Booga J

Please see me at my new home: http://boogaj.typepad.com/knitting/

I just love knitting in the round. No side seams to worry about, less purling, quick quick, quick! Fuchsia is flying along despite the smaller needles (US 5) and the ribbing. I actually like doing ribbing (this sweater is k3 p1), but I do think it is a bit slower than plain old knitting. And did I mention how much I like this yarn, even though it is 50% cotton?

Yesterday I took a knitting break to make some pillows for the couch. Not little throw pillows, but great big pillows! Kohl's was having a 50% off sale on their pillows, so I got 4 for $20. I used some extra fabric I had around the house to make the pillow covers, so these two pillows together cost only $10 + about an hour of sewing time. Since these were scraps of fabric from another project, I ran out. The other two pillows will have to wait until find more fabric.

Any rubber stampers out there? I'm selling off part of my stash on eBay. There are Christmas and Holiday stamps here and a bunch of other stamps here. Thanks for looking!

Knitting news: I'm making good progress on Fuchsia. I just love knitting in the round!

I have absolutely no affiliation with KnitPicks, but I have ordered from them several times in the past and I think they are great. So, when I saw that Tahki New Tweed is one of their new special offers, I had to share. I bought 12 balls of this in a light blue color (at Knitter's Niche in Chicago) to make Blue Cardie and I just love the yarn. It is 70% merino wool, 15% silk, 11% cotton, 4% viscose. Very soft and so easy to knit with.

On another note, Fuchsia is coming along nicely. I am finally down to 200 stitches (you start by casting on 500!!) and I'm knitting in the round. Pictures when I have more to show.

Wednesday I came down with Startitis. Despite my previous bad experience with felting Kureyon, I decided to try again. This time things went right. It's okay to make mistakes, but it's really great when you learn from them. I love my new bag and it is happily carrying my current sock in progress.

Startitis struck again on Saturday:

Here is Fuchsia from the 2001 Dale of Norway Svale book. I'm verry happy that this is knit in the round up to the arms. The flouncy part on the bottom has been a challenge though. You have to cast on 500 stitches to start. Ugh. That is a lot of stitches to have crammed on one circular needle. So, while it might not look like much, I am almost through my first skein of yarn (and this only takes 10 skeins!)

Here's what it will look like when I'm all done:

Maude

Finished Maude yesterday and she fits like a glove. I'll model it later in the week perhaps. Now I am anticipating my next project -- but what should it be? Decisions, decisions. *Beer note* Bottled our beer last night. Not as difficult as I feared, but quite a bit of beer apparently got on my tennis shoes. I noticed this while sitting at the Joliet Public Library's storytime for toddlers. Maybe not such a good idea to smell like a brewery while bringing in your child for for "Toddler Time" -- ugh!

Froggin', Finishin' & Spinnin'

I know, the picture has nothing to do with the title, but it's been so cloudy here that I couldn't get a decent picture. Froggin' -- Laurel Hill is no more. I got out the swift and spun away all my hard work. So what will the 20 skeins of dark olive green Jo Sharp wool become? Probably not another Jo Sharp design. I recently purchased A Season's Tale by Kim Hargreaves and there are some gorgeous sweaters that I have my eye on. Since Jo Sharp wool is DK weight, I should be able to substitute easily. Finishin' -- I have been making a little progress on the blue cardie, but the second sleeve apathy has kicked in. Ho hum. However Maude is near completion. If only cotton weren't such a pain in the a**, I mean hand. Spinnin' -- Okay, I have a picture for this one. At this rate I might have enough yarn for a scarf in three months! It is pretty though, isn't it?

Did you know that there is a new blog tool coming? It's called TypePad and it's from the makers of Movable Type. I have been chosen as a beta tester for this new service and you can see the TypePad version of my blog here. Let me know what you think by leaving me a comment on my new blog!

It was a very busy weekend! I finally felt like doing some spring cleaning and I found this box that I got at IKEA a while ago and decided to decoupage it. I just took some decoupage medium that I had sitting around and a bunch of origami paper and went to work. I'm pretty happy with the results and it was very easy to do. Here's what the box looked like before:

Last weekend was the huge IKEA shopping trip (pretty much an annual thing with us) and the furniture arrives tomorrow. This little box will go on top of my new computer center and my printer will sit on top of it -- yipee!

What's that about beer? Well, Pete and I decided to visit the Home Brew Shop in St. Charles, IL this weekend. We came home with a beer making kit and the ingredients for some Brown Ale. Yesterday we cooked everything up and started processing our brew! The above picture was taken yesterday before the addition of the yeast and . . .

this picture was taken this morning after the brewer's yeast started doing it's thing. This stuff is ACTIVE! More updates as the process progresses.

Finally got around to getting the Knitting Blogger's Reading Group button uploaded. The first book is going to be The Life of Pi by Yann Martal which I read a while back. That's okay because now I will be free to re-read East of Eden by John Steinbeck for the third (I think?) time. I re-read The Grapes of Wrath last year, so I was due to re-read East of Eden even if Oprah didn't decide that she liked it.

Speaking of reading, I just finished The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood yesterday. While it was a very good book, it was too long. I would still recommend it though. The novel within a novel idea was interesting.

Knitting? Well, I picked Maude back up and finished several more rows, but business has been booming, so there hasn't been much time. Oh well, more money for yarn, right?

I'm so proud! I actually started a project and worked on it until I completed it without a)starting another project b)working on another project or c)buying more yarn for another project! The WIP list remains stable. I really want to get back to working with some wool, but Maude is calling my name. Hopefully another FO in the near future?!?

Oh yeah -- the socks. They are for Maddie and I used leftover Cascade Fixation to make them. Believe it or not, I still have more left over! Pretty good value, even if it is cotton.

Just wanted to say Thanks to Anna at Anna Knits for her nifty blog stuff! You can see that I added the scrolling buttons at the left. How cool is that?

Well, I got a little bit of the Lorna's spun up and here it is! What is that thing it's on, you ask? That's an old weaving loom bobbin/shuttle thingy that I got at the Sandwich Antique Fair last month for a couple of bucks. Yesterday we went to the antique fair again and I got this:

A cute little Frankoma pitcher in Prairie Green. I bargained the seller down to $20, so I was happy! Isn't it cute?

But I digress. Here is a close up of the yarn which shows the color a little better. Some of you spinners can probably tell that I am using a Navajo plying technique to make a 3 ply. Here is a little video demo that will explain it better than I can. Why am I using this method? Because I wanted a smooth transition from color to color. If I made a 2-ply, the color would probably be kind of muddy, with the carmel color taking over. I may make a little 2 ply sample to see what it looks like.

The Lorna's roving is just wonderful to spin and feels very soft. I think it will be pretty wearable for handspun wool. I highly recommend it!

I've decided that in order to decrease my pile of WIP's, I need to finish 2 projects of every 1 that I start. So, here is the second completed item of the week -- Cascade Fixation short socks. I just took a regular sock pattern and instead of making a regular length cuff, I did K2P2 ribbing for about an inch. I think I have enough yarn left over to make a pair for my 2 1/2 yr old.

So, what should I start next? I'm thinking that I might need to swatch my Dale Svale top. Or should I start the socks for Maddie? Or maybe the Broadripple socks. So many choices!

And this came in the mail!! This is the Lorna's Laces roving in Gold Hills that I got from ThreadBear! Isn't it pretty? I haven't had a chance to start spinning it yet, but I'm hoping that will happen later today.

Happy news first. I finished the Mountain Colors Treasure Pouch and it was a lot of fun to make. I highly recommend it as one of those instant gratification projects.

And now for the sad new. It all started innocently enough. Pete and I have been wanting a LitterMaid Litter Box for quite a while. So we splurged and bought one last week. It arrived, I set it up and all three cats used it happily enough. Apparently the next morning the kitten (Fancy -- she's the one in the above picture) saw the thing activate and FREAKED OUT! She was so disturbed that she ran into the bedroom and peed on our bed. I was totally distraught (still am). So, I washed all the bedding twice with bleach and used the enzyme stuff on the bed. Soaking up any extra with a box full of baking soda (I researched all this on the web). When Pete got home it was dry and didn't smell, so we flipped the mattress over and made up the bed. The kitten ran in the room and peed on the bed again within minutes. At this point I was in tears. At midnight we were dragging the mattress out into the garage. Luckily we had an extra queen mattress, but I'm sick about throwing out all that bedding and that mattress. And I loved sleeping with our kitties. No more of that now. And I still haven't seen the kitten use the new box -- or the old box that was in the laundry room the whole time. She was locked up in the bathroom all night with a litter box and she used it then.

Cat owners/lovers please give me advice. I have been on cat patrol since this happened and I need some peace. I can't watch the kitten all the time. How do I re-train her?

I did a little dyeing last week, with yarn this time instead of roving. I used some Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride in Frost White and lanaset dyes. This was made using the cold pour method. (I couldn't find a good link for this. Next time I'll document and create a "dyeing instructions" page.) I really like it! But what will it become?

Speaking of hand dyed yarn, take a look at Rob's Blog to see the yarn that Matt dyed. Very pretty! You can also check out the Koigu version of the Broadripple socks. I got my Fixation in the mail yesterday, but more on that later.

I also got to work on the Mountain Colors Treasure Pouch and all it needs is a handle. Hopefully I will finish that up today. Maybe pics tomorrow -- it is cute, fast and fun. This was one impulse purchase I was gald to make!

I've been in yarn acquisition mode lately and I have run out of room! I would love for this yarn to go to a good home -- make me an offer! It is Wildfoote Luxury Sock Yarn from Brown Sheep. And you don't have to take all 12 -- if you only want 2 or 4 or whatever, that's fine. The colors in the picture are pretty good, I think. Email Me!

It's been four wonderful years! Here we are at the big event -- our wedding was incredible! People are still talking about it. We had the reception at an old theater and we had a swing band (more like an orchestra -- 17 people I think?) A good time was had by all! It's a very important memory for me not only because I married the greatest guy EVER, but also because my dad was there. He passed away less than 2 months later and I'm so thankful that he was there to walk me down the aisle.

And to top it all off, our honeymoon was in Alaska! This was the greatest vacation I have ever been on! We went to Denali Backcountry Lodge and the Kenai Fjords Wilderness Lodge which were both incredible. and we also stayed in Seward and Anchorage. I would go back there in a minute!

And as I'm sitting here writing this, the delivery man came with a dozen roses! Here they are:

Aren't they pretty? (I'm not fond of red roses, so Pete always finds pretty non-red roses to give to me. Isn't that sweet?)

I'm back from Milwaukee and Theresa & I had a great time checking out some yarn stores. As you can see I did get some goodies! Let me tell you how important store models are. . . I bought all that Svale and the pattern from Dalegarn to make the sweater on the cover because I saw and touched the store model that was hanging by the yarn.

On the right is some Blue Sky Alpaca and a pattern for a plain guy hat. Pete approved when he saw it, so I think I did pretty good. This brings up the topic of yarn obsessions. I apparently have an obsession with alpaca. I did not know this until I read the label of each yarn I was drawn to and saw that they all seemed to contain a good percentage of alpaca! Yummy.

But of course that's not all -- here is another store model purchase. The little bag in the upper right corner of the picture was made up and hanging in the store. That did it! It was so cute that I had to walk out of there with the pattern and that lovely Mountain Colors yarn. The color of the yarn is "Lost Trail" and it is just gorgeous in person.

Oh yeah, and on the right is a boring skein of Brown Sheep in white. Soon to be un-boring (I feel like an IKEA commercial) though -- it will be dyed in the near future. I've been dyeing rovings lately, but I need to try the lanaset dyes on some yarn.

On an unrelated note -- the new Knitty is out and Rob has a great sock pattern in this issue. I already ordered my Cascade Fixation from ThreadBear. Have you?

Here's the reason that I wanted to design a raglan cardie. It's all because I wanted a cable up the sleeve that went all the way to the neck edge. Sheesh! What a lot of work for a little detail. Did I mention that this is the first sweater I have ever knit. And here I am designing it myself. I hope it actually fits when I'm all done!

And now Theresa and I are off to the north for the weekend. How exciting! We are going to visit Ruhama's and any other knitting stores we can find on the way there or back. I'm sure I will have some lovely pictures of huge piles of yarn when I return!

My Rowan Newsletter came today and there was an article on cushion kits from Debbie Abrahams. So, I checked out her website and she also has some really cute bag kits. I already have her book, 100 Afghan Squares to Knit, so I think I might try to convert some of the squares into bags and pillows!

Well, I did get quite a bit done on the cardie this weekend. I finished one half of the front and I have a good portion of one arm completed. It's more fun to knit when you are designing it yourself!

What is it about eBay? I mean, this is over $100 worth of yarn and I got it for $25 -- pretty good deal, right? But what am I going to do with it?!? I'm thinking washcloths. I'll make some handmade soaps and pair each one with a washcloth -- cute gift, no? I just hope this stuff washes well. It says dry clean only -- ugh. (Oh -- it's Berroco Flax btw.)

Just finished the back of the blue cardie that I am designing. I think it turned out pretty well. It's just a simple raglan cardigan with a seed stitch border at the bottom and a little bit of side shaping.

In other news, I think I'm going to have to rip out Laurel Hill. After losing 50lbs, I think it's just going to be too large. Better to cut my losses than to finish it and never wear it. Speaking of my WIP's, I really need to update that page. I'm happy with my gallery, but not my wip page.

Finished one skein. I really need to think about getting a spinning wheel!

On a bloggy note. . . Pete found a nifty little graphical browser thingy from Google. It basically shows all the links from one page to another in a graph form. Kind of fun to play around with!

I have been on a reading kick (so not too much knitting is getting done.) I finished 2 books in the last week and both were very good. First was Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson. It is basically about a murder trial, but there is a lot of exploration of the Japanese-American issues before, during and right after WW2.

The next was Life of Pi by Yann Martel. I have to say that I could NOT put this book down. It's over 300 pages and I think I read it in two days. This book is about survival -- I don't know what else to say besides that.

Now I'm starting The Lovely Bones: A Novel by Alice Sebold (generously sent to my by Kerstin) and I'm really enjoying it so far. What luck! I haven't found a book that I was really interested in for months and now three great ones in a row! What's your favorite book? I'm looking to put together my summer reading list!

Last week was cool in the greater Chicagoland area so I did a lot of dyeing. Hopefully I will have some skiens of this made up later in the week.

And a big thank you to Kerstin for sending me "The Lovely Bones" which I have been wanting to read for months. Stop by her blog to check out all the Tank-y goodness. She just started "Smooch" -- very nice! (Must finish Maude, must finish Maude. . .)

I'm also designing my first sweater -- yikes! I'll post pics when I'm farther along.

Fancy is enjoying the little mousie that I made! This was made with Wendy's pattern and was made as part of the Mouse Along. This project was super quick and fun! And as you can see, Fancy is enjoying the end result:
I highly recommend making one for your kitties!

Finished the back of Maude and got through a couple of inches on the front. I even wove in all the ends and it wasn't too bad. This one is flying along and I'm already contemplating my next project. I'm going to design a raglan cardie -- yikes! I never designed anything before! Today feels like a dyeing day. Now if only Maddie (see my cutie above) would fall asleep!

I had a wonderful Mother's day! I finished the mohair wrap and started the Maude tank from the new Mission Falls book. Look at all those ends I will have to weave in -- UGH! But I like the stripes which make the plain stockinette stitch more bearable. I'm knitting this tank with these:

And here they are open:

Yep -- Denise interchangeable Knitting Needles which were my Mother's Day gift! My husband bought them from KnitPicks -- gotta love that free shipping! This is the second order we have placed with them and I have to say that I have been very pleased. I was on the fence about getting these needles until I read the review in Knitter's Review. They are very easy to use and I have had no problem with them coming unlocked. I also love the VERY flexible tubing. The resin needles were also much needed for the Mission Falls 1824 cotton which was really sticking to the bamboo needles I first tried. So, I would have to say that the Denise needles get a 4.5/5 rating from me.

Never say never! I always looked at mohair with loathing -- why? I have no idea. I just didn't like it -- too fuzzy, too stringy? I don't know. So about a week ago I walked in to Knitters Niche in Chicago with Theresa and her mom and I picked up some hand-dyed mohair and a mohair/wool carry along yarn. Only one week later I have a beautiful completed shawl! I just could not put this project down! So, now mohair is my friend and it will no longer be getting the dirty looks I used to throw its way.

First a picture of the 2-ply that I made with the bfl that I dyed a couple weeks ago. This is from the rovings that I dyed using the hot and cold pour methods. I took one ply of each and put them together to get this. I thought it was pretty nifty! What a week with the Knitting Blogs web ring! There were SO many new blogs added this week. As of today we are up to 250 sites in the ring! Go check them out!

Take the new poll at the Knitting Blogs Home Page!

Theresa and I had a lovely time shopping for yarn on Saturday with her mom. You can read more about it on her blog, but I wanted to post my purchases for all to see! On the left is a lovely 70% kid mohair/30% wool yarn from Bouton d'Or which is being knit with the gorgeous mohair from Wool in the Woods that is next to it. And here is the wrap/shawl thing that I am making with them:

And a close up:

I'm not using a pattern. I just cast on 60 stitches knit three rows then did a whole row of yarn overs. On the next row you just knit into every other stitch (so as not to increase) for a total of 60 stitches. Then knit four more rows. I continued on knitting one row of yarn overs and 5 rows of knitting. And I will continue until I run out of yarn.

The yarn on the right in the top picture is New Tweed from Tahki. It's a blend of 70% Merino, 15% Silk, 11% Cotton and 4% Viscose. Really nice stuff! I got 12 balls and I'm planning to make a cardigan. It's a plain old worsted weight, so I have lots of patterns to choose from, but I just might create a pattern of my own. We shall see.

I also started a pair of socks in Cascade Fixation. (A sock is a sock, so I will wait until they are finished to take pictures.) And I picked up the needles I need for my Mission Falls tank. May have to swatch that one tonight. That brings me to my question -- why the startitis? I have noticed a lot of it going around on the ring. Is it the spring air? All I know is that I have WAY more WIP's than I'm willing to admit right now, but I just can't stop -- well -- starting!

Needed a quick interim project since I don't have the needles for my next project (Can't wait for the shopping trip with Theresa this weekend!) So, I decided to knit up these little cuties. They will be going to Pete's best man and his wife who just had a little boy! They are made with Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in color 202. And the pattern is from the Baby Cashmerino book. Quick, easy and cute!

Felted Daypack before and. . .

after.

This was a fun quick project and I love the finished bag. I used it today and it worked perfectly. Sometimes these "sling" bags can be a nuisance -- always slipping off your shoulder or getting twisted around, but not this one. It behaved beautifully! I followed the "Two Old Bags" pattern closely, but I changed the straps. I like my straps flatter, so I used the double i-cord technique from the "City Shoulder" pattern. It is actually based on a belt in Elizabeth Zimmerman's "Knitting Without Tears."
Of course I got everything to make it from the great guys over at ThreadBear. Speaking of the guys at ThreadBear -- if you like this daypack, you should check out Rob's Blog. He has a gorgeous daypack made from Kureyon on his site!

Can you believe that I used the same colors to dye these two rovings? So, what was the difference? The one on the left was dyed using the "hot pour" method and the one on the right was dyed using the "cold pour" method. Here's a full length picture which shows off the colors a bit better:

In the hot pour method you put everything in a pot and simmer it. The colors tend to blend a lot more. In the cold pour method, you put dye on the wet wool and spray it down with vinegar. Then you wrap it up in plastic wrap and steam it! Very quick and easy. This is now my preferred method of dyeing.

And since I have been feeling a little down lately, I decided to make myself a new toy! Here is my distaff. And I found the directions to make it here. I used handspun bfl that was plied using the navajo-ply method. This yarn was also dyed by me! It worked really well when I was spinning last night, so I am really happy with it!

Yep it's all done! (Well, not really. . . there are pesky ends tucked inside that need to be woven in but I'm not sure how to do that with this tape type yarn.) This was very fun and quick to knit, but I don't think that I would use such a bulky yarn for a tight-fitting garment again. I think a finer gauge would have been best for a little tank top.
You didn't think that that I finished one project without starting another, did you?
Here's my yarn and pattern for the daypack from "Two Old Bags". I got the pattern and yarn from my buddies over at ThreadBear. I also dyed some more wool yesterday. More on that tomorrow!

Of course I had to pull out everything and start dyeing the day my dye kit arrived. The results weren't what I expected, but they weren't bad either. Here's what I did.


First I soaked the yarn and roving in water while I perpared all the supplies. The yarn was some Cascade 220 in a natural color and the roving was Blue Faced Leister. Then I mixed up the dyes -- I used lanaset -- and I started to heat up the pot with the yarn and roving inside in a generous amount of water with some vinegar added. I poured on the dyes and let it simmer. You can see what it looked like. Here's where things strayed from my plan. I was supposed to wait until the wool sucked up most of one color dye before I added another. I didn't really understand this part and didn't wait long enough. So, everything mixed together.


After the water in the pan was almost clear and was almost room temp, I took out the wool and gently washed it and rinsed it. Then I laid it out to dry. You can see the Cascade above. I think you need to soak yarn longer than roving. The roving got wet very quickly, but the Cascade wasn't as wet and didn't take up as much dye.


The roving was a little scary. I was afraid that I had created a big felted mess, but much to my delight it was as spinnable as ever after it dried out. Whew! There was some nice subtle variation in the roving and it was fun to spin and ply.


Here it is still on the spindle after plying and . . .


Here it is all finished. I was able to put it into a lovely hank with the help of my super fun new swift! (I think Pete was seeing the benefits of buying this for me already -- he didn't have to sit and be my yarn holder like he usually does!)

Yipee!! They are finally here! My long lost swift and winder have finally completed their journey from distant lands to me. I've already been playing with them (and so has Fancy -- the kitten)! Thank you Booga P -- I love them! And thank you to the guys at ThreadBear -- the swift & winder were worth the wait! Gotta go play with my new toys some more, but tomorrow I will have pictures of my first adventure in dyeing fibers.

Look what I got in the mail today! Yep -- a Lanaset dye kit. I got it from Julie at Sheep Hollow Farm and I have to say that she got it to me QUICK! I also thought it was a good buy -- you get 12 different colors and a little sample card showing the colors. It even includes instructions! And this was only $26.10 shipped. I'm very happy with it. Now, my daughter will be waking up from her nap any minute, dare I get this out and start playing with it?

Here is that first skein of Blue Faced Leister that I have been talking about. I thought it looked okay, considering how little I have spun before. This is my first real skein. I've tried little bits before, but this actually made my shoulder sore. I just couldn't stop spinning it! Here is a close up:

It even kind of looks like real yarn! I might have to work up a little swatch to see what it looks like knitted up.

Made a new button for the Knitting Blogs website. Feel free to steal it! I've also done a little work on the Knitting Blogs website -- added some links and a sign in for the ring (in case you need to update your info, url, blog name, etc.)

On a knitting note -- I have been working on the other half of Joy. It's about halfway finished, but since it's the same as the front I didn't take a picture.

And on a spinning note -- I finished a skein of the Blue Faced Leister that I got from Copper Moose. Picture coming soon. (If we ever have any sunshine around here!) This is really nice stuff -- very addictive to spin. But the plain white color has me wanting to learn how to dye yarn. Hmmmmm.....

Why you ask? Because the stamping business is keeping me darn busy. New spring stamps are coming out and I have been updating my website all day. (Want to see them? Just click here!) And another order arrived yesterday. Whew -- I'm in need of some kitting time!

I've also been working on the Knitting Blogs Web Ring and the Knitting Blogs Website. I'm now posting all new blogs as I add them to the ring. Yes, it seems simple enough to do this, but everything takes a little time and all those little things add up. Sometimes I don't know where the day has gone!

I did get a chance to do a little spinning the last couple of nights. If I finish up plying what's on the spindles right now, I will put it into a skein and post a picture tomorrow. I also have two little skeins that I never took photos of yet. I'm still a beginner, but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it!

But I'm not sure which one to get. Does anyone have one? Please let me know what features I should be looking for. I found one that looks nice at NCWood. What do you inkle weavers think?

Don't know what inkle weaving is? Just check out InkleWeaving.com!

Look what I created today: http://knittingblogs.blogspot.com/

Here is the front (or back) of Joy from Rowan's Cotton Tape booklet. I bought this yarn from Cucmberpatch and I have to say that they have great service, low prices and quick delivery. I will be buying from them again!

And on another note, here is a shocking look at our kitties. Why so shocking you ask? Well, first of all, they are usually sleeping. And even more surprising is their closeness. They don't hate each other, and rarely fight, but they don't usually choose to hang out together. The first robins of spring having a snack at our bird feeders brought them together though.

Whew -- Ivete wasn't kidding. Keeping up the Knitting Blogs webring is a handful, but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it. There are so many sites now -- and more being added every day. If you come across any sites that are missing the ring code or aren't active anymore, just email me! I'm also going to try to get a new info page set up that includes not only the rules, but also helpful info. There is some maintenence that people who are in the ring can do themselves -- they just aren't aware. So, be patient with me as I try to keep up with this fast growing ring!

Okay -- this is kind of sad -- we have had a digital camera for a year and I could only find one picture of myself. And in that picture I was trying to hide behind my daughter. So, in celebration of becoming a lifetimer at WW this coming week I decided to have Pete take my piture with the camera. So, here I am with my Constant Companion bag. Hi!

I thought it was time to take out the spindle and make a little yarn. My last few attempt have been less than inspiring, but today I actually got yarn! Honest to goodness yarn that I could actually knit up! It has taken a bit of practice, but I think I'm finally getting a more even draw (?!? I don't know any real spinning terms since I pretty much taught myself from a very old book I found at the local library) and my singles are much finer. Previous yarn was very lumpy and uneven. So this is a 2 ply brown shetland wool. and here is a close up:

I'm so proud that I think I'm going to go purchase some Blue-Faced Leicester roving which was recommended to me by Caroline who is sending me one of her beautiful spindles in trade for some of my stitch markers. If you want a spindle too -- just check out her new website A Twist on Wood.

I was kind of bored this afternoon, so I got out some of the ugly eBay yarn I have and the packets of koolaid that I bought at the grocery yesterday and went to work. Above you will see the yarn before. The pinkish one is Barella Country Garden Superwash Wool -- a dull pale ash rose type color -- blah. The cream color one looks better in this picture than it did in person -- a very yellowish cream color. It's Jaeger Matchmaker DK.
So, I took the yarn and put it into some loose hanks. I got the yarn soaking wet and put it in a pyrex pan. I mixed up the koolaid and a little bit (1/4 cup?) of warm water. Then I spooned the koolaid mixture over the yarn -- flipping the yarn over once so that I got good coverage. The yarn drank up the dye FAST. After the water looked clear (cloudy white-ish actually) I poured it off and rinsed the yarn several times in warm water and then cold water. I squeezed all the water out and then microwaved the yarn in the pyrex pan for a minute.
And here is the completed yarn!
The blue was made using 1/2 a skein of Jaeger (the cream colored) yarn and two packets of blue lemonade koolaid. I thought the yellowish color of the yarn would make this turn out more teal, but that didn't really happen.
This red one was the Barella (pinkish) yarn with one packet of pink lemonade and one packet of cherry with a little orange thrown on at the end.
And here is my favorite -- although I don't know what I would do with this color yarn! This is the other half of the Jaeger yarn. I used the rest of the orange on this one, but I really diluted it first. Then I added a packet of lemonade (yellow) that was very diluted. It looks even better in person.
That's what I did today!

This weekend Theresa and I finally got together and did a little fiber shopping -- and look what I got!! Yep -- more birthday gifts! A beautiful drop spine box in cute little fishy paper and a gorgeous scarf made from Noro Silk Garden -- both handmade by Theresa! Thank you so much Theresa!!
After an extended cold/flu thing that kept me down for almost two weeks, I'm back and finally getting some knitting done! That's Nettle up there. I'm past the decreases for the sleeves and should have the back finished soon -- yipee! I really love this yarn (Jaeger Chamonix).
And here's my fair isle -- the Setesdal Cardie for Maddie. I'm up to the neck shaping and I think that this one might stall for a little while until I learn to purl with BOTH hands. The two handed knitting was great when I was working in the round, but now I have to go back and forth -- ugh.
And finally here is Pete's sock. This one has actually gone in reverse. I started this one toe-up, but I was stalled. I guess I like doing socks from the top down. Nothing wrong with that -- but it meant frogging a good 4 in. of completed sock. Then I tried to start using the socks on two circs method, but the Addi Turbos that I bought were only 12 in. long -- I messed up. These are just way too short. My hand was experiencing discomfort after only two rounds. So. . . . here I am back on the trusty Brittany dp's and things are moving along smoothly. Socks are my "easy" project and I'm not going to make the mistake of trying to make them so complicated next time (unless I already have an easy pair on the needles to fall back on)!
And here is a picture that I should have had up here last week, but sickness got the better of me. This is a beautiful scissor case that I received from Chris. Don't you just love it? Thanks so much Chris!!

Yep -- I forked over $15 to Blogger and got rid of the ads. Whew, glad I finally did it!

Have you seen the new Knitty????

Okay, so my birthday was yesterday, but I had the flu so I think I should celebrate today! Thank you to everyone who sent me birthday wishes!! My most exciting (and also knitting related) gift has not arrived yet. It's a swift and ballwinder!!!!! Yipee! Thanks Booga P! I also got something that I have wanted since . . . well, since I moved out of my parent's house I guess. And here it is:
Yep, a stand mixer. I love to bake but mixing up bread with my hand held mixer or by hand is a lot of work. This will be a much used gift! Thanks Mom!

And I just have to say a word about this past year because it has really been a good one! First of all I lost 40 lbs. Yes, that's right -- 40 lbs. I am feeling so young and spry now! Back probelms, asthma, general lack of energy -- gone. I look younger too -- it is really amazing. My family is doing well too -- Pete got a new job that he really likes. It was a huge adjustment because he had worked out of our house for 2 years and I was really used to having him here. But we adjusted and things are great now! And Maddie is growing like a weed and learning something new every day. She is so smart! Work is great too. When I started Stamping Online 1 1/2 years ago, I was just trying to turn a profit from month to month. Now I am consistently in the black and while it isn't paying the bills, it is paying for my yarn!

Which brings us to the fourth and last thing that I want to talk about which is knitting -- I have discovered a new love for knitting over the past year. It has brought me closer with a great friend -- Theresa. (Who I will be having a fiber adventure with this weekend!) Knitting has also introduced me to a bunch of great people online -- I really love the knitting community. Thanks everyone!

I'm up to the armhole steeks! You can see the little opening at the top edge. Basically you cast off 10 stitches and then cast on 4 on the following round. Those four are the cutting stitches or steek. I'm really enjoying this project and find myself wanting to work on it all the time. I'm seriously looking forward to getting to the pattern at the top though. The polka dot thing is just kind of mindless.

I've officially started my first fair isle project and I haven't been able to put it down! I always thought that fair isle was some mysterious and extremely difficult skill that I would "someday" attempt -- someday being in the distant future. But Theresa found a class at the Knitting Workshop in Chicago and we signed up. After two weeks of class I am feeling pretty good about what I'm learning and I've also figured out that it really isn't as difficult as I thought it would be. In fact, since it is knitting in the round, there are no "purls" to deal with and is actually very quick. Now I have to admit that the k2p2 ribbing on size 0's was slow going, but I fought my way through and I'm on 2's now.
Oh -- and do you see my little stitch marker? I made that! I used to make jewelry -- well, I still do, but I don't have a blow torch at my disposal any more so I have been doing a lot less of it. Making these markers was great fun though. Do you want some? Just email me and we can work out some kind of trade. I will even let you pick your colors and size (how big of a needle it will work with) -- they will be custom made for you!

Working mostly. I wish I was knitting, but it's my busy time of the year at my store. I did finish my green hat though! And just in time for our first big snow of the year. The hat is okay, but I think it could have been a little longer/taller. Sometimes it doesn't want to stay put in a strong wind. I might weave a little elastic into the bottom band to give it some extra staying power.
And I started Nettle in Jaeger Chamonix which I purchased from eBay. This is really weird because my friend, and fellow knitter/blogger, Theresa started the same sweater on the same night -- and this was NOT planned!! Isn't that weird?!? Great minds think alike! I'm really enjoying Nettle and it is knitting up quickly compared to the Jo Sharp sweater (which is knit on much smaller needles).

I also have one of my Fuzzy Feet done down to the toe. This is my take along project, so it is moving kind of slowly. I'm also planning a fair isle project for the class I'm taking. Class meets tonight, so I will have a new WIP by morning!

I am learning how to spin on a spindle and I purchased some wool and cotton from The Bellwether a while back. The wool was working for me, but the cotton -- not so much. Thus, I have available for trade The Bellwether's Sampler No. 5 which includes 1/2 oz each of five different naturally colored cottons. I would love to get some more wool roving to practice with. So, if you are interested, e-mail me with an offer!

I figured it was time to get down to business and really LEARN about knitting, so I splurged at Amazon and got these:

Sweater Design in Plain English by Maggie Righetti
Knitting in Plain English by Maggie Righetti
Knitting Without Tears by Elizabeth Zimmermann
The Knitter's Companion by Vicki Square

I have quickly looked through them and I think they are exactly what I was looking for. The Righetti books came highly recommended by Theresa and they are packed with tons of info. I'm very eager to sit down and read them cover to cover. The Elizabeth Zimmerman book was recommended by a woman in my local knitting guild. I just got in contact with her and will be attending my first meeting next week. I'm so excited because she has over 50 years of knitting experience and was easy to talk to on the phone.

These aren't "pattern" books and they don't have glossy photos. What they do have is information -- information which I hope will make me a better knitter and help me to start designing (gasp!) my own garments. I am a born learner -- I love school and classes and books. I just wasn't aware that these types of books were out there. I'll let you know what I think of them as I read through each one. Time to go snuggle up on the couch with some tea and a good book!

The constant Companion is dry and ready to go. I'm very happy with it and would highly recommend this project to anyone. The felted fabric is thick and sturdy. As you can see, it stands up all by itself -- even when open:

And it is very roomy. I'm sure a whole sweater project could easily fit in it. Another bonus is the double handle. If you pull each handle out, you end up with two long handles instead of four short ones. Wonderful!

99.9% Complete:
Here it is after felting! It seems very thick and sturdy and I can't wait for it to dry. I put it through the wash on a hot wash cold rinse three times. The first two times it was in with a bunch (3-4 pair) of jeans. After the 2nd wash it looked like some fuzz from the jeans was sticking to the bag, so I left only the most washed out and faded pair in for the thrid wash. I used Tide in the first wash, nothing in the second and Woolite in the third.

When I took the bag out of the washing machine, it was very rounded and lacked a shape. In order to get a nice flat bottom on my felted bags, I always stuff them with boxes that are inside plastic grocery bags. You can see how I did it in the above picture. First I put in the two large boxes and then I SHOVED the little box inbetween. It was a struggle to get it in there, but you have to do this to get a good shape. So, now it's drying -- pictures of the completed bag soon!

Here is a close up of that i-cord bind-off. The bag is currently in the washer with 4 pairs of jeans -- updates soon!

Well, I've made it through the triple i-cord bind off and man does my hand hurt. I think it will give the top edge of the bag a lot of added strength though. Now I just have to knit the 120" of black i-cord for the handles and then I'm ready for felting! I'm really getting jealous of everyone's Suki bags. That might have to go on my list after the Fuzzy Feet. Isn't Knitty great?!?

All the cool kids are doing it! Give in to the peer pressure and join in by clicking on the link above. I think I'm going to use the left overs from my Constant Companion project. So, my warm Fuzzy Feet will match my knitting bag -- pretty neat, eh?

Thanks Kate for organizing this event and thanks Theresa for giving the world fuzzy feet!

The Constant Companion bag is coming along nicely. Kind of hard to see from the picture since it's all bunched up on a 24" circular. The pattern suggests using a larger size, but I had to make do with what I had.
Here are some delicious low-fat muffins. I made up the recipe this morning and baked up a batch. Good stuff!


These muffins are sweet, tasty and very good for you. If you are on Weight Watcher, they are only 2 pts. each!

Speaking of Weight Watchers -- I lost 10 lbs over the summer and then I decided to join WW before I put it back on. Not only have I kept it off, but I've lost another 24 lbs! (My sister goes with me and she has lost 20 lbs!) So, it does work and I can't say enough about it. I only have 4 more lbs. before I reach my final goal and I'm feeling pretty darn good.

I'll leave you with this unusual photo of my kitties -- Mud, Spike and Fancy. It's unusual because they are in such close proximity to each other!

Friday night I got to go see Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and it was GOOD! I just had to put the pic of my favorite actor from the movie up for all to see. (Yeah -- I'm a geek. I've read the Tolkien books about 4 times all the way through and I've probably read the Hobbit about 6 times. I'm a geek for many other reasons too, but I won't go into that right now!)

I also finished a book this weekend -- Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich. I'm sure you've heard of this book -- it was on all the news programs a while back. Basically the author moved to several different cities and took low wage jobs to see if it was possible to survive on what she made. Very interesting reading -- I highly recommend it.

And in knitting news. . . I'm working away on the Constant Companion having finished the bottom, picked up all the stitches around it and worked about 3" of the sides. Now I think that I need to switch to the red, which means I need to wind up 2 of the hanks of yarn. Ugh. But I have to tell you about the picture! A little over a week ago, Theresa and I went shopping and I picked up this gorgeous Kureyon. Not sure what it will become , but I'm guessing that it will be felted in the end.

Yesterday I received this gorgeous Cascade 220 from ThreadBear Fiber Arts. I can't say enough about these guys -- friendly, fast and very helpful! Go visit their online store and drool over the Koigu! This yarn is destined to become a Constant Companion. I'm going to use the basic pattern from the Knitter's Stash book, but I'm going to make my own design -- stripes or something like that. I cast on last night, but it's not much to look at yet. I'll take pictures when I get further.

Pattern: My own pattern which I will post as I go.
Yarn: Filatura Di Crosa Ultralight in color 60 (dye lot 1740) purchased at Knitting Workshop in Chicago.
Needles: US 6 Clover circular (24")

80% complete
I thought I would never find yarn for a hat to go with the Cozy scarf, but the helpful woman at Knitter's Workshop suggested this yarn and I really like it! The hat has knit up very quickly, but now I am at a standstill because I don't have any US 6 dp's for the top. sigh.

I didn't have a pattern, so I just cast on 100 stitches and started knitting in the round. I decided that it might be a little big at 100 stitches, so after about 6 rows I decreased 10 stitches evenly across 2 row, so the body of the hat is 90 stitches. Once the hat got to about the right height (5-6") I started decreasing. Since I had 90 stitches here's what I did:
Round 1: K13 K2Tog
Even rounds knit even
Round 3: K12 K2Tog
You get the idea. When I go down to 60 stitches, I started decreasing every row. And now it's too small for the circular and I don't have the dp's. I tried "magic-looping" it, but that didn't really work. Michael's doesn't carry dp's, so it looks like a trip to the yarn store is in my future.

I made this picture larger than necessary so that you could see our antique dining room table. It is quarter-sawn oak which looks very cool. It is also a refractory table -- the leaves are part of the table. You just pull out the end and it swings up and into place. No storing leaves! And I also have to point out my Longaberger basket. I have a basket for almost every project -- I'm addicted. I even sell Longaberger now (although just about the only person who buys baskets from me is me!) I told my husband that I wouldn't buy anymore yarn, but I would have to buy some more baskets. Poor guy. I'm not sure how he puts up with me!

I have lots to report, but no pics so I'll just wait to post updates. Let's just say that someone's birthday is fast approaching, and I have been working on a special project for her. I have also started a hat, worked on Pete's sock and "enhanced" my stash. More later. . .

Every wanted to know how to cast on for toe-up socks without having to use a provisional cast on and having to graft later? Why not try the Figure 8 Cast On? I was looking for a good illustration of this technique, but had a hard time finding anything. Here's my attempt to explain it:


Okay, first you need to wrap the yarn around the two needles in a -- you guessed it -- figure eight motion. This means you go up over the top needle from the back, between the two needles and down around the bottom needle from the back to the front, back through the two needles again and you have two stitches. My picture shows a total of eight stitches -- four on each needle.

Make sure that the stitches you cast on aren't too tight or you will have a heck of a time knitting your first couple of rows. Now just pick up the working yarn and knit across the top row. Your stitches should look like the example above after you knit across all the stitches on the needle.

Flip your needles upside down -- same side facing you but the needle that you just knit across is on the bottom now. Now just knit across this needle. You will most likely have a very loose looking center row (these are the stitches that you cast on -- the ones that I told you to keep loose). After you knit a few more rows tighten these stitches across the first row toward the loose end. (Basically you will inch your way across that row, tightening as you go until you get to the loose end. Then just pull the end to tighten.) Now continue with your pattern -- why not try toe-up socks? That's what I'm making right now!

Not much knitting and these stamps are why. I have been so busy with my online store ( Stamping Online ) that I haven't had time to knit! All this crazy time spent working will result in cold hard cash to spend this Saturday at Tangled Web Fibers in Oak Park, IL. Theresa (go check out her blog -- it's looking great!) and I are going on a little shopping trip. I'm sure we'll also have to stop by Paper Source. I've been thinking about creating a knitting log book and they have great book kits there.

Theresa and I are also going to be taking a class in February at The Knitting Workshop in Chicago. It is a fair isle/intarsia class which I am really looking forward taking.

And I have to show you what Theresa got for me:

Yes, it's Cat Bordi's Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles! Now that I am conquering the "toe-up" technique this is the next step. If anyone knows of a godd place to get some reasonably priced addi-turbo's, let me know. And "Thanks again, Theresa!"

Pattern: Toe-Up Socks -- my own pattern which I will post as I go.
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in Forest (37) purchased from ThreadBear Fiber Arts
Needles: US 1 Brittany Birch dp's 7" (wish they were 5", but that's all I have)

5% complete
I decided to try a toe-up sock for the first time! All the patterns that I had used some funky toe or were for a different weight yarn or had a pattern to them, so I'm making up my own pattern. So far I have used a figure-8 cast on with 10 stitches on each needle for a total of 20 stitches. (I think I will have to describe this technique in my next post because I couldn't find much on the web that would really explain how to do this.) Then I started to increase in the second and second to last stitch on each of the two needles. When I finished a few rows I moved half of each of the stitches onto 2 more needles. So now there are four needles plus the working needle. I continued to increase in every row (4 stitches each row -- 1 stitch on each needle) until there were 11 stitches on each needle, then I switched to increasing on every other row. I'm not sure how many stitches I will have in the end -- probably 64, 68 or 72.

And here is one finished sock which is now on hold while I make the socks above for my husband.

What was I thinking? Here I am with the huge Jo Sharp sweater project going on and I started a pair of socks last night. Actually, I always have to have an easy, mindless project in addition to a more complicated one. Since I finished Maddie's scarf, I thought I better start something new. This is my second pair of Regia's (here's my first), but my first pair of "self-patterning" socks and I am having a lot of fun knitting them. I tried a new cast on for this pair of socks and I really like it. I would tell you how I did it, but I'm sure that would violate some copyright law since I got it out of the Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook. I've been trying to try a new technique of some sort on each new pair that I knit. My next pair may have to be knit toe-up (thanks Wendy!).

Maybe I'm being too optimistic saying that I am 10% complete, but I'm feeling pretty good about my progress. This is the first cabled item that I have ever knit and I am really enjoying it. I think that might have something to do with the yarn though. If you haven't knit with Jo Sharp wool, I would highly recommend that you try it. The stuff is so soft and silky. This picture was taken yesterday and I have already completed a few more rows since then. I wrapped the sweater around a canister to take the picture because I was mid-row when I had the camera out and it was a twisted up mess that didn't want to photograph. At least you can get a feel for the cable pattern here.

Things look promising for 2003! January first and I already have a completed project. You can see more info on this scarf in the gallery which has been updated. It's funny because I started this scarf back in December and last weekend I got the Winter '02/'03 issue of Family Circle Easy Knitting which has a scarf pattern using this same yarn! It's the pillows that made me puchase this magazine. I can't wait to knit up a few for several babies arriving in the spring!

Pattern: None -- just cast on 20 stitches and knit!
Yarn: Sirdar Snowflake Chunky Magic in shade 413
Needles: US 8

85% complete
This yarn is a real pain to work with! My daughter loves it though and like to come "pet" it while I am knitting. It also matches her winter coat perfectly, so it's worth the trouble.

Pattern: Laurel Hill, cropped version, size C, from Jo Sharp Book One
Yarn: Jo Sharp Wool in Moss
Needles: US 4 for ribbing, US 5 24" Circular Bamboo for the body

5% complete
At this point I have finished the ribbing on the front and the first 8 rows of the pattern. The pattern had an error and I have already had to un-knit and re-knit a few rows, but I am on track and it is going smoothly.

Here is Maddie's Felted Bag! It is based loosely on this free pattern from KnitKit.com. I've been planning on making the My Constant Companion bag for a while. You can buy it from KnitKit.com, but it's also in Knitter's Stash if you already have it. Basically I used 10 1/2 circulars and cast on 30 stitches using Cascade 220. I knit 30 rows and then picked up 15 stitches on the first side, 30 stitches across what was the "bottom" and 15 across the other side. Then I knit in the round until I felt like it looked good. After that I knit an i-cord that was pretty long -- maybe 5 feet? I threw these two things in the washer with some jeans and when they were suitably felted (I like mine to become a solid fabric with no stitches showing), I removed them from the washer and blocked the bag. I did this by taking a box, covering it with a plastic grocery bag and shoving it inside the bag. Two days later it was dry. I then took a knitting needle, poked holes in the bag (just like she suggests in the free pattern), and laced the felted i-cord through. I tied the i-cord with knots at each side and cut the extra off. And there you go!

My new home! I still have a lot to do here, but it's a start!

And now for some knitting news. I just made a little felted bag from a hank of Cascade 220. Pictures soon. I am also working on Laurel Hill from Jo Sharps Book One. I got a great deal on the yarn on eBay! Pictures of this are also coming soon!

Time for a whole new blog. I'm tired of trying to monkey around with the old template.