Mittens and Socks

My Jared mittens haven't been going well. I find the Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light to be VERY splitty and the alpaca fuzziness really obscures the pattern. I've decided they need a trip to the 'ole frog pond, and I will start again with some nice smooth Dream In Color Smooshy in a nice shaded solid brown.

But that is on hold while I work on other mittens. I have actually been planning these for some time - I had my friend Angela dye the yarn and I had to do the chart for them on the computer and get it all set up. They are the Poetry Mittens from Piecework Magazine. Instead of the poem the article used I put the Hail Mary prayer on them. They are for my daughter's teacher for Christmas. This year my daughter has her First Communion and she has a very special teacher, so I wanted to do something nice.

The first one is done - and it is going pretty well. They seem very long, but they do fit my hand quite nicely. Hopefully she doesn't have tiny hands.

I've got another First Communion project brewing in my mind. I'm thinking of knitting a lace veil for Grace to wear. I have been looking on Ravelry and found two different examples, one which uses a pattern from the Second Book of Modern Lace Knitting by Marianne Kinzel. I think I'm going to combine the cross panel of that one with some other lace patterns and create something new.

I did finish my Navajo socks too. They went off to be sold at the silent auction at Emily's school. I did get two new skeins of sock yarn from Janice of French 75 fame and I will turn one of them into the little pumpkins socks I saw on Ravelry. Those will be my halloween socks.

This is the time of year where I start my stealth knitting so I will give peeks here but not many details. My gift receivers aren't on Ravelry, so details will probably go there. I spend a lot of time favoriting and queuing over there, and I am starting to lose track of what my real "queue" of items I have to make is. There is the "want to make it queue" and the "someday I'll make this" queue. Wonder if everyone has that problem?

Bits and Pieces

I started a new Jared Flood pattern - Druid (Green Autumn) mittens from Vogue Knitting. Lots of cables, bobbles, interesting stitch patterns. Just love his patterns, as you may have noticed. I'm using Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light in a nice chocolate brown that matches my Celtic Cable Neckwarmer of not long ago. The only problem thus far is the alpaca is fuzzy and obscuring the pattern goodness. I don't want to stop and change yarn, but I may want to make this pattern again out of something that will show off the pattern more.

I am also making a pair of plain socks, just 'cus. These are out of True Love Fiber, in the Navajo colorway. It is striping nicely, and I like the red/turquoise combination. These I'm planning to donate to Emily's school's silent auction. I donated a pair of socks last year and they asked me again, so here I go.

I got the new Debbie Bliss magazine, and it is NICE. Then the new Knitty for fall was up, and there were lots of nice patterns there. Then I got the Interweave FELT issue, and there is this stripey purse....I'm suffering from too many patterns, not enough time syndrome. This week has been crazy busy and the knitting time is taking a huge hit. Sigh.

The Stitches West 09 brochure is up at their website, and I'm all decided on what I want to sign up for. Last year I took the "heavy hitters" meaning Cat Bordhi and Lucy Neatby, and this year I seem to be more interested in the techniques classes, like short rows, and cables, and finishing, and stitch patterns. Nicky Epstein is going to be there, and maybe I can get into one of her classes. The one on knitted edges and flowers looked fun. Registration is Wednesday morning. Wish me luck!

Felted Soap and Juno Regina Revealed

I finished my Juno Regina for the Ravelympics WIP Wrestling, and it was like a wrestling match getting me to buckle down and do it. I was wishing I could move onto something more exciting even though I did enjoy working with the silk yarn and the color was lovely. I did hang in there and finish, but crazy schedules of this past week didn't permit me to properly block and photograph it once it was done.

Anyway, here it is! Blocking sure makes beautiful lace even more beautiful. Make sure to notice Vladimar in the background playing piano.

On another note, no pun intended, a few weeks ago Tracy, Carey, Mom, and I got together to try out another craft project for a potential project for our Good Things group. We covered soap with wool and felted it, making a little "sweater" for a bar of soap. It turns the soap into a combination soap/scrubbie, and when the soap is gone, it is a fragrant little sachet for your drawer.

I used a sampler pack of colorful fibers dyed by Angela of True Love Fiber, and we wrapped the bars, added a little hot water, and put the covered bar into a kneehigh nylon stocking, and then rubbed, rubbed, rubbed. Not long after, the wool had felted and voila! it was done.

Here are two of the bars, my first attempts. I did others, and Carey took photos, but they never seemed to make it on the blog (HINT HINT SISTER). It was a fun and easy project. Some of the felted soaps on Etsy are quite complicated looking, but ours were just our trial runs.

The Internet is a fun place to be

I've been exploring lately. Here are a few Internet gems you've just got to try.



If you want to create a word search you can print out, check out www.teacherly.com/. Now that you've made yours, just what do you do with it? Check this out: http://www.curbly.com/DIY-Maven/posts/5074-How-to-make-a-Word-Search-greeting-card-



If you want a giggle... trust me, I laughed until I cried. Check out http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/. I really liked the section to the right called fan favorites.



And, in honor of Emily taking biology this year, I bring to you this. For just $4, you can get the pattern to create a knitted dissected lab rat. You must see this to believe it. http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=14627496

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!

Ravelympic Update

My lack of posting has not been because I have been hanging out at the Ravelympic village, trading pins with other Ravathletes and visiting the Great Wall of China and the Water Cube. It has been due to REALITY! - that 4 letter word, WORK. School starts Monday and I've been in meetings and retreats, etc.... Not that I don't love work, ahem, [waves to readers at work] it just takes up time. Add the stress of school starting for the kids, and boom, no time.

I have however, been squeezing in some knitting at last minute appointments and during late night Michael Phelps watching. I even got to go to my new knitter friend Lisa's house and there I finished my Juno Regina Scarf. I then grafted it together last night (stressful, but doable) and it is done. That counts as the second of my three ravelympic events. Here it is in its unblocked blob-like state.

Not much to look at, but no time to block. Maybe tomorrow, my coveted day off.

My beaded scarf counts as two ravelympics events- Bead Balance, and Scarf Stroke. I am doing okay with it, but it is not done. I even ordered a 3rd ball of yarn in case it is too short after the second it done (soon) and I think I can finish before the flame is extinguished.

This whole olympic knitting thing has been corny but fun, and if nothing else, has gotten me to finish a few things before school starts and the serious drain on my time begins. And now I have medals to show for it - not as many as Michael Phelps, but can he graft lace? That's what I thought.

All that training paid off...

I'm in the Olympics. The Ravelympics, Ravelry's knitting olympics that is. My first event is wrestling some WIP's (works in progress). That gave me a little incentive to work on the scratchy yet pretty socks.

Finished those this morning, due mostly to my hair appt. Now to wash them and pray for softening. They fit well, so I hope they get more comfy.

I cast on my main Ravelympics project, the Undulating Waves Scarf, this morning when I woke up. The official time to begin was after 5 am which corresponds to Beijing Olympic start time, but I cast on around 7. Not too bad. I have about 5 rows done. I actually starting stringing beads last night, since that isn't actually casting on. So far moving the beads down the yarn is a pain. I think I like the crochet hook method better, but for this project they need to be strung on the working yarn. Other than that, this pattern is basically like the waving lace socks I made last summer.

The yarn is Knit One Crochet Too Handpainted Ambrosia that I purchased at Lambtown. It is silk, alpaca, and cashmere. Yummm. I'm hoping for a yummy beaded scarf. This qualifies for the Scarf Stroke and the Balance Beads events. Yes, I realize this is a little silly, but it is fun.

Notice the stitch markers? They are little pink donuts. I got them on etsy.

In case of chills...

wear alpaca!

Now it is around 97 degrees outside, so I won't be wearing this little number soon, but it will be soft and snuggly when the time comes.

Pattern: Celtic Cable Neckwarmer by Lindsay Henricks, found on ravelry. Yarn: chunky alpaca by Lassen Farms, purchased at Lambtown. I only had 110 yards, so a neckwarmer it was!

Upclose shot of the cables - the color is much more chocolatey. Mmmmm. I still need to block it and add the buttons.

Bonus shot: wet Bella!

What to do while avoiding lace

My Juno Regina stole has stalled. I did the two end parts with all the charts, and now I'm on the "straight section" that is kind of tedious because you knit and knit and you've only done three rows which equals about 1/2 inch. I need more instant gratification than that.



So, I knit socks. Plain socks. Lots of instant gratification. The latest is out of the prettiest yarn I found at Imagiknit last time I was there. Great colors!! Unfortunately, the yarn makes Noro Sock feel like merino. It is so scratchy! I'm hoping washing with conditioner helps. The first sock was NOT fun to knit even though the colors were beautiful. It just felt icky.

Pretty though.

I also bought some lovely soft chocolate alpaca at Lambtown last weekend, and I have been searching Ravelry for something appropriate to make with it. I finally decided on the Celtic Cable Neckwarmer. I have started it, but only have this blurry photo to show for it at the moment:

Sorry about that. It is hard to see cables on dark brown anyway, but imagine how lovely they are. I only have one little skein of this alpaca so I'm trying to get all the bang for my buck possible. The next photo will be great I swear!

Our Wordle

Click to make it bigger and see it better.
Try one for yourself at Wordle .

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!

Lambtown!

I read a few months ago on Ravelry about the sheep and lamb festival called Lambtown that was going to be held in Dixon. Once I learned where Dixon is (by Davis), I thought it would be fun to make it into a family day trip.

One kid opted to stay with Gram and Carey, one kid was delighted (Grace, who loves all things lamb, but mostly the eating part), and one kid went along under protest (that kid shown below, looking very thrilled at the Starbucks in Merced).

I enjoyed seeing the fiber building the most (yarn!) although since I'm not a spinner, I was mostly wandering around taking in the fibery goodness. I did manage to take home a momento or two though. (Like there would be any doubt).

We saw alpacas and long haired sheep,

and Grace got to sample some ribs from the cook-off (notice the toothless grin)--

We saw some angora bunnies that were ultra soft -

and saw lot of people spinning lovely yarn, this one will become socks--

We saw lots of fiber--

and handspun ready to be judged--

It was a lot of fun. We had lamb for lunch (I prefer to knit lamb than eat it) and then we made our way over to Courtland and saw lots of pear trees, then to Sacramento and went to the Train Museum, then to Woodbridge for dinner. It was a busy day.

Circle time!

I think I'm knitting discloths to avoid doing my lace. Anyway, now I have a dishcloth and a little coaster with the extra. I now want one in every color. Knitting in a circle is fun!

Edited to add: This pattern is from another blogger, it is called Lacy Picot Swirl Cloth. I found it through Ravelry of course.

Good Thing the Circus Was in Town Last Week

Finished socks!!

Got new shoes!!

Aren't they awesome?! Perfect for showing off the hand knit socks. Helps the 'ole "quirky" image thing. No, I will not wear them with capris. Only with jeans in the dead of winter when wool socks make sense. I may be quirky, but I'm not crazy.

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.

Truly Lovely Socks and a baby giraffe

My friend Angela dropped some of her yarn in my knitting bag on KIP day and I decided it needed to become a sock. I was looking for something easy since I'm working on lace too, so I first started the RPM sock. It wasn't working for me, it seemed much too stretchy, so I ripped back and made it into a good old standby Basic Sock Recipe. I had forgotten how satisfying it is to just knit. Although for some reason, I can't stand gussets. Odd.


Speaking of lace, I have finished both ends of the Juno Regina scarf and now need to do the long stretches of the middle part. I was actually looking forward to this, since I can then knit it when I'm out knitting with friends. Following charts requires me to be at home, with good lighting, when it is fairly tranquil around here. I say fairly, because it is rarely completely tranquil. We do what we can.



Speaking of children, Alex is now very close to being as tall as a giraffe is when it is born. Yikes! He is 13.

I had to do it too...

Here's mine:
The questions:

1. What is your first name? Carey

2. What is your favorite food? Cupcakes

3. What high school did you go to? Hoover High School

4. What is your favorite color? Green

5. Who is your celebrity crush? Josh Groban

6. Favorite drink? Iced Tea

7. Dream vacation? Venice

8. Favorite dessert? Chocolate cake

9. What you wanted to be when you grow up? Photographer

10. What do you love most in life? Jesus

11. One Word to describe you? Loved

12. Your flickr name? careymw

My Photo Meme

I have been seeing this meme around, and decided to jump in. Here is mine--

The rules:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into mosaic maker - I used the big huge labs one.

The questions:
1. What is your first name? Cindy
2. What is your favorite food? Rocky Road Ice Cream
3. What high school did you go to? Hoover High School
4. What is your favorite color? Purple
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Phil Collins
6. Favorite drink? Iced Tea
7. Dream vacation? Tuscany
8. Favorite dessert? Chocolate Chip Cookies
9. What you wanted to be when you grow up? Cake Decorator
10. What do you love most in life? Family
11. One Word to describe you? Quirky
12. Your flickr name? yarnpaperscissors