Purple Princess Knits

New Place

2007-09-06T07:17:00.000-06:00

You are invited to come on over to my new place at

http://purpleprincessknits.com

Click on the link above to get there.

See you there and have a great day!

What's Up

2007-09-05T07:12:00.001-06:00

There is always something going on lately. I have been cleaning and organizing, my home, my office, my yarn room and more. I have been knitting, ripping, changing my mind and knitting again. I have been teaching, working and trying to get enough sleep. You know the usual stuff.

The yarn room is almost finished. I can't show pictures just yet, I need time to paint. I will tackle the painting later this month. Then I can attach my storage bins and shelves to the wall and I will have a pretty cool yarn stash room. Stay tuned, this will be a must see.

Meanwhile, remember this mess ..... It was my office at work.

Well my office now looks like this .... thanks to DH.

Unfortunately my work is all still there.... just in more organized piles. It is much nicer to come into the office now. DH moved my utility table around so you don't see it when you first walk in. One can see into my office from way down the hall and he said it looked more like walking into a storage room and not an office. It is so much better. Maybe now I can get all my work done. Ha!

I am working on this sock.

The yarn is Claudia's Handpainted yarn in the color Purple Earth. My friend Kathy gave me this yarn when she returned from her Sea Socks Cruise. I love the yarn. If the pattern looks familiar it is because I am making me the same pair of socks that I sent Joni, my Sockapalooza Four Pal. The only change I am making is that I am going to do a short row heel instead of the heel flap.

More about the progress of my Beaded Shawlette later. ttfn as my friend Maddy says!

One Day at a Time

2007-08-29T11:52:00.000-06:00

I have been busy, busy, busy. I am over obligated at the moment and am just taking things one day at a time in order to fulfill all of my current obligations. I will not over schedule myself ever again! I am completely overwhelmed and on auto pilot this week.

I am training a new employee, new to even the Oil and Gas Industry so that means in depth training at my full time more than 40 hour a week job. With the training time I give, there is no time get my work done so I have been working through lunch hour. I then stay late on Thursday, the one night a week I am not running off to to anything else. I miss my lunch knitting group. I am teaching a knitting class on Tuesday's, a different knitting class on Saturday's, which is great, I love to help people with their knitting, however we all know the 2 hour knitting class is not just 2 hours. There's travel time and people time before and after class. I bowl on Wednesdays. I am not thrilled about this but it is the one thing a week I do with DH. I also have to work in getting my allergy shots on Mondays and Fridays. Then, my weekends are scheduled to do style seminars, see grand kids, try to have knitting time, grocery shopping, organizing time, cleaning the house time, pay bill time and right now I feel all used up. I have not had a "day" to myself in a while.

I am looking forward to the long weekend coming up. I have Friday and Monday off, from my full time job anyway. I am still working at Knit Knack on Friday. Oh yea, I am teaching a class on Saturday but the rest of the time I want to just stay home, sleep a lot, clean and organize my house. I am also looking forward to a trip to Florida in mid September (but I have to work to get ready) and I will go to a knitting retreat at the end of October. Around then my teaching obligations will be completing and after that I will only teach one class at a time, but not again until January or after so I can have some downtime to selfishly knit for me. No one gets knitting from me this Christmas! Well, maybe some blankets for the kids but that's it!

Okay enough ranting and raving. I feel better already.

Look what came in the mail day before yesterday. Something to cheer me up that's for sure!

You got it the new Socks That Rock club package. I love the colors, I even think the pattern is very cute. You knit the lace cuff first and then pick up stitches and knit the foot.

Here is some Knit Knack people news!

Kay is working on the Noro Shrug. I love the colors. I know it looks like a big long rectangle now but just wait, it is really a cute shrug when put together.

Christie is making good progress on her beaded shawl. Pretty awesome for her first lace project and first knitting with beads project. I can't wait to see this one all finished.

Claudia finsihed her beaded shawl. Beautifully done, I might add.

Then I could not get a good picture of her tattoo but check this out for now. I really like it and want one.

Interesting news is, DH who hates tattoos said he could draw me a better one. I think that means I can get one if he draws it for me. What do you think??

Lunch with a Friend

2007-08-21T06:30:00.000-06:00

I had lunch last Thursday with my friend Kathy. It was fun, once we hooked up. I need to make a note to always carry my phone with me when I make plans with Kathy. Something always happens, we get our wires crossed and end up waiting for each other on different street corners! We finally hooked up, after I went back to the office to grab my phone!

Anyway, we did not get much knitting done, Kathy showed me her acquisitions from Talbots and I showed her my Lady Eleanor.

My Lady Eleanor looked liked this before lunch.

Then based on Kathy's advice, we ripped. After lunch it looked like this.

Now it looks like this.

Do you see the difference. The blob of green in the middle is gone.

I had decided to knit this totally random, however the Noro came out of the skein. Yes, that is what I was going to do but it's Noro and one cannot really be totally random with self striping Noro, you know, the Noro that is never wound in the right order and the Noro where the colors never start in the same place. Yes, that Noro. That kind of random thinking ended up with me having a blob of green right in the middle of My Lady Eleanor. I have since been shown the light and changed my ways. The blob of green in the before picture bothered me at the time it happened, but I left it thinking it will be okay in the big scheme of things. Then, of course Kathy so very tactfully pointed out the blob of green and ever so innocently made the comment, "if it was mine, I would rip it" Of course at that moment, I knew what had to be done. The light came on and I started ripping it right then and there, with Kathy's help, of course. Thank you Kathy. (I think!)

I know some people wouldn't like ripping that much but when you spend a lot of money and put a lot of time into your knitting you should fix things that bother you. Of course if I would have fixed it the first time it bothered me way back when the blob of green first appeared, I would not have ripped so much. Another great knitting lesson learned.

So see the new poll and place your votes. Do you like Lady Eleanor before my lunch with a friend or after?

Also in reponse to the comment left by my precious little Dina here, yes Little Princess loves the Lady Eleanor and yes it is a lovely color for her ......

But this Lady Eleanor is going to be for Purple Princess's Grandma! It's going to be hard to get the Little Princess to give this one up but if she does then just maybe the Little Princess will be able to get her own Lady Eleanor made with the leftovers!

It's Monkey Love

2007-08-19T17:46:00.000-06:00

Look what I received from my Sockapalooza Four pal ....

Steph

It's a most wonderful package that includes a pair of my very own Monkey socks. I LOVE them, I love the color, I love the pattern and best of all they fit perfectly. I also received a skein of Trekking XXL in another beautiful color and the book Knitting Under the Influence with a very nice note. I love to read so the book is great, I started it this morning and so far so good. I think I might make me another pair of Monkey's with the yarn. The socks are really cute and the pattern looks fun. I wear my blue jeans a lot so the socks and the yarn both are great colors to wear with jeans.

Thank you so very much Steph. Don't pay attention to my wonky looking feet, (trust me it is my feet) but I want to show you just how well these socks fit. You did such a wonderful job. Thank you, thank you. They are just perfect.

What a wonderful experience I had with the Sockapalooza Four, I am very pleased. In addition, these are the first items that anyone has ever knit for me so they are very special socks and I will treasure them always, I cannot thank you enough, Steph. I loved getting this package.

Only One Vote Counts

2007-08-15T11:19:00.001-06:00

You may have thought this blog was a democratic state blog. After all, you were led to believe so with the poll and being allowed to vote and all but that was hypocrisy in action and this blog is really a dictatorship and the Purple Princess Rules.

Sorry, I just couldn't handle looking at the red, black and white anymore. So not my colors! The biggest vote for changing it was mine! Please stay tuned to see a wonderful new look and a change of venue ...... coming soon.

Meanwhile Happy Knitting and .....

Check out the progress being made on my Lady Eleanor.

Oh yea and who rules the Purple Princess, Little Princess Dina of course!

Oh No

2007-08-10T12:06:00.000-06:00

I am at it again. I won't say why really except to mention my hip is out, my back is hurting and I haven't been feeling well, it hurts to walk so here I sit with heating pads on my back and ice on my hip. I get bored.

I think this template has more zip. Okay, a lot of zip. Maybe too much zip but I didn't really like not being able to see all of the title on the other template and it was slightly bland for my taste.

Now tell me what you really think.

Up next is some real gnarly knitting content, so reader BEWARE.

While cruising away, knitting my Lady Eleanor from the book Scarf Style with the Tonalita yarn by Trendsetter, someting happened and I snapped. I started with a just bit cussing and then I progressed to some real live yarn bashing. After that things got sort of out of control and finally more than 1/2 of a skein of a tangled mess got thrown in the garbage. After that, I took the whole thing back into the store. I needed to cut my losses and move on and so I exchanged the remaining balls (10) for a more well behaved yarn that I could make the Lady Eleanor with. In that one skein of yarn, there were more than 7 knots ( I was not quite to 1/2) and in one section the yarn just kept tearing apart. That was it and I had enough. No more, it's gone , life goes on, S**t happens. The Tonalita is gone and I am now once again a calm, happy knitter, I am fine and I have moved on.

I am allergic to Noro Silk Garden. Last time I used it my hands broke out in a terrible rash that only recently healed. I do okay with Noro Kureyon so I bought this ... 15 skeins to be exact.

It is color 164. Yea that means a lot, huh. It has some teal, green brown, tan and will make a very pretty Lady Eleanor Shawl. I am happy now. I might have called this color Autumn Frost. They are warm rich colors with just a touch of a cool teal blue.

Lady Eleanor is to be, after all.

Lucky me, when this one is finished!

Can't Help Myself

2007-08-09T10:37:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I get bored and just like to change up the look of my blog and play around with the templates and colors. My knowledge of this stuff is so very limited and I keep trying to figure it all out. I want to taking a web design class just because I think it would be fun and I would enjoy learning more about it. On the other hand it would take away from my knitting time so for now I found this template by Laughing Lion Design and just changed the font colors a bit. Be sure to put your vote in and tell me what you think.

I am patiently waiting for word that my Sockapalooza Four pal received her socks and I still have my fingers crossed that she likes them and that they will fit.

In addition, I am still waiting to receive my socks from my sock pal and right now I am starting to get pretty excited. I have not participated in any kind of knitting exchange before and now I am really looking forward to seeing what my sock pal cooked up for me. I know she has been working on them and they may get mailed out today. She was thoughtful enough to let me know the status of her gift for me. She is Mrs. Myterioso, somebody, somewhere. I found her creativity for setting up an e-mail account like that so absolutely brilliant that I can be sure my socks will be wonderful. No one has ever knitted me anything before so my anticipation and excitement is growing daily. Only another knitter can really know what goes into knitting for someone else, how much thought and effort is involved so from one knitter to another, I know I will truly appreciate my socks.

Remember this???

The Lady Eleanor from Scarf Style that I started with this yarn ...

Tonalita by Trendsetter?

Well good, then stay tuned for more knit news; I have much stash enhancement, project news, project dumps, organizational and knitting news to tell you about later. I am just not feeling well at the moment, so hopefully I will be up to show and tell tomorrow.

Indecisiveness; Detriment or Virtue

2007-08-07T08:15:00.000-06:00

I will be teaching a class at Knit Knack on the "Beaded Eyelet, A Shapely Shawlette" designed by Judy Pascale. I want to make another beaded shawl along with the class. The first one I made was with some turquoise beads and Koigu, dyed red by Interlacements. I made this in a class at String given by my friend Kathy. It turned out really great and I love it. I will show you later.

I have some white opalescent beads and this yarn ....

The yarn was dyed by my friend Mary Kay (Red Rocks Fiber Works) and the color is called He's a Pirate, love the yarn, love the name of it, love the beads, so I started the shawl.

I like the white beads for this yarn, they brighten up the yarn and it will be a casual, southwestern looking shawl that I can wear with jeans. I like southwestern colors and styles, so perfect!

Until, I remembered I had this yarn ....

I like pink too! This yarn was also dyed by Mary Kay. She made this color pink in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness.

Oooooooh ..... this pink may look good with the white beads.

Yes it does.

But which one do I like better???? The white beads get a bit lost in the color of the pinks and whites in the yarn, but it could be a dressier look in addition to wearing it with a pair of jeans.

I really can't decide which one I like better. I like them both.

DH likes the "He's a Pirate" with the white beads, because of the color and the way the beads show up better. My friend Carol likes the pink because it is "dressier."

After all this, I decided to go ahead with the "He's a Pirate" yarn. I may try the pink yarn with some silver beads and see if that looks good or I may make something else with the pink. who knows, tomorrow I may change my mind again and just knit them both up!

The Lunasea Waves are Complete

2007-08-03T11:20:00.000-06:00

My Sockapalooza socks are complete, they have been washed with some nice Citrus Soak and are drying at this moment while I am preparing a little package of goodies to send with them. A nice little package will go in the mail tomorrow morning.

I am calling them "Lunasea Waves". I will explain why after my sock pal receives them. I would so give away who my sock pal is if I spill my guts now!

Here is a couple of close up shots of the pattern. I really enjoyed knitting these and plan to make me some socks using this pattern.

The other fine details are....

Yarn - Socks that Rock
Color - Lunasea
Pattern - A mix of several different techniques so the socks themselves are quite unique, I used a toe up Turkish Cast on, the Stanton 196 stitch out of the book More Sensational Socks a gusset heel about an inch of 2 x 2 ribbing and a fancy new bind off.
Needles - I used a US 1 for the foot and heel and then switched to a US 2 half-way up the gusset. Bind off - Found on Grumperina goes to Yarn Shops and Home Depot.

I used this pattern because it gives a bit and because it looks wavy (you will find out why I picked the "waves" look for my sock pal, later.) I made a slightly longer heel flap and changed needle sizes to accommodate a wider foot with wider ankles. It seemed that my pal was concerned about wider and swollen ankles.

I tried several different bind offs that I have in my collection but none were good enough for these socks and I wasn't happy so I searched all my books and the Internet. I found a very nice bind off here and was quite pleased with the results. With Grumperina's permission I am re posting the directions. this is the best bind off ever for a toe up sock and I will be using this one for all my toe up socks! Thank you Kathy.

Work 2 sts in pattern (either knit or purl). Move yarn to back (if the last worked st was a knit, this is already the case). * Transfer the 2 worked sts to the LH needle, and k2togTBL. Work 1 st in pattern (move yarn to back if it was a purl), * repeat between *.

Right now my fingers are crossed while I wait for them to dry in order to mail them and then I will wait to hear if they fit and if my pal likes them.

Just for fun you can check out other sockapalooza socks here.

The Hurrier I go the Behinder I get

2007-08-02T07:42:00.001-06:00

Do you ever feel like that? Right now I do. You know it's like running a marathon only not going anywhere, just running in place. I am getting a great workout but the scenery stays the same and I can't seem to get any closer to the finish line. I still have 16 rows plus 1" of ribbing to go on the second sock. Mmmm... sounds just the same as yesterday and I have been knitting on them, a lot! Why is this? You so innocently ask.

Well I did finish the first sock for my sockapalooza pal in record time but the second sock seems to be a bit of a stubborn bugger. The saga starts with me dropping a stitch. I tinked back a few rows to get it picked up. I have yarn overs and k2tog's to deal with so I just took it back and did it over. Okay cool no problem. I knitted some more. Then, I didn't like the way a particular stitch looked so I took it back again. This is starting to get old. I knitted some more. Then I didn't like the way the yarn was pooling different than the other sock (which means my tension is off) so I checked it out with the first sock and yes, my assumption was correct my tension was a bit looser for a short while, so I took it down to just above the ankle to get it right. After all, the Purple Princess is a very picky knitter especially when it is for someone else. Picky to my own detriment, possibly? ..... NO, hear me now sock, I am your boss sock and I will win!

Today is the is the day I will not only finish these socks at any cost, but I will finish them perfectly. I will do whatever it takes. It is my Friday so if I have to stay up all night to get the sock right and finished, that is what I will do. I want my sock pal to like them.

According to Allison, these socks must be mailed out between August 1st and August 7th, they should arrive on August 8th, 9th or 10th. Today is August 2nd. I have my timing down, DH works for the US Postal Service and says it is 3 days to where they are going so if I mail them on the 4th they should arrive exactly on time. So my agenda is finish today, wash today, they will be dry the next day and away they go! Whew!

Oh the Lunasea of it all. Here is a sneak peak at the finished sock.

Tuesday is for Lollicup

2007-08-01T07:03:00.000-06:00

At least this week it was Lollicup night. There were the usual cast of characters (minus a few and plus a couple) mulling about, knitting, problem solving and what not.

We knitters are really good at solving the world's problems great or small like those at the back table, Christie, Cathy and Carol who are hard at work trying to solve a sizing problem with Christie's "Fifi." Pam, Nichole, Claudia and Nachaele's legs are all comfortable and enjoying themselves. Btw, Nice legs Nachaele.

I am glad Jeannine decided to join us after all, she came by Knit Knack one day and we invited her to the Arvada Knit group but you know she was a bit undecided since we are such a rowdy bunch. Next to my new friend Jeanine is Terrie, back from vacation and knitting up a storm.

Madison finished her felted bag. It looks great, nice job Maddie. While there she also finished knitting her Hedgehog. I hope we get so see that little stuffed cutie next week.

Claudia finished her Jawbreaker. It turned out awesome. I maybe wouldn't wear it out with that particular dress! I love the yarn she used. Claudia also showed us her new tattoo. (see her blog for more details) I love it and am so tempted but DH may never go for it. (Although, I was wearing him down and he started to waver, so maybe!) It looks bad ass and I want to be a bad ass knitter too. Where is it you ask??? Well maybe after it heals she will let me get a good shot of it!

What did I do... well I worked on my sockapalooza socks and then ripped it all back. So much for talking and knitting. I have 16 rows plus an inch of ribbing and they will be done, finished and completed. Maybe tonight, at bowling. I still need to wash them before mailing. Gotta go knit oops I mean work!

The Yarn Room

2007-07-31T06:58:00.000-06:00

I finally started to work on organizing my yarn & knitting books and supplies. Here is one shot of my yarn room. It is really bad and has gotten out of control recently. Keep in mind that this is not all of my knitting stuff. This is only one shot of the upstairs guest room. It is also the cleaned up version from when Katie (daughter-in-law) stayed with me and after I de-stashed some. See the doors on either side of the table? Well inside those doors are very large crawl spaces with several much larger bins of yarn. I have bags, baskets and books downstairs in almost every corner of the house. I also have a pile of knitting books and patterns downstairs in my walk-in closet. I have been known to purchase the same book more than once. It is time for me to take inventory, re-group, review and organize.

What a mess, I can't even really work in here or even find anything. I sometimes have to go through every plastic bin to find what I am looking for plus I so easily forget what I already have, causing me to buy more yarn and stuff! Yea that's it, really.

This mess will be organized into a great yarn room soon. I ordered a new Alvin Craftmaster Hobby Station in white from Joanne.com to replace the utility table and three multi-bin organizers from Brookstone.com. I also bought new three ring binder to store my patterns. Right now I have so many patterns in one huge binder (see it on the table) that I can't even get them out. They don't all fit in there which is why they are all over the table.

Stay tuned, this little mess will get cleaned up and you will be jealous!

How can I resist showing you this lovely picture. Katie our favorite Barista at Knit Knack is all dressed up with no where to go. Thank goodness! She has my red with turquoise beaded shawl on with a very lovely fair isle ski hat and a large green felted bag. What a beautiful model (just maybe not with everything on all at once, eh)

We love you Katie!

Which Princess Bride are You?

2007-07-30T12:41:00.000-06:00

Which Princess Bride Character are You?
this quiz was made by mysti

Just a little something for fun after all I am a Princess and DH still says I am his bride.

Meanwhile, I am working away on my sockapalooza socks and am nearing the finish. I will show and tell after they have been totally completed. I put a lot of thought into the design of the socks based on my sock pal's measurements, comments and requests but as they near completion I get very nervous about whether my pal will like them or not. I may be a "Princess" but I am the Queen of ripping out and starting over so I am fighting every instinct to not rip these and create an even better pair of socks. Alas .... at this point I cannot start over so I will continue on so they can be mailed on time (between August 2nd and August 7th.) So far, everyone I ask loves them and will take them if my sock pal doesn't like them. Mmmmm ........ I only hope she will love them! Are my friends just telling me what I want to hear? You can be the judge of that upon completion.

Proud Parent

2007-07-29T23:40:00.000-06:00

I am the proud parent of a United States Navy Sailor.

He recently received a Navy Achievement Medal(NAM) from an Admiral. If you want to click on the picture save it to your computer, blow it up and read the award you will see that it is pretty cool and quite personal. This is his 5th NAM but this particular award is quite special because it comes from an Admiral instead of a Captain. The difference is that Captains can give out as many NAMs as they want but Admirals may only give out three per year and there are only 24 active duty Admirals so right now so that is only72 NAMs that may be given out this year. My son was one of 72 sailors in all of the US Navy to receive an Admirals NAM.

The other part that is crazy is that he now has the second most NAMs on board, the only one with more is a Chief with 22 years in who has 7. My son has almost 9 years in and has been awarded 4 NAMs from Captains and 1 from the Admiral.

I am so very proud of you my son.

Room with a View

2007-07-27T09:30:00.000-06:00

These are the views from my office in downtown Denver ......

Too bad I can't enjoy it, I am stuck in my room with my back to the window view dealing with this ......

This week I was busy at work trying to research title on a well that has been in litigation for ten years, my home computer broke and my Internet connection sucks.

Things are now looking up, The lawsuit is over and my company won. I get to pay out over 5 million to over 130 happy people, I bought a new laptop for home and signed up for a new faster DSL through my phone line instead of the DSL I have now through an antenna. I have not had any time to get everything working yet (see above office) but I hope to play on it this weekend!

I am working on finishing up my Sockapalooza socks and will tell you about them later. I also have several new projects and acquisition to tell you about and am preparing to teach a beaded shawl class next weekend.

Happy Knitting.

Time is precious

2007-07-17T10:39:00.000-06:00

Time is precious and goes by ever so quickly, especially when you don't want it to. I had a great time during the last couple of weeks with my daughter-in-law Katie. She was visiting from Florida while my son is on deployment overseas. She had to go back to Florida yesterday and I miss her already. I am looking forward to September when I will get to go visit her, my son and grandson.

Meanwhile ..

Katie gave me a new hair color ...

and a new haircut ......

I taught her to knit and while she was here we worked on Amber from the Debbie Bliss pure cotton book together.

Katie almost has the back of her Amber completed.

So do I!

My friend Stacy took some very cool pictures of Katie on Saturday. Katie is so beautiful and photogenic. Stacy is an up an coming photographer who did a wonderful photo shoot with Katie.

While knitting at Knit Knack on Saturday Katie saw this pattern and fell in love with it so much so that we bought yarn to knit this one together too! I also love it! This is from the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK book. Katie loves knitting and is a very ambitious beginner and rightfully so, she knits like she has been knitting a lot longer than 2 weeks. I think we will start this one together in September when I go for a visit.

Green yarn for Katie!

Blue yarn for me! I was Knit Knacks best customer that day!

Katie looks great in the Roman Stripe Boatneck I made from the Ann McCauley book. It is an open lace pattern made with Tahki Cotton Classic so she can wear it in Florida at least for some of the cooler days anyway. It could even used as a swim suit cover up.

Before she left, I got us each one of these necklaces made by my friend Stacy. The stones are aquamarine, peruvian opal, rubies, and calcedony on a chain of topaz and fine silver beads. That way we have something matching. Every time we see each other we pick out something matching to have as a memory of our time together. We have fun.

Knit Knack got these fun little necklaces in the store and we each picked one out. Katie's is the mud flap girl with the yarn and needles and mine is the knitting needles.

Dina was feeling left out. I should get her a new collar and pretty shirt.

Purple Princes Top 10

2007-07-12T12:26:00.000-06:00

The Top Ten Reasons I am a "Princess"

10. I drive a Mazda RX8 with license plates "MY ZM ZM"
9. I don't have wash the car or fill it up with gas
8. I will never use an outhouse or porta thingy
7. Roughing it is a nice B & B (Taharra Mountain Lodge in Estes Park)
6. I don't have to cook or do housework
5. I don't eat leftovers, I don't knit leftovers
4. My husband never questions my yarn purchases
3. My friend Patty calls me Princess
2. My husband treats me like a Princess
1. I really think I am a Princess

Well it is nice to think so anyway. I have is a wonderful husband that spoils me, I am a proud Navy mom of a great son, I have the best grandson, a wonderful new daughter-in-law, a stepson and his wife, their 2 kids, a stepdaughter and her two kids (yes that makes 5 grandkids), I have the cutest best little dog in the whole world, a great job, a great boss, wonderful friends and wonderful knitting friends. How can I not think I am a "Princess?"

Okay okay before you throw up, what you don't see is how very hard I have to work at being a Princess, I did my time I earned my way and that is all I have to say.....

except my computer at home is having some issues so this is all I have time for!

My Son, Grandson and Daughter-in-law when they were here in January.

My Daughter-in-law, Katie is visiting from Florida and knitting with me at Lollicup. Katie just put new color in my hair. DH said it is very "contrasty." I love it! I am no longer blonde. I now have dark hair with bright blonde highlights so I guess DH is right about it being contrasty.

Nachaele took this picture of the two of us. Pretty good for holding the camera up herself! I think my darker hair makes my eyes look brighter and bluer. I really like it.

Tuesday night knitting at Lollicup was fun as always. I made a couple of acquisitions from Judy's stash sale. I am very pleased and will show you later... you know after I fix my home computer.

Happy knitting.

Little of This & Little of That

2007-07-03T06:13:00.000-06:00

A typical Saturday afternoon at Knit Knack (the best little yarn shop in Arvada) involves lots of yarn, friendly chats, tons of laughter and of course knitting.

Patty, Judy and Terri

Cathy finished her Socks that Rock Fire on the Mountain socks.

Leah finished her first toe up sock.

Nachaele working on her Montego Bay Scarf.

I made some progress on mine. I love the pattern and the Hand Maiden Sea Silk is fabulous.

Nachaele gave me this cute little sheep. I love it.

Later, my mother modeled the Noro Shrug I made her. It is a little too warm to wear this right now but I am teaching this class at Knit Knack starting next Saturday. It is a class for those with beginning knitting skills who are ready to branch out and learn a basic cable, to knit in the round and do a crocheted edging. We are starting now to give the beginning knitter time to finish their shrug for Fall wearing. I used 10 skeins plus a little of Noro Kureyon. Today my mother refused to have me shoot her face in the photo. It actually looks great with her light reddish hair. She loves it.

Kathy, quit laughing I can still hear you.

Weekends are for Knitting

2007-07-01T21:29:00.001-06:00

This sure looks funny. Wonder what it could be?

Let me see .....

Still looks funny but it is the very beginnings of the Lady Eleanor from Scarf Style, of course. Yes, really, I know it doesn't look like it but the above will become this ....

My DIL Katie is here from Florida and I am so happy. I get to spend time with her. She wants to learn how to knit and I am happy to teach her. I took Friday off to spend the day with her so we went to my favorite place in Arvada, Knit Knack. She already crochets very well and she is picking up knitting very quickly. I am so excited that she wants to spend time with me while she is here. My son is on deployment and won't be back until mid September so she came out here to break up the time. Her family and friends are all here in Colorado and I am so very blessed that she also wants to hang out with me. She is spending the night with me Tuesday and Wednesday and we plan to hang out and knit a lot! (Yes, what a surprise.) We also have plans to go shopping and get some things together to send a box to my son. Here she is starting to knit and purl.

She is a natural. Yes she is learning continental style.

We picked out some yarn for a project to knit together. Everytime we see each other we buy something alike. Last time I went to Florida we ended up with matching Navy sweatshirts, only in different colors. This time we are going to make the same top in the same yarn only in different colors. We chose the Debbie Bliss Pure Cotton. Since she lives in Florida, cotton is a much better choice that wool.

Katie picked Dusty Rose.

I chose the darker Pink. It is a great color for me!

We are making "Amber" from the Debbie Bliss Pure Cotton/Stella Book.I love Debbie Bliss patterns. They are simple, yet elegant and her styles look good on many different shapes of women.

I love her! She is a doll and we had a great time.

I also purchased some Patagonia cotton in my color! I have decided that this will not be another Jawbreaker. I am done with them!

Purple is a State of Mind

2007-06-28T05:00:00.000-06:00

You may have noticed already but I do not have a lot of purple in my color fan. I have one selection of beautiful shades of red/purple. So really, where is all the purple? That was pretty hard for the Purple Princess to take at first. I mean how could I not have a full pallet of all shades of purple? Should I become the Brown Princess? How about the warm coral Red Princess? Maybe even the Teal, Blue Green Princess. No none of those will do at all. How can the Purple Princess be the Purple Princess without purple? What a dilemma. Threw me off balance for a bit but I have come to grips with the irony of it all. I can and will continue to enjoy the color purple from afar and the Purple Princess will remain the Purple Princess. Purple is universally known as a royal color and after all I am a Princess. I just won't be wearing purple. I will be thinking purple. After all Purple is just a state of mind.What of the rainbow Kauni Cardigan? I have been looking at this

and this

and this

Is it me? Mmmmm... I am having a hard time with this. I don't think it really is me but the blues and some of the reds in the yarn are good. It is slightly warm to warm. This is really, really tough because I absolutely love the yarn and want to make the cardigan but is it really me???? I think there are some other colorways of the Kauni yarn that would be better for me. So do I sell this yarn and just get a new colorway? Do I make this one anyway? Such are the dilemmas that I have and this one is agonizing! Maybe, just maybe because I like it so much, there is a way to make this work. I will let you know.

This is my mother in the Burgundy Jawbreaker I made out of the Patagonia cotton. It fits her perfectly.

But is it her color???? (Yes, I made my own mother get her colors done also.)

Not really... her colors are much lighter than mine so I have been a bad daughter. I make my own mother wear everything not right for me. Bad daughter.

Her she is in the entrelac vest I made out of Noro Kureyon color #102. Good fit on mom but colorwise ...???? Not the worst but certainly not the very best, however, she can pull this one off better than I can. She needs to wear it with blue or black. My mom's colors don't show up real well in the pictures but she does have a light yellow, light orange and various pinks. Interesting thing is that she does have a black and I don't. The original pattern for this vest was so bad and I had to change it so much so that I ended up just typing up my own pattern. It fits my mother perfectly!

Nachaele you would like this pattern, see all the double seed stitch?

Sorry mom, I will try to turn over a new leaf and do better to make you stuff in your colors also. Okay I will try to even knit things picked out especially for you.

Kathy, quit laughing so loud, I can hear you!

Got my Colors, What Now

2007-06-25T21:30:00.000-06:00

I received my new color swatches and as you know I immediately started cleaning out my closets. I skipped over the why fors and the how tos and now I gotta keep it in the dl. (I just heard it from our summer student yesterday) I had never heard it before but it means on the down low, and what that means is anyones guess. Anyway....

After Cynthia put together swatches of my hair color, skin color, eyes, natural blush and freckles, she then went through 2000 plus color swatches in order to pull out my best colors. She came up with these colors that represent me ...

These are the colors that go best with "me" ...I love these colors! These colors describe "me" as slightly warm, radiant and energized. Floral is possibly another word but we left that off the new swatches since it was on my old colors and they were lighter and more of what I think of when I say floral.

So how does one use these swatches and all this information, you ask? Even if you didn't ask I will tell anyway. The colors are not necessarily used individually, they are used as a whole to ensure that one will look their best. I can match any one color to an outfit or article of clothing, however I must also ask myself , will I look slightly warm, radiant and energized. I have some "cool" blues and pinks in my pallet but if the outfit I choose is all "cool" colors, it would not match me since I am slightly warm. The looking radiant and energized comes in when I add to the "cool" colors something in the warm tones to give me that overall look. When I wear the correct colors in the correct combinations I will look slightly warm, radiant and energized. For example ....

I am making a top with this blue yarn ...

It is a very cool blue. It is the lightest color of blue that I can possibly wear. It will look great with a pair of jeans. (I actually have not yet divulged what this will be, but it is a way cool cabley top, more about that later) This will only work with me if I pick one of my medium tone, warm colors to wear under the top to pull it together as an outfit with my jeans. My warm browns and teals will be perfect for warming this one up.

When I cleaned out my closets, I fanned my color swatch and held it up next to the item so I could look at each item next to the colors as a whole. Some obvious mistakes I had made in clothing were the light bright greens and the true cool reds.

I have started working through my yarn. This is much harder than going through my clothes because the clothes are already made up and you know what they are and with the yarn, it will depend on what it will be. It could work even if it doesn't perfectly match any one color, as long as it doesn't clash with me.

I received the new Socks that Rock and the new pattern, The Solstice Slip.

I love the colors, I even love the pattern. How does this yarn look with me?

LOVE IT. LOVE IT, LOVE IT and I think it looks great! There is an orange in the yarn that I do not have on my swatches, but when you look at this yarn as a whole it looks really great with me. It is slightly warm, radiant and energized! What a great yarn.

This is the Noro Silk Garden that I had started the Lady Eleanor with. Too bad I am allergic to the yarn because the colors are wonderful.

This is the Patagonia cotton in a lavender color for a Jawbreaker. This is not a good color and matches nothing. I will trading this in for a better color.

This is the Debbie Bliss Rialto yarn that I traded for the Eggplant color in the same yarn. This color is awesome for me and will become the new Isabella.

I know this is crazy but I really think I will enjoy my knitting so much more by paying attention to what colors look best on me.

It's Been a Bit Rough

2007-06-24T22:10:00.000-06:00

I received my new color pallet. I love my colors. Stay tuned for show and tell. I am just too exhausted to get my "color" pictures posted today. There is the good and the bad that goes along with having your colors done.

The good; I have been busy cleaning closets, yes, closets. I am weeding out items that are absolutely not my color or style, keeping only a few questionable items for later review.

The bad; I will not have very many summer clothes left after this. I owned a lot of pastels, bright & lime greens and the wrong reds. I have made so many mistakes that I need to right.

The good; Good Will Industries will receive some very nice clothes, some with tags still on them. Obviously they were not right for me or I would have worn them already. Some have only been worn once or twice.

The bad; I have to buy more clothes.

The good; I have to buy more clothes.

It is pretty rough because I have not been much paying attention to what looks best on me, I have been buying what I see and like whether it was good for me or not! More about his later. This is hard work and I am tired. Also, it is draining because there are things I like that I need to part with and I am finding that to be a bit difficult. My motivation is seeing the difference in myself.

Next I will be going through my YARN!! This could be interesting and will take a lot longer than one weekend. I have already ripped this ...

and returned this ...

The bad; this process may cut deeply into my wonderful yarn stash!

The good; I get to build a new wonderful yarn stash!

I started working on this
The Lady Eleanor Stole in Scarf Style. http://www.interweave.com/knit/books/Scarf_Style.asp

I started it with Noro Silk Garden colorway 246. After one day of using the yarn my hands were a mess. I have never used Silk Garden before and I found out the hard way that I am allergic to it. My hands developed a new break out of tiny blisters that cracked and oozed. Yes, it was very gross and painful. I am allergic to many metals so Cathy R. suggested that it could have been the metals used in the dyes. No matter, I am not using this yarn. I ripped it out and went back to the drawing board.

My friend Kathy is using Trendsetter Tonalita for this project. So I picked some out and yes, I do believe this will work even better than the Silk Garden. It is so soft and beautiful. Best of all I do not seem to be allergic. Thank you Kathy.

I picked this color.

Ocean and Sky Blues #2352.

I also started my Montego Bay Scarf with my Hand Maiden Sea Silk in amethyst that I received as a git from Nachaele.

It is softer than butter and melts in your hands! It is so nice to work with since my hands hurt from using the Silk Garden. Nachaele was kind enough to cut me 24 pieces of fringe while she was cutting hers. Thank you Nachaele.

I also heard through the grapevine that my kit for this has been shipped. I am waiting, looking, wondering and anticipating its arrival!!!

Yea!

Color Exploration ... the Beginning

2007-06-19T06:30:00.000-06:00

Have you ever saw some great yarn, picked out a beautiful color, purchased it, took it home, started knitting a great project, then something else better comes along and you have an instant UFO. Why is it that I am so easily led astray. The beautiful yarn I just purchased is suddenly shunned for another great project with another great yarn that I just have to start. Why??? If the first yarn purchase was so great, why is it not being knitted to completion? I will throw it in a basket, look at it daily until I decide to put it into one of many covered bins upstairs to be finished much later. That way the yarn will stay "fresh and dust free." Ha, that is what I tell myself anyway so why does later never seem to happen.

Have you ever just wasted your money on the "wrong" yarn? Be it color, contrast, texture, style or a combination. Deep down you knew it but you bought the yarn anyway and so it just sits in your stash forever. What good will come of this?

Have you ever worked on a project that you love knitting, you finish it right away but when the item is finished there is just something not right about it. It may fit, you may love it but you don't love wearing it. You really can't say why but you know something just isn't right. So it goes to someone else or it sits in your drawer forever. It may be the wrong color, style or both.

I set out to discover how to make good color choices and good yarn purchases. I spend too much on yarn to keep buying the wrong colors. What really started all this, you ask? Well, for one, I saw this picture .....My finished Burgundy Jawbreaker. Great yarn, great color, great sweater, fun to knit but it looks ghastly on me, it makes me look ghastly and pale. I put a lot of thought into what it is about the Jawbreaker that isn't right. I love the yarn. I did make it too big, see the shoulders hanging down? I could live with that but then there is something else. The color! It is all wrong for me. I can wear medium to dark colors if they are the right colors, it is really the tone of this is all wrong for me.

I also saw this picture .....The yarn colors are good but I am wearing the wrong color of makeup; my make up is too pale and too yellow for my light to medium skin that has natural pink tones to it. (Actually after I saw this picture I went right out and bought a new shade of makeup that received Cynthia's approval.) Wearing the right colors are important in order to look your best. This includes the right makeup color. Obviously!

These thoughts led me once again to Cynthia who owns a company called Color Quest. My updated session with Cynthia proved to be invaluable. I arrived wearing no make up. She cloaked me in off white and then used her color pallet of over 2,000 colors to find the best ones for me. First she pulls out the colors in my hair, my skin, my eyes and my natural blush. Then she proceeds to go through every one of her color trays to pull out the colors that look best on me. Awesome. After she was done she looked at the colors she did for me 16 years ago. The color palette was very similar but there are differences in my hair colors which changed my the contrast of color I can wear. I have a few more darker shades of colors. It will take a couple of weeks to get my new colors in. We also talked about makeup, hairstyle and clothing style. More about that later. Cynthia is AWESOME.

Can you see the difference when I wear the right makeup and the right color of clothing. I look slightly warm, radiant and energizing, apparently that is me!

Meanwhile, here is a shot of my old colors and some obvious Nays and Yeas with some of my more recent yarn purchases. I brought some of my yarn to Cynthia for advice and if you want her advice she gives it to you and does not hold back. Did I say she is AWESOME!These are the colors of my hair, skin, eyes and blush 16 years ago.

This is my color palette 16 years ago. I was described as slightly warm, floral, cheerful. (more about what this means later) I have changed a bit but these colors still represent me. Right away you can see my color choice for this yarn is a NAY. It sticks out like a sore thumb and does not look good with "me" at all. This is a NAY, this yarn does not look good with "me" at all. I would have made Isabella, and looked like a big green blob because the color over powers the look of "me." Both of those yarns are recent purchases of Debbie Bliss Rialto yarn. I had even started working on Isabella with the green yarn. Since it is a color that clearly clashes with me, it is in my best interest to cut my losses, rip it out and exchange the unused yarn for a better color. I will be also able to exchange the Eggplant color. Based on my new colors (you will see these later) I plan to get the Chocolate Brown and Dark Teal Rialto.

Just for fun above are a couple of Yea yarns. Can you see the difference?

Besides color, another aspect of good knitting is to know your own style. I will explore my personal style later. I will also go more into depth with my past color choices of yarn after I receive my new color palette. I plan to review every yarn purchase, make the tough decisions and set myself straight so I can fully enjoy my knitting projects. That is what this is all about. I love to knit and from here forward I want to love what I knit.

Peaceful Busy Saturday

2007-06-16T21:01:00.000-06:00

Some of my my Lilies are blooming. Lilies are my absolute favorite flower and I plant a new Lily in my backyard every year. There are only two of them that are currently blooming. I am having a hard time keeping the rabbits from eating them so my other plants are a bit sad at the moment. Does anyone know how to keep rabbits out of the yard, humanely?!

I left the house at 8:00 am on Saturday morning and did not return home until midnight. The day was long yet very enjoyable.

First I had an appointment with Cynthia who has a company called Color Quest to explore color, my color specifically. I learned so much about color, makeup and style. I had been to Cynthia 16 years ago but over the years I have slowly moved away from using my personal colors to make the right make up, clothing and yarn purchases. I love color and love many colors that are clearly not right for me personally but I learned that you can enjoy the colors you love from a distance but when making personal spending choices you need to use the colors that look best on you in order to feel your best. I have also changed a bit and needed this update to get me back on track. My hair has gotten darker and my skin is a bit pinker and what this does is change my color range a bit. I can wear a bit more contrast and my colors even though they were all in the same color family as they were 16 years ago were a little more in the meduim to dark range and maybe a bit muted. More about his experience later.

In the afternoon I went over to Knit Knack to enjoy knitting with friends. It was a more intimate group since many people had gone to Estes Park for the Wool Market. As always it was a great afternoon. Knitting friends are the best.

Nachaele gave me a really cool present. I don't deserve it but I love it! It is a skein of Hand Maiden Sea Silk in the most beautiful shade of purple, a red purple which is a perfect color for me. It is the softest most beautiful yarn and I am so excited. We are going to make the Montego Bay Scarf in the Summer 2007 issue of Interweave Knits. The scarf is beautiful and I will love making it. I can't wait to get started so maybe this week! I want to wait and start it at the same time Nachaele starts hers.
Thank you Nachaele, you are the best.
Christie finished her very first pair of toe up socks.
They are looking mighty fine. Good job Christie.
Judy finished her Isabella. Beautiful, I can't wait to see you wear it. Maybe when it isn't 90 degrees out?
Cheryl finished a cute dress for her very lucky granddaughter. It is so adorable. Cheryl also brought in some pictures of a window she painted. She is a very talented artist.
This is Betsy's sister Stephanie who joined us. She is taking a beginning knitting class and is doing really well.
Betsy, Cathy and Leah were all there as well. Knit Knack is one of those wonderful knitting stores that is welcoming and warm. It is a great place to spend a Saturday afternoon. Very peaceful.
After Knit Knack closed I met my DH, Patty, Jeanne and Dale at Sharon and Drew's house house. They are a group on non-knitting "muggles" who do not understand my knitting life but sometimes they get "gifts" they seem to like.

My friend Patty wore her vest that I designed and knit for her. I used Berroco Suede in blue. The vest is simple, a 3 x 3 rib with a garter stitch edge that I knit in one piece to the arms, knitting the edging in as I went so there was minimal finishing. I just wanted to make something with that suede yarn to see how it worked up. I liked it.
It will close in the front but being a "muggle" she does not know how to block it out after she washes it. It is a 3x3 rib that was intended to be pulled apart and blocked out completely, oh well, I try but she says she likes it and doesn't want me to block it for her again!

Sharon and Drew fixed dinner and then we all went to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Made for a late night but it was a fun, busy day. I love the weekends.

Ended Finished Done Completed Concluded

2007-06-15T08:52:00.000-06:00

I finally finished sewing up my Roman Stripe Boatneck. It is complete and ready to wear. I will get a picture of me wearing it later. I used Tahki cotton Classic in a rich teal color. It is a good color for me.

The pattern is in this wonderful book by Ann McCauley. There are many other beautiful patterns in this book as well.

Here is a close up of the pattern stitch. It was actually a fun easy pattern to knit. Since it is a boatneck there is minimal shaping since the front and back are identical. If you do this pattern be sure to but an extra skein or maybe 2 of the yarn you choose. I ran out and had to order a skein and couldn't get the same dye lot. Fortunately the Takhi Cotton Classic is very predictable in color and you really can't tell. I have only a tiny little bit left after buying a whole other skein even though I purchased an extra one from what the pattern said right from the start.

Knit Knack, my new favorite LYS located in old Arvada has this fun and funky yarn in a tall bucket on the floor next to the cash register in the shop. This is the kind of yarn you just have to knit with so you see what it looks like. Nachaele actually found the yarn and wanted to make the Dream Swatch pattern by Wendy at http://www.knitandtonic.typepad.com/

The yarn is very different and pretty cool, so my interest was peaked. I also wanted to use this yarn, it is funky and fun so I took a small break purchased 2 skeins of color 3 (many colors with a main color of turquoise.) Same color as Nachaele if you must know.

The yarn is much different than the yarn Knit and Tonic used in her pattern so I adjusted a bit. I used a size 6 needle, only cast on 18 stitches and knitted this up. Just for fun every once in a while one needs a break and needs to knit up something fun and funky!

Okay, picture needs help, model needs more help, bad hair day, bad makeup day, bad light day and then I still need to weave in ends and block this but its just for FUN! You can still get the idea.

Here is a close up of the pattern. Fun and funky but I love it!

Beginning Saturday I will be concentrating on color. More about that later but I promise it will be interesting. If you spend a lot of money on yarn and clothes you will want to stay tuned. If you are on a tight budget you will want to stay tuned. I will be going through a process of determining my color and style so I can make the best use of my yarn, makeup and clothes budget. I will Pass on some how to tips along the way. After a few obvious blunders and wrong color choices I want to do this so I can prevent future costly mistakes by learning to only buy only what looks the best on me.

Hufflepuff n Stuff

2007-06-14T08:31:00.000-06:00

Yea, yea, yea, I confess, I am a closet Harry Potter fan so I follow suite with Throws Like a Girl and Yarn Thing. Go figure!

The sorting hat says that I belong in Hufflepuff!

Said Hufflepuff, "I'll teach the lot, and treat them just the same."

Hufflepuff students are friendly, fair-minded, modest, and hard-working. A well-known member was Cedric Digory, who represented Hogwarts in the most recent Triwizard Tournament.

Take the most scientific Harry Potter
Quiz ever created.

Get Sorted Now!

Oh and isn't this yarn pretty?

Yes I have more YARN. I have acquired some Sheep Shop II Yarn colorway G123 (like that means anything!) It is pinks and greens and I am pretty sure it will become another Jawbreaker, surprise, surprise! Well maybe an adaptation of one anyway. It may be time to change it up a bit. We shall see how the needles strike, the mood sets and the yarn swings. (DH always says I can butcher the English language like no other.)

Yarn Madness

2007-06-12T12:00:00.000-06:00

What is it about getting yarn? I already have yarn, I don't need yarn but I love to get yarn. I feel like I need it but in reality I already have enough yarn for enough projects to keep me knitting constantly to sometime in the far future, without purchasing more yarn. Yea so, I still want more yarn. I just love yarn and there is no real explanation as to why I must buy more. I don't even have enough time to knit all the projects I have. Does that stop me? No I just must have more yarn. I have tried to control my insanity, I put my yarn and projects in a spreadsheet. I prioritized my projects. It is all in black and white. Does that stop me. No, I still must have more yarn. After more yarn purchases I have to re-prioritize my projects, it is a moving target at all times. Does this madness ever end? NO, one cannot get a hold of such a moving target. So far there is no end in sight, I am just insane for yarn. I am normally a very practical person, I am not OCD or so I thought until yarn came along. Now, who knows! It is an inanimate object and yet YARN RULES! Yarn changed me, I am obsessively insane when it comes to yarn. I know this, but do I stop. No as long as there is more yarn to buy, own, hold, fondle, pet and cuddle, I don't think I will ever stop.

Here are some of my more recent "mad" purchases.

Some superwash merino nylon sock yarn from the Woolen Rabbit. I think I will make some socks!

Some Vesper sock yarn in the colors Knit and Tonic and AquaMelon from Knitterly Things. I have tried to order this yarn for a while. She is always sold out but I just hit it right one day and how could I not get some of this great sock yarn. I think I will make some more socks!

I purchased a couple of skeins of this gorgeous yarn from Over the Rainbow Yarns on ebay. It is called Softball Cotton in a color called Dusty Crocus. Claudia had some Cotton Boucle from Over the Rainbow that I liked so I checked it out and found this! I got 800 yards and it was such a good deal, how could I not buy this. I think I might make an easy fast Rib Warmer from Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitting Workshop book. I think the yarn will be beautiful without a lot of fuss. We shall see!

This book is a classic and every knitting library should have a copy.

Then what did I do? As if I don't have enough yarn and projects to keep me busy. It is not even enough that I already have scores of project to knit, NO, I had to have this. I have to make this. Why, I really don't know other that it is absolutely fabulous, it is my colors, and two friends, blogless Sharon and Joanne and I all ordered the kits at the same time from Suzanne's. It was just one of those meant to be things. The kits were available and ready for our taking. It seems that we knitters like to purchase things along with other knitters and we take special delight and comfort in the fact that we are not alone in out madness.

"This" is the Koigu Magique Cloak.

It is in the Koigu Painter's Palette book. It will be fun to work on.The Magique Cloak, a KOIGU design, is made from forty-one (41) skeins of Koigu Premium Merino yarn in twenty colors. Nineteen painter's palette premium colors and one Premium Merino color. Gauge is 41 sts = 3 inches. Needle size is 3, or size to get gauge. Stitch is garter stitch. WOW, I can't wait! It is madness I say, completely insane but oh so FUN!!!

June Knit Bits of Fun

2007-06-11T08:56:00.001-06:00

I cannot believe it is already June 11th. I do not know where the time goes but if anyone finds it please let me know. I am looking for more time. I need more time. More specifically, I need more knitting time!

I found Mini Me! In Arvada there was something called a Gold Strike Festival going on all weekend. On Saturday when I went to Knit Knack to knit, I found this little adorable little Purple Princess running around having fun. Isn't she sweet?
How do you like this bag? It is at Knit Knack. I am trying it out for size. It may be just a tad too big for me! What do you think? It would hold a lot of yarn, but if it is was full of yarn I am not sure I could lift it. I guess I better leave it as the couch decoration!Betsy is working on yet another Jawbreaker. I think she holds the record on how many any one person had made. I did finish my Burgundy Jawbreaker.I know this will be a huge surprise to many of you especially you Kathy, but.... my mother is getting this one! Friday was her birthday so we went to dinner, she came over after, tried it on. It fit her better than it fit me and now it is hers.Claudia taking a picture of me taking a picture of her. Yes, we are quite a silly group but we have oh so much fun!

Claudia's daughter Madison has the front of her Hedgehog finished. She also received a cute little accessory bag from Nichole. Madison is a great little knitter and I love watching her knit.

Last Tuesday at Knit Knack, Stacey from Sheep in the City joined us for knitting fun. Mary Kay hand dyed some yarn and brought it in. This colorway is named Sheep in the City and I think Stacey likes it!How do you like this yarn? I got it from here. It is from Denmark and Judy ordered it for both of us. It is really fun yarn. We first saw it here on Joanne's blog and couldn't resist.

It is going to be this sweater which is a free pattern that you can get here. I think this will be a fall/winter project for me.I picked up some Socks that Rock in the color Fire on the Mountain. Cathy was working on some Central Air socks in this colorway and the colors are absolutely gorgeous. I just had to have this!

The Last Weekend Happenings

2007-06-05T22:01:00.000-06:00

I know I am behind on my days but what the heck!

I love going to the new yarn store in Arvada Knit Knack. It is a place you can just hang out, relax, shop, visit and knit to your heart's content. Thank you Gerri, you have a great place.

Katie, who is a new knitter and our awesome Knit Knack Barista!

Isn't this adorable! Nachaele gave this to me and I absolutely love it. It is a friendship statue and it made my day to receive this. Thank you Nachaele, I LOVE IT. I am ever so glad I went to the knitting retreat at the end of March in Buena Vista, by myself. That was quite challenging for me. At the same time Nachaele also attended the retreat by herself. We met, we had a great time and we then hooked up with the Arvada Knitting Group. I love being able to go knit at Lollicup and Knit Knack after work hours with such cool people. Thank you Nachaele, I love it.

I started some new toe up socks with this yarn. Claudia's HandPainted Yarn in Purple Earth. These are my Sea Socks. The yarn was a present from Kathy, who went off sailing and left me high and dry here in the mile high. Even so, my friends are the best. I love this yarn. The colors are fabulous. The stitch pattern is still undetermined since I am on my fourth try at swatching for the right pattern. So far a pattern has not hit me, but when it does it will be a real knock down. (and you thought I meant knock out didn't ya, but you know its the whole pattern hitting, knock down, yes I know very silly)

I was glad my friend Kathy joined us for a bit at Knit Knack on Saturda. She is working on the most beautiful deep purple shawl with beads on the ends (I love it, of course) and a beaded sock, again beautiful. Terri is working on her caplet. She is doing great and we should be able to see a finished product very soon.

Mary Kay is modeling my Lucy Neatby Celestrial Merino that Kathy gave me for my birthday. I think she like the colors. I know I do!

Isn't this the cutest little sock sack? Nichole bought one for everyone last Tuesday at Lollicup. How nice is that. I love all of my knitting friends. Thank you Nichole.

Leah almost has a toe up sock finished. After the heel turn it is all downhill. Up the leg really but downhill as far as I am concerned!

HAPPY KNITTING THOUGHTS TO ALL.

It's My Life, It's Now or Never

2007-06-04T06:30:00.000-06:00

Don't ya just love BonJovi? I do. What's that got to do with knitting? Absolutely nothing, I just heard that song on the way in to work this morning (okay I play the same CD every morning on the way in to work) and this morning that song just got stuck in my head. Maybe it is because I kept playing it over and over, but maybe not. Maybe I am just happy today.

It is a long story but for months I have been getting sick every time I eat. I have changed my diet several times, tried to eat "healthy"and still I kept getting sicker and sicker. Plus I gained 25 lbs in six months while trying to eat a "healthy" vegetarian diet. Finally after a more that a year or so, I have been diagnosed with Celiac disease. Why does this make me happy you ask? Well there is a finally a diagnosis, finally a name is given to my problem and that I can live with. The worst part is not knowing what is wrong and having to live with it everyday. All I have to do is not eat wheat gluten and possibly cut down on dairy products. That sounded so impossible at first. Especially since for the last few months I have been eating a "healthy" vegetarian diet consisting of mostly whole grains, dairy etc. I was a bit shocked at first but now I know I can live with it. Wheat gluten is in so many things, it is not a matter of just giving up whole wheat bread, like my DH first thought. It involves major label reading and giving up all of my favorite foods, tortillas, bagels, pizza, soy sauce even Cambell's tomato soup, the list is long. I have much research to do. Bottom line is that for two days I have not eaten any food containing gluten and for two days I have not been sick. I even lost two pounds in two days. I already feel better. I have hope now and I am just so happy!

On the knitting front. Last week when I went to knit with my lunchtime knitting group (we really must come up with a better name) at "Paradise" and I received the most beautiful skein of Lucy Neatby's Celestial yarn from Kathy for a birthday present. What a wonderful surprise, it really made my day. Thank you! I love it! I love it! I love it!
Kathy also brought in some yarn from her stash that she is willing to part with. See her blog for details. Her yarn stash is awesome. She travels frequently and gets to shop in yarn stores around the country, so she has a special yarn in her stash. Her stash is so huge you could spend the day in her home, in her yarn room, shopping, browsing, having fun and finding some of the best yarn ever. Kathy has such a good eye for nice, unique and quality yarn. I love it the yarn she brought in and yes I picked up a couple of cool yarns from her. More about what I bought from Kathy's stash later..... I am still drooling.

Here is Kathy with her "Gator" yarn. The yarn is Glacier from Cider Moon that I bought from the Loopy Ewe. It is a 100% superwash merino wool in the color "Grand Canyon" Kathy is originally from Florida and a huge Gator fan. She mentioned that the yarn was in her Gator colors (not something I noticed) so of course I had to give her this yarn as a congratulations for passing the Colorado Bar. I think she likes it.

Meanwhile, I purchased some beautiful Debbie Bliss Stella yarn from Knit Knack. The color is called aqua but I would call it a beautiful light silvery blue. It is 60% silk, 20% rayon and 20% cotton. I think it will make a great sweater. It is knitting up pretty nice!
Yes indeed it will become a very cool cabley sweater!On the bag front. Here is my cool new Offhand Designs Zhivago bag. I pre-ordered this in January from Dream Weavers Yarns.
I love it.

My mother gave me this great leather tote for my birthday. She said "you know you don't have to put yarn in it" YEA RIGHT!
Nachaele picked this bag up for me at Ace Hardware a while back. It was on sale for $9.99. What a great find.
I have filled up every bag with yarn and yarn things!

The Lunacy or Lunasea of it All

2007-06-01T11:55:00.001-06:00

I joined Sockapalooza Four. Yes indeed. Check here for more details. I have not done this before and so I thought it would be fun. It is already fun, the fun part has been stalking my pal's blog to find out more about her. Then there are the decisions to be made on yarn and what pattern to use. Yes it is fun, yes I am a nervous wreck. I want to find the perfect yarn and the perfect pattern so it it goes as I drive myself a bit nuts while embarking on this quest.

My sock pal had a specific requests for colors along with a vague request on the style of socks that she would like. I searched high and low for the perfect yarn that would fill this request. I have come up with this ...

Lunasea. It is beautiful colorway that fits my pal's request and I figure you really can't go wrong with Socks that Rock. at least I hope my sock pal will agree.

I am on a mission is to find the perfect sock pattern. I searched through all of mine. I love this book, but my old book is just not good enough for my pal.

My sock pal deserves something special, she deserves my best efforts, so I bought this new book. It is another brilliant book by Charlene Schurch. Totally awesome, actually. In this book I think I have found the perfect stitch pattern to make my pal a very special pair of socks, one that fits her request. A pair of socks knitted espeicially for her. I am going to come up with the perfect pair of socks, a unique pair of socks, a pair one that no one else has thought of, one that my pal will love. I will also include a little special bonus. I will share what that bonus is with you later. I am not about to give away too much and inavertently give away clues as to who my sock pal is. I want to totally surprise her. All I can say is it will be special. At least that is my plan, more on this later.

Meanwhile, who got me as their sock pal? I would like to know. I stalk the list of paloozers at random to see what everyone is doing and in hopes that one little comment on one little random blog will lead me to the "clue." You know the clue that will lead me to my pal. So far no luck just having fun browsing.

The Very Serious Arvada Knitter Updates

2007-05-31T21:35:00.000-06:00

Tuesday the Arvada Knitters held their very serious knitting meet up at Lollicup. Oh, who am I kidding can you really be serious at a place called Lollicup. Of course not, it was instead a fun gathering of some very seriously serious knitters.
Christie finished her Cheryle Oberle shawl. Beautiful. Seriously.

J udy is back from her trip to France. We heard about some of her travels but there is more to come. Seriously. she is working on her Isabella from the Debbie Bliss Rialto book. (you know, like my apple green one) She is almost finished.

Claudia finished her toe up socks. They look awesome. Seriously. The pictures do not give those socks their due.

Cheryl finished her cotton vest from the Debbie Bliss Cotton/Stella book. She used the Debbie Bliss cotton which knits up so wonderfully that she started a pink one. The vest turned out beautifully. What a great piece to add to your wardrobe. What a beautiful model. Seriously.

Patti joined us and she is so happy to be here. Well, maybe it is because she just graduated from nursing school. Either way it was great to see her. Congratulations Patti. Seriously.

Marly is feeling better but not well enough for a full photo op. She crocheted the shawl in her lap from her own design. Seriously. A sock is a good thing to work on while still in recovery mode. Feel better soon Marly.

Cathy and Nicole are seriously knitting away.
Terri and Sadie are having a serious fun time.

Okay I am sure you have had enough of this. Seriously, I will quit now, it must be late and I have to get up for work tomorrow. Seriously. We will say that is the issue today; it's late and I need sleep. Seriously.

I Knit Wonky

2007-05-31T08:43:00.000-06:00

No I don't! Thank you Cathy.

The rest of the story is .......

I am happily knitting away on Isabella in the Debbie Bliss Rialto book with the apple green Rialto yarn. Like this...

Everything is going well or ... so I thought. Then my DH looks at what I am doing. Okay I confess I make him look because I have to stop every so often to admire my knitting, I thought he should do the same. You know, admire my knitting with this beautiful, wonderful, soft yarn. Then he says "what stitch is that?" I said, "what do you mean?; it's stockinette?" Fortunately or unfortunately, he knows what that is so he said "well why does it look like a twisted rope and a spiral cable? It looks different." Thanks baby.

Then I said, "oh, crap, I don't know." If you know me at all then you know that was a breaking point for me since I am a perfectionist or just very anal (take your pick) and you know this caused me many hours of agonizing, stressful knitting thoughts. Do I really knit wonky? Do I need to learn how to knit all over again? Since I learned to knit continental style a few years back, did I learn it right? Is my purl stitch tighter or looser than my knit stitch. Have I been knitting wrong all this time? Why is my stockinette not forming a perfect "V" shape? I have not knit many items in just stockinette stitch so maybe I just haven't noticed this terrible tragedy before. Should I confess this to my knitting comrades who may have the misconception that I knit good? Should I hide my dirty little knitting secret? Maybe, but how long will it be before I am exposed as a knitting fraud. You know how this can go on and on and on and on and on and on. (Maybe YOU don't but I DO)

I had already beaten myself up over this and actually resigned myself to the fact that I would finish Isabella as is and just hope no one noticed my wonky knitting and then I would re-learn how to knit properly so I could have perfect little "V's" every time. It was a long shot. I was thinking I could pull it off because, after all, it looks good and maybe everyone would just think I meant to knit it that way. Maybe ... just maybe. My little devious plan could work.

No, it didn't work and I couldn't pull it off. I have a big mouth and just could not keep this all inside; it was too much to bear. I had to tell. As it turns out, my big mouth (while my head screamed nooooo stick with the "plan") fessed up to a few people at Lollicup on Tuesday evening! I learned. Now all is well. Cathy saved the day and saved me from myself! She said she read an article in Knitty about how different yarns knit up differently depending on how they are plied. Check this out http://www.knitty.com/issuefall05/FEATwhyply.html

The Rialto yarn has several plies and is twisted in way that does produce this stitchHey, that looks like my knitting with the Rialto yarn. Woohoo! I knit just fine thank you very much and thank you Cathy. I might have had a total knitting meltdown if not for you. I also learned that it does help to share with your knitting friends. They don't pass judgement, they help.

Whew!!! Another knitting crisis has been averted.

Summer Knitting Goals

2007-05-30T10:45:00.000-06:00

For Ali, here are my summer knitting goals.

10. Start my Log Cabin in Tahki Cotton Classic.

9. Finish my secret summer cabled sweater that is currently on my needles. (more about this one later, but trust me it is really cool)

8. Finish my Roman Strip Boatneck.

7. Finish another Patagonia Cotton Jawbreaker in a light lavender. I haven't started this one.

6. Finish my Lacy Summer Tee in Tahki Cotton Classic in a light blue silver color. I have the bottom lace band and the back completed.

5. Make this great yarn into socks. 4. Knit up some more socks.

3. Get my yarn stash and projects under control.

2. Knit a few baby sweaters and hats to donate to Nachaele's Stitches for Britches.

1. Get yarn and knit the fabulous fitted tank at http://www.blueskyalpacas.com/pattern_detail.php?patterns_ID=61

Here is the deal everybody Ali is having a contest.
- all you have to do is:
1.) Leave a comment on Her BLOG letting Ali know what color you want and mention who's blog you heard about the contest on. I heard from MARLY aka YARN THING!!
2.) Then head to your blog and post a list of your summer knitting goals (there may be an end-of-summer contest of some sort to celebrate summer knitting accomplishments...) and mention this contest (with a link to this post- http://www.skeinsherway.com/2007/05/pre-summer-contest.html)
3.) Lastly e-mail Ali with the link to your post! (ali AT skeins her way DOT com) Be sure to mention in your post for anyone who follows your link to let her know what blog they jumped from as every 'referral' will earn you another entry! Contest will run through the end of the month (May) and her talented children will draw three winning names (or secret blogging identities) out of a container of some sort on June 1st.What can we win? First place winner will receive 1 copy of the tank pattern along with 4 hanks of Blue Sky Dyed Cotton in their choice of colors second & third place winners will each receive a copy of the pattern and whatever other goodies happen to jump into the package just before sealing and sending!

Very Unpredictable

2007-05-28T21:16:00.000-06:00

I know I previously said this one was next on the needles however ..........
I actually started this one ... same yarn, Debbie Bliss Rialto, different color, different pattern! This is Isabella in Apple green. It is still a simple pattern with class and great lines. A very flattering pattern. the yarn knits up like a dream.
Right now I have changed my mind several times and I am not sure if I am still going to use the Eggplant Rialto for Lucia or not. I love the pattern on the cover of the Rialto book. It is a cabled vest which I would have to change up a bit if I knit it and so I go back and forth on this. The vest has 4 inches of ribbing at the bottom and I don't think that will look good on me so if I knit the vest on the cover instead of Lucia I will have to do maybe 1/2" of ribbing and see if I can get in another cable repeat instead. May involve a little math. Not really a problem for me since I know how, I use a lot of math and calculations at work, I can figure out most anything but I also have a fear of getting something wrong and messing up my knitting. I have to wait until I decide for sure before I show the vest. We shall see. Play it safe and knit Lucia or go out on a limb and knit the cabled vest my way??? mmmm
I have a Jawbreaker finished and ready to block . The above picture is before sleeves but the sleeves are in, all ends are woven and the sweater is ready for blocking. I love this button; I know not the best picture, but trust me it is a really cool button. I picked it up at Knit Knack. I am not sure if I will use it on this Jawbreaker or not. I added some length to the collar and I am afraid it will cover up the button. I will see after I block it. If you don't already know, this about me I have this issue where I always make some little change to the pattern. Makes life interesting for me to say the least. On my first Jawbreaker I added a different edge to the front, I used smaller needles, I did not pick up all the stitches called for in the pattern for the collar, I made the collar shorter plus I did a 3 needle bind off on the shoulders. On this second Jawbreaker I picked up the exact amount of stitches the pattern called for on the collar, which meant picking up almost 2 stitches for every one, I made a longer collar (didn't think about the button), I added a single crocheted edge to the two fronts, I made the sleeves longer, I used bigger needles plus I used the 3 needle bind off on the shoulders. We shall see how this really turns out later this week. Yes, I admit it I have a problem following directions and usually do something to change up a pattern. Right, wrong or otherwise!

My one goal for this week is to finish a sweater that has been completed and the pieces have been blocked for a while now. It is from this book. I met Ann McCauley and find her designs beautiful. She is very delightful person, an accomplished knitter, a dancer and I love her book. The patterns are feminine and timeless. In person they are very beautiful. As usual the pictures in the book do not do them justice. I have the cover sweater on my list of knitting to do's.
I made this one .....

It is a great summer lace top to go over a cami. It is made out of Tahki Cotton Classic in a deep teal color. The pattern was fun to knit.
This will be finished and ready to wear, this week. I will finish this sweater, I will finish, I will finish, I will finish. It is a pullover so I only have two side seams, two shoulder seams and two arm seams. That's it! I know how to do it. I know how to do it well. I took a finishing class from the very best in town, Margaret Wahlin at Shuttles, Spindles and Skeins in Boulder. There is no excuse not to finish this week. I will finish my beautiful sweater! (If I say the word finish enough then just maybe....... the Karma to finish it will be there.)

Camp Knit Knack

2007-05-27T12:30:00.000-06:00

Some go camping on Memorial Weekend. Saturday as part of my Memorial day Holiday I went day camping at Knit Knack in Arvada. It was time to sit, visit with friends, relax, have fun and KNIT!
Mary Kay brought her spinning wheel. It was fun to watch her, she is a master spinner. I really think spinning would make me sleepy. I have never tried it and never thought I would be interested but after watching Mary Kay, I'll put a maybe on that one.

Nachaele and Terrie.

Nichole and Christie. Cathy came in later. In the middle of the table is another Jawbreaker finished by Nachaele.

Leah and Katie behind the bar. Katie is the best coffee drink maker and Leah was trying her hand at it.

My friend Julia and her daughter Anna came in for their third knitting lesson from me. I put Anna working on a basic hat in the round and Julia working on the one row scarf from the Yarn Harlot.

Anna said she really enjoyed herself, she found it relaxing and fun. Cool. She is only 8 years old but was so totally in her element.

I of course, was the resident "Princess."

All in all it was a fun day camping trip spent with great people.

Tunnel Vision

2007-05-23T21:41:00.000-06:00

Last week while in Houston with my boss Linda, working... she mentioned that her 89 year old mother asked her to bring her some post cards of the tunnels. In case you don't know, In downtown Houston there are underground tunnels. There is about a five mile loop. You can go down in the tunnels to get around town without having to go out in the heat and humidity. We had a bout a 2 block walk through the tunnel to get from the hotel to the office. There are a few shops and restaurants down there. We stopped for breakfast at a place in the tunnel on the way to the office. But you see it is just an underground tunnel. There are no post cards. It is a tunnel folks and no more. It is not on any sight seeing tours. IT IS A TUNNEL. So I had a camera and took pictures for Linda's mother. I hope she will enjoy them. The Houston residents did wonder who the crazy lady with the camera in the tunnel was. So, if you live in Houston and saw me, now you know!

The escalator going up and down to the tunnel.

Linda in the tunnel.

It is just a tunnel.

There are signs that tell you where you are.

There are maps to show you where you are.

It is just a tunnel!

But it is pretty cool. I used it!

What else did I do in Houston? Well, by day we were mild mannered hard working blokes, by night we turned into wild and crazy KNITTERS of course!

Linda is making a baby blanket for her future 1st ever grandchild (it's a girl!) She is a prolific crocheter and a self taught knitter who kinda does her own version of the continental style of knitting. I am teaching her to throw with her right hand for this blanket. I am usually a continental knitter, however I first learned to throw and do switch off once in a while, depending on the pattern. I find it very helpful to know both styles.

I have a pair of socks!
I used the Socks that Rock, lightweight in the Lucy colorway. I used a Turkish toe cast on and picked a six stitch slipped stitch ribbed pattern from the book Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch. I love them and they fit perfectly. I know the pictures aren't great so I will try to get better ones tomorrow.

The color "Lucy" STR was originally made for Wendy's cat Lucy but I think I need to get my little princess Dina a baby blue collar and wallah I think these can be "Dina" socks!
What do ya think about that!!!
Well apparently not much.

Knitting MeMe

2007-05-22T11:09:00.000-06:00

From Knitter in Progress.

Mark with bold the things you have knit at least once, with italics the ones you plan to do sometime, and leave the rest.

Afghan
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Domino knitting (modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffiti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dying with plant colors
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cozies…)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars
Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
Knitting with DPNs
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dying yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Knitting two socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars simultaneously
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac
Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with self-patterning/self-striping/variegating yarn
Stuffed toys
Baby items
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/arm warmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Hair accessories
Knitting in public

Been Taggged

2007-05-17T15:08:00.000-06:00

I've been tagged by Nicole!

Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about themselves. Those tagged need to write on their blogs 7 facts, as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag seven others and list their names on your blog. You have to leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and need to read your blog.

I am not very good at this but here goes with 7 very random strange but true facts about me ....

1. My education is in accounting but I ended up a Division Order Analyst working in land and title. I have worked for 16 oil and gas companies in the last 26 years. Sometimes for the same people just different companies.

2. When I was 4 years old in Albuquerque, New Mexico I pretended I was in a car and rode my tricycle up on the highway with all the cars during one rush hour. A policeman took me home. I got in trouble.

3. For some reason my husband laughs histerically every time I say Picot bind off.

4. I was President of the Denver Association of Division Order Analysts in 1992 and served on the board in various positions. This is amazing because I am shy and I actually hate speaking to groups of people.

5. I was born in Salida Colorado at the Salida Hospital where my Grandmother was a nurse and we lived across the street in what is now a B & B and the house is a preserved historic site. I still go there and get apples off the apple tree that has always been in the backyard.

6. My first name is Elizabeth. My mother named me after Elizabeth Taylor, of course. I now use my middle name Leanne because she heard someone call me "Lizzie" when I was 4 and that was not acceptable, so she changed what I was called right then and there. The good thing is I didn't have to learn how to spell my long name until I was older!

7. Every morning I go to Starbucks and have an Earl Grey Tea Misto with a little bit of water and no foam. The hole in the lid must be lined up with the "B" in the Starbucks logo that is on the cup or I can't drink it.

Since most people I know with a blog have been tagged, I am only officially tagging Kathy, but if you read this know that you are tagged.

I Work for Yarn

2007-05-13T19:39:00.000-06:00

I will be in Houston on business until Thursday so I leave you with a few sneak peeks at some of my future projects.

Debbie Bliss Rialto in a beautiful eggplant color to make a simple ribbed short sleeved sweater out of the Debbie Bliss Rialto book. A simple sweater with a nice lines will go nicely with the lovely soft yarn. Yummy! This one is next up on the needles after the burgundy Jawbreaker is finished.

Trendsetter Scoubi-Du, a 50% cotton/acrylic blend in ocean will become a baby blanket for our neighbors, who just had son #2.

My new Socks that Rock sock club kit with a new silk blend yarn may actually become the pattern it came with. I really like the pattern and the yarn colors.

Some Cider Moon Glacier in the color Grand Canyon is probably going to be a fun hat. It may be for my daughter-in-law who will be vising me at the end of June first of July. I am planning to really have time to teach her to knit.
Some more Cider Moon Glacier in the color Taos. I am thinking of a hat and some fingerless mitts.
Knit on.

Knits and Bits

2007-05-12T10:34:00.000-06:00

Sea Socks Cruise Goddess No. 2 is back! Here is Sharon working on her first sock ever. I believe it is going well because it has been rumoured that during the cruise yarn shop stops Sharon managed to purchase yarn for around 50 pairs of sock. I believe the girl had fun.
She even brought me back some sock yarn, in my colors. THANK YOU Sharon and welcome back you Cruise Goddess!

Tuesday night knitting at Knit Knacks in Arvada proved to be fun and tasty. Leah made me a birthday cake. A chocolate birthday cake. I love chocolate. What a nice thing to do. We all had some and it was delicious. thank you Leah. Here she is with her toe up sock. I think she likes it!

It is a small world. when we were getting our purchases together so the shop could close, I met someone I went to High School with. Here is me with Colleen. I am glad she recognized me and came over to talk. She is just getting started knitting and was taking a class in the front of the shop. I wish her only good knitting experiences and I hope I get to see her again. I never meet anyone I knew from High School even though I really don't live far from where I grew up. I love it that I did. YEA!! Yes I am really that short. I have not grown any since 5th grade. I am still waiting for my growth spurt! She looks fantastic.

The return of the Jawbreaker .....

You remember..... the one I started the weekend I was in Buena Vista, my first Jawbreaker. It had some color issues. The back is very pink, one front was very blue and the other front had more of a purple cast to it. So, I ripped both fronts and I knit them again using alternating both skeins so the colors would be mixed. That worked great, I just don't like doing it that way. All well and good but then I finished the 2nd front and realized I had done mindless knitting and not done the increases. The increases in the front are an integral part of the design so I ripped and did that front over. Will this easy cardigan ever be done? I finished one sleeve and then the other. However the 2nd sleeve was bigger that the first. I then proceeded to rip that one and re-did the 2nd sleeve. Then I knit the collar and was not going to have enough yarn so I changed it a bit. There is no way at this point I was going to break into another skein. I just wanted to finish and move on already.

You are probably wondering how it happened that I knit one sleeve bigger than the other. Well silly me, I forgot what size sleeve I was using for the sleeves. Let me tell you that my MO is to piece pattern sizes together to get a better fit for me. I have smaller shoulders, larger (you know) and no hips so I am never just one pattern size. That is all fine except that I am also notorious for not writing down what size I am doing for each piece. I think I can remember. HA. That then equates to disaster. When will I ever learn, just write it down! It is easy to do; I even carry stickies in my knitting bag. I will learn and I will turn over a new leaf today!

After all that I have a completed Jawbreaker and it looks great except again I did not follow instructions or double check my gauge to make pattern adjustments once I got started and me a tight knitter went down a needle size. Know what that means.... too small for me. Nachaele modeled my Jawbreaker and it fit her perfectly and she likes the colors so here you go Nachaele.... I hope you enjoy, it looks great on you. (It was an accident her head is framed in the picture on the wall but how cool!)

So what did I do? I started another one, of course! In a more solid color, with only slight dye variations. There is something fun and addicting about this pattern. It knits up fast and easy (providing you follow directions) and looks great. I learned from my mistakes. I went up a needle size to get the right gauge, I am writing down my sizes, I am even counting my rows! I love this color, it is called burgundy but it is so much prettier that a regular burgundy, it has a lot of purple and I love it. This one will knit up perfectly. This one will be mine!

I also purchased some yarn at Knit Knacks for a baby blanket, more about this later.....
Happy Knitting to all and remember make notes.

The Cruise Goddess

2007-05-08T21:28:00.000-06:00

Kathy is back and glad to be home. Being on a ship is not for everyone, the problem is that you don't know if you can handle it or not until you give it a go. Being sea sick does not make for having the best of times. There was some knitting and some shopping but being back on land is a good thing. We will hear more about her travels later.
I am glad she is back. I have not heard from Sharon yet but it sounds like she may be a bit under the weather since she returned. Hopefully she will be back soon.

We did get to hear a bit about some fine yarn purchases. This yarn is fabulous. It shines and feels wonderful. Kathy will turn this into a beautiful shawl.
Denise, Kris and I were all the happy recipients of some wonderful cruise presents. Very unexpected but oh so nice. Kathy is absolutely the Cruise Goddess and we now all feel special even if we didn't get to go on the cruise.
Denise got some beautiful peach sock yarn from Fleece Artist.

Kris got a beautiful colorful skein of Fleece Artist.

I received the most beautiful skeins of Claudia's Hand Painted in the color called Purple Earth. It may look a bit blue in the picture but it is the most beautiful shades of purples with a bit of gold and browns mixed in. Awesome. I am so starting some some special socks tomorrow, or as soon as I have a free needle or two. I love this yarn! THANK YOU KATHY.

BEAUTIFUL!

Then I did receive the "bet." Yes, I get a present for Kathy passing the Colorado Bar. We bet some yarn but she upped the stakes and I got something even better. This is why you should always support your friends and bet for them, never against them. She worked hard, passed her test and .....

I got some beautiful PURPLE/LAVENDAR stitch markers. But...... they are not just stitch markers....... they are also on a beautiful silver chain that you wear as a necklace. So totally awesome. I really love this.

Thank you Kathy. I am only a Princess but YOU are a Goddess!

1st Semi-Annual Downtown Knitters Luncheon

2007-05-07T20:40:00.000-06:00

Today the Downtown Knitters had their first semi-annual luncheon at Maggiano's Italian Restaurant located in the Denver Pavilions at 16th & Tremont. This is how great traditions get started.

We wined, okay it was iced tea but it was really good iced tea. It was lunch, what do you expect. We dined on some very fine Italian Cuisine. We laughed, a lot. We knit. We took a long lunch so we could have extra good fun. We intend to start this tradition and have this event twice a year. The lunch hour group has been knitting together for over two years and we have become good friends who share knitting time and life stories.

Who was there?

Me of Course. Be sure to get a good look at the fine surroundings.

Kris. Again look at those wonderful cozy surroundings.
Denise. Notice those nice fancy checkered tablecloths? We dined in style.
We sure had a great time. Knitting; Eating; Drinking; Laughing.
Who was not able to attend? mmmm....... let me think...... who else is in the group?????
Why it is Kathy and Sharon aka CBs. Why weren't they at the luncheon event?? Because they are the CBs (cruise bitches.) The two of them decided to go on this little sea socks cruise and they just didn't make it back in time for our "event." I am so sorry. That is just too bad. Oh, so sad. We really missed you both and I sure hope you all can schedule your time better and make it to the 2nd Semi-Annual Luncheon. We will surely be talking about this one for months.

Look at them sporting their new Judith Leiber frames they bought just before they left on this little cruise.

Sharon
Kathy

Welcome back guys, I can't wait to hear about your travels and we can tell you all about the luncheon event you missed.

On that note I do want to congratulate Kathy! (http://mountainpurl.blogspot.com) She is now also known as the COBB! The Colorado Bar Bitch, of course. She passed the Colorado Bar the first time around. Congratulations Kathy.

Don't forget the yarn that you owe me. Why does she owe me yarn, when she is the one who passed the test, you ask? Long story short, she is already an Attorney, but she was only licenced to practice Law in California. I have known her a couple of years so I know this woman has a photographic memory and is extremely bright. In addition, she juggles a 50 hour a week job, a husband, two small kids and is quite an accomplished knitter, among other things. There is nothing she can't do well. So, in the beginning, when she said she was going to study for the CO Bar, I had the utmost confidence that she would pass the first time with flying colors. With all that she has on her plate, a little bit of self doubt was in her mind, so we made a bet. The bet is if she passes the first time around, she owes me some kind of really great sock yarn, and if she did not pass I would owe her the yarn. I knew she would pass all along so shouldn't I be rewarded for having undying confidence in my friend. She is one of the best.

Hard Days Night

2007-05-06T20:51:00.000-06:00

Last week was a rough week and I am glad to be through it. Midweek I had a birthday and turned 50. I have had no problems with that until I woke up on the "day" and reality set in. I had a really hard time dealing with it. I turned 50 before my husband. that is not a good thought. Next Friday he will turn 50 so I suppose I can deal with it for 9 days, especially since I have no choice. No matter, it was still rougher than I expected.

So, how do you get over a funky bad mood caused by a birthday you aren't ready to have? I will show you .....

It starts the night before by going to knit at Lollicup with the Arvada Knitters, some new friends and some old friends, all of whom are wonderful.
My longer time friend Denise joined the group and had a good time with my newer friends so that made me happy.
New friend Marlaina ("Marly") modeled her crocheted poncho. It was fabulous.

New friend Cheryl modeled her Jawbreaker. I love the pink/raspberry on her.

Longer time acquaintance, newer friend Judy show off her finished Jawbreaker and Poppy.

New friend Mary Kay finished her headband using her own hand dyed yarn. Fabulous.
Claudia's daughter Madison finished her bag while we were there. I love it that she brings her daughter and they knit together. Madison is only 12 and quite the accomplished knitter.

Saturday I met Claudia, Leah and Nachaele at the Bliss Cafe for lunch. I really love that place. Claudia makes stitch holders and gave me these great purple stitch holders. I love them. There are some really small ones for socks. These are way too cool. I will treasure them always. Claudia you are way too nice. If anyone is interested, Claudia of Creative Process Designs makes many great styles of markers and Knit Knacks sells them. She also has a catalog of her work. They are all awesome.

Nachaele delivered me some beautiful yarn from Colorful Yarns and she also picked up and delivered the cutest little shoes. See her blog "Eat-Knit-Sleep" for a picture of the shoes. They are so cute. We have the same taste in a lot of things and I had to have them. She is so sweet to have shopped for me. I will show and tell the yarn later.

After lunch we went to Knit Knacks (knitknacks.org) where we just get to sit, knit and talk.
Claudia, Chistie and Marly. Christie is back from vacation. We missed you Christie but I am glad you had a good time. Your sock turned out great.

Nachaele, Leah and Cheryl.

I am actually so blessed to have met so may great people that share my passion for knitting. I love spending my knitting time with them. It is so fun, Is it any wonder that I could not stay in a funk for too long.

I had to leave Knit Knacks "early" Saturday. Yes you heard right, I could not close the place down this week. I was slightly bummed but sometimes I guess you have to do other things besides knit. I suppose anyway..... but there were BD plans to deal with. My friends Patty, Sharon, Drew and DH's brother and sister-in-law, Dale and Jeanne made plans for DH and I. the problem is they would not tell us what we were doing. They said to dress casual and warm so, needless to say I was a little scared! With this group you never know what to expect. As it turns out, they took us up "up the hill' to the Lodge in Blackhawk. They treated DH and I to a wonderful dinner at the White Buffalo. It was a great place! I would go again. There were windows on three sides of the restaurant and the view from there is awesome. To top it off it was snowing and looked really cool. After that we proceeded to lose a few bucks at the slots and poker games. We had only been up there one other time. It is pretty interesting to watch the more serious gamblers. We all had a good time together.

All in all, I have to say I am blessed. I love my life, my family, my friends. I have a good job and a great boss. Everything around me is good right now so I just couldn't stay in a funk for too long. I guess it really is okay to turn 50 even if you have to do it 9 days before your husband!

What about my knitting you ask??? Of course I have been and I will tell you about that later.

Oh Happy Day

2007-04-26T22:03:00.000-06:00

Remember this? 25 skeins of Tahki cotton classic I acquired from Colorful Yarns in Centennial. (http://colorfulyarns.blogspot.com) It was on sale so I though this was the perfect time to get some yarn for my Log Cabin blanket from the Mason Dixon book. Great idea at the time but my current "swift" named Kevin was a bit overwhelmed by all this.

Then along came Nachaele (knit-eat-sleep.blogspot.com), who so graciously let me borrow her swift. My swift was one happy dude.

In no time I had this.
I never thought I needed a swift before. I had a ball winder and Kevin really didn't mind being my swift, but after using Nachaele's, I now know why I need a real swift. This took minutes (okay, under one hour, that is still minutes) to wind up. With my old "swift" it would have been hours even days. Not his fault, we just had to be so careful not to tangle up the yarn. My swift liked to "flick" his hands a lot and that caused yarn dropping and tangles, plus we could never really go that fast. I am SOLD. I ordered my own swift. Thanks Nachaele.

Now I have to find somewhere to a put my new project with all this wound yarn. mmmm....
It is my Tepper Jackson bag to the rescue. What other bag could be more fitting to hold all that colorful yarn a bag from Colorful Yarn, what else.
Wow, I even have a matching accessory bag.
Now, I just need more knitting time!

A moment from the Little Princess, Dina. I haven't told you much about her yet so here goes. I got her from a farm in Arkansas. She had gotten too big to show and too big to breed and she just needed a good home. She is the Amazon of Chinese Cresteds. Her parents were both a respectable 12" but she is over 14 1/2", So no one really wanted her after she became full grown. She came to me on her first birthday. She was pretty, but oh so aloof. She was friendly but not the cuddly little thing I wanted at the time. She seemed very independent. Having lived on a farm and all I wasn't sure we could make her happy. She had fleas and she was a mess. She had never traveled before, so she threw up, a lot, at first. We took her home cleaned her up and decided that even though she wasn't warm and cuddly we WOULD give this little girl a good home. I thought that I really needed a puppy to get a real connection and this one was already a year old so I did not think I could ever really connect with her. I was still thinking of getting my puppy also. I am glad I didn't because, I was so wrong. She has turned out to be the best "dog" (loosely used, she is more like one of us, she is a member of our family) we have ever had. She is so very smart and yes, she is warm and cuddly. She seems to love being around us and we love her very much. She is very special to Kevin and I. She is our Little Princess.

Time to start a new Sock

2007-04-24T05:00:00.000-06:00

I do not knit a ton of socks like some people. I do however enjoy knitting a good pair of socks once in a while. I have to prioritize and disperse them in with my many other knitting projects. There is so much out there that I want to knit, so many things I have in waiting and so many things I have already on the needles, so it is very difficult sometimes to decide what to knit with my limited knitting time. Nonetheless, I have not knit a pair of socks in while so no matter what else is going on, it's time for socks and socks are on the needles!

Saturday at Knit Knacks, I showed Nachaele, Leah, and Christie the Turkish toe cast on and gave them an insight as to how I go about making socks. When I took a toe up sock class from my friend Kathy, I discovered that I enjoy making socks from the toe up for many reasons. When you start a sock at the toe you can be very flexible about the number of total stitches you need for the yarn weight you choose, the pattern stitch you want to do and the needles you want to use. You can fit your sock, as you knit. You can make adjustments as needed, as you try on your sock. For example if you have a larger ankle measurement you can change a needle size at the ankle to accommodate or even add another stitch pattern repeat, you can make a longer heel flap; in other words you can fit your socks to your own feet as you knit. (be sure to write down what you do so you can make a second sock to match!) If you split the yarn into two even balls you will know that you will have enough yarn for each sock. This may be important if you have a bigger foot or want as long of sock as possible without having to buy more yarn.

Unless a really great top down pattern comes along (and it will have to be really spectacular) I will plan my socks like this......

1. Decide on yarn. I decided to only to pull out my Socks that Rock yarn stash, this not all of my sock yarn just my STR.

Tough choice but the winner is ....
Lightweight STR in the color "Lucy"

2. Review this book.....
In my opinion this book, Sensational Knitted Socks" by Charlene Schurch is the only book about socks you will ever need. I said need folks. You need this book no matter what other sock books you have or want, you need this book. You may also want to rely on a stitch pattern book or calendar so you can find different stitch patterns to use for your socks.

Here is my first pair toe up socks I made using the Turkish toe cast on. My friend Kathy gave me the yarn for my birthday last year so I took her class and made these awesome socks. I used a five stitch beaded rib pattern from the "book" The yarn is the medium weight STR in the color Hard Rock. I used a size 1 needle and 60 total stitches. I have a small foot and cannot make a lot of the other sock patterns out there, because they turn out too big. My feet are also not the same size as each other so I find a that a rib pattern gives me a good fit.
I love these socks, they are very special. The yarn was a present from a special friend, they are my first toe up pair and they fit like a glove, a foot glove that is. Store bought socks never fit me. My foot is small, my heel is small and I end up with the heel of the sock riding all over the place, it is most irritating. Well not when I make socks like this! These socks rock!

3. Wind yarn of choice. How beautiful, I almost hate to use it.
Okay, I said almost..... I cast on 16 sts on two 24" circular needles at the same time. I knit around even on each needle, for one round and then started increasing one stitch at the beginning and end of each needle every other row. This equates to an increase of 4 total stitches every other round. You will need to figure out your own formula for how many to cast on based on what you want in a sock, your gauge and your foot measurement. For example, if you have a gauge of 8 sts to the inch and are making a 66 sts pattern you will make a sock that is about 8.25" around. (Funny, but that is the measurement of my foot and it is my ankle measurement mmmm....) But it really doesn't matter, just figure out what number will get you to 1/2 your total number of sock stitches on each needle (using a 2 needle method or a 1 needle magic loop method.) It is a little bit of math but not bad. It is so worth it to get an absolutely fabulous, seamless toe, like this.
With the lightweight STR and Size 1 needles, I calculated that I could go up to 66 total stitches for my foot circumference, which then equates to a six stitch pattern. (there again, more math but worth it.) I started with 16 stitches on 2 needles and ended up with 33 stitches on each needle. When increasing I had to increase only once at the beginning of each needle one time, (instead of increasing at the beginning and the end) to get to my 33 stitches on each needle. After I increased to the total number of stitches I wanted, I knit a round even and then started the foot of my sock. I am using a six stitch, slip stitch (say that one fast 3 times) pattern that is based on a 3 x 3 rib. With the six stitch pattern I needed to be able to knit the first three stitches of the six stitch repeat at the end of my instep stitches so I can have a balanced pattern over the instep. That is why I needed 33 stitches on the instep needle (repeat of 6 +3.) Then of course, I needed the same number for the bottom of the foot which I knit in plain stockinette. This method works. (hard for me to explain so TRUST ME, it works) WOW - What a perfect fit. You gotta love this toe up method! Here is the toe from the back of the sock. Awesome, no seams.
The sock is started and is on its way UP. I did rip twice in the beginning and tried a couple of different stitch combinations before I chose this one with this yarn. So anal, but so easy when you start from the toe. I think I have the beginning of another great pair of socks! We shall see... More to come.

I leave you with a message from Dina aka "Little Princess"
Stop knitting and take me out to play now, please...

Lunch Hour in the Mile High City

2007-04-23T20:35:00.000-06:00

Monday, time for lunch. It is a beautiful day; out of the office onto the 16th Mall.
Just missed a shuttle; wait patiently for the next one.
Of course the wait is not usually very long.

Make a quick stop at Starbucks for an iced tea.
On to Independence Plaza to meet the lunch hour knit gang and KNIT!
Kathy and Sharon are here. Denise shows up a bit later.
On the left is the Kathy (http://mountainpurl.blogspot.com) who taught me how to do a Turkish toe up cast on and knit toe up socks. She has been knitting since she was 5 and teaches at String in Highlands Ranch on her "off" time. I was knitting in the lobby of another building, minding my own business, when Kathy and Denise walked by and Kathy said "what you making?" They just kind of picked me up and we have been knitting together ever since. It is so much more fun to knit with people that share your passion for knitting. I have learned a lot from Kathy. she is always willing to share her vast knitting knowledge. If you get a chance to take a class from her, she is an awesome teacher.

I used to work with Sharon and she knew how to knit but had not been really knitting a lot at the time, but she was starting to getting herself into it again so I invited her to knit with us at lunch. She definitely caught the knitting fever and has been going strong ever since. Kathy and Sharon are both going on the Sea Socks Cruise next week. I expect to see lots of pictures!

Look at Sharon with her beautiful shawl. It is absolutely a work of art. She should be very proud.

Darn, lunch hour is just too short. Like I always say work just gets in the way of my knitting. At least we have the hour in the middle of the day, it really helps to break up the day and keep me going.

What am I working on, you ask???? Long story, I will tell you about it later.

It is late so I leave you with some shots of the "Little Princess" who has suddenly become camera shy.
I am trying to wake up to go to bed.

I made it to the couch, what more do you want! Good Night!

There's a New Knit Shop in Town

2007-04-22T13:57:00.000-06:00

There is a new knitting shop in Old Town Arvada.

Knit Knacks*Yarn Shop *Gathering Place*Coffee Bar
Owner: Gerri Bragdon
7505 A Grandview Ave Arvada, CO 80002

All I can say is Woo Hoo!

Saturday was field trip day. First a group from the Arvada Knits met at the Bliss Cafe in Old Town Arvada for a nice lunch.

Judy and Cheryl finished their Buttery Autumn sweaters and showed them off. Judy taught the sweater class at Cottage Yarn. Their sweaters were made out of Donnegal Tweed and they were absolutely beautiful.
Leah and her daughter Ashley showed off their Namaste bags. I think they hold just a little bit of knitting and supplies. I loved the Bliss Cafe. The food was great. I had an apple & brie sandwich that was to die for. It was my kind of place. The artwork was interesting.After lunch we went to Knit Knacks, just a couple of doors down from the Bliss Cafe. The store was fairly well stocked for being new. I hear there are new items arriving daily. If they don't have something you want, they will order it for you, no problem. I of course have a couple items on order. I will tell you about that later.

The inside view ....

The owner and her mother.... Very nice people!
There is a coffee bar behind the register so I am so sold on this place! I love coffee places as much as I like knitting stores and this is both. I could ask for no more. I am in heaven. My friend Kathy showed me how to knit a toe up sock using a Turkish toe cast on. I really like this cast on because you don't need a provisional cast on and you get a beautiful toe with no seams. I love knitting socks from the toe up for many reasons. I will tell you about that later!

I shared how to do a Turkish toe cast on for a toe up sock with Leah, Nachaele and Christie.
Kathy, Claudia and Christie and enjoying themselves.
Knit Knacks is a knitters haven. It has a friendly atmosphere. There are three tables and a couch set up to entice knitters to come in and knit. I need no more enticing, I will be there as much as I can. It was a fun place. We shopped, we sat, we knitted. We were practically kicked out. Well, only because it was time to close. We were only going to stay a short while but we loved being there so much we stayed as long as we could.

Breaker Breaker 1-9

2007-04-18T22:27:00.000-06:00

Breaking news on the Jawbreaker fronts. The left front and right front, that is.

This is the story of one sad little Jawbreaker Cardigan in the making. The back is very pink and still is. The right front was very blue, the left front was very purple. This just will not do.

One skein has light blue tones (with pink.) This one is just too blue......

One skein has purple tones (with pink.) This one is just too purple......

Neither sad little skein can stand on its own. Just maybe together, they can survive.

They will become blurple (with pink.) Okay, this can be the fun funky look we can deal with as long as both fronts will match. The Jawbreaker lives on.

What more can any sad little Jawbreaker ask for? It just wants to be finished and worn. Let's call it casual, fun and funky, we will finish and we will move on!

In case you are wondering, YES, all skeins for this project came from the same bag. Separate they are not good but together they will work for the good of one Jawbreaker Cardigan.

By the way.... did I mention I ordered this to make another one! I need to knit on something a little more SOLID after this.

Busy Fun Knitting Tuesday

2007-04-17T21:48:00.000-06:00

First I would like to offer my prayers and condolences to the victims and their families of the terrible tragedy that happened in Virginia this week. It is heartbreaking.

Why was Tuesday so busy and yet so fun? First I met up with Kris and Denise to knit on my lunch hour. If you are ever in Downtown Denver between 11:30 and 12:30, on the 16th Street Mall, going by Rock Bottom and Paradise Bakery, go in the lobby and you just may find a group of us knitters by the fountain. Be sure to stop and say hi and join us if you wish. Sometimes there are 2 or 3 of us and sometimes all 5 of us are there. No matter what there are good times going on. Kris is working on a beautiful summer top and Denise, the new Grandma, has baby knitting to do.

After work, I met up with the Arvada Knit Group at Lollicup for an evening of good clean knitting fun. First, Cathy's hedgehog was enjoying his frozen drink waiting for all to show up. He is just so squeezable and adorable. I will have to knit some of these guys. Cathy used squiggle as the novelty yarn and I love the look. She did a great job, look at those little beady eyes!

Cathy with her socketta sock and Cheryl with her Buttery Autumn sweater in Donegal Tweed seemed to be having a good time.

Christie got a present all the way from Hawaii from her friend Wanda. This needle holder is so much nicer than the canvas one I have. Look it even has her name on it. Makes me wish I could sew or better yet, that I had a friend named Wanda in Hawaii.
Christie and her beautiful shawl. It is a Cheryl Oberle pattern. The yarn is so beautiful, soft and luscious. Christie said this is the best picture she has ever taken. I think not!Later Betsy shows up and not only is she sporting her newly completed Jawbreaker, she has a new bag from Durango and she didn't bring me one! I love the bag. I think lime green goes well with purple but she was just not giving up the bag.

Nachaele livened thing up by bringing in her stash yarn to de-stash.

It looks like we took over the entire coffee shop and all knitters had a good time. I am not sure about anyone else trying to enjoy their evening at the Lollicup!

On the personal knitting "fronts"; I sat there knitting on the left front of my Jawbreaker all night only to realize at the end of the evening that I had forgotten to increase. The front increases are an integral part of this pattern. I ripped out everything I had just knit. (10 1/2" to be exact) It is so much fun doing this and just think, I get to have more knitting fun with the same yarn.

Later at home, things got worse. I compared the colors of the finished right front with the yarn ripped from the left front and discovered that the colors are so very different. Even DH who is color blind popped up and asked not only why they didn't match but why they clashed. The right front knitted up to be mostly light blue with some light pink thrown in and the yarn for the left front is a light purple overall color with more pops of darker pink and a darker blue mmmm .... what to do .... what to do .... I did the only thing I could do. Knowing I cannot possibly live with this, (color blind DH saying they "clash"); I ripped the right front and started over. I will use both skeins of yarn alternately for each front piece so at least the fronts will match each other, even if they don't match the very pink back.

Knitting is interesting.

Where's the Snow and this or that

2007-04-15T21:02:00.001-06:00

I looked for the snow they said was coming but this is all I found. Nothing but beautiful blue skies and sunshine everywhere. This is Colorado for you. It could snow or not! I like the or not better so this works for me.

Even the "Lizard" was out basking in the sun.

Snow or no snow, it was the perfect day to stay home and knit. Did I forget to mention Friday was my EDO (earned day off) anyway and I did not stay home because of the snow. I actually work my 80 hours in 9 days and take every other Friday off. I love having that day to stay home to knit and do whatever I want.

I did some work on this .. I am making the Jawbreaker from the Winter 2006 issue of Interweave Knits. This one is out of the Patagonia cotton. It should be a fun little cover up to throw on with a pair of Jeans in the Spring/Summer. The colors are dark bright pink to a light purple/light blue. I picked the pinker skeins for the back and the bluer skeins for the front. I think it will be fun and funky when finished.

Saturday was another beautiful day in Colorado and I got to go to Colorful Yarns. It is a cute yarn store in Centennial Colorado. Who did I meet there? None other than Nachaele and Mary Kay. I also met Stacey from Sheep In the City. She was extremely helpful and nice. I will definitely go there again. I found some Tahki Cotton classic on sale at Colorful Yarn and here are the makings of a Log Cabin blanket from the Mason Dixon book. I can't wait to get started. I have 3 colors of 4 different colorways plus a middle color so 25 skeins altogether. It will be so very me and so very southwestern when completed.

I have a swift named "Kevin." This is the look I got from my swift when I showed him the 25 skeins that need winding. Also, the little Princess was not happy she might have to give up her "chair." Well, maybe later.

This weekend I also went to the home of my lifelong friend Julia, to teach her and her daughter Anna, who is 8, to knit. Here they are eager to get started. Two seemingly innocent non-knitting "muggles."

They are no longer so innocent. They may have caught the knitting bug but it is still to early to tell. It could turn into a knitting fever if we are careful! I will check back on them in two weeks.
It was really fun. Anna is a natural, at 8 years old she is so creative. I was so impressed with how well they both did on their first lesson. Anna is left handed and at first I wasn't sure how to teach her but she was more comfortable with knitting continental and after I showed her, she really picked it up very quickly.

I leave you with a look from little Princess!

Snow Again?!

2007-04-12T14:12:00.000-06:00

I really do not like the snow and it looks like the snow is starting to move in to downtown Denver, again. I have an office on the 29th floor at the SE end of the 16th Street Mall. The view is usually fantastic but when the snow comes in, it just is not fun to watch. I am sick of snow. In 2005 I bought a little sports car, a smurf blue Mazda RX8. DH really wanted it, I decided it was a pretty cute little car and could be a fun change. Zoom Zoom.

It started with some crazy talk about getting a motorcycle. I ended up "bribing" DH with the Mazda. He is happy, his "dream" was to get a motorcycle or a sports car, so with the car purchase talk of a motorcycle is no more. It is now a forbidden word in our house. The problem is I traded in my SUV and ended up driving the Mazda while he still gets to drive his 4x4 truck. Great idea, in June of 2005 with no snow in sight! At the time, I thought it would be okay, our winters aren't so bad. We get snow, it melts, no problem. Well, not true in the winter of 2006/2007. We have had more snow that we have had in 20 + years, pretty much and for a good while it did not melt. I am pretty sure this "change" in weather happened because we now own a sports car. Yes, we put snow tires on it but how much do snow tires help a car get around in snow deeper that its tires?

Finally got past December, past January, now here it is April 12th and it is going to snow again. aaaaargh! I thought I was free, but I was only being teased by the great sunshine we have had lately. We are expecting anywhere from 5 to 10 inches of snow. Help, I need an SUV. My friend who works at the Nissan dealership said to wait for summer so I can get a better deal. I don't need it in the summer, I need it now!

Oh well, I give, the plan is to wait for summer and stay home tomorrow and knit. The only thing snow is good for in my book is I get to sit by the fireplace and knit. Let it snow, let it snow but please be gone by Saturday, I have some fun plans, I will tell you about it later!

A few of us get together to knit on our lunch hour, unless we have something else going on. I have had something else going on for a couple of weeks now and I was feeling a bit cranky not being able to see my lunchtime knitting buddies. I finally got to knit at lunch today with two out of the four that are in the lunch hour knit gang, Kathy (who helped me with my "green" sweater also a part of the "funny" story, I will tell you about later) and Sharon were there. It was a blast as usual. Above picture contains me with three of the lunch knit gang, Kathy, Denise and Kris. (missing Sharon.) The picture was taken at String in Highlands Ranch when Debbie Bliss was in town. She was fabulous and we got to model her sweaters. We were hot stuff that day. From left to right is Diane, Kathy, Debbie Bliss (like I needed to tell you!), Denise, Kris, a regular from String and ME standing right next to Ms Bliss. What a great day this was. I discovered that I love her patterns, they fit well and Debbie B was just a kick with her quirky English humor. I think she liked me best.

Below is Betsy (my new friend from the BV retreat) modeling her fabulous Flaired Cable Jacket from the "Out of Town" Debbie Bliss book. I have some Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in Chocolate Brown to make this one for myself. I also purchased yarn to make a couple of other Debbie Bliss sweaters, more about that later!

Please oh please, no more snow in Denver, but only after my stay home knit day tomorrow!

Have a Bag or 20

2007-04-11T12:23:00.000-06:00

I am leaving the Lollicup in Arvada after a Tuesday night of knitting fun. It is fun to leave a place with more that you came with if it is yarn or bags; in this case BOTH!

What is in the brown paper bag you ask, well of course there is more Blackwater Abbey ("BWA") in Chestnut delivered by Judy P. Thank you Judy. This may very well become the Flying Dales Cardigan. See http://www.abbeyyarns.com/ for info on yarn and pattern. Great stuff. Don't worry Betsy, I will put it in a "real" bag before I bring it out again, you have shown me the way. (Funny story I'll tell you about it later.)

Do you also See my new pink paisley Temper Jackson Bag? Very cool. Nachaele delivered it from Colorful Yarns. Thank you Nachaele. (with the awesome haircut)

I met some new friends on a weekend knitting retreat in Buena Vista ("BV".) Since many of them belong to the Arvada Knitting Group I had to go check it out. It was great fun and I met even more new friends at the Lollicup. I loved seeing what everyone is working on and I can think of no better way to spend my time than drinking (of course only coffee and tea, whatever were you thinking) and knitting. The Lollicup is after all a cute little coffee shop. The knitting company was the best part. There was a pretty large group there and plenty of good conversation.

A few of us are making the Jawbreaker Cardigan out of the Patagonia cotton. It is a stylish, easy fast knit pattern that will be a great little summer throw on. I started mine at the BV retreat. This is the Jawbreaker 2 row cover up. Oh yea, doesn't cover up very well but maybe if you close your eyes ....Below is the "green" sweater in the making. This is the infamous Kerry Cardigan. It is a pattern written by Marilyn King that I am making out of BWA in the seafoam color. Judy P is hosting a KAL for this and she finished hers a while ago. Yes I am still working on it. It's a funny story, I'll tell you about it later. ... What I can tell you now is that thanks to Judy S a new friend from the BV retreat my Kerry will fit perfectly and I am motivated to finish it.Thank you Judy S and Sandy.

Here is Judy P at the BV retreat in her beautiful Kerry. I will finish. (this knitters famous last words.)

Thank you Judy for hosting the BV weekend and inviting me. I had a great time and met so many wonderful knitters. Thank you Nachaele for sharing your pictures until I get my camera loaded with batteries and remember to bring it.

New Blog on the Block

2007-04-10T09:18:00.000-06:00

I am starting a blog. I am still unsure how to get going but here it is my first attempt. This will be mostly about my knitting. I have been knitting since October of 1999. My son graduated from high school and joined the Navy in November of 1998 and has not been home since, except to visit. He now lives in Jacksonville, Florida when he is not out on deployment. Once he graduated and left I found myself with a lot of extra time. I realized that we had spent a lot of time together and I really missed him. I was feeling the empty nest syndrome in a bad way.

I work in an office all day and I realized that I needed a creative outlet. I did stamping, it was okay but how many cards can a person make, really. I started scapbooking and it is okay. I knew how to crochet so I made a blanket or two but it was boring just making blankets. I still needed something else to do. Then, the light came on and I discovered knitting and yarn stores.

I made a deep purple vest as my first project. It was too short and too wide but I enjoyed making it and that is what started me on my knitting adventure. Stamping is okay, scrapbooking is okay but it all cuts into my knitting time and I have so much to knit and so little time.

More later after I figure out how to get photos in here!