One More Time

Happy New Year, and time for new starts and re-starts and start overs...
And here I am in all my starting over glory.  So where do I start?  I believe I will just begin again where I am at.

I have a new header up there.  I received a new wide-angle lens for Christmas and am learning all the ins and outs of fun landscape photography.  I swear I can capture all the mountains from New Mexico to Wyoming!  The Guy and I will have to travel to all the places we have already been to so I can take new and better and wider photos.

I made yarn today.  Well, not just today.  I actually finished it up today, setting the twist, and took photos, too, which really has to be some sort of record.  While I was piddling around the house, taking down Christmas decor (yes, I am on top of all sorts of things here) I noticed the sun shining on the drying hanks of yarn, and saw the opportunity for some photo art.

Behold.

Blue Yarn (top from Tracy Bunkers, merino/bamboo/nylon, 422 yds, 22 wpi)

and Pink Yarn (top from Lampspun, merino/bamboo/glitz, 237 yds, 12 wpi)

The blue I am very proud of.  4 oz of top spun fine enough for socks, I do believe.  Sweet.

In other news, I knit like a crazy woman for Christmas, finishing up felting the last bag on Christmas morning.  So it was a little damp...but I will save that for another post.

I wouldn't want to over do it.

Shooting the Moon

Just so happened that I ended up with my camera when the moon was there.

We had gone to Estes to eat with my BFF from Kindergarten! who was visiting from my hometown, and as we were saying good-by, there was the Old Man in the Moon!

The rest I took while on our September vacation in Zion or Bryce.  Seemed like every morning, against a blue sky, there he was again. (Clicky for biggy...)

The above...in order...Kolob Canyon, Zion Canyon, Bryce Canyon.

An Auspicious Occasion

Dearest Sister and Car Guy spent the night at Chez Iron Needles on their way back to Desert Crazy Town last month.  I was so glad to see her, and, as it happened, I had just finished cutting out the 3” squares that are to be the 9-patches for Grandbebe Four’s quilt.

She and I spent part of our all too brief time together matching up squares to make awesome 9-patches. The grandbebe quilts (See One, Two, & Three here) are a team effort, but happens states apart.  It is doubly extra special, with chocolate syrup and whipped cream, when the effort can happen in the same room.  Plus!  We are more creatively, I believe, than the sum of our parts…and we have more fun together than we do with others.

That much is certain.

As it also happened, I had ordered a walking foot for my most awesome Singing Singer, the Rocketeer, which for the uninformed, will enabled me to quilt with my sewing machine.

(Not that I will quilt the grandbebe quilt this way. Oh NO! A standard has been set and will be adhered to.  Grandbebe quilts are quilted by hand…with love in each and every stitch.  As it should be…taking months and months and months…of love!)

Back to the walking foot….Sister has one for her Featherweight, and seeing hers is what inspired me to find one for the Rocketeer.  I will be able to quilt smaller projects much faster and easier with it.  Anyway.  It showed up the same day Dearest Sister did.  We were able to break it in together.  Outstanding! with a side of awesome!

And…I did not realize that Dearest Sister had not been to our humble abode since the creation of my craftudio, my she-cave, my space-station.

She loved it.  I knew she would.  She wants one of her own.

Now...the next quilt is calling.  And I need a real project to test that walking foot on.

Miles (and miles) of Yarn

At Guild last month, it was announced that a member who previously owned a yarn store was selling what remained of her stock.

For an exceedingly good price.  So exceedingly good, I would say…it was almost free.  ALMOST FREE! for pete’s sake.

So I went.  And my stash grew by miles.

I know this because I have my yarn supply listed in spreadsheet format for easy tracking, and it is easily calculated into miles…or kilometers…or fathoms…

Yarn Garage Sale Lady #2 told me she was going to be selling her books in a few weeks and would email me.

She did.  I bought books…and more yarn.  More miles of yarn.

This enabler told me she was going to bringing out magazines in a few weeks, and she also informed me when this event occurred.

I went, and bought magazines…and buttons…and more yarn.

It was almost free.  I had to.

Such a heady experience it was. I got the best yarn ever.

I would show it off, but that would only cause grief and envy!

Dead Serious Knitting

Gathered Front Tank (rav linky) by Mercedes Tarosavich-Clark (Interweave Knits, Spr 11) out of Maggi’s Linen.  Had to buy a short sleeved tee for the proper look, and it wasn’t even on sale.  But I am lovin’ this and I get comments pretty much every time I wear it.  Happened that I had the exact recommended yarn on hand from Yarn Garage Sale Lady #1.   Love it when a plan comes together. Note: buttons from my stash, from a card marked 25 cents!

Weekend Pullover (rav linky) by Diane Soucy (#224) out of Tahki Yarns Baby Tweed.  Took this on our September vacay.  Had lots of this yarn on hand from the Yarn Garage Sale Lady #1, so figured out how much I needed when packing for the trip.  Oops…I looked at grams (100) not yards (60).  Yeah, so as I was closing in on the body, and quickly knitting through the last ball, I was wondering WTH?!  I had plenty at home.  Extra, even…if I had been knitting with sz 17’s as the pattern called for.  The largest needles I have are 15’s, which I considered big enough, and certain gave me a gauge pretty close.  However, the 15’s were small enough to require enough more rounds to eat up all my extra yarn.  The sleeve edges have an abbreviated trim, but the sweater blocked out to fit just fine.  I am glad I don’t have any extra length to the sleeves, actually.

Shalom (rav linky)  by Meghan McFarlane out of Elizabeth Austen Wool of the Andes.  I knit this once, and blocked it, thinking that looks mighty long…and it was.  Down to my knees long.  Yes, there were some things in the directions I overlooked.  I do swatch, albeit an abbreviated routine.  What I didn’t remember was the line about the original piece being knit for someone 6 ft tall.  To my credit, I realize I was never going to wear the sweater as it was, and having a skein left over, I decided to reknit the thing, with a double strand.  So I picked the woven end from the bind off…and pairing with the end of the fresh yarn?  cast on and started my new Shalom…knitting a sweater from a sweater!  I don’t need no stinkin’ re-skeining!  The new knitting allowed me to remember all three buttonholes, and fix an error in the buttonband.  I like the finished project very much.  Maybe I should knit everything twice? Note: buttons from my stash, 3 leftovers from I don't know how far back in time.

Summer Swing Cardi, by Jessica Grzedzinski, out of Reynolds Mandalay (100% silk).  Ooh la la.  I love this yarn.  Looking at the projects in Ravelry, I figured out how to make this larger  (36” bust) than written (32” bust), because I am not…you know…a teenager. It took math and gauge swatches and starting over once, maybe twice, but I figured it out (I thought). And so I knit and purled to my hearts content all through Zion and Bryce and back, with hardly a thought.  Perfect project for knitting while viewing the scenery, and the perfect yarn for it as well.  Well, yes.  As it got closer to being finished, I was having some thoughts about it being…scanty.  I measured my gauge again.  Yep, 4 st/inch…18 inches across…2 x 18 = 36…but after seaming, the sweater was really tiny!  I was not undone, though.  I didn’t weave in any ends (because, bigod, if this pattern didn’t work, this yarn was going to be something else, something else for me!), and I soaked it and blocked it out to 36 ½ “.  After drying, it was much better, even passable, but I had one ball of yarn (plus a bit) left, and I thought I could maybe pick up stitches along the front and add bands to bring the edges close together.  I added about 6 rows of garter, before binding off one side too tight.  After adding the garter edging on the other side, I knew I was on the right track. I un-bound off the first and added some more garter rows before binding off with larger needles.  Perfect. End result was 10 ridges of garter on each side.  No button.  Doesn’t look like any of the other projects from this pattern on Ravelry.

Eldest’s Yoga Mat Bag, Om Nava Shivaya Bag, by Audrey Loopy, out of Tahki Yarns Brilla. Just like mine.  Only it matches the swimsuit cover up I knitted for her…using up my leftovers.  Hope she likes it as much as I like mine.

Like I said...some deadly serious knitting.