Family Ties

Yesterday was a wonderful day. Having a house filled with the sound of laughter is a wonderful thing, especially the laughther of children. We missed Charles and his family and Billy and the Georgia clan. Billy's children from Aiken; Bryant, Brenna and Jessica, and their mother, Cindy, came up.bRebecca and Isaiah came over. Byron my youngest brother and Isaiah's dad, was here from Greenville. They played games, enjoyed good food and played more games.

Brenna, my niece, is modeling her Retro Redux Shrug. I finished it about two weeks ago. I made it a little longer than the pattern called for in the largest size and it fits her perfectly. She's grown a bit since I last saw her during the New Year holiday and is now taller than me!



Specs:

Pattern: Retro Redux Shrug from LaceStyle
Yarn: Cascade 220 Wool
Needles: 8, 9, 10, 10.5 Bamboo circular
Size: Large
Started: February 28, 2008 Finished: March 6, 2008

Modifications: I added a few extra rows in the body length. It fits her perfectly, much better than the original would have.

These photos are of the Carnival Cardigan that I made for mom using EZ's percentage system. She's been wearing it for over a year. I recently bought the clasps and sewed them on.



Specs:

Pattern: Carnival Cardigan made using EZ's Percentage System
Yarn: Noro Silver Thaw, Noro Cash Iroha
Needles: 8 Clover Bamboo circulars
Size: Large
Started: January 23, 2007 Finished: February 26, 2007

Mom loves this sweater and has gotten a lot of wear out of it this winter. I love to knit for her because she truly enjoys whatever I make her. I'm currently working on a sleeveless sweater for her using Hempathy in the cool blue colorway.

The falling pollen is turning everything green and the flowers are blooming. All I can think about are the sweaters I want to knit for the spring and summer. I'm still focused on finishing the current wips but I've gotten to the point where I can start another. Spring fever is in the house!

Mmmmm Alpaca

The lys has all of its' Plymouth Indiecita Alpaca Sport and Worsted weights discounted to $2.00/skein. Of course I couldn't resist.

Joke of the day: Someone told Maureen, the owner of the Hook 'N' Needle, that I buy the discounted yarn to sale on eBay. It's good idea though. I'll file it away for future reference. This has to be someone who's never seen my crafting room.

Some people really need to get a life!

Pumpkin

For Isaiah.



Pattern: Pumpkin from A Treasury of Rowan
Yarn: Sirdar Legend DK
Needles: 3, 6 Colonial Rosewood
Size: 5
Started: August 30, 2007 Finished: February 27, 2008

Mods: Omitted the hood.

Wow this took a long time! This project kept getting sidetracked for other things I was working on. It's an easy pattern. I hope he can still fit it this fall.

Monday I was ordered to loose weight. Knitting for me will take a backseat for a while until I rid myself of at least 25-30 pounds. This past summer I successfully lost about 20 pounds only to have a medication change and put over 30 back on.

I'm going to finally devote myself to completing MK Level II. Projects are getting caught up and finished so there's no time like the present. It's almost as if things have to reach critical mass before I'll commit to getting them done and once that happens they just fly off the needles.

Goodies from the beach weekend...


A couple of Lantern Moon bags






and a little stash enhancement.

Ribbon-Edged Cardigan

Specs:

Pattern: Ribbon-Edged Cardigan Debbie Bliss Special Knits
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino
Needles: 2.5, 3.0 mmm Colonial Rosewood
Size: 12-24 months
Started: January 7, 2008 Finished: February 25, 2008.

Modifications: Worked shoulders using short rows. Did a one stitch full-fashioned decrease at the front neck shaping. No other mods necessary.

I haven't seen any of these made with the ribbon trim. I was going to add the trim but since I haven't found any I'll deliver it without to baby Gabby this weekend.

Skyline

Finished and field tested.



Specs:

Pattern: Skyline by Hanne Falkenberg
Yarn: Hanne Falkenberg Shetland No. 2
Needles: 2.5 and 3.0 mm Ebony Holz & Stein, 3.0 addi Turbo Lace
Size: Large
Started: October 4, 2007
Finished: February 21, 2008

Modifications: None. Prior to blocking I had entertained the idea of lengthening the sleeves. They grew significantly in the blocking process and are 2-3 inches too long. I may attempt fulling it slightly to see if I can reduce some of the length. One side is not longer than the other. I did a bad job of adjusting it when the photos were being taken.

This weekend I was at the beach for the VFW/Ladies Auxiliary Spring Conference and the drawing for the shawl. Remarkbly I won my own shawl and before I could say anything a member of our post had donated it back and a new drawing was held. The winner lives right here in Columbia and is a good friend of my mom. I'm glad to know that it is going to a good home. I was a little agitated at first, no a lot agitated, but truth be told I can always make another.

I finally made it to Knitting Up A Storm in North Myrtle Beach. Dianne the shop owner was very nice and kept the store open since we were on the way. I purchased some summer weight yarns for shells for mom, a skein of sock yarn and a Lantern Moon bag. Mom gifted me with another style of Lantern Moon bag which was a big surprise. If you're in the area be sure to pay a visit.

Rush

There's a strange feeling that comes over me whenever I finish a project. I'm not sure if it's the joy of finally being finished or the fact that I can search through stashes, pattern and yarn, for the next object to satisfy my knitting fancy. If truth be told this sensation washes over me at several points in the knitting process.

The first occurs when I decide on the pattern and which yarn I'm going to use. The second occurs when I can see the project beginning to take shape. The third when I've finished all the pieces and the fourth once I've blocked and put the garment together. Tonight I get to feel the thrill of blocking twice.

My beloved Skyline is complete. After numerous misteps and re-starts, all due to operator error, this sweater is complete and blocking.


I hope to christen this sweater this weekend while the cold front passes through.

Last week I completed all the pieces for the Ribbon-Edged Cardigan from Special Knits. I still haven't found the ribbon, but I have the cutest flower buttons and may just omit it altogether.


About a week and half ago I did an inventory of the number of wip's that are currently on the needles. Including projects that were cast on by me or adopted from my mother, I have a staggering 14 projects in progress. I've identified those that will be frogged and those that I'll see to completion. Over the next few weeks there'll be lots of early spring cleaning on this blog in preparation for the fruits of summer.

Greenville Knit Inn

Sleepy, sleepy, sleepy!!!

Yesterday I could barely stand to keep my eyes open and did manage to sneak a quick nap in late yesterday afternoon. The Knit Inn was great. It was nice to see the knitters that I met last year, especially Lou from Rock Hill. I hung out during the day with Deborah, Gail , Anita, mom and Heather aka Yargineer with her cute baby pooch. I also made some new knitting friends and hope that we will be able to stay in touch and get together during the year.

The hotel was nice and the guest Happy Hour from 5:30-7:00 was even better. It was a hoot to see all these knitters show up with projects in tow and drink cards in hand. We had dinner at PF Chang on Saturday. I missed going to the restaurant that was in the hotel when we were in Vegas. The reservation service is a joke, but the food was delicious.

I was waitlisted for two of the classes I registered for. The Shawl Design class was informative and I came away with some good info which will help me with future designs. The instructor was Lainey Haule who was president of the guild last year. I was surprised how many people remembered me from last year and happy to see them again.

There were only three vendors, but two of them managed to separate me from a good bit of my funds. This year the guild invited a basket maker, Roy Greene. He had some beautiful handmade baskets and I quickly picked up two of them. The larger basket was used to carry my working project during the remainder of the Knit Inn.


The others were knitting vendors, however, my purchases all came from North Woods Farm Fiber and Yarn out of Campobello. I purchased several skeins of sock yarn and several addi Turbo Lace needles.


I've long wanted to try the Schaefer Anne and the Noro Kureyon Sock. All the Noro was the same color, but since this is probably the closest I'll be to it for a while I picked up a skein anyway.


I purchased two skeins of the North Woods Farm Superwash Merino Sock yarn. One because it reminded me of stonewash blue jeans and the other just because.

Twelve skeins of the new Plymouth Yarn Happy Feet sock yarn. At $5.99/skein I just couldn't pass it up.

I also won a very nice door prize. 10 skeins of K1C2 Meringue.


Waiting for me when I got home was the package from Herrschners. The Twilleys Freedom Spirit in Natural and Passion for the Guimauve hat by Woolly Wormhead.


What a great way for a trip to end.