Finishing Spree

So I have decided that I won't cast on anything else until I finish or frog all of my current projects. I'm doing good, but I tell ya' it's pretty hard. I almost caved and got out the Yarn for the Duke's next sweater, fortunatly, the needle I needed was being used by the Organic Cotton Baby Blanket.

The green wrap is "Rhapsody in Lace and Ruffles" my design, a Decidedly Hilltop Pattern, in Misti Alpaca Silk- the close up picture is the more accurate color

The hat is Rowan's Aura in Karabella's Vintage Cotton. It is for Princess P. (Aren't you impressed that I took this picture myself.)

Stay tuned for more finished products, Shelby's Sweater is done, it just needs ends woven in and possibly a zipper put in (not by me!) The organic cotton baby blanket is coming along quickly as well, I have about 3-4 inches left. . .
I know I can, I know I can, I know I can

Finals Week

I'm a little quiet as of late, you say? It's finals week. The Duke finished his yesterday- HIS LAST FINAL EVER!!! Lucky man. He still has eight months of rotations to finish, but he is done with classes. I on the other hand still have Managerial Accounting on Friday night, (who gives a final on Friday night!!!) Not to mention 18 more months of classes. . . I needed a little break from studying, so here I am. Here's a "take away" (that's management talk for the only thing you heard in the last 10 weeks.)

Leadership vs. Management
When Noah heard the weather forecast he ordered the building of the ark.--- that was Leadership
Then he looked around and said, "Make sure the elephants don't see what the rabbits are up to."--- that was Management

Duke and Duchess Do Dutch Oven

Now THIS is how you should spend Memorial DAY! "Good Friends, Good Food, Good Fun" - Well Said!

The Duke and I went to a Dutch Oven cookout put on by our friends the Seattle Dutch Oven Guys!

http://seattledutchovenguys.com/default.aspx

Gary- our Dutch Oven Guru.

Tzarina and I got in a little knitting, Dutch Oven take a lot of time, time well spend knitting!

The Duke and I showing off our finished Corn Bread. It was soooooo good, along with the other 20 or so dishes. This is serious food!!

Also, notice my sweater, the Queen knit it, (several times) and just didn't like it on herself. So she donated it to the official Yarnnation wardrobe, which is always taking donations of knitted item! Isn't it lovely.

You Didn't!

You didn't!

I did!

What where you thinking?

I don't know!

What are going to do?

Ask for help. . . Sarah? Karen? Martine?

Baby hats, baby hats, ooooohh baby, baby, hats.

Look at all of these BABY HATS!

So about a month ago I was asked to start knitting baby hats to contribute to a service project sponsored by the stake I belong to. (a stake is a group of several smaller church congregations)

I knew that there was something more I could do than just knit a few hats to support this project I sent an email out to all my co-workers. Now, these are some VERY busy women. Many of them work two jobs, go to school, and still have to find time to knit, but a few of them were able to contribute. Thank you Tami, Roseanne, Kelly and Mimi. We were able to contribute 20 hats to the project. There are 18 hats here, but I wanted a nice round number so I hurry and knit two more.

So the project was four fold.

1. Knit hats for babies that come to disadvantaged women in our area- the stake collectively knit over 200 hats
2. Teddy bears for Police officers and Firefighters to give to kids that they rescue from traumatic situations- we (not me specifically) made vests for them.
3. Baby blankets to go with the hats - all sewn that day
4. Recording our feelings about the gospel in copies of the Book of Mormon, so when people read it, they know that there are real women out there whose lives have been changed, enriched and enlightened by the teachings in that book.



It was a successful project, with between 150 and 200 women there. It was a wonderful way to spend a Saturday morning. I highly recommend it!

Later in the day Tzarina and I went to two yarn shops I have never been to before, Seattle Yarn and Cultured Pearls. I didn't buy anything, but there were some yarns I had never seen before at Cultured Purls. I really liked two of them and I might make the trip back to Issaquah one day when I have money. I would tell you what they are called, but I can't remember, so there you go, a reason to visit a new store.
I also "shop hopped" to the Fiber Gallery, Village Yarn and Teas, Main Street Yarns, and Weaving Works on Friday. Amazingly, I went to 7 (including Hilltop where I work) yarn shops in one weekend and only spent about $30.

A Shop Hop and a Meme in Honor

Tomorrow will comence the first ever

Puget Sound Yarn Shop Hop

for details. . . go here

http://www.villageyarnandtea.com/shophop.html

In Honor, a new knitting meme. . . Hilltop Bloggers (and anyone else!), what do you say?


Which of your finished projects are you most proud of?
It's between the Duke's Green Polar Sweater (people never believe him that his wife designed and knit it!)
http://yarnnation.blogspot.com/2006/03/sisterly-love.html
and the awful lace capelet I knit for Princess P.
http://yarnnation.blogspot.com/2005/10/duke.html

Which of your UFO’s is never going to see the light of day again?
I am really ticked off at a little sun dress I was knitting for my neice out of Rowan Denim. I might frog it and knit her something else.

What is the most unusual place you have ever purchased yarn?
hmmmm. . . not that unusual but I did buy some recycled skilk from this Jewish guy selling various felted objects and other fiber treasures at the cash and carry section of the Seattle Gift Show. It was also the best deal I have gotten on yarn - $2.00 per skien.

What is the most money (plastic or real) you have ever dropped on yarn at one time?
Not that much, really, my vice is continual small purchases, but it was probably in the $100-$120 range.

Where is the craziest place(s) you have whipped out your needles?
The craziest is probably the circus, but the place I got the most trouble about it was at my husband's company Christmas party. People often think that me knitting equates to boredom, not true. . . always.

What is the most unique project you have ever undertaken?
Probably the fully functional dog collar, leash and anklets. (with felted doggie toys too!)

Have Fun

Duchess

I have CONQUERED the KITCHNER

This started out as a very sad story. I finished this lovely Kimono Sweater in Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk DK about two months ago. The day after finishing it I wore it and ripped a hole in it. It ended in triumph! I pulled out about three inches of the two affected rows, re-knit one of them, then kitchnered the two 'live' rows together. A little blocking and think no one will ever be the wiser. A Friday night well spend as the Duke studies with friend in the kitchen (yes, it's sick, it's now midnight and they are still at it.)
As a side note I got domestic in the kitchen today (explaination: I had the whole day off!) Steak kabobs on the barbie, baked potatoes, and yummy, yummy, yummy grilled mushrooms. Study friend (mentioned above) rounded out the meal with some sort of sinful peacan pastry thing- very good.

Crazy Crochet at the Circus

So, I am not a crocheter, nor do I really plan on becoming a crocheter. . . but it is coming into it's own, and good for it. I'm glad that there are actually nice patterns being designed now for those crochet queens.
So, one of those bringing about that change is Debbie Stoller, author of The Happy Hooker. She was here for a book signing last Saturday. Jen, the boss, made it into a whole learn to crochet event and even I got on board- for a second, or a week.


The pattern for the day were these cute floppy crochet mums. I thought I needed one, and when I got done with that I thought all the moms needed one for mother's day. So, I didn't get the chance to photograph all of them, I did about

12 of them all together, but I had to mail several of them off before I got to shoot them. Anyway, here is a nice sampling.

They are great little traveling projects, as they are small, and you don't have to worry about dropping stitches while it's being shuffled in your purse. In example my friend, the Tsarina, took me to see Cirque Du Soleil- Varekai and I took along my little crochet flower.

By the way, this is hands down the craziest most spectacular, and hopefully inspiring thing I have ever seen. I tried to describe it to the Duke, it was futile, it really defied description. The costuming was AMAZING! If you can, go see it, and take a crochet flower for 1/2 hour intermission. The pattern is available at Hilltop.

Victoria

The Duke and I have been married for 5 years, can you believe it? Here's what we did to celebrate

Day 1
- First order of business, change car battery which died as we boarded the ferry - much thanks to the lady who saved us with a jump!
- Lunch at Barb's on the warf. . . best fish and chips in Victoria - we don't know exactly what haddock is, but we like it.


- Beehive Wool - http://www.beehivewool.com/index.htm - You will see from their website that they have a lot of acrylic yarns, which was suprising, but to my great delight, they had more fleece artist yarns than I have ever seen in one location. Here is what I got. Ok, so you can't see the colors in this at all, but it is an oh so lovely colorway of deep reds, purples, and golds. It is from fleece artist and it is a superwash merino in sock weight. It is just too nice for socks (pardon requested of my faithful sock knitting friends.) It will be combined with a nice color of kid silk haze and knit into something lace.


-Checked into our B&B, The Ashcroft House
http://www.ashcrofthousebandb.com/index.htm
We stayed in the Cotswold room, and after getting up at 4:00 am, the amazingly comforatable bed called to us and we took a nice nap
- Dinner at the Flying Begal Pub - it was ok for pub food. I had a BLAT (BLT with Avacado) and pesto mayo and Link had a Toad in a Hole . . . the only thing you need to know is don't bother ordering it.
-EVITA - put on by the Victoria Operatic Society at the McPherson Playhouse. It was opening night and we just happend to stumble upon the theater and buy some of the last tickets. It was stunning with one very unfortunate exception, the orchestra was too loud. The Duke, having never heard Evita, had a hard time understanding the singers sometimes.

Day 2
-Breakfast- to die for (see B&B link above)
-The Royal BC Museum - http://www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/
We really liked thier century of change exibit, but this was hands down the coolest. If you click on the photo you will see the sign in the lower right corner reads "John Lennon's Yellow Submarine." It was sitting in the lobby of the museum.
-The Bug Zoo-http://www.bugzoo.bc.ca/
This might seem a little strange, but we LOVED this! It was so facinating and unusual. Here are a few pictures to creep you out

A milipede on the Duke's Face



A giant scorpion in my hand









A tarantuala taking a nap on me
Isn't she beautiful? - her name is Emma


Oh, and yes, they are all very much alive.







- Muffins and Tea at Murchies (we were in Victoria after all)
-A little window shopping and the purchase of our traditional piece of local art, which is also our anniversary present to each other this year. It is a small box that fits inside of the larger box, that is the larger peice of irregular wood. The smaller box was carved out of the inside of the bigger box. It is carved out of old growth Big Leaf Maple that was cut down by loggers on Vancouver Island, this part was discarded by the loggers because it is irregular. Jason, the artist recovers these peices (they had a name, but I can't remeber) and creates some of the most beautiful peices.
- Dinner at Danieli's - Italian - phenominal - order the chocolate almond pate for dessert - trust me.

Day 3
-breakfast - yum again
- ferry
- stop in Mt. Vernon on the way home to see the ALPACS!!! They are SO CUTE I want one or two or three!!! There is a little shop there where they sell thier raw fiber and yarn, and on the yarn band it says the names of which aplacas 'conntributed' the yarn! Isn't that fun! It was Sunday so I didn't buy anything, but I can't wait to go back!

4.45 AM

4:45 am you ask. Well you see. . .


I really just wanted to see the Easter sunrise (ya just keep telling yourself that through church so you can stay awake.)

So what does one do while they are waiting for the sun to rise on Easter Morning?

Take pictures of her finished Easter Egg Basket of Course.

BTW - Easter Egg hunts aren't near as fun with dogs and husbands as they are with kids. We did ours last night as a reward for Duke who spent the entire day studying. I don't know how much of a reward it was. . . but hey, it's Easter. Maggie found one of the two doggie Easter treats very quickly and just as quickly Logan stole it from her. After she chased after him and then ran back to us to complain we helped her find the other one. They are very funny!


So no pre-felting pictures of my basket, I was too excited to get it in the washing machine. I learned an important felting lesson too, don't try to felt with towles that are all ready wet from felting something else. They MUST be dry and not smooshed up against the walls of the washer. Go figure. I had to felt it twice.

Isn't the ruffle fun!

So, Jennifer, my boss, really liked them so we are turning them into Mother's Day and Father's Day baskets and the pattern will be available as soon as I knit more samples and write it at Hilltop Yarn. www.hilltopyarn.com






Here are the two happy baskets together!

HAPPY EASTER












And just because I know you were wondering (or at least would have if you had thought about it). . . What DO Mormons do with crystal wine goblets?

So there has been a lot of word and very few pictures as of late, so here's a change



The Duke's Easter Basket - Pre- Felting



And post felting.



And the happy accidental felted monster that was born of a knitting mishap (Little Brother, this was your hat!)

A meme? OK, I'm in

So fellow Hilltopper, Cranky (who, buy the way I have never actually seen be cranky -- probably because the only place I ever see her is in a bar or a yarn shop) put up a meme on her blog and said she would like to see what others of us had to say. . . the first thing I said was "what is a meme?"

Wikipedia here I come

The term "meme" (IPA: [miːm]) refers to any unit of cultural information, such as a cultural practice or idea or concept, which one mind transmits (verbally or by repeated action) to another mind. Examples might include thoughts, ideas, theories, practices, habits, songs, dances and moods in addition to concepts such as race. Different definitions of meme generally agree, very roughly, that a meme consists of some sort of a self-propagating unit of cultural evolution having a resemblance to the gene (the unit of genetics).

OK, clear as mud and here is my first meme

1. Five minutes to yourself: how would you spend them, ideally?
Alone, on the Oregon coast, walking barefoot on the beach on a warm, but not too warm, summer morning, listening to the gulls, breathing deeply, and contemplating how fragile and insignificant the ocean makes me feel.

2. Five bucks to spend right now: how would you spend it?
hummm, I didn't think this one would be that hard. . . normally I would answer something along the lines of a Jamba Juice or something sweet, but I just ate a huge dinner and that isn't so appealing right now, but you know I could really use a new pair of black socks. So, black socks it is.

3. Five items in your house you could part with, right now, that you hadn't thought of already?
My pasta maker, several pairs of shoes, the wire tea pot and shoe sculptures, a mexican style chip or vegitable and salsa or dip plate combo, my TV (technically I guess I'v all ready thought of this over, and over and over, but the Duke won't let me)

4. Five items you absolutely, positively could never part with in your house?
My scriptures from my mission, my wedding ring, my grandfather's journals, my Tagolog to English and English to Tagolog dictionaries (too hard to find), my knitting

5. Five words you love?

Dow (a Tagolog word that removes responsibility for what you are saying), Serendipity, Ranunculus, Magaan (another Tagolog word which describes a light, as in not heavy, object or feeling - and sounds a lot like my name!), Harmony

Ok, so if your interested Vellumblue http://vellumblue.livejournal.com/ has also added to the meme. I would be interested in anyone else's cultural repetition (?????) so leave your thoughts as a comment or a link to your thoughts as a comment

Here is a sample of my weekend work. It is a barrette knit in wire. I also did a pin and some earings. The photo's didn't turn out great, but maybe I will retake them tomorrow. 

General Conference Weekend

So for those of you who don't know, (which would probably mean you don't know me) I'm a Latter-day Saint. (or a Mormon)

www.lds.org if you need more info than that

So, every six months our church holds what we call a General Conference and I love General conference for so many reasons. So it starts on Sat. with the first session at 9:00 pst and the second session at 1:00 pst, each session lasting two hours. Then men of the church then have a third session that evening. Conference continues the next day with two more sessions, morning and afternoon, like the day before.

Now why, one might ask, would any person (let alone the millions - yes millions who participate) want to go to church for a total of 8 hours in one weekend if your a woman or 10 hours if your a man. Well, let me tell you.

1. Due to the miracle of the internet I get to go to church in my PJ's at home. I plug in my laptop, go to the Church's website, and listen to a live stream of the Conference. While this might seem a little strange, and I wouldn't want to do it all the time, it's great every six months.

2. I get to knit during the sessions. That is 8 hours of guilt free knitting. EIGHT HOURS

3. The most important reason: I have the opportunity to stop dead in the tracks of my very busy life and listen to the most spiritual, loving, and inspired men and women in the world speak on the most sacred of topics for eight hours. I am given opportunity to listen to some of the most gifted voices in the world sing praises to the King of Kings. I am priveledged to be able to participate in something global, something transcendent, something powerful.

It is a glorious weekend and I am uplifted and renewed in so many ways by the experience every six months. That is a precious gift. Sounds nice, no? Well, the audio stream is available at the above website if you are interested in a taste, help yourself.

Now, all you knitters want to know, I know you do, what did I knit in eight + hours this weekend. Well, I usually have a specific project that I pick out just for conference, and this time, with a little inspiration from my Tues. night knitting partner, I chose something very fun and challenging. I tried my hand at knitting and crocheting with wire.

Ok, I have now tried three times to add the photos, and blogger isn't working rights, so you will just have to wait, sorry, but it's good to develop patience, right!

Welcome Emma Rose

Welcome Welcom Emma Rose, Congratulations Angie and Jason

This naughty little girl came several weeks too early and sadly will be have the concequence of having to stay in the hospital for a couple of weeks.

See Betsy's Blog for pictures

http://bitsblog.blogspot.com/2006/03/emma-rose-orthel.html

She's so adorable. And so the Duke's baby hunger grows.

Portland. . . The Marathon Post

So I haven't posted for a while because I had finals and then went to Portland for spring break. It was a nice break. I have been to Portland somewhere around 10 times and I had never done anything in Portland, in fact I had only actually gotten out of my car in the actually city once. That is because we are always visiting family in a suburb of Portland. This time, though, I declared it a true vacation and we went all out tourist. (Well maybe not all out, as I forgot my camera, but we did have a map)
So naturally, as a part of any Vacation from Yarnnation, there was a long list of yarn stores to be visited. I actually made it to seven of them. I will outline my experience below, but first, the non-yarn activities. If you aren't interested in the other stuff, I highlighted where I started the Yarn store critiques.

The Orchid Thai: Our first restaurant, we are supper picky about Thai food, we gave it a 6.5, which actually is pretty good, as we have only ever given a 10 to one restaurant.

The Purl District: Supper cute neighborhood, very walkable, great home furnishing stores, a delightful paper store, a cute pet store (and two serendipitous yarn stores- more to come)

Pho Van: YUM, I had Pho (Vietnamese chicken noodle soup-so good) The Duke ordered half a chicken, which he thought was going to be half a chicken breast, not so. . . he was a little overwhelmed, but liked it OK. I told him he should have ordered Pho, he is not very adventureous. Score: 7 (The Duke brought that down a little.)

Old China Town: We may have missed the good part, but I would skip it next time.

Washington Park Vietnam Memorial: Our favorite part of the whole vacation (yes, including the yarn stores.) It was peaceful, sacred, meaningful. A bag pipe player played in the memorial while we were there.

Al's: So the Duke and I have a problem yard. It's just too shady for anything to grow, so the Duke's aunt took us to this cool nursery and even bought us a shade loving hydrangea. It was a very cool nursery. I hope the hydrangea will be happy here in Yarnnation.

Mexican/Peruvian restaurant: I have no idea what it called, Aunt and Uncle took us there, I had chili verde (why do I order things that I am so picky about?) score: 6

Chicks at the feed store: yes that is what I said, live baby chickens, very cute!

The Portland Zoo: We love zoos! It's a good one, but we think we like Woodland Park Zoo better, as a whole, but they are quite different, so it's worth the trip. I loved the penguins, and the orangutan (I don't know how to spell that.) Although, it is hard to see them behind glass, they are so human like, it seems wrong. One complaint- I HATE bats. That's like putting rats in a zoo, who wants to see that, not me and they STINK! YUK!

YARN STORES

Now down to the knitty gritty.

1. Knit Knot Studio: Just stumbled on this one in the Purl District. It's a tiny little yarn store, very cute and cozy, good yarns, but the best thing about this is the owner, Elizabeth, she was so engaging even the Duke enjoyed the visit. She also sells her knitted items in the shop. Nothing Purchased (I was being good!)
2. Dublin Bay Knitting Company: This one was listed in the Pearl District walking map we picked up along the way. It was a nice space, had only been open a month and did not have a good inventory built up yet. This could have been forgivable had they had something unusual, but they didn't, or if their staff was super friendly, but they weren't, they weren't rude or anything, but they were the stay behind the counter and make small talk if required type.
http://www.dublinbay.net/ Nothing Purchased.
3. Molehill Farms: This one is in Lake Oswego, OR. It is in a little house, there was only one woman working there, but she was very nice, she gave us a tour of the store, very cute, but nothing unusual. A LOT of baby yarn. They must carry every color of Stork there is. At least they know their clientele. I did buy a coupld of balls of Plymouth Linen Ilse here, I had never seen it before, so that was a find. I don't know what I'm going to do with it yet though.
4. Wool n' Wares in West Linn. This is the little shop right near our relative house. I can actually walk there from their house. I go there every time I am there, and always have a nice chat with the owner. I was tempted by Cascade's Pima Tensel, but I refrained. SIGH
5. Knit Purl: This is my new second favorite yarn store (after Hilltop of course,) and lucky for all of you that haven't been there yet, they have a very cool website
www.Knit-Purl.com
Supper friendly staff and owner, they have a lovely line of patterns called Shibui Knits. very cute. They also have this to-die-for yarn from a company called Loom In Essence. She is a one woman show and the only place you can buy her lovely yarns, is Knit Purl. I didn't buy any, SIGH, but only because they didn't have the color that I wanted. But it will be added to my outrageous stash in the future. Now don't get me wrong, just because I didn't buy that didn't mean that my stash didn't grow while I was there. I left with some lovely silk from Habu in this gorgeous orange, and four balls of Louisa Harding's new cotton, Nautical Cotton in two shades of green. So pretty.
6. Lint. . . lintinc.com -- So this is a really cool space, unfortunately the staff is also very cool, or cold I should say. I was in there for half an hour and I was acknowledged, somewhat half minded, after about 10 min., and then ignored for the rest of the time. Even when I tried to start a conversation, I was not well received. So sad because this could be a really nice store. I did think they had some nice jewelry.
7. The Yarn Garden - OK, this place is insane. I have never been in a yarn store that tries to carry EVERYTHING! There was so much yarn in this store I couldn't believe it. There were also a lot of people in the store. Merchandising is not their strong point, but you can be pretty sure they will have enough of what you want, if you can figure out what you want. The staff seemed nice enough, but they were too few and too busy. They do have a very nice little coffee shop attached, a nice little respite from the busy store. No purchase, but I will go back.

Whew, well if you actually made it through this marathon post. . . Well you get a cookie. Now go to the kitchen and start baking! (oh and feel free to send me one too!) :)

Sisterly Love

There are few things that I enjoy more than knitting and talking with my 'baby' sister, Princess P. So while I was visiting her in December, she brought out a georgous Jeager sweater vest she had knit (photo included.) She, being the very naughty Princess that she is, had not checked her guage before knitting it and it turned out a little too big for her. I being the so sweet sister that I am offered to rescue this beautiful vest from the neglected corners of her closet. She sadly agreed on the condition that I knit something for her. Little did I know. . .
She brought me out fuzzy looking mess of yarn and handed me her copy of Debbie Stoller's first book. She had knit the Spiderweb capelet in that book twice, even with the errata, she couldn't get it to work. It was a mess. She had all ready ripped it out once and couldn't bear to do it again. So I took it home with me.
This is, hand's down, the worst pattern I have ever worked from. The errata changed the two major pattern rows but didn't change any of the other rows which also had problems. It had been Princess P.'s first attempt at lace, poor thing.
Anyway, it took a little improv, but I love my sister, and I love the Jeager sweater vest, she's worth a little lacy labor of love.
In addition, but completely unrelated to this whole story. My birthday was last month, and because she's my sister she can get away with it, P.P. just sent me a birthday present. She had it made for me, and it was worth the wait. It's perfect, don't you think?

A Peek into Yarnnation

So I was reading Brynne Sutton' s Blog where she talked about cleaning her kitchen, and again you ask what does this have to do with knitting? Oh ye of little faith, it all has to do with knitting. A major problem knitters have, especially very busy moms (like Brynne) and MBA students (like me), is having to chose between knitting and cleaning. Most often I choose knitting, which is really speaking to my knitting addiction, because I am something of neat freak. Occasionally, that inner freak takes over and I go into a manic cleaning phase. I don't just clean, I move couches, I move rugs, I clean baseboards, and I reorganize my yarn stash, thus the yarn inventory-- you see it all relates to knitting. So I thought I would share a little peek into a now very clean Yarnnation.

Yarn Inventory. . . GULP

I have said it before and I will say it again. I am crazy, absolutely crazy, I have a serious problem. On my account at work co-worker Michelle has put a pop-up note that says that no one is allowed to sell me yarn anymore. . . I appreciate the try Michelle, as does the Duke.

So I finally did a yarn inventory. . . Yes I'm ashamed (sort of)

Projects Currently Under Construction

• Samus on Knitty by Brynne Sutton in Lamb's Pride Worsted color Blood Red (80%)
• Leave's Wrap, my design for Hilltop in Misty Alpaca's Alpaca Silk Worsted (15%)
• Modified Basket Weave Scarf, my design in Rowan's CashCotton DK (60%)
• Baby Blanket, my design in Blue Sky Alpaca's Dyed Cotton (30%)
• about 5 UFO's (I'm not acknowledging these past this one bullet)

Projects I have purchase Yarn for but haven't started yet

• Yvette by French Girl in Gusto 10
• All Eyes on You Poncho (which I am going to make a wrap) by Second Nature Designs in Rowan's Calmer
• Wire bracelet (including beads) my design
• Sweater for Duchess (pattern TBD) in Noro's Silk Garden
• Branching Out on Knitty by Susan Pierce Lawrence in Elsebeth Lavold's Silky Wool
• Argyle Scarf, my design in Elsebeth Lavold's Angora
• Temple Wrap, my design in Rowan's Kid Silk Haze
• Socks from Melanie Fallicks's Handknit holiday in Rowan's cork
• Socks shop pattern from Black Sheep (I think) in Cascade's Fixation
• Surf (for the Duke) by Martin Storey from Rowan's Mag #31 in Cascade 220
• Ocean (also for the Duke) by Martin Storey also from #31, but out of Rowan's Hand Knit Cotton DK (the Duke really likes Storey's designs)
• Sweater for me, pattern TBD, in Cascade 200 (beautiful red/brown color)
• Aran Weight Lace Cropped Cardigan by Ann Cannon-Brown and Michelle Ciccariello on the Elann site

INSANE??? Oh we aren't finished yet

Do I really want to type out all the yarn I have that I just bought because I liked it (and usually it was on sale) and I don't have a pattern in mind for it yet???? Well here's an attempt:

• Misti Alpaca Lace Weight
• Rowan's Cotton Tape
• Rowan's Lurex Shimmer
• Crystal Palace Little Flowers and Kid Mohair to match
• Katia Mississippi in several colors
• Jeager Chamonix
• Frog Tree Alpaca Lace Weight
• Lana Grossa Mega Boots Stretch
• Several Colors of Rowan Kid Silk Haze
• Lana Grossa Bingo in several colors
• Rowan Chunky Pring
• Several colors of Lamb's Pride in both worsted and bulky weight
• Two color's of Trendsetter Spruce
• K1C2 Melange
• A couple of colors of Plymoth's Encore
• There's a little more, but I'm done

Yup, I'm insane. I also have a big bag of old acrylic yarn that I put away for teaching newbies and a few things for an up and coming yarn swap.

Well, I'm off to bed, like I should have been an hour ago. One day I will be able to sleep when other people sleep and stay awake when other people are awake.

Oh Baby

Babies, Babies, Babies. . . It seems like half of the world (the female half) is pregnant. Really, I just have five (only five???) friends who are expecting, so expect to see a lot of baby gear here for a while. I needed some mindless knitting and a baby blanket is just the ticket. There is a fine line, for me, between mindless knitting and tedious knitting. A combination of stockinett stitch and seed stich with a little intarsia color work thrown in keeps it easy but still on the interesting side.

The color choice is not my favorite, but it certainly is traditional baby. My friend is not finding out what she is having, so the colors were a struggle. We went to see them (the friends) this weekend and were able to see their nursery, so that helped. They did it in all pastel colors, so pastels it is. Let me tell you all, I don't know about not finding out what the sex of your baby is going to be. Maybe I'm just high strung (OK I am high strung) but I think a few months to buy appropriate clothes, focus in on one name, etc. could only be a good thing. Oh well, I guess I'm just oppinionated.

The yarn is Blue Sky Alpaca's Dyed Cotton, and what a treat to knit with! The pattern in my own design, and the needle is a US 10 so it is going pretty fast.

Collateral

So the royal coach of Yarnnation (ie our 2001 Saturn) has a problem with its master cylinder. And what, you ask, does this have to do with knitting? Well it just goes to show that in Yarnnation EVERYTHING has to do with knitting. So here's the yarn. . . (he he)
Our car starts acting up, we get and estimate to fix it, we freak out because we can't afford to fix it and it isn't getting better it's getting worse (of course.) So, the Duke has a very generous grandfather who also has a very fun sense of humor. We asked him for a loan to fix our car. Now grandfather loans are interest free, only have a generalized pay back period (when you can,) and are approved very rapidly. However, do not be mistaken, they do come with some strings (or yarn in this case) attached. Along with the check we received in the mail we also get a document entitled "Pledge." It requires, in consideration for this loan, that we pledge our first born child, with first option on our second (because Grandpa likes pairs.)
Now according to the Queen, this is a very risky deal Grandpa is making, as she is convinced there is never going to be a little one, of Dutch or any other decent, joining our family. To her I say MOTHER, I AM ONLY 27 AND BOTH OF US ARE STILL GRAD STUDENTS- BE PATIENT. Besides, since the Duke and I agreed to the terms of the loan, she is just going to have to wait that much longer. Luckily, she and Grandpa live in the same town. If she's nice maybe he'll let her visit her grand baby!!!
So, how this all comes back to knitting. Well, we knew we had to let Grandpa know we are reliable loanees (and grandchildren) so, I knit a little fishing hat for the "first born" for Grandpa to keep as collateral. We want him to know that while we can make no promise as to the gender of the child, we can offer a child who will happily go fishing with such a loving Grandpa.

The specs: LB Wool-Ease (from my stash- and sad they have discontinued it. . . I really like this yarn), the pattern is my design, the colors aren't very true in the photo mc= light blue green, cc=sky blue.

Daylight offered a new option for color. . . these colors are a little more true to life.