Half Pi Shawl?

I'm sort of embarassed to call this a Pi Shawl. I got bored about 1/2 way through it and just decided to bind it off and make it a blankie for Jada. I guess you can tell my lack of commitment through the very poor blocking job I did on it too. I will make one again but I will put lace in it b/c making it plain is pretty boring knitting. And I didn't have a good vision for what I would do with it w/o lace. I love EZ's patterns, they are so well thought out and easy to follow. I just should have learned lace before I tackled this one. After sitting unfinished for over a year I decided to rescue the cone from obscurity so I could use it for something else. Lesson learned - I now know how to make a nice circle shawl and now that I can knit lace the next one will be much improved!

Yarn: Brown Sheep Nature Spun Sport
Color: ??
Needles - 8,9 and 10 (increased needle sizes while making it to make the edging slightly larger.
Pattern: Elizabeth's Zimmerman's Pi Shawl about 1/2 way complete :), using her recommendation for a crochet edging.

Blue a4A hat

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Again - details at Charlotte Purls!!! Now on to trying to complete my Christmas presents!

Baby Hat

Details at http://charlottepurls.blogspot.com :) I missed the other hat I knit for Afgans for Afgans. But it's on the CP blog too :)

Who is that masked man?

I had promised Colin a helmet liner for his motorcycle helmet *forever*. When I was in Cottage Yarn, the Yarn Lady mentioned she had made one out of Malabrgio for her husband to go hunting in. So - I purchased a ball in the colors he likes - plain black/browns/greys and went at it. I also wanted to practice the pattern since I want to make some for the troops but I had a hard time envisioning how the pattern works. It turned out OK except Colin says the part around the nose needs to be a bit tighter.

It was a suprisingly fast knit. I thought it would take longer. It is basically a turtle neck with a hat attached :) I think I can now tackle making some to send over for the troops. Here is the link to the pattern if you want to make one for the troops too: Helmet Liner Patterns.

Finally.......Cold Weather!

It's finally cold enough to justify making something to keep warm! I made Jason a hat out of Manos del Uruguay. I got the yarn for free!!!! I wanted to try it and decided to by a skein. But then found out I had a $75 coupon to spend and I had to spend it in one day!!!!! Such bad luck to have $75 to spend in a yarn shop!!!



Unfortunately - I didn't have a good game plan. Afterward, I realized I should have gotten some cashmere or something purely luxurious that I would never get otherwise. But I got 4 hanks of the Manos, 1 of Malabrio lace, and some stich markers to use every last penny.

These is the 100% Wool yarn. It's think and thin and fun to knit. It is not as soft as Malabrigo - another kettle dyed yarn. It's great for a hat - perfect weight. I wouldn't use it for a sweater though - even though it's beautiful - but it would be a tad too scratchy for me. I'm hooked on the idea of Malabrigo as the perfect sweater wool.



I also made another pair of Fetchings out of Moda Dea Bamboo Wool. These will be a gift for one of the kid's teachers along with the other pair. The yarn was great to work with, seems like a much more expensive yarn than what you would usually find at A.C. Moore. The color selection isn't that great, however, or I would think about it for a sweater. If I decide to make a dark grey sweater, then I would consider using this again.

Death of Family blogger - Birth of Family Space

Our family Blogger site died a slow, painful death. I haven't blogged on it in over a year. And blogging isn't Colin's thing. So - I've started one on Live Spaces because it does a bit more of what I need in a family blog - basically combline my family blog and photo album.

Here's the link: Family Blog to check out what are the latest antics that our family is up to. The latest excitement is that Jada turned 1!!! I didn't get as many birthday pictures as I would have liked but I snapped a few. I can't believe it's been a year, yet it seems like we have had 3 kids forever.

I felt bad b/c I had to send out our family pictures recently to some college friends and it was all very old. Now I have a new site to send them too. And I will do better about keeping it up.

Meet EastSideKnitters

I found a new knitting group in Redmond!! I was crusing a local mall looking for a bite to eat and a place to knit, and I found a very busy table of knitters (and spinners). They invited me to join them and now I have a home away from home :)

It was great to hear them talk about the knitting community in their area. It's very different than Charlotte. Alot more people who actually produce their yarn, spinning and getting very interesting sounding fibers. I've always wanted to know how to spin, maybe I will learn through hanging out with them when I'm in Redmond. Since I am there once a month - you will know where to find me on Wedensday evenings!!

All done!!!

The are done. They took a tiny bit over 1 hank of the Lana D'Oro. The Thumbs were ok, not too fun but not too hard. How does my neighbor aka babysitter model look modeling them?