Yoke Progress ~

 #birthdayknitting #aftermajordanceparty #throwbacksweater #woolstokyarn #moreyarnplease #probablynotfinishingthisweekend

Birthday Handspun Cast On!

Using my handspun and hand dyed yak silk from our 2016 Dye Day, I cast on the Diamond Cowl. I love this yarn! I love Birthdays!!
continuing the tradition of the birthday cast on  from  here and here and here....seems to be mostly socks....and like here,here, here and here.  

Finally Knitting Today!

Almost time for bed, and I am finally getting time on my day off for some knitting. Where does the time go???  Pulled out this lovely Jitterbug yarn and "Orbit" shawl by Janina Kallio, as I cast on for my birthday and have not knit on it since then - abandoned for holiday knitting!  So, today I chose this for my fifteen minutes of knitting.  Love this yarn, love the pattern and love the pattern designer!

Birthday Cast On ~

Of course we have to have our traditional Birthday Cast On today so we can think about the joys of birthday events each time we are able to knit on the Birthday Cast On project.  This year's winner goes to a Janina Kallio design, the Orbit shawl, using some lovely Jitterbug with my Signature Needles.  All good knitterly blessings for a project!!!

Road Trip Birthday ~

For the past five years, our family has taken a road trip on my birthday. This year our trip was to Spokane to watch our 15 year old run in the Tracy Walters Cross Country Invitational with her team. Fabulous drive over there, and cast on two (yes, two) projects that will count toward my "Birthday cast-on tradition" this year.

This first cast on are socks for my 15 year old cross country runner, in the colorway we bought together in Bellingham during college orientation for my 18 year old.  Also using a new brand of needles that I scored years ago on Ebay but had never used.  So far, they are working well.  Plus, I love the twist of this yarn - a great choice!

The second cast on are socks for my mum for Christmas. She cannot wear wool, so these are soft and cozy Alpaca with a Twist.
She says that she wears the other alpaca socks I have knitted for her all the time, and she needs new ones...so I had better get knitting!

Birthday scarf ~

Almost done with this lovely cashmere scarf, and wondering why scarves take sooooo long to knit? Perhaps it is the repetition of four rows, over and over and over, with no change in turning a heel or working the cuff....almost hypnotic...

Still so lovely, yet takes so long to knit...yarn is so soft and a delight to work with...love these sherbert colors in the summer sunshine....This will be a perfect birthday knit for my sister....

Birthday toes ~

As I mentioned in my birthday post, I did cast on a birthday project on my birthday. I told you that I would tell you later, and now it is time.  I cast on the very interesting and lovely sock flat that was given to me by the Jitteryknitter, as a new Rabbit Hole to launch through....

I am loving this yarn as it is soft and colorful, and fun to unravel as I knit.  I have not reached the neon lime yet, but certainly looking forward to knitting the neon lime!!!! Another perfect birthday gift from the Jitteryknitter! Hurrah!
(how could one not be excited to knit with neon lime???)

Birthday Cast On ~

For those of you that know me, you might remember that I have a quirky way of celebrating my birthday by casting on a special project, like here, here, here and here.  This year is no exception. In the weeks before my birthday, I begin to fantasize all the projects that could be "the one" that gets the special award of being, "my birthday" project.

This year, I officially cast on a super deluxe project, however I have no pictures of "the first" cast on for this year's birthday. You will be seeing that project soon.  With this amazing surprise of new Signature Needles, size 9, I cast on my most delicious handspun, moonbeams and polka dots! This scarf is going to be fabulous!  Just looking at the cast on, with this glorious yarn and amazing needles, I know this will be a stunning piece!
P.S.  I think I received size 9s as I was about to borrow the Jitteryknitter's pair again....She worries about the way I bond with her special Signatures! I love these needles!

Finally Finished ~

Hurrah!  The birthday socks are now cast off!  Just a week late, but still in the month of her birthday, so I think that counts as a wonderful and timely gift!  As she saw me casting off, I asked if I should wrap them for her. She said she would rather just have them now since they would not be a surprise. So, as the first one came off the needles, I handed it to her to be sure the cast off edge was stretchy enough. She tried it on and it was perfect.  She waited for me to cast off the second one, and I handed it over for her to try on, and it was perfect too... and I asked for them back so I could weave in the last cast off bit of yarn, and she said, "Nope, they are done now!!!"

 

I've not seen them off her feet since then!!!  Hurrah for kids that love their hand knits!!!

Almost done ~

With the lovely weather, I was able to knit more on these birthday socks today. I was helped by a very large cup of iced coffee, and thankfully it is one that I kept refilling from my lovely coffee maker!  I still love this yarn, although the dark parts of the multi-color are the hardest to knit with the pattern, so I'm already dreaming about the next cast-on socks for this daughter is going to be some wild rainbow bright yarn....

I just may have some wild rainbow bright yarn in my stash..... (ya think???)

Mum's Birthday Shawl too~

Here are some better pictures of mum's shawl, just before wrapping it up to send. It turned out so lovely. The alpaca was a joy to knit with, as always. I kept knitting the lace repeat of the shawl pattern until I was almost out of the two skeins. So lovely!!

Mum's Birthday Shawl ~

I have been thinking of knitting mum something for her "real" leap day birthday since the new year began...she does not do well with wool, so I had some llama silk blend, plus some alpaca in the pondering cycle. The decision was made when we were leaving for our vacation weekend and decided to stop at one of our local yarn store's Going Out of Business Sale...and there was my answer. Alpaca with a twist in lovely green, at 45% off.... so, since I couldn't really decide, and I know that mum loves green, I bought two skeins of each green - the dark green and the medium green. Since they were 45% off, the other two were almost free, right? The first night of our vacation, I was going to cast on, but was talked into casting on my Ms Gusset handspun... easy to talk me into that...and after blocking that shawl on Saturday afternoon, I cast on mum's shawl and knit like crazy for the rest of the weekend - pausing only on Sunday to work on the knitting project for the church (Sunday would be a good day for the church project, right?). Once I came back to the real world of family and job, the knitting slowed down but I still finished it that next weekend, blocked it on Sunday and 2- Day-Air to mum for her special birthday! Hurrah!

Leap Year Celebrity ~

My mum is a leap year baby, and this year she really gets a day all to herself. Typically we celebrate all February, and part of March, but this year she gets a lot of celebrations, plus her very own day!Happy Birthday mum!!!! I'll show you tomorrow what special knitting I did for mum.

Birthday fun ~

We celebrated Debi's birthday on Saturday, complete with knitting and dinner. Complete, too, with Signature Needles as her gift from us. What a great tradition this has become, as it is almost worth it to get a little older just to get a pair of these amazing needles!Here we are on the beach before dinner, walking along by the ferry dock and having a whale of a time!

Sweet Pea Silk ~

The Sweet Pea silk from The Natural Dye Studio is lovely to work with. The colors are amazing and the yarn is oh-so-soft and smooth. Knitting this silk with the Signature Needles is a lovely matching, and I'm enjoying this Birthday Shawl knitting.The directions for this pattern are a bit trickier for knitting in a group, but so far I've done OK...but I do not want to mess up on this one!

Is there cake?

Close your eyes and imagine celebrating your birthday in the best way, ever. Let's think about what would make it perfect........it would have best friends.....check......some spa time for a massage.....check....some knitting in an outdoor cafe.....check....another best friend arrives.....check.....on to your favorite knitting shop....check... getting some coffee on the way.....check.....arriving at the knitting shop to a surprise of another best friend there..... check..... knitting at your favorite shop with your favorite friends until the shop closes...check.....finding some great sales before the shop closes... check....having the shop owner and staffers sit with us to chat and laugh.... check....getting a recommendation to a great outdoor cafe from one of our favorite knitting staffers...check....waiting on the dock, in the sunshine, while waiting for our perfect table on the deck....check...watching a lovely outdoor wedding next door in the lovely sunshine.... check...chatting with your best friends until well after the perfect sunset.....check...oh, and YES, there is cake!!!!

Birthday cast on ~

Since I have to work on my birthday (I know, it seems to be unfair, however I am very very grateful to have a job...just wanted to get that up front) I've been worried about my annual, "Cast on a project on my birthday" as then I can refer to it as my Birthday Socks or Birthday Scarf or Birthday whatever.... So far I've done that here and here and here....seems to be mostly socks....Here is my birthday shawl that I've cast on, early, I know, but I thought I needed to be sure to have a birthday cast on before my work day.....This is that wonderful Natural Dye Studio yarn, 100% silk, Precious and I love it! The shawl pattern is called Crow Prints, and I saw it on a knitter while at Madrona Fiber Arts ~ her shawl was beautiful, so I added it to my wish list! (I'm thinking I need to cast on some Birthday socks this weekend!)

Birthday cast on ~

After pondering what yarn I should cast on for my birthday.... as it is a tradition for me to cast on a delightful project on my birthday, so the rest of the year I can refer to the project as, "my birthday socks" or "my birthday socks" (I guess the projects have typically been socks...)

This year, I thought I should cast on my handspun. I wasn't sure of the needle size so I went big, and cast on for a hat. But, I needed to either have a bigger needle, or start with yarn a few feet into the plying job that I did on my handspun....

so I'll have to cast on again, soon!!

Birthday Manos ~

Remember a few posts ago when I was loving Jitteryknitter's Manos? I started digging around my stash and I didn't have any. Then I started digging around my existing projects, and voila!

Manos is the yarn of my Whidbey Island scarf. Very beautiful, still, and so on my Birthday road trip today I knit the Manos. I still love this yarn! P.S. I still need to cast on a project for my Birthday.... what shall it be?

Knitting funnies ~

I forgot to mention this hysterical birthday card from Debbie Doo. It came with Mr. Fuzzy and they both cracked me up!

The inside says, "Don't get unraveled, have a great birthday"

Pretty funny, eh ~ cracks me up that the sheep's name is Jeff....