Housekeeping

Time to put down the Malabrigo and blog. This is my birthday weekend. We tend to celebrate birthdays all week at our house. I have several things to blog about but lets just start with the two skeins of Malabrigo worsted in Azalea that H and I bought at the Merc on my Birthday morning. I kept H in the stroller and let him hold the stuffed black sheep that lives near the front counter at the Merc. There was a sale going on but I only had eyes for the hanks of Malabrigo on the twirly, spinny thing at the front of the store.

The Malabrigo is going to be a Sweet Little Nothing (rav link). I'm doing seed stitch instead of 1x1 rib. I love this yarn. The only thing that would improve this knit is if I were knitting with addi turbos.

The Knitting Olympics!

I finished my mitts in plenty of time. This was a total team GK2 effort. Kim helped me learn weaving, Kristie flipped the chart, Jackie knitted up a pair of mitts as well, Ann designed our spiff GK2 Ravatars, and the GK2 team provided lots of support and motivation.

Winter Twilight Mitts (Rav project link)

Size 4 addie turbos

Knit Pick's Pallet in Asphalt and Iris heather

The mitts are a bit snug on my medium to large sized hands, but honestly I don't care. I loved the yarn, the pattern, and learning a new skill

I finished the mitts a few days before the Olympics ended. I just barely missed finishing a second project, that was never intended to be a Ravelympics project anyway. I knitted up a Modern Garden Cardigan (Rav link) in Wool Ease Thick N Quick in Cilantro on size 15 addi turbos. The needles are from the Grandma Janette stash and I love them.

The sweater came together quickly and was a fun knit. It fits me but not well. My sister was over for my birthday and I'd already decided that if it fitted her better it was hers.

Modern Garden Cardigan (Rav project link)

Size 15 addi turbos

Wool Ease Thick N Quick Cilantro 4.5 skeins

Let's just say that once she tried it on it did not come back off. Allie loved the sweater. I have already purchased more thick n quick and a pair of 13's with plans to mod a second go at this cardigan for me. It's an ingenious design, the shaping is in the leaf motif.

More birthday excitement. Check out the three pairs of mitts above. From left to right we have Jackie's Winter Twilight Mitt's, my mitts and Kristin's Endpaper Mitts. All three are in Palette. Nine members of GK2 met up on what just happened to be my birthday for a yarn filled adventure.

Apparently my backward loop cast on technique is well, different. Conversation stopped and I got quite a few stares at Knit Knite the night before. So different that I was asked to demonstrate my cast on.

We had a fun afternoon then I went back home to continue to celebrate my birthday with my family. But the picture above is a taste of how Knit Knite Ladies roll.

I had a great birthday. Great company, squishy yarn and my family, what more can a knitter ask for?

Knit Knite

I've been away from the blog for some time. Things have been busy around here. E is going back to school soon. I've been knitting a ton of dishcloths. Sock Summit was last weekend. Intrepid Knit Kniter Kristie was our Ambassador. Tonight at Knit Knite Kristie shared her spoils. Lots of books and YARN. Prepare yourself for yarn pr0n!




Some of the new square needles. I want to to try these out at some point. They look nifty and I like to try out different needles.


Long time readers will recognize my Koolaid dyed Kiri shawl from my pre Ravelry days. I bought it to show Brandy, who is trying out Koolaid dying. That's her hank. Very nice.



A Mini Alien invasion is sweeping through Knit Knite! There was a lot of Mini Alien Love going on.


Darn my camera not showcasing Liz's fabu cotton sweater. Summer Rib looks fab in person.


Socks that Rock in the Sock Summit color way. I had this just sitting next to me most of the evening. I would pick it up and pat the yarn cake every now and then. It's so gorgeous in person.

Happy Belated Birthday Jackie! Kristie brought Jackie a signed copy of More Sensational Socks from Sock Summit.


Pink and Green goodness.

The Farmhouse on the left is calling to me.

Oh Barbra Walker your hands and brain have given so much to the betterment of the world around you. Behold a signed copy of Knitting from the Top Down.

It's not all Kristie's stash, here is some of Brandy's overdyed trekking sock yarn. Brandy is having fun with Koolaid.

Roving!

Nearly everyone. We were outside again tonight. We had a bevy of kids tonight, they were off playing most of the time. I'm going to miss the lovely weather.

Thanks to Kristie for bringing her Sock Summit loot and stories.

Knit Knite

This is from last week's Knit Knite. Our Hostess was out of town being fabulous so we met up at the local Panera. Not quite as fun as knitting alfresco on the grass but still quite fun.

We had TWO purple and black Hedgies, sporting the SAME FABULOUS purple eyes for hugging. It's the same pattern, the size depends on the yarn and needles you use and how much you felt your Hedgie. The felting process makes each Hedgie it's own unique little being.

Baby hat and booties! So little and so fun!

Ok this was the table I was sharing with Liz. This table is so full of win. At 12 o'clock we have Liz's Diminishing Ribs cardi in Knit Picks Simply Cotton worsted in Ginger, it's the same pattern as on the Interweave Knits mag at 9 o'clock. Around 2 o'clock we have Liz's Helena in Knit Picks Crayon. It is officially the Smoooshy Sweater. It's so soft and squishy. At 6 o'clock is my Wisteria Walk in Knit Picks Shine worsted in Wisteria. That's a bag of Hedgie eyes and noses around 8 o'clock.

Cath's Ten Stitch Twist in stash sock yarn. There is a square version too. So cool.

We dished Harry Potter. Brandy and I went to see HP at 12:01 with my crazed sister and her group of wild HP friends. Turns out Katie another Knit Kniter was behind us. Too fun. I'm not ready to dish HP here.

Knit Knite FO's WIP's and Mind Blowing Yarn Pr0n

I brought my camera to Knit Knite again, I hope no one minds, seriously I won't post pics and am more then happy to remove pics if anyone wants. No worries. Liz shows off her skein of wonder from Knitters Connection. FYI I can't remember the details on all of the yarn, only that everything was fab. Please feel free to comment yarn details.


What's this our first FO of the evening. Julane's amazing Fountain Pen Shawl in Knit Pick's Gloss lace weight.

We have a Hedgie sighting. Cath's WIP Hedgie. CUTE! I attempted to start a Hedgie that evening but did not get past the tummy. Too much gabbing and wrangling E.


Lone skein of some super funky yarn from Liz's Knitters Connection goodie bag. The lighter bits are SUPER soft. Our first thought was what kind of Hedgie would this make.


It was a two Lace FO evening. Liz's Meadow Flowers shawl for her Mom in Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud. It's filmy and just plain yummy.


It's sock time. Cath's socks in Knit Picks Essential kettle dye sock yarn. Yum!


Brandy's Knitters Connection spoils. Brier Rose and oh shoot I can't remember for a cabled vest for her son. Both are fab.

Warning Extreme Sock Yarn Pr0n Ahead

Brandy's Mini Mochi sock yarn by Crystal Palace Yarns. OMFG it's amazing in person. Super soft and the color, oh the color. This is new and oh so amazing. You know you want to see it knitted up. Admit it.




It's a modified Sidestream by Cat Bordhi and the color in person is mind blowing. I think I need a moment.



Prepare for extreme cute. Ruth's mohair Guinea Pig is coming along nicely. Oh it's so little and cute and fuzzy.



Kristie's felted entrelarc bag is cruising right along. It's so colorful and awesome.



More socks, and a pretty spiff lawn chair. Karla is rocking two at a time socks. Very nice.


K and her first hat, ever. This hat rocks.



This hat rocks so hard it gets a back view pic too. Proud Liz looks on at her knitting apprentice.




Kim won yarn and a signed copy of 2 at a time socks! The yarn just sings Fall, it's so pretty and soft in person.


We took the party inside when the skies started to threaten rain, which turned into a deluge while many of us were driving home. Thankfully everyone got home safe and sound.

Jackie and I both wore our Calla tanks. I had to knit Calla after seeing Jackie's in person. Jackie's is true to pattern and mine is a bit modified. Both are awesome.

Thanks for another fun evening Ladies.

More Mittens

Actual Knitting Content!

I went ahead and knitted up another pair of Mittens for Evelyn. She picked out some dark green and brown wool from the stash. To be safe I made them Child Mediums so hopefully they won't be too big or too small. We shall see.

I finished knitting the mittens tonight at Knit Knite. Another fun evening. We had the movie Spaceballs playing in the background. I think The Princess Bride is next week. I love Mandy Patinkin. Might just need to get his cd out this week.

Shameless Plug

I don't listen to music very often. The tv is off and on during the day for the kids but I don't usually have music going. Thing is I should, the kids enjoy it, I don't mind it. Hmm. Wonder why I don't I can have it on my computer or through the receiver in the family room.

Well I've actually been listening to music the last few days. Journey of all things. It's very out of character for me. The BIL is playing out again in a few cover bands, Dave and I went to see them live twice late last year, both were fun shows. I'm not a big 70's-80's metal, soft rock fan but I enjoy live music and can appreciate the work involved.

Dave mentioned a few days ago that the band had a few tracks out on a myspace page. So I checked it out. There is one old track of Jason back in the 90's with the long defunct cover band Escape and it's awesome. So I do a little googling as I'm known to do late at night when I should be in bed sleeping and find he has a bit of a following in Journey cover band circles.

Eclipse is playing tomorrow night at the Sly Fox in North Olmsted if you are in the greater Cleveland area and have a need to hear Journey covers and other covers from the 70's and 80's. I'm glad Jason is playing out again. Now to figure out with Dave when we are heading north next so we can see them play.

Let's see anything else, wip, check, attempt to promote BIL's gig tomorrow night, check. Ah one more thing.

Shout Out!

A big shout out to the Knit Knite Ladies. I might not say that much some evenings but I enjoy the yarn, the conversation and the camaraderie. Thank you!