My project ~

I decided to knit something of MINE now that all my holiday knitting is complete, and the nearest deadline for knitted gifts is a few months away....

I pulled out my jeweled cowl, and it is so lovely!

I love the rows when I knit the beaded stitch after adding the bead in a clever way with the crochet hook. Only halfway done, but it looks amazing!

Fabulous Fuchsia ~

I scored this malabrigo lace at my favorite yarn shop for 50% off during their anniversary sale. I will make the Jewel Cowl (free pattern on Ravelry). There is a beautiful sample in my favorite yarn shop, and each time I see it, I vow to knit this cowl.... I need to get beads and a crochet hook soon, so I can cast on!

As I was looking at it, while knitting on these socks, I noticed how similar the colors are....fuchsia is so lovely!

Are you happy now?

I was sooooo pleased with my Shibui cloud progress, knitting the mohair did not seem to fiddly although very thin, but I was happy to get the beads on with no sweat...knitting up this cloud of lovely greens... I was so excited to show this to Jitteryknitter, as I knew she would be excited, as she's the one that found this yarn on sale in Oregon.... I new she would be excited about a new cast on, and I knew she would be excited that yet another project was on the needles....the first thing she says is....."Those beads don't match".........*sigh* then, "You need to get different beads," Well, I made her go with me, as I would just pick out the same beads...because they looked fine to me.......but nooooooooooooo.....So we (she) picked out new beads and I ripped out and cast on again..... Are you happy now????

Cast on Shibui ~

Once the beads were threaded on this lovely yarn, I had to cast on right away. I was curious how knitting with this cobweb would be ~ worried it might be very tricky and cumbersome to knit with something as thick as a thread... oh, but how lovely it is!Not sure how easy or difficult it will be, but it is reminding me a bit of my qiviuk scarf yarn, but not quite as soft :) With these Signature Needles, the color contrast is so beautiful, and the knitting is such a delight so far!Do the beads look as if they are matching a bit better? (not so much, you say?) Well, they look fine to me....:)

Shibui and beads ~

Since this was my birthday week, and I had to work on my birthday...I decided to do something reckless and dangerous. Yes...I did.... on my lunch break, after walking through the park, I walked to the bead store and picked out beads to match my Shibui Cloud....you might be thinking, What is dangerous about that? (although Marion and Lisa are already saying, "Noooooooooooo, don't do it!!!!")but I did anyway.... I picked out beads from a very very small selection (only 3 shades of green) and I picked out the closest match, which (of course) doesn't really match.....(*ahem*) but I had a feeling that I wouldn't be able to match the colors...(so, does that make them match better?)as that is dangerous ground for me, as All Colors Look Good To Me (except mixing browns and pinks - Eeew!) from these pictures, the beads and yarn look like they match....but Marion will tell you....."not so much"

Holiday bazaar time ~

Although it is just May on the calendar, we are getting ready for the holiday bazaar in November. I've knit a few hats already, plus I did these beading projects today. The first are snowflake necklaces, with the snowflake being a scrabble tile...



These "badge necklaces" are for name tags.... These two are prototypes to test out the badge holder.



I'd hoped to knit today, but didn't......rats......
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Christmas continues too ~

There is more to Christmas preparation than knitting. Really... OK, Amazing as this sounds...I know... My sister and I spent last night beading and really enjoyed ourselves and all the creativity that surrounds us when we bead. She is very good at beading, and I am learning a lot each time we bead together.

Here is what I ended up with ~ several beautiful necklaces!

Aren't they fun!

Bazaar Times ~

Time for our church bazaar, and here are the knit hats that I donated.


The total this year was four hats, as I kept knitting for our family instead of the church. The kids & I did bake 10+ dozen hockey puck cookies (yum!) and did some awesome beading of necklaces & bracelets to donate as well....(here are the bracelets made by sweet E ~ beautiful, eh!!)

I do hope the sale goes well! P.S. our church made $11,000+ at the bazaar this weekend! That's $11,000+ for mission work! The sale went really well ~ Bravo!

Male knitting ~

We are still camping at the river. We are sitting around the camp fire, and I'm knitting. Our friend, Chris (of the Seahawks hat fame) announces, "This is male knitting" and shows us his project of "mail" and we are astonished.

This is the bracelet that I really liked ~ the Byzantine weave or Celtic twist ~ it would be a perfect necklace (hint hint)

Here is Chris in his male mail knitting glory (actually its more like wire work in beading, but since he called it male knitting, who am I to argue?)

Here is Chris's favorite bracelet ~ he calls it a manly one....I would agree....

Stay tuned for tomorrow's fashion show....

Sisters fun ~

Yes, we are having a blast in Sisters Oregon at the Outdoor Quilt Show weekend. My sister and I are trying to figure out how many years we have been making the trip to Sisters in July, as we know we missed a few years when my kids were wee ones... but not too many years.... In the last 5 years we've been taking a sewing class the Friday before the Outdoor Quilt Show, and that has been a good additional tradition for us.

Here we are during another great sister's tradition ~ an island vacation for relaxing, knitting, sewing, beading and great friends!!!

Do you recognize these hats, from one of my favorite knitting books, Hats On? These were such fun to knit!

My sheep safely graze ~

My sister is very clever with colors and fabric and beads, and also could beat Martha in a bake off. That is just a quick introduction to her, as I know I've talked about her before. At our Yarn Yoga this week, she asked the group if she could, "make a presentation" and we all looked a bit quizzical.... as there are not a lot of "presentations" made at our Yarn Yoga events.... She pulled out 4 little bags and presented one to each of us... and in each were a pair of darling sheep. They are earrings, and as cute as can be! She had seen the beads at her last visit to Shipwreck Beads, and had to buy all of them to make earrings for her knitting pals! I love the green noses!

Thanks, K, they are so perfect!!!

Really done

With help from my sister (the rock star bead expert ~ is it redundant to be a rock star and an expert?) the sari silk bag is really done ~ Officially. Period. Done. She had two perfect glass beads ~ gold & yellow, and about the size of a quarter. They blend perfectly with the colors of the sari silk. I sewed a silk loop and attached the beads for the purse closure (get it 'closure' for the purse and 'closure' for the knitting project, clever, eh?).
~ the purse does look really great! Can you see the glass beads?

Counting blessings

We had a delightful Thanksgiving filled with an amazingly perfect dinner and great family time ~ lots of laughs and time to relax and enjoy the day! Here is my rock star beading sister being creative with colors and textures as she makes awesome jewelry. I am enjoying her company and hoping to glean some of her beading knowledge ~ she is such fun to be with and she is really good at beading!

Sari Silk Done

The knitting is done for my little Sari Silk purse. I need to figure out a closure for the front. The pattern calls for a beaded weight to hold the purse closed, so I'll have to think about what will work. Since my sister is so good with beads, I will ask her advice about a closure. I also worked on the Central Park Hoodie tonight ~ that yarn (Decadence by KnitPicks) is so soft and smooth ~ and I feel like I will be knitting on it forever!!

Bazaar Beads

Instead of knitting tonight (a bad tradition to begin the last two posts with "instead of knitting tonight" so I need to get back to knitting tomorrow night, OK?) I worked on finishing beading projects for our church bazaar this weekend. We did a lot of bazaar beading during our ocean weekend, but not all projects were complete. I assembled the clasps on 5 bracelets and wire wrapped one as well. P.S. We also started sewing a Halloween costume tonight!!!

An aside here: My sister-in-law, Suzie, is a Rock Star beading talent ~ her creations have done well in competitions in New York and she is very inspirational plus a patient teacher (bonus for the rest of us!). My sister is on her way to becoming a Rock Star ~ no gold ribbons in competitions yet ~but she has color sense and balance with her jewelry pieces already, and is learning as many techniques as she can find classes. I would bet she will be a Rock Star before the holidays are done, as she is getting a lot of practice for her talents. Both my daughters could be Rock Stars with some training as both have a sense of color and balance like my sister, and I think they will both continue to practice since they are so good at beading ~ plus the ladies at church ask for their creations at the bazaar!!! I am not a Rock Star, but love the sparkles and colors ~ plus I am getting pretty good at putting the clasps on!

Socks on the Beach

A great vacation is defined by relaxing with family and knitting ~ a bonus for all when the vacation includes The Ocean and a beach! Lots of walking along the beach and lots of knitting. Also some bead work as we created treasures to sell at our Church Bazaar next weekend. We beaded most of Saturday evening and part of Sunday in the hopes that these treasures will sell at the Bazaar and make lots of money for mission work. The view from the condo was beautiful at all times ~ high tide, low tide, crashing waves and calm water ~ always entertaining to watch, and relaxing as well. As for the socks, I have done one repeat of the 11 row lace pattern for the Monkey Socks, and they look great ~ however I'm not sure Alpaca Silk is the best for lace socks ~ but it feels so great while knitting, and rockin13 tried them on and still loves them, too! A great weekend was enjoyed by all of us!!!!!!

Hoodie Invention

Remember when I told you about my invention with the knitting bead counters that would cue me to which cable to do....well, I have created another invention that is more brilliant (is that possible, you ask?) than the beaded counters ~ although not as pretty to view. The invention uses the bigger plastic stitch markers and I've written the "next directions" on the marker with a sharpie pen. Can you see this in the picture "K14" and "A10" written on the markers? "K14" means knit 14 stitches and "A10" means knit the A cable for 10 stitches. Not so pretty, but now I do not need to refer to the paper pattern (until I have completed 13 inches of this cable pattern for the fronts & back). Pretty clever, eh? You will also notice that I keep the beautiful whimsy of the bead counters as they are really pretty to have dangling on my knitting!
(also, check out my great progress!!)

More Progress!

I've made great progress on the Central Park Hoodie this weekend. I've finished the ribbing on the right front, back and left front pieces that I am knitting "all in one piece"(Yes, I like short cuts and do not like seaming). When I was done with the ribbing, it came time to knit from the "A chart" and "B chart" and "C chart" for the cables. I thought of a way to make this a bit easier, so I wouldn't have to keep checking the directions. With the help of my wonderful and talented sister, I was able to create beaded knitting counters that include "A", "B" and "C" beads. I place them at the beginning and end of the chart area so it won't matter which row (even or odd) I'm on, the bead counter "A" will indicate it is time to begin an "A chart" bit of knitting. Here is a picture of the hoodie with the bead counters ~ although it is hard (impossible?) to see the "A" and "B" and "C" beads ~ trust me that they look lovely! I made them in red, yellow and blue primary colors (get it? A, B, C...... I knew you'd get it!) and the "A" have blue beads dangling, and "B" beads have red beads dangling and the "C" beads have yellow beads dangling. The double orange bead counter indicates the right front and back 'seam' and the double red bead counter indicates the back and left front 'seam'. Pretty clever and talented sisters, eh? My sister helped me with the bead layout as she is great with colors and sparkles ~ we make a great team!!!