Wednesday, July 6, 2011

My first lace project




I started my first real lace project in April. It was the Knit Picks Spring/Summer Seasons shawl from 2009 (?) It was a kit order, and I believe sold out fast. You can look at it on Ravelry here. I ordered both the spring/summer and fall/winter. I just couldn't decide which I liked better.
I finished this near the end of June and just now got around to cleaning off my dining room table enough so I could block it. I'm hoping it dries by tomorrow night, so I can take it to my knitting guild meeting and show it off a bit. I'm just glad it's done.

Here are a couple before shots:






And during blocking.




It's always so remarkable how a lace project changes during blocking.



I also just got my very own swift.

As a thank you for helping with my church choir, they were nice enough to give me a $50 Visa gift card. I've had my eye on a swift for a while, just never had the funds. Well, I used that special gift card, from some very special ladies, to get me something I've been wanting, but couldn't justify. With my new found love of lace, I need to be able to turn my hanks of yarn into usable cakes.

This is some very lovely Alpaca Cloud, again from Knit Picks.
It will turn into a lovely birthday or Christmas gift for someone, depending on when it gets finished. Just in case she reads this, I'm keeping it a semi-secret.


Once my shawl is dry, I'll try to post a better pic of it in it's natural habitat.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

A little yarn, but mostly water

I can't seem to find my camera. I have things that need to be photographed!! Ugh. I've been working on a mascot for myself as part of a Guild challenge for March. I would like to take pictures of it before I begin the felting process.

I also bought some beautiful yarn yesterday at Babetta's Yarn and Gifts and would like to upload pictures onto my Ravelry account. It's really yummy and I can't wait to find projects to make with it.

What I'm working on now is a little snuggly suit for one of my dogs. It's going along pretty well. I hope to be finished with it today. I got stuck with the directions, but worked my way through. Which is a good thing, since I don't have anyone I can really ask for advice.

The weather here is rainy. This is good, and bad. I live right against the Sacramento River, so whenever it gets high, there is some flooding, somewhere. Ideally, it happens where it's supposed to; in the weirs. I love this time of year for the new past time that is created: river watch. It starts with watching the river for debris. If you see debris coming down the river, that means it's on the rise. The rising waters have reached trees and such that were previously above the water line. Now they are getting carried away. Then there's Watching the River Level. There is a little building right next to the bridge that displays the current river level. People drive by all during the day, just to check the level. My dad started me on this when I was young. Once it reaches 63 feet or so, you don't just check the bridge, you also drive out over the Colusa Weir. There you can see more debris and admire how swift the river is. The third stage is when the Moulton Weir flows. Once the river hits around 66 or 67 feet at the Colusa Bridge, there is this additional weir that flows, blocking the road to Gridley.

All this is fascinating right? Well, anyway, it is to me; a native Colusan. So, if you'll excuse me, it rained all night last night, so I've got a river level to check.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Not a leader


At the beginning of February, I discovered the closest group of the Knitting Guild. It meets in Rancho Cordova, which is Southeast of me, out of Sacramento. It takes at least an hour and a half if not longer, depending on traffic. I made the journey, during rush hour, on the first Thursday of this month. It was great! I joined up with the Camellia City Stockinettes that very night.

Since then, I've been trying to figure out, and pin point, just why it was so fun. Besides being in a room full of knitting and yarn, what else drew me in? I came across the reason about a week ago. When I was there, I wasn't the teacher; I was the student. That doesn't happen very often for me. I have leadership-tendencies. This means, when I'm in any kind of setting, if no leader is apparent, I tend to step into that role. Partly because I was a teacher, in my former life. Also because of this wonderful organization I'm involved with called the International Order of the Rainbow for girls. Being in this group since I was 12, I learned how to lead. Also, in my church, I am the lead of our crochet group as well as co-leader of the worship committee. Not to mention that I am a stay-at-home mom of two children, one of whom is disabled. Now, I'm not an aggressive leader. I don't go out looking to lead. It just happens. So when I walked in to that school in Rancho Cordova, it was a relief not to lead; to just sit back and listen to others being in charge of things.

And also to learn. A knit-a-long started that night of the Clapotis scarf from Knitty.com. This is my first and I was anxious to begin. The next day I ordered some yarn:


Malabrigo Worsted in the colorway Velvet Grapes. Super pretty. I haven't worked with many high-end yarns yet and this stuff is great.

I'm looking forward to taking my progress on the Clapotis to the next Guild meeting. The first Thursday in March cannot get here too soon.


Sunday, January 9, 2011

Yikes

Wow, I didn't realize it had been so long between posts. I've been sick the last week or so and just super tired. I also have failed on several occasions to take photos of my fabulous quilt. I can say that with confidence, as the recipient has told me repeatedly how much she loves it. She goes to sleep under it, wakes up and wraps up in it and takes it with her most every where.

The next project on my list is a stocking that has been five years in the making. I need to make my nephew a Christmas stocking. His sister has one and he doesn't. Top it off that he's my godson and it's just so much worse. His birthday is in two weeks. I have set that as my deadline. We'll see. It requires four items that are cross-stitched, then pieced together, with decorative, embroidered top-stitching. D'oh! I just packed up my daughters, that I could have posted some pics of. I also have a request from friends of ours to make THEM stockings. I started off making stockings for all the kiddo's in my life that were being born. Well, then, life caught up with me. Some have fallen by the wayside. The parents of one of my stocking recipients is placing a request on me to make some for them as well. I think this will be the year of the stocking.

We are also going to be starting on making hats and scarves for some local homeless as part of my knit/crochet group. One of the outreach programs our church is part of is providing lunches to some local homeless. Our church takes a rotating responsibility, I'm not sure how often, maybe every three or four months. Our little knit/crochet group likes to do charity projects. This winter has been pretty cold here in the Sacramento Valley, almost unusually cold. Tomorrow I'm going to work on a hat and scarf proto-type for my group.

Alright, enough blogging. Now, I've got to get down to some serious cross-stitching.