The Yarn goes to...

Thanks for all the Good Wishes, both private and public. No more gushy stuff now, you want to know who gets the yarn. Random Number generator gave out #4 and #2, in that order. So, the Socks that Rock goes to Shanidy and the Yarn Pirate goes to Laurie M. (Shanidy, sorry, you'll have to contact me as I have no email address to reach you. tcty123 AT yahoo DAT com When will they fix Blogger's comments??)

I finished for the second time the Fiery Bolero from(Interweave Knits, Summer 2005.)



I knit it and finished the first time Fall of 2005 but it was too small. I ripped it out and knit it again over the next two years; now it's too big. Neither the yarn nor I are up to a third try. I used Debbie Bliss Cathay color 12004. This yarn feels wonderful and I love the sheen that 15% silk gives it. Unfortunately it has a tendency to split as it has very little twist. I used metal needles as even the best bamboo snagged on the yarn.

I forgot to take a finished picture of my little baby sweater. (F. Pea wrote me on Ravelry and reminded me.)

This is my adaption of a Free Pattern Friday baby sweater pattern on F. Pea's Blog (You should check out her other patterns they're really well written and so cute.)


My Mitered Sweater is still giving me lots of enjoyment. I finished the back and the left front.

The last section on this is knit together with the three-needle bind-off. It's rather lumpy hope it blocks out flat.

Yoke and Back with double miter


and left front with single miter


I laid this sweater out to photograph and it wasn't more than two minutes before I had helper Sam up in the middle of it all.

Blog-iversary Drawing

One Year ago today, I started this Blog - it sure went fast. My purpose was to document my current projects along with other things going on in my life at the time. BB (before blog) I had to rely on my memory (never a sure thing) and haphazardly stored photographs to document my creative efforts. Now it's much easier just to scroll down through memory lane.

Curiosity is my middle name so why was I surprised to find others reading my Blog? Then you wrote, usually commenting favorabily on my projects, asking and answering questions - I loved it! A whole new way to interact with others of the knitting and spinning persuassion. Thanks, I hope you keep coming back to read and comment.

Now to start Year Two, a drawing for Two Skeins of Yarn

Left is a Skein of Socks that Rock, Mill Ends, lightweight 100% Superwash Merino. Right is Yarn Pirate 50/50 Merino/Tencel in the color Tide Pool. (This yarn is stored in plastic bins but there are animals in this house - just saying.)

I'll do the Random Number thing next Friday and pick two comments on this Post.

(Blogger has been doing funny things with comments - everything comes through to me as "no reply" whether you sign in or not. Often I have no way to email you an answer or a thank-you for your comment. Therefore, if you are one of the two names drawn, if you don't here from me on Friday evening, please write to me at: tcty123 AT yahoo DOT com.)

More Mitered Knitting

If you've been reading this blog for awhile you may remember last Spring I became enamored with mitered squares and started Mitered Thing. Here's a current picture - see it has grown some.


These are two inch squares made from mostly donated fingering weight sock yarn. I still enjoy picking it up and adding a square or two; still haven't decided what it will be when it grows up.

Between EZ's Totem Sweater (temporarily set aside) and my facination with all things mitered, I was destined to maked the cover sweater of Top Down Sweaters

(Do those sleeves look huge to anyone else?)
I bought the book a year ago with the intention of making the cover sweater someday but forgot about it until a week ago when Tina came into the shop with the book. As luck would have it that same day we unpacked a huge order of Cascade 220. The yarn called for in the book is Noro Silk Garden but with the shop having such a large selection of Cascade 220, Tina, Jane and I plus several customers in the shop selected colors for this sweater.


I cast on that evening (after nearly any hour of winding all the skeins into balls!) and can hardly wait to get back to it when ever I have to put it down.


The needles are in the back section which has a double miter. Here's a close up of the raglan miter (goes from the neck to the underarm) I'm really enjoying knitting this project.


Up until I started this new Mitered Top-Down Sweater I had been working on my Myster Stole 3 project - I'm up to row 286 on the first half.


It's really curling on the edges so you can't see all the beads there. I'm using a size 4 needle that I originally got gauge with but it's looking so dense that I'm thinking I should have gone up a needle size. I wonder it it will block lace-ier looking. (How do you spell lacier, lacyer?? They all look funny to me and my spell checker doesn't like any of them.)

Yesterday I took a day off and went with my older daughter on a tour of the Ker Indian Wholesale Market. The tour was through Great News Cooking School; it was conducted by their Indian Cooking Class teacher. Very interesting but I should have worn more comfortable shoes; we stood around listening to her explain what everything was for 2.5 hrs.


The store itself is huge
toward the front of the store

and toward the back of the store


Afterwards we walked over to Ashoka the Great for a fabulous Indian Buffet Lunch. I'd been to this restaurant before but it was different after having learned about the ingredients in many of the dishes.

September 24th is my one year Blogiversary. Be sure and check back as there will be a drawing for sock yarn announcement.

Shameless Nepotism - Vote for My Daughter

Sorry, this post has no knitting content but please read and Vote online.



My older daughter is in a contest for Wedding Photographers on a local TV Station's Website. I'm asking for your vote to help her win. All it takes is two clicks. (Remember to uncheck the advertising emails boxes before clicking the submit button. No one needs more Spam!)

VOTE HERE:
http://kgtv.cityvoter.com/details.aspx?business=54264


I'm including a few of her pictures (with permission) to encourage you to spend a couple minutes of your time on her behalf.


Jennifer Dery Photography
www.jenniferdery.com


Thanks from a Proud Mother, I really appreciate it!

CC

Touch of Fall

Here in very South, Southern California we still can look forward to another month of summer weather. We don't dare put the fans away until Thanksgiving - it's a superstitious thing. If you put the fans away or make soup we'll be slammed by a Santa Ana within days - don't laugh! I've seen it happen too many times to tempt fate. (Many years we put the fans away to make room for the Christmas Tree.)

Saying that, I'm going to wave a red flag in the weather gods face and show you the first red leaf on our Liquid Amber tree.


Fall is my favorite season of the year. I love the colors in the trees, enjoy the family around the table with it dark outside and I especially love the foods of Fall.I picked the last of the tomatoes off the bush yesterday; we sure are going to miss the taste of fresh tomatoes.


Maybe this touch of Fall will finally inspired me to finish some of my knitting projects. All summer I haven't been able to focus on a single project. I've started a dozen different things and still felt at loose ends. None of my projects have really felt like they were doing it for me; my knitting has been spread through out the house. The Totem sweater was the living room sofa project, Mystery Shawl 3 was the family room project, I made a baby sweater that traveled room to room over the hot Labor Day weekend (I actually finished it, washed and blocked it this morning - picture next time), there's the UFO bolero sweater I pulled out thinking maybe an old project would hold my interest, then there's the three socks that are piled waiting for me to just sit down and kitchner the toes and three other sock patterns that I have in various stages. That doesn't count the four or five projects that just weren't right and were frogged. I have no idea what my problem was this summer; sure hope Fall will cure this severe case of startitis.

I did finish my Tour de Fleece spinning project. Remember the dyed fleece that the squirrel drug around the backyard? Here it is finished; bright isn't it?

fingering weight, 2ply, (haven't counted to figure out the yardage)

Of course, my knitting quagmire hasn't stopped me from buying more yarn!!
Working in a yarn shop is dangerous to my wallet; rarely do they have to pay me. My daughter bought me a pin for my birthday that says it all


So here's the yarn:
Mama Blue in Penny,


Paca Peds, a superwash 20% Alpaca, 65% Wool and 15% Nylon
in 604 Fireside (left) and 605 Deep Seas (right)
the colors are as rich in person as in their portraits


And last of my acquisitions are two installments from the Simply Socks Yarn Company Sock Yarn Club. The first is from Sleeping Dragon Yarn called Ramble

I have my reservations about the color mix; have to wait and see how it knits up. The yarn feels and looks very nice.

The second yarn is Skinny Socks from Spunky Electric in "The Berry Brigade"

Now this is a yarn with me written all over it! It's a lighter fingering weight that I can see in socks but I think it would be a wonderful weight to use for lace. The label says US size 1-3 needles at 7-8 st per inch.

Annie can hardly wait for Fall and cooler weather; the colder the better.
She's so over Summer!

Trying to stay cool

It's HOT in San Diego - hot (90's) and humid (high 50's). For San Diego this isn't record setting temps but it's d#@ uncomfortable! So I've been hiding out in our north facing downstairs family room, sitting right in front of the tower fan. Watching DVD's, historical stuff off the DVR and I totally caught up with my Bloglines backlog - (I was something like 400 entries behind, never thought I'd empty it out.)

Even with the heat I've been knitting, small things that don't have to rest in my lap.
(there aren't many pictures this post as my main computer is upstairs - 3rd floor, where it's over 100. Nothing is worth doing if it requres sitting up there!)

I'm up to line 171 on Mystery Stole #3. Still enjoying this project and I'm getting much better at getting to the end of the row with the correct number of stitches.

Finished the first sock of a plain vanilla ribbed pattern in a gray tweed superwash sock yarn. (The label is upstairs and I'm not going up to find out what brand it is.) Cast on the second sock and knit three inches today while we went for a drive to appease the dog.

This morning Annie was beside herself with energy after being closed up in the house with us for four days. We loaded her into the car ("in the car" is her second favorite activity right after dinner) this morning, cranked the air conditioning and drove up to Carlsbad on Hwy 5, took the Village off ramp and drove west to old 101. Then we slowly crused south enjoying the beach views (packed with people and no where to park). We drove through Leucadia, Encinitas, stopping in Solana Beach for gelato at 11 am. The things you'll do during a heat wave. Then we returned to 101 in Del Mar; enjoyed the sights while we drove over the dog beach bridge - there was this black lab bounding through the water - very cooling sight. Del Mar was full; the beach and the races really packs them into that small town during the summer. Torrey pines was beautiful as always; the sand was wall to wall umbrellas and shade tents. Lots of surfers no waves to speak of; I think they may have just been enjoying the coolest spot in the county. Then past The Lodge and UCSD, a short jog onto 52 and we were home.

All over blogland and Ravelry people are knitting a very colorful stripped baby sweater. If one where to buy the yarn called for in the pattern the sweater would cost over $100; there are sites where you can buy a kit for $40. I wanted to try the pattern so I pulled out all the colors of Knit Picks Wool of the Andies and Cascade 220 that I had and put together some colors that I thought would work. The original called for nine colors; I used six.



The i-cord ties and both sleeves are all that's left to do.

I have been spinning my Alpaca/ Rambouillet from Black Sheep Gathering; due to the heat I've only been spinning after 9pm when I can turn down the fan. Fans on high and super light pencil roving just don't mix - we won't even discuss what sweaty hands do.

The cats are just limp puddles, hiding from the heat by sleeping through it. Here's Ty who's only awake because of the camera's clicking noise.

courtesty of The Photographer.