She Plays With String

Spring is here!

2009-03-23T14:35:00.002-04:00

This weekend was so nice. It really is spring. The trees are all blooming in the neighborhood. There are a ton of Bradford Pear trees in our neighborhood and they all look like they are covered with snow! The cherry trees are starting to bloom as well. You can just begin to see the pink haze of blooms on the trees. They are supposed to be in full glory in a week or two.

I just sent off my first pattern that is going to get published. It is going to be in Cast On Magazine's winter issue this year. It is a really lovely Christmas stocking that is done in simple fair isle. For more than that you will have to buy the magazine!

Exhaustion.

2009-03-10T20:05:00.002-04:00

Today is a full moon and it was in full effect at school today. The kids were crazy! Even the ones that are usually calm. One of the kids in question in a kindergartner with Down's Syndrome. She is usually pretty good, but today she was in a serious funk. About the only thing that she would say all day was "NO!" The kids were all clingy today as well. I got more hugs today than I normally do in a week! Oh well...

I managed to get the baby sweater that I made for the kiddo's teacher to her today. She is due near the end of next month, but she looks like she is about to pop. I hope the sweater fits at some point. It looks a little big for new born, but the baby is due in the spring. Maybe it will fit this fall.

Time to get the kiddo off to bed and then my hot water bottle and I are going to spend some quality time with the TV.

Winter in March

2009-03-04T11:34:00.004-05:00

Well, it finally happened. We got real snow here in Virginia. The kind you can sled in. The kind that makes decent snowballs and is beautiful in the trees. It started Sunday night and there was no school on Monday or Tuesday. We spent most of the day on Monday shoveling, sledding, and playing. A great time was had by all.

On the knitting side of things, the recent cold snap made Ben ask for slipper socks. Those are on the needles right now. I am making them out of Cleckheaton Country 8-ply in tan and some hand dyed stuff that I got at Springwater Fiber Workshop the first or second time they went out of business. They are nice and thick. Should keep the toes nice and toasty!

This weekend we decided that since it was snowing out, why not make some bread to go with our dinner. The kiddo and I made some lovely herb focaccia bread shaped like a leaf. As soon as it came out of the oven, he was ready to eat it! It was pretty tasty!

Knitting at Cub Scout meetings...

2009-02-28T11:18:00.004-05:00

It has been an exciting week here at home. We had 2, count em, 2 cub scout meetings this week. We also had a long anticipated play date with the kiddo's good friend Dora for a Wii tennis tournament. We also had a violin lesson with grandpa in tow. I am really glad that we have no real commitments this weekend. We even get to have dinner, all together, at one time, eating the same food! I could get used to that!

In knitting news, I just sent off my first pattern submission to knitty.com. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it will be accepted. It is a lovely fair isle stocking. We will have to see if the folks at knitty.com like it as much as I do! Now it is back to the design drawing board to do something for the next issue of Cast On magazine.

I made mittens a couple of weeks ago. They are stunningly lovely mittens. I got them finished a couple of days before my oldest friend in the world's birthday. They whispered in my ear that they really belonged to her. They are made out of Lumpy Bumpy yarn in greens, yellows and browns. They look like a Monet painting from up way too close. Of course, I listened to that little whisper and mailed them off to my lovely friend, Jen. She is an intrepid mitten wearer in a world that seems to love gloves. Now I am making a matching pair for myself since I bought way too much Lumpy Bumpy a few years back!

Long time gone...

2009-02-20T09:42:00.002-05:00

I actually can't remember the last time that I posted here. I am such a bad blogger!

Oh well. Life seems to intervene in strange and time consuming ways. The helmet liner project is still rolling along. On President's Day, I hosted 4 lovely ladies who usually knit with us at the museum. We spent a couple of hours opening packages and checking and tagging helmet liners. We also spent a good amount of time noshing on yummy food. Kay brought the best Caramel Popcorn I have ever eaten! We managed to get 457 liners tagged and bagged!!!

After the tagging and bagging, we all sat down at the dining room table and I taught a workshop on Entrelac knitting. There had been many requests for a class on this since it has gotten to be so popular lately. It seems like every knitting magazine has featured an entrelac pattern in the past couple of months! We had a ball and I think everyone learned something new.

I started knitting a giant aran sweater for myself right after Christmas. This is a sweater that has been waiting a long time to get made. The yarn for it was a gift from my dear friend Cindy when we left Oregon. It is her homespun from her own sheep in a lovely natural brown color. The pattern, as I wimped out on designing something of my own, is Alice Starmore's Na Craga from Aran Knitting. So far, the front is done and the back is started. I might get it done in time for spring. Maybe!

I have also been working on finally writing the pattern for Henry's stocking. It is almost ready to submit, but I haven't gotten done proofing it or taking pictures. The final sample is still on the needles, in need of a toe. As soon as it is finished and blocked, it will have a photo shoot and then off it goes!

Otherwise, life around here goes on. The kiddo is doing great in school and continues to play the violin (almost 4 years now!) He even practices almost every day without too many complaints. I am so amazed by his focus and the effort that he will put into violin. I know that it is hard work and I am constantly surprised by his willingness to keep on working. He is a good soul!

This weekend we are off to the Army-Navy Basketball game at the Naval Academy with the in-laws. It should be a treat. I haven't been to a basketball game in probably 25 years! I think the last one I went to was one I played in in high school! Go Navy!

The blast of summer

2008-08-18T11:11:00.007-04:00

Well, it has been a long time since I posted. It has been a blur this summer. The kiddo finished first grade with flying colors, we spent 2 weeks in the pacific northwest, did football camp and CSI camp, spent a week at the beach in Rhode Island, and now we are getting ready for school to start back up!

The trip to the northwest was wonderful. We got to reconnect with some old friends and make some new ones at Oregon Suzuki Institute. The kiddo had a great time playing and learning with a ton of other Suzuki violin kids. When Institute was over, we went to Mt. Rainier for a couple of days and got to do some hiking and exploring. It was really fun.

We just got back from a week at my aunt and uncle's beach house in Little Compton, Rhode Island. We had a fantastic time. The entire Kelsey family was there... My sister, Aunt Caroline, Uncle Peter, his wife and 2 teenagers, and the 3 of us. We ate good food, swam in the ocean, played bocce on the lawn and collected a lot of rocks on the beach. A good time was had by all.

This week was a momentous week for me. I won first prize at the county fair for my kauni sweater and second prize for a shawl that I made for Ben's mom for Christmas. The prizes were $6 and $4 respectively! Oh, what will I do with my $10?

Knitting for Marines

2008-02-14T19:39:00.002-05:00

It has been a big month of knitting around here. I have been the key organizer of a project called Knitting for Marines at the National Museum of the Marine Corps. My hubby is a curator there and so we were able to get access to the museum and so far we have had 2 lovely days of knitting in the main gallery of the museum. The idea is that we get knitter to come in and knit helmet liners for Marine troops stationed overseas. So far we have had pretty good turnout and some great press coverage. Today we had a few folks out knitting we made the local news in Charlotte, NC (more stations may pick up the story as well). As of today, we have 8 completed helmet liners in with lots more on the way. The original goal was to get 100 made in February, but the response has been so great that we are hoping to get 500, enough to supply an entire Marine Battalion. If any of you folks out is cyber space are interested, the info about the project is on the Museum website.

In other string related news, my Kauni sweater has come and gone again. This time I realized that I had not changed needles to the bigger size when I was supposed to so Rip Rip Rip I went last night. Maybe this one will be a keeper!

Yummy new yarn...

2008-02-01T10:56:00.000-05:00

I spent my christmas money on something yummy. It came in the mail the other day all the way from the Netherlands! Check out this luscious Kauni yarn. I can't wait to make something totally cool and fair isle with it!

I have already started, and ripped out, and started again with the brown, yellow and green stuff. This yarn is really nifty since the color changes over such a long distance. I am knitting a fair isle sweater with two balls of the same colorway. I started one with the light green and the other with the brown and I can't wait to see how it turns out. I will definitely be ready for fall with that one. I am planning on posting my progress here as we go.

This is it so far...

I have started the two color ribbing for the bottom of a cardigan sweater. I haven't made a sweater with steeks in a really long time, but I don't think it will be too hard to remember how!

So far, I have a 12 stitch steek set for the center of the cardigan. I will use steeks for the armholes and the neck too when I get there. The biggest challenge is going to be figuring out if I want the sleeves to match or not!

I am not sure what I will do with the two other colors. The original idea was to use the blues and tans together for another fair isle sweater but now I am not sure. I was thinking maybe I would do Eunny Jang's Venezia from Interweave Knits (Winter 2006) but I am just not sure... I might be totally burnt out on color work after I finish the first one!

Yesterday was a momentous day for the kiddo. He won the "Character Counts" award at school. This is a really big deal. They give it once a month to the kids who best exemplify that month's character trait. This month it was RESPONSIBILITY and the kiddo got to go to a special ceremony and got a certificate, a silicone bracelet, and a photo with all the other winners that will be in the school lobby for the next month!

Happy 2008!

2008-01-02T09:35:00.000-05:00

Well, the holidays have come and gone... Santa was good to the kiddo (as were grandparents, parents, aunts & uncles!) The slot cars have been a blast. We have spent countless hours racing around the basement! We got a new digital camera, which I love, and an iPod that I have been loading with all of our CDs so we can listen to music more easily. (The CDs currently live in the storage part of the basement and are bit difficult to get to!)

The down side of the holiday season has been dreaded disease! We have all been stricken, myself seemingly worse than anyone else, with a horrible upper respiriatory virus. It hit the kiddo for a couple of days before the holiday and then he was fine. My husband and sister both got it just in time for the Christmas festivities, then I got it 2 days after Christmas. Mostly it consists of a very painful sore throat and lots of sinus goop. I just hope it clears up soon! I am supposed to go to St. Louis for my other sister's wedding on Friday so I have a lot of getting better to do in just a couple of days!

The kiddo went back to school today and was a bit sad that break is over. He did not really want to leave my side this morning at school, but he took a deep breath and walked right in. It was a bit sad for me too. It was really nice having everyone home for a week!

Christmas time is here...

2007-12-17T19:17:00.000-05:00

Well, all the holiday knitting is done, save one mitten thumb. Ah, the joy of accomplishment. Of course I still have to wrap everything. At least the big thing is done. I made a large shawl for my MIL and it is done! It is not dry, but it is DONE! It is the Muir from the fall issue of Knitty.com. I love it! It will be dry soon!

The letter to Santa went out in the mail today. The kiddo asked for slot cars, a stuffed indian and a storm trooper. I miss the days when all he wanted was a new violin and some gummy worms, but I think that DADDY will love the slot cars almost as much as the kiddo! My sister is coming to visit for the holiday and that will be great. I don't get to see nearly enough of her and it is nice that she gets to stay for almost a week!

Thanksgiving...

2007-11-25T15:05:00.000-05:00

Well, the holiday season is in full swing. We spent Thanksgiving at my MIL's house. Dinner was great, the family time was even better. We got to meet the newest cousin, Henry, who flew in from Atlanta with his parents. He was the cutest person at dinner, but also the wiggliest! For the first time in several years, all of my husband's family was in one place. All four brothers and their families and mom was smiling so much her head almost split in half!

We also got a chance to see some more distant cousins on Saturday who have kids around the same age as our kiddo. Everyone convened at our house for a visit, snacks and a lot of playing. It was a blast.

Today we have no obligations at all and it feels so good! We went for a hike in the woods this morning and it felt like fall. Cool air, lots of leaves, great weather for a sweater!

The amazing SOAP-MAN!!!

2007-11-01T10:30:00.000-04:00

Well, it has been a while since the last post. Our house has been consumed with costumes for Halloween, and just for fun, but mostly we have been enjoying the continuing adventures of Soap-Man! Soap-Man is a superhero straight from the kiddo's imagination. He wears a white suit with a hood, shoots out soap and bubbles at his enemies, and is generally a great guy to have around. Since the sewing machine was out for costume projects, we figured why not make a "real" Soap-Man...

The kiddo designed him, I sewed him and we both worked on the decoration (that is sharpie marker on white muslin!) Soap-Man is very snuggly, but not particularly soapy in fact. He has been sleeping with the kiddo every night this week...

Speaking of knights... For Halloween, we had an appearance of St. George, the dragon slayer! The costume was fun to make and the kiddo loved showing off his dragon. Thank heaven Ikea had such cool dragons! He had a blast trick-or-treating in this one!

At school the assignment for Halloween was to recite a nursery rhyme and the kiddo was assigned:

Dickory, dickory dare,
The pig flew up in the air,
The man in brown,
Soon brought him down,
Dickory, dickory dare.

The kids had to have costumes to accompany their rhyme, so we have the pig!

All in all, Halloween was a raging sucess at our house. The kiddo had fun, we have enough candy to last us until next year (almost 3 1/2 pounds!), and we have some great dress up costumes to play with too!

As Soap-Man says when confronted with evil: Lather! Rinse! Repeat!

And Now We Are Six...

2007-10-03T14:08:00.000-04:00

Last week brought the kiddo's birthday. He is totally into knights and all things medieval at the moment so he had a chocolate Castle Cake!

Instead of a traditional birthday party with all of his friends and relations, he opted for a trip to the Maryland Renaissance Festival with just one friend in tow. We had a great time. The kids got to watch a few shows, ride ponies, eat ice cream, try out bows and arrows, watch jousting, get their faces painted and ride an elephant! The kiddo's face looked great with his knight on it!

Also in the news this week, I started working on Christmas gifts. The first in the pile is a bunch of dishcloths (some are the Ball Band Cloth from Mason-Dixon Knitting) and one is the beginner dishcloth pattern that we used at Boersma's. I think these will end up being gifts for teachers and such...

I also started a sweater that will be for one of the kiddos... I just have to see what size it turns out first! (I love not checking gauge too well!) It is Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in a really nice navy blue. Should look great on one of the small boys I know! Of course, my kiddo decided he didn't like this color... He wants green!

Spinning again...

2007-09-23T13:44:00.000-04:00

Back in July I signed up for a yarn and fiber swap through Ravelry.com and the fiber that I got from my swap partner has been taunting me ever since. Last week I got the spinning wheel out, dusted it off and fixed the drive band. I have already spun up about half of the new fiber and I love it!

The colors looked really orange and almost grey blue in the top, but colors really mellowed out once I got it spun. I can't wait to see what it looks like after it is plyed!

I also made a hat for the kiddo. He like the one that I made for his grandpa so much that he wanted one too. Of course, his had to be Griffindor colors (or Redskins) so here it is! These are actually pretty fun to make. It is a brioche rib so it is extra cushy!

The package from the swap also included this yarn. I am so not a scarf knitter, but I love the colors and thought a garter stitch scarf would be just the thing to show them off. I can't wait until it is cool enough to wear it!

A string bag

2007-09-11T14:33:00.000-04:00

I got some groovy yarn in Rhode Island in August and made some of it up into a string bag. I really like how it looks. It should be pretty tough too! The yarn is Noro Ganpi Abaka (apparently this is tree bark or something...) and it was in the sale shed at Sakonnet Purls in Tiverton, RI for $4 a skein! I had to have it even though I had no idea what I was going to do with it! Now I know!

I ran out of the yarn before I got to the handle so I used some black Aunt Lydia's Crochet thread from my stash to finish it. It looks pretty groovy to me! I have enough yarn to make a couple more too! These will be way cool for the farmer's market... And maybe for christmas gifts too...

First day of First Grade!

2007-09-04T11:38:00.000-04:00

Today is the first day of school. The kiddo was excited and nervous about it, but he was very glad to see all of his old friends at the school crossing this morning and when in to school with lots of hugs and kisses. Daddy got to walk up to school with us this morning and go in to work late. This year is a big deal because last year, the kiddo only went half a day. He was home for lunch and this year he eats lunch at school and won't get home until about 3:45. I hope he is having a good day!

The scholar on the first day of school.

I am looking forward to having more time to tackle some big projects around the house. I have a long list that includes organizing the office, cleaning the basement, painting the window trim around our NEW WINDOWS! (I love the new windows. They are SOOOO easy to open!) I have about 50 things on the list so I will have plenty to do for a while!

Happy fall everyone!

Back to school...T-minus one week!

2007-08-28T20:33:00.000-04:00

Today we went and bought all the supplies that the kiddo needed for school. We had a great time exploring a not-so-local art supply store for things on the list and other treasures too. It was fun!

Last week we were in Rhode Island to visit my family. My uncle and his family have a great house in Little Compton, RI, right on the Massachusetts border. It was a great place to all get together! My sister and my other aunt came too and the kiddo had a great time playing with his teenage cousins. He also discovered Bocce. The kid can through a heavy ball remarkably far!

It was also his first experience with both ocean swimming (the Pacific is way too cold for swimming in Oregon) and with fishing (without a hook for obvious reasons...)

We got to explore the area around Little Compton quite a bit as well and I discovered a yarn shop that rivals Boersma's Knitting Basket! If you are ever in Rhode Island, there is a shop in Tiverton called Sakonnet Purls that is to die for! I found all sorts of goodies, and they have a little shed outside where every skein is $4. I, of course, could not resist that and got some lovely Cleckheaton and some funky Noro that is made of Ganpi (a sort of tree bark we think...) I am making a string bag out of the Noro and so far, so good!

We also ate way too much local corn. It was so good! As were the locally caught clams, mussels and lobsters. Yummy!

The New Old hat is done...

2007-08-08T07:10:00.001-04:00

Here it is in all of its glory!

Now I am on to a cardigan for me made of Manos del Uraguay wool in a groovy brown/golden multi colorway. So far I have ripped out the bottom edge at least 3 times. I think I have settled on a yoke style with a stockinette body (with purls somewhat randomly placed for a bit of texture) and a bit of random garter stitch in the yoke. The idea is from Ann Budd's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns. Pictures once it looks like something!

Knights reign

2007-08-08T07:06:00.000-04:00

The middle ages have taken over the house. Sir Kiddo is totally into knights and castles at the moment. He made a helmet for himself out of cardboard (with a bit of help!)

I think he looks groovy! If only there were a fair maiden that needed to be saved!

A new old hat...

2007-07-30T13:16:00.000-04:00

Well folks here is the story... My father in law has this very old hat that he bought in college that is white with a bright orangish red stripe and a pom-pom on top. He wears it when he goes running. It is pretty ratty looking, so I decided that the perfect christmas present for him would be a reproduction of the hat. I started it a few days ago... White and bright red Encore worsted weight yarn in a brioche rib. It looks really great so far. (Pictures to follow if I can find the camera!) I just hope that he likes it! Of course, I will have to wait until Christmas to find out since no one wants a hat to run in in July in Virginia. It is just too hot! Today it is about 85 degrees and so humid that I was afraid to take my book outside for fear that the pages would start curling!

Today was the first day of the kiddo's soccer camp week. He seemed to have a lot of fun, although it was marred a bit by a bout of separation anxiety. I am not sure how to reassure him that I will in fact ALWAYS come back to pick him up at the right time. I guess we will just have to be patient with each other.

It is DONE!

2007-07-20T13:32:00.000-04:00

The Jockey Sweater is offically done! It looks great with shark print pajamas too! Now we just have to wait for fall...

An eight on the sleeve, just like Street Sense!

2007-07-18T20:57:00.000-04:00

The jockey sweater is progressing. Maybe a couple more days to finish the second sleeve and do the seams. The kiddo really likes the 8 on the sleeve. He tells me that he wanted an eight because that is what Street Sense's rider had in the Kentucky Derby. I can only assume that it is true since I am not willing to go searching for the answer!

It will really look great once the seams are in! I can't wait until this fall so he can actually wear it! Of course, the fact that it was 93 degrees and 85% humidity today makes me wish for fall that much harder...

My Lorna's laces socks are not getting too much work done lately, they are mostly a car project and I have been doing most of the driving the last week or so. Someday soon they will have toes! I like the yarn though... It is a colorway called Pioneer, but I think it looks like peanut butter cups!

The kiddo cooks!

2007-07-17T20:42:00.001-04:00

We went to see Ratatouille over the weekend and ever since, the kiddo has wanted to cook things. He has a great kids cookbook "Pretend Soup" by Molly Katzen and today he was reading it before breakfast and found this recipe:

Bagel Faces!

The actual recipe calls for things like bell peppers and olives and cherry tomatoes, but this fruit version was a big breakfast hit! Strawberries for eyes and nose, peach slices for mouth and eyebrows! He even ate the whole thing! Of course, my thought about it was what would my vegetarian friend who will only eat food without a face think of this...

The Jockey sweater is still rolling along. One sleeve is done, and the 8 is stitched on in duplicate stitch. The other sleeve is about half way there. I finished the hand dyed socks that were made with the really cool blue, purple and teal handdyed yarn on the Oregon trip so, of course, I had to buy more sock yarn. I got 3 pairs worth of Lorna's Laces Shephard Sock at the shop where I used to work and stared the first pair on the trip. They are brown and tan and look like peanut butter cups! So far I like them a lot. I will post pictures tomorrow! I want to get a pic of the kiddo with the mostly done sweater on.

Fencing with the kiddo.

2007-07-13T20:35:00.000-04:00

This week was fencing camp for the kiddo. Never has there been a more hilarious thing to watch. Imagine, if you will, 5 fairly average five and six year olds, playing duck-duck-goose with weapons and full fencing costume. The camp was very basic fencing skills taught with Nerf sabres (thank god for foam!). The kids spent most of their time playing games like Simon Says and Red Light-Green Light with fencing moves, but my favorite part was duck-duck-goose. The kids whacked the other kids on the head with the sword as they went around the circle, then the kid who was IT had to fence the Goose around the circle without getting hit with the sabre. It was a hoot to watch. Everyday, near the end of the class, the activity brokedown into all the kids viciously attacking the instructor. Apparently, the kiddo is hooked. He got out Daddy's old foil from college fencing and was lunging all around the back yard this evening for "Practice"!

Back from Oregon

2007-07-07T20:26:00.000-04:00

No posts for the past couple of weeks as we were on vacation in Oregon. We had a great time! The kiddo and I spent a week at the Oregon Suzuki Institute perfecting his violin playing and then my hubby arrived in time for the final concert at camp. It is a truly thrilling thing to see your little guy up on stage with about 200 other violinists all playing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" in unison! A good time was had by all and we got to spend a week with some amazing teachers and catch up with friends from last year.

After camp we headed to McMinnville to see old friends and old haunts. Of course there was a joyous reunion with all the girls at Boersma's Knitting Basket, where I worked before the big move east. The kiddo and I even spent a day teaching the girls to dye yarn with food coloring...

The set up in the unused top floor of the Boersma's store in McMinnville.

The kiddo helping mix up a batch of food color dye.

One of the final products...

We made it through 10 skeins of yarn and a ton of Wilton's dye without staining the floor. Needless to say, we all had blue and pink hands, and the kiddo had a few blue freckles! I have no idea what those gals are going to do with all of that lovely stuff... 10 mis-matched hand dyed skeins of worsted weight wool... but I can't wait to see!

The visit to McMinnville also included visits with old friends and a reunion picnic in the old neighborhood, which featured meeting the new owners of our old house and finding that the kiddo's height marks were still on the door frame in the pantry. We transfered the height marks to some paper to bring home (we had done it once before, but alas, that was the only thing that got lost in the move...) It was great to see all the old neighbors and the house again.

After a few days we were ready for adventure so we packed up and headed to Mt. Hood. We spent the 4th of July playing in the snow above Timberline Lodge and stayed there for the night. Timberline is one of the very few places that you can ski year round so we were able to watch skiers and snowboarders while we hiked! The next day we went back down the mountain by way of Hood River, OR (famous as the spot that John Kerry took a day off of campaigning to wind surf). We stopped at one of the kiddo's favorite spots, Bonneville Dam and visited the dam, navigation lock and fish hatchery there. It is really neat to see since it is a HUGE dam and this was the first visit that we have made where there were fish in the fish ladder! Lots of Shad and a few Steelhead and Salmon too!

It is nice to be home but we all miss Oregon. It was hard to come back to the Virginia summer, but since we were met at the airport by adoring grandparents, we will all survive just fine...

Look, ma... No Sleeves!

2007-06-21T16:43:00.000-04:00

The bodice is done and all it needs now are sleeves!

Today was a fun day. The kiddo and I packed up and went to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. for the day. We saw lots of cool creatures (yes, even the pandas were out in force today!) The best one was the octopus. It was just finishing with it's feeding when we arrived and that was a very active octopus. It had finished extracting it's own meal from a PVC pipe that the keepers hid it in and was schemeing for the fish that belonged to the anemone that was it's tank mate. It was flashing colors and changing the texture of its skin and sending tentacles out every which way. It was soooo cool!

Tomorrow is the big pack. The kiddo and I leave Saturday morning for a week of Suzuki Violin camp in Oregon, followed by a week of fun after daddy joins us. We will have 4th of July on top of Mt. Hood. It should be a great trip, and be a chance to catch up with old friends and neighbors while we are there. The challenge is packing for the two of us for two weeks, some hot, some cold, some wet, some dry, in one oversized suitcase. We also have to get one small violin through 2 airports as a carry-on item! We have done it before and I am sure that we will do it again!

The Jockey progresses

2007-06-18T16:23:00.000-04:00

I am almost done with the back of the jockey sweater. The kiddo has decided that he wants the number 8 on the sleeves so I worked out a chart for that since it won't be long before I am on to the sleeves.

Wired knitting

2007-06-12T14:34:00.001-04:00

Last night I started playing around with knitted wire again. Here are the results...

This bracelet is from Nancy Wiseman's book Knitting with Wire. It is actually pretty easy to make, but a bit hard on the finger tips. I like the color coated wire a lot. As soon as my fingers heal up a bit, I will make another one!

The jockey sweater has a front...

2007-06-12T13:42:00.000-04:00

The front is done... Disregard the weird whiteish stripe going up the left side. That is just a piece of waste yarn marking off 5 row increments so I could count easier!

The back is started and the kiddo has decided that he wants to have the number 8 on the sleeves. There was actually a jockey wearing a shirt with a pattern remarkably like this in the Belmont Stakes this weekend! His was red and white, but same idea...

A new nephew!

2007-06-07T11:13:00.000-04:00

My brother-in-law and his wife had a baby over the weekend. He is a cutie!

It is always nice to have small people to knit for... Unfortunately, this kiddo lives in Georgia where the need for woolies is limited!

Hopefully his mom and dad are getting some sleep once in a while. The kiddo around here is very excited to have a new cousin. This is #2 for him and he really can't wait to meet him!

Progress... And a new name

2007-06-05T12:10:00.001-04:00

Before the rip out, the kiddo decided that he wanted quadrants of the two greens and numbers on the sleeve so it would look like a jockey shirt. I think it sounds good, so no more green monster... hello Jockey in Green! The rework is going well. I have a couple of inches finished and will have it back to 14 inches in no time!

School is winding down for the kiddo. Only 7 days left! Our neighborhood has a big last day of school party for all the kids and we all pitch in to rent a moon bounce and order pizzas and stuff. It should be fun! My mom will be here to join in the revelry too.

The sad demise of the green monster...

2007-06-04T10:57:00.000-04:00

Well, I had about 14 inches of the back of the green monster finished when I decided that I had better write down what I was doing. In the process of writing, I counted the stitches on the needle (apparently for the first time) and discovered that instead of 90, I had 96! Oops! Upon measuring the width of the piece, I discovered that it was 18" wide. The kiddo is a skinny little beast so a 36" sweater would be WAY TOO BIG!!! Plus, I would probably run out of yarn with the darn thing that big. SOOO, out come the needles and the ripping process began. Thirty minutes later I had 2 balls of yarn and no sweater in sight. I cast on the correct number of stitches (I actually counted this time, TWICE!) and now I have about an inch complete instead of the the 14 inches that I had before. Ripping out good work sucks, but not as much as making a sweater with one short sleeve because you ran out of yarn at that point!

The green monster

2007-06-03T13:18:00.000-04:00

Well, this one is called the green monster. Of course, every kid will be jealous of it... The kiddo dyed the yarn himself in Kelly Green Wilton Icing Color. He told me that he didn't want stripes. I suggested half and half on the front, he countered with quadrants so it would look like a jockey (he really got into the Kentucky Derby). He even wants me to put numbers on the sleeves. You never know!

I also finished the blue and green socks for the kiddo this week. They look good and he likes them...

Ravelry... I think I am in love...

2007-05-31T17:36:00.001-04:00

If you haven't had a chance yet, go check out www.ravelry.com. It is a really cool website that allows you to share pattern info, yarn info, projects, knit-a-longs, etc. I started using it today and it is really neat! I posted a few projects, recent and not so recent just to test it out. I really like it. It will eventually be a good database of knitting patterns too. A good place to go to see what something might really look like if you attempt to make it. Heck, you might even happen upon something that I made!

Finished socks!

2007-05-23T11:59:00.000-04:00

These lovely socks are finally done! They have been my "car project" for quite a long time. I actually worked on them on trains on the way to and from NYC over spring break and quite a bit last weekend at the "Relay for Life" event. They were very good company in our tent between laps on the track.

They are Mountain Colors Barefoot, my favorite sock yarn of all (of course, I haven't knit up any of my home dyed stuff yet either...) They will have many friends in my sock drawer. They will also enable the retirement of some of my first Barefoot socks that have gotten a bit too felty through years of washing!

I started on a new pair of socks for the kiddo. He chose the yarn on our last trip to the yarn store in Fredericksburg. It is really nice, cotton, bamboo, and lycra blend. So far it is knitting up nicely, but the socks look big to me. Kiddo will have to try on the cuffs before I go too much further!

Introducing... The cardigan...

2007-05-18T09:07:00.001-04:00

It is all finished! I finished tucking in all the loose ends last night while watching Grey's Anatomy (a guilty pleasure...) The knitting gods must be smiling because today it is 55 degrees out and a perfect day for a cotton cardigan! The fit is just right although I suspect that the sleeves are a bit too long. We will have to see how it does after a washing or two!

Of course, the big question is... What next?

Confessions of a food coloring addict

2007-05-16T19:56:00.000-04:00

Today I dyed more yarn... This is getting to be a habit. I picked up some copper colored wilton icing color and was dying (pun intended, of course) to try it out. It yielded a really nice terra cotta reddish orange yarn and then I used the basically spent dyepot with some moss green color. That skein ended up with a small section of orange and the rest a deep olive green. Should knit up really pretty! I can't wait. The best part is that I still have 6 more skeins of sock yarn to play with... The postman was kind on Monday! So far the blue is still my favorite, although it is a very bright blue...

New Dye Job

2007-05-12T09:53:00.001-04:00

Yesterday we dyed more yarn. This time, we did a cold pour method and the kiddo handled the dye very well. He even wore latex gloves (which were really too big) for the process. I am sure that we will do this again. It was was really fun, and the yarn is really pretty too!

This will be hats and mittens for the kiddo next winter (or maybe something else if we make a better batch of yarn next time!)

The bag is finished!

2007-05-07T19:36:00.000-04:00

The recycled bag is complete, and the kiddo has claimed it as his own! It works well for him. I think I will make the next one bigger now that we have proof of concept!

Now I just need to buy a lot more stuff that comes in plastic bags... Wait, that's not the point! I guess I will have to wait for natural accumulation!

Beautiful Sock Yarn!

2007-05-05T19:15:00.000-04:00

I got a splendid picture of the hand dyed sock yarn all finished and ready! I can't wait to make more... And make the socks from this one!

Home improvement!

2007-05-05T14:46:00.000-04:00

Today we replaced the very large, slightly ugly, definitely broken ceiling fan in our kitchen. The new one looks really great. We even replaced the bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs! If you ever need them, Ikea sells CF chandelier bulbs! The room definitely looks bigger!

I made some meager progress on the plastic bag bag last week, but now that I have some more material, I will probably get it all finished!

Great sock yarn!

2007-05-04T13:49:00.001-04:00

I am so pleased with how the sock yarn ended up that I can't wait to try it again. Unfortunately, I only ordered one skein of it! At least it is easy to get more. I can't wait to try some other colors too. I think burgundy would be awesome, and maybe brown too! The kiddo's green stuff may not have fared as well... I fear that we stirred a bit too much because the yarn looks slightly felted. Plus, I didn't tie the skeins in enough places so they got really tangled up. I will be able to tell more as soon as they dry out! The nice thing is that they were only $4 each, so if they got fried, it isn't a big deal!

After watching the neighbors out with their bottles of Roundup spritzing the weeds that grow in the cracks in the sidewalk, I decided to try a little experiment in organic suburban gardening... I poured boiling water on our weeds in the crack in the hope that they will curl up and die. It smelled pretty good when I did it... Kind of like the smell of cooking greens. If it works, I will chalk one up for the chemical free lifestyle. If not, I will have to get out the weeding tools! Everything certainly looked like it had been blanched when I was finished, but there is a big difference between blanched and dead...

Dye Job!

2007-05-03T15:30:00.000-04:00

Today we dyed the wool from KnitPicks. Here is the kiddo's green in the dye pot... It almost looks like we are boiling up a muppet!Here is some lighter green in the bucket after the dye pot... The goal is to knit a striped sweater with two shades of green for the upcoming winter.
This is my sock yarn working in the crockpot. I love this blue!!! I can't wait to start knitting this stuff up!
The finished product hanging up to dry in the shower. Look at those shades!

And... The cardigan as it progresses. Look... It has sleeves!

The knit group that wasn't...

2007-05-03T09:22:00.000-04:00

Last night I was very excited to go to a local knitting group that meets at the library. I got there at the appointed hour with my knitting in hand. I walked in the room, it was empty. I turned on the lights and sat down, alone. I waited for half an hour... Two other people came and asked if it was the ESL class, it was not. Then another person came and asked if it was the library friends board meeting, it was not. I left, sad and dejected... Maybe it will be better next month...

Fun with food coloring...

2007-05-02T10:13:00.000-04:00

A big box arrived yesterday from KnitPicks with a bunch of undyed worsted wool. The plan is to have the kiddo help dye it using food color. He picked out kelly green food coloring (Wilton's) at the store yesterday and perhaps today we will fire up the dye pot before violin lesson. We did some Kool-Aid dyeing a couple of years ago and had a great time with that. This time, I think we will do less dipping and more pouring...

There was an article in the most recent issue of knitty.com that talked about this and I got inspired!

I also ordered some undyed sock yarn. I really like it as it is VERY soft! It is 75% superwash Merino, 25% nylon and the plan there is to dye it with royal blue food color. If it dyes up relatively easily, it may be the new sock yarn of choice because it is so soft!

We also got our meager garden started this weekend. So far the plants are doing quite well. We planted cherry tomatoes (Supersweet 100), Brandywines, and one called Mr. Stripey, which I mostly bought because of the name. It is an heirloom variety that is yellow with red stripes in the flesh. We had a hard time trying to find a place in the yard that would get full sun, but settled on this spot close to the house. I hope that the reflected heat from the house will do the plants good. You can see the results of last weekend's digging project in the background, if you look hard. The pipe that goes underground used to be a long piece of black flex pipe that we tripped over almost every day! This looks much better and my muscles are finally beginning to get back to normal after lots of shovel work!

We also planted a few cucumbers that the kiddo picked out. I am not sure that they will do much since they are planted underneath the day lilies and roses in a flower bed, but who knows!
The herb pot on the back porch looks great and is almost ready for kitchen use. We have basil, chives, thyme and cilantro. Yummy! I will probably get some more basil plants to plant near the tomatoes next week at the farmers market!

Last night we ate sausages from the farmers market and they were okay, but not great. We also had panzanella (bread salad) with olive bread from the market, tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella. It was delish!

Digging in the dirt

2007-04-30T10:03:00.000-04:00

There was not much string in my weekend, unless you count the level line that we used to dig a trench in the side yard. We have a sump pump in the basement that was dumping water out of the catch basin into a splash pad on the side of the house. Once it had a drain pipe but for some reason it had been cut off. The water mostly pooled right next to the house so we figured it was seeping back into the basement. Not good!

I decided to put my geological skills to work and we built a lovely drain for the pump! Actually I was tired of tripping over the piece of flex-pipe that we had stuck on the end of the pipe coming out of the house as a stop gap. We dug a 10 foot long trench about 12" deep with a 2' x 2' chamber at the end, laid in a 4" sewer pipe and then lined the chamber and the end of the trench with landscape cloth and filled it with gravel. Hopefully it will last a good long time.

Even the kiddo was helpful on the project. What 5 year old boy doesn't love to dig! He found all sorts of good things too... A cicada still in its chrysalis, lots of worms, big white grubs, and lots of rocks!

On Sunday we went to the local farmers market and found all sorts of goodies. There is a guy that sells pasta that is to die for! This time we got pumpkin ravioli and they tasted like little pillows of pumpkin pie. Most excellent with sage butter on top! We also decided to try the local meat purveyor and bought some pork sausages and ground buffalo. DH has an idea for pesto buffalo burgers... Sounds yummy to me! We tried some bread from a place called the Bread Ovens at Quail Creek Farm. This is the best bread I have tasted since we moved. (It is just as good as Red Fox Bakery in McMinnville, Oregon) We got one loaf of Olive bread and one of Potato and White Truffle. The potato is just about the best tasting thing on earth! There was not much in the way of veg, but we did get some asparagus and some strawberries. Yummy!

2007-04-27T11:37:00.000-04:00

Last night I finished the first sleeve for the striped cardigan... I it looks really long compared to the body of the sweater. I think I will knit up the second sleeve and assess how much yarn remains, then decide if the body needs to be longer. I don't want to end up with a bolero jacket! I also don't want to run out of yarn before I finish the top! Ah, the delicate balancing act... I am pretty sure that I am going to have plenty of yarn because I almost always over estimate how much I will need by a significant margin!

After I finish this one, I think I am going to work on designing something to make with the absolutely wonderful homespun that my friend Cindy gave me last summer. It is beautiful natural brown wool from her sheep and it is fine and soft too! I want to make something really special out of it because this yarn deserves to be worn a lot! I think there will be lots of swatches in my future...

The bags are no longer winning!

2007-04-25T14:50:00.000-04:00

I worked on the plastic bag bag a bit more last night, but then I ran out of material. Oh well... This morning I went to Target and the grocery so I have more to work with now! It is really nice to not have a huge bag of bags hanging around anymore. Now that I know that this works, I think I will use up the bags as they accumulate and make some new reusable grocery bags in the process! I do find myself eyeing the bags at the store wondering if I should double bag the groceries so I can finish the first bag... Must Resist...

More playing with plastic...

2007-04-24T09:16:00.000-04:00

Well, the crocheted plastic bags were working pretty well, but I am really a knitter at heart so I switched to pointy sticks. I started with the basic Booga Bag, although slightly downsized for experimentation sake. I am not sure what I will do for handles on this one... Here is the progress so far:

I have switched methods of cutting up the bags and this way works much better. I fold the bags into quarters longwise and then slice the bags into strips. I take the resulting rings and link them together to form a 2-ply "yarn" to work with. The strips are only about 3/4 to 1 inch wide and the result knits up quite well on big needles. Of course, none of this helps keep my husband from looking at me like he thinks I am crazy!

I have also been working on my cardigan. It is a totally made up design in Mission Falls 1824 Cotton. The colors in the photo are a bit off. They are really Lentil and Sea. The Lentil reminds me of my friend Karol who LOVES the icky greens! I have the bottom half of the bodice done and most of one sleeve so far. This is how it looks right now...

I like this one and am going to make raglan sleeves so the stripes can continue uninterupted for the top. I figured that drop or set in sleeves would look to perpedicular to me! Eventually it will have a button placket made of the blue yarn. I think it will be a perfect fall sweater!

I also realized that I haven't posted the DONE photo of the Alice Starmore sweater that I finished last month. It is very cozy and fits just beautifully. This one is made in Cleckheaton Country 8-ply, my favorite sweater yarn of all...

The kiddo took the picture, but he did a great job of getting the sweater in the frame!

On a totally non-knitting note, Sunday was our first trip to the local farmers market. It was a beautiful day and there were quite a few folks out. We bought some herb plants... Basil to replace the ones that were burnt by frost a couple of weeks ago, a lemon thyme, cilantro. The kiddo picked out some cucumber starts. He loves the cukes! I am going to wait until next week for tomatoes. This time I didn't see any good heirloom starts, mostly hybrids and not a single cherry tomato plant! The good news is that we found eggs, a guy who makes rightous tortellini, local honey, and a really delicious carrot loaf. Next week we will visit the meat guy who has organic meat, including buffalo and goat! Unfortunately there were no cheese vendors this time...

Recycling???

2007-04-20T09:47:00.000-04:00

I am drowning in plastic grocery bags! I use cloth grocery bags but somehow I still end up with at least 2 or 3 plastic bags every time I shop. What is a girl to do? I diligently roll them up and take them to the recycling bin at the store, but obviously I need more reusable grocery bags.

This is where the strange thought process begins... I remember long ago my dear friend Jen telling me that she was knitting grocery bags out of grocery bags. That could be the answer!

Here is part one of the result... The test... Okay, I abandonned the needles in favor of a crochet hook, but it seems to work pretty well!

I think I will have to experiment a bit more. So far, I like the crispier grocery bags better than the softer Target bags, but I like the spots of color that the printing on the bag provide. I think the bag will be very strong when it is finished. More progress as progress is made...

A sweater takes shape...

2007-04-18T19:39:00.000-04:00

I have been working on a new sweater for myself for the last week or so. So far I have about 9 inches of the body done. It is Mission Falls 1824 Cotton in blue, sort of a split pea soup color, and terracotta. I am doing big bands of the blue and pea soup with small purl ridges between the sets of stripes. So far I really like it. The blue and pea soup yarn were ebay finds, so I hope I won't run out... I am working the entire body at once on a large circular needle, back and forth since it will be a cardigan. I think I will do raglan sleeves since I really liked how they turned out in the kiddo's sweater (see first post for picture). The stripes are made of a garter stitch rib that looks really great in the cotton and adds a bit of depth to the project.

So far the only trauma that I have experienced is that I broke one of the wires for my Denise needles last night. Now I have to mail it in for a replacement! I do love the Denise needles though... I have used them for about 3 years now and they are so nice to work with. The tips are sharp, the plastic hard and smooth, and the convenience is unbeatable.

Tomorrow we will work on i-cord projects. The kiddo is definitely as string boy. Today he sewed on plastic canvas for at least an hour!

Today we made i-cord

2007-04-17T17:27:00.000-04:00

Does anyone out there know what to do with yards of i-cord? In a weak moment I bought a Bond Embellish Knit! on a recent trip to the craft mega-mart and the kiddo LOVES it. The problem is that I forsee having literally hundreds of yards of i-cord filling up my house. Can you weave with it? Do we really have to make flowers out of it? It does make pretty rightous jumpropes, but how many of those do you need?

I think that the i-cord machine will chug along until we are completely out of sport weight yarn in the stash. (I had better find a way to lock up the sock yarn stash... Lots of i-cord and no socks would be a BAD thing...)

I will post the results as we search for useful purposes for i-cord... Any suggestions are more than welcome as well!

So... This is a blog...

2007-04-17T11:44:00.000-04:00

Well, it seems that all my friends have blogs, so I figure why not... A little about me...

I knit too much. Since the first of the year I have made 3 and a half sweaters and one and a half socks. One sweater is a baby sweater (for a nephew due in June), one is for me (think adult-sized complicated Aran sweater), and one is for my amazing kiddo (Mission Falls 1824 Cotton with bright colored stripes on a black background... He picked the colors!)

I just finished the TKGA Master Knitter program and am qualified to call myself a Master Knitter. I am not sure what that gets me other than the warm fuzzy feeling that I am done. The process to get the certification is rather long and it took me about 3 years to finish.

I love to cook and to eat. We recently moved from Oregon to Virginia and I am going through food withdrawal. Last summer we managed to eat locally (and I mean truly local) produced food for about 2/3 of our diet. It is really easy when you live 50 miles from the pacific ocean, and in the middle of the Willamette Valley. Half of our fruit came from our neighborhood! Our neighbors had apple, pear, plum, and cherry trees. We had blackberries, blueberries, and strawberries in the front yard as well as tomatoes and garlic. Now that we live in Northern Virginia and it is harder to find good local food, but we are beginning to figure it out. There is a good farmer's market that just started back up here, but I have not been able to find anywhere that sells local products in the suburban sprawl. I will keep trying! One good thing is that we have excellent meat available since there are half a dozen halal butchers in the area.

I am blessed with a kiddo that will eat anything. The only food that he down right hates is potatoes. He won't eat them in any form. Not fries, not mashed, not chips, not au gratin! Of all the things that he could refuse to eat, this is actually pretty easy to live with. I certainly don't miss the idea that McDonald's fries could be a staple. He loves olives, and good bread (you know the kind with hard crust and chewy center), and adores blue cheese and chevre. Not bad for a mere child of five!