Meme

Yes, I got quiet again.... I guess I do that. Laurie tagged me for the current meme that's going around - I'll take a shot at it.

The rules: Are posted at the beginning. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves a comment, letting them know they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog.Let the person who tagged you know when you've posted your answer. Play nice, children.

1. What was I doing 10 years ago? 10 years ago my kids were 9 and 12. Wow - tons of volunteer work at their schools, driving way too much carpool, lots of soccer games and kid related stuff. Way more time to work in the yard oh - and we will remodeling our house. I think this would have been one of my knitting "breaks" where I was more into quilting.

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list today- not in any particular order? Do laundry, get my hair cut, get gas in the car (ouch!) get ready for Amy's party, clean the house!!!

3. Snacks I enjoy. It really depends on my mood, I do like potato chips, but they have to be pretty good ones to be worth eating - my current favorites are Kettle Chips and Cheetos(not together). Yum! I also really like dark chocolate. Common everyday snack might just be some dry cereal though - I don't do milk on cereal though. Yuck. Not for me.

4. Places I've lived- Portland Oregon,and then onto Washington - Kirkland, Auburn, Kirkland, Lake Forest Park and then Kirkland again.

5. Things I would do if I were a billionaire: Buy a vacation home in Cannon Beach, OR. Pay someone to finish the rest of our house. Get a fun, convertible sports car. Invest, invest, invest.

6. What are some jobs you've had: Babysitter, papergirl, Big Scoop ice cream scooper/manager, piano teacher, waitress, dental assistant/office manager, mom, data entry, retail at a yarn shop (and teach).

7. Peeps I want to know more about: I don't think these folks have responded already, if you have, I missed it. Amy, Naomi, Ginger, Sarah - 4 is close to 6, right?

LYS tour, here we come

Amy and I are headed out today for a girl's road trip. This weekend (well, it started yesterday) is the Seattle area LYS tour. Every shop has a one skein pattern and the featured yarn is 10% off. Our plan is to do some Seattle-ish shops today, head a bit south (we really liked Renaissance Yarns in Kent last year) and then over to Bainbridge Island later this afternoon. We plan to hang out at Churchmouse for a bit, have dinner at Cafe Nola and perhaps stroll back over to Churchmouse. We'll stay on Bainbridge and head north to Bellingham in the morning. Should be loads of fun!



I worked yesterday, the first day of the tour and it was so much fun meeting people from Ravelry!! My shoes have been a big hit, so that's fun.



I'll bring my camera with me to catch any interesting sites along the way!

Happy Mother's Day!

Sewing like a madwoman

One of the main reasons I'm so busy right now is the fact that my mom is getting married on June 1st. Yep, 3 weeks from now.


I'm to be the matron of honor (it sounds so old and dowdy) and Sara will be the candlelighter and photographer for the event. We had a preview of the brides dress at Easter, and I knew at that time it would be hard to find a color currently out in stores that would match (sort of a shell pink)and, since I'm not the sort of person who would really actually wear a bridesmaid type dress for any other function, I really don't want to spend the sort of $$ I was finding at places like Jessica McClintock or bridal shops. Plus, really I'm not built for a strapless dress, or a dress cut down to wherever. Please.

Sara and I went pattern shopping a few weeks back and found a few fabric samples and patterns for what we thought might pass muster with the bride. Well, the bride happened to be out of the country for a few weeks, so just last week I found out that she really didn't like the fabric for what I was wanting my dress to be - sort of a soft purple-ly periwinkleish greyish whatever. She did like the seaglass blue that we had also selected.

Last Saturday I left around 11am to find a dress. I tried all sorts of stores - I was either looking for a ready made dress that would work, and/or, at the same time I was trying on a whole bunch of different cuts and styles just in case I would be making my dress. Nothing was to be found, so about 5 pm I headed to Joann Fabrics and purchased yardage.

This weekend has now been a whirlwind of sewing. It's really been a long time since I've made garments, and now I remember why I appreciate ready made so much. So, my dress is this one - Simplicity 4014 with a jacket out of Simplicity 5561 and Sara will have Kwiksew 3402- a cute halter dress.

So far, I can't quite get the neckline to lay flat on my dress, and why are the sizes so different than ready made? I'm making this 3 sizes bigger than the two other dresses I bought last week and I've lost two pounds since then. Criminy, how depressing.

In knitting projects, I'm currently working on a commission baby blanket for a customer and making plain stockinette Noro #188 socks for me on size 0 needles. The Noro does seem a bit scratchy, but I'm going to make them work. Perhaps a ton of conditioner??

This post brought to you by the letter "A" and "N"

Hey there - miss me?

Well the last few months have been busy crazy/crazy busy and still won't be letting up until around the end of June. And I've found the longer you don't make time to post, the more things pile up, and then it feels overwhelming to post everything and so on.

So, I'll try and make it fairly brief, besides I need to go in about 5 minutes.

My newest finished project is the Malabrigo Pi Shawl in the Hummingbird colorway. Done last Monday. Love it. Amy stopped by worked and snapped a picture (so I'd have something to post on the blog!) I started this January 1st w/ Naomi. Love my new Namaste bag too. Yummy green.

Next up for today - clear chucks. Yes, I succumbed to them. I think they will look super snazzy at work with handknit socks. Patrick thinks they are ugly, but so what. They are comfortable!

Okay, 'nuff said for now. Have a great day - it's actually sunny here today! Yippee!

And the yarn goes to....

Adrienne of Belly Button Knits! The actual number was 54 pairs of socks. Yes, I was actually quite shocked when I counted, because who goes around counting their sock yarn? I really thought it would be around 25 pairs or so. Oops.

There were actually two guesses of 53 pairs, so I had a virtual coin toss (who knew you could find this online?) and Adrienne won. Adrienne, please leave your mailing address for me at thatsmymiddlename(at)gmail(dot)com and I'll get the yarn out to you!

I'm trying to get one more little sweater/vest finished this month, but alas and alack not much progress on the aran. I forgot where I was again and I'm not finding alot of time for more intense knitting. It's much easier to just pick up a pair of socks and dash those off.

I'll do a more picture-y post tomorrow or Friday, but I've got to get ready for work now - have a great day and thanks for playing along!

It's a contest!

ETA: The contest is closed - thanks for playing along!!


In honor of my one-year anniversary of blogging and my birthday (see 2/20), I'm having a blog contest with a cool prize...... the winner will receive enough Kauni yarn to make Ruth's really cute knit skirt*!! Oooo, Ahhhh. The colorway is EC - the black with variations of grey - it looks good on everyone, and I have it on good authority that Stephanie will be making the very same skirt in the same colorway. How do I know?? Well, not only has she already posted it on her blog (yes, that was me in the picture of the Kaunis) but we were in Ruth Sorensen's class all day on Friday at Madrona at the same table and chatted pretty much all day. I'm waffling between the grey/black and the denim. I just can't decide, and I really don't need two of the same skirt.



Okay, here's what you have to do. Below is a picture of all of my sock yarn. The question is this. How many pairs of socks can I make? There are a few duplicate balls/skeins, such as Louet Gems and some yarn from elann that needs one skein per sock. To clarify, I'm not asking how many balls/skeins there are, but how many pairs of socks (regular size 7 1/2 woman's foot) does this picture represent?? I also will not be making socks from the leftovers......

*The winner will need to buy the pattern from Ruth's website.

In other news, I'm still recovering from Madrona. I was talking to a coworker today to see how she was recovering, and I mentioned it was almost like recovering from an illness or surgery. I still feel walloped around 5 in the afternoon. I don't want to make this an extremely long post so I'll talk about Madrona 2008 next time.

Good luck guessing on the sock yarn - I'll close the contest on Wednesday and post a winner.

Have a great day!

Happy blogiversaryRuthsherebirthday!

Hi - just a quickie post without pictures to let you know I did survive Madrona. I have been wanting to post since I've been back but I hit the ground running and don't have pictures yet. If you are a student of mine, you've seen my purchases (except for fiber) but I will properly document tomorrow. And yes, that is me in the front row in the Kauni picture the Yarn Harlot had on her blog yesterday.

All in all Madrona was great. What a change from last year where I only knew Angela and Holly and not really enough to hang out with them. This year, I had so many people that I knew through friends, ravelry, email groups and shop customers/students. I also was able to get to know some of the other vendors better too (I worked part of the time I was down there) particularly Sheila Ernst, Ruth and Virginia Bowen of Seattle Yarn, Sandy from knit/purl, Tina from Blue Moon and Klaus from Crown Mountain.

Today is my 1 year blogiversary, so I think I'll be coming up with some sort of something....stay tuned to either tomorrow or Friday. I started this one year ago today at the urging of a really good friend (Hi Amy!) and it's been fun. Sometimes a bit stressful because I tend to feel guilty that I don't post enough, but all in all good.

Okay, gotta run - Ruth Sorenson is teaching a class all day at the shop and I'm facilitating it. Tables to move, scones to bake, you know the drill.

Have a wonderful day!

Kauni

My Kauni is finally done. Guess I can go to Madrona after all! Just kidding - of course I would have gone, but I really wanted this sweater done. I started the sweater last July (July 28?) and knit the body up to the shoulders by August 25th. It then marinated in it's bag for a few months, working on it every so often. I finally decided it had to be done by Madrona, and pulled it out to finish it on January 1st. Actual finish date was 1/31/2008. I really like the buttons I used - I found them at Pacific Fabrics at Northgate for any locals - they are LaMode brand, style 24656 5/8". Here's what I had left after all was said and done. Now, I will be reknitting the side of the button band with the buttonholes - what a nightmare! - but not until after Madrona. I tried and tried to get the count just right to pick up a goodly amount of stitches, and then space 7 buttonholes. I thought I had it all good and went on my merry way. I had even put a line of pins on our carpet to try and space them exactly right. When I was done, I realized that what I was thinking was the neck edge was really the bottom edge. Poo. I'll cut it off in a few weeks and rework this band. I still need to block this too - I only steam blocked it for the pictures, but I'm waiting for my new wooly board to get here first.

















So, what's next now that it's officially February? These three projects (and of course, really there's more). On the left is the aran pullover from Two Sticks and a String that has been in a ziploc bag and on needles since 2004. I had actually made this once before, but in a size medium and out of merino wool. Why a second one? 1) the size M was 50" circumference - way too big and 2) my wool was very, very pilly. It ended up going to Value Village. I bought this heavy worsted perendale wool from someone - don't really remember who - and it took about 6 months for her to get it to me. Yikes. Bad internet buying experience. Anyway, I readdressed the project at hand today to figure out where I had left off. I was able to get a bit of the first sleeve going and hope to finish said sleeve this weekend. I'll just have to do one more sleeve, 15" of the body and it'll be done. Prognosis for this getting done this month is very good.

Second up on the needles are these balls of Sugar 'n Cream. I bought these last summer on a lark - at work we eat our lunch at the back table and face this one wall of yarn. For a few days in a row, I had noticed all these really cute bright colors of this yarn all lined up in the cubby. I counted. Seven of those really bright colors. Shoot - seven days in a week. Wouldn't they make great washcloths - one for everyday of the week for a certain daughter? Yep - I got them with the idea of adjusting the patterns for the washcloths seen in Knitters Stash for worsted weight instead of sportweight. These will be for Sara's birthday on March 17th. I know she'll love them.


Last but not least on the needles for this month is the Peace Fleece Everyday Cardigan. I'll talk more about that one in another post - can't tell all my thoughts today or I won't have anything to talk about!

I think the following will be the last of the Christmas pictures/postings for this year/season.

I have great friends - you guys already know this - but Amy, Naomi and I met at Trophy Cupcakes the Friday before Christmas to exchange gifts. The picture above is of the snowman that the barista made on top of my latte. Isn't it cute? I also had a peppermint chocolate cupcake, or rather part of one - they are so sweet that I can't usually eat the whole thing without a major sugar rush. Anyway, Amy gave me a great sock bag out of Amy Butler fabrics that her mom has been making. These bags are so great. There is a cute clip to attach to a belt loop and the yarn guide on the inside of the bag closes by snaps so you can take your project out unlike other bags. So, so cute! Keep checking Amy's blog - her mom has been making more and you need to get one! She also gave me a cute tape measure and some really fun kleenex. And a mitered square stitch marker! Thank you so much again, Amy! (Note: I love this bag so much that I actually bought a second one!)

From Naomi I received some beautiful laceweight yarn from whitewillow in the Autumn Oak colorway. 100% merino and 880 yards. I'll be looking through the Victorian Lace Today book for something that will go well with this beautiful yarn. There was also a stitch marker and sachet attached to the yarn, and two tickets to visit the Nordic Museum. I've never been to this Museum, so I'm looking forward to going with her sometime soon!

Last but not least, I need to pay homage to Junior the tree. What is now grass in this picture had been a perennial flower bed last summer. A few years ago I found this little fir tree seedling in the bed and decided to let it grow. I groomed it and pruned it really nice this summer with the plans that it would be Christmas tree for our kitchen. In the meantime, we planned the firepit (see the concrete squares) and plans to change the shape of the bed. It was strongly suggested that it come out at that time. This all took place in September and October, and it really needed to be removed so we could plant grass, but Doug was nice and let junior stay until it was time to cut it/him? in December. It was a nice tree while it lasted!

It's Thursday, must be time for a post.

Funny thing - my husband reads my blog sometimes and saw my blog post. Wanted to know why I was saying bad things about my computer (my computer is stupid and a FO). Now he doesn't speak "yarnie" too much....he thought the FO was something directed towards my computer, not a lovely comfy new "finished object", being my Ella Rae sweater.

Computer news isn't really any better. I found a program online that was supposed to fix registry issues and the like, including .dll files. Well, in everyone else's case but mine. Humph. So right now I've lost my most recent class invoice for work, my week 4 and 5 beginning knitting file (for teaching - fortunately I had sent weeks 1-3 to my gmail account!) and my itunes is defunct. I tried downloading a new itunes, but same problem. Also reloaded office, still no change. Patrick offered to check it out when he gets home in March for spring break, so we'll see.

Knitting is going great however. I'm leaving soon this morning to try and find some decent buttons for my Kauni! Yes, I bound off last night and got all the ends tucked in and will hopefully sew buttons on today. Pictures probably tomorrow and then I'll block. Hooray! It got done in time for Madrona. I'm very relieved.

Besides my crazy list I posted, I do have class samples to make and store samples to work on. For work right now, I have a baby sweater (or is it a vest?) in Baby Cashmerino, the Louet felted cable bag out of Riverstone, a Leaf lace shawl out of Kauni (the brown, gold, blue colorway - gotta get this done for Madrona!) baby socks from the leftovers of Baby Cashmerino, and that's just what's currently in my bag. Gotta get these done quickly - the new spring yarns are starting to arrive, and there's some great stuff in there!

Pictures! I have pictures of lots of stuff - these would be from Christmas - on the left is Sara, and the right Patrick. I also did quite a bit of Christmas knitting - I didn't get pictures of everything, so I just have a bit of a representation. Final tally was 1 pair of socks for Patrick (look! Doug even learned how to knit - see below - he did one round!), 1 pair of socks for Doug out of ShiBui Sock, 1 pair of socks for my brother Dave, 1 wrap out of seasilk for my Mom (my own pattern - Mermaid Wrap which I really don't think I can post her because the shop paid me for the pattern. I suppose they basically own it, so I can't republish here), 6 felted sheep, a horizontal herringbone scarf out of Manos silk blend for Sara, a sweater for Patrick, a cabled shortie poncho out of Plymouth Baby Alpaca Grande for Sara, and an afghan for my mom and her fiance out of Manos wool. The sheep went one each to my sister-in-laws. Those are little wooden stars that I painted red, green, or yellow around their sheepy necks.

So, why don't I post too often? Guess I knit too much! I know I really need to get better about documenting my projects and I'm trying to get better about it.

Have a great day!

My computer is stupid and a FO

So, a few weeks ago we had some snow. Not that big a deal, maybe 1 1/2 inches. At 6:00 the next morning, our power suddenly went out. Doug eventually got up, got ready for work and headed out into the cold unfriendliness. He was back in under 5 minutes. Apparently a large maple had fallen across the road completely blocking access to the outside world. There was a sheriff car there with lights flashing and everyone was told it would be 2 hours or more before the road would be opened again. Well, for some reason my computer has been acting strangely ever since. Naomi suggested I shut it down and repower it, which I was thinking should be done also, so I did this past weekend. Shoot. It came back on with a blue screen saying I had all sorts of corrupt file messages and the whatnot. So, the end result right now is that all of my beginning knitting teaching files are gone. Just gone. Zappo. Nowhere to be found. Same with most of my pictures, and my itunes. I'm hoping that I'm not totally messed up on the itunes, but I'm too scared to plug my ipod in to the computer. Fortunately Patrick is lending me his itrip so I can charge my big ipod that way. Does anyone know what a RICHED20.dll is? Apparently mine is gone.



My last post had a boatload of over ambitousness on my part that I'm really trying to fufill. Here's a picture of the first one - the Ella Rae T-Shirt sweater.

Ella Rae TShirt Sweater

Yarn - Atacama, color 500 8 skeins

I made the longer version, with the shorter sleeves

Started October (?) finished January 11, 2008

Love it! Really quick knit, nothing fancy which is what I was after. I really like it over a white oxford shirt with the sleeves rolled up and the tails of the shirt sticking out.

More pictures later - time to head out to work!

This, that, and the other

Sorry, no pictures this post -my camera is acting weird. Probably just operator error, no surprise!

So, I thought I should write down my plans/goals for knitting this year. As you will see from my list, I tend to try and be an overachiever. Note, I said try to be, not that I actually am. So here goes.

To start this off, I have a lot of yarn. I really have a lot of yarn. Maybe not as much as alot of people out there, but still. I have decided for my own sanity, I'm not going to buy much yarn (although it's okay to buy at Madrona, of course!) this year until I get some of my projects done and some of the stash whittled down. So I plan to try and get one to two sweaters done per month. That won't take care of any of my laceweight or fingering weight, but that's okay.

January - Ella Rae TShirt Sweater in Atacama yarn, color 500. Done 1/11/08
Ruth's Kauni Cardigan
Cabled poncho for Sara in Plymouth Baby Grande Alpaca ,in dark green. Done 1/16/08
1 row of Pi Shawl per day. I started this with Naomi on January 1st. More later.

February - Peace Fleece Everyday Cardigan. Yes, I already did this in August 2007. More on this later too.
Aran sweater that was started 4 years ago. Just get it done already!
7 washcloths for Sara for her birthday. Cute cotton ones, one for each day of the week -(these will be for her birthday in March)

March - Lavold Margery Sweater in Silky Tweed
Hourglass sweater from Last Minute Knitted gifts in some yarn from Elann

April - Top down sweater out of my homespun (Spinderella's Thrums)

May - Lavold Hempathy top in orange - don't remember the name right now, doesn't matter right now
A Louet top in purple. All I remember about this pattern is that Naomi has it and it was purchased last LYS tour at churchmouse.

June - Another Lavold Hempathy top in Blue
A Louet top in a pretty blue and green tweed

July - Hand dye some knitpicks yarn I have for a new rogue (to replace the one that got shrunkified)
I have some Hemp6 but I can't remember which top, but they also came out with another top that I think I like even better.

August - Top down sweater in pink (moscow magic pink) Peace Fleece

Huh, I really thought I had this planned out through September, so that will give more more room to plan. I really think I'll be plenty busy!

Sad

The Gowey family lost another beloved member tonight, the last one of the older generation. Doug's Aunt Kathy passed away this evening due to complications of a broken hip. She broke her hip about 3 or 4 weeks ago, and she never really recovered from it.

Aunt Kathy was the one who gave Sara her early appreciation for tea. She had small teapots (brown betties) that the girls (her great-nieces) were always allowed to use when they'd come over to visit. She had a marvelous doll house that was the anticipation of many a visit for the kids. She and her husband Hal (who passed away many years ago, not quite sure how long ago) would make the kids wonderful homemade toys - dolls, small knitted items, trucks, boats and many miniature items. Every Christmas would have a new intricately designed Christmas card.
She also had a very dry wit about her and she knew so much about the family history.

Kathy and Hal never had children of their own, so really took an interest in their nieces and nephews and their families. She will be greatly missed by us all.

Knitting still goes on here, but I've just taken a "too busy" break from blogging I guess. I hope to be more consistent soon!

"Darlin' it's betta, down where it's wetta"

And the rain just keeps coming. I don't know how many inches so far today, but wow. I ended up not going into work - I tried getting down Juanita Drive towards work this morning and got stuck in standing traffic. Apparently there is quite a bit of flooding in Kenmore, and then also in Lake Forest Park. I called into work and Deb and I decided there would be enough warm bodies there today for me to turn around and go home. Deb called back later this morning and said someone else had gone my same route and it took them 3 hours. It usually just takes me 20 minutes. All around me are flooded roads - Kirkland, Bothell, Kenmore. Wet, wet, wet.

Doug called earlier today and the parking lot where he works was flooding. The rain will let up for 15 minutes or so, and then we are back to torrents. I'm glad I live on top of the hill, away from the ravine!

So, I'm home today, drinking tea - checking king5.com for reports and catching up on knitting.

Stay dry and warm!

It's raining....

It's pouring! We have had quite a weekend of weather around here - two inches or so of snow on Saturday, and then the temperatures quickly rose 10 degrees and it's been raining buckets every since. There are apparently quite a few mudslides around town, and many roads are starting to be closed due to flooding. Great. We should be getting a windstorm sometime this afternoon too. I didn't have a blog last December when we had the huge storm, but I can tell you it was a mess. And it can be a bit scary (and most likely stupid!) driving underneath huge fir trees leaning over the road.

So what have I been doing during my time under a rock in November? I definitely have been knitting, but nothing really has been finished. Patrick came home for Thanksgiving, and tried his sweater on. I had worked and worked to get it up to the underarms. Now, he's very athletic, and likes his clothing to be more profile fitting. No baggy clothes for him! So, I made the size small, and got to his recommended 17" long from the underarms. Tried it on. Drat - it needed to be another inch or two bigger around. So, I spent two days powering through restarting the sweater. It's now 8 stitches bigger around, and 18 1/2" to the underarms. I've now started the sleeves - we'll see how that goes!

I also finished a pair of socks for my brother. These are out of Lana Grossa Mega Boots stretch in color 719. Looking at the skein I had, I thought there was just browns and greys in the mix. There is actually a section of blue in there too. Hope he likes them! He doesn't understand the merits of handknit socks, so we shall see.

Also new in the mix are a whole flock of sheep!


I really like the Fibertrends sheep pattern. There are two at the shop that I made a few years ago. Really cute with a waxed linen string around their neck and a rusty star. Sort of reminds me of the old German sheep. These are destined for my sisters-in-law. (Psst - Eliza! Don't tell!)

I still have 2 pairs of socks to make, one more fetching glove, a scarf of some sort out of the new Manos silk blend (ooo, yummy!) finish Patrick's sweater, a SeaSilk wrap for my mom and finish one more block on an afghan. Whew!

Day Late....

Happy December 1st! Although today is really Sunday, I had really wanted to post yesterday, just was out all day and busy last night.

In our family, December 1st has been the day to kick off the Christmas season. I buy a wreath for the door, the Christmas dishes come out, we have a nice dinner and it's okay to start putting out decorations and play Christmas music. When the kids were at home, they would get their advent calendar at dinner. Sundays in December are always a nice sit down dinner, and we even get dessert!(we never have dessert!)

Last night, we had a smaller version of what I've done in the past. Doug and I had been out shopping all day (we are trying to find a new loveseat/couch for our living room) and time was getting short to make dinner. I ended up making Butternut Squash Risotto with Kalamata Olive bread from Trader Joe's and Steamed Asparagus. We also had some pink champagne to drink. Dessert was to have been lemon tarts, but we were too full!

Happy December 1st!

Frustrated

ETA - I did finally get in and I did get my classes just fine. I'm taking Ruth's designing with Kauni yarn all day Friday, and Judith's Spinning for Socks on Sunday afternoon. Village Yarn and Tea will have a vendor booth there too, so I'll spend my non-class time working there and having fun with friends at night!

I got up all ready to register for Madrona Fiber Arts this morning. Got everything all filled out, my classes were still open and - bam!- an error message. Not twice, but five seperate times. I really wanted the class with Ruth on designing with Kauni yarns and the class with Judith on spinning for socks. Now registration is suspended due to technical difficulties, and I have to head off to work.

Poor Suzanne - I know it's not her fault at all - we are also having a bit of a windstorm out here, so I wonder if that was part of the problem.

Goin' for it~

I learned a nifty new bind-off technique today from Naomi and Melinda who had learned it at the Nihon class they are taking. It's similar to a 3-needle bind off, but it doesn't have such a thick selvage on the wrong side. Nice. So, after accidentally seaming the two front edges together (oops!) I'm ready to baste the steek stitches and cut the armholes. Oh my. Here goes!This is my new sewing machine. It's not fancy at all, but it's fairly heavy duty and has what I need. I've sewn since I was 10, and I'm not one for the computerized or embroidery machines. Maybe one day, but this is good for now. I had a great Bernina Sport machine but I gave it to Sara when she moved into her apartment in September.

Here's the beginning of the basting.

And the cut. There's no going back from here! Next I need to pick up stitches for the sleeves. At least I'm still breathing!

Over the (blue) moon

Amy, Naomi and I did a group order for some Blue Moon goodness a couple of weeks ago. It arrived yesterday!

I bought STR in Rocktober, Grinchy and JingleBell Rock. I also was talked into Laci in Red Clover Honey (I see Bee Fields in my future!) and I also got a Sheep to Shoe kit in Thistle. I really want to get better at spinning for socks, so we'll see.

I'm off to get a haircut and then Naomi's for an afternoon of knitting, friends, and fun. I'm hoping to finally decide if and how I'm going to get my shoulder seams finished for my Kauni. I need to move on with it.

Patrick's sweater is coming along. The pattern is written to be 15" from the cast-on edge to the armholes. I'm there now, so I've sent off an email to him to measure himself and a favorite other shirt (he doesn't wear sweaters - hasn't found the right one yet - )to figure out really how long he wants it.

I've made a bit of progress on my Ella Rae sweater - I put it aside for a bit to work on Patrick's, but since I'm waiting to hear from him, I can work more on it. I've been working it two balls at a time, switching them out every second row. It's looking great! I think it's doing a great job of not pooling or flashing.


(No, this is not me)

I think I can, I think I can....

I think I have my Christmas gift knitting all set. Of course various people who will be recipients of same gifts pop in to read my blog from time to time, so I guess I can't say too much about them. Patrick knows what I'm making, as he picked it out. I'm modifying the ribbed cardigan in Last Minute Knitted Gifts to be a 1/4-zip pullover. He picked Plymouth Tweed in charcoal and away I went. I swatched Tuesday night, got gauge and finally cast on Wednesday night.

Let me say here and now that I am not a perfect knitter. I know. It's shocking, huh? So, I got about 5 inches into the thing and I realized the whole front was going to be wonky. You see, the pattern is for a full zip cardigan. There are k2 ribs on either side of the zipper and the body is knit all in a one piece 4x4 rib. So I had merrily cast on my full cadre of stitches and went on my way. I stopped to admire the work and I realized that the zipper placement will just not look right with a K4 on the right and a P4 on the left. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Off to the frog pond with that baby.

Cast back on yesterday morning and I left four stitches off on each side. I don't need a zipper selvedge, and Patrick wants to make sure it is not at all baggy - more athletic cut. So now I have the center front centered on a K4 rib and that will be divided (K2,zipper,K2) at the appropriate time.

Here's progress so far:

It does seem to be going rather quickly - I need 15" until the armhole shaping - I think I'm around 9 inches right now.

I'll post more later tonight - Amy and I are headed to IKEA to check our their Christmas stuff and who knows what else. I'll leave you with two recently finished shop models.