so fair a house

pussycat, pussycat, where have you been?

2011-09-16T13:28:00.000-07:00

i've been to newport to visit the queen! the newest baby in our extended family is sloane. she has red hair, blue eyes, and a brand new sweater/hat set that she is not that thrilled about. ツ her mom was happy, though, and i was tickled that it seemed to fit. i used debbie bliss baby cashmerino on size 3 needles. it's lovely to work with, and creates a wonderful, soft fabric.

the sweater is my modified february baby sweater. it is so easy, and comes out adorable every time. i will not do intarsia again on this sweater. it was painful to weave in all those ends. in addition, i will either decrease 4-6 stitches across the bottom before doing the bottom seed stitch border, or i will use a smaller needle. it really spread out before blocking, and even after it was not quite right.

the hat is my modified gnome hat. of course, the gauge is quite different from the pattern, and i added the twirlies on top.

quit bothering me with your hats and such! i am EATING!

it's only fair

2011-08-13T16:20:00.000-07:00

i have made so many of these two-sided tunisian ("cro-knit") washcloths this summer, and have only taken a picture of one or two. so this one, taken on the photogenic front seat of my car, right before i gave it to my daughter's swim coach, will represent the dozen or so dishcloths i have cranked out between other projects this summer.

i love how these look, how sturdy they are, how quickly they stitch up, and how they make it easy to use up bits and pieces of cotton.

doing the math...

2011-08-10T13:10:00.000-07:00

boring flashdrive + black fingernail polish = roaring unboring flashdrive!

we're getting ready for school here. it starts in 2 weeks! WOW!

i hope your summer has been wonderful and relaxing. i've been knitting and cro-knitting, and have a few things to show soon.

old news...

2011-07-15T10:52:00.000-07:00

about a year and a half ago, this handsome, barefoot boy with shoes of tan and his t-shirt on backwards asked his mother to knit him a pair of socks.

a year ago, she got this far while on vacation in colorado. she put them away.

last winter, while preparing her knitting for the long drive to san ignacio lagoon in baja california sur, mexico, she rediscovered those socks, and, realizing that THE HARD PART WAS ALREADY DONE, finished them in about an hour while traveling through the desert in baja.

happy boy.

silly mom.

which is also old news. ツ

summer dishes...

2011-07-06T15:19:00.000-07:00

... require a summer dishcloth.

and sassafras asked about my rainbow cotton thread. it is the psychedelic colorway, and i bought the giant 12 oz. skein on sale at joann's. i have no idea how it holds up to washing, but it's certainly fun to knit with. the blue will rub off on your wrapping finger, though.

some summer successes

2011-07-03T15:01:00.000-07:00

so far, i have knit one hot pad, and five washcloths, experimenting with techniques and patterns. i don't know what i'll do with them but they're fun, quick, easy and bright.

i also have a baby sweater to show, but after blocking...

hope you're enjoying your vacation!

beach blanket bingo

2011-06-22T16:28:00.000-07:00

we're back from baja, and the beach was lovely. i did not meet my goal of finishing the complete squares on my mitered tunisian square blanket, but i got some squares done. above -- how the blanket looked when i got there.

progress!

and -- that was the extent of my progress.

here's where the blanket rested:

and here's where i sat and "worked".

i hope you are enjoying your summer! we're back to "real life" here, and i hope to get some knitting done. and maybe a blanket!

corrections and retractions ツ

2011-06-05T15:36:00.000-07:00

my little bird, which i thought was a dusky warbler, turns out to be a bewick's wren. though dusky warblers have been seen in california, it would have been quite a rare sighting down here in LA. my biology professor and amateur ornithologist brother-in-law got me straightened out!

these bird parents are busy all day long, feeding their babies, who chirp long and loud for their frequent meals! they are so quick that i continue to have difficulty snapping a decent picture.

new mystery bird... a pair live in my neighbor's yard. i have NO idea what this one is!

knitting will return in my next post. lots of dishcloths, for some reason!

my bird

2011-06-01T19:40:00.000-07:00

a poor photo, but this dusky warbler is so quick, it was really hard to capture him/her with my camera. s/he has a nest with babies in a deep nook in my garden wall. i have not seen him/her today -- i hope i have not scared her away. the babies are still peeping.

a look at my flowers in the rain

2011-05-18T10:16:00.000-07:00

stoplight knitting

2011-05-15T19:35:00.000-07:00

i am knitting the holden shawlette with linen yarn. it's SO easy, it qualifies as stoplight knitting in my book. i'm sneaking in some extra rows while waiting for my daughter to finish her swim practice.

here's a gratuitous flower photo -- my roses finally have enough blossoms so i can have a bouquet.

for my finnish friends...

2011-05-15T12:51:00.000-07:00

GO TEAM!

ETA:

Onneksi Olkoon!
congratulations!

It looks as though it was a VERY exciting game, up until the third period! I finally found it live online for the last 3 minutes.

ruthless

2011-05-14T12:58:00.000-07:00

on an impulse last year, while at my lys, i grabbed some jitterbug yarn and started knitting the lovely coquille shawlette pattern. i got this far into it, and stopped. the yarn is NOT right for the pattern. the yarn is springy and bouncy, and this pattern needs thin and drapey. the colors change constantly, and the pattern needs longer repeats.

can you see what's coming? the ball-winder snuck up to it...

... and here we have it -- a mint chocolate chip colored yarn cake of potential! (the yarn is prettier than in this over-exposed photo.)

happy mother's day! a photo essay...

2011-05-08T12:34:00.000-07:00

when brother takes the picture

❣

when sister takes the picture

❣

when daddy takes the picture ツ

❣

happy mother's day!

little league play-offs

2011-05-07T17:03:00.000-07:00

at this time of the little league season, games can go to 6 innings or more. that is plenty of time to try a new technique while sitting in the sunshine cheering on your team. i watched one of these video tutorials yesterday on this technique called cro-knit or crochenit, and thought i'd use up some kitchen cotton giving it a try. i only have a one-ended afghan hook, so had to take the hook out of all loops to reinsert it from the other direction, but that is not hard with the cotton.

it makes a sturdy, reversible fabric, fantastic for a dishcloth, and very pretty in person. one side is more one color, one another.

here, i have pulled apart the stitches a bit to show you how it looks. the woven-looking aspect of tunisian crochet is hidden by the density of the fabric.

it would be easier with a two-sided crochet hook, but was fun and went quickly even without it!

as long as our team remains in the play-offs, i guess i'll be using up kitchen cotton and making dishcloths!

ETA: i really don't like the name of this technique "cro-knit" -- sounds silly to me. plus, how do you translate that? i think the technique should be called two-sided afghan stitch or something like that. will you tell me the name of this technique in your language, if it's not english? thank you!

cheering up a dirty sink

2011-05-03T10:24:00.000-07:00

to tidy up the dishes, i usually use those yellow sponges with the scratchy green side. but there's nothing like a hand-knit dishcloth to make a messy sink look better.ツ

flip-flop weather

2011-04-27T14:04:00.000-07:00

well, it's gotten hot fast here in southern california! i am no longer interested in holding a hot blanket in my lap in the sun at little league games or swim practice. i need a new outdoor project, one that would qualify as "stoplight knitting", or knitting i can do without paying much attention.

enter the flip-flop sock (ravlink)!

i cast on yesterday with some frogged project sock yarn, sensations bamboo and ewe from joanns. it is very soft, but bit splitty to work with. the socks are knit from the toe(s) up, as you can see, and start with the interesting turkish cast-on. it is always fun to learn a new technique!

i am still working away on my hip to be square quilt! indoors only ツ

evolution, revolution

2011-04-25T12:10:00.000-07:00

this is SO much fun. i've started seaming so that i don't have to keep guessing about how the blocks go together. (i've laid them out about 5 times, trying to remember each time what i did the time before.) i'm seaming strips, and once the strips are complete, i'll seam them together. it's taking a bit more time, because i'm planning colors, selecting from different balls and colorways in order to define the squares effectively. my new ball-winder has been a big help in making it a tidy operation to get to the color i'm seeking in my noro. i've got little balls and big ones, using them as i'd like. it's like being able to walk through a yarn store and pick colors!

i'm labeling to make the crochet go faster...

marinade. a still life.

2011-04-24T19:40:00.000-07:00

yesterday i started marinating the lamb for today's easter dinner.

oh yes. it's important to taste the wine before, during and after you use it for the marinade. ツ

happy easter!

hip to be square

2011-04-21T11:39:00.000-07:00

i recently learned how to miter a square in tunisian crochet. it is fun, easy, and goes really quickly, like most tunisian projects. then, kay of mason-dixon knitting published a blanket pattern, knit from mitered squares, with a neutral corner on each square, and surrounded with the neutral in a log cabin fashion. GORGEOUS! and supports aid for japan! go buy the pattern! (link goes to mdk blog, "buy now" button in upper righthand corner of page)

i mention all this because, from this confluence of knowledge and ideas, i was inspired to crochet a blanket using mitered squares, a relatively non-neutral neutral, and eliminating the log cabin surrounding portion. a natural evolution of thought, no? シ

i've never knit a blanket. too much boring work. but noro, dear noro, with its crazy ever-changing colors, keeps it interesting. i'm using noro aya, primarily cotton and silk, as the exciting colorful part. i selected three main colorways, because i want a lot of variety and fun in this blanket, and frankly, i just don't care about having perfectly color-matched squares. i'm hoping to have it not look too random, so after crocheting the first 10 or 11 squares as they came out of the ball, i'm now doing a minimum of planning and selecting the colors as i place the squares.

i believe i'll do 36 squares. i've already completed 13-3/4. i'd like to use that bluish green as a border all around. that yarn is rowan wool cotton, soft and produces about the same gauge as the noro aya for me. part of what has made this project fun is that, in order to produce a square containing four squares, i had to figure out an appropriate method for casting on after i picked up stitches along an edge. woooooo! shivers of problem-solving delight! シ if you are familiar with the modified crochet cast-on in knitting, you will know how i decided to proceed.

finally, if you've been reading here for a while, you may remember the tirelessly blooming orchid my mother-in-law gave me for my birthday 1-1/2 years ago. apparently, it thrives on neglect (the only way to thrive at my house!), and is now blooming again! here she is:

happy spring! happy easter! a blessed passover!

and of course, happy knitting.

ain't hurtin' nobody

2011-03-30T12:19:00.000-07:00

look who joined my photoshoot (5 second video) -- the itsy-bitsy spider! ツ

here are some pictures of the pre-blocked pashmina herringbone scarf. it's SO pretty in person. i think blocking will take care of some of the edge curl there, though i see the original has a bit of a curl, so it may be the nature of the stitch.

project notes: the finished scarf weighs 3.95 ounces, and i have .20 oz. left. whew! the last few rounds i weighed my yarn every time i hit that marker. the last round before binding off i knit using a much smaller needle (size 5) than the whole rest of the scarf (size 11). i knew i would do a sewn bind-off to match the cast-on edge, and i did not want it to be too saggy and loose. i had about 1 foot of yarn left over from my sewn bind-off edge! and i thought i was being overly generous in my length estimate!

here it is doubled around my neck:

here it is with one folded end tucked into the other:

is this what your "seam" looks like? i think i followed the round transition instructions properly, and i like how it looks, but i haven't found any photos of anyone else's seam.

ETA: now that i'm DONE, i've noticed that a lot of people solved the edge problem by using a crocheted cast-on and then a typical bind-off. simple and elegant solution.

even a gloomy day...

2011-03-19T15:59:00.000-07:00

... is brightened with a bloody mary that features a giant shrimp, overlooking the pacific ocean! both the shrimp and i were overlooking the ocean, to be clear, and my husband was there as well.

we are off celebrating his birthday with a night away from thing one and thing two. a lys may be visited, for souvenir and research purposes only.ツ

there were vacationing knitters at the next table -- we exchanged ravelry names, and talked about stoplight vs. pay-attention knitting. so fun!

i need to learn to use the camera on my phone. this is ridiculous.

sights around town today, and someone i'd like to know

2011-03-16T13:50:00.000-07:00

i worked (for pay) today, doing the books down at my husband's office. i always drive by this wonderful old sears building/factory -- i don't know how old it is, but it looks very art deco. i snapped this pic with my cellphone, as i was driving by. i have NO idea how my phone bent the building, but here it is! unretouched. sometime i'll get a reasonable picture (it's an amazing building, see the link), but that pic made me laugh.

❣

this is a very old pink building, paint peeling off brick, that i drove by today. it looks like a school? a church? it may be abandoned now, i'm not sure.

❣

then i went to costco, where lettuce is 1/3 the price at the grocery store, and snapped this shot behind the warehouse. the last line of the ATTENTION sign says "OF YOUR TRAILER?" i wonder how many times trucks have driven off with fork-lifts and operators on board?!? to warrant a sign like this, i expect at least once!

❣

finally, i'd love to know this person: (the photo is terrible, i'm sorry)

she has such joy in life that her license plate says "SQWEE"!!! what a thrill to just get in the car and drive! she had several funny bumper stickers, but my favorite is the light blue one on the right side of the rear window. it says: "I Haven't Been The Same Since That House Fell On My Sister!"

me, neither, girl. me, neither.

needlework update

2011-03-08T16:19:00.000-08:00

i got a new toy. it has enabled me to frog ugly projects, or projects where the yarn does not suit the pattern, or bad ideas gone wrong, and leaves me with beautiful cakes of potential.

this is my laceweight sterling silver impregnated yarn, in its new form. i wanted to make a shawl out of it, combining knitted lace with tunisian crochet. it just was ugly. now i think this yarn wants to be opera length fingerless gloves. we'll see.

i am stalled at day 11 of the advent calendar scarf. it is fun, absolutely lovely, and i will continue -- i am NOT going to frog this. however, it requires a lot of attention, and i'm unable to attend to my knitting right now.
here's a little summary of some of the things i have going, labeled 1-6, starting in the lower left and going clock-wise (you'll have to double-click on it to really see the numbers, sorry):

advent calendar scarf: beautiful, fun, complex, stalled at day 11
herringbone cowl: beautiful, fun, EASY, about 60% done by weight
tunisian scarf: 3 color technique illustration for classes: easy, fun, interesting to look at, hurts my wrist to work on too much, not very portable, about 40% done
ball-winder and first frogging victim of the ball-winder
cotton projects: dish cloths i knit while traveling, a grocery bag in progress (40%). easy
unblocked tunisian crochet experiment: mitered square entrelac hobo bag. just needs to be blocked and seamed -- 90% done.

there you go! i do not spend ALL of my time bragging about my lovely weather ツ

spring is coming. part 2.

2011-03-07T10:14:00.000-08:00

do you suppose that opening the window will blow out all the flu germs? it certainly makes everyone feel a bit better. ツ

ETA: the tree you see there is an evergreen, a huge coast live oak we have in our back yard. so while leaves are starting to bud on other trees right now, the oak always is green.

un milagro para nosotros

2011-03-02T20:57:00.000-08:00

here are two short videos from our recent trip to laguna san ignacio, on the pacific side of baja california, to see the whales. we went out on a small panga (boat), the first day with four italian tourists (i got to haul out my ancient french to speak with them), and saw many beautiful california grey whales exhibiting typical behaviors, like the "fluking" i captured here:

the second, more magical trip, on the next day, we took with just our family and an experienced captain. he took us to the mouth of the lagoon, where we encountered a very sociable mother whale, who wanted to introduce her baby to boats and people. this mama and her HUGE baby were right next to our boat. she came so close that i was able to touch her head. it was a remarkable experience.

un milagro -- a miracle -- a gift from the universe. truly the experience of a lifetime.

pretty in pashmina

2011-02-27T13:46:00.000-08:00

i started another project. as though i needed to start another project. this one i wanted to do as soon as i saw it at purl bee. but i did not want it to be quite so big and heavy, so i bought some beautiful madeline tosh pashmina in an incredible denim blue (the photos do not do the color justice), and cast on.

i cast on 300 stitches, instead of the recommended 220, using a 31" size 11 circular, and started this herringbone stitch. it's a bit slippery and fiddly, but it's really easy, and this loopy scarf is coming out fantastic! it's easy enough that it qualifies as stoplight knitting, meaning it has some hope of actually being finished. i want it to be about 8" wide -- now it's just 2" and i have 3 oz. of yarn left. i may have to invest in some more.

this stitch is so elegant and dignified. i love it!

i can see the snow...

2011-02-26T12:15:00.000-08:00

... while running errands around town. i know it's not very impressive to those living in the far north, but it is a lovely way for mother nature to decorate our view here!

i have slurped the following picture from this ravelry pattern.

thinking about crocheting this rug is the closest i've been to a snowflake lately. isn't it a fun pattern? i may have to do this...

ETA -- here is the link to the blog with the pattern for this snowflake.

ps -- thank you for your comments about the shamrocks -- they really are darling in real life ツ

spring is coming. really.

2011-02-25T10:10:00.000-08:00

time to start thinking about spring! and we are about to have our coldest day in a generation here in southern california:

those darling shamrocks (ravlink) are SO easy to crochet -- they take about 10 minutes apiece, and they are such cute little charms. 6 yards of 12 ply silk made 3 of the 4 leaf clovers with about 2 feet of yarn to spare. i used the silk because it is shinier and will withstand use better than cotton.

here it is in place on my little boy's backpack. it's not too girlie, is it???

a fun thing about being a mom...

2011-02-19T17:06:00.000-08:00

... is being able to give permission to turn this mild-mannered blond 12 year old into
a wild child with a fuchsia streak!

happy!

it's still wintertime here...

2011-01-26T11:56:00.000-08:00

... but that means it's time for the camellias to begin blooming, and it's time to take the opportunity to pop over to descanso gardens for a mid-winter stroll. they have wonderful huge koi swimming around in the sky.ツ

no snowdrifts here! just beautiful white camellias in full bloom.

pink ones, too, but my favorite are the white. the red ones are pretty spectacular, but how many flower pictures can i post?!

a resident white goose hangs out with a mallard pair (right behind the tree). there is a pair of wood ducks living there as well, but they were not at this pond when i was there. the breeze came up as i took this picture, blurring the reflection.

i have never seen a rhododendron this color. it practically glowed.

not trying to rub it in, really!

ETA: click on picture to really see it, as always.

it's almost embarrassing...

2011-01-16T12:41:00.000-08:00

we're having such a lovely day. i'm spending it doing some spring cleaning -- windows open, fresh air wafting through.

good earth herbal tea

2011-01-14T13:49:00.000-08:00

i had forgotten how good it is; it's keeping me company at my desk.

epiphany

2011-01-06T13:13:00.000-08:00

the 24 days of advent have been succeeded by the 12 days of christmas, and i am plugging away, slowly but surely, at my advent calendar knitalong. it's such a fun knit, because it never gets boring. once you get tired of a lace repeat, you do your transition rows and move on to the next beautiful pattern (she has used traditional estonian lace stitches). above, a clip of days 1-5, featuring my first nupps on day 2. they don't really show up much on this colorway, but it's been fun doing them nonetheless.

here's the whole thing up through day 8 (so 1/3 complete), wrapped around a european size pillow (26" wide). i used weed-whacker line for blocking wires to stretch it out. it worked pretty well! we had beautiful sunlight this morning, but it has clouded up this afternoon. i was hoping for a better picture; however, the color is pretty true. click on the picture to see much bigger.

this is how i'm tracking rows on the kindle -- with notes. on this note, i've just completed row 12.

when the kids decorate the tree...

2011-01-05T13:55:00.000-08:00

... you may catch an angel in the middle of a full twisting layout.ツ

the thoroughly modern knitter

2011-01-02T13:35:00.000-08:00

i received a kindle for christmas! what a fun surprise -- i did not expect anything beyond the usual socks and underwear this year. and guess what the kindle does besides let you read books? you can transfer pdf's to it and read them! what kind of pdf might i be talking about? knitting patterns, of course! oh how exciting! and what a savings of paper!

i immediately loaded my advent calendar knitalong pdf (combined, it's 62 pages! think of the paper and just the bulk of carrying all that paper around!), and i'm using the note feature of the kindle to track rows.

i needed a quick gift bag for a bottle of champagne, so loaded that pattern on there as well. i used this pattern from paton's. i've used it before, and love how they organize the stripes to be so random and wonderful. i modified the pattern to use up some lamb's pride bulky yarn in my stash (with one color in worsted weight held double), so cast on 48 stitches and followed pattern C, using a size 9 circular needle. the wider stripes often called for 6 rounds, but i knit 5 so the bag would not be too tall. the narrower stripes i knit as written. it felted down just perfectly, so the top of the champagne bottle is peeking out.

it's very quick, very easy and really fun to do. and of course, felting always seems like a miracle to me, and the fabric is quite sturdy enough to support and protect a full bottle of champagne. and THAT is important! ツ

cheers!

2010-12-31T18:34:00.000-08:00

a toddy recipe for you to start the new year -- fully customizable:

boiling water
bourbon (or rum. or whiskey. triple sec might be good.) quantity determined by time of day.
lemon (or tangerine. or orange.) quantity determined by intended medicinal value of toddy. how healthy do you want your toddy to be?
maraschino cherry. not to eat, just to decorate and sweeten.

stir and enjoy!

a most healthy and happy new year to you, and i thank you for stopping by.

by comparison...

2010-12-30T08:11:00.000-08:00

we are thinking it's quite brisk here today -- we had cold rain yesterday and snow in the mountains down to 2500 feet. but i've never noticed us having wind chill before. winter time! warm hats! scarves, gloves, mittens! fire in the fireplace! no, it's YOUR turn to walk the dog! don't bother mama now, she's knitting some important warm thing!

orange you chili?

2010-12-18T10:30:00.000-08:00

we grew chili peppers this summer, theoretically to be able to make salsa with the tomatoes we grew. in july, a few ripened past green to red, and as soon as i saw that, i knew what my christmas wreath would look like this year.

i have hoarded peppers, mostly on the plant, since then. i harvested them all the other day and began wiring them to a plain pine wreath. i have to say it was a bit dull until i picked an orange from our tree, sliced it and dried it in the oven (200°F for 2 hours on a lightly oiled pan) and added the dried pieces to the wreath. slap on a bow, and voilà! a wreath!

done in a day!

2010-12-17T08:30:00.000-08:00

well, yes, i'm now 13 days behind on the advent calendar KAL, but day 3 was so easy (especially compared to the nupps!) that i was able to complete the pattern portion in one day (yesterday). i had a bit of sitting and waiting to do yesterday, so there you go.

i celebrated by having an old-fashioned and sitting down after dinner to finish the beads in the spacer section. i cranked 'em out! knit the remaining rows lickety-split, and started day 4. started, counted the chart, tinked, counted the chart again, counted my beads -- i had about 40% fewer stitches than i was supposed to have. what? i did not perform any unnecessary decreases -- i know!

i realized i forgot the yarn-overs before and after the beads. so i get to tink all the way back to the beads and see whether i can stretch the yarn to add those yo's, or will have to redo the beads (BOOOO!).

i took much better pictures this time -- the last one was one of the worst pictures i've ever published.

this picture is more clear, i believe, because i used a flash, but the color is not as true. if you click on the picture you can zoom in and see the top row has beads but no yo's.

the hurrieder i go, the behinder i get.ツ

groups of nupps

2010-12-13T08:55:00.000-08:00

my progress on the KAL is slow -- the nupps take some time. they're kind of fun, and kind of a pain. i am using a crochet hook, but i'm using it to do the purl on the return row. the nupps are not very obvious -- maybe when i complete the whole section (day 2), they'll pop a little more. or maybe when it's blocked.

i did decide to add beads -- i had some square ones here at home, and the colors were right. some are bluer, some are greener, but they have a metallic bronziness that goes well with the yarn.

sorry about the background -- everything i do these days is a bit quick & dirty; this was the first pillow i grabbed to quickly pin, take outside and photograph the lace.

so if i finish section 2 today, i'll be 11 days behind.

because starting a new project makes me feel good

2010-12-09T13:16:00.000-08:00

i had noticed this lace scarf knit-along in november, and dismissed it as impossible. but i needed a bit of a boost the other day, and impulsively jumped in 5 days late. it's a project that has some features i've been wanting to try, nupps and beads, specifically. i started up on monday, and tried to knit charted lace with medium to dark-colored laceweight yarn on size 2 needles in the car in the dark during swim practice, and guess what happened. so i'm back-tracking, retrieving the lost yarn-over and losing time, but i love the yarn and the project. and i look forward to quiet afternoons with a small glass of dry sack by the fire, knitting. ahahahahaha!

picture from lollygirl.com

i shall take a picture of the advent scarf as soon as i have more than one inch of fabric to show you.

final flakes

2010-12-08T08:49:00.000-08:00

this one is my favorite. i have it pressed against the side of my black piano, so it IS hanging, supporting itself. acrylic-girl asked a good question about the firmness or stability of the crocheted snowflakes, using the wool/stainless kidsilk haze combination i wrote about. i pinned them to the ironing board and steamed them for 10-15 seconds, to define them a bit more and flatten the crochet curl out. it worked great! i think if i were going to hang them for any length of time i would hang them from 2 points instead of one, but you definitely do not have to starch them to get them to feature the proper shape.

here are all of ones i've completed:

upper left and upper right were done with a size 3 vs. size E hook (smaller), and they came out much more defined. i like 'em!

and they're already given away.

fuzzy flakes

2010-12-04T11:25:00.000-08:00

a wee bit of crochet for some instant gratification holiday crafting. the pattern is from paton's, and i crocheted it using a furry yet stable combination of kidsilk haze and the lion brand wool stainless steel yarns. i used a size E crochet hook. (ravlink)

a bit closer you can see the slate blue of the stainless wool and the oatmeal color of the mohair. sorry it's blurry -- the camera did not want to focus on all that mohair.

i'll do the other snowflake today. when i do another of this one, i will modify the last round by chaining 3 or 4 (instead of the 5 recommended on the pattern) on all of those loopy outside sections so that it tightens up a little. i will try some with a smaller hook, as well. these are so quick and easy! i want to do a million of them -- and the stainless yarn, though not really a christmas color, obviates the need to starch the snowflake. it could stand to be blocked a bit, just to straighten it out, but i doubt that will happen. i'll take another picture when i have a few of them hanging festively somewhere, looking deceptively fragile.

and the blue makes the flake look cold, right? ツ

❅

my two weeks were spent this way:

2010-12-01T14:00:00.000-08:00

enjoying the full moon rise over the sea of cortez.

playing on low tide sand bars with enthusiastic children and a puppy.

watching those same children rest in the sunshine.

baking pies.

fishing for bait to fish for more fish.

contemplating my shadow by the light of that same full moon.

best wishes...

2010-11-17T12:24:00.000-08:00

... for a happy thanksgiving! i'm grateful for you, my internet friend. thank you for allowing me to tame my tempest here with you.

this adorable turkey is a free pattern from webs. the picture is from the website.

one of these may have to be knit upon arrival at our little campo in baja. here is a panorama for you -- i'll be enjoying this view for the next week. as always, double click for a much larger view.

it's the end of the world as we know it

2010-11-15T17:44:00.000-08:00

and i feel fine ツ

meet maisy, our new family member. she is a 3 month old labradoodle, smart and sweet.

paisleys and washcloths

2010-11-12T13:20:00.000-08:00

i used the autumnal palettes i "discovered" on colourlovers.com to paint some paisleys. what i learned:

if you don't gesso your canvas, you get a lovely canvassy texture on your background
if you don't use your paint in say a year, some colors may be dried up and unusable
if you don't have an adequate variety of paint colors, the colors you blend will be remarkably uniform
make sure your overlaid color is significantly different in shade intensity than your background color
i still love drawing paisleys
a painting can be a color sketch

how about some washcloths to consume some stoplight time? i have always liked that basic washcloth recipe, illustrated by the green one with the blue stripe. the center corners always buckle on me, however. this time, i just put a little set of short rows in each corner, and voila! no buckling!

your washcloth hint for the day. you're welcome.ツ

loving colo(u)rs

2010-11-06T10:57:00.000-07:00

if you don't already know about colourlovers.com, you should! you can create colors, look at colors created by others, and (my favorite feature) create and explore color palettes and patterns created by others. there is a feature (i haven't used it yet) allowing you to extract a color palette from a photograph. wow!

the palettes above were created by others using autumn photos -- the top from leaves, the bottom from a chestnut.

hmmmmmmm.

ETA: you do not have to be a member to explore the palettes and patterns; you do have to be a member to create, but it's free!

from the sublime to the ridiculous

2010-10-31T22:01:00.000-07:00

you decide which is witch!! i'm so glad halloween is over. it's terrible to hate a holiday that the kids enjoy so much, but i do.

i survived! and even wore my ancient troll earrings. everything old is new again.

♬ sewing the seams of love ♡ ♬

2010-10-28T18:12:00.000-07:00

yes, i think i'm hilariousツ

thing one will be a witch for halloween this year, and needs a cool, middle-school cool, glittery, tulle-y cape. so i'm sewing. the seams. of ♡. ♬

if you're too young to get it (or if i'm not as funny as i believe i am), check here. for heaven's sake don't watch the whole thing -- it's really long, and i never really liked the song. (no offense to the tff fans out there ツ)

my new toy...

2010-10-26T12:41:00.000-07:00

you know how amazon.com gives you free shipping on books if you go over a certain amount? i was ordering some books for my daughter and came up just short. so naturally i needed to buy the barbara walker treasury, seen above. i pored through it, and after my recent experience with päivi's 22 leaves KAL, i wanted to just experiment a little. i found a little lace design, printed out some graph paper and got to work! well, hardly work. but some fun thinking and calculating and figuring.

i thought i'd try a square and just repeat a simple pattern out to make a lace kerchief, in effect. it's really fun, and i can't wait to finish this one so i can start another! i'm using some autumn colorway sock yarn from joann's called sensations bamboo & ewe pattern, a wool/bamboo/nylon blend. the colorway does not allow for much view of the lace, but it's inexpensive and easy to work with. i think i might use a plainer yarn for my next experiment, but it looks very fall-like, and i like it. if i figure out how to write an elegant chart that someone besides me, myself, and i can understand, i'll write up the pattern and post it on ravelry. it's just the repeats and exceptions that i don't know how to express on a chart. but that will be fun to figure out, too!

finally, i have one last picture of my official french market bag in use -- it's so pretty, so handy, and i can't wait to do another. it's one of my favorite patterns ever.

as always, if you click on a picture, it will pop up much bigger.

i love it!

2010-10-25T13:05:00.000-07:00

here is my gaia trapezoid with the bead attached.

this is how i have been wearing it.

here it is spread out a bit, showing off the gaia detail and the lovely noro colors.

i'm sorry about the lousy pictures -- i have 20 minutes to do this so only time for snapshots, not photographs.ッ

a trapezoid

2010-10-21T14:02:00.000-07:00

my gaia shawl turned trapezoidal scarf is done. knitting complete, 2 ends to weave in. the only thing left is to determine how to treat the one hanging stitch there at the top. i think i will put a bead on there to finish it off.

look how pretty! i'll take a picture once it's dry and the bead has been placed, but i'm thrilled right now to have another incomplete knit off my hands.

if you're interested in the knitting details, you can look at my ravelry page even if you're not a member.

i'm felting, i'm felting...

2010-10-18T18:21:00.000-07:00

what a world, what a world!
my crazy enormous hat felted down, as you can see, to a reasonable size.

it's still really large, but quite comfortable. it's not supposed to have that brim, but i like it! the colors are better than illustrated here -- they're actually quite restrained in an autumnally lovely sort of way. bad hair days, i presently defy thee!

my official french market bag, in these dark days of me not being in the mood for knitting, benefited by getting its embroidery on. instead of my customary daisy chain, i back-stitched my decor in order to get a finer level of detail.
here it is pre-felting:

and then post-felting, sitting upside down on the coffee maker with one of those square tupperware containers doing the blocking. it fits perfectly.

you can still see a great deal of stitch definition. why did i not felt it more?

i did not want it to get smaller, as the handles are pretty short when knit per the pattern
size 7 needles are really pretty small, i believe, for felting the lamb's pride. i think i'd go up to 8's if i were to do it again. this would help the stitches rub against one another and cancel one another out. ッ as it were.
the flash makes it look more stitch-defined than it really is.
this one is a reminder for me for the future: the bind-off sections could easily have a penultimate row of garter, to prevent so much curling.
well, i think that's it.

i'll take another picture when the bag is dry and ready for its close-up. but this wicked witch loves her some paisleys, can you tell? in my former days of gainful employment, the paisley was my favorite doodle. before i was able to play solitaire on the computer while listening to a customer complain interminably, multi-colored paisley doodles on a desk pad soothed my bored and anxious brain. i replicated that notion in yarn here. ッ

somehow i never figured out that all i had to do was click my heels three times...

crocheting in lilliput

2010-10-14T16:43:00.000-07:00

it looks like a short, odd crochet hook, doesn't it?

(sorry it's blurry) here is that crochet hook next to a skein of bulky yarn. i popped by a stitch in time yesterday to grab a size Q hook -- i really did not know they came that big -- in order to crochet up this cute hat from the purl bee. the prefelted hat is ginormous!

it seemed like an excellent use of this yarn i received as payment in kind for a sample i knit up for a local yarn store. sadly, i did not like the feel of the yarn or the fabric it knit into, so i've wondered what i would do with it. it has almost identical properties to the yarn recommended in the bucket hat pattern, so i thought i'd give it a go. i cannot imagine that this thing will felt down to a wearable size -- it's 48" in circumference along the bottom -- but it will be great-looking if it does. i've never felted a crocheted item before, so that's an adventure as well.

a FO is in my future, i can smell it! or is that just the wet lambswool...

now, reporting from los angeles:

2010-10-14T11:36:00.000-07:00

a flu update for you.

hmmmmm. low to minimal activity for the united states. let's zoom in, shall we?

california is not looking too affected by the flu. let's check into this a little more closely.

los angeles -- low flu trend. but wait, what's that smudge on the map in the l.a. area? zoom in once more, please.

ahhh.

CHOOO!

you have to be pretty sick not to feel like knitting! but i'm not too sick to be inspired...

look at this wonderful graphic, figure 887 from the amazing Encyclopedia of Needlework, by Thérèse de Dillmont, free on the kindle. it's an embroidery pattern, but how great would it look knit up? especially in one of those incredible kauni fair isle colorway combinations?

i cannot believe...

2010-10-07T12:57:00.000-07:00

... i knit something this beautiful. thank you so much, päivi, for the wonderful opportunity and for sharing your talent and your lovely pattern with us.

it's obviously a quick blocking job, ;-) but i had to squeeze in the blocking between school obligations, errands, etc.

click on the picture to make it much bigger, as usual.

i pause to admire...

2010-10-06T21:09:00.000-07:00

... oh yeah -- the last row of the 22 leaves shawlette!

we now return you to our regularly scheduled knitting. i can't WAIT to block this and see how it looks!

well, cr&p.

2010-10-02T10:46:00.000-07:00

so much for "Miss High-and-mighty, I'm using lifelines, nyah-nyah"! i meant to put one in after clue 3. the road to hell and all...

i mean really, it's like saving or backing up on the computer, isn't it? you should save/back up when you don't want to recreate what you've done. since i did NOT follow my own "sage" advice often enough, i have much time invested now in the deep annoyance of:

realizing that something does not look right,
trying to fix something 3 rows ago,
realizing that looks WORSE and tinking back,
and the most aggravating thing of all -- knowing that i know better and could have prevented all this by just (say it with me) using a lifeline!

i did figure out this morning that i will NOT have to frog to my lifeline on row 32. in fact, i this morning i found that i had knit 14 stitches instead of 13 on one section on row 67, setting up my "wait a second, this doesn't look right" moment 2-1/2 rows later.

bbl -- gotta go put in a lifeline. knitting will ensue. and some ryder cup golf watching. and some college football watching. oh, yes, i am QUITE busy. haha!

ps -- i wish i had taken a picture of the weird stitch arrangement that clued me into my error last week, but i panicked ツ

a rare treat

2010-09-29T20:29:00.000-07:00

for a southern california non-mountain dweller, a thunderstorm is rare. i myself did not see any lightning, but heard some good rollers, and the rain we had came almost from the clear blue sky (behind me when i was taking the picture). so, we had a double rainbow, hard to see but there nonetheless.

i guess we're no longer hot and dry, but warm and damp?

no joke

2010-09-28T17:49:00.000-07:00

this is MUCH MUCH MUCH better. and may i say thank heaven for a/c. and may i also say that i hope that my friend madtosh lisa has working a/c soon!

and here's the cardigan she mentioned in the comments. it's straight up gorge, though i'm concerned i might not survive all that stockinette. cables could be introduced. so could a pretty lace insert.

or it might just be perfect plain!

are you kidding me?

2010-09-27T17:11:00.000-07:00

ok, it is too hot. way way way way way too hot.

ready for my (clue 3) close-up

2010-09-20T21:19:00.000-07:00

clue 3 complete, even as the speedy knitters are finishing clue 4! can't wait to start on my next set of leaves!

saving myself from myself == throwing myself a lifeline

2010-09-19T15:15:00.000-07:00

or, the lifeline in lace. i know there are some novice lace knitters in the 22 leaves mystery kal, so i thought i'd show how i insert a lifeline. the purpose of the lifeline is insurance against mistakes. once installed, it gives you a place to rip back to, where everything is known to be correct, and you don't have to tink all those rows, with all those yo's and double yo's.

i put my first one in on row 22. i deliberately chose an even row on this pattern so i would be able to slide my tapestry needle through purled and knitted stitches, and no yo's.

it's quite easy to do.

find a tapestry needle and contrasting thread/yarn (i used crochet cotton)
make sure your fabric is correct per the pattern
slide the stitches to the middle of your cable (if on a circular)
carefully follow the cable with your threaded needle, going right next to the cable, through the stitches.
write down the row number that has the lifeline inserted
that's it!

here's what it looks like -- i have one at row 22 and one right through the live stitches at row 34.

yup! scrunchy lifeline goodness! i did not pull out my old one until i successfully installed the new, as you can see.

now knit according to the pattern, carefully NOT knitting your lifeline, leaving it free to be pulled easily from the fabric, since you'll never need it, because you took the time to do it!!

that's what it looks like after the row has been knit.

all this lifeline business is the reason i'm still not done with clue 2, i'm sure.

clue 1 complete!

2010-09-18T09:18:00.000-07:00

lessons learned:

print out the chart enLARGEd
knit kid-free, and
knit kid-free

did i already say that?

mystery knitalong

2010-09-17T15:22:00.000-07:00

lankakomero (see link under must-reads in the right-hand sidebar) is having a mystery KAL -- so fun!

destashing some lace yarn, and we're off! first clue released today!

chester and maiu are also knitting along, i think -- i swear chester must think i dress in red, carry a pitchfork and sit on his left shoulder twirling my evil tail ;-).

sometimes i like my kitchen

2010-09-16T10:14:00.000-07:00

when it's clean
when i don't have to cook in it (not a big cooker, moi)
when i really look at the treasures it holds, things i use every day without seeing

from left to right:
teapot wedding gift (can't remember the source);
pepper grinder - gift from my lovely s-in-law;

salt cellar with tiny spoon from my m-in-law, both ensconced on a pottery dish she made;

well-used honey jar from my brother, souvenir from a long ago trip to alaska (the "alaskan honey" sticker just came off last week -- the remaining label is unreadable now);

sugar bowls and spoons, also from my m-in-law, also on a little tray she made;

barley and rice canisters, being used now for flour and wooden utensils, both from my estonian grandma's kitchen -- i remember seeing them nearly half a century ago being used by her;

salad servers - gift from our scottish friends now living in sydney;

salad tongs - souvenir gift from my mom from her new zealand adventure;
and up top, beautiful talavera majolica plates, also from my m-in-law.

remind me about all of those precious kindnesses people have shown me, please, next time i'm racing around trying to shovel food down people's throats. ツ

ps -- there are two sugar bowls because one holds splenda and the other actual sugar

for thing 1

2010-09-06T19:00:00.000-07:00

she wanted a blue one. i like how it came out!

this one was also quite inexpensive... about $8 to make -- the beads were on sale. it also took less time than my first one, as i was more experienced with the fiddliness of it all.

jogging...

2010-09-06T11:16:00.000-07:00

..my own memory. this is my new favorite tomato plant, still cranking out the sweetest, most gorgeous yellow tomatoes. it produced early, it produced often, and next year i want four of these plants.

mmmmmmmmmmmmm.

it always looked pretty ratty and unhealthy, and we thought it had died several times. still, it keeps on going! almost pulled it out this weekend but saw lots more little greenies in there, so postponed the inevitable for a while longer.

water bomb slouchy hat

2010-09-03T11:26:00.000-07:00

a new free pattern for you! seamless, cotton, quick, and you get to learn a new technique -- the tubular cast-on! or maybe you already know the tubular cast-on, in which case i'll bet you can finish this simple hat in a few hours. i completed it quite quickly, and i am a slow knitter.

the tubular cast-on gives you a nice edge, and the perfect place to hide some elastic thread. threading some elastic through the cast-on edge makes the cotton ribbing snap back into place and remain snug on your head.

the lace is both charted and written out, and there are links to the lace-charting website and the youtube video from which i learned the cast-on.

enjoy! happy knitting!

ravlink

whirled peas

2010-09-02T21:40:00.000-07:00

i saw these cool bracelets, and they were $VERY EXPENSIVE$. google being my friend, and all, i checked for tutorials, and sure enough! a wonderful step-by-step how to, complete with supply list, appeared. so i did it!

how fun is this?? and it cost about $12 at michael's for supplies. it takes some time, as it's quite fiddly, but what's an hour worth?

there may be another of these in my future...

block me baby, block me all night long

2010-09-02T11:26:00.000-07:00

oh, how soft and sumptuous the harsh noro sock yarn becomes upon blocking! here is the final picture of my clapotis, blocked and hanging doubled over the clothesline. mmmmmm, the plaid goodness...

that's me in the corner

2010-08-27T09:50:00.000-07:00

so that is my week, right there, the first week of school, tidied up a LOT. i did NOT take a picture of my desk. that's just the kitchen table -- my desk is not ready for its close-up. ツ

i have a long "what i [knit] this summer" essay to write, lots of stuff to share and document. i think if i do it in dribs and drabs, i may actually get it done. the last two posts have inspired me to just do what i can in terms of posting. me and tiger. just DO it!

SO -- what's that at the bottom of the table?

the via veneto mason-dixon table runner, nearly done! all the knitting is complete. i need to block it (today??? she asked breathlessly, crossing her fingers), weave the yellow/gold yarn through the dropped stitches, and weave in the ends. then off to someone special. as yet undecided. ツ it's kind of like a baby -- you can't really decide on the name until you see if the name fits that child -- you can't decide on a knit-gift recipient until you see if the gift fits the person!

knitting details -- i liked knitting this for the most part. i used rowan milk cotton dk 098 "water bomb" (not an attractive name!), nearly four full skeins of the blue, and it took about a half skein of the red. i used a US size three needle to get a firmer fabric, and i'm glad i did. the addi's are slippery, which makes me knit a bit more loosely. the pattern was easy to memorize, so excellent "stoplight knitting". i wish i had cast off differently, as the bind-off end looks different from the cast-on end where the stitches are dropped. i should have listened to myself as i was doing it. but i think it can be fixed in blocking. the yarn is gorgeous and shiny, but of course very splitty, as shiny cotton will be.

i can't wait to show you the final final finished product -- i like the colors they used in the original, and hope that mine reflects some of the same wonderful contrasts and pizzazz.

ravlink, if you like.

clapotis accompli

2010-08-18T15:01:00.000-07:00

what a slog!! i started this thing a year ago last june, thinking i'd be done quickly. there were a few problems with that:

i am a slow knitter.
i chose to use a 16" circular, so knitting this thing was like knitting a 48" tube. my hands were cramping constantly. (see small needles at right)

it took FOREVER to pull those runners down, since i used noro silk garden sock yarn, which, though lovely, contains MOHAIR!!! dumb.

i love how it came out, though. i need to block it, still. i love the colors -- they remind me of van gogh's starry night. i don't know whether you can tell that the colors are symmetric about the blue diagonal line down the middle. when i started the second skein, i pulled from the outside instead of the inside as i had done with the first skein, and got lucky that there were no knots.

oh the noro color gods! they were with me this time.

odds 'n' ends

2010-08-16T15:35:00.000-07:00

how cute is this? a quick couple hour crochet project, using up the ends of 2 skeins of koigu kersti merino, resembles the ugly doll thing one was coveting. you can find the easy pattern here.

i AM the macguyver of knitting

2010-08-14T14:17:00.000-07:00

these are my new stitch markers. yes, they're plain, but they can be fancied up, can't they? so why am i the macguyver of knitting?

if you know what those little cylinders are, you and i are in the same club. for everyone else, those little containers hold insulin to be dispensed by an insulin pump, used by people with type 1 diabetes. actually, you might be in the club of people who have t1d. i am in the mom of the t1d kid club.

i was getting really aggravated with the last stitch marker of the many many stitch markers on my long-neglected clapotis, because it was just a sloppy, floppy piece of yarn. how i thought of those little gaskets on the cylinder, i do not know, but i broke into the sharps container to grab them.

i grabbed many! now here is my little stitch marker in place:

goodbye, old marker, you served me well, but you annoyed me once too often; clapotis, beware -- i have finish-itis!

now my hands smell like insulin; yes, mom, i DID wash them really well, but since i'm in colorado on vacation, i'll eat a nice, beautiful, luscious palisade peach, right from the fruit stand on the highway, just to make sure my blood sugar does not run low ;-)

new links! ------------------------------->

2010-07-24T10:25:00.000-07:00

i have figured out how to make my simple free patterns available to non-ravelry users. the links to the right go to scribd, a publishing hosting site. there you can download my pdf's.

happy knitting!

typical...

2010-06-21T14:08:00.000-07:00

bZ, bZ, bZ

2010-06-11T21:16:00.000-07:00

between 5th grade end of year, end of elementary school and end of the world as we know it ceremonies, celebrations, brouhahas, and the very unlikely involvement of the smnll softball minors bulldogs in the tournament of champions FINAL game,

there's been a dearth of knitting. but the teacher gifts are delivered, and now that the softball season and the school year are over, we're on our way to baja. i expect a grocery bag will be knitted. ;-)

see you next week.

been around the block

2010-06-07T09:47:00.000-07:00

look at this crunchy thing! in person, it's more attractive, though with the black you cannot really see the fine stockinette lacy/angley/swirliness of it all. in particular, without being blocked, it really just looks like a crunched up pile of knitting. but this is the lush-ious cowl (ravlink), and i knit it three times with the berroco lustra, chosen because it is 50% tencel, so the wool content may not be as itchy around the neck. i liked the lustra -- it is of course not as stretchy or flexible as pure wool, but not like working with straight silk.

bottom two blocked, top one unblocked. look at those gorgeous swirls! regardez!

i'm not a comfortable blocker, but this one was easy -- no pins, just letting them dry on a towel on the kitchen floor.

hot tip: use jeny's surprisingly stretchy bind-off to make the edges equally stretchy and flexible.

teacher gifts! please dry by wednesday...

i DO have knitting to show you...

2010-05-26T22:09:00.000-07:00

... but til then, here's a sign i see on my way to work at my husband's office. it reminds me of my junior high friends, and how we taught ourselves the signing alphabet so we could speak silently in class when we were bored ;-). it also reminds me of a high school acquaintance, whom i am friends with now, who translates for the deaf for a living.

she and i have the fact in common that we are the mothers of type 1 diabetes kids. it's a sort of club. facebook has been my friend, in this case!

that sign says LAMAR, by the way. it's the name of the company that sells billboard space. the "m" took me the longest to remember. ;-)

because i can...

2010-05-14T12:32:00.000-07:00

i think i'm just about at 30,000 feet, and, whoa! free wifi! there's no way to get a double chin-free angle without calling a great deal of attention to myself, so i'll live with the highly unflattering view of moi. ツ

so here's a look at my knitting. i think i'll catch up on some daily show episodes while i knit. high altitude awesomeness!

this is the border of the scarflet i am knitting. can you see the points?

and here is the top edge -- i love it! i am just about ready to start my decreases.

would you judge me if i ordered a bloody to drink while all of this relaxing is taking place? i'm not driving when i get to baltimore...

hey! crochet!

2010-05-09T13:20:00.000-07:00

i used up more kitchen cotton on a crocheted potholder. i would NEVER hold a pot with this -- a hot one, anyway! it will make a snappy washcloth. i followed this pattern, it was quick and fun to do, but i'm think i'm over it now. i did tack a lot of the internal edges together with a tapestry needle, so the fabric is sturdier in the center. ravlink.

for mother's day, i'll show you what i just knit up for thing 1, who turned me into a mother over 11 years ago ;-)

i saw a picture of this hat, and decided to knit something similar for her while waiting for my knitting students at abuelita's. boredom after a few rows, plus a suggestion that it's soon going to be too hot for a hat led me to repeat the first few rows, bind off, and call it a cool headband! ravlink gives the knitting details if you'd like to do one. i love the blue sky alpaca cotton -- it's colorful and very soft for cotton, and very drapey for cotton as well.

happy mother's day to you! i know you have one, even if you aren't one ツ

wednesday night knitting...

2010-05-05T22:08:00.000-07:00

... well, i needed a stirrer! ;-) 32" size 7 addi turbos. highly recommended!

i AM the macgyver of knitting.

hangin' out

2010-05-04T10:47:00.000-07:00

i THINK this is a young female rufous hummingbird, enjoying the sunshine on the wire above my driveway. she's really backlit, so it's hard to say exactly.

we have a lot of hummingbirds here in southern california, but unless their nest is threatened or it is really really quiet outside, they're hard to hear above all the other noise in our environment. and they are very quick, darting around and disappearing into the trees before you can get a good look.

simple arithmetic?

2010-05-02T13:29:00.000-07:00

hours of scarf planning fun!

maybe no product, but so fun to think about ;-)

1. madelinetosh prairie, color wren

2. elsie knitted border

3. english inset

4. graph paper ;-)

school may day celebration...

2010-04-30T18:16:00.000-07:00

... hanging with your bff

... and discussing things with your classmates

talking with grammy...

2010-04-28T15:48:00.000-07:00

... about poetry, long-distance.

ummm, excuse me...

2010-04-26T17:41:00.000-07:00

a talented photographer took this picture of a female downy woodpecker. i found it here.

i SAW a female downy woodpecker this afternoon, trying to peck a hole in my concrete street light pole.

she gave up pretty quickly. exercise in futility.

what a pretty bird!

brrrrrrr!

2010-04-22T07:52:00.000-07:00

chilly morning for us!
it was down in the 30's overnight... it's april! we're supposed to be sleeping with the windows open by now ;-)

good thing we all have hand-knit warmies to keep us cozy!

ETA: it's chillier at 9 am than it was at 8! i'm wearing BOTH of my original hand-knits -- the yertle AND the cozy moeby. the house is now warmed up to 62°.

the world's ugliest dishcloths!

2010-04-16T13:10:00.000-07:00

but this is what i knit in baja, using up some kitchen cotton and apparently trying every technique i could remember for making a square.

my favorite is the second from the left -- the grandma's dishcloth that took a left turn, and then got a mitered section.

small fry

2010-04-16T12:09:00.000-07:00

i'm back...

2010-04-10T18:00:00.000-07:00

... and yes, it was lovely!

i have knitting to share, but no pic's 'til tomorrow.

oh how i love my time in baja

2010-04-01T10:06:00.000-07:00

so here's a copy of a little video i made and posted last year. it was taken with my cell phone's limited video feature, so quality isn't great, but i LOVE how the music goes with the kite's rise and fall.

i should be grocery shopping and packing bathing suits, but i'm thinking about knitting. what should i bring? i like knitting cotton down there, because it can be a little warm, sticky and sandy for wool projects. i'm bored with my current projects, even my "must.finish.this.soon" projects i'd like to have in place for workshop samples. i want to buy new yarn. there. i've said it. like i don't have enough.

OH wait -- i just had an idea! i have some cotton that's been sitting around forever halfway knit into a sweater for my daughter. it was not coming together so i finally frogged it. i saw this scarf on ravelry. it's exactly the same as the multi-directional scarf i just finished, only with 1x1 ribbing instead of seed stitch or garter. it would be awesome with different colored snakey triangles in hot pink, sunshine yellow and bright turquoise!

thanks for the chat. that really helped! ツ

the grocery shopping and the packing will commence, right after i take these pictures...see you next week!

FO

2010-03-29T13:42:00.000-07:00

my constant companion since 9/08 and i have parted ways. my version of the multi-directional scarf is now a finished object. returning to that project was really satisfying. it was kind of a meditative sort of knit -- no thinking, and progress was very measurable whenever i worked on it. i had to redo the very last triangle one time in order to get it to match the first one more precisely on the edge.

project summary: size 4 needles, 65 grams of noro sock yarn. i modified the pattern to use seed stitch instead of garter, 33 stitches at the widest edge of the triangles. it ends up being about 6 feet long and about 4 inches wide. now i'll be waiting for next winter to have a chance to wear it!

here it is hanging from my oven. ツ

a hungry fellow

2010-03-19T19:45:00.000-07:00

a western bluebird dined in the outfield and watched the smnll giants lose to their classmates and good friends, the padres.

that whatbird.com website is fantastic -- answer a few questions, and the bird identification possibilities pop up!

i took an amazing picture today

2010-03-18T19:57:00.000-07:00

this is a koi fish in a pond at descanso gardens in la cañada. it's an incredible image, if i do say so myself. sheer accident, may i add.

because thing one has the type 1 diabetes, i get to go on all the field trips. since i didn't grow up here, it's an awesome way to be a tourist in my own town. this is my favorite time of year to go to descanso, because the camellia trees are in full bloom, and the understory of the forest is amazing.

here are some close-ups:

this one, i believe, is a pink perfection camellia, planted by almost every pasadena homeowner for decades, starting in the 1920's. they are ubiquitous, and quite lovely.

you know i can't resist a bud!

redecorating

2010-03-14T14:49:00.000-07:00

i decided i wanted a smaller header, so i've changed the illustration completely. remember my camera-happy days in colorado last august? we also had a blue to purple and everything in between day i have not documented 'til now:

i'm not sure what these were, but they featured incredible sorts of mulberry purple.

nemesia

i know it's not foxglove, snapdragon or campanula.
do you know what it is?

amazing delphinium

perfect morning glories in cornflower blue, complete with honeybee

my name is elise...

2010-03-12T16:03:00.000-08:00

... and i am a start-aholic.

look how many wip's i have on ravelry. and those are just the ones i have documented there. as i was putting my sparkly wrap up as a project, i took a look at my page.

oh boy.

ETA: i finally added the wip ravelry progress bars to my sidebar. will that shame me into finishing at least one of these before i start another? doubtful.