Knitting Dragonflies

Always take my knitting when hiking! Thankfully I have been able to get some time off of work the last month. Trying to cram in as much family, fun and knitting time as possible. This involved a hiking vacation, knitting, visiting family and some yarn and fabric shopping. Several sweaters and a quilt in the near future. Until then a few photos… Serious decisions (above)                          Looking good, top down sweater (above) More knitting on the trail…                     While Steve sketches Campfires at night…                   and road trip knitting….. Now back to reality…. Keep knitting..

Here I am doing some trail knitting!

Waking up after a long day of hiking, with some coffee and knitting.

I’m always looking for a interesting pattern, especially free ones! Here are five free patterns I’m seriously looking to knit up….. 1- The Giant Knit Cowl , I have this super bulky yarn I bought in a sale that is an odd color, I’ve never know what to do with it. I think this would be great! Looks like it would be fast also! From johannainman .  Jane Richmond ( rav link ) 2. The Camp Out Fingerless Mitts by Tante Ehm , I love these, I like the two way knitting, I don’t have any Noro yarn, but am in serious stash busting mode, I’m hoping to find something I can use! Or I might just have to buy some Noro, these look soooo good! 3. Star Crossed Slouchy Beret by Natalie Larson, who doesn’t like a slouchy beret!! Cables spice it up. Get Knitting!

Update on Syd, post surgery he got a seroma , about the size of a grapefruit, which then involved a drainage tube being inserted. Fun!  A lot of drainage, but better out than in. So I spent my weekend doing laundry and cleaning up after dribbles. But his side looks quite a bit better now that all of the fluid is out! Sometimes it is good to be lazy! I did get some knitting done. Working on my Dummy Clap Shawl , it is super east and fast. I’m knitting it with some Brown Sheep in a pound cone from my stash,  the yardage looks like it is 1400, in a deep maroon, beautiful yarn, and lovely to work with. It is Top of The Lamb . See link for information on this yarn, I would use it again. I’m already trying to track some down, I believe I bought at a weaving shop. It would be lovely in a shawl. From Brown Sheep Company about Top of the Lamb yarn, This single ply 100% USA grown wool yarn was expressly designed and dyed in colors that could be woven in rugs by the Navajo Nation.  It is stil

Makes me think of a Beatles song! *grin*, it would be nice to be on a blanket with my knitting here, and a bottle of wine or a beer! I got a collection of hand dyed yarn out, and am trying to decide if I can knit it in a way that the top is lighter graduating into a darker blend on the bottom. I’m thinking of making the bottom design darker blue. More on this later…..Swatching now.. Happy Knitting!!

I am in love with top down and bottom up in the round construction for sweaters. Consequently I’m always on the look out for books that use this technique. Wendy’s Custom Knits came out around 2008. I purchased this book off of Amazon without being able to look through it. (I will buy in the round sweater books sight unseen, *grin*). I very much liked the style of the sweater shown on the front cover. I expected this book to be a bit more user friendly for beginning knitters. (like Elizabeth Zimmerman books, she takes you by the hand and leads you through the process if needed, otherwise knit on), I do like her advice of finding styles that work for you, look at the bought sweaters that you own, and flatter you. My favorite is her “reality checklist” for picking a pattern out. I am especially guilty of seeing a photo of a women in a field of flowers, who looks nothing like me, wearing a lovely sweater and have to buy this pattern and yarn. If you follow her checklist, it will elimina

I’m at work and my co-workers are talking about the book everyone is reading, Fifty Shades of Grey, and I’m thinking, oooo, grey, a steely grey wool would be a gorgeous neutral sweater. Maybe with some cables, a classic pattern, or a shawl neck and a basket weave, or maybe some lace panels…….OOOO Erotic…… .Here are a few free cardigan patterns I like, all free! Aidez is a feminine fitted cardigan that has all the cozy antique appeal of traditional Aran texture Amiga from Mags Kandis published in Knitty, love this lightweight breezy cardigan A fun cardigan from Vickie Howell, with some pattern to it , not too much to be intimidating, but enough to make it interesting to knit and wear. From Black Dog Designs a fabulous and modern take on a classic cardigan , The Stella Designed by Wendy Baker for plus sizes. the pattern is taken from 'Knitting Goes Large' by Sharon Brant, published by Rowan. A plus size easy to wear figure skimming cardigan free pattern. This casual jack

I was bogged down with my Dummy Clap Shawl (pattern by Anna Peck), I thought I needed something mindless to knit, but maybe I didn’t. It was too boring. I stopped knitting and thought I was going to frog it, but after seeing a video on 20 ways to wear a Eternity scarf, I’m thinking I’m going to keep knitting. Ave measurement of an eternity scarf = 30 x 80 inches. Even if you don’t knit one, you can sew one with knitted fabric or just buy one. I love this video! Check it out!! So I’m knitting again, I’ve also been buying some (ha, well maybe more than some or a few) knitting books and I’ve got lots of ideas!

I know I’ve been MIA for a while. I’m getting a major craving to knit a sweater! Yes, I know the temp is in the 90’s but a girl at work asked me some questions and brought hers in and I helped her along. Now I’m itching to get some needles into my hands. Everything goes better with knitting…. Get those needles and yarn out and get knitting!

My absence here is due to my life being in transition. At certain times in life a path comes and we step off of our current one and start another. Change is good but scary, especially in this time of uncertainty. But a great career opportunity came my way that I couldn’t turn down and had to take advantage of it. Although the new job has no benefits and is uncertain and (of course) I love it. I have had keep my old job and work them both. So I’m just taking this a day at a time and seeing what happens. Until then, I’m trying to fit some knitting into my schedule!! As it is MUCH needed!! Life with no knitting (or spinning) = hot mess! Keep knitting

Everyone is happy spring is here! Kick up your heels and enjoy it! Time to spin for me!!

I know, long time for a break….. But I’m back…..missed you guys! Have to catch up on what everyone is doing! To sum up… -I think summer is here! Yay!! Sun! photo by Denis Collette, check out his beautiful photo stream at http://www.flickr.com/photos/deniscollette/ -Synthroid, sometimes tricky to get the dose right. I’m feeling pretty good, but experience some serious brain fog. I can forget what I’m saying in the middle of a sentence. On the bright side I can’t remember what I’m stressing about. LOL -Still committed to not coloring my hair, as it grows in…..kind of used to looking at the lighter color now. Need lots of conditioning for grey hair, lots of moisture needed to tame the wild and crazy, course feel of it. I’ll have a list of products that I’ve settled on for now. Or I’d love to know any that work for you. I found that having grey/white hair allows me to talk to any women with the same. I pass a women showing her greys and smile. Love the freedom it has given me. Hey,

Is there anyone out there that knits a sweater pattern without drama? Ha, all frustration aside, gauge problems, pattern tweaking etc.…[ pattern here ] I powered through all of my knitting drama with this pattern, well it did have extended “resting” times, but my biggest hurtle was, (see above photo) this is all of the yarn I have, see little bitty ball at the bottom!  11 skeins later and the arms of the sweater are just to my elbows. I dithered around for a bit, I had spent more money on this yarn than I had planned, and not made it into the pattern I had bought it for (of course *snort*). But I ultimately decided that I do in fact, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE how this is turning out, (it is super bulky thick and thin yarn) and is very warm and soft and squishy, I originally thought, when I realized that I would not have enough yardage to complete it, that I would make it into a vest. Having a raglan sleeve posed a problem with that idea. So I decided to knit as far as my yarn would allow me t

Cooking has started here, and I’m looking through the ads and going to get some knitting done. In the process of making some laptop bags (pattern to follow) for presents. Easy and fast. For anyone following the Iced Sweater slog-a-long, I’ve knitted all of the yarn up that I have which was 11 balls, I love the sweater (really a coat, LOL, made from super bulky yarn), and hunted down someone online who had some more of the discontinued yarn (she is in the Netherlands, *grin*, god bless her), and I ordered two balls up. Hoping to have them by the end of December so I can finish and wear it. So close!! I decided that a substitute yarn to finish the sleeves wasn’t’ going to make me happy, so I should just go all in and got on a crusade to find the yarn to finish it with! Happy holidays!

I did quite a bit of knitting on vacation. The drive there, I was trapped in the car with “the sweater”, so I had no choice but to knit. That was my strategy and it worked, but after 6 solid hours of knitting I was still on the collar! Well really the shawl collar which includes short rows and the front. Due to my yarn shortage I had taken the bottom and sleeves and put them on waste yarn. My strategy was to finish the front/collar, and then see how much I had, if I had enough, finish the bottom. I made my husband stop at a gas station and take photos so I could tell what it looked like, I was trying to tell what it looked like in the front seat of a small car. *grin* . No not there yet! I was surprised at how much knitting it took to get it long enough, basically I just knitted on the collar/front, until I was sick of it, and called it done. I then knitted a bit on the bottom, and then put a k2, p2 ribbing on it. Still knitting on the bottom ribbing here. After I was happy enou

The Iced sweater that has stopped me in my tracks is now enjoying some attention. I’m almost out of yarn, and even though this yarn is discontinued, of course, I found some on eBay. But don’t really want to put more money into this sweater. (subject to change… ha) I’ve decided, after looking at many magazines after my surgery, that the fall trend is showing many vests. I decide to put my sleeves on hold and the bottom also, and start on the collar. I only have 3.5 skeins of yarn left (85 yards apiece) so if I can get the collar done, maybe I can then decide if I need to finish the sweater properly. Or…..just turn it into a vest. Would I wear a bulky vest? Not really sure I care at this point, I just need to get some momentum on this project. Until then I’m going to leave you with some great pattern links I’ve found…. http://us.knitsmc.com/files/patterns/freepattern_select_1762_en.pdf , this is a knitted shrug pattern, looks simple with a dolman sleeve , super easy pattern with a

MOJO (from the urban dictionary) N 1. Self-confidence, Self-assuredness. As in basis for belief in ones self in a situation. Esp. In context of contest or display of skill. 2. Good luck fetish / charm to bolster confidence. 3. ability to bounce back from a debilitating trauma and negative attitude She lost his mojo when she had to frog her socks five times. She got her mojo back now. Above is the PowerPuff girl villain Mojo Jojo I stepped back and took at look at why I was having knitting project problems. How many times do I just keep hitting my head against the wall without stopping to think and look at the problem. Ok, so I stopped and looked…… If I have knitting problems, I usually think it is one of three things (or a combo of them) 1. Yarn, wrong yarn for the project. Yarn I don’t like. So I looked at the yarn, no, it is yarn I’ve used before and  I like this type of yarn. 2. The pattern isn’t making me happy, flawed pattern or not the right pattern for the yarn. No I’v