Julie's Stitches N' More

One Down, Three To Go......

2011-05-23T20:07:00.000-07:00

On my quest to finish projects for the local county fair, I have completed one of my four goals. My handspun shawlette was actually finished the night after my last blog post. I've just been a little lazy in posting pictures. It was much faster to knit than I had thought it would be and I enjoyed every second of it. I keep finding myself looking at other shawlette patterns on Ravelry and even imagining them in my handspun. Oh my!

I blocked the shawl the day before Easter and was pretty surprised at the difference it made. I pinned it within an inch of it's life and love the way it came out. I tried to make each of the points pop out at the same place on either side of the shawl. It did take some time to get it exactly the way I wanted it, but it really was worth it.

The shawl was completely dry the next morning, with a little cat hair added courtesty of Miss Ginny. After that was removed, I immediately put it on and wore it all day. I wore it pretty loosely around my neck, secured with a shawl pin, since I wasn't sure how sensitive my neck would be to the wool/flax blend. My husband said that I looked like a little French girl :) Since then it's been silently sitting in the corner waiting for exhibit drop-off day.

A Fair Challenge

2011-04-20T20:05:00.000-07:00

In the past week I received the Exhibitor's Guide for the 2011 Marin County Fair. I like to enter my finished objects in the fair. It's not for the ribbons or the prizes, I just like to see everything displayed together. Wandering into the textile arts room, you don't know where to look first. Quilts hang from the walls, needlpoint graces the shelves, knitting and crochet drapes over tables and chairs. It's all of the things I love packed into one room. And I love that some of my things can be a part of it.

I looked through the list of categories and picked out a few for the projects I finished this year. But it just doesn't feel like enough. So, this year I've decided to challenge myself. I have four things that I think I can finish before the submission date and I'm going to put most of my time and effort into trying to complete them.

1. The handspun shawlette I talked about last week. I only have six more rows before I bind off. After that it just needs to be blocked. A pretty easy goal in my opinion.

2. Edmund the Easter Bunny. This is knit bunny with fabric ears and feet that I started a couple of weeks ago. I've finished knitting all of the parts and have the body all seemed and stuffed. I just need to finish and attach the ears, the hands, and legs. Oh, and I need to embroider a little face for him.

3. Merino/Bamboo yarn. I've been spinning this blend for the past month. I started with eight ounces and only have two more ounces of singles left to spin. After the singles are done, I'm going to do a two-ply and set the twist. Let's hope it turns out pretty even.

4. Blue Lace Socks with Beads. I finished the first sock a couple of months ago and am on the beginning of the leg on the second sock. This is my longshot and I'm hoping a deadline will help get rid of the second sock syndrome I've had.

Wish me luck!

Knitting with Handspun

2011-04-13T19:45:00.000-07:00

I've finally done it! I'm knitting with my handspun :) Ever since I started spinning a few years ago, my finished skeins would be my pets. I would squeeze them, pet them, and put them on display for all to see before they were moved into the shelves along with my other stash. They've seemed too special to pick up and knit just anything so they've been waiting for that perfect special project.

Then I was encouraged to just take the leap and cast-on. What better skein to start with than the one I just finished. This is the 60/40 wool/flax blend from Spunky Eclectic in the "Whiner" colorway. I spun it up as a two-ply and ended up with approximately 250 yards of sport weight goodness from 4 oz. of fiber. I really like the heathered look that came from the way the wool took the dye compared to the flax.

I chose the shawlette pattern "Vermillion" because the linen should give the finished object a nice drape. It is a triangular shawl that starts with plain stockinette and then transitions to a lace edge. The lace pattern should help the yarn go a bit further since I don't have a ton of yardage. The pattern calls for three repeats of the lace pattern before binding off, and I plan to weigh my skein at the end of each repeat to see how far I can really go.

As of tonight I'm halfway through the second repeat. I have to admit that the rows are getting noticeably longer and longer. Even though it seems like I'm close to the end, I have a sneaking suspicion it will take me longer than I think to finish.

At the Con!

2011-04-02T22:17:00.000-07:00

I spent the past weekend in San Francisco at WonderCon 2011. And yes, I did bring my knitting! While my husband was perusing tables full of comic books and action figures, I had my GoKnit Pouch attached to my belt looop and a vanilla sock in my hands. I caught many people staring at me and one man told me that he had never seen anyone knitting a sock before at WonderCon. He obviously didn't see me last year :)

I finished the first of my pair of vanilla socks during a panel with Rainn Wilson (Dwight) from The Office. He was promoting his new film Super and answered lots of questions from the audience. It was definitely one of the best panels I've seen there.

My sock is made from Berroco Sox Metallic and I'm following a pattern from Wendy D. Johnson's book "Socks From the Toe Up." It's the Slip Stitch Heel Basic Sock pattern which so far seems like it fits me really well. I haven't worn the socks for an entire day yet, but my stroll around the room went well.

Even at WonderCon I was able to find some knitting. There was one artist booth selling handknit wrist warmers and hats and another booth selling needle felted creatures. The needle felting booth was Woolbuddy and you could purchase either a kit or a completed animal. I must admit that I took a small owl kit home with me. The directions seem pretty easy so I'm hoping this little guy will go together pretty quickly.

Resurrection

2011-03-28T20:28:00.000-07:00

I've been away for a really, really, really long time, but I'm back! I haven't been up to anything special, just normal every day life. But, I have definitely been knitting and spinning.

Here's my latest spinning project, and it was a completely different experience for me. It's a wool/flax blend from Spunky Eclectic. I ordered 4 oz. of this beautiful stuff because the blend intrigued me and I loved the look of it. It came in 2 oz. bundles of pencil roving and was on my wheel less than a week after it came in the mail. I actually spun most of it up over two days, which is pretty fast for this slow spinner. This weekend, I plied it up into a simple two-ply and it's now hanging up to dry :)

I'd never heard anything about spinning flax before I dove into this. I probably should have looked through some of my books to get some tips and tricks, but I just started right in. I used the regular flyer on my Lendrum with a 10:1 ratio and found it to be a relatively easy spin. The flax was definitely rougher than the wool, but they drafted well together. Occasionally, I would hit a section where the flax would kind of draft apart from the wool, but it was pretty easily fixed by slowing down my wheel and taking a little more time to draft.

I think the final yarn will have a very nice drape and I can't wait for it to dry so I can measure the yardage. Maybe this will be the first of my handspun to actually be knit up!

It's Been A While

2009-04-05T21:02:00.000-07:00

These flowers are part of what I've been up to lately. When the weather started getting warmer, I decided my patio needed some flowers. So, when my Mom asked me to go to the hardware store with her, it was the perfect opportunity to pick up what I needed. Now, in case you don't know me, I have a black-ish thumb. I can never seem to keep plants alive for very long. They don't die immediately, it's more of a slow decline.

I was super excited to pick out the planters I thought would work well on my patio and my Mom help me pick the soil I needed. She also directed me toward the hardy plants which would require less maintenance and therefore be easier to keep alive. I went home, and after hauling all of it upstairs, spent the rest of the afternoon planting all of my little flowers.

I'm proud to report that not only are my plants still alive, they are thriving! They've grown so big and colorful (even bigger than the above picture). They make me happy every time I come home and see them.

I've also been doing some spinning. The fiber I used is Montana Moon from CJ Kopec Creations, a wonderful merino batt. I've only spun about 1oz of the 4oz I purchased, but I love it so far.

I was wandering around my groups on Ravelry and read about a monthly spin-a-long (SAL) contest she was starting. Every month she posts two different colorways. If you want to participate, all you have to do it post how much of what fiber you want. When it's all ready, she lists your fiber on etsy and mails it out after you pay. After you've finished spinning a reasonable amount of fiber, you post a picture in the finished yarn thread for everyone to admire. The best part is after the deadline, we all get to vote on which yarn we like best. The winners even get a prize!

I didn't even come close to winning this first SAL. I was just happy to see one person voted for my yarn :)

Learning to Stitch

2009-01-31T20:35:00.000-08:00

A couple months ago, a member of the Marin Golden Threads asked for volunteers to help teach stitching to some Brownies and Girl Scouts. My Mom and I signed up to help the Brownies, ages 6-8, and today was the day. There were six adult volunteers and we all had a lot of fun.

There were around eighteen or nineteen of the little girls there, all chatting and giggling. The older girl scout teaching the class taught them the cross stitch first and then the backstitch. At first, it was just a challenge to make sure every girl was able to thread her needle :)

But, slowly and surely, the girls started picking it up and everyone was making little X's on their practice plastic canvas. Actually, a few of the girls had already taken a sewing class and were flying ahead of the teacher. They even learned how to do a satin stitch and Smyrna cross by the end.

Watching them learn how to stitch made me think of when I was little, my Great-Grandmother teaching me how to crochet chains that would stretch across her living room. I still have the first cross stitch design I ever made in a box in my spare bedroom. It was a small picture of a jar of berry jam with beads sewn on for the berries. I gave it to my Great-Grandmother one year for her birthday (or Christmas?). I like to think that she would be proud of all the things I've learned since then.

Takin' it Back

2009-01-25T19:51:00.000-08:00

Every once in a while I see a project that I love, but seems totally over my head. I saw the Rain Forest Afghan pattern a couple of years ago and it stuck in my head. The bright colors drew me in and I'm a sucker for cute little animals.

Then one day, I decided I had to make this. I must have been feeling good that day to think I could tackle a project this large. All of my projects seem to take forever to finish. Don't get me wrong, when I actually finish a project, it feels great, like I can do anything! And that feeling is probably why I got involved in this project in the first place.

I found out that the pattern was out of print so the search began. I looked on eBay for a couple of weeks and I finally got lucky. My pattern and fabric arrived and then reality set it. The pattern calls for as much as eleven skeins of embroidery floss for each color!

I decided the best thing was to jump in so I got started. And this is my progress so far. Look at those piddly little stitches in the corner of the first square! What have I done to myself?

A Spindle Christmas

2009-01-11T17:03:00.000-08:00

Since I was such a good girl last year, Santa brought me not one, not two, but three spindles for Christmas! A month before I'd been looking at all the new fiber I'd bought and moaning about how I only had one spindle. I wanted to have multiple spinning WIP's just like I have multiple knitting projects (and numerous stitching projects, and crochet projects, etc.). Sometimes I just have a short attention span.

Then on Christmas day all my spinning dreams came true. One of the spindles I received was a Butterfly Girl Designs millefiori polymer clay high whorl spindle. It's a 0.8 oz beauty that spins like a champ. I love watching the design spin round and round. Since I was leaving town to visit my fiance's parents that evening, I swooped up some hand dyed merino roving from Squoosh and started spinning it the day after Christmas. The roving is called Ice Princess and is the softest wool I've spun so far. Although I've been working on it since then, I've only finished spinning about 0.5 oz, leaving 3.5 oz to go. I'm a very slow spinner.

I was also lucky enough to receive another Butterfly Girl Designs Spindle. The second was a murano foil glass flower spindle that weighs in at 1.3 oz. It's blue with golden flakes and sparkles when the light hits it. The bottom portion of the shaft is carved and very elegant looking. I haven't started spinning anything on this spindle yet. I guess I'm waiting until just the right fiber speaks to me.

And that brings us to the third and final spindle. It's a 1.6 oz. resin spindle called chickadee memory from Dragoncraft. It has the cutest little birds on it and they're snuggling close together. The spindle even came with some mystery fiber to play with. I was planning on using this spindle to ply the merino ice princess singles when I finish them.

All of this spinning is definitely taking time away from the knitting and other projects. Although, I am almost finished knitting Wicked up to the arm holes :)

The New Year

2009-01-01T17:39:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again when people all over make their New Year's resolutions. Lists of things that need to get done, things to learn in the upcoming year, goals on weight loss, and the things we think will make us a better person. My list is pretty short this year, especially since there's a small wedding thrown in there too. Here are some of mine:

1. De-clutter my house, especially the spare bedroom which is just a little bit embarrassing now

2. Regularly back up my computer hard drive

3. Keep up with the blog, at least once per week

4. Learn to knit socks

5. Spin one pound of fiber on my drop spindle

6. Finish at least three UFO's

Now with those in mind, here is my latest project. After finishing my Christmas knitting (the last of which I should be able to show everyone next week), I decided to start a new sweater for myself. This is the beginnings of Wicked in Lana Grossa Soffice, colorway 012. The yarn is a mixture of merino wool, cashmere, and acrylic which is very soft. It should make for a very cozy sweater. Unfortunately, the yarn is discontinued. I just happened to purchase ten balls of it at a warehouse sale last summer.

I'm still resting up after the holidays and preparing to go back to work on Monday. I did get some fiber related Christmas presents from my fiance, three gorgeous spindles to keep my hands busy.

I hope everyone had a great holiday and Happy New Year!!

Up next ....... spindles galore :)

As the Spindle Turns

2008-11-28T17:31:00.000-08:00

I finally finished a project! Well actually, I've finished two projects in the past couple of weeks. One was a Christmas present for Mom and the other was the natural BFL fiber I was spinning that I started back in September. Who knew 4oz of roving could take so long? :)

After all of the natural wool, I decided to try some color. I chose a hand-dyed roving that I ordered from Maine Woods Yarn. It's 4oz of 100% corriedale roving in the birch trees colorway. This is the first time I've ever spun dyed roving and I'm loving watching how the colors spin up. All of the natural color is blending in with the greens and browns to make gorgeous color transitions. I really like the look of the singles so far. Now, I just can't wait to see the finished yarn.

I hope everyone out there had a very happy Thanksgiving. After all of the festivities (and a serious car issue that we're still dealing with), I must say that I'm exhausted. Enjoy your turkey leftovers!

Mushrooms and Pumpkins

2008-10-30T19:31:00.000-07:00

Last Friday night my boyfriend held a gathering at our house. It was declared "Gamin' Night" and a few of his friends game over to play video games until the wee hours of the morning. There was hockey, football, and even some game with a microphone, guitars and drum pads. The old school Nintendo games were broken out on a smaller television. There was gamin' for all.

The menu consisted of pizza, beer, chips and dip, candy and a mushroom cake. Yes, a mushroom cake. I couldn't resist when my boyfriend asked me to make a cake in the shape of the 1-Up Mushroom from Mario Brothers. It was actually easier to make than I thought and I think he turned out pretty cute :) Of course, he was hacked to pieces by the time I woke up in the morning.

The next day I went to the monthly Marin Golden Threads meeting. We had a speaker from the Royal School of Needlework who was amazing. She brought many of her projects and explained how the program worked. There was also a gentleman with her who was at one time head of the education department in the Royal School of Needlework. He had the most exquisite piece of needlework I have seen in a while. It was a 3D knot garden with flowers and moving gates.

After the meeting, I met in friend in San Rafael at a glass pumpkin festival. It seemed like thousands of glass pumpkins of all shapes, sizes, and colors were on display and for purchase. They were beautifully laid out on the grass and I couldn't resist taking a picture.

Up next, hopefully a finished project!

Very First Handspun Yarn

2008-10-12T18:02:00.001-07:00

This is it, my very first handspun yarn! I spent the better part of four hours this afternoon plying my singles into the yarn pictured here.
It seemed to take forever to get through it, just went on and on and my arms started getting tired by the end. But, I am very happy with the results.

I still have to wash the yarn and measure it's WPI (wraps per inch) to determine it's weight. I also want to look into getting a scale so that I can determine it's approximate yardage. I still have 2oz. left of this fiber to spin up and want to eventually use it to knit a scarf.

I bought this roving when I went to the Fiber Festival in Booneville. It's naturally colored Dark Blue Faced Leister from Tactile Fiber Arts and I love the natural gray color. I had heard that Blue Faced Leister was one of the easier fibers to spin and decided to start with it so that I wouldn't get too frustrated.

Since then, I keep looking at all the beautifully hand-dyed roving for sale online and can't wait to spin something up that has lots of colors. Now I know why people tend to collect more than one drop spindle, you can work on more than one spinning project at once :)

Rituals

2008-10-06T19:30:00.001-07:00

Every other Sunday I pack up all my dirty laundry, my book, some magazines, and various knitting and/or crochet projects to head over to my parent's house for the day. I start my laundry and while the first load is washing, I see what my family is up to.

My Mom is usually in the kitchen cooking lunch for my brother and sister or getting a head start on the evening meal. My Step-Dad is either watching sports on the TV or playing games on his computer. If you wander down the hallway, you'll find my sister, still in her pajamas, reading a book in her room. If the weather is nice, my brother will be running around in the backyard trying to catch frogs that hide by the hot tub.

While it may seem like I'm an overgrown college kid bringing my laundry home for the weekend so that I don't have to wash it myself, I mostly come over to spend time with my family. I wander in and out of the garage washing, drying, and folding while I catch up with everyone. My mom and I will usually go shopping to get out of the house and spend some time together.

This past weekend, we ventured down to Baubles and Beads in San Rafael. Just this past year, she's really started to get into beading and has a growing bead collection at home. When we got back home, I started playing with her bead stash and had an idea to make a beaded lanyard for my keycard at work. I picked out some beads and away I went. My mom helped me put it all together and here is a picture of the finished product. I think it looks better than the plain ol' cloth ones! It worked great at work today too.

Casting On

2008-10-01T19:04:00.001-07:00

Casting on is all I seem to be able to do lately. A co-worker told me that his wife was expecting and I cast-on for a baby blanket. I wanted a simple project to take with me to the knitting night at Llama Llama Knit so I cast-on for a scarf. What I should be doing is finishing my Mom's Christmas present and various other holiday projects I have going on.

The baby blanket I started is called the Round or Pinwheel Baby Blanket. I wanted something fairly simple but also interesting to look at. When I remembered that I had a couple of skeins of TLC Baby in my closet, I decided what the heck! The color is called naptime and is a mix of white and pastel yellow, blue, green and pink. I've really only worked on it a couple of nights, but I think it's looking pretty good. I'm not all that comfortable working with DPN's so I thought this would give me a good opportunity to practice. I want to learn how to make sock so I should get used to it :)

I have to confess that I've had my eye on the other new project I've started for a while. I love making scarves. They're quick, fun and it's great to wear different ones during the winter. When I saw My So Called Scarf, I knew I had to make it. I absolutely love the pattern and the color. I noticed the Manos del Uruguay yarn in the local knitting store and it was destiny. Instead of working the pattern with the wool it called for, I substituted the silk blend in the Wildflowers colorway. There's a long way to go on this one because I've only finished a couple of rows.

As for the knitting I should be working on, I'm almost halfway done with my Mom's Christmas present. For the time being, I'm going to keep that one a secret just in case she starts reading the blog.

Alive and Kicking

2008-09-22T18:39:00.000-07:00

Just like this sheep! I took this picture at the California Wool and Fiber Festival two weekends ago in Boonville. I've been interested in learning how to spin and this seemed like a perfect opportunity. I signed up for a beginning spinning on a drop spindle class with Nancy Finn from Chasing Rainbows Dyeworks and loved it. I've kept up the spinning at home since the class and I think I'm getting better. At least what I'm making is looking more like yarn and less like lumps :)

Throughout the festival, I saw many sheep being sheered as well as some very fluffy angora rabbits. I bought some fiber from Tactile Fiber Arts so that I could practice my spinning and looked at all of the other wonderful things. I must admit that the thought of buying a raw fleece and turning it into yarn is a bit daunting at this point. I think I'll stick with my little fluff balls of fiber for now.

I was also out of town this past weekend. My boyfriend and I decided to go camping in Truckee. We packed up all the food and equipment and headed up there Thursday afternoon. It was beautiful, although a little chilly at night (about 3o degrees Fahrenheit). We toasted marshmallows, made s'mores and cooked hot dogs on a stick. I also knit by the biggest campfire I've seen in a long time :) Which reminds me, does anyone know how to get that campfire smell out of yarn?

On the knitting front, I also finished my Silk Shrug. Yeah, happy dance!! It took a while, but I knew I would get there eventually. I've already been eying other sweater patterns I can make next. This was the first time I've really had to seam anything and it took a while before I got the hang of it. I'm much better at mattress stitch than I am at the other types of finishing I tried. I still have to weave in a few ends and block it, but I think it looks pretty good. I can't wait to wear it this winter :) I love the color.

The Beginning .....

2008-08-23T19:09:00.000-07:00

Last Friday night I officially started the Secret of the Stole III. The designer of the pattern is DK, the Nautical Knitter. The group is now closed, but if you like what you see, the pattern will be available for purchase once the KAL (knit-a-long) is complete. Every Friday for nine weeks there is a new "hint" released. The first "hint" was 64 rows long but so far I have only finished up to row 40. I guess I'm one of the slower ones since "hint" 2 was released yesterday and some knitters have already finished through row 134!

The first mistake I made was on row 27 and of course the last lifeline I put in was at row 20. So, I ripped out those seven rows. I started again the next night and worked my way back up to the same spot. Of course, I made another mistake on Row 27 and had to rip everything back for the second time. I'm not too worried about being behind. This is my first lace project and I just want my stole to come out looking good. Besides, this means that other people will find any mistakes in the pattern before I get there :)

I'm still plugging away at my Silk Shrug. I know it seems like I've been working on this forever, but I only have about two inches of the fringe left before it's done. I should get lots of knitting/stitching things done over the Labor Day weekend since I'll be at the race track for the Spec Miata Festival. I know my primary duty is pit crew, but I can usually squeeze in a couple of hours here and there!

Secret of the Stole III

2008-08-15T21:47:00.000-07:00

I'm probably in way over my head, but I have gone ahead and signed up for the Secret of the Stole III KAL by DK the Nautical Knitter. This project is a mystery so I'm not sure what the final design will look like until the final "clue" is released in about nine weeks. I'm sure I can find someone who will love it if it's not my style.

Here are just a few reasons why I'm crazy:

A) I've never knit lace before
B) I've never used laceweight yarn before
C) This is NOT a small project that will merely get my feet wet
D) I already have too many projects on the needles
E) I have at least two projects that I need to finish before Christmas that I haven't really started yet

Despite all these reasons, I've managed to complete the gauge swatch with only a little bit of trouble. I had to rip back once near the end because I forgot a yarn-over. I had thought I was doing so good and then I realized my count was off by one stitch!

I'm using Malabrigo Lace in pink frost. I don't see this color on their website so I'm not sure if it's still being made or if it's discontinued. I have three skeins of this yarn that I got at the Needlecraft Cottage in San Diego when I was on vacation two months ago. Being a fan of both needlework and knitting/crocheting, I have to say that it's one of the best shops I've ever been in because it has both :)

I took a close up of the swatch so that you can see the two different colors of beads that I've been trying to decide between, the light amethyst with rainbow finish or crystal silver lined. I actually think they both look pretty good with the yarn. The amethyst beads are a nice complementary color that give a subtle effect while the crystal beads give it a little more bling bling. I've opted for the amethyst since I'm not much of a bling bling girl. I think they'll give me all the sparkle I need.

The first "clue" for the mystery came out today and I think I'll cast-on tomorrow. My chances of making mistakes increase exponentially after 11PM. Goodnight everyone!

It's A Bird, It's a Plane, It's .......

2008-07-27T20:57:00.000-07:00

Finally the second sleeve of my silk shrug! I have officially completed the body and sleeves. Now all I have left is to sew up the seams and knit the ruffle that goes around the edge. I've never knit anything this big before and I'm really excited to see how it turns out :)

To finish the shrug, I need to use two techniques that I've never done before, sewing up seams and picking up stitches. That's not unusual since I had to look up how to increase and decrease just to complete the sleeves of this sweater. The knittinghelp.com website is great at showing all these different techniques and has really helped me learn and improve my knitting. I'm sure they will be able to help me now.

I must admit that the body of this sweater seemed to go on and on. Sometimes it felt like I would never be finished knitting. From end to end, it's almost taller than I am! I tried to take a picture to show you how long it is, but I couldn't fit all of it into the frame of my camera. Even though it's a little dark, I think this picture does an o.k. job of giving you a sense of it's length.

I love the color and feel of this shrug. It's so soft and since it's alpaca, I'm sure it will be very warm. Even little Ginny loves it! I could hardly keep her away from it long enough to take pictures. The ends of the yarn that haven't been woven in yet are her favorite :)

Life's been pretty crazy around my house since I came home from San Diego. I told you guys that I had some news to share on my next blog post. I'm happy to announce that during our trip to San Diego my boyfriend and I got engaged! We don't have any specifics planned yet, other than that it will take place next year in 2009. He moved into my house a couple of weeks ago and we're making plans to start our life together.

This past weekend was another race weekend at Thunderhill Raceway. My boyfriend decided to race into two different classes this time, so he had two races on Sunday morning. He looked great on the track and had a lot fun. Even though I was pretty far away, I was able to get a picture of him exiting the "Eagle's Nest." In case you're interested in more information about the racing, his team is Rent Money Racing.

I'm going to try and get the shrug sewn up this week so that I can start on the ruffle. I have promised myself that I would finish some projects before I start any new ones!

Missing in Action

2008-07-12T20:53:00.000-07:00

This is part of the reason why I haven't been posting very much lately. This picture was taken just down the street from the beach house my boyfriend and I rented in San Diego (Ocean Beach) at the end of June. The vacation was amazing! After driving down late Saturday night, we had the whole week to spend in San Diego. The weather was great the whole time and we even avoided the smoke that was plaguing the Bay Area.

We started the trip by visiting Sea World. It was so close to the house that we could ride our bikes there. They had all kinds of animals and even a few rides that took us by surprise, in particular one ride that guaranteed you would be drenched by the end. Of course, we had to see a Shamu show, which exceeded all of our expectations. All in all, I think we spent more than six hours wandering around and looking at everything. Here are some pictures of what we saw.

The day after Sea World, we ventured down to the beach and enjoyed the soft, warm sand and the sound of the ocean for most of the day. We stopped by a great pizza place in the afternoon and hung out there for a while too. That night we also decided to check out a Padres game. We were able to take the Trolley to the ballpark, which was very nice since we didn't have to deal with traffic or parking.

One day during the trip, we took a long bike ride over to Mission Beach. I was able to visit a great store called the Needlecraft Cottage. I have to admit that it's one of the best shops I've even been to. They seem to have everything there, lots of yarn, cross stitch patterns and supplies, needlepoint projects, and so many other wonderful things. I walked away with three skeins of Malabrigo lace weight in pink frost and a Mill Hill kit called "Seaside Sampler" to commemorate the trip. I haven't figured out what I'm going to make with the yarn yet, but I'm anxious to start the Mill Hill kit because it looks like it will be a quick stitch and lots of fun.

We did see a very strange visitor to the beach while we there. He was wandering around like he owned the place. Even though he was very friendly, his exploration of some beach blankets did scare some beach-goers. His owner would also throw him into the ocean, where he would ride the waves back to shore and climb up onto the sand again. It was so funny! Probably one of the most interesting things I've seen at the beach in while :)

Now that we're on the subject of animals again, my boyfriend and I also visited the Wild Animal Kingdom. It was so interesting to see the wide expanse of land with all these African animals living together, minus the carnivores of course. It kind of made you feel like you were on a real safari. One of the best sights was the the lion exhibit. They had seven lion cubs that were almost one-year old. They seemed to follow their big lion daddy all around the pen, even when he went to sleep on the top of an old car!

I've been back home now for a couple of weeks, but it's taken a while to get into the swing of things again. There are some major changes going on around here, which I will announce in my next post. I promise there will be more knitting/crafting talk in the next one too because even though I haven't been home, I have been getting some knitting done.

Here is one last picture of the snowman I entered into the local county fair. I was surprised and delighted to learn that I'd received first place!

And The Sun Will Come Out .... Tomorrow?

2008-06-18T18:53:00.000-07:00

Or will it? The sun finally came out this afternoon so I snapped some pictures of the campus I'm staying on. The big question is whether or not the nice weather we had today will last until Friday. According to all the weather reports I've seen, the odds aren't in our favor.

We were given the afternoon off from our classes since Thursday's schedule is super busy. I took advantage of the nice weather and decided to take a walk into the downtown area. It's a very cute town with quaint houses and green lawns everywhere. It looks much different from the houses on the West Coast, brick building everywhere and almost no back yard fences. I love the open look of all the backyards merging into one another. I opted to eat at a local German restaurant instead of the cafeteria food they've been giving us and had a wonderful lunch.

Of course, I had also done my research and learned that there were not only one, but two yarn stores within walking distance. I figured I would go and enjoy myself since I had the free time and who knows when I'll be in Maine again. First, I visited The Knitting Experience Cafe. It's a small shop that also has a little cafe with coffee, cookies, and other snacks. I was too full from lunch for any more food, but I did pick up a couple of skeins of Araucania Y arns Ranco Multi in color 310. It is a beautiful mix of reds, purples, blues, and greens.

After the first store, I went to check out Purl Diva. This store was fairly large and had a nice selection of yarns. The owner was very friendly and helpful. I was talking to her about all the different store samples she had hanging up, most of which she knit herself. I had to have a souvenir from this shop, so I purchased two skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport Multi in the Gold Hill colorway. I like to think that the browns, oranges, and greens will resemble the trees in Maine during Autumn when all the leaves change color.

Tomorrow night is the last night of the class and they've planned a big lobster dinner for everyone. I hope it's good :)

Next stop, home sweet home!!

It's Raining In Maine

2008-06-16T16:41:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the lack of post last week folks. I was just too busy preparing for my trip to Maine this week. It took an unusually long time to arrive in Maine, but I am finally here and sitting in the dorm room that is my home until I fly back to SFO on Friday. Look at how gray the sky is here! The trip was quite eventful, but I'll get to that story later.

First, let's talk about what I was up to last week. I had gotten some free tickets to the A's vs. Yankees game on Wednesday from my boss at work. Normally, I'm a Giant's fans, but these were pretty good seats and came with a VIP parking pass, so my boyfriend and I were excited to go check it out. It was even $1 hot dog night :) I didn't realize how good the seats were until we got there, right behind home plate about thirty rows up. Our view was awesome! The game turned out to be a blowout for the A's. When we left after the seventh-inning stretch, it was 8-1 A's.

I also submitted my "Let it Snow" cross-stitch piece to the Marin County Fair. It will be on display at the fair over the Fourth of July weekend. I've entered it into the Holiday category; I just love having snowmen around during Christmas. I'm not quite sure how it will do compared to the other pieces that are entered, but I guess I'll find out soon enough. I will let you all know how I do.

That bring us to my trip to Maine. I'm here, with two colleagues, to attend a Flow Cytometry course for work. I left my house at 4:45 AM Saturday morning to catch my flight (which had a connection in Washington D.C.) with the intention of arriving in time to register for the course and attend the welcome reception. Well, things didn't exactly go as planned. Our flight was originally going to arrive about a half hour early, but when we tried to land in Washington D.C. the airport closed due to some thunderstorms. We were starting to run low on fuel so the airline decided to have us stop in Richmond, Virginia to refuel while the bad weather passed.

We landed in Virginia and were told that we would arrive at our original destination as soon as possible. After we landed, we learned that the airport was not equipped to handle an airplane as large as the 747 we were on. They couldn't let us off the plane and they didn't even have anyone equipped to refuel the plane. We had to sit in the crowded, stuffy plane without any food for over 4 hours! They were finally able to get us off the ground again and on our way to Washington D.C. On the bright side, I did get a lot, and I mean a lot, of work done on my Silk Shrug. I will probably be done with the body of the sweater soon :)

Of course, by the time we arrived, we had missed our connecting flight and had to line up with the other 370 passengers to get re-booked on the next flight. But, they didn't have any room on the last flight that night, or on the one the next morning, or the one during the day. The airline wasn't able to put us on another flight for over 24 hours! This meant we were going to miss the first day of our course, had nowhere to stay for the night, and had no baggage.

We finally settled into a nearby hotel and made the best of our bad situation. Since we had all day before our flight left, we explored our nation's capitol. I was able to see the Library of Congress, the Supreme Court building, the Capitol Building, the White House, the Vietnam War Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, and the Pentagon. I'm sure there were a couple of other things too, but I can't remember them right now. We did so much walking around the city that I got a blister on my foot.

It feels good to have finally made it here, but I'm dreading the flight back home. There better not be any delays because next week I'm going on vacation to San Diego with my boyfriend. I can't wait, I'm sooooo excited!!

P.S. I think I found two yarn shops here in Maine that I can visit on our free afternoon. I may have a full suitcase on my way home :)

Fuzzy Shaved Kitty

2008-06-05T19:42:00.000-07:00

Look at this little guy! Isn't he cute? This kitty lives by my boyfriend's house and seems to always be outside or hanging out on his third story balcony. His hair is always shaved, except for the head, feet, and tail. When he looks down at you from his balcony all you can see is this big head of fluff meowing at you. When I saw him the other day, he even climbed inside my car and explored for a little while before jumping out to see what else was going on in his neighborhood. I'm sure he's well taken care of, but doesn't he look like a cat in need of a nice warm snuggle during winter.

This week certainly has been a little crazy. Aside from my sunshine duties for the Marin Golden Threads, I've really only been working on my grocery bags. I have finished the front and back of one bag. They look slightly different from each other. One of them is rectangular in shape and the other one is sort of wavy. I must have made some mistakes when I was working through the pattern the first time and figured out the right way to do it on the second one. See, don't they look different?

I've started crocheting the gusset and base out of the Coconut Lily Sugar' n Cream Confectionary Colors yarn. I will also be making the handles with the same color of yarn as the gusset and base. After that, I'll just have to put the pieces together and then I'll have a completed bag! It may be a little funny looking on one side, but I don't think the groceries will mind :)

I'm Still Alive!

2008-05-29T20:29:00.000-07:00

Well folks, I know it's been over a month since the last time I posted, but I'm back! I hope there's still someone out there reading.

The last post I made was before my trip to Singapore and Thailand. The trip was great! I saw so many new things and tried so many different kinds of foods. I have to admit that my stomach is not quite up to handling all the food they have over there. The hamburger I ate the night I returned to the US seemed like the best thing in the world :) I've been a little lazy since I've been back so I still have to go through all my pictures, but once I do, I promise to post some good ones.

During the trip I worked on the cabled scarf. I actually didn't work on it nearly as much as I thought, even on the airplane. I finished maybe 6-8 inches, but that's it. Ever since then it's been sitting on my couch staring at me. I don't know if cables are really my thing.

I was still dealing with my jet lag, i.e. falling asleep at 8:30 PM (which if you know me, I never ever do), when I got some food poisoning from a local restaurant. Actually, it was my first day back at work and we had decided to go out to lunch. Big mistake! I felt pretty crummy that whole week and part of the weekend. So crummy that I wasn't even knitting or crocheting or doing crafts of any kind.

But, that all changed last weekend when I went up to Willows and Paradise to watch my boyfriend in his second and third race of the season (race pictures are still in the pile to go through too). One day, we had a couple of hours in between qualifying and the actual race so I took out my Silk Shrug to work on. Bammm! I'd gotten my knitting mojo back! I don't know what it was, but suddenly I didn't want to put it down. I even marched up to the little grandstand on the hill with a ball of yarn in one pocket and the shrug in my arms to watch another race because I couldn't leave it alone. The shrug managed to grow over two inches Memorial Day weekend and has probably grown another inch since I got home.

That brings us to this week where I have finished my first Snuggle. It's a medium sized blanket. I have about five more skeins of the ultra-bright rainbow yarn which will be used to make many more snuggles. My Mom has also made some smaller ones and I will bring them all to the Marin Humane Society soon.

Of course, I have also started a new project. I was getting tired of storing all these plastic bags from the grocery store so I'm going green! No more plastic bags. I'm attempting to crochet my own set of grocery bags out of 100% cotton yarn. I'm using Lily Sugar' n Cream Confectionary Colors in cinnamon, granola, and coconut. I found a free pattern that I think looks pretty cute. I can't find a link to picture of it, but I'll keep looking and get back to you guys. I want to make at least 5-6 to start off with and see how they work. I know it doesn't look like much now, but this is only one night's work.

Thailand Here I Come!

2008-04-14T20:44:00.001-07:00

I've been spending most of the past week getting ready for my upcoming trip to Singapore and Thailand. I've picked out the clothes and pulled out the suitcase. My kitty is even giving me the evil-eye as I type since she's knows I'm leaving in a couple of days. She will be well taken care of by my boyfriend and my Mom, but she still doesn't like it when I'm gone. I will miss cuddling with her at night too!

That hasn't left a lot of free time for any of my knitting or other crafting projects. Because of that, I have been taking my Silk Shrug to work with me in the mornings so I can pull it out on my lunch break and get a couple of rows done. The body is starting to come along. It's at the point where I keep knitting, but it doesn't look like much is getting done. It's only when I take a picture every couple of weeks that I can see how much it's grown from the last picture. I'll only be able to work on it for three more days before I leave so this is what it's going to look like for awhile :)

I talked about my travel project in the last post, and as promised, I haven't touched it since. I'm excited to see how the cabled scarf, Elbac, will turn out. Hopefully, I'll come home from my trip with a completed (or near completed) scarf!

I will post about my overseas adventures when I return. I'm hoping to come home with some awesome pictures and some funny stories. In the meantime, I wanted to say a special "hello" to my friend Dave in Rome who, I just found out, reads the blog every week. I'm looking forward to having you back in the USA later this year.

The Travel Project

2008-04-09T20:26:00.001-07:00

In exactly nine days, I will be sitting at the San Francisco Airport waiting for my extremely long plane ride to Singapore. I'll be making my first adventure into Asia with a two and a half week long trip to Singapore and Thailand.

The journey starts in Singapore where I'll be joining a friend from work who has family over there. Her family has generously offered to let me stay with them so I will be getting a real "insider" look at how life in Singapore really is. Of course, we will take the time to do some touristy things, the nocturnal zoo and orchid nurseries being some of the ones I'm most excited about. There was even some talk of going to a traditional tea house.

After that it's on to Thailand, Bangkok to be exact, where both my friend from Singapore and I will be staying with another friend who now lives in Thailand. We will be staying at her house and enjoying the sights of the capital. I really want to see the Grand Palace and Emerald Buddha, especially since I've been reading a book that takes place right there! Hopefully, we'll also get some elephant riding in since it looks so fun in the pictures :)

After a few days there, it's off to Phuket (an island of Thailand). This will be the most relaxing part of the trip and we're hoping to visit at least one other island, Ko Phi Phi, on a day trip. They might even have monkeys there! I think this is the place my Mom is worried about the most since it was one of the places that got hit hard by the tsunami a few years ago. I told her everything was going to be fine. I will return in one piece.

With six airplane trips total, most of them being short hops except for the 18-19 hour USA to Singapore leg, I will have some time to knit. I had originally debated about bringing a project, but finally decided that I would probably go insane with boredom on the plane if I didn't. So, I chose Elbac. It's a cabled scarf pattern from the Winter 2006 Knitty that I thought would be small enough for travel, yet involved enough to keep me occupied and make the time fly. I'm making it with Nashua Handknits Create Focus Worsted in soft sage. It's my first attempt at cables, but I think it's looking good so far. I've promised myself that I won't work on it anymore until I'm at least at the airport :)

Racing Season Has Begun

2008-03-31T19:56:00.001-07:00

My boyfriend's racing season officially started this weekend at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma. That means I spent most of my weekend at the top of turn two watching him speed around the track, battling for position against more than 60 other cars.

This is a picture from the qualifying session. He is the silver and red #29 car. Don't the new decals look nice? It's a fierce looking car if you ask me :) The other drivers better watch out! If you want more information about his team, Rent Money Racing, check out their website.

In between practice and qualifying, I had a few hours to work on my silk shrug and was able to get a few inches of the body done. That's right folks, I have finally finished the first sleeve and started on the body! I think it's looking pretty good so far and a lot of people have complimented my color choice. I only have a couple more weeks to work on this before my trip to Thailand so it should be interesting to see how far I get.

I'm still a little tired from the busy weekend and nursing a sunburned face, so that's all for now.

The Snuggles Project

2008-03-26T20:24:00.000-07:00

Two and a half years ago, I adopted a one-year-old kitty from the Marin Human Society. She came home with her very own little blanket that someone had made for her. To this day, it is one of her favorite things to take a nap on.

I was looking around on the internet one day and came across a website for the Snuggles Project. It is a program that provides animal shelters with these blankets, called "snuggles," for the animals. The dogs and cats use the snuggles in the shelter and then take them with them when they're adopted. It helps to make the animals feel more at home in their new environment when they have something that is "theirs."

Yesterday, I wandered into my spare bedroom looking for a knitting needle, and came across a couple of skeins of this very bright yarn. I'm sure almost everyone who knits or crochets has a few skeins of yarn that they just don't know what to do with, or leftovers from projects that are finished. The Snuggles Project seems like the perfect way to use all that yarn up!

So, this colorful yarn seemed like the perfect thing to make a snuggle. I was excited and almost immediately started making my first snuggle (medium size). I'm using Red Heart Super Saver Yarn in Starbrights. There are patterns for snuggles on the website, but I'm simply doing double crochets with a size I hook.

Hopefully, I'll be able to make a snuggle for an animal that loves it as much as Ginny loves her snuggle :)

Not Another Hat

2008-03-19T20:58:00.000-07:00

Well, I've done it again. I've finished another hat for my Mom. This one is just like the other two but in Cotton-Ease violet. I think this is the last hat I'm going to make for my Mom for a while so you guys won't have to look at any more pictures of it anytime soon. On a side note, she is doing well and still has all her hair at this point. But with all these hats, she is very well prepared.

I've been plugging away at my Silk Shrug. I'm about 20 or so rows away from starting on the body. My goal is to be working on the body by next weekend so I can take it to the track with me while I'm watching my boyfriend's first race of the year. At least that will be my excuse for when I sit on the couch knitting instead of cleaning the house :)

Even though I'm in the midst of the shrug, I've already started thinking about my next project. Actually, I'm going on a trip to Thailand in about a month and need something more portable to take with me on the very long plane ride (about 18 hours). I decided to look for a simple cabled scarf pattern so that I could learn a new technique. I was stumbling around Knitty and came across Elbac. It seems like a good project to try and tackle. Now I just have to decide on what yarn to use. I will probably cast-on and start the project before I leave so that I kind of know what I'm doing. Otherwise I might end up throwing my yarn across the plane in a moment of frustration!

A New Adventure

2008-03-12T18:57:00.001-07:00

And I bet you can guess what it is! The spinning guild at Stitches West really made an impression on me and I couldn't stop thinking about spinning. I couldn't resist. I had to try it.

So a couple of weeks ago I ordered a Bosworth Midi Drop Spindle from Carolina Homespun. Well, it arrived on Monday and I was so excited to open the package. They even sent me some roving to play with :) The drop spindle is made of canarywood with a 2.5 inch whorl and a 9 inch shaft. If feels so smooth and seems very well balanced.

To make sure I had some instruction other than the bits and pieces I remember from that day at Stitches West, I ordered some books from Amazon that I'm hoping will help me learn. I purchased Spinning in the Old Way by Priscilla A. Gibson-Roberts and Spin to Knit by Shannon Okey. Right now all the new terminology and tools are a little overwhelming. I'm excited, but also a little nervous. It might be that the yarn I spin is so horrible I won't be able to do anything with it.

I have also been working on my Silk Shrug. Here's just a little picture to show you that it really is growing. The first sleeve is past my elbow on its way to my upper arm. Just a little bit more and I'll be working on the body. The Blue Sky Alpaca and Silk yarn is so soft to work with and I love the color! I know I'll be getting a lot of time to work on it in a couple of weeks because racing season is about to start for my boyfriend. That means lots of time at the track I can use to finish my sweater! Boogity, Boogity, let's get knitting!

The Uncooperative Model

2008-03-03T18:54:00.001-08:00

My Mom loved the pink hat I made for her in January. With her third chemo treatment looming, she decided that she wanted some more hats in different colors. I told her that I would make them for her, but she wanted to try and make them herself since she'd just learned how to crochet baby hats.

I printed off the free pattern for her and off we went to the craft store to get some cotton blend yarn. She picked out some Cotton-Ease in charcoal and violet and was eager to start her new project. I think she even started it that night before going to bed.

Within a day or two, she called me completely frustrated with the hat and the fact that she had to count her stitches. My mom has always loved crocheting, she just doesn't like to increase or decrease her stitches. She's very good at making scarves and baby blankets! I told her that I would pick up the yarn and finish both of the hats for her, but she insisted that she wanted to finish them herself, until last week.

She had finally given up! She told me to take the yarn and just make the hats for her. So, yesterday afternoon, I sat down to make the hat for her using the charcoal Cotton-Ease. I used two skeins of yarn, with two strands held together, and a 9.00 mm crochet hook. By the end of the night I had a hat, with ends woven in and all. She doesn't want me to decorate it with anything, like buttons or flowers, so it's a simple black hat.

My Mom will lose her hair soon and I hope that in some small way these hats will help her get through a very hard time. I still have the violet hat to make and will hopefully finish that one within the next week.

I tried to get my kitty, Ginny, to model the hat for everyone, but she wasn't in a very cooperative mood last night. Although, she did enjoy watching me make the hat and swatting at the yarn coming off of my hook :)

Stitches West ... Oh My!

2008-02-26T12:21:00.000-08:00

Saturday morning started off cloudy and grey, but I didn't care because I was headed to Stitches West! I've never been to this extravaganza before and was excited to see what it was all about.

My friend and I headed out early and made pretty good time driving down to Santa Clara. We found the convention center, parked the car, and followed the swarm of people leading inside the building. I figured even if I didn't know where I was going, they did. We found the Market and after purchasing our tickets, our adventure began.

I've never seen anything like it! There were hundreds of booths, thousands of people, and yarn everywhere. It was a fiber dream come true. We started down one row of booths, finding the knitting doctor and the stuffed bear charity project (sorry, I can't seem to remember the name right now). We'd only explored one and a half rows before it was time to watch the fashion show, which was excellent.

About half way through the day, we passed a spinning guild booth and stopped to watch the women spinning their beautiful yarn. Next thing I knew, one of them was showing be how to spin using a drop spindle made out of CD's. This was one of the things I really wanted to try at the show and I may be hooked already, even though I'm not quite sure I know what I'm doing yet :) They were generous enough to send me home with one and a little ball of roving to practice at home. Let's see what I can make now!

Hundred of people at the show were carrying around huge (and I mean huge!) carts and bags filled with yarn, roving, needles, and everything in between. Compared to them, I was pretty good and only walked away with the yarns in the picture. I was so happy I found the Liza Souza booth and was able to fondle all of her wonderful hand-dyed yarn. I did pick up a few skeins as a souvenir. I was also really impressed with the Blue Moon Fiber Arts booth. If only I knew how to knit socks! Hmmm, maybe that will come sooner than I think.

Is that a sleeve???

2008-02-20T19:07:00.000-08:00

So, what did everyone do last Sunday? I'll tell you what I did. I slept in, made breakfast for my boyfriend and I, and then sat down to watch the Daytona 500. Now, I'm not a huge racing fan, but my boyfriend is and sometimes I like watching the races with him. And, I have to admit that the last couple of laps were pretty exciting watching Tony Stewart come so close to winning!

Of course, while he was glued to the TV, I pulled out my knitting bag to play with my yarn. I had knit two gauge swatches to decide which size needles to use for the Silk Shrug. I pulled them both out and I sat, with ruler in hand, counting my stitches as the Car of Tomorrow zoomed around the track. All of a sudden, I realized that there was no need for the second swatch (size 6 needles). My first swatch (size 5 needles) had the correct number of stitches! Instead of waiting, I could have started the sweater almost a week earlier.

Needless to say, I cast on that very night and here is my progress so far. It may not look like it, but this is the beginning of the first sleeve. I'm already starting to increase stitches going up the arm and can hardly wait to see what it will look like. I know it will take a while for me to finish, but right now I'm like a kid in a candy store. All I want is more, more, more!

The Grammy's

2008-02-12T18:11:00.000-08:00

So, what did I do Sunday night? After spending part of the day working on a presentation for work, I sat on the couch and watched the Grammy Awards. Keeping one eye on the TV and the other on my knitting, I was able to finish my ribbed scarf! I love how the colors in the yarn flow together and make this simple scarf look more complex than it really is. The yarn did all the work for me :) The yarn I used was Crystal Palace Taos (004 Mirage). One of the ladies at Marin Fiber Arts told me to bring the scarf in once I was finished so hopefully I'll be able to visit them this coming weekend and show off my work.

While I'm at Marin Fiber Arts, I think I'll ask them about cables and see if they can recommend a good beginner pattern for me so I can learn how to make them. I'm just fascinated by all the intricate cable patterns I see on sweaters in the store and want to know how to make them. I know, I know, I already have my first sweater planned, but it doesn't hurt to think ahead!

Speaking of sweaters, I also finished my gauge swatch for the Silk Shrug I'm going to make. I used a size 5 circular needle to make the swatch. I've never worked on such small needles before and I struggled at first, but after the first few rows it got much easier. I hand washed and blocked it last night so all that's left is to measure my stitches and see how close I am. I've already gone up one needle size from the pattern since I know I'm a tight knitter.

I just recently found out that my step-father is going to have hip-replacement surgery in two weeks. This means that my Mom and I will be sharing the duties of taking my brother to basketball games and my sister to ballet lessons since they are at the same time. This shrug seems like the perfect project to take with me while I'm waiting for them!

Chicks with Sticks

2008-02-05T20:01:00.000-08:00

It seems that the knitting bug has bitten me because it seems like all I want to do with my free time is knit! I even brought my knitting with me to watch the Superbowl on Sunday. I'm sure all the guys were looking at me like I was crazy. Who is this girl that would rather play with a ball of yarn instead of watching the most important football game of the year?

Part of the reason for my excitement is that I finally purchased the yarn I'm going to use to make the Silk Shrug. It's a beautiful shade of blue called Sapphire and it's so so soft. I tried to purchase the yarn at my local yarn store, but unfortunately they didn't have enough and wouldn't be able to get it for a few weeks. I was so anxious to start the sweater that I ordered in online through kpixie. They were amazing. I ordered the yarn on a Saturday night and it was in my hot little hands Thursday night! Isn't it pretty? I've already starting stitching my gauge swatch and hopefully I'll be able to start the sweater soon.

Last night my friend Liz and I finally made it to Chicks with Sticks in San Francisco. It was a lot of fun. There were around fifteen or so women and a couple of men all sitting around and chatting while they worked on their various projects. One woman was making the cutest knit hearts for her family for Valentine's Day. Everyone was super friendly and I don't know whether it was the good company or the lychee lemon drop I had, but I was knitting faster than normal :) I think we'll definitely be going back soon.

Sunshine Girl

2008-01-28T19:48:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-21T20:06:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-15T17:56:00.001-08:00

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

2008-01-13T17:16:00.001-08:00

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!

2008-01-12T12:28:00.000-08:00

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.