RHINEBECK '09

The Team! Pat (left), Me and Marcy(Right).
This was only stop #2, The Fold for some Blue Moon Fiber.

Just after lunch and chatting with fellow Ravelers we head to the car to lighten our load.

Yes there were sheep.

The collective loot! Lots of yummy stuff and some fun stuff too! Wonderful time with friends and fiber! Can't wait till next year!

For more photos take a look at Flickr.

Whoah!

Just for Giggles

I made the comment "My craft/guest room is overflowing with yarn. The challenge was given "I'd like to see pictures of this craft room.
Well, here you go. It's not alot compared to some people I hear talk, but it is more than I can handle.

That table is my scrap booking table and the large basket usually sits under it.
The big basket is filled with all sorts of yarn, mostly worsted weight, some singles and some enough for sweaters. The teddy bear basket has the skeins for Shalor. The small basket is filled with singles of worsted weights for hats/mittens. The chilli bowl box is filled with left over sock yarn.

This is the top shelf of the closet, the basket has yarn for 2 sweaters. Under that the bin contains cotton yarns for sweaters. On the top right is skeins for the little girl bulky cardigan I am making and the 2 bins below contain sock yarn (the one one top is Cherry Tree Hill).

This 2 drawer is sitting on the floor of the closet and contains mostly yarns for sweaters....lots.

And this shelf is just chock full of sock yarn. It is hard to see, but there are 2 balls on top shelf waiting to be knit, the basket on the right of those contains sport weight yarns. 2 shelves down in the pouch behind the pinecone is another sweater waiting to be completed. and the overflowing basket below is all finger weight yarns.

OK, maybe I shouldn't go to Rhinebeck tomorrow!
Off to knit RIGHT NOW!
feeling ashamed

It is Fall here in New England

I can't believe it has been such a long time since I last post. As soon as school started for the girls, it got quite busy around here. I am only just getting used to the hectic schedule. My girls are only doing a fraction of the after school activities that others are doing, and I feel overwhelmed and like a taxi driver. They are only in Third grade, they say it gets worse...so I best get used to it.

Well, I have finished a few knitting projects since I was last here, that's good news anyway!

But the bad news first. I've lost everything on my PC. My photos for the last few years, my saved patterns, my designs (those published and those not), etc. We lost both the primary and backup discs. Bummer! Well, a chance to start anew, and hubby has set up a whole new backup system. I will also take the time to creat CD's of photos from here on in.

Let's see what have I completed, that I have photos to show....

Pattern: Stricken by CookieA.
Yarn: The Painted Tiger, Tiger Cub in Rusty
Needles:US1 (2.25mm)
Pattern: A test knit of Everthing's Connected by Jeannie Cartmel
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill supersock solid in Burgundy
Needles: US1 (2.25mm)

Pattern: Cascade Christmas Stocking
Yarns: A bunch of left overs in Blues. Sarah's favorite color.
Needles: US7

I have also made some mittens in preparation for winter's imminent arrival. I'll get photos for next time.

Keep Woolly Warm this Winter!

Fall Sale

Just a quick note to let you know that I am having a sale at my Etsy shop. I have some gorgeous new fabrics I am going to use to make some Fall bags. New shape and style too. But I need to clean up some inventory to make room for the new. Check it out and tell your friends.

Happy Belated Birthday Mom!

Better late than never! I simply love the way this bag came out. I was not sure how it would work out, I have never put a zipper in a large sized bag. But it worked perfectly. My daughter modeled for me and you can see it is just adorable. I think you will really enjoy the bag, Mom. Happy Belated Birthday!

What a Mess!

See that tangled mess? Well, that is after working on untangling it for an hour when I thought to take a photo. It is 4 balls of yarn and what a mess!

Every morning the neighbor's dog, Koda, comes over to play with Max for about an hour. Well, this day, Max went up to Koda's because our lawn had just been fertilized. I brought my socks to knit while I supervised the dogs. Not that they really need it, but this is new territory for Max, so I didn't want him getting into any trouble.

Well, Max did grab something he probably should not have, so I put my knitting down and went to retrieve said item. When I turned around.....to my horror.....Koda had my project in his mouth.

Picture this. Very happy dog looking at me with mischief in his eyes. I move to approach him and he excitedly runs away. He stops, looks at me and again runs away. No matter how I screech STOP, he is having way too much fun to listen.

Now, picture this, Koda has run around the playhouse, around the sand box, around the swing set, around the deck furniture, up the hill, around and around again. Imagine a gigantic spider web. Then Koda finally drops the knitting and steps on it. Here is the good news, the wooden US1 needles were jammed into the ground, but did not break!

Humor me for just one more moment. Now I am running around trying desperately to gather all the yarn (almost 4 entire balls worth) while both dogs think playing in the web of yarn is the best playdate ever!

The socks are still being knit. They are riddled with dog hairs and sand.

I hope you enjoyed my story. I am able to laugh about it now, but it did take me a day or two to see the humor in it.

Socks for Christy

Feels so good to be "done". Almost a year ago Christy and I did a yarny package swap. I set up her package to contain "sock club kits". Each kit had yarn and a pattern associated with it. One kit just said "pattern to be designed". Well, it has taken me almost a year to come up with just the right pattern for Christy. Something I know she would love. I think I succeeded. Here it is:

Socks for Christy

-Sock is knit toe-up

-Knit in the round using magic loop method.

-Foot is worked over 65sts and leg 68sts.

-Fits my foot of 9.25” circumference at widest part, 10” foot lenght.

-Uses an unusual gusset and a stretchy bind off.

-Pattern is Charted.

-Leg can be knit shorter if desired, I enjoyed using the entire skein of yarn (for a change).

-Lots of FUN! and looks gorgeous on.

$3 USD
Downloadable pdf format.

Two new Bags available on Etsy

Just a quick note to let everyone know about these 2 bags. People seem to really like the 14" wide project bags so I am trying to sew some up in between dealing with kids on summer vacation. It's not easy (ha).

The bag above is a gorgeous Teal on Chocolate. The deep brown color was hard to capture on camera, it keeps coming up looking black. Trust me, it's lovely!

This bag below has a few issues. I am listing it as a "second" and at a discounted price. For some silly reason I forgot to put in the tabs (ha ha). Also, the lining came out a bit wonky, it is perfectly functional just looks a little funky; but, it's on the inside.

Yarn not included (sorry, chuckle).

Christy

I celebrated my birthday in Spain this year....I'll get to that in a post soon....I promise (chuckle). It was wonderful, sunny, dry and hot.

When I returned from my trip my friend Christy sent me a wonderful gift. She sent me these 4 beads. They are gorgeous, just the right size and weight for stitch markers. They are made by Glory Bead Glass Studio and are as lovely in real life as in her photos. I have made myself this gorgeous set of stitch markers and I plan to work with her to make stitch markers to go with my bags in my etsy shop. What FUN!

And this photo is my new yarn acquisition, it is a yarn called Woobu in colorway Footzey Foo.

It is a Blue Moon Fiber Arts Yarn that is 60% Merino and 40% Bambu. It feels wonderful against the skin, is soft and luxurious and I don't know yet what I will make with it.

The first photo is taken without the flash and is most representative of the skein. The second is taken with the flash and shows a bit of the sheen of the Bambu. Lovely isn't it. Now to knit a swatch and watch how it knits up.

So much to talk about....

So much has happened since school finished I don't even know where to start! It's been wonderful, but a bit too busy all at once. Anyway.....

I think I would like to start with a pair of socks (what else is new) LOL.

I call these EasyGoing!
I got this lovely, yet busy yarn in the May RSC kit. The pattern that arrived with it is lovely, yet busy, as well. I just didn't have the heart to actually pair the two together. Instead I will use a solid yarn for the pattern and I winged this pattern to really show off the hand dyed yarn. I got a few requests for the pattern, so I went ahead and wrote it up. It is pretty simple, but just enough fun without taking away from the yarn. There are so many gorgeous hand dyed yarns out there, that I think this pattern will suite many. I only wrote up one size, but it is easy to adjust; just do more knits. The pattern has not been test knit, so if you have a problem please let me know. If you love it, let me know too! I'd love to see photos of finished socks, so if I don't already subscribe to your blog, let me know when you post a photo so I can see it.

You can get the pdf file from HERE or from the Ravelry Library HERE.

Enjoy!

End of School year busy!

WOW, the last month has been so very busy! Friday was the girls last day of school with a celebration party in the evening. Tuesday (4am) we take off for Spain! I can't recall the last vacation we took (it's been too long), I am hoping to get some major relaxation and fun in during these 10 days. Here is our itinerary: Leave Boston 6am June 16th. Arrive London, have dinner and sleep for a few hours. Early Wednesday fly to Malaga, Spain. Travel to the In-Laws apartment, food shop, deal with jetlag and get settled in. Not sure what is up for Thursday. If I have anything to say about it, relax on the Beach! Friday catch the high speed train for Madrid. Meet up with Sister-in-law for a fun filled weekend of sight seeing. Monday, back to Malaga. Wed back to Boston. Whew! Sounds busy to me.

Let's see what we've been up to.....First I'd like a share a couple of photos from the Year End Celebration. The kids put on a lovely show, about "Possibilities" and "I'm Gonna Be", with song and dance. Fun was had by all!

The previous weekend our Brownie Troop went on it's first overnight camping trip. All the girls were amazing. The bonds they developed with eachother, working together to cook, clean and play, was all priceless!

They learned about fire safety, lighting matches, boating, swimming, crafts and more.

On the knitting front I have been working diligently on a Mystery Sock Pattern for the Aug/Sept Solid Socks Knit Along. I have many terrific knitters helping me find errors as well as making suggestions for a perfect pattern. It has thus far been a wonderful experience. I cannot show you a picture, as that would spoil the mystery, but I can invite you to join us! If you are a knitter and have not yet gotten your account in Ravelry, you should, it is a great resource as well as lots of fun. Here is where you can join the KAL for knitting socks in Solid or Semi-Solid yarns.

I have finished other socks too, here is a pair made specifically for my Mom. She picked the yarn and I built the socks.
Pattern: Kai-Mei from Sock Innovations by Cookie A.
Yarn: Lots of left over pieces.

One last thing I would like to share before I go on vacation.
A new bag style, which seems to be quite popular!
The 14 inch wide wedge style knit project bag.

Have a GREAT start of Summer and I'll be back end of the month!
Happy Knitting!!!

Stop Growing Max!

This is Max and Koda. Koda is our neighbor's dog and a good playmate. Koda is one year old, and Max is almost as big as he is. Time to stop growing Max!

Spring Bags, new size!

First I want to thank everyone for the well wishes for the Dance Recital. It went quite well. The little girls were little ballerinas! Catherine remembered to smile and Sarah was ever so serious. They both performed perfectly. We were not allowed to photograph during the performance, but we did get a few after the show shots.

They were so very pleased, and can you believe they asked to have Pizza for dinner. Then they spent the evening dancing throughout the house. Too cute. They are both wearing their butterfly clips in their hair today. Catherine is wearing her costume under her sundress to school today :-)

Here are the new Spring Line of Bags. Although I personally love my small bags, I have had many requests to make larger bags. So here we are (approximately 11inches by 9 inches, with 9.5 inch zipper opening and 2.5inch base). I hope they are perfectly right for everyone. Oooh and do you know what I like most about this size (for me)? Well, whenever I pack my luggage for a trip, I always hate to just put my undergarments in the suitecase. It gives me an icky unclean feeling, well, these bags are perfect for packing those unmentionables for my trips! The fun patterns have me all excited for my coming trip to Spain in June.

And now for a visit from Max

See that fun toy? Grandma brought it for Max and it has lasted all of 3 days before he was able to start shredding it. He is definitely a puppy in a big dogs body. LOL
"OK, if I must pose for a picture, this is the best you are going to get, I must chew the stick!)

Stash Busting Serpentine Socks

I simply LOVE toe up socks. Look at those little toes, are they not adorable? And they grow into a really cool sock.

Now this particular pair of socks are a bit out of the ordinary. They were FUN and will certainly be fun to wear. I was using up some left over balls of yarn in the green, it just was not enough, and instead of giving up I tacked on another left over.
Pattern : Serpentine Socks by WendyKnits, from her new book Socks from the Toe Up.
Yarn : Blue Moon Fiber Arts, Socks that Rock Mediumweight in Lucky and Muddy Autumn Rainbow.
Needles : One 32" circular in size 3.0mm / US2.5

And here is Max playing in the sprinkler. He is quite funny these days, he is a little puppy in a big dogs body. He loves to play with everyone, and is convinced everyone wants to play with him.

Tomorrow is my girl's ballet recital, I hope I have some photos to share.

SOCKS! Eunice by Cookie A.

I got another sock knitting book. So much fun! Although all these new sock patterns are taking away from my need to design my own. So many lovely socks!!!

Pattern: Eunice by Cookie A. from Sock Innovations
Yarn: Araucania Ranco Solid in Purple
Needles: US1 / 2.25mm
A wonderfully fun pair of socks, worth all the work.