Christmas Troubles

Anyone else have this problem?

Merry Christmas!!

Finished the Maelstrom

Well, here are the Maelstrom, a wonderful pattern by Cookie A. I got it from the Twist Collective, first edition, and enjoyed the knitting. I am disappointed in the finished socks, for obvious reasons. Look at the colors pool. Also, (this is my own fault), I should have used a solid or a semi-solid color to knit this very beautiful pattern. It is totally obscured by the yarns color changes. This is Socks that Rock in "Quiet Riot" and let's just say that it is not so very "Quiet", shall we? *grin* Fortunately for me, these socks will still keep my feet warm and comfortable. Lesson learned.

My knitting right now is consisting of various small Christmas things, and of course I am still working slowly on the MS4. Don't know when I will be finishing that. I am only just a bit more than 1/2 way done. Another project that I'm not very happy with the yarn. Hmmmm.

No real yarn shopping lately. For one thing, Danny is in AZ and it is more fun to go to yarn shops when I can drag him with me. (Don't ask me why, this is very puzzling. He is the Mugglest of Muggles when it comes to knitting) But also, there is the money aspect. I am trying to be good and use up stash. I hate to use it up, though. What if all the sheep in the world suddenly go bald? I am depending upon my stash to see me through just that type of crisis!!! One has to be prepared.

One more post with The Shawl

I had to add these pics to our little collection. Lizzie and Josh took some great shots of the shawl (and Lizzie) on their honeymoon.

Ok, it's out of my system now. Aren't you relieved? Lately it's been hard to get on the computer. We moved. We ALL moved! Lizzie, of course, moved out when she got married in June, Corinne moved in with a couple of roommates, Danny moved to Arizona to begin his new job (I will go down there later on after he is established for a while) and Danielle and I moved into an apartment here. What a lot of work it was and so emotional. Talk about empty nest! We ALL flew the coop!

But Danny emails and calls every day to tell us about what he is doing there, and the kids come see me regularly. I am working a lot...we're fine, just lonesome for each other!

Knitting: I am working on a pair of socks from the Twist Collective, the first issue, called Maelstrom. Love them so far, but I don't love the yarn. It's my second pair with Socks that Rock and I didn't like the other ones either. So, I guess I'm an odd duck, not liking the yarn that everyone on the planet is in love with!

Maybe I'm doing it wrong. I think I need to alternate rows and balls of yarn to keep from pooling. But I am too lazy lately. Oh, well. Not to worry. I will still wear them.

That's enough for now. See what I mean? No time!

Happy knitting!

Clue 2 complete

Here are my photos of Clue 2. I am now 1/2 way through clue 3, and will put them up when I get there. I am having a tough time finding much real quality knitting time, since I am packing up the house in my free time. Moving to an apartment means having to get rid of all the "stuff" we have accumulated over the years. How can 5 people collect so much junk? Since 2 of the girls are now out of the house, there are only 3 of us now. Danny got a job in AZ and so will move down there. I am staying here for a while, so it will just be 2 of us in the apartment-me and Danielle. How weird is that? Danny will visit often, flying back and forth between AZ and WA. I am keeping my job and that will help us get back on our feet after his long unemployment. (Since Feb.)

Anyway, all the details of our personal trek aside, Clue 3 is going great. No beads now, just smooth sailing through all the YOs and K2 togethers, etc. Love lace,don't you?

Here are the Ribbons

I picked up the shawl from the fairgrounds today, despite the fact that my tooth is killing me. Really..killer toothache. I have to see the dentist tomorrow. Anyhow, here also is a photo of the adjudication , which to my disappointment didn't give too much in the way of helpful info. I did score 95% out of 100%, so I couldn't have missed first place by too much.
It says under cleanliness "a few iffy places on edge". I don't know if they were speaking of cleanliness as in dirty, or cleanliness as in cleaness of lines and patterns or blocking, etc. Guess I'll never know. Oh, well. I don't even know who does the judging. Hope it was a knitter, that's all. I'm sure it was. It certainly was fun entering in the fair and I will definitely do it again with another project. The best part was going down to the fairgrounds and finding where they had displayed the shawl and seeing that ribbon for the first time.

Ok, now, just for the fun of it, here is my daughter Corinne's guinea pigs, Lilly and Minerva. Cute in their little outfits. Such little hams for the camera.
Sorry girls...poor piggies only got machine made sweaters.
Happy knitting!!
Renée

Mystery Stole 4

Just completed 1/2 of clue #1. (We have to knit it twice, since the stole is knit from both ends toward the middle and joined by grafting-yes, my old friend lace grafting)

Here it is for your viewing pleasure:

The yarn I'm using is Malabrigo Laceweight in Sealing Wax. Very beautiful with ruby red beads. I'm enjoying the pattern, designed this year by Melanie's Mom, Georgina. I haven't done any of the previous Mystery Stoles, but Melanie is of Pink Lemon Twist fame and was the designer in the previous years. Georgina is her Mom and designed this beautiful piece for this years KAL. Their patterns including previous Mystery Stoles are available for purchasing on her blog site.

The yarn I began with was the Shadow lace yarn from Knit Picks in the Oregon Coast colorway. It is such beautiful yarn and I'm certain that I will use it for something else, but I didn't like it for the MS4. I'm linking it for you, though, because this yarn is simply wonderful to knit with. It is smooth without being slippery, soft as butter (100% merino wool) and it has a halo to it when you knit that gives it a beautiful look without the hairy-ness of a mohair. Plus, it is only $2.99 for a 50 gr. hank. All that said, it wasn't the color I needed for this stole in order to make me happy. So, I reached into my stash and pulled out the Malabrigo. Big name yarn right now, you hear about it all the time. I bought it some time ago at Churchmouse Yarns on Bainbridge Is.

I had stashed a bunch of this pretty yarn which is softer than anything you can imagine and spun loosely. Problem? My dry hands. My hands are such a mess, dry skin and cuticles that are so embarrassing. Answer? Well, for the short term, I pulled out my St. Ives Apricot Scrub. Got my hands wet and then scrubbed with about a tablespoon of the stuff for a few minutes. Rinse, rinse, rinse, then lotioned with Vaseline hand and nail conditioning lotion. Long term, though, I went to Walmart and bought myself a present. I had been listening to the podcast "The Knitmore Girls" and Jasmine had said that she bought herself a Paraffin wax bath for her hands. I couldn't wait to get to Walmart for mine. I wanted one of these a couple of Christmases ago and when it didn't materialize under the tree, I just forgot it. Now was my time. I had some tip money left from last weeks tips and so I went for it. It will help the arthritis, too.
So there is my answer to knitting with Malabrigo yarn. Lots of hand pampering. This yarn was catching on every little spot on my fingertips. It will be better now. Here is another tip for the Malabrigo: it felts so easily. Just placing it in your knitting bag loose and letting it sort of bounce around sort of "felts" it with itself. It sticks to itself very easily. Solution? Place yarn in a sandwich bag or knit from the outside of the ball not a center pull. Very helpful to me.

Ok...thats it for today. Got my Wool Gathering in the mail and it's calling my name.

Keep knitting!

~Renée

Quite a While, I Know...

Well, remember this?

Here is the shawl today...

Yes, that is a second place ribbon at the Puyallup Fair in W. Washington. I'm very pleased and proud. I am looking forward to receiving the adjudication paper (Judges opinions on my knitting) and learning how I can work at better lace knitting. I know that my grafting needs work, for instance. At least my lace grafting. Kitchenering a toe is easy....complicated lace patterns, are another! And try to find a book or website that has very much help with that!

Thought you'd like some wedding photos...we still don't have the "official" photos back yet, but these are some pretty good snapshots that someone took. That first one is Lizzie with her Josh and her Mom-in-Law and Dad-in-Law, Lynnette and Tom.

Then, our friend Jean and Lizzie holding the shawl, and the third pic is of the wedding party.. from left to right, Danielle, Corinne (Lizzie's sisters), Lizzie, Josh, Brandon (Best Man and Josh's cousin) and Jason, Josh's best friend from his band.

Lately I have been knitting on the Mystery Stole 4. I had gotten quite far into clue #2 and just didn't like my yarn choice or how the fabric looked. So I frogged and began again with some new yarn. I will post a picture when I get a bit further along. Maybe when I finish clue #1. Of course now I am behind the group, since Georgina the designer just released clue #3 on Friday. Arrrgh! Oh, well. It is not a race, just a fun knit. Right?

Glad to be "back"...I hope I can post more often now. Life has sure gotten crazy around here. But I miss blogging and since I got a new phone that takes great pictures, I'm hoping that will inspire me to blog more often!

Happy knitting!