Spinning vs. Knitting

I can't decide if I should spin or knit tonight. I've made good progress on the bag I started, so I would like to get moving on that.... But I haven't spun in a while, so I would like to get back to that.... Decisions, Decisions...

So, I've been informed of a Long Island Spinning Guild that I'm gunna look into :-) They meet the 3rd Weds of the month (I think) so I missed it for September, but hope to make it to the meeting in October.

Really?!?!

So, I started my Cables on Pockets XL bowling bag from She Knits. Such a cute pattern! I can't wait til this is done. This is for Mom, but I'm pretty sure I'll be making one for myself too. Anyway, this is what it looked like a few minutes into the knitting:

The Brown is for the main body of the bag & the oatmeal is the pocket. It doesn't look like much here, but trust me, this is gunna be one BIG bag. So, for the *Really?* part: after knitting the base of the bag the cable popped off the circ needle. UGH!!! Brandy new needles too. That's what I get for not buying Addis! LOL! Oh well, Wild and Wooley Wools here I come!

Done: Perdita & Scarf

These are the projects I finished up in New Hampshire. The cuff is Perdita from Knitty in the Lilac motif. I used glass beads from Michaels. The buttons belonged to my grandmother. The yarn is embroidery floss.

The scarf is adapted from a Knit Scene pattern. Only I made it too short, so I added a ruffle at the ends & I'm calling it a neck warmer! This is knit with Knit Picks Wool of the Andes and Merino Style. It's a set with the Cinchy Hat and Fingerless Mitts that I've already posted about. I blocked the scarf yesterday, but I haven't taken pix of it blocked yet.

This picture of Georgie is a bonus because I thought it was freaking hilarious. We got him a bandana b/c I thought it would look cute on him. He tied it on his head so that his ears stick out all silly. Then he got a little pencil from his Grandma that is clipped onto his collar. That thing around his neck is a headband of Devin's. It has those long pieces of fabric that are supposed to be tied under her hair so it looks like she has a scarf tied around her head. I think Georgie wore the headband more than Devin did!

Football & Cheering pix

Devin & Georgie had their pix this morning. I snapped a few of my own :-)

They were so cute!

Devin & another cheerleader did cheers for the 6-year-old football teams to keep them entertained while they were waiting to have their pictures taken. It kept their attention suprisingly well!

Georgie had a game last night, but none of the pix I tried to take came out well. He spent more time rolling around in the dirt than playing anyway!

More

I didn't get to finish before, so some more details from this weekend....

So, Dad gets the call & calls his sister, who had headed home to Arizona that afternoon after visiting the nursing home. She was on the ground for an hour when she got the call from Dad. Her cell phone had died, so finding her took some leg work. He also called his brother who had also been to te Nursing Home that afternoon. Then my other sister & brother were called & I called G to let him know. Everyone came in by Tuesday morning & the wake was that night with the service on Wednesday, then we all headed back home. It was pretty chaotic with NINE of us staying in the cabin, but it was nice to spend some time with the family. We saw my cousin & his wife, who we haven't seen for over ten years, another cousin who we rarely see, my Aunt & Uncle who we see once every few years and even met some of my Dad's cousins who we've never met before. One is a knitter with a farm!!! Who knew!! LOL! I'm glad the kids have been able to get to know my Gpa over the past few years. They really enjoyed spending time in his garden picking peaches, blueberries and corn & digging up potatoes and carrots. Maybe some of that gardening skill will be passed on to them.

Oh, and we got a nice family photo since we were all dressed up:

We were so unprepared for a funeral. We had packed only two days worth clothing, so Mom, Glor & I went shopping for something to wear and G had to pack for the kids himself (gasp!!) We actualy had a really hard time finding something appropriate to wear & went to several stores before finding something. Then G got up with the kids & found that he forgot to pack some things, so it was off to the store again. George forgot Lil G's Adderall, which was of GREAT concern to everyone, but he made it through just fine. (whew).

Quite a bit of knitting was done my myself and my sisters over the weekend. Lil G took pix of us knitting, so I'll post them some time later. I completed two projects that I'll also post about later. Also got some yarn shopping in while we were waiting for the pix to be ready to pick up.

It was really intersting to spend time in Gpa's house and go through all his old documents and pictures. My Grandparents were a really good looking couple!

More to come later. G just got back with dinner....

Home

Well, I went up to NH this past weekend with my Mom & sister, Gloria to visit my Gpa. My Dad was already up there. We were told during the week that the Doctors thought he only had about a week left. We drove up Friday night & got in sometime after midnight. Saturday we went to see Gpa in the nursing home, where he was admitted several days earlier. He clearly didn't want to be there, but he really needed to be. When we left we told him we would be back later in the day or that night. After visiting Gloria & I went to the library and ordered some pictures on Snapfish to bring up to him. We had them printed at the local Walgreens so that we could bring them up that day. So later in the day the pictures get picked up & we buy some frames to put them in. We went to dinner then the 4 of us went back to the nursing home. Gpa was getting ready to take a nap, so a nurse came to help him get into bed. We said good night, let him know we would be back in the morning & went to the cabin. Two hours later my Dad got the call from the nursing home that Gpa passed away.

Knitting Interrupted

I came home to find a package on the kitchen counter!!!!! Yeah!!!!!!!! I LOVE mail, and fiber mail, well, it just rocks!!! My sister, Juli, had told me she was sending me some soysilk to spin, so I was expecting it. But still, it was so exciting to get the package. This is what I found when I opened the package. The note says that I should feel free to gift her back with some spun-up yarn or a FO made from it. Here's a pic of the fiber out of the plastic bag:
And with the flash so you can see how shiny it it:
Now, my knitting will come to a temporary screeching halt while I spin like mad to finish up the merino that I'm currently spinning on my drop spindle so I can give this a try! Devin's spindle has some pink wool on it that we were spinning together, so I can't rush that one off the spindle, but my own spinning I can bang out so I can get to something new.

THANK YOU JULI!!!!!! I can't wait to get started :-) And I already have a *super secret* project of my own going on right now that I was hoping to get in the mail before I got the fiber. You're totally gunna have to wait like a year and a half for it now!!! LOL!

Worst Thing I Ever Knit

For a SP11 Contest I'm supposed to post about the worst thing I ever knit. This was a hard one. There were some pretty craptacular projects I did when I first started knitting. After thinking long and hard about it I decided that this shawl was the worst thing I ever knit. I think it was the first project I made after plain garter stitch scarves. When you see it from this distance it doesn't look THAT bad: But then when you catch site of this corner you see all the ends sticking out. I had no clue how to weave in ends.

And on this corner too. And the yarn didn't hold up at all:
This is a pattern that I got off the Lion Brand web site & I used Lion Brand Homespun. I LOVED this yarn when I first started knitting & made like a gazillion scarves with it. This was clearly before I became a yarn snob! Soon I realized that the yarn grows substantially with wear. And it pretty much shreads. I did wear this maybe twice before the ends popped out & it grew exponentially in size. Then I let my son use it as a throw blanket for a while, b/c really, what little boy doesn't need a lace blanket? This now lives in a box in the corner of my closet and rarely sees the light of day. Georgie seemed to like it when I took it out for the photo shoot and insisted on having his picture taken with the hideous shawl!

Grandpa

The kids & Great Papa:
I took these a few weeks ago in NH. Georgie was eating a peach he picked right off a tree in Great Papa's yard.

Gpa's not doing so great right now. I'm glad we were able to get up there & that the kids got to help in the garden. Devin said it made her feel good to help Great Papa :-) She's a sweetie. Georgie just had a ball in the yard!

Fiber stuff

So, before I get into the actual vacation stuff I'll do the vacation purchases, since I can't put that many pictures in one post! :-) Gloria and I stopped at WEBS on the way up to New Hampshire, and I got a few things for my Secret Pal, but I'm not gunna post pix of those, just in case she wanders across my blog. I really like all the Valley Yarn brand yarns, I made it a point to check them all out since you never really know what you're going to get when you order on-line.

Then we went to Patternworks and Keepsake Quilting where I got these:

That's a little gauger checker thing, a sweater stone to remove fuzzies, wool wash, an apron pattern book (gunna give sewing an other try- I really like the middle apron!) and two skeins of Berocco Ultra Alpaca in Prune. The Ultra Alpaca was slotted to become a Brea Bag, but I think I have since changed my mind. It's so soft and squishy.... I just can't see using it for something that wont be cuddled. I also got the Jo Sharp Knit book- Issue 1, which I forgot to throw in the picture.

Then Mom & Dad went to the Harrisville Yarn & Loom store and came back with these goodies:

The green is 100% wool and the gold is 25% mohair, 70% wool, 5% cashmere. Both are Harrisville's line of yarn & are a BIT scratchy, but not bad at all. I think the green may turn into the Brea Bag. I initially didn't want another green knit bag, but this green is so different from the green I used for my felted bag that I think it's OK. The gold kinda matches the gold I'm using for Juli's DNA shawl, but the fiber is so different that it may not work for a matching accessory. We shall see.

And speaking of Juli's shawl, there has been a bit of progress made on it. Yeah!!!!! I've been making an effort to finish up the zillion projects I have laying around. I would really like this to be complete by Rhinebeck. It's measuring 26 inches just laying on the couch. I don't think it will grow in length very much with blocking, but I also don't think it should be super-super long. Maybe 50-something inches with a nice pin to keep it closed? I dunno.... gotta think on this one.... Anyway, here's the progress pic: You can't see the bars within the cables very well in this picture, but the picture without the flash was so blurry that it wasn't even worth posting.

And one final picture for this post. Not fiber related. These are some tomatoes that I picked from our mini-garden this morning :-) There were three more tiny ones, but they were put into our breakfast (eggs). These will be either mixed with pasta or made into mozzerella and tomato salad tonight. Either way they will be in my belly!

Back to school

School started today.

Here's my big First Grader:

Georgie got quite into posing for pix- He was giving us *Blue Steel* and *Magnum*! He's so cute. I'm considering enrolling him in the Derek Zoolander Center For Children Who Can't Read Good And Wanna Learn To Do Other Stuff Good Too. He was very excited to wear his cool new *ripped-up* jeans today, and made sure I got pictures of them on him at several different angels showing the different rips in them!
George at the bus stop with the kids. This is as close as I could get to a picture of the two of them together. They were fighting a bit this morning. Shocking.
And my big Second Grader striking a pose:
And another. I got her a bunch of the 3/4 length leggings to wear under her dresses so she's not flashing her undies to the world, as she has a tendency of doing. I think she looks pretty cute. And I'm totally jealous of her hair. She complains now when I brush it, but she has no clue how good she has it with that thick hair that grows like a weed and the natural blond hi-lights! Oh, and the shoes are a size too big on her- they look like flippers! LOL! Devin INSISTED that the proper size was too tight, and that the size 4's were perfect, so it's what she's got. I have a feeling she'll be wearing her cheerleading sneakers to school soon.

More to follow later about our trip :-)

Cropped Cardi: DONE

Another DONE stamp can be placed on the Cropped Cardi:

More on our trip later. Have to get the kids showered & in bed- school starts tomorrow!!

Mitts: Done :-)

I changed my Blog template. Got sick of the pink. I like this better, but I wont have time to re-do my side-bar until next week.

Onto the knitting content.

I finished the fingerless mitts that will be paired with the cinchy hat. They're not blocked yet, but here ya go anyway:

So, the kids are in NH with my parents.... I miss them, but it sounds like they're having a great time. I've been sick the past few days, so I'm kinda greatful that I have the time to just come home form work (early) and sleep. I'm getting migraines again. Ugh. Hopefully it's just stress & will stop after the kids go back to school. I'll be going up to NH on Thursday with Gloria- may be stopping at WEBS on the way up!!!- then will head off to Martha's Vineyard on Sunday to visit my nephews. We'll stay there til Tuesday, then school starts on Wednesday. Busy week, but it's better than being at work!!

One more knitting progress pic, I picked back up the cropped cardi I'm making for Gloria. It's finally cool enough to work on it again. I actually JUST seamed up one arm, so all that's left is knitting the 2nd arm, adding the button and blocking it :-)

I'll be back next week, and will hopfully have a good picture of Devin & Georgie with my nephews. I can't believe Charlie will be ONE in October & I STILL don't have a good pic of all 4 kids together!!

Flashing my Stash

I'm flashing my stash for a contest for my SP11 group. My stash doesn't live in just one place.....

I have some yarn in bags on a dining room chair:

There's the bag I bring to football/cheering practice with me:

There's cotton under the coffee table in plastic bins:

And the majority of my stash lives in these bins, which live under my bed:

Shall we see what's in them?

There's more throughout the house, but I didn't bother to photograph it all!!

beachy goodness

We wanted to go sailing today, so the kids & I dropped George of at the boat & went to the beach to wait for his call saying he was on his way to the dock to pick us up.

Georgie played in the sand:

Devin made silly faces by the water:

They looked for *treasure* by the water:

They looked adorable walking down the edge of the water together:
And they played on the playground:
In the end it started to rain, so we didn't get on the boat. But we had fun, so it was ok.

And if you're wondering what that thing is on Devin's hand, it's a fingerless mitten. I was making a pair of mittens to gift & I had her try them on & she complained about every aspect of the mitten, this is too tight, that feels funny.... So I stopped where I was, bound off, tied some waste yarn to the thumb & put it aside. Devin picked it up, put it on & said *I love this!!! Can you make the other one for me tonight & leave it on my pillow while I'm sleeping?* What??? She said it felt different when it had the needles in it & she made a mistake when she said the ribbing was too tight. She's a nut!!! She's been wearing it all day though & even wore it to bed, so I think I may switch my original plan from mittens to fingless gloves since the giftee is Devin's age & I'm hoping she'll like them as much as Devin does!

BooBoo Face

I need to figure out how to use cool fonts here....

Anyway.

Devin fell off a swing at camp yesterday and banged up her chin, nose and forehead. Of course she put on her saddest little face for me to photograph this morning. What a Drama Queen!!! Here's my little BooBoo Face:

Doesn't she look pathetic in these? :-( I love her big brown eyes in the second picture though.

And that's about all that's new here.

As far as knitting goes, it's still too freaking hot to work on anything much. I got a new ribbon for the cinchy hat and have two washcloths made to give to Georgie's summer school teacher and reading teacher. I wasn't sure if I should give them a gift or not since it was only a 4-week session, but really, he's learned more in there 4-weeks than he did in ALL of Kindy!!! I'm just giving them each a knit washcloth with a bar of soap that my sister Juli made. Which means I'm down to just one bar of soap :-( And it smells so good stored in the container with my small finished projects. I'll need to get some more (hint, hint. Make it a super secret project Juli!!). I can't find my camera at the moment, but I'll take pix of the projects when it turns up. For now, it's too hot to be doing anything but laying in the air conditioned bedroom, so I'm off.

Oh, and I had a freaky dream inspired by that Zombie quiz a few posts ago!!! Ugh! It was so weird and scary! I can't even grasp the details any more other than to say it was very disturbing!

Hat: DONE

I wish I had a big *DONE* stamp like they had on Monster House. Too bad that show isn't on any more :-(

Anyway, the cinchy hat is done :-)

My model was somewhat reluctant and was horseing around with her Dad when I was trying to snap pix. The Mama of the girley girl getting the hat promises to take lots of pix :-) This isn't the ribon that will stay on the hat. Mom has some burgundy ribbon in her stash that I think I'll steal a yard of. I want to make a bow instead of just a knot.

Awesome

Check it out:

http://julispinsandneedles.blogspot.com/2007/08/gorgeous.html

That had was made with yarn I spun! How cool is that? Yeah! That's the first thing that's been knit with yarn I spun :-D I'm so proud of my little drop spindle.

Knitting ADD

Ya, so you know those shawls & stuff that I said I was working on last time? And the leg warmers/socks that Devin wanted? Ya, well I've moved on to the Cinchy Hat from the most recent Knit Scene. I'm also planning on making a pair of matching mittens & leg warmers :-) I hope I have the right gauge for a kids hat, since it's for a friend'd daughter. If not, I'll keep this for myself & knit another one. HeeHee! No, it should be just fine.

I did a different increase than in the pattern, so I think it looks a little wonky, but it should be fine when all is said & done.

I left work early to pack to go to New Hampshire tonight, and so far all I've managed to do is eat some left over sesame tofu and watch part of Dirty Dancing. Guess I should go get the laundry from the basement and start packing before I get the kids from camp & hit the road....

Secret Pal 11 Questionnaire

Here's my Secret Pal 11 questionnaire. I can't wait to get assigned my Pal :-)

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I like knitting with all natural fibers. I LOVE alpaca. I don't like acrylic. I think I may be a yarn snob.....

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
I have a needle case that my Mom made that fits a fraction of my straight needles. Everything else is in a plastic container.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
Been knitting a couple of years. I'm self-taught. I guess I'm intermediate. I can handle cables and lace, seaming kills me though! And I have a very short attention span, so large projects are often lost on me.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
Yup, I've got an Amazon wish list

5. What's your favorite scent?
Vanilla, or cookies baking... or pumpkin pie spice....

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
I have a VERY sweet tooth!!!! Chocolate is my favorite. Dark. I'm also a constant gum chewer & coffee drinker.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
I'm teaching myself to spin with a drop spindle. I like to make beaded jewlery, but I wouldn't say I'm any good at it! I attempt to quilt every so often, but that usually ends with me running to my mom for help! I'm trying to teach myself how to dye yarn and to tie-dye. The tie-dying is going pretty good :-)

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
I like Folksy music: Indigo Girls, Simon & Garfunkle, Dar Williams, stuff like that. I can play MP3s on the computer.


9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?
Purple is my favorite color. I like to knit with earthy colors. Not so crazy about super bright colors. I love fall colors- browns, deep reds....

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
Married with two kidlets (a boy 5 & girl 7) and a cat.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
Yes, yes, yes and no.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
I like knitting cables, lace and baby items. When I get frustrated with a project I usually turn to a dishloth or washcloth as a quick *get it done* project then go back to whatever was frustrating me.

13. What are you knitting right now?
A bunch of shawls! A lace weight mostly stockinette shawl out of Merino, Alpaca Shawl with a lace pattern, DNA cable/lace shawl out of Alpace silk and a wool shrug.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
Of course!

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
I adore my straight bamboo needles, but I've grown rather fond of my Knit Picks Options set, so I may try out some Knit Picks DPNs. I can't knit with plastic needles.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
Yup, got both thanks to mom!!

17. How old is your oldest UFO?
Umm.... a year?

18. What is your favorite holiday?
Christmas! Or 4th of July for the fireworks :-)

19. Is there anything that you collect?
Turtles, and does yarn count?

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
I subscribe to Knit.1 (thanks to my sis, Juli) and Interweave Knits. I'm dying for the Vogue stitchionaries, any lace book, and any beginner sock book (gotta jump on that bandwagon!). Looking to try out some Knit Picks DPNs- I don't have any DPNs smaller than a 2.

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
Hmm... I can't think of any. I have the magic loop booklet, but I haven't tried it yet. Oh, and colorwork! The most complicated color work I've done is ball band dishcloths!! I want to try stranded knitting & have a few patterns in mind (the pirate hat from Hello Yarn being one!)

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
Not yet, but all the cool kids are doing it, so I have some sock yarn & some patterns ready to go for when I can take on another project. I wear a size 7 shoe.

23. When is your birthday?
November 14th I'll be turning 30 @@

24. Are you on Ravelry? If so, what's your ID?
YES!!!!! I'm valink over there, and I'm totally addicted!!!