Just had to share...

Hey Robin,
It's fortunate that Little Guy knows people who are OK with him jumping off their couches onto a floor lined with the couch-pillows...

Cuz then he can practise his l337 Spiderman moves:

click to embiggen...

Busy bee!

Hey Robin!
I've managed a few more notable FO's and wanted to share!

A couple of my Ravelry Friends and fellow Malabrigo Junkies have been busy designing items and I managed to finagle myself into a test-knitting spot! Whee!

Ariadne by Jenny Raymond:
Love Cables? I do! This mitt satisfied a real urge to get some cables done and wearable... and FAST! Soon I will tackle the right-mitt. Can't wait.

I'm sorry it's so hard to see the actual cables! Have I mentioned that the "close up" setting on my camera doesn't really mean what it says? I should really get to reading that manual.... This is Malabrigo's silky-merino in the Camote colorway... to match my clapotis!

Next up, is a sneak-peek at something that I made as a gift. So full-pictures will have to wait, but here's the teaser:

Pretty, no?

A request from a small-member of the household led to a stash-dive which ultimately resulted in this cuteness:

It's a Big Bad Baby blanket... only smaller :D Can you resist that sweet little face? I know I can't!

I also wanted to finally share my latest acquisition. I think I mentioned that my birthday gift to me was membership in this year's rockin' sock club with Blue Moon Fiber Arts. I am so excited, I've wanted to do this for a long time but always seemed to miss the sign-ups! Here's my first delivery (just the yarn-part) ain't it PURDY?!

Beads!! Beads!! I know I will try to rip out the bead the first time I put the socks on but I can't wait to make them. Really should finish the hubby's promised-pair first though.

Now I leave you with a question to ponder. What do you think of this yarn:

For making this pattern, by Angela Sixian Wu. Grey as the background color. The red is a discontinued Sundara Sock yarn that I am in love with and it's just so hard to finally commit to a project for it! I thought the argyle-pattern would be interesting in this... thoughts?

Later!

It's the Little Things

Hey Robin,
I think you have withstood my blathering-on about how difficult it has been lately when dropping the Kidlet off at Kindergarten... frankly it's been hell. I am now dreading the routine as much as he is and I haven't a clue how to fix it.

Today I have had an inspiration to try a new tactic: A woobie.

Woobie (n.) [wu-bee] 1. An item of emotional attachment, usually a blanket or stuffed animal. 2. Possible saviour of a Mom's sanity.

Little Guy already has a woobie. A stuffed puppy that is one of the most wonderfully huggable little creatures that he has ever gotten. It was just one of those things, received as a gift from my Aunt, forgotten almost immediately, then one day picked up and suddenly incorporated into every day family life and not put down since. She is a constant companion and well-loved, but she is not allowed at school... (absolutely understandable "no private toys" policy)

Enter new woobie. New Woobie was inspired when I sat here in this very spot, trying to imagine WHY he does not want me to leave the school property. Every morning in a panic: "Will you stay here all day Mama?!" I lie and hang-out for a while until I am sure he is thoroughly distracted by the classroom activities (I'm a bad Mother, but my god people, it's 30-40 degrees out there!). He knows I will leave eventually, but previous to this holiday break, it was a part of a routine where he would ask, I would lie, and all would be well....

Before the holiday break there was no panic though. It was simply a need for reassurance that I would be 'around'. However AFTER the holiday, the need for reassurance has exploded into a need for PRESENCE. I definitely cannot stay and have tried going the "honest route" by explaining that I can't be there because I don't want to distract him, that I can be there at a moment's notice if he decides he needs me more than anything else. That has NOT been a satisfactory answer. I am wondering if this will help:

As a result of my most-recent challenge of conquering the Tapestry Cowl (it is still in progress, but I have to say I am LOVING it and can't wait to see it all done) which is a double-knit colorwork project, I thought to myself that I could make a two-sided item that could be stuffed in a pocket with something in it that would MEAN something to us both. This is why there is an "m". "M" is for Mama and also for Little Guy's name. How fortunate that we share this initial!

I am hoping that presenting this to him with a story about how it's magic and that holding it will tell me he is thinking of me and that I will think of him at the same time will allow him to relax his fears about my not being around. What do you think?

Now to decide when to give it to him. Wish me luck!
Later.

Friends

Hey Robin,
I find myself thinking a lot about how many friends I have via the miracle of electronics... you and I met in real life, but we have maintained a long friendship via various messaging programs over the years. I now have a great bunch of 'friendly's' because of Ravelry and a shared love for Malabrigo Yarn...

Which brings me to a lovely gathering of warmth and camaraderie that I was lucky enough to be a part of last night. A few of these Ravelry friends I mentioned before live in my area. We assembled under the guise of doing some last-minute gift wrapping, but it was really so that one of them could present another with her swap-package. It was so much fun to be there for that. I would have been just as happy to be a fly on the wall as to be a full-fledged part of it. We had good food, good conversation and fun knitting.

I got a little gift too!

It's impossible to see the tag sorry. It read: in case of malabrigo emergency: break glass.

I'm so lucky to be blessed with friends....

Later!

Happy Post Election Day!

Hey Robin!
I meant to post this yesterday and just can't be bothered to change the title...lol. Needless to say I am pleased with MOST results but lemme tell you something...

Today I am blocking the second of four wedding-blankets that I am seaming on behalf of my fabulous group of knitter-friends in Ravelry for some of our beloved just-married women. The first one was well-received by our "Chair person" a.k.a. Swap Momma. Todays is... well... today's is for one of the sweetest most gracious and generous people in the group. We all love her and she recently wed the love of her life, who just happens to also be a woman. They have been together for more than a decade and were so thrilled to be able to be official in the eyes of the law. We were all so happy for her and then the last ballot happened. How can people be so cruel? Why does government HAVE to do this? Why is it anyone's business?? I just can't believe it.

Right now the blanket is soaking in a bath and I am hoping it will dry quickly (for it has been rahter wet locally) so that I may send her the warm-wool-hug that we have all labored to create for her.

On the lighter-side of things. I have gotten my swap package from the latest Malabrigo Swap! I swear these packages just keep getting better and the longer one has to wait the better things seem to get. My swapper had to wait a little while because she was in the midst of a move from Alaska to Texas! Wow!! The best thing about that is she picked up little items for me on her travels from North to South! PLUS she made some items for me and I love them. I wanted to share with the blog-world what she sent, so here goes:

This is what greeted me upon opening the package. Oh the possibilities that lie therein!
Don't be fooled. That case apparently can hold a LOT of loot!!

Viola! Description first and close-up pictures to follow.... So when I open the shipping box I see first a fuzzy foot. I knew instantly that I had received another stuffed otter. Can you see how cute he is?? Right now he's sitting on my desk cheering me up. Otter was cuddling up with a skein of Dream In Color Smooshy (a very descriptive name for a sock yarn, australian merino wool, washable, in the Dusky Aurora colorway) that Jen (my swapper) said she needed to de-stash from her collection. WOW! Can you say 'generous'!? It's a beautiful colorway and I can't decide whether it will be something lacy or some smooshy-socks. The dilemma!

Next I notice the wonderful case with the map-decoration (OK I noticed it way-sooner but work with me here, I am trying to tell a story here) and pull it out of the box to discover it is so full of STUFF that it can't be closed!! Inside this box-o-wonder (or treasure chest as it were) were SIX, count 'em SIX skeins of our beloved malabrigo. Oh. My. Gawd. Three skeins of worsted in the Verdes colorway (swoon!) and three skeins of sillky in Celeste (the light blue). Amazing. I already think I am going to make a Shetland Triangle (seen in this post) in the silky, but with three whole skeins of worsted I have SO MANY choices that it's driving me nutso! :D

Among the wool-loveliness were many well-assembled items that prove how well I was stalked during the required-stalking-period. They are: a tape measure (mine just broke, I have been using it sans-case and I really should have more than one anyway), a delicate pair of scissors with a hand cross-stitched scissor-keeper (which is just something big that makes it harder to lose your scissors in a massive pile of material... unless you are me) hopefully you can see the lovely picture in the stitching, some lovely stitch markers (tee-tiny ones that won't get in my way), some lovely mulling spices (love!), some SOAK for washing my creations, a pair of gorgeous ceramic buttons that I can't wait to use, THREE patterns from my Ravelry queue that I cannot wait to cast-on, a hat which might be an Odessa (without beads) that she made for ME which I have worn almost constantly since receipt. Last but not least, there were two keychain critters from Alaska. A moose and a bear... that poop.

That's right folks, I have pooper-keychains. *lol*. They are delightfully gross and I love them. Can't explain why... I just do.

The whole package is enough to make me cry! It's so nice to have someone think about you so much that they end up sending you something that's just perfect for YOU. I have thanked Jen many times but I must do it again: THANK YOU JEN!! You are a sweetheart!

In other news, I finished a test-knit for another Mal-Junkie and am geared up to start another for her. This one is her Kettering Hat (Ravelry link), it's not a style I would have picked for myself initially, but that just shows you how fashion-dumb I am. This knit up quickly and was LOTS of fun AND... I love it. It looks great and feels wonderful on my head. (Mine is knit up in Tuareg colorway). Don't I look happy?

Next up are some mittens using her Faberge-stitch pattern (remember the neckwarmer?)

Anyway, I hope you are faring well and that Emme continues to keep you on your toes!
Later!

Christmas Chaos

Hey Robin,
Yep. I went there. I said the "C" word. The big "C". The one that puts fear into the heart of crafters everywhere (no, not chaos... the other one). I have been madly working away at my wish-list of gifts to give this year and am already massively behind. How did that happen? I started at the beginning of October!! Actually I have about three or four completed (one in question because I REALLY want it for myself) and eleventy-thousand to go. Seriously! Look!
Let me count... that's maybe 6 projects there. One of which was for me and is indefinitely on hold because I cannot resolve an interesting issue:
That 'tab' on the lower edge is supposed to be the same width as the rest. Long story, but I digress. (It's Sonnet from knitty if you want to see how it's supposed to look)

Yes! SIX projects on the table where they have been living for the past few weeks as I flit from one to the other. It's amazing that I have finished four things. Oh, I just thought of the one that's not in the picture, resting on the side table. So seven WIPs. I am having to force myself to finish the one (a linen handtowel) this week and not touch any others until it is complete. It's the nearest to being done, so I am hoping to actually get it done faster.

And to completely screw myself, I also have volunteered for more school things this week AND have people coming over for company saturday AND let's not forget candy-day on friday.

I'm a mess.

Discuss.

and Furthermore!

Hey Robin,
All I got to say is:

Brownie...

Cookies...

are teh awesome

Thank you Farmgroupie!!

And another thing!

Hello again Robin!
OK so here was another thing I wanted to bring up. I was in the Malabrigo swap group for the "spring swap". Yay! It was so fun stalking my swapee. I sent her some good goodies, but the REAL interesting part was the good goodies I got! My swapper: Hachacha on Ravelry was so good. She spoiled me rotten man! I mean look at this box-o-goodness:

There were stitch markers from my Etsy favorites! A whole assortment of CHOCOLATE and some great coffee and SOX STIX!!! Rosewood! My favorite!! And some neato breath mints (totally need those) and a printout of a pattern in my queue (how thoughtful!) and a cell-phone-dangly-thing and a fairy note card!! AND she saw that I want to get a dog for my son (and myself) and got him a little stuffed one that he has barely let out of his sight since it arrived. It is now named Fuzzy Wuzzy.

ALSO: She sent me two GORGEOUS skeins of malabrigo (which is what it's all about!) and I have to point out that those are two different colorways. Don't they look identical? Anyway, one is silky merino and the other is laceweight. The laceweight will take some thought, but the silky has already been put to good use. Unfortunately that good use isn't translating to camera time. Observe:

*Sigh*. Why art I so bad at picture taking?!

More later... maybe

One at a time...

Hey Robin,
I am a bit overwhelmed with how behind I am on updates to our hallowed pages here... so I thought I would start small and tackle it bits at a time.

I gotta say I love your synchonized sleepers. Fuzzy buds!

I am so sorry I had nothing on Mom's Day. Seems like a lot of bloggers had something to say. I had a lovely day beginning with the sleeping-in part. Aaaaah. Followed by a delicious breakfast that I had neither to cook nor to clean. Mmmm.

Little Guy picked out my present this year. He had the idea and the motivation and Daddy, though flabbergasted that LG had an idea at ALL, was on-board with the idea and drove him to the store to get it. This is what greeted me when I opened the box:

I mean. He picked out all the balls and had some ideas for what I could make with them! How's THAT for a 4-year-old huh?! I think I am going to cry again...

Next post will probably contain some blather about recent projects....

Later!

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!

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!

Inner Sexy Cartoon Chick

Hey Robin!

Who 's Your Inner Sexy Cartoon Chick ?

Daphne
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HEE!
Later!

The sky is falling! The sky is falling!!

OK maybe it's not worth THAT much panic but it sure got windy here yesterday. Not as bad as last December when we were out of power for a week with daily temps in the 30s :p Ick. But we have power and things seem to be holding out... here anyway (the county to the north isn't quite so lucky, but they are working on it swiftly i hear). But I digress!

Hey Robin!!

Have you even seen maple leaves as large as your head?? Here let me show you:













Little Guy demonstrates bigness-of-local-leaf

Seriously these things are huge. And that's not the biggest one I could find! You would think they fall off of a proportionately-large tree right? Nope. One of them was not much larger-around than my thumb. Must be something in the water...

In other news: I have been so busy trying to keep my notebook up-to-date in Ravelry that I had forgotten to update my "on the kneedles" in the sidebar! Woops! That is now up-to-date as you can see. The hat is an issue (You Don't Know Our Women). I made it with the same yarn and kneedles as the designer and the hat came out to be about three inches wide. I think maybe I was knitting a little tight. Maybe.
The very lovely Malabrigo chunky yarn is more green than in the photo. I seem to be having more issues with color lately. Anyway, it has a little of the silvery-ness you see here but not quite as much...

So we're starting that puppy over with a larger kneedle size... or three.

Later!

Stuff and Nonsense

Hey Robin,

Gosh I feel badly that I haven't written in FOREVER! I have been so frantic with the knitting-for-Christmas that my fingers have forgotten how to type! Well, not really... but you know how it is!! I am outta time!

I finished the Bells and Whistles socks finally. My goodness they take forever! They are beautiful though, and now I know for sure who they will go to. No, not me unfortunately. But therecipient is sure to appreciate them. I don't want to put her name down here because there's always the chance someone besides you will read this!

I know... it's a long shot but you never know!

Here's a pic of the lovelies:

Sorry for the low-light situation. I have no idea what went wrong there. Here's a shot I took previously:



















All-in-all it's a lovely pattern for a lace sock. I'm not altogether sure how many more of those I will want to make (except maybe one for me!). Being lace, they take longer for me to work through, and that's really not what I am looking for in a sock pattern. I want something fun to knit, sure... but i really want something that will be finished quickly and thereby satisfy my urge to FINISH SOMETHING!

The next thing I threw on the kneedles is a vest pattern (another gift, I'm not saying who it's for) by Oat Couture, the Oregon Vest. It had what I was looking for, simplicity and an already-done conversion to three different yarn weights. SOLD! I have some 'used' yarn for it that I rather like. The only thing i know about it is it's 100% superwash wool... and I got a whole lot of it for $6. Well, I use the term "whole lot" loosely here. It's probably enough yards for me to get halfway into the last front-piece. A fact which I will stubbornly ignore until I get to that part and want to throw the whole thing away. Actually, I suspect this might be some Brown Sheep, Lamb's Pride Superwash Chunky. Lookey here:

I attempted the knitting-in-the-ends thing that we just learned! You can see that I had an issue with the end that was "knitted" (on the right). The end that was "purled" (on the left) went much better. I am not sure what I did wrong. I need to review the whole process again. It was nice to be able to get rid of those ends straight away and not have to worry about them later. I'm liking this method very much!

The color is much darker than this, but like Anne, I am having trouble taking pictures of purple... it's a really lovely aubergine kind of color... I hope I can figure out what to do when I run out!

Remember the Baby Brunhilde hat? Here's a pic in situ:

Isn't she the cutest little smidgeon??

Do you have the Ride of the Vakyries running through your head too? I hope it's not just me...


Later!

HA!

Hey Robin,
Betcha didn't think i was gonna write "from the road" didja? Huh huh? I am comandeering Dad's wonderful laptop while he is doing other things... and trying to decide how many of the LYSs listed in the Glendale area actually still exist... and then how many of them i can get to in the matter of a few hours. Hee.

No pics todaybecause #1: I didn't bring my camera... and #2 I can't figure out how to dl pics from Dad's camera to this 'puter. I got lots of action shots of him dancing wearing... the Kilt Hose Toppers that i made for him! Yes. My Dad does Scottish Country dancing, which is a bit like square dancing, though a bit older I would guess. His group had a big shin-dig last night and i got to go watch (no thank you, my two left foots have been declared dangerous, and are not allowed too close to other dancing feet). Too fun!

Oh and I think we're finally going to go see the new HP movie today. Yay!

Can't wait to see ya tomorrow!
Later,
Kate