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 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.

Why I did not buy more Malabrigo

We went to Chicago over the weekend. After a long day tramping all over downtown Chicago my fellow Knitter Brandi and I checked out Arcadia Knitting. The shop has two main rooms one outfitted with couches for kip'ing and one for the bulk of their yarn stock. The yarn is organized by color instead of by brand/fiber content. Both rooms boast large windows. We were there in the late afternoon and there was a ton of natural light.

I bought one skein of Malabrigo in Stonechat, a rust, burgundy, brown, and dark orange. I can see why this yarn is all the rage in knit blogging circles. It's so soft. The colors are so deep and vibrant. It's like Manos but the twist is more even, not thick and thin like Manos. It's still in the hank, I'm waiting to wind it, and the one other skein of Manos I have in the stash. In the meantime I think I'm going to just keep it nearby so I can hold it and pet it for awhile.

No really.

The Malabrigo is very pettable.

Pet, Pet, Pet.

Back to Chicago. We drove up Friday. The kids were troopers. Dave got to go with Matt to Matt's Improve troop show. I stayed with Brandi and the kids, who were exhausted, but somehow managed to stay up till after 9PM Chicago time which is WAY past their bedtime.


Saturday we checked out the Bean, actually called Cloud Gate, in Millennium Park. The Bean is cool in pictures but it's even better in person. It's huge, it's reflective, it's interactive, up close it's covered in fingerprints, it's hollow, it's somehow welcoming. We ran around the Bean for quite some time taking pictures, looking at it from all angles, running into it, pushing against it, adding our own fingerprints to the myriad that already covered it.

Yes I love the Bean.

Three cheers for interactive, accessible, reflective, public art.

We also checked out the Lego Store, had lunch, checked out the other public art in Millennium Park, did a ton of walking then went to American Girl Place.

E's been asking for a Bitty Baby for ages. We get the catalog so she knew exactly what she wanted. The boys headed to a nearby park. If you go to the Chicago AGP there is a very nice park right up the street. The boys went to play while the girls braved AGP.

American Girl Place was a sea of little girls and their mothers, groups of little girls, little girls with dolls, and little girls buying dolls. Observed a surprisingly low number of pack husbands or men in general.

We ventured upstairs and found the Bitty Baby area. After wandering around a bit trying to find a Starter Kit we found a lovely associate who helped us find what we were looking for. The amount of stuff for sale is mind boggling.


E now on cloud nine basking in the glow of her new Bitty Baby so we headed to the park to meet up with the boys to play a bit.


This is what happens when Dave and Matt get together on a playground. It's refreshing to see two 30 somethings on playground equipment. We had a lovely time at the playground.

Sunday we bid farewell to Matt, Brandi and their kitties and drove to Cedar Point where we met up with Tracy and her Mom, and her Sister, BIL and newest nephew, who is SUPER cute. We got there to late to go into the park so we just visited and had a nice time.

Monday despite the constant threat of rain we headed back to Cedar Point and had a cool, but not too wet day. H went on a few rides. He did better when he could have one of us sitting next to him. He got upset if he could not see us or E while on a ride. E is a ride monster. She has no fear and will go on anything she is tall enough to ride. By the end of the day we were all exhausted and ready to drive home.

All told we spent a good 18 hours in the car driving. The kids fared well considering. We will be staying home this weekend. No IKEA.

We had a lovely weekend and would like to thank our gracious hosts, Matt and Brandi for a lovely visit. Thanks also go to Tracy and her family for a nice visit, and to Grandma Madaline and soon to be all Graduated Aunt Katie for putting us up for the night.

While it's fun to get out of town for a bit it's even better coming home. What's even better then coming home is coming home to a home you busted your a** cleaning before you left. I love coming home to our house. We unload then distribute the stuff, always more then we left with, then I put the stuff away. Then we put the kids in bed and have a lovely, quiet house to enjoy.

I've found a new use for the big IKEA reusable shopping bags, oh how I love them. The last few times we have gone out of town I've been putting dirty clothing in grocery bags to throw in the wash when we get home. This time I used one big IKEA bag and it was fabulous. One big bag held all the laundry, which went straight to the basement for sorting and washing. Oh the pile, I never go 4 days without doing laundry.

So I'm getting caught up on Laundry. Now to get caught up on email. Oh the email.

Meet me at The Merc

Met up with a knitting buddy from preschool at The Merc this morning just as the snow was starting to fly. The Merc is having a sale. Oh boy!

At 12 o'clock is a skein of JoAnn's Confetti is from E for my birthday, she picked it out all by herself with Daddy. I love it. At 3PM a hank of Manos in Sage Multi, omg it's so yum in person. At 6PM Lamb's Pride bulky in Forrest Shadows, had not seen the omber Lamb's Pride before. Finally at 9PM Freedom Spirit in blue.

Thanks for the fun trip out and about J!

We will be home this weekend. There is a ton of snow here with more on the way.

Yarn Stash Enhancement

The Knit Picks Palette in Blush arrived today along with some other stash enhancing yarn. The Petal was too bright for the upcoming Companion Cube knit. I find myself wanting to cast on a ton of projects at once, I'm usually a one or two project at a time knitter but lately it's been a little out of control.

A few new purples for the stash.

How about s0me green for the stash.

"Junk in the trunk."

Check out H-Man from the side rocking his stay puffed snow suit. This was taken about a week ago after a nice snowfall. The kids had fun in the snow. I however have fun knitting, knitting that I am growing increasingly bad at blogging about. So I'm going to go knit so I have blog content, or do I blog to have knitting projects...

The Call of The Yarn Cake

The call of the Yarn Cake is almost as powerful as the Call of the Ravelry. E and I wound up a few more cakes tonight. It's so fun. The happy little cakes just call out to be knitted.


E and H are both fascinated by the new equipment. E is getting quite proficient at winding, with a bit of help.



I'm revisiting the Recycled Sari Silk bag. It was too shallow to actually use. So I have seamed up the v's a few inches on each side making the bag much deeper. I want to give the handle a bit more stability, it's really stretchy. The plan is to do applied i-cord around both outer edges. Now it's a matter of finalizing my latest Knit Picks order to get a coordinating yarn for the i-cord.

Not sure why but I felt the need to knit a cotton dishcloth. It's out of my system now. I'm thinking this could be interesting done up in a variated wool then felted.

Torchwood Season 1 and knitting call.