Acornbud's Yarns

Aya Brioche Scarf

2012-02-03T17:08:00.000-10:00

Pattern: Brioche Scarf by Kenny Chua from Knit Noro: Accessories: 30 Colorful Little Knits
Yarn: Noro Aya, Colorway 12
Needles: size 10. The pattern called for a size 9 which may have made the scarf a little less scrunchy.
Comments: This colorway has an odd assortment of colors, including pink (yikes). The second skein had a color that was not even in the first one…so Noro:)
In the end end I was quite happy with the colors

The yarn is very soft against the skin. I encountered only one knot in 3 skeins.

Brioche is a bit boring to knit and combined with the short rows, it was a challenge to fix. I found I could only fix it by tinking back. I'm not sure this needs blocking.

Day 21. My narcissus bloomed! I took a class where I learned to carve off some layers of the bulb and place it in water. The container was set in the sun and the water changed twice a day. After the roots formed I put it in a vase mom has had for a long time for this purpose. The leaves and flower that progressed the fasted where actually on a small side bulb I never carved. I'm not sure I'm ready for craft carving where the growth is coaxed into shapes such as crabs and dragons. I'm just happy to have at least one bloom. Our class was to late to have the flowers on Chinese New Year. Maybe next year!

I seem to be in a quiet time of crafting and hanging out at home. I'm spinning some. I've watched the complete Homeland series, reruns of NCIS, some old movies like Shipping News, and spent way to much time on Ravelry trying to get inspired for my next project. I feel accomplished just because I not only folded my laundry but put it all away. Ah those mundane pleasures. I'm working two days a week which suits me. My office mate has quirky sense of humour and that's what one needs to get through the day, lol.

Life is good:)

Camo Fishy Hat, FO

2012-02-01T09:56:00.000-10:00

Pattern: Fish Hat(Dead or Alive) Free from Knitty.com
Needles: Size 7 circs, Size G crochet hook.
Yarn: Stash!! Malabrigo worsted colorway Amazonas, Cascade 220 in jade and, Noro Silk Garden colorway 269
Comments: I've had this pattern in my queue for awhile even though I have no medium people to knit it for. This is such a clever pattern, especially the tail. I did make the dorsal fin a little longer, and enhanced the tail by closing it with two rows of single crochet. I tried both the dead eyes and the alive eyes, and ended up liking the the alive google-y-eyes, the best.

My second attempt at cabling my handspun yarn with Baruffa Cashwool came out much better. I think I will over dye it. The first time around I just added a hint of blue and the purplish pink Cashwool did not appear to take up any dye.

More January Projects

2012-01-25T12:59:00.000-10:00

Pattern: Alveare by Wooly Wormhead
Yarn: Madelinetosh worsted, colorway Baltic
Needles: 6 and 7
Comments: This pattern is similar to the Noro hat and is easy and fast to knit. I used worsted weight with the same needles, making the medium and it fits well.

Handspun 2ply, wool and silk. It is quite soft and has a nice sheen. I only had enough to make a short cowl.

Pattern: Fields of Ranunculus.I used a size 10 needle and repeated the lacy rows 6 times.

Handspun, 2 ply, Dyed Cotswold-Romney mix purchased at SAFF. I was going for a bulky-worsted. The fiber was very curly and long and I realize now I could have prepped it some more instead of spinning in the short cuts and neps. No doubt this will be knit into a critter, or maybe a felted bowl. I do love the color and it was a fun experience to spin.
Stash Quilt Table Topper 2
Pattern Idea: Patchwork Heart and Disappearing Nine Patch I got brave enough to try out some free motion quilting in the borders and blocks. I definitely will need more practice.

I am quite inspired by Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting Project. She makes it look so easy.

More January Projects.

2012-01-16T18:15:00.006-10:00

It's been grand having so many Mondays off. There is more time to craft and even cook some. Today chicken was on sale and since the sun forgot to come out, it seemed like some chicken soup was in order.

My attempt at spinning a cabled yarn was not too successful, but I'm trying again with the same 2plies and have knit a sock.

Pattern: Sock It To Me Plain Toe-up Sock, from Elan.com
Needles: Size 1
Mods: I was afraid I would run out of yarn, so I knit anklets. I don't like doing two at once, although I contemplated it. As it turns out I had plenty.
Comments: The heel fit me pretty well compared to some other toe-ups of done, but I wasn't successful in closing up the holes to my liking.

My card-making buddy and I got together for lunch and Valentine Day Cards. I tried a new recipe called Chipolte Tamale Pie. I used hamburger instead of ground turkey and cut the cumin back to 1 tsp. I also used black beans instead of pinto beans. Those little chipotle's are really hot! I will have to use only one if I do it again. Luckily blogless Melody is from the South West and the hotness did not phase her.

I finished my first practice quilt, a table topper. I used straight stitch in the ditch and a decorative quilting stitch. I used the multicolored Isacord thread which doesn't show up as well as embroidery thread because I have a lot of it. I also used a programmed serpentine stitch around the edge. The bright four-patch squares have been in my stash for at least 20 years! To think dresses in that fabric were popular during my high school years. Yikes!

The last project does not have instant results. I carved a narcissus bulb and it will take 20-28 days to bloom, that is if I follow all the directions and it does rot. It was interesting to find out these bulbs come from Fukien, China and take 5 years to mature. The trick is to get them to bloom on Chinese New Year, which will be on the 23rd of January this year, so I'm starting too late:(

Starting Off Random

2012-01-01T10:16:00.000-10:00

I got my Serenity out for some spinning. My son was thinking it had become just another decoration. The yarn I spun for Tour de Fleece came out lace weight but was a bit scratchy. I also had quite a bit of two ply lace weight left over from Hanami, so I attempted a cable yarn. It wasn't too successful. I don't think I put enough twist in for the two two-plies to cable together. I have over-dyed it a little blue since taking the picture. It's still quite a thin yarn.

Apparently even bananas are not safe from the advertising world. This was stuck to brother-in-laws banana. The scan code will get you ringtones.

Blogless Melody wore this T-shirt walking yesterday. It's a good reminder to put the would've, could've, should'ves behind and we all pledged to move forward and leave the past behind. It's a little easier as I don't think my memory is a good as it was before.

My mom at 87 has declared she is no longer making Ozoni for New Years. I just happen to love Ozoni and have a mochi machine so have taken up the task. Last year she said the same thing, but in the end did the broth. This year I made everything and it came our pretty good. There is always more mochi then we can eat, so I attempted a Kagami Mochi, Hawaiian style, with a ti leaf, Cutie Clementine and gardenia leaf.

The Nook was an impluse purchase as I passed Barnes and Noble on the way to exchange a shirt. A shopping center can be a dangerous place to visit around the holidays. While searching how to customize the screen saver, I discovered a community of folks who like to hack their Nook. No doubt they also hack their Kindles, phones, game consoles and anything hackable. I tried to think of a good reason for me to hack my Nook, other then just owning one, but the Nook touch has no audio and is black and white, and I bought it to store my knitting patterns and books for travel on it, which requires no hacking.

With my Christmas gift card, I got the book about Woody Crumbo off my wish list and 3 CDs (Sarah Jarocz Song up in Her Head and Follow me down, and Gillian Welch The Harrow and the Harvest).
I love Mr. Crumbo's spirt horse on the book cover.

Have a wonderful New Year!

More Seed Stitch

2011-12-27T16:40:00.005-10:00

I've always admired the Trinity Stitch Beret, so I thought it would go well with the Malabrigo Rios, but in the end I think this yarn looks best with a seed stitch. I didn't find a seed stitch hat so I decided to just wing one. It's drying now and has grown quite a bit, so I hope it still fits when it's dry.

My first project with my new sewing machine was a cover for it. I totally screwed up the measurements for both my serger and sewing machine cover, but the Amy Butler fabric looked pretty good anyway. For my next project I decided to do some potholders as they are small quilted projects and my goal is to get brave enough to quilt the two tops I have hiding in my closet.

I found a little piece of washable wool fabric in my stash to use as padding and did some free motion thread quilting on this first one. It came out too thin and the thread painting made it stiff.

For the next two I found the Nancy Zieman video and dug out what I think is the right padding...some shiny stuff sandwiched between to fiber layers. For good measure and because I have lots of that wool fabric, I added a layer of that between the top and the padding.

The binding is a challenge. Perhaps the walking foot is not the right foot. Also NZ is a bit cryptic about "tucking in the the end".

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-24T19:09:00.000-10:00

Just stopping by the ole blog to show off the new cat (big gray one who still needs whiskers) and wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

A few more FOs

2011-12-17T15:53:00.001-10:00

Pattern: Rose Red, by Ysolda Teague. Size small.
Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca, Redwood Mix.
Needles: size 6
Mods: none
Comments: This looked small on the needles.. After blocking over a 10 inch pie plate it is a little loose on me just as Kim predicted.
I did Jeny's surprisingly stretchy bind off knitting all the stitches. The cable made the edge a little ruffly.
It's a lovely pattern with very clear directions.

My walking group got together and made angels from the leaves a split leaf philodendron. Blogless Melody had all the goodies to decorate them with.

Pattern: Chibi Totoro, by brella, (Ravelry)
Needles: size 5
Yarn: cascade 220
This is an adorable pattern with a very clever popcorn tail. He will join ChuTotoro who lives with my hairdresser. He is posing with an odd shaped fingering purple potato.

Hello Kitty blanket number 2. I tried out my new sewing machine, Horizon 7700, with it's built-in walking foot. It's going to take awhile for me to get used to the new machine after years of sewing on the trusty Bernina. However, my 1530's display is going dim, and apparently that will be a major repair. The blanket is much more manageable size for a tiny 4 year old.

A Few FOs

2011-12-04T10:13:00.003-10:00

Norn Cowl
Pattern: GAP-tastic Cowl
by Jen Geigley
from heyjenrenee's Ravelry downloads

Yarn: Cascade 128 Superwash, two skeins. This yarn is very soft and nice to knit with.
Needles: US13
Comments: This is a great project to watch TV while knitting. It is knit in the round and is mindless seed stitch. I watched Das Rhinegold with subtitles and all, thus the name, Norn Cowl.

Rios Hood

Pattern: Peaks Island Hood from Ysolda Teague's 2nd Whimsical Knits book.
Needles: US10
Yarn: Malabrigo Rios, color Camdombe. This yarn was a pleasure to knit with. I tried it on a lacey knit with larger needles and didn't like the look, but I love how it blended in the seed stitch.
Comments: There are comments all over the Ravelry group regarding the cryptic instructions. I never was able to get the buttonholes right and ended up just winging it using the 3 stitch buttonole following instructions from knittinghelp.com. I am looking for the right buttons.

12/5/2011 update. I found my Caribou buttons and they work great! Thanks Kim (I love her tea-dyed antler buttons. The dye really warmed up the look) for finding a good project for these buttons from my trip to Alaska.

Korknisse

Pattern: Korknisse by Manne from Made by Manne
Yarns: bits and bobs
Needles: 4 and 5
Comments: ChibiTotoro was thinking he was invisible in the photo but really wanted the extra hat.

Hello Kitty Fleece Blanket

I used two layers of Polar fleece and tried to follow this video. I just got my serger and the edge did not come out too well, so I just sewed one presser foot from the edge all around, and it looks better. The Landcaster was the stealth model. Originally it was going to be a pocket quilt, but the blankie came out too large for the pocket.

Sunset Tonight

2011-11-25T18:07:00.000-10:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T11:26:00.002-10:00

With another baby due anytime now, I'm glad the baby hat mojo is still rolling. I know these hats look suspiciously like Christmas hats, and it's only Thanksgiving Day here, but I have to knit these while the hat energy is rolling.

Pattern: Sasha's Hat
by Saartje who also brought us the Noro Hat and the Nissen(cork people).
Yarn: Cascade Pima Tencel in a very lovely red. Scraps of mystery yarn for pompom.
Needles: size 6
Comments: This pattern is more of a receipe. I love that it is knit top down. I used a yarn over, knit through back on next row for my first increase and I'm a little sorry I did. It left a larger hole then the M1 increase. The yarn feels very nice and is machine washable. I've reserved another ball at Aloha Yarns to make one more!

The timer has gone off so my giblets are cooked. Time to finish off the dressings (my family requires both bread and wild rice stuffing) and prepare the bird for the roast. While it cooks and the smells start to waft around, it's a great time to think about all that I have to be grateful for. So have a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Fall Card Mosaic

2011-11-16T23:13:00.000-10:00

Blogless Melody is back from log cabin dwelling in Puget Sound and off and running teaching wreath classes and such. We had a great card day today! I definitely need some Stickles in Fall colors. I loves me Stickles! I tried something different with mosaic, shooting groups of the cards at a smaller size. The pictures are more fuzzy then the photo I included to round out the group. Live and learn.

Sister number 2 is back in Wisconsin and I'm back to preparing my own meals and eating out. The next round is big sister who may be only staying 3 weeks this year instead of her usual 2 months. I'll have to get the story on that. It's quite convenient living next door to one's parents when family visits:)

I've finished one more pumpkin hat for a friend's second grandchild. I'll have to find some nice red yarn for the Christmas hats. I loved using Plymouth Jeanee because it knit's up fast and is machine washable, but the colors to seem Christmas-y to me.

Fall Musings

2011-11-12T07:00:00.001-10:00

Yikes. Christmas is just around the corner and the Christmas knitting has not yet begun. I'm looking for inspiration. There are 3 babies, but somehow Christmas stockings just don't sound interesting. Maybe I have to hang out in the yarn store to get inspired. Cruising Ravelry I just keep printing out hat patterns. They take little yarn and go quickly. But no one on my list needs any more hats:(

Knotty but Nice, free hat pattern from Knitty for example (picture from Knitty web site), or Cabled Tam, free from Drops Designs (site is slow to connect to at times)

My hours at work will probably get cut as a new regular MD has been hired. He is still training and as far as I know I'm on the schedule through December. It's a mixed blessing as a paycheck sure is nice, but I'm fortunate to be in a position not to work much as I am "retired". I find it much easier to have healthy behaviors such as eating healthy (I'm a confessed stress-snacker), living in the moment and exercising, and I certainly sleep better when not working. I find I have more time and energy to "create" when I can "slow down to Nature's pace". The house and yard get more attention as well. My semi-launched adult child gets a little too used to having meals regularly cooked, though, but starving him hasn't been incentive enough for him to move out, lol. In truth, he is usually easy to live with and he can lift heavy things. Oh yes and of course there is Words with Friends which would be more of a time suck if I had more people to play with.

My next big trip will be to New York City. I can cross two things off my bucket list! New York City and the Met. I have tickets to the Ring Cycle in the spring. While not a huge opera fan, this particular story is fascinating and I will be going with blogless Marlies who is a devout Ring fan and has seen it many times.

So I'm trying to pick a few must see things in New York City. Any recommendations are appreciated!

Capturing Random Moments

2011-11-09T09:29:00.000-10:00

Acorns from Kim's yard, hickory nut from the Atlanta History Center, Azurite ball from Burnie's Rock Shop in Madison, Wisconsin. The little tiny acorn is a favorite of squirrels and Mr. Cricket so very few were left.

I didn't see too many mushrooms on my short walks, but found this spiky white one in Georgia, and these creepy black ones emerging from the pine needles in Wisconsin.

My first purchase at SAFF, a support acorn drop spindle. I'm not sure I'll spin on it, but it is just sooo cute!

I purchased the dyed Cotswald/Romney mix and was gifted the Finn and purple fiber. I found some curly locks that will be fun to play with.

Mr. Cricket, fast asleep, letting it all hang out;) I didn't know dogs slept like that, lol.

Flora mosaic

A street in St. Paul. I love the older homes and the tall trees that line the streets!

Those red trees-a photo just doesn't do them justice.

Back to work (which is still crazy, btw) and back to living in the moment!

Fall Adventures, Part 3

2011-11-05T14:08:00.007-10:00

The first few days of Wisconsin and St. Paul were largely monopolized by Ms. M who my sister, the grandma, was babysitting. I have somehow forgotten that stage of life either because my boys were angels, or I have successfully blocked those memories, lol. I suspect it is the latter, as I recall concluding that we should be allowed to send toddlers to boot camp and have them returned civilized and potty trained! They do say the darndest things, though. She and I went to the park together and after climbing up the ladder of the slide and looking at some of the dirt that had collected on the bottom, she said "Boys must have been here." She liked the fairy in her bag and we built Lego homes for her Woodsies and the fairy. I was able to hit The Knitting Tree before leaving for St. Paul and found some Madelinetosh Vintage, Tart color way but the visit was cut short when Ms. M started rolling balls of yarn around.

I have to mention the pie (baked by blogless sister Susan) because it was beautiful and so yummy! I rarely see pie cherries in here in Hawaii.

The road to St Paul was gorgeous-gently rolling hills with maples of many colors and birch trees. We stopped at the Norske Nook for lunch. This cute bakery cafe has wonderful food. I really wanted to have pie, but the Reuben on the very dark pumpernickel was way too filling.

My niece lives in a cute neighborhood with 100 year old homes and tall trees.There are a lot of children in the neighborhood and many homes were decorated for Halloween. We drove across the Mississippi River (I love saying that ;) to take Ms. M to music class. She got to wear her Halloween costume to both music class and her preschool open house. I'm always impressed with preschool teachers...they have to be so organized to get such great results in the art and craft department.

I did not go to Mall of America or the giant IKEA store, but I did find Borealis Yarns. The staff were so nice and friendly! I picked up some yarn to make a little hat for Ms. Ms Halloween costume, but alas, had no needles so I had to knit it up in Madison.

It is based on the Noro hat, knit top down.

On the way back we stopped at a lovely vegetarian restaurant in the Wisconsin Dells, The Cheese Factory. Our food was very unusual, well presented and best of all very tasty!

Back in Madison, I hit a couple of favorites, Burnies Rock Shop and Lakeside Fibers. I was looking for some Petoskeys but they did not have any. Instead I found a little azurite ball. Lakeside Fibers has a new owner, and no longer carries the spinning/weaving products. In the back is a little Internet Cafe with great food and a lovely view of the lake. The very yummy Reuben sandwich had some pickled red cabbage and garlic instead of sour kraut and was served on toasted sour dough. I picked up some Louisa Harding Grace wool silk and some patterns.

My sister and I are still talking about that pickled red cabbage.

I knit one other hat on this trip, another Star Crossed Beanie, from some dyed Alpaca I got at SAFF. The alpaca is named Aramis. The hat will stay in the frigid north with my sister, who will get more use out if then I ever will. Mods: I used size 10 needles for the whole hat and added one 12 row repeat to make it slouch more.

I will add that I did my share to help the economy of Wisconsin. I found a couple shirts at the Tanger outlet Mall and some bag clips at the Corningware Store. I so miss that store at Waikele. I loaded up on Trader Joe's and Aldee's Chocolate for gifts. I found my used copy of Dune at the Frugal Muse. It's such a great book shop! Stitcher's Crossing is a wonderful quilt shop with very nice ladies working there! You can tell they enjoy what they are doing. I found my rubber whisk at the Vanilla Bean. They had everything one could want to bake or make candy!

The trip home was uneventful. Check-in at the Madison airport took 3 minutes instead of the 70 minutes it took at Honolulu Airport. The terminal at Ohare was all new and spiffy. And when I got home, there were rainbows!

Fall Adventures, part 2, or To SAFF and back and on to Wisconsin

2011-11-04T16:21:00.009-10:00

The colors of Fall surprised me since I thought I was traveling too late in the year. As we drove north to Asheville the colors grew more and more varied. We stopped at a scenic spot for gas and to inspect some chain saw art. I declined to photograph them as some of them were politically incorrect. The hit of the BBQ plate were the purple hulled field peas mixed with the coleslaw. Yum! I was introduced to Cheerwine, which I shared with a thirsty wasp.

SAFF was a blast! ...the weather was perfect...parking was easy and there were plenty of vendors to satisfy my fiber-lust. And the animals were so cute!

My traveling companions are a great bunch of women! Blogless Brenda drove us to the fair and got us great accommodations. Jesse knows Asheville and knows her beer! We visited two microbreweries, The French Broad and Jack of the Wood. We had the best barbecue at Mo's.

This was a meal I shall dream about!

It ended all to soon. We took a beautiful side trip down a portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway on our way back to Atlanta.

We went to the Atlanta History Museum to learn some history. History and me did not get on well back in the school days, so I'm trying to catch up.

(Artillary shells)
I thought more people died in the Vietnam war, but apparently there is no war America has fought in since in which more soldiers have lost their lives...very sobering facts.

Kim was such a great hostess. She fed me well---ginger cocktail, Korean stone bowl bibinbap, pho, grilled vegies and even some Chinese immune boosters to prevent colds. She showed me where the dog treats were and Cricket and Ella knew I knew where they were, lol.

She even let me knit her minty Malabrigo (Star crossed beanie) when my sock got too boring. Now that's friendship!

Too soon I was on a plane to Wisconsin.

My Fall Adventure, Part 1

2011-11-03T16:32:00.001-10:00

After pondering a bit about how to organize this post I decided to just do it chronologically.
The flight took me through Houston, over Texas, Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi to Atlanta. I was surprised at how large the Houston airport was and really enjoyed the birdseye view of the gulf. The Knitted Brow picked me up in Atlanta across from this mural with Mr. Cricket in tow.

I was very excited to see the wonderful oak trees around the Atomic Lodge and the fantastic number of huge acorns all around.

Out back was a bit of heaven!

Ella, number 1 poodle has very sad eyes but gets the bed at night. Mr. Cricket on the other hand has to jump in bed in am where he is a bit of bed hog and likes to sleep in.

I was told he tried very hard in the morning to break down the door to my room, but being dead to world I was oblivious.

In no time we were off to SAFF with our Hanami's.

Indigo Totoro

2011-10-19T11:40:00.003-10:00

Indigo Totoro, a photo by acornbud on Flickr.

Yarn from www.etsy.com/shop/sheepandthreads. It is handspun from her Romney sheep and dyed with her natural indigo. Totoro likes his umbrella all the way from Italy (gift from JT) and his new acorns from MM. He is getting ready to travel and like me, still needs some ends woven in;)

I excited to be visiting the Knitted Brow. I decided to take that extra suitcase and overpack, heh. And the weather has changed and while it's chilly now in Georgia, it is downright cold in Wisconsin where I'm heading next. Blogless sister Susan will be coming back to Hawaii with me. I will miss sistah Rita's visit except for a hi how r u later today but the folks and Kiko the wacko cat will be so happy to see her!

Punch Fun

2011-10-12T09:18:00.001-10:00

10/16/2011. The fairy's flower bag is done! Cascade 128.

I have done little knitting after Hanami. I totally missed out on the yellow month of Project Spectrum. I did manage to block my Sampler Stole and turn it in to a poncho. I envisioned the end to side "classic" poncho, but the neck hole was too large, so I did the side to side version. I think this will be my airplane "blankie" instead of my usual Clapotis for my upcoming trip.

The new Knit Simple Holiday 2011 has a very cute pattern for fairies. It even has a little flower bag to put the fairy in. I'm hoping to have this done for my nieces's daughter. I've used bits of sock yarn and made her barefoot. I still have to find some yarn to make her wings. I think I'll use the Baruffa Cashwool, and hold it double. There she is sitting on a pile of punch fun! My latest obsession is the Stampin' Up Punches. One leads to another. So far I have a pile of strawberries, acorns, bats, turkeys, lady bugs and a few pumpkins.

I'm in to some mindless repetition right now.

My house refi is nearly done and I'm looking forward to my trip to Atlanta, North Carolina and Wisconsin. SAFF here I come! I'm looking forward to seeing Kbrow, meeting her sister and visiting the Piedmont and Blue Ridge Mountains! I think I'll be at the Fair all 3 days!

Hanami, FO

2011-10-01T17:46:00.000-10:00

Pattern: Hanami Stole by Melanie Gibbons
Yarn: Baruffa Cashwool. I didn't weigh what I have left, but there is plenty, maybe half a ball.
Needles: Addi Lace, size 3
Mods: none
Comments. This is such a unique and beautiful pattern. The basketweave portion required concentration and I frogged many a row. There are some baggy stitches where I tried dropping stitches down to fix. The cherry blossom portion went much faster, but still I threw in a few k3tog when I ended up with an extra stitch and there are some baggy holes in that section. I'm sure scrunched up they won't be noticeable.

Totoro BD Card for blogless Karen

2011-09-30T12:58:00.003-10:00

Totoro BD Card, a photo by acornbud on Flickr.

3D Base idea: cath2evans

Totoro stamp and 2011 calendar cutout. Various Stampin' up punches.

Summer Doings

2011-09-21T15:30:00.000-10:00

After a rather cool summer, the entry into fall has been on sweltering muggy side. The mornings hint at fall, so I know it can't be far. Working more has it's benefits but it also sucks my energy to exercise or create. I dropped out of trampoline after a recurrent bout of vertigo and never went back. It's tough not to bring "stuff" home and I feel that monkey mind running and scrunching up my forehead. It's all mental, running the choices and decisions made. Two days a week seems to be the balance point.

After enjoying Netflix for quite a while, I went digital with the dvr and the whole nine yards instead. It is more expensive, even with the new direction Neflix is taking, but I really enjoy being able to see my series on demand.

Today I had some time to work on the neverending organizing project. The old clothes got weeded out, and some ill-fitting projects went to the frog pond.

I'm looking forward to visitng Kim in Georgia next month. The plan is to hook up at SAFF with her sister for a weekend of one of my favorite things! Fiber festival-ing:). I dont' know if my Hanami will be done by then. It is going every so slowly. The baskeweave drove me nuts. It's going a little faster now. The beads on the bottom are really pretty. I wish I had held the Baruffa Cashwool double. I'm a little worried about the funky edges. I'll just have to pray they block flat.

My fancy Bernina serger died so I got a basic Janome. I'm not quite used to it's feel yet. I used it inside this pillow to finish the edges only. I wanted a zipper with a flap and used this tutorial to put it in.

No rain no rainbows.

2011-09-13T08:51:00.001-10:00

No rain no rainbows, a photo by acornbud on Flickr.

Project Spectrum Bags

2011-08-31T06:44:00.002-10:00

Project Spectrum Bags, a photo by acornbud on Flickr.

I had to frog my August Project Spectrum Dancing Liesl as it was too small :(
I caught up with the project bags for July and August.

It's been quite hot and the knitting mojo is gone. August is almost gone! I have the pattern and yarn for Hanami and just need the beads.

Here's Jimmy. This is the hyperbaric chamber at Kuakini Hospital. This chamber is mostly used for wound healing and other applications of hyperbaric treatment. A smaller chamber is used more for treating the bends. I had a nice tour by blogless Dr. TD.

I have one of the most beautiful drives to and from work. My tiny camera can never do it justice. I just feel so lucky to live Hawaii:)

Baby Hat Apocalypse

2011-08-19T17:51:00.000-10:00

Things have been rather hum drum around here so I thought I would spice up the blog with the word "apocalypse". The Landcaster was watching a TV show called Bedbug Apocalypse and I was thinking how much I liked the sound of that word. I was very itchy after watching that show, btw. Whenever I hear that word I think of the movie Apocalypse Now or the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

If one can believe Wikipedia... "An Apocalypse (Greek: ἀποκάλυψις apokálypsis; "lifting of the veil" or "revelation") is a disclosure of something hidden from the majority of mankind in an era dominated by falsehood and misconception, i.e. the veil to be lifted. The Apocalypse of John (Greek Ἀποκάλυψις Ἰωάννου) is the Book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament. By extension, apocalypse can refer to any End Time scenario, or to the end of the world in general. It is a major misconception that Apocalypse means the end of the world; it is much closer to "the end of the world as we know it."

So really apocalypse has nothing to do with my hats unless of course it's that I CAN crochet if I want to and I love that Plymouth Jeanee Yarn! It's fat and machine washable!

On a bright note, the Sky Goddess dropped in and spiced up the week. Her step daughter is having twins girls and that is what started me on the hat roll. Nanea at Aloha Yarns was crocheting hats when I dropped by and the rest is history. The patterns were all free off Ravelry! The owl hat is a little scary, but I really enjoyed crocheting the flowers.

Project Spectrum pink/purple August is rolling by me. I've wound the Malabrigo Rios and plan a Liesl.

Andrea the Worsted

2011-08-05T17:36:00.002-10:00

Pattern: Andrea's Shawl, by Kirsten Kapur
Yarn: Madelinetosh Worsted, color Baltic. Powarth Blues, handspun by me, from handyed Polwarth roving by Woolgatherings.
Needles: size 8
Size: small
Mods: one stitch picot bindoff instead of two.

Comments: A rather quick knit. I love the way the striping turns out. My hand spun was a bit unbalanced and had some fluffs in it. The Polwarth is next to skin soft. The Madelinetosh is wonderful and I love the supersaturated colors. The first shawl I knit from this pattern was a little small for me. This one, knit in worsted, is a better fit.

The Polwarth was a gift from Kim who is currently whoopin' my a$$ in Words with Friends. Thanks Kim!

I'm one of those reactionary people who got mad at Netflix when they raised their rates and will cancel. It was a good excuse for me to upgrade my cable to digital and get HBO so I can watch Game of Thrones. I'm reading book 4 of the series and really loving it. Hey, the Knitted Brow turned me on to this series. Thanks again!

I am working two days a week, with a few extra days thrown in this month. It can't hurt to have some income with the scary economy right now and pay for my digital cable with HBO and Showtime pak.

Tour De Fleece, Day 22

2011-07-23T08:49:00.000-10:00

I managed to finish my singles and ply them. The finished product is now drying. The gauge is much smaller then I planned. I don't know if I will knit this as is or try and cable ply it with some commercial lace weight I have lying around. The BFL/silk is a little lifeless and stiff imo. It was a bit itchy on the hands while spinning, so I don't know if will comfortable next to the skin. I'll wear the hank around the neck to check it out when it's dry. It is a lot more even then some of my previous attempts and more balanced.

For the challenge day, I used some of the same roving to spin thick and thin on Serenity (my Majacraft Rose) and it was indeed a challenge. I think I'll have to re-adjust my whorl as I cannot keep the drive band on at slower speeds. I ended doing the coiling part on my Bosworth. For the plying I used some silk spun on the Bosworth from a silk hankie. I gave up pretty quickly.

I am so in awe of Naomi's wonderful art yarn after my failed attempts!

Screaming Blue Capelet

2011-07-20T10:05:00.000-10:00

Pattern: Cranberry Capelet by Thea Colman
Yarn: Madelinetosh Worsted, Baltic colorway
Needles: size 8 for the CO and half the turtle neck, size 7 for the rest.

Mods: I CO for size large and made the turtle neck one inch shorter. I knit the length in size medium.

Comments. The pattern is very easy to follow and well written. It has a very cute shape. The yarn is very cushy and warm. I love the color. It screamed a lot more on the skein, thus the name, but after knitting it is seemed darker and a bit more toned down. I tried hard to take a self photo with the capelet on but none of them came out in focus.

Out in the patio, the lovely red cereus bloomed for the first time since I got the plant. It was neglected for a long time and though it didn't die it didn't grow either. I finally transplanted it into a very tiny pot and gave it a little nourishment and was very surprised when it sent out a giant shoot. It is a wonderful red and quite large! My mom is already plotting on how to rescue the plant from me and make it bigger and better!

Regarding Tour de Fleece...I am on bobbin two, but I'm not sure it will be done in time to ply. I'm still planning some thick and thin and coils for Friday.

Day 11, Tour de Fleece , Granola Muffins

2011-07-12T12:18:00.000-10:00

Day 11 of the Tour...I realize now in a fit of fear of failure, that I set my goals pretty low and I quickly saw that I would fall far short of spinning half of my braid of roving. The finished skeins posted on Ravelry where piling up quickly the prizes were being won, and I caught a bit of that spirit of competition. My daily photos paled by comparison, in fact I'm pretty sure I got one of those magical never-ending braids. So I stepped it up and it finally barely touches the floor! I'm so tempted to stop at the half way mark, rewind the one bobbin on two and ply already.

I found a nice video on you tube on how to spin coils, so I may try this.

On an entirely different note...Granola muffins.

Awhile back, I found a Great Granola Recipe on the USA Weekend site. For some reason I occasionally set the oven temp to 250 deg instead of 275 deg and it doesn't dry out enough. If I put the fruit in too soon it burns, so cooking it longer does not usually work. Sooo...I found this equally wonderful Granola Muffin Recipe! I like it because it use two cups of granola. This last batch I forgot to dress it up with a bit of granola before baking, and just to be decadent, added a few chocolate chips. It's to tempt the oatmeal-phobic Landcaster I tell you, and I have to use those chocolate chips in the freezer up.

Pookiwookie

2011-07-09T20:15:00.002-10:00

Pookiwookie, a photo by acornbud on Flickr.

The last of the Pookie Star Wars adaptations. He looks a bit like a a cross between Cousin Itt and a brown version of the muppet Animal. I was wondering if my hair stylist could make him look more Chewbacca looking.

Yarn: Sirdar Foxy
Hand painted blue safety eyes from OliverBoliver.

Pookiewok

2011-07-07T19:07:00.004-10:00

Pookiewok, a photo by acornbud on Flickr.

Pattern: Pookies by Barbara Prime
Yarn: Berroco Chinchilla

Comments: His ears are a bit big and his hood needs some work. The ultrasuede is a bit stiff to work with.

I practiced intarsia in the round. It is getting a little bit easier.

Tour de Fleece Ravelry Team Rookie

2011-07-01T15:32:00.003-10:00

I'm joining Team Rookie on Ravelry Tour de Fleece.

My goals are simple. Spin 15 minutes per day during the tour. I have my Huckleberry Knits fiber I purchased at Madrona. I plan a two ply sport weight or thinner. On Friday, the 22nd, if I'm up to it I'll try and spin a thick thin yarn or if I'm not up to that I'll work on some cocoons from blogless Sandy and spin them on my drop spindle.

I'm late in joining. Tomorrow the fun begins!

Small Projects Bags for Project Spectrum

2011-06-28T16:40:00.002-10:00

Small Projects Bags for Project Spectrum, a photo by acornbud on Flickr.

I got this inspiration to make at least one bag for each Project Spectrum month. Last month was red, and this month is green. I got side tracked by the lovely Amy Butler print. It his some green and a blue green so I'm counting the two bags in.

Meanwhile Pookiebacca and Pookiewok are waiting for their hand-painted eyes and nose to come from UK. Seems Chewy has blue eyes. I used Sirdar Foxy for Chewy and he is way hairy, almost like Cousin Itt. Hey may need a hair stylist.

DarthPookie

2011-06-21T15:59:00.005-10:00

DarthPookie looks a little like a black dog. I wish I had made ribbing for the front of his helmet, but after fiddling so much I decided he is done. I had visions of Pookiebaca and PookieEwok, but since my new yarn came in my mind is on other projects.
I love having some Noro in stash and Sumptuous Yarn had Aya on special. It has a lot of cotton in it so I'm looking forward to trying it out. I still don't have a project,but I loved how Stitch Sampler Stole turned out so may do something along that lines.

Port Shawlette, FO

2011-06-20T17:30:00.003-10:00

Pattern: Andrea's Shawl by Kirsten Kapur Published in Through The Loops Ravelry Store
Yarn: Madelinetosh Sock, colorway Port. Hand-spun Rapunzel. Hand dyed SW merino roving from Woolen Mill Street Yarns The fiber was a dream to spin.
Needles: size 6

Comments: I knit the medium mostly because I was too lazy to continue the 7 stitch edging. This was in spite of reading that the shawl came out small and knowing I was using a fingering weight rather then sport yarn. So it came out small and would not stretch much. My hand spun ran between a sport to fingering weight and knit up pretty well if I may say so myself. The shades of pink and purple matched well with port madelinetosh. The Madelinetosh was a nice and cushy in a dark purply plum. The pattern is well written and easy to follow. It is my first bottom up shawl. Unlike the top down and sideways shawls, one cannot try it on along the way. I'm think I like the sideways shawls the best, or a rectangular stole.

PookieLeia

2011-06-19T20:31:00.002-10:00

Pookie Jedi 2

2011-06-16T21:50:00.001-10:00

Pookie Jedi 2, a photo by acornbud on Flickr.

Pattern: Pookies by Barbara Prime
Needles: size 4
Yarn: Cascade 220 hoodie and face, Ultra Alpaca for body.

Mods: going for the Yoda ears, safety eyes. The hoodie was a little small. No holes for the ears.

Very cute easy, well-written pattern.

Totoro with Umbrella

2011-06-07T14:00:00.002-10:00

Intarsia in the Round, yo method. I'm not sure I got this right as I had large holes on the turns. I was able to needle felt them shut a bit.
I down loaded the Anne Berk video, Inside Intarsia, and will try her method next.
In the final photo, I had a bit of fun with the PS "artistic" filter, sponge.

Totoro with Umbrella, a photo by acornbud on Flickr.

Intarsia in the Round

2011-06-05T07:46:00.011-10:00

Knitting Totoro's tummy has always been a challenge. The easy way, knitting-wise, is to knit it separately and sew it on, but I was never quite satisfied with the results. The other way is to knit it in, which is called intarsia. I tried knitting it in the round and discovered as many knitters before me that it is impossible to knit intarsia in the round without having extremely long floats and a big mess.

So either one has to deal with a seam if knitting flat, or figure out a way to knit back and forth without a seam or gap at the color change.

I started with this video, but I could not see exactly which loop she was picking up to knit together on the turn. My turns did not look nice like the ones in the video.

Next I tried the yo over method Knitty has another description here. Perhaps I am supposed to join a second ball of the main color in this method too?

I have a problem visualizing words sometimes, and while it looked a little better then my first attempt, my turns were still unsatisfactory. (This link was very wordy so I had problems deciphering it)

Dawn Brocca lists some references for additional information, but I don't own any of them. Update! After looking through my books I found some additional information in Knitting in the Old Way: Designs and Techniques from Ethnic Sweaters by Priscilla A. Gibson-Roberts and Deborah Robson

This is PookieD2 showing his good side.

I still have the wrap and turn method to try next time. This method involves joining a second ball, sigh.

Anyone know of any other tutorials or methods to try?

Quilt WIP

2011-06-02T13:19:00.004-10:00

Awhile back I took a Shibori class from Darius Homayounpour at Kuni Island Fabrics. It was so much fun, I took it twice! The pieces have been marinating in stash since then, but yesterday I got going and hacked them up with wild abandon. I was inspired by one of my favorite stash designs, Harlequin, from The Weekend Quilt, by Leslie Linsley. I used the Fast Patch Method, by Anita Hallock, being very fond of speed, and the whole rolling cutter thing.

It's rather busy so I'm glad I decided to go for the plain navy squares and just happened to have the fabric in stash! Yay!

No doubt it will now go back to stash and marinate a while longer while I contemplate finishing. Sending it out for quilting is sounding mighty good.

Pookie Jedi

2011-06-01T10:18:00.002-10:00

Pookie Jedi, a photo by acornbud on Flickr.

Pattern: Pookie by Barbara Prime
Yarn: Bits and pieces. The green is Cascade SW
Needle: size 4
Mods: I was going for Yoda. The ear's didn't come out right and he looks like a green sheep. I knit the bottom in green and then did a stockinette body and hood.
Comments: Well written, cute pattern. I think it can be adapted to Princess Leia easily. I need me some safety eyes.

A Moray Eel

2011-05-31T15:38:00.003-10:00

Blue is my favorite color. I have lots of blue yarn. I just have to think of a project. Is it time for St. Brigid? What to do with all my new Beaverslide? Perhaps it will rest in stash to be petted and admired until the right project comes along.

I'm combing the old books and magazine for inspiration. The problem is it's getting a bit warm to knit. I have absolutely no sock mojo. I'm tired of hats and shawlettes. I was going to spin spin spin today, but then in a fit of domestic endeavor I sliced my dominant pointer. I think it will only be out of commission a few days.

I did manage to crochet a moray eel. Blogless Miche is setting up her Hook the Reef project and the wonderful projects and links to incredible Hawaiian marine life is inspiring. I put if off too long and have missed the deadline and he is kind of short for an eel. I got to used some left over Ultra Alpaca, and some white slubby stuff of questionable fiber content.

(Yup that is my pile of Beaverslide!)

Cashmere Island Stole

2011-05-30T09:29:00.004-10:00

Pattern: Stitch Sampler Shawl by On This Day Designs. A free Ravelry download! This a well written and very forgiving pattern. I occasionally ended up with an extra stitch that I just knit together on the same or next row.
Yarn: Cashmere Island by Noro. Now discontinued. Colorway 11. 7 skeins. I have not blocked this yet, but it feels a little softer then Silk Garden, but is a little cushier. There were a few knots, but not an excessive amount and this yarn spit splices very well. This being Noro, there were some tufss and other little surprises that I just knit in. The color changes were fun and melded in a pleasing way imo. The stole feels very cushy.
Needles: size 10
Mods: I added a bobble row and shortened the center panel by 5 rows, and mirrored it on the other side of the bobble row. I also CO on two extra stitches for an end stitch.
Comments: The unblocked size was about 54 x 16 inches. I'm not sure when I'll get around to blocking this. Noro makes me happy:)

FO, Scarves

2011-05-16T14:42:00.004-10:00

Annis, a new ending. My shawl curled something fierce, which is not so unexpected for stockinette. This shawl is knit from the lace up and a curve is created with short rows. Rather clever. Many on Ravelry seem to somehow avoided the curl, perhaps with the yarn choice and aggressive blocking. I was not so lucky and of course there were other misadventures with this shawl along the way such as the nupp debacle.

The pattern and the yarn were not to blame.

I may have posted about the green scarf before. I have two scarves down for the 2011 Red Scarf Project. I hope the project continues.

The red is Cascade 220 Superwash Paints, pattern Berlin Scarf by the purl bee. The green is yer garden variety SW Cascade220, pattern My Accountant's Scarf by Darlene Joyce. I used size 8 straights for the red scarf and size 6 for the green scarf. I soaked both scarves, spun them in the washer, and dried them on cool in the dryer. They survived without a hitch. Both are great patterns and FREE!

My house is covered with painters, scraping and power washing away. I like living in a house, but boy is there a lot of stuff that needs to be done.

PS: The red scarf counts as a Project Spectrum Project! Yay!

Bulky Cowl with Handspun

2011-05-13T09:12:00.004-10:00

Pattern: Patricia by Debbi Stone from The Stitches of My Life Designs, free Ravelry download. A nice easy, fast knit-up. The challenge was grafting the provisional cast-on, staying in pattern.
Yarn: Ashland Bay SW Merino. Hand spun, 3-ply. Dyed after plying in crock pot with 2 shades of Wilton's cake dye blue, and a dab of orange.
Needles: size 13

The Ashland Bay fiber was very nice to spin. Some of the singles were very over spun so I unwound it a bit before plying. Judith McKenzie's description of a 3 ply explains that the singles will lock together producing a fat, round yarn, that is good for cables. I was a bit distressed looking at my singles as there were so many corkscrew areas. I had this idea with the dying that I wanted shades of blue with some black areas, but did not have the black dye, so I thought if I went with a bit of orange the orange would separate into yellow and red so I I would have blues and a bit of purple and green. Umm, well, I got areas of orange.

The cowl came out better then I expected. I don't think I'll over dye it like I planned. The yarn has a nice plump solidness to it. The soaking and thwacking have evened out many of the blobby areas.

I have never worn a cowl and I wonder if it should be a bit more snug. I can imagine the winter winds of Chicago finding their way through. If it was a little more wide it could be pulled over my head. I'm not sure when I'll go some place cold enough to try it out.

Speaking of weather, I wonder if this icky, still, humid weather will move out next week. I've put off the house painting for 3 weeks already. At least it's not super hot yet.

I'm gearing up to work 2 days a week in June and July. A little income is never a bad thing:)

This and That

2011-05-10T12:56:00.008-10:00

Number 2 sister and her extended family came for a visit and they were lucky to get some sun before the deluge. The last week or so has been a lot of gray skies, thunder and rain rain rain.

My niece joined my Saturday walking group at Hoomaluhia and the view of the mountains was most inspiring. I love the greens of the Koolaus.

May 1 is Lei Day in Hawaii. My group had a great breakfast on the beach following our walk around Kapiolani Park. The leis were cordoned off until the Queen picks her fave, so I wasn't able to get close enough for any photos while the ceremonies at the bandstand were underway.

The War Memorial in Waikiki was especially picture worthy.

FO: Annis
Yarn: Mountain Colors Winter Lace Jr (600 yd ball) Colorway Wild Horse.
Needles: size 8, 10 for the CO
Comments: I had a lot of trouble with this knit that had nothing to do with the instructions which were straight forward. It had nothing to do with yarn either, which was quite lovely to work with. First off were nupps. They have a fancy name but they are bobbles just the same. I generally avoid bobbles. I tried the crochet hook method which seemed to work pretty well. However I somehow got my needles twisted up in the lace and one of the nupps was stretched out of shape. I was too lazy to fix it properly so now its a little fluff ball. Then when I was nearly done, I realized I had a group of purl stitches in the knit side of my stockinette. I dropped them down and ended up with a bunch of enlarged stitches. Never fear, I said, they would block out, but they didn't. While pinning out the lace, I found I had missed on stitch on the bind off and it started to unravel. Yikes! I picked them all up after the thing dried and did Jen's Stretchy Bind off on the purl side and re-blocked the whole thing. The CO off edge curls. I quit for a while. Perhaps some kind of crochet edging will help? Now I'm reminded why I avoid lace weight!

I rolled up Opal's ball of yarn. It's a big one! Bigger then my ball winder! 8.4 ounces. She can do lace weight, yes she can.

I scored this lovely hank of fiber. Thank you Opal!

FO: SW merino. I was going for a bulky 3-ply. The dye job is awful, I know. The plan is to knit something and then dye it again. I will stick to two ply for now. I still tend to over spin my singles. I unwound some of them, but there still is as lot of energy in this yarn. It may have to become a Slug, but I'm toying with the idea of a bulky cowl. Just what I need for summer in Hawaii, lol.

Mother's Day Card

2011-05-07T23:09:00.004-10:00

My mother loves violets...the common ones that smell so nice. We used have them growing in the yard, but it takes a lot of work to keep them going. The flowers were the easy part of the card, but the leaves really stumped me. I had envisioned using hearts, but they just didn't look right. So, in the the end I printed some up and cut them out.

The Purple

2011-05-03T09:49:00.001-10:00

The Purple, a photo by acornbud on Flickr.

Pattern: Noro hat, pattern by Saartje de Bruijn,
Yarn: Cascade Luna
Needles: size 4 and 5
Mods: decreases on purl sections to reduce the slouch. I knit this one bottom up and tried techknittings method of jogless joins.

Totoro Card

2011-04-30T10:14:00.001-10:00

Totoro Card, a photo by acornbud on Flickr.

Embellished Totoro calendar cutout. Commercial cupcake sticker and printed card. Martha Stewart umbrella punch.

Chemo Hat

2011-04-28T13:45:00.003-10:00

Chemo Hat, a photo by acornbud on Flickr.

Pattern: Noro hat by Saartje de Bruijn
Yarn: Cascade Luna. I used a little more then one skein of the turquoise an a little less then one skein of the aqua. I enjoyed this yarn. I've read that some skeins of many knots. I encountered 2 in 3 balls.
Needles: Size 6 and 5.
Mods: I knit this top down and went down a needle size for the last 8 rows before binding off. To avoid changing color on the purl row, I knit the last row of each knit set in the new color before doing the 4 purl rows.

This hat was to be for a 14 yo girl who will be going through chemo. I'm a bit worried it's too large, because we all know how cotton stretches and does not spring back like the wonderful wool. I'm going to knit another one with smaller needles, just because I really enjoyed the very soft yarn, and the pattern goes by so quickly.

Ornamental Pineapple

2011-04-15T16:55:00.001-10:00

Ornamental Pineapple, a photo by acornbud on Flickr.

It's that time of year again. My little pineapples are pretty but struggling. I suspect some of the colors that make this one look so colorful are a result of not enough dirt and fertilizer in the pot. There has been a lot more rain lately, also.

It's almost time for the Golden Plover to return to the North. They have donned their breeding plummage.

I finished watching Sharpe's Rifles with Sean Bean and was sad as I enjoyed the series. Surprise surprise, I found there were two more later episodes, 15 and 16 and one is now in the mail! Yay!

I'm almost done with the credentialing for my part time job. Yup. I signed up to work as a contractor at the Navy Clinic again. My last hoorah! Well I've said that before.

Deep Blue Slouch

2011-04-10T09:09:00.004-10:00

Project: Hat with hand spun, improvised top down beanie.
Yarn: My hand spun from Corgi Hill Farms Superwash BFL.
Needles: 3 and mostly 4
Comments: I have no yet figured out the wraps/inch and going by yardage estimates and weight I thought this yarn was worsted weight, although it looked more sport/fingering to me by the eyeball test. I tried various needle sizes and noted that the yarn did not have much elasticity, perhaps due to the superwashing? Based on yardage I had enough for some kind of neck warmers, fingerless mitts or a hat. The ribbing for the mitts never looked right, so it became a hat. I pretty much improved as I went. The gauge swatch lied so I ended up with a 24 in diameter hat. Loving the colors I just kept kntting until I hit 9 inches, then decreased gradually, changed to size 3 needles, and did and twisted rib. This seemed to tight, so I changed back to size 4 needles and did a regular 2x1 rib to finish out. It actually fits pretty well.
I loved the colors being a blue lover and all.
Hmm, I have just enough left over for a tassle or pom pom...what to do.

Cabled Hat with Ear Flaps

2011-04-01T19:10:00.001-10:00

Cabled Hat with Ear Flaps, a photo by acornbud on Flickr.

Pattern: Urban Trekker
by Vladimir Teriokhin
from Lion Brand Yarn: Just Hats

Yarn: Aurora Bulky by Karabella
Bulky / 12 ply
100% Wool
4 skeins. Last ball was used for pom poms.

Needles: Size 10.5

Mods: none

Comments. This was one of those "gotta knit" knits. Now it's done and I'm quite happy with it. I'm not sure it will see much action this summer in Hawaii, lol.
I read that some people found a lot of knots in the yarn, but I only found one in the last ball.
I love that there were no seams or stitches to pick up.

Pettine

2011-03-26T12:38:00.002-10:00

Pettine, a photo by acornbud on Flickr.

Pattern: Pettine
by Corrina Ferguson
from Sideways Shawlettes
Yarn: 1.2 skeins. Handmaiden, Mini-Maiden. Colorway Nova Scotia
Needles: size 6 lace Addi
Mod: none.

Comments. This photo shows the the unblocked shawlette, modeled by sister number 4. I loved the sideways pattern and the yarn. I may block this yet, but I like the way the unblocked lace ruffles.

Finally Finished

2011-03-22T19:04:00.002-10:00

This quilt block languished in stash for more then a decade and it's finally done! It's quite large so the choice now is a big pillow or have it framed. I'll see if sister number two feels it will match her decor as she has a birthday coming up soon.

Mom's portulaca are blooming in the dmz. Hardly anything grows in this area under the eaves. The soil is pretty poor there and sometimes the rain does not get to it.

I have 3 wips on the needles. That's a lot for this serial knitter.

My new whorl arrived from Majacraft. The original was a bit warped and although it did not affect the function it was quite noticeable so I got a new one. Hopefully Tracy will be able to re-machine the old one and find it another home. The new one is much better:)

Bowl from Empty Bowl event

2011-03-20T21:53:00.002-10:00

Bowl from Empty Bowl event a photo by acornbud on Flickr.

Hawaii Potter's Guild Empty Bowl Event

Wayward, Herbivore FO

2011-03-17T17:40:00.003-10:00

Pattern: Herbivore, by Stephen West
Yarn: Our Connection colorway, hand dyed by Megan Smith, WaywardYarn on Etsy. 100% merino
Needles: Size 6

No modifications. After knitting with acrylic, this yarn was heavenly. The pattern was quite easy so this project flew off the needles! I'm keeping this one for me:)

Feral Knitting

2011-03-13T09:40:00.005-10:00

I have been a big fan of the Feral Knitter and her incredible creations since I first discovered them.

Here's an example in one of my "stealth" photos of her at Madrona. I got to see her amazing shibori jacket in person, too.

I'm a continental knitter and my first efforts at two color knitting was very frustrating. My right hand just couldn't get a clue on how to throw and control the tension. I tried holding both yarns in my left hand and that was only slightly less frustrating, so I gave it up for a while.

Recently I saw a link on Ravelry to the Philospher's Wool video on two-handed Fair Isle technique and decided to give it a try again. These lovely people were at Madrona and teaching classes.

My project is the R2D2 hat by Carolyn posted on her blog, So Much Yarn, So Little Time. and the Star Wars charts by Sarah Bradberry. I found two balls of the the black sock yarn at the thrift store for 50% off of $2.99. Score! The contrasts are odds and ends of Koigu and mystery cream colored stuff.

This is way small for a hat and may become a bag, or maybe it will just remain a sampler. It's getting easier. Maybe this ole dog can learn a new trick.

On a somber note, the devastation in Japan is hard to watch. I don't have family in that part of Japan. I haven't heard from my "penpal" in Tokyo for a while now, but I can't help but worry about the impact there for him.

And I turned 60. Yikes.

Woodland Spirit 2 (testing wip)

2011-03-11T15:45:00.019-10:00

I'll post updates as they come up. (And better pictures with eyes when I have time)

My Totoro is 5.5 inches tall. Knitting starts back and forth. It proceeds in the round until the tummy. The intarsia portion is knit back and forth, leaving an opening in the back for stuffing. He is finished in the round. Tail and arms are knit separately and sewn on.

Materials: Cascade 220 in gray and white. Size 4 DPNs. Stuffing material of choice. Optional beads to weight bottom.

Techniques:
Knit in round
Intarsia
duplicate stitch

M1R : Pick up strand between stitches with left needle from back to front. Knit stitch through front.
M1L: Pick up strand between stitches with left needle from front to back. Knit stitch through back.
SSK: Slip next two stitches as if to knit. Slide the left-hand needle into the front part of both stitches and knit them together.

Row
1 Slip knot
2 (K, purl, k) into slip knot. Turn. (3 st)
3 Kfb, into every stitch. (Don’t turn) (6 st)
Slide stitches to other end of needle and bring yarn around back to knit first stitch of last row. (like knitting an I-cord)

Knit in the round from here

4 K2 on to needle 1. K2 on to needle 2. K2 on to needle 3. (Add needles so stitches are divided on 3 needles)
5 Kfb, into every stitch around (12 st)
6 Knit
7 Kfb, into every stitch around (24 st)
8 Knit
9 Kfb, k1 across. (36 st)
10 K
11 Kfb, k across to last stitch, kfb. (38 st)

Begin intarsia, knit back and fourth.

12 Kfb, k11 on to needle 1. Change to CC. K14 onto needle 2. Join second ball of MC. K to last stitch. Kfb. Turn. (40 st)
13 Purl, following color as established. Turn
14 With MC, Kfb, k10, M1R, K1. K16 with CC. K1 with MC, M1L, K to last stitch. Kfb. Turn (44 st.)
15 Purl
16 With MC, Kfb, k11. M1R, k1. K 18 with CC. Change to MC. K1, M1, k to last stitch. Kfb. Turn(48 st.)
17-24 Stockinette. Continue color changes as established.
25 K16 in MC, k16 in CC, k 16 in MC
26 Purl
27 K17 in MC, k14 in CC, k 17 in MC.
28 Purl
29 K18 in MC, k12 in CC, k 18 in MC.
30 Purl
31 K19 in MC. K10 in CC. K 19 in MC.
32 P19 in MC. Cut yarn. P10 in CC, cut yarn. P 19 in MC. Turn.
33 Knit across with MC. Don’t turn.
Resume knitting in the round.
34-36 Knit around.
37 K14. SSK. K16. K2tog. K14. (46 st.)
38-47 (even rows)K2tog, knit to last two stitches. SSK.
38-47 (odd rows) Knit. (36 st.)
48 K10. SSK. K12. K2tog. K10. (34 st.)
49 K7. SSK. K1. SSK. K10. K2tog. K1. K2tog. K7.(30 st.)
50 K6. SSK. K1. SSK. K8. K2tog. K1. K2tog. K6. (26 st.)
51 K5. SSK. K1. SSK. K6. K2tog. K1. K2tog. K5. (22 st.)
52 K5. SSK. K8. K2tog. K5. (20 st.)
53 Knit around. Knit first two stitches from needle one on the needle 3.

Ears
Right ear
Next 6 stitches on needle one form the ear. Knit onto two needles, 3 stitches on each. The rest of the stitches can remain on the needles if you have enough needles, or you can place them on a holder or piece of spare yarn. Join 6 ear stitches to knit in round. Knit one row.

*(K1, M1, K2) twice. (8 stitches).
Knit one row.
(SSK, K2) twice. (6 st)
Knit one row.
(SSK, K2) twice. (4 st).
Knit one row.
(SSK twice (2 st).
SlK1PSSO). Finish off.

Left ear
Place 4 stitches in center front and center back on holders. These 8 stitches will be grafted to together at the end to form the top of his head.
Place remaining 6 stitches on two needles. Join yarn with Totoro facing you at top of head, leaving 18 inch tail. Knit two rows in the round.

Finish ear following directions from right ear, from *.

Top of head.
Kitchener the top of the head using the 18 inch tail.

Use tails to close up holes around ears and around the tummy. The tails can be knotted or woven in on the wrong side. Use scrap yarn or stuffing to stuff the ears. Add chest markings in MC with duplicate stitch.

Cut 6 inch circle of cloth and fill with plastic pellets for weight if desired. Close the little bag with a running stitch of doubled thread. Place inside through back and stuff around. Close up back.

Tail. With MC, CO 12 stitches. Knit in round for 10 rows. Knit two together around the next two rows. 3 stitches remain. Thread tail through and draw up. Stuff and sew on. It helps to set Totoro on a surface and place tail to help him balance.

Arms. Knit back and fourth. With MC, CO 12 stitches. Purl one row, knit one row, purl one row. Row 4: K2tog, k to last two stitches, SSK. (10 st.) Purl one row, knit one row, purl 1 row. Row 8: K2tog, k to last two stitches, SSK. (8 st.) Purl one row. Thread tail through and sew up back seam. Fold arm so seam is centered on one side. Sew down with seam toward body.

Add facial features of choice. I usually needle felt them on.

Admire your work.

Eating my way across Tacoma and Seattle

2011-03-06T09:01:00.007-10:00

I'm thinking about all the wonderful eating experiences I had on my trip, while putting off doing my taxes and waiting for "mostly sunny". Back to the reality of cooking my own meals :(
I hope the weather clears up for the toddler pool party next door.

Bite, the restaurant at Hotel Murano where the Fiberarts Fesitival is held had a nice hearty, reasonably price brunch. The two meals I had there, mussels/clams and dinner of grilled shrimp and various shared salads were both tasty and served in generous portions. The coffee was good! It was a great way to start the day of fiber shopping and classes.

Galanga Thai was an easy walk up the the street from the hotel, and on a cold evening the fragrant, steaming bowl of beef noodle soup warmed me cockles.

Harbor Lights is and older restaurant on the water with great seafood. I split the pan fried crab and Sandy had a salmon salad. They were both yummy! I like that for a mere $3 more, they gave us each our own salad and starch.

Two Koi is another closeby restaurant. I had lunch there after visiting the Glass Museum, and the Tacoma Art Museum. It had a cute decor, and served huge portions! The food was fairly standard.

Kabuki Japanese Restaurant has been for around for awhile and my sister eats there often. The sukiyaki was very tasty.

Another Thai Restaurant, I'll have to ask my sister the name (Royal Thai). Royal Thai Bistro had very friendly people and wonderful food.

Lola's was my favorite eating place of all. It is one of Tom Douglas's restaurants and has a Greek flair. I don't like poached eggs but Betty's egg's benedict were a work of art. The smashed potatoes were awesome! I had the hand made doughnuts. They were light, puffy pillows served with vanilla marscapone and apple butter. I loved the applewood smoked sausages. They make them in the restaurant, but can't sell them raw/frozen to take home:(

I really wanted one last breakfast at Lola's but it was packed on Sunday, so we went acrss the street to the Dahlia Lounge. Once again Betty went with the Eggs Benedict. Their variation is the Green eggs and ham, but no smashed potatoes.

Palace Kitchen is another Tom Douglas Restaurant. It was quite busy. I was sad the morels were not in season like they were the last time I ate there. I had a very nice beet salad and the appetizer portion of braised lamb shank. The bread was fabulous. They are known for their triple threat coconut pie. The crust has coconut and almonds and so do the pudding and whipped cream layers. No meringue on this baby! I had it twice. They do take out:)

Anita's Crepes serves up whole wheat crepes stuffed with a variety of fillings. The picture is what blogless Margaret ordered. Mine was stuffed with chicken and while tasty was not as photogenic.

Emmer and Rye is named after an heirloom type of wheat called emmer. Spalt is another example. The rye got added because they serve a lot of rye whiskeys and beer. The menu was quite interesting. They offer all types of portions sizes as well...tastes, appetizers, full or half entrees which is quite nice since I can't eat as much as I used too. The pork belly is reminiscent of kau yuk or the roast pork from Chinatown. We tried lots of different things and they were all yummy. The restaurant is in an old house. Our waiter was wonderful!

Top Pot Doughnuts sells "hand-forged" doughnuts. I saw their story on TV recently. The name came from an old restaurant called Top Spot. The sign was stored for a while and the S fell off, so they added a coffee pot and the Top Pot coffee and doughnut place was born. I picked my hotel because if was right around the corner from this place. The coffee was wonderful. The doughnuts were huge. They specialized in buttermilk (old fashioned) doughnuts and cake doughnuts. I think there might have been a glazed in there somewhere. It would get quite busy at times, like a bus stopped and let a bunch of people off. I would love there to be a Top Pot Hawaii, but then of course, I should lay off the doughnuts:(

Honore serves fluffy French pastries.

Bay Cafe is a reasonably priced place to have breakfast.

BluWater Bistro is on the water and has nice burgers and fish.

Vince's Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria makes wonderful pizza.

FOs

2011-03-05T07:00:00.008-10:00

Crown Mountain Farms had some cute cards in their booth at Madrona. The couple I remember had to do with yarn snobs...one said something to the effect, "real friends don't let friends buy acrylic" and the other showed a smug boyfriend sitting next to his girlfriend who is holding an armful of Acme acrylic yarn, with a shocked, disgusted look in her eyes.

I was looking for something cheap and quick, so don't judge me, lol.

Jiffy Scarf
Pattern: my own, random stripes
Yarn: Jiffy Thick & Quick by Lion Brand
Needles: size 8
So I got quick and cheap, but the yarn kind of stuck to my dry hands as I knit and was not fun to knit with. Also the mistake rib curled on the edges. Next time I'll add a border.

Home spun Shawlette
Pattern: Splendid Triangle Shawl #80982AD by Lion Brand Yarn from Lion Brand Yarn Free Online Patterns
Yarn: Lion's Homespun
Needles: size 13
I omitted 3 repeats of the pattern for a shawlette and used only one skein. This is to be a gift. I've used this yarn before and and it's a little bit splitty to work with but quite soft. It's quite popular here in Hawaii. This is easily a one day project. I watched the entire Bleak House series (the one with Gillian Anderson) while knitting this for the birthday today. There was enough yarn to do one more pattern repeat. Next time...

Butternut Hat
Yarn: Butternut Woolens
Needles: size 11
Yarn: Butternut Woolens, thick and thin
Pattern: free with yarn.
This was one of those "gotta try" yarns at the Madrona Marketplace. I wish I had made the hat a tiny bit bigger as it doesn't quite cover my ears.

WIP: Stephen West's Herbivore in handyed SW merino sock yarn, by Megan. It feels so good to have some of the good stuff on my needles. This project is flying!

Fun in Seattle

2011-03-04T05:42:00.007-10:00

I went on some interesting tours this trip around and learned lots of new things.

Earthhues: I loved this place! There is no name on the building just the address 5129. There were several ladies in the back boiling up dyes on gas burners in the classroom getting ready for a class put on by a lys. The shelves were full of of yarns all dyed with natural dyes in a multitude of shades of wonderful colors. The owner, Michele Wipplinger was in, graciously shared her story and showed us her treasures, collected over her life of learning, giving, world travels and creating. It was truly fascinating!

Theo Chocolate Factory: One of the few makers vs melter's of chocolate. They are the first "green", fair trade and organic chocolate producers in America. Click to read more.

Their name comes from the scientific name of chocolate, Theobroma Cacao. This place smelled so lovely...chocolate...food of the Gods! They were generous with samples!

I made the tour reservations online with my iphone. Sandy's husband may be right. It the future a gadget like the iphone is all one will need, lol. I'm glad I made reservations as there was a wait list when we got there.

The Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience: Wing Luke immigrated from China when he was 6 years old and became the first Asian American to hold elected office in the Pacific Northwest. It is in Seattle's Chinatown. It got me thinking about the experiences of the Hawaiians, Filipinos, in addition to the Chinese and Japanese. Life was not easy.

I got two prints by Mirikitani. If you have not seen the documentary on his life, The Cats of Mirikitani, I recommend it.

The tour included was of the store next door. The building had businesses on the street level and a boarding house upstairs for new immigrants. The store was operating until 2008. It looks like a lot of places in Honolulu Chinatown.

Northwest Flower and Garden Show: I got in on this in the last hour, so admission was free! There were tons of ideas for dream gardens.

Madrona Classes

2011-03-02T19:20:00.005-10:00

I had two really fun classes at Madrona. Batts, Roving and Top taught by Judith Mackenzie and Spinning a Self Striping Yarn. I was loaned a great spinning wheel, a Schacht Matchless. It was set up for Scotch tension. Thanks Lisa!

Judith Mackenzie is a wonderfully calm and warm teacher with lots of fiber experience. I have her DVD, The Gentle Art of Plying, which I got about a month ago. It's been very useful.

We tried various types of fibers. Natural top is a very orderly arrangement of fibers. The process of making top is somewhat like ironing hair was back in the day. When a piece is pulled off it leaves a relatively straight line, while roving pulls off in a point. Dyeing top puts back some of the sproing and disorder into the fiber which explains why the dyed braids do not pull apart as easily. She still recommends not stripping top as it disorders the fibers unless it is for color order. She spins across the end side to side. I got one of my burning questions answered. While spinning, sometimes a big tuff gets away and the twist ends up in the fluff. While a small one can be undone, when I showed her a large one I'd broken off, she said, "Throw it on the floor." And so I did:)

Here she is with one of her assistants.

My second class was taught by the the Bellwether, Amelia Garripoli. She too was great teacher and very knowledgeable. Our class supplies included 12 colors of roving, which were divided for a pair of fingerless mitts. We chose our 4 least favorite colors for a background color. This background color was spun at a smaller gauge. The rest of the colors were spun one at a time, then plied with the thinner single. The background color does not show as much so the solids form stripes. I used the left over roving to practice on my new drops spindles and used the completed yarn for a sweater for Won Bin (my iphone)

I really enjoyed my two classes and learned a lot. It was great fun to see the variety of wheels and share tips and ideas.

Spinning Toys

2011-03-01T11:59:00.005-10:00

Two years ago I was adamant about my "no spinning" policy. Now that is history. I've entered the world of spinning and I'm having a ball. Yes, another stash, another reason to shop and the danger of branching out into yet another craft.

The hardest part for me was learning how to draft. I watched a lot of you tubes, watched people spinning and tried a wheel a couple of times. I found that using the drop spindle was a way to slow down things so I could get the hang of drafting out the fibers. Also pre-drafting prior to spinning helped me get the feel of the fibers slipping out. I still find my drafting is not very fast using a wheel.

Adding the foot action was another story. I practiced with some unspun Lopi. It needs no drafting so I could practice the foot and hand motions without having to worry about how much fiber was slipping out (or not slipping out).

I had 4 things on my shopping list for the Madrona Marketplace...traveling kate, wool cards, WPI tool and Majacraft bobbins. No spindles on this list. Sandy said "don't hold back" so in addition to filling my list I have 3 more spindles.

Leopardwood square spindle from SpindleWood CO. It's square, but it really spins nicely. It's quite light for it's size.

This Turkish spindle was a gift from blogless Sandy. Thank you Sandy! It's made of ironwood by Jenkins. It spins great and you have a center pull when you are done. It comes apart like tinker toys. Quite an amazing little invention.

Bosworth Featherweight in walnut. Amelia Garripoli (AsktheBellweather) who taught Sandy's drop spindle class had a whole container full of these babies. Score!

WPI tool of Hawaiian koa wood. I couldn't pass it up and it was on the list;) The Koigu key chain was a little freebee from the Madrona people.

Just think about all the shipping costs I saved!! :)

Madrona FiberArts Winter Retreat

2011-02-28T10:51:00.006-10:00

This year's winter retreat earned it's name. Tacoma was wintry indeed and very snowy.

Coming from Hawaii it's always a challenge to know what to bring in the way of crafts and clothes. Lucky me I brought my Beaverslide CPH Vest with the thought of getting into the zipper mini-class. No openings were available but I sewed it in because it was the warmest thing! It was very handy to cover my ears when the wind picked up.

The lovely Hotel Murano was buzzing with like-minded fiber-loving people all spinning, weaving, knitting and sharing their outstanding creations.

I got to meet the weebug and couldn't resist giving her a hug. She was wearing a wonderful hand knit green sweater with the coolest buttons! (I think it was Ginny) Waah! I didn't get a picture.

The Most Illustrious and Mysterious Landcaster has successfully defended his thesis on Server Scheduling and will be granted his MS when the term ends. Congratulations! This momma is proud!

He pointed out to me this trip that my new iPhone (who I named Won Bin after the Korean action star) has more megapixels then my trusty Canon Powershot. As it turns out it is also very convenient to use and I did not use my Powershot at all. Perhaps I will have to get some camera apps now. I'm often trapped in the iTunes Store these days, sigh.

My traveling companion, blogless Sandy set the tone with great advice from her DH. "Don't hold back." I took her advice:)

Kapiolani Community College Farmer's Market

2011-02-12T16:59:00.003-10:00

In one of those eye-opening moments, I finally went to the KCC Farmer's Market. I had all kinds of lame excuses for avoiding this weekly event...long drive, too early, big crowds, no parking.... My usual Hoomaluhia walking group decided to do the market and I had another one...shingles. I had a very atypical case just two months shy of the date I'm supposed to get my shingles shot and although I'm almost all better, I'm still a bit whiny. I'm glad I kicked myself in the butt and went! It only took me 15 minutes to drive there and lots of parking. What a variety of foods, flowers and fresh produce! I got some golden beets and pickled some (who knew it was so easy to pickle beets thanks to the Victory Garden cookbook!) and a bunch of fresh Manoa lettuce. There were lots of samples and interesting people to watch. It seems to be very popular with the Japanese tourists who were eating up a storm!

I especially loved the varieties of hibiscus in one booth. I ignored the state flower for many years, but lately I have come to appreciate the many colors and shapes, and the glorious blooms.

KCC is a pretty campus, nestled on the back side of Diamond Head Crater. It was a beautiful blue sky morning, in spite of the forecast.

"Life is not long, and too much of it must not pass in idle deliberation how it shall be spent."
--Samuel Johnson

"Life is always walking up to us and saying, "Come on in, the living's fine," and what do we do? Back off and take its picture."
--Russell Baker

Jo's Salmon Quiche

2011-02-11T06:05:00.008-10:00

Lunch was pretty special prepared by blogless Marlies, who really knows how to entertain! We started with a beautiful salad. The dressing was an aromatic vingrette with hints of curry.

The main course was a very tasty Quiche! The recipe originally came from blogless Peggy's friend's mom (Jo) and prepared by Marlies was very tasty and beautiful as well! When I entered the house I could smell it baking and knew I was in for a treat.

Here is the recipe:

Crust:
1 c. whole-wheat flour
2/3 c. grated sharp cheddar
¼ c. chopped almonds
½ t. salt
¼ t. paprika
6 T. oil

Combine and press into 9 inch pie plate or quiche pan, saving ½ c. to sprinkle on top.
Bake 400 deg. for 10 minutes.

Filling:
1 (15 ½ oz.) red salmon. Drain and save juice
3 eggs, beaten
1 c. sour cream
¼ c. mayonnaise
¾ c. grated sharp cheddar cheese
1 T. grated onion
1/4 t. dried dill weed
3 drops Tabasco (or to taste)

Turn oven down to 325 deg.

Add enough water to salmon liquid to make ½ cup. Flake salmon, remove skin and bones. Set aside.
Blend eggs, sour cream, mayo, and salmon liquid. Stir in salmon, cheese, onion, dill and Tabasco

Spoon filling into crust. Sprinkle top with reserved crust mixture.

Bake 325 degree for 45 min. or until firm in center. Serves 6.

We finished the meal off with beautiful Chocolate and Coconut Lacy Cookies. There is no picture, because I ate them. The recipe is by Giada De Laurentiis, on the foodnetwork.com

Totoro Tuesday, Let's Hear it for the Greys!

2011-02-07T22:50:00.007-10:00

18 grey Totoro sitting on the stairs, causing great happiness all around! I didn't think I would ever say this, but maybe I have enough for now. If fact maybe I need to liberate some and observe them in the wild instead of keeping them captive.

I'll keep knitting them. In fact here are 3 more, knit from stash.

They are a happy bunch!

I passed my Advanced Life Support re-certification exam on Sunday. I recall the first time I ever took this class it was really tough and so I always get stressed when this comes aroung. Over the years the algorithms have been simplified and the new guidelines are even simpler still. Still, I'm happy this may be the last time I have to take it. The focus now is on quality CPR with chest compressions taking a front seat to breathing.

I've upgraded my beloved red razr flip phone to an iphone4. There is definitely a learning curve and there was a bit of cursing going on tonight...but tomorrow is another day!

The knitting has stalled as I try to psyche up for my next big project. Since I'm attending Madrona Fiber Arts Retreat I'm thinking socks are a good thing to start. Kim wants to do Amelia but I don't have enough Malabrigo Rios for this, and I'm not sure Madelinetosh Worsted colorway is the right one. I kind of like Thea Coleman's Cranberry Capelet
for the Rios and I love the cable.

I managed a couple tiny sheep.
Pattern: Eco Ewe by Andrea McHugh for Rowan, and Knitted Sheep from Flutterby Patch.

Yarn: The cream yarn is from a little boy sheep on the Big Island. I've never met him. The wool was quite dirty and did not have any lock structure and my overzealous washing partially felted it. I spun what I could on my drop spindle and made a two ply. The rest makes very nice stuffing. The black is some mystery black sock yarn from stash.
Needles: Size 2
Comments. Ewe Sheep is a bit odd looking. Knitted sheep has a "coat" in the pattern, and I covered it with 3 stitch bobbles. I think he'll need eyes.

Fingerless Mitts

2011-01-30T10:19:00.002-10:00

Fingerless Mitts
Originally uploaded by acornbud

Pattern: Susie's Reading Mitts, by Janelle Masters from Dancing Ewe Yarns
Needles: size 2
Yarn: Woolarina handpaint. Repurposed from Ella.
Modified for smaller gauge.

Great pattern, fun, fast knit.

Redwood Lacey Hoodie, FO

2011-01-25T15:42:00.002-10:00

Pattern: Lacy Leisure Hoodie, by Gayle Bunn, from Creative Knitting, May 2008
Yarn: 7 skeins of Berroco Ultra Alpaca, colorway Redwood. I had only a few inches left.
Needles: Size 8 circs
Mods: I eliminated ribbing at sleeves and body of the sweater. I knit most of it in the round. Picked up stitches around the armholes and knit in the round, top down. I missed increasing stitches after the ribbing so the pattern did not match up in shoulders:(. My sleeves came out quite wide. If I had more yarn, I would have made the sweater a little longer.

Comments: I love knitting with Ultra Alpaca. It slips smoothly on the needles. I am a bit done with fuzzy yarn for a while, though. I bought so much of this yarn on sale at Webs, and I have finally used it all up!! The pattern is well written and easy to follow. The lace is very pretty and easy to remember.

Bangle

2011-01-23T21:07:00.001-10:00

Bangle
Originally uploaded by acornbud

Gypsy Wire Bangle from "MakeWireJewelry" free download from Beading Daily. Tutorial by Janice Berkebile' Ruby-zoisite beads, recycled bells from earring. I tried out the liver of sulfur gel. The project sheet adds one more bead on every other cluster, but I didn't find anything in stash to match. This was a quick project and completely from stash!

Handspun Kitty

2011-01-21T21:01:00.003-10:00

Blogless Sandy and I are having fun learning to spin. An Opalism (after the Hyperactive Monkey who is our mentor) is "never buy only 2 oz of roving". Now that I've spun some yardage, I understand why. What can you do with only a few yards of anything? Thus the mini-cat. The brown yarn in this mini-cat (4 inches tall) amounted to ~36 yards. One single is bamboo merino, and the other single is merino. I used every bit the yarn up. The white is some bandless ball of cream stuff. I knit him up on size 2 needles using Brownie the Cat pattern (link on side bar). His eyes are needle felted on. I was trying for the yellow/green eyes like my folks cat. Perhaps he needs a mouth.

Totoro has a shelf at Windward Mall!!!

2011-01-18T17:24:00.008-10:00

Animation Magic, Windward Mall
Originally uploaded by acornbud

Totoro are pretty rare around town when compared to Ms. Kitty, so I was happy to discover he has part of a shelf at Animation Magic in Windward Mall. Good thing world domination is not part of Totoro's philosophy as it is common knowledge one shelf leads to another.

Today was a spinning day. I got to work with my Bosworth Drop spindle on SW merino wool/cashmere sample from Corgi Hill Farm. It was most luscious and the spindle is more than!!! I am going to order another Bosworth spindle. Blogless Sandy and I both worked on our plain white stuff...a little boring, but we agree we both love our Majacraft wheels. She made the best lunch of Chinese chicken salad and pork roast with lavender rub. As we say here in Hawaii...onolicious! I even went home with leftovers for dinner! Thank you!

Sandy has a very sweet kitty named Koa and a fish named Cupcake.

A surprise was waiting when I got home. Polwarth Roving by Woolgathering in the mail from the Knitted Brow herself, in these great blues. I've really been wanting to try some. Thank you, Kim!

On the knitting seen, are wips and more wips. I had dropped Lacey hoodie in the ugh pile, but keep getting it out as it seems the least of the all the other evil wips. It's all the mods (knitting in the round and leaving out the ribbing) I tried to do and the fact that I am really short some yarn. It was chilly here last night so I caught myself wearing it even though it has only one sleeve. The sleeves came out like giant bells.

Card Day with Sister Rita

2011-01-12T20:01:00.001-10:00

Card Day with Sister Rita
Originally uploaded by acornbud

Today's card day theme was thank you cards. Totoro was recycled from my calendar cutouts. Sister Rita was in a Valentine's Day mood, so the theme shifted.

We both loved the Sizzix flourish and the puffy rabbit stickers. All the prefab stickers and things make creating so easy.

Totoro clock

2011-01-04T22:06:00.003-10:00

Totoro clock
Originally uploaded by acornbud

MDF Acorn shape from damboisedesigns etsy store. Clock movement from Klockit is much more quiet and hopefully be more durable then the one I got a the local craft store. The decoupage is made from a Totoro Calendar cover sheet.

My atomic clock movement did not fit, so I'll try another one and have the Landcaster drill a recess for the hex nut. I got the acorn shape in 2008
and it just sat until I finally got the paint and the Modgepodge. The hardest thing for me is waiting for the coats of Modgepodge to dry. In the end it was worth the wait.

Totoro Tuesday

2010-12-28T13:31:00.002-10:00

We are taking a break.

Happy Totoro Holidays 2010!

2010-12-21T13:01:00.001-10:00

Catbus Tuesday

2010-12-14T15:45:00.006-10:00

The catbus is one of the coolest things. The Totoro ride around in the catbus and all that flying around at night creates the wind. I don't think there is a limit as to how many Totoro can fit in one catbus. It is a very plush and intuitive ride. It always takes you exactly where you want to go, even if the place is where the lost baby sister is. It has mice for headlights.

I don't have very many catbuses in my stash. It's all about Totoro, you know.

I'm still looking for a topper for my tree.

Pattern: Michael's Crochet Christmas Tree
Yarn: Plymouth Encore
Hook: size H

I added a crochet chain for a silver/white yarn and eyelash yarn from stash. I used one strand of mini-lights. I wish I had two of them. Blogless Sandy gave me a whole mess of felted acorns. Thanks, Sandy! They were perfect for my tree.

The Ginger Totoro were a little overcooked, but tasty. I'm going to try and frost the next batch with some Royal Icing. After reading up, I am a little paranoid about the Salmonella so will go with the meringue powder type.

Tuesday and more Totoros!

2010-12-07T10:24:00.002-10:00

Here are 3 Totoro cups. The first is Noritake and has the usual beautiful and intricate designs. I so love the Japanese attention to detail! The second is a mug. I can't remember where I got this one from. Maybe I'll see if my coffee tastes better in it. The last is fan art created by placidrain.

The latest gray Totoro are helping me write my pattern down. I'm trying to use Excel and used ChemKnit's tutorial as a starting place. Let me say, my Excel skills are rudimentary at best and I'm in awe of those who can actually make Excel do complex math! It's really an amazing thing, but then I digress. I found two free fonts to try out...Aire River Knitting Font and David Xenakis Knitter's symbols. The trick is to have a grid that actually fits the font and double digit numbers and still print out on one page. I tried the trick of zooming the excel page and doing a page capture but the numbers and symbols went all wonky on me. I can tell this is going to be painful and long, lol.

The bigger gray Totoro is a mystery yarn, and I'm not sure it will take to needle felting of the facial features. So for now, he is blind and will only show his back side.

They are sitting in front of 1290 yds. of redwood mix Ultra Alpaca which I finally wound into cakes. I'm not sure what it will be. I'm feeling pullover with cables for Madrona. Tacoma is chilly in February.

Totoro Tuesday

2010-11-30T13:05:00.004-10:00

Thanksgiving flew by! We cheated this year and got the turkey dinner from the big box store. The turkey was very good, imo. Dad actually got dressed for the occasion and said he had a good time, so I am grateful for that.

I found a cute, free acorn and leaf pattern for my Totoro. I used size one needles and left over sock yarn.

There was no left over turkey for the bento box.

I have not used my Totoro utensils, either. I like the little chopsticks.

I managed a couple FO's.

Pattern: Monkey Socks, by Cookie A
Yarn: Lorna's Laces, colorway Roadside Gerry
Needles: size 1
Mods: I did 5 repeats instead of 6 for the leg.
When I saw this combination on Rav, I knew it would be the perfect combo. I hope they fit my niece up there in the frigid north. I really enjoyed working with this yarn.

Pattern: Jacques Cousteau Hat, by Minusta
Yarn: Silja Sock Yarn by Gjestal
Needles: Size 3
Mods: none

This hat is nice and stretchy. It is very pointy at rest, but rounds out nicely when worn. The pattern is very easy to follow. I made the larger size. I may make a worsted version in the future.

I had a very productive earring day with the blogless muffy multitasker. My favorite are the "package" earrings. I'll have to go find some little Swarovski cubes to make a couple more.

And last but not least...dum dum dee dum!!!!

My Majacraft Rose. She suffered a little travel damage, so replacements are on the way, but she still spins wonderfully. I just couldn't wait.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T08:23:00.001-10:00

Happy Thanksgiving!
Originally uploaded by acornbud

I am so much to be thankful for on this glorious day. Wishing everyone life's bounty!

Thankful for Totoro

2010-11-22T17:03:00.007-10:00

Thank you Mr. Hayazaki for creating Totoro! Without you, I would have no Totoro's to count.

In this photo are 2 wallets, 3 totes and one camera bag. I use the camera bag and love that fact that it attaches with a carabiner. They are such cool gadgets, imo. Most of these bags were gifts. I do use them occasionally. So far the wallets have just stayed in stash, but I'm tempted to use the one on the left. I'm thankful for friends and family, who put up with me and enable my Totoro habit!

On the knitting scene:

Invisibility Clapotis continues to languish. I may have to mark it hibernating. The only good thing about Harry Potter #7 being divided into two movies is that I may yet finish this scarf in time for the second installment. Otherwise it's just plain torture to make me wait.

Btw, she who rarely blogs and I went to see it last night. The theater was very uncrowded for the 6:30 pm showing. Chris sported her Griffindor scarf. I won't say much about the movie for fear of spoilers. I enjoyed it and have started re-reading book 7.

Grover Hat was well received. This smile says it all! It gave this crafter great joy!

I rarely repeat a pattern when it comes to garments but Gnome #5 has joined he buddies. I love this Alan Dart pattern, especially the small and medium sizes. I knit them in the round as I dread seaming. This ball of Kureyon 264 had quite a surprising array of colors.

Stogie Blue Crossed Slouch is my first wearable garment made from my hand spun. The pattern Star Crossed Slouchy Beret by Natalie Larson from Strands of Me worked well. I used size 9 and 11 needles.

I hope everyone's Thanksgiving plans are going well!

Totoro Tuesday Comes Around Again!

2010-11-15T18:16:00.007-10:00

2/3 of these zippered Totoro's have a bag in side. I don't have the heart to use them as they may get dirty. I think the other one is a coin purse or maybe a cell phone bag. The softee just sits on the acorn, looking charming. It was a dark and dreary morning, and the lighting was suboptimal.

Blogless Sandy gave me some black, single ply wool so I made a cat. The model, Kiko, has a habit of stretching out, often on her back when she is relaxing. It's quite unlike any other cat I've met. The real Kiko only has a tiny white spot on her chest has the strangest green/yellow eyes.

It's been awhile since my boys were toddlers and they never watched sesame street. They were Ninja Turtle kind of guys. A FB friend was talking about her son's love for "Gro Gro" and it became a bit of an obsession. After doing a web search, I discovered that Grover is NOT related to the other blue guy and has pink nose. The hat is modeled by a Care Bear their grandmother made for the boys.

Pattern: Blue Fuzzy Monster Who Likes Baked Goods Hat

Needles: 10.5 circular and dpns, size 3 for eyes and nose
Yarn: Red Heart worsted and Nohea eyelash

Saturday I went to a baby luau for one of my former coworkers. The tradition here is to throw a big feast for the first birthday. Guess back in the day it was cause for a big celebration as infant mortality was high. The food was great, and the music too. Wouldn't you know my camera battery would die before the baby woke up! I did get one shot of Heeia Pond.

My blogless card-making partner has returned from her log cabin building on Camano Island and we had our Thanksgiving card day. I was quite happy with the results! Next up will be Christmas tags.
Tomorrow I'm participating in a succulent wreath class at Wahiawa Botanical Garden. It should be fun!

And finally, the big news. My spinning wheel order is being processed by Majacraft. I decided on the Rose because of it's more classic look. I hope it gets here from New Zealand before Christmas!

FO, Mystery Sock KAL 2010

2010-11-11T09:14:00.002-10:00

mystery KAL 2010
Originally uploaded by acornbud

Finally done for Socktoberfest, Kirsten Kapur's (Through the Loops) Mystery sock KAL, 2010. Thanks, Kirsten!
Yarn: Shaeffer Anne

I did two at a time magic loop. My sock mojo is low, and the one 3 stitch twisting row did me in. I missed on twist row on the leg, but decided to knit on. The yarn has a bit of a halo. I love the colorway. I frogged a scarf for this project and have a ton of yarn left. It's just a bit scratchy for a neck, imo.

I love my red socks:)

Maui GF trip and Totoro Tuesday

2010-11-08T22:31:00.013-10:00

I spent 4 days on Maui helping to celebrate a friends 50th birthday with 10 other women. The weather did not cooperate for the zipline and hiking, but we had a lot of fun shopping, eating, and talking. The estate we stayed at was nestled on a hill near the ocean and was the perfect place to gather for meals, and catching up.

We went back to Makawao more then once to shop and stock up on yummy pastries from Komodo Bakery. The cream puffs were wonderful and the apple pie out of this world!

The Alii Kula Lavender Farm had harvested the last of it's lavender and it was being stripped from it's stems when we got there. The fragrance was heavenly. The grounds have a spectacular view of West Maui and many other flowers such as the protea and gazania were in bloom. I love visiting this place.

We had several memorable meals out. La Provence Kula is a family run French Bakery and restaurant in Kula. Get there early if you want the best French pastries! I had a lovely crepe for lunch with spinach and mushrooms. Haili'imaili General Store
has a great menu of fusion selections, tasty and plated beautifully! I had the mahi burger with slaw.

On our way back to the airport we had lunch at Flatbread Company in Paia. We shared several salads and pizza's and there were all unique and tasty.

One of my favorite stops was the outside stand of the Upcountry Specialties Farm. The Fuyu Persimmon are in season.

Totoro did not go to Maui with me. Maybe next time.

Tuesday Totoro

2010-11-01T16:36:00.014-10:00

I hope everyone had a nice Halloween and has less candy leftover then I do! I spent most of the evening at Ala Moana Center. The kids went store to store for candy until the stores ran out. My favorite costume was the spam musubi. I wish I had a camera, duh! He had Japanese style headband on that said Spam and had little spam cushion strapped to his white top with a black "nori" belt. Somebody's mom (or dad) was very creative!

This is a 2007 decorative Totoro plate made by Noritake. I love the details on it and I even love the box it came in. Mei and her big sister are with Totoro in the center and the cat buses go around the rim. The colors are nice and happy!

(Sorry for the funny picture formatting)

I knit Thursday at Aloha Yarns and blogless Sandy brought her vegies for a photo shoot. The cucumber is not done yet. The patterns are from Hansi Singh's book, Amigurui Knits. The patterns are very clever. I especially like the way the top of the eggplant is attached in a very lifelike way. Sandy used Cascade 220 for all the vegies.

My two wips, the fingering, scarf version of Clapotis and the Socktober, Through the Loops KAL are struggling. The magic loop is doing me in on the socks. I was only able to finish Carrot Cat. Totoro is not impressed, but of course he is too polite to say anything.

I fared a little bit better on the spinning scene, and finished half my BFL. The other half is in the works. I have decided on The Rose spinning wheel by Majacraft. The dollar is taking a beating overseas and I hope to buy before the prices go up even further! I've enjoyed Opal's (formerly Keohinani's) Lendrum. It is a very pretty wheel, made of maple and has been good to me. I still have a long way to go in making consistent yarn but it's getting easier.

I seem to have fallen off the yarn diet. I got two skeins of Cascade SW for next years Red Scarf Project and this lovely ball of Kureyon for another gnome. After reading zknitter's praises of Malabrigo SW, I ordered some for myself and can't wait for it to get here!

My yard is full of iris. Today it was the purple ones. They only last one day. I haven't been able to capture all of them in a picture that does them justice.

Carrot Man

2010-10-26T21:57:00.002-10:00

Carrot Man
Originally uploaded by acornbud

From sheep to carrot man! I had a vision for Carrot Man, but this wasn't quite it. But Totoro is quite happy about meeting him.

A Blustery Totoro Tuesday

2010-10-25T15:18:00.003-10:00

I'm having a lazy day today...it's blustery and cloudy outside and I have a few aches from the flu shot. I can't really blame the flu shot as I have aches and pains all the time anyway, but it's nice to think there is a reason for my general sloth. I'm just short of bonbons.

Totoro wind up toy
Originally uploaded by acornbud

This little guy does not hop for long but he makes me laugh. I'm easily amused.

The little pile of wool locks from some unknown sheep blogless Sandy gifted me is now ready to be knit into carrots or pumpkins. One skein was spun and plied on my drop spindle and the larger skein was spun on a Lendrum and plied on a drop spindle. I still some really tight twists in there, despite cooking this with cake dye in a crock pot and snapping it over and over.

I tried pouring the dye over the heated up yarn and it did not go all the way through. I flipped it over when the water was clear and added more dye. The color was all sucked up. I tried adding some red and brown in areas to see if I could get some variegation but I was too chicken to add a lot so they barely show. Processing the wool was a fun experiment!

Totoro Tuesday Already!

2010-10-19T05:51:00.006-10:00

It's been a busy week. Here it is Tuesday and no Totoro photos and currently not enough light, so I'm going with some scans. I think the thin plastics with pictures on them are for writing on a desk. The book was from the Ghibli Museum in Mikata Japan. (one of the high points of my Japan trip!)

The Hawaii Internation Film Festival is on and is keeping me busy. The Festival is celebrating 30 years! My favorite movie so far has been Railways. The Japanese country side is very beautiful as seen from trains and reminds me a My Neighbor Totoro. The story is about a 49 yo man who changes his life and follows his bliss. Monga was a gangster movie with lots of very young handsome Chinese actors, just like the announcer said.

Spinning Party was a lot of fun!. I'm reading up on wheels have narrowed the choices down to Majacraft Rose or the green wheel Suzie Pro. My spinning buddies both have the Suzie Pro. I must say it spins really well, but part of me is attracted to the more traditional looking wheel of the Rose.

I finished my first 4 oz. of fiber on the Lendrum. The superwash BFL was dyed by the talented moonlight baker of Hungry for Handspun on Etsy. She also makes wonderful soap. I started a little project but didn't have enough yarn...I can see why Opal doesn't think one should buy only 2 oz of fiber. 4 oz is barely enough for a project. My yarn is bulky or aran weight (by the eyeball test) and lumpy. It's not the fiber's fault, lol.

In search of "boo" and Totoro Tuesday

2010-10-11T16:23:00.007-10:00

It's been a rather dry summer so I have to water plants once in a while. The last two times I did, it rained the next day. I can't imagine the torrents that may have been if I'd washed my car, too.

Here in Hawaii, there is no Hobby Lobby, Joann's or Michael's. When the coveted Ben Franklin 40% off coupon comes it, it seems a shame to waste it. I obsessed on the spider web embossing folder but the closest Ben's was out of it so I settled for a 12x12 storage container for paper. The next day I tried another Ben's and the folder was available! I get home and went in search of "boo" without success. I must have destashed my Halloween stamps in a fit of organization lust. Luckily Halloween was 20% off at Fishers today.

Life seems full of coincidences sometimes and it makes me wonder. I suspect I'm not really a rainmaker and that the sale had nothing to do with my lost boo.

Totoro decided to dress up as candy corn for Halloween.

(Totoro is a decorated cutout from the 2010 Totoro Calendar)

I like the Lendrum Spinning Wheel Opal loaned me. It's maple, folds, and is easy to adjust and set up. It also comes with a bag. What I don't like is threading the yarn orifice with the crazy hook. I filled one bobbin full of Candy Corn superwash BFL, dyed by Moonlight Baker. After reading up, I decided to spin this to make long repeats, then proceeded to split the roving in half the short way instead off length wise. Live and learn, lol. I'm sure it will still be pretty. I could chain ply it, but I'm not inclined to try that yet.

This is a mosaic of 3 Totoro puzzles. Totoro playing his ocarina in the tree was a challenge to assemble. Luckily no pieces where lost in the long construction phase.

Oops, I almost forgot my WIPs

TTL Mystery sock KAL for Socktoberfest, in Schaefer Anne.

White Caps Fingerless Mitts

Totoro Tuesday

2010-10-04T19:54:00.002-10:00

I once had a refrigerator with a wooden door. It seemed like a nice idea, but one of the biggest drawbacks, was I had to give up my refrigerator magnets. I was not sad when that refrigerator finally went for many other reasons, but the new one is magnet friendly. The flying Totoro magnet was a gift and came from Japan. The felt ones I got locally at Shirokiya and one was a gift. And look! There are my two darling boys when they were little...sigh. One of them made the star years ago.

This is the latest Totoro in Beaverslide and stuffed with mill ends from the Brown Sheep Mill.

My dad turned 91 October 4. My sister flew in and my niece and son joined us for dinner and cupcakes from Hokulani Bakery. He had the best day he's had in quite a while.

Opal and Blogless Sandy came over for a spinning party. Opal left her Lendrum at my house. Sandy and I have decided to spin at least 15 minutes every day. It really helps. There was a lot to eat...the day went by so quickly. We had so much fun, we forgot to take pictures.

(I'm still looking for my pill shaver to work on the witch hat)

Red Scarf Projects 2010

2010-09-28T09:31:00.002-10:00

red scarf 2010
Originally uploaded by acornbud

I'm getting these to mail out for the Red Scarf Project.

Totoro Tuesday

2010-09-27T23:08:00.006-10:00

This shadow box was a gift to me from my Japanese penpal Totoro is enjoying the seasons just as I enjoy Totoro in any season, for any reason ;)!

The two parts fold inward like a book.

On the knitting scene there are 3 more crocheted rock cozies added to my rock pile. They are a great small project to use up pearl cotton left over from other projects.

I've CO for another Clapotis, this time in Little Knits Indie II, cashmere/silk in lace weight. The yardage is not great so I'll just have to wait and see if it will be big enough.

Totoro Tuesday

2010-09-20T11:53:00.010-10:00

In 1998 I joined a quilting group to learn to hand quilt. There were 8 of us. We met every 6 weeks or so for one year. A name was pulled and that person selected the quilt theme, and provided the backing fabric, a special item, and 2 contrasting solids. We then each made a block for that person. After all our blocks were finished, we made a center block for our own quilt, sashed, quilted and bound it. It was a proud day and tribute to our wonderful teacher Elaine, when our quilts were displayed at the Quilt Guild show at Linekona. It was a fun bunch of ladies and the time is full of great memories. I learned a lot and have a one of a kind quilt to enjoy!
Naturally my theme was Totoro. The special item was an acorn fabric as Totoros, especially Chibi and Chu, collect acorns. I've posted about this quilt before, but I got it out and took more pictures, include the label with our group on the beach behind Elaine's house in Hale'iwa in our purple Kaiser T-shirts.
(more photos available on flickr)
On the knitting note, I finished a hat using my funky hand spun, and my witches hat. I was all set to decorate the witch hat in the colors of Ravenclaw since I also seem to test into that Hogwarts House. Recently, I took a test and the results were that the character I was most like was Severus Snape. Perhaps it has something to do with the dark mood I've been in lately. So what will it be? Silver/Bronze and Navy or Silver and Green? I really don't like snakes.

Cathy Scott from Funky Orange on Ravelry has really written a clever pattern. After the knitting it is about 3 feet long but shrinks down nicely. I plan to give the hat a little shave and look for a wig. I was thinking gray, but if I'm in Slytherin, perhaps green hair would be better.

Spinning Down that Slippery Slope

2010-09-16T06:53:00.011-10:00

Step 1: down the slippery slope. The bug bites.
I've fought long and hard not to travel down that slippery slope. No spinning for me! I need another hobby like I need more size 5 knitting needles! I suppose it started at the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool a couple years back, when I tried a Babe and made some very gnarly yarn. The Mielke Farm ladies at the booth were so charming, I acquired a drop spindle kit. Then I ordered two large balls of Corriedale in pumpkin and green and made more gnarly yarn. I laid things to rest for awhile, but one day I just woke up and said, okay, I want to spin. And, Opal, was there to enable me with some superwashed BFL.

Step 2: Acquire fiber to spin.
a. Buy it. This beauty is hand dyed Superwash BFL from Hungry for Handspun.

b. Re purpose it. In the quest for wool stuffing, more Brown Sheep Mill ends from The Sheep shed. The blue stuff came as an lovely little extra.

c. Gifts
The Icelandic pencil roving and hand dyed merino from blogless Sandy. The pencil roving requires no drafting so I'm going to try it on a wheel on Spinning Day, to see if can get the feel of the wheel...drawing in, pedaling, etc.
A bit of mystery fleece with locks, washed and flick combed by me. Also a gift from blogless Sandy.

Step 3: Practice, practice, practice. Thank you you tube for giving me something to watch while my TV shows are on hiatus. (links at bottom of post)
Getting easier, but still uneven.

Step 4: Lust for bigger and better tools. I am virtual shopping daily for a wheel, which is so out of my budget. I lust for more drop spindles. I definitely like a notch or 4. "A bee scout must behave! A bee scout must be brave!" Maybe next year:)

Video references: These helped me learn the difference between combing and carding and spinning woolen vs worsted. Megan has an excellent summary on this topic as well, in reference to spinning a wheel.

How to use mini comb, removing “short cuts and little nubbly bits”, and making a roving off the comb. She likes to spin from the butt end.

Fiber preparation for Hand Spinning part 2. Drum carding, the fastest way to card a fleece and make batts.. Pick the fiber first to clean out vegetable matter. Hand held mini combs work best for finer shorter fibers. Combing will remove vegetable matter. Comb about 3 times, and create roving. Lashing on if the lock structure is ordered or disordered. 4 pitch English combs are much larger and are clamped to a workbench.

Wool combing on English combs, part 1-4. Pulling out the locks (staples) from a washed fleece and lining them up. She sprays the locks before combing with a little water and oil (neat’s foot oil or olive oil) to make the combing easier. She warms the tines of her combs in hot water. She preps the fibers, combs it and creates roving and demos a diz in part 4. “stop when you get the little noily bits.

Basic fiber prep part 5. She demos finger picking. Fleece that is more disordered is better off being carded or finger picked. Flick carding and combing works better if the fleece has retained it’s lock structure. Combing opens up the fibers so they can be drafted for spinning. A dog brush works, too. It’s like brushing tangled hair. Sometimes you have to start at the tips and work in. There is more waste. She clumps several combed locks together and creates roving, then spins it on her drop spindle.

Carding wool, making rolags. For handspinners who want to master long-draw drafting for woolen spinning. Separate the locks, pick the locks by pulling sideways cleaning as you go. Card with hand cards. “The wires do not mesh ever!” Card 2-3 times and roll it up into a rolag.

Wool carding with Sue How to card wool for a good quality yarn.

A more concise video on Flick carding fiber prep. Minimal fiber prep of Romney fleece and drafting it into roving.

Totoro Tuesday

2010-09-13T16:02:00.004-10:00

Satsuki (10) and Mei(4) are sisters who move to the country with their dad to be closer to mom, who is in a sanitarium. Satsuki is the older sister and Mei is the baby sister. One night the girls go to the bus stop to wait for dad as he has forgotten his umbrella. While waiting for the bus, OTotoro comes to wait with them. It starts to rain and the girls lend him an umbrella. He takes great delight in listening to the rain drops fall from the tree onto the umbrella, and gives the girls a present. When the lights of the bus appear, they are surprised to see the catbus that has come to pick up OTotoro, complete with mousie headlights. It's not clear what mom is in the sanitarium for, but she does recover by the end of the movie.

Here are the latest Totoro cards.
My card-making buddy is off being pioneer woman and building a log cabin. She won’t be back until November. I feel like the tympani that has lost the orchestra. On top of that, my Sizzix is off to the machine shop. It just suddenly froze up. I hope to see it again one of these days.

Finished Projects

2010-09-13T10:24:00.005-10:00

Kaino
Pattern: Kaino by Norah Gaughan
Yarn: Ultra Alpaca, colorway potting mix, 4 balls
Needles: 6 and 8
Comments. The knitting goes very quickly. The seaming was a challenge. I still am not happy with the collar. it was pointing out, but blocking took care of that. The sleeves did not fit in so I decided to seam the sides and pick up stitches. I knit the smallest size. The pattern CO 48 for sleeves. I picked up 58 stitched and worked short rows. I did a purl row before casting off to reduce curling. I like the simple looking style.

Clown McCloud

Pattern: inspired by Sockhead Hat by Kelly McClure
Yarn: Noro Silk Garden lite, 2 balls
Needles: size 3
Comments: Sockhead is written for sock yarn and lite is Sport weight. On size 3 needles my gauge was 5.5 stitches/inch. I decided to shoot for 9.5 inches in width folded in half, ~120 stitches. Just in case, I knit it top down and continued the increases until I had 120 stitches. Then I followed the length measurements of the pattern. I used Jeny’s incredibly stretchy bind off from Knitty and it is nice and stretchy.
This hat may be entirely too colorful for my nephew to wear, but I knit it big just in case. I really just wanted to watch the Noro color changes, which is still a thrill:)

Rock Cozies

Blogless Sandy inspired me to break out the crochet hook and try some rock cozies. Now I'm lusting for rocks. She gave me one done in lavender. The open pattern really popped on the black rock.
Pattern: Little Urchin Crochet Covered Sea Stones by MargaretOomen from The Purl Bee. The heart design was adapted from Coat’s pattern, Heart’s Desire.
Threads: No. 3 pearl cotton (pinks), DMC size 30 (lavender)
Crochet hook: size B for no. 3 pearl cotton, size 10 (steel) for size 30

Totoro Tuesday

2010-09-06T13:25:00.003-10:00

I have this banner hanging in a blank spot over a doorway and I can see it from my sewing cave. Totoro can fly on his spinning top. In this scene the kids stick to him like velcro...just one of the really cute details in the Totoro story. Most of the time Totoro's ride the catbus. The Ghibli Museum showed a movie about the Grand Catbus that was just adorable. The catbus has mice for headlights and is extremely plush inside. It can fly, too, and is responsible for the wind blowing.

These are the latest Totoro. I was on a blue roll since frogging my Twilight hat and turning it into Totoro's. I've busted out the gray Beaverslide to make some gray ones. The little chibi came out very cute. I'm experimenting with different tails. I wish my wool stuffing would get here soon.

I got inspired to make a few earrings. The bone pikake had been hanging out in the stash forever and are finally done. One pair will be a Christmas gift for my blogless sister.
The extra long tourmaline earrings were snatched up by a young lady. They are too long for me but apparently a 20 something can pull it off.

Totoro Tuesday

2010-08-30T19:49:00.007-10:00

I found these little glass Totoro in a San Diego shop. It was a chance meeting and I had to to go back and clean out the store's stash. I try to talk myself into being sensible when it comes to Totoro. I mean...there are people starving, and is it really dignified for someone my age to collect Totoro? Luckily blogless Kathy gave me the push I needed and the little group came home with me. Here they are posing with some cell phone charms in the 99 cents oak leaf/acorn thingy I picked up at Savers the other day. They are all quite tolerant with the filter experiment "vignette white".

I frogged my stash busting scarf to make a blue bunny. Again I tried experimenting with a larger head, but it made for larger front legs, too, and resulted in a very masculine bunny. I don't know if I'll keep the nose and whiskers or not. The Crystal Palace Country silk has been in my stash for many many years. I think some of it has found it home!! I fell off my yarn diet and got some kid merino for more bunnies. I'm not sure if stuffing counts, let's say not. Anyone know of a place to get cheap wool stuffing that doesn't charge and arm and leg to ship to Hawaii? I ordered Brown sheep mill ends from The Sheep Shed to try out. I can practice spinning on it, too!

The spinning is going a little faster. I'm going for the thinner yarn, now. I adore my spindle from the Isle of Wight:) I'm lusting for the "bog oak" spindle. Fascinating stuff, bog oak.

All my pumpkin yarn has been spun up and knit into carrots. I updated the pattern on the side bar to include the formula for enlarging them. I'm looking for a project for my purpley/blue "art yarn".

Drop Spindle Progress

2010-08-26T09:13:00.002-10:00

Being a knitter who likes quick fast projects, I really want to spin fat yarn. The down side is that the roving disappears pretty quickly. So I'm attempting to spin thinner singles and even tried plying some of the green.

learning to spin on drop spindle
Originally uploaded by acornbud

Then of course I have to figure out what to make out of the fugly yarn. Since I had so much of the NZ Corriedale in the pumpkin, purchased from Mielke Farms, I could only come up with pumpkins and carrots. The quirky, coily green made perfect tops. The lighter carrots are handspun purchased on Etsy from smallestfriend.
Rabbits are happy! I'm going to have a lot of carrots.