Snowed In

 

It snowed!

 

We got a phone call last night letting us know that school was canceled for today. I immediately turned off my alarm clock and we were all equally excited for a snow day!

 

I love how everything looks with a blanket of snow on it.

There is a charming house that we can see from our family room window. Doesn't it look like something from a story? It had been for sale when we were looking at purchasing a home. I had fallen in love with it, but it needed a lot of work and the seller was asking way to much. Sadly we didn't buy it, but we did notice a house only two doors down that was for sale and that one we did buy :) At least we get to look at the charming little cottage without having to do any of the repairs that needed to be made.

I got some wonderful gifts for Christmas. My sister Liz hand dyed me some wonderful alpaca yarn.

Leanne gave me this fun paper angel ornament.

 

I received some yarn and in the mail from Andi as a prize from her last KAL.  Isn't it so yummy!!!

My sister Leanne can always be spotted towing around her African Market Basket. I had wanted to get one at Rhinebeck, but when I got back to the booth they were sold out :(

I was very excited that Leanne got me one for Christmas! And just in time too. My beloved Yarn Along bag made by Lori wasn't big enough to hold my current knitting project.

 

Even though this wasn't from Lori I think she would like it :)

I know I love it.

 

 

Here is a sneak peek at a pattern I am working on. I don't want to give to much of it away, but I'm hoping to have it done this weekend. I am making it out of Shibui Baby Alpaca DK yarn. It is so warm on my lap as I knit it. The boys are constantly getting cuddled under it too as I knit since it is so long now. I know it is going to look different after it is blocked so I felt like I had to toss in a pre-blocked picture.

 

 

I am hoping you are staying warm and cozy where ever you are. Happy knitting and spinning :)

Time to go make some grilled cheese and tomato soup for the kids.

Spinning Lily

In exciting news my parents alpaca Lily is 2 months pregnant! Lily is one of my favorite alpacas.  She is co-owed by Emelise Farms and currently she is at their farm. She went there for a romantic get-a-away and it looks like the trip has been successful.

What has drawn me to Lily is her sweet personality. She is gentile and sweet, but always seeming to get into some sort of trouble. Like jumping out the van window, slipping through unopened gates, and constantly putting her feet in the water bucket. We do say "Oh Lily" a little to often.

Recently my mom sent her fleece into a spin off competition. A spin off competition is where you send in a sample of the alpacas fleece and it is analyzed and spun up by a judge and then scored. Lily's came in first place and the judge wrote a comment "I wish I owned this fleece."

So for my birthday when my mom asked me what I wanted I requested some of Lily's roving. I was spinning away yesterday.

One of my resolutions for 2014 is to do more spinning. I really enjoy it and I know with more practice I'll get much better at it.  I enjoy knitting with fingering weight yarn, so I've been spinning Lily's fiber as a lace weight and then Navajo plying it, which makes it a 3 ply yarn.

I am getting better at the Navajo plying, but this is well... still in the beginners stage. In the past I use my Lazy Kate and ply three singles together to make a 3 ply yarn.

In the mean time I'm waiting for some custom dyed roving to come in the mail. I'll be spinning it up to make a Spire with "The Girls in Sheep Clothing.... and a few boys too."  I am very excited about it.

Along with spinning I've been working away at a new pattern I've designed. It is past the half way mark and I am really enjoying it.  More to come on that in 2014.

 

And just for fun a picture of Lily right after she was sheared. Enjoying a good sun bath.

 

 

 

Creeper Hat & Some WIPs

Tiny requested a Creeper Hat. If you aren't familiar with Minecraft then you won't know what a creeper is. If you are familiar with Minecraft you can imagine how popular Tiny is with his new Creeper Hat.

Tiny went with me to the yarn store and picked the yarn out himself. Of course he picked Madelintosh. Tiny has very good taste in yarn. I started the hat with just two colors, but I decided to add the light gray to break up all the black in the creeper face.

 

Here is the yarn I used and you can see the amounts I had left over above the hat in the picture above.

 

Madelintosh DK Panther (black)

Madelintosh DK Charcoal (gray)

Madelintosh DK Leaf (green)

Tiny requested a long hat with a pom pom.

 

I've made many pom poms before, but I've heard people talk about Stephen West's video tutorial on how to make a pom pom "Pom Pom It". I watched it and got the biggest kick out of it. I highly recommend watching it for amusement. He is a funny man.

 

Tiny is very happy with his hat and wears it! Gotta love that.

 

I casted on another Penny Infinity Scarf. This time I am using a skein of Tosh Merino Light in the colorway Calligraphy. I want to see if I can make a Penny Infinity Scarf using only one skein. I used my yardage counter when I winded my yarn and it came up with a total of 498 yards in the skein. The tag says the skein is 420 yards. So we'll see how it works out. I'm running the yarn through the counter as I knit it so I can figure out where I can cut down yardage if needed to make it work for one skein. I am loving the color and I really hope it all works out.

 

 

This is my mindless knitting project. It is going to be a long scarf / infinity scarf. I'm using an alpaca / merino blend and mixing up the colors as I go. I am working on US2 needles and just knitting around and around. I keep this in my car and work on it at the bus stop, gas station, doctors office basically any time I'm waiting. But after seeing Lori's Favorite Things Scarf. I am so tempted to start adding some fun decorations in it. At the rate I'm going it might get done in about 5 years.

 

I have another design with alpaca dk yarn on my needles right now, but I'm not going to give up too much info on it just yet. Just a little tease.

 

 

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving! We will be doing a lot of driving tomorrow. Which means lots of knitting in the car! I love that. We have some crummy weather here on the East Coast so for everyone that is traveling be safe and watch out for black ice.

 

Joining Ginny's Yarn Along

Temperate Hat & Friday Stuff

Another pattern I test knitted was released yesterday. It is the Temperate Hat. I really enjoyed making this hat. I actually made two of them. Also for the record I took entirely too many selfies the other day. I went through entirely too many pictures of myself, yikes!  But really the hats don't look the same laying on the table. Thank goodness for tripods and remote shutters.

The gray hat is done with Sweet Fiber Yarns Silk Cashmere Aran. Soft doesn't even begin to describe this yarn it is dreamy.

 

The redish, green mixed one I made with Malabrigo Twist in the colorway Liquid Amber.  

The pattern calls for the cables to go up the back when it is worn. I was a rebel and wore them to the side.

I believe I will be making more of these hats plus the other one I posted and I will have them for sale at the farm. I also think I will be adding them to my Etsy shop since I have had a lot of requests for my hand knits. I think I'll be posting what I have for sale at the end of the month. I'll keep you posted.

 

In other Friday news. I had to take the boys to the dentist. Brady needed sealers on his molars and Tiny needed a frenectomy.  I have known for over a year that he has had to have this done and I have been dreading this appointment. His fernum (the small piece of tissue the goes from inside the lip  to the gums in-between the front two incisors) was very very tight. So tight his top lip didn't move. So today he had to have it cut. He was so brave and sat perfectly still and the dentist got the job done.

 

After we left the dentist I told Tiny the reason the dentist had to do that to his lip was so that he could talk better. For the rest of the day my typically very shy kid around strangers announced to everyone he met very proudly "The dentist cut my lip with a pointy thing and now I can talk!"

 



 

He was getting such a kick out of moving his top lip he was cracking me up.

I am very glad I didn't give him any heads up about the procedure. I am so glad it is over and I am so glad to see Tiny so happy about being able to talk now. 

After the dentist appointment we came home and I got some work done and Rudee was begging to go outside. She wanted to lay on the deck and sun bath. So I decided to bring my knitting outside and keep an eye on her. I can't let her out by herself because she can sneak through the fence. Although she doesn't really try we still have to keep a close eye on her. I also enjoyed the excuse to knit during the day! Even if it was only for twenty minutes.



 

I left my yarn on the chair and ran inside quickly to check my work email. Within seconds Rudee came running through the house with my Coyote Trail Shawl on my needles and yarn dragging behind her. You have no idea how fast I ran to catch her. She made it under Tiny's bed with her prize and luckily I was able to get it from her without a stitch out of place!

 

How could I ever get mad at her cute little face. I think she felt bad and hasn't tried to get my yarn again.

 

 

In exciting news look at what I got in the mail!

 

 

A prize I won from My Sister's Knitter KAL. I won a skein of Tosh Light. I love it!!! Andi who runs the Ravelry group is some what of a sock knitting junkie. I think I will have to make myself a pair of socks. I have never made myself socks before. I have made them, but never for myself.  I can't wait to get them casted on.

 

Saturday we are heading to the Laurita Winery Harvest Festival. We went last year and had so much fun (you can see my post about it here). We have been looking forward to going back all year!

 

I hope you have a great weekend!



Greystone Hat

I have been knitting behind the scenes for months now. I have been doing test knits for different people and have been keeping the finished knits in my vault at home waiting for their patterns to be released so I can show them off to the world.  Okay maybe they aren't in a vault, but I have been keeping them in a bag in my bedroom.  Yesterday one of the patterns I tested for Melissa Thomson of Sweet Fiber Yarns was released. It is called "Greystone". It is the first pattern of her Fall 2013 collection that I test knitted to be released.

I really enjoyed making this hat. It is a pretty simple hat to make, but looking at the finished pictures it looks much more difficult than it is.  I would absolutely recommend this hat to a beginner. The pattern is very easy to follow and knits up very quickly.  In the picture above I used Madelinetosh Light. I held two strands together.  I really love how it turned out.

 

I also made a version with Spud & Chloe sweater yarn. The hat came out much bulkier, but I think it is great for a man.  I also like that I can fold the brim on this version too. I actually really like the way it fits on me. Humm maybe I'll have to keep both of them.

 

 

This pattern was released yesterday and it is in the top 10 patterns on Ravelry right now! Way to go Melissa!!! I can't wait for the rest of the pieces of the collection to get released.

 

Links:

Greystone with Tosh Light Yarn

Greystone with Spud & Chloe Yarn

 



A Camping Shawl

 

 

I finished my Elizabeth Zimmerman 100th Anniversary Camping Shawl.  I just loved this pattern and I am very happy to have something girly in my wardrobe.  This is a free pattern and it was such a joy to knit. Each pattern stitch represents a special part of EZ's camping experiences.

 

The pattern is by Mwaa Knit and she explains the patterns as follows,

Camping with EZ:
The Paw Prints in the center of the shawl honour KLINE and all our furry companions.
The Slanting Twigs in the next ring represent a walk in the forest with sun shining through the trees.
The Willow Leaves in the outer ring celebrate the beauty of everything growing and green.
The Waves and Droplets edging represents water lapping at the edge of the lake or river, and rolling back across the sand and rocks.

I used Miss Babs yarn that I purchased at the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival. The colors are Jane Austin and Sugar. I love how the worked together. The pattern calls for a solid color, but I didn't have enough of one color for this pattern so I used the color combo and I am happy how it came out.  Now I can go camping!!!

 

Ravelry note: EZ Camping Shawl

 

 Joining with Ginny's Yarn Along

 

Get It Done 2013~ Yarn Along

One of my knitting blog friend Andi started a KAL on Ravelry. I met her through a KAL we did together back over the winter.  She always has lots of beautiful projects on her needles and I am often jealous to see all the fun things she is working on. She says she picks up a project to work on depending on her mood. I just love that.  I am more of a one thing at a time girl.  Apparently Andi's WIPS have gotten a little out of control and she started a KAL/CAL to help motivate herself and others to get some projects done.  The rules of the KAL are that your projects need to be casted on before 8/1/13 and the deadline is 9/30/13.

 

I have only had two projects of my needles: my quill and my EZ camping shawl.  (Although I have finished a few test knits that I can't share). I wanted to be part of Andi's KAL and I've had some projects I have really wanted to make for myself. So yesterday I rushed up to Chelsea Yarns (my favorite place in the whole wide world, when I grow up I want to work at Chelsea Yarns) to get some yarn for two projects I have been wanting to make.

 

I love that Chelsea Yarns has exactly what I want every time I go there.  I told her I wanted to make a Brooklyn Tweed Sweater and I needed it casted on by August 1st and like magic she had Isager yarn that is just like Brooklyn Tweed Loft or Beaverslide. It reminds me exactly of Beaverslide and I am loving working with it.

 

So here is my line up for the KAL.

 

#1 Chesterfield Sweater (Version II Girlfriend)

yarn Isager- wool

 

#2 Celes

yarn Isager Alpaca 2 (50% alpaca / 50% merino)

In the pile below is my #3 Quill and #4 EZ Camping Shawl with my Chesterfield and my Celes.

 

I am hoping my Chesterfield Sweater will be easy to work on while we are camping. I am looking forward to lots of easy stockinet knitting!

 

I also picked up a copy of "The Unofficial Harry Potter Knits" at Chelsea Yarn. The patterns in this magazine are AMAZING! I can't wait to get them on my needles!

 

 

Joining with Ginny's Yarn Along

If you'd like to join Andi's KAL/CAL you can find the info here

My Sister's Knitter KAL/CAL

It's not too late to join us!

 

Also I want to give a huge shout out to WillyG's BRRH Hat for making it up to #2 on the Ravelry Patterns yesterday.

 

 

Yarn and Knitting

Chelsea yarns opened up not far from where I live.  After my first time shopping there I knew this was yarn heaven. There are so many amazing yarns to pick from.  I was excited when I got my next test knit assignment and I knew I didn't have yarn in my stash. It meant I got to take a trip to Chelsea yarn. Woo Hoo. So today I went by and picked up 4 skeins of Malabrigo Twist in #618 Liquid Amber.  I wish I could tell you want I am knitting with it, but it will have to wait until after the pattern is published (sometime in the Fall). But you can take a peek at the yarn for the time being.

 

I feel like I have been knitting so much lately. Some of it I haven't been able so share because they are test knits and I can't reveal them until after the patterns are published.

 

But I have been plugging away on my Quill. 

 

 

It is hard to photograph at this point, but it has been a joy to work on. I made post about it here with the knit along I am doing.

 

I wanted something pretty to make with my Miss Bab's yummy sock yarn. When I came across this "EZ 100th Anniversary Camping Half Circle" I thought it was the perfect pattern.  It is inspired by Elizabeth Zimmermann's camping trips.

 

 

 

The pattern is by Mwaa Knit

 

~The theme of the Camping shawl is the wonderful camping trips that EZ describes. In the Knitter’s Almanac, page 85, she describes being over 60, water-camping and fishing in the Canadian north woods. Spectacular! There are other stories about camping by the Mississippi, “dandled by the milky ripples” of the river (The Opinionated Knitter, page 70). But my absolute favourite is about a camping trip on a remote island in northern Canada, in late September 1971, with Elizabeth, the Old Man, and KLINE, the cat (The Opinionated Knitter, pages 38-41). If you have never read this, you simply must get hold of it.
The Camping theme:
-- 72 and 144 st rings: Paw Prints (adapted from The Haapsalu Shawl page 131), to honour KLINE the cat, and all our furry companions.
-- 288 st ring: Slanting Twigs (page 119), to represent a walk in the forest with sun shining through the trees.
-- 576 st ring: Willow Leaves (page 105), to celebrate the beauty of everything growing and green.
-- Edging: I’m calling this Waves and Droplets. Based on TiaJudy’s scalloped edging to represent water lapping up at the edge of the lake or river, and rolling back across the sand and rocks.~

With my upcoming camping trip I just couldn't resist this pattern! The bonus is the pattern is free.  It is a joy to knit. 

 

I am really enjoying having a selection of things to knit these days. That is a big stretch for me since I usually only work on one thing at a time. But I am really enjoying having the options.

 

Joining with Ginny's Yarn Along

Oh and when I haven't been working or knitting we have been having a ton of fun. Yesterday we went to Six Flags Great Adventure with my sister Leanne and my nephews. We had an awesome time!