On Deck for Christmas ~

Here's the next yarn for the next project on deck. This is Miski 100% baby llama, oh-so-soft and lovely.

I'd like to knit my mum some socks for Christmas.... as she loves the others I've knit for her... Very exciting to have a new project on deck!!!

Harry's done ~

Hurrah! My number 4 Harry Potter scarf is done! I gave it to sweetie Anna, just in time for her birthday, and now she is able to go to the midnight showing November 19th of the next Harry Potter movie!

Hurrah!!

Converting slides ~

Why I didn't knit today.... I spent hours trying to convert our family slides from the 70's into digital files using a machine I just purchased.

After hours of scan scan scanning the slides (after taking them out of the paper, as you can see in this picture) I have only 25 digital files that are worthy of keeping....very frustrating.... I am going to knit tomorrow...

Magic Loop Harry ~

Of course it makes sense to use the Magic Loop technique to knit anything related to Harry Potter. I'm using this for this scarf, the forth scarf I've knit for the November 19th opening of the next Harry Potter movie.

My pattern is:
First you must use the official Cascade Yarn: # 7827 and #2401. According to my kids, no other "almost" colors will do....Cast on 16 stitches each needle, using Judy's magic cast on, and knit as if the tube is a sock. Knit each stripe 10 rows, using the jogless stripe technique at each color change. After 33 stripes (or you're out of yarn), cast off using the 3 needle bind off - easy as "Accio scarf!"

Half done ~

I stayed up late on our last camping evening to see how far I could get on the Harry Potter scarf.

When we arrived home, I measured and I'm half done.... so I have to keep knitting!!!

I wasn't going to ~

For many reasons, Harry Potter is strong in our family. As I mentioned earlier this year, I knit each daughter a Harry Potter scarf to wear at the opening night of the November 2010 release of the new movie. I also knit myself a scarf. I said I was done with knitting these scarves, as I need a little more excitement in my knitting... or perhaps I should not have knit them back to back to back... perhaps if I would have taken a break, the last scarf would not have been so hard to slog through....


Well, break's over... as I've cast on one for our dear friend Anna while camping this weekend. Harry Potter is strong with her, too...

Crazy done ~

I finished the crazy socks this weekend, and our #2 daughter is loving them!

Which is really marvelous, as I love to knit them!!

The do look crazy, too!

Almost heel turn ~

Since I was having a tricky time getting the instruction book to stay dry while I was knitting in the river, I decided not to do the heel turn on our #2's socks, but went back to my Birthday Socks to knit them up to the heel turn spot as well.

so now they are ready for the heel turn, too....

They look so great in the sunshine!!!

Rafting fun ~

Again this weekend, while I was knitting, there was a lot of activity going on.

rafting down the river is a favorite part of our camping trips...

and the kids go very fast down our "rapids" by our camp site....

and do some great moves on the way down the rapids!

Very cool, indeed!

Crazy fun ~

As most will tell you, ripping out can be a good thing. Our #2 daughter is loving how her crazy socks are looking these days, so I am very glad that I ripped them out when they were just to the first stripe.

I'm already to the heel turn ~

which is a little tricky while sitting in the river, with my instructions!

Cast on again ~

Although I had fun casting on with Nemo while waiting at the dentist office, it appeared that these crazy socks were going to be 'way too big for #2 daughter. So while sitting in the river with my Diet Coke, I ripped them out and started again...

I really don't like ripping out, but it couldn't be helped...

Yarn Art -

There is an interesting yarn art exhibit on display in the park where we walk during lunch time.

It is made of recycled yarn, fiber and ribbon, and strung from trees.

Very interesting and inspiring to think of crocheting on a ladder...

The walk back to work was through beautiful cone flowers!

Back to the River ~

So excited to be going back to the river for this weekend.

I'm even working on my Birthday Socks in the car on the way - Road Trip Knitting!

Knitting with Nemo ~

While waiting for the kids at the dentist today, I cast on a pair of crazy socks for number #2 daughter.

The fish tank at the dentist is exactly out of Finding Nemo...except for the star fish...

Christmas Hat #4 ~

Cast on the fourth Christmas hat in a solid blue and a multicolor for the accent color.

Cast off already as it is the Turn a Square pattern, and knits up very fast...and looks marvelous on my sweetie daughter!

Sixth Chart B ~

I was able to carve out a small block of silent time to work on the sixth Chart B for my Brandywine shawl ~ looking back on my posts, I'm not sure what happened to my pictures of the fifth chart, but since my "counts" are coming up correctly, I am sure that I've just completed the sixth Chart B.

Not sure it looks any bigger, but still very beautiful!

Cast on Christmas #3 ~

I'm really on a roll now, as I've cast on the wee Packer Hat for young Jack. Jack likes to have a matching hat like his Uncle's, so I've been knitting him Packer Hats each Christmas since he was born.I do love how fast wee hats knit up! Again, using the Turn a Square pattern....

Christmas hat #2 ~

I'm done with Christmas hat #2 in the Packers' colorway of green and yellow. I used the Turn a Square pattern again and it works up fast.

Really fast....

and it looks very cute....(although everything looks cute on her~)

How am I going to get this away from my daughter so we can give it to her Uncle for Christmas?

Time for Fall?

Hard to believe that our summer here has just begun to roll...as you might recall there were some of us in long underwear watching the 4th of July fireworks... and today this appears in our mailbox....

So I'm taking the Fall/Winter issue of Interweave Knits out on the back deck, where our tomatoes are still green... and reading about wool sweaters and mittens and fuzzy hats.....so very odd....but I'm looking forward to it....

Crazy Done ~

I've cast off my daughter's crazy socks and was glad I waited for Jeny's surprisingly stretchy bind off, as it works like a charm! My daughter likes the color combination and thinks it matches perfectly with the Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince book cover of purple and green.

Very color coordinated... Very lovely and fun!!!

Two for Christmas ~

The first Christmas hat knit so fast that I was able to cast on another hat. This one is in traditional green and yellow for the Green Bay Packers....

So, second Christmas hat cast on August 2nd....not bad, eh?!

I need to go river camping a lot more this summer!

River Fun ~

You might be wondering what the rest of the family is doing while I'm knitting in the river ... or, since you probably are a knitter reading this, you may not really care what the rest of the family is doing...but I'll tell you anyway...

They are tubing down the river ~ sometimes at a relaxing pace...

Often too fast for the camera to get a good picture!

Sometimes too far away to capture what actually happened as the tube and rider went over the rapids!

Oh my!! I'll stick to my knitting....

Cast on Christmas ~

Yes, I did say Christmas... casting on my first Christmas hat on August 1st. I'd say that is doing pretty swell long range planning....

I'm using the pattern Turn a Square and so far, so good. Here is the hat with the color work started.

Using Rowan yarn for the first time, too, with this "new to me" pattern.

Did I mention that I cast off on the same day as I cast on? :) Gotta love river knitting!!!

River Crazy ~

The amount of knitting one can do while sitting in a river on a beautiful Saturday while one's kids go tubing down the wee rapids is amazing.

Not to mention that this is the perfect way to spend a hot Saturday with one's family and keep everyone happy!

I made great progress on these Crazy Socks, and knit all the way to the cast off, but couldn't remember Jeny's surprisingly stretchy bind off....so now I've taken pictures of the instructions with my iPhone so I will have them always.... anywhere... anytime....

Emergency measures, but we knitters need these precautions.... :)