Poinsettia and a jillion beads

Pretty isn't it? I didn't think the pattern looked like it used a lot of beads, until I read the supply list. 5000 beads?! Wow, she must be over estimating that just to be on the safe side. Umm, nope. I have no idea how many I used, but it was over 150gms of beads. Every single one of those beads were placed individually with a crochet hook onto a stitch and then knit or purled. I think the results were worth it. I like knitting beaded projects every now and then even though they do take more time than regular lace. There was a nice rhythm to knitting the lace, pick up the crochet hook, add bead, set hook down, knit/purl, and continue.

This scarf is knit in two halves and then grafted at the center. I finished the second part in half the time that it took me to do the first. There is a bit of patterned lace on the wrong side of the scarf, but only on a few rows. Overall, it was a fun knit. I got to use up some leftover yarn and beads. Yay for stash knitting!

Pattern: Poinsettia by Susan Pandorf of Sunflower Designs
Yarn: Hengyuanxiang Knitting Wool (not sure of amount used-leftovers from other projects)
Needle: size 2 (2mm) Knit Picks dpns with stoppers on ends to make short straights
Hook: size 11 (1.05mm)--used for bead placement
Beads: 4.5 boxes of 8/0 iris green seed beads (each box was 35gms)
Blocked size: 12.5 inches wide x 56 inches long
Start: January 8, 2009
Finish: January 23, 2009

Project shuffle

I've recently gone through a project purge. I think it was brought on by the evil mohair boucle yarn. The boucle project has been frogged (yes, I managed that) and the yarn has been hidden away in the closet. The wrap was turning out too big. It would have been far too big, even with fulling/felting(?). The yarn was driving me nuts, so it was time for it to go away. Surprisingly, the frogging wasn't that bad.

I also frogged an old mystery shawl that I was working on with some teeny-tiny Colourmart cashmere/silk yarn. I loved the pattern and loved the yarn, but didn't really like them together. It was time to frog and save the pretty yarn for something else. I've also decided that I'm going to take a break from mystery things. I have too many books and patterns floating around here. I don't need to add any more for a while.

Sooo...what was I working on all this time? One thing that I was working on was Poinsettia by Sunflower Designs. It's finished too! Now, it's just waiting for pictures. I'll post the details of that scarf when I get them taken. Let me just say that it's a trial of patience and sheer determination to place almost 5000 beads on a scarf----one-at-a-time---with a tiny crochet hook. It's a wonder that I'm still sane. Or am I?

Most importantly, I'm working on pattern writing again. I'm test knitting my own pattern. How sad is it that it's been so long since I've knit the socks that I need to actually read my own pattern? I guess that is one way to test knit it. I'm still thinking about sending it out to additional test knitters too. Which sock pattern am I working on right now? That will have to be a surprise. ;-)

Around the house, we had a huge accomplishment for D. He finished all 100 of his reading lessons!!! It's so cute listening to him read through out the day. I also enjoy hearing him try to sound out random things around the house--words on the stove, words on his toy boxes, and words on just about anything he can see.

Hocus pocus...Crocus Pocus

I know that I disappeared again. Sample knitting was under way and I can't blog about that. That hit a wall when I ran out of yarn. :-( More is being sent, but now I'm free to work on other projects.

I'm test knitting this for Susan over at Sunflower Designs. This is her latest shawl and it's called Crocus Pocus. I was so happy that I had suitable yarn and beads on hand. I probably should have used smaller beads due to the weight, but I still like the way it turned out in the end. The yarn is Schaeffer Anne in Billie Holiday. I was concerned about a superwash yarn blocking, but this blocked wonderfully! It didn't try to spring back or curl while I was making it pose for pictures.

Every single bead was placed on by a crochet hook. There is one row where every other stitch is beaded and I thought that one would last forever. I was concerned about the weight of the shawl, but it is comfortable and it stays on your shoulders. This is the shawl that you want to wear on a windy day. Nothing will blow this off of your shoulders. ;-)

If you look at the full size photo of the edging, you can see that I had to mix in another type of bead. I ran out of the transparent rootbeer and mixed in some iridescent iris beads. It's not too obvious, unless you're looking for it.

Details:
Pattern: Crocus Pocus by Sunflower Designs
Yarn: Schaeffer Anne in Billie Holiday (approx. 105 gms used)
Needle: size 4 (3.5mm) Knit Picks Options
Beads: 8/0 transparent rootbeer and iridescent iris (approx. 180 gms used)
Hook: size 11 (1.05 mm)
Final size: 70 inches across the top and 32 inches down the center point
Start: April 12, 2008
Finish: April 15, 2008

Presenting....Arabian Nights!

It's done, blocked, and the ends are woven in and trimmed. Let's talk about the grafting. OMG did that take forever. Okay not forever, but about an hour and a half to do the actual grafting and then another hour to fix the wonky parts.

It's huge, but so pretty. For the first time, I tried blocking it to the specified size. It didn't look so good and I reverted back to my usual blocking method. I do a full wet-blocking for lace. Then I lay it out on the floor and smooth it out with my hands until it looks okay. After that, I start securing the crochet yarn that I threaded through the straight edges. From there, I start really stretching it to get the lines straight. This shawl was different because it has beaded sides that aren't straight. I pinned those out individually--ugh! That took forever. In the end it wanted to be around 35 inches wide (!) and 91 inches long.

Overall, I'm happy with the look. I do need to go back and reinforce the beaded fringe. Some of them stretched out during the blocking process. Actually, I would recommend not doing a full wet-block with beaded fringe. I need to add some beads to the center where there is a visible line in the beaded diamonds. I think it will look perfect after adding in a few beads to fill the gap.

Final details:
Pattern: Arabian Nights by Sunflower Designs
Yarn: Hengyuanxiang Knitting Wool - used 210gms
Needle: size 2 (3mm) Knit Picks Classic Circular
Hook: size 11 (1.05mm)
Beads: 8/0 Iris blue
Changes: I grafted the center.
Blocked size: 35 inches by 91 inches
Start: February 26, 2008
Finish: April 2, 2008

What I'm not happy with are the pictures. This purple yarn is so hard to get the color correct in photos. And why is it that the colors look different from Photoshop and Flickr? I take the photo into Photoshop, adjust the color and size, save it, and upload it. It seems that flickr must do something or my eyes are getting old. No laughing from you--Dwight. :-P

My secret project has been delayed in getting to me, so I have been trying to fill my time with small knits. I decided to try Anne Hanson's Orchid Lace mitts. I bought this pattern to use up leftover bits of lace yarn that I have saved. For my first try, I tried using the leftover Dream In Color Baby yarn from my Irtfa'a shawl. I only had a little under 40 gms of yarn left, but decided to give it a try anyways. I had enough--just barely enough. These mitts are so quick and easy. I finished these in one day. What was difficult was getting a good photo of my own arm with the whole mitt in the shot. I managed to do it thanks to the swivel lcd on my camera.

Details:
Pattern: Orchid Lace mitts by Anne Hanson (Knitspot)
Yarn: Dream in Color Baby in Gothic Rose - 36 gms
Needle: size 2 (2.75mm) Knit Picks Classic Circular
Start: April 1, 2008
Finish: April 2, 2008

I also finished a wash cloth--exciting! ;-) I still haven't gotten word on my project, so I'm off to find another quick knit.

Almost there...

No pictures today because I need to get some ideas down before they're gone. I've finished the second half of my Arabian Night stole. I stopped at row 39 of Charts G3 and G4. Why there? That's also the end of Charts B, C, and D. The next row would be a purl type row and I thought that might be a good grafting row. But that would leave some weird single beads in the center of the stole. One idea is to knit 2 more rows on one half and 4 more rows on the other half. That will make the beaded diamond in the center match the rest of the beaded diamonds. But that might make the side charts B, C, and D look funny. That might require some creative grafting too since the stitch counts wouldn't be the same. I think the only thing to do is insert a lifeline and try each option and see if I like how they look.

In other knitting news, there will be even fewer blog posts for the next few weeks. I have a secret project that I can't blog.

In the mail, I just received my order from Nordic Fiber Arts yesterday. Wow! I love all of the books that I bought. I bought Latvian Mittens, Folk Knitting in Estonia, Selbustrikk, and Stromper/Sokker. The last two are in Norwegian, but full translations were sent that were about the same size as the pattern booklets. Very cool. This order was placed in early March and it took nearly a month to get it, but it was well worth the wait. The wait was due to getting the translations.

In news around the house, E has started training for a 5k. She has done one 5k every year since she was 4. All of the previous years, she didn't train at all and it was just for fun. This year, she's training and we're hoping that she'll jog the whole thing this time. We're loosely following the couch to 5k training schedule that has you walking/jogging for 30 minutes a few times a week for several weeks until you're able to jog the whole 30 minutes. E wasn't too happy with the first day. She kept asking why did she have to walk so much and why couldn't she run more. She wants to jump right in and run. We're trying to pace her and build up her endurance.

Half way through the night

Arabian nights, that is. This is one half of my Arabian Night stole. I stopped a little short of where the pattern ends because I'm trying to do a seamless graft in the middle. I stopped where the border and side column charts end. I might need to do 2-4 more rows to make the center panel look better, but I'll determine that later. That's why the yarn is still attached. I also stopped because look at the little ball of yarn that's left. That's from the second ball out of 4. My husband brought this yarn back from China. I have no idea what the yardage is on each ball, but I had guessed it to be in area of 600-800 yards. Now, I'm leaning more towards the 600 yards after finishing this half of the stole.

I've started the second half already. I'm into the long non-beaded section. I got ahead of myself and didn't pre-string enough beads for the second half. Argh! I'll just have to cut the yarn to add more. This stole is going to be another huge one. When I pinned it out for the picture, it measured 31 inches wide and 42 inches long. That wasn't even stretching it out completely.

This is what the beaded center panel looks like. I like the row of beads on the border and how the twisted stitches make a neat line on either side of the bead.

All of my other projects have been neglected because of this stole. I want to finish it and wear it! Posey is still around and waiting for attention. So is the chick/egg toy. I have some sewing projects that I want to do after these knits. I know that I've been saying that for a while now, but it's time to make summer dresses for E. I have the patterns and fabric and I just need to find the time.

Speaking of E, look at her new smile:


Cute!!! She's lost another tooth. The second tooth was very loose after she lost the first one. She was actually excited about going to bed because the tooth fairy was coming. I told her that the tooth fairy might be on vacation. She gave me the funniest look. She knows that the tooth fairy is me, but she still talks about her like she's real. The tooth fairy did visit last night and E was happy with the goodies that she brought--stickers and a new toothbrush. The tooth fairy was a bit cranky because she had gone to bed and then remembered that she needed to visit E. I had to drag the tooth fairy out of bed, gather the goodies, and then sneak into E's room.

In other news, see that song down there? That's on the latest cd that I've bought and I love that song. I'm surrounded by princess talk around here and it's so funny to hear a song like that. To me, it's about not wanting a fairytale because they're not real and not perfect anyways. In other words, being realistic.

----------------
Now playing: Fairytale - Sara Bareilles
via FoxyTunes

Snow, teeth, and more knitting

Is this what March looks like? Looking through my old digital pictures, I can see that we usually get a dusting of snow. This probably isn't our last snow either. Almost every year, we get a little bit of snow after the azaleas have bloomed. We got a bit of the snow storm that came through yesterday. We got around 5 inches of snow and thankfully not the 20 inches that Ohio received. The birds love coming to the bird feeder when it's snowing. Yesterday, we had birds all over our trumpet vines and the ground underneath the feeder. I spent a lot of time watching them. These pictures were taken through our kitchen window.

We had something exciting happen last weekend. E lost another tooth. She has a cute gap toothed smile now. She was very brave. The tooth has been very loose for a few days and she finally let Dwight give it a few tugs. She said that it didn't hurt that much and no tears were shed. I think she was more focused on what the tooth fairy was going bring. She does know that the tooth fairy is me, but I play along and pretend that the tooth fairy is someone else. She gives me the funniest look when I talk about the tooth fairy. It's similar to the "come-on Mom, you're not fooling me" look.

The tooth right next to it is ready to come out too. She's working on it, but it will probably be at least another week. This picture was taken last Monday, when it reached 70 degrees. It's been a crazy spring weather week with temperatures that high and ending with snow.

In knitting, I'm slowly making progress on Arabian Nights. This picture was taken a few days ago when I was 70 rows into the second set of charts. This section goes faster than the first beaded section. As of Sunday afternoon, I've knit 120 rows out of 200. I wasn't sure if I liked the edging on the sides. It seemed so loose and floppy looking. After pinning it out, I've decided that I like it a lot. I like those large holes that it makes and the little loops with beads on them. Here are some closer shots of those sections.

I've started a few other projects too. I started the NHM #3 mittens from Selbuvotter for E. I'm knitting them out of a Cherry Tree Hill solid in pink and Knit Picks Bare. The mittens are done except for their thumbs. I'm not too happy with my stranding. I need more practice to stop the puckering. I think it might have something to do with switching between projects too. I'm also knitting the chick/egg toy from the Play! issue of Craft magazine. So far, I only have the chick body and half of the egg knitted. I want to make two of them for Easter.

Busy, busy, back to knitting...

Mingus completed and Arabian nights begins

Mingus was completed this weekend. What a fun knit! The second sock flew by compared to the first. This pattern is odd in that you're knitting part of two different rows on the charts for each round on the actual sock. It was confusing at first, but easy once I got into the rhythm.

I gave Fleece Artist another chance after having problems with their color saturation on two different pairs of socks. Those were both with SeaWool and with a darker color. Somoko is a great yarn. I like the addition of mohair and the subtle shine of the silk. This yarn feels quite durable. Dwight claims that it doesn't feel soft, but it felt soft to me and I was the one knitting with it. ;-)

Details:
Pattern: Mingus by Cookie A.
Yarn: Fleece Artist Somoko in Burgundy (used around 85gms)
Needles: size 1 (2.5mm) for the leg and size 1 (2.25mm) for the foot
Start: Feb. 26, 2008
Finish: March 2, 2008

I started my Moroccan Days/Arabian Nights shawl. I suppose mine is the Arabian Nights variation since I'm using darker colors. Something important was brought up on this shawl's ravelry board. Someone mentioned reinforcing the beaded fringe because it would be tragic to get that snagged on something. I never thought of that and I'm the type of person that would get it snagged. I plan on going back and reinforcing it with another strand of the same laceweight. The beads flow easily on the yarn and I think it will be no problem to weave in another yarn. Speaking of beads, I've been dragging them along and pushing the down the yarn with no ill effects to the yarn so far. This yarn is a pretty durable yarn for a laceweight.

This is another shot of the beaded fringe. I ended up twisting the stitches on both sides of each loop. The beads wanted to travel around and I had to stop that before it drove me nutty. That's why I like the crochet method of adding beads. The beads stay exactly where you put them.

I've finished the bottom border with the beaded diamonds. Now I'm knit up to row 4 of charts D, E, and F. I'm knitting this on a 32 inch circular needle, so you can see that this is going to be a wide shawl. Here's what it looks like so far.

Lace and Beads

Look, more snow! Woohoo! Right. For a few days, I thought spring might be right around the corner. Now we have 2 inches of snow on the ground and today's high is only in the 20's. One positive is that it is nice to wake up to a beautiful sight like this. Another positive is the snow does make it easier for me to take pictures of my projects. I really need to work on my indoor photography. Hopefully this is the last of the snow and I'll need to figure out something else for my photos.

I said that I wanted to knit something beaded and geometric. I didn't have to look any further than the winter 07/08 issue of Vogue Knitting. This shawl (#2 in the mag.) caught my eye, but I wanted to use supplies that I had on hand. The yarn is Zephyr in Chanel and it's a dark pink/fuchsia type of color. If I were to knit this shawl again, I would use a smaller needle and knit another repeat of the squares. This shawl is more airy than I usually like. I did think about adding another repeat on this one, but I thought that a large, bright pink shawl with beads might be a bit much. :-P

Details:
Beaded Shawl(#2) from Vogue Knitting Winter 2007/08
Yarn: Jaggerspun Zephr in Chanel (approx. 5 oz used)
Needle: size 3 Knit Picks Harmony
Beads: 8/0 Iris blue
Hook: size 11 (1.05mm)
Start: February 21, 2008
Finished: February 25, 2008

And now I'll introduce Mingus. Isn't it lovely! I do have a lot of socks, but this one is just too pretty to pass. I love the yarn and the pattern and together it's a perfect combination. The yarn is Somoko by Fleece Artist. It is hairy, but that doesn't take away from the bold patterning on this sock.

I did have a cranky moment with this sock. I wont' go into too much detail, but it involved frogging, larger needles, and me muttering about fat ankles. The good news is that this yarn is easy to frog, despite the hairiness. It also didn't suffer much in the frogging and still looks great.

I'm starting another project. It's the Moroccan Days/Arabian Nights stole. I first saw a picture of this stole a few weeks ago and the designer was still working on it. It's so pretty and it has beads! The pattern just became available and I have it. I'm in the process of stringing a million beads onto the yarn. Okay, it's more like 2500, but it feels like a million beads. I prefer the crochet method for adding beads to lace, but the ends of this stole has a beaded looped fringe that can't be added by hook. I'm using some purple yarn that Dwight brought back from China and beads that I had already too. In fact, they're the same beads as those in the Beaded Shawl at the top. I initially bought those for my Seaweed Stole, but ended up using a larger bead.

I'll close with some monsters that I made with the kids on Monday. We were inspired by Craft magazine. From left to right are E's monster, D's monster, and mine. E did everything herself except the sewing. D needed help cutting out his felt for the main part, but he did cut the decorations himself. My monster is made from leftover fleece and I like it much better than felt. If we make more monsters, I'd rather do them in fleece or regular fabric. I'm not a big fan of felt because it looks worn so quickly. These monsters were so quick and easy to make. I can see making a lot of these with E and D. They already want to make more.

Vacation and Secret of the Stole progress

Isn't that pretty? I was lucky to get that shot on the morning that we were leaving for home. We slept in and missed the sunrise on all of the other days.

We decided to catch one last bit of warmth and picked a great week to do it. It was so warm on the beach and it really did feel like summer. We didn't do much besides play on the beach or in the pools. Well, we did go out to eat at a lot of yummy restaurants. E loves the beach and water. It was so hard to get a good picture of her because she was constantly in motion. She ran all over, dug in the sand, got buckets of water, collected shells, etc. It took a bit for D to get warmed up to the idea of all that water. At first, he was very content to just play in the sand. By the end of the first day, he was running everywhere with E.

I took a lot of knitting with me, but only finished one pair of socks for E. And that was done mostly on the car ride down there. It was nice to just relax. In the evenings, I just zoned out and watched tv. I really wanted to knit some lace, but didn't bring any along. When I got home, one of the first things I did was to get the next clues for the Secret of the Stole and the Secret of Chrysopolis. I worked one the Secret of the Stole first and finished clue #2.

It is a fast knit, but does require a lot of counting for those long stretches of knit stitches. You can see that it measures around 19.5 inches wide across the top. From the point to the needle cable, it measures around 21 inches long. I don't have a clue as to what the theme is, but the hints are interesting. It's fun reading what everyone else is guessing. It doesn't really go with the hints so far, but those things above the three vertical lines look like spiders to me. Hey, they have 8 legs. ;-)

I'm currently working on clue #3 for the Secret of Chrysopolis. I really like how these two stoles are so different in looks and design.

While on vacation, I picked up the Vogue Knitting's holiday issue. I love the stole in it. Yes, I know that I don't need another stole, but this one has beads in it too. I really like the beaded edges on the short ends. That one is definitely going on my must-knit list. I probably have enough yarn and beads around here to knit it too.

Coming home brought us back to reality. We really need water--again. It's been so dry this summer. The azaleas and rhododendrons look so sad and curled up. Even the dogwoods and smaller trees look wilted. We're trying to use as little water as possible. For now, we're still running off of our cistern. When that gets too low, we switch the whole house over to the wells. Our wells are usually reliable, but I almost ran one dry washing two loads of laundry in one day earlier this summer. For next summer, I want to have some kind of system that will use the grey water from our kitchen sink and our showers to water our plants and garden. We've tried washing dishes in a huge bowl/bucket and then dumping that water on a plant outside. It works, but it's a pain to do. We have all winter to brainstorm ideas.

A lot of shawl progress

This is my progress on Secret of Chrysopolis after two clues. This stole is going to be huge. So far, I've used 40 gms of lace weight yarn. The stole itself can stretch to around 30 inches wide and a little over 20 inches long so far. It can be stretched further, but I didn't want to take it off of the 32 inch circulars. Yeah, I'm lazy.

The yarn that I'm using came from China. Dwight has brought it back from a business trips twice now. It says Hengyuanxiang on it and it comes in 62.5 gm center pull balls. Other than that, there isn't a lot of information on it's label. Looking at it, it looks a lot like Lacey Lamb. I have six balls of this yarn, so I'm pretty sure that I'll have enough. I love this yarn. It's very soft, has a nice tight twist, and is very springy. I've used it on the Knitted Veil and Icarus.

I'm enjoying this shawl so far. I wasn't too sure about the heart, but it's small and cute. I really like how the center portion shrinks and grows and twists. I can't wait to see what's inside the center in the next clue.

This is the Secret of the Stole after finishing the first hint. Yes, I'm doing two mystery knits right now. It's a bit crazy that both clues/hints come out on Fridays, but it's a lot of fun. This one had a different start and I like it. I did knit them both at the same time. It was similar to knitting two socks at the same time on one circular.

I'm using the same kind of yarn as the other stole, but in a different color. I only have 4 balls of this color. This one is much narrower than Chrysopolis and 4 should be enough. This shawl also uses beads. I had a lot of fun beading the Seaweed Stole, so I definitely wanted to use beads on this one. I picked out a bead called rainbow transparent rootbeer. They look brown in the picture, but have an iridescent sheen. They really sparkle and shine, but the camera didn't want to catch that. Maybe it would be better if I didn't use the flash? I'll try that next time.

Both of those are done for this week, I'll have to wait until next Friday for the next clues. In the meantime, there are still socks around here...

Aren't they cute? I made a pair for D out of the leftover Lovesticks Trick or Treat yarn from my socks. There was plenty of yarn and I still have a little bit of leftovers--probably enough for baby socks or a cool headband for E. I'll keep knitting little socks until I get the next clues. These socks are perfect since they only take around a day to make. E and D love them too. That's a huge bonus for me.

Dancer's wrap complete, now it's shawl time

Doesn't she look thrilled? ;-) It was rather warm outside and I don't think the wool sweater was comfortable. E does like it and wants to wear it. She just needs to wait for actual fall weather to get here. I made the matching legwarmers that are also in the book Not Just For Socks for Kids. E likes them, but insists on pulling them up over her knees. I can see knee high socks in her future, if I only have the patience to knit socks that long. The Dancer's Wrap pattern was easy and a very quick knit. The yarn was scratchy, but does feel better after a Eucalan bath. E doesn't seem to think it's scratchy and she's been wearing the leg warmers before they got their bath.

Pardon the clashing colors. We just wanted to get pictures and didn't feel like dressing for a full on photo shoot. :-P At least we can see the leg warmers and sweater together. I'm thinking that leg warmers are the way to go for E. They will probably last far longer than socks would. If she had socks on in the picture, you would barely even tell that the leg warmers are separate. They're quite snug, since they're basically 2x2 ribbing in a tube with no shaping.

The sweater was made in the 6-8 size. E is around a 6 in store bought clothing, but I wanted the sweater to last this winter and next. She has the sleeves rolled up twice in these pictures.

Details:
Pattern: Dancer's Wrap
Size: 6-8
Needles: size 3 (3.25mm) Knit Picks Classic Circular for main portion, size 2 (2.75mm) Knit Picks Classic Circular for collar ribbing
Yarn: Lana Grossa Meilenweit Multiringel 5030 (2.1 balls of yarn)
Start: September 22, 2007
Finish: September 29, 2007

Pattern: Leg Warmers
size: big kid (that's what it says in the book)
Needles: size 2 (2.75mm) Knit Picks Classic Circular
Yarn: Lana Grossa Meilenweit Multiringel 5030 (maybe half of one ball)
Start: September 29, 2007
Finish: October 2, 2007

Now it is shawl time! I've been itching to knit some sort of lace all summer. The picture above is the first clue of the Secret of Chrysopolis. It's a mystery knit and mystery knit and most of the participants speak German. It is awkward being in a group that doesn't speak much English, but it is nice to see the world from the other side. I've lived in Germany before, so I know what it's like to be in a place where everyone doesn't speak my language. For this shawl, I just skim the postings and try to pick out a few words here and there. And if there are numbers, I try to decipher that post. So far, so good. The shawl is in charts and it looks like a beautiful design so far. The next clue just came out today. I've already printed it out and taped it together. Now, I just need to find time...

But there is also the Secret of the Stole. It's another mystery knit along. The first clue just came out today too. That one is also printed and taped together waiting for some free time. This one has a few beads in it and I always find those fun.

I'm still knitting socks.....Yes, it's true. You would think that I would be sick of socks by now, but I need to have a plain knitting project to work on during E's lessons. I've been working on little socks for D out of leftover yarns. He's thrilled. It's so cute seeing how much he likes the hand knit socks. They are so fast to knit and don't even take 50 gms of yarn.

Now, I get to knit a few minutes before we start the lessons of the day.

Better Sea Wool Monkeys

Ah, that's much better. I should give up on indoor photography or work on my photoshopping skills. The lighting was ideal on the front porch yesterday. I took these socks outside, a bunch of new yarn, and my new completed shawl. This is a much, much better photo of the origin Sea Wool. I didn't get a good shot of the shawl. I need to hang up a lighter backdrop than the woods. The shawl got lost in those photos and it didn't do any better on the porch. Speaking of new yarn, here are some of my latest favorites.

The left is Lorna's Laces Shepard sock in Sassy Stripes. This is my first time using Lorna's and I like it so far. It's as thin as opal yarn, but softer and squishier. I've started a pair of socks for myself. I'm calling them my happy socks. Why? Because you can't help but feel happy when looking at colors that loud. The middle is Fleece Artist merino sock yarn in Tiger. I've knit with Fleece Artist sock yarn before. It was my first indulgent sock yarn that I bought when I started knitting socks. Those have held up well and I wanted another pair. The right is Fleece Artist Sea Wool in Renaissance. I really like the colors in this one. These yarns are in the immediate I-want-to-use yarn stash.

This is something I made rather quickly for E. The pattern is from the May 07 issue of Creative Knitting and it's called Diamonds on the Cuff. I used some left over cherry tree hill glitz sock yarn and some beads that I had on hand. E likes it a lot and D wanted one too. I did make one for him, but it turned out a bit too snug for his wrist. I also made one out of the leftover cherry tree hill cascade silk laceweight yarn. I like how that one turned out size-wise, but silk is not really up to the wear and tear that my two kids put it through. haha! I'll have to try a more durable lace weight.

Details of the cuff:
Pattern:Diamonds on the Cuff from Creative Knitting (May 2007)
Yarn: Leftover cherry tree hill glitz in tropical storm
Needles: Size 1 dpns
Beads: 84 6/0 beads in rootbeer from Firemountain Gems
Changes: I only did three of the beaded diamonds for E's 6 year old wrist. It's quite fitted, but another diamond would have made it a bracelet and more likely to fall off of her.

Cloud factories

We went to a birthday party this past weekend. We had an adventurous day. We stopped by a lock and dam. We visited a wooden playground. And we drove right by a power plant. My three year old declared, "they making clouds!" I guess it does look like that's where clouds are made. Then, we had this conversation on Monday:

E: What are you doing?
me: It's supposed to rain today and I'm checking the weather.
E: It's not raining. They're wrong.
me: They might not be. It's getting cloudy outside.
D: That's because the factory is making clouds.
me: That's where the clouds come from?
D: Yes, the factory make clouds.

This conversation is typical around here. E is in a bossy and know it all stage. D usually tries to join the conversation, no matter what the topic. I need to write down more of the things he says.

In knitting, I finished the Luna Moth Shawl. It's currently blocking on the checkered green sheet that I always use. I plan on wearing it out Wednesday evening, so we'll see if I can get good pictures of it then. I've started messing around with beads and knitting again. There is a little wrist cuff thing in the May issue of Creative Knitting. I made one of those for E with some left over sock yarn. It was quick and easy. We'll see if E likes it in the morning. I'm also going to try the Emerald beaded bracelet. I plan on using some leftover silk laceweight and 8/0 beads. I haven't figured out which needles to use yet, but we'll see. I'm still stringing beads on the yarn.

Seaweed Stole

I know that I said I wouldn't, but I'm going to be adding some older projects to my blog. I want to add the Ravelry and I also want to move some of my livejournal entries to here. I started keeping a journal before blogger, but I like it better over here. It would make things easier if everything was in one place too.

I really like how this turned out. I have wanted to knit something with beads and this pattern always called to me. I wanted it to be a dark blue/green and this yarn fit perfectly. It looks like black, but you can see blue and green in it too. I wanted the beads to be very subtle. The effect that I wanted was what water looks like when moonlight shines on it. Little glimmers here and there.

Pattern: Seaweed Stole from Needle Beetle
Yarn: Knitpicks Alpaca Cloud-Midnight (3.25 skeins)
Needle: #3 Clover Bamboo circulars
Beads: approx 140 gms of 6/0 seedbeads--I mixed beads from various different colors and had plenty leftover. I'm not sure how much I actually used in the stole. (iris blue, iris green, and silver lined green)
Finished size: 26.5" x 53"(not including 16" tendrils in either side)
Date started: 5/19/06
Date finished: 5/29/06

Notes:
-The pattern calls for 8/0 beads. I picked out an 8/0 bead that was too close in color to the stole. When I used those, they were lost in the yarn and you could barely see them. I switched to 6/0 of the same color and those gave me the effect that I wanted.
-I only did 10 repeats instead of 12 of the main body chart. I'm 5'2" and the stole is plenty long for me.
-It was a little tedious at first putting each bead on with a crochet hook, but I developed a rhythm after a while and it wasn't so bad.

Would I make this again--yes!
Changes if made again:
-I would use the smaller 8/0 beads, but pick a better contrasting color bead.
-I would try to make the pattern the width of 10 tendrils instead of 12. This stole ended up a little too wide.