Tag: knit

Knitting

Arghhhhhhh

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DANG

While I’m waiting for the yarn to arrive to complete the My Harmonica Shrug, I decided to go ahead and start this.  I had the yarn, I had the needles, I had the pattern and I even did a gauge swatch.  The pattern starts out CO 338 stitches.  Place marker and join in the round.  Knit five rounds, purl one round.  It’s working, everything looks to be fine, right stitch count, etc.  I don’t have to tell you how many stitches are in six rounds of 338.  Anyway, as I’m putting this new project to bed (I try to sort things out a little, make sure I know where to start when I next pick it up, looking for dropped stitches, just making sure I have no nasty surprises the next day, stuff like that).  Anyhow, (you fiber artists already know what I’m going to say next, don’t you?) I saw that it was twisted.  Oh no, please no!!!!!! Yeah, twisted.  At 11 p.m., I frogged what I’d knitted and started casting those 338 stitches on, again.  Maybe my Fyberspates will arrive today, sigh.  Here’s what it looked like before frogging –

See the gauge swatch?

The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.  Leo Tolstoy

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Knitting

WIP Wednesday, Patio, Hello Beautiful

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ON THE NEEDLES

See that little ball in the photo?  That’s all the yarn I have left and the Harmonia Shrug just isn’t. quite. finished.  All that’s left is adding ribbing to the other sleeve, binding off and finishing with a tiny ruffle.  Luckily, for once I saw this coming and was able to order one more skein from a yarn shop in the UK.   I’ll have nearly an entire skein left over, but I can definitely see the rest transformed into gift(s) this fall.  That’s the way the cookie crumbles sometimes, as they say.

OUTSIDE

Our patio upgrade/redo is FINALLY finished and are we enjoying it!  We’ve had our coffee outside on it for the last few days and have relaxed in the late afternoons with our respective cold drinks and iPads.  Totally worth the $ and frustration.  We have plans tomorrow to start shopping for an umbrella table and a swing. 

HELLO BEAUTIFUL

Here’s my most recent picture of Babydiva, who grows more gorgeous all the time.

Babydiva and doggy sister, Bela

This may be my all-time favorite photo of my son and his daughter, sharing homework time.  I have a phenomenal son, who is also a phenomenal husband and father and this sweet photo proves it over and over.  

PARTING SHOT

Our only chick in the nest now, Josie, who is always right in the thick of things.  She was very put out that her daddy went inside for two seconds and shut the door before she could follow.

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

I admit to having an imagination feverish enough to melt good judgment.  Dean R. Koontz

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Knitting

Finally FO Friday

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OFF THE NEEDLES

Hitchhiker

Patons Lace

Sachet

ON THE NEEDLES

For the third time, I frogged my Vivacious Chocolate Shrug and started from scratch.  I hope this time’s a charm.  I’m getting burned out on the first three rows.  Thinking positive thoughts.

THE GRANDS

Mr. Iknead and I are in Stuttgart, riding herd on the Papoose and Sprout while their mom and dad fly off to somewhere in Texas for a wedding that their dad is officiating.  A short working vacation I suppose you’d call it.  So far, so good.  The girls went to bed with no fuss, no muss.  Here’s hoping that tomorrow is pretty for a visit to the park.

I’m linking with Tami and Frontier Dreams.

Indulge your imagination in every possible flight.  Jane Austen

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Knitting

WIP Wednesday 4/7/14

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ON THE NEEDLES

Vivacious Chocolate Shrug

Fyberspates Mixed Magenta

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So far, this is not going well, due completely to in attention on my part.  Frogged twice in the last two days.  It can only get better, right?

Linking with Tami today.

Going back to zero can help creative juices no matter the art form you are attempting to create.  Byron Pulsifer

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Knitting

Busy, But With What?

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DISTRACTED

Suddenly this evening I realized that I hadn’t posted since Saturday.  I know it’s only Monday, but I’ve really worked at getting into the at least three posts a week habit and truly, I enjoy posting, putting my thoughts in order and then onto the page; I mean, the “virtual” page.  I don’t remember the last time I hunted up a workable pen and a sheet of paper to write. Nowadays, handwriting, for me, is limited to list making and reminders, and even those are slowly being edged out by my iPad.

TDLP

My art journal has been kept me especially occupied the last few days.  Here are a couple of my entries over the past few days.

This Week’s Challenge

Document a Random Act of Kindness

The two coffee cups represent the RAK I received in the drive-thru at Starbucks when the person ahead of me paid for my latte, which I then passed on to the car behind me.

Last Week’s Challenge

Document an Inspirational Quote

I loved the imagination/kite analogy.  I’m not sure who to credit for this, maybe Lauren Bacall?

ON/OFF THE NEEDLES

Hitchhiker is finished!  Official FO pics on Friday.  Very pleased with how it turned out.  Stay tuned….

Knitting has  commenced in earnest on Vivacious Chocolate Shrug with the first three inches of the first cuff completed.  The Fyberspates yarn is a joy to knit, with just the right amount of squishy; I see more of this yarn in my future.

If we did the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves.  Thomas Edison

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Knitting

WIP Wednesday 4/30/14, Booklove

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ON THE NEEDLES

1) Hitchhiker

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2) Socks on a Plane, #2

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3) Vivacious Chocolate Shrug

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BOOKLOVE

I’m still loving Frog Music as much as I did when I started it; since the story is told backward, end to beginning, the suspense  is building and I’m less sure of “who did what, when and why”.  I love that in a book – do you?   And since I’m very seldom book monogamous, I started Anya.  You can read about it here.

I’m linking with my usual Wednesday blogs, Tami, Frontier Dreams KCCO and Ginny’s Yarn Along.  Do you have others you’d like to share?

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.  Eleanor Roosevelt

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Knitting

WIP Wednesday, Booklove and TDLP Obsessed

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ON THE NEEDLES

Newest WIP is another Hitchhiker, in Sachet Patons Lace that I picked up I don’t know when on a Hobby Lobby run.

I’m really liking the way this is knitting up.

Socks on a Plane are still on the needles, but have grown not a bit in the last week.  Tomorrow, I keep telling them, just hang on.  So, yes, the crazy yarn lady is talking to her unfinished socks now…..

BOOKLOVE

102 pages in and it has me walking extra miles on the treadmill.  That’s how fantastic this book is, a repeater, for sure.  I’m so glad I bought this instead of checking it out at the library, it’s a book to be savored.

WORD DOC

I got my first challenge for The Documented Life project completed and posted; the challenge was to use a cardboard food box in an unexpected manner; this is what I came up with –

The new challenge for Week 17 is on the drawing board.  I’ll be sharing it soon, meanwhile, check out it out, don’t be surprised if you find yourself drawn in and then obsessed.  Everyperson Art.  Love. It.

Linking with Tami, Ginny and Frontier Dreams.

All great art is the work of the whole living creature, body and soul, and chiefly of the soul.  John Ruskin, The Stones of Venice

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Knitting

WIP Wednesday 4/16/14 and Booklove

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ON THE NEEDLES

Since the first version of Socks on a Plane was way too small, I frogged and started over, this time with a total of 64 stitches instead of 56 (as best I can remember, I seem to have blocked it from my memory) and this time around the fit is much better.  I’m glad because it just about kills me to frog something that is so close to being finished.  Close as in one inch of cuff and I’m finished and moving on.  I did it and I’m glad I did, but still…

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Second Go Round

BOOKLOVE

I’m still reading God’s Hotel, which is taking longer than usual to finish since I seem to only read it when I’m on the treadmill.  This is a good thing most of the time because if I have a “special treadmill book”, climbing on and walking for 45 minutes or an hour doesn’t seem to be as much of a chore.  I downloaded a new book, Frog Music, that I’m looking forward to reading; I suppose you could call it my carrot and stick, since I’ve resolved to finish Hotel before I start anything new.

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I’m linking up today, as usual with Ginny, Tami and Frontier Dreams KCCO.  Inspiration Central, like always.

To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.  Joseph Clinton Pearce

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Knitting

Spinning Sunday

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YUCK

I decided to try space dyeing on the new roving I got from UpTownDesign and since I didn’t really know how to go about it, I hopped over to YouTube and check out a couple of how tos by ChemKnits.  Here’s an in progress look at my first try at it.

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It turned out to be the ugliest yarn ever so I overdyed it with some sky blue Jacquard acid fast dye I had on hand. Much, much better.

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Rinsed, dry and ready to spin:

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Still has some ugly spots, but socks can be mostly hidden 🙂

Live out of your imagination, not your history.  Stephen Covey

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Knitting

WIP Wednesday 4/2/14, Booklove, Leak Be Gone

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PLUMBING UPDATE

Our plumber rocks!  The leak I mentioned in my last post is history!  As it turned out, he found the leak, fixed it and only charged us $145.50.  If you’ve had to call a plumber in the last ten years, you’ll know we got off easy, fix-wise and money-wise, with no fuss and very little muss.  What a relief!

BOOKLOVE

I’ve finished one book, Benediction, by Kent Haruf and started two others, an ebook, God’s  Hotel by Victoria Sweet and an audiobook, Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen.  I wasn’t too sure about  Benediction, it took me a bit to see where the author was going with the story, but I got involved before too long and ended up enjoying it very much.  I like it when at the end of the book, there are still some loose ends, not everything is tied up nice, tight and neat.  Real life seems to always have loose ends!

ON THE NEEDLES

Woodlands Scarf in the found merino, Papercut, both of which I’m liking a lot.  I tentatively started a new pair of socks using my first Yarnbox yarn,  in a new pattern, Leaf on the Wind, but ended up frogging after deciding that my choice of both pattern did not do the yarn justice and vice versa.

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Yes, the photo is upside down but it just took me an hour to figure out how to insert a picture in a post on the iPad.  I’m not up for another hour of frustration today.

I’m linking with Tami and Frontier Dreams KCCO, please pay them a visit.  Oops, I almost forgot Ginny’s Yarn Along!

Skill to do comes of doing.  Ralph Emerson

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Knitting

FO Friday 3/28/14 or No K1P1 Rib for a While

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OFF THE NEEDLES

My Seafoam Shrug

in Hobby Lobby’s I Love This Cotton, Arctic Ice

There are no words for how over the moon I am with this shrug!  The fit is perfect, I took my photos after I washed it on my washer’s handwash cycle, then dried it low and slow in my dryer and hung it on a hanger.  I’m wearing this baby until it falls apart, and maybe then some.

I’m linking with Tami and KCCO, go take a look at more masterpieces!

It’s good to be just plain happy; it’s a little better to know that you’re happy; but to understand that you’re happy and to know why and how….and still be happy, be happy in the being and the knowing, well that is beyond happiness, that is bliss.  Henry Miller

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Knitting

WIP Wednesday 3/26/14, Booklove

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ON THE NEEDLES

1.  My Seafoam Shrug is now in the home stretch, down to the last bit of ruffle in ( you guessed it) k1p1 ribbing.  At least it calls for only 2 1/2 inches this time.  I’ll tell you, those two 60 row k1p1 sleeves just about did me in.  Hopefully, this project will be off the needles, washed and blocking by bedtime tonight.

So sorry, the Seafoam link eludes me at the moment.  I’ll keep looking and update when I find it.

 

2.  I’ve just barely started a Woodland Shawl from The Thrifty Knitter.  I stash dove last weekend and got reacquainted with some yarn that I’ve had for so long I haven’t a clue what it is.  All I can remember is that the color is called Papercut.  I’m going to do a bit of research, checking Ravelry to see if by some miracle I added it to my notebook.  Keep your fingers crossed.  OK, uncross your fingers.  No luck with Rav.  I do, however, remember it was a Etsy purchase, so that’s my next hope.  SCORE!!!!  I bought this yarn May 15, 2008 from knitfrontandback, out of Calgary, Canada and it’s laceweight merino.

WANNABE

I have the perfect yarn to knit the Maeva Socks from Knitty Winter 2011 with one big inconvenience.  The charts are so teeny tiny as to be useless for these old eyes.  This means a trip to the copy store to have them enlarged.  I tried printing them at 125% but that still isn’t really big enough.  >squint<

BOOKLOVE

This week I finished The Troop by Nick Cutter, a horror story.  Stephen King said it was one book that scared him, I see a lot of his influence in this particular book.  I won’t share any more as not to spoil it.  Check your local library.  Now, I’m listening to The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider; I love this book!  I came clean awhile back regarding my love for what they call Young Adult Fiction and this book hasn’t’ disappointed. If you enjoy YAF, give it a read.

I’m linking with Tami, Frontier Dreams KCCO and Ginny’s Yarn Along.

It’s not what you look at that matters.  It’s what you see.  Henry David Thoreau

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