Mittens for Winter

Remember this yarn? I love the colors, love the yarn, but just didn't enjoy the scarf I knit from it. I decided bright mittens for this winter would be best. So I frogged the scarf and knit up these babies. I didn't follow any specific pattern and had almost exactly the right amount of yarn for them. I love them, and will enjoy the bright colors in the gray of our NW winter!

Pure Love

That's what these socks are...
The yarn is so soft and well-spun. The colors are beautifully dyed and had no pooling. The pattern is simple and sweet. Together they make very lacy feminine socks that I will love wearing!

Pair #2 of Summer of Socks 2008
Tendril Embrace
Keegan Lane Yarns Toasty Sock in Lavender

Movies

My favorite pastime (in addition to fibery pursuits) is to watch movies. Especially on a cold, rainy day in the Pacific Northwest...the best thing is a good movie, my knitting and a warm cup of tea. Ahhhhh...

A fun game going around the blogs are Flickr Memes. Here is my Movie Meme...quite fun!

Can you guess the answers? To find out, go here.

1. Favorite movie?
2. Favorite movie genre?
3. Favorite actor?
4. Favorite actress?
5. What movie always makes you cry?
6. What movie have you watched over & over & over?
7. Worst move you ever saw?
8. What was the last movie you watched?
9. Favorite cult movie?
10. Most embarrassing favorite movie?
11. Hottest actor or actress?
12. The actor or actress most people say you remind them of?

But I digress...

I've been working away on lace socks. In fact, I have two different pair on the needles and more queued. I needed a bit of a little-or-no-concentration-necessary project to break it up.

Pair #1 of Summer of Socks 2008

Brigid is a quick, easy knit that shows off a variety of yarns. In DK-weight yarn and size 4US needles, it felt a lot more chunky than the light-fingering/size 1US that I've been using.

The yarn is some of my recycled sweater yarn...a very soft yellow lambswool. I hand-painted it with Jacquard dyes in olive, brown and a touch of orange. The result is perfect for next fall.

Just because...

it's finally summer, and I have fresh-picked raspberries to prove it!

Happy Summer!

I recently ordered a kit from Keegan Lane Yarns. Since today is the Summer Solstice AND the first day of Summer of Socks '08, it arrived at the perfect time. However, my mailman continues to think I'm just "odd" because I get so happy when my yarn mail arrives. After this many years, you'd think he'd understand me, right?!

Of course, I already have way too much sock yarn in my stash. And of course, I had to have something new. My goal, however, is to make as many socks as I can this summer and use up some of that stash...after I knit this!

Melissa (of Keegan Lane) hand-dyes some of the nicest yarns in beautiful colors. This Lavender Toasty Sock yarn is just the perfect match to Hattie's Tendril Embrace Sock pattern. What a great kick-off for my SOS'08.

Spring Tulips are Blooming!

Spring is my favorite time of year. I'm sure it has to do with the renewing of the planet and life starting afresh. It gives hope and a sense that anything is possible again. Plus, all the flowers and birds are just so darned cheerful!

Let me introduce you to my "ode to springtime."

My new sock pattern, Spring Tulips, has now been released for sale! Designed especially for the Keegan Lane Yarns Spring Fling Sock Club, it's now available to everyone. Currently, you can purchase the design through my online shop and on Ravelry.

Melissa at Keegan Lane Yarns hand-dyes each of her skeins in small batches with lots of love. I used the Spring Tulips colorway (of course) of Toasty Sock for these. She has lots of colors to choose, including tonals, available. Check it out!

Huh-uh...

I don't think so...

Storm

Last weekend we had an amazing storm in our area. Normally our weather is pretty mild, so when something spectacular like this lightening storm happens, it gets our attention.

Before:

Even without listening to the storm alerts on the TV and radio, it was obvious something big was imminent. The sky was a bright orange and purple with tinges of scarlet.

During:

My car was parked in its very own little spot, safe and snug...or so I thought. The parking lot drains plugged and because it's on a bit of a slant, it flooded. So did my car. Argh!

After:

The next morning, remnants of the storm were everywhere. The waterline is shown by the ridge of barkdust, and by the (yucky) goo on the sides of my car. Since the water reached about 6 inches above the bottom of the doors, the inside carpets were also soaked. Now everything smells like the sewer!

A note about insurance...I haven't been driving this car for a while, so I dropped the insurance to save the expense. (Remember, it was safe and snug in its own little space, right?) Can you say, "Murphy's Law?!"

I Love Kid Art!

Just take a look at some of the great dyeing and weaving "my" kids at school did!!

This lesson incorporated several senses.
- Eyes: colors, patterns, texture
- Fingers: soft wool, rough sticks, motor skills
- Nose: Kool-Aid, rosemary, lavender

The kids were so creative and the results were great! Love!!

Mixing our Kool-Aid colors to dye the wool.

His favorite color is green!!


Group weaving fun!


Finished weaving by "A"

Finished weaving by "E"

I feel so appreciated!!

This was Staff Appreciation Week in our school district. One of the teachers I work with everyday showed me with flowers that she appreciates me. (It's mutual, Mrs. P!!!!)

Hanging with Clowns

Some of my friends are real clowns...literally!! A new store in our area had their grand opening last weekend. My friends, Gadget, Cha-Cha, and Rudy were there sharing the love! (That's me in the middle!) Cha-Cha even made me a Lady-Bug balloon bracelet. Love it!!!

Rudy just had his 17th birthday. Tall for his age, isn't he?!

Back at home, I'm finally getting back to spinning some of my CuckooBatts from Art Club. This is my Happy Birthday batt from December! It reminds me of vanilla frosting with sprinkles! Yum.

Essentials

The fourth graders at our school are learning about the Oregon Trail. The classroom has been divided into "wagon train" groups who are earning "buffalo chips" as they make their way across the continent. While making up their supply list for the journey, they had to make decisions about what is essential and what is a luxury; what goes and what stays behind. When they came to the spinning wheel on the list, most didn't have any idea what it is, let alone how it could be considered an essential.

So Miss Janet brought in her wheel and lots of raw wool to play with. As you can see from the photos, many of them actually got some pretty good yarn going, just spinning with their fingers and winding it onto a pencil. One boy even "dyed" his yarn with his felt-tipped markers!

After the spinning demo and hands-on experience with the wool, more of the kids decided a spinning wheel might be more of an essential for the pioneers than they once thought. And hopefully seeds have been planted for future spinners!

Fiesta FO

Last September I fell in love with some gorgeous handpainted roving. Sarah Anderson's "Great Balls of Fiber" BFL Fiesta from her booth at the Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival is some of the nicest I've ever seen/touched/sniffed/coveted, etc. It had to come home with me.

My work has always gone in waves. Lately I have been more focussed on knitting and crocheting. My spinning wave had ebbed, and so the roving sat very safely amongst the rest of my stash and UFOs until last weekend. The bug bit me. I had to get my spinning wheel spinning again.

This lovely roving spun up like a dream. The color changes were amazing! I Navajo plied my singles to keep the colors clear, and finished with 255 yards of delicious bulky-weight yarn.

I wanted to make a scarf that would show off those great colors. The Eliza Scarf by LazyKate was a great place to start. Her design is based on fagoting, and shows off the handspun nicely. I made some slight modifications (cast on 19 instead of 14, changed the left edge to match the right, and omitted the flowers). The result was a speedy (done in a few hours) scarf that I can wear with most anything!

What the Heck??!!

Yesterday I found this!


Today we had this!! (Yes, it's snow!!)


So now I'm going to warm up with some of this!!!


Happy Spring??!?

Gone Thriftin'

I went thrift-store shopping today, and scored big! I had a couple of projects in mind for recycled yarn, but also came home with some things to wear!

These sweaters will be recycled into new items, and perhaps into some yarn for my shop. (The shop has been entirely neglected since Christmas.) Now, if my friends would stop having babies, I might get some things in there for sale!

From top to bottom, these goodies are: an LLBean camel hair/lambswool cardigan, a Nordstrom lambswool pullover, a Woolrich wool/nylon men's pullover, a hand-knit wool (worsted weight) pullover, a Gap lambswool pullover, and Brook's Brothers Shetland wool pullover. Each is just right for future projects.

These two are for me. A Sigrid Olsen Silk cardigan jumped out from the rack. The embroidery, the funky buttons and the texture are all perfect. I will enjoy wearing this one!

I love the spring colors in this crocheted sweater. It has no tags, but I don't believe it was handmade. It has a suspicious-looking seam at the shoulder that is a giveaway. It will be a fun one this season.

Happy Easter!

Consolidation

Guess who's moving back in with Mom. It's temporary, and will give him some breathing space to catch up for his next place. So now he is consolidating his space into mine. And I am shifting my two rooms of stuff into one. My bedroom now doubles as my fiber/craft space as well. Can we survive it? I have no doubts!

(Don't look too closely at the photo...it's a really bad cut and paste job!)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

What Your Shamrock Says About You

You are unselfish, responsible, and a good leader. You contribute a lot to your community. At times, you can be self-righteous and stubborn. There's no better way to do things than your way. You consider yourself a lucky person. Luck always seems to be on your side. You are creative, innovative, and complicated. You definitely have a unique spin on the world.

The Shamrock Personality Test

Body Polish

Need a remedy for dry winter skin? Me, too! This scrub is great. It's cheap, versatile and leaves your skin feeling smooth and quenched. Give it a try.

My basic recipe:
1 cup sugar or salt
1/2 cup oil of your choice
a few drops of your favorite scent

Mix well. Place in an empty glass jar with lid. It will keep longer in the refrigerator. (Bring to room temperature prior to use.) Portion out the amount you will use for your spa day, rather than dipping wet hands into the whole jar. (The photo above is about 1/4th of the recipe.)

After bathing, spread Body Polish on wet skin using circular motions with fingers. Rinse well in a warm shower. Be very careful stepping in and out of the shower. Dry off with a fluffy towel.

Feel free to make it your own. By varying the oil choice and the scent, you can have a different spa treat every week.