SOCKS-FOR-MUM

The Mum Moves

2009-01-04T08:33:00.002-07:00

The Mum has grown tired of trying to get her photographs in the 'right' spot on Blogger and has moved back to her old blog at Wordpress!

If you would like to see TEN LORDS A LEAPING, a sight you will not want to miss, then follow me to my new blog................

SOCKS-FOR-MUM at Wordpress

Nine Ladies Dancing

2009-01-03T06:15:00.004-07:00

On the ninth day of Christmas

my true love sent to me -

Nine ladies dancing,

Eight maids a-milking,

Seven swans a-swimming,

Six geese a-laying,

Five golden rings,

Four calling birds,

Three French hens,

Two turtle doves,

And a partridge in a pear tree.

Me? I was busy knitting UFO sweaters for the Twelve Days of Christmas and feeling pretty good about not casting on any new projects in the last nine days.

Eight Maids a-Milking

2009-01-02T07:47:00.008-07:00

On the eighth day of Christmas,

my true love sent to me -

Eight maids a-milking,

Seven swans a-swimming,

Six geese a-laying,

Five golden rings,

Four calling birds,

Three French hens,

Two turtle doves,

And a partridge in a pear tree.

And what did I do? I finished a second UFO, the Mystery Socks that Kirsten Kapur (Through the Loops) designed for Lolly's Socktoberfest IV. Througout October a new clue was posted weekly and I was able to keep up all the way through. I even worked on the second sock each week. But, when it looked like the pattern was not showing up well in a dark purple yarn I lost enthusiasm and set them aside.

I really didn't want to frog such a lovely pattern, and even more so after knitting my favorite heel - the Eye of Partridge, isn't it pretty? So, I picked them up for the Twelve Days of Christmas UFO challenge. As I approached the toe on the second sock I had my own little surprise......I ran out of yarn! Fortunately, I had one skein of multi-colored Koigu with a little purple in it and saw that it would complement the solid purple Koigu of the sock.

Pattern: TTL Mystery Sock by Kristen Kapur

Yarn: 2 skeins purple Koigu (ran short) + multi-colored Koigu for toe

Needles: 2.5mm metal Knitpicks

Seven Swans a-Swimming

2009-01-01T10:19:00.007-07:00

On the seventh day of Christmas,

my true love sent to me

Seven swans a-swimming,

Six geese a-laying,

Five golden rings,

Four calling birds,

Three French hens,

Two turtle doves,

And a partridge in a pear tree.

And me? A UFO was finished during the Twelve Days of Christmas!

The Mad Color Weave socks are quite possibly my all-time favorite socks. The Lorna Laces Shepherd Sport, being a thicker yarn than fingering weight, enabled these socks to knit up quickly. They are soft and squishy, too!

I utilized a new knitting technique. I learned how to do the eight-row weave pattern without using a cable needle. The weave pattern seemed to eliminate the 'pooling' issue that Lorna Lace yarns so often have. The heel was different from any I've ever knit before. It was a stockinette heel with a cable down either side. If I were to make any modifications to the pattern, I would probably replace the twisted cable going down either side of the center weave pattern with a baby cable as Pat did. Other that that, the patter is perfect!

Pattern: Mad Color Weave by Tina Lorin

Yarn: 1.5 skeins Lorna Laces Shepherd Sport in the Huron colorway

Needles: 2.75mm Lantern Moon dpns

Size: 58 stitches

Six Geese A-Laying

2008-12-31T10:46:00.005-07:00

On the sixth day of Christmas,

my true love sent to me

Six geese a-laying,

Five golden rings,

Four calling birds,

Three French hens,

Two turtle doves,

And a partridge in a pear tree.

And me? Well, I remembered there once was a cardigan that I must have! My Must Have Cardigan is lacking two arms that I just may be able to make some progress on in the remaining six days of working on UFO's for the Twelve Days of Christmas.

Five Golden Rings

2008-12-30T08:35:00.006-07:00

On the fifth day of Christmas

my true love sent to me,

Five golden rings,

Four calling birds,

Three French hens,

Two turtle doves,

And a partridge in a pear tree.

And I had an itching to knit on my Inishmaan sweater! This is the Alice Starmore sweater I am working on for the Mara KAL. As you may recall, I am focusing on UFO's throughout the Twelve Days of Christmas and trying to get them finished up so I can enter 2009 unburdened by lingering projects.

There is no possible way I can finish this sweater during the Twelve Days of Christmas however, I can get the front finished which was my December goal. This sweater is supposed to be completed for the knitalong by mid-February.

The MUM Organizes Her Mind

2008-12-29T10:59:00.014-07:00

With the hustle and bustle of Christmas behind me and the New Year before me, I've had time to slow down, take my thoughts captive and ponder the year. "Taking your thoughts captive", have you ever contemplated that? This is something I continually tell myself and encourage others to do. Have you ever considered that, by changing a negative thought into a positive one, you can get a whole new perspective about your life and your surroundings? It has taken me a lifetime to learn this and I continue to grow in this area. It's been a hard journey since I tend to over analyze things and look at the cup as half-empty instead of half-full.

My plan is to have a more organized life in 2009 and the first step in doing so is to organize my thoughts and clear some mental clutter. I know that 'clutter', whether it is physical or mental, tends to drain my energy and make me feel overwhelmed. When I am feeling overwhelmed then I start to think I cannot possibly accomplish the things I need to get done and that results in the "P" word - procrastination.

This Weeks Goals

Get a minimum of seven hours of sleep per night.

A little tough while my nurse-daughter is living with us because she works the night shift and wants me to stay up late with her on her nights off.....REALLY late.

Start my day by jotting down a reasonable To Do list.
The key word here is 'reasonable' since I have a tendency to set lofty goals, far more than one can get done in a day.....that is, and still knit!

Start writing in my journal again.
I love reading my old journals but I have been far too sporadic in my writing through the years. This is something I highly regret. This year I will write but not feel pressure to write in it every day.

Have daily quiet times of meditation and prayer.
I don't have a struggle scheduling quiet times to read and study my Bible because I find great comfort and guidance in it. However, this year I would like to spend more time meditating and praying which requires that I don't let the pressing duties of life cut this short.

Schedule time to exercise.
This has been very difficult lately since I have a recurring ankle injury. I need ideas on how to continue exercising in a non-aerobic way, perhaps yoga. And, I know I need to do some weight bearing exercises for my bones.

Schedule time for just "me".
Of course, since I do not work outside my home and since my children are grown, I have more free time than most do but I would like to start going to my LYS to knit with other knitters and develop some knitting friendships.

Eliminate energy drainers in my life.
Clutter control! Unfinished knitting projects! Unfinished scrapbooks!

Take control of my time.
And I when I seize control of my time I would also like to be a good steward of it. I will set goals and then break them into doable daily To Do's.

I've been contemplating ways to cut back on the amount of negative information and images that I let come into my mind. One avenue that has worked for me in the past is to be selective about television, movies and books. Have you ever read a book and certain characters in the book reminded you of someone you knew? Then, before you knew it felt angry towards the real-life person? Or, have you watched a violent movie and then went to bed with fear in your heart or had a nightmare? But another way I can limit negative influence is through the internet. Something I've noticed recently is that there are many blogs out there filled with complaints, gripes, profanity and other negative information. Now, I know we have the privilege of free speech to express ourselves, and I respect that, but I have decided that reading these blogs is not necessarily healthy for me. As I've read them, I've often thought of something Dale Carnegie once said, 'If you want to gather honey, don't kick over the beehive'.

Unfortunately, I've kicked over a few beehives this year. The consequences have been ones of growth for me and, even more fortunately, the beehives have been kicked over on people who love me and are willing to work through conflicts. I'm resolving to be more positive this year and less critical in the lives of all those I know.

Criticism is futile because it puts a man on the defensive and only makes him want to justify himself all the more. Have you ever noticed that? It is also dangerous because it wounds and arouses resentment. I don't know why it has taken me so many years to figure this out and, this year was the one that finally brought it home to me, again. Seriously, how many years does it take one to learn a lesson?

Buzzzzzzzzz......beehives.........resolving to have a positive influence on your lives in 2009!

Four Calling Birds

2008-12-29T08:39:00.002-07:00

On the fourth day of Christmas,

my true love sent to me

Four calling birds,

Three French hens,

Two turtle doves,

And a partridge in a pear tree.

And I remembered a pair of LIZZY SOCKS I started for a family member because the pattern reminded me of her. I've lost motivation to work on them but maybe using some bright fuschia double point needles will make it a bit more fun. If not, these may end up in the frog pond because I'm really not enjoying the Wildfoote Yarn.

Three French Hens

2008-12-28T13:18:00.000-07:00

On the third day of Christmas,

my true love sent to me Three French hens,

Two turtle doves,

And a partridge in a pear tree.

however, I wasn't thinking of French Hens but Cat Mittens.................

The verdict is still out on these. They may be frogged on December 6th because they are a wee small. The pattern is fun but I think it may work better with a sportweight yarn instead of a fingering weight yarn, we'll see.

Two Turtle Doves

2008-12-27T00:18:00.000-07:00

On the second day of Christmas,

my true love sent to me Two turtle doves,

And a partridge in a pear tree..............

And I remembered that I once was very excited about watching the clues unfurl for the Socktoberfest Mystery Sock and somehow got distracted from finishing that second sock! I'm picking it up once again on the second day of the Twelve Days of Christmas..........

A Partridge in a Pear Tree

2008-12-25T12:43:00.000-07:00

On the first day of Christmas,

my true love sent to me

A partridge in a pear tree......

And while he was doing that, I resumed knitting the MAD WEAVE SOCKS with the yummy Lorna Laces sportweight yarn.

12 days to work on unfinshed projects!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-24T16:33:00.002-07:00

Wishing you a Merry Christmas!

The Twelve Days of Christmas

2008-12-22T12:24:00.008-07:00

I have almost finished my Christmas knitting. I'm down to one extremely large sock for my husband's extremely large foot and when I finish it I will be done, done, done!

There has been little time for knitting the languishing projects on my needles that I promised myself would be done-or-frogged by December 31st. When I saw the Twelve Days of Christmas KAL on the UFO Ravelry group I immediately decided to give myself a grace period for finishing those unfinished projects. I joined immediately.

Starting December 26th and the eleven days thereafter, you are to focus on unfinished projects and not cast on anything new. Twelve days of getting those needles free so that we can enter 2009 afresh! Perfect! Can you envision how wonderful that will be? Come join me! It is only twelve days of focused knitting...........

Knitting Technique: Chain Selvedges

2008-12-17T12:50:00.003-07:00

The Noro Scarf is finished and somewhere along the way I learned a new way of knitting a chain selvedge. When I first started knitting this scarf I was not pleased with the way the selvedge was coming out. Neither side was uniform. It looked a bit wonky.

So, I set out to ask everyone I saw knitting the scarf if they were having similar problems and received several different suggestions. Then, I went to the Brooklyntwed Ravelry group and read several other opinions about the wonky selvedge edges. Wondering why so many people had varying techniques to achieve the same result of a uniform selvedge edge, I pulled out my trusty knitting reference books. I read everything I could find on chain selvedges.

In these books I learned that there are several ways of obtaining the same result. The one that worked like a charm for me was the following method:

Right-side rows: slip knitwise first and last stitches
Wrong-side rows: purl first and last stitches.

I block my scarves by putting them in a zippered sock bag and washing them in cold water on the delicate cycle of my washing machine. If I have Eucalin around, I use it but if I don't have any I use Woolite. Then I put my puzzle foam pieces together for the length I need (I love these things) and pin them to the shape and length I want.

Both scarves are for my newlyweds and are on their way to Tennessee. By the way, the second scarf is the Yarn Harlot's One Row Scarf made with Malabrigo yarn. It is for my daughter. The Noro scarf is for my new son-in-law. And while I'm giving you all the pertinent facts I might as well tell you that my very favorite needles for knitting scarves are the 9" Takumi needles by Clover. I have sizes ranging from US 5-9 and they rest in a jar that one of my daughters decorated when she was a little girl, priceless to me now.

Holiday Baking

2008-12-15T13:39:00.004-07:00

My mouth has been watering this week as I've read many of your blogs about your holiday baking. I've copied down a few of your recipes for my own baking.

This week I got a very well known catalog in my mailbox that I suspect a few of you also received. You may recognize this cover. I'm not telling you which one it is but,..................would any of you knitting bakers out there have a recipe similar to this one? If you don't, I'm heading down the mountain to stock up on a few tins of this delicious peppermint bark.

An Elf Makes An Elfin Scarf

2008-12-15T09:56:00.006-07:00

Like many of you, I have been a busy little elf knitting Christmas presents. It doesn't look like I'm going to make the deadline on a few of them having not factored into the knitting-timeline-equation that most presents have to be mailed this year. How many Christmas Eves have you stayed up late trying to finish that one special gift? Guess I won't this year. Guess someone will get a post-Christmas package or two. Bummer. But, I did finish my mom's Elfin Scarf late last night and will share it with you (Merry Christmas, Mom!).

My mom? She loves anything that I make for her just because I took the time to make it with her in mind. You know how moms are! How many things have you hung on your tree this year that your kids made for you that are rather silly looking? You treasure those items forever just because your kid made it for you with you in mind, right? There is quite a bit of love that goes into something made with ones hands and there are memories you have of the recipient knit into each stitch. Wouldn't you agree?

This Elfin Scarf combined with the Elfin Hat are a perfect hat/scarf combo but mom doesn't do hats, unless she is skiing. I would consider this pattern more of a muffler than a scarf although I'm not sure that word is used anymore. The scarf is only 42" long and is perfect for those who don't necessarily want to mess with a scarf but do want to have a warm neck.

I used Malabrigo which made it ohhhhhh.....so soft! I want one for myself and will most definitely be knitting and Elfin Scarf for myself in 2009. Another great thing about this pattern is that it is reversable and both sides look pretty much the same (if you don't look too close). I think the stitch pattern resembles crochet. For those interested, the pattern can be found in the Fall 2007 Interweave Knit magazine.

This elf must get back to some more Christmas knitting, baking and decorating. Did you notice in one of the pictures that my tree is up but has nothing on it?

How Does My Garden Grow?

2008-12-04T18:53:00.008-07:00

Mary, Mary quite contrary, how does your garden grow?

Do you remember that nursery rhyme? I have a garden, too. My garden is a Noro Silk Garden and it is growing. When I knit my husband the Noro Striped Scarf last year for Christmas, I KNEW I would be knitting it again. For who? For me! I spent the summer combing the internet to locate the exact colors that Jared used in his infamous Noro Striped Scarf. I found the most obscure skein from a Raveler and made her an offer she couldn't refuse and she accepted it.

Although Jared says he holds no claim to designing this scarf, he most certainly has influenced its massive production. As I write this post it is the second most popular scarf on Ravelry. There are 2,390 projects in 2,519 queues!

Why is this scarf so popular? Why does it mesmerize so many knitters? I think partly due to a rapture of colors. The subtle color transitions in the Noro Silk Garden are spectacular. When you alternate two different dye lots in this simple ribbed scarf you find that you are addicted to watching the mystery colors unroll. The yarn itself is wonderful. Silk Garden is an Aran 10-ply silk, mohair, wool blend and is ever so soft.

My Noro Scarf is restricted knitting designated to be knit only as I read through blogs. Up until I started this project my blog reading had suffered serious decline. But now you will find me lurking around YOUR blog and checking Bloglines more frequently to see if anyone has posted.

So, how long will my Noro Striped Scarf be? Well that, my friend, depends on how frequently YOU post on your blog.

My Shepherd

2008-12-03T14:52:00.002-07:00

I am speaking at a ladies' Christmas church function on Saturday and my topic is 'Why a Shepherd?'

I've been spending lots of time this week researching sheep and shepherding. I've selected special music to accompany the devotion and happened upon this beautiful song by Michael Card, one of my favorite musicians. I wanted to share it with you although I know many of you do not share my faith. For those who do, I hope you enjoy it!

Personal Sock Club 2009

2008-12-01T14:00:00.006-07:00

This morning I read about the Ravelry Stash Knit Down 2009 group on Theresa's blog. The plan this year is to knit 100 balls of yarn. I did a quick calculation in my mind of all the upcoming projects I have planned and realized that this is a goal within my grasp. So, I hopped on over to Ravelry and saw some great sub-groups to cheer this endeavor on.

The Personal Sock Club 2009 really grabbed my attention because I have way too much sock yarn that has been accumulating through the years and far too many patterns that I have longed to knit. Unfortunately, those patterns never get attention because I've been focusing on whatever challenge Socknitters Anonymous has going on for each month. This has left me with little time to knit the patterns that I have bookmarked.

Now, don't get me wrong - Socknitters Anonymous has exposed me to several designers that I would not have known about had I not been participating. But the negative side of that exposure is that the designers I love get no attention at all from my pointy sticks.

The idea behind the Personal Sock Club is that you package up in a brown paper bag a sock pattern with accompanying yarn and staple the top. You do this for each month of the year and then select a 'mystery bag' each month. I like this idea. You KNOW you will like the sock and you are knitting down that massive stash!

I spent the morning combing through patterns I have printed off and sock books and came up with fourteen pairs of socks that I MUST knit this year. Then I picked stash yarn for each pattern and packaged them all up together. Thirty-two balls of yarn all in brown bags ready to go for 2009! I am going to call this Brown Bag Mystery Socks. Mix them up! I'm ready to go come January 1, 2009.

Now I'm off to figure out the other sixty-eight balls of yarn. Which ones will make the cut?

Monkey Stitch Marker

2008-11-30T12:33:00.007-07:00

In ages past I have hosted several Monkey Sock Swaps that have been tons of fun. We knit and exchange Cookie A.'s Monkey Sock and throw a few monkey items in the package for kicks. I love receiving gifts and generally could never wait to get home to open the package properly with camera in hand. Instead, I ripped into the package then and there.

This past week the husband and I drove down to Texas to visit my family for Thanksgiving. We almost always fly because it is such a long, boring drive but on this occasion we drove. I spent two days packing up several knitting projects, six to be exact. I always spend more time packing the "fun" things and sometimes end up unprepared in the area of clothing when the climate changes wherever I'm visiting. But, when faced with three long days in the car six projects sounded reasonable.

As I was lifting up the seatbelt to get back into the car on one of our rest stops, my eye caught the eye of a teensy monkey face staring back up at me from under the car seat. What the heck? To my surprise it was an adorable monkey stitch marker that could have only come from a monkey sock package. One of my six monkey pals must have given it to me and in my avarice of tearing into wrapping paper it must have fallen out! Imagine my delight in finding him!

Now I really must find out WHO gave this to me! Does it look familiar to anyone? Isn't it just the cutest little stitch marker? Please let me know so I can thank you properly!

Mittens with CATS

2008-11-21T23:12:00.005-07:00

After seeing Kathy's lovely Moose Loves Roses Mittens, designed by Jorid Linvik, I went in search of Jorid's patterns on Ravelry have been completely smitten by her mitten designs!

This pattern is called Mittens and Hats with CATS and I couldn't resist casting on last night. I found the pattern very addicting and hope to share a completed pair of mittens with you in a few days.

I'm knitting the mittens using stash sock yarn and 2.5mm needles. They are a little snug but that suits me just fine. My hands are on the small side and I almost inevitably struggle with mittens and gloves that are too large.

Sockdown: November!

2008-11-21T12:13:00.005-07:00

I tried to knit TOE UP SOCKS for the November Sockdown Ravelry. Really, I did. Unfortunately, I just did not enjoy the process and decided that knitting socks this way was just not for me! So, my Kaffe Fassett yarn is in the process of being knit into some plain vanilla socks and I've cast on with different yarn for the November Sockdown Ravelry challenge. Taking on the challenge of knitting a slip-stitch pattern, I chose the MAD COLOR WEAVE pattern by Tina Lorin.

After choosing the pattern, I happened to be reading blogs and saw Pat's beautiful version using Lorna Laces Sportweight. She told me they knit up pretty quickly on 2.75mm needles so I thought that would help me with the time crunch!

I had a bit leftover from my Baby Surprise Jacket and will order another skein. This yarn is wonderfully soft!

Lucky Penny Coat

2008-11-12T18:01:00.009-07:00

Last Sunday afternoon I knit my teacup poodle, Snooks, a little indoors dog sweater.
He wasn't much in the mood for a photo shot this morning as he lay snug in his bed. The best I could do was to get him to stand up momentarily but he wasn't about to let me pose him in any more pictures.
The husband told me that when he took Snooks outside in sub-freezing temperatures to take care of business, the pooch looked at him like, "Why didn't she make this sweater any longer! It's too short!" I informed the hubby that it was an indoor sweater and was supposed to be short. The daughter thought the sweater looked a little effiminate for a boy dog and I reminded her that Snooks is a teacup poodle and most people don't even consider him a dog!

I personally think the pooch really likes the comfortable armholes. And, who would not love this yummy Lorna Laces Worsted yarn, even if you are of a canine variety?

By the way, this is the Little Penny Sweater from Doggie Knits by Corinne Niesnerr.

Sockdown OCTOBER and NOVEMBER

2008-11-05T23:01:00.006-07:00

What's this? TWO tales of the Sock Knitters Anonymous Challenges going untold? With my recent sweater obsession my socks have gone neglected and unfinished. The November Sockdown Ravelry Challenge is underway and I still have not finished the challenge from October! And, I might as well confess that my pair of October Mystery socks have gusset stitches to be picked up! I really need to get all three pairs finished this by the end of the month. Fortunately, I will have a road trip to Texas in a couple weeks with lots of time to knit in the car.

The October sock challenge was to pick a Stephanie van der Linden pattern. This is a new designer for me. The minute I saw the Lizzy pattern I thought of my daughter Jennifer and knew the socks would be destined for her feet. I'm not sure if it was the celtic lace knotwork or the 'whiteness' of the legs on the model. Or perhaps it was because the sock on the model was knit in her favorite color, blue, and I remembered some blue yarn I had bought for her when I first started knitting. Whatever it was....these Lizzy socks will be for Jen-Jen.

Pattern: Lizzy by Stephanie van der Linden
Yarn: Brownsheep Wildfoote in Peasant Blue
Needles: 2.25mm

The Loopy Ewe had a sale on Regia yarn last weekend and I jumped at the opportunity to purchase some Kaffe Fasset yarn. I always love his colors and this 'Canyon' colorway is no exception. Isn't it lovely?

Because I did not want to obscure the colors I decided this needed to be a plain vanilla sock. Then, I remembered that Wendy D. Johnson was one of the designers we could choose for the November Sockdown Ravelry. Having read her blog for several years, I knew Wendy to be a a toe-up girl so I picked one of her basic toe-up patterns. This one will have a gusset.

Here is the start of a toe! It is always exciting to learn something new, isn't it? BTW, did I mention that I started the My First Toe Ups group several Socktoberfests ago to learn how to knit toe-ups? That blog isn't very active anymore because we have a group on Ravelry. With the hustle and bustle of managing the participants, I never learned.

Now I have a question for YOU - which method do YOU prefer? Cuff down or toe up? If you are a toe-up fan can you tell me why you prefer this method?

Mara KAL

2008-11-04T09:43:00.007-07:00

The MARA Yahoo Group started a Fall/Winter KAL a couple weeks ago. Participants could pick any pattern from Alice Starmore's Fisherman Knits book, one of her few books still in print. I have missed several other knitalongs with these nice ladies and have regretted it. I've generally had 'something on the needles' and couldn't justify casting on another project. Well, it has only taken me a few years to realize that if I hadn't done this I would now have a lovely Marina sweater, Mara sweater and Oregon sweater in my wardrobe!

I have long admired the Inishmaan sweater design and knew this would be my pattern choice for the knitalong. I am thouroughly enjoying knitting this sweater. In fact, I'm forcing myself to put it aside every day to work on other knitting projects. I've never enjoyed a pattern this much and don't think I will have any problems finishing this by mid-February.

The Starmore patterns are incredibly well designed and this one is no exception. I love the ribbing on this one and how the little honeycomb cable extends up into the sweater body. The cables have been easy to memorize with the exception of the center cable.

I'm giving myself a special treat tonight as I watch the election returns and devoting myself fully to this lovely Inishmaan!

Soctoberfest Mystery Sock ~ Clue #2

2008-10-15T08:32:00.004-06:00

I finished Clue #2 of the Soctoberfest Mystery Sock close to midnight last night. Before I called it a night I checked to see if the next clue was up on the Through the Loops site and it was.

Cables combined with lace proved to be quite a challenge for me. I dropped several yarnovers and had to knit back to fix them. Cables are so much easier to fix when you make a mistake and I will take them over lace any day! I had to switch to my Knitpicks ultra sharp dpns to knit this pattern. I made it through though, although it consumed much of my knitting time this week and there was not much sweater progress.

Off to start Clue #3.

Cast Off September Sockdown

2008-10-10T17:53:00.002-06:00

The Marilinda socks for the September Sockdown on Ravelry has been finished for over a week. Although I love the finished sock, knitting teensy cables on teensy size 0 needles was quite time consuming.

As usual, this was another brilliant pattern written by Cookie A!

YARN - Inspiration , a gift from Eva
PATTERN - Marilinda by Cookie A.
NEEDLE SIZE - 2.0mm Knitpicks dpn

Socktoberfest 2008

2008-10-08T14:26:00.007-06:00

Lolly kicked off SocktoberFest IV last week. In past years I have turned out multitudes of socks during the month of October to celebrate; however this year I am limiting myself to only one pair. My sock drawer is full and I've decided that I need to limit my sock knitting.

I thought long and hard about what to knit for Soctoberfest.....that is, until I read that Kristy, of Through the Loops, was going to design a mystery sock in honor of Soctoberfest IV and release the instructions in installments. I immediately downloaded the first clue and knit the Mystery Cuff last week.

I think purple complements the Socktoberfest theme so I'm using some purple Koigu from my stash.

A new clue will come out each Wednesday. Since I want a completed pair by the end of the month I've opted for the two-socks-two-circs method. This is not my preference since I loathe the dreaded thread tangle.

If you are interested, head on over to Ravelry and join the Fans of Through the Loops group! I'm off to start knitting Clue 2!

Alcea Armhole Shaping -- Eeek a Steek!

2008-10-04T16:55:00.008-06:00

My very favorite resource for Fair Isle Knitting is called The Art of Fair Isle Knitting by Ann Feitelson. I had checked this book out from the library so many times that I decided it was finally time to purchase my own copy.

Unlike most folks, I enjoy reading about the history of different knitting techniques and this book is filled with history. For instance, how many of you knew that 'fair isle' knitting was named for an island north of Scotland called FAIR ISLE? And, did you know that 'shetland' wool was named for an island north of FAIR ISLE called SHETLAND?

The Art of Fair Isle Knitting also has excellent explanations on armhole shaping and steeking. If you are interested in fair isle knitting I would encourage you to take a look at this book. That being said I have found that, like the Elizabeth Zimmermann books, I learned to appreciate this book more and more as I progressed in my knitting experience.

When I last posted about Alcea she was ready to receive some armhole shaping along with armhole steeks. If you are not much interested in steeking, now is the time to jump to your next blog site......... this may be a more tedious post than you want to read!

After two repeats (2 motifs equals one repeat) I got to the length where I wanted my armhole. I knit the right front sts in pattern and then placed 8 sts on a holder for the right underarm. I then cast on my 10 steek sts with backward loops. Continuing in pattern around the back I got to the left armhole point and put those 8 sts on a holder. I cast on my steek sts for the left underarm and continued in pattern across the left front.

And that is how I got my steek stitches in place! I then had 10 steek sts for each underarm and the front cardigan steek was already in place. Each steek is knit with alternating colors keeping the first and last st always in the darker background color. To shape the armhole I did decreases on alternating rows. The decreases slant inward toward the steek.

Next up...one more motif (24 rows) and neck shaping!

Autumn Sweater Progress

2008-09-29T08:31:00.002-06:00

As I said in my last post, when the quaking aspen start turning gold I am put in a 'twists and turns' cable mood. Growing weary of knitting teensy cables on size zero needles, I gave the Marilinda sock a break this weekend and pulled out an old friend, St. Brigid.

I worked on her knotwork paneled back yesterday and have fallen in love with this Alice Starmore pattern all over again. This sweater echoes Celtic, doesn't it? I really do need to rotate this sweater in to my WIP knitting schedule because I don't want to frog her come December 31, 2008. Remember, my goal is to have NO WIPS on the needles December 31st....or else...rippit, rippit, rippit.

I need to play with my camera a bit to get better shots of St. Brigid for the following photograph is a more accurate rendition of the color than the one above. This olive color is one of my favorite colors. It is very rich and not at all dull-looking like the earlier photograph.

I bought Celtic buttons for my Must Have Cardigan in hopes of inspiration to finish it. I'm not quite sure why I have lost steam on this one. I just have the sleeves and button band left to knit. It looks a little small to me and maybe I'm not up to a snug sweater since I've been cooking more since my daughter has been home. Not that I don't cook when she isn't here but I'm not tempted to indulge in the food that pleases my husband's taste buds.

That being said, I WILL finish this sweater! I will! I will! Please encourage me to finish this sweater!

Autumn

2008-09-18T21:59:00.014-06:00

Autumn is, without a doubt, my favorite time of year. Although I am not really a morning person, I enjoy rising earlier to watch the sun rise in the east over Pikes Peak. And then as the sun gradually reaches my property, I enjoy seeing the colors of the grass come to life.
The colors are so glorious during Autumn, one final huzzah before the snow starts to fly. It won't be long now. Our thermometer is dipping into the thirties at night and there is snow on Pikes Peak. The aspen are starting to turn and I hope to show you pictures soon.
When autumn comes my hands itch to knit patterns rich in cables. I don't know why that is but it happens to me every year. I knew this September would be no different and that is why I chose the Marilinda sock for the Ravelry September Socktown challenge.

The burnt orange color is a perfect Fall colorway. Some people like the colors of spring but the rich golds, browns and oranges of fall are my color preferences.

And isn't it pretty cool the way the pattern continues down the heel on this sock? Cookie A. is brilliant!

Awards and Nominations

2008-09-18T21:59:00.012-06:00

Cheryl, my Knitting Knut friend has given me an award. It is always an honor to be thought of in this way, especially when I feel that there is nothing special about my blogging abilities. Thanks, Cheryl!

I have gotten to know many of you these past years and feel blessed in many ways to have you in my life. I love reading all of your blogs!

That being said, I have decided that my nominees will be knitters whose talents simply amaze me every time I read your blogs. These are the knitters that cause me to stop in incredulous wonder. I may wonder how it is humanly possible for your fingers to knit at such speed. Or, I may wonder at the abilities you have to envision a design and translate it into a pattern. Or, I may wonder how your eye is able to look upon an object and photograph it in a way that reveals beauty......

Marina, who is Stranded on Fair Isle, seems to be cranking several sweaters a month. And these are not your average sweaters, they are the beautiful designs of Alice Starmore. Several years ago, when I first started blogging, she advised me to grab every Starmore book I could possibly find. She assured me that they were investments and could bring a pretty penny if I ever wanted to sell them. Little did I know that this would begin my passion to knit ALL the lovely sweaters by this designer. If there is one that captures my eye, sure enough, Marina has already knit it. If fair isle knitting is your thing, go check out her blog for inspiration!

And who amongst you are not followers of Jared, Mr. Brooklyntweed? I am absolutely serious when I say that there is nothing he knits that does not strike passion in my heart to knit the very same thing. He has quite a following these days on Ravelry and his patterns are being published in various knitting magazines. He is the one who introduced me to the incredible Elizabeth Zimmermann. Reading her books has helped me to think outside of the box and be the boss of my knitting!

Tienne has inspired me with her beautiful photography and her incredibly generous heart. I have watched her knit matching socks for her 'guys' and 'girls' multitudes of times. And, her friends and extended family are also blessed with the works of her hands! I can hardly knit the same pattern twice, let alone more than twice in the exact same yarn! Her love of family comes shining through on her blog.

Lolly, of Lolly Knitting Around continues to draw me in with tales of her travels, vegetarian cuisine and knitting. I first was initiated in to her creative Socktoberfest which has continued each autumn. Then, my sense of color was challenged through Project Spectrum. Her love of photography has inspired me to see things through the eye of a photographer rather than just clicking the shutter button haphazardly.

Should my nominees choose to accept their awards they should do so by tagging four other blogs that inspire them. And you, my friends, should link to their blogs straightaway for fresh inspiration!

Alcea ~ Armhole Point

2008-09-12T19:52:00.003-06:00

I've been knitting along on Alcea and continue to love the design and colors. A good soak and some blocking will smooth out the stitches and make the colors pop a little more but that won't be until I'm finished.

At 6" per repeat, two complete repeats of the 48 row pattern chart gets me to the underarm point where I need to begin shaping the armholes. The rib is 3" and the body thusfar is 12".

I think I will do one more full repeat and then knit rows 1-26 to get me to the shoulder. That should be the right stopping point so that the shoulder seam motif won't look wonky. I don't know if I've mentioned this but the pattern is actually a pullover and I am converting it into a cardigan.

Now it is time to do some underarm shaping as I make my way up to the shoulder. And then there is that armhole steeking that I have never done......I'm a little nervous about that. Do any of you have any tips??

Colorado Living

2008-09-11T18:12:00.004-06:00

I spend a large amount of time sitting at my desk overlooking my 'bird' garden. I have a 'birds-eye' view of all the activity that goes on here and find myself mesmerized by these winged creatures. I love watching them splash around in the birdbath. I love watching them toss seed down on the ground from the birdfeeder to their little ones. I love listening to their chirping, twittering and squawking.I've been going through prodigious amounts of birdseed lately and have been refilling my feeders almost every day. I've blamed it on the chipmunks who, although adorable, are a major nuisance. Then I thought that, perhaps, the Stellar Jays had huge appetites being larger birds.
But I discovered the real culprit this afternoon when I looked up and found myself eye to eye with a mule tail deer. This picture was not taken with a zoom lens, this is the actual distance from the deer. Now deer are not an uncommon site on my property. There are typically a dozen grazing around every day but, what surprised my on this day, was what this particular deer was very curious about watching me!
Then she brazenly started sniffing the birdfeeder. What nerve!

Well, I guess if she is hungry enough to eat birdfeed I will just have to let her nibble away. Actually, I'm not so kind. I opened my window and told her to leave.

Cast On September Sockdown

2008-09-10T21:23:00.005-06:00

I'm knitting the MARILINDA sock pattern by Cookie A. for the September Sockdown challenge.
With triple wraps, triple wrap decreases , cable increases and decreases and other complicated stitches, I am s-l-o-w-l-y making progress.

I sometimes wonder if this is just a little bit too complex for socks. They are, after all, worn on my feet and hardly anyone looks at my feet. But in the afterglow of finishing a challenging pattern I know I will be thinking differently.

My sock drawer is full of handknit socks and so I feel I have finally reached the point where I can be a little discriminating in my pattern choice. Of course, I vacillate from feeling like this to feeling like my favorite socks, the ones I always pull out of the drawer first, are the plain vanilla ones.

At any rate, this is an enjoyable pattern despite the fact that it is not exactly the most relaxing of patterns. I'm glad I have the whole month of September to finish them for I am most certain they will take three times as long as the plain vanillas............

These socks will also count for the September Solid Socks KAL (orange).

The Colorado Trail - Avalanche Trailhead

2008-09-01T17:29:00.007-06:00

The Colorado Trail winds through the Rocky Mountains from Denver to Durango and is 485 miles long. It crosses eight mountain ranges, six national forests and countless streams and rivers. I've never met anyone who has hiked the entire route straight through, from one end the other. With my daughter moving back to Colorado, we have opted to start hiking The Colorado Trail segment by segment.
After having a hearty breakfast of whole wheat pancakes, we packed up our backpacks with essentials and headed to the Collegiate Peaks, less than an hour away. We picked Segment 13 of the Colorado Trail because we used to live in this area when we first moved to Colorado and felt we would be most familiar with it. Segment 13 is twenty-two miles long and is in the San Isabel National Forest .

We quickly discovered that this Avalanche Trail stretch of the Colorado Trail was not for the fainthearted or out-of-shape. The climb was so steep that we often found ourselves resting every 50 steps (yep, I counted) or so. The views of Rainbow Lake were spectacular. The temperature was in the upper sixties, perfect hiking weather.

When we hit the limit of what we could endure, we stopped for snacks and , of course, a bit of sock knitting! This is my Classy Tuscan Sock that I have determined to finish before my head hits the pillow tonight.

Shortly after I 'posed' the sock, the ball of yarn slid out of the ziplock back and started rolling down the mountain. Fortunately, it lodged itself beneath a tree and stopped rolling. It could have easily rolled all the way down the mountainside until there was no yarn left in the ball. I sent my brave daughter down to retrieve it, a perilous descent to say the least although it does not appear to be perilous in this shot!

I can tell by the look on Allison's face that she is hoping I don't bring socks along every time we go hiking! It was a pleasant day for my family. I hope you had a pleasant Labor Day as well!

Sockdown: September!

2008-08-31T22:56:00.006-06:00

The Sock Knitter's Anonymous Challenge for September 2008 is to knit a pair of socks using any pattern of your choice and yarn that is at least 75% ORANGE OR any pattern designed by Cookie A OR a Mystery sock designed by Jeanie Fanihi and knit in yarn that is at least 75% orange.

Since we are at the start of football season, I am going to knit some Denver Bronco socks using stashed Opal Magic yarn. These will be knit using my standard plain vanilla sock pattern.

But the real fun will begin when I pull out my new Cookie A. pattern and scrumptious yarn that Eva gifted to me during Monkey Sock Swap FOUR. I'll be knitting Marilinda, a very lovely sock featuring cables and lace twisting all the way down the heel. I can't wait to get engrossed in this pattern.

So what do you think? Is this yarn orange enough to qualify for the September Sockdown Challenge? A new year of challenges is starting in September so if you missed out on the fun last year then come join us on Ravelry!

Kate Models Her Baby Dale

2008-08-31T14:05:00.002-06:00

My niece sent me a picture of Kate modeling the Baby Dale sweater I knit her. Remember it?

I came close to not mailing this sweater because I didn't finish it until well past Kate's birthday. I was concerned the sweater was too small but I think she might actually get to wear it for a couple seasons Isn't she a cutie-pie?

Stash Knit Down 2008

2008-08-27T14:43:00.005-06:00

Last January I made myself a promise. The promise was that whatever WIP left on my needles come December 31, 2008 would be frogged. This promise was made in hopes that I would:

1. Finish all projects started
2. Knit down my stash

With the completion of my Nordic Mittens I looked through my projects to find another 'old-but-loved' WIP.....something I really did not want to frog come December 31st. I found ALCEA sitting in a basket under my coffee table lovingly neglected. Not only did I find stashed yarn, I also found stashed sunflower kernels that some little night creature had stored under the yarn. Thankfully, that is ALL I found!

I'm resuming the knitting of my Alcea sweater because I am going to be faithful to my promise come December 31st. Like the Nordic Mittens, my stranded technique has come a long way since I started Alcea but this time I am not going to frog and start over!

Nordic Mittens Cross Finish Line!

2008-08-25T16:29:00.004-06:00

My second Nordic Mitten crossed the finish line last night as I watched the closing 2008 Olympic Ceremonies resulting in a finished pair of woolen mittens.

They fit my hand which pleases me. They will be nice and warm as I weather the Colorado snows. As I mentioned in my last post, the only thing that displeases me is the background color behind the large star motif. Incidentally, this star motif is known in Norway as an "eight blade rose".

I enjoyed knitting these.....everything except the thumb decreases. Keeping the yarn in pattern was tedious to say the least. I'm not sure but there may be a bit of an error on the patterned thumb chart.

I ripped one row four times and it still did not turn out right. Of course it is probably me and not the chart.

The sad news is that I did not actually get awarded with a metal in the 2008 Ravelympics. I thought I would wait until this morning to take finished photos and then post them on the Ravelympic finish lines but the WIP Wrestling Event closed last night. I guess I will just have to pat myself on the back and know that I can knit mittens for this is my first pair. And, now I know I can push through an old project if I put my mind to it. Crossing these mittens off my WIP list has definitely inspired me to dig through my baskets and find some more old projects that should be finished.

Nordic Mitten Contenders

2008-08-18T09:28:00.005-06:00

I finished the first Nordic Mitten reknit yesterday as I watched the 2008 Olympics. Since the mitten I knit several years ago was too large, I went down a needle size to knit this one in hopes that the fit would be better. The new mitten fits perfectly, and surprisingly, is knit at pattern gauge.
Here are the Mitten Contenders with the mitten knit four years ago on the right. It is obvious to me which mitten is the winner but what say the judges ?

Although I was consistent in carrying the background color in the dominant hand, the Nordic Star still does not stand out and 'pop' like I had hoped it would. I'm disappointed but will live with it for I believe the choice of colors had much to do with this. I used the exact colors the pattern called for. That being said, I still think there is a 'crispness' about the new mitten that the old one is missing and I contribute this solely to carrying the thread consistently.

One lone mitten awaits a mate. I have one more week to get the left mitten knit before the Olympics are finished. Since the Nordic Star is not popping as much as I had hoped it would I have decided to go for the Silver or Bronze metal............

WIP Wrestling Event - Nordic Mittens

2008-08-13T12:46:00.013-06:00

In the spirit of the 2008 Olympics, I have been contemplating whether it is 'really' a challenge to finish a WIP that was on the needles one month before the Olympics started. When watching the Olympians and listening to their stories I have heard stories of how they have overcome obstacles to become the champions they are. That set me to thinking about my own Olympic challenge to finish the several projects I have on my needles as I watched the 2008 Summer Olympics.

If I truly give myself a challenge it would not be to finish something I was most likely going to finish the next month. The true challenge would be to finish something you were so frustrated with that you actually pulled the needles out of and walked away from, right? I have such an item and it has languised in a basket for four years, the Nordic Mittens featured in the 2004 Winter Interweave Knits.

This issue was the first Interweave Knits magazine I bought shortly after resuming knitting after a forty year sabbatical. I was smitten with Beth Brown-Reinsel's pattern immediately and let Santa know that I wanted the eight skeins of requisite Brown Sheep Nature Spun yarn for Christmas so I could knit my own pair. Nothing like jumping in feet-first into knitting!

The results were not as I had hoped. I knew nothing then about carrying the dominant color consistantly in one hand. I did not know how to knit two-handed with my left hand knitting Continental style and my right hand knitting English style.

But the results before I knew this method were less than satisfactory. This was a Nordic Star pattern and the 'star' seemed to blend in with everything else. The mitten was also too large for my smallish hands. Guage? What is that? So, just short of finishing the tip of the thumb on the first mitten, I put the mitten in a basket with intentions of finishing the other mitten after I finished a pair of socks.

Needless to say, my sock obsession began and the poor Nordic Mitten never had a chance. I've looked at her periodically, picked her up and tryed her on, frowned and put her away again. I even deleted her from my Ravelry Projects, a sure sign that I was done with her.

Now I'm ready for the Olympic challenge with the more correct goal of competing against myself. Bring on the challenge! Can I push myself to love this project again? Can I get back the fire and spirit needed to push through the challenge? I think I can. I've learned some things through other fair isle projects and think I can make that star "pop" now. Can I get the gold metal? I started the corrugated ribbing last night watching Michael Phelps earn his eleventh gold metal. A good omen for me, don't you think?

Corrugated Ribbing is the name often given to the two-color rib stitch used on many Fair Isle garments, particularly the ribbing at the bottom of a sweater. In this instance it will be used for my Nordic Mitten cuff. The stitch is generally a K2, P2 with the knit stitches knit in one color and the purl stitches in another. It is particulary pretty when the purl rows are in varigated colors while the knit row remains one solid shade. I am going to be more clever this time around and use a hair clip to keep all those loose strands out of the way.

As with stranded knitting, no more than two colors are used in the same round and the yarn not in use is stranded across the wrong side of the work or 'floating' across the knitting. There will be many ends to weave in but this time I will stop and weave those in every ten rows instead of waiting until the end!

This ribbing is worked on 2.25mm needles, two sizes down from what the body of the mitten will be worked on. It is not very elastic when compared with ordinary ribbing but it will be hard wearing when it comes to pulling these mittens on and off through the winter snows.

Corrugated ribbing is much easier to work if the knit stitches are knit Continental and the purl stitches are knit English style.

The Two Contenders

At this point they seem to be neck and neck in the competition but when that Nordic Star motif appears we will know who the REAL champion will be!

Ravelympics 2008

2008-08-11T13:39:00.003-06:00

Are any of you participating in the Ravelympics 2008 over on Ravelry?

I have entered the WIP Wrestling event. My goal is to finish my plain PI SHAWL. I'm knitting the sideways border right now and casting off a stitch with each ridge knit. 576 sts! My goal is 100 sts a day so I should have this plain PI SHAWL finished in the next few days. This shawl is plain, very plain but it has been a relaxing project and will keep me warm through the long winterup here in the mountains.

Hopefully, I will wrestle with my next WIP soon and get it finished, finally - The Must Have Cardigan. So, which event have YOU entered? And, what Olympic event to you most enjoy watching? I like the gymnastics!

Fruit Hats on Display

2008-08-05T08:14:00.004-06:00

I was able to rendezvous with my niece and her munchkins just before I flew back to Colorado. She brought the Fruit Hat Trio I blogged about recently so I could see them modeled on her adorable children. Now when my girls were this age I could not get them to keep hats on for anything. But these little Tennessee tots were wearing them in soaring summer temperatures at about 97% humidity. Amazing!

The baby's was by far the cutest. There is just something about babies wearing hats that is adorable, right? Let me introduce Savannah to you in her sweet little fruit hat. Of course, as you can see, one photo was not enough for me with this cutie!

The middle tot is named Isaac and he probably is going to be the smart one with his big noggin. His hat is a bit small so I will need to knit a larger one for him. He was too busy to pose for this camera nonsense but didn't mind wearing a 100% wool hat in the summertime!

Last, but not least, is their big sister Sierra. She was busy chattering as little girls do but stopped every time I said, "Smile, Sierra" ------

We were only able to visit for a few minutes before Don and I had to scoot to the airport. During that time Katie told me about a LYS several times saying that the next time I came through Knoxville we would have to go there together. Her friend's mother owned the shop. I thought it cute that she kept on about it but kept reminding her that Knoxville was a long way from Colorado and is was unlikely I would be coming there very often. And then, as I was boarding the plane, it suddenly dawned on me that I have a MARRIED daughter living permanently in Tennessee and this would be the airport that I would always be flying in to when I visited her.

So....Katie.....if you read this post......I look forward to visiting that yarn shop with you on a future visit :-)

A New Family Begins

2008-08-04T13:50:00.014-06:00

I'm home from the most beautiful wedding I have ever witnessed! I know, I know, I am the mother-of-the-bride so I might be a tad biased. But, with two engineers getting married and the detailed Excel sheets they made timing every minute detail, the wedding truly was flawless. The joy I experienced as I witnessed my daughter getting married was the same joy I felt on the day she was born. I was given a few candid shots today and I am going to share them with you for what woman does not enjoy a wedding story? For a little twist I have decided to tell you about the things that I felt were unique for their wedding....just a little personal touch.

For starters, with two engineers there must be a master plan, right? Teams were designated with heads assigned to each team - Team Bride, Team Groom, Team Usher etc. The maid of honor was my daughter, Allison. Her main responsibility was to help the bride. When I asked what that entailed she informed me that her biggest task was to , umm, help the bride go potty. The head of the bridesmaid team and the head of the groomsmen team had responsibilities to keep the bride and groom from seeing each other because the bride's attire was to be a complete surprise, especially since she wore red shoes on her feet. They were on their cell phones constantly to each other to ensure that a chance encounter would not happen.

As the bridesmaid's were having their hair styled the ones waiting to do so had fun playing Guitar Hero, including the bride. Rock it, Jen-Jen!

Jennifer attached my bridal veil underneath the bustle of her dress to honor me. She pinned her deceased grandmother's wedding band and a ring of her deceased aunt to her slip in their memory. She sewed tiny blue buttons from a shirt she wore on her first date with Bob onto her slip for her "something blue".

Time to put on the gloves and get the show on the road!The bridesmaids's piled into their limo (see my two pretty girls at the back?) and departed. The groom's limo showed up 15 minutes later for the groomsmen. Oh...and the parents left 15 minutes before the bride (Excel sheet, remember?)

The ceremony was absolutely beautiful. I can't wait to see all the professional pictures. My brother took these..............

The reception was lots of fun, the toasts were touching and the music was lovely. I think the toasting might have begun earlier when the wedding party rode in a limo together to the reception hall. There was a cocktail party while the wedding party took their post ceremony pictures. I enjoyed visiting with friends and family that I had not seen in a while and resting my tired feet before the dancing commenced.

I held up pretty well emotionally until my husband and our daughter danced together after she had danced with her groom. The tissues came out of the purse then! Jennifer kept laying her head on her Daddy's shoulder and he kept whispering in her ear. They have enjoyed a wonderful father-daughter relationship and he had been the only man in her life until Bob came in pursuit. Here they are dancing the father-bride dance.

And then, before we knew it, our little girl ran out with her groom as rose petals fell down all around them. They drove away with one final smile and wave of the hand. No one knows where they have gone on their honeymoon. We have decided the groom thought it would be a wonderful icebreaker amist the guests. If that is true then he was indeed correct in his thinking because it had tongues a-waggin!

And for all you mothers of little girls who might already be telling you what they want in their weddings, I once had a little girl who told me she would have M-n-M's at her wedding with her name printed on them along with her husband's name...............

En Route to a Wedding.....

2008-07-30T18:01:00.003-06:00

And it is my little girl's wedding.......

Diamond Fantasy Shawl Commences

2008-07-25T14:11:00.004-06:00

A couple weeks ago, when I was blog surfing, I spotted Ronnie's Diamond Fantasy Shawl and immediately loved it. Ronnie and I have had a friendship for several years now. I think it started back with my first Monkey Sock Swap. I personally picked her as my Monkey Pal because we shared a love of great classic literature, among many other things. Ronnie lives in England and my greatest love is British literature.

At any rate, after admiring her gorgeous Diamond Fantasy Shawl she surprised me by gifting me with my own copy of the pattern. Isn't she a sweetheart?

Despite promises to myself to NOT cast on anything new I could not resist. I thought I would just knit a few rows with some leftover Mountain Colors Bearfoot yarn but had no idea how addicting lace knitting was! I think I am about to enter into the addiction of shawl knitting. Yep, looks like my sock drawer is full enough for a while.....

It is very difficult to take accurate photographs of anything red. This brilliant ruby colored yarn is stunning in real life but looks a little streaked in this photo.

I've finished one repeat of the shawl. I think I'm going to have to find some more yarn in this colorway because I absolutely love it.

Out of curiosity, how many of you put lifelines in your shawl? Do you think it is necessary if you are faithful to count the stitches after every row? This is my first shawl so I don't know these things. I've just been admiring all of YOUR shawls for years now.

Baby Dale Sweater ALMOST Crosses Finish Line!

2008-07-22T14:24:00.006-06:00

After missing the deadline of my great-niece's first birthday, the Baby Dale Yoke sweater has languised away in a basket. Actually, I don't think it was the deadline that made me put her aside but a buttonband issue. A distant memory of buttonholes that were too small comes to mind. At any rate, I mailed Baby Kate another present and promised myself to rework the buttonhole band in hopes of getting this sweater to her before she outgrew it.

Kate's Baby Dale almost crossed the finish line this afternoon! Almost? Have you noticed the cute little flower buttons I sewed on? One....two.....three.....four.....five...... WHERE IS NUMBER SIX? In her months of hibernating in the basket the sixth button has walked away and cannot be found.

Do you see the teensy button at the top of this sweater? It is temporarily holding button #6's place in line. I'm off on a button hunt............................... and if the missing culprit cannot be found then I will venture out to the fabric store in hope that they will still have some of these buttons left. Now, if only I could remember which fabric store I got them at......................

My First Baby Surprise Jacket

2008-07-21T08:38:00.005-06:00

The past couple years I have observed little Baby Surprise Jackets popping up all over knitting blogland. I wasn't particulary enamored with the pattern. I thought it looked rather plain. But then when I read repeated posts boasting of the ingenuity of the pattern and noticed that knitting only ONE Baby Surprise Jacket didn't seem to quench the knitting appetite of the blogger ...... well, I decided to see what all the hype was about.

The pattern was designed by Elizabeth Zimmermann in 1968 as she anticipated her first grandchild, Cully. I really do think it is true that it has taken on almost legendary status. On Ravelry it is the most popular baby pattern and the current tally there is 3,978. And, upon my completion the number is 3,979!

Being a creation of Elizabeth Zimmermann's, it is indeed ingenious! I am filled with admiration and respect for the genius that went into this creation. She is brilliant and I confess that I am now a Zimmermaniac. In Elizabeth's own words, "I call it the 'Surprise Jacket' because it looks like nothing on earth when you have finished knitting it." Although I took no photograph of this knitting blob, I can assure you it is true. In fact, if I had not been using the Baby Surprise Jacket DVD as my tutorial, I'm not sure I would have been able to put it into its little jacket state.

Pattern: Baby Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmermann

Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport (Lake Huron)

Needles: 5.0 mm Inox Circular

BTW, Meg Swanson does an excellent job walking the knitter through the knitting and construction of this little jacket. I highly recommend purchasing this DVD. It includes Meg's own fabulous tidbits and some other variations of the jacket which you will be seeing on my blog in the future. What's that? Yep, ONE Baby Surprise Jacket is not going to be enough for me either! Bring on the babies!

Red, Ripe Strawberries

2008-07-19T13:30:00.008-06:00

One of the most enjoyable aspects of summer for me is the abundance of fruit. I especially love red, ripe strawberries! Unfortunately, berries are not plentiful in my state so I am resigned to buy mine in the grocery store. Where do you purchase yours? Do you go to the farmer's market or are you fortunate enough to be able to grow your own strawberries? Lucky you!

When I saw the photograph below it reminded me of a book that I used to read my girls when they were young called, The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear. Ohhh, how that bear loved red, ripe strawberries! The big, hungry bear could smell a red, ripe strawberry a mile away......... In this story the mouse cuts the strawberry in two and shared half with the bear.
How do you like to feast on your strawberries? My father-in-law likes his over crumbled up pie crust. I grew up eating mine on little sponge shortcakes. My husband likes his over ice cream or angel food cake. I, on the other hand, if I'm not popping them in my mouth in their natural state enjoy them most spooned over pound cake and topped with whipped cream.

A dear friend gave me the following pound cake recipe years ago and I would like to share it with you.
Lizbet's Cream Cheese Pound Cake

3 sticks softened butter

8 oz cream cheese, softened

3 cups sugar

3 cups flour

6 eggs

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Cream butter, sugar, cream cheese and vanilla. Add flour and eggs alternately. Spoon into a floured bundt pan.

Bake at 300 degrees for 1-1/2 hours.

Fruit Hat Trio

2008-07-12T18:00:00.003-06:00

I have had this adorable Ann Norling Fruit Hat pattern for a couple years now. When my niece's newborn outgrew the outfit that I procrastinated mailing, I decided it was about time to knit her a cute little fruit hat.

When I discovered how much fun this pattern was to knit, I decided all THREE of her little munchkins needed their own fruit hats! Perhaps I will become the eccentric great-aunt in our family knitting all the children fruit hats because this pattern is FUN to knit!

Maybe I have eccentricity on my mind because I knit these whilst watching a few Agatha Christie Miss Marple movies. Did you know that Jane Marple was a knitter? There were several comments made throughout the movies drawing attention to this fact. At any rate, I'm not quite as old as Miss Marple but I am acquiring numerous great nephews and great neices that need their wee heads covered. Unfortunately, most of them live in warmer southern climates.

Please forgive the mishapen appearance of these hats. I tried taking photos of them on top of toilet paper rolls but those ended up looking like toilet paper covers instead of hats. I'm sure they will look quite delightful when worn on the noggins they were intended for. I'm hoping their mother will send me a photograph!

Colors of Nature

2008-06-29T23:29:00.012-06:00

When I was leaving my house the other day I saw this beautiful moth by my front door. I wish I could have gotten a better photograph but he was fluttering his wings and I didn't have time to get my tripod. Aren't its colors gorgeous? I'm not letting it in my house because it would surely devour my yarn.

My Iro Scarf is coming along quickly. It is such a nice mindless project to work on as I listen to audio lectures.

I am crazy in love with my new needles. I thought this needle end might be a little heavy in the hand but it is not.

The needle points are ever so sharp and would be excellent for finicky knitting manuevers.

.And the Noro Iro yarn? Yummy! Wouldn't you agree that the colors are manly-man colors? Colors of nature.

Exquisite Woods

2008-06-19T02:53:00.006-06:00

A new pair of knitting needles from Costa Rica called Maderas Exquisitas.

(Exquisite Woods)

Add two skeins of exquisite yarn, Noro Iro in shade #47.

The end result will be an exquisite garter stitch scarf for an exquisite young man who is about to become part of our family on August 2nd. He really needs to be initiated into the family properly, you know?

My inspiration? You're My Iro , another beautiful scarf knit by Jared (Brooklyntweed).

Must Have Cardi Progress

2008-06-17T00:11:00.002-06:00

I have decided that it is time to finish my Must Have Cardigan so she has been receiving some special attention the last couple weeks. I've planned out a knitting schedule and am bound and determined to get this project off my needles soon!
The reason this sweater has not been finished is because I've had to do some frogging. I decided the size I had been knitting was going to be too large. My Central Park Hoodie sits unworn because I knit it too big. My indecisiveness on sizes was met with procrastination but a couple of weeks ago I decided enough was enough and the frogging commenced..........

I have now finished the two fronts and have started the back. BTW, I am blocking them on a plastic padding for treadmills. The package came with eight pieces and when I was putting them together to put under my treadmill I realized they would be ideal for blocking! They are compact and can be put together in whatever size you need for blocking your project. Since they come apart they can easily be stored. $18 at Walmart, ladies.......

Sunrise Over Sardinia

2008-06-11T08:20:00.005-06:00

Sunrise at 6:32 a.m. over the second biggest island in the Mediterranean, Sardinia. And like its larger cousin, Sicily, Sardinia has seen an amazing variety of cultural interchange from the earliest times.

Cagliari is the capital of Sardinia and we will be spending nine hours here. The site of this lovely port city is well placed to give shelter from storms. It's hard to say who actually made the first colony here, since both Minoans and Phoenicians had sailed these waters in the 7th century B.C., and probably earlier. It boggles my mind to imagine how many ships have sailed into this beautiful port!

I have my Italian yarn in hand and have already knit three inches of ribbed cuff as we wait to disembark. Have I mentioned that socks WERE the perfect thing to take on this cruise? They are nice and compact. We always had to wait for the pre-arrival checks to be completed in each port and then the local pilot to board the ship so there were plenty of moments here and there to knit.

We watched the ship approach port from our balcony and then on one of the outside decks as we ate breakfast. Then, after the Emerald Princess was docked, Don and I went down to the Piazza and waited to go ashore. Don had his Mickey Mouse hat and I have my yarn. We are ready to go.....................and I will take you along with me in the next post........

My So Called Tuscan Scarf

2008-06-10T11:54:00.005-06:00

When I got home from my Mediterranean vacation I promptly sought out some yarn to commemorate my favorite country, Italy. I was unable to find any yarn shops on my travels -- and believe me, my eyes were really peeled looking for yarn shops! Back home I found some lovely Lorna's Laces yarn dyed in the colorway 'Tuscany'. The colors are perfect and really do remind me of Tuscany. I bought some worsted weight for a scarf and some fingering weight for some matching socks.

I have known for a while that I wanted to knit a popular Ravelry scarf called My So Called Scarf, so I had no problem assigning the worsted weight yarn to that project. The pattern is almost a no-brainer. I say 'almost' because I have had to rip back a couple rows more than once due to daydreaming. It is an easy enough pattern and looks interesting.

Lorna's Laces Worsted is amazingly soft! I love it! In fact, it may replace Malabrigo as my all-time favorite worsted weight yarn. I will definitely be purchasing more.

I'm still searching for the perfect sock pattern to match this scarf. I'm thinking that a slipped stitch pattern would complement it best. I think that Cat Borhdi has one that might work in her Knitting Pathways book. Do any of you have any ideas for me??

From the Hip

2008-06-06T14:04:00.005-06:00

My photography lesson this week at Digital Photography school was to take a picture from the hip. From the hip?

I was to see if I could come up with a fantastic shot without composing my picture carefully through the viewfinder / LCD. It didn't necessarily have to be shot from the hip - mine were taken about over my head, by extending my arm out full range and from down on the ground.

I pushed myself outside of my dependency on my viewfinder and I was surprised at what came up! These were taking after a rainfall yesterday afternoon. And, I might add, we REALLY needed some rainfall because everything is very dry right now. These are not 'fantastic' shots but they were fun and I found the assignment quite enjoyable.

These flowers are in a flower pot on my front porch. I would love to be able to grow something like this in the ground but they are too delectible for the deer that feed in my yard.

The aspens have just budded out. In a few weeks these little aspen leaves will be quaking aspen leaves.

Pretty cool shots for not looking through the viewfinder and composing , eh?

The next assignment is entitled Clashing Colors so I am eager to see what it will involve!

Up on the Rock

2008-05-26T09:18:00.004-06:00

GIBRALTAR. Have you ever heard of the Rock of Gibraltar? For some reason it conjurs up memories of life insurance in my mind! I think there used to be an insurance company with that name when I was growing up.

This is one of the last bits of the British Empire upon which the sun never set, Gibraltar is a quirky mix of Anglican propriety, "God Save the Queen", English bookstores, English pubs, military memories, and tourist shops.

Europe is only eight miles from Africa at this point, and the straits are 36 miles long. Whoever controls Gibraltar and the harbor at its base is in a good position to control the passage between Atlantic and Mediterranean waters. The Rock itselt is 1,396 feet high with a sheer vertical force to the east. Although the military history is rich, I was more interested in the astounding feeling that you had stepped into an English colony.

Gibraltar is less than three square miles and I think Don and I covered it all on foot. We had a full day here so had plenty of time to meander around enjoying the sites. We spent some time in Trafalgar cemetary - a reminder of the colony's English military heritage. Although, I have to admit, my mind was drawn to a dinner scene in Jane Austen's Persuasion wherein The Battle of Trafalgar was discussed.

I enjoyed my 'Fish and Chips' for the first time in the Gibraltar Arms Pub. Yummy!

The actual Rock of Gibraltar was the colony's best sight. We took a cable car ride to the top admiring views of the port and the Emerald Princess the whole way up. The views from the top were stupendous and homo sapiens were not the only admirers of it. There were many seagulls that I enjoyed taking photographs of. And, the quirky apes! Oh my, the quirky apes!

The Rock is home to about 200 apes (actually, tailless monkeys). The males are bigger, females have beards, and newborns are black. They live about 15-20 years. Legend has it that as long as the apes remain here, so will the Brits. We were advised to keep our distance from the apes and to beware of their kleptomaniac tendencies. We witnessed that tendency firsthand when one grabbed a candy bar away from a lady on our tour.

The cable car took us to the summit of the spectacular Rock itself. The large rock mass was nearly a mile long rising 1,400 feet high with very sheer faces. According to legend, this was one of the Pillars of Hercules marking the edge of the known world in ancient times. Local guides say that these pillars are the only places on the planet where you can see two seas and two continents at the same time. Don and I enjoyed the 360-degree view of Morocco, the Strait of Gibraltar and the bay. Awesome views!

Did you get my postcard?

More Gibraltar Pictures........

The Alcazar and Nearby

2008-05-19T14:44:00.003-06:00

I almost forgot to tell you about my afternoon in Sevilla, Spain visiting the Alcazar!

This was most exciting for me for I love history and the idea of seeing the room where Columbus presented his New World discoveries to Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand thrilled me to no end.

Come walk with me through the Alcazar and the streets of Sevilla, Spain...................

Click here to visit my Flickr page on The Alcazar and read more about each photo.

Cast-On ~ May Sockdown

2008-05-18T19:08:00.004-06:00

The May challenge for Sockdown Ravelry is to knit a fair-isle pattern. It was difficult narrowing down a pattern but I finally decided on the Windowpane Socks in the summer Interweave Knits magazine. The pattern is designed by Chrissy Gardiner.

I received this lovely Cherry Tree Hill Supersock yarn from my daughter for Christmas. The colorway is one I had requested, Fall Foliage. It was much brighter than I thought it would be. I believe the bright colors will be toned down significantly by knitting it alongside the charcoal gray yarn. At least, I hope the colors will be toned down! I'm no stranger to knitting fair isle patterns; however, knitting fair-isle with double point needles is something I have not yet tried. I knit with both hands typically carrying the background color in my right hand. Having to reposition the thread at the end of each teeny dpn is making my fingers tire sooner than they would have had this been a fair isle sweater. I keep telling myself to persevere for I really love Chrissy's pattern and think these will look great!

Paris Night One Row Scarf

2008-05-13T10:56:00.005-06:00

How long is long enough? How long should a scarf be? I am curious to discover how long you make YOUR scarves. The Yarn Harlot's One Row Scarf is between 59-61" long which, when I arrived at that length, seemed a bit on the short side.

This pattern was a mindless knit and perfect for listening to lectures on my Nano. I chose it because both sides of the scarf look the same, there does not appear to be a 'wrong' side or a 'right' side. The yarn, Malabrigo, is simply heavenly to knit with. It lives up to claim to fame of being as 'soft as butter' and it now rises to the top of my worsted weight yarn list as being an all-time favorite.

So, please tell me, what is your favorite scarf length?

CADIZ ~ Spain's Gateway to the Atlantic

2008-05-12T18:06:00.005-06:00

Buenos Dias, Cadiz!

When Don and I awoke the morning we were to arrive in Spain, the ship had already docked and we witnessed a beautiful sunrise over Cadiz. We would not be spending the day in Cadiz having booked a shore excursion to Seville, Spain. Seville was about an hour and a half away. The buses were lined up waiting for us to disembark.

Sevilla was lovely! The day was beautiful with glorious sunshine and temperatures in the upper sixties. I had planned three tours in Seville. The first would be a walking tour of Barrio Santa Cruz, a once-thriving Sevilla Jewish Quarter. Then, I had planned to tour the Alcazar, palace of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. Lastly, I wanted to tour the Cathedral next to the Alcazar knowing that many famous masterpieces were within. Unfortunately, we ran out of time and did not get to see the Cathedral except from the outside.

Will you now come with me on a walking tour of the Barrio Santa Cruz? You can click the descriptions under the mosaic or you can follow the link to my Barrio Santa Cruz set on Flickr.

1. Cadiz at Sunrise, 2. 1. Plaza de la Virgen de los Reyes, 3. Plaza de la Virgen de los Reyes, 4. 2. Plaza del Triunfo, 5. Passing through....., 6. 3. Patio de Banderas, 7. 3. Patio de Banderas (2), 8. Exiting Patio de Bandera, 9. 4. Calle Agua, 10. 4. Calle Agua (2), 11. 4. Calle Agua (3), 12. 4. Calle Agua (4), 13. 5. Plaza de la Santa Cruz, 14. 5. Plaza de la Santa Cruz (2), 15. Following Calle Mezquita....., 16. 6. Plaza de Refinadores, 17. 6. Plaza de Refinadores, 18. Backtracking, 19. 7. Casa de Murillo, 20. 8. Plaza de los Venerables, 21. Continuing west on Calle Gloria,, 22. 9. Plaza de Dona Elvira, 23. Ceramics, 24. Calle Rodrigo Caro Restaurant, 25. Next up - The Alcazar

2008-05-11T11:31:00.000-06:00

Happy Mother's Day, MOM!

Welcome to Funchal, Portugal

2008-05-07T22:46:00.008-06:00

Ola, Funchal!

The city of Funchal is named after the fennel which grows on the island. Funchal is the capital of Madeira. The island was discovered in 1419 by Portuguese explorers sent by Prince Henry the Navigator. Madeira's geographical position allowed her to play a pivotal role in European discovery.

Seamen such as Christopher Columbus gained knowledge and experience plying the routes of the island's sugar trade. Christopher Columbus not only decided to stay on the island for a while, but also married Felipa Moniz. After his wife's death, he moved back to Spain with his son. His travels to other places would follow.

Madeira served as a vacation spot for British soldiers and civilians on their way back from India. The island lies on the Gulf Stream, making its climate pleasantly subtropical.

Madeira wine is world famous and there are several different kinds. Don and I tasted some of them in one of the Farmer's Market shops. My favorite was the sweetest of the four types, Malmsey. Boal is a semi sweet dessert wine. Verdelho is a medium dry wine and Sercial is the driest wine and rather like sherry. Do any of you have favorites amongst these?

Another thing the town is known for is it's lovely cutwork hand embroidery. I dragged Don to the Embroidery Museum having done some lacework for my daughters' when they were young girls. I found it fascinating to see old photographs of ladies working in the local embroidery factory. Most of the cutwork lace items were dated from 1860-1918. I wasn't allowed to take photographs so have none to share with you.

I'm not sure how much I like displaying my photos in this slide show. Do you like the mosaic better or the slideshow? If you prefer stationary pictures with descriptions attached you can see them here.

Adeus, Funchal!

Land Ahoy!

2008-05-07T09:22:00.005-06:00

Land ahoy! Don and I were more than ready to set foot ashore after six days at sea. The excitement of seeing land after days and days of only seeing ocean was thrilling. It made me appreciate all the more what our ancestors must have felt when it took them several weeks to cross the Atlantic Ocean.

Manuevering into each port was an adventure and we were curious onlookers at each port of call, sometimes rising early in the morning to witness it. This blog post is just to capture the excitement of that part of cruising. My next blog post will be all about the city of Funchal (Madeira) that you see pictured behind me.

1. Land Ahoy!, 2. Love of My Life, 3. Secret Place, 4. Ship Manuevers, 5. Onlooking Hubby, 6. Emerald Princess Anchor, 7. Height Perspective, 8. Portside!, 9. Port Graffiti, 10. Portugese Sea Gulls, 11. Ponta do Pargo, 12. Pirates of the Mediterranean, 13. Walking into Funchal, 14. Don on Emerald Bow, 15. Emerald Princess, 16. Funchal, Portugal

Cast-Off - April Sockdown

2008-05-06T07:38:00.008-06:00

I finished my April Ravelry Sockdown Challenge the first day out to sea. Most of the knitting was done on the plane trip down to Ft. Lauderdale. I had finished the first sock prior to leaving. I took my bright pink sock bag with me all over the ship and everytime we went to the Princess Theatre to wait for entertainment to begin or to wait for a movie to start I had a sock to work on. (Note to self: next time don't bring a bright pink sock bag, bring something that looks like less inconspicuous). Knitting socks attracted much positive attention from fellow shipmates who were fascinated. I met a few ladies who had knit Red Cross Socks during WWII - imagine that! And, I sat next to a lady one night who used to knit argyle socks for her men many years ago.

Isn't it always a pleasant surprise to discover that knitting transcends generational barriers, political barriers, religious barriers and race barriers? It warms my heart that our love of knitting bonds us despite all our other differences. Taking photographs when at sea posed a bit of a challenge for me. The ship was in a continuously state of motion and even in the calmest stretches there were still vibrations. Consequently, the following photo shots are blurred a bit - sorry about that!

Pattern: Cascading Leaves by Jeanie Townsend

Yarn: Shibui Knits in Wasabi

Needle Size: 2.25 HiyaHiya circulars

Modifications: none

I discovered something new about the naming of this sock color one night as I was in a buffet dinner line. There was a bowl of bright green sauce the very same color as my socks and it was labeled 'Wasabi'. I asked the chef to explain to me what wasabi was and he informed me that it was similar to horseradish sauce. Isn't that a hoot? I'm sure the people around me were astounded by my excitement over a sauce!

Mediterranean Cruise ~ Sea Days

2008-05-04T17:13:00.004-06:00

We spent eight days at sea total - six to cross the Atlantic Ocean, two en route to ports of call. They were days of relaxation. At first I was a little nervous about being out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean but knowing that there was a mini hospital on board helped alot. I really did not get antsy for land until the fifth day at sea. On the sixth day I was more than ready to get off the ship and walk on land. There are many things to do on board a ship this size. The Emerald Princess is definitely one of my favorite ships so far - it's beautiful! We ended up doing the same old things we always do - exercise, read, knit (me) and go to the musical productions and other shows. We saw several movies and one was at the Theater Under the Stars. It was pretty nippy so we only did that one night.

I exercised every day in the enormous spa/gym. There were no less than 24 treadmills equipped with televisions so I timed my exercising to the 'movies' I wanted to watch. I tried to do 5K each session and the movies made it go faster. It was great!

I took my knitting with me to all the shows and knit while waiting for them to start. I also took it on the bus tours in Italy because Rome and Florence were 1.5 hours from port. Don and I also found a special place on the ship that we liked to go sit and listen to our downloaded books so I had knitting in tow for those occasions. I'm really glad that I ended up taking socks to knit on. They were very portable.

If you want to take a closer look at the pictures you will need to click the links below the mosaic.

1. Navigation Deck, 2. Cascading Leaves Socks, 3. Piazza Elevator, 4. Piazza Stairs, 5. Botticelli Dining, 6. Listening to Books, 7. Chameleon Socks, 8. Tucked In, 9. Patter News, 10. Self Photo, 11. Knitting in the Piazza, 12. Got yarn. Ready for Italy., 13. Enjoying the Piazza, 14. My Italian Yarn, 15. Exercise, A Must, 16. Any land out there?

Digital Photography School - Converging Lines Assignment

2008-05-03T11:55:00.004-06:00

I am far behind on many things, including my Digital Photography School assignments. Instead of trying to get caught up I'm going to jump right in with this week's assignment on CONVERGING LINES.

Many photographers look for and like to incorporate converging lines in their shots. When you add numerous lines that come together, or close together, you have a tool to lead your viewer's eye into a shot.

I'm not sure my shots are the greatest example of converging lines since I am in the learning stages but here are a few shots that I have submitted for the assignment.

The following shot was taken at the Alcazar in Seville, Spain. I think the grid lines of the pavement guide the viewer's eye to the hedge and then to the arched gateway into the Alcazar courtyard. I also think the converging lines of the walls in the top left corner of the shot guide the eye to the white doorway.

My second converging line shot is of a street in the Santa Cruz district of Seville. Don and I got lost as we were following a walking tour of this beautiful area of the city. The streets were like mazes. In this shot I focused on the foreground having my lines converge there. I blurred the background to give the air of confusion - is this where we are coming from or going to?

The following converging line shot is of a stairway in Cagliari, Italy. The stairs along with the parallel fence and railing channel your eyes up the stairs and to the couple who have just climbed all those steps.

My last converging line shot is of a street in Rome. Our tourguide informed us that many of the oldest streets in Rome are from the Roman Empire days and are shaped in ampitheatre (semi-circular) style. That was a classic Roman shape and is found throughout Rome. I love this photograph and think the parallel curved shapes almost converge in the background and make this little street seem truly curved as it actually was.

Mediterranean Cruise ~ Day 1

2008-05-02T22:01:00.007-06:00

It took six days to cross the Atlantic Ocean by ship and twenty-four hours to cross it by plane. I'm home from my relaxing cruise suffering from serious jet-lag. Crossing nine time zones is rough on the body no matter what side of the Atlantic you do it on.

I want to share my adventure with you this next week through photo mosaics. I decided this would be the least boring way for some of you who do not want to be inundated by countless photographs. I took over a thousand photographs on this trip!

If you click the links under the mosaic the photograph will be enlarged and you can read my comments about the photograph.
1. Ft. Lauderdale Airport, 2. Last Arrivals, 3. Plane Knitting, 4. Lido 311, 5. Where is the food?, 6. Destination Europe Sailaway Party, 7. Bon Voyage Drink, 8. Bon Voyage Drink, 9. Sail Away! Sail Away!, 10. Leaving Port Everglades, 11. Muster Station, 12. Lido Deck Sanctuary Area, 13. Seafood Extravaganda Buffet, 14. Piazza Staircase, 15. Lido Deck

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

PI for MOSS?

2008-04-09T13:02:00.003-06:00

There are always so many things to tackle before going on vacation, aren't there? One week from today I will be halfway across the Atlantic Ocean. I have most of my clothes selected and am still pondering what knitting to bring.

The last time I posted I told all of you that I was going to be testing Elizabeth Zimmerman's proclamation that the Pi Shawl was an ideal project to take whilst traveling. Several of you encouraged me to start it before I left which I have done. I started with double point needles, graduated to 16" circular needles and have now increased to a 24" circular (288 sts). I have one more increase which will take me to 576 sts.
I have some reservations about taking the Pi Shawl along on the cruise. The first concern is the ....um......."sheepy" smell of the wool. Several have commented about it on Ravelry but not being sheep savvy, I had no idea until now what sheep actually smell like! I'm not sure I want my packed clothes to end up smelling like sheep.

My second concern is about spit splicing. One must use a very light touch with this Unspun Icelandic wool. I'm not opposed to spit splicing - and, believe me, there is quite a bit of spit splicing being done with this wool. It's just that I'm not sure I want to be doing so much spit splicing in public :-)

Lastly, I already have a significant cocoon knit and I have not yet finished the first wheel of wool. I'm a bit concerned that this shawl is going to be of monstrous proportions at the end of my fourth wheel! Not sure I want to be lugging around a monstrous cocoon around the Mediterranean.

So.......what to bring? I pulled the Vickie Cardigan out of her plastic bin last night to knit a few rows and found myself in love with her all over again.

Vickie is on my list to work on during the current "Earth" stretch of Project Spectrum. The "Moss" colorway fits the color requirements and moss is a rather earthy plant, don't you think? The color is difficult to capture but I think this photograph does a pretty accurate job of displaying the browns and greens intertwining.

The Black Water Abbey pattern is pretty straightforward and easy. The heathery tweed of the yarn does not lend to 'popping' those cables as much as I would like. But nevertheless, I am satisfied with the overall effect.

I'm actually thinking of packing less clothes so that Vickie can join me on the cruise. I will most definitely be taking along socks to work on.

G is for Garage Door

2008-04-03T14:23:00.006-06:00

Now I ask you, "Doesn't everyone's garage door have a story to tell?"

From initial glances my garage doors look pretty commonplace. Your driveway is most likely paved instead of being gravel. And, your siding is probably not made from logs, but other than that your garage doors are probably similar to mine.

You may have an occasional animal lurking around your garage door wondering what is on the other side of your door. Most likely, this animal is either a cat or a dog. In fact, your garage door may have many a tale to tell if it could only communicate with you!

My garage door has tell-tale signs upon it that make me wish I had a hidden camera attached nearby. First, there are the animal signs - as in wildlife.

These are the claw marks of a brown bear. These claw marks have been scratced into the wood for about six years now. They have weathered several harsh winters. They have weathered the logs being powerwashed and stained three times. They are here to stay. These marks tell the story of one husband who left the garage door open overnight and one bear who feasted on three 20-lb bags of wheat and the contents of one dustbuster pulled off the wall and emptied. The claw marks were made on the subsequent night when the bear payed a second visit only to find the garage door properly closed. The claw marks stretch all up and down the middle partition, this is only a sampling.

The next sign of wildlife are the "nibbles" on the garage stripping. I used to think these were little chipmunk nibbles of which we have quite a few. They are hibernating right now and will be coming out soon. Now I say, 'I used to think...' because the nibbles are getting higher and higher as each year passes. These chippies must be standing on their tippy-toes to nibble away at the stripping. Once again, if I had a hidden night camera I just might discover who the culprit is! I'm not sure why they want in the garage. I'm beginning to wonder if their family members live in my storage room. Perhaps Papa Chippy scrounges around in the day and returns at night after the garage door is closed. Any ideas?

And lastly, we have another kind of animal that has left tell-tale signs upon my garage door. This animal is of the 'teenager' variety. I will say two words and let the garage door picture tell the rest of the story. The first word is TEENAGER. The second word is DRIVER'S PERMIT.

This is the attempt Allison, my nurse daughter, made to "patch" up her collision with the garage door. I'm quite confident that she is doing a much better job patching up patients these days than garage doors.

I will now leave you with a frontal view of my garage door. Now that you know the story it tells you can see how high the little chipmunks are devouring the side stripping, on all sides of each door. It is a good think all this activity happens on the exterior. If it happened on the interior side I just might walk out to my garage one day and discover the doors lying on the ground!

Does your garage door have a story to tell?

Cast-On ~ April Sockdown

2008-04-03T14:10:00.003-06:00

The April Sockdown challenge on Ravelry is to knit a pattern by Jeanie Townsend. I had not heard of this designer before now but learned she has a Yahoo Sock Knitting group. After joining the group I discovered she has designed many beautiful socks. The sock I have selected is called Cascading Leaves.

In keeping with the current Project Spectrum colors I selected a lovely Shibui yarn in green. I then went to Ravelry to see all the socks knit with this yarn and discovered that it does have some issues with pooling. I'm hoping that this sock pattern will camoflauge it some. You can see the pooling already in my cast on stitches. I guess I will just have to imagine that it is sunshine shining through on my cascading leaves :-)

Project Spectrum ~ EARTH

2008-04-02T10:17:00.004-06:00

On April 1st Project Spectrum moved into the EARTH element - brown, green and metallic colors.

These are my favorite colors so I am more than ready to pull out some old unfinished projects and make some serious headway on them!

My goal for April and May is to tackle and finish two sweaters:

Must Have Cardigan in colorway Taupe
Vickie in colorway Moss

You can find more information about them in my sidebar and, if you are a Ravelry member, you can click the links.

Perfect Travel Knitting?

2008-03-28T15:21:00.013-06:00

Recently I have joined the Zimmermania by becoming enthralled with Elizabeth Zimmerman's ingenuity in design. Her style of writing appeals to me and whatever pattern I am reading about captivates me and makes me want to knit it right away.

One such pattern is the PI SHAWL which EZ deems is 'perfect travel knitting.' While reading about it in The Knitter's Almanac, this proclamation caught my attention because, as many of you know, I will be leaving on a Mediterranean cruise in a couple weeks. I'll be gone for 17 days. And, instead of contemplating my wardrobe I've been contemplating what knitting to bring for, naturally, I never go anywhere without it!

EZ says that a shawl is perfect for traveling because it takes up little space. It can be knit on a circular needle which is also perfect because one of my greatest traveling fears is loosing a needle and not being able to knit. And since the shawl is knit on circular needles it can be tossed here and there with no dread of accidently pulling out a needle as you pick it up.

Now there is something you must know. I have NEVER knit a shawl. I've never enjoyed intricate lace patterns with all those yarn-overs. So to me a shawl seems like it would be a nightmare waiting to happen on a trip. However, after reading great reviews on this pattern, the concensus is that it is an easy, mindless knit. I think even I can manage this!

I decided that this would be an ideal project to take on the cruise. The knitting will be mindless because this will be a circular shawl with only six shaping rows in the whole shawl! That means that there is quite a bit of mindless knitting inbetween those shaping rows.....endless rounds....no thinking.

I set out to choose the best wool in a color that I love since there will be much mindless knitting involved. Ravelry is a fantastic place to see patterns knit up in different colors and yarns. BTW, there are two EZ groups on Ravelry. I spotted JARED'S PI SHAWL and immediately knew I would also be using the Un-spun Icelandic Wool from Schoolhouse Press. It took me a few weeks to decide upon the color.

The package arrived today. Do you see Meg Swansen's name on the label? Proof positive that knitting talent can be genetic.

One of my favorite colors, Eggplant. This wool comes from hardy Icelandic sheeps. It is put up into 'wheels' that look more like cow patties than skeins of yarn. When I saw them on Ravelry they looked small but here they sit in a pie plate to show you how large they really are.

Someone needs to tell me that I CANNOT start my PI Shawl yet! Hide my needles!

I'm very curious to see how many of you have knit this lovely garment. If you have, what length circular needle did you use? Did you use wood or metal needles?

F is for French Press

2008-03-27T10:15:00.011-06:00

My favorite coffee is made with a FRENCH PRESS. It takes a little longer to make coffee this way and there is a bit of mess to clean up afterwards but, in my opinion, the effort is worth it. If you have seen these coffee gadgets and have always wondered how they work I am about to give you a brief tutorial which is bound to make you tea drinkers run and grab your favorite tea bag shaking your head in dismay.

Each French Press comes equipped with a plunger-filter unit inside it. The plunger is removed and the French Press is warmed with water as you grind dark roasted oily beans to a coarse grind. Finely ground coffee will clog the filter.

The coffee is then placed in the bottom of the French Press and the warming water is discarded.. Hot water, not boiling, is added to the pot leaving a minimum of one inch at the top. The coffee and water is stirred gently before placing the plunger unit back on top of the pot.

The lid spout opening is closed and the coffee is allowed to brew for at least four minutes. Do NOT press down at this point.

The pot handle is held firmly with the spout turned away from you. Using the weight of your hand, slight pressure is applie on top of the knob and the plunger is lowered straight down into the pot. Lowering the plunger slowly with minimal pressure produces the best results. Do not use excessive force, which can cause scalding liquid to shoot out of the pot or cause the pot to fall over spilling coffee all over the place!

The lid is turned to the strainer position and the coffee is poured. Yummy! French Press coffee lacks the 'burned' taste that you so often get when using a traditional coffee maker.

The downside, as I mentioned earlier, is that you do have coffee grounds to deal with in the pot. They have to be scooped out with a spoon and discarded. BTW, does anyone know if you can put coffee grounds down a septic system?

So, this is the French way to make coffee. Or, at least one French way. When I was in college one of my roomates was a Cajun girl from the deep Cajun country of southern Louisiana. Cajuns, as you most likely have heard, are descendents from the French Arcadians and are steeped in French tradition and language. My roomate made coffee in a similar way without the nifty French press filter that we have now. She used a plain old strainer. This, of course, was back in the days when folks used a percolator to make coffee, shortly before Mr. Coffee came along. And, the coffee we used was chicory coffee which had a unique flavor of its own.

This is my "F" entry for the ABC Along. And, if you are wondering what happened to my "D" and "E" entries I now confess I spaced them out and forgot to post them. "Forgetfulness" would have been another "F" entry I could have made. This attribute is something those of us who grew up in the percolator generation can identify with these days :-)

Mindless Knitting

2008-03-26T10:40:00.003-06:00

I am a firm believer in having mindless knitting on hand for those times when I just don't feel like concentrating on a pattern. The brain can drift of into a state of relaxation and enjoy the rhythmic clicking of the sticks and all is bliss.

The Yarn Harlot's One Row Handspun Scarf is a perfect example of mindless knitting. There is only one row to memorize, over and over again. The pattern is reversible and looks great on either side. And, what makes it even more sublime is knitting it with Malabrigo! It will be difficult for me to want a scarf knit with anything else from here on out. This yarn is simply heavenly.

Ahhhhhh........relaxation......

Back to Blogger

2008-03-25T22:28:00.003-06:00

I've decided to switch back to Blogger. Wordpress just did not have the versatality to play with the layout like Blogger does. It appears Blogger has made some improvements this last year.

The Project Spectrum colors are getting ready to change from FIRE to EARTH. I'm ready to move out of the red-orange-pink spectrum and knit some nice earthy tones. The new colors will be brown and green. But, before the colors change I will give you a Project Spectrum FIRE slideshow - hopefully on Friday.

Cast-Off February Sock

2008-02-27T17:21:00.003-07:00

A few of you have reminded me that I never posted about my completed Kaffe Fasset sock for the February Sockdown on Ravelry.

We were challenged to try a new heel. I choose the Eye of Partridge heel and then ended up making my own modifications so the brilliant Kaffe Fasset colors would ‘pop’ more. BTW, I love, love, love this Regia Kaffe Fasset line! I want to collect all of the dyelots. I knit this pair of socks very quickly because I couldn’t wait to see the next color unfold.

Popping Eye of Partridge Heel (even # sts)
Row 1: Sl 1 purlwise, *k 1, sl 1 knitwise,* repeat from * to * end.

Row 2: Sl 1 purlwise, p to last stitch, k 1.

Row 3: Sl 1 purlwise, sl 1 knitwise, *k 1, sl 1 knitwise,* repeat from * to * last 2 sts, k to end.

Row 4: Repeat Row 2Repeat these rows till heel flap is about 2 1/2 in or desired length.

This is definitely my new favorite heel flap! I really like how it looks and will try to incorporate it into my upcoming socks.

Cast Off - January Sockdown

2008-02-11T13:43:00.000-07:00

I finished my challenge socks for the January Sockdown Ravelry. Fortunately, they only had to be cast on in January and not actually finished until the end of February. I started them January 26th and finished them February 10th.

PATTERN: BFF Socks by Cookie A.
YARN: Koigu Premium Merino (31655)
NEEDLES: 2.25mm

This pattern was an interesting one to knit and I learned something new - how to do a cable decrease/cable increase. I’m a little disappointed in the fit. I initially frogged one complete sock because I used 2.5mm needles and the resulting sock was too baggy. I thought the cause was the needle size so, accordingly, I went down to a 2.25mm and knit these two socks. The fit is slightly better but still not great.

The pattern increases stitches after the ribbed cuff to accomodate all the cables. It then decreases down at the heel for fewer stitches on the heel/foot. 72sts around my ankle is just too much and it causes the ankle to bag some.

My Conclusion: This is a nice pattern which offers three sizes. I should have gone with the smallest size rather than the medium size.

2008 Project Spectrum - The Elements

2008-01-10T09:08:00.001-07:00

Project Spectrum THREE has started and this round is all about the elements - fire, earth, air and water. I have enjoyed participating in Lolly's past celebrations of color because, by doing so, my eyes are opened to color all around me and it causes me to slow down to notice them.

FEBRUARY / MARCH - FIRE- orange, red, pink

Not only will I be knitting with these colors throughout February and March, I will be carrying my camera around with me and then posting pictures of objects representing FIRE. How fun is that!

Are the creative juices stirring within you as you read this post? If they are, go immediately to Lolly's blog and become more inspired! Go there now! Don't hesitate!

Koolhaus for Christmas

2007-12-15T18:43:00.000-07:00

I had a few false starts on this lovely pattern found in the 2007 Interweave Holiday Knits. The yarn used is Moda Dea Washable Wool which I initially had some doubts about. But I wasn’t too far along into the pattern when quickly decided it was quite suitable for this pattern.

Koolhaus was designed by Brooklyntweed (Jared) and is another of his ingenius designs. Actually, love every single thing he shows us on his blog, his tastes are sublime! In fact, a couple times I thought about knitting only the things he knits for one year but I quickly abandoned that idea……a little bit too much like stalking for my tastes. But seriously, if you have never read Jared’s blog you should hop on over to it.

I enjoyed knitting this Christmas present and will probably knit another Koolhaus. I’m glad I stuck it out with this pattern. My careless mistakes caused me to frog twice in the beginning. I have now completed another item for the TOP 10 STASH PROJECTS KAL!

Shedir for Allie-Girl

2007-11-21T18:58:00.000-07:00

SHEDIR is finally finished for my baby-girl, Allison. I purchased the yarn for it 13 months ago and it has been in and out of the knitting basket since then. So, here it is - belated 20th birthday gift, belated 2006 Christmas gift, belated 21st birthday gift. It wasn’t a difficult pattern once my mind finally got a hold of it but it also was not a very relaxing knit.

I used Jaegar Matchmaker DK for the yarn in a color that ALWAYS looks fantastic on my girl. Hats look much better on her than they do on me. I’ll have to have her model it when she is home for Christmas.

Allison - the sunshine of our family and the one who can ALWAYS make me feel better when I am sad. I know she must be a ray of sunshine to all her pediatric patients.

Visit Me at WordPress

2007-07-16T09:47:00.000-06:00

Come visit me at WordPress. I will be blogging over there for the rest of the month. I have decided that this is the only way for me to decide if I like it enough to switch.

Thanks for your patience!

http://socksformum.wordpress.com

Ravelry

2007-07-05T14:57:00.000-06:00

RAVELRY . Wow! That is about the only word I can think of to describe it! It is everything everyone said it would be.

And membership finally comes to me after spending 3 days camping with girlfriends!. Just in time since part of my camping time was dedicated to solitude and prayer. I had lots of time to evaluate many things in my life and one of the areas was knitting. I came to the conclusion that I need more focused direction and organization in my knitting!

I hadn't planned to evaluate this area of my life but after I casually mentioned to my non-knitting friends that I had four sweaters on the sticks that needed to be finished this year the look on their faces alone and their SILENCE (when are women ever silent?) quickly convinced me it was time to examine this area. I felt like some crazed, obsessed knitting fiend who never finishes anything. I didn't digress still further by mentioning all my OTHER WIP and UFO's to them. I could have but did not!

The sad thing was when I got home and made a list of all the sweaters I have purchased yarn for -- lets just say, there were far more than FOUR sweaters, my friends!

Ahh-well, friends are good to us and love us despite our idiosyncrasies don't they? And THAT is a very good thing or some of us in knitting-blogger-land would be committed to mental institutions.

Ravelry seems to be the unorganized knitter's answer. And, I fear, it will also become the conscience of all of us as well. At least for me it will be. It is awesome! Check it out!

Blogger vs WordPress

2007-06-18T10:55:00.000-06:00

Someone left a comment telling me that they, too, wanted to reply to people leaving comments on their Blogger blog. Their solution was to install Haloscan on Blogger to remedy this. I really like this idea and am going to give it a try before making my final decision about switching to WordPress.

I have been playing with WordPress all weekend and am not sure I want to 'grow' through another learning curve. I think I would rather be knitting! There are pros and cons with each provider that I am weighing but, to me, Blogger seems easier to use.

In knitting news, I am busy working on my RED Central Park Hoodie (Project Spectrum) and my Colorado Trekking Adventure socks. I am thoroughly enjoying re-reading To Kill a Mockingbird and will be posting some thoughts on that later this week.

Here is a peek at my 'Cabin Themed' sock..................

Hufflepuff socks for the Hogwarts Sock Swap are finished and ready to be sent by owl to my Hogwarts Pal. It is nice to have them off the needles. Speaking of socks, have you guys seen Kathy's cool Sidewinder Socks? I'm itching to give them a try!

WordPress

2007-06-16T16:05:00.000-06:00

I think I may be switching over to WordPress so that I can reply to bloggers posting on my blog.

The new site is http://socksformum.wordpress.com/

Come by and tell me what you think. I have not made up my mind completely yet. Both Blogger and WordPress have there pros and cons...............and I really hate having to learn something new, but if it allows me to reply back then I might have to make the move. If you have aversions to WordPress or have anything you know about it, please leave a comment!

Reflection Tuesday ~ Musical Instruments

2007-06-12T17:34:00.000-06:00

If you learned to play a musical instrument, tell me your memories of lessons, practice, and your music teacher. If not, what instrument did you want to play and why?

Me? After failing miserably in the fifth grade with the flute I moved on to another woodwind instrument, the clarinet.

My clarinet and I had many happy years together. I attended a school with a highly competitive music department. Competition was a regular occurence and I did not mind ithis since most competition was done as one orchestra against another. Now, on the other hand, I absolutely hated it when another clarinet player "challenged" my chair in the orchestra. The ability to loose my place on the second row if I lost a challenge kept me on my toes and I practiced a lot. I don't recall ever loosing a challenge.

What a glorious feeling it was when the conductor raised his baton and when it was lowered my 'note' came out as many notes! Magical! It stirred my soul! I have many silly memories of splitting reeds during performances, rendering the instrument useless, and 'faking' that I was playing . That I could do, but have me march across a football field faking it and I was all giggles.

I still have my clarinet but it only squeaks for me these days.....due to the player, not the instrument. Going to symphony concerts is one of my favorite things to do!

So how about you? Did YOU play an instrument?

Owl Package Delivered

2007-06-11T15:45:00.001-06:00

A package arrived by owl today from one of my Hogwarts Sock Swap pals. The very talented Abigail, a.k.a 1870 Pearl, put together a very nice package in the midst of getting ready to move. For this I am especially grateful!

Abigail knit some lovely GRYFFINDOR Hogwarts Socks in GRYFFINDOR colors. Since they are anklets they will be perfect Birkenstock summer socks. She also included some Lantern Moon DPNs -- huzzah! huzzah! And, last but not least, some candy in GRYFFINDOR colors in a GRYFFINDOR tin. Thanks, Abigail!

As for me, the Hogwarts socks that I am knitting for my first Hogwart Pal will be finished soon. I am knitting these on 2 circular needles. Every once in a while I get a hankering to knit socks on circulars. However, my preferred sock knitting method is on double-point needles.

When I knit on 2 circulars, I often forget where I am in a pattern sequence, at the beginning or the end. Since I already need 2 stitch markers to mark where the heel gusset ends and the instep begins on each needle, I devised dual-purpose stitch markers. Each marker has either the #1 on it for 1rst needle or a #2 on it for second needle. I put one on one needle and the other on the second needle. Now I can knit mindlessly!

Southern Reading Challenge 2007

2007-06-05T17:16:00.000-06:00

I am knitting, really I am! I don't think I have gone this long without posting a knitting picture, ever. The WIP are just not in a stage worthy of pictures....but soon.

My trip through the South last month left me nostalgic and wanting to read some Southern literature so when I stumbled across Maggie's Southern Reading Challenge 2007 I signed up immediately. I wanted a summer reading challenge and this one sounds great.

When I think of Southern authors the following names come to mind: Flannery O'Connor, Eudora Welty and Harper Lee. They are all wonderful authors and To Kill A Mockingbird, A Good Man is Hard to Find, and The Optimist's Daughter will top my reading list. I want to throw in Christy because it takes place in the Tennessee Smoky Mountains, not too far from where DD moved to. I've added a few other books that I've wanted to read for a while although I think the summer may be over before I get to them.

SOUTHERN READING CHALLENGE 2007

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Optimist's Daugher by Eudora Welty
A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor
Christy by Catherine Marshall
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
The Great Santini by Pat Conroy
Cane River by Lalita Tademy
Tobacco Road by Erskine Caldwell
The Sound and Fury by William Falkner
Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain

Rocky Mountain High

2007-06-01T18:03:00.000-06:00

We spent the morning in Estes Park at a Rocky Mountain Art Festival. What do you think about this Rocky Mountain Birdhouse? Aren't they are, er, rather unique? I almost wish I had bought one but my family was more interested in running through the booths so they could drive over Trail Ridge Road and I was trying my hardest not to get separated from them.

Estes Park is also where the beautiful historic Stanley Hotel is located. If you have ever seen the movie, The Shining, or read this Stephen King book this might look familiar to you. Stephen King supposedly had the Stanley in mind when he wrote the book. Of course, in the book there is no town surrounding the hotel. I spent my 10th wedding anniversary here with DH and then, later in the week, went backpacking.

Trail Ridge Road opened a few days earlier than our arrival. It is the highest paved road in the country and is a little bit scary to drive over. On one side of our car were fourteen foot snow embankments and on the other side were the tops of 'fourteeners'. We were above the treeline in the alpine tundra zone, a very fragile world.

Do any of you know what a 'Fourteener' is? Leave a comment if you know what it is before I tell you. A Fourteener is a mountain that has an elevation of 14,000 feet or above. Colorado has, I believe, 52 Fourteeners. I was had an aspiration to climb all of them before I hit 50 but never ventured past the first one!

The views were, of course, breath-taking......in more ways than one! My daughters bought a tee-shirt that said 'GOT OXYGEN?' and then it listed on the back all the Colorado Fourteeners. The pictures hardly do the scenery justice.

The rest of the weekend was spent hiking. DH and I went on one five-mile hike which was more than enough for our old knees. The girls went on one of our favorite eight-mile backpacking hikes and did it in record time to show the old folks how it should be hiked, or rather to remind the old folks how old they really are. Of course, they did not have 50 pound backpacks on their backs........

Memorial Day Weekend - YMCA

2007-06-01T13:11:00.001-06:00

My visiting graduates wanted to spend Memorial Day Weekend at one of our favorite family spots, Estes Park, gateway to the Rocky Mountain National Park. When I was their age I cut my backpacking teeth in this Park. Years later I taught their Daddy to backpack and we would leave them with grandparents whilst we explored the backcountry trails. We have camped many times here and the love of hiking the Rockies has been passed on to our daughters.No camping this time - we stayed at the YMCA of the Rockies which, by the way, is a VERY FUN place to vacation with your family. It is very reasonably priced and offers many activities for children of all ages. The main lodge is a nice place to hang out and play cards, games or read. The lodge deck has awesome views and the many comfortable chairs make a very nice place to sit and knit! I did get quite a bit of knitting done this weekend....and I did get quite a bit of frogging done, too.This lovely bronze statue captures the family atmosphere here AND it just so happened to have one of my favorite Bible verses engraved on it! I asked DH many years ago to put this on my tombstone and bury me in the mountains should I die before he. If you click on the picture you will be able to read it better.

Show and Tell Friday

2007-05-25T04:50:00.000-06:00

Today is SHOW AND TELL FRIDAY for the Hogwarts Sock Swap. All participants in the swap earn 5 House Points for posting a progress picture of the socks they are knitting for their Hogwarts Pal. The Slytherins are currently in the lead with my House, Gryffindor, following closely behind.

The HUFFLEPUFF colors are black and yellow so I'm obviously knitting for a Hufflepuff! There are 30 Hufflepuffs in the swap so if you are a Hufflepuff reader these socks may be for you!

PATTERN: Horcrux Socks

YARN: Louet Opal Sportweight

NEEDLE SIZE: 2.25mm

I prefer to knit both socks at the same time but not on circular needles. These are Dobby socks, mirror image, of each other. I would have no qualms about wearing mis-matched socks in public so I am hoping my Hogwarts Pal is not uneasy about this. I decided that if one is brave enough to wear Hogwart socks then one would be brave enough to wear mis-matched socks! These socks should be finished and on my pal's feet by the Order of the Phoenix movie opening. That being said, I'm running dangerously close to running out of yarn and may need to order some more.

I'm enjoying this pattern, however I will say that I have found two errors in it. In hindsight, I would change the heel. A stockinette heel is not my favorite heel and I don't think it will be very durible.

We are having incredible fun at Hogwarts these days! Round TWO of the Hogwarts Sock Swap will run August 1- October 31. If you think you might want to participate then mark your calendar for the July 14th sign-up day -- it will fill up fast! BTW, the Hogwarts Deputy Headmistress is awesome!

Happy Birthday, MOM!

2007-05-22T10:41:00.000-06:00

I wish I could be with you today on your birthday. I hope you have a very special day. Remember always how very dear you are to me. I LOVE YOU!

Tagged with a Meme

2007-05-19T19:53:00.000-06:00

I've been tagged by SJ, Shirley and Kathy to do the current meme floating around knitting blogland.

Here are the rules:
1. Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged write a blog post about their own 8 random things and post these rules.
3. At the end of your blog you need to tag 8 people and post their names.
4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment and tell them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Eight Random Facts About ME:

My high school class was so large (997 students) that we had to graduate outside. It was the year that "streaking" was hitting the nation. For those of you younger than I, streaking was a crazy fad where naked people would run through public places! We had 10 run up the aisle and across the front of the principle's stage as soon as he stood up to speak. They were boys from the previous graduating class. The same boys who elected our school song (they let the graduating seniors do that) the year before. The song was "Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog".......very embarassing...to go to school competitions and have them play that when everyone else had traditional school songs.

My family name is BOZ Lady. It stands for Buns of Steel Lady. I don't necessarily agree with them but my daughter, who is the graduating nurse, says she has had to deal with lots of rear ends in her nursing adventures and I definitely have buns of steel. It is just too bad they are not teeny buns of steel.

I was a little girl in Northern Virginia when JFK was shot. My Dad took us to the funeral procession through Washington D.C. He sat me on his shoulders so I watch it. I remember the black horses with their black plumed hats pulling the casket and the slow steady drumbeat. It was very sombre. No one was saying a word and everyone was crying.

I have experienced two very bad accidents with cars when I was exercising. The first one was in college when a girl opened her car door on me just as I was passing on my bike. I had a huge blood clot in my leg because of it causing me first, to lay in bed for six weeks missing half a semester of school and then having to fly home for surgery.

The second collision I had with a car was in my early twenties when a man driving a car with no headlights hit me from behind as I was jogging at 5am. When it hit me the thought went through my head, 'This must be what it feels like to be bit in half by a shark'. I was thrown several feet over the sidewalk landing on the grass. He tried to get me up but I couldn't move, he got in the car and drove down the street, turned around came back and tried again then left. I begged him to call an ambulance. Several people passed me on the sidewalk thinking I was drunk. Finally a good samaritan across the street ran into his home, called 911, brought a blanket back to wrap me in and held me until they got there. The medical professionals told me I would have broken every bone in my body if I had landed on the sidewalk.

I love HISTORY but am a selective history lover. I majored in History with a focus on Classical but my very favorite time period is Early American. I am not much interested in post-modern and have to push myself to stay up on current events. When I left home to go to college in another state, I planned to come back and work in the Smithsonian or Mt. Vernon or some such thing. My Dad transferred to Denver when I was a senior and I went to their home after graduation. What is a History major to do in Denver? Learn how to be a Computer Programmer...LOL

I really like to start swaps and knitalongs. I've started three Yahoo Group knitalongs -Nancy Bush Vintage Socks, Nancy Bush Folk Socks, My First Toe-ups. I've started three swaps -- Bless Her Cotton Socks, Monkey Sock Swap and Hogwarts Sock Swap. My adrenalin really gets going when I do this. I'm planning on a second round of Hogwarts with sign-ups starting July 14th. And, I've got some Fall Themed ideas floating around right now. Weird, isn't it!

I homeschooled both of my daughters all the way through high school. I've always loved teaching and from the time they were born read and did everything I could to stimulate their brains...haha! I put both of them in Montessori school when they were three and, when the youngest cried the whole morning wanting her mommy, pulled them out. I set up my own little Montessori school in our garden room. I kept the oldest out of Kindergarten and then, when her little sister demanded quite a bit of my attention, put the oldest into a private school.

When we moved to Colorado we had our first public school experience in a little mountain town and it was horrible. Jennifer was bored out of her mind, she had been reading since she was three. The teacher said she would give her additional reading during when she taught something Jen already knew...Baby Sitter Club books. Now, I am not only a lover of history but also a lover of great literature and I really struggled with letting my very bright daughter spend her school hours reading these books! The final blow, however, was when they began to study the Pilgrims and Jennifer came home saying that Thanksgiving was about the Pilgrims giving thanks to the Indians for helping them through the winter! That was it for me! We have never regretted a single moment of homeschooling. It was probably the most gratifying thing I've ever done. Afterall, who gets to go through each grade THREE TIMES? First as a child, then with your first child and then with your second?

When I was in the first grade I adked my Daddy if I could change my name. He suggested Rebecca and said it was a name he thought was really pretty. I agreed. I didn't know that my REAL name already was Rebecca! I was pretty pleased with myself for talking him into letting me do this and told all my friends my parents had let me change my name! My family still calls me Becky but Rebecca is my name of preference.

I'm tagging Jennifer, Lorette, Jenn, Shelly, Becky, Suz, Brenda and Ronnie.

Purple Passion

2007-05-17T05:42:00.000-06:00

Home, home at last, at last! The only completed object I can show you from my many hours on the road are my Purple Passion Koigu socks. When I packed my knitting bag I optimistically packed enough yarn to finish two pair of socks, my Sirdal sleeve and a baby hat. Unfortunately, this picture is all I have to show. (I actually have 4 inches of cuff on two other socks but since they are in my Colorado Trekking theme they cannot yet be revealed ).

Pattern: Simply Splendid Socks , Cool Socks, Warm Feet

Needle Size: 2.25 mm

Yarn: Koigu Supersock

Cast on: 60 sts

There was a Mother's Day present waiting in my mailbox upon my return. After seeing the Shingle Creek Socks on Vanessa's blog, I asked DH if he would let me order a kit for my MD Present. They fit in perfectly with my Colorado Trekking Theme! The color is Red Rocks. I would dearly love to pull out some needles and cast on, however I have HOGWART SOCKS to knit!

Bean Station, TN

2007-05-17T01:57:00.000-06:00

Bean Station? Did that sign we just passed say Bean Station? Stop the car! Please, STOP the car!

My father-in-law is 83 years old and I have picked his brain for 24 years about his ancestral roots. I've heard the story of how he was born in a little hollow up a gap in Bean Station, TN. I've heard how the original homestead was covered over with water when the Tennessee Valley Authority came in and built a dam flooding the whole Cumberland Gap area.

Digging a little further into the history of this beautiful area, thanks to all the historical markers around the area, I discovered a little more history that I can pass on to the father-in-law.

Have you guys figured out how much I love history?

Bean Station was one of Tennessee's earliest settlement. The valley you see in the picture was a warpath for the Cherokees, led Daniel Boone to Cumberland Gap and was traveled by Davy Crockett. Bean Fort once stood here and was built by William Bean, the first permanent white settler in Tennessee. In front of the fort stood Bean Station Tavern, the largest tavern between Washington D.C. and New Orleans. The tavern housed President Polk, Johnson and Jackson. During the Civil War, the Battle of Bean Station was fought around the tavern. My father-in-law was the only son of an only son. My husband is his only son. Since I only birthed two daughters the Wilder name will now die with my husband. I find it bittersweet that our daughter will be settling in this area. The oldest known ancestor was from Bean Station and now the youngest generation comes back to the area. I know.....I'm nostalgic and old-fashioned. DH and DD were not nearly as nostalgic, in fact, it was all I could do just to get them to get out of the car for this photograph!

This is the last of my traveling posts. I came down with a nasty bug and slept my way through Indiana, Illinois, Missouri and Kansas. Thanks for traveling along with me!

Settling One Graduate in TN

2007-05-16T19:07:00.000-06:00

After the graduation we headed north to Tennessee to settle our oldest in her apartment. Tennessee is SO GREEN and BEAUTIFUL! I love it! Can I move, too? Her company put us up in a beautiful golf club conference center for four days whilst she unpacked. Now I must admit, this mother never envisioned her first born child someday working at a chemical plant. I don't know what I thought Chemical Engineers did but I sure didn't think the worksite would look like this.......... Question.... aren't chemicals dangerous? DD tells me the corporate offices were deliberately placed immediatey downwind from the most dangerous process on site to make a statement to all employees that this was a safe site. I guess that makes me feel a teensy-weensy bit better. It makes me feel even better that DD will be working in the Process Controls group insuring that all these chemicals are processed safely. There are around 7,000 employees at this site. Did I already ask you this question ....aren't chemicals dangerous?

For Sale: Retro Blue DPN Needle Case

2007-05-16T16:12:00.000-06:00

Compact size, no larger than an eyeglass case. The outside pocket holds gauge rulers or bi-focals.
Six slots on the inside for double point needles/crochet hooks.

Retro Blue Double Point Needle Case

Cost: $20.00 + $1.85 US First Class Shipping

Payment Options : Check, Money Order or Paypal

If you are intersted in purchasing a Retro DPN Case email me!

My Girls, the Graduates

2007-05-11T15:53:00.000-06:00

One came for the academics.

The other came for the FOOTBALL......War Eagle!Opposite poles in personalities.......one focused and serious,

the other fun-loving yet still remaining focused

Two sisters, now going their separate ways after many years together.

Both taking jobs a long way from Colorado.

One Chemical Engineer, Magna Cum Laude

One Nurse, Cum Laude

TWO AUBURN UNIVERSITY ALUMNI

WAR EAGLE!

Made it to Auburn

2007-05-08T12:59:00.000-06:00

This is the stone my girls sat on four years ago when we drove down to look at Auburn University for Jennifer. The purpose of the picture was to convince their Daddy to let them go out-of-state and across the nation to attend college. He was skeptical and they were "defending their rights" and making a pretty good defense. Of course, back then, it never dawned on me that by doing so it would decrease the likelihood of them coming back home to Colorado to work! There is part of me that now wishes I had been as skeptical as DH was! I made it to Auburn................it took eleven lonely hours. The worst part was that I could not KNIT! (Shhhh.....don't tell the family.....it would have only taken ten hours if I hadn't stopped to knit a few rows at every rest stop). The grandparents and the husband arrive tomorrow and the following day my girls will be standing beside this sign in caps and gowns!

Question to self: "Why isn't it HUMID in Auburn? Please don't be HUMID on Thursday when both of my girls have ceremonies at the exact time and I have to walk/run from one end of campus to the other! Please?"