Sunshine Girl

It's been a fairly quiet week over here. The one exception was Friday night when the street outside my house turned into a lake, complete with people floating on rafts! It had been raining non-stop all day and streets all over town as well as the local creek was flooding. My boyfriend had to wade through it all to reach the stairs to my house. Isn't he sweet? Don't worry folks, he was rewarded with a very good chicken stew I had on the stove :)

So, with all the rain that we've had lately, I've been able to get a few minor projects finished. I am the Sunshine Girl in the local chapter of the EGA (Embroiderer's Guild of America) called the Marin Golden Threads. This means that I send out birthday cards, get well cards, congratulations cards, etc. When I first took the job at the beginning of 2007, I had to decide what kind of cards I wanted to send out. Since this is a "stitching club" (I use the term loosely because we have so many talented members that do various other crafts) I decided it would be nice to make hand-stitched birthday cards. The cards I made last year had a little tulip on them, but this year I chose to make the cards with birthday candles on them. The picture shows two examples of the cards that I made. I try to use different colors to make the card a unique gift (and to make things a little more interesting for me since I stitch about 50 per year). The candle design is taken from the Cross Stitch & Needlework Magazine. Every issue they have a special section with small motifs in different themes. They are perfect for making cards!

I have not forgotten my knitting and am still working diligently on the ribbed scarf that I started last week. I also just ordered the yarn for my first sweater! Yes, that's right :) After the scarf is finished I am going to attempt to make my first sweater. I'm so excited!

New Year's Resolution

As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, my friend, Liz, wanted to learn how to knit this year (one of her New Year's resolutions). She did some internet searching and found a group called Chicks with Sticks that meets in San Francisco on Monday nights. The social butterfly in her thought it was a great idea and asked me if I wanted to check it out tonight.

Since she didn't know how to knit, I suggested we visit one of our local yarn stores, Dharma Trading Company, where they have free knitting and crocheting lessons everyday they're open. How cool is that! The wonderful ladies in the store helped her pick out a nice yarn in what I would call a light teal, slightly variegated color and some circular needles. She sat down around the large round table packed with other eager knitters and off she went.

While she was starting to learn how to knit, I wandered around the store looking at all the wonderful yarns and patterns. I had been thinking that I wanted to jump in and start making my first sweater so I was hoping I would find something that caught my eye. And I did! The pattern I want to make is Silk Shrug by Blue Sky Alpacas. I could totally see myself wearing that, but I don't know what color I should make it. So, if any of you have color suggestions, let me know. I could use all the help I can get :)

After the knitting lessons and some lunch, Liz and I parted ways and I wandered into another yarn store nearby called Marin Fiber Arts. More great yarn! I ended up buying two balls of variegated blue and gray yarn from Crystal Palace Yarns called Taos. I chose color 004 Mirage and started making the ribbed scarf pictured here the same night.

Well, Liz and I didn't end up making it to the Chicks with Sticks gathering tonight, partially due to some rainy weather here. Hopefully, we'll make it there in the next couple of weeks.

The Pink Hat

About a week and a half ago, there was a pretty strong storm that blew through Novato. The power went out at my house because of a transformer that exploded (quite a sight with sparks flying everywhere) and many of the roads and freeways were closed. My garage door is electric and since I didn't know how to manually open the thing, I just hitched a ride with my friend to work. So, when work ended my Mom came and picked me up to take me home.

On the way home, she told me that her doctors had decided that based on her most recent tests, she needed to start chemo (she's had lymphoma with no symptoms until now). So this Monday, my Mom went in for her first round of treatment.

They say that she'll start losing her hair within 8-10 weeks so I decided to make her a hat to keep her head warm. Both of us also have small heads so store bought hats are often too big for us. One of her favorite colors is pink so I made this hat with Lion Brand Cotton-Ease in Berry. I thought it was important to have a yarn that would be soft on her head (50% Cotton, 50% Acrylic) and machine washable. The pattern I used is from the Lion Brand website and is called Rolled Crochet Hat.

This is the first time I've ever tried making a hat. I sat down Sunday night to start it and by Monday night it was completely done. It amazes me I was able to get it done so quickly! I guess I just had a good reason :) I think it turned out pretty well. I added the little flower made of buttons to make it look extra pretty.

First Finish of the Year

A couple of weeks before the end of 2007, my friend Liz told me that she wanted to learn how to knit. I got to thinking about how long it had been since I picked up my knitting needles. I ventured to the craft store after work and picked up a couple of skeins of Rio de la Plata yarn. I just wanted something simple that would "get my feet wet" and chose a lovely yarn with pale pink, fuscia, red, and blue-violet. Now, all I can think about is knitting. Other projects lay forgotten in my living room.

So, I have officially finished my first project of the year! It is a simple knitted garter stitch scarf made with the hand-spun, hand-dyed wool from Rio de la Plata. The colors really make this scarf look nice. I started this project in mid-December (around the 18th I think) and finished it on January 12th. That's probably slow compared to others out there, but pretty fast for this beginning knitter.

The inaugural wearing of the scarf was to San Francisco and Cobb's Comedy Club to see Joe Rogan for my boyfriend's birthday. I am pleased to say that not only was the show great, but my neck stayed warm the entire night!

My First Post!

Ok, here we go! I've been a little reluctant to join the blogging world. Mostly because I don't know if I really have anything interesting to say, but in the spirit of starting fresh for the new year, here I am. I am hoping that documenting my progress on various projects will encourage me to finish up all the projects I have started and to try new and exciting things.

My Great-Grandmother was the person who really introduced me to the crafting world. There was nothing she couldn't do and she was always doing something! When I was very young she taught me how to crochet and since then I've moved on to various other crafts. To date, I have dabbled in cross stitch, needlepoint, hardanger, crochet, and my newest adventure knitting. There are probably some others that I'm forgetting at the moment :)

I belong to a chapter of the EGA (Embroiderer's Guild of America) called the Marin Golden Threads. There is such a vast knowledge of crafting within the group that I have learned many things since joining.

So, here starts my adventure. I will post again soon and talk about the latest project to grab my attention, a simple knitted scarf.