Shady Shawl

The Shawl: Diamonds and Pearls from The Knitter's Book of Yarn

The Knitting: Diamonds and Pearls detail


The Yarn: All spun up and plied


The Spinning: Singles on a bed of pre-drafted fluff


The Fiber: beautiful Merino roving from Abstract Fiber
in "Shady Glade"

Green Coffee Press Cozy

Take some Recycled Wool yarn and dye it with some Recycled Coffee Grounds. Knit it up and add a few Recycled Mismatched Buttons, and TA-DA! Warm coffee!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Spring Surf Scarf

I have a love-hate relationship with Noro yarns. Love: the colors!! The long repeats of beautifully intense shades are to die for. Hate: the knots! I have been disappointed several times with knots tied in the middle of the skein connecting non-sequential colors. Boo!

This time, however, I was delighted to get a whole skein with ZERO knots!! Yipppeee! It's Silk Garden Sock Yarn in colorway #S87. It reminds me of a spring flower garden.

The Morning Surf Scarf design was simple to knit and shows off the yarn perfectly. I used a 36-stitch cast-on, and repeated the 12-row pattern until I ran out of yarn. After rinsing and blocking, the resulting scarf is approximately 8"X60". Total love!

My New Sweater...and a P.S.

My turn! After lots of smaller projects of socks, doggie sweaters, hats, and the like, I decided it was time for a new sweater for me!

I chose a design from Garnstudio's...DROPS 83-7. (Don't you wish they had cute names instead of just numbers?) And, what a quick knit. I finished it over a long weekend!

My yarn was recycled from a thrifted men's sweater knit in Ecuador. The wool is rather hairy, a bit itchy and had bits of embedded vegetation. (I'm still wondering what those sticker-y Ecuadorian plants might be.) I love the beautiful soft, natural gray.

I (almost) always make a few modifications when I knit. This time, I only made one. I reversed the left front cables to make them mirror-imaged. I hesitated with the bulky collar (it's knit double- stranded), but went with it. I like it, but would modify it if I were to make this again.

The buttons were from my stash of "orphans." Some are vintage, and each are now one-of-a-kind. All of them found there home on the front of my new sweater!

P.S.
I hate having my picture taken. But, since you asked, I posted a snap made by a coworker. You can see my sweater in action here.

Latte's Kool-Aid Sweater

Latte was way overdue for a new sweater. I was overdue for a Kool-Aid dyeing experiment. Here's what we both ended up with.

The Model:
Latte is a sweet little Miniature Poodle who adopted me almost ten years ago. She's all happy to be snuggled in her new wool sweater!

The Yarn:

Some buttery-soft, butter-colored lambswool recycled from a commercial sweater in a DK weight.

The Dye:

Three flavors/colors of Kool-Aid unsweetened; Tropical Punch, Orange, and Slammin' Strawberry-Kiwi.

The Technique:
After soaking the skeined yarn for about 30 minutes in warm water with a drop of dishwashing detergent (wetting agent), it was squeezed and placed in a Corningware casserole.

Each flavor/color of Kool-Aid was individually mixed with a cup of warm water, then poured over the yarn as seen below. This method will allow the original color of the yarn to still show.

The lidded casserole was then placed in the microwave and "cooked" on high for three minutes. At the beep, the yarn was allowed to rest three minutes. This process was repeated twice more, and the yarn was then set aside to cool.

After cooling, the yarn was gently washed and rinsed in warm water, given a turn in the spin cycle of the washing machine, then hung to dry.

The Sweater:
A couple of days later, I cast on for Latte's new sweater. The pattern is Casey's Coat from SNB Nation in size medium. It's trimmed with a bit of Lamb's Pride in Onyx from my stash.

Congratulations, Mr. President!

Unraveling a Mystery

I just can't resist a good mystery. This turns out to be true even in knitting.

If you are not familiar with the mystery knit-along genre, it usually goes something like this: a clue, or portion of the pattern, is released to a group of knitters one at a time. This allows the participants to all work on the same project at the same time, while getting only glimpses of what the finished item will look like until the end...when everyone finishes the mystery together.

Sometimes it can be a real challenge to select the best yarn and notions to compliment the design. Yet, that is also part of the fun. Things don't always go as planned. This can even lead to happy little surprises.

Other times, not so much. My first experience with a mystery knit-along was with a shawl. While the design and my yarn were both wonderful, they just did not work well together. I ended up working only a little over half of the design, then gave up on it. At that time, I decided I would probably not join any more mysteries. I was a bit wary of the unknown.

Then, in October of last year, along came the Mystery Sock from Kirsten of Through the Loops. I jumped back in, and got hooked. The socks were really fun to make, and turned out great. They are knit from my hand-dyed Knit Picks Bare Donegal.

My newest mystery is the Sock Knitters Anonymous January Beaded Mystery Sock. I'm using Cascade Yarns Heritage merino/nylon blend. I love this shade of red. The beads are Toho size 6/0 and I'm applying them with a size 12 crochet hook.

This is Clue #1, the cuff and a portion of the beading on the leg. Clue #2 continues the beaded lace and then moves into ribbing that will end just above the ankle.

What's next? That's the mystery. We'll find out next week!! Better yet, join us! There's nothing better than a good mystery.

Ashes

We had to say good-bye to our dear friend today. Ashes has lived with us for almost all of her nearly sixteen years. I will cherish our time together and her sweet spirit that has added so much to our lives. Rest well, Ashes.

Kool-Aid Blues

Meet my most recent Kool-Aid dyeing experiment: I call it Blue Water.

I used Blue Raspberry, Grape, and Lemon-Lime. Rather than using the colors as is, I did a little mixing to get some different shading. It was then steam-set in the microwave. I did not, however, do a very good job documenting my process. Guess this means I'll just have to do it again. Darn.

I used about 100 yards of a lovely bulky wool that was recycled from a thrifted sweater. It's so soft and took up the dye easily. It'll be a great garment worn next to the skin.

And here is my yarn knitted into a Thorpe, a great design from Kirsten at Through the Loops. I dyed a bit more for the trim that was just a mixture of Blue Raspberry and Grape. I love the effect.

Happy New Year!

May yours be a peaceful, healthy, and prosperous new year.

Resolve to make at least one person happy every day, and then in ten years you may have made three thousand, six hundred and fifty persons happy, or brightened a small town by your contribution to the fund of general enjoyment. --Sydney Smith

Merry Christmas!

Warm wishes from our home to yours.

Baked Butternut Squash Soup

I made a pot of this great soup during our recent arctic weather. I love the combination of sweet and savory. It's really versatile and can easily be adjusted to a vegetarian or vegan diet. Enjoy!

Step one:
Quarter the squash. Scoop out the seeds. Turn upside down onto parchment paper-lined cookie sheet. Bake at 350F for 40-45 minutes, until soft.

Step two:
Remove from oven. Let cool enough to handle. Scoop the pulp from the skin and place into soup pot.

Step three:

Into soup pot, add one quart chicken or vegetable stock, 1 Tbsp. butter (optional), 1/8 tsp garlic powder, 1/8 tsp onion powder, 1/4 tsp dried thyme, and a few sprinkles of black pepper.

Smooth together with immersion (wand) blender. Heat gently (do not boil). Adjust seasoning as desired. (The broth has enough salt in it for me.)

Step Four:

Ladle into soup bowls and garnish as desired. Options include bacon bits, sour cream, etc. Serve with warm crusty rolls or bread.

Stay warm!

Snow Peeps!

I totally love kid art. I love giving kids the opportunity to tap into their creative juices and see what comes out. It's especially rewarding when the kids are delighted with the result.

Today our class was taken over by these darling little snow people! The original idea came from FamilyFun Magazine. The classroom teacher and I made a few modifications and ta-dah!!! Just look!!

The adults handled the base painting. We used latex semi-gloss house paint, rolling on three coats. The keystone paving bricks really soaked up the first coats.

The eyes and mouth were painted by dipping the eraser end of a new pencil into black acrylic paint, and just "stamping" dots where desired.

The noses were created with Sculpey clay instead of the modeling clay called for. This was really fun to watch as kids played with the clay and creating silly and serious carrot noses. (Finished noses were baked by the teacher.)

Instead of the SuperGlue the directions called for, we used a hot-glue gun. It worked very well, allowing the kids to glue on their own earmuffs and carrot noses. Additionally, the use of the glue gun eliminated the need for wrapping the rubberband around the earmuffs as suggested in the directions.

We substituted real buttons for the painted-on version. We all agreed this just added to their charm and personality! Each kid had their own reasons for picking specific colors, shapes and types of buttons. Fun!

Add a cute little fleece scarf, and they're set. What a great gift!! Why not make a flaky friend with a kid near you?!!

Happy Holidays!!

Rationalizing

I've really been trying to stay out of stores for a while now. Not only because I'm trying not to spend money, but also because I've been scolding myself about my stash taking over my living space! As you know, I love thrift stores. I (almost) always find something that begs to go home with me to be rescued.

Today, I found myself with an hour between clients in an area close to THREE thrift stores! What a dilemma!! Well, I succumbed to the call...kind of.

In one shop, I found these lovely handknit wool mittens for 99 cents. While they were a pretty shade of yellow, it's just not a color I wear often. A little Kool-Aid later, and I had bright cherry-red mitts!!

I then embroidered them with a bit of recycled white yarn and some sparkly beads. Ta-dah! Christmas mittens!!

My second find was this lovely linen tablecloth. It's hand-embroidered and is in pretty good shape. There is one small hole (about 1 cm) that I think I can cover up with another flower. Not bad.

Okay, so I didn't strictly stay with my "no-stores" plan. I did, however, keep it in control. Kind of like having a bite of a cookie instead of the whole package, right? (I love rationalization, don't you?!)

Celebration!

So how do you celebrate two milestone birthdays within a few days of each other? You go to Las Vegas!! Zak turned 21 at the end of October, and my brother, Dan, turned 50 a few days later.

The first part of the trip was warm and sunny...a great change from our cold, rainy Pacific Northwest weather. None of us had visited Las Vegas before, so we had tons to explore!

One of our favorite games was BlackJack. Here, Zak and Dan are trying to beat the house at O'Shea's. At night, this place was more like a frat house, complete with Beer Pong, and boisterous crowds!

Halloween on the Strip was a hoot! I didn't take photos of the R- and X-rated costumes, and there were plenty! Quite an experience!

This is what 3:30am in Vegas looks like! I volunteered to be the Designated Driver, freeing up these guys to really party for their birthdays!! A fun time was had by all!

In order to provide a bit of fibery goodness to this knitting blog, here's a shot of airplane knitting. The TSA has lifted their restrictions on carrying knitting and crochet tools. Just to be on the safe side, I brought my bamboo needles instead of metal. No one even mentioned them. Yay!!

I did make it to one Las Vegas LYS...Wooly Wonders. Marian was a sweetheart. I picked up a couple of fun skeins to play with back at home.

One of the best things about our trip was meeting people from all over the world. I sat at tables with folks from Holland, England, Ireland, Germany, Philippines, Japan, Thailand, and many more. (Additionally, most of the US was represented.) Being that we were here in the days leading up to the Presidential Election, the topic of conversation often turned to politics. I was very interested in knowing how people in other countries viewed America. The majority of the people I talked to were hopeful that a Democratic president would be elected.

We didn't get the news that we had a new president until we landed back in Portland. We could hear the cheers from one of the lounges on the concourse! A great way to return!!