Yarn Cabinet

A knitting friend, Michelle, inspired me to do something about displaying my yarn so that I can see what I have. She bought a new beautiful yarn cabinet recently and hers is full. I, being a newbie, don't have nearly as much yarn, but it's nice to have it out where I can see it, instead of being in plastic drawers. I used one half of a 6 ft. bookcase for the yarn, as well as a shelf of mostly knitting books. The shelf is sitting right in front of me as I work on my computer, so I can look at it often, and get inspired. Thanks, Michelle.

We babysat the two granddaughters last night, ages 6 and 11, and what a joy they are. They're quite well-behaved and we have lots of fun playing games. We took them home to their parents this morning after church and had a wonderful prime rib dinner. This made up for the rather quiet Christmas we had since some of the family were sick.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Merry Christmas to all of you out there. It's just the two of us spending the day quitely, after we got a call from our daughter saying both she and one of our granddaughters were sick with the flu this morning, and they were not going to be coming down to our house. What a bummer to be sick on Christmas Day. So, I don't have to fix a big dinner, and am in my office cleaning off my desk which I can no longer see the top of! Last night we went to the Christmas Eve service at our church. It's always a lovely, meaningful tradition for us - a great time to sing Christmas carols and hear the real meaning of Christmas.

I finished the garter stitch scarf I made as part of the monthly KAL class at my local Pacific Fabrics store. It was a challenge knitting the loop to pull one side of the scarf through, but figured it out. The yarn was quite splitty and I don't actually like the colorway. It looked good in the ball, but oh well, I did learn something new.

We still have snow on the ground (well over a week now), which is unusual for this part of the Northwest. Usually we have snow for a few days and it melts away. We're actually supposed to get more snow each of the next two days. We're all ready to be done with it.

Well, back to cleaning up this office.

Let it Snow - Let it Snow!!!

We live in western Washington state where it doesn't snow often, and we may get a few days every winter below freezing, but are we ever getting it now. For over a week we've been getting snow every day and the temperatures have not risen above freezing during the day. It's beautiful, but enough is enough!! We got down as low as 10 degrees one night, but today is sitting right at the freezing mark. It is predicted to get freezing rain later this evening, then snow flurries nearly every day this coming week. We have about 6 inches of snow on the ground right now and it's still coming down. Note the one picture of the house where my pansies are still blooming in the window box. These are called "winter pansies" and so far they are doing just fine.

Went to my knitting meet-up yesterday at the Austin-Chase Coffee house and had a great time. There were 6 of us there and I think everyone was just to glad to get out and about and talk about something besides the weather. Some of us cleaned out our stash and library shelves and brought items to "gift" to each other. Worked out real well, and we'll probably do that again.

Well, must get off the computer and get the rest of my Christmas cards addressed and sent out. Some of them are probably already too late to get to their proper home in time.

WE HAVE SNOW & COLD!

We have a cold front coming at us from both Alaska and Canada. Saturday it snowed and the roads were quite treacherous on Sunday - so we didn't go to church. The temperature at our place was down to 12 degrees F last night and only got up to 27 today and supposed to get even colder the rest of this week, and snow again on Wednesday and Thursday. Those of us in the Pacific NW are not used to it being this cold for more than a day or so, and have very little snow, as a general rule, which goes away in a few days, but not this week. Will be glad to see it go away, but it is very pretty. Here are pictures I took around our house today.

ACCOMPLISHMENT

Those of you who have followed my progress road starting from dishcloths/washcloths, know I have been hesitant to "branch out" to other more difficult projects.

WELL.....I finished my first pair of socks after taking a 3-class session at my LYS. Had a wonderful teacher and it all went pretty smoothly. Now I just need to start another pair in a sock yarn and see how I do on my own.


Finished the Dolores Park Cowl. After first making it with 60 cast on stitches I found it was way too large, so frogged and re-knit with 40 cast on and it fits just perfect and there was plenty of yarn (Patons Shepherd Chunky Tweed) to finish with just less than one skein. This was a quick (2-hr.) knit and the yarn is so soft next to the skin.

I'm now working on a Garter Stitch Scarf found in the 101 Designer One-Skein book with a Sierra Pacific Katyil wool/soybean - yummy soft yarn, but sorta splitty. This scarf is for the Monthly KAL at my local Pacific Fabrics store



I wanted to show you a picture of Mt. Rainier that I took several days ago with what's called lenticular clouds that make the mountain look like it's exploding. Really was quite spectacular.

Is Customer Service Out There?

I just had to write, in frustration, with lack of customer service at some companies. This one being HP. We sent a laptop in for repair nearly 30 days ago, and today tried to find out the status. After being transferred to 4 different technical service departments, (each one asking for the whole story all over again, including customer service work order # and other service order #'s) I asked for a supervisor and was told he was on the phone with another customer and it could be a while on "hold". I asked if there was only one supervisor, and was told that there was only one assigned to this particular tech! After being on the phone for over an hour prior to this last step, I just hung up! Maybe I'll try another day when I've calmed down.

THANKSGIVING DAY IS GONE!!!

Hello everyone. Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Hubby and I spent the day at our son-in-law's cousin's place with a wonderful meal, family, good friends and good times. I didn't bring anything home as leftovers except the cranberry sauce I had made, so today I'm roasting a turkey breast and looking forward to the turkey sandwiches we'll have for dinner tonight.

I didn't go out today and do the shopping thing. I'll leave that to the young and the brave.

I've taken my first magic loop sock class at my local LYS. I've done both socks up to the point of the next class which will be turning the heel. It's lots of fun and hard to put it down. I'm using Cascade 220 Quattro in Raspberry Cream - love this yarn.

One of Those Days

My day started out good with our regular knitting meet-up at the Austin Chase coffeehouse in Graham. There were 8 of us and we sure had lots of great conversation going.
I brought along my gloves I've been working on forever, it seems, for advice from the more experienced ladies. They agreed with me that the area bound off for the thumb was too close to the wrist ribbing (and here I was 6 or 8 inches beyond there. Soooooo......I brought them home and frogged them. This time I'm going to try a pair of fingerless gloves for a Christmas gift. There are a lot of patterns for these on Ravelry whch I've fav'd - just have to decide which ones.
I also started a 2-color rolled brim hat today and have gotten a lot done on it. Nothing else is getting done, but oh well. I'm using Knitpicks Swish Worsted and loving the feel of it. I'm not too fond of the color combo I selected (the two colors looked good together in the skein, but not so well in the knitting). But, oh well, it's just for me and I'm liking it.

Found a Great Site

I just found this Etsy shop with some great handmade crochet items and also some neat patterns. I just ordered patterns for the fingerless gloves, Fisherman's cowl and Cabled Bobble Clutch. She's having a 1-year anniversary contest mentioned on her blogsite so if you'd like, take a peek and see some real unique items.

Time is Flying By

I don't know about you, but it seems like time is flying by so rapidly and I'm not getting anything done. Just think, Thanksgiving in a couple weeks and then Christmas will be here. I've been busy with Treasurer duties for our church - which includes taking care of the money for our recent Bazaar (at which I sold 45 dishcloths), and now we're selling nuts for a money-maker for our Women's Group. Also have hosted Couples Bunco and Ladies Bunco at the clubhouse where we live, as well as hosted coffee-hour fellowship today at church. I'm tired of baking!!!!

As for knitting, I'm not doing so well on the top-down raglan sweater for my granddaughter. I started out fine, but am having a problem now with the increases at the raglan seam - can't figure out what I"m doing wrong and may have to frog it all the way back and start over. I did get the mittens figured out and am working on them. I'm also trying to get a set of 6 dishcloths finished to give to my son-in-law's cousin who has invited us to her house for Thanksgiving dinner. Each cloth has a different design and they're smaller than others I've made, so I think I'll get them all completed.
I start a "socks on circular needle" class next Sunday afternoon for 3 classes. Looking forward to that, as I've only made them on dpn's and that was several years ago(5 maybe) and I remember not liking them so well. So hopefully this goes okay.
"Turkey Dinner"
"Pilgrim Hat"
"Leaf"
"Turkey"
"Cornucioua"
"Scarecrow"
"Wrapped for Gift"

WHAT A BEAUTIFUL FALL

I don't know about where you are, but we've been having the most colorful Fall I've seen in years. It's a pleasure to drive around and see the reds and yellows so vivid. Attached is a picture of some of the colors in our yard - I've never seen such brilliant colors. Particularly the strawberries we have planted in a terra cotta "strawberry planter". The leaves are huge and red.

I'm getting frustrated knitting the "Elegant & Easy Cable Mittens" in the "One Skein Wonders" book. Nearly everyone in the class is having problems following the directions, so it's not only me. I think my cable is running up the side of my hand rather than the middle of the back. I'll have to open up the thumb and try it on to find out for sure - if this is the case, I think these will soon becoming socks! There are a lot of fingerless glove patterns out there also, maybe I'll find one with directions that are easier to follow.

Time to Update

Wanted to comment on the recent Holiday Bazaar at our church. I made 40+ dishcloths - each one a different pattern and was able to sell 35 of them - with all the money going to help hurricane victims.
Just got home yesterday from a visit for 6 days to Pittsburgh to visit daughter, son-in-law and their two children. Had a great time and what a beautiful area. Historical houses, brick streets, and lots to see.
As soon as we got home, I dropped hubby at home and went to my LYS for the 2nd and final class on top down sleeveless raglan sweater. I'm making a size 6 for a grandaughter's Christmas gift. Well, I found out I didn't read the pattern properly: "repeat rows 1 and 2 20 times", means you should have 40 rows. Well I only did 20 before dividing off for the sleeves. When starting to do the sleeves I thought they were awfully small and instructor pointed out my error, so know it's a little "froggin" time back a little ways. Oh well, guess that's how I'll learn not to do it again.
Tomorrow it's time to do catch up laundry and work on the sweater some more.

I'm Outside My Box!!

As I said in an earlier blog, I've been a rut with my knitting - but I've broken loose. I'm taking a top-down raglan no-seam sweater class at my local Pacific Fabrics store and having a ball. This will be for my 6-yr. old granddaughter - that is if all goes well at the next class. What fun to be finally making a garment.

I've also got "on-needles" a heavily-ribbed scarf for the homeless and will do a 2nd one when done with that, and still have 5 or 6 rows to finish on my beautiful shawl.

This month's KAL at Pacific Fabrics is a pair of Mittens knitted on dp's, but I want to them on circulars and am having trouble getting the needles apart enough to make the join. I'll work on it some more when I'm calm instead of frustated and maybe I'll get it going.

Off to spend the next two days at our church holiday bazaar - hope we sell a lot of things. I contributed about 40 dish/face cloths that always go over real well.

FO's - Finally!

Finished up a couple projects today. The Lacy Beanie hat was a KAL project for September at my LYS Pacific Fabrics. It's made with Therapi - a beautiful and soft yarn. Had a few problems - such as purled a couple of rows instead of continuing in the lace pattern. So I just made that a part of the pattern, and instead of 5 lace rows, I only did 3 with some purl rows in between. It's called being too lazy to undo umpteen rows and start again.

The 2 face cloths are a wonderful pattern from PoopsheBear's blog. I'm working on the face towel to go with this set. It'll make a great item for an upcoming Holiday Bazaar at our church.

Sunday - Catch Up Time

After getting home from church today, I ran out to Jo-Ann's to buy stuff for two theme baskets I am making for our upcoming church bazaar. Have to have them all done by this weekend (nothing like waiting until the last minute). One of them will be a "spa" basket and one a "kitchen" basket. I'll load pictures when they're completed. Have been working on knitting the 3-Diamond face cloths and towels for the spa basket. Also have my "LaLa's Simple Shawl" waiting for some knitting fingers to finish it up. I'm taking a "No Seam Sweater" class at Pacific Fabrics in a week. Looks like we're making a toddler size, and I'm so looking forward to it. I'll be attending the first class, then the 2nd and last class will be after we return from Pittsburgh visiting our kids and grandkids. Though I'm retired, I don't understand where my time goes. I was trying to squeeze in 9 holes of golf next week, but no can do, and with the weather here in the Pacific Northwest, maybe our ladies group won't get to play until next Spring. I'm not like my husband - he golfs year around - rain, cold, whatever doesn't stop him and his group. Well, I've rambled enough and need to get to knitting.

Good Fall Morning To You

What a nice cool day to stay indoors and bring you up-to-date on what's been happening around here. Husband is still on jury duty, so leaves me lots of time to knit, shop, and catch up on a "little" bit of housecleaning.

I'm still working on the LaLa Simple shawl - it's about half done and going quite rapidly now that I have memorized the pattern.

I have two brand-new knitting books I need to take time to look at: Knitting in Plain English by Maggie Righetti and 101 Designer one-skein Wonders. The latter book I got when I registered for the local Pacific Fabrics monthly knit-a-long in their store.

I just found a 3-Diamond Spa Face Towl and Washcloth set which I can't wait to get started on for a few Christmas gifts.

Knit until next time.

Day in Tacoma

I went with my husband (he had jury duty) to Tacoma this morning and had intended to sit in the courtroom and knit, knit, knit. Oh was I wrong. Couldn't get past security with the knitting needles (not even dull crochet hooks can pass through). So I spent most of the day sitting in the car in the shade and got quite a lot of knitting done. Worked on dishcloths mostly, as it was so warm (in the 80's) I didn't want my sometimes sweaty hands to get on the LaLa Shawl I'm working on. I finished the "yellow schoolhouse dishcloth", which was the September KAL project. I'm staying home tomorrow while he goes to the city, and should get a lot done around the house, including knitting.

Fiesta Mochachino

Fiesta Mochachino
Originally uploaded by knitterbeader

Two skeins I purchased this week at a LYS store in Meridian, Idaho. WOW! What beautiful colors.

Travel to Boise

It's been a while since I've posted - don't have any excuse. Just got back yesterday from the Boise, Idaho area. Attended my husband's 55th class reunion in Weiser, ID and then spent time with family in Boise. Had a great time, but as usual, it was nice to get back home. Husband went golfing with his brother one day, so I visited a LYS in Meridian called The Yarn Shoppe. The two ladies in the shop were very nice and helpful and what a lot of yarn to pick from. I purchased two skeins of yarn - Fiesta WaterMark in Mochachino and Fiesta Stargurst LaBoheme also in Mochachino (with just a little sparkle) See photo. I don't know yet what I'm going to make but it will be something special.

Upon my return home I found out I was the winner of a skein of Smooshy Dream in Color from a game/contest on Belle of the Ball Podcast. Friend Sherrill now expects to see a pair of socks. I'll probably make a "test" pair before I use this beautiful yarn.

I'm signed up for classes in October and November for a top-down sweater and 2 socks on one needle and looking forward to these very much.
So long for now.

Today is the First Day of the Rest of My Life!

I'm breaking out of the dishcloth rut I've been in (have somewhere around 45 of them). I lack self-confidence in doing socks or a topdown vest or cardi, so found this (La La's Simple Shawl)and a scarf pattern (Spectrum Scarf) that I wanted to do. So I hit two yarn shops today, bought the yarn (for the shawl I got Cascade 220 Painted in a wine/navy blend); and for the scarf I'll knit two colors together (Tatamy Tweed in Wine and in a Natural w/wine specks). Had to buy another Addi - a size 10 - 47", as mine are all smaller ones. So now can hardly wait to get off this computer and onto knitting. I also joined the Monthly Knitalong at Pacific Fabrics in Puyallup for a monthly meetup with assistance and conversation.

Beautiful Picture at the top of my Blog

This picture was taken in 2007 at Butchart Gardens, Vancouver, BC. Our friends from Nampa had never been there, so we all went up and had a wonderful time. If you've never been there, it's absolutely fabulous. We've been in Spring, Summer and between Christmas and New Years when everything is lit up with Christmas lights, and never fail to be in awe of it all.

It seems I spend way too much time visiting other's Blog sites and not enough time knitting. But, it sure is fun to see what a lot of talented people out there are making. I have a lot of faves and queues, as well as PDF files copied (probably enough projects to last my lifetime!) Just today I joined the Yorkshire Yarns Lunch Bunch in Lakewood (about 18 miles away). They meetup weekly so am hoping to go there and get the "push" I need to start making something other than dishcloths. Several years ago I took a sock class, using the 4 needles. I made a pair or two, but want to learn the 2 socks on 2 circular needles. I have Antje Gillingham's book, "Knitting Circles Around Socks", but just not in the mood to teach myself. I'm waiting for a class at one of my LYS. Are there any of you out there who have taught yourself this method from a book?

What's Been Going On

Today was knitting "meet-up" day at the Austin Chase coffeehouse in Graham. There were six of us, 4 old-timers and 2 new ones. It was nice to meet Ann and Stacye. I'm still working on dishcloths, but am getting closer and closer to trying socks and a cardigan. The "pros" at the meet-up convinced me I could do the Mr. Green Jeans cardigan. It's a top-down style, so this afternoon I'm looking into some yarn and needles to give it a try. Everyone's so helpful and the 3 of them have finished theirs, so I'm a little more comfortable with trying this. I'm also going to be looking for a swift and ball-winder at a reasonable price (does that mean cheap? Yes!).

Knitting Dishcloths

Since it's been quite a number of years since I've knitted anything difficult, I've just recently started knitting dishcloths. I belong to several Dishcloth KAL's (knit-a-longs) which have been challenging me with newly learned stitches, etc. I will post pictures here on the blog of some of my work. I'm about ready to break out and learn to knit socks again. I made several pair about five years ago, but need to start all over now. There are several new techniques out there - 2 Socks on 2 Needles sounds like a great idea to me, so that's where I'm going to start. Also thought maybe I could make a simple garment - a vest, or something. Anyway, check back and you'll see how I'm progressing on my new projects.

Beginning As A Blogger

This is my first attempt at creating a blog, so please bear with me. I wanted a place where I could post pictures of my knitting and beading projects, as well as other pictures.

I'm a grandmother of 6 beautiful children aged from 5 to 18 years. Four of them live in Washington State and two soon will be in Pennsylvania. I'm retired from a secretarial career and enjoying living in western Washington with my husband who is retired from Navistar International. We enjoy playing golf, community activites and our church activities.