Another addiction, I fear

I'm really enjoying making these washcloths and soap sacks. I'm currently working on a lavender colored set. I can't wait to give them away as gifts. I'm also planning on designing my own round washcloths but I haven't figured out which lace pattern to use. Perhaps the vine lace that I used for those socks I made not too long ago?

The MWC 2006 football schedule is up!

Bernie just found out which games he's working this season and here they are! His first game, however, at University of Nevada Reno is not on this schedule.

The full schedule can be found by going to the official Mountain West Conference web site: http://themwc.cstv.com/

2006 MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL TELEVISION SCHEDULE

Sat., Sept. 30 New Mexico at Air Force mtn. 12 p.m. MT

Sat., Oct. 28 Cal Poly at San Diego State* mtn. 5 p.m. PT

Thurs., Nov. 9 Wyoming at BYU CSTV 6 p.m. MT

All dates and game times subject to change.

An asterisk (*) denotes games where the kick time may be adjusted to better serve the fans.

Yummy washcloths and flowers galore

I've been busy. Not working on what I should be working on, but busy nonetheless. I haven't worked on my black felted bag, nor have I worked on my Tubey sweater (it will be 102 degrees by Sunday) and I haven't finished my second Trekking sock. I have wanted the Bathing Beauties washcloth and soap sack patterns from Fiber Trends for a very long time and finally gave in to the urge and ordered the patterns as well as some DK weight cotton with which to make them from OneFineYarn.com. I had been making some face cloths with Cottontots and they're great but I just loved the idea of these delicate looking cloths and matching soap sacks to give as gifts. They make a great presentation.

The day the patterns came in the mail with some of the Petit Mandarin 100% Egyptian cotton yarn I ordered, I dropped everything and cast on for the round Old Shale Lace washcloth. I used a ball of yellow crochet cotton that I had in my stash. It's not as soft as the Petit Mandarin but I knew I'd be able to see the stitch definition and get the size cloth (approximately 9")that I was hoping for rather than a tablecloth size I'd wind up with using worsted weight cotton. It was supposed to have a picot cast off edge but because I had made another round petal edge washcloth prior to casting on for this, I didn't have enough yarn to do the picots. I was happy with the way the regular cast off edge looked, though.

The next day, I went to one of my LYS, Wooly Wonders, to see what type of cotton they carried that I could make more of these cloths with. Luckily, they also carried the Petit Mandarin so I bought one ball. I was also curious to see whether Paton's Grace would do well, so I picked up a ball of that as well. I am pretty happy with how Grace feels. However, the Petit Mandarin is a better buy because it costs less, has more yardage and is softer than Grace. I should finish the Grace cloth tomorrow as I'm ready to fall asleep.










A crocheted rose with knitted leaf made from Paton's Classic Merino of my own design.





I saw a scarf very much like this one on an episode of Surface this past season. I coveted it and vowed to make one of my very own. This is "my precious floral scarf".

More felting projects

I'm in love with felted flowers! This yellow flower with the black stamen is Cascade 220 with black fun fur. The leaves are Patons Classic Merino.
This pink flower is made with Lamb's Pride Worsted and the yellow center is made with Cascade 220. The leaves are Paton's Classic Merino.
The bag and flowers are all made with Paton's Classic Merino but the yellow center is Cascade 220. I made this bag a couple of years ago and just didn't like it at all. In fact, I couldn't give it away! I just started playing around on Friday night and made a button closure and sewed on the flowers and now I love it!

I just can't stop making these. I'll post more pictures as they're done. I'm still working on a black felted bag that I'll embellish with more flowers. I've been putting it down to do a few cotton washcloths. Stay tuned!

Felted flower power

Finished this purse awhile ago but it just needed a little oomph! I made it out of some Paton's Classic Merino and I think the bottom is Crystal Palace Icelandic wool. I've been looking for some free felted flower patterns online and found one that I loosely followed at Mag Knits. I really love the Noni purses at Diva Knitting and my little experiments will just have to do until I pick up a pattern or three.

My next purse project will be a black felted purse that I'm going to embellish with pink flowers and green leaves. I'm not quite sure if I'm going to use felted handles/straps or some black lacquer ones that I have. I'll be sure to post pictures when done. I'm actually working on some flowers tonight. I have pink and purple done and turquoise on the needles right now, just waiting for some leaves and then to be felted. I'm not sure what to do about the stamens but the fun fur seems to work for me.

Powerful pictures & our spring break trip

My girlfriend just sent me a link to some pretty powerful pictures with captions. You can find them here. Here is a sample and the caption reads, "Todd Heisler The Rocky Mountain News-When 2nd Lt. James Cathey's body arrived at the Reno Airport, Marines climbed into the cargo hold of the plane and draped the flag over his casket as passengers watched the family gather on the tarmac. During the arrival of another Marine's casket last year at Denver International Airport, Major Steve Beck described the scene as one of the most powerful in the process: "See the people in the windows? They'll sit right there in the plane, watching those Marines. You gotta wonder what's going through their minds, knowing that they're on the plane that brought him home," he said. "They're going to remember being on that plane for the rest of their lives. They're going to remember bringing that Marine home. And they should." I think it's important to see these images to remind ourselves of the sacrifices that are being made every day. Although I don't support our president's decision/reasons for being in Iraq, I do support our troops and pray that as many as possible return home.

Now on to something much lighter:

I've been doing a bit more felting lately. Here is a little purse that I made from some Manos del Uruguay that I bought at Catalina Crafters in Avalon on Catalina Island while on my cruise. Here is a picture I took on Catalina. I bought another skein of Manos in some dark blues and greens and a skein of Noro Daria. I have already turned the Daria into a little cell phone bag, which is all I could squeeze out of a single skein. Also, the little turquoise bag was such a hit, totally perfect size, that I'm making more in different colors. I just finished a black one, that I made a bit bigger, for my friend, Pat, to take on her next cruise in May. I don't have a picture yet as it just came out of the washer and is now blocking. I still have to find just the right button for the flap closure. The little turquoise and brown one that I alluded to in my last post was a bust. I made a mistake in blocking it and had to rework it. I stuffed a deck of cards inside it to block it into shape but it should have been blocked flat so I threw it back into the washer with the black bag and it shrank a bit more and will now have a flap and one short handle rather than two bracelets. You'll see. It's now blocking flat and will have it's picture taken with the other bag when they're dry and completed.

The kids really enjoyed our latest trip to Disneyland/Knott's Berry Farm. I hardly saw Anthony, who brought his friend, Austin.
The two of them didn't even eat breakfast with us. Bernie gave them money every morning and I was lucky to run into them a couple of times in passing. Bernie felt like an outsider since I was with my friend, Katie and her daughter, Alexiz, so he found some friends in the Anaheim area to visit with. We ran into him a few times as well. One night my feet hurt so much that I had to have him massage them or else I couldn't fall asleep.
Poor guy. We got home around midnight on Saturday night and he had to be at work by 7:00 the next morning. Good thing it was a fairly quiet shift. We joke that he had to go to work to get some rest.

Felting fever and other FOs

The vine lace socks are now a happy couple. The brown yarns have turned into this lovely chocolate bag for Mom. Funny how the finished bag looks lighter than the yarn in the picture. The turquoise bag is a little one I made especially for the cruise so that I can walk around with my phone, camera and IDs without bothering to carry a larger purse. I have a pair of capris just this color! I did alter it after this photo was taken. I didn't care for the beading just above the button. It was a good idea gone bad. I know the beading around the flap looks a bit wonky but it is "handmade" after all and my first attempt at sewing on beads. Steph and I bought the button at Joann Fabric this afternoon after our sushi lunch at Yummy Sushi in Henderson.

I actually have another little bag done that just needs to be seamed and felted. It is a mix of the brown and turquoise that will have little i-cord bracelets as handles. It works in theory. Let's see if it works in reality. Pictures to come.

I'm getting nervous about this cruise. Have I mentioned that this is my first? I have always wanted to go but get terribly seasick so didn't think I would ever actually chance it. I'm going with 3 of my girlfriends that I used to play Bunco with. My friends have told me to start Dramamine 24 hours prior, which I will do faithfully. I'd hate to spend all this money and mess it up just because I didn't start the Dramamine early enough. I'm also worried about how everyone will be dressed. I don't want to look out of place. I can't do "before cruise shopping" like some people because as Bernie reminded me today, I don't have a job any more. Good thing I paid for all of this right after I quit. Will you all think I'm too hokey if I told you I've been dreaming of the Love Boat for the past couple of nights? My friends and I are meeting for lunch tomorrow to go over some details, which I appreciate. Dang it! You'd think I was some hick who has never been out of Dodge before. I have been traveling the world since I was born. It's just this whole "cruise" thing that has me going nuts! Everyone I know who has been on one talks about them like they're part of some super secret exclusive club and since I've never been on one, I, the ignorant uninitiated fool, would never understand the power of the cruise. If I was a man, I'd be packing my polo shirt, plaid Bermuda shorts, black socks and sandals right now! Woohoo Bertha! I'm ready to party!

I'm allowed to post on my own blog! Yippee!

Yesterday, I was poised and ready to post some pictures and drone on and on as usual but I got a message from Blogger that their robot has determined that my blog was a "spam blog" and locked me out! What the f*&%? Oh yeah, I love SPAM, which happens to be the state meat of Hawaii, but I don't send spam to all of my lovely friends out there. I was upset to say the least. Now I don't know what the hell to write about since I just found myself able to post to my own blog once again. More pictures, less rambling to come...promise!

Brrr...what a way to welcome spring!

I've always wanted a shot from Anthony's school. These kids have the best view of the whole valley. It was a much more dramatic sight this morning at 7 a.m. when I dropped him off at school as it was still snowing pretty hard up in the mountains. We usually don't get snow on the side of town where we live. On the left of the photo is the Las Vegas Strip and on the right is Downtown Las Vegas, though you can't see it. The Stratosphere tower is that tall thing. From this shot you can see the newest addition to The Strip - the Wynn Hotel & Casino. Isn't it huge? It's beautiful on a clear sunny day as the glass is a deep bronze color.


Funny thing, spring. We get more snow in the spring than in the winter here in Las Vegas it seems. I'm not complaining. I'd rather have this little bit than have to shovel my way out of my front door every day. This photo above is the view from our driveway.


Above is the view from our backyard balcony.


What's this dark thing at the bottom of our pool, you ask? Bernie and I were upstairs and heard the rain coming down. He loves the rain so he looked out the window, which happens to be right over our pool. He said, is that a squirrel at the bottom of the pool or one of the kids' toys? I don't think we have squirrels here in Las Vegas but I think we do have either prairie dogs or chipmunks. Poor thing must not have seen the sign telling him not to run in the pool area because it's slippery when wet. I told Bernie to give him mouth to mouth rescucitation but he refused. He's off duty.

Here are the vine lace socks I just completed. I don't have a pattern for them. I got the vine lace pattern out of one of my old pattern books and just adapted them to my generic toe up sock pattern that I normally use. They're a bit loose as I had to go up a few stitches for accomodate the lace pattern, but since I plan to wear them as house socks I don't really mind all that much. Not enough to frog them and reknit.

The pattern is worked over 9 stitches + 4 and over 4 rows. Here are the instructions for knitting flat:
Row 1: k3, *yo, k2, k2tog tbl, k2tog, k2, yo, k1*. Repeat from *to* to end, k1.
Rows 2 & 4: Purl
Row 3: k2, *yo, k2, k2tog tbl, k2tog, k2, yo, k1*. Repeat from *to* to end, k2.

If you're working in the round, don't add the "+4" stitches. I didn't know this and found out the hard way. You'll be left with a 4 st column of stockinette stitch going up the length of your sock.








I think I have enough of this yarn left for a pair in the Blueberry Waffle pattern. I'm working on one right now and just turned the heel. Pictures to come.

Mr. Volcano Head

This week is Nevada Reading Week and at Christopher's school they are celebrating Dr. Seuss with Wacky Hat Day. I told Chris that I could make him a hat that looked like a volcano spewing molten hot magma and he went for it. I love my 6 year old!!! I was working on a shawl (my in-the-car project) in this red-orange-purple yarn that reminded me of flames. It inspired this whole volcano themed hat.

Hau'oli la hanau! Happy Birthday to me!

Today I am 41 years old. It wasn't as hard to say as I thought it would be. I'm not as good as I could be but I'm not half damn bad either.

I woke up this morning feeling really depressed, not because I'm 41 but because I thought my husband forgot my birthday. I didn't expect the kids to know but after I took them both to school I crept back into bed and expected my husband to say "Happy Birthday" but he didn't. With nothing to wake up for, I went back to sleep. My sister, Joslyn, called. She remembered. My Mom called. Gina and I take turns reminding Mom of each other's birthdays. And then Gina called. More depressed than ever that Bernie forgot I went downstairs and asked if he'd like to have lunch with me he said, "No, I have too many things to do and I don't have money to go to lunch anyway." I said that I have money and he asked where I got money from and I said that Mom had given me some for my "BIRTHDAY" and then I stormed into the house to cry. He got all sheepish and said, "Oh shit! I forgot! Honey, I'm sorry!" and started getting ready to go to lunch with me. We wound up having Hawaiian BBQ and went home so he could get ready for his basketball game this afternoon. I said something snotty about how sad it was that I'm baking my own birthday cake and he just laughed. As he drove off, I heard the sound of a van door closing in my driveway and ran to the door just as a dozen red roses were being delivered! What a shit he is!!!!! The card said, "Ha! You thought I forgot! Love, B"


And that is how my birthday went so far today.

I am the Bode Miller of the Knitting Olympics!

I came, I saw, I partied and I didn't medal in a single %$@#*^$ event!


Here is the progress on my Tubey sweater as of this morning. I had gotten so bored with all the stockinette in the shrug portion that I put it aside in order to work on my Kiri shawl. I am one of those who cannot concentrate on one project for very long and always have several on the needles at one time. I figured that I had a better chance of finishing that than the Tubey. Then on Friday night my husband said, "Michelle, do you realize how much money and how many people it took to get you to Torino? You've trained for all these years just to give up? You need to put that thing (Kiri) down and finish what you came here for!" My husband, gotta love him! He made me believe that it was not the medal standings that make us Olympians, but in the participation and our best effort to finish that make us champions! I will finish my Tubey and as soon as that's over I'm back in training for Vancouver 2010!

Me ke aloha!
Michelle

My variation of the OSW

Just finished today...shhh...I'm supposed to be concentrating on my Knitting Olympics project but since all I had to do to finish this was basically bind off and weave in my ends, I couldn't resist.

Speaking of the KO, I have about 12" done of the shrug portion of the Tubey and will go back downstairs to work on it more.  I'm also trying to keep watching the Olympic games while I'm knitting.  It keeps me motivated.  Guess I'd better get back in the competition!

Let's give them something to bitch about

New team button

Knitting can be a spectator sport

Thanks to Julia at http://www.danceswithyarn.com/ there is a button for spectators of the Knitting Olympics.


Almost finished with the OSW modification. Just completed the second sleeve and tomorrow I'll pick up stitches for the body ribbing. At least I'll have one FO before I start my Tubey for the Olympics. I'm kindof having second thoughts about doing the Tubey for my "event" because the OSW is a shrug and the Tubey starts off with a shrug for the arms and I'm getting a bit bored with the whole shrug thing right now. I have a pattern for the top down "Take it From the Top" sweater from Cabin Fever that I bought from Patternworks. I might be happier doing that. I'll give myself until Thursday to decide. I was even thinking that if I held off on the ribbing for the OSW that after the Olympics I could knit the body of the Tubey and connect it to the OSW per the Tubey instructions. Might work. Now I'm re-thinking my choice of colors as well. I planned to do my Tubey in black with purple and lavender stripes. I could also do black with autumn red and tan stripes. Hmmm. Need. Sleep. Badly.

Kiri progress and Q hook shawl swatch

Here is as far as I've been able to get on the Kiri Shawl. I really like this pattern as it's easy once you get the hang of it. Now I wish I had started it in lace weight yarn rather than worsted, although I know I'll like the feel of this when it's done.


Last Sunday, my knitting group, Las Vegas Knitters, attended the 5 hour yarn event at Michael's craft store. We were asked to sit and make squares for a charity afghan and just lend our presence to the event. The highlight was meeting a really neat lady named Katerina from Australia, who is a craft buyer for stores there. She sat down and made a couple of squares with us and we just chatted about the differences in what's "in" here and there. I even gave her some help on a Q hook poncho in one of the Lion Brand pattern books. I had to come home and swatch my version of this poncho. It's quite similar but not exact and I'd rather have a shawl than poncho. Unfortunately, I don't have enough of this yarn to complete this shawl but have a few balls of Moda Dea Eden that would do nicely. It's a quick project since the hook is so large. We'll see how far I get on this seeing that I'm also working on the Kiri and One Skein Wonder variation, oh yeah, I'm also starting Tubey for the Knitting Olympics. Sheesh!

Yarn Event @ Michael's

This upcoming Sunday we'll be at Michael's craft store at the corner of Pecos and Russell Roads in Las Vegas. Stephanie has been in contact with the store manager and anyone who shows up for this event will be given the yarn to make the charity squares as well as a 25% discount on our own yarn purchases. Too cool! Hope anyone in the area will come and join us.

An Aha! Moment

Last night I cast on for the Kiri Shawl by Polly Outhwaite (again) and, after following the written instructions, decided to try working from the charted instructions just to see what kind of trouble I could get myself into. You see, I was afraid of following charts and would put aside a pattern I really loved just because I would have to follow a chart. I was watching The Bachelor in Paris and just thought "what the heck". I really like the chart now. I get it! I haven't f*&%ed up yet!

I'm trying to make life easier by putting markers before and after the center stitch and I'm using a row counter. I don't know where all my row counters have disappeared to but luckily I finished my second Clapotis last night (yippee!) and freed one up. Unfortunately, this row counter didn't fit on this pair of needles I'm using for the Kiri so I just threaded it through a piece of yarn and wore it around my neck. Functional but fugly. You know, I'm anti-fugly, if I can do anything about it. So here is my solution





I'd like to re-string it onto silk cord later but I don't happen to have any in my beading box.

I have committed to knitting the Tubey sweater from the latest edition of Knitty for the Knitting Olympics. I think I'm going to do it in Patons Classic Merino or, if I can get some in time, Wool of the Andes from KnitPicks. Thanks Yarn Harlot for putting this KAL together! Go Team USA!

Happy Sunday!

Chris and I are on our way to the park. It's a beautiful sunny winter day here in Las Vegas. It looks a little breezy outside but other than that, just a gorgeous 57 degrees. Of course, I'm bringing my knitting (the modified OSW) and my iPod and let him play to his heart's content.

I have a picture of the book thongs that I've made
.
And here is one of the iPod cozies that I made. Up until this morning it didn't have the fur trim but I felt compelled to add it.
Alrighty ya'll, I'm off to the park!