"Mup"

My youngest daughter is 13 months old and her latest word is "Mup".

interpretation: Mama Up!

Project Found !

I found the Ann's scarf project and I pretty much finished it this weekend. It just needs to be blocked then I will post a photo.

The Relaxed Knitter

I knit very loosly. My worsted weight sweater project is on size US7 needles. I am a loose knitter. I've been told I am a relaxed knitter. Well...today I am not feeling very relaxed. I cannot find one of my knitting projects. Exactly how does one loose a knitting project? I don't know. Did I leave it in a waiting room somewhere? Did I leave it at a friend's house? Maybe it is up my older daughter's nose. Yesterday I took her to the MD to have a wad of tissues removed from her nostril!

SP9 Questionairre

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?

My favorite yarns to knit with are soft cottons, merino wools or cotton/wool blends. I’d like to experiment with yarns of unusual fiber content. I’m not big on eyelash and fluffy yarns.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?

My needles are currently a mess. See previous post.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?

I have been knitting for about 35 years. I first learned English knitting from my mother and later my aunt taught me the Continental style of knitting. I consider my skill level to be intermediate.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?

No, but if you need ideas, I could give you some via an e-mail message.

5. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products, etc.)

I like lemon and lavender scented products.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?

Yes, I have a sweet tooth. My favorite candies these days are malted milk balls and Belgium Chocolate.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?

Though I haven’t made one for a long time, I like to make Ukrainian Eggs. I do not spin.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)

Joan Armatrading, Joni Mitchell, The Indigo Girls, John Prine and Cowboy Junkies are some of my favorites. I like being introduced to new artists, so go ahead and send some if you’d like - my computer can play MP3s.

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?

My favortie color is green. Hey, I like purples and oranges too. I really can’t stand teal.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?

I am happily married to a great guy and have 2 amazing daughters. We have a dog, he is a big Akita who is 13 years old.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?

I can feel the chill in the air now and I’m loving it. I do like to wear hats and mittens and an occasional warm scarf. Ponchos? No.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?

I really enjoy knitting socks - the turning of the heel seems like magic to me.

13. What are you knitting right now?

Ann’s Scarf by Two Old Bags in Frog Tree Alpaca.
The Wonderful Walllaby by Cottage Creations in Rowan, All Seasons Cotton.
Afghan in Colinette, Isis.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts? Oh, yes.

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?

I prefer to knit on bamboo needles, straight or circular are fine.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift? No

17. How old is your oldest UFO?

A child’s sweater in need of repair – I knitted it 20 years ago and 5 years ago it resurfaced in need of repair.

18. What is your favorite holiday?

I enjoy Thanksgiving and Christmas very much. But as for a favorite, I’d have to say Groundhog Day. I like that you don’t see Ground Hog Day displays in the stores. On that day, I like to bake spicy ground hog cookies and watch the movie, Ground Hog Day. Some day I’d like to have a GroundHog Day Party – would you like to come?

19. Is there anything that you collect?

I have a collection of cookie cutters – some old, some new, some metal, some plastic and all fun!

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?

I'd like to add both of Cat Bordhi’s Magical Knitting books to my collection. I subscribe to Interweave Knits.

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?

I’d like to learn to make a mobieus scarf.22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?

Yes, I knit socks. My shoe size is US 8.5 with medium width.

23. When is your birthday? (mm/dd) 03/17 St Patrick’s Day!

Store Those Needles

My system for storing knitting needles needs to be revamped. Recently, I bought a nice zippered pouch with vinyl envelopes for the storage of my circular needles. My straight needles and dpns are thrown into a plastic bag. How do you like to store your straight and double pointed needles?

The Wonderful Wallaby

The Wonderful Wallaby by Cottage Creations is my latest knitting project. Fifteen years ago I knitted two of these sweaters as gifts. As I remember, the sweater is fun to knit and knits up quickly. How wonderful to have my Rowan All Seasons Cotton on needles as my oldest daughter anxiously waits her Wonderful Wallaby!

SSK from KDO

It has been a long time since I put any sort of bumper sticker on my car, but I got one of these magnets at the Y2Knit booth:

Post-KDO

At KDO (Knitter's Day Out), I learned how to knit on buttons using the same technique that Judy Pascale uses with beads. I don't foresee making any beaded projects, but maybe one of my daughters will want something beaded sometime. Or maybe I could use the technique to put buttons on a cardigan? For practice we made a child's hat:

You can't see the buttons too well in the photo, but they are there and they are not sewn on! Another cool thing about this hat is that I forgot to bring yarn to class (duh) so... I ran to the swap table, pulled out some yarn odds and ends and put them together - I love the result!

I also found some old pattern books on the swap table:

I plan to make a collage of photos from these books for a page in my knitting journal.

Knitter's Day Out

Today I'm headed to Knitter's Day Out for knitting classes, vendor's market and the all day company of knitters from all walks of life. Can't wait!

play-doh

Hold on to your knitting bag! My stitch holder as a play-doh tool:

snowman

This christmas stocking turned out really nice. Many years ago I attempted to knit with multiple colors and the piece puckered all over the place.

Pattern: snowman sock, red oak designs

Yarn: Frog Tree Alpaca Sport Wt, red, green, off white, gray #009, orange #20, black

Needles: US3 and US4 straight

Specs: I followed the pattern as written even though it called for heavy worsted

blog vs knit

I'm spending more time blogging than knitting - ugh!

giving an old project new life

Recently an old project resurfaced. It's a sweater that I knitted for my neice way back in 1988. The sweater is in need of repair - see that hole in the triangular neck inset? I'd like to fix it because the sweater is so cute and my daughter could wear it now.

pattern: the new little red riding hood, mon tricot Oct 1980

yarn: who knows?

needles: US2

Afghan Square

One of my works in progress is this afghan square:


It will be joined with other squares of various colors, same design at the October meeting of our local knitting group. The afghan will be donated to a needy family this December.

All the yarn for the afghan came from J (a good friend of our knitting goup's organizer) who passed away and left a stash of yarn. Our organizer kindly let us go through the stash and choose what we wanted. We also decided to knit some charity projects with some of the stash because that is what J would have wanted.

No, not all my knitting is charity knitting. It's just that I have a few charity projects going right now.

Caps For Kids

My latest completed project is this small hat for Caps For Kids

yarn: artful yarns candy, bubble gum

needles: US2 dpns

pattern: combination of patterns I found online, I like the handle

Favorite knitting accessories

Let's open my knitting bag. I want to show you some of my favorite accessories:

My chicken measuring tape - a gift from a great friend, I like thinking of her when I use it.

My fancy stitch markers - from my brother-in-law, any project looks great while using these.

My red row counter - my whole family likes to click it. I never know what row I'm on!

Here I am - blogging

I can't believe I'm blogging. My friends talked me into it - pure peer pressure. Their blogger discussions just got more and more interesting all the time. SP9 sounded like so much fun I did not want to miss out.

Here are two reasons I should not be blogging:


Thanks for stopping by.