time

is $ so this hat is winding up to be an expense

I frogged it down to the band... decided to put in the blue as duplicate stitch (no I had never done that before)
Reworked the top into 6 sections instead of 4
Started duplicate stitch... takes me longer than intarsia.
So far.....



guess it'll be ok when the other trees and reindeer are complete but wow.. talk about eating up time!

Finished another lizard ridge block. Sorry it's sideways. And made from scraps of leftovers from other blocks

I have to count but I think this is 30 which would make the blanket 6'x 5'. Time to block and sew me thinks!

eta: nope #29... so I'm knitting #30 now

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

it's here.... started at about 9 this morning. The call to cancel school came at about 5:50 AM... DS2 woke me up at 4:30 so I've been up since then.

I should be sewing, but I'm procrastinating. It's what I do best! SIL arrives in a short while. She'll be here for 5 weeks so we'll have lots to do. Our date tonight was cancelled. (DH's one employer has a dinner dance every year for all the employees.. last year was the first that we went and had a blast. This year's got cancelled because of the weather.) It's all good though, gives us more time together and to get stuff done.

I present to you:

Pattern: A Hat fit for a Boyfriend by Stephanie Nicole
Yarn: Bernat Camoflauge
Colorway: outback
Needle: US8
Recipient: someone on the Christmas list


I love the way the decreases look, but it was hard for me to get a good picture. This is the best I could come up with.

My SIL just arrived so I'll add to this later, perhaps.... enjoy the weather wherever you are!

some fo's and a prize

first my prize!

remember back here I talked about how I won a prize on the net and I never win anything? Well here's a picture of said prize:

gorgeous isn't it? It's my birthstone in the center.

The giveaway's current prize is a Custom Postman Display Cabinet from Black Mountain Furniture You've got to check it out!

now for the knitting stuff. I left the wild stripes blanket at school by mistake on Friday. So I opted for knitting for a different baby!

Pattern: Baby Kimono from Mason-Dixon Knitting
Yarn: Red Heart Eco-Cotton Blend
Color: Linen Marl
Needle: US6
Modifications: seamed so that the reverse stockinette is the right side!

and


Pattern: Umbilical Cord Hat from Stitch 'n Bitch
Yarn: Red Heart Eco-Cotton Blend
Color: Almond
Needle: US6
recipient: grandbaby Smale

I have baby booties on the needles right now to go along with all this. Mom is being induced Sept 22. Of course, the wild stripes baby is being induced Sept 19.. guess the needles better start flying!

Monday night I fell asleep with the kids, Tuesday night as well after a late meet the teacher night. Tonight I think I'll stay awake... lots to knit and grades to do!

hat dash

is over for me.
I finished my third

pattern: umbilical cord hat from stitch 'n bitch book
yarn: patons rumor
color: halycon
needle: US10.5
recipient: Smale grandbaby... along with mitts I'll make AFTER the olympics are done!

boy this yarn is soft!

one down, lots more to go

that is part of the costume. I finished the hat tonight...finally.

Pattern: Buggerloo
Yarn: Brunswick Windrush
Color: Brown Ragg
Needle: US7 and US9


The only thing I did slightly different was pertaining to the material within the brin. As per my art teacher friend's suggestoin, I used som e recycled plastics instead of going to a craft store to buy a full sheet of stencil stuff. I used one of the jars that we had used to collect in pennies. It worked great. Yay!

Now to cut off the khakis and sew new cuffs below the knee. And fix DD something to wear.. (It all looks great in my mind)

sick kid

poor ds2. he had a busy day... gymnastics then home for lunch and then to the park with friends and their house for dinner. DH and I went to pick him up and at about 8 he crawled up into my lap and fell asleep... short time after, I was showered with his dinner. fun! why is it that they always lose it on mom... and while I'm holding them on my shoulder??? we came home and he went right to bed but woke up about 30 minutes ago to get sick some more... hope he's better tmrw.

Thought I'd post my latest dyeing... this was with leftover egg dye. I'm calling it spring green. I think it looks a bit like all the greens on the flowers and leaves right now. This is about 92 yards of single ply romney that is about 18 wpi.


Speaking of flowers. My daffies are really starting to come out and the tulip buds are getting 'ripe' I really love spring.

Back for Christmas 2006, I made pop the coronet from Knitty. Mom gave it to me along with the my so called scarf I made him this year and his little turtle knits felted slippers. I shrunk the slippers more so now they fit me, the scarf... well that's fine the way it is (and I don't believe that he ever wore it), but the hat was too big for me (in height) so I took out the lining and frogged about 4 inches from the top..reworked it with a spiral decrease over 16 rows and now it fits me! :-) I think I'll fix the lining and sew it back in because it makes for quite a toasty warm hat. I can carry a bit of him with me all hat wearing season. I still can't believe he's gone.

DH went to pick up the furniture for the boys room. We're keeping it in the garage until their floors get refinished. So I told DS1 since his bedroom furniture would be in the garage, he'd have to sleep there (in the garage) He didn't believe me for a minute. That kid is too smart for me! This End Up bunks but with 2 drawers below instead of two, a 5 drawer dresser, a 3 drawer dresser , a desk with study carrel and a tall bookshelf We got it from craigslist. DD has the daybed with three drawers under it and the 5 drawer dresser and desk in her room. We also found that on craigslist. If you're looking for something, I highly recommend checking it out. We've been so happy with our finds and feel great knowing that we're re-using and keeping stuff out of landfills. I <3 both craigslist and freecycle. Plus you save $ to boot... always a good thing!

babies born, older folks die

well within the past 10 days 2 'kids' that I know have given birth. They really aren't kids but in comparison to myself they are. So the baby knitting began. First the baby kimono pattern in the Mason Dixon Knitting book. It's finished but needs blocking and 2 buttons. Perhaps tonight... And I also made for the same baby a coordinating

Umbilical cord hat from the Stitch n Bitch book
Yarn: Bernat Organic Natural Cotton
Color: Oasis
Needle: US7 dpns

better pictures to follow paired with the sweater.

I still have to make another sweater and hat for the 2nd baby but that will be in green.

The head custodian for my school district was killed in an automobile accident Friday morning. Doesn't seem real. His memorial service was this evening and it was SRO... a true testament to the kind of guy he was. RIP Jay.

I finished the back of dad's vest. Kind of took the armhole and shoulder shaping to my own liking. I hope I took enough notes to replicate it on the front. At least the shoulder shaping. And yes! there will be enough yarn :-)

off to bed... this daylight savings time change is killing me!

Finally a knitted picture

of Jackyll and Hyde.

It took long enough for me to get DS1 to not goof while I was taking his picture. He thinks he's a ninja with this hat on. LOL

Pattern: Jackyll and Hyde from Knitty
Yarn: 1000purewool
Color: Deep Sea (I think it's really azul profundo) discontinued color
Needle: Size 8 DPNs

I really made this for DS2 but he refuses to put it on. Perhaps after he sees his brother wearing it, he'll want to wear it. The second guy is the one who needs it!

It snowed over night. Not a lot, but everything is white and beautiful. I went to Moravian College Vespers last night. It was a whole drama with DD. I invited a friend and she didn't want to stay home with a sitter, so DH got her in without a ticket, since he conducts one of the choirs. After the 3 of us were sitting together she wanted to come home. Go figure. She should be on Broadway.

DS1 took his gingerbread house in to school. I forgot to snap a picture of it :-( It was so cute. DD was supposed to take hers in Friday. I was moving it to the box for transport and the pieces came apart. So she'll take it tmrw. After the repair crew finished it (me). To say she wasn't happy was an understatement I'll post a picture of hers after we complete it.

Have a happy Sunday. We're going out to play in the snow as soon as the bookends wake up. DS1 fell asleep early I suspect, as he was awake at 6 AM.... (never on a school day does that happen LOL)

2 down

and too many more to go!

Finished another Christmas gift today during the Lehigh Valley NATS chapter meeting and master class.

Pattern: Tychus
Yarn: Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride worsted
Colors: MC = Sandy Heather
CC = Blue Heirloom
Needle: US9 Boye straights

This is for my niece's husband. Hope it fits him. I think it's a bit big... but it should be really warm. I love the two colors together. The sandy heather is the same color that I made his scarf from last year. So at least they'll match!


Still didn't take a picture of all the yarn that is now in 2 huge hanks... hopefully soon. I have 750 music grades to do this weekend and a meeting with my siblings and parents about my parents' future living arrangements.

Dad goes in for surgery in a couple of weeks to remove some tumors in his bladder. Positive vibes and prayers would be appreciated.....

more later as I finish those gifts.

Happy crafting

trying plying, plying trying

I've plied over 700 yards of that Targhee cross. I'll post a picture next time. I'm still spinning the fleece... haven't even flicked all of it yet!

I cast on a hat for my neice's husbands Christmas gift today. It's Tychus from knitty.com. I hope he likes it. I'm making it as the pattern suggests with two strands.. boy it should be a warm hat OK BLogger won't let me put in a picture..I'll do it later

I've occasionally been working on the left mitten, my so called scarf and the shawl. I have to tell you a funny story about the scarf. I was leaving school last Friday with the scarf and the yarn in my jacket pocket. The yarn fell out unbeknownst to me and I kept walking (about 50 yards), crossed the street and got in the car (after putting DS2 in his seat etc) and noticed that there was a string of yarn out my door... I had to go back and fetch it because if I pulled it would just unwind from the ball AND it was stuck on a landscape tie. Of course as I'm running back to rescue the skein, two cars had to cross the road so I was frantically trying to gather all the yarn... what a mess. It took quite some time Saturday morning (after the rainy trick or treating and party) to clean it all up into usable form once more, only to find a knot, not far from where I had left off knitting... ARGH!!!!!!!

Here's the butterfly release finally... it's so fast you might miss it. The black spot in the sky that's flying aw

quick update

before we run to the grocery store (what fun)

I frogged the chicken rice-a-roni scarf... looked through the stash and decided on the retro colorway of Paton's merino. It will definitely provide a different look than I was really looking for, but the colors are nice and the beige matches dad's hat from last year almost perfectly. It's not quite as soft either... I just wasn't ready for the agony of hand dyed yarn again... (not that there isn't enough in my stash) I cast on for that on Friday. Knit through DD's gymnastics class yesterday.

This morning I cast on for the show your colors shawl by Spunky Eclectic. DH bought my wheel from her... love her colorways.. anyway this is in the berries in the snow colorway I dyed about a month and a half ago... Hope mom likes it!

I also finished the first hunter's mitten and started the second on Thursday. No pictures of that yet though.

And Monday night in the shadow of disgust for the miscolored scarf, I cast on the Binary Hat for my dear nephew. His favorite team is the Philadelphia Flyers and his high school colors were black and orange, but the piece de resistance is that he works for Best Buy in the Geek Squad and their colors are..... black, orange and white... hence:

Pattern: The Binary Hat
Yarn: Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride
Colors: Ebony and Harvest
Needle: US 8
I love that it knit up so quickly. I was finished Tuesday evening and that was with working a full day on Tuesday. It says his name in binary language reading from the top down. I'm not sure that he's geeky enough to notice though. Maybe I'll enclose a note with the gift!

I'm in the midst of plying Targhee.... finished the second bobbin this morning. Pictures later.

We settled our contract. Both sides agreed now to wait for the signing until it's really finalized. There are some issues that I won't disclose, but let's say it could be sticky!

Getting ready for Halloween with the kids.. this next weekend will be CRAZY... to say the least. Trick or treating, parties and parades... yikes!

gotta go DD is getting restless