Saturday, June 21, 2008

Fickle Me, Fickle You?

If you are a "normal" knitter I know you will understand. By "normal" I mean you have more than one project going at the same time. If you are like me you have so many projects OTN (for you muggles that means On The Needles) that you really don't know how many projects you do have going. Now, it isn't as bad as it was many, many moons ago when I was a young little smoking lass working Civil Service at Fort Knox as a Colonel's secretary . This story has nothing to do with knitting per se. Anyways, back in those days (1975 or so) smoking was allowed everywhere......EVERYWHERE!!!!! So as I sat at my little desk answering the phone and typing away on a electric typewriter (no computers or even word processors folks) using correction tape or correction fluid (google it kiddies) I'd always have a cigarette going. I'd type a bit and take a puff, take another puff and type a bit. I can hear you now. "And you are telling us this story because?" Cool your jets sista, or possibly bro. We were talking about having so many things OTN you don't even know what you got going. Well...................on to the story..................there were times when I'd light up a cig only to find I already had one going. Sometimes I'd light up another while I still had one going in my other hand!!!!! Is it any wonder I have the issues I have with a kazllion WIPs? (Work In Progresseseses or Works In Progress, I don't know. And quite honestly, I don't care, this is my world)

Now, see if you are "normal" you know how fickle us knitters can be. The latest pattern or yarn is our favorite until we turn around and see the next pattern or yarn. I have heard so much about the Feather & Fan pattern and hadn't paid much attention to it until I found a Feather & Fan Dishcloth pattern. Oh my goodness, I love this pattern. Not only is it exquisitely beautiful, it is extremely easy and versatile. I LOVE YOU FEATHER AND FAN!!!!!!! I love you.

Okay, so I've been somewhat busy. On our tour today I will be showing you the following projects: 1) Gammy's Hope Booties aka Saartje's Booties (I haven't added the buttons yet), 2) Gammy's Hope Baby Surprise Jacket, 3) The lovely Feather & Fan Dishcloth, 4) Little Bunny Foo Foo aka McGregor's Garden Socks and 5) Part of my lavendar harvest.

But before we begin our tour let me tell you what I did yesterday. My good friend, RoLynn, of Enchanted Yarn & Fiber emailed me telling me they had received the Kromski wheels and to come out and play when I could. It just so happened I could so I made the little trek out into the "Enchanted" land, it truly is, and got to spin on the Kromski Minstrel and the Kromski Sonata. I own a Kromski Polonaise but one wheel is not enough folks. Plus I'm wanting a more portable wheel. I really can't say I liked one more than the other. They were both a dream to spin on, just like my Polonaise. Each has some advantages over the other. However, the Sonata is really portable as it folds up and has a handy dandy carrying case not to mention it is 1.5 lbs lighter than the Minstrel. But, the Minstrel's orifice is higher, which I like, and the footmen are a little closer together. I told RoLynn and Ashley I would just have to come back another day and spin some more to make up my mind.

















Friday, June 13, 2008

My New Love

I have found a new love. This love is so very easy to get along with and extremely diverse. My new love is knitting dishcloths.

Why do I love knitting these little babies so much? Let me count the ways:
  1. They love to travel, thus they travel well.

  2. They love to hang around the pool.

  3. Since they are cotton they don't mind getting wet while hanging around the pool.

  4. They are fast moving.

  5. They smile at you every time you look their way, but they don't demand your attention.

Here are some of my new friends:

Monday, June 9, 2008

What Have You Been Up To?

I'm so glad you asked. I haven't been up to much knitting, which is slowly (or rather quickly), becoming a way of life it seems. I HAVE completed several, 4 to be exact, dish cloths. They travel well, can easily be worked on around the pool and "Kitchen & Bath Items" are the projects for A Loose Knit Group for June.

One thing I've been extremely busy with is our church's version of Extreme Makeover. Saturday from 5-8 pm we offered free manicures, pedicures, hair cuts and facials to anyone interested. We also had some wonderful finger foods and many, many awesome door prizes that were drawn for every 15 minutes.

It was awesome!!!! I mean really wonderful. We had 120-125 attendees, the majority of which we had never met before. It was so rewarding hearing people say they had never had a pedicure or manicure before. One lady said it had been 4 years since she had had a hair cut. We so look forward to doing it again. Here is a photo of the majority of out volunteers. They were the greatest. Our group took it's name from the song "Crazy Beautiful" by Chasen.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

We Are Getting Somewhere Here

I finally have some knitting to show you. I am only about 4 weeks late in getting clue 1 of the Slow Bee Kal complete. But, better late than never right? As with all of Moni's designs this one is absolutely gorgeous. I'm knitting it in Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud in Smoke on US size 2's. The beads are from the Beadwrangler, they are size 8/0 clear with silver lining. You can just barely see the glisten of the beads. This baby calls for over 2900 beads!!!!!!

It is a faroese style shawl. The photos show the center panel and then one of the side panels. There are three side panels, a center panel and then a repeat of the three side panels. The center panel photo is on the left and the side panel photo on the right.