Off to a slow start

The Beijing Olympics have been fabulous. The opening ceremonies - breath-taking.

My Ravelymics - not so much.

I did finish one project - start to finish:



I used Handmaiden Camel Spin. The online reviews were that the yarn was to die for. I somehow ended up with colors I was not in love with. And when I got it - I was less than impressed. It felt like cotton to me, not the silky soft I was expecting. But after knitting with it the fabric grew on my - and I love the result now. It almost has golden tones to it. I think it will be a gift - a pricy one- but I'm glad I used it. It was in my sell stash for a while, but I decided I couldn't get what I paid for it and I'm glad I decided to make a special scarf for someone. Camel hair - that's rare! The pattern is Rivolo - it was a easy - but didn't make the nice little rivers at first. Once I tightened my gauge it was better. It knits on a bias - so it's hard to see - you have to block it severely to get the nice pattern. All in all - a nice fast pattern that looks more complicated than it is. The scarf is a little short, but functional - and I may make it narrower if I make it again. The yarn was classed as laceweight, but it worked out closer to fingering with size 5 needles in my book.

I also made a market bag - finally!!!!!



I found this new yarn at the Ben Franklin in Redmond - NaturLin - a Rayon/Linen blend. It looks like Linen, but with a softer hand and very shiny. Less rough to work with, but strong. I tried to break it when I was on the plane without scissors. NOT. Almost tore my skin.

The pattern was called Hadley Mini although there was nothing 'mini' about the bag at all. It holds 4 HUGE balls of cotton yarn.

I loved the yarn and pattern. I will use both again.

I'll close with a few pictures of Sweetie with her shawl:





Next week - we are headed to Myrtle Beach for the week and I get to work on Hey Teach! and hopefully make up for my slow start. Happy Knitting everyone!

Random Thoughts

I have been getting my butt kicked for 2 weeks now. Well, really 4 - but for 2 weeks it's been really hard. I finally decided to commit to fitness.

First of all, by way of explanation, you may think this should have been a conclusion of mine a long time ago. I have been overweight basically since my daughter was born 9 years ago. But I'm an all or nothing sort of person. I can't just tip toe into fitness, either I need to be fit or I won't feel any motivation to do anything. Colin getting his personal training license tipped the scales for me. I finally had no excuse and I knew I had someone who I would be accountable to do it right. I told him 4 weeks I ago, I wanted him to be my personal trainer and I wanted to see results quickly. Not to lose a lot of weight, I know that is unreasonable. I want to lose weight the right way, so it stays off. But I wanted to build muscle tone and endurance.

Almost immediately after I made this decision, his fitness company started a 12 week fitness challenge. Hence - the butt kicking I've been speaking of. But it has been good. I feel muscles in my abs for the first time in years. They are under layer of fat, but they are there struggling to emerge.

However, there are no short cuts. Going from knitting being your primary form of exercise to regular butt kickings means injury. And my poor neck felt it yesterday. So - today I head to the chiropractor so the butt kickings can resume. And I can lay off the hydrocondone which I hate to take.

But the time on my back let me finish a few things:



Trekking XXL socks of my own design. They took so long to make, I completely lost gauge on the second one and it is noticeably bigger than the first. That's OK, it gave me a chance to keep them instead of give them away!



Another view - these will be my jean socks. I love the tiny stripes and jean friendly colors.




Mmmmmmmalabrigo Lace in a simple 2X2 rib. I wanted to feel the squishyness, and this is the most squishy scarf ever. It feels like you are wearing air, seriously. It's so soft and compfy. A portable lovie. It will be hard to let her go, but I think she wants to be a gift scarf.



Poor Jada- mama has discovered headbands. I can't get enough of these, and now I converted it to crochet - I can whip one out in 15 mins in any color! This is what Jada thinks of mama's headbands:



Janeen loves them too - she is begging me for blue and pink ones.

Lastly - the mail had gifts. 4oz of lovely fiber I haven't taken a picture of and this cutie spindle.



Now I can really spin *anywhere*. It is so tiny and cute, Laceweight is no sweat on this baby spindle. But It's so tiny it doesn't spin very long or maybe I don't have the technique down yet. Nevertheless, I love it! it came with a silk hankie that I've seen in books, but I have no idea what to do with. I'll have to experiment with spinning silk.

Look for more finished objects soon - I'm on a kick - I want to work on some fair isle but I can't CO w/o getting some of my current projects (mostly shawls that I've been working on for Christmas gifts for 2 YEARS!!!!!) done!

Why I am a dog person

I know I will get in trouble for this. When I look at blogs, Knitters all seem to like cats. Why?

A friend and worked shared this with our team and I thought it was funny. I wanted to share it with my knitting friends.



Here's a bit of yarn p0rn that made me drool and break my yarn diet. Why was I at a yarn store while on a Yarn diet? Especially Weaving Works one of my favorite shops in the USA? If you have to ask, I wouldn't be able to explain it to you!



Yes - that is Noro Sock Yarn. I saw it online and was like that sounds intereting. I saw it in the shop and the colors just POP. The single ply yarn looks differnt too. It knits up so pretty. I can't wait to wear my socks!!! Too bad for my current sock projects with 1 complete - I will have to put them on hold to get these done. :)

And one other knitted update - let's start with a question. Why does the most simple projects get the most rave reviews from total strangers (who don't knit)? I made this super quick Calorimetry (my new instant gratification project - LOL) and super, super quick, tiny scarf (using only the yarn I had left in the ball) for my trip to Seattle because last time I was so cold. It's in the 20s to 30s this week, so I am very glad to have it and wear it everywhere. I have been stopped and asked did some one make it for me. Everyone is so surpised that it isn't a hat but a headband when the see the back. In a knit shop - since this is Moda Dea Tweedle Dee yarn - I was asked what yarn it is b/c they haven't seen it before. And I was suprised that they weren't aware of the pattern. I thought I was the only one in the knitting world that hadn't knitted one yet looking at the number on Ravelry! I can wear the most complicated lace with *no* comments but a simple head scarf and scarf get's the most attention. Not that I wear my knitting for comments, but I'm just saying.....

Brrrrr - It's Cold in Seattle!!!!!

During my last trip to Seattle I was cold. I picked up some $1 gloves to keep my fingers toasty, but I couldn't bear to buy a scarf when I have to hands that love to knit!!!! I found some Casacde 220 in the colorway Celery - a nice heather color. And decided to make one of the Evelyn Clark shawls I have been wanting to make, but to impatient to wait for the shawl to be done! It knits up much faster in a Worsted Weight yarn - the scarf size! But it is suprisingly big. It is really a small shawl size after blocked. I love it. I can crunch it up under my coat to keep my neck warm, and I can use it in the office for a shoulder shawl if I get a bit chilly. Best of all - I started and cast off in a week!!

Yes, it was a bit of a diversion from Christmas knitting which is in a bit of a crisis state right now. But it was just so much fun to see it grow :)

I have all the details on Ravelry user name 'jc3smama' for those of you in Ravelry. If you are not - what are you waiting for? It's the best way to blow a few extra hours on the computer :)

Christmas Presents - Caterpillar Scarves and Hat

I decided to make these cute scarves and hats from Merino Farms for Christmas presents for the little kids in my life. I still have to add the eyes and eye brows but they are a quick cute knit. I love using bright colors. The Brown/Yellow is knit in the Merina Farms 3-ply worsted. The Green/Blue is knit in Malbrigo. Ahhhh - that is such a lovely, soft yarn. Doesn't feel anything like wool. I have GOT to make a sweater in it. It's a pretty big hank too, 2X as much yardage as the Merino Farms at about the same price. I like MF too - it's very soft. But I like the variation of color in the Malabrigo and you can't beat the price for the ultra softness. It's almost like knitting roving though. Be careful - I broke the yarn trying to bind it off twice!!

2 sock yarn scarf

I have been admiring scarves on the internet made with 2 contrasting sock yarns. So of course despite my many, many WIPs I had to start one!! The difference in yarns is a bit more subtle than I would have wanted, but I like it. Lots and lots of colors.