The Bag is Getting There

This is the way our winter is looking. Very very very snowy. With some ice thrown in for good measure. It's snowing again today. Spring is just around the corner - right??


These are the icicles on our back porch. One of them almost connected with the pile of ice on the deck. We keep knocking them down but back they come.


A little spinning has been done in between shoveling. I'm not as happy about the green/cream mix as I thought I'd be. The green is losing some of its distinctive colors. They seem to be washing away next to the cream. I won't have enough cream to finish plying with the green, so I think I'll make a small skein at the end plying the green with itself to see how it looks.

The Market Bag is almost done! This is such a fun pattern! I'm so happy to have revisited it and especially happy that it's going to a very thankful recipient. I just made a deal to barter the bag for two delicious cheescakes that will more than compensate for the cost of the yarn. Sam is a terrific cook and I can't wait! Besides, I've had way too much fun knitting this!

The Rowing Cat had an epiphany last week and decided that she wanted bangs! So bangs it is! She looks fantastic! (Do you know how hard it is to get a 15 yr. old to smile for the camera???) She went to a sleepover last weekend and got to surprise her girlfriends with the new "do"! We were going to go skiing on Sunday, but Mark hurt a muscle in his neck, so we had to postpone till next Sunday. I took the girls to see Bride Wars instead. It was cute!

Oh Yes! There's going to be a new Dr. Who! What do you think? Don't know who he is??? You should! (The Rowing Cat thinks he's kind of cute!)

And So Vacation Comes To An End . . .

It's been a great vacation from work! And having several snow storms made staying in and spinning and knitting even easier!

I did make one purchase this week. I'm going to be showing two co-workers the Magic Loop method for knitting socks and I needed to get some new yarn to use for demonstration purposes!



It's Sockin' Sox by Plymouth Yarns. I love the color. I think it will make a great pair of vanilla socks!

I finished spinning up the green merino. Now I've started on this beautiful cream merino fiber. I plan on plying the two together - can't wait to see how it turns out!




I'm on Tier 6 of the Market Bag - I'm just flying through this project - it is tons of fun!

January 1

New Year's has dawned sunny and cold cold cold. Mark is off to Gore again today for ski school. He'll probably get lots of kids today . . .

The Rowing Cat and I will be staying snug and warm at home today. Maybe I can get her to cast on for the hat she's been making noises about . . .

I'm working on an entrelac Market Basket bag for a friend. She's been admiring mine and asked if I'd make one for her. She chose chocolate brown and turquoise! I think the colors look great together. I think I made my original Market Bag back in 2000, so it's been fun to revisit entrelac. A co-worker of mine has even been inspired to knit her own! She has never done entrelac before, so it was a leap of faith. You just have to do exactly what the instructions tell you to and then magic happens!





I'm also working on my favorite sweater pattern once again. It's called the Cabled Yoke Pullover and it's by Lidia Karabinech from an old issue of Interweave Knits. It's great TV knitting - just knit one round, purl one round around and around and around.



And here's a glimpse of my spinning this week! So much fiber goodness can be had when I get a week off from work! It's Merino from Theytoldmesew, an Etsy shop.



And here's a picture of our cat - using my shawl during her nap . . .

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all! Here are some pictures of our Christmas - we go to my parents for the exchange of kid gifts! The niece and nephews are sporting their Christmas gifts knit by Aunt Lisa!

I'm looking forward to lots of spinning and knitting in 2009! (Maybe a little less snow would be appreciated . . .;-)

Oh yes - The Rowing Cat completed her writing challenge - over 16,000 words! Woo Hoo!

NaNoWriMo

It's National Novel Writing Month! The Rowing Cat has joined the Young Writers portion! She has pledged to write at least 15,000 words in November. The kids are told to just write and not be concerned with spelling or grammar. They'll go back and edit in December. She has been faithfully writing every day and she is having a blast! I'm so proud!!

Want to see what she's written so far?? Leave me a comment or email me and I'll forward a copy!

llenz57843@aol.com

Fall Activities

It is definitely fall here in upstate New York. The leaves are beautiful shades of red and gold and are completely covering our yard . . . Thankfully, my doctor has banned me from raking due to some allergy issues! Couldn't have asked for a better prescription!

Here's our little kitty Annabelle trying to get in on the knitting video . . . Why is it that they always always always want to be right on top of whatever it is you are doing???


I've started the Queen Anne's Lace Scarf. It is a very easy crochet pattern, but you don't have to tell anyone that! It works up crazy fast - great for tv watching or last minute gifts.



Here is some wool that I just drafted slightly and let go into the wheel any old which way. So it's thick and thin, bulky and fine! I don't have all that much of it, so I'm not sure what it will become - maybe a small hat for one of the "little dudes" living next door.

This turned out exactly the way I wanted it! It's a combination of Merino and Romney and I really love how the colors came together. I always find myself spinning on colored roving trying to think of what to ply it with. It goes so much further if I ply it with another yarn rather than just plying it with itself. And the possibilities are endless. I could easily have gone for black on this instead of the white Romney. I also love to choose a commercial yarn to ply with. Even more possibilities!



The Rowing Cat and I went up to Camp Chingachgook last night for a Sailebration Dinner for the YKnot Sailing group. Mark was working, so we went as his "representatives". It was fun! The Camp Director offered the Rowing Cat a job next summer working with the 4 - 7 year old day campers. They really really really want to get her involved in the camp and she refuses to be a camper any more. Hopefully this will work for her! I also signed her up for NaNoWriMo! She has to write a 15,000 word novel in the month of November! It's my job to keep her motivated!

Oh, and we're also in WAITING MODE for the TWILIGHT MOVIE . . . ;-)

The Rhinebeck Report

What a great weekend! We had a wonderful bus trip down sponsored by Saratoga Needle Arts.
The weather was cool but the sun was bright! I had my Ravelry button on and I was ready to go. Tracey and I started to wander through the displays and within 10 minutes I was stopped by someone wanting to know if I was Lisa! She is a fellow Raveler on the She Knits Board and recognized my name. How fun is that??

We continued on from there and went in search of fiber goodness. Tracey was looking for some specific yarn so that was our first task. She found the vendor, but not the exact same shade of yarn. She had to settle for a different color. But it is beautiful!

We saw lots and lots of sheep.




How cute are they???

I was on the hunt for fiber and I found some beautiful roving at the Weston Hill booth. It's a local New York State family farm and the blended roving is wonderful. They were having a special sale - buy 4 "bumps" and get 1 free! Perfect. The blue colors I chose are lovely! I also picked up three bags of silk hankies in some beautiful colors. I'm not totally sold on spinning hankies - your hands need to be very very well moisturized or the silk catches, but I couldn't resist the colors!

We also really enjoyed the displays of knitted items and yarn as well as the demonstrations of rug hooking and weaving. Rug hooking seemed to be the up and coming craft this year. We were utterly exhausted by the end of the day!





And finally, Mark turned 50 yesterday! We had a fun cake!

RHINEBECK RHINEBECK RHINEBECK!!!

It's that time of year once again! Going to Rhinebeck tomorrow!!! Taking the bus put together by Saratoga Needle Arts! Planning on lots of fiber goodness, watching the sheep dog trials, good food, and lots of beautiful animals!

I've been spending a lot of time over on Ravelry at the Completely Pointless and Arbitrary Swap group - what a crazy bunch of ladies - and some terrific swap opportunities!

The spinning is coming along nicely. This is a picture of the final bobbin of Louet merino that I've been spinning on and off for about a year. It's pencil roving, so no prep needed. Just pull it out and start spinning. This is going to be my first Pi Shawl. I think.



This is just a fun little hank that I put together. I plied the remainder of some Hill Country Yarn (the yellow) from a pair of socks with the remainder of a skein of burgundy handspun. Just to see what it looked like! Maybe this will turn into a little striped scarf . . .


Now - where did I put my Ravelry pin - got to find it before tomorrow morning!!!

An Exercise in Cableing

I've been wanting to try the cableling technique I read about in Spin Off magazine. My partner Ingrid from the Hush Hush Handspun Hootenany Ravelry swap sent me two wonderful and colorful skeins of handspun yarn. I thought I might use some of it to try something new!

Cableing is a spinning technique that creates a very strong and sturdy yarn. The process has several steps. First you spin four bobbins of singles. Then you ply the yarn into two bobbins of plied yarn. Then you reply the plied bobbins to increase the twist. Then you take the two replied bobbins and cable them together in the direction of the original singles twist.

Ingrid had already done the first two steps for my with her handspun. So I sent the two skeins of yarn back through the wheel to tighten the twist.





Then I cabled the two bobbins together to create a bobbin of cabled yarn!





I'm really pleased with the result! And it was fun to experiment! Thank you Ingrid! And I still have plenty of the uncabled yarn to make a pair of socks! I've also tried branching out on another pair of socks this weekend.

I purchased the new book by Melissa Morgan-Oakes, 2-at-a-time Socks, and I thought I'd give it a try! It's a little strange at first and it looks like a tangled mess, but it actually works! I'm going to keep on going with the pattern!

It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year . . .

Ahhhhhh . . . School . . . . It begins . . . . The Rowing Cat begins High School next week. I can't really believe it! Volleyball started this week, scrimmages and practices! My little girl is a setter for the JV Team!

I participated in Ravelympics! I was a member of Team Tardis and participated in the Handspun Heptathalon! I used some luscious fiber from Spunky Eclectic - a beautiful blend of merino and mohair. I started spinning during the Opening Ceremonies and was able to finish my scarf before the Closing Ceremonies! The Rowing Cat has already claimed this as her own . . . The pattern is Mabel's Scarf.






Here is a picture of my "haul" from the Hush Hush Hand Spun Hootenanny! My swap partner Ingrid put together a great package! Two skeins of handspun, beautiful fiber hand dyed by Ingrid and silk hankies, also hand dyed by Ingrid! She also included a bar of her own handmade soap with a wonderful Mango scent.


Here is the bobbin with the silk. This has been interesting to spin. I've only tried silk hankies once before using a spindle. So I was really interested to try this on the wheel. It's pretty neat! The silk does get stuck on every little dry spot on your hands or on the chair or on your glasses . . . but it's a fun process! I'm thinking of plying the silk with some laceweight black alpaca from the stash. Hmmmm . . . I'll have to see what it looks like. I'm also thinking of experimenting with the handspun Ingrid sent me. I just might try cabling some of each skein together. It's a technique I've been reading about in Spin Off magazine.


Here's a picture of my Seafoam Scarf. I'm very happy with this one! The yarn is spun from Spunky Eclectic Fiber Club roving. I think this pattern really pops with the color transitions. It's a fun pattern to knit with a series of yarnovers that are dropped.


And what would a blog post from me be without a pair of socks? This colorway is called TOTM - can you guess what that means???? Time of the Month! Perfect - don't you think??? They've gone into the Rowing Cat's sock drawer!

100th Post: Hibiscus for Hope

I simply cannot believe that this is my 100th post! And too celebrate that fact, I'm delighted to introduce you to Hibiscus for Hope!

Ramona has once again put together a beautiful pattern that can be yours for sponsoring her in the 2008 Weekend to End Breast Cancer. I was a test knitter for this pattern and I can attest that it is beautiful! Mine are the lime green socks! Here is Ramona's post on the new sock - read it and get on over and sponsor her! Happy Knitting!

This is an elegant sock inspired by ThatLoganChick’s Agatha shawl
designed for the fight to end breast cancer
Starting from a toe-up construction (magic loop or 2 circular needles recommended), the sinuous lace motif (a variant of a lace design found in Leili Riemann’s Pitsilised Koekirjad) begins from a point somewhat above the toe-box, expands across the instep and ultimately wraps gracefully around the ankles after the heel to meet itself in the back and continue up around the leg. The comfortable arch-hugging heel combines the under-heel gusset increases from Cat Bordhi’s Riverbed architecture with Wendy Johnson’s short-rowed heels to accommodate a high or wide instep.

A few tantalizing images from my intrepid testknitters:















To get the pattern, all you have to do is sponsor me for the upcoming 2008 Weekend to End Breast Cancer, and put HIBISCUS in the message.

Crazy4Dyeing Etsy Shop Announcement: 15% of sales of Crazy4Dyeing yarn destined for Hibiscus for Hope socks will be donated to Toronto Weekend to End Breast Cancer to sponsor the designer of the patternwalking 60-km over two days. Please make a comment when you check out that you’ll be making these socks.

Knitters for Knockers:
knitting together to make cancer history!