knitted gifts, lacy scarf

Thanks to Andrea, I have a copy of Last Minute Knitted Gifts, but I lent it to someone and it hasn't come home. Fortunately I have one of these scarves that I whipped up for myself a few years ago. Now I've made several as gifts. Quick and easy, they are perfect for those office gift swaps. One skein of KnitPicks lace has yeilded FOUR of these scarves! The small white scarf is only loosely based on that pattern and is for a little girl who watches her brother at Kendo practice. These are not outerwear scarves, but fashionable scarves a la the 50's when a scarf at your neck was a perfect light accessory.

Thanksgiving on the road and other fun

After finally recovering from our youngest's bar mitzvah celebration, we tackled Thanksgiving. Most years we travel. when we were in OK we came to TN when we are in TN we travel to OK. Make sense? It's because it's a 4 day weekend and the easiest travel time of the year. This year my brother and sister in law are cooking. Mom is making her fabulous dressing and we are in charge of desserts, rolls and wine. Easy(not) and Messy. Here are some fun pics to give you a "taste" of the journey. Maxwell made a chocolate fudge cake (from scrach, no boxes here!) and raspberry reduction for filling. Chocolate ganache on top just to guild the lily. William made triple berry pie. He fell asleep and wouldn't wake up to help with the crust so I did not make pretty tops and forgot to cut slits in the top and it bubbled over wickedly. The pumpkin pie was great. The clover rolls were good, but the Parker House rolls were over done (though they got eaten). We enjoyed letting the cousins just hang out for 4 days of games, games, movies and bowling. We didn't watch TV once the entire time! They were busy with hide and seek, board games, Wii and basketball. Thanks to Andy and Roxanne for opening their home!!! Thanks to Mom and Dad for opening their home and giving up a bedroom to us. The boys had a great time at the gun range with dad one afternoon too and Ginger and I had a wonderful visit with my Aunt Mary and Uncle David and cousin Tim. Too bad I forgot the camera for that one.

Bar Mitzvah celebration

Our youngest celebrated this milestone a few weeks ago. It has taken several weeks for me to recover from the exhaustion. The food was plentiful, the decorations perfect and the guests charming. Here are a few photos to give you a glimpse into the wonderful evening.

Birthday lunch at Texas de Brazil!

We had a great time! Using a birthday coupon, we saved 25% too. William ate from the salad bar for a second time while he was waiting for his dessert to show up. The staff was stunned. Teenage boys do eat and this is all good food. Over all it appears the favorite was House Special Tenderloin. I love the asparagus soup and had that for appetizer and then later dessert!

Bar Mitzvah sweater FINISHED!

I don't remember, would have to check email records, but think I frogged this sucker a smidge over a week ago? One of the photos is from before the frog. I actually finished it, had him try it on and frogged it without even taking a photo. It was just too small. Reconfigured everything, panicked, regrouped and CO 2 more times. Here is the FO. It's great. Basically a seamless yoke using some figures from Handy Book of Sweater Patterns. Knit out of Swish worsted weight in "truffle", yoke in "bare" with scraps of swish and WoolWase for the brown. Ribbing on size 5's, balance knit on size 8 's. Sleeves knit two at a time on two circs. Finished size is 38 1/2. He can wear this for a couple of years. Lots of room to grow! He loves it and adores how great it matches the shirt he's wearing to his party. We're counting down the days...tomorrow is his birthday and he gets to go to Texas de Brazil. hey, a guy only turns a teenager ONCE.

Left handed knitting gets reviewed

Theresa, at Garden and Hearth, a fabulous website/blog, has graciously interviewed me and posted a great article at her site. the only thing I take exception to is the techno idea of flipping right handed instructions using a photo or text editor. The mirror image only works for Method B people.

Dainty Bess scarf/stole is FINISHED!

Knit on size 6 Addi turbo 16" circs with KnitPicks Shadow in Campfire. This took me over a year to complete. I have no clue who will ever use it or wear it or even get it as a gift, but it's finally done.

Sock yarn murdered by Wheaten

It was a beautiful day in paradise. Two FO's (finished objects for you muggles) were blocking and drying in the sun on the deck. I had been given free basic sock yarn and was fiddling about with entrelac (because I had a knitting problem and can not be with out a project no matter how pathetic or ill-fated the project is.) I had doors and windows open and took the boys and their friends to the beach to play for an hour. Upon my return I was greeted by our youngest, "You're going to KILL Molly!"
This is the scene that greeted me.It is to her credit that the needle was still in the pathetic big of entrelac. The yarn is pretty much a lost cause. Good thing Ginger arrives with sock yarn and needles within about 36 hours.

Gamers on the beach

This is just a montage of evenings the boys have spent with friends playing video games. A couple of nights they have had 3 gaming systems going in 2 rooms. The adults retreat to the balcony for wine and conversation because you can't hear yourself think inside the house.

My Reviews of Knitting Podcasts

Through our teenage son, I have been introduced to MP3 players. Initially I did not see the benefit of such devices, but during the last month I have joined the ranks mp3 pod-listeners. To be fair, I have listened to Cast On with Brenda Dayne for a year, but on my computer, not an mp3. She is great! I am glad I can listen now without fighting ambient noise in the house. Podcasts put me on an island of knitting and fun friends (when they're done right!)
KnitPicks I started with KnitPicks podcast because I have been a die-hard KnitPicks yarn fan since their inception. The podcast, however, is lacking. Kelly's speaking voice in the podcast is difficult to listen to. It does not flow and interferes with the delivery of information. For some reason she feels she should not use the podcast to 'advertise' KnitPicks yarns. Why is beyond me as the podcast wouldn't exist if it weren't for the success of the yarns. weird. I do love, however, her interviews with some knitting notables. Her speaking voice changes somewhat and the interviewer is the focus. I will give these podcasts credit for continuing to feed my interest in spinning. It also confirms my suspicions that I am a pretty good knitter because Kelly says the noobiest things sometimes.
Lime & Violet OMG, I LOVE this show. What a riot! Dogs barking, lots of banter between friends. Good reviews and information, but I wish they would give the sites and books they are discussing more clearly. Often they are looking at something and gushing, but the listener is left out. I feel left out when they discuss some people as well. I'm not certain if it's a shop, a shop owner, an online seller or friend. Maybe I'm just too noobie to know? :) I would LOVE to be intereviewed by them though!
Stash and Burn is IT. Friendly banter, excellent information given in clear terms, good speaking voices and cadence and good interviews. It doesn't get any better (yet, I'm still new to this). These women seem to share my sense of knit style. The discussion about knitting books you love, but never knit from as well as issues with patterns, fit and schematics sold me on this duo. I want to meet them. Hell, I want them to interview me about Left Handed Knitting!!!
Socks in the City this one is a challenge. Perky and upbeat to the point of wondering if perhaps she should cut back on the espressos, she speaks at a rapid-fire cadence that leaves listeners reeling. That said, her love of all things-sock-fiber is inspirational. As a firm sock lover, I can hang in there and get some serious sock-spiration from this one. But the singing kid at the beginning? I just use the fast foward key. If the intro were shorter, I would listen to it all.
Pointy Sticks
I know there are more. Send me links in the comments section. At least they're cheaper than yarn :)

Knitting quiz, apparently (big shock) I'm a purist!

What Kind of Knitter Are You?

You appear to be a Knitting Purist. You are an accomplished knitter producing beautiful pieces with a classic feel. You sometimes lament losing half of your local yarn shop to garish novelty yarns. Perhaps you consider fun fur scarves the bane of knitting society and prefer to steer new knitters towards the wool and cotton blends. Some might call you a bit of an elitist but you know that you've been doing this craft long enough to respect the history behind it and honor it with beautiful piece that can last a lifetime. http://marniemaclean.com
Take this quiz!








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Rambling, knitting and sick dogs

The boys have a sleep-over guest last night. One of our kids went to bed as instructed. The other two stayed up until 1:40 when we busted them watching some Halo thing. One of the dogs had been sick (and sweetly on a washable rug, then on his sister's blanket) so we were cleaning up and kicking kids into bed. This morning, amidst the laundry and trash, I began to "see" a new sweater. I have two scarves that I'm slogging away on, but I also have some PayPal money that could be used for secret yarn (avert your eyes Ginger). I have been listening to KnitPicks podcast. I like some of the content, but Kelly Petkun needs to get her speaking voice cadence smoother. She has an odd, paused, exceptionally enunciated, speaking pattern and after 14 podcasts, I'm ready to strangle her! Actually I'm ready to start my own flipping podcast! But I digress. Listening to the podcasts has solidified my yearning for spinning (again, Ginger, avert your eyes). I am not a huge fan of colorwork, but I am also toying with making a Fair Isle jumper/pullover sweater. Maybe just a Fair Isle yoke. I'm yarn shopping, thinking of fleece, wondering where a spinning wheel could be stashed in our already packed home and low and behold another freaking stole/scarf jumps into my line of sight. As if I didn't have enough on my plate! Focus, I've got to focus. Paypal, spending limits, actual projects already OTN (that I'll admit to) and time. Paypal limit is 50. OTN projects: 2 scarves, 2 sweaters. Promised projects: dress for Bjarka, mittens for Mimi. A reasonable person would not purchase yarn for anything else, even if it was this nice stole or a top down, fair isle sweater. I'm sure I'd make the sweater up like i do everything else. But I like this color pattern. The big question is how to smoothly increase and decrease over this pattern without disrupting it over the yoke