Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas to all, and a wonderful New Year!! See you in 2007!

Keeps getting better...

Heh heh....now how does 2 1/2 days without power sound? We've had a big storm in the PNW, lots of wind, lots of power lines down. Our family went without power for a couple of days, and luckily the kids thought it was an adventure. The second night we barbecued frozen pizza on our Weber grill, and then toasted marshmallows. Yum. But the cold and dark does get to you after a while, so were we ever glad when the power came back on. Unfortunately, my Mom and Dad still don't have power at their house, so they are camping with us. Kind of fun.....um....kind of. It comes with it's own type of adventure, you know?? I should be able to post some FO's in the next couple of days, though, now that my household is slowly re-entering the 21st century!

Technical difficulties

Say, have you ever had your hard drive crash? Suddenly? For no particular reason, with no particular warning? Yeah, me too. Replaced said hard drive, and gosh, all of my photos are, ahem, gone. Yes, I know, they should've been backed up somehow, burned to disc, etc. Guess what? Some of them were. Lots of them weren't. Guess I won't make that mistake again. So, as we reload stuff onto our computer, I'll need some time to get back into the loop, as it were.

Cutey-pie

Here she is, Miss Cutey-Pie. My first attempt at a knitted toy. My 6 y.o., on a LYS outing, picked out the book "Knitted Babes" by Claire Garland, and requested this little cutey. Aforementioned 6 y.o. rarely commits to wanting any knitting-type projects. She has a whole closet full of fabulous sweaters, but wears nary a one. So to fill this bizarre, DNA-driven maternal need to knit for my children, I agreed and knit up the dolly. I must say, it was fun to knit, and I even SEWED a dress for her, yes, uh huh, sewed. Better yet, my own little cutey-pie LOVES the doll!! Only downside? She is wondering when she gets "the brown doll, and the pink and red doll, and all her other friends?"

Next up

Here is the beginning of a sweater I started months ago.....a sort of "in between" project, meaning I work on it "in between" other things. Does that make sense? it is one of those projects that I don't have any real hurry to finish, so I work on it here and there between other things that I find more, um, exciting? Motivating? Nevertheless, a bit here and there adds up. I am doing this in Cascade 220, and the pattern is from Interweave Knits. It is sort of a modified gansey, and i actually really love the stitch pattern, it is called rice stitch, and it creates sort of a waffle-weave texture.

Inspiration

Got the new Holiday 2006 from Vogue Knitting in the mailbox yesterday. I LOVE those kind of surprises. Usually I am pitifully checking my mail twice a day around the time a new mag should be arriving, but this one came while I wasn't expecting it. Some really lovely lace things to drool at, and a couple of fun articles.

Stripes stripes eveywhere...

This is the nearly completed back of my latest quick project. I have been dying to get my hands on some of the Teseo di-ve...have you seen it? Bulky wool, loosely spun with some Tencel in it. It comes in the most delicious colors, and knits up at 3.5 st/inch. It is sort of addictive, I started this last week, and let me just tell you that I haven't had much knitting time at all. I didn't expect the stripes to be quite so obvious, but I am loving it anyway. I plan on doing a cardigan, and finishing the neck with a fluffy knitted fur collar.

Here We Go...

Whew, a lining for the "bag". Yuh, more knitting than this has been going on, but being a blog virg%n has it downsides...such as staying current with the digital cam shots, etc. Actually, it's just downloading the photos. Did I mention that I am such a newbie?? Oh, I did? OK then. Well, here is the bag w/ lining.......more to come....

Noni--bagging around

I fell in love with these Noni bags when i first saw them. That's saying something, because normally the whole felting thing totally puzzles me. It just doesn't do it for me. But these bags are too cute, and I had to make one. We have a new LYS in my area, Renaissance Yarns, and they have EVERY color of Cascade 220. Anyway, here is the bag knitted and felted, and the flowers are pre-felted. I bought hot pink fabric today to line this baby, too.

Trying again

Hmmmm. The photo did not post with my entry, so here I am trying again.

FO alert !

Here it is at long last.....a finished knitted skirt. I got the pattern from the Interweave Knits website, but substituted Rowan Kid Classic for the recommended yarn. I'm very happy with the result, the kicky pleats are the bottom are very cute. One problem, though-it slides right down to my ankles when I put it on. (That's bad, right?) Could be becuase it is a knitted tube with no shaping, ya think? Looks like I'll need to go belt shopping, since the Hubby thinks using a shoelace for a drawstring would not look so great.

Act your age

So, don't you love on-line quizzes? Uh huh. So last night I took an on-line "real age skin test". You know the type: "subtract 10 years if you've never been in the sun"..."add 15 years if you drink tequila every night..." etc. etc. Let's just say that I am not 40....yet. I am talking chronologic years now. So I take the test, thinking "I should do alright, I'm a youthful type person..." RIIIIIGHT. After adding and subtracting, I came up with....you guessed it. My actual chronologic age. Nice.

OK, so far so good, I seem to be up and running. So, I am knitting endlessly round and round and round on a skirt....I know, knitted skirts, potentially the fashion faux pas of the century. Also not to exciting to show, but I will in the next few days.

What did you break? Oh, the guitar string....whaddya want when you are 2 y.o . Just don't put an eye out.

August 20, 2006 I finally join the masses and hop on the knitblog bandwagon. Fun for all!