The Joy of Reading

We have a typical routine on those Saturday mornings when we are home. My daughter and I head on over to the local Michaels craft store for the craft being done at the Saturday morning Kid's Club. Then we walk over to Barnes and Noble to check out the books and have a snack at the cafe. This is what I picked up yesterday.


I will admit that I don't make as much time to read as I used to. The two books on the right are the latest paperbacks in two series that I have enjoyed. Every once in a while I will check to see if any new books are out by these authors and when I noticed that each series had a new hardcover, I found out that I had missed these two previous ones. They are both murder mysteries - the Sneaky Pie Brown series takes place in Virginia and involves 2 cats and a dog that help to solve crimes. I have a girlfriend who hasn't been able to get into this series - the animals do "talk" to each other - but I find them a light, fun read. The other series by Earlene Fowler takes place in California and has a great female character that is always stumbling onto crimes. Each book has the name of a quilt pattern as the title. I used to do a lot of quilting and was even a member of our local guild.

The book on the left is for my daughter. We read a lot together but it has been a little of a struggle to get her to read on her own. I loved to read when I was younger and would lose myself in my books. I was quite shy and maybe I even used books as a crutch. I used to always bring them to those big family gatherings so I could just plop myself down somewhere and start reading. Some of my favorite were Nancy Drew, the Bobbsey Twins, C.S. Lewis' series of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, The Borrowers - I remember buying books from the Ruth Fielding series when we would stop at flea markets. I hope my daughter finds this same love of reading. She found the first book in this series about the Weather Fairies and has been reading it to me every night. She needs help with some of the words, but I have been so impressed with her ability.

I realized something about myself - I can usually say no to buying toys but most of the time I will always be willing to buy books and crafts.

Too Many WIPs Mean...

nothing to show. There are several projects on the needles - the Moth shawl, 3 pairs of socks, Ariann - and consequently, I have not gotten too far on any of them. Add to that some of Amy's fiber on the wheel and I have more to do than I have the time to do it. And thanks to Margene, another project has jumped into my lap:

I liked Margene's choice of Louet Gems sportweight for the squares so I ordered a few colors from The Loopy Ewe. Sheri always sends out your order super quickly and includes some little extras. I love the blue/brown combination that is so popular now and thought I'd also add a pink/brown combo also. If I find I like getting back to crocheting, I'll order a few more colors for more squares. I remember really hating granny squares and chose to make those ripple afghans instead. One summer my mom, sister and I were all crocheting those afghans. I still have mine and one of my mom's is still over the couch at home.

Back to knitting - Has anyone made the Queen of Cup socks? Connie, a friend of mine in Utah whom I met several years ago through the Socknitters website, and I are doing a mini KAL together. I'm making the wider size (since they are for me) and using the 64 stitches on a size 2 needle (the pattern suggests between a 2 and a 3 for the wider size). The socks seem loose, but the pattern says they should fit looser than an average sock so I'm continuing on but I wonder if I should go down to a 1.5 for the foot since I wouldn't want it too loose inside of my shoe. Any suggestions?

For those going down to Maryland - have fun! And hug a few sheep and other fibery animals for me!

Where does the time go???

Wow - sometimes I think I get stuck in a time warp. I can't believe it has been so long since I have been on the computer and written a post. Thank you to everyone who has reached out to me - I can't begin to tell you how much it means to know that people care. Life does go on however hard it may be. I'm just trying to find those things that bring me joy and stick with them for a while. Let's see if I can give a relatively quick rundown on what's been happening.

I sent off the Bloomin' Feet package to my pal Leah. I got the most awesome email from her and am so relieved to say that she loved the socks and they fit. It's hard to make socks for someone when they can't try them on - I'm making socks for my Dad and had to rip out the heel twice to get them right after he tried them on. Now, I can't wait to get my socks in the mail.

Speaking of packages in the mail, Anne sent me such a wonderful thank you gift.

Three of her patterns and some luscious Fearless Fibers merino for the mitts. The fiber is soooo soft and I love the colors - can't wait to make them for ME!! The socks look like fun (I think Amanda made them recently) and the Starlight Wrap is amazing (although I will admit that I am a little intimidated by this one :))! Thank you, Anne, for reaching out to me.

And my newest love:

toe up socks in STR Lucy with a baby cable rib up the leg (pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks). These socks were really a lesson in pooling and gauge for me. I started out with my typical 72 stitches - the toe has nice stripes and then you can see the pooling that started in the lower sock. I tried the sock on and thought it was a bit loose. Since they were for me and they weren't that loose, I decided not to rip back, but to simply decrease by a few stitches. 4 to be exact. Look how the pattern changed - the stripes started to come back a bit. Then when I got to the leg and started the pattern, I was absolutely sure I would get stripes. Was I ever wrong! Instead I got those large blobs of color swirling up my leg. I LOVE these socks!

It's not fun to run out of yarn

This is a picture taken last night of the Bloomin' Feet socks. Was I wrong to be a little nervous!? The toes are now closed and after weaving in the yarn ends, I have 4 pieces of yarn left over - each about 6"-8" long. I am so glad I did not divide the skein in half as I would never have done it as closely as it needed to be divided. Instead, after winding the skein on the ball winder, I started one sock from the inside and one from the outside and knit both together. This is a fun pattern - it is Central Air from one of last year's STR club offerings. I'd definitely make it again, but maybe try it toe up so that I don't stress over running out of yarn.

Although, that does seem to be a common theme around here lately - check out this picture. Do you see what's wrong?

It's a bandanna and it's supposed to be a triangle. The pattern called for 1 skein of two different colors (one for the main color and one for a ruffly trim). I'm not quite sure what went wrong here (I even used the same yarn called for in the pattern), but I had to order another skein. It won't be the same dye lot, but hopefully it won't be too far off. Since I was placing an order anyway, I included one of the new Addi Lace circular needles - for this:

I decided I wanted my Moth to fly with large wings and after a discussion with my yarn consultant, we decided that I needed to go shopping for a yarn other than the Zephyr I was planning on using. This was also after deciding that there was absolutely nothing in the stash that would be appropriate. Carole did make a good point when she said how great this shawl is and that I really needed just the right yarn. I now have two choices - the Kid Silk Haze you see in the picture or Louet Kidlin Pixie (a linen/mohair yarn) in a cranberry color. I am leaning towards the orange because it makes me smile.

Something is blocking my wheel...

For some reason, the dog likes to lie right in front of my wheel. Did I show you what is on my wheel?

I am totally in love with pencil roving - specifically Corriedale pencil roving from Crown Mountain Farms. This colourway is Berry Pie and that is exactly what it reminds me of - makes me think of blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries. Oh, my, I can't wait until berry picking season. And the pencil roving makes it so easy to spin. No predrafting required.

I finished dropping all the stitches on Clapotis. I ended up adding some stitches to make it wider and did an extra repeat in the length. The length, however, would have been plenty long without the extra repeat, but I'm glad I made it wider. I will show some pictures, but please keep in mind that I don't have a photographer that makes me look as great as this or this.

Instead you have to settle for these.

I think my next shawl will be Wing of the Moth in some Jaeggerspun Zephyr from the stash. If I run into problems, I know someone else who has made one or I think I could email Anne for help.

I'm not a slacker...

I didn't want Amanda to think I was slacking on my Bloomin' Feet socks. I have been primarily knitting on something else, but have done a little on the socks. We now have one leg ready to turn the heel and one leg which is about 1 inch away from starting the heel. I will be working on these now as my primary knitting project since I am almost done with this.

My Clapotis knit with Brooks Farm yarn that I purchased at Rhinebeck last fall. The knitting is finished but it is taking a while to drop the stitches probably due to the fuzziness of the yarn. This will be wrapped around me for comfort next Saturday during my Mom's memorial service. I haven't decided if I will be able to talk in front of everyone. Last night I was thinking I may just wing it as I can't really think of planning anything.

Thank you to everyone who shared some of their wild and crazy side. I really enjoyed reading all the comments. Some of them reminded me that we do some crazy things for love. I decided that I would choose random winners by simply picking names out of a bag - so the winner of the Spin to Knit book and some spinning fiber is

Carole Knits

The winner of sock yarn is

Yarn Collectors Anonymous

And Elaine (anonymous) gets to choose the pattern of her choice from knitspot. Elaine, you can check out her catalog here and let me know which one you choose and I will pay for it and have Anne send it directly to you.

I hope everyone enjoyed playing and sharing. My daughter informed me that today is Best Friend Day (not sure where she heard this, but it sounds good). So, take some time and play with your best friend today!

A Giveaway

Well, I think it's time for some sort of giveaway - in honor of my Mom who always thought of others before herself. She was a great person to make gifts for because she would wear or use everything you gave her. She used to say that she never understood why so many people would go to the stores and return their gifts after the holidays - and I can honestly say that she never returned any gift she received. She wore the scarves that my sister and I knit for her, the fleece coat I sewed, the felted hat I made, even the apron I made for her so very long ago that I doubt my sewing skills were that great. And so many other things. When she died, my sister said that the beaded Odessa hat I had given her last year was on the nightstand next to her bed. I always love making things for people that I know are going to use them.

So, let's give some stuff away. There will definitely be a book - "Spin to Knit" very nicely signed by the author, Shannon Okey. And there will probably be some fiber and/or yarn. Now, you ask, what do you need to do to possibly get such wonderful prizes? Please leave a comment and tell about something wild/crazy that you have done. It doesn't have to be the craziest thing but should be something a little out there. Here is my contribution. About ten years ago, I took a trip to New Zealand with my parents. My husband didn't want to go, but I figured this was a good chance to see a place I had always wanted to travel too. Plus, I'd get to spend some fun times with my Mom and Dad. One morning, we stopped at a place where there was the opportunity to bungy jump off of a bridge (it was run by AJ Hackett Bungy and it was at the Kawarau Bridge). Sometimes, I get this weird feeling when I am faced with something I know I will (most likely) never have the chance to do again. I think it is because I hate to think of saying "I wish I had...". So, I decided to jump. They give you the option of jumping with someone and I decided to go this route, because I knew I would never, voluntarily, dive head first off of a bridge. It was quite a wild feeling, bouncing up and down on a huge rubber band and then hanging upside down while they get you into the boat. And that jump - yeah, I would never have done it on my own. I remember grabbing very tightly to that girl who jumped with me. But, I'm glad I did it and will never have to say "I wish I had!".

OK - now it's your turn. Have fun with it!!