Thursday, October 28, 2010

It has been some time since I have updated my blog. Life seems to be busy, but not busy if you know what I mean. Example... Yesterday I came home and promptly went to my bed to rest. I slept all night. Work is busy though. Very very busy. Busy is good except I am so tired when I get home from work so fiber fun has been fleeting. I also just spent 4 days visiting my oldest nephew, Wesley, at Western State College of Colorado in Gunnison, Colorado. It was friends and family weekend and my sister invited me and Patti along for a girls weekend... The trip was fun and will be what I concentrate my blog post on...


The college had fun events planned. The first being and 80's themed dance. We had fun planning our costumes.



This is me and Wesley! I am glad he was happy to see his Aunt Jeanie.



Julie asked for socks. I though it was fitting to work on them during the trip to see her son at college...




Wesley plays football for the school. We went to a game. He red shirted this year so he got to sit with us. Basically he is a team member that is not yet playing. Hopefully next year he will get game time... Progress on the sock was slow. It was cold.



We went to Crested Butte for good pizza and beer.



I knitted while we waited for coffee. This place had a long line every day.



We went back to Crested Butte for a harvest festival that as it turns out was for the younger set. It would have been a lot of fun if I was 8.



And here is the bummer. I got the heels done on the plane ride home. Tried them on and they are to big. Rip out those lovely heels I did and re-knitting is in progress. They are a great design. Retro Rib Socks from Favorite Socks. I will post all details when they are done. On another note check out my handsome sons senior portraits.



















Location:Long Overdue

Friday, October 15, 2010

Sophisticated Little Baby Sweater!

Hello Friday, HELLOOOOO!  I am so happy you are here.  
Last night the mad dash was on to finish a baby present for a colleagues new little one, Ronan.  He was born on Monday and I just can't seem to knit for babies when they are still roasting, I have to wait until they are born.  I cast on this little man sweater on Tuesday night and here it is, all finished, even with the Wiley Coyote buttons sewn on (thank you Patti).  Isn't it handsome?
Details!
Pattern:  Baby Sophisticate (ravelry link)
Needles:  Knit Picks Options Size 8
Yarn:  Plymouth Yarn Encore Worsted
 GIFTS, GIFTS, GIFTS...
Remember my last post and how I told you I love gifts.  Well, in addition to ALL of those wonderful things I got a few weeks ago, I was surprised again, by my good friend Cathy, with this lovely fiber and a little bag knit up to hold my spinning wheel oil.  How sweet.  Cathy attended the Oregon Fur and Fiber Festival (OFFF) and found theses treasurers for me!  I feel so special.  Last year Cathy, Zaynab and I attended the festival together so it was nice to be remembered even though I couldn't pull of going this year!
 THANK YOU CATHY!

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Random Thursday...

I have not updated my blog for some time so today is RANDOM THURSDAY!  My husband has returned from Singapore so life has once again become busy (weird how when I am a single parent I am less busy - maybe it is because I let the kiddo's get away with murder).  So, while Clint was gone for 3 weeks some progress was made on a few projects.
Qiviut Fair Isle Softness (not the real name but...)
Here are the details!
Needles:  Size 4 Knit Picks Options
Yarn:  100% Qiviut from the Anchorage Museum - 
this yarn is not labeled in a way that I can tell you where to purchase it EXCEPT at the Anchorage Museum.  What I have been told is that the yarn is part of an educational project through UAF or it comes from Canada.  It is lace weight.  The green skein was 220 yards and I have a bunch left even though my dog kept eating it.  The purple skein is 110 yards and I have just a tiny smidgen of this left so I would plan for at least 110 yards of each color.
I will plan on doing a photo shoot while wearing this hat (someday).  The timing just has not been right.
Hand Dyed Silk Single Everglade Tam
This photo is blurry.  I apologize.  Again, photo shoots have been challenging...
Here are the details...
Pattern:  Everglades (via Ravelry)
Needles:  Size 6 Knit Picks Options
Yarn:  Hand Dyed Silk Single (company unknown)
After blocking the HECK out of this hat I wish I had added one repeat to make it a bit more slouchy.  I was really, really not sure what to do and decided to close up to quickly.  This hat fits more like and ummmm.... hat but it is still really cute and I think it wears nicely fitted to the scalp!
BIG FAT FAIL...
I purchased a wonderful skein of cashmere in Italy.  I blogged about it here.
I had a fantastic idea of using some of this cashmere for a woven scarf.  My husband really, really wants a woven scarf, so, plan put into action. I borrowed my friend Cathy's ridgid heddle loom.  It looked fun.  It sat and sat and sat because you know, this cashmere is special.  What if I make a total mess of it.  I have never weaved before...  Well, I got a bug, followed the instructions and got it all set up, PIECE OF CAKE.  Moving right along, I cut the ends, made my surgical knots, and started to weave.  Here in lies the problem.  I was making gauze.  Not at all what I wanted.  I needed something different.  So I took the project up the road to the local weaving wizard, Pamela of Far North Fibers.  The result of my visit is sad but good to know, after all, you don't want to spend a bunch of time doing something that you don't want.  We ended up un-warping the loom and bunching up all of those cut ends.  I guess I will have to figure out what pretty lace project this yarn was destined for.  Something with fringe would be nice since I have a bunch of cut ends.  They will knit up too but I will have lots and lots of ends to weave in.  Long story short, do a little more research BEFORE you begin a project.  There were some other options but we decided that the yarn itself is to loosely spun to weave with.  It will make a horrible mess with fuzz!
PRESENTS IN THE MAIL...
You know what I love.  When a package is in your mailbox and it is something that you didn't order for yourself.  Total surprise gifts from friends ROCK!  I had one week (2 weeks ago) that 2 GIFTS arrived in the mail.  I was also surprised with one thing that I did order and that week is what I call a fantastically fiberous week!
FIRST - FIBER
This fiber was sent to me by Gina Vincent.  I have actually never met Gina but we are fiber friends on facebook because she went to school with my hubby!  We happen to have fiber in common so we keep in touch and share projects that way!  How fun is this fiber.  Gina carded these up and thought I might enjoy spinning them.  
THANK YOU GINA!
SECOND - STORAGE...
My BFF Farrah sent me this CUTE Owl Knitting Bag.  I love, love, love it!  I am sure she used her super duper swapping powers to gift this to me since it came from the maker!  It is awesome and is big enough to fit a sweater project in!  REALLY!
THANK YOU FARRAH!
THIRD - INSPIRATION...
I am so excited to start knitting designs from this book.  I ordered it used off of amazon and by doing that I got a copy with a fantastic binding on the edge that allows the books to lay flat.  I became interested in this book because of a fellow bloggers knitting.  I can't wait to dig into it and pull a fantastic design.  I hope mine turns out as good as this one...
THANKS PAT FOR THE INSPIRATION!