Catching up Part 2

It has been so busy at Chez NK and environs! Work is busy, but going quite well! We said good-bye to our Dear Agent S on the 15th....she is no longer working just down the hall...boo!....she is off to follow her dreams and passions, and our Dear E will be following her in January! They will be starting a business together and we wish them great success and the very best of everything!!!

As 2007 is rapidly approaching, I must get some FOs off my plate and onto the blog!

Hmmm...I believe I mentioned completion of my Shetland Triangle shawl...tadah....



Pattern: Shetland Triangle Shawl from Wrap Style
Yarn: Elann Highland Silk in Ruby (~6 skeins)
Needles: size 8 Addi
Mods: added beads to the bind-off edge


Right you are!!! Pomatomus socks, affectionately known as "goldfish" socks!!
Pattern: Pomatomus by Cookie A. in Knitty
Yarn: Woolarina
Needles: Probably 2.5mm
Mods: Anatomical toes ala Priscilla Gibson-Roberts
Fit: Perfectly!!


My STR sock club Titania socks are done!!! Yay!!! They were my Thanksgiving holiday project!
Pattern: Titania's Revenge by Cookie A. for the BMFA Sock club
Yarn: STR Titania (lightweight)
Needles: 3.0 mm
Mods: Anatomical toe ala PG-R
Fit: like a glove!!!!

Marble Arches are finished!!
Pattern: Marble Arches by Sandi for the BMFA sock club
Yarn: STR Pink Granite (medium weight)
Needles: 2.5 mm
Mods: Rounder toe than written and used right and left M1~no biggie
Fit: No surprise here: cushy, cushy, cushy!!!!

I need to finish one little Winter's Eve sock before the stroke of midnight on Sunday! I am determined to get a 4.0 gpa my freshman year of the BMFA sock club...if I write it, I'll do it!!!

If I don't get a chance to post before the New Year begins, I wish everyone a very happy, healthy and fiberful 2007!! Cheers!!

Winter's Eve II

One WE finished! It fits my average woman's foot perfectly (Size small directions using 2.5 mm Addis). The second sock is in progress! I heart this sock...heart it!!!!

Happy knitting!!

Vacations and Holidays

It's been so long since my last post - a couple of weeks, at least, and I apologize. This is such a crazy time of year, as most of you can probably agree and totally relate to, and blogging time just seemed to slip between my fingers. Christmas shopping, family gatherings, and finishing up knitting gifts really filled up my time. My goal for the new year is to blog several times each week. We'll see how long I can keep that up, but my intentions are surely good and filled with hope. :)

I finished the Shetland Triangle shawl for my sister's Christmas gift, and it looked so lovely on her! It just really accents her face and personality, so I'm happy I chose the colors (thanks to NK) for her. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this pattern, it can be found in Wrap Style, and is such a great pattern! Each of us WHY gals has made one, I believe, or are in the process. Several of us have used the pattern at least more than once. It's that awesome!

I used almost 2 skeins of STR Petrified Wood in the lightweight. I would use this yarn for everything if I could, and it especially works really beautifully for making these shawls. The color and striping that happens is just amazing. STR, you Rock!






























In the middle of getting packages wrapped, making holiday cookies, and having countless parties, we decided we needed just a little more action in our lives, because all of this just wasn't quite enough. We headed off to Six Flags in California for the weekend last weekend. The first day was a little rainy, however, the second day was a picture perfect day, sunny skies all around, perfect temperature, and Six Flags was a blast. Here are some highlights:
















Our walk up to "Superman: the Ride" was quite overwhelming. First of all, it's a trek and a half just to walk up to the front of the ride. From the front of this, you can't even see the ride, and it's quite a walk to the ride even from here. We hear from several other people that they have been having complications with the ride all day long, however, it's now running. That makes us feel really safe! Complications? What kind of complications one always wonders? I mean, is the thing coming off the track periodically? Is it stopping at the top and are they having difficulty getting it down? Hmmmm.

Needless to say, we do venture down to the ride. Here's a bird's eye view of the ride:
















As you can see (hopefully you can see from this photo), the ride takes off at a gazillion miles a minute and goes up a very steep incline, stopping you near the top. Then it does the same thing back down. That's it! Just like Superman, I guess. :)

Here's my darling daughter Whitney, as we're getting ready to get on another coaster. The excitement is just bursting out of her!















We end up riding almost every coaster in Six Flags - well, at least my husband and daughter do. The best, and my all time favorite, was Tatsu. It's totally awesome!

Overall, it turned out to be a really great vacation - just the break we all really needed from the busy-ness of the holidays.

In more knitting news, I have finally finished Cozy. For those of you who don't know, I started Cozy last Christmas for my MIL, and never ended up finishing it in time for Christmas. I wasn't really great at lace knitting at that time, and had made some mistakes in the first part of it, struggled with ripping it out, etc. etc. The never ending excuses as to why I hadn't finished it. But then, I got a fire under my ass or something, because I picked it up last month and have not put it down! I ripped out and started over what I had started last year, and it came out just beautifully. It's a super easily memorizable pattern, you can make it as long as you want, or as short as you want, and it can be used as a wrap, a lap blanket, etc. It's great. Here are some shots of the Cozy debut:

Cozy pattern is from Knitty.com and I used 8 skeins of Knit Picks Andean Silk in Sangria colorway.






























































Sorry for so many shots....Cozy just loves to be in the spotlight for some reason. :)

Happy Holidays!

Winter's Eve

Winter's Eve. The perfect name for the December selection of the BMFA sock club. This pattern is perfection itself! These socks were designed by Sivia Harding (Goddess of the bead, sock and lace worlds!!). They are in a semisolid red (if it isn't red, it isn't!). There are cables (my life's blood--oh! and we're back to red!)!!! And there are beads!!! I struggled with my bead choice, but in the end (with encouragement from DH), I went with the pearly beads. For me, they represent the glistening snow, frosty windows, and candle lit rooms that make me think of a Victorian drawing room at Winter's Eve. I see Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth, Emma and her Mr. Knightly....Perhaps Bridget and her Mr. Darcy....Yes, I see Mr. Darcy in a lot of places, a lot of the time (ROTFLOL!!!)...and no, I really don't care whether they are Victorian, Edwardian, or any other "ian"...

Thank you Tina, Kaci, Sivia, and the whole BMFA team!!! You have created a very hard act for your own sweet selves to follow...I can't wait to see what is in store for us in 2007!!!

Happy Holidays!!

Max

Nothing like an early morning romp in a handwoven scarf from Ireland!!

Happy Knitting!

Thanksgiving

DH and I went to southern CA last week to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with my parents. Also joining us were my sisters and some dear friends of the family. Great fun was had by all! There was way too much food! And of course tons of knitting (not well documented in the photos...you'll just have to trust me!)

Following is a picture heavy recap of the holiday fun!


DH Pete, sister Laurie, and mom.


Laurie, who briefly gave up some knitting time to stitch up the
dressing inside the turkey! Yum!


Pete coveting the pumpkin cranberry bundt cake my sister
Jill baked earlier....double yum....


The finished bird!


Leonard, the master carver!!


Myrna, DH and Alice!


Dad (left) and Dan.

Obligatory knitting content:

Laurie (left) and Jill. Yes, they're twins!!!

I hope your holiday was as fun as mine!

Catching up!

It's been awhile since I've posted...what have I been doing you might ask??? I finished Titania's Revenge (photos forthcoming) and started Marble Arches. I finished one Shetland Triangle shawl in Elann Highland silk...I cast off with beads at the points (photos forthcoming)....My inspiration for this project can be seen here and here. And, I have cast on for another....I have also cast on for socks using my birthday Sundara yarn in Drunken Plum and Sweet Georgia Speed Demon in Velvet Underground.

Enough text already!!! I have pictures of some of the baby hats I've completed recently...

All are my own design. I used Tahki Cotton Classic (size 5 or size 6 dpn) and STR (size 5 dpn).

More later!! Particularly a slew of FO pics!!!

Happy knitting!!

Is it only Monday?

It feels like it's Tuesday, for some reason, and I was really bummed to realize that it was only Monday. Somehow I thought Monday had passed me by while I wasn't looking, I guess. Hmmm... even though it's supposed to be a short week, I'm thinking it might be long.

I hope everyone is watching news of the TomKat 2.5 million dollar wedding ceremony of the year. My big question is: How did the wedding photos show Katie just slightly shorter than Tom, when in actuality she's taller? Hmmm.... I guess height matters after all, esp when your image is on the line. Well, if you didn't catch the scoop on the wedding tonight or last night, it looks like the tv stations are airing a two hour special several nights this week, so you don't have to miss out on all of the fun! :)

We have finally gotten the green light to post photos of the test knit of Sundara's wonderful new sweater pattern, the "Tatami" Kimono, shown here. This sweater was great fun to knit and is such a lovely pattern. The yarn is what really makes it, though! Sundara rocks! Here are a couple of photos:



































I also recieved some extra special yarn from Sundara this week - Black over hot pink worsted merino - it's so soft and just stunning (my photo does not do it justice, however, you can check out a better photo here):















I've also finished the bag for my mom and love how it came out. It's so cute with the flower - it adds just that extra special something:















I've started some additional knitting projects - something not so mainstream. I found this adorable pattern in the holiday 2006 Vogue Knitting Knit Simple magazine for a bird mobile. It was super simple, and the birds are extremely cute.
















More posting soon......

Happy Thanksgiving all!

wham, bam, and thank you, ma'am

amazingly, holiday knitting actually continues. i have completed another project, this for s's sister. i am so pleased with this scarf, and surprised i am so into scarves again. with a more evolved knitting-skill-set comes more exciting scarves, i guess, and with a cold neck comes the desire for soft warm neck coverings for me and for those i love. so here i am, for the first time since the multidirectional scarf fever of '05, becoming once again obsessed with scarves.

i have been thinking about the first scarf i made for s, out of lion's brand homespun (he still totally hearts it), and how it was just straight-up garter stitch, on BIG needles. i then made him one of the aforementioned multidirectional scarves, out of noro silk garden (of course!) and have plans for another. i received some knitpicks panache, which is tre soft and oh-so-loverly, in a color surprisingly similar to this debbie bliss, and one look at that next to my baby's eyes, and i knew it was destined for him. i am thinking cables, maybe sharfik or the shifting sands scarf (okay, so i heart grumperina, who cares?!?!?!) or maybe a cabled scarf of my own design.

this project i finished on sunday is a coming-around-full-circle-type of thang. years ago, when i first began knitting, when i first started stalking the yarn stores in town, when i first discovered what a fabulous resource the internet was for knitting, i ran across the dna-cable scarf. wowza. what a scarf, i thought. i NEED TO HAVE THAT. so, i ran out and bought the yummiest softest most wonderfulest yarn i could afford, debbie bliss cashmerino, in a teal-y dusty blue, ooh, baby, and i casted on. and, i did okay. not perfectly, but, for a first cabling attempt, i did okay.

see? a little bumpy, but not HORRIBLE for a first cable project

but then i got sick of it, not so much the yarn or the pattern, but sick of the concentration it took, and sick of KNOWING, even as i continued to knit, that i had definitely f'd up at the very very beginning and i absolutely NEEDED to frog it all and restart, but, gosh, i sure as heck didn't want to do that. so i put it down, and it got buried amongst the many other projects i had abandoned, and i found myself, about a month ago, pulling it out and looking at it once again. i knew that scarves and socks were going to be my big xmas gifts this year, and i had just re-started midwest moonlight, knowing that my dear sweet sil was going to be getting it (she lives in the midwest, get it???), and i thought - gosh, this yarn is way too fab to go to waste. i am gonna make up a scarf pattern for it. i hauled out all of my scarf, lace, shawl, and pattern books, and began pouring through them. i kept coming back to the traveling vine pattern in one of the many shawl books i have accumulated through the years, fumbled my way through a few fits and starts, and a week later, viola!

talk about yummy. and finished. and blocking.

dets:

traveling vine-lace-patterned scarf (still trying to come up with a name for it)

yarn: debblie bliss cashmerino, teal-y blue, 3.5 balls

needles: addi turbo #8s, smooth as silk

The holidays are upon us....

Yes, it's that time of year. The holidays seem to be popping up here and there, and we all seem to be working on holiday projects. I've been super busy this week in jury duty, however, I have gotten in a little knitting from time to time (on breaks and lunches). I'm busily (not sure if that's a word, it just feels right) working on holiday projects, trying to get all of my Christmas gifts knitted that I told myself I wanted to commit to. I am making a little headway, and you can see progress photos below; however, I first want to comment on the package I received from Sundara this week. I contacted her awhile back, asking if she would be willing to dye some yarn for me in the Lakeside colorway. Since returning from Ireland a couple of months ago, and falling in love with the little town of by the name of Kinsale, Ireland (and a little guesthouse we stayed at there called The Bank House) I decided I really needed and was yearning to make the Kinsale sweater (you can see it here on Wendyknits) which is in Alice Starmore's "Fishermen's Sweaters". Here is the yarn I received from Sundara in the Lakeside colorway:















Isn't it completely and utterly stunning?
















I also recieved some really studly handsome looking yarn that I had ordered from Sundara while back, that she had been planning to ship with the Lakeside yarn, it's called Dungaree, and WOW oh WOW is it stunning also. I call it studly and handsome, only bc I am using it for knitting my husband some wonderful socks:


































Now, here are my Christmas project progress pics:

Felted bag for my mom: This is almost complete - I will include a full on shot of this bag once I have completed the flower that attaches to the bag. Without it, this bag is not complete, but almost...I want to make the flower completely stunning and something unique to fit the bag, so it will be showing up soon!















Next on the list, a poncho for my 6 year old neice. She has been literally begging for one for the last year, so I decided I just need to make one for her and her sister. This is the first of those. It's the "Simple and Elegant Poncho" pattern from Abundant Yarn and Dyeworks in Portland, Oregon. I am using Sissi Mohair and Fiesta cording, as shown below:















Last, but not least, on my list of projects that I'm working on for the holidays (these are not all of the projects, just the ones I've gotten around to starting), are the holiday KAL socks for the WHY blog. I'm using the RPM pattern with Jingle Bell Rock STR. I Heart them very much!

ready

that's me. little miss on-the-ball, lady johnny-on-the-spot, senorita preparada.

yeah, right.

i can hardly believe it myself, but holiday knitting has begun. some has even been completed. i have made a list, i have checked it twice, and there's still time to find out who is naughty and who is nice. i finished two holiday gifts this weekend, which really sets me ahead of the curve. i don't mean to brag or anything, but i think i'm going to reach my holiday knitting goal.

may i present, mizz midwest moonlight, for my newest sister, t:

she is from scarf style, crafted from knit picks elegance on the most beautiful rosewood straight #7s. (her true color is closer to the one on top - lilac is the colorway). i really really heart her. she blocked gorgeously, and is very long (about 70 incheds) and wide (at least 12 inches) and comfy and soft, and, oh, do i really have to give her away???

i also finished a pair of sock hop socks, in the hard day's night colorway, which are pretty freaking cool, too.