My little Lamb

Critter
Originally uploaded by dnaprice66

I'm posting this quite a bit late. Rec'd this fun little critter as part of the Green Critter Swap hosted by Dawn from the Knit Naturally podcast. My Swap Partner was the wonderful Tasha. This little guy came in a package with "all sorts of wonderful" Isn't he cute. My 6yo thought so too. I'm gonna have to arm wrestle her for him.

Autumn in Spring

IMG_2319
Originally uploaded by dnaprice66

After being on the needles for almost a year, I finally finished Autumn, an entrelac shawl. It wouldn't have taken me that long if I would have just kept at knitting it. but I took several breaks., and ...well you know.

Off Track

True confessions, as far as my new year's goals are concerned I've follow off track, haven't stayed the course, lost the vision...(what ever phrase you like to use insert here). My excuse is that that my husband was outof town for two weeks in Japan, plus we had quite the weather system go through while he was out of town. my valuable exercise time was taken away by cleaning the yard and minor home maintenance. Basically I'm a wimp and can't keep up my motherly duties, take care of the things my hubby normally does, AND expect to exercise, let alone knit and read. See I'm a whiney wimp.

I did get some knitting done.

Felted clogs for my oldest son. MY frontloading washing machine does felt wool . Next time I need to remeber to turn off the spng cycle. these turned out a little wonky

...and dishcloths also a litttle wonky, but still usable.

Now I need to get back on track with the other goals.

Goals (cont)

One of my goals this year is to get with and be involved again with the Year Long Gift-a-Long group on Ravelry. The purpose of the group is to set goals early on for knitting/crafting gifts for Holidays, birthdays etc. . The moderators if the group make goal setting and meeting fun. There is a lot of encouragement from other members . There are quarterly Challenges in addition to making and meeting monthly goals. The Quarterly Challenge is geared toward gifts due in November/December. Generally if you complete your goals in the quarterly challenges your name is put in a drawing for a prize...the prizes are awesome (if you are a knitter).

Here is the start of my gift list for 2010
January- 5 Grandma’s Favorite Dishcloths/due December
Felted Clogs/ Jacob/due February
February- 5 Grandma’s Favorite Dishcloths/due December
March- 5 Grandma’s Favorite Dishcloths/due December
spa set mother’s day
April- start quilt for charity raffle

Dishcloths are apart of my quarterly challenge goals. i stared with this group in 2008 and completed a lot of projects for gifts for Christmas and did a lot of charity knitting that year because of the goals I set. 2009 I didn't keep up with the group or make many goals. I look forward to doing well this year.
I have the knitting goals taken care of, for personal goals here is my start:

• workout/go for brisk walk at least 30 minutes 4 times a week
• read chapter of Book of Mormon each day

I have a few friends who are running together in a team relay long distance race called a RAGNAR the run 200 miles in 24 hours. I don't expect to be able to do anything at all like this anytime soon but I would like to be in that kind of shape where I could eventually run something like that. Right now I would be happy not running out of breath after climbing two flights of stairs.

New favorite thing: The Knitted Spoon podcast it combines knitting and vegetarian cooking two of my interests.

Forest Canopy Shawl (and other knitting content)

I have been absent from the blog. I've mostly been busy recovering from the surgery and trying to catch up with all the things that didn't get done while I was recovering.

The first week of post-op recovery had me finishing this lovely little shawl for my mother-in-law. It is knit in Dream in Color Smooshy in the Oceania colorway. I loved working with the yarn and the pattern was fairly easy to follow even on heavy-duty pain pills

I finished a couple of hats. I really enjoyed knitting Quincy the pattern by Jared Flood from his book Made in Brooklyn I just bought the pattern as a downloadable PDF on Ravelry, I love Ravelry love how it lets me buy a pattern anytime of the day :) yes I'm an impulse shopper I knit this hat in Berroco Peruvia Quick. Its a soft warm hat I love it and since its been chilly (for Arizona), I can actually wear it and not swelter

On the home front my oldest leaves soon to enter the Missionary Training Center in Provo , UT. After being there for a couple of weeks , he will go to the North- Eastern part of the United States where he will be serving an proselytizing mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He has been a fun kid to raise we've had some really awesome talks lately. I will miss him but I am excited for him to go out into the world to grow in the gospel and in life experiences. He's an awesome young man.

Clue #3

Mystery Sock -09 clue 3
Originally uploaded by dnaprice66

Myster sock '09 for Socktoberfest. Pattern by Kristen Kapur. Clue #4 was published yesterday, so I am just a little bit behind in the clues.

Fall into October

September was a pretty busy, so much so that I've neglected the blog, my knitting and home....in that order.

I have some minor health issues going on but change in diet has helped quite a bit with some of it. I've been volunteering at both daughters school so much, that I wish I was getting paid for the time so I could supplement my hobby allowance.

September was more of a hat month than sock or shawl I completed 2 baby hats, 2 Journey hats a Spring Beret, started Quincy, and finished a Booga Bag for the Chrysalis project at Tempe Yarn and Fiber. If I could have taken the the yardage and energy I used in making these small projects, to finish the bigger projects that I should have finished first. There is just something very satisfying about knitting a hat

Journey Hat

Booga Bag

The Booga Bag took just a couple of days to knit up. Tempe Yarn and Fiber is collecting these toe fill with items for a local women's crises shelter. I appreciate this LYS's efforts to provide opportunities to its customers to participate in local community service.

I'm glad to see October start. The kids have a two week fall break and I'm enjoying doing nothing but staying home and getting somethings done around here

Happy October!

Saying good-bye to Winter

Okay full disclosure I haven't really had to experience "real" winter weather for an extended period of time since we moved the family to Arizona 16 years ago. If we are lucky it might rain alot during February but this winter I didn't have to put on anything heavier than my well worn acrylic sweater from Target...until the Chirstmas trip to Utah but that was only a weeks worth of coat wearing.

I joined the "Say Goodbye to Winter Swap" hosted by the High Fiber Diet Podcast. I had drawn Lorrieu for my partner and had a great time picking out some fibery treats for her.

My upstream partner was Kim from GA. She spoiled me greatly :

Thank You notes
seasonal pens One with a cute bunny on top
Sticky notes!!!!
Project bag with springy flowers all over it from MessieCraftie
yummy salty snacks my favorite, along with a well sealed bag of Hershey Kisses…yeah!!! they didn’t melt.
mmmmmMalabrigo Sock yarn in the Caribeno colorway
Newton’s Yarn Country Happy Feet Print

it was a lovely treat and wonderful way to celebrate the first day of Spring. BammerKT mentioned on the podcast how suprised she was that the swap had brought members of the Ravelry group together. I think its great it gave us a chance to get to know each other, do some cyber sluething, and help each other with clues, It was fun to joke and tease each other too. I believe when you try to do something kind for another person , without expecting anything back from that person friendships even cyber-friendships , can be built.

I'm sure I'll think of something better to say later.

Happy Spring!

Monkey Socks and Muffins

I finished my dd's pair of "Micro Monkey Socks" . It is a downsized version of Cookie A's Monkey Socks. She loves them and in fact wore them for two days in a row (ew!). These are made out of the left over yarn from the Be Mine Socks. After a couple days of wear these litle nubs appeared on one of the socks. I was happy that they weren't ruined. A little disappointed in the yarn, but also I realize that this is what wool yarn does, and it is fix-able.

I freaked a little . As I am a novice sock knitter, little things like this do that to me. When I got brave i clipped the pills off. The fabric underneath was still intact, Phew!

I needed 2 dozen muffins for a children's activity tomorrow at the church building. Being the addicts we are in this family, blueberry or bannana-nut was going to do. I knew that I needed to make Chocolate-chocolate chip muffins. I found this recipe on the food network web-site. I think they turned out rather well, better than I evermade with a mix. i doubled the recipe and ended up with 2 dozen regular sized muffins, and 2 dozen mini-muffins.

Yum!

"I'll wear it my way".....

I had started this sweater last August. Plenty of time, I thought , to finish it for A's birthday. Life and knitters add got in the way of finishing. Then the holidays. This weekend I finished it.
During the course of knitting it. I would have A try it on. At one point on the first sleeve I wanted to make sure I was knitting it long enough. A was so worried because she had one long sleeve and the other one was still short. I tried to reassure her that eventually both sleeves would be long. To model the finished item she insisted that one sleeve be rolled up. The other one was fine. I swear that these are both the same length, Silly child.
A's Bolero
Pattern: Children's Neckdown Bolero #275
Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton-ease in the Azaela colorway.
Needle US # 7 and 6

I liked the yarn my only problem with it was there were a couple of very small spots where the dye didn't take and the yarn was a little splitty. But all in all it was nice to work with , has a nice drape to it, and is perfect for the climate here in AZ .

This completes 1 of the three goals for the 2009 Year Long Gift Along group Quarterly Challenge.
The quarterly Challenge is to: The projects I have chosen for this challenge are in parentheses next to the requirements.

1. Finish an UFO that has been lingering (A's sweater)
2. Start and complete a new project (baby blanket)
3. Make something for myself (Mr. GreenJeans)

I love the motivation I get from the YGAL Ravelry group. I usually over commit myself, but I have been getting more items and gifts made than I have before.

First FO's of 2009

Yeah! I finished a pair of socks in two weeks or less. I'm not talking about worsted weight anklet socks . No these are fingering weight, heel flap, gusseted, cabled socks. Unfortunatly I can't get them over my man sized feet...but thay are done. As part of the 2009 Sock Knit Along Group on Ravlery. The first socks of the year had to be pink or red. The specs are

Pattern: Be Mine by Melissa Morgan-Oakes
Yarn: Crash into Ewe Jewel Collection with Silver
Colorway: Pink Tourmaline
Size needles us 1.5
They are drying right now and I will take better picture later.

My 5yo dd stsrts up pre-school again today. Though not until this afternoon. I've tried explaining that it doesn't matter how early we eat luch. School still won't start until 12pm. She is dressed and is wearing her backpack already to go, with 3 more hours until it starts. sigh

A father's love...

My husband is a pretty tolerant, accepting, loving man. Especially when it comes to our daughters. Let me tell you why.....

We went back home to Utah for Christmas, I call this home because it is where both my husband and I were raised and we have lots of family there. A much loved teacher overheard that we were going to visit the SLC area and she told my daughters..."Make sure you go see the school where High School Musical was filmed". The day before we left UT for AZ my dear patient husband took the younger kids to East High and took their pictures. Then he and Grandpa took them to the planetarium in SLC.

While they did this, Mom and I visted 4 of the LYSs in the SLC area. It was a lot of fun. We shopped at:
The Wool Cabin
Kamilles
Three Wishes
Unraveled Sheep
All wonderful very nice shops. They had at least some things that I can't get at my LYSs here in AZ. When I get around to taking pictures of my purchases I will share them

My mom also gave me some fiber. a few ounces of Targhee roving and a handpainted silk cap. Its lovely but I don't know how to spin silk. Time to learn something new.

Ravelry Purse Swap

It has been a busy month and the blog is overdue for an update. 

I participated in the "Holiday Purse Swap" over on Ravelry . I had sent the package I had put together to my swap partner, in Texas, and she sent me one in return

Here is what arrived at my house on Monday afternoon.

Everything unwrapped, I will admit something just seemed wrong about opening "presents" before Christmas

Thank you swap partner, I seem to get the best swap partners . 

My dd had fun with the package too. "We Heart bubble wrap."

life unraveling around me...

......or how Meghan from the Stitchit podcast started me down the path of reclaiming/recycling/repurposing yarn from thrift store sweaters.

It isn't very easy to find 100% wool sweaters in the thrift stores of Arizona. I imagine most people who live here are like me, they found a sweater the liked years ago and because it only gets cold enough here one or two months a year to actually wear a sweater...the sweaters hardly get used and last forever.

I did find a little gem of a sweater. A jCrew brand Cotton/ Cashmere/nylon blend. All the seams were sewn not serged, and picking the seams apart was a real dream have all but the back frogged washed and skeined up. I have an urge to knit a hat and scarf combo out of this soft stuff. Now I just need some time

Latest KAl/Cal Entry

Here are some finished gifts and my latest entries into Yarn Thing and Knaked knits podcasts Holiday KAl/Cal

Top L: Frosty Morning Fingerless Gloves for my niece; R- Magical Fingerless Mitts from Sheknits.com. for #2 son
Bottom L: Cabled Footies from the book One Skein ;R- Men's Toe-up Work Sock with a Twist for my dad.

Sign me up

I'm such a joiner, now I have to wait and see if they will let me in the 2008 Holiday KAL/CAL

Off my needles #1 sock from the Ram club kit August order.  The men's toe-up work sock with a twist.  I am really enjoying the pattern and knitting with the yarn.  YOu knit the pattern with two different yarn held together and worked as one.  For a ginormous foot...it is going pretty quickly.  I learned the Sewn bind off the other night as I bound off the sock...pretty cool!  I'm one sock closer to completing Socktoberfest

Fetchin' some yarn

On Ravelry I posted a picture of the Fetching I made.  I didn't care for the thumb in the pattern so I "riffed " put in a gusset.  Here are the changes I made:

After the third cable twist on the cuff,  ( K 4 p1) four times, K2,pm, m1, pm k2, p1, (k4,p1)four times

( K 4 p1) four times, k5, p1, (k4,p1)four times

( K 4 p1) four times, K2, sl marker, m1, k1,m1, slip marker k2, p1, (k4,p1)four times

( K 4 p1) four times, k7, p1, (k4,p1)four times

then continued in that manner increasing between the stitch markers every other row until I had 15 stitches between the markers. On the row after finishing the increses I put the stitches between the markers on waste yarn,, finished the rest of the hand as written in the pattern. Picked up the thumb stitches knit four rounds before binding off  I’m going to try incresing eveythird row on the next pair. With the Malabrigo 15 stitches makes for a big thumb

A Knitting Blog?

Im not sure if this is a knitting blog or a place for me to babble-write. So for some knitting content today.

On the Needles

Toe-up Work Sock With a Twist from the Unique Sheep Ram Sock Club. A lot of firsts for me.

• first sock club
  
• first toe-up sock
  
• first short row toe
• loving the yarn and pattern its what is distracting my from....

Hemlock Ring #2 pattern by Jared Flood aka Brooklyn Tweed.
It is the second time I have knit this blanket.  

 yarn: is Cascade 220

Color: Lake Chatelaine

Needle: #8US

I am using the Jared's chart that has symbols and stitch counts added which is available along with the errata for row 35 on the Rainey Sisters Weblog.  Its golden

I started this as an informal KAL with Coggietm and Sydney .

I hope to get better at inserting links and adding buttons as I learn more about the blog.

Happy Yarn Thing Swap!!!!!!!

My package from my swap partner came today. She read my questionaire, looked at my ravelry profile ( I didn't have a blog when this swap started)

Coggietm totally rocks as a swap partner. My goodies include: Lovely Hand dyed Alpaca with a Twist Fino Lace yarn (dyed in my favorite colors by Coggie herself) with beads and a pattern for the snowdrop shawl. An “I knit” mirrored compact, coffee, a yummy desert mix, a sock blocker key chain and some hilarious postcards. She wisely chose to not send chocolates, being that it is still almost 100 degrees outside they would have melted all over the place.

this was a wonderful surprise to come home to . Thank you Coggietm

Almost forgot. She also sent me a Ravelry button personalized with my favorite ravatar

What I love about the blog...

1. I can share my thoughts with the blog. It will not look at me with a glazed-over look in its eyes, tell me I'm wrong, or eat all the food in the refrigerator

2. I can show pictures to the blog. It does not ask me for 10 replicas of the project for all of its little friends.

3. I am learning new things about the blog. Ways to make it pretty. How to organize it and how to share.

4. I feel accountable for what I say or type on the blog. Prjects started and shared on the blog must be finished eventually.

I really like the blog. I have kind of learned to post links correctly, add buttons, and gadgets. For now though I will keep the blog simple.

On the needles today: I am obsessing about making a throw for my brother's mother-in-law. The obsession comes from buying the yarn several months ago.....and now not being able to find it. I hate it whan that happens. I was going to make her a Hemlock Ring Blanket by Jared Flood, from some lovely alpaca blend yarn. I really want to find that yarn..arrrgh!

I am going to look a little more and if I can't find it I will settle down with my Monkey socks