The Snail Hat, and my Uncle's Garden

Pattern: Snail Hat
Yarn: Beaverslide Worsted
Needles: Size 7 straight needles.
Mods: 3 needle bindoff cast-on and last row. The arrow shows the join row.
Comments: One more row of stockinette and reverse stockinette stitches would have made a better fitting hat, I think.


My uncle has always had a wonderful garden. His current upgrade is to add to his mosaics. He is tiling the rocky foundation of his house and adding tiles to his entry way and garden stairs. It is a wonderful space.

It also just happens to have a very great view of Diamond Head and Waikiki.

Stash Enhancement

My mom started playing golf in her 50's and just loves the friendships and the competition. She is proud to be the oldest player in the Jennie K tournament for the second year in the row. We are all proud of her 4th place win, as she wanted to win at least 4 medals, one for each of her daughters. She also won additional prizes for closest to the pin and some other events. (Her last hole in one was at age 81!)








I've been nursing a cold and despite feeling much better after a glass of wine last night, my energy level is kaput. I have nothing on the needles while contemplating my next project. I'm looking for inspiration shopping. Funny how I have energy to keyboard. Darn paypal makes it all too easy! Here are some new patterns I've acquired.




















And some new stash. Schaefer Anne (more russet then I expected), one skein of Noro silk Garden sock, and a bag of Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed, in champagne.



And this one on the way from Hungry for Handspun.



I saw the new Star Trek movie with The Knitted Brow, and it was great fun! I hope there are a few more down the pike.

Thursday Morning Sky

(click to see a bigger one)
Have a good one!

Not Friday yet, but Finished!

Not Friday yet, but Finished!





Pattern: Two Hearts (still unblocked), from A Fine Fleece, by Lisa Lloyd. This is one of my favorite books.
Yarn: Beaverslide Worsted, in Mountain Morning colorway
Needles: size 7 and 5 Knit picks Options, size 7 clover DP
Mods: In order to avoid seaming I knit the front and back as one piece in the round then splitting at the armhole and knitting the front and back back and forth. If I do this again instead of binding off the underarm stitches, I would put them on a needle holder. I started with a 4x4 cabled rib. I knit the sleeves from the top down, by picking up 103 stitches (the number given for the end of the sleeve in the pattern) and marked off 18 stitches for a gusset and the 13 stitches at the top for the cable pattern. I ended with the same 4x4 rib, but continued the cable to the end of the sleeve. I followed the pattern for the rolled collar.
Comments: I loved the yarn and color. It is great to knit with and has excellent cable definition. My only issue was that there was some color variation that is noticeable on the front, but not enough for me to not still love the experience. I used the grumperina method of cabling without a cable needle and really loved it once I got the hang of it. Thanks, grumperina!


Also finished is this fine silver shawl pin. It started off with me trying to fuse a large circle of 12g silver. I used up a whole tank of butane (in my little creme brulee torch) and although it got red hot and I began to fear for my life, it never fused! So it became a free form heart shawl pin.


And last but not least, the fuzzy dice experiment. Blogless Sue challenged me to knit fuzzy dice for her vintage car. The fuzzy dice were popular in the 50s, and apparently the elite type were hand knit by a girlfriend of very fuzzy angora. I used Plymouth Heaven, which was a bit like knitting with cotton candy. The first one came out huge and has a little Crystal Palace Fizz added to it. The second one was a better size, but came out round as I stuffed it with fiberfill. I don't have the heart to tell her I'm allergic to angora, but I may still try it if I can fine some reasonably priced angora, or a sweater in the the second hand store to unravel. Pattern is from Stitch and Bitch Nation.

On the life scene, I've been working more hours then I thought I would, but assume this is a temporary condition as the person I'm back fill for had surgery and hopefully will be cured. All this work is seriously impacting my crafting time and lunch dates! I'm looking forward to today's Scarf Dyeing Class with the Saturday Walking Group, and Star Trek new movie, hopefully the IMAX version, with the Knitted Brow.

Live long and prosper!

Marlene, FO

Pattern: Marlene by Cookie A, published in Fall/Winter 2008 ISSUE OF KNIT.1
Yarn: Warm Amber, Targhee wool, handspun and purchased from The Opalescence.
Needles: 5 Takumi DPs, size 1
Mods: left out one repeat on leg as I like a shorter sock. I did the twisted rib toe variation. I used a size 1 needle instead of a size two.
Comments: The pattern looks complicated but was intuitive and a pleasure to knit. The hand spun was wonderful with consistency, strength and remarkable elasticity. The colorway was full of delightful surprises. Opal is a talented spinner. And now I want a Targhee sheep.

WIP update. I knit Two Hearts in the round and I'm attempting to do the sleeves top down. I got a little ditsel in the middle of the armpit where I did two unnecessary decreases, but I'm just going to block that sucker down), otherwise it is progressing well. My love affair with this yarn goes on and on and on (sing it Celine:)

Felted Sushi found on Flickr

sushi pyramid 2
Originally uploaded by FeltedChicken

Lovely high fiber, low cal sushi! Just not edible, sigh.