playing catch up

i'm a blog neglector who has a new family member to introduce. meet scarlett (squirt), our new stray.

shes been with us two weeks now, a little bright spot who shines a little brighter every day. she's put up with all the medications, dental work and doctor visits and shes not run away (yet). 

welcome to your new home miss scarlett. 

why i knit

green owl

my sister likes lime green (at least i hope she still does). this little pattern was written by another fellow knitting blogger ~ my knitting basket. her owl coffee cup cozie can be found on her blog for free here. she has a lot of very interesting free patterns but this one caught my eye (and the other 107 ravelers who also knit one.)

being the 107th logged knitter of this pattern has me thinking that i hope someday she runs into someone somewhere... and find that the one thing they have in common is a knit owl coffee cozie.

i changed the pattern up a bit to accommodate the lime green lambs pride bulky by using size 7 needles (for a tight fabric) and only knit 4 owl repeats to fit the mug i chose.

i hope she enjoys it.



happy birthday sarah!

conkerr cancer

hello pillowcases.

if you have not already please visit the conkerr cancer website. who wouldn't want to bring some cheer into a chronically ill child's time in the hospital and what a sweet and simple way to make some thing that might accomplish just that.  it was through craft hopes new campaign to bring awareness to the charity that i found myself at the fabric shop looking for just the right cotton designs, coordinating fabric for the tops and just the right trims.

when i was growing up i had a "special" pillowcase that was made especially for my small stuffed raccoon (his name was rocky). rocky has his own pocket where he slept with me on my pillow.  i decided that i could not make a pillowcase without the pocket for any little ones special stuffed friend or treasure.

i love my boston

  

happy birthday sweet opal. i thank you for your kind heart ....and for putting up with my knitting indulgences & penny's attention :)

happy 4th of july

as part of what started out to be my attempt at competing in one of ravelry's challenges, i bought this wonderful black coned yarn from colourmart. it's fibers are 100% extra fine merino that was braided into an aran weight for pringle of scotland. checkout their website for a really great acoustic set by franz ferdinand. pringle has a wonderful line of fashion handknit designs that i would love to own, but i'll be cheap, buy their yarn and make my own. the yarn has a wonderful feel to it~ its feels almost squishy as if it is braided with a hollow core.

the pattern was designed by ysolda teague (fitting as she is a scottish designer). liesl is a cardigan that is made really to make your own based on the weight of yarn you choose and the many modifications she offers. i was knitting the 1,793rd version on ravelry. (wow- ok that's a lot of income for one pattern @ 4gbp each).. saying that i think i  lost the first one i bought and ended up buying it twice. now i am roughly 1/3 of the way through my version and the count of ravelry projects is now up to 1,906 and i am one month past my competition deadline.  who are all these crazy quick knitting liesl lovers? i half expect to see a line for sale at target.

here is the beginnings of mine~

happy long weekend...

matching clutch

well since miss ella's birthday gift is going to be late and i have an unused zipper bought especially for her i attempted this great gathered clutch from noodlehead.

thank you noodlehead for such a great tutorial.

little ella's pillow

happy birthday lady ella.

this is, of course for little miss ella.

i started with an angora feel yarn~ trendsetter viola in a wonderful orange/peach color.

us needles 6/4.00 mm

1 skein total = 180 yards

i also used a 12” pillow form, 1/2 yard of a soft fabric, store bought yellow pipping and this angora feel yarn. c/o 60 stitches and given my past luck with eyelash yarn i decided NOT to keep track of my stitches. i knit until 12” and sewed to piping.

(no zipper)

I bought a zipper and had intended to put one in but i kept thinking the yarn would get caught in it.

time to box it and get it off so that it is not too late for miss ella’s birthday.

happy birthday little ella and miss chi.

i love you both.

welcome to your new home

 vaja cases has this customizable ipad cover. the happiness my little ipad feels..

woo hoo

i know- it is sad to get so excited about a painted fence....

really we have stained it multiple times with little success and then... wow. the powers of a good painter and latex paint.

mer thank you for helping me with the color selection.

banberry place

 my new finds :)

1) amy butler rainy days rain jacket
2) lola goes shopping..... all the goods~

1 yard Splashy Rose Persimmon 

1/2 yard Henna Garden Brown
1 yard Daisy Path Celery

 

and dont i love my new store??? banberry gave me a couple of yards of my favorite blogger/designer how about orange's

designer ribbon.

happy anniversary

happy 15 years of marriage to my kind and loving husband.

to finish what i started

or not...

honestly i spent the afternoon in search of projects not finished. where do they go? i have so many i am sure they could occupy their own island of misfit knit projects.

on the productive side i found and decided to frog my first "frogged" project. i had committed 5 skeins of rowan big wool to storm by kim hargreaves.

not sure what i was thinking when i decided to knit this. it really is not something i would wear. not flattering and a little boring to knit. i think instead i will use the yarn to make wrenna and see how it goes.

the only other find is a keeper~ from the same pattern book.

i began knitting "ward" back in 2008. back then i chose to knit a size medium (really i am an extra small)~ but i think i was thinking that the featured picture draped over a long sleeved top looked appealing. i have one skein of yarn to go. it is worth finishing even if it is too big in then end.

some kinds of fruit

 happy mother's day to all of the wonderful mothers we love.

still trying to rid myself of this horrible cold. the idea of sleeping all day had occurred to me~ but idle hands.....

i have more tape measures than i know what to do with. almost every knitting project has put me in a position to need one when one is not handy... so i own more than i need. 

thank you to fellow blogger poppy lane for her tape measure cover tutorial.  

at least i can have fun covering them. 

our loquat tree now has fruit. it is an amazingly short period of time we have to pick them before they over ripen or the birds have them.  i am going to stew and freeze them for later ...

maybe time for a sunday nap...

at home sick

i am out sick today, exhaustion turns nasty cold, you know how it finally catches up with you?

and to the joy of my husband... no voice.  just a sad whisper without any means to inject meaning into my words.

happily i sleep a home and in between naps i complete the second to my pair of knit slippers.

my feet hurt

 but are these shoes not worth it?

in an attempt to make friends with my feet after what i put them through i decided a nice sunday afternoon of knitting just for them might do the trick.

my first thought was how cute and seemingly simple these little slippers are.

a few minor changes to the gauge to use a substitute yarn, minor mathematical calculations and then car crash.

first i would like to thank fellow ravelry knitter tiny owls knits for her amy march's slippers


i did have the yarn the pattern called for but i had some cascade yarn pastaza left over from the log cabin socks i made for my father in law and i wanted to make something similar for myself.

the mods began by adding two more increase rows at the beginning, minor mathematical equasions to get the rest to self adjust and then i hit the heal.

it was like reading a foreign language. i love new techniques and i enjoy learning them even if it is the hard way. through around forty repetitions i called it quits on the instructions and decided to spend some time working short rows but ripped it out and decided in the end to cast off the 24 stitches i had remaining by splitting them in two (12 on each double pointed needle) and casting casting them off together using a third needle. it took me most of the afternoon to figure it out so i am done with it for the day.

i happy

work/life balance?

no.

after two weeks of me attached to my iphone as my only usable communication outside of work for.. well work.

really i dont even leave work because my need to be connected keeps me at the office but at home this mac user communicates via phone.

stressful.

today, when i came home from work i had awaiting me this beautiful 27 inch LED backlit display with a wide screen monitor computer with a wireless keyboard and magic mouse.

what a great hubby.

this machine capable of allowing me to work remotely (commute time = extra sleep) greeted me with the new broken bells album.

i happy.