Thursday, October 26, 2006

Cable Purse and other adventures

On Tuesday I had session one of my Cable purse class. It was really fun. It was over at the Three Kittens Yarn shop and my teacher, Janine, was fabulous. I figured out the cable stitch which really wasn’t hard. I felt silly taking a class when it was so easy, but I had a lot fun, so I was glad I did.
I have the purse all knit up, and next week we will work on blocking and lining and general finishing. Janine was very impressed that I had taught myself how to knit. Yeah for me!
Last night I left work early so I could haul The Girl out to Eden Prairie in order to ask the new boy to the Sadie’s Hawkins’s dance. She had made up cupcakes and a card. Then she left it at his door step and ding dong ditched him. It was ridiculous. I know that my mother never would have participated in such an event. I guess I spoil her a little bit.
She did not seem to like the wristers and said they were too big. However, CD said he would take them and I think she gathered them up.
Kids!!
I finished up a little hat for the Caps for the Capitol drive. I think it might be too small. I have never actually had a baby preemie or otherwise and do not know how small a hat can be and still fit.

I am working on a shawl using Lion Brand Homespun yarn. I should be able to finish it this week yet.
Then I suppose I should make my mother-in-laws slipper socks. I am not really looking forward to it, but it must be done.

I am going to try to get some pictures downloaded this weekend. My nephew is coming up on Saturday, so I do not know how much time I will have to blog.

Monday, October 23, 2006

Busy Weekend

The weekend has come and gone and I did not sit down to Blog. Crazy.
Well, The Girl was gone all weekend, which was very nice. The phone did not ring nonstop, there was no blaring music, we could come and go as we pleased… it was Heaven.

On Friday, I woke up and knitted and then I went to the lace workshop. It was interesting, but not really a class. But I did get to sit and knit, which is what I wanted to do on my day off any way. So it was not a total loss. The instructor was from Sweden and very talented. She is having a show at American Swedish Institute. I would highly recommend it for anyone interested in knitting.

Then in the evening, CD and I went to see “London Underground” episode 6 (I think) at the Bryant Lake Bowl. It was very entertaining. Except I was knitting before the show started and I dropped my metal ruler, which the usher picked it up and then I dropped my metal needle, which he also picked up, but he was laughing by this time. The seating goes up and I was on the end where it dropped down about 2 feet. It was very loud and embarrassing.
........./
......Me/
......./
....../__________________
........Metal on concrete floor – klang klang

On Saturday, I went to the adoption party. It was fun and the hat did seem to fit. Of course, the little one did not seem all that interested in it, but she is only 2.

Saturday night CD & I watched the original “Fun with Dick and Jane”. It was very funny. I worked on The Girl’s wristers while watching it. I finally finished them yesterday during the Vikings game. So I had them done before she got home, as I had promised.
She gathered up a new boyfriend at the retreat, so I am assuming she is done with thug boy, but who knows.

Tomorrow I start my cable purse class. Once I know how to do cables, I will know almost everything I want to know at the moment. Yeah!

Thursday, October 19, 2006

One more hat down…
I finished the hat for the party on Saturday. I think it needs something on the top. I am not really good at pom-poms. I think maybe a little knit flower would be cute. What 2 year girl would not love a little flowered hat?
I will try to get a picture on here tonight or tomorrow.

I am taking tomorrow off of work. The Girl is going out of town on a church retreat. She leaves today at 5 and comes back Sunday at 5. My husband (CD) and I have the whole weekend planned.
Tomorrow I am taking a lace workshop. I was going to wait until after Christmas to learn lace, but the opportunity came up this week to take this class at the Swedish Institute and I could not resist. I have not actually seen that many lace classes at my LYS, so I thought what the hell.
Then we are going to go down to see a play. Then Saturday of course is the adoption party. It should be a great time.

I know CD wants to go see The Prestige, but the Girl wants us to wait until she comes home. So maybe Sunday night we will be heading to the movie theater.
The Girl is no longer mad at me, so I told her I am going to finish her wristers this weekend. I do not think it should be that hard. We will have to see! I think the forgiveness came mainly because I managed to get tickets to the Vikings vs. Patriots game. She is in love with Tom Brady (Patriots QB). I love football and the rest just enjoy it. I am very excited about going. It is going to be Monday night game, so I will be tired at work on Halloween.

Until later…

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Hats, Hats Every where Hats

I have been making hats this week. I was working on my father-in-law’s Christmas present, when the temperature here in the fine state of MN dipped down to the 30s. On Wednesday I came home from work and my husband asked me to make him a hat. Since I had to finish the one in order to make the other (I only have one set of size 6 DPNs). I could not start until Thursday morning. I did get it done by Friday midnight. Yeah!
My father-in-law’s hat is my own design. I call it the physics hat. He has a PhD in plasma physics (the study of waves) so I found a picture of a wave, (I think it might be a co-sine wave, but I really do not know for sure) and I made it into a pattern. At first I thought I would make the wave a different color, but then decided it would be better done with a purl stitch instead. I personally think it is quite clever and I hope he likes it. You can not really see it in the picture unless you look really closely. I will try to get a better picture at some point.




The hat I made for my husband is just a plain beanie made out of Renaissance yarn by Classic Elite. It is a lovely color, but just a smidge too small. I used up the whole skein and was quite scared I would run out and have to go find more.

I just finished a hat this morning before work for my littlest niece as well. Then, I am going to make a hat for one of my friends little girl. They have officially adopted her and there is going to be a party to celebrate on Saturday. I bought some very yummy yarn last Saturday at the Yarn Garage in Rosemount. It is just a wild store and packed to the brim with all sorts of yarn. Almost too much, because I was about to leave empty handed when I found this and had to buy it. Only $4 a ball! Here is my kitten Buttercup surveying the yarn. The blue hat next to it is the one i just finshed for my little niece.

I have had a difficult time figuring out a pattern for her because she just turned 2 and I really do not know if she needs a hat which ties on or not. I was thinking I would make a nice rolled brim hat. I think that a little girl would look darling in one.

I am also working on some wristers for The Girl. They are going to be black and orange for Halloween. So I have to get the done ASAP or Halloween will be but a distance memory.
She is mad at me currently because I do not like her current thug of a boyfriend. It doesn’t really make me want to finish them but I did promise her I would make them. I am doing them in the round and they are 2x2 rib, so it isn’t like they are hard. I should be able to get them done by the end of the week as well.
I am thinking that I should work on something flat for a change of pace, but I still need to make my mother-in-law’s slipper socks for Christmas.

The In-laws are coming up for thanksgiving and since they are driving (from NM) I figured if I had the presents all done and wrapped, I could just sent them with and save on the shipping charges. So I am trying to get everything done by then. I am almost there… I can’t wait. I hope all the gifts go over well.

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Alpacas & Knitout

Yesterday I went to visit some alpaca farms. The one was fabulous. They had about 60 Suri alpacas. And it was a beautiful location. I would like to have alpacas someday, but it is costly to start up. The guy said the average breeding female cost $15,000 and you would need at least 2 to start off. Who knows, maybe someday. The other farm we visited was nice as well, they only had about 15 huacaya alpacas.
I bought some suri yarn. It is natural in color and very lovely. I would post a picture, but the camera is acting up. i will post one tomorrow. I am hoping there will be enough to make a small shawl. After Christmas I am going to work on making some things just for me. I want to learn lace work.
I am going to be taking a class in a couple of weeks so i can learn how to make cables.

Yesterday I had a meeting for the 2007 Yarnover. It should be very exciting, so if you are here in MN keep 4/21/07 open and come join us.

Today, the MN Knitter's Guild held their annual Knitout. It was pretty fun. I got to see a lot of lovely things there. I volunteered to take pictures. I got tickets to go to the Vikings game, but i had already promised to take pictures. So my husband and the girl went with one of the girl's friends.
Well, i got to go, because the girl wants to go on.

Thanks for reading.

Saturday, October 07, 2006

Hello. This is my new blog. This is actually my first blog, so I hope it goes well.
I intend to discuss my knitting here. I started knitting earlier this year as part of my therapy. I live in a house with a husband, a 14 year girl and two dogs and two cats. It is chaos most of the time. I found that when I knit, I can achieve a level of calm. So here I am, knitting my little heart out.
I have been knitting Christmas presents for family members. It has been going really well. I have made several hats. I love to make them, so almost everyone is going to get one. I knit one up tonight that I will probably keep. I think it is quite cute. Here is a picture.



Tomorrow, I am going to be going to some Alpaca farms. I love Alpaca yarn. I hope to get something nice. I will let everyone know what (if anything) I get.

Well, it is late and I am going to stop. Thanks for reading.