Waiting for Webs ~

I am waiting patiently for the UPS truck to bring my package of yarn from Webs. (Hannah from Chicken News captured my waiting in these great photos - my daughter still rocks)

A package arrived, but it was the wrapping paper from the 75% off sale. So perhaps its time for a nap...*yawn*

Shadow, too, is waiting for Webs....

Hey, there's the UPS truck!

Let's go see!

Harry and the Red Wings ~

Working on Harry's ribbing while watching the Red Wings playing Phoenix.

I thought we (the Red Wings) were going to win, as we were ahead in the last period.

But the Red Wings lost...I'm not even sure how they lost, as I didn't see the last few minutes... Rats...

Webs What?

I placed an order to Webs to sample some yarns for Sandy's Vandals socks (does it surprise you that I needed to place an order from Webs for this new project?). I ordered one of these and one of those, that grey looked like silver because it had bamboo content, that yellow looked like it could be gold, that yarn has some cashmere in it, so let's take a chance on the cashmere.... and I get an email back from Webs that says this:

Thank you for your order! I am writing to notify you that the _______ in color ____ that you ordered are currently out of stock. As this is a discontinued item, we will not be receiving any more stock of this item. We are processing the rest of your order. If you have any questions, please contact us.

Soooooooo, I can narrow down the color (yellow/gold or grey/silver) but I guess I'll find out which yarn when the order arrives!!!!!

Our Yarn Yoga projects ~

If you've read yesterday's post, you might be wondering if we had any time to knit in between dancing to the decades of music and eating all the wonderful dishes that Kathy had prepared for our January Yarn Yoga.... well, we did find some time to knit...



Kathy ran out of yarn on this scarf, and said she'll have to dig out her stash to find the last ball of it...



so she started this scarf in beautiful spring greens - full of sparkles and shiny bits! I kept going on my Harry Potter socks ~ just lots of ribbing to complete!

Excellent Yarn Yoga ~

Yarn yoga this weekend was great fun. Kathy, my sister, was to be the hostess, and it was her first ever hosting of Yarn Yoga. She took the preparations very seriously and had poured through recipe books to find just the right combination of great foods for this event. She decided on a theme of decades, as she had great music from the decades of the 1960's, 70's and beyond.

She made Mom's Seafood Specials from our childhood, the 1960's...this tasted and smelled just like home...perfect and so yummy too!

She found a grasshopper pie recipe from the 1970's when she was newly married (oh so yummy this was!!!)....

I'm not sure which dish was from the 1980's... or the 1990's.....or currently.....

Perhaps the little mushroom quiches were from the 1990's, and the cheese puff twists were from the 1980's, and the bleu cheese dip and POG drink from the 2000's...

we drank our coffee from these beautiful green antique dishes... very yummy and so beautiful in their greens!

we had a lovely time ~ a perfect time ~ and excellent time! Stay tuned for tomorrow when I show you what we knit!

Harry's lightning bolt ~

I made lots of knitting progress on these sweet Harry Potter socks. I've finished the lightning bolt "scar" on them and now the knitted ribbing will go on for several inches.

they look great, and I love how the lightning bolt looks!

So, now I need to knit knit knit until the ribbing is done!!!!! I'm sure sweetie H will love them too!

I think they look so great!!

Dear Sandy ~

Another confession here (I hope confessions don't become a trend this year) as I realize what a sucker I am for a new project. I get so excited about all the aspects and options for a new project that I often forget the obvious..... Upon picking up sweetie H from a sleepover last weekend at sweetie A's house and her mom (famous Sandy of cinnamon roll fame) and both of them are from the famous Harry Potter Movie event fame (pictured below)

....and I begin to chat and she mentioned how fun sweetie H's socks were. They happened to be the "crazy Turkish yarn" socks that had a few, ah, design features, including a clever feature that I call, "too short cuffs" but I digress. Sandy said she would love a pair of socks if I was ever interested in knitting a pair, or giving up a pair of my disastrous uniquely styled socks... We started talking about what colors she likes, and her school colors for those fabulous Idaho Vandals (that just won their bowl game!) and she showed me her bowl game scarf with the silver/gold Vandal colors...oooohhhh well, the seed was planted and I started processing all I know about silver and gold yarn... and they are not normally found colors in my stash, so I will have to start a hunt .....a light grey with some luster (perhaps bamboo or tencel) might pass well for silver, and a gold will be tricky, as it can't be yellow and it can't be orange.... how about some alpaca blend so they are super soft and warm...in a dk/sport weight yarn so they knit up a bit quicker, so perhaps she can wear them for the next bowl game (or at least before our kids graduate from high school)

After 5 days of high fantasy of new yarn in new colors with a new project....I realized I forgot to ask Sandy what size shoe she wears....ahem, as that might be useful in knowing what size to knit these fantasy socks....(duh...how did I forget such a key detail?)

Again, with feeling ~

Yes, I did start again. After ripping back my wee sweater start, and having a few laughs at how I could have missed the directions in such a big way...I cast on again.....

again, with feeling this time..... and the yarn is really beautiful...

thank heavens for Barbara Walker's book Knitting from the Top that helped me figure out how wrong I was knitting last night. I am thinking that this sweater will be my Ravelympics project...not that I could finish it by then...even starting early...but just thinking of a sweater as a really big commitment. When I heard the Knitmore Girls talking about getting ready for the Ravelympics, I thought, "Why not?" So, why not, indeed?

Whoops ~

Even when you have a rough week, and you promise yourself that you can cast on something really exciting if you can make it through the week....

Even when you have beautiful yarn in your stash to cast on, and the correct needles, and a pattern with great potential....

Even when you read the pattern before you cast on, and diagram those increases so they come out just right. Even when you do a gauge swatch (*gasp* yes, really!)....

There is a chance that you might miss something in that first line of the directions....*ahem*... and have to start over tomorrow...

Harry's turn again ~

Now that the helmet liner is done, I'm back with Harry. Great yarn and great to be doing the horcrux pattern again.

These socks are looking great! I love this part, as it seems to be knitting faster now that there is a pattern unfolding....

I do love this pattern for the lightning bolt...it is perfect!

Soup break ~

Since I finished the helmet liner "early" in our long weekend honoring Martin Luther King Jr, I thought I'd surprise my family by cooking up some yummy squash soup. My guy is replacing our windows with the double paned super efficient windows that get an energy tax credit, and today's window to be replaced was in my sewing/knitting room - Oh Boy!!!! I can't wait to reorganize my room again now that the new window is in, and the construction debris gone.


Pretty yummy looking soup, eh? It turned out extra tasty today!

Blanket on hold ~

Here's a confession....I have not knit on this delightful baby blanket since the holidays ~ January 4th. It takes almost an hour to do one color stripe (4 rows) and then one orange stripe (2 rows) and I was doing at least one of these color stripe/orange stripe panels each day over the holidays. Now, with so much less time to knit now that work and school have started, I have not picked it up again. These happy and bright colors call to me each time I walk by their basket, "knit me! knit me! me! me!"

(can you hear it?) I will get right back to this blanket....soon.... I promise....

Cast off for the troops ~

I finished the helmet liner last night. It knit up a lot faster then I thought it would and the pattern instructions were pretty clear. I encourage you to knit one if you're pondering whether you'd be able to figure out the pattern.


The picking up 54 stitches also went well for the ribbing around the face part. Here is sweetie E modeling it... Cute, eh?

Overtime blues ~

Last weekend the Packers lost in overtime.... Today the Detroit Redwings lost in overtime... to be technically correct, we didn't lose in overtime, but in a sudden death shoot out....those are real nail biters!!!

New goalie that I've never seen before today ~ Jimmy Howard. I hope he has a good year (better than today's showing, although he was pretty tough).

Overtime provides more time for bonding with my guy, well, and more time for knitting... but it is a major bummer when we lose after all this time and effort!

The helmet liner is just about done ~ I'm knitting the decreases for the crown, and then I have to pick up the stitches around the face for a 2 by 2 rib so the wool stays close to the soldier's face. I'll let you know how the picking up stitches works, as that is a bit tricky for me to pick them up evenly...

Knit more for Service ~

I've made a lot of progress today on the helmet liner for our troops, in my "knitting for Service" weekend honoring Martin Luther King Jr. The 6 inches of ribbing around the neck are finished and I've cast on the 54 stitches for the hat part and have knit 2 of the 4 inches required before the decreases for the crown occur. (it looks pretty strange now!)

It looks like a balaclava, and I hope it will be warm and useful for our troops.

I do hope a lot of people are knitting these for our troops. It feels good to be knitting for others that are serving our country.

Knit for Service ~

In the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. and this "Service" weekend, I am knitting on my helmet liner for the troops.

It is a small way of providing service, but every bit helps. I recommend that you do some service knitting this weekend, as it feels really good.


Also, if you haven't checked out the YarnHarlot's blog lately, please do. She has inspired me and thousands of others to donate to Knitters without Borders/Doctors without Borders.

Fair Isle and Friends ~

So far this week at work has been 'not the greatest' however there has been one shining event that is keeping me thinking happy thoughts. I was able to share a delightful lunch break with three of the greatest ladies one would ever be blessed with knowing. We talked and laughed and giggled and laughed and talked and ate and laughed and felt very good about life.

Debi was creative and took a picture of silly me & MJ ~ both of us looking very happy and full of Joy Joy Joy, just as we should be. As luck would have it, I'm wearing my Colour Your Own sweater from Philosopher's Wool Company. Isn't it beautiful!

Chase and the Packers ~

As the Packer game went on last Sunday, there was good news that I just found out. Given the ending of the Packer game, I will take all the related good news that I can find. My guy sent me this picture from the family pub where he and the Packer Backers watch the game.

Meet Chase. He is the son of some great Packer Backers, and he is wearing the hat I knit for him in 2008, before he was born. By the look on Chase's face, I think the Packers were still doing well... Next year the Packers will be strong again, and Chase and Jack may need new knitted Packer hats...

Cast on for troops ~

There are seven of us in our Yarn Yoga knitting group that are going to knit helmet liners for our troops. We've all bought the correct yarn (Cascade 220 in chocolate brown) and our due date for completion is in February.


I promised myself that I would cast on after the holidays were over.



Click here for the free pattern, and think about knitting one (or more) for our troops.

While I was knitting ~

As I mentioned yesterday, I was knitting with Harry Potter while my daughter was job shadowing at a Vet Clinic.

The doctors were amazing, the experience was amazing. She observed surgery on Thursday and "regular appointments" on Saturday. She said she wished she could have stayed at the clinic all day....gosh, then I might have finished the Harry Potter socks!

Harry and the Packers ~

During the very exciting Packers' wild card game against the Cardinals, I knit knit knit the Harry Potter socks for sweetie H.

I knit in the first quarter when the Packers were not doing well. I knew they would get back into the game.

I knit as they made it back into the game to tie the score....

Overtime was too short to knit...alas... no more Packers until next year....

Harry's Heels ~

After a twitchy week back at work (and school) with no knitting (*gasp*) today was a blessed reprieve back into the holiday feeling of long stretches of knitting. As I took sweetie H to her job shadow early this morning, I was able to sneak down the street to knit for a few hours with Harry. I knew I was in the correct Karma when the coffee shop was still serving eggnog lattes, so I ordered one and settled into Knitting Karma and turned the first heel of the Harry Potter socks for sweetie H. I use the Queen Kahuna method so there are no wraps or picking up a heel flap, so its smooth knitting all the way....

Upon coming home, sweetie H climbed into bed for a long winter's nap, as she's been too excited about the job shadow this week to get any sleep....and sweetie E and my guy were also napping, so I took advantage of a quiet house and kept knitting.

Gosh, could I knit the second heel? Yes, I could, and yes I did....

Here modeled by sweetie H as she's now writing up her job shadow experience... great heel turns, eh?!

Book review #3 ~

Saving the best for last...perhaps "best" is tough to define when we're talking about knitting books, but this book is one I've been waiting for... Mostly Mittens by Charlene Schurch who also has written the Sensational Socks and Hats On! which I knit countless hats from in 2009. She has great color sense and writes her patterns clearly. My sweetie E gave this book to me for Christmas! Hurrah!

Check out these beautiful mittens...


So many colors and patterns ~ amazing to choose one to cast on first....

Plus....there are hats in this book, too!!! Bonus!

I do love knitting hats! Here's to more knitting of hats in 2010!