Viola!

Hey Robin,
In the immortal words of the most-esteemed being in our house (that would be Wall*E):

TA-DA!

Later

Shiny!

Hey Robin,
Lots to share. I am still in the midst of trying to finish my laceweight long jump event for the Ravelympics and am 6 of a possible 8 repeats in. I am convinced I cannot finish in time and yet part of me is still thinking "It would be SO cool if I could finish in time!" However if the event requires me to be blocked before the closing ceremonies I am scrood. Ah well, I will stay up far-too-late-tonight and try to finish anyway! :) Besides the idea of getting one of these:

with the word "lace" on it is just so much something-that-I-want. That's a badge I will have felt like I EARNED!

Oh and I don't have a picture of the lace in-progress because I feel like if I pick it up I should be knitting it and not picture taking. Oh the anxiety!

I did manage to finish another item that it looks like I haven't posted about. OK so it's half really. A sock from a pair. But this is the saga-sock... the one that is taking me an inexplicable number of redos to finish but now that I have one whole sock all done it feels good. Great even. I will share the pattern when I am all-done with sock-the-second. Here's a pic to entice though:

Got another FO for you with a BONUS! A FREE PATTERN TO SHARE!! Woohoo!! Been a while since the last one eh? The pattern is:

The Shiny iPod Sock
(called such because it's "Shiny" (as in Firefly), the yarn is "Shine Sport" and it's to keep my iPod shiny... triple threat!)

Materials: Knit Picks Shine Sport (I used the leapfrog colorway) one ball is enough to make two and maybe three of these; size 3 (3.25mm) double-pointed kneedles; tapestry needle for weaving in ends

Gauge: 5.5 sts/inch 7 rows/ inch in stockinette

Notions: one 5/8” button

Using Judy’s Magic cast on from knitty.com:

Cast on enough to make 36 stitches (18 sts on each of two kneedles to start, then on first row you will spread that out to 9 on eachkneedle).

Start working stockinette and split each ‘side’ onto two dpns so that you have more flexibility, remember when you knit your first stitches on starter kneedle #2 to knit through the back loop because those stitches are twisted.

Keep in mind that you will want to knit the first stitch on each kneedle a little tighter so that you don’t get “ladders”.

The first few rows of stockinette will be a bit fiddly and difficult to maneuver, but by the 4^th
round or so things start to relax a bit and life gets easier.

(Look Ma! No seams!)

Continue in stockinette until the pouch measures about 3” to 3.25” then switch to seed stitch and continue for 8 or more rows (this is a good time to put the ipod in the sock and test out the length).

Bind off all the stitches on one side of the sock so that you are working back and forth on the other side, this is the flap.

For Flap:

Work seed stitch back and forth on 18 sts for 3 or so rows, end with a WS row.

Next row: Work a decrease row (ssk, seed stitch to last two stitches, k2tog) (16 sts)

Next row: seed stitch across

Next row: Decrease row (14 sts)

Next row: seed stitch across

Next row: Decrease row (12 sts)

Next row: k5, bo 2, k5 (10 sts)

Next row: ssk, seed stitch 3 sts, co 2 sts, seed stitch 3 sts, k2tog (10 sts)

Next row: seed stitch across

Next row: work one more decrease row (8 sts).

Bind off. (I used the “invisible Bind-off for Single-rib” found on page 46 of the Fall ’08 Interweave Knits)

Weave in your ends, sew on your button, insert iPod and Enjoy your tunes scratch-free!

(add one favorite-button and viola!)

I haven't had a test-knit of course so if "anybody" finds an issue I would love to hear about it so that I can fix the pattern here.

I am SO proud mof myself for this one! Used a whole-new cast on (which I am in love with and must use for my next toe-up sock), custom-fit the "garment" (can you tell i've been watching Project Runway?) and made it the way I wanted! No seams!! Wahoo! And this yarn is my new favoritest cotton ever... so soft. I want a sweater out of it!

Another note: this pattern is for fitting the classic, 3rd Gen and 5th Gen (video?) iPods. I would LOVE a chance to make one for an iPhone too! hint-hint! ;)

Later

Pheelin' like Phelps

Hey Robin!
Things have been massively busy 'round here as we burn-through the last of the dog days of summer. We've had to run the a/c THREE WHOLE DAYS!! What's becoming of the world's weather patterns?! Seriously...

We've had a few coming-up-to-Kindergarden playdate type things in local parks and it's been nice to see how Little Guy socializes with the other new kids (that would be "not much at all") and the other Moms seem like pretty nice people so this should be an interesting year... adding to that the fact that I had to put my size-8.5 foot in my mouth and volunteer with the PTSA to organize the event photos for the year! Wow... what on EARTH was I thinking?? I must have been martini'd when I wrote that email.... never volunteer alone...

I've got some FO's to show off! I have completed two of my three events for the Ravelympics and I'm feelin' GOOD (or I was until I saw that there are people doing knitting Decathlons... people... don't you SLEEP? Do you get up to PEE??) I just have the Laceweight Long Jump project left and I am feeling the pressure. This is a project that can only be done after L.G. is in bed and I just can't keep my eyes open late at night lately! It's a gorgeous lace though, I am seriously looking forward to the finish-line on this one...

Here's the finished Hat Dash items:
#1: Star Crossed Slouchy Beret by Natalie Larson I love this beret. I chose to make it from a colorway of Malabrigo Worsted called: "Paris Nights". Perfect eh? Paris? Beret?

It really makes for a lovely/smooshy beret. My BFF already wants one :) Sorry there's no pick of it on me, my pictures suck lately as you will see...

#2: Bucket Hat by Bonnie Marie Burns. I actually PAID for a hat pattern in order to make this. I KNOW!! That's a rarity for me... Anyway, I wanted a good cotton-type hat to use my Malabrigo Organic Cotton with (Lima colorway, which I am loving). And this one won the coin toss. It's a FAST knit so I almost felt like I was cheating my Ravelympic co-athletes but what the hey. Live and learn!

When I get the energy I am going to wet-block this one. The brim is puckering and I don't like that. I cast on as loose as I could manage... perhaps it wasn't loose enough? Or perhaps I just need to get to work on blocking it. Over all, the cotton makes a nice fabric and I am happy with the pattern! I think it could seriously be dressed up with different yarns and embellisments etc. Could make some fun gifts!

The laceweight is farther along than this picture shows, but I like the fabric so I wanna show it off a little:

OK so it doesn't look as great in the photo as it does in person so you will have to take my word for it. It's pretty. This is Malabrigo Lace in the Mariposa colorway. I am using the Serpentine scarf pattern by Keiran Foley. It's just a 50-row repeat and each 50 rows is about 5 inches of length. Give or take. I am almost done with 2 repeats. It's slow going folks, let me tell ya...

This is definitely a project that will improve with the blocking.

Oh, and how jealous are you of me? I just got a new gardening-crew. They are totally organic and work for FREE!! What are the chances of finding these guys to help me out with the grass??

Anyhoo! That's what I have going on, give or take the chores and the fussing-at-the-5-year-old! I hope all is well in The Swampy MidWest!!

Later...

How lucky am I?

Hey Robin,
A while back I had the fun job of creating a little logo for the Ravelympics 2008 'event' on Ravelry. It was a blast but I have to admit that if I thought the Ravelympics were going to be this big (over 10,000 projects listed as Ravelympics Projects!!) I would have tried harder to make something a little more professional. Woops.

But hey! It still looks alright!

Ok the point I am getting to is this: people are getting into it. I mean REALLY getting into it. I have "met" a sweetheart on Rav (MekaMika?) now who has an Etsy store. She will take whatever image you send to her and make a set of stitch markers. Brilliant! Go check out her shop, it's a great idea.

She asked if she could use my Ravelympics image to make some markers to sell people. I said, "OF COURSE!" Like I could say 'no'. Well, she sent me samples! Three sets; one each of all three sizes. As I am fond of saying: How COOL is that?? I feel like I am all set for my Ravelympic Events now!

Hat Dash and Laceweight Long Jump here I come!

Got it! Part Deux!

Hey Robin!
At long last I have gotten the "spoils" of my other swap!

This was the "Going Green" swap where required items were: A hand-made market bag; an item of the fair-trade persuasion; an organic or non-toxic type cleaning product. Go here to see the bag and washcloth I made my swappee.

My gracious and wonderful swapper lives in Canada and she and I have had a ball writing back and forth to each other (this was not a secret swap). She did this swap while she was in the midst of fixing up AND moving into her NEW HOME!! Amazing. I couldn't have done it and she did a wonderful job! Lookey!

The box before I ripped everything out of it and made a cloud of tissue-paper-pieces

All the items out-of-box. You can see the thoughtful note she wrote out to me. And the other unwrapped items are some method wipes, a LOVELY smelling candle (that has cashmere in it?! woah!), a bag of "gummy pandas" (seriously Kimmer, they are ALMOST gone!), a stack of "K" post-its and a washcloth she knitted for me!!

But wait there's more!

..."The Hell you say!"

...I do not lie!

Shall we move on?

Alright then:

Here you can see a close-up of the market bag she knitted for me! It's so lovely and it looks VERY strong! I will use it often! Plus the neatest-pooling washcloth. How did she figure out how to do that?? There's the wipes and above a pound of some great smelling fair-trade coffee. Can't wait to try it!

Here you can see the nice candle (in the tin) it really smells so pretty! The "K" post its (fun!) and a box of her favorite cookies (they aren't crumbs Kim! I can't wait to try them but right now I am o.d.-ing on Gummy Pandas!) and 5 balls of Elsebeth Lavold Hempathy in "sunshiney colors" because she heard it rains a lot in Seattle and thought I would like some sunshine in my world. HOW SWEET IS THAT?! It's supposed to be enough to make a sunshine market bag. I'm totally going to do that. Can't wait to get started...

Thanks Kim! You made such a lovely package and I am so happy!
I hope that you are getting all that furniture up those tight stairs and getting settled! :D

Later!

Tidbits from Ada: Part 2

Hey Kate,



There are boarded up homes and businesses everywhere. Emme found a tree swing.

Later!

Robin

Tidbits from Ada: Part 1

Hey Kate,

I don't really have time to do much of anything here, so I'll just have to send little tidbits. We're staying in Ada, Minnesota with my Mom.

This place is interestingly named because there is no valley to view. Flat flat flat.

Emme found a bee.

More (hopefully) tomorrow!

Robin