January Thaw 2018

I'm home from a another wonderful weekend of knitting.  New friends on my list. New places to visit again.  Lots of knitting! Sun Valley Fibers host a January Thaw every year in Middleton Wisconsin. It starts Thursday night and concludes Saturday night with a swap of goodies.  Sun Valley has a teacher featured each year and classes are optional or you can spend your time shopping, knitting or wandering around the city or nearby mall!  The group is very welcoming and new friends are always made throughout the weekend.

I started out my weekend by stopping by this place!  This place is a craft megastore.  They have every kind of craft from soup to nuts!

And yarn.

Row after

row after

row of yarn.  This is just some of the rows!

The goodie bag was once again unbelievable.

And there were gifts!  My Knit Wit sister, Jan gave us chapstick/lipstick socks that she cranked on her knitting machine.  This thing came in so handy all weekend long and has a permanent place snapped to my bag.

And because of the stupid foot surgery last year when I couldn't go, my Knit Wit Sister, Pam gifted me this shawl that she knit with the goodie bag yarn and pattern from last year!  I love it and will treasure it.  And it is going to get a lot of use!

On Saturday night for those who want to, there is a swap.  You don't know who is going to get your bag, but when you get yours and open it, then the person tells the significance of why they chose the items they did.  Is this me or what?!

What a fantastic, laid back weekend this was.  Knitters are the best to hang out with and I can't wait to connect with this group again next year.  Good going Sun Valley Fibers!

Finally Finished Friday!

My Knitmas Gift is in the hands of it's recipient!

I knit the Three Color Cashmere Shawl by Joji Locatelli for her.  Kim loves color!  And last June she admired my Three Color Cashmere Shawl in the Willy Wonka colors so I went out on a limb and knit something even brighter for her.

I warned her to put her sunglasses on when she opened it!

I ripped it out two times, thinking it was too bright even for her, until on the advise of my Knit Wit friends to keep cast it back on and keep knitting it.

When it was blocking, the Tall Guy said it was stunning and that I should knit and sell them.  Now, that is a compliment!

I'm a pleased that I continued on and is now in the hands of someone who loves Neon Brights!

Merry Knitmas!

I received my lovely box today from my KnitMas partner, Kim.  Funny note, I also knitted her KnitMas!

Oh my!  The box was filled so many wonderful things.

These beaded mitts!

This shawl!

With this adorable pom pom on it!

And these goodies that will be perfect for Florida next month!

This just made my day!  I love KnitMas!

We interrupt this blog post

for a picture of my oldest son, Baby Boy A and his lovely wife.

 

Happy Monday Knitters!

Whats on the needles this week?

I've cast on a Hospice Blanket last week.  I am just getting around to blogging it this week, because I've been a slug lately and really immersed in finishing up my Knitmas present.  This Hospice blanket is a version of my one of my faves Heavenly Heathers, only I am not heathering it, just blocks of color.  

The colorways are the leftovers from my Hiro Sweater which is yet to be blocked.  I had a full skein plus leftovers of the sweater yarn and decided it would make a nice soft, cushy, cheery blanket for Hospice.  I am also going to be able to count it for ZK2018 Team 2 group entry for some major grams when I get it done.

The Nice Capades Sweater has been anything but nice to me lately.  This is about the third time I've had to rip it back.  First there was the "I don't like to alternate skein debacle".  This week it was the I'll switch to a size 4 needle from a size 7 needle through the waist section.  It really works when for waist shaping when the patterning is not conducive to decreasing.  Not this time.  The attempt at shaping was making the alternating of skeins almost useless.

I ripped it back this afternoon, way back and when I did, discovered a couple of missing stitches which was making the whole pattern off just a tad.  Now, we are back in business and I've just went down a needle size for the waist for a bit.

I'll see how that it looks in an inch or two and if I have to, go back to the original size of needle that I used for the lower half.

I feel like this one really wants me to wear it next Winter instead of this one!  But, knit on I shall!

Knit On!!

Finally Finished Friday

I can't show it, until my Knitmas partner has it in her hands, which should be sometime next week.
But, my Knitmas project is finished!

And half of it is blocking.  The rest this weekend and then I will wrap and get it in the mail on Monday!  Yes!

Knitting friends are the best.

And celebrating Christmas after the New Year isn't so bad.  Gives you something to look forward to.
A big bag for projects, Snoopy! and yarn!

And when you have knitting friends, you get knitting related things, which I love.  This is a nice drawstring, flannel pillow case.  It is going to be perfect for a nice shawl that I am knitting on to keep it in.

And yarn!  I am itching to cast on this yarn and pattern.  One of the things that I struggle with is making a decision of what I want to knit on.  I love it when my friends help out with that!  They know me better than I know myself.

And they know when to draw me out of my box too.  Isn't this lovely?!  It has beads too.  So, not only is the color way  taking me out of the box, but the lace and the beads will be doing that as well!

Now, this is Christmas!

I could get used to

having Mondays off.  Especially when they look like this.

And I would spend them like this, at least in the Winter months.

But, I wouldn't want to spend them redoing sweaters.  This is my latest, you know better move.  I dislike so much having to alternate skeins and so I didn't on my Nice capes sweater.  But, after knitting on it in really good daylight this last Saturday, it became evident that this one could not be ignored.

There is a definite difference in colors here and it is somewhere, (ahem, around the hip area) that I could not just ignore.  So, I ripped it back, no, not a frog, but a rip. 

And re-started.  The pic is a little dark, and I can see that there is a difference in each round, but not as bad as the chunk above.  

This whole alternating of skeins, once again, makes me like those yarns where I don't have to worry about it so much.  

I just wish I didn't like these totals so much.  Ah well.  

Clearing The Plate

There are times when I have little bits of stuff to blog about and they really don't justify having their own post about. This may or may not be one of those times, but there is a need to day for me to clear the plate of some notes and pics.

Last week, I finally got around to blocking my 2nd Avenue Wrap.  I was pleased.  

But then I took off of the dummy (she really needs some sort of name, don't you think?), and noticed two spots that bled.  (Queue the screaming memes)

They are both slight, but dimes to donuts, whenever I would wear it, they would fall just about eye level for all to see.  My first inclination was to do some surgery, but after 24 hours of thinking about it, I have decided a course of duplicate stitch may be in order.  I'll keep you posted on the results when I get around to duplicate stitching.

And just as a side note, I have never ever ever in all of my years of knitting had this happen.  Do you think it might have been the steam blocking?  I may test the theory out as I love the yarn dyer.  Again, stay tuned.

I am still knitting on my Knitmas Gift.  I am hoping with a good dose of the Golden Globes tonight that I can get it to the picot edge and have it cast off early this next week.  I am so ready to have this done!  I am ready to knit some sweaters and other things just for me!

While I was off of work the week between Christmas and New Years and just having the time of my life here at Chez PJKnits, I found a couple of You Tube Stations that I have become a fan of.

Arne and Carlos - I have heard about Arne and Carlos before by way of their Opal yarn colorways and I also have one of their ornament books.  I have quickly become a fan of their You Tube videos not only for their tutorials, but because they are from Norway and I have been a Norwegian in my heart long before I met and married the Tall Guy!  Ever since grade school, when we learned about geography, I have been smitten with the spoon shape country.  The infatuation grew when I learned about Norwegian Sweaters through Knit Camp and well, what can I say, going there is on my bucket list.  If you are into You Tube Videos, check Arne and Carlos out.

Kristin Omhdahl - Knitting on the Beach.  I have followed Kristin for awhile, but just realized that she has been doing a live stream on the beach down in Naples a few weeks ago.  I only managed to catch one live, but the videos also are posted to her You Tube Channel.  It is more of a chit chat then anything, but I just love watching her sit there and listening to the waves.

The last one is Dag Byrd.  Dag lives in Arizona and is a yarn dyer.  She is German by birth, but living in the U.S.  I love the things she knits and her Bees yarn is beautiful.  

Finally, in Central Illinois, the temp is supposed to climb out of the teens this week, but also bring some more snow, rain and freezing stuff today and early tomorrow.  I pleased with the climb, but really am ready for this snow to melt and be gone.  I don't mind the brown so much.  It makes it so much easier getting around and less likely for falling.  For some reason, I am worrying more about that this winter, maybe because a couple of friends have fell and I don't want to join their ranks.

I believe that just about cleans the plate for this week!  Stay warm, stay upright and I'll catch you on the purl side!

Wednesday WIP - Fish or Cut Bait?

Just a few minutes after midnight, on the first day of 2018, I went into my spare room.  With the lights out, I reached into the top drawer and pulled out a WIP project bag.  No peeking, no feeling around, just reached in and pulled this bag out.

The bag itself is one of many my dear friend, Norma made for me.  It was so fitting that I pulled it out as we spent many New Year's Days together.  Every New Years Day, she would invite a bunch of us knitters to her house, where we would eat and knit together for a few hours.  Oh what fond memories that bag brought on the first day of the New Year and of course, more than a bit of sadness.

Inside the bag, was a Churchmouse Yarns scarf pattern and one  skein from Knit 4 Together Yarn Shop.

  When I decided to do a WIP a month, I was hopeful that I would cut down on my WIPS, but also hoping to get some of my Chicago needles back in their places.  Unfortunately, this one is an Addi Turbo needle, and not one of my favorites because of the not so sharp needle point.

But, I am venturing on with it, so this project is going to be a fish. 

Funny side note, on Saturday at knitting, we were talking about using the bread tags to act as bobbins.  The funny part is that when I pulled the WIP out of the bag, look what I had used to hold the long cast on end!

Have a great week!  Catch you on the purl side!  And stay warm!

Happy New Year!