Knitting Passion

Monday I told you about the Opal baby sweater pattern by Lucia Tedesco. I finished the body of the sweater, but couldn’t get started on the sleeves because, silly me, I didn’t purchase the size 4 dp needles, thinking I already had them. (That’s how I have accumulated several pairs of duplicated needles - forgetting which I owned)

So, I picked them up tonight after work - and before a board meeting at work. I generally don’t go to the board meetings - going this time because our president was resigning to be with his children. We’ll miss DT as he is an extremely hard worker and really has our agency’s best interest to heart.

ANYway - I got off work at 5 and before the meeting I went to the LYS to get the needles - and pick up three more skeins of yarn - in a different color - also for an as yet unknown baby. Got started on the first sleeve tonight.

progress photo:
click for larger version.

Aren’t the colors just luscious? I love them.

I want to give a shout out to some recent visitors:

Dee, Debbie, and Joan.

thanks for stopping by, ladies. I’m enjoying your sites, too!

knitting, baby sweater, friends, novice knitting, knitting deb, vamantaknits,

click for a larger view

Felting is completed and the bag is dry and ready for delivery to its intended recipient. I took a photo with the same book so that you can compare how much shrinkage was involved in the felting process. I think I like the deeper version, so will probably do the same if I make another bag with this pattern.

I’m not sure when I will get the chance to go to Anchorage to take this to my sister-friend. Depends on hubby’s work schedule - he may be going onto 24×3 this weekend - and if that is the case . . . well, a ride to the big city might not be out of line. And, if not this weekend, perhaps next.

I have the baby sweater body completed. Went to start the sleeves and realized that I did NOT own a set of size 4 dp needles! Ack! So, it is back to the LYS tomorrow to fix that little problem. I would do them flat but I kind of like the idea of no seam. We’ll see how far that takes me.

You all have a lovely day. We have been having spring showers - not out and out rain, but just enough to make the ground wet and get the grass and trees greening up nicely. Alaska is beautiful when that happens.

[tags]french market bag, felting, knitting, felted, knitted, knitty.com

when good knitters go a wee bit naughty . . .

While checking out patterns yesterday I clicked a link that took me to the summer 04 issue of knitty. There I found patterns that led daughter #1 to tell me - see I told you knitters were weird.

Of course that was followed by - gee, I could sure use one of . . . heh. And, maybe one of . . .

Seriously - all in good fun, I’m sure. But, I do think that the Moon creation was just tres’ craftique! (so, okay - I don’t speak OR write French!) However, if you have a daughter just entering those awkward moody monthlies time in her life - perhaps this is something that she could use.

After all, we olders are not that easily embarrassed by such - right? right? Hmmmm - maybe one for your favorite friend might be appropriate after all.

knitting, knitty, naughty, patterns, free, rachel ray, watching rachel ray, Lessa

Okay - who is inside my head pounding on my temples??? Get out - get out now! (eta - ahhhh, good old exced**n! lovely not to be in pain any longer!)

Good morning, everyone - it is Memorial Day and I hope that you are thinking kind thoughts of those who have passed in order to make our country free. While you are doing that, won’t you say a prayer for those who are overseas (in many places) following orders - in order to keep our country free?

moving on . . . .

I have begun the next project - Opal Baby Sweater by Lucia Tedesco.

Well, it is supposed to be done with Opal, but I checked Kenai’s LYS and found they didn’t carry it - so I purchased another yarn that seems to be working up with the same gauge. It’s another self-patterning yarn - Moda-Dea’s Sassy Stripes in Spring (6983). It is working up very cute.

Nope - no intentional recipient for this sweater - I was just up for something new. Still have socks on needles and have not yet finished the scarf I started for a special project - it’s still on needles, but about to be frogged. I just don’t like how it is working up. I may choose something other than the suggested pattern.

Tis the season for Little League! I will be doing some benchwarming as I watch two granddaughters playing over the next couple of months. The project bag will go along with me and, hopefully, some projects will be completed.

I have a tendency to just flitter away to a new, brighter, fun-ner, project. My (now deceased) father-in-law (hubby’s step-dad) used to call me “butterfly” because “that girl just flits from here to there.” I’m not sure, but I think he meant it kindly - he was in the hospital at that point and I was only 16 and hubby and I weren’t married until we were 19.

See, I flit when I write, too.

Have a glorious Monday, everyone! The sun is shining brightly in Kenai, Alaska.

Mosaic Yarn Store was featured on their local news - the healing is growing! Way to go, Mosaic! Go, Hokies!

Hokie Healing, go Hokies, knitted squares, you tube

Just took the French market bag off the needles - I made some modifications to this one. I added a deeper blue, funky yarn, stripe to the body of the bag - and then added some of it to the handles as well. Also, I made the handles a bit longer - 15 rows - because I thought the last one’s handles just felt too short. We’ll see how this one works out.

here’s a shot of the bag with a book - Friday Night Knitting Club - on it to show you just how big these things are before felting.

I will probably not get to the felting part of the project until Saturday.

What’s YOUR next project?

[tags]felted bag, french market bag, friday night knitting club, book, finished project, knitting, felting

Today is the Alaska State Yarn Council’s first birthday! Happy Birthday to all those who had a part in birthing and raising this youngun.

This week’s Two Sticks column in the Anchorage Daily News tells about ASYC’s beginnings. And, the council’s website tells a lot more about what is coming in the future. I missed the Yarn Expo last year, but am going to mark it on the calendar for this fall. Ooooh - lots and lots of yarn and needles and . . . and . . . and . . . the “world’s fastest crocheter”, Lily Chin! What more could anyone ask?

alaska yarn council, lily chin, fastest crocheter, anchorage daily news, yarn expo, knitting, fibre art

If you have an interest (in anything), there is generally a group that can make use of your interest. If you have a desire to help someone, there are plenty of folks out there who could use your help.

I was introduced to the Prayer Shawl ministry last year through a monthly meeting I attend as part of my job. Prayer shawls were introduced to our small town hospital by a group of loving auxiliary members.

Looks like this might be where it all started. I would encourage you to take a look at the site and see if your knitting or crochet skills might be put to use in such a ministry.

Is there a hospital or nursing home near you? Is there an orphanage or children’s home nearby? An oncology unit? A neonatal ICU? The uses for such are pretty much endless once you begin to think about it.

You might not even need to reach beyond your own family - or church family. It’s just one more way of giving back . . . or paying it forward.

prayer shawl, knitting, crochet, give back, pay it forward

Making progress on the second felted bag. I decided to try a couple of darker bands using a fun yarn. I’m off to get the oil changed in the car and taking the bag with me - so may have some more shots later. For now . . .

click photos for larger versions at flickr.

I’m trying something different (different for me, that is) by adding the darker blue, fun yarn, accenting.The main color is the variegated - Patons Classic Wool; the contrast is the same yarn in a solid blue; the fun yarn is Sensations Whisper - only 15% wool, so it’ll be fun to see how much it felts.

felted bag, knitted bag, knitting, felting, blue, fun yarn

It has been some sort of week! I recently accepted a new position at my workplace which has quite a learnung curve attached. It is not so much PHYSICAL as mental exercise that I am getting. (although - I HAVE been doing a lot of walking between old and new offices.)

The result of this has been an extreme weariness.

So, what better to do when coming home after 8 hours of mental aerobics?

Okay - the first answer would be to sit and take a bit of a snooze. I do that pretty well.

But as I wind down from the day - in front of the tv, of course - it is nice to have a knitting project at hand. I have begun another French market bag - this time in shades of blue. I’d like to make this one a bit deeper than the last, as I am making it for a friend who only has the use of one arm. I’m thinking that if the bag is deeper and the handles a bit longer then she would be able to put the bag over her bad arm and reach into it with her good hand. At least that’s my goal.

And, the nice thing about the fmb is that once you have gotten past the increases you can pretty much knit without looking - making sure you pass the marker from needle to needle each round. It’s the perfect tv/soccer game/little league gramma watching project.

Tomorrow I will be representing my agency at an outdoors event - it will require me to be in one place for several hours - sitting behind a display - giving away t-shirts and the like. I think I will take the fmb along with me to work on.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone.

French market bag, knitting, knitty, knitalong, felted bag, felting, friends

Okay - first and foremost I am an Alaskan - not by birth, but I have lived over half my life in this state.

As an Alaskan, I have a very healthy respect for the bears that wander through our town - our yards - it’s just smart to know that it is time to keep the dog food in, the garbage in, the bird feeders down.

So, is it any wonder that I shake my head when I read such a story as this one about Maxine Tylor? Maxine works at a trading post in New Hampshire, and is a prolific knitter. The folks for whom she works asked her if she would like to knit with bear fur - yes, folks, you read correctly . . . BEAR fur!

Okay - if you can afford the yarn, Alaskans can knit with musk ox wool, but a musk ox is not about to E.A.T. you for taking its fur, you know?

The bears whose fur is spun into yarn live at the trading post where Maxine works, however. They are used to (wo)men being around them and, according to the article, love to have their coats combed to help them in the shedding process each summer.

You can see a picture of Maxine with one of the bears here.

The article treats this as a privilege - Maxine being allowed entrusted with the yarn to knit. I suppose I would treat qiviut (musk ox wool) as a privilege to knit. But, as an Alaskan who is very aware of what bears can do I’m just not all that excited about using bears in this manner - there is a disclaimer at the bottom of the trading post’s website about the bears: *It is important to note that the bears are never forced to perform.*
WEll - duh!

I guess I’m sort of on a soapbox here, but can anyone remember Timothy Treadwell? Or, less widely published perhaps, but still remembered: Marcie Trent and her son, Larry Waldron. Marcie and I ran several 10k runs together - well, she would pass me and encourage me as I slogged along, but we were on the same courses at the same time.

You know, one just has to wonder: if P-E-T-A is all up in arms about Anchorage having an elephant in its zoo - where in the world are they with bears being kept and used like the trading post in NH? Sometimes you just gotta wonder.

rant, soapbox, bear fur, bear yarn, knitting, bears, Timothy Treadwell, Marcie Trent, Larry Waldron, New Hamshire, Alaska, qiviut, musk ox, musk ox fur, musk ox yarn

Back in the early 70s (yes, I am THAT old!) there was a commercial on tv - and I still know the words . . .

When it says Libbys, Libbys, Libbys
on the label, label, label
You will like it
on your table, table, table . . .

Okay, Now I have an ear worm! Argh!

But, seriously - I wanted to touch on labels for completed projects - especially if they are for a gift project.

What do you do? Here are some places that market custom labels:

Name maker woven labels, Charm woven labels, and of course, there is the Peace Fleece label (scroll down a bit).

My sweet sister in Christ - the one who asked me to participate in a knit along over the winter - purchased Peace Fleece wool for her sweater - just so she could purchase the label to go inside the sweater.

And there’s nothing wrong with that - right? Right!

Personally, I don’t put a label inside a piece I’ve knit. Rather, I will put a card on it to let folks know either about the piece or about me. I use laser perfed business card stock (can be purchased anywhere you buy printer paper and supplies, I’m sure), print out whatever I want to say - then I personalize it a bit more by using a scrapbooking paper punch - in the shape of a moose. People seem to love it.

So, be inventive - use your imagination - come up with something that is uniquely Y.O.U.

labels, peace fleece, moose, scrapbooking supplies, paper punch, woven labels

Have finished seven squares and will be mailing them out to Mosaic Yarn Shop today. I may make another couple, but I wanted to get these into the mail to make sure they make it by the May 31 deadline. You just never know with the mail delivery system from Alaska.

here are the last five. There are two Ohio squares in honor of my home state (one black, one white) and two Alaska squares in honor of my adopted state (one black, one white), plus the white moose/reindeer square in this picture.

Here are closeups: (click for larger view)

I pray that the squares bring a smile to someone’s face.

Hokie Healing, Go Hokies, knitting, 8 inch squares, Ohio, Alaska, moose, charity, free patterns

. . . a knitting post, that is. Not today. Although I will have pics of some finished pieces tomorrow - okay?

Hubby and I had a lovely trip to Homer, Alaska to take part in some of the Shorebird Festival activities. We saw a political satirist Friday night - entirely too much fun. The room was crowded - and just before the show started we were almost evacuated. Seems the cook tried to set the kitchen on fire - our non-smoking show became a seriously smoking show!

(note to self - that is probably the reason for the headache most of Saturday!)

Saturday morning bright and early we made our way through town to find an open cafe for breakfast. Not too many up and about that early, but we found a nice little spot where hubby was able to have his oatmeal cooked to order.

And, then we went on down to the dock to meet our boat - for the cruise on upper Kachemak Bay - supposedly to see the birds - but hubby and I were just out for a boat ride. Quite enjoyable - the seas were glassy calm on the way out, but by the time we returned 4.5 hours later the wind had kicked up a chop. I was slightly tinged with green as we made our way into dock.

But it was lovely. I promise knitting tomorrow. For now I leave you with a favorite picture from the weekend.
Upper Kachemak Bay.

alaska, boating, fun, kachemak bay, rainbow connection, seasick

Spiderman - the superhero - III at a theatre near you.

Are your kiddos clammering for something with Spidey knitted on it? I did a g-search to see what is out there and it looks like you are not the only one seeking such a thing.

How about these neat Spider socks? Info on how to purchase the pattern is there. The legs almost look like they’re beaded, don’t they?

Ooooh - here you go - A black Spiderman face - crochet pattern for sale at that e-place. Better hurry, though. You only have a couple more days on that auction.

This is very nice - crochet - Spider web afghan. And, the pattern is included.

Do your own g-search and see what else you can find to meet the needs and desires of your little guys who love Spiderman. Don’t forget - Christmas is ONLY 7 months away.

Have a great weekend, everyone. Hubby and I are headed out the door shortly to take our anniversary trip to Homer, Alaska. Maybe I’ll have a photo to share with you on Monday.

knitting, crochet, Spiderman, afghan, spiderman face, spider socks, fun