Sunday, July 29, 2012

In love with British silk ~

Have I mentioned how much I love knitting with this silk from London?  I love the feel of this yarn, and I love the colors as they perfectly pass over my lovely Signature needles. I also love that the yarn is a special gift from "I Knit London" from the most fabulous friend.  I am so happy to be knitting on this again.
Lovely silk, so very lovely!

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Happy Birthday 14 ~

Today is my baby's 14th birthday. Not sure where the time has gone, as it seems just last week she was blazing her own trail into the world, not caring if anyone was ready.  The doctor almost missed the event, and I'm lucky that I had a front row seat :)
Here she is in Chicago, enjoying that city...
 With her sister...... what a blast!!!!!

Friday, July 27, 2012

Hand spun glory ~

I must tell you that I LOVE this shawl and the hand spun glory of the yarn I made myself. As I look at the parts and pieces of the shawl, there are so many "perfect strands" of yarn that are spun and plyed exactly correct in the "jitterbug" and "koigu" tight twist that it makes me grin like an idiot. The 3 year old kid inside me is saying, "I did that!" and I am oh-so-proud!
Can't wait to wear this lovely shawl.  Can't wait to spin for another one, and try my best to improve my spinning and plying more and more!

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Stitch 'n Pitch ~

Love the excuse to get together with fabulous knitters!  Even when our baseball team is not doing well, it is still great to meet at a game with other knitters and super delightful friends!
Throw some crazy kids of all ages into the mix, plus a yarn bombed glove (above) by our favorite yarn bomber, and you have a great night of friends, knitting and laughing.  Plus our team won the game!  How great is that! The only part that could have been better would be like last year, where we left the game and went to the Harry Potter midnight premier!! So, tonight I was hoping for extra innings so we could keep knitting into the night!!

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Plane cast off ~

A great vacation is full of knitting, right?  On this great vacation, also "great" because of wonderful family time and a super wedding event, I was also able to do some knitting.
Plus, I was able to cast off these birthday socks on the plane, just a few days before the birthday.  How great is that!!!
Bonus deluxe!  I was able to cast off my lovely 50/50 silk/merino hand spun shawl too!  How extra special is that!!!!  Can't wait to block this one!!!

Monday, July 23, 2012

The Wedding ~

The wedding was perfectly lovely!  Here are some great pictures of the wedding procession on to the beach with my brother escorting his oldest daughter, my oldest niece.
Here is a lovely picture of the ceremony, and note that the bride is not wearing shoes, and the groom is wearing bright yellow sneakers.  lovely and fun!
Here is a great picture from the professional photographer during their first dance at the barn where the reception was held. 
Super picture and very talented photographer!

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Wearing the Lime ~

Yes, the lime is finished and blocked and I wore it proudly in the 90 degree heat of the wedding day! It looks great, and I was happy to be wearing a hand knit for the occasion!
Here we are, all wearing the proper wedding colors of yellow, green, grey and white. We all look great!

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Hot knitting ~

Here for the wedding in Michigan and trying to stay cool in the shade. Knitting wool socks in the shade, while the temperature is 75 degrees (in the shade) seems like an odd combination, but very relaxing with a breeze to cool us!
Great to be here and great to find some vacation time to knit!

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Lots of Lime ~

Hurrah!  I am blocking the lime scarf before the wedding deadline!  Hurrah!   I think it looks marvelous and am looking forward to trying it on with the matching lime outfit as soon as it dries.  Plus there is the weaving in of the one cast off end...
Lots of lime yarn left, as there were 600 yards in this lovely skein from England!  Hurrah for knitting something else out of this limey goodness!

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Sweet Lime ~

I think I am just about ready to cast off this lovely summer scarf!  I have not been able to knit at all this week (I know!!!). Thankfully, I  knit a lot while my family was on their vacation, so this week of "back to the normal chaos" of the whole family being home did not kill the deadline.
I am looking forward to casting off and blocking this little sweetie.  Would I block it long or would I block it wide?  Which would be best for a summer scarf?

Monday, July 9, 2012

Outside Spin ~

Just for fun, I thought it would be very fun to see if I could spin on our deck in the coolness of the afternoon shade.   I had a great spinning lesson with Sam on Sunday, and thought I could get a bit more spinning done while I called my mum... as I knew I couldn't knit the limey scarf and talk, as I would mess up the stitch pattern, so I opted for spinning during our conversation.
It worked out really well, and the Pocket Wheel was perfect on the deck. Super portable in all situations! Our cat was super curious about what I was doing on the deck. She is used to me knitting on the deck, but this was different. She ended up laying down on the little carpet and watching me the entire time...such a great companion!

Sunday, July 8, 2012

London Vacation ~

As I have been knit knit knitting on my lime wedding scarf, I noticed my sweet Annis shawl laying patiently on the table where I left her...shimmering in her silk and nups, and those lovely pastel colors of lavender and mint. Knowing that I finished the difficult rows with the nups, and now knitting short rows, I thought I should knit a few rows just to show my love for this silk that my friend brought me from London....
After all, I am sure I can knit faster on my limey after a wee bit of time with my London silk!

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Lime Progress ~

If worse came to worse (and I am asking the planets NOT to align that way, thank you) I could probably block the lime within an inch of all that is angora, and it could pass for a scarf...
However, I still have several days before I have to block it, so I am still knitting like a wild one..... The scarf is looking very lovely and limey!

Friday, July 6, 2012

Friday Lime ~

Here's a good tip for knitting on a deadline and minimizing distractions.   Go to your local coffee shop and sit and knit. Go directly after work (Do not pass Go, Do not collect $200) and get a cool drink, and call Jitteryknitter to see if she can join you for deadline support....
No laundry or dishes to do, no home distractions to call you away from the task at hand.  Knit Knit Knit!

Thursday, July 5, 2012

It's Electric ~

I have been told that my sense of color matching is not the best. Yes, my best friends have spared my feelings in the hopes that I would not be unwittingly unmatched - only unmatched if I recognized the color mismatch and still liked it.  (I must say that often I still like the mismatch of colors, but I do try to learn from my friend's ability to match colors....)  Well, we have a deadline here, and I have two wedding scarves that I am knitting in a flurry of needles and tenacity... and I thought I should ask the Jitteryknitter which scarf is the one that matches best, the Artsygal or the Spinningstreak...
She choose the Spinningstreak with the words, "It's Electric!!!!"     Well, I do agree!

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Complete madness ~

More madness than can be imagined is going on at my house. As I started knitting the scarf for the wedding in July, I also decided to order some other yarn from the spinningstreak in the UK as it looked perfect on-line. Jitteryknitter, the Enabler, encouraged me to order it, as I still have plenty of time to knit this scarf.
The yarn arrives Monday, and yes, of course it is lovely and perfectly matches my outfit for the wedding. Although I have ten inches of scarf out of artsygal that matches well and is lovely with tencel, I cast on another scarf. Another perfect scarf for the July wedding. Complete madness...
Lovely, but complete madness. Good that today is a holiday so that I can knit knit knit all day, right? Jitteryknitter is loaning me her Signature size 9 needles, in a lovely purple...they will help me knit faster, right?

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Madness of the worst kind ~

Oh, the PAIN of messing up when a deadline is looming! Major bummer, as I had knit a good six inches of scarf and then a big mess up....I was distracted and BAM!
 *heavy sigh* and a few choice words and cast on fewer stitches, to make it a less wide scarf (for summer, right?), so that should knit up faster, right? As you can see from the picture above, all that yarn wrapped around the "other way" shows how much I ripped out. Just to make the picture not totally sad, I added our first homegrown strawberry of the season! Hurrah!
I have finally caught up to the place where I messed up...NOW FOCUS!!!  We have a deadline approaching!  P.S.  This is lovely sock yarn by Artsygal. I purchased this at the first sock summit.

Monday, July 2, 2012

Sherlock Secret Pal ~

I remember telling you about my amazing secret pal this year.  I have been very very blessed this year and last year with pals that I know-in-my-heart to be my knitting soul mates. Last year's pal was a double surprise, as you can read here.   As I told you in my last visitation by my secret pal, she (although it could be a "he") said that the Circus had left town, and taken the lovely World Circus crazy sock yarn with it....
When, my secret pal must be Sherlock, as she (he?) caught up with said Circus and came away with another ball of crazy sock yarn!  Did I mention that during the yarn shop hop we checked all the shops, and no Circus.... so I am amazed and just a little bit curious (actually super curious) as to where she (he?) found this great crazy sock yarn!  I am excited to cast on and find out what super deluxe fraternal twins I'll get!!! Plus, can you believe that Sherlock also found Red-White-Blue for the July holiday!  How great is this!!

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Cast on madness ~

Most knitters I know have a strange sense of time. Not only do we know that we can knit up all our stash in our life time (of course we can!), we also know that we can knit anything once we have a deadline, right? Well, my niece is getting married July 23.
So I have 23 days to finish this lacy scarf that I have just cast on, as the yarn matches my outfit perfectly...No problem, right?  Plenty of time, right? Especially since the wedding doesn't start until 4:00 pm....plenty of time!!!