I finished it!

Molly Ringwald, from Knit scene Fall 2006, knit as small as I could reasonably get it and it is still baggy. Fits great around the shoulders, so my recommendation would be to size this for the shoulders. I did use bamboo silk, which is a really stretchy fiber, so that should be taken into account.

Also finished the toe-ups for Pumpkin

From the book Toe-Up, by Chrissy Gardiner. Pumpkin really likes them, so I am trying a grown up pair of toe-up socks for me. Just started the Gull Wing socks in some Yarntini in the Plum Blossom colorway, a leftover from the Woolgirl Sock Club. Really nice yarn. I think I like it even batter than Dream in Color Smooshy and I liked that yarn alot.

Oh the blogging. Sigh. My grown-up school has started and between that and chasing my kids hither and yon, I don’t know how often I’ll be back. But I will try

It’s hard when one has too  many projects on the needles. Progress is not what it could be, even when one has Season 3  DVD of Weeds to get through. The upside is that no matter my mood, I have a project to fit it.  So I knit on, promising myself that I won’t start anything new until I finish some of this stuff and life is good…for awhile. Then what happens? The kids go back to school, and I just happen to have unsupervised time on the computer and the next thing you know…

I have the potential to take on one of my new year’s resolutions. (See number 3)

It’s the Ivy League Vest, designed by Eunny Jang.  For the time being, it is available as a free download at Knitting Daily.com. There is a DVD for sale as well, but I haven’t decided whether to buy that or not. Northwest Wools has a good one-off Fair Isle class, and I may take that instead, though the steeking directions on the DVD make it mighty tempting.  I have a Ravelry queue a mile long and I’m throwing this on the pile. I need to do some thinking, as I know that I will want to change the color palette.

So what about that Birthday Sweater?  Well, it’s still a possibility. I had to frog Shalom, as it made me look like a linebacker and I didn’t want to scare small children. Note to self: round yoke cardis and wide shoulders are not a good combination. I’ve found a new potential Birthday Sweater in Francis Revisited. After all, I do have until my next birthday to finish the current year’s Birthday Sweater.

So,um,yeah.

Vacations

Gardens

Shopping

and Walter

No, he was not named after the farting dog. We hit the jackpot at the Oregon Humane Society and we have all fallen head over heels for the newest member of our family. He is supposedly a 2 year old Shih-Tzu, but is a bit large for a Shih-Tzu. He has impeccable manners and loves to cuddle. How I do go on!

I have managed to finish a couple items

The previously mentioned Baby Surprise Jacket, knit out of Peaches and Cream Ombre. Cute and washable, can’t beat it!

I also finished a pair of plain vanilla socks out of Mountain Colors Bearfoot, one of my favorite sock yarns:

As for the raging case of startitis?

As my son would say, ” so….um, yeah.”

I attended the Knit-out and Crochet 2009 at the Tigard Public Library yesterday, and much fun was had by all. I sat with a group who needed no help, really, and we knitted and chatted the afternoon away quite happily. I passed around my blog card, all the while apologizing in advance for my lack of blogging over the summer. It was then pointed out to me that I’d better get busy because they were going to read it. That’s a good reason to get off my behind and get to blogging.

I do have knitting, but no pictures. Will get right on that. Made a very cute Baby Surprise Jacket…now which baby gets to be surprised? Also started another new project which officially puts me squarely in the face of a case of startitis. I had four projects going this week..aaack!

…and then there’s Walter, the latest addition to the family. Since he arrived, I just sit and stare at him, rub his little belly, and count my blessings. I did the same thing when the kids were babies. I could just sit and smell their heads all day. Walter has cast his spell and we will never be the same.

I will be posting again soon with some pictures of the latest. I’m blogging from Facebook today and I cannot see a place for putting pictures into posts.

I had one afternoon for Sock Summit and it was to be spent at the marketplace.  My only rule was…

It has to fit in the bag.

Granted, it is a Hermosa, and that sucker can hold ALOT of sock yarn.  I was surprisingly restrained in my purchases, and thoroughly enjoyed the Sock Summit Marketplace. Everyone was so happy – not a single grump.  Well, knitters are happy people!

I was also happy because I achieved one of my goals for the afternoon. Remember the nicest person I never met?  Well, I met her!

This is Michele, of the blog PDXKnitterati, faithful commenter on WKD, and all-around great gal. It was so nice to finally meet her in person.

My other goal for the afternoon was to see my friend, Donna of Gardiner Yarnworks.

Donna and I attend the same knit night and, after listening to me gripe about how I can never get toe-up socks to fit me, said, “You really should try Chrissy’s new book“.  Well, here I go!   I ‘ve been looking through the book and it’s promising, that’s for sure. Lots of handy worksheets along with great patterns and instructions. I tell you, if this can’t help me nothing can.

As mentioned, my purchases were modest

The purple is from LavenderSheep. Its a blue-faced leicester that’s a bit thin to be a sock yarn, but I just loved the color, so it may be destined to be a scarf. The hazelknits sock yarn jumped out at me. Trust me,  there were many beautiful yarns at the marketplace, but I kept reminding myself of the 20 or so skeins of sock yarn I had waiting for me at home and resolved to only buy items that really spoke to me.

My Sock Summit experience this year was limited by time and finances, yet I had a great time. If it comes back, I hope to take a class or two. It was very well organized and well worth the time and effort that was put into it.  I even caught the eye of the Yarn Harlot herself. As my mother-in-law and I were entering the market place, she breezed by us. I caught her eye and smiled. She smiled back, with a look like, ” Do I know you from somewhere?”.  Of course, it could just as easily have been a “I’ll be nice, hope she’s not a stalker” look. Needless to say, she kept on moving. I thought, this must happen to her all the time, utter strangers smiling at her for no reason.

Especially at Sock Summit.

…and how’s your summer going?

C’est Finis!
Foliage is done. I showed it to a friend before blocking and she commented on how small it was. I said, “just you wait!”. So, just for Kathy W., I bring you the evolution of a shawl:

Just finished…

..and here it is washed and stretched out with blocking wires…

It is pinned out  lengthwise on a double bed, just to give a size comparison.

And now for the big reveal!

The Lazy Garden ‘09

I have been terribly remiss about my garden blogging this year. This week we began to savor the fruits of our (lack of)labor. Isn’t it great that you can just throw down some seeds and say nice things to them and they give you this?

and finally – YES! I am going to Sock Summit! No classes – I am a broke student. I will be there Friday afternoon to take in the scene at the Marketplace. If you see me, say hello! People keep saying it’s going to be the Woodstock of the knitting world. Well, I always heard that if you remembered Woodstock, you weren’t really there. I’m not taking any chances with SS – I’m taking the camera:)

My family and I headed out to the mall together for the first time in years (yes, it’s that hot) and by some weird twist of fate, found ourselves at the Apple store. Well, put us in front of a Mac, and you’d better watch out, because we found the video for “I’m Gonna Catch You” and began singing it really loud in the middle of the store.  The clerks kept asking us if we needed help – Ha! Little did they know!We’ve been Laurie Berkner fans for awhile now, and when we hear this song, we start chasing each other around the house. It’s impossible not to. Even the big kid gets a kick out of it.  Then I usually have to stop because I get overcome by just how happy I am…isn’t that the sign of a great song?

Have to share just one more:

Best singing-in-the-car-song EVER.

Back to our regularly scheduled knitting

It’s too hot to knit much – thank goodness that knit night is at an air-conditioned restaurant!

I am so close to finishing Foliage, and I just love how it is turning out.

I had planned to cast on the new project when Foliage was finished. I couldn’t stand the anticipation, so I cast on my newest lace project today, and knit until my hands were too sticky – yuck.

Toe the Line, designed by Chrissy Gardiner. The yarn is Spinner’s Web laceweight that I picked up at Northwest Wools during the TKG Shop Hop. Our guild challenge for 2009 is lace, and my hope is that this shawl will be my show and tell. Since the goal is to try something new, I picked this (and Foliage) because of the knitted border. So far, I like it. As with most knitting techniques, it’s not so hard once I break it down into manageable pieces.

And last, but not least, I have the sock. Must always have the sock.

This is a plain vanilla sock, knit out of Mountain Colors Bearfoot, in Glacial Teal. A pleasant way to pass the time while Pumpkin takes swimming lessons.

Hopefully, these videos will be free of the previous technical difficulties.  LM and I attended a marimba workshop at our church on Saturday, culminating in performances during worship on Sunday.  Yay!  I tried something new!  And it was FUN! 

For your viewing pleasure….

Just kidding…sort of. Yeah, the screen says Ravelry. I wish. That is but an illusion.The summer began with the acquisition of this little baby and I have been glued to it and, more to the point, my PSU Blackboard page up until last week. I began the Graduate School of Ed’s ESL endorsement program this summer, and life became a blur of late nights, lots of coffee, and deadlines. I can say with a huge sigh, that – whew!- I did it! Now I have a break until fall term. I just found out that I won a scholarship for fall, which pleases me greatly. It’s enough to pay for a class, and it’s heaps of validation for me at this point, since returning to a long abandoned career can be a daunting proposition.

We managed to squeeze in a week long camping trip to South Beach before school started. Nobody fell out of a tree this year, thank goodness.
Click on the picture if you want to see more..

Finished some socks!

…and made significant progress on Foliage.

I said in the past that I just wasn’t into lace…well, I must have been on drugs or something – who am I kidding? Lace knitting is so much fun…so what if I make a gazillion shawls I never wear? Fortunately, this work in progress appealed to my mother so it will have a good home when it is finished. I am using Rowan Felted Tweed instead of Reynolds Whiskey and I love it! I need a sweater out of this stuff someday.

…I don’t want to get on the cart with the blog….there are still signs of life! Just when life seemed to be under control and moving along at a nice clip, I decided to go back to school, continuing my annoying personal habit of NOT BEING HAPPY WITH THINGS THE WAY THEY ARE. Lucky for me, my family is along for the ride.  We all survived summer term and will be enjoying some fun in the sun before fall term begins We have managed to have some outings and I have even managed to squeeze in a bit of knitting. Hope to get some pics up in the next few days.

ETA – just realized that the video does not show up on Firefox browsers, so here’s a link . Is this some weird new youtube wrinkle? I guess that what I get for leaving the blog for months on end.