Monday, January 29, 2007

Hats Off to Me

Yes, Carrie K, I did cave in and whip out the hat for Steve. I modified it a little to make it more of a fit for his style.
I picked colors to match his snow gear. It's knit in Cascade Yarns Bollicine Dolly - 100% Merino. It feels so soft. I did the inside of the hat in black and changed the pattern around (refer to previous posts showing Dec's hat for comparison). He liked it.

Ethan was sick this weekend, so I didn't get any knitting done on Chinatown, as what freetime I had was in making a special dinner for Steve's birthday last night,getting Caleb's stuff together for his camp out at the School Forest and holding Ethan while he wimpered in my arms (poor baby).

E has double ear infections, but seems to be feeling a little better than he was. I plan on grabbing a book, sitting down and getting some knitting done this afternoon. Okay, I may throw in a batch of laundry or two, but otherwise it's knitting time.

I did a little bit of digging through one of the Stash Bins today. I'm always shocked at some of what I find in there, yarn that I bought thinking I couldn't live without it, only to shove it in the box and forget about it. It seems like such a waste to have this beautiful yarn just sitting there.

I'm posting some of it on Destash for Cash later. This is the first batch that's going up:



7 balls of Rowan 4 Ply Cotton - 50g 186yds Col SH118 Lot 2418 (olive green) mrsp $6.50 (45.50)
4 balls of Rowan 4 Ply Cotton - 50g 186 yds Colr white - 1 ball does not have label mrsp 6.50 (26.00)
2 balls of Rowan Fine Cotton Chenille 50g Dark Navy - 145 m - one ball does not have label
2 balls of Anny Blatt Angora Super - Blue Variegated116 yds mrsp 21.00 (42.00)
1 wound skeins Donegal Tweed Olive Green - may have been swatched with mrsp 10.99 (10.99)
2 wound skein Donegal Tween Dark Green - may have been swatched with MRSP 10.99 (21.98)
2 wound skeins Donegal Tweed Dark Blue - may have been swatched with MRSP 10.99 (21.98)
2 wound skeins Donegal Tweed Medium Blue - may have been swatched with MRSP 10.99 (21.98)
4 skeins Great Adirondack Frills yarn in Black Violet Colorway 100 yds each MRSP 10.00 (40.00)
1 wound skein Great Adirondack Frills yarn in black violet colorway - may have been swatched MRSP (10.00)


In total, this lot would be over $240 to purchase. I'm selling the lot for $100.00 plus actual postage. or will sell it individually for 50% of the MRSP.

I've gone back and forth with getting rid of some of this, but I feel a greater need to declutter and reduce the stash to only what I love. I keep feeling guilt when I look at it and quite honestly I've got other projects in mind that I'd like to knit, so I'm moving on.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

There's No Dilly-"Dale-ying" Going On Here!

Quick Post! Here's a quick pic of the Dale Hat for Declan. I've just got the crown to do and sew down the hem, and weave in ends. It's always sounds like so much less work that it is.
I still haven't decided whether I'm going to attempt to get Steve's hat done for Saturday. I'm trying to be realistic about how long it would take. Although I did enjoy whipping up this hat, maybe it's because it was a small project. Besides, I'm anxious to get back to work on my Chinatown jacket. We'll see!

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

I couldn't help myself!

One of the reasons that I rarely post pictures is that my camera is never near by when I'm knitting and then I'm too lazy to download the pics from the camera, blah, blah, blah. Pitiful excuse - I know! However, yesterday afternoon as I was happily knitting away on Chinatown, I stopped to measure my progress on the armhole. I had to move my Treo out of the way so that I could lay it out. I was happily smiling away at my work and thinking how wonderful knitting was and maybe I should wander out to the street to find someone else to admire my handiwork, when I thought better of it and decided to snap a picture, you know, for posterity's sake. Now understand that I am never without my phone (Marji and Jae could tell you that from Stitches) and I often use it for snapping quick pic's of the kids and emailing them to my Mum and Dad. Why on earth, has it not occurred to me to take pictures of my knitting with this handy little device before. Any suggestions? Anyway, the point is... here are a couple pics of Chinatown. Isn't she pretty?
The cording was so easy and fun to do. Sometimes it's the simple things in knitting that impress me the most. Like turning the heel on a sock. My husband gets tired of having to clap and cheer at the amazing heel that appeared out of nowhere.


I doubt that I'll make a lot of progress today on this though, as yesterday I ran in to the yarn store with Caleb (11) to pick up the rest of the yarn for Chinatown and he fell in love with a hat that Beth (owner of Black Purl) had hung up. It was a Dale Hat from the 1999 Vail book. I'll snap a picture later and post it. Beth loves Caleb (what's not to love about a boy who a) has wanted to be James Bond since he was 4, b) is fascinated with politics and would actively debate winningly with most adults, if it was the polite thing to do; and c) has informed Beth that whenever she needs help she is to call him and he'll gladly help her wind yarn, take out the trash, attach photos to hundreds of patterns) ... and so, she gave it to him. Despite my protests. He loved it and proudly wore it into the house, which immediately prompted Declan to fall in love with it himself and ask me if I thought I'd be able to knit one for him by Saturday when he is going to the Polar Cub Scout Camp up north. Obviously, these kids have supernatural powers of persuasion (or just incredibly cute eyes) that made me say "well, I'm sure I could". So, today I stopped by the yarn store and grabbed some yarn for the hat to knit for Declan. He would like it knit in Chicago Bear colors (remember this is Wisconsin, and this could get the kid beat down at School, but he is very loyal and understands the price you pay to support greatness!!! Go Bears!) I been working on it this afternoon for a little while and I feel like I'm in the Knitting Olympics again.

P.S. Steve asked me to make him one today as well, so that he could have one to take Declan to the Polar Camp. I bought him a North Face one instead. I doubt he'll know the difference. I'm pretty sure that I couldn't knit two before Saturday - I have too much to do; besides, it's not like my name is Marina. She could whip out two fair isle hats in her sleep.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

I'm It!

Marji tagged me so that I'd finally get a post on the blog for the new year. It worked!

Before I get, here are five things I've never revealed on my blog before (at least, I hope I haven't and I'm too lazy to go back and check, so forgive me if these are duplicates).

1. When I was 10 years old I was taken to the emergency room stuck in the splits. I was at a disco, and a nasty little boy thought it would be funny to push down suddenly and hard on my shoulders (sadistic little pratt) and see what would happen. Apparently, there is only so far that your legs should be able to go into the splits, my body freaked out and my muscles cramped up and I needed to be taken to the emergency room in the splits, where they gave me a muscle relaxer before I was able to resume a normal position. Conclusion: Music can influence your actions negatively. The song Fame was playing (obviously this was a fairly traumatic experience, so I recall it quite vividly) and I thought I was Irene Cara.

2. I've met Queen Elizabeth. Well, I've been in front of her (but that's closer than most), I'm sure it was more memorable for me than her. When I was 11 I was in a Majorette Band. Our team was pretty highly ranked in Southern England and we were invited to march at the Queens Birthday celebration that was being held at Windsor Castle. We stayed in the Barracks and performed the next day.

3. I've met Poirot (okay, David Suchet who plays Poirot). When I was in college in Torquay, England, I worked at the Pizza Hut Restaurant (it was more of a restaurant in england than a fast food place). He was one of my customers and was there with his family. He was very nice and polite and tipped well.

4. Although I grew up in England and didn't move to the states until I was married, I have no English accent (fortunately I don't have a wisconsin accent either). I didn't try to lose my accent, but I'm from a tourist town in England, the English Riveria (yes, we have one- fake palm tress and all) and it's a melting pot of people from all over the place, so I don't think it was ever the most defined of british accents. However, when I get nervous, angry, talk to my mum and dad, or meet someone for the first time, my english accent pops right out without trying to. As I relax, it disappears again. This can be a problem when having to give a presentation, as over the course of the speech my accent changes from british to american. It's very embarrassing, as people think I'm putting it on.

5. I love Cereal, and would happily eat it for every meal. BUT, only after I've nuked it in the microwave for a minute or so. Yes, we're talking cheerio's, rice crispies, frosted flakes, everything! It doesn't matter if it's winter or summer. I like my hot cereal. My favorite is 3 Weetabix loaded with sugar, with Vitamin D milk and some heavy whipping cream poured on top, nuked for 1 1/2 minutes. All soggy, warm, fatty and lovely. Obviously, I can't eat this every day else I'd be the size of Shamu, so I settle for usually heated cheerios or wheaties with some banana's on top.

Now, I'm supposed to tag 5 others, but am struggling to come up with five other people who haven't been tagged already (obviously I have a very small circle of internet friends). We'll see who I tag. I'm going to have to think about this one.

Update on what's been happening since last post.

The holidays were lovely and not too hectic. We didn't have the usual crowd of visitors from across the seas, so we enjoyed spending time together as a family. It was very nice and relaxing, although I was grateful for everyone to go back to school so I could have some peace and quiet.

I've knit about 3 pairs of socks, finished a scarf from the stash that was started years ago, have dabbled with a dale sweater that I need to finish, but am having a hard time being motivated with. I'm quite frantically knitting away on Chinatown (a design by Black Purl) right now in Cascade 220. I'm doing it a little different colors and different yarn. It looks great and is fast and easy to knit, so I'm able to read while knitting. The back is almost finished and I predict that I'll be done within the next 2 weeks as I need to keep plugging along on the sleeves for the Dale in Sisik that I started a couple of years ago.

I have decided to sell some of the stash and am going to begin posting it on Destash for Cash. So, keep an eye out.

Thanks Marji, for the push to get a post on here.

To end, here's a picture of the cute kids from Christmas.