One off the needles, two more cast on

Another busy weekend at the studio.

Earlier this week, my car died. Fortunately, my Dad was kind enough to share his car with me until I could get another one (which actually ended up being his car, as he just bought my mom a new one for her birthday, but that's a long story and I want to get to the knitting.)

And all this sharing of car resulted in a lot of chaos and a missed deadline. Remember secret surprise? Well it was a tank top for my mom for her birthday... only by her birthday, it wasn't quite finished. The back was done, and the front was done up to the neckline, but I need a couple more hours to finish it off... so like any good knitter... I gave it to her in pieces with the promise of finishing it on the weekend.

I did keep that promise on Saturday, while Dave was helping my dad work in his old/my new car, I sat out back with mom and finished her top. Yaaay... only I don't have pictures of it. See, I don't crochet, and the top requires a crocheted edge around the arm and neckline.... so yes, mom has to finish her own birthday present... I am a horrible child I know... but I'm the youngest and the cutest so I can get away with it. (I'll post pics as soon as mom finishes it.)

Anyway, when Dave and I got home that evening, I still felt the need to knit. You think I would have picked up one of the many projects I already had on the needles but nooo... I cast on for something new...Here is Peno checking out my Flower Power Elephant. This is a really easy pattern (about 3 hours to knit all the pieces) but I added a little twist. I'm going to felt it. (I LOVE felting)

I fully intended to felt it today. But I thought, if I'm going to be felting I should finished the pieces of my other felted project and felt them all at once (it's a purse of my own design and once it's done I'll post the pattern for free here). So I started working on the strap this morning, and about noon Dave decided he was going to take apart my toilet (it makes a hideous noise every time you flush... it's kind of like having a toilet alarm) and of course, he decides he needs a part, so a-shopping we go. Well none of the stores have the part we need (of course) but he decides to stop off at my parents to return some body filler he borrowed.

It was a good thing we did, because mom had a little computer problem, and Dave is her resident computer guru. I settled in for a long wait... but since we were only going shopping I hadn't brought my knitting. (That and it's angora and Dave doesn't like the fluffies in his car)

Mom kindly gave me some hand painted silk yarn to keep me busy and I started knitting a shawl... (my own pattern I'll post when it's done) It doesn't look like I got very far considering we were at mom's for about seven hours, but I ripped it out once.

And that was my weekend... back to another Monday.

HAPPEE BERFDAY!!!!

Happy Birthday to the BESTEST mom in the world!

Yes mom, I stole that one from the photo album and you're not getting it back

Sadly, that's most recent pic I have of the two of us together (that was highschool, not college). Be prepared this weekend mom!

I'm not going to tell you how old she is... you have to ask her, yourself...

Peno's got a brand new bag...

... but it's really not for her.

Sometime ago, Peno laid claim to my knitting bag...

(yeah she was that adamant about it)

And every time I turned around she was on it. I didn't mind because it was just a cheap bag from the dollar store, and unlike Rocky, she's not destructive around yarn.

But the other day I was in Giant Tiger, and I saw the perfect bag for my knitting. It was huge, stylish, and cheap, so I bought it. It is perfect, and I'm sure will fit a whole sweater or maybe even two. It had no problem toting Frankenghan.

And even better Peno would get the old bag all to herself. (She'd get really cheesed when I'd pull it from under her and fill it with my car knitting.)

But today I came home to this!

and a little later this...

Saucy kitty!

Three little chipmunks twirling on a branch...

Voila! Three hats! Trois Chapeaux (I think I spelled that wrong)

As I said in my previous post... these are three Christmas presents for three special little friends (no peeking kids). I'm trying to use up a lot of the bit balls in my stash, and so far so good... and that's three Christmas prezzies down and it's only September. Actually I have more than that taken care of, but the recipients read this blog, so I'm not telling you nothing.



I also have another project that I'd totally love to share with you, but I'm hoping to get it published in Knitty, so I can't show anything here yet. If Knitty rejects it I'll publish it here, but keep your fingers crossed.

Ho ho ho.... is it green giant or Santa?

Had another friday off, so I spent the weekend making special Christmas presents for some wee friends of mine.


I don't have any pictures because work needed my camera for the weekend, but I snapped this one while at mom's:

This was supposed to be for Mr. Ethan, but if it fits Miss Rowan (as pictured) it totally won't fit Mr. Ethan. So.. Rowan left Gramma's with a new hat, and I made Ethan a new one.

Mom and I decided it makes her look like the Green Giant's little friend, Sprout.

Just a little quicky

I've been toying with the idea of casting this one on since I found it on Ravelry:

Anthropologie Inspired Caplet

I finally decided to do it while working away on the feather and fan princess afghan when I realized the yarn was perfect. I had to lengthen it a couple inches so it would cover my breast instead of ending a nipple level (which is just weird) . I am going to rejig it for a lighter wool, because it would be nice to have one that's not so chunky.

But for now it's a cute little top to throw over a longsleeve tee or strappy top. And it only took about 6 hours!

I'll get some pics of it on this weekend, it looks much better on... here it looks liek a child's cardi. (I might adapt the pattern for some special girls I know too)

Fun with Feather and Fan

Frankenghan is almost done. I finished up the one end with some feather and fan:

I'll pick up the stitches on the other side later this week and finish it up.

And while we're talking about feather and fan, I started knitting this afghan a while ago and like most of my projects put it away. I pulled it out tonight and started working on it again. I think it's going to be a Christmas present for my neice as it's very princess looking.

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaawn!

What a weekend!

It started on Friday. I ran out of hours at work, so I took the day off. It really was a blessing, because I had spent the week playing Sid Meier's Pirates and my house was a mess. Not to mention, the Pagan Harvest Festival was the very next day and there were about 12,001 things I needed to do to prepare. I had planned on doing a little bit each day the week before... but the lure of the open (pixilated) sea was too much, and I am a professional procrastinator.

So, Friday it was time to buckle down and get to work. I started by sleeping in until 10:30. I got up, looked at the dishes, opened a can of Coke and headed for the computer. After about an hour and a half of Pirates, I decided it was time to get really serious.

I headed upstairs and beaded for several hours. The cats were thrilled that I was home all day, and with the fact that I was in the studio... a room they are not allowed in unsupervised. Of course when Rocky wasn't trying to run away with half my stash (the main reason he's not allowed in that room) Tux was trying to help me bead:

After about two hours I finally convinced him to get the hell out of the way and he settled on this perch to supervise.

At about 6:30 p.m. I stopped beading and headed downstairs to clean up the house before Dave got home from work. I cleaned, and cleaned, and cleaned, cooked Dave some dinner and put it in the fridge for him, and then headed up to mom's to steal some cash for my float. I finally got home around 9:30. Thankfully Dave had done the dishes (dishes are my nemesis). After chatting with him for a while, I headed for bed around midnight, enjoying one of the worse nights of sleep I've ever had.

I was up Saturday bright and early and Dave helped me packed up the car before he headed up to my parents to fix his Buick. I picked up my friend Bree, and we headed to Gage Park.

We had been watching the weather all week, and it looked bleak for the outdoor festival. But we got through a wonderful & busy (albeit grey& dismal) morning, selling our crafts (Bree is a photographer). The Pagan Harvest Festival is one of the most interesting places I've ever vended at. You meet the most interesting people, and there is an incredible energy there. One of the work shop tents was right behind us, so we got to listen in. It was nice because when you're selling, you often miss out on all the non-selling events at festivals. There was a study on the significance of harvest festivals throughout the world, a workshop about learning to identify your spirit animal, and belly dancing lessons. When I have a little less jiggle to my jello, I might join them. It looked like fun. Unfortunately I left my camera at home, so no pics.

But, at about 2 p.m. the weather turned & the rain came down. Surprisingly though, it didn't seem to deter the visitors. There were a lot of umbrellas, but people where still milling about. But by 4 p.m. most people had cleared out. Not to mention the fact that Bree and I were pretty damp. My jewelry is impervious rain, and Bree had all her prints under plastic, but our tent didn't have sides (next year we're investing in some tarps) As it got heavier, we got wetter.

And of course the minute we got everything packed up and were taking the tent down... the sky opened up, pouring down so much rain we could barely see across the park. So much for being damp. We were soaked to the bone. (Image how ticked I was when I woke up this morning to a nice bright sunny day)

While I was selling I did manage to make some progress on my shortrow spiral afghan, which I now call "Frankenghan"

I worked away on it today as well, and here's where we're at...

After running out of yarn for the short row spiral, I picked up stitches all way around, and increasing on the corners I worked in the round until I ran out of wool again. Here's close of up the increases:

Once that was done, I decided I didn't want it to be a square afghan anymore, so working with one end I started knitting in garter stitch. I've done the same thing on the other end. Then I decided I really want this to be a full size afghan, not just a lapghan, so I'm continuing on with the peach yarn in seed stitch. I'll do the same on the other end. Even after that is done, it probably won't be long enough, so I think I may finish the ends in feather and fan in a different yarn. So I guess it's kind of a sampler afghan. All in all it's been a great way to use up those odd balls of yarn.

A-Okay

First an update:

A reader recently asked if Tux's fat lip was any better...

He says "Yes, thank you, it's just fine."

The swelling went down after a couple of weeks. It never seemed to cause him any pain, and from the reading I did, it looks like it was probably just an allergic reaction to something, or he bit a bug that bit back.

Onward and upward.

It was another busy weekend. Saturday bright and early mom and dad delivered a new (to me) dryer because mine crapped out a few weeks ago. Since Dave and I were up out of bed much earlier than normal we decided to get a lot accomplished.


We went to the beer store and took our empties back, and did some brief business at Bell Mobility (well Dave did... I won't deal with Bell for any reason). We got some lunch at Swiss Chalet. Between the gift card that had been sitting in my wallet since March and the change from the empties, lunch was free! We then headed out to Brantford so Dave could get a new starter for the great white whale:
The starter it had wasn't a performance starter and didn't like to start when it's hot... not a good idea for a summer car. And since we were in the Brantford area and Dave made me stand around a performance shop for half an hour, I made him drive me down the road to Mary Maxim so he could follow me around for an hour and a half!

I got some new yarn (only $1.49 a ball... I bought six) and some findings I've been needing, as well as some denim patches to repair Dave's jeans:
Plus some more fabric... I guess I better get my other quilt top together so I can make this one:


And to get even remotely close to being able to do that, I had to clean out the studio. So between cleaning and doing the laundry that piled up while I was dryerless, it was a pretty busy Sunday too.

Of course I didn't get to any sewing, and with the Pagan Harvest Festival looming, I probably won't get any done until next week.

Yarn to Dye for

Here are the fruits of Monday's labour (well some of them, mom kept a few skeins)

From top to bottom

Parrot Fish (the reef kind, not the freshwater kind)

Aurelia

and

Eternal Flame

Now the good news is, if you really, really like these... they will be for sale soon!

Along with these (if you'll remember from a previous blog)

(From L-R: Summer Vineyard, Bluebells and Cockleshells, Sunflower Garden and Louis' Last Sunrise)

And there will be much more to come!

Mom and I just have to figure out a few details and we'll be opening an Etsy shop! The moment that happens I'll let you know here!

Dizzy... and it ain't the wine

Round and round and round we go...
As you can see I spent most of the weekend making serious progress on the shortrow spiral afghan. I really like this pattern... it's very calming. Dave said it looks like I'm knitting a temple but he spent most of the weekend playing pirate games on the computer so what does he know?
I have, however, run out of yarn so I can't make this any bigger. (Rocky here gives you an idea of the size.) It's obviously not big enough. It's not even big enough for a baby blanket. But it's okay. I've got a plan! I'm not going to tell you what it is... but rest assured it's a good one. You'll see it soon enough.

And since Rocky gets a little too much face time on this blog... here are my other beautiful, loveable and irritating models.

Madam Jalapeno...

Peno has been particularly helpful with this blanket... keeping the other side of the couch warm and guarding the balls of yarn when they aren't in use. I have a feeling this will end up being "her" blanket.

And of course we can't forget Tux who knows what blankies are really for!NAP TIME!

In other news, Mom and I spent the day dyeing more yarn. You can check out that adventure here!