I have started knitting Blackrose socks from Knitty. I got the yarn at Pocket Meadow Farms, a fabulous yarn shop in Berkley Springs. The yarn is Pagewood Farms, Denali in the SKY BLUE PINK colorway. I love the pattern, the colorway & have fond memories of my visit to the shop.
I have narrow feet & ankles and so I am knitting them up on US 1s. The lace doesn't show up very well but is lovely.
One of my dear friends lives in Maine. Her favorite color is blue. I also think the world of her husband and wanted to surprise them with a hand knit gift this year. Plan A was a pillow. A week ago I cast on three times. The first was ripped because I ran out of yarn on the tail end 20sts before the end (I was shooting for 160). The second was ripped after two rows because there was no way that I could knit up a cover for a 16X16 pillow in the time allotted (one week). The third was unceremoniously cut yesterday. I had only managed to knit an inch over the whole week. Sometimes it seems best just to accept that project isn't meant to be. On the upside, I do like the color of the yarn and see a pig and an elephant being made out of it in th near future. The other balls I bought for the project have already been exchanged for more needles & two row counters (Ashley ate my last one).
Today I cast on for a hat. The plan is make one for my friend & her husband, reversing the color scheme. Two rows into the hat, I ripped it out, coming to the conclusion that my friend has a narrow noggin & the 110 sts would create a hat that would not stay on. I have cast on for a second time and HOPE that I will be able to complete this one quickly & the one for her husband soon thereafter.
On the left is the remnant of the pillow, on the right is start of the hat. My friends hat will be knit predominately with the lighter color.
On a different front, while we were running errands today, DH wanted to swing by Dunkin Donuts. It was entirely HIS idea. He didn't know that there was a bead store two doors down. :-) I bet in the future he'll be skipping coffee from that place when I am in the car.
While he got his drink, I popped in my store a got some beads for the gray lace weight yarn I bought yesterday. The flash makes them look wonky together, but I think they should work. The beads are hematite & are charcoal gray. I think I am going to look through stitch dictionaries and come up with something very simple.
Today, a friend and I took a road trip out to Berkley Springs, West Virginia. We had made the plans several months ago when we thought that there were three fiber shops in the area. This week, we discovered that there is only one, Pocket Meadow Farm. I have to admit, I was a little concerned only because of the distance we were covering to get there. Research on Ravelry was promising though and an email exchange with the owner, Ellen, was great. She recommended Tari's Cafe. We got to the town a little after 11, and had enough time to help local economy in the shops before our reservation. Following Ellen's advise, we ate in the front room. The food was delicious and reasonably priced.
Our next stop was Pocket Meadow Farm. It is a WONDERFUL yarn shop. We felt comfortable as soon as we walked in the door. She has lots of brands that were new to me and there was a variety of price points. Ellen is a joy. She is helpful but also happy/willing to let us fly all over her shop on our own, touching everything. The store is open and airy.
Here we have a shot of one of her chickens on the front porch. Oddly enough, they do not cross the road. :-)
I came home with this:
Starting in the lower right corner, I have sock yarn from Pagewood Farms in a color that reminds me of spring violets, called sky blue pink. Above that are three hanks of Hacho sock yarn. I had to get three hanks because, according to our running store, I have skis for feet. Next are four hanks of Riverstone Wool. There are destined to become four, two color hats, that will be given as Christmas gifts. The gray is 437 yards of baby alpaca lace that was only $9! It was one of those hanks that I kept petting and putting down. It will become a scarf, possibly with beads.
My friend came home with the stash below, plus one more skein that hid between the car seat & the door (the picture was taken on the drive home).
The orange is sock yarn dyed by Ellen. The mottled purple in the front is nature's palate sock yarn. The two solid purple hanks are destined to become a Christmas gift and the burgundy & blue will become two hats.
If you are a fiber addict & and within two hours of Pocket Meadow Farm, make the trip. You won't regret it. Also, be sure to get dessert at Tari's.
Enough said.
Hi! I am a tiny turtle in dire need of legs. When the knitter started me on Sunday, she thought I'd be a FO before lunch. That was before she reknit my shell three times and my head twice. Hello Ms. Perfectionist! I am a stuffed TOY -it is NOT necessary anatomically correct or perfect. She has knit me four legs but does not like them.
On the upside, the knitter loves the pattern & thinks I am precious. Her DH also adores me and wants me to be a gift for him. The knitter says that I am destined for a baby, but I know that Sheldon already lives here.
How much do you wanna bet she is gonna fuss over my heavy head too? Maybe she'll knit me log to rest it on!
Last night I finished the cabled scarf & wove in the ends this morning. Next project: the tiny turtle. It would be great if that gets completed today & another project is started. I have not begun MS4. I really want to, I am just feeling guilt from not being further long with Christmas projects and the bleeping list keeps growing, plus Mom's b'day is next month.
Here is the scarf with an orchid in bloom. I love the purple flowers. Very pretty. DH grows several. My "job" is find the ones in bloom & put them out where we can enjoy them.
Chloe found an empty box.
On Friday, I ran for 35 minutes - a new record for me. Today, I did 30. I'll do that again on Wednesday & then shoot for 40 on Friday. The 5k is sometime next month and I know that am running faster than a ten minute mile, so now I can at least finish the race. :-)
Tiny turtle, please be fast and easy. We got a lot of projects to bang out!
Ohh and this morning I woke up recalling a fabulous knit piece that I saw in a dream. Soon I remembered that I saw it first last night on Knitty. It is the beautiful cowl.At first I was relieved to realize that pattern existed, but now I "feel" it being summoned to the needles VERY soon. I already have shimmer in turquoise splendor from knitpicks to make it. I do not have US 6circ. That may hold off the project for a bit.
I took a long weekend and met my parents and Godmother at a rental home in Deep Creek Lake, MD. While there, I was reminded of why I knit. It is amazing to me how a piece of yarn can be transformed into fabric with two or three sticks.
On Sunday, I had time to knit and watch the mist rise off of the lake.
We went to Falling Waters.
The Cabeled Scarf is about 70% complete. It is one week behind schedule. I tried to insert a picture but I am having system challenges.
More later.
Yep, that's four finished gifts for the under under fiver years old set. Starting on the left, we have the pink elephant that is actually a Christmas gift. Next up is Mr. Centipede, a surprise for my nephew who turns four today. He is draped across the blue bunny who was finished before my niece, Rowan's sister got married (she is about eighteen months old) and last, but not least the monkey is for my new niece, who was just born a couple of weeks ago. The blue dog is knit, but is in pieces. It is for my brother in-laws new son. Once he is assembled, all baby gifts will be shipped to new homes in CO, CA and AZ. Until then, they stay on the mantle.
Close up time.
I have started Christmas gift number two, a cabled scarf.
I have also signed up for Mystery Stole Four. While I am excited about the concept (knitting lace is a challenge for me), the timing makes me nervous. I have fifteen known gifts that I want to make, plus three more that I should knit and seventeen weeks before Christmas. I would also like to knit myself and the cats and dog Christmas stockings.
Today I came up with a semi-realistic goal of banging out at least one gift per week and then working on the stole. I am also in training for my first 5k run and a fun triathlon. In addition to running three times a week, I bike once plus I am supposed to be doing core work for running and weight lifting for the triathlon.
I am sorry that I have been absent for a while. We just got over a big hurdle last Thursday. Also, I frankly hate to be on the computer at night when it is light outside. I think my blogging will improve a we move into Fall.
By the way, while Ravelry is awesome, be careful when you run searches for patterns. I added two more projects to my Christmas list just because the images screamed "I would be PERFECT for so and so". Case in point, my Mom has a dear friend named Judy. She is a really cool lady, she knits a little bit and she collects frogs. Judy and I do not exchange gifts but when I saw this pattern it pretty much demanded to be knit for her. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/frog-prince-2
Off to knit something or maybe work on the floppy dog!
On Wednesday we came home to babies. If you look closely you can make out the yellow around their faces.
Here is another shot from day 1. If you look closely you can see babies behind Mom, under the bush.
Here are shots from the second morning. I got lucky and watched them leave just before I went to work.
I am a knitter, wife, step-mom and animal lover.
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