K1D2 August

We had a great turn out last night at Comso's for K1D2. It was so good to see everyone and i got a lot done on the project I was working on. There was much discussion of the fair and I was encouraged to enter my Vacation Clap and the Sampler Style Baby Blanket that I am currently working on. That blanket seems to be going fast enough that I really wouldn't have to push it to get it done, as long as I don't get distracted.

I'm going to be a little sad when Cosmo's moves to brookside. We had a good thing going there. And they even have a weight watchers menu. Last night i had a delicious turkey wrap with hummus and peanut sauce. It really was wonderful. And i noticed they have 2 point desserts and how cool is that? Hopefully when we pick a new location it will offer some healthy things too. We shall see.

I'm all stuffy this morning so I think I will take a couple of lazy hours to knit and watch TV and wait for the allergy drugs to kick in. I should be able to finish the little gifty project i started yesterday. The dogs are being super helpful this morning though, so we shall see how that goes. I just saw Riley throw a tennis ball at Ben's computer. So we'll see what happens when I break out some yarn.

To fair or not to fair?

I have spent a lot of time recently trying to decide whether or not I want to enter anything in the fair. If I enter something I am working on right now, I effectively give myself a deadline, which doesn't work very well with my year of no deadline knitting.

I could enter my Vacation Clapotis, which is already done, blocked and wearable, but does that really qualify as fair worthy?

Since I haven't finished either pair of socks I have been working on this year, I can't enter those. I would have entered socks, fair worthy or not, just to support the new category and make sure they have it again next year. I know a bunch of people are excited they added a sock category.

I am working on a sampler style baby blanket that looks like it will be done in time. But will setting a deadline on it cause me to no longer want to work on it? Phooey.

There are things I really want to make, that if I got around to them I could enter, but the entry deadline is this next weekend (but the project doesn't have to be handed in until sometime in september).

Oh the agony. Last year I said I would enter something, and I didn't. This year I said I would and then I never got around to planning. Pain in the butt.

So I made a hat

I saw this pattern on Ravelry and fell in love. It was free, so I immediately downloaded and printed it and then fretted over yarn for a while. The estate sale yarn was still supposed to be in quarantine at that point, but I couldn't help but want to use it, you know how it is with new things. SoI dug out the blue and the brown and began this Indian Summer. I started out thinking I was going to gift it, but I think I will keep this one for me.

It was a fairly easy pattern, so I was able to do most of it while watching TV. And I happened to have a brown button around that worked well with this yarn, so I was able to finish it without setting it aside in a basket of things intended to be finished at a later date. Go me. So it took me about a week, start to finish, or tv knitting in the evenings and such.
The only thing I would do differently next time is that, despite getting guage, my ribbing is too loosey-goosey. Or maybe its that i don't have much hair. But anyway, I think I will go down a needle size or two for the ribbing next time or cast on less stitches and then just increase to the number I need for the top of the hat. Going down a needle size or two sounds easier. I am thinking of doing the next one with a flat yarn and a haloed yarn (like mohair) held together. I'm wondering how that will look, if the halo of the yarn will take away too much from the pattern.

Anyway, if you are looking for a simple slouchy hat pattern, go to Ravelry and look up Indian Summer. :-)

Another contest

This one is for lots of luscious yarn. :-) go check it out.

Knitting in the Wild - Life on Clear Creek: And yet another gifting!

KnitPicks Zephyrs being given away!

Go here and enter this contest!

http://thingsmomslike.com/2009/07/30/knitpicks-zephyr-knitting-needle-set-giveaway-821/

Someone is going to get very lucky. Those needles look awesome!

Weaving

I'm weaving! YAY! Thank you, Lena! So, warping the loom took hours. Maybe I shouldn't have started with a thread-like yarn using the loom to its full capacity for my very firstest ever project. Ok, I guess its not my very firstest ever, because when I was really little I had one of those fisher price red plastic looms that you could make scarves on and a vaguely remember using that. But at such a young age, how did I have the patience for warping? Dunno. Anyway, this picture is the very beginning of my shawl. Last night I took it with me babysitting, its only a 16" loom, and worked on it after the kids went to bed. I have put in some darker horizontal stripes now and I think its looking really nice. There is no specific pattern, I was random when I warped the loom and not I am just randomly inserting lines of darker as I weave, mainly sticking with the two light neutral shades. Its very exciting. It seems slow going, but I know its much faster than knitting lace, and its about the same weight. I do think I will do something thicker and a bit more instant gratification next. Like a pretty scarf or something.

Well, I should really be getting ready for work, instead of thinking about weaving.

A little late - my haul from Finer Christmas

Garage freezers can be very important assets. Especially when you buy a ton of estate sale yarn at a fiber festival.Look at those many delightfully pretty cones.

Riley investigates my door prize winnings.

And I learned to spin while I was there, something many people know I had been avoiding for years for fear I would get hooked and then want all those soft and pretty fibers.

And I did, hence the black and turquoise merino hiding in my home disguised as a flower arrangement.
And, in totally awesome finds, I got an older 16 inch loom for not too much money and then I had to wait a whole week for Lena to teach me how to use it. Pictures of that will follow soon.

So much to talk about, but soooooo sleepy. So for now I will just say:

I learned to weave today!

Goodnight.