Sidetracked

Big sister turns 60 this year and although I won't be making it up to Tacoma for the festivities I have to think of something to make for her. She wanted a sparkly colored Swarovski cube bracelet, so I made one with a magnet like she likes and a guard chain as those magnets are risky. Now how to get good pictures of crystals? I tried scanning but any light source gets reflected and the colors don't show up well. Natural light is the best so far.

She also loves Hello Kitty and last time we were in China town I bought a bunch of Hello Kitty stickers. Why? Retail Therapy ala knitbrarian is a good guess. I was fascinated by the glass marble magnets on Crafster Forum and the small sticker just fit. Now I'm obsessed with finding a 1/2 inch paper punch.

And so it goes.

Happy Birthday Mary

Today I have the honor of helping my friend and her family celebrate their mom's 90th birthday. I made her a chrysopase bracelet as a token gift, as she needs nothing at this point in here life except having friends and family around. In her hey day she was a social worker and an educator in LA and quite a firecracker I am told. She has the cutest smile and engaging eyes, and has a very quick sense of humor. She loves the old movies, especially Elvis Presley and Gary Cooper. I will be attending the eating Olympics at the Hawaii Prince Hotel in Waikiki. I love their buffet. So much for Weight Watchers;)

Thank you

Totoro's got together with their new friend to help me thank Kimberly for the surprise all the way from the cold country. In the box were two skeins of Summer Spun from Farmhouse Yarns (421 Sound Dr., Mt. Desert, ME 04660) in Peach Blossom and Brilliant Violet. Along for the ride was the cutest little fellow and his acorn proclaiming, "I'm Nuts about You". So cute and so thoughtful. Thank you, Kimberly. You made my day!

On the knitting front....
Jaywalker blues a bust. The white contrasted too much with the blues and made an unsightly looking half stitch. And, I found the long size one needles too long. I'll wait until my order comes for the shorter ones.

DNA scarf is 3/4 through the 12 inch ribbing section. I think knitting with the size 1 needles helped me with the problem I was having with the Rowan Cashoff and I understand the pattern better. This project is going great guns!

Sitting in my book closet going through my patterns for the Summer Spun:)

The Iowa niece/nephew got stuck due to snow in Milwaukee, so maybe I can make something before they get here, if they make it out. I'll keep my fingers crossed for them, or they'll spend their break in North Dakota (Brrrrrr!)

A Little Bit of Sunshine

My watermelon yarn came and it's so pretty and feels so good. It even smells good! Ms. Dani of Knitting Sunshine has wonderful handpainted yarns and I had lusted after the watermelon one and thought it got away for good. But she made another, hip hip hurray! She included matching stitch markers and has a very cute custom label. The scanner doesn't really do the colors justice.



I thought I knit Bear Brain's Rhodie before, but I don't remember it being so big. I didn't have one inch buttons for the joints so one arm is a bit unrully. It might be awhile before I finish Rhodie, since I don't like making noses and mouths, and it's tought to make a pompom out cotton chenille. The plan is to dress Rhodie as a Dallas Cowboy fan for one of my coworkers and I have a while, so Rhodie will have to hang out with Totoro and Ryo Ohki until I can muster up a mouth.


I thank everyone for the advice on the Jaywalkers and striping yarn. I am leaning toward going ahead with the blues.

Little Projects

I feel like I'm treading water between projects. My DNA scarf is progressing slowly. I have had to frog back 3 times. I'm using Rowan Cashoff and it feels very wonderful but is very delicate to knit with, like cooked spaghetti that is a bit splitty. After throwing the Beaverslide around it is quite a change.

I attended an Aloha Knitters meeting. 3 others showed up and Jennie had a huge bag of orphan yarns from her stash. I was greedy and grabbed a bunch, including the Smart Superwash Wool in the wheaty tweed. I tried a swatch on hello yarn's mittens with some black I had, but the gauges and textures of the yarns were too different and I guess I'll have to learn to knit two-stranded technique once I find more suitable yarns. I have some ancient silk that might work although the colors are a bit strange.
The yarn looks nice as Kimberly's Fingerless Mittens. The cables are fun to do. The gusset instructions were cool. They came out a bit baggy around the wrists, but a good soak should help.



The Beaverslide version of Halley's Comet Hat was a fun knit, too! I have one skein left.

Meanwhile, I'm in a quandry over the socks. I want to do Jaywalker's but I don't know the exact size recipient of the blues feet and from what I read, Jaywalker's have to be knit to fit, so maybe I'll wait for my Sunshine watermelon yarn and make them for me. But, I also have read that self-striping yarn is not the best for Jaywalkers. The other yarn I have is the Lorna's Laces camoflague. It looks scarily like a size 1 needle yarn. The strange bargain yarn I got in black and red might work for socks, too, but then I'd have to swatch;)

And, hey, Spring is coming. Time to knit a bunny.


Update: Final Fingerless Mitts ala Kimberlolly

The Giant Gansey and other Yarns

I was lucky to be able to go a-yarncrawling with Chris on Saturday. We started at Needle Arts by Ursual Fischer. Kai mentions that this shop is a bit hard to find and after pulling into two differnt little driveways, I finally found it. There were several women knitting around the table. I found some sale yarn for mittens and decided to try her FROELICH
SPECIAL BLAUBAND sock yarn since she had the blues I was looking for. Wondering if microfiber blocks, I asked Ursula if it blocks and she proclaimed that blocking has be out for a long time! Wow, live and learn;)

Meanwhile at home, the giant Gansey was "blocking" oops, I mean drying after it's bath. The Beaverslide fuzzed up a bit but did not shrink a bit. It also got lighter (weight-wise), if that is possible. My reluctant photographer would only take this one photo of it. I decided on the rear view. I had to redo the neck as it was big a boat neck and although I made the sleeves shorter they are still way long. I enjoyed making this sweater and I'm sure I'll wear it one of these days. I'm going to try not to grow into it!

After Ursula's we hit the bookshop and Chris's keen eye found this book for me. Thanks Chris!!! I love it. She found a really cute bargain book with children's knits.
After that it was on to Yarn and Friends and then to Isle Knits. I picked up some yarn to knit a bunny and some Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino.
Now the hard part, coming up with the next sock project. I'm filling in the time with Halley's Comet Hat with the Beaverslide if have left and have finally started twosheep's DNA scarf with Rowan's Cashoff (the BabyCashmerino twin)