Monday, December 27, 2004

Knitting and Chocolate

Well I survived Christmas (the family, the presents, the FOOD.) I've eaten my body weight in chocolate and I've been on some kind of sugar high for the past few days. This has by no means affected my knitting. Although, my sister gifted me with a wonderful swift, which will definitely help with winding all those yarns in the stash.

I've got a couple of dropped rows on my clapotis. Since I've overcome my hesitation on dropping the stitiches, it's been going a bit quicker. The colors on my yarn started pooling a bit, but so far, so good.


clapotis2.jpg

All I want to do is start new projects, and wish for Santa and a finishing fairy to help me clear out all my WIPs.

But I won't think of that now, I think it's time to start on a new sugar high...



Knitting and Chocolate

Saturday, December 18, 2004

Thanks to you all who commented on the previous post. The picture. I tried the Flickr email update but it only loaded the photo not the entry. Ah well, I guess the picture was all I really needed.

I've been quite impressed with all the Christmas Knitting I've seen around on all the blogs. So many beautiful mittens, scarves, hats, sweaters and even a couple of legwarmers. Wonderful stuff. Although If I ever decide to knit my presents for next year, I'll have to start sometime next month, just to finish in time. (Unless of course they teach classes in speed knitting) ;-)

As for my current WIPs, I'm ready to felt my entrelac bag. I've pressed on with my Clapotis. It's going pretty well and fairly quick as I'm eager to see the effect of all these dropped stitches. I'm using the Briar Rose I orderd from Axe, a while back, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll have enough to finish...

Pictures tomorrow...

Sunday, December 05, 2004

another weekend over and 20 days until Christmas

My week has been fairly hectic, between end of the year work stuff and getting the house ready for the holidays, I've got papers and decorations all over the place. The tree is up, (allergies keep up from getting a real one), so the house is starting to get that festive holiday feel. Yankee candles that smell like cookies fill the house with that buttery warm cookie smell, that makes your mouth water, and then disappoints you as you realize there are no actual cookies. Very little Christmas shopping done, but I do have my list. Christmas shopping has been much easier these past few years, since we've done the family Secret Santa. With over thirty of us, (this is why I don't knit christmas presents for my family), we each chose a name and focus our energy and our money on that one person. We still buy different presents for the kids, though the last few years, I've gone with a gift card to Borders, not too bad.

As for knitting news. I've finshed another round and and a half of my entrelac bag, and i've found the perfect handles for it a G-Street Fabric. It used to be, that I'd walk into a yarn/craft/fabric store and I would buy everything and anything that would suit my current crafting mood. So I was quite happy with myself, for just buying the handles...
BL-handles.jpg

Although later at the LYS, I came with out...
GR-NatWool.jpg

and the Cornelia Tuttle Hamilton Book 3...
CTH-BK3.jpg

I'm desparately trying to finish something else in the next few weeks. This evening when I picked up my knitting basket, I decided that I'd finish the Pearl Beaded scarf. It's has been sitting alone and untouched for quite a while. Then I realized WHY it is was sitting alone and untouched. I dropped a a stitch about 4 inches from the end. As I'm not in the mood to spend the evening frogging the beads and the kid silk, I'm putting it back in the basket. Maybe I can finsh that entrelac bag tonight...

Sunday, November 28, 2004

entrelac-a-round

Inspired by the beautiful entrelac patterns, I've seen scattered all around, I've come up with this.
noro-entre.jpg

My first attempt at entrelac, and I'm knitting it in the round. I think it will be another bag, and maybe felted one. I suppose it will depend an whether or not I like it after it's finished and blocked.

Holiday shopping at the bookstore can be very bad, especially when distracted by knitting books.
snb-nation.jpg

So I got something for me. After all, there are still 27 more shopping days til Christmas...

Saturday, November 27, 2004

a day of shopping

I was out there, for a large part of the day, with the rest of the holiday shoppers. I wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but I stayed away from the malls. We started out in Aldie at the British Pantry to stock up on yummy stuff for the holidays.

As we were out in the western part of the county, we decided to check out Capital Yarns. The selection seemed a bit limited, although they had a humongous bargain bin in the front. Unfortunately you didn't have the option of buying just a few skeins. They came pre-packed and wrapped. There is a nice selection of Cherry Tree Hill yarn, but I really wanted some silk garden and the Debbie Bliss Silk Alpaca. I went in with a purpose and came out with nothing. Very unsatisfying.

Thursday, November 25, 2004

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well it's a bit late, but I hope y'all had a good one. I'm stuffed and tired and quite happy that the day turned out quite well. Family and friends filled the house and I'm ready for bed.

No new knitting news, except I've started a new project. It's one of those things, that aren't quite planned, but you start knitting and the pattern starts to emerge, and you don't know whether to frog it or continue on to see how it works. I'm just a bit clueless as to my next step, if it looks any better tomorrow I may post a picture.... eh, maybe.

Thursday, November 18, 2004

OMG an FO!!

One Glove. YAY!

After attempting to finish up the fingers yesterday evening during Lost. The giant holes near the fingers appeared and much frogging ensued. But now all is well, and I have an FO.
OMG an FO!!

I think I'll try to finish up my WIP's before starting the next glove. (I don't like directions that say work as for Left glove, only .....)

At least the weekend is near, and I may find some time to eke out a few rows on my Lara this evening.

Saturday, November 13, 2004

Thumbs Up

I finally had time to knit this evening, and I'm happy to say I have completed a thumb. So far so good, so I think I'll try tackling the other fingers tomorrow.
Thumbs Up

The other day I received some of Axelle's yarn in the Briar Rose colorway. I'm seriously considering using this for Clapotis...
briar-rose.jpg

I didn't do too much for Halloween this year, except dispose of the leftover Halloween candy. (delightfully yummy) It's a little late, but I couldn't resist this 59 cent special at Target. (Although, I'm quite sure that Em-Em wishes I had.)
witchy.jpg

Monday, November 08, 2004

I've got a cuff...

The highland heather has a purpose. Gloves. (or mittens, if I don't like the fingers) I'm just trying to get a handles on all these needles. Knitting with a porcupine, eh? But at least I have a cuff.
cuff.jpg

Spent the weekend with some friends and I showed off my new yarn. Then they made some comments as to the unseen FO's. Well, there are no FO's, at least nothing recent. Many many WIP's. But NO FO's. If I can manage a couple of rows a night, on any of my WIP's. I will consider it a good night.

I probably have some sort of knitting ADD. There's always some newer, better, brighter, simpler, quicker, must have yarn/pattern/needle/notion that I must try/buy. So now I have these...
nov-knit-mags.jpg

Saturday, November 06, 2004

Stash enhancement

I was quite excited last night when I come home to a box of yarn that I had ordered from Axelle. I've got the Highland Heather in merino wool...
Highland-Heather.jpg

and I've already swatched...
hhs.jpg

Now I just have to figure out what to make with it.

Monday, November 01, 2004

If there's no time to knit. Buy yarn.

Another busy weekend, although not a busy knitting weekend.. But it's November, so the multitude of family birthdays and family gatherings and general holiday festivites will keep me quite busy until January.

Since, there really was no time to knit, I settled for stash enhancement. So there's the Araucania Nature Wool, in lovely shades of purple and dusty pink...
anw.jpg

and some burgundy and gold for a Harry Potter scarf for my niece...
EM-&-HP-YARN.jpg

I'm also getting ready to order some of the beautiful handpainted colorways from the talented Axelle. They are all so fabulous, I've having a hard time deciding which ones to get. My favorites are the Highland Heather, Water Lilies, Briar Rose, and Sawyer.

Although I like to lament on the fact that I have very limited time to knit. I was finally able to finish the left side of my Lara sweater. (here's to midnight knitting.) Hopefully the right side won't take as long.
lara.jpg

A while back Chelsea RAOKed me with a gift certicate from Adagio teas. (you can see the tins above the sweater) So far my favorite is the Ceylon Sonata. Thanks again, Chelsea.

My sister was out of town, so I get to babysit the lovely Tiger. Isn't she cute? She loves yarn as much as Em-Em. But she's a good kitty, who has forgiven me feeding her a little late. She's diabetic, so she know exactly when it's time to eat.
tiger.jpg

Thursday, October 28, 2004

fall knitty surprise

There's a bit of a surprise over at Knitty. I've printed it out and I'm running late for work, so I suppose I'll finish this later.

Sunday, October 24, 2004

more midnight knitting

So after a day of partying, and party planning. I finally have time to knit a bit. I've started more projects and have finished none. Right now I've got a Noro hat and poncho for my niece on the needles and waiting for more of my attention. I completed frogged my sirdar scarf and I'm using the yarn for the poncho.

I 'm longing desparately for an FO, or at least time to knit. Midnight knitting, although fun and productive, is cutting into my sleep schedule. When do we get that extra hour from daylight savings? Because I'd like it right now.

I'll try and post pictures tomorrow.

Monday, October 18, 2004

midnight knitting

I guess this makes me a Midnight Knitter. After a virtually knitless weekend. I finally picked up my needles around 11:30 this evening. I've made a bit of progress on my Lara, And I thought I'd take a break before starting the left front. I've got to be up in about 6 hours to go to work, but unfortunately sleep is eluding me at the moment. Good for my knitting I suppose.

Last weekend I trekked out to the Sugarloaf Arts & Crafts festival with my sister. There quite a few Knitted bits around. Bags, Hats, Felted Pencil holders, and a luscious 2 pound skein of an expresso colored alapaca silk yarn that screamed out my name. Unfortunately my wallet screamed a No in reply, and I walked away. Ah well, they'll be back again next month.

Sunday, October 10, 2004

surrounded by red heart

I just got back from the midnight madness sale at AC Moore. You see, my mother, loves her red heart, the squeaky acrylic yarn. She loves it even more, when it is on sale. She makes afghans for the entire family, including the pets. With the Christmas season creeping upon us, she's ready to get started on this years batch. I thought it was only my mother, but I've never seen so many people so excited by Red Heart. The aisles were packed with people, and everyone with carts and baskets full of squeaky yarn. Eh, well, it makes her happy.

As for me I 've made a bit of progress on at least two of my projects. I've finished up the first sleeve on Lara and I'm currently working my way through the body. I 've added two inches to my Katia Shawl, which is getting wider and wider. (and taking longer and longer to complete a single row.) I've also pulled out the Pearl Beaded Scarf from the bottom of my basket. Inspired by Brooke, and her completed PBS, I'm going to try and get mine done this week. Yeah, right. :-)

It was so beautiful yeasterday. I just love October. Not too hot, not too cold. Not so many bugs. I pulled out my envelopes of Kool-Aid and tried a little more dyeing. And I came up with this...

KA-yarn.jpg

and here's another view...

KAyarn2.jpg

To go along with the fruity flavors I've named them:
Blue Raspberry, Honeydew
raspberry-lemonade.jpg honeydew.jpg
Black Grape, Pumpkin

grape-cherry.jpg Pumpkin.jpg
and Lemon-Lime.

kiwi-lime.jpg
I was so happy when I finally figured out the colors.( I can really be a bit slow sometimes ;-) The color of the envelope indicates the color of the juice/dye. ;-)

Wednesday, October 06, 2004

additions to my mental craft queue

I'm off to another slow week of knitting. Although I have started a new project, because I can't seem to get the old ones out of the queue. I'm making the Lara from the Debbie Bliss Silk Alpaca book. I'm not using the Silk Alpaca yarn, but some long-forgotten stash yarn..

Anyway, in a familial RAOK, I've given an entire rubbermaid of yarn to my sister. She has recently picked up the craft, and I thought some new yarn will inspire her, or at least get her started in establishing her own stash. ;-)
I've also made some random RAOK's to some members on the list, I just hope it'll brighten their day a bit.

As for my mental craft queue, things I'd love to make if I had the time or the yarn: Clapotis, Fibonacci, Hermione's Hat, Harlot Poncho, Charlotte's Web, (Jaimi's is gorgeous), and Klaralund. The list continues as I've picked up a bunch of vintage patterns from the book sale this past weekend.

Thursday, September 23, 2004

Manos and a Nap

THe LYS near my work is having their fall sale. So I spent my lunch buying this...Manos de Uruguay...

em-manos.jpg

The dog thinks it makes a great pillow...I must remember not to leave the dog alone with the yarn.

RL is kicking my butt this week, and I haven't knit a single stitch. So much for productivity. At the moment, my schedule is quite horrid . It's only the 3rd week in September, and I won't have a free weekend until after Thanksgiving. And then it's Christmas. I guess I won't be knitting my Christmas presents this year.

Monday, September 20, 2004

A Happpy Monday

After an "eh" day at work. I had a wonderful surprise waiting for me when I came home. I had Two packages waiting for me! Yay!!

I've been RAOKed!! Margene sent a Cuticle Bar in a wonderful scent of Tea Tree/Mint. It's exactly what I need. Many Thanks to Margene for making it a Happy Monday.

Mr. Postman also brought me my Alpaca yarn. It's black, of course, and it's so soft. EmEm even woke up to inspect the packages, I think she could smell the alpaca wool. Either that or she thought it was some kind of cookie. She certainly has a thing for natural fibers. She displaced two of the skeins from their wrappers while I was looking for a box.

em-alpaca.jpg



Familial obligations kept me from the Knit Out in DC. So I spent more money on more yarn. Just what I need. :-) I'm way over the craft budget for this month. And I'm running out of room to hide/keep the stash. Maybe I should clean out the spare bedroom, and devote it all to yarn.

byz-greens.jpg


Monday, September 13, 2004

a gift of Kool aid

Over the weekend, I was able to give my sister the Byzanz bag, and she was quite pleased with it. It's in her Favorte colors. She and he husband find my Kool-Aid Addiction slighly amusing, so they've gifted me with this....

a girft of Kool aid

I may try dyeing again this weekend, at least on Saturday. On Sunday, the Knit-Out and Crochet 2004 will be on the National Mall. I can't wait to see all the yarn...

As for my knitting, It's been a slow and slightly frustrating week. I've decided to use my Noro for a sweater, and I've spent the past 2 days, knitting and ripping. Aarrrghh!! At least now it's coming together. I've done another inch on the Pearl Beaded Scarf and it's almost done, almost. Although, I've been thinking that for about a month now. My goodness, there are quite a few (8) WIP's in my craft queue. Why is it so much easier buying the yarn, than actually completing the projects.

Tuesday, September 07, 2004

felted and lined

It was a pretty good, weekend, fun, but not much happened on the knitting front. (at least on my needles) I was able to check out a bunch of knitting blogs, mostly the ones with Project KA and the Fiber RAOK ring. It's great to see what everyone has on their needles. My head spins a little when I mentally add things to my craft queue and wish list.

I was able to felt my Kool Aid Sophie. (a great weekend for felting and catching up on the laundry). The bag felted more than the phone cozy, but otherwise I think it came out alright. Now I just have to line it and add the snap to the phone cozy,and I will have another FO.

felted...


...and I was finally able to line the Byzanz bag. I'm planning on giving it to my sister, so hopefully she'll like it, and maybe she'lll even use it. ;-)

lined...

Thursday, September 02, 2004

finally felted!!

I have finally felted my Noro Sophie. It's much smaller than the Booga and it only took 2 times thru the wash. Although lining the bag may take a while. I still haven't lined my Byzanz bag. ; P

Felted-NSophie.jpg


A special thanks to the postman, for bringing me my yarn. (Although Mr. FedEx, brings me yarn AND cookies for EmEm). Infusion in Chamomile. It's furrier and loftier than the Kid Silk, I think I'll wait til it gets cooler to start my herringbone faggot scarf. ::or maybe when I figure out what a herringbone faggot is::

Em-w-Stash.jpg


There's also more Silk Garden for the stash, as well as some Grace cotton. But I'm running out of room. How do you know when the stash is too big?


Thursday, August 26, 2004

another bag for felting

Yay! I just finished another Sophie, and like the other one, it will have to wait to be felted. I used my kool-aid yarn, in the Black Cherry colorways. For the strap, I braided 3 pieces of i-cord. Unfortunately, halfway through the grafting, I realized that the braid was too tight (no room for shrinkage). I had to undo the grafting and rebraid. I just hope that it is loose enough to felt properly.

black-cherry-Sophie.jpg



Monday, August 23, 2004

Blue Raspberries, Green Watermelons & Black Cherries

Dyeing is certainly addictive. I spent yesterday morning with my Kool-Aid, and I sent some of my pink yarn back through the Black Cherry. I was finally able to get the color I wanted. I also made a second attempt at a variegated skein, which came out but much better than the first. Black Cherry Grape.


Balck-Cherry.jpg

There is one thing about these Kool-Aid colors. The names are completely misleading. I had leftover grape, and I was planning to make more of the red/purple colorway, except that the Raspberry Blast is bright blue and the Watermelon is bright green. Thus, this colorway was created.

Rasp-Watermelon.jpg

I think I'm ready to try and find more Kool-Aid colors. I found a great search on the Kool-Aid website. It locates the available flavors at the nearest store. I'm currently on a quest for Green Apple and Pina-Pineapple.

kool-aid-Sophie.jpg

kool-aid-Sophie.jpg
I didn't realize I posted this, so much for the email photo blogging. Anyway, it's the beginning of another Sophie, this time in my Kool-Aid Black Cherry.

Saturday, August 21, 2004

Katia Shawl

Knitting in the car. I'm getting used to it. Today, as I went along for a road trip, I was able to make some headway on my Katia Shawl. The yarn is Katia Velour, a bit fuzzy, like a chenille.

katia-yarn.jpg katia1.jpg

It' doesn't strech very much, so I have to make sure that my stiches aren't too tight. But I really like the way it's coming along.

Thursday, August 19, 2004

Completed Scarves!!

I've finally found time to finish up some projects. My Noro scarf is complete and blocked. My giant chunky scarf is also done.

scarves


When I was putting my scarves away, I found my Sophie. Still un-felted. I think I'll wait until I have other items to be felted, before I get it in the wash.

n51


As for my other scarf, the Pearl Beaded one, I finally making progress. 80% complete. It doesn't photograph well, but here's a closeup...

pbs


I have more Kool-Aid, so I think I'm going to try and make my pink yarn a little bit darker. Although the humidity is back, and I might not get much done this weekend.

Sunday, August 15, 2004

Dyeing at Midnight

Last night, I couldn't sleep so I thought I try my hand at Kool aid dyeing. So after running around the house looking for my little packets of Kool-Aid, I set up shop in the kitchen. Near the microwave.

After surveying all these little packets of color, I realized that I didn't have enough of any one color. The goal was a nice variegated skein of purple and red. Well, the grape ran into the mango and then into the cherry, and I ended up with something that looked akin to the raw umber in the crayola packs. Not a very pretty color.

Looking back at my rainbow of flavors, there were more Black Cherry than any other flavor.


So here it is....
Black Cherry-lite
and here's a close up...
black cherry 2
and another...
dry
It's a nice kind of peachy pink, but I think I'd like it a little darker.

Wednesday, August 11, 2004

Rip, Rip Rip.

I am so frustrated. Yesterday I had to rip out a large portion of my Noro Scarf. Stupid me, in the middle of my project, I switched needles. Even though they both say US9, it doesn't make them equal. I noticed that the scarf was becoming a bit more narrow, but I thought I had hit the thin part of the yarn. I finally realized that it was the needles.

Just when I thought everything was coming along so nicely.

Sunday, August 08, 2004

Noro Scarf

I love the freak weather change we had this past weekend. Perfect for knitting outside on the deck. It's absolutely fabulous, and I'm quite ready for the fall.

I'm knitting a scarf from the Knitting Yarn Store UK. I love the stripey triangles and it knits up pretty quick. After an afternoon of knitting, I went inside to get my camera. When I came back out, the dog had taken over my place on the chaise and went to sleep on my the beginnings of my scarf. Isn't she cute?

em-&-Noro-scarf.jpg
Here's a close up of the scarf...

Noro-scarf-1.jpg

Hopefully I'll finish it tomorrow, then again tomorrow is a Monday ;-(


Monday, August 02, 2004

more pics (another test post)

test post 2test post 2

I'm still trying to decide which photo blogging site I like best. Flickr.Hello.Photobucket.