You Know February Is Over Don't You?

It seemed like a good idea back in January to do a Mystery Shawl Along.  But, I have had a couple of other knitting projects on my plate and I just never managed to get the first clue under my belt.  Until yesterday, when I cast on.

I was pleasantly surprised with myself, tonight, when I finished the first clue.  The one piece that is missing from the directions is the finished width, but I did some simple math with the recommended gauge and came up with what I think is going to be the unblocked measurements.

I, originally, cast on with my Chiagoo needles, but on a long term project I really hate having them tied up, so I switched over to my Addi-Cliks.    (Addis on the left, Chiagoos on the right)  Notice the differences in points?

I am so finding that I like the pointy needle for those stitches that have to be purled together.  I am using my Chiagoos when I am heavy into the project and when it goes to a resting place, putting it on my Addis as a place holder.

Onto the March clue.

How I Spent My Sunday!

I had great plans this morning when I woke up realllllly early. I made my list.  I stacked three yarns up.

And made a list.  Then it rained.  Then I started watching baseball under my comfy warm blanket.  Before I knew it I was taking a nap.  I must have needed it because I woke up, don't have a clue who won the game, and it was dinner time.

At the end of the day, I got some of my list done, but no satisfactory knitting.  I knitted a bit on the top yarn and have decided that it is just not meant to be what I originally intended it to be.  I started the second skein pictured above, but am not really ready to commit to it yet, too many other things on the needles that need to be finished first.  The bottom one needs to be swatched.  I'll leave it for another day.  I'm tired, time to get some sleep before the new week starts at it again.

Celebrating Birthdays and Easter

It's hard to get everyone together these days so when we do, we celebrate.  All day long.  Birthdays and Easter.

Baby Boy B and his mom.  The Tall Guy has a nasty cold so he had to stay home from the fun.  We celebrated the Twins 32nd birthday (mid next month) even though Baby Boy A could not be here with us.

The cousins minus Miss Mona Lisa had so much fun!

The played and played til they dropped.  (Not really).

They hunted Easter Eggs!

While Baby Boy B tried to get our niece's  puppy Zoey to stay.  

Our niece tried to photo bomb Baby Boy B and his Grandma Rosie's photo op.

We finally just gave up and let her in the picture.

It was a beautiful and fun way to spend a Spring Saturday.  The sky was blue and the weather not so bad.  And there was family all around!

Prayer Shawl Update

Ok, so not the greatest picture, but I hope this conveys to you just how many prayer shawls were sitting there yesterday waiting to be blessed.  Can you believe it?  I am just amazed at the output of this group!  

I wish I could adequately blog about how it feels after leaving the Hospice Home on these Thursdays.  Maybe the sunny skies yesterday helped, but I think it is mostly the camaraderie of this group of knitters and crocheters.  The room is just bursting with 20-30 women from all points in life, enjoying scones and coffee, praying, talking, knitting, crocheting, laughing, sharing patterns and ideas, learning about the Hospice Home.

New friendships are being made.  Old friendships becoming stronger.  All through a common thread, using our talents and love of the needle to create something for others as they journey beyond.

How much better can it get!

Wednesday Website

Icelandic Wool - Why I like it

Progress Reports

Since Hospice Home knitting is  this week, I thought it might be sensible to bring my Rustic Beauty out and work on it.  It won't be done for this Thursday, but perhaps for next month.  

I'm using Berroco Vintage DK.  This baby has been on the needles since November just waiting for me to finish it.  I am at a pretty good place in it for knitting in public.  The pattern picture has this final pattern being quite deep as opposed to the directions.  I'm going to continue a bit with the pattern as I want it to be a substantial shawl.  I've got plenty of yarn so that is no problem.

Addicted to Pi is coming along quite well.  Another good one that can be knit while watching t.v. or Netflix.  Speaking of Netflix, I am getting a kick out of watching Hart of Dixie, just a really cute series that makes good background knitting noise.
 

Remember this shawl that was much further along?! I totally screwed up one pattern repeat and good friend Linda tore it out for me and put it back on the needles too.  She must have sensed that the scissors were about to make an appearance!

Interesting isn't it? All of these in progress are shawls, not a Spring sweater in the bunch.  But, I told myself that I needed to finish at least one of these before the next project can be cast on.  Very monogamous of me I do believe.

Ya Think?!

I've got enough Spring/Summer projects to get me by?  

No time for blogging, gotta be knitting.

Finally, it is here.  Now, I am off to set out my Spring Sweater Knitting today.  How about you?

Wednesday Website

March Madknits  --are you into college hoops?  Check this out over at Lost City Knits for the brackets and possibility of winning yarn!  You have until tomorrow morning to complete your bracket.

Happy St Patricks Day!

And a super cute video you have to watch -- Shaun the Sheep!

 

 

Mild Weather Knitting

I spent all of the Pipeline Retreat and yesterday working on my Faroese Shawl.  It doesn't look like much for all that time, but when you start with 325+ stitches, it can take up a bit of knitting time.  I worked on it yesterday until I realized I made a mistake in one of the repeats five rows back.  I pulled out just the repeat where the mistake is at (I refuse to rip whole rows of that many stitches)  and I've sat it aside for now.  Later this week when I have a bit more patience, I'll fix the mistake and then continue on.

The rest of yesterday, I spent looking at possible shawl patterns for some Broad  Band Silk that I bought at the shop a few weeks back.  I thought it might be a project that I could work on while out there.  I chose a variation of the Wool Peddler's Shawl.

  I chose a variation of the Wool Peddler's Shawl.  I've knit a couple of these shawls so it was a safe choice.

But, with the mild weather we have had these past few days,  I am all of a sudden chomping at the bit to work on some Spring sweaters.  I think for now, I'll rip this out and set the yarn aside for later in the Summer for Fall for Shawls knitting.

And head into the Spring sweater knitting projects.  Which one though?!

Knitting Pipeline Retreat 2015

What a fun weekend!  Linda and I have went every year.  The Tall Guy asked me what we did at the Retreat?  Just how do you explain that one???  

First off, at the registration desk, we get a new bag every year and the past few years we have gotten a skein or two of Quince and Co yarn.  Paula, the organizer has designed some shawls using Quince and Co so I am going to surmise that is the reason, which seems so generous from a yarn company since there were 150 of us this year.

It was so nice to have a whole table of friends to sit with for the weekend.  There was a whole lot of laughing going on.

We had plenty of snacks to keep us going throughout Friday and Saturday.

And it wasn't just knitting!  You never know what you are going to learn while at retreat.  I gotta buy the Tall Guy one of these!

The vendors on Saturday afternoon were great!  I am a collector of project bags and this one is from the Silver Shed.  What I love about this bag is the batting and the substance to it.  Very well made.  I think I have a little tote bag that she made a couple of years ago that I have next to my chair in the living room.

My first yarn from Leading Men Fiber Arts is fingering weight.  I watch Steve (one of the dyers) and Callie on the Dramatic Knits Podcast and keep up with his yarns on Instagram, but have not had a chance to actually see it in person.  I could not resist this one.  I love this combo of aqua and red.  I do not have a clue what it is going to be yet.

Cause I am a sucker for aqua and turquoise, I had to have this one too.  Callie might have talked me a bit into it.  I am kind of anxious to cast on one of these and see how they feel.

And from Amy Beth of the Fat Squirrel Speaks, another bag.  I keep shoving my shawls into small bags and I was bound and determined to pick up one of hers in a larger size.

From Sun Valley Fibers, a bunch of mini skeins.  They are going to be a color work cowl for next year.    They may also be a part of a Churchmouse Linen Stitch Scarf too.

The base will be this cream which I added to the stash.

It was a great weekend!  The weather cooperated.  The food was so good and I especially appreciated that they accommodated all the many different food preferences. ( I even got to take home a bucket of the Cheeseburger Chowder) The couple of break out sessions I attended were pretty good.  I figure if I get one tip out of something, I feel pretty good.  We celebrated Pi Day with Pi at lunch (I skipped it).  Coffee and water was always available.

There was so much laughing and sharing at our table all weekend long.  There were tons of neat knit items on everyone everywhere and my list of want tos continues to grow.

Paula and all of her help did another wonderful job on the retreat, we got more than our moneys worth this weekend.  Knitters are the best, aren't they!

All About the Pi, The Pi No Cake

Today is Pi day, 3.1415.  It will not come around for another 100 years.  We are celebrating today at the Knitting Pipeline Retreat with Pie for lunch!

And yes, I have a couple of Pi Shawls on needles in varying stages.   The very first one I ever cast on was the simple Pi Shawl from Elizabeth Zimmerman's (the godmother of reinventing Pi) Almanac.  I started it on the way to one of our Knit Camps.  EZ says it is the perfect shawl/knitting to take on vacation and I agree.  My thought at the time was to use up the leftover brown colorways from my Pelerine I had knitted the Winter before.  I'm getting vert close to the end of this one, but when you have a gazillion stitches towards the end, it make take a while.

 I think I might have cast on my second one that year at camp.  Schoolhouse Press had gotten some new colors in of Unspun Icelandic in a yellow, red and purple.  I just could see this in the other pattern from EZ's Almanac, the center looking so much like a sunflower.  I've nicely tucked this one away in a project bag for now because it too has a fair amount of stitches on it and is almost time for the lacey border.

Last Summer, I got a wild idea to knit on  new one from Madelinetosh Pashmina in the Cousteau color way.  I bought the yarn when Madtosh first came to our area and had been trying to figure out what to knit with it, when I happened upon the Anniversary Pi Shawl on Ravelry.  I know the yarn is a bit dark, but I am hoping when finished and blocked that it will open a bit.

Yep, I am a bit infatuated with Pi, certain that it is because I am a devotee of both Elizabeth and Meg, not because I love Math.  It isn't wonderful though that there is a day in my lifetime that we can celebrate Pi.  And not just us knitters are doing it!
Pie in the Face

Finally Finished Friday

It's slim pickins again this week.  But, I did get this little scarf for Bella done for her birthday party on Saturday.  I won't be attending because it is Knitting Pipeline Retreat in Washington IL today and Saturday.  But, I know she'll love it.  

Knitting Pipeline Retreat

I love the fact that a retreat is so close to home and I get to go knit with a crowd of knitters.  Talk knitting, shop knitting (Sun Valley Fibers will be there) and just have a super nice time!

What to take to knit on?  Something fairly easy because there will be people to talk to and watch.  

What to take?  Snacks.  My coffee mug.  My camera (need to blog after it is over).  $ or credit card to buy yarn and stuff from the sponsors of the retreat and yarn on Saturday.  Notebook and pen to write stuff down that I want to remember, like what knit was she wearing that I want to add to my queue.  

What to wear?  Layers.  Because the church can be cold and I am already cold to start with.  Something I knit?  

I got to work in the morning and my assistant is out on vacation, so I am hoping that nothing major comes around to keep me from getting out at a decent time.  I'm going to try and keep a low profile in the morning, just in case!

Wednesday Website

Knit Sizing

Would I Buy It Again?

I do buy things on impulse.  I've been reading about this magazine in various places and I decided to get one and see if it was something that was worth looking into on a regular basis.

What I liked is they give you a code, so after you purchase the magazine, you can download it to your computer to look at there is you want to.  I like this.  I've seen one other publication recently that is doing this same thing.

There really was only one pattern in the whole book that I may want to knit.  A nice little shawlette for Spring.  What might have caught my eye was the color which is totally not showing well in this picture.

The socks are cute and maybe would make my iffy list.

 The hat, again makes the iffy list because of the colors,  but I'm not much of a hat person, so it is really low on the iffy list.

I loved these mitts, but mine would be sans picot edge.

The sleeve on this is just not me so it makes the no go list for me.

The featured sweater on the cover is a no go as well.  Those circles down the front just are not me.

This was a definite no.  It is a no way knit for me.  I don't need those cables and details around my hips nor do I ever wear drop shoulders in my sweaters, ever since Judy Chan.

I am just not into the sloppy look or oversized sweater and I hope to goodness, they never make a come back.  And there was nothing super special about the socks either. I really did not care for the toe treatment.

Unbelievably, this sweater I might knit.  But, I would definitely be making multiple changes to it.  It reminds me of a silhouette that I recently saw that I want to duplicate.  

The very last project was not a knit ball but a craft project, definitely a no for me.

Interestingly, there was also a recipe for Cardamom Rolls.  We just talked about Cardamom at our knitting weekend.  Since,  I am not a baker and I couldn't tell you what cardamom even tastes like, you know I'm not making these.

 The best part of the magazine was a cartoon story in the back about a Grandma who knits and starts to have health problems.

All in all, the magazine was okay, but just not my taste in knitting.  To each his ow.