Knitting

Busted, Hey Barbie!, My Playroom

January 20, 2014 mud&stringLeave a comment

OFF THE NEEDLES

No Pattern, Mystery Yarn Socks

HEY BARBIE

I went to put on my current favorite sweater, a Christmas present from Mr. Iknead, yesterday, only to find that it apparently was put in the dryer and dried to within an inch of its life, turning it from a perfectly fitting, softness to die for, beautiful sweater, into a still beautiful, still soft sweater that only Barbie can wear. I remember washing it on my washer’s handwash setting, along with some other handknits that I try to baby as much as possible, then taking all of them out and air drying on a rack, just like always. I must have missed this sweater when taking things from the washer, causing it to be rewashed with the next (not handwash cycle) load and then put into the dryer and dried and dried and dried. I feel like crying every time I think about it. I know it’s just a sweater, but it was mine and was a million times more special because it came from Mr. Iknead. And, yes, I do get emotionally attached to clothing.

IT’S LIKE A MIRACLE

I did a lot of work in my yarn room this weekend and it paid off in spades. It all began with an old entertainment center that we were planning to donate; suddenly, it wasn’t an entertainment center anymore – it was a Yarn Storage Cabinet. Of course, as a rule, any change made in a room kicks off another change, which precipitates another and then another and so on. So, my yarn/fleece/spin/knit/craft room went from a room totally disorganized, messy and just not that enjoyable to be in to this: a place that’s warm and pretty, a place that feels like a hug –

Wish I’d thought of this sooner, but I intend to enjoy the changes to their fullest. Mr. Iknead was just happy that we had to lift and move the cabinet only about 20 feet, instead of 200. It weighs a ton!!

All things change; nothing perishes. Ovid

Knitting

Oh No, No FO, Should I MYOB?, Grands

January 17, 2014 mud&stringLeave a comment

OFF THE NEEDLES

Nothing, despite a serious case of startitis and my resolve to not start anything new until I get at least one of my current WIPs off the needles.

ON THE NEEDLES

First sleeve of Mariella Cardi

Best Friend Scarf using a ball of Jojoland Melody I found in one of my stash dives.

The second sock of a pair for me; the yarn is a mystery, the pattern is in my head.

I need to bust a move on at least one of these projects, I have a pattern and yarn that is calling me like a sideshow barker, “Hurry, hurry, hurry! Step right this way! Get ready for the most fabulous project of your life! Hurry, hurry, hurry!

QUESTION

Should I (diplomatically) point out typos in a friend’s otherwise beautiful website? They’re nothing serious, nothing that couldn’t be fixed with a simple proofread; wouldn’t you want something that represents you to be perfect? Should I mention it or should I MYOB? What would you do?

TUESDAY WITH THE GRANDS

The Sprout and the Slide

Babydiva Daredevil

A thing well said will be wit in all languages

Knitting

Yarnlove

January 14, 2014 mud&stringLeave a comment

SHOW AND TELL

Cascade 220

Color # 9604

100% Peruvian Highland Wool

(I have a definite plan for this, but must keep it on the down low for now)

Lorna’s Laces Solemate

Color # 3684 – Flames

55% Superwash Merino

15% Nylon

30% Outlast viscose

Socks, definitely.

A NEW FAVORITE POEM

Sabrina fair,

Listen where thou art sitting

Under the glassy, cool, translucent wave,

In twisted braids of lilies knitting

The loose train of thy amber-dropping

hair;

Listen for dear honor’s sake,

Goddess of the silver lake,

Listen and save.

John Milton

Knitting

Monday Love, Pots, This Is Why

January 13, 2014 mud&stringLeave a comment

IHEARTMONDAY

At the risk of being tarred and feathered by the present workforce, I have to say that I love Mondays. Let me tell you why: Monday mornings are a happy reminder that Mr. Iknead and I are retired. We are learning how to “not work”; for us, this means deciding to go out to lunch on a whim, or watching that movie/episode that we’ve just never gotten around to, looking outside to check the weather and not thinking “OMG, it’s raining/snowing/sleeting/storming and I need to get a move on this morning, just in case.” and instead, thinking “OMG, it’s raining/snowing/sleeting/storming and I think I WILL have that extra cup of coffee now.” My apologies if I’m gloating, I don’t mean to; it’s just that all this is so new to us, like opening a present each and every morning and knowing that it’s going to “fit” perfectly.

MUDSLINGING

Remembering one of my pottery goals this year, I snapped a few pictures last time I was in the pottery studio.

This one should be ready to trim today.

(Don’t know whose backside that is.)

This may be our new fruit bowl.

I see a possible yarn bowl.

This one’s a wild card. What do you see?

BACK INTO THE POND

This is the reason I frogged a nearly complete sleeve that seemed to take FOREVER on the Mariella Cardi –

Ladders, ladders everywhere

The pattern called for DPNs and for once, I actually followed directions, resulting in ladders between every needle. So, I gritted my teeth, bought a size 5 circular needle, frogged and restarted. It’s going much better, thank you. How come I try to delude myself every time I see a glitch that a) it will block out, b) I’ve made a mistake I’m calling a design feature and/or c) really, no one is going to notice? This delusion carries me until I’m within spitting distance of completion, then the glitch rises up, gives me a smack upside the head and says, “What were you thinking??” Thus, the frogging and restarting, with all the required fuming and sighs. Whew … I feel much better now.

I think somehow we learn who we really are and then live with that decision. Eleanor Roosevelt

Knitting

WIP Wednesday and Yarn Along 01/08/14

January 8, 2014 mud&stringLeave a comment

ON THE NEEDLES

A couple of things:

The first sleeve on the Quince & Co. Mariella Cardi –

and

some random sock, done in some stash mystery yarn (maybe Seasilk???). I started this one toe up because I haven’t decided whether to do a real pattern or just a nice, comfy, go-to kind of sock. As you can see, the jury is still out….

OUT OF THE OVEN

Yesterday, while sort of browsing through some older posts, it dawned on me that I haven’t posted any baking projects lately. I sort of think I need to do that every once in a while, I mean, the blog is called iknead2knit and all. So, with that in mind, I grabbed the camera and snapped a few pics of yesterdays project – homemade granola.

The base recipe is one I got from my pottery instructor (thanks, Jean, the Pottery Queen), with 1 egg white, 1/2 cup agave nectar instead of sugar, 1/4 cup olive oil, a pinch of sea salt and 3 cups old fashioned oatmeal. I tweak it with stuff we like (and what’s in the pantry), cinnamon, raisins, almond slivers, unsweetened coconut and sometimes pumpkin seeds or shelled pistachios. I bake it at 300 degrees, stirring every ten minutes or so until it’s brown and dry. Then, it’s hard to keep from munching on it every time I pass it in the kitchen. Putting a little bit in vanilla yogurt is my favorite, with just enough crunch and sweet/salty to satisfy. Yum!

BY THE BOOK

I’m starting The Book Thief this afternoon. I can’t wait!! Pretty much cleared my calendar for it. I hope it lives up to its rep.

The Book Thief

Linking with Tami, Ginny and Frontier Dreams today, as always, inspiration central!

Winners make a habit of manufacturing their own positive expectations in advance of the event. Brian Tracy

Knitting

Guess What Day It Is!!!!!!!!

January 6, 2014 mud&stringLeave a comment

WHAT DAY??

It’s the first day of the new session at the Art Center – now known to my family as “my new second home”. I can’t wait to see what this new pottery session will bring. I’ve decided that I’d like to make a couple of big (think holding with both hands) coffee cups, all different, but with matching glazes to tie them together. Actually, this project is two fold, I want the cups and I need to practice uniformity in certain projects and more than anything, get better at making handles. For some reason, I’m apparently handle challenged, just can’t seem to “get” them. They always turn out wonky, won’t stay on, droop, are crooked, are too big or too small. So, I guess you could say that my goal for this semester is handles.

Cups of My Dreams

Another of my pottery goals is to remember to take pictures of projects, before, during and after, if for no other reason than to be able to identify my pieces when I forget to mark them as mine. My bee stamp looks to have turned out well. I’ll give it its first use today; results to follow.

Moral excellence comes about as a result of habit. We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts. Aristotle

Knitting

Happy New Year, 2014’s First WIP Wednesday and A Little More Christmas

January 1, 2014 mud&stringLeave a comment

TWOFER

Happy New Year! Come on in, 2014, make yourself at home! Has another year already come and gone? Really? A lot has happened in the past 365 days, sadness at the loss of my mother, joy at the prospect of new babies, excitement with Mr. Iknead’s retirement and just living life on life’s terms. In the words of a dear friend, “If it gets any better, I don’t know if I can stand it”.

Here’s the first WIP for 2014, Quince & Company’s Mariella Cardigan, their own Lark yarn, in Chanterelle. This WIP is sharing the stage with my Yarn Along book, The Naked Lady Who Stood on Her Head, A Psychiatrist’s Stories of his Most Bizarre Cases, by Gary Small, M. D. Intriguing, to say the least and an easy read.

A LITTLE MORE CHRISTMAS

The Papoose and I Made Our First Gingerbread House

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas

The Sprout, Mr. Iknead, Mebbie (Mr. Iknead’s mommy), Yours Truly and the Papoose

Christmas 2013

Me and the Sprout

My Beautiful Daughter and Yes, That’s a Skull Scarf I’m Wearing with My Sheep Jammies

My Sweet Mother of the Heart and Me

The Coleman/Vaughan Clan

Linking with Tami, Ginny’s Yarn Along and Frontier Dreams KCCO.

Never be afraid to try, remember….Amateurs built the Ark, Professionals built the Titanic. Unknown

Knitting

Cray Cray Christmas, Life Change

December 27, 2013 mud&stringLeave a comment

WHEW!

Our (usual) cray cray Christmas has come and gone and from the pics, we were all very very good the past year. What was the best part? The Iknead/Coleman/Vaughan family had not one, but two Christmases, The Iknead/Vaughans in the morning and the Iknead/Coleman/Vaughans in the evening.

We went to the Christmas Eve Candlelight Service:

Where I learned that hearing a precious three year old grand singing “Oh Come Let Us Adore Him” will move me to tears, then and now; reminding me of the joy of the real gifts of Christmas, past, present and future. (Excuse me, I need a tissue).

Bigdaddy, as always, set a beautiful table for us Christmas morning:

Again, the food was delish and the company, delightful!

We had a visit from Santa:

and were able to squeeze in a Christmas snuggle or two:

Babydaddy was gracious enough to play Santa for Round 2:

I finally can post a Christmas knitting FO:

Babydaddy’s Handknit Socks

Santa made another stop at Babydiva’s house:

and found that Babydiva had also been very good!

What’s the over the top, greatest thing ever, long time coming and more than well deserved gift for all of the family this Christmas season? Are you sitting down?

(Cue the fanfare)

Mr. Iknead is retired as of December 19, 2013! Retired as in the ceremonial turning off of the alarm clock, sitting around, reading the newspaper and drinking coffee in the morning and what shall I do today retired.

Congratulations, sweetie! You’ve more than earned it! I can’t wait to get started on this new life chapter with you!

More to follow………

When the solution is simple, God is answering. Albert Einstein

Knitting

Random Tuesday

December 17, 2013 mud&stringLeave a comment

RANDOMLY

We got a new mailbox! The house siding is finished, yay; but with the new siding, the old mailbox looked very old and sad, so it retired to the great recycle bin in the sky and was replaced by this:

New kid in town. Isn’t it pretty??

OUT FOR A SPIN

Here’s a look at my newest spinning project:

The roving came from Greenwood Fiberworks. For more info, see this post.

THE GRANDS

In no particular order:

The Sprout loves Josie Pug’s kennel. Look at her new teeth!

The Papoose loves G-grandma and G-grandma loves her back, although you can’t tell it in this pic. Mema looks like she wants to escape! BTW, Mema is Mr. Iknead’s mommy.

Babydiva visits her minions!

Age is a question of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter. Satchel Paige

Knitting

WIP Wednesday 12/11/13, Bee Stamp, Booklove

December 11, 2013 mud&stringLeave a comment

NOT OBSESSED, JUST REALLY, REALLY FOCUSED

As so often happens with me, I got a really good idea along with my coffee and newspaper this morning and as usual, I had to pull out all my other crafting stuff and sort through everything to find what I was ~~obsessed~~ ~~with~~ focused on right then. The stamp I use to identify my pottery projects bit the dust last week and my big idea was to change from an initial stamp (my initials, bc) to a honeybee mark. So, back to the idea, I found some Sculpey clay, found a honeybee charm in the craft stash and pressed it in. Then, I remembered I had some honeybee earrings, so I got one of those and did the same thing. The next step is deciding which one to use. I’m sort of leaning toward the charm, I don’t want a cutesy bee, more like a zoological print look. Which do you prefer?

Just realized there is no contest. The bigger one is better on all counts. And they say size doesn’t matter :p. Here is a better detailed photo:

Upside down. Oops.

ON THE NEEDLES

Tina Martinez’s Fascine Socks, using Fiesta Baby Boom yarn in Sweet Pea. My only regret is that I didn’t by more of this yarn when I had a chance. I’m not running short or anything like that, I just love it.

A little detail

BY THE BOOK

Driftless, by David Rhodes

Linking today with Tami, Frontier Dreams Keep Calm and Craft On and Ginny’s Knit A Long.

Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination circles the world. Albert Einstein

Knitting

Winter Trifecta, FO Friday 12/6/13

December 6, 2013 mud&stringLeave a comment

BRRRRRR

The long promised winter weather is here. We have the trifecta – sleet, freezing rain and snow. It’s a perfect day to hunker down, drink your hot drink of choice and knit or spin or read or (insert your favorite activity here). The Iknead clan is warm, fed and happy. We have a lot to be thankful for.

From the Iknead front door.

POTS

I spent part of yesterday in the studio and pulled my stuff out of the damp box, getting ready to trim. I was surprised at how many pots I’d thrown.

A couple of these ended up in the clay recycle barrel, but overall, I’m pleased. I’m getting a little tired of bowls, though, and will probably start trying some new shapes when I can get back into the studio. The next ones have been bisqued and are kind of uniform:

I like the way the look stacked. As soon as the weather lets up a little, I’ll get them glazed and fire them one last time.

OFF THE NEEDLES

Scapula scarf from Quince&Co, done in Lark, which is 100% American wool, the color is Bird’s Egg. Very, very pleased with both the yarn and the pattern. If you haven’t yet, head over to their website and check them out. Really awesome stuff.

This is a really, really long scarf!

I’m linking with Frontier Dreams and Tami today. When you’re checking out Quince&Co, trip on over to these guys. Even more awesome stuff.

The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity. Ellen Parr

Knitting

WIP Wednesday, Will It Fit?, He Has a Sensitive Side

December 4, 2013 mud&stringLeave a comment

OFF THE NEEDLES

Nuthin’. Zero, zilch, negative. Projects? Yeah, I got ’em, just none finished. The weather forecast is for a big ice storm starting tonight or tomorrow, if it happens, projects will FLY off the needles. Just you watch.

GOT A SHOEHORN??

We have an ginormous igloo style dog house that I’m donating to one of the rescue organizations here in Little Rock. Cool, right? So, next on my to do list today is try to fit this ginormous igloo into my Nissan Versa. I think it will fit if I put down the back seats. Maybe.

FLASH:

The rescue lady just called and she will pick it up in her truck tomorrow afternoon. All around good!

FIBER FLASH

This lovely stuff is from Greenwood Fiberworks, hand painted Polwarth, in Rosewood and the best part? I have four of these beauties and whatever they decide to be, it will be mine, mine, mine! I’m thinking socks, but Rosie Rosewood may have other ideas. Don’t laugh – my wool talks to me all the time.

REAL MEN WEAR PINK

Babydaddy got cold over Thanksgiving and donned the pink Snuggie for a while. I think it goes really well with the rainbow sock toe this particular pair of Jaywalker socks ended up with when I ran out of yarn and had to wing it.