Knit One Quilt Too

D is for...

Dogs! Dogs have been a part of my life since I was little and I've always loved them. 

Ginger- a Rough Collie mix, Skipper- a mix who looked like a Bearded Collie, Hannah- a long-haired German Shepherd, Tessie- a Golden Retriever, and finally Scrabble- a 1 year old Shih Tzu who you see here.

These pups have been a huge part of my life and I miss the ones who are gone even as I revel in the antics of our latest pup.  If you have a pup go hug him or her now in honor of the dogs past and present who have made our lives all the better.

Hours to spare

I can't believe it, but I finished my Knitting Olympics sweater tonight with hours to spare.  I'm wearing it as I write this and it feels good!  It's the first sweater I've made for myself. 

Here it is pre-seaming.  I did a 3 needle bind off for the shoulders.  At this point I was calling it the spaghetti sweater because of all the ends that needed weaving in. I spent most of the afternoon doing the seams.  Here it is after seaming, but before knitting the neck.

And here we are after knitting the neck.  After I bound off the neck we went out to dinner.

I wove in the ends when we got home and here it is finally finished!  I'm so thrilled.  I really didn't think I could knit a sweater in 16 days.  Of course, the bulky yarn made it possible and I don't think I would knit such a bulky sweater for myself again, but it was a challenge for me and I'm glad I proved I could do it.

Catch up time!

Well, I've got a lot of catching up to do!  This past week has been a blur with a birthday and lots of appointments to keep.  In fact, Tuesday was so exhausting I could barely move at the end of the day.  Anyway, first up is my second package from my secret pal! 

Notice the beautiful batik fabrics!  They are a wonderful addition to my batik collection.  Also, the Cascade Pastaza in a gorgeous purple will be perfect for some ear flap hats I'm planning to make with color stranding.  The book looks really interesting too.  I haven't had time to read it, but a quick paging through shows a discussion of each block in the quilt.  Very interesting!  Thank you again SP for a great package!

Secondly, the Knitting Olympics continues apace.  I'm having a lot of fun with the pattern.  Cables done without a cable needle in this bulky yarn are so easy!  I finished the front and back and I'm thinking about using a three needle bind off to attach them.  Also, I don't have a photo, but the sleeves are about 3/4 of the way done.  Maybe I can get the sleeves done today and get it blocking so I can seam and do the neck in the next two days.  By the way, I'm having so much fun watching the Olympics.  I've always enjoyed the figure skating, but this year the speed skating, ski racing and snowboarding have really captured my attention.  Did you see the women's 1500 m speed skate last night?  The Canadians captured the silver and gold and it was a great event!  I'm sure the Yarn Harlot is celebrating while she races to complete her own KO project!

I spent Sunday doing some sewing.  I made up four of these little tote bags.  The fourth didn't get a photo because I wasn't so happy with the colors I used, but I love these!  It's all stash fabric, which has a way of making me so happy!  I sent the cherry tote to my SP, and the other two to our miniswap friends.  All the tote bags had gifts for the spoilees inside. 

That's all for now, future posts will include a corner of my home, D is for..., and hopefully a finished Knitting Olympics project!

Check this out

The Knitting Olympics has appeared in the Portland, OR newspaper- The Oregonian!  Here's the link.  They are even having a contest at the end.  Send them the photo of your completed project by March 3rd and you might win a gift certificate for a local yarn shop!  The best thing is that Team Wales is even mentioned!  Way cool.  I'm about 1/3 of the way up the front of the sweater.  Stay tuned for the next photo!

SP Goodies!

I got my package from kpixie just about 20 minutes ago and it's fantastic!  The Karaoke is gorgeous and feels very soft (here it is lounging in a Moebius basket I made last year).  I think it will make a luscious Clapotis.  SouthWest Trading Company also sent a free pattern for a felted purse.  I don't know if I'll get more Karaoke for the felted purse or use something from stash, but you can't pass up a free pattern can you?  Thank you so much Secret Pal for the chance to check out this great yarn.  Now, I just have to get my KO project done so I can cast on the Clapotis.  I don't know if I can wait though!

Happy Valentine's Day

I hope you are all having a very sweet day!  My hubby came home from a trip last night at midnight bearing a dozen red roses for Chloe and I!  How sweet!  He also had a couple of trinkets for the kids.  Then he had to get up this morning to go on another trip.  His box of chocolates will be waiting when he gets home tomorrow.  I made this little wallhanging in 2002 for Valentine's Day and dedicated it to my sweethearts, Mark, Chloe and Ryan.

In KO news, the sweater back is nearly finished.  I am cabling without a cable needle and you can see that there are many wonky stitches.  I don't know if they'll staighten out with blocking, but there's no going back now. If this turns out horribly, it'll still be warm and comfy! 

This is just over 4 balls of Aspen in 4 days, so I'm on track to finish knitting in time, but the blocking and seaming- I don't know.  I'm getting  a bit concerned about the way the cables will finish off at the top of the neck, so I'm thinking of putting the back on a holder while I start the front and see if I can get the cables to match up properly.  You can see in the photo of the February 10th post that the middle horseshoe cable goes up and around the neckline in the front.  I think that's a cool detail.  Here's a closer detail of the cables.

Project Spectrum

So far the KO sweater has only a few inches on the back, though I have knit almost the first whole ball of yarn.  I figure I have to do 1 ball, plus a bit more each day to make the sweater in 16 days.  Of course, I've already got some hand and wrist pain (not sure if that was from the socks I did this week or the sweater) so I'm taking a break from knitting.  I'm going to take the kids down to Winterfest for a bit this afternoon where we'll be able to see ice sculpture carving and hear some good music. 

I wanted to post some photos of my recent fabric purchases because I've been thinking ahead to Project Spectrum (see sidebar).  I have decided to concentrate on quilting for my projects and more specifically on Kaffe Fassett prints.  His sense of color is amazing and sometimes I wish I could live in such a colorful world.  We do have a long hallway outside the kid's rooms that has the most room for hanging quilts of anywhere in the house.  It's got some colorful batik quilts, and I want to add more.  The goal of Project Spectrum is to celebrate colors in our lives and each month to concentrate on one or two colors.  I will use these KF prints, plus a bunch of others in my stash to create some wall hangings using these color themes. 

March - Red and Pink
April - Orange and Yellow
May - Green
June - Blue
July - Violet / Purple
August - Neutrals / Black & White

Here's some more eye candy.

Here I stuck in the beautiful skein of hand-dyed sock yarn that came a few days ago from Brooklyn Handspun.  It's called Elemental and the colors just fit so well with the Kaffe Fassett prints.

This is going to be so much fun!  You'll notice the overabundance of blue and turquoise, but I really didn't have so much blue in my stash.  I actually do have quite a bit of yellow in my stash though, it's not KF prints.  I may have to do a little more shopping before April!

Let the Games Begin

I did it!  I finished my RHSS socks this afternoon, just in time to cast on for my Knitting Olympics project tonight.  I really love these socks and I think they'll be perfect for Valentine's Day.  Again, these are the Embossed Leaves Socks from IK Winter 2005.  I really liked the leaf pattern on these which was easy to memorize, but the toe was something new to me and I really like it.  I will be using it on other socks in the future, because there's no Kitchenering involved.  I actually have no problem doing the KS, but on socks I always end up with two little dog ears which really bugs me.  With this toe you decrease down to 8 stitches and just pull the end of the yarn through the stitches and you are through.  It also fits my feet very well.

Well, on to the KO!  It took me all week to come up with a pattern and I was getting more and more nervous.  I went through all my books and patterns numerous times.  The yarn I wanted to use is from my stash, 20 balls of GGH Aspen.  This is a bulky wool/acrylic blend I got to go with a particular pattern.  As it turned out, when I swatched for the pattern, the yarn was all wrong and I couldn't get gauge with a nice fabric, so a search was begun. 

I ended up getting my first Rebecca copy yesterday and it has several patterns written specifically for Aspen.  I can't believe I got this far along never knowing that Rebecca was written by Muench and therefore, uses only their yarns.  If I had known that last week things would have been much easier.  Anyway, the pattern is from issue # 24 which is one of the old ones written in German with English translations only for the patterns.  I really wish I could read all the German!  I swatched this last night and this morning and it looks like it will go smoothly.  At least until I get to the dreaded seaming!  I don't really expect to finish this in 16 days, but it could happen, so I'll try my hardest.  I didn't ever send in an email to the Yarn Harlot, so I won't be in the running for her gold medals or prizes at the end.  No matter, I'm on Team Wales and I'll do the best I can for them!

Next time, in addition to Olympic progress photos I plan to show the spoils from a recent fabric expedition this week and a little package that came in the mail.  Until then, let the games begin!

Quickie Post

This is a short one, so I can get back to crafting!  I just wanted to show these gorgeous cinnamon rolls we made for Chloe's birthday breakfast.  Ryan helped me cut them with dental floss and look how great they are after baking.  This recipe is so easy and directions are included for a kitchen aid mixer, bread machine, or food processor.  You basically throw the ingredients in, let the machine do the kneading, let it rest for 10 minutes, roll it out and cover with cinnamon mixture, refrigerate over night and bake in the morning.  I take them out of the fridge and put them in a cold oven that's set for 350 degrees for 35 minutes.  They have time to do a little more rising and come out baked perfectly. 

On the knitting front, I've finished the first of the Red Hot Sizzling Socks.  I'm about 5 inches down the cuff on the second.  I really do love this pattern, and it's been a very quick knit for me.  I just love those little leaves.  I think this would look really great in some green yarn, so I'll probably be making them again.

C is for...

Chloe!  Thirteen years ago Chloe's birth changed my life forever and for the better.  Hers was a marvelous birth, one of the last at the Birth Place in Menlo Park, CA.  It was a free standing birth center in a little house near downtown.  The birth was magical and completely natural with only my husband and I, a midwife and a birth assistant.  It was a peaceful night and when the sun came up I had a beautiful new daughter!  Chloe is a daughter, sister, grand-daughter, writer, artist, actor, and creator. 

My dearest Chloe, Happy Birthday and welcome to teenagerhood!  I know you wanted so much to see Megan today, but here's a photo of your last visit together to tide you over til the next visit!  Love, Mom