FO's of the non-fibrous variety...

Hey Robin!
I am back from the anti-blogging-land that is the family visit. I don't say that with any kind of negative connotation. Simply, that when family visits I barely have time to check OTHER knitter's blogs much less make time to augment our lovely home, home on the web.

My Father is, as far as I know, now on the plane and safely on his way back to your neck of the woods! We had a great visit as always... went a few places in Seattle that we haven't seen yet which is always great! We saw the 'new' Downtown Seattle library (inspiration for the ubiquitous and wonderful Koolhaas hat). I have pictures, but there are already plenty of them to be found online that my poor attempt at photography would be un-loved for sure. We also went to the Kubota Japanese Garden in South Seattle. What a place!!

The intent of the garden, created around 1927, was to showcase Northwestern fauna in a Japanese manner. It's so beautiful! I LOVE Japanese style gardens, and to think that I could (with a LOT of work) create a garden like it from local plants just renews my interest in trying something in my own backyard. Here's a couple of nice photos to give you an idea of the beauty:

That's my Dear ol' Dad, ain't he handsome?

More importantly though, I wanted to share what we did to the house while he was here... that's the most EXCITING part! Well... to me it is anyway. First of all we changed this:

To This:

aaaaah....

Next thing that happened was this:

Any idea what that is? No? Want a hint? That's the largest amount of FLOOR i have seen in my garage since we bought the house. I can tell you right now THAT is an accomplishment and there's just no way to pay Dad back for all that help and brainstorming. THANKS DAD!!!

Don't worry, I paid him back a little with his favorite dinners and desserts ;)

You want knitting?? Man, some people are SO hard to please! Alrighty here's where I stand with the current WIPs:
The Greenlake Jays

This many sleeves for the Rogue Hoodie:

And I am unveiling the Grammy Square because it probably won't be done in time to ship to Mom for Mother's Day (woops):

It's coming along ;) Sorry about the blurry pic on the Rogue sleeves, there's just no great way to get the cabling detail with a flash.

That's all I got for now. What's happening with you?

Later!

A Very Harlot Evening

Hey Robin,
I know I know, I should have written this as SOON as I got home last night! Heaven knows I was too excited to sleep! So here's my account of what fun there was to have...

I got there about an hour and a half early and was by far NOT the first knitter to arrive. The event staff was just setting up the auditorium style seating (they have to remove much of the food-court's dining tables/chairs for any speaking events) and the early-birds were already saving space for their knit-groups and what-have-you. It was just as fun as last year! Only this time I met FRIEND'S!!

On Ravelry Peanutga11ery1 and Dancing Sheep (and Ornerie too... sorry you couldn't be there!) said they would attend and Peanut (sorry for the abbreviation but I just realized I STILL don't know your real name!) was nice enough to tell me what shirt she would be wearing. She was also surrounded by her knit/spin group but was sweet enough to let me sit with her and chat! She also brought her beautiful daughter who was making a go at some garter stitch. I admit, i tried to take a flash-less photo, but the result was more like a spelunking pic than a photo or mother and child so I was nice and deleted it. Peanut ALSO introduced me to knitters more local to myself AND she gave me some pointers on drop-spindle spinning. Was there ever a more lovely person on the planet?? Oh AND... she shared a stitch-marker with me that was one of many she made to share with her group and with Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. How nice is that?? I had offered my woodworking skills up for trade for the spinning lessons, but turns out she is filthy-with-woodworkers in her family so i am unneeded in that arena. How am i ever to repay her kindnesses??
She also introduced me to this fine fellow (Brian?) who shared his teaching-shawl with us. A remarkable piece of knittery to be sure:

On to the focus of our program! THE KNITTERS!

I hope I didn't blind that poor woman in front...

Just kidding, the focus is Stephanie. As last year, Stephanie came out and just started talking. She was brilliant and hilarious and kept us all in stitches for I would guess about an hour and a little bit over? She spoke about how knitters are going to take over the world (eventually) because we are constantly getting smarter. It has a lot to do with Theta-brain-use (an idea for CoH?) and repetitive motion. You would have to go listen to her speak to get the explanation, I don't want to ruin it for the SCADS of knitters that read this blog!! Right? ...hello?

Sorry my flash doesn't reach very far

Anyway! She kept us laughing for a nice, long time and then opened things up for questions (or staring blankly at her, that was an option too) and THIS time she got a couple of good ones. They were mainly setups for her to be more-funny which is certainly all right by me.

Then she made her pre-boarding announcements and we were OFF! So many people had waited to buy their book so that they could purchase from the store like Harlot asked, that the HUGE stack that was there when I arrived was gone long before she spoke. The manager informed us that more were on the way and would arrive before she started signing. How great for the store to sell out all their copies!! Just saying....

My benefactor-in-seating and spinning-lessons went to get her copy and get in line. While Dancing Sheep and I waited a comfortable interval to hop in (ok, we were gabbing but I'm not going to point that out). We got in line somewhere near the end-ish and had fun chatting with our neighbors and each other. I couldn't knit in-line because I didn't bring a sock... but I WOULD have!! Really!

We got to the front in what seemed like no-time (nothing like knitters to make time seem to pass more quickly) and Stephanie was amazingly gracious and pleasant to everyone (again!!) and I loved every minute (OK more like second) of time speaking with her.

This sweetheart have her some REAL Seattle coffee. Yum!

Here's my new friend Katie:

Here's me:

"all cazh"

And here's my offering to the Goddess of Knit Humor:

I hope she liked it.

Later!

Prejudiced!

Hey Kate,

Woot! I get to be Mrs. Darcy!

Take the Quiz here!

Later!

Robin

Sensible?

Hey Robin,
Apparently this is me:

Take the Quiz here!

I like the result, but I am wondering if I am as wonderful as this esteemed character. I think not, but it makes me feel good ;)

Latah!

Emme's got a new bag

Hey Kate!

As usual my F.O. pales in comparison to yours, but I'm still pretty proud of Emme's new purse.


And as usual that's all I got.

Later!

Robin

Stuff and Nonsense 2

Hey Robin!
Here I sit with my new blanket over my lap and I think to myself: "Self? You haven't shared your latest FO with your best online buddy!"
"The hell you say!"
"It's TROO!"
*tsk*

I shall remedy that this instant....

So as to not leave out the details I will put pictures in order... you may recall this one:

A lovely beginning to be sure... and then it became this:

also known as the Turtle
And then the turtle was tamed:

Everybody say "oooooh... aaaaaah...." This is my favorite picture because aside from the photo I took of the stash, this one is closest to the colors of the gorgeous Vaa.

And here it is as it sits at this very moment:

Hemlock Ring Blanket - Malabrigo Worsted weight in Vaa colorway

It's a very happy blanket. I admit i was disappointed in my estimation of what "4-feet in diameter" actually LOOKS like, but as a single-lap blanket it's top-banana. Thank you Jared for sharing this incredible pattern with the world and for spawning many warm laps :)

Next up! Because I have a BAD case of startitis, here's what's happening now!
I'm making my Mom a lap-type blanket (no she doesn't get the Hemlock) because I wanted to try the Mason Dixon Modern log cabin blanket. I am calling it "Grammy Square". This will be entirely made of Lion Brand Homespun because it's the one thing i have a LOT of and because I hate this yarn and want it gone. I am going to try to use every last scrap of it.... Don't get me wrong, it's a fine yarn when the product is finished, but i don't like the "during" part. I seem to get the kneedles IN the stitch rather than through it so knitting takes twice as long and I just don't have the patience. The colors are fun but... there are way better yarns out there. Sorry there's no pic, I am not showing anything on the off-chance that she remembers I blog, and comes to see what I am up to.

Next! You may have noticed I updated the sidebar with another new label thingy! Amy Singer has called for the liberation of your laceweight! I don't know if I am doing what she had in mind, but I am giving it a go in hopes that I will create something gift-worthy. I am using the bramble stitch you told me about and it looks WAY different from yours simply because of scale. Take a look:

I don't recommend embiggening the picture because it will just be more-blurry. Sorry, I can't seem to take a pic with this camera on close-up. I need a tripod for that... anyhoo! I am hoping that the pattern will 'pop' a little more in the blocking process because it really is quite lovely. I am also considering attempting to add a lace-border (a very skinny one mind you) just to see how it's done. This yarn is lovely, it was recycled from a ladies sweater and I have enough of it to make a bajillion of these neck-scarves I think. Oh and it's silk! It's not much to play-with as a cake, but once I started getting some 'bulk' on the kneedle it's really feeling luxurious! fyi the color in the picture is pretty darn close. Sort of a coral shade...

What else what else... ah yes, i couldn't wait to cast-on some socks. I have two hanks of Hazel Knits Artisan sock yarn burning a hole in my stash and i've gone back and forth SO often on what to make with them that I jus threw a dart on my sock pattern-collection and went with the ubiquitous Jaywalkers by Grumperina. Actually that's a lie, I WANTED to make the Naga socks (gah! i can't find a non-ravelry link!), but I don't know HOW to get 9.5 stitches/inch with sock weight yarn darnit!! Since the designer warns us that the pattern makes for fabric with less stretch, I thought it would be best to wait for a different yarn...

I love how the pull of the zig zag makes the sock-in-progress look like a geometric shape:

What safety pin? I have no idea what you are talking about. Let's move on shall we?

The Rogue is the current "Project Primo" though, for some reason the Hemlock had taken over (blame the Malabrigo) but now I am more focused on the sweater. I don't want to take another picture of it until I am done with the hood though, and it's taking FUH-EVAH! Hopefully I will have an update on that VERY soon. My Dad will be in town next week and I REALLY want him to take some pictures of it with his super-nice camera. Must. Focus.

Later!

In progress

Hey Kate!

Your spring looks lovely. Unfortunately, we went straight to summer. But enough whining. I have progress pics!

Here are the Bramble Stitch Neckerchief (Ravelry link) and the Urara handbag. I love working on both projects, though I must admit I've been distracted by my favorite MMO lately.


That's all I got.

Later!

Robin

P.S. Gratuitous Emme smile.

Signs of Spring!

Hey Robin,
Not much to report in the land-of-the-knits. The Hemlock Ring blanket begins to be bound-off, but I have fears that it isn't as large as I would like (so i make another one then!!) Alongside THAT fear is the one that says "where the HECK will I block this sucker??"

The Rogue Hoodie is getting hooded as-we-speak (well, you get my meaning anyway). And I have decided on a pattern for "Liberating my Laceweight"! Woohoo! I will try to post a pic of that very soon, but right now it is but a wee-morsel and I don't think I can take a good close-up picture of it with the caffeine shakes. Heh.

INSTEAD! I shall post some fun pictures of Little Guy and his class today so that family and friends can see:

Planter boxes

Today at class the morning was about our Little Guy. Every week a "friend" shares their family with the class and they all do something together or talk about their favorite things. Little Guy likes to garden with me (among other things, but this seemed the right time of year to bring it up) and so I built some small planter boxes and brought some green bean seeds (beans?) for the kids to plant! I hope all goes well and they can perhaps have a fresh-snack in class one day because of this...

I hope your day is equally Spring-ish and fine.
Later!

The long and short of it

Hey Kate!

So I finished the Fetching.


I love them. It's such a great pattern.


I also finally got around to weaving in the ends and washing my enormous crocheted Kimono shawl.


The pattern is from the 2006 Crochet Pattern a day calendar and I've forgotten what it is really called. It came out much better than I thought it would and I really like it. But it is HUGE.

Emme loves it too, but she doesn't want to pose. She just wants to walk around wearing it like a princess.


I'm currently working on that cute Japanese bag, a Bramble stitch neckerchief and an Amanda Hat, but I have no pics yet.

That's all I got!

Later,

Robin

Boop boop a doop!

Hey Kate,

I don't know if it's me, but...

Who 's Your Inner Sexy Cartoon Chick ?

Bettie Boop
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Later!

Robin

Inner Sexy Cartoon Chick

Hey Robin!

Who 's Your Inner Sexy Cartoon Chick ?

Daphne
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HEE!
Later!

Half?

Hey Robin!
Woohoo! I got the body done! I had to use the flash so you can see the cabling, it sort of washes out the color though.

It's so neato that I can't wait to put it on. :D This is how I feel about it:

Later!