibernating projects that I am getting close to forgetting altogether. I still need to block my mystery stole (yes it is done!!) but I'm saving that for tomorrow morning. I am wishing I had bought those blocking wires I saw at Imagiknit.

Tuesday I start teaching Arts and Crafts as an elective to the junior high. I will have around 10 kids, not all girls, so I am trying to come up with some non-sexist crafts projects for the young teen crowd. I think friendship bracelets will be a good starting place. I had actually never done the weaving kind, and it is kind of fun. I'll go to the store tomorrow and buy some appropriate beads and then will try the macrame kind. From there the class will move into paper art, with a few stolen projects from Good Things, like the paper bag book, and maybe the Altoid tin card in a box thing. That will give me a good excuse to buy and eat several tins of chocolate altoids. Yummy, however, rather dangerous eating in this weather.

Friday Funny

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!

Vote for my friend!

So... a few months ago, I nominiated my friend, Cynthia, for a national award. I was thrilled that out of all the nominations, she was selected as a finalist for the Stand on a Better World Awards. If she wins, her organization could get a cash prize that would help her continue the great work she does. If you could, please vote for my friend Cynthia Karraker.

http://www.standonabetterworld.com/vote/index.html

Pops and Alex

Father and Grandson camp August 07 004
Originally uploaded by CareyMW

Aren't they cute?

A Dilemma

I started a new job. I'm going to be a librarian at a small private school very close to home, but of course, not anywhere near the two schools my kids attend. I'm very excited and eager to jump into the new school year.

The faculty and staff went on a retreat yesterday to the foothills around an hour and a half from school. I knew I would be riding in someone else's car, so I brought along a new plain sock to knit (didn't want to waste prime knitting time, especially now that time is at a premium). I realized I would get a few questions about what I was doing, so there lies the dilemma I was faced with:

How much of the knitting self do I expose? I don't know these people very well, and I wouldn't want to steer their impression of me from "Gee, she seems interesting" to "Oh my, what sort of nut do we have here?" Especially after the reception my sock knitting got from my cousin at Good Things. Not everyone gets it.

When the conversation turned to what I was doing I told them I like to knit. True, no? The whole truth? Huh. I didn't volunteer my blog URL for them to see for themselves. Admitting to knitting and blogging is reserved for those who know the level of my, uh, involvement with yarn. I sort of decided that I would wait and reveal the inner knitter a piece at a time.

Meanwhile, I got this far on the sock-

I'm glad I didn't let the time slip by. I'm ready to start the last clue of the mystery stole too. This week is the first week of school for 4 of 5 family members, and all with different schedules that don't blend well, so knitting time will be scarce. Wish me luck, on the job, and on the stress management of home. Yikes!

My soul is refreshed

Two weeks ago, my very good friend, future bridesmaid and co-worker lost her 17-year-old son to a horrible accident. After a week fighting for his life, Zach got to be comforted in the arms of Jesus. I have peace because of that, but I am mourning the death of this great kid. The black days after Zach's accident are a blur now. Busy at work. Worried sick about my friend. Prayer with other friends, church family and co-workers. A huge, huge outpouring of support from those co-workers.

In the midst of it all, I felt the Lord at work. He was there during it all, helping me get through each day. I learned this week that getting through each day means getting back into routine. The Good Things meeting was scheduled way before any of this happened, but after a horrible couple of weeks filled with drama, sadness and a whopper of a cold, planning the projects was the very last thing I wanted to do.


Funny thing, though. It was exactly what I needed. I don't know how, but I healed a little bit by getting my hands in ink and playing with my scissors in the days before the meeting. My soul was refreshed during the meeting just by being with Tracy, Cheri, Lori and the gang. We laughed over silly things and surrounded me love. Thanks for that. I appreciate it more than you know.

We did three projects. Here they are:




Cindy and Tracy show off their hard work.





Lori and Carolyn enjoy strawberry cheesecake squares.

No Longer Behind

I'm officially on clue 6 now! Finished clue 5 today. I like the way the wing is shaping up - very feather like and all, but I don't really care for the dividing line between the main stole and the wing. I'm hoping it will all come together. I also am very close to being at the end of the first skein of yarn, 630 yards have been used so far (give or take a few yards).

I am so tired of knitting this! I am on the cusp (so close I can taste it) of casting on for the twisted flower socks. SO CLOSE! I am using Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Blackberry. Project Spectrum! Sock a month knitalong! Summer of socks! I would feel like Tiennie except I won't finish them in one week (she's a super fast and very good knitter, go check out what she knitted for her husband)

The Everlasting Sock

Can you imagine if Willie Wonka ran a yarn factory? The yarn that never runs out no matter how much you knit. Socks that change color depending on the time of day. Sweaters that grow thicker depending on the weather.





These socks were made from Willie Wonka yarn. They seemed to last forever. I worked on them pretty steadily (in my mind anyway) yet they never seemed to be done. UNTIL TODAY!

Hooray! These socks are my first installment in the Sock of the Month Knitalong that starts in August. I sort of started them in July, but we won't talk about that little detail.

Even though these were the socks that would never end, I loved the yarn. So pretty! In fact, I will make a declaration that this is the prettiest sock yarn I have used thus far! It is called French 75, purchased at Ancient Pathways.



Love it!

Nothing at all about yarn, paper, or scissors

Maurice wants you to see what he spent his Saturday doing:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAYhfQijuU0

Meanwhile, Grace and I went with Carey and Gram and shopped, lunched, and were ladies of leisure.

Ready for a wing

Big projects do not make exciting blog posts. I have been knitting away at the mystery stole in an attempt to catch up. I have now (on Tuesday) caught up to this week's clue.

Good thing, being that the mystery has been revealed. The stole is patterned to represent "Swan Lake." That sounds so normal and not mysterious compared to the offbeat and sometimes sinister guesses that have been floating around the internet. Anyway, the design is now going to feature a wing, which sounds very odd, but I think will look very nice, although will take most everyone out of their knitting comfort zone. I am used to symmetrical designs, so this will be good for me. And it is looking very pretty on the blogs I have been cheating and looking at.

I am also enjoying ravelry! What a great place to compare others' work and see the difference yarn choices and color make. It is really like a knitting/internet revolution. That sounds very melodramatic, but it has a huge potential that is very exciting. I love it! I haven't said too much about it since it is not open to the general public yet and can't be viewed unless you are a beta user, and that is a giant bummer because it is great! I am telling everyone it is like a Myspace for knitters, but it also keeps track of projects and yarn with photos and you can view everyone else's finished objects and find lots of inspiration, and I could go on and on! It will be great when it is finally up and running. Jesse and Casey are the brains behind it and they are brilliant!

Fun site and a celebration! Hooray!

Busy, busy, busy. With all the wedding planning and a crazy busy work schedule, things haven't actually been going so well on the creativity front. I've got a great plan to do a creative scrapbook album-type thingy instead of a traditional guest book. Actually sitting down and doing it, however, may be troublesome. So, to make a long story short, I found this lovely web site and accompanying blog that celebrates the lives of real women with real schedules and discusses how real women scrap! Looks like I'm not alone on the busy front!

Here are the links.... http://www.realwomenscrap.com/index2.php and http://realwomenscrap.typepad.com/scrapbook_lessons/

And, during the month of August, the site is celebrating blogging as well. I've attached the site's blog-a-bration button so you can click and find out what it is all about. Hope you like it.

On and on and on

I swear I am knitting. I seem to go on and on and never make any progress. Oh, yeah, I know I am on row 263 and all, but it is slow going. I am behind! Tomorrow is the next post, the all-important clue that tells us the secrets to the mystery stole universe, and I didn't catch up like I intended. Big bummer. I still have another 70 rows to go.

I also feel like I need (and want) to do a small project really quickly just to finish something. Part of me wants to do that, but that would just get me even farther behind! Knit faster!

If it weren't for the laptop buying, school supply gathering, uniform obtaining, shoe shopping, class list viewing, and driving in circles across town several times a day, I would probably get more done. Why does life have to interrupt my knitting time?