Get the extinguisher ......

Because these knitting needles are going to catch fire from all this speedy knitting.

So Saturday morning I remembered that I had to get something done for my 6 month exchange partner. So I started a pair of socks. Opal Uni which is one of my favorite yarns (wash and wear) . The color is more of a terracotta than orange. Not really the same color showing in the picture. They are moving right along ..... And I mailed out the package for my ISE3 pal this morning too. I really loved the way it came out. Filled the box with a few extras and out it went. I did 6 pr of booties for the triplets.
I usually don't use cheap acrylic yarn much anymore but baby booties tend need quite a bit of washing so these are wash and wear. I hope the boys don't get lost in the woods in those booties.
And finally I finished hat #3 for the babies too. Still not happy with the top but I think the more I'd try to jazz them up the worse they'd look.

I also played with the grandsons Saturday morning and babysat all 3 of the grandsons Saturday night. My little dollie A wouldn't go to sleep so I just had to hold her and walk with her for hours. Hey a gram's gotta do what a gram's gotta do.

If you are looking for something to do in CT this weekend

Hi, everyone. Joey here. I just wanted to take a moment while I'm guarding the front yard to let you know that Southwind Farms is having an open farm day Saturday and Sunday from 10 am to 4 pm. Diane (the nice lady who adopted me from the pound and feeds me treats) went last year with W and N. She said they had fun petting the alpaca. She also brought home some more of that string she likes to play with on those long pointed things. So if you like alpaca or playing with string stop by the farm and have a ball. Ok, gotta go see if I can get me a mouse before my afternoon nap.

Friday colors

First a little knitting since this is a knitting blog. I finished a couple of apple hats for an exchange partner who has a couple little ones. Can't send a package to someone with little kids and leave them out.
And I did a couple hats for a virtual baby shower. Do they look like devil horns? Maybe I'll have to add some more icord to the top.
Lastly, this morning has that fall chill in the air. So pretty today.

And right on the head ....

When you have 3 grandchildren ....

and a free weekend ..... you make 3 hats.
A little apple hat for A.
A hat with blue because blue is W's favorite color. Then you throw on some train buttons because W loves trains.
And finally you do almost the same hat for N because he is a mini me with his brother. Had to add trains to this one too. Hopefully it'll inspire N to keep the hat on his head instead of taking it off and saying, "Nooooooo."

Fall colors partly sunny day

Finished stacking a cord of firewood so here's the view yesterday..... and today. Very pretty.

Why I love my mailman!

Really I needed more yarn. After making the scarf and socks out of this Opal Batik I've got to say I just love this yarn!
And included in the package was this little baby Opal (regular Opal skein to show the size).
Very cute little thing. I think it'll end up as socks for the virtual baby shower.
I had a problem with some yarn a while back. Instead of 2 ends each skein seemed to have about 50 ends. I emailed Knit Picks and they sent out 2 more skeins ..... no questions asked. They came yesterday and I already balled them to make sure everything was ok.
I frogged my first attempt at a shawl and started a new shawl last night. Too lazy to take pics so that'll be another posting for another day.

The cool scarves on the block

Don't you just hate blocking? I certainly do. Can't think of anything worse than the whole process of blocking. What a chore but .............
I just love the look of a blocked scarf. The stitches are so straight and perfect.
The lacey pattern is shows to it's full beauty.
And a scarf that looked like a green blob of seaweed comes out looking like this.
Blocking is the magic part of knitting.

Project Runway 3 show 11

I just couldn't muster up enough time to post this last week .... Probably because I was so disappointed in this show. Anyways, we're down to the final 4. We have wild print Uli, sexy hip hop Michael, I plunge everything to the navel Laura, and I'm so great and no one else is Jeffrey.

The challenge is to design anything they want. Anything at all. Evening gown, sport wear, beach wear, clothes to go to the grocery store. Anything at all that will give the judges a peek at what they will being to the runway at Olympis Fashion Week in NY. 30 minutes to sketch and $250.00.

Uli gets hummmm a wild print. Gee who would have thought Uli would get a wild print. Oh I know EVERYONE WHO HAS EVER WATCHED THE SHOW!!!! Michael decides to do an evening gown but doesn't really have a design when he picks out the fabric. Jeffrey is doing a "romantic red, white, and blue dress" to show the judges that he isn't all rock n roll grunge. Laura will be doing what Laura always does.

Michael is stuck. Can't decide on what to make. Sketches, sketches, sketches. You just feel bad for him. Uli makes this huge mumu wild print thing that would look great on nobody. Jeffrey's dress is starting to look like something Snow White might wear, and Laura is doing what Laura always does.

Day 2 Uli takes her dress apart and turns it into something shorter, more form fitting, and hipper. Jeffrey's fractured fairy tale dress just doesn't seem to look well made or like anything an actual grown woman would wear. Michael's dress has a keyhole front that is all keyhole and no front. Getting scared for Michael. And Laura's dress is the classic Laura's dress.

Off to take pictures in the street and choose one to present to the judges along with 3 words to discribe the designer's style. This is getting tense because both Michael and Jeffrey could be sent home based on this challenge ...... and this my friends is where I just can't believe I've wasted almost an hour watching this.

Runway show, judges questions, judges comments, and designers off while the judges make a decission. The winner is Uli. I wasn't thrilled with any of the dresses but Uli's was something fun and wearable. Would the judges think one note Laura should go home? If she continues to design feathers could be in short supply in the world. Nope Laura is going to fashion week. In fact so are Michael and Jeffrey. So the final elimination was actually show 10 because all 4 are going to fashion week.

What a waste of an hour! You know what this was like? It was like when I watched the movie Far and Away with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. I started watching. Nice movie. Great scenes. Movie continues. Nothing really wonderful. I've been sitting there for almost 2 hrs. It's not really worth watching but I'm so close to finishing ..... do I turn it off or continue to watch it? I continue. And after 140 minutes all I can say is "Yup I watched Far and Away."

So this weel will be the reunion show where it looks like we'll get to hear Keith whine about getting kicked off for cheating, followed by Tim going to each desinger's house to see how they are progressing of their collection, and then the actual Runway shows which are already out of the web.

Yucky Friday

Overcast, yuck Friday to be shooting pics of trees for sure. Oh well, lots of leaves starting to fall.
And some knitting in progress. More socks for W and a hat well on it's way for W also.

Yup I've finished stuff .....

So here's what I've been doing. I finished an infant hat. Knit picks wool of the andes with a little i-cord action on the top. I should mention that I hate pom-poms (they don't fit well under a hood) so I usually use i-cord to finish little kid hats.
I started the green scarf again. This time I decided to use my size 9 needles since they have a very unique end cap .... no way to mix up needles. I finished this hat which I'm referring to as a gnome hat. W was running around with it on last night and it looked adorable. I'm making him one in a more "boy blue" since this one is too teal for a boy. This and the infant hat will be donated to charity. I have enough of this teal yarn to do a couple more things but maybe I'll set it aside for some CIC projects next year.
And finally, this is the finished green opal scarf. I must say I really love this one. The color and the pattern really work well together. I can't wait to see how this blocks out. Next I'll be back to some socks unless something else catches my eye .... and it seems that everything catches my eye lately.

Excellent customer service

Last night I decided that I just had to start working on a new shawl. Before you even ask NO I DIDN'T EVEN COME CLOSE TO FINISHING THE FIRST SHAWL! The last time I worked on it was August 14th and it's now in a bag hidden away from view. Let's just treat the first shawl like gays in the military .... You don't ask and I don't tell.

Anyways, the new shawl is Tilly's Garden Shawl. It's a 6 row repeat and I think it'll be a good learning pattern for me. No fringe. I don't like fringe but I don't know why.

All excited I take out some lace yarn I bought a couple months ago and start to roll it in balls. I get about half way through the first skein and there's a break in the yarn. Ok, no problem. I place the ball aside and start rolling again. Another break, and another, and another. CRAP! Oh well maybe something happened.

I get the other skein and find that has even more slices in it. Now I'm upset. I grab my digital camera and snap pics of the yarn. Then I run upstairs to the computer and jot off an email to customer service attaching the pictures. I didn't remember when I bought the yarn but it was definitely over their 30 day return policy. I don't expect to hear anything from the company but at least I feel like I did something.

And today when I signed onto the computer to check email there was a note from the yarn company saying how sorry they were that the yarn did not meet their quality standards. They are sending out 2 more skeins to replace the damaged ones. No questions asked, no send it back and we'll look into it. Just a simple sorry we'll make this right. Thanks you Knitpicks!

If at first you don't succeed .....

frog, frog again..... Sometimes things just don't work out as planned. Take ISE3 scarf in opal green batik. I was knitting along going very well when I looked at my needles. One size 10 needle and one size 8. Oops! Had the size 8's out to make a hat for W. No way to cover that mistake to back to square one. Can't exchange a scarf that's not made correctly.
This is Friday's fall colors. A little mist on the pond this morning and a little more color in the trees since last week. I made a hat for N which I'm calling the NNNNNOOOOOO hat. When you put it on N's head he says, "NNNNOOOOOOO" and takes it off. Think I'll block it and donate it. Colors are knitpicks grass and daffodil
Then I made this hat for W. It's blue. Blue is his favorite color. The problem? The color is knitpicks stream and in real life it's a little too teal for a boy. Damn! So I'll finish this, block it, and donate it too.
And last but not least evil has a new location. No cushie couch for this gal. Nope, she's decided to sleep half in half out of an empty box on the hardwood floor. Go figure!

Plenty of pictures but blogger won't let me load them

I've got plenty of stuff to talk about but really why bother with no pictures. Maybe later the blogger power that be will let them load.

Project Runway 3 show 10

Well we're getting down to the end here. Last week's show was interesting in a "why the hell would they do that" sort of way. The remaining 5 designers were invited to a party and during the celebration Heidi springs a couple of suprises: Vincent and Angela. It seems that anyone (except Keith) who won a challenge was invited to compete again. In order to continue Vincent or Angela would need to win the challenge. 3 designers will be out.

The challenge is to designing a cocktail dress using only black and white material. With 15 minutes of sketching and $100 in hand they go off to Mood. Another twist is that they have to use every scrape of fabric they purchase in the design.

Every dress is different even though it's the same colors being used. Laura, very tailored, lace, feathers, crystals. So Laura.

Jeffrey's outfit looked like a halloween costume. Ultra mini with ill fitting leggings. What a mess. Jeffrey better keep his fingers crossed.

Angela's dress is awful with a shug she's describing as Edwardian that doesn't go with the dress and looks like it's going to strangle her model. Extra fabric? Stuffed into a purse off the Macy's accessory wall that didn't need stuffing to hold it's shape. Well at least we know Angela will be packing to go back to Ohio.

Kayne's dress is so not Kayne. Simple black, no rhinstones anywhere but oops also no white. Must use black and white.

Uli's dress was a black and white print, beachy again, long sleeves too long, and she used the extra fabric to make a necklace that didn't go with anything. Not impressive.

My guy Michael sexy white dress with a wide black belt. Cutwork in the belt to give it a lot of texture. Extra fabric? He put about 20 layers of lining in the purse the model was carrying.

Vincent had a bit of bad luck. His model was in a bike accident so the model for the runway was a little bigger. Dress was a tight fit. White top, too short black skirt, and a shawl to use up the extra fabric that didn't go with anything. Hope he didn't unpack too much.

Winner Laura. Out Angela, Vincent, and Kayne. I have to say I was sad to see Kayne leave but you just know that he'll have more work than he could ever imagine after designing that Miss America dress.

Now we're down to the final 4 and no show tomorrow. Guess that'll give me plenty of time to finish frogging the green scarf I started Sunday but that's another story for another post.

UGH Monday

I noticed that the leaves are beginning to change a bit so we'll watch them together. This view is wonderful to watch.
I had one of those kick ass knitting weekends where you don't think you did much but lots gets done. I finally started a scarf for my ISPE friend. It's made in a feathers and fans pattern Opal batik. Looks really nice. Notice the wonky needle? Medal needles and people's butts shouldn't meet on the couch. I'll replace it someday but it's only been wonky for 5 yrs.
And I finished the scarf for another secret pal. It'll match the rolled brim hat I made her last month. My pal has been enjoying everything I've sent because she knits for everyone but herself. I've gone out of my way to make sure I use the softest nicest wool I can find.
I also did a couple kids hats too but those have already been sent to my daughter's so "test drive" so I could make sure they were the right size.

And finally here's a picture of Oscar giving me the "LOOK OF DEATH" this morning. She gives me the look 24/7. You'd think that after 16 yrs she's like me but nope she hate me and everyone else. I think that as long as I keep making sure there's plenty of cat food in the house I'll be ok.

Finished Friday!

Welcome to finished Friday. Here is W with his finished socks.
And N with his happy feet.
And A with her new cap. Big discussion with D3 who thought the flowers looked "stupid"! I think they are cute. Besides how are people going to know it's a girl unless you put pink flowers everywhere?

The CIC sock story

Everyone seems a little curious about all the CIC socks. What would possess someone to make that many pair of socks for children on the other side of the world?

Every year I pick a charity to knit for. Hats and slippers for soldiers or newborn caps for a local hospital. Chemo caps for a local cancer center. Every year it's something.

Last year I taught myself how to make socks. I just love knitting socks! My grandsons call them "Gram mades" and they love wearing them. So I thought I'd combine my love of children and my love of sock knitting into one charity this year.

I set a goal of 150 pr of socks. I started knitting on 1/1/06. Now my game plan was to knit for the month, weave all the ends, and then pop them in the mail. Good plan. The only problem is I like knitting much more than I like weaving ends. So I just kept knitting and throwing the pairs into boxes saying, "I'll just knit a couple more and then I'll weave the ends."

When I got around to weaving the ends I had about 120 pr done already so I figured I'd just finish the 150 pr and mail them all at once (save a little money on the mailing that way). I finished knitting, got all the ends weaved, snapped a quick picture or two and packed them up to go. I have to say it was just a relief to get them out of the house so I could move on to other knitting projects.

I've got a couple other things to finish for another charity and then I'm back to my own knitting for a while. Come December I'll be thinking about next year's charity project so if anyone has some suggestions please feel free to post them.

It's a blue thing

Was a little caught off guard to see this guy in my yard. Interesting and useful (had a ton of other bugs in his web) but I scurried back in the house after taking this pic.
This has been a slow knitting week for me. I finished a pair of socks for W and started another. The blue opals are going to be for my son in law but I'm sure W will want them since they are blue and blue is his favorite color.

So 5 yrs ago today it was a bright sunny summer day. I was just leaving work (back when I worked part time in the office) to go to a dentist appointment when the news that a plane had hit the World Trade Center came across the news. When I came back from my appointment it was apparent that this was no accident. I live in CT, the next state over from NY so just about everyone knows someone working in NY. The bosses let everyone who wanted to leave go home. I worked at home glued to the TV for the next week.

Today everyone and their brother has a story about that day. Some will launch into right and wrong, who is to blame, who is responsible, why were signs missed. Personally I'm not going down that road. I'm on September 11th TV avoidance today. I prefer to spend today reflecting on the tragic loss of life terror has brought to the world instead of watching the policitians and newcasters put their spin on events.

So if you get a chance today just send healing thoughts to those who need them to get through today.

Of course I needed more yarn.....

Thanks for all the comments on my CIC sock o rama. I'll tell you the true story about this sock adventure next week when I get some time to type. Today's post is all about the yarn.

No really I did need more yarn. Honestly would I lie to you? 10 balls of the new essential with the flecks of color to make socks for W who loves blue. The green will probably be socks for my hubby.
And of course with fall coming up I needed to get some yarn to make hats and mittens for both the little boys. Blue of course for W and N loves yellow but I figured I'd do green with yellow accents so it wouldn't have to be washed as much. Finished these for hubby. They are redish orange with tones of browns. Interesting but not really a fave for me.
And finally I was suffering sock envy. So I ordered some parade in crayon and daffodil. It was on sale so really why not? Since I work at home and run around in socks all winter I figured that a couple pair of nice sports weight pair would be nice. The crayon is sold out now so they must be getting to the end of this yarn.
So that's about it for today. Going to the Fall Festival tomorrow morning but haven't figured out who with yet. Weather is going to be beautiful so it'll be a fun day.

Project Runway 3 show 9

This week found our last 6 designers still in Paris. Catherine Malandrino dishes out the next challenge which is to design an evening dress using couture methods. Now this was an interesting show because it was very educational.

Couture is a method of clothing manufacturing that is totally French. Period. The design house has a huge list of requirements to meet and the French government will then allow the design house to use the word couture. Couture involves a lot of hand sewing, bead work, embroidery, etc. All by hand and all very time consuming.

The designers go to Montmartre and take 30 minutes to sketch while having a perfect view of Paris on a perfect day. Then it's off the a fabric store with a budget of about $375 to get everything they need. Then it's off the the workroom for 2 days to finish a dress.

Laura: black long sleeve, typical cut to the belly button front, and instead of fur she put huge clown ruffles down the front and on the sleeves. Awful.

Uli: very nice gray dress. lace at the top. several lengths of braided fabric for straps. fit was outstanding.

Michael: blue fabric with ruching (MICHAEL STOP! the ruching did Malan in!), really not good. he was definately in over his head on this one. he wasn't really a hand sewer and he was so focused on the mechanics of getting this done that he didn't step back and take a good look at the design.

Jeffrey: jeffrey went plaid crazy. fabrics in yellow plaid, yellow madra, and more yellow plaid. he had imunity and seemed to be taking advantage of the fact he couldn't be out.

Vincent: yet another WTF outfit for our guy Vincent. the fabrics didn't work well together, the skirt looked like draps, ill fit and if the model had any boobs they would have been popping out. back had a little flower glued on. yes couture gluing. nice.

Kayne: beautiful but just too much. always too much because that's Kayne's point of view. hard to scale back when you make a living selling pagent gowns for a living. say what you want his ability to fit a woman's body is second to none.

Paris runway show was during a party hosted by Catherine on a boat during floating along the Seine. On the way to the party someone threw an egg which spattered on Michael's dress. It didn't make the dress look any better.

Catherine did her judging and gave the scores to Tim Gunn. The next morning everyone is back on the plane to NY. Some dresses traveled well, others not so much. 2 hrs to fit the NY models and then only the runway for elimination.

Jeffrey won with his creation. Love it or hate it at least he seemed to understand the challenge and had a point of view. And finally Vincent was out. In my opinion Vincent should have been out long ago but for some reason he just kept getting a pass.

This years goal was to lose 30 lbs and make 150 pr of socks

Well, no one has mistaken me for a Swedish super model so obviously the sock knitting has gone much better.
These are the 150 pr of socks for CIC all finished, paired, and laid out on my back deck for a quick picture before the rain.
Next step is to box them up and pop them in the mail on Tuesday. These were so much fun to make ..... don't think I'll be saying the same thing about losing the rest of the weight.