Vacation purchases ~

Oddly enough, I was not captivated to buy yarn on our vacation. There were some pretty colors and lovely silks and alpacas, but nothing stuck in my heart & head to make me buy it. I would have bought a ski band pattern, but the shop didn't have any more... the samples of the ski band were cute, and the edges didn't roll ~ perhaps I'll find a similar pattern on Ravelry. These two skeins were all I bought ~ they were in the 40% off basket & came with a wee cabled hat pattern ~ and the sample of the cabled hat was one I remembered liking last year (but not enough to pay full price for the yarn & pattern). Hopefully the yarn & pattern were worth the wait!

On her needles ~ too

Knitting fantasy, for me, includes wishing I was knitting every project that my friends are knitting. As you read yesterday, dear readers, my knitting fantasy world also includes finishing all projects that have been started. Yes, I have a lot of variety in my knitting fantasy world. All good, really, all good. Here is another great project that looks so cute on the Fiber Trends pattern, however is Amazing in person ~ once you've held one of these "Lucie Slippers" you really need to purchase some Brown Sheep wool and begin knitting your own pair. These are perfectly done by a friend of mine, also the perfect knitter of the Pumpkin Hat of my blog last Thanksgiving. She is a perfect knitter and very smart ~ she is also the teacher on my video of the new cast on I need for the Braids & Nupps hat....

These slippers are named after her perfectly delightful dog, Lucie. Aren't they great?

On her needles ~

During vacation, I read Vicki Square's article in the new Interweave Knits called "Start as Many New Projects as You Can," and her last sentence amazed me: "Knit anything and everything you want--and enjoy the scenery!" I had the delightful journey of looking through many "on the needles" of my great knitting friend who lives this casting on dream. As I held each and every piece of beautiful yarn and thought of the new pattern she used, I was starting to be twitchy as I wanted to finish each one....they were all so beautiful ~ lace scarves ~ alpaca scarves ~ socks out of pink delights~ socks out of boot wool ~ a hat out of Frog Tree ~ a sweater out of silky wool ~ so many chocolates to sample, so much inspiration in each bin and bag. I'm not sure I feel the need to finish up a project to its tidy ending..... when all those projects were singing a sirens' song of "play with me" in so many languages of silk, alpaca, wool and blends ~ lace, entralac and fair isle....So I will continue to live vicariously through her projects.... I wish I had some pictures of her great starts to share with you.....but here are her finished hats!

I need more projects on my needles!!!!

Still in the hood ~

Since there were no pictures of "the Hood" during our vacation, here is a picture of the Central Park Hoodie with its progress made from vacation: Front done; shoulder seams blocked and sewn; and hood started. So, I have 11.5 inches of hood to knit.....with the cables too. It is very beautiful....alpaca....great to knit with.....

Amazing Jitterbug ~

After casting on last June, the Jitterbug socks are done! Eight months for a beautiful pair of socks ~ I love the yarn, even with the pooling. I did a slip stitch to limit the pooling, but still had a fair amount on the feet. I made them using Queen Kahuna's patterns, and her great crochet cast off.
P.S. these are my first "2009 Resolution" completed!!

Aren't they stunning!!!!!

Check out how much yarn I have left... pretty close calculation, eh? (yup, about 8 inches)

Always Valentine's Day ~

When I arrived home from my wonderful weekend vacation, this is the BIG sign on our front door that greeted me. I spotted it from the driveway and was thrilled to have a Welcome Home sign ~ especially a Valentine! I love this!

See why I knit them such wonderful treasures!

She's BAAAACK!!!!!!!!

I am proud to announce that my wonderfully clever friend is back blogging! She tells great stories and is a great knitter! She was my knitting secret pal from a few years ago, and I am so blessed our paths crossed through the secret pal program. Welcome Back!!

(I found this cartoon on the MSN homepage)

check out her blog at: http://knittherapy.wordpress.com/

New Friends ~

As we were strolling on our vacation, I met this delightful chap. Come to find out, he is a relation to our Richie back at The Aviary.

P.S. He loved my hat!!!

In The Hood ~

(or am I on The Hood? I get confused... please bear with me....)

So, the vacation is still the topic of this week.... and my project of the weekend was my Central Park Hoodie. I hoped to finish it, however these projects always have a way of taking longer than planned. Here is how it looked when we arrived, I knit the left front, center and right front as one piece:

Here are the blocked sleeves (they were knit last July, but never blocked)

Progress to date: The front left was finished and the shoulder seams blocked and sewn, and then I started knitting The Hood!!!! I am several inches into The Hood ~ the yarn is the wonderful Decadence Alpaca and the sweater looks so great!

Together Again ~

We look forward to these weekends together to relax and knit, or relax and quilt...and lots of laughing too. This is our Presidents' Weekend ~ the 4th time for this weekend, the 5th time in total as our first trip here was in September 2003. Here are "the usual suspects" behind one of my sister's quilting masterpieces.

Hey, what movie is that quote from?

Amazing Projects ~

On our vacation, there was a flurry of amazing projects going on. Some cast on, some cast off and some were moving forward on projects of great patience and talent. Here is one that has been in progress for a few years ~ a stunning Fair Isle vest that was recently steeked! This weekend its shoulder seems were BLOCKED and sewn, and one arm opening ribbed... Bravo!!!!

Isn't this stunning!!!!!

Better with friends ~

We just finished a delightful weekend of knitting, quilting, laughing, shopping, strolling around and sight seeing....all of these are better with friends.

When it comes to sight seeing, that is better with friends, and even better with hats!!! :)

More about our weekend, coming soon!

Library Love ~

There are so many great knitting books in our library. At any given time, I have checked out at least 5 of them... (this week the number is closer to 12) some I check out each time I see it back on our neighborhood library shelf, knowing that this time I will take the time to ponder each & every pattern...other books I order "on hold" from other libraries and wait patiently for it to arrive to our neighborhood library..and then ~ POOF ~ the 3 weeks are up... and I have not given the patterns the attention they deserve. There is a time vacuum black hole experience with library books ~ when you are in the library, you know there will be plenty of time in the next 3 weeks to ponder each of the books thoughtfully and with purpose.....however as soon as you walk out of the library, the time suck of the black hole vacuum occurs, and the books are now over due....Could someone please explain this phenomenon? (thank you)

Arrival ~

Wow - another issue has arrived! Just in time for weekend reading and knitting fantasy time! I am very excited to read about the next greatest yarn, new patterns and dream about new projects!

Thanks again to Lisa for this birthday gift!!!

True Love ~

Yes, I love this hat ~ my only worry is that it appears long enough but I am just about ready to start the crown....so does that mean that the cuff will roll over and be wrong side out? I will let you know... For now, it is beautiful ~ so beautiful!

A Valentine shout out to my kids ~ since I know they are blogging today ~ and they are also my true loves!

I can't stop...

Here I go again.... I can't seem to stop knitting from this book, Hats On! So, here we have started the Triple-Patterned Watch Cap. You guessed the yarn already, yup - Cascade Cloud 9 as it is perfect for the color work here.

also a new technique to learn, the Twined Herringbone edge that turned out very nice, indeed!

(yes, it snowed the morning I took this picture ~ how fun is that?)

Done ~

This hat is so beautiful! I love this hat! I love this book ~ the pattern was so easy to follow, plus I learned the new 1Kb, 1P rib as well ~ this is so beautiful!

I am very excited about this one...

(I guess I get excited about all knitting projects that I finish!)

So Close ~

I am almost done knitting this beautiful hat! I love how it looks, and love the "new" k1B, P1 rib on the bottom. It really looks great and I think I will use it again.

P.S. Have I introduced you to this Chicken? She was a Christmas gift from my mom & dad and now resides in a place of honor on our fireplace mantel. We received her 2 other family members for Christmas 2007.

Beautiful ~

This hat is knitting beautifully ~ the pattern (from Hats On!) is great and the yarn is so soft and smooth to work with. It is the Cascade Cloud 9 again, and I still love it!

The pattern seems to appear magically as I knit!

Flat Stanley on tour ~

Flat Stanley went on tour in Michigan with my mom & Uncle Dave as part of a 5th grade assignment for my sweet E. When the great pictures of the tour came back, I noticed that my mom is wearing a great hat that I knit for her a few years ago, so as part of the "family hats" series, here is my mom in her hat ~ on tour with Flat Stanley....

picture 1: Stanley is the street near my junior high school, a perfect place to have a picture of Flat Stanley

picture 2 & 3: At our very favorite Dairy Deluxe....on Woodward Avenue (yes, the "famous" Woodward Avenue)

picture 4 & 5: Tiger Stadium (love the Carhart jacket!) and Henry Ford (not in a Carhart jacket)

picture 6 & 7 Ford Motor Company and Chrysler:

Doing my part (again) ~

After the stunning success of the Norwegian hat in the blue Cascade Cloud 9 yarn, I checked the website sale, and there were a few balls left ~ 1/2 price and free shipping.... so I ordered the rest of it..... you know, doing my part to help the economy... we all need to do our part and spend a bit of money as part of the stimulus package....

It is so beautiful to work with!

Stick to your ribs ~

This new hat pattern begins with a rib pattern that I have not done before ~ knit 1 in the back of the stitch and purl 1. The K1b makes the knit stitch more noticeable, sort of like the Vs of flying geese (in quilting) and I really like it.

Did I mention this is another hat from Hats On! book, knit in Cascade Cloud 9 yarn, very beautiful and very soft.

Serving up another hat!

Yes, another hat pattern from this lovely book, Hats On! This pattern is called Lusekofte Cap and it says it has Norwegian motifs, and mentions a Lusekofte sweater having this same "X-pattern" so we will see how this turns out..... I do love starting a new pattern!!

This yarn is, again, Cascade Cloud 9 in pink and white, very soft and beautiful.

Alpaca Crown ~

The Turkish hat, from the book Hats On, is looking great with the black alpaca crown. This hat is for my mom, for her birthday February 28 (she is a leap year baby!).

Cable Brim ~

The cable brim on the Turkish hat is turning out to be very pretty. I did find some perfect black alpaca at our local yarn store for the crown of the hat. I am already a little nervous to pick up the 126 stitches around the edge of the cable brim ~ but it will be fine..... (did I mention this is a hat from the Hats On book?)

Family, part 2 ~

Even Rockin13 wanted to wear my hats ~ she wore this one out in public ~ in fact she asked if this hat could be her hat, and not be donated to the bazaar .......wow........

really, she did ~ no kidding ~ amazing, eh! She even wore it to church!

Super Bowl Sox ~

I worked on the Jitterbug socks during the Superbowl and I am still not done.....

Another start ~

Here is the start of the Turkish Cable hat from the Hats On! book that the Norwegian hat came from. The beginning is a 17 stitch band with a 6 stitch cable that will be the brim of the hat, and then once the brim is done and sewn, I will pick up stitches for the crown. I have not done this before, so this is a good challenge for me. This will be knit for my Mom's birthday ~ she is a Leap Year baby!
I am using alpaca, so I have to find some black alpaca worsted weight so this hat will match her black and purple coat. Hmmmm, back to the yarn shop......