Litla Barnebirkie

This is a heavily modified version of the pattern Swell (free pattern).
Needles: US 6
Yarn: Cascade 220 (worsted weight)

This is Lunker sporting the first version. I have no idea who that dude is in the black.

Birkie Knitting

This weekend, we took a family trip up to Hayward, WI to watch the hubby come over the finish line of the NA Birkebeiner. (cool slide show) We're very proud of him!


There were even races for the young Birkies-in-Training.
Moi'? I don't exercise. I get irritable and grouchy when I have to jog with the dog up to the mail box. So imagine my surprise when I shook hands with four other women after a few too many glasses of wine. I had taken an oath to ski in next years Kortelopet, which is about half the distance of the Birkebeiner, yet still a daunting distance of 23 K.

I turn 39 this summer, so skiing the Korte is supposed to be some sort of sick and twisted 40th birthday gift to myself, according to said girlfriends. I'm already grouchy just thinking about it. In fact, I don't want to talk about it anymore.

I did knit, though. It's a little Birkie hat for my daughter who is at school right now, so I can't take a picture.

Spring (ha ha wishful thinking) Cleaning

I am cleaning out my knitting cupboard/bins and here is SOME of what I found.

A gaggle of UFOs (that's unfinished objects for the non-knitter)

I believe I have my work cut out for me . . .

broken socks

My first Monkeys (socks are two different gauges)

Charlene Schurch - cabled watch cap

Scarf that will be too short
(probably frog and start over at a smaller width)

Child's First Sock in Shell Pattern by Nancy Bush

Baby Cable Rib by Charlene Schurch

Rivendell Sock by Janel Laidman

"Little Pumpkins" Socks by Sabine Ruppert

Striped stocking cap - just need to weave in all the ends.

Snake Scarf

Lori's Mitten (just one. have to finish the other)

Noro Bag (have to sew on handles)

Baby Selbu Mits

Art Scarf

NERD ALERT: Weasley Sweater - first attempt at a sweater - total disaster - will frog and make hot pads instead.

Next post: In which Raniknits readers will decide which UFO I should finish next.

PS. There is another box of UFO's under my bed that I just found. Too busy to take pics.

Blog Following

I found out how to check all my favorite blogs in a FRACTION of the time. If you have a blogspot account, go to your Dashboard and find READING LIST. You can add as many blogs as you like and then you can check your dashboard and it will keep track of who has updated their blogs! I have fallen in love with this. It used to take me forever on my ancient 2 year old computer to click on every.single.blog.

Now I check my dashboard, it shows me that 4 of my favs have updated and I can immediately read them. No fuss no muss.

oh, and you can post that list on your blog (see that to the left?) The order in which they are sorted is by the most recently updated.

So, just thought I'd let you know. It makes blog life so much easier.

Look what I found in the drawer.

The Hat.

Oh well. Compulsive behaviors do provide some benefits:My new shopping bag. At quite a discount from Mimi the Sardine.
It will be my early Mother's Day gift to myself.

And now . . . no more spending. But here I have to say that it's just like putting yourself on a diet. As soon as you start your diet, you begin to crave crazy junk food and you end up eating worse than before you went on your diet.

But enough is enough.

I must squeeze some fresh creative juices and start making things from the stuff I already have.

You WILL wear that hat.

With so many unfinished objects and a renewed promises to finish them, what do we do ladies? (and gentlemen)?

We cast on for an entirely NEW AND UNPLANNED PROJECT!!!
(queue ticker-tape parade and party blowers)

That's right. With our economy both world-wide and right here at home collapsing around me, I purchased MORE yarn because the two bins full of yarn that I already own just weren't enough. I then, promptly purchased a new bag to put my new yarn and project into.

I CO and started a hat for a kid who won't wear it anyway because hats, in general, are "too itchy".

And here, a picture of the hat that may put us in foreclosure.
And yeah, I made him wear it, the little punk. I didn't spend two days on the couch knitting like a fiend so that this scratchy hat could spend it's winter days in a drawer. No sir. Can you tell that my poor kid is just itching to take it off . . . . get it? . . . itching? . . . get it?

To Whom It May Concern:

Dear Maker-of-Convenience-"Food",

I recently purchased your Roast Turkey Dinner for my lunch. I must say, I was very impressed with the picture on the box. It does indeed look like a "Homestyle" meal. The ratio of celery to croutons is what clenched the deal for me. I counted 11 pieces of celery and 12 croutons, which would make my vegetable to carbohydrate ratio about 48%/52%. Not bad.

And while most people don't consider celery an adequate source of anything, I count anything green on my plate to be a viable member of my food pyramid. Pickles included.

So I was sorely disappointed to open my meal and find a lesser version of the pictured meal. I have provided my own picture for your viewing pleasure.

Please note the lack of celery.

Upon further inspection, I found this one piece, clinging to a soggy bread cube. I'm at 4% for my vegetable, which is making my food pyramid look a bit lopsided.

The problem seems obvious:

Someone in your company has a serious celery addiction and has been eating the bits right off your assembly line.

Please do whatever you can to rectify this situation before food pyramids everywhere collapse into non-nutritious piles of goo.

Sincerely,

A very hungry girl who may be getting scurvy.

DAMN these mittens! or Happy Fricken Birthday!

I have this one friend who has been waiting for a birthday present from me for about 30 years. So I said to this friend, I said, "Friend? What would you like?" And her curt reply (curtness comes with 30 years of disappointment), "Mittens." So I went down the street to YE OLDE YARN SHOPPE and bought some soft orange yarn and CO (cast on) for a pair of Dashing mittens for her. Gorgeous, except that I forgot to repeat the pattern on BOTH sides of the mitten. The top of the wrist is plain. PLAIN! BLECHY BLECH!
(the crappy picture doesn't help) It makes no sense. And it REALLY doesn't make sense to knit the other mitten the same way OR to knit the second mitten the correct way and then the mittens won't match.

So.

I CO for another pair of mittens. And I finished the first one and you wanna know something? IT'S TOO SMALL! Yeah. SO there you go. Happy FRICKEN birthday. I don't even want to finish the second one because what's the point. So what I'm thinking is that I'll just give her one of each and call it a day. They're both for the left hand.

Then I'll have another 30 years to make it up to her. Hey Tiff - how are you doing on orange hot pads?

Owls.

Just after I published the last post, I was hearing a strange, muffled noises outside my window. Somewhere in my sleepy head, I kept dismissing it for snowmobiles. It finally dawned on me that I was hearing owls. I opened the den window and it sounded like the pair were within a few hundred feet of the window. Great horned owls, from the sound of it. They are in their nesting season January-February here in Minnesota. And according to the DNR, they can eat up to 4,000 mice in one year.

OWLS! I WELCOME YOU!

I found this on YouTube - another Minnesotan who was not feeling as sleepy as I and happened to set up her(his) camera to record the calls. I wish it was louder, but you'll get the idea.



So here are some "Owl" inspired knits for your viewing pleasure (these are not my knits - click on the links to get the patterns):

owls
by Kate Davies

Give a Hoot

by Jocelyn Tunney

Snoozing Ned

by Lucinda Guy

Something frivolous . . .

So I was hanging out, over at We Heart Yarn, and was yet again inspired by the ever-talented Neuroknitter. She is finishing up a pair of socks using a (free!) pattern called Leyburn (pdf). After her suggestion on her post to check out the beautiful varieties popping up on Ravelry, I became obsessed and ended up with some foofy purple/pink, sparkly yarn - and despite being a month behind on a certain pair of navy of socks and a large child sized sweater, I cast on immediately and here is what I have thus far . . .

They will be a pair for my little gal. I had to modify the pattern, which is toe-up - I am not a friend of the toe-up way of thinking. It seems so very wrong. But that's another post. I CO 58 and I'm only doing the gorgeous pattern you see there across the front. The back is just plain old k2, p2 and of course, the picot cuff, which I also learned from Neuroknitter (thanks).

I. LOVE. THESE. SOCKS. Yeah, the color reeks of grandma-yarn from Ben Franklin, but the pattern is so fast and easy to memorize and it is THE perfect pattern to use with a short striped or variegated yarn.

+++++++ I am WAY WAY out of the loop. Apparently, unbeknown to me, there is an entire Leyburn sock knit-along! I found that out on We Do Not Have A Knitting Problem (she does, by the way, have a terrible knitting problem . . . and yarn stashing problem . . . which is why I'm always checking her blog . . .)

Birthdays

A little orange for a little friend . . .


who wants some mittens for her birthday . . .
which she is trying to make a National Holiday.

Speaking of birthdays . . . Happy Birthday to Mr. Darling.

Back to knitting stuff . . .

Originally, I was only going to blog about knitting, but somehow, my other life seems to creep in. So this post is dedicated to knitting and knitting only.

Pattern: Dashing (free pattern and knits quickly!)
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxury Tweed
Needles: US #6


Pattern: Supersize Me by Julie Carles and Jordana Jacobs
Book: The Yarn Girls' Guide to Knits for Older Kids
Yarn: Berroco Peruvia
Needles: US #7 and 8
My first 'big person' sweater for my darling "Vidiot". I still have to attach the hood and finish the zipper/trim. Oh, and next time I'll take a class on seaming since the seams look horrible. I'm mentally finished with this project, so the ugly seams will remain intact.




Pattern: Bunny Hoppers by Kathleen Taylor
Yarn: Can't remember - I'll post it later.

Publish Post

Needles: I don't know. 11's maybe.

Happy New Year!