Sidetracked

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

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

And so it goes.

Happy Birthday Mary

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

Thank you

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

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

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

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

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

A Little Bit of Sunshine

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



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


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

Little Projects

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

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



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

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

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


Update: Final Fingerless Mitts ala Kimberlolly

The Giant Gansey and other Yarns

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

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

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

Whiteflower from the garden

Gansey Progress

I have one sleeve and the neck done on my gansey and one sleeve to go. I might have to shorten the sleeve but I haven't decided yet. I could have knit one size smaller but it has been a lot of fun so far. As I have limited places to wear this in Hawaii, unless I plan to drive up to the top of Haleakala, (All text and images copyright 1999, Steven K. Goldsmith) I envision wearing this on a trek to Whidbey Island or Madison, Wisconsin, where this crazy Hawaiian has gone for the winter.

The Beaverslide mule-spun yarn has a nice hearty feel and smell to it. It is not next to the skin soft, but not really as scratchy as I thought it would be. My washed swatch felt even better, so I'm thinking this gansey will be even better after a good soak...but first the other sleeve!

Confessions of the knitting book junkie

Part of the definition of addiction includes searching behavior. So, when Stacey mentioned a possibility that Nicky Epstein's two edge books might still be on special at the Kahala Mall Barnes and Nobles I actually drove there to hunt them down. I was too late to find them, BUT...I did find, Knits for Barbie Doll
by the same author Nicky Epsein, with the magic 75% off sticker!!! I will endeavor to stay out of book stores. I have no more gift cards!
I still have my Tammy Be True who is a little bigger then Barbie...hmmm. I must have been deprived as a child if I still want to play with dolls.

On the actual knitting front, I was seriously thinking of abandoning the gansey, but, after reading Chris's terror tale of frogging and reknitting Kiri, I feel like I just can't wimp out when the going gets tough. I found some size nine circulars at Ben Franklin's and will knit on!

Books

Obsessing often leads to shopping and hanging out in Barnes and Noble with a gift card leads to purchases, it's some kind of law. I not only found this book on Andean folk knitting with a nice mitten pattern but also got one the the "edge" books.




Back on the knitting front, I was stumped by lack of size nine dp needles or I would have jumped ship and started on some other projects. I could do nothing but make progress on the now emerging giant gansey. I'm working on the neck before tackling the sleeves. The great thing about the construction is there are no seams!

I finished a bow scarf in the never ending icky brown stuff, and will post pictures when I sew in the ends.

I was also amazed by The Giving Flower's yummy food stitch markers! I wanna eat those chocolate chips! (I'm not sure why I can't link directly to that page, but hit the home button)

Sucked In

Sucked into family, sucked in to work, sucked in to this sweater. OMG, I'm sucked into my life!

This sweater is poking a long. It doesn't look like I've made much progress, but I've knit half the gusset, and have a few inches on the front or back whichever it turns out to be. Sorry for the dark picture. It is a dark yarn. The wonderful Ms. Lolly of Socktober fame collects pomegranates and, surprise, I collect acorns and Totoros. So I will take this moment in the craft void to display a few! They make me happy!

I'm stumped on what yarn to use for the Twosheeps DNA scarf. I want to be able to the feel the yarn before I buy it, and so far the Internet has let me down on that one. I have an intended recipient in mind and I think luxurious is the way to go, but the yarn has to be able to show up the incredible design.

I am enamored with The Giving Flower's and helloyarn's mittens. I have a lovely red DK wool in red, but only black or green to contrast. Sigh, I suffer from stash deficiency syndrome (closet full of yarn, just not the right fiber/feel/color or gauge).

I was kind of burned out on the idea of traveling, but, the yarn supplies here are scarce. Perhaps in the fall :) I am saving up those points now!

What's Bloomin'

While talking to my sister this morning I glanced out on the patio and noticed some flowers blooming. My plants have to be hearty and self sufficent and so when they bloom I'm really very happy:)
On the knitting front, I am into the second ball of my Fisherman's sweater. The color doesn't photograph well at all. The color is a very dark green, so the seed stitch pattern is more of a stealth pattern. It is fun to do, though. I have been reflecting on my color choices. Am I turning into my grandma? I asked once what color she would like and she said (Japanese accent) "Gu-ray, goo-ru caw-ra." I'm contemplating a lighter color for my next cardigan/pullover project.



I went to Yarn and Friend's yesterday in search of sturdier needles to make this sweater and also to pet some yarn. There was quite a crowd there. When I got home the mailman brought me Modular Knits.

Lots of fun projects in there.

This and that, and not much knitting.

I searched all over my book closet for my origami books and the Internet looking for a cute dog for My Little Mochi's postcard swap, but to no avail. All the dogs I found were not to my liking. So, what with postage going up in few days, I decided I should send a few holiday greetings, thank you notes, pay a few bills and try to whip up those last few late gifts. This proved a bit tough as I got hit with a virus and my head felt like it was going to explode.

I found some great templates at Mirkwood Designs and a origami card on this card making site.. And this is what I came up with.




I was introduced to rubber stamping by a very lovely lady who really taught me a lot about generosity and kindness. She is one of my heros. I needed a few more stamping classes, though, but I keep a few stamps and a very small collection of inks, papers and such as well as my origami paper from my short attempts at making paper dolls from chiyogami paper. The Japanese make wonderful paper. AITOH Co. lists quite few different types. I was gifted this card which I so love because of all the detail and great colors.

Another craft I might take some classes in one of thest days.

BTW, Turner Classic Movies is playing several of Hayao Miyazaki's films this week. His full length animated movies include My Neighbor Totoro, and many others. The films have be purchased by Disney and many have been released in the USA with dubbed and subbed versions.

Life after Broadripple

I finished Broadripple socks. I'm not sure what made the little pump bump on the back of each ankle. They feel wonderful and as they are a little long for me they should fit my friend fine. It's amazing to my how much color variation there is in the two pictures. The color matches the photo on the left. I used Koigu KPPPM and size 3 needles.



I got the Totoro tissue cover for Christmas. My wonderful friend Kathy enables my addiction by ordering these things from ebay. I treated myself to the solar Kitty head bobbler. Pink supposedly is for love. Might come in hand one of these days. The great big pile of alpine green Beaverslide yarn was going to be for my Rogue, but I can't get gauge. The Knitting Doctor made a wonderful Rogue with the same yarn, but I've given up on it. I misplaced the Ann Norling pattern recommended by Brenda, but after cleaning my room, heh, found it and the gauge is not right for that pattern, either (can you tell I don't want to think too hard?) I think I'll try it out for the Muted Muscian Gansey from Knitting Ganseys by Beth Brown-Reinsel. It looks like the gauge I want and there are no cables. This yarn had almost a felted feel to it and would be difficult to twist.



Well, one day of Kona weather and today it was drizzley and cold. I'm putting on some handknit socks :)

Happy New Year!

Stashbuster Scarf and Hat

Mr. Carebear agreed to model the stashbuster scarf and hat even though brown is not his color, but I had to loan him my iPOD shuffle. I got this iPOD for Christmas and it is the cutest darn thing. It holds about 3 CDs worth of music and plugs into the USB port of my computer. Since my son rebuilt my computer as his Christmas gift to me, I now have one right there in the front!

I was obsessing on what I could do with the tan Inca Tops, and then I remembered I have two other brown yarns that have reached antique status, and I thought, well if two wrongs don't make a right, maybe 3 do. I had some Berocco Glace and Dante from way way back, and also threw in a little Reynolds Slique. I thought I had enough tail to cast on the 151 stitches I had in mind, but ended up with only about 115. I think the scarf is a little short. Glace is a rayon ribon, Dante and Slique cotton and viscose. According to the Dress King, viscose is : "The most common type of rayon. It is produced in much greater quantity than cuprammonium rayon, the other commercial type." I figured the alpaca silk would make the hat and scarf warmer. I used size 15 needles for the scarf and 13 for the hat.

Looking at and trying on the finished product I can see what the real problem with the yarn is. It's just not my color. I was probably going through some identity crisis way back when I bought it and thought, okay no black and no blue....and chose brown, since I wasn't ready for green, orange or purple. I still have more yarn left, too. It is hovering every so much closer to the Goodwill bag.

The Final Days of 2005

Broadripple sock number two is a little over half done. I must say, I love the Koigu KPPPM. It is so springy and durable, but then maybe I mentioned that already. This colorway did not stripe much and bring out the patterns chevrons, but I do like it anyway.

Did you every have a yarn that just didn't know what it wanted to be when it grew up? My sister gave me 3 balls of Inca Tops 50% Alpaca silk yarn as it did not sing to her . I tried knitting a scarf when I first got it, and then the fingerless cabled gloves in Holiday Knits. It didn't want to be any of those. The latest effort is Twosheep's helix scarf. This yarn really feels wonderful. It is very soft, but I think it is too drapey to show off the double helix pattern well. I did discover that the K1P1 seed stitch looks nice. Maybe a plain, daintier version of Seaman's scarf is what it wants to be


I ordered some yarn sight unseen to knit Rogue. Scary!


It is a cool, sunny, dry winter so far. The vog is pretty thick somedays. Venus and Mars are putting on quite a show in the sky. It's a good year for avocados and citrus. Guacamole anyone?

Lush Cardiagan, Final Chapter

My sister the intended recipient of Lush Cardigan came, and just as I feared, the sleeves were too narrow. She refers to her arms as baby alligator wrestling arms that are the result of wedging clay and lifting those 75 lbs kiln shelves. She has semi-retired from pottery but the arms remain. It fit her beautiful daughter who swears she can wear it while studying in the cold depths of the law library. She is just about 10 inches taller then my sister and I and quite svelte, so it is almost like a shrug. She declined to have a button, so even better :)

Being sucked in at work sucks rocks and is seriously interfering with my knitting of purple broadripple socks. I had to let down stitches to correct an error and the larger holes left behind are glaring at me. I am trying to convinvce myself that the springy and lovely Koigu KPPPM will even out the pukas (holes in Hawaiian) after washing and blocking. This is a fairly simple lace pattern and I know the stress at work is distracting me. That's my story and I'm sticking it to it.

Cookie Day turned into a 7 hours marathon of sugar, chocolate chips, gingerbread smells and coffee. I'd show pictures but I ate it all, err, I mean I gave it all away.

I really loved the gingerbread recommended by tsogb.

Maybe the last needle case

The next project for me will be the purple Koigu for my purple loving best friend. I know there is a good chance her dog Ebony will find them tasty, but I love Ebony, too. They live in Seatlle near the Troll under the Bridge. I am trying to decide whether to do Ann Budd's Woman's Fancy Rib Socks or Knitty's Broadripple Socks, and am leaning toward the Broadripples.

I finished the needle case for my straight needles and here it is in all it's purple glory. (And yes, and a blue Totoro did join the crowd because the others wanted to be in the picture, too)

The pattern is ginkgo leaves. The Ginkgo appeals to me because of it's fan shaped leaves and the fact that it has survived from prehistoric days. And, it's supposed to be good for the memory and grandma used to put the nuts in her nishime.

Well, enough of purple, except for those socks!

I wonder what candsmon's favorite color is?

Helmet Liner

Cascade 220 was a fun knit, although knitting black is hard on these ole eyes. After I retire I was contemplating either going into bank robbing, as crime pays, or becoming a ninja, 'cuz and I got the hat. Yes, I'm that tired of my current job! It will pass, I hope.

Officially though, I can retire at the end of this year. The only catch is I still need income to pay the mortgage, sigh.

Keohinani, I can come work your store, or what?