Go Orange!

I've been given a fun challenge by Marit - GO ORANGE. So I grabbed my camera and away I went:








Happy Orange!

Here is YOUR challenge: GO ORANGE! (or GO RED!) you decide... then pick a new color to pass on.

ps. let me know if you took the challenge - I want to see your pics.

A little Italian anyone?

My sister and bro-in-law are proud parents of a 7 pound baby girl with ten fingers, ten toes and a tiny turned up nose. She's darling and wonderful and spectacular and perfectly perfect. Welcome little Elizabeth!



So to celebrate, I cast on my Winnie socks in baby pink. With the leftovers, I can make some Saartje Booties for the little babe. They are my 'waitin' in line to pick up the kids' project.

Dullsville......

I have one finished boring pair of green industrial boot socks for y'all. And I was watching Lost in bed and made my hubby put them on and model them for you. So there you go.

Boot Socks. Needle: US 3
Yarn: Järbo Garn Raggi Multi
For Mr. Darling and his outdoor adventures.

I also finished a pair of midnight blue socks for my dad but forgot to take a picture. I'll get on that.

ps. My sister's baby is well-done but still in the oven. The suspense is killing me!

Hooooboy! And. Where the hell is my camera?

I found a box in while I was doing my Flylady decluttering and looking for my camera. Take a look at this:

I didn't find my camera but my snazzy Mac has a nice little built-in camera that worked just fine. In this box are a bunch of ALMOST finished knitted items. Why haven't I finished them? A.D.D? Perhaps. Laziness? Maybe a slight case of OCD?

Well, whatever the reason, I may as well finish them. So here they are in all of their UFO glory (that's UnFinished Objects to you non-knitting nerds)!
First up:

Rivendell Sock by Janel Laidman using dkKnits technicolor dream toes in "Molly Ringwald"
One cuff done.

2. One almost-finished Baby Mitts and Socks (LVS 5-22/23) by Rauma Designs

Sister is having a baby, so this is probably moving up to the top of the queue.

#3 - Socks for my dad that were supposed to be a Christmas present in '08.

Garter Rib by Charlene Schurch using Dream in Color Smooshy in "Midnight Derby"

#4 Socks for my hubby - Fall hunting socks of my own plain pattern. Some thick sock yarn, some big needles.


#5 These make me feel the most guilty of all because they are for my best friend who has since moved to Texas and probably will never need wool socks ever again. sniff.

"Little Pumpkins" Socks by Sabine Ruppert using ShibuiKnits Sock in ... orange.

#6 Classic mittens using Claudia Handpainted worsted in Freesia - for both my nieces birthdays this weekend.


#7. Child's First Sock in Shell Pattern by Nancy Bush using Sweet Sheep Sweet Socks in "Vampire".


SO how will I treat myself if I finish these projects? I set aside this lovely gem of a yarn to be used with my new pattern.
Yarn: Radiant Twist in "Positively Pink"
Pattern: Winnie by the fabulously talented IrishgirlieKnits (on sale until the end of Sept!!!)

P.S. please don't remind me of the two sweaters I have going which I determined to be finished by Oct. 15. Let's just agree to not talk about that right now.

Autumn Mitts

It's 80 degrees out right now, which is why my daughter is sporting a swimsuit with those mittens.

Pattern: Classic Mittens (FREE - very easy pattern, adaptable to all sizes)
Yarn: Socks that Rock - Heavyweight
Needles: US 5
CO: 40 - there is room to grow.

I know it seems sort of redundant to say this, but Socks that Rock heavyweight seriously rocks. After knitting these mits, it has become my favorite yarn!!!

Make love, not war . . . unless you're wearing football helmets.

I've never really been a football fan. So I was taken back when my kid said he wanted to play. Strange things happen to mothers when their young get out on the battlefield. We wage our own internal battles from the sidelines.

Well, folks, despite my bloggy absence, I am still here and I am still knitting. Here's the proof:
my unblocked, weirdly pink Central Park Hoodie, minus the hoodie.
(did she lay that thing on the sidewalk? - yes, I did)

And then, because we can't just red eat meat, I also added my basic greens:
Good old wool socks for Mr. Darling and his Autumn-Outdoor-Extravaganzas.

Followed by a good side of fruits:

Vintage Mittens in an unidentified Socks-That-Rock (STR) colorway.

b14-27 Jacket by DROPS design
Koigu and Unique Sheep yarns

And this little ditty for my sister's baby which will be here in a month, unless she 'goes' early. I started this in blue and green but we found out it's a GIRL, so I opted for something a little less blue and a little less traditional. The purple will stay throughout the sweater, but the contrasting color will slowly move into cooler colors. It will either turn out to be a masterpiece or a piece of god-awful crap. We shall see. We shall see.

That pink CPH WILL be finished by Oct. 15, which is the deadline for this KAL.

ANSWERS TO SOME QUESTIONS:
YES!!! I know where Chaska is - I'm a neighbor!

Fried green tomatoes are fabulous and easy. Slice your tomatoes into 1/2 inch slices. Dredge in flour (with salt and pepper to taste) and fry them up in a 1/4-1/2 inch of oil. (Some people dip them in an egg wash, too - I skip that step)

Guinifer: I brought the zipper and the sweater to Coldwater in Excelsior and they have a finisher that put the zipper in. It was about $30. (It was worth it - it would have stayed in my UFO cupboard for years...)

Quick Post

Hey friends,

A friend and I write for a retailer (I write a book blog and she writes a food blog) - and we are teaming up to tackle Julia Child. I am hosting a "My Life In France" by Julia Child book club and FoodieMama is taking Julia's recipes and making them 'weeknight friendly'. Her recipes are fantastic and we'd love your feedback - even if you don't read the book.

Her first recipe is Coq Au Vin (don't panic - it's chicken). She has taken Child's recipe and made it mommy friendly (ie. do we really have a bottle of Cognac lying around?) Please check it out!

Enjoy!

The Minnesota State Fair.

We went.

We ate.

We conquered.

...until today. uuuuhhhhhhnnnggghhhh. I'm not feeling so well. And to overwhelm myself with my stupidity, I ate a pound of fried green tomatoes and washed them down with a Diet Cherry Coke. I feel so yucky.


++++++++


Finished SocksStats:
Needles: US 3
Yarn: All Things Heather Handpainted Superwash Merino, colorway "Bucky"
Pattern: plain old socks - no pattern

Also, I finally finished this sweater by hiring someone to sew the zipper into it. It looks fantastic - fits perfectly and is my absolutely favorite thing I've knit so far.

Stats:
"Vidiot Sweater"
Pattern: Supersize Me by The Yarn Girls
Yarn: Berroco Peruvia, colorway "Sea Turtle - 7125"
Needles: US 7


PS. Come and join us for March Sweater Madness in Autumn. It will begin on September 15 and end on October 15. It's a great excuse to get your sweater knitting mojo into gear for this autumn.

J'aime tricoter!

My GOD! I'm like a junkie. I AM a junkie. I stayed up until 2 am on a weeknight finishing this yarn. I spun some creamy alpaca . . . (really chunky and irregular) then took the colored stuff and spun that up (thanks to Kathleen for all of her amazing help. Truly. The advice, the links, the inspiration! Thanks to everyone one of you who encouraged me!!!)


Then I took both yarns and spun them up into this glob. I know - it's a ball of yarn that only it's mother could love, but I am in love. It's amazing. I've only got about 24 yards but if I knit on some big-ass needles, I think I can stretch a hat out of it. I may blend it with my yummy chocolate alpaca I got from my best friend . . . who, by the way, has moved away from me all the way to Texas. (hello Skype)

And I ordered some roving with money I. DO. NOT. HAVE!!!!! (don't worry, DyeabolicalYarns the check won't bounce.) It's diabolically green and I'm loving every inch of it!And about that best friend who moved away - we're planning a rendezvous in France for our 40th birthdays. (She says Italy, but she also says Tomahto and Pohtahtoe). So I'm off to learn French while I knit.

Au revoir!

Keep on a-spinnin'.....

Hey there.

I'm back from a great little vacation with the family. I made a trek down to St. Louis, MO for a my sister's wedding reception (another one). There was quite a fuss - it was a 'big fat Italian wedding' reception with kids, aunts, cousins, grandmothers, uncles and food and wine. A lot of food. I ate so much that I was feeling rather large and lethargic for the majority of the weekend.I brought my knitting and knit furiously through Iowa - cruisin' on my sleeves until I came to the increases and realized I had left my pattern back home. Hmph. It was a little like torture to look at that knitting bag and know that I had nothing to knit. To make it worse . . . I was about 2 miles from The Loopy Ewe and never made my way over there! I didn't have my own car and the family was too busy preparing and entertaining. Bringing myself to ask someone to drive me to a yarn shop (which was probably closed anyway) was out of the question. AND we stopped in Hannibal (the boyhood town of Mark Twain) briefly and as we were about 15 miles out of town I read in a brochure that they have a knitting shop with hand-painted yarn. OH, the misery.

While up in Ely, I did the rest of my spinning. It was about 3-4 oz. of creamy soft alpaca roving. My results were . . . well take a look.
It's a spindle full of strange, fat and skinny, soft alpaca yarn. Now what? I have no idea what to do next? And how do I know how much yarn I have? I suppose I can wrap it around something and measure it. As frustrating as it is to spin, I think I have found another passion. It's really fun. I have a wad of colored stuff here:...but I'm not sure how to separate it and proceed. I'm going into my LYS (local yarn shop) for a lesson this fall. My family was watching me with my awkward drop spindle and said, "Why don't you get a spinning wheel instead?"

A spinning wheel is $600. A drop spindle is $10. That's why. For those of you who don't know what a drop spindle is - it looks like a top with a long handle. You hang some fiber from it and spin the top while letting it hang in the air. That's it. Sounds easy, right? Yeah. Right.

Just keep spinning, just keep spinning . . .

Hey folks! I'm writing to you from downtown Ely, Mn. That was our sunset last night. Yup - loons and all. Very picturesque.

This post will be full of myself because. . . well. . . I am full of myself - and why, you ask? Well take a little looksey at this!



That's right! Blue ribbons, baby! YEAH! don't know what that pink ribbon is for. It might mean I'm sort of second place blue ribbon. And, well, I think my socks were the only socks entered, so I was kind of a shoe-in. I think I actually competed with this little ditty. It was in the same lot as my socks. Hmmmm.That's right. Now you, too, can enter the county fair competition even if you can't knit. However, you will need a huge box of Legos.

And look at the cake winners. WOW! That is really impressive.

This was my favorite. Achem. I'm sorry to say it did not win a ribbon, which I thought it should have because of the very creative positioning of the pandas.

Panda Free Love!! Whoo hooo!