today i feel like....

.... dad's fat cat.
it must be time to leave the new mexican food alone for a while.

apples

i grew up on my father’s orchard. while he no longer lives in the house where we grew up, his new orchard makes me just as happy. today we picked some of his apples. with around 27 varieties, i am not sure just what we picked but my favorite were these sweet arkansas blacks.

good ol' farmer dad covers every piece of fruit on his trees with a “fruit” stocking. there are many uses for the stocking: ladies fashion, criminal use or as a father’s effort to keep birds and other animals away from his fruit while they ripen.

and as it turned out it worked.

for dinner~ fresh picked apples with cheese

why i love upstairs on the square....

libations available on election night...

(note blue font coloration)

Bridge To Nowhere Combo $16

A Glass of Pinot Noir

with Susie’s Stacked Chickpea Fries & Housemade Ketchup

Sarah’s “I Can See” White Russian $9

Cheney Oyster “Shooter” (Duck!)

A Wellfleet Oyster in a Bloody $11

these can be enjoyed at my favorite boston restaurant upstairs on the square... if you go~ please have a drink for me!

happy halloween!

puppy love~ the results of a boston on a diet

~she is now one lean mean opal machine~

stupid creepy scary halloween stuff for sarah…

black widow headband

this pattern was written by an austin yarn shop owner and blogger stacy klaus. her shop (the knitting nest) participated in the hill country yarn crawl and has recently been voted best new local business by the readers of the austin chronicle.

the kit consisted of cascade eco + (an aran weight yarn made of 100% wool), the pattern and this great plastic spider.

sarah~ i am sorry i did not know your head size so i fudged it and made the pattern to fit a standard plastic headband the sewed it on to the plastic one…..


now for the spider i could not help but gluing it to a bobby pin. sarah i cant wait to see a picture!

...don't hate me...

hardly able to control myself….

overly addicted to ravelry is a bad thing.

i know this because not only do i not have time to knit~ i also have a wealth of pattern ideas to confuse things.

this is bad because i can easily sit in front of the computer and weigh the pros and cons about different designs (even if i have no intention of knitting them… who the heck needs a felted handbag?!) and neglect things like eating and sleeping.

my social network is a bunch of virtual friends.

should computers be such an integral part of my knitting obsession?.... to the point where yesterday i considered changing cell phone provider in order to swap my current pda for an iphone to run stitchminder?

i did good this weekend.
i walked around yarn shops (hill country yarn crawl).
i found a pattern book.
i bought the book….
(sadly i bought the yarn online)

‘mila tells me gavin likes bright colors…. what do you think ‘mila?

i am too excited for words and i can’t wait for this yarn to come

acl 2008

the fratellis
spiritualized
the kills
silversun pickups
the raconteurs
tegan & sara





of course there were more awesome bands, however faced with the kind of heat that would melt your mascara to the brim of your hat (if you were brave enough to wear any)~ it was safer to take multiple shade breaks armed with shade break essentials such as:
camp chair with beverage holder
beer (with koozie)
water
sunscreen
hat
festival foods (of whatever sort is available)


...of course, forget the heat when one can have jason pierce sign your acl program or even just shake the man's hand...

~see you next year acl~

portugal jenny

sick at home today. not like me to be sick so i am feeling very sorry for myself. (even though it really is only a cold). i did pluck up the energy to finish the last bits of jenny that have been awaiting my attention for some time now...

i have to say i really like it. it is hard for me to believe that this pattern is the same as my ravelympics 2008 sweater only with a few modifications.

details:
rowan ryc cashsoft dk- 6 skeins shade 506
needles: us 3 & 6
size: medium (due to gauge- would knit a small)

note: used one less ball than pattern called for. substituted rowan hand knit cotton with the softer cashsoft dk.

no modifications to the pattern except i left out the contrasting cast on at the bottom of the body and sleeves.

mostly knit in portugal and was on a real roll- very nice to knit and fun pattern but put it aside for my ravelympics 2008 beaded jenny.

the ribbon and buttons were bought in estoril at retrosaria fantasia- along with the other wonderful buttons i found there. such a wonderful retro haberdashery shop!

my thanks to no two snowflakes….

just like the name she chose, nicole creates one of a kind high quality hand dyed yarns.

this wonderful lady created this 100% cashmere skein and called it “soft pepper.”

her eye for color and design captured pepper’s colors and softened them to alter them to my taste of soft blended yarns.

could you get more custom than that?

when it arrived i sat on my couch with anticipation and trepidation~ i thought it would take me months before i would open it but percy came and sat by my side and we opened it together.


after a smell he snuggled into the yarn~ not with my camera handy i missed it but in no time he was back on the couch and this time lying right on top.

yarn approved, sniffle.

our new family

meet oscar (top) the new member. oscar is a shih tzu who loves toys, playing and his mum. then of course the second down is mr percy and sweet opal on the bottom.

such q-tys we have..

poor chair...

happy fall

marimekko

owl baby sweater get's a marimekko outfit.....

denim yarn?

ok i ask myself why after my ordeal knitting with a cotton blend why i would move on to a 100% cotton yarn?

why?- for a missed baby shower for my friend michelle.

yarn: rowan denim~ from the ball band: “den-m-nit shrinks by one-fifth in length and fades just like denim jeans.” (a yarn destined to ruin any project.) shrink!! i will suggest hand washing in cold water.

2 skeins sh 229.

pattern: “owl baby vest” by jodi haraldson

i liked the way this yarn knits up…..
although it did turn my fingers blue as are my bamboo needles!


mods:

1. knitting front and back as two separate pieces instead of in the round. i prefer seems as they give the sweater shape. (however i don’t like seeming!)
back: c/o 54 sts; row 6 increase at each end of row.

front: same as above; note owl pattern inverse on every even row.

why i am not and never will become an olympic athlete.

why my ravelympics 2008 project did not pass the finish line…

1. i am not capable of completing anything i start because i can’t help from being distracted with other projects.
2. i am not capable of completing anything i start because i can’t help from being distracted with other projects.
3. i am not capable of completing anything i start because i can’t help from being distracted with other projects.

you get the picture. (i should be forced to write this out on a chalk board 100 times)

first a thank you fellow raveler~ 1knuttyknitter
(i could not have done it with out your help.)

here is the final product

made from five skeins of rowan cashcotton dk in sh 603, one skein of sirdar snuggly dk in sh 348, roughly 1000 + rowan large white beads and more of my fab portugal buttons.

mods:
1. increased length by 1”
2. increased sleeves to repeat pattern 2x
3. made fronts as cardigan
4. omitted the yarn overs in neckline for ribbon- instead:
5. from neck picked up and knit 24sts up right neck, 29 up right sleeve, 40 across back, 29 across left sleeve and 29 down left front (not 25, 35, 45, 35, 25) as stated in pattern and neck line fits great.

lyme regis

a four-day visit to britain’s jurassic coast to the quaint village of lyme regis during their carnival sounds like a nice place to be this summer. that is unless you are there to undergo dental surgery.

lucky for me i was just along for the ride.

best find… jurassic bar. (you need to look beyond the plastic oversized fish that adorn the entrance.) the chef/owner takes his boat out each day and serves up his catch in his restaurant that evening every day of the year apart from christmas and new years day.. .nice life…
we had dinner there every night. i would still be having dinner there nightly if i could only find enough faults in the dental work preformed on my companion (mil) to scare her into returning to the surgery.

alas i have failed.

another find: the town mill bakery. lunch: dorset rarebit & dorset apple cake.

a special lara find: all these fantastic old english knitting needles at a charity shop on the beach. 50pence. no kidding.

a find for a friend: vintage english horse brasses from an antique shop. for luck.

christchurch

my home away from home knitting shop while i am in england is honora

i picked a brick red color of sirdar snuggly for my future "ascott" from the new rowan classic vintage book.

yes sadly i am setting myself up for another bead disaster.

also on our visit we went into the christchurch priory- the longest priory church in england and built in the 13th century. such a beautiful site- worth a visit even if you don't plan to visit the wool shop :)

my portugal jenny

this is rowan jenny cardigan (back only) from rowan 37.
jenny was my companion on this trip and we were to spend a lot of time together. as it turned out jenny and i did not spend as much time together as i had anticipated. currently she is only a back, right and left front and the beginnings of two sleeves.

jenny is 7 skeins of rowan ryc cashsoft dk in color sh506. (57% extra fine merino, 33% acrylic microfiber & 10% cashmere) she is knit on us #3 & #6 needles. i substituted cashsoft for the handknit cotton dk used in the pattern & i knit a larger size to make up for the gauge.

if traveling to portugal and you happen to be in the neighborhood of estoril you must visit retrosaria fantasia- perhaps the best haberdashery shop i have been too. in addition to finding my portugal jenny buttons, i bought loads more for which i currently have no use for but would like to eat them like candy because they are so wonderful.

a quick note~ i have been traveling so much recently i have been a bad blogger. my travels in portugal took me by bus to sintra where i made my way walking through town~ passed my neighbor's favorite restaurant the lawrence, hiked up to the castelo da pena and then castelo dos mouros.


favorite things about portugal:
mussels
sardines
cheese
olives
wine
beer
beach

sadly, jenny went to the side once the ravery olympics began in favor of her near twin. as an attempt to better my knitting skills i decided to frog vintage lilac from knit today issue 22 and use the cashcotton dk for a jenny with beads.

cotton~ and what was i thinking?

beads~ and what was i thinking?

with help from one knutty knitter i learned a lot about bead knitting. the most valuable being that the beads i had bought for my pattern were two small. still i was encouraged to knit my project as planned by fellow knitters.

most useful bit-o-advice:

bead size suitable fiber 11/0 #8 perle cotton; d silk, #20 crochet cotton 10/0 #8 perle cotton; e silk 8/0 #3, 5, or 8 perle cotton; ff silk; lace weight and fingering weight yarn 6/0 (or 4mm diameter) a.k.a E or small pony bead #3 or 5 perle, crochet cotton; fff silk; rayon, fingering and sport weight yarn 2/0 aka small crow 20/10 silk; dk to worsted weight yarn 33/0 aka crow bead worsted weight yarn

this lady is a bead queen.

candy for baby ella

candy- remember me?

looks tasty, no?

my first from scratch knit design. the idea is to have a pullover with a keyhole tie to easily fit over the little ones head without stress.

sweet ella

i love baby girls.

ms. ella inspired me to seek out some fantastic fabrics worthy of a small persons wardrobe.

these finds were snatched, cut up and embroidered onto soft white baby tees.



i have also been knitting for the little one. my favorite color when i was a girl was orange. now.. it calls to me again.

this cardigan originally began it's life to end up looking like the "chunky tweed cardigan" by erika knigh from the book baby bloom. this is my not so chunky and not even tweed interpretation. she's a summer baby :)

ok, guage is right but i ran out of yarn and was not able to find the same color. because of this i had to frog the sleeves and come up with an alternative.

sad to butcher the original beautiful pattern but in the end i did a single crochet around the front right & left and neck. also did a simple crochet border around sleeves and ta-da.

what i really like about this sweater is the silk ribbon embroidered flower. i dont know much about embroidery however.

kennel blanket for universal city animal hospital in memory of pepper from percy & opal

in memory of our best friend pepper- this was knit for the vets and staff at the universal city animal hospital for another small dog in need.


thank you to the lady wyvern on ravelry for the free dog bone chart.




....we will miss you always pepper....