#7

Dear Grandma,



When the bathtub upstairs in your neighbor’s house has a leaky valve, then your ceiling will probably look something like this... Wednesday morning I woke up, walked out into the living room and noticed a thin bubbled line on the ceiling. Under the bubbled line was water, I knew this because when I pushed on it I got drops in my face. I called the people upstairs who own the place and they came down and the words I believe that came out her mouth was, "Holy Shit!" An hour later three construction worker guys were in my living room with drop clothes and buckets draining what ended up being 4 gallons of water from the ceiling. That is a lot of water, not taking in account what was already soaked into the sound board and sheet rock. So all the mushy ceiling has been cut out, the leaky valve has been capped and the owners have gotten an estimate on the ceiling repairs.

On to happier things like yarn! I made a small purchase of sale yarn this week. Yes, it was on sale, I am trying to be good since Stitches West is sooo close.

It Cascade Dolce, 55% Superfine Alpaca / 23% Silk/ 22% Wool and red of course, the good red. Each hank is 109 yards and I am thinking of a lacey scarf unless someone has another suggestion?!?!? However, I may have to go back to Purlescence and get another hank or two while it is still on sale, 30% off, incase I want to make something a little bigger. I have checked Ravelry, several people have made Fetching with this yarn, possibility, I love Ravelry!

Ok, I am off to work on a sock I am test knitting for the Fiber Fiend booth at Stitches, she has some really excellent yarns and fiber that she has dyed along with patterns for the yarns.



Love,



Lisa

#6

Dear Grandma:

I was just "tagged" by Jasmin on her blog to answer the following survey questions, so here goes my answers in no particular order...

4 Jobs I've Held:
Grocery Bagger
DMV Administrator
Office Manager
Program Director

4 Movies I've Watched Over and Over Again:
Forest Gump
Joy Luck Club
The Notebook
Elizabeth

4 Places I've Been:
Butchart Gardens – Victoria, Canada
The Road to Hana - Hawaii
Yellowstone National Park & Grand Tetons – Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho
I’d rather not discuss any details - Las Vegas

4 Places I've Lived:
Lompoc, CA
San Francisco, CA
Selma, CA
Vallejo, CA

Part A: 4 TV Shows I Watch: (This was hard. I watch too much TV.)
Law & Order (all of them)
Project Runway
Oprah
American Idol (yes, and I OK with admitting it. I secretly wish I could carry a tune.)

Part B: 4 Radio Shows I Listen To: [I'm going to substitute Podcasts for "Radio Shows.]
I don’t listen to many radio shows or at least none that I will admit to!

4 Things I Look Forward To:
Sleeping in on Saturday mornings
Stitches West
Knitting with Friends
Dinners with Sensei

4 Favorite Foods:
Sushi
Pizza
Cheesecake
Red Velvet Cup Cakes
Of course they are all fatting!

4 Places I'd Rather Be:
In bed asleep
By a lake in the mountains, fishing (yes, I like to fish!)
Purlescence Yarns
Getting a pedicure

4 People I email regularly:
Colleen
Gina
Mom
Knitting Friends

4 People to Tag:
Jill
Mari
Jessica

Rachel

#5

Dear Grandma,

As promised, here is the photo of the cowl that I made mom. I had no choice but to use this photography trick because Sensei was not around to take the photo. Sorry for the blurriness, I obviously needed to pull out the tripod.

Mom's cowl is knit with two strands of gray Lavish Alpaca and one strand of black Kidsilk Aurora, knit on size US 11. I just made the pattern up as I went. If I was to do this over again, I know exactly what I would change. I think it is a little big in circumference. So we are going to see what mom thinks and I will make changes of needed.

And I totally forgot to share with you these photos from Christmas at Todd's house.

You can see that Grandma, your daughter, has not forgotten how to play the piano. Cody pulled out some sheet music and she played some Christmas carols for all of us. Did you notice the black and white photo of her on the piano just to the right? Yep, it is the same piano that you bought back in 1930 from KMJ AM580 that they used during their radio broadcasts. Well as you know the piano left the family when Grandma sold the house. Well after 30+ years Aunt Wilma spotted a piano in an antique store that she thought was the same one that you had owned. She called Mom and Grandma and said, "Jalaine, I think I found your piano!" So they went to the antique store and immediately they knew it was the same piano, but found that someone had placed a deposit. Mom was determined to get the piano and after chatting with the perspective buyers and opening her check book, the piano was safely returned to Grandma's house again. Fast forward several years, Grandma gave the piano to Todd and Michelle because my nephew Cody we discovered had a real musical talent and started playing.

#4

Dear Grandma,

I made someone smile, well to be specific, I made Jessica smile. She reads my blog and listed it as one of 10 blogs that make her smile, nice huh? So now I have to pay-it-forward and award another 10 people. So I am supposed to award 10 blogs that make me smile which is hard because I follow a lot of blogs, but here goes in random order...

Janet - Twisted Knitter
Cindy - Snidknits
Janice - Knitflix
Nathania - Purls Beyond Price
Cookie/Kristi - Knitters Anonymous
Carrie - We do not have a knitting problem
Alison - Spindyeknit
Delia - Wine and Needles
Mary - Spinnity

Margit - Fiber Fiend

Sorry Grandma, I know you don't read anybodys blog but mine, I love your dedication to your granddaughter; but I give you permission to explore other blogs.

Love,

Lisa

#3 Lots of photos

Hi Grandma,

Sorry I have not written in a while. My friends Rita and Robin mentioned that it was about time to send you another post. They stay on top of me and keep me in line, you would be proud. Anyway, just wanted to update you on what I am knitting, have knitted and where I traveled since I last wrote.

A couple of weeks ago I took a fair isle knitting class at Purlescence Yarns. I have always been interested in fair isle, but truth be told, it scared the hell out of me. What do you mean that I have to hold more than one strand of yarn and use both hands to do it??? But I persevered and truth be told, I LOVE fair isle. I want to knit nothing but fair isle from now on. Well, I might be getting a little too excited, but still. So I knit this hat for my boss' mother who is going through chemotherapy. She is a huge San Francisco Giants fan and wanted a hat to represent her team. I went looking for a color chart pattern that I could use in a hat and ran across Fiona Ellis book Inspired Fair Isle Knits. In her book she has this color work on the hem of a short sleeve top but I thought that it would work great for a hat. See??

I am so proud of that hat I can't even tell ya, but I will show you my floats in the inside, pretty huh?

Ravelry details here. I do think that I am going to be knitting more of the same pattern, just in other "team colors" for friends and family because I really enjoyed making this one.

Continuing with my love of fair isle, I am knitting currently Endpaper Mitts by Eunny Jang. I have one completed now...

And the second one will be done shortly, (Ravelry details here.) I stopped working on the second one because mom had a request for a cowl to keep her neck warm. Well, she did give birth to me, so I stopped everything and whipped one up for her. I just made the pattern up as I went along. I will show you pictures and explain what I did in my next post, I still have to send it to mom and I don't want to spoil her surprise.

Sensei and I took a little trip to San Diego this past weekend. We were a little afraid that we were not going to get there using Interstate 5 but the weather cleared up just long enough for Cal Trans to open the Grapevine back up after being closed for two days. This is what we saw as drove through...

I know that it has snowed on the Grapevine before, I just have never drove through the area when it has snowed. But we made it to San Diego in one piece. Had a nice dinner with some friends Friday night. Got up Saturday morning, went to Qualcomm Stadium to catch a shuttle bus to go and watch this guy...

We watched Tiger Woods play at the Buick Open on Saturday. The weather was beautiful, Tiger was phenomenal. Grandma, he really is something to watch. I like golf, I play golf, I don't like to watch golf, but I would have followed him all day. The only problem with following Tiger over a 18 hole golf course is that you have to jockey a position to see him with the other 200 people following. Now, there are strict rules of 1.) NO CAMERAS 2.) NO CELL PHONES. I follow the rules most of the time, I do, really. But I checked my cell phone messages in the bathrooms near the 7th hole, I was not the only one and I managed to snap these photos on the 18th hole while sitting in the bleachers, come on, I had to its Tiger Freakin Woods!

I think Tiger just spotted my camera...oops!

Then on Sunday we went to a karate tournament that Sensei was officiating. After the tournament we went to dinner with friends from Cincinnati that were in town for the karate tournament also. Monday we got up and started home about noon and there was a little bad weather on the Grapevine going back but we made it home safe and sound.

Ok Grandma, I will be showing you the cowl I made mom and the new knitting technique that I learned at the knitting guild meeting last week next time.

Love,

Lisa

#2 (Photo and video heavy)

Grandma Davis,

Last night I got the good fortune to be offered these...

So I took my friend Robin. She is a knitter too. We even brought knitting with us to work on during the game but... we were having to much fun and it looked like we were going to see a fight... There was no fights at the game last night, but we did see this... (click on photo)

And then a really nice man wearing a suit coat in an odd shade of violet handed me this...

I was not using foul language, at least not at the hockey game, but I did get up from my seat during play. I wanted a beer and a pretzel, what can I say???

We saw some really good action. I can say that now I am quite a San Jose Sharks fan!

Grandma Davis, I am telling you, going to a hockey game is like going to a big party with a sporting event happening at the same time. I am going to have to be on my best behavior at work so I could have the good fortune of getting the company tickets again!

The Sharks beat the Vancouver Canucks. Robin and I had a VERY WELL DESERVED night out!

Oh and I have some new yarn to show you too, maybe tomorrow, I will have the pictures ready.

Love,

Lisa

(Sharks newest fan, go #25!!)

#1

Dear Grandma Davis:

I want to tell you about my weekend. Friday night Sensei** and I went to the movies, we saw I Am Legend. It was really suspenseful and a little heart tugging in a few spots. The special effects are fantastic too. Movies have come a long way since your time. Then on Saturday, I worked for a while, needed to get caught up on some stuff since I was gone so much during the holidays. After work on Saturday I went on a little shopping spree at the mall. Got some stuff at Target that I needed and then I got these. Sensei does not like them but he said if they were as comfortable as I said they were and I liked them, that was all that mattered. Grandma, I love these shoes! I want some in different colors now.

Sunday, my friend Colleen and I went up to San Francisco to take care of some business for mom and do some shopping. We went yarn shopping. Yarn stores are so different now than when you were buying yarn let me tell you. First we went to the world famous Artfibers. Grandma, they let you knit a swatch of any yarn to see if you are going to like it, how cool is that? So I knew I wanted to try one particular yarn that I have been admiring from afar. And sure enough, I bought all they had in stock, 583 yards, 265 grams. I will be getting more.

Sorry, the picture is not that good; I forgot my good camera and had to use my camera phone. Yes, grandma, phones have cameras in them now, but that is a whole other discussion! But for a better look at the yarn, here is it on their website. My colorway is #20.

Then we went to another yarn store to see what they were like, Noe Knits. The staff was very friendly, kept checking with us to see if we had questions etc. The store was sort of shabby chic, I liked that, but they didn’t have a lot of stock, seemed a bit empty to me. But the worst part about the store was the lighting. It was horrible. I could hardly see the colors of the yarn, the true color. I did however purchase two hanks of Peruvian Tweed. The yarn is 100% alpaca and has no dyes, the yarn is the color of the alpaca, and I loved that idea. I didn’t get a picture of those this time, but you can see the one I got here. I will have my Ravelry site updated this week with the new yarns.

After all the yarn shopping, we were hungry and thirsty, so I took her to the Haight and we we went to Cha Cha Cha. The food is yummy Caribbean food served like tapas and to wash it down, sangria. They are pretty proud of the sangria, it is very tasty. When I lived in the city, it was one of my favorite places to eat.

Ok, I have some WIP’s to show you next time and I promise more pictures in my next letter, for now, back to work for me!

Lisa


**New format, new name for the significant other formerly known as Richard. He is actually a Sensei, so that how I will refer to him, he likes some anonymity.

New Year, New Format

This is the first official post on my blog for the 2008. I wanted to try something new this year with my blog posts. It seems to me to be easier to write my posts like I am writing a letter to someone. My Great Grandmother Myrtle Davis was the first person I came to know in my life to work with yarn, she crocheted. So my posts will be addressed to her. Now, it has been many many years since she has passed, but I feel that if I was to talk about my knitting she would be the one that I would want to talk to because of all her years of experience. I know in my heart of hearts that she is looking down on me now and laughing with that great smile of hers and saying, "Well, out of all of them, Lisa is the last one I thought would knit!" Confession, I was a bit of a Tom-Boy when I was little, not much about wearing dresses etc. I grew into a fierce love of lipstick and shoes in my late teen years. But, Grandma Davis is right, I have shocked a few of my family members with my knitting projects. For 2008, my goal is to shock them even more! Starting with Eunny Jang's End Paper Mitts. I have the yarn, will be learning stranded knitting in the very near future. Then, on to Alice Starmore!!

Old and New

First the old. Christmas day I stopped by my friends house to visit before returning to San Jose and realized that I never got a picture of the scarf that I knit her last Christmas. So she went and got it out for me and I got a photo finally. I really like this pattern, in fact I liked it so much that I made two last Christmas.

Irish Hiking Scarf, 2 hanks of Malabrigo in Dusty.

And for the new, Sensei got a new car. On my birthday. Wait, how does that happen? Oh right, his blew up! We got it in time for our trip to Disneyland. Sensei is really pleased with his new car, the windows roll up and down on this one!

Highlights...Lowlights

After 17 years, I finally got to return to Disneyland and I got sick! Yes, I have either a severe cold or the flu. Halfway down on our drive to Anaheim I started to feel, well, shitty. Took some medicine got some throat drops and started heavily medicating. I am still very weak and tired. I will have a better report of the day, I am just too tired and well, SICK!

Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas, stay healthy and safe!

Contest Answers

Sorry, I forgot to include the answers to the contest questions this morning.

1. I have 2 brothers, what are their professions?
Older brother Todd is a Sergeant Detective and younger brother Kelly is a minister.

2. What is my favorite football team?
Notre Dame Fighting Irish, that is right, losing season and all, I am still a proud fan!

3. What is my favorite color?
Red, a true blue red. No orangey reds for me!

4. Where did my fellow knitters and I go after the Stitch n' Pitch?
Jeni, Becky, Hannah, Cindy, Cookie and I all wandered out of the park looking for a bar to sit and watch the end of the game because it was so cold there. We ended up at a tequila bar Tres Agaves! And if you click on the link above, there is a picture of Lori, the winner of the yarn in that blog post!

And if you wanted to know what happened to me last year on my birthday click here. So far today I have not repeated history!

And the Yarn goes to.....

Lori (Monkeyroom) !! She has chose the new colorway Ravenscroft in Socks that Rock. Congratulations, Lori! This was fun, I will have to come up with another contest soon. The contest came down to a drawing, so many of you got all the answers correct. The process was very scientific (hahaha) names were placed on slips of paper, folded equally and put inside a hat, a Notre Dame hat. Sensei was granted the honor of picking, he initially had protested that I was using a Notre Dame hat, I told hit to get over it and just pick. So yes Lori, your name came out of a Notre Dame Fighting Irish hat!! I am sure that your alumni status at Penn is fully in tact still.

Not sure how much blogging will be done between now and Christmas, we are leaving tomorrow morning for Disneyland. Hopefully I will get some good pics for the blog. Wishing you all a happy and safe Holiday Season!

Didn't Finish...

Didn't even come close to finishing. Christmas knitting is no more. I completed only 2 of several knitted gifts for this Christmas. I have 2 more on the needles now. Do I care? Yes, a little. Will I let it bother me to no end? Absolutely NOT. I have bigger fish to fry right now. This has been the year of problems during the holidays. Remember Thanksgiving?? Well this holiday it is Richie's car. It died. I mean, stick a fork in it, it is done! It was a 1988 Honda Prelude, it served its purpose and now it is a charitable donation. So we went car shopping. Hopefully we will have the car situation resolved by Friday morning when we leave for Disneyland. We'll see.


And, you still have time for the Birthday Contest... I have several entries, it will be a drawing. I see that either you all read the blog or you are really good at searching fast! You still have time to enter.

So this is how the contest goes. Comment on this blog telling me which yarn you would like to receive if you are the winner. Then email me at twistedstitches71 AT gmail DOT com the answers to the following questions:

1. I have 2 brothers, what are their professions?
2. What is my favorite football team?
3. What is my favorite color?
4. Where did my fellow knitters and I go after the Stitch n' Pitch? (specific answer required)

All the answers can be found in my past blog entries. You must answers all the questions correctly for your name to go into the hat where the winner will be drawn. Contest will be closed December 19th at midnight. Winner will be announced on My Birthday, December 20th.
Good luck!

Friends

I have some of the nicest friends in the world. Last night I gathered with my former co-workers from my 3 year stint at Honda. These are the same friends that I also taught how to knit. We ate pasta, bread, drank wine and conversed, it was nice. Then after dinner we sat around and knitted. It was really funny, I looked over and realized that I had taught them all how to knit and how we all bonded through knitting. Each of them have distinct knitting personalities and it has been really fun watching them grow as knitters. After some knitting came the dessert. I thought we were having brownies that Danielle made, but there was a lot of commotion going on in the kitchen for just serving brownies! Then around the corner came my dessert plate... brownies with ice cream, caramel sauce and whipped cream. It was a sight to be seen. Sorry I have no pics, it was too good to stop to grab a camera. Thank you Holly, Colleen, Danielle and Jackie for a wonderful evening; you are great friends! And Jackie, I loved your card!

You all still have time to enter my Birthday Contest. Contest closes December 19 at midnight. Get your emails to me if you want to get free yarn! I am giving away your choice of either Socks That Rock or Silky Malabrigo, click here for more details. Good Luck!!

Merry Christmas Sweaters !!

So I finally got evidence of the wear-ability of the sweaters that I knit for my niece and nephew. Aren't they cute? Now you see why I would want to knit for them ALL THE TIME??? If you are on Ravelry and have seen this in my projects list, yes, my nephew has an uncanny resemblance to the little boy in the book for this pattern. And if you ever wondered what I looked like when I was a little girl? Take a good look at my niece. I will have to post a comparison picture later.
I would be remiss to not mention that I would have NEVER gotten these sweaters shipped out in time if it had not been for Nathania's help. Thank you for saving my knitting behind, again! Hope every one's holiday knitting is going smoothly. And there is still time to enter my Birthday Contest.

CONTEST-Revised

Yes, this is my first blog contest. It is the holiday season and my birthday soon and I am in a giving nature. Or maybe I just want to know how many people really read my blog?!?! Who knows and who cares? Cause I am giving away yarn! The winner gets a choice between two yarns, both highly coveted by many knitters I know. The first choice would be the all new Malabrigo, 50% Merino/50% Silk in the Stone Chat colorway. This yarn is in limited release at a few stores for test knitting and I happen to have one hank. The second choice would be Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock in the all new Ravenscroft colorway.

REVISED
So this is how the contest goes. Comment on this blog telling me which yarn you would like to recieve if you are the winner and EMAIL me your answers! (thank you Ariel for your suggestion!) Email me: twistedstitches71 AT gmail DOT com

1. I have 2 brothers, what are their professions?
2. What is my favorite football team?
3. What is my favorite color?
4. Where did my fellow knitters and I go after the Stitch n' Pitch? (specific answer required)

All the answers can be found in my past blog entries. The person who answers the most correctly wins, in the event of a tie, names will go into a hat and a winner will be drawn. Mom, you are not eligible, besides, you don't knit!

Contest will be closed Decemeber 19th at midnight. Winner will be announced on My Birthday, December 20th
Good luck!

FINISHED OBJECT AND LESSONS LEARNED

Since I am unable to blog about current Christmas knitting, I give you my finished Ribby Pulli. I have worn it several times, it is the warmest sweater that I own. Being what I would call a plump woman, this pattern can be worn by all shapes and sizes easily.



Here is the run down:

Pattern: Ribby Pulli Long Sleeve Funnel Neck
Yarn: Bottom, Cascade 220 in Jet (which really is more of a charcoal color) and on top, Blue Moon Fiber Arts Twisted in Obsidian.
Needles: Size 6, 7 and 8 Addi Turbo's
Size: The largest size in the pattern, I can't remember what it was off hand.
Were the instructions easy to follow? Yes and no, this was one of my first sweaters completed so I did not understand everything the pattern was telling me. With a little help it became more clear.
What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? The "like" part of the pattern is that it is knit in one piece in the round with only seaming the underarms. Also that the ribbing on the sides does the waist shaping automatically. The "dislike" would be the way that the ribbing on the sleeve was written and the decreases in the yolk. They were both a bit confusing for me.
Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made: I knit the entire sleeve on my size 7 instead of just the cuff part. And I am going to rework the neck, I didn't pay attention the the pattern and picked up more stitches around the neck than I should have. So I am going to pick the neck out and re-knit it to include a few of the ribs just on the side to continue the ribbing from the sleeve. Oh and I made the body about 3 inches longer than the pattern calls. I like my sweaters longer.
Would you knit it again? Yes. I actually am knitting it again for a friend after the holidays.
Conclusion: This is a good pattern for any level of knitter, even beginners that want to try a sweater. If I were to knit another for myself, I would knit one in a solid color. Also, I would knit a size or two smaller, this sweater is bigger than I would have wanted. My gauge was correct and other have mentioned the same problem.

Ok, current knitting. Flash back to when I sent my niece and nephew hand knit socks, just cause they are cute and I love them. The lesson learned, ALWAYS ship your hand knitted gift signature required! Their Christmas sweaters have been sent and I just got a text message from my brother that "The Eagle has landed" The box is in the safe hands of my brother and he is waiting to get the kids and let them open the box. I will post photos of the sweaters once they have seen them.

Birthday Meme

Ok, I saw this on CJ's blog it is her Birthday today and since my birthday is around the corner I thought I would do this now instead of later.

Birthday meme

The instructions:
1) Go to Wikipedia.
2) In the search box, type your birth month and day but not the year.
3) List three events that happened on your birthday
4) List two important birthdays and one death
5) One holiday or observance (if any)

Three events that happened on my Birthday
1.) 1803 - Louisiana Purchase completed at a ceremony in New Orleans.
2.) 1981 - The first ever on-stage performance of the award-winning Broadway musical Dreamgirls at Imperial Theatre on Broadway.
3.) 2005 - US District Court Judge John E. Jones III ruled against mandating teaching "intelligent design" in his ruling of Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District.

Two important birthdays and one death
1.) 1537 - King John III of Sweden (birthday)
2.) 1868 - Harvey Firestone, American automobile pioneer (birthday)
3.) 1968 - John Steinbeck, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902) (death)

One Holiday Observance
R.C. Saints - Saint Dominic of Silos, O Clavis, Ursicinus of Saint-Ursanne

What happened on your Birthday?

Happy days are here again...sort of

The fridge is fixed!! Cost was VERY reasonable. The "starter" to the compressor basically burned out. A very nice man came tonight and replaced the burned out part and made my fridge work. Now the toilet/shower/drain pipe issue has reared its ugly head again after we thought it was fixed. That repair man is coming in the morning. One down, one to go.

Knitting update, the niece and nephew Christmas photo sweaters are going well. All four pieces of my nieces sweater is complete including the blocking. I am now working on my nephews back of his sweater. Deadline, this weekend. Anyone like to knit ribbing??

The Good, The Bad and The Smelly

THE GOOD


Thanksgiving Dinner



The Family, left to right, Mimi(paternal grandma), Michelle (sister-in-law), Cody (nephew), Todd (oldest brother), Grandma (maternal grandma), Me, and Sensei. Mom is taking the photo.Sensei, stop tickling me, I am knitting!!!

THE BAD

When we got home, the fridge had died while we were gone to Grandma house for Thanksgiving weekend. We are hoping that it will be a minor financial fix instead of a replacement. As you can see, I have emptied the entire thing, it was pretty much an entire loss of food.

THE SMELLY

The toilet got backed up so bad that the shower stall floor filled up with sewer water after several attempts of removing the clog with a plunger and Liquid Plumber. I will spare you the descriptive details and photo of the ordeal, suffice to say, it was a crappy situation (pun intended!)

No Deep Thoughts

No deep thoughts, no in site, no words of encouragement from me today. Just a couple of photos that I took and thought I would share. Because really, no one wants to hear how stressed I am with all the holiday knitting I have committed myself to. I said last year that I wouldn't do it, but I guess I couldn't stick to that. (my English skills are stunning right now too!) I finally got the yarn order completed yesterday for my nephew's sweater. I had to pay for 3 day shipping so that I would get it in enough time to complete for Christmas photos. I started another gift project, I still have to finish my green socks, 2 baby gifts to start and complete, my moms birthday sweater (from July!!) and a few other things that have escaped my mind. But to be quite honest, even though I am a little stressed about all the knitting, I wouldn't have it any other way! I could have worse problems...wait, I actually do have worse problems. OK, knitting is my escape, my sanctuary, my zen.

Here is a scarf that I did last year but only had time to wear it a couple of times before it got too warm to wear. But it has sure come in handy lately!

I made this out of one hank of Baby Grande Alpaca in a 1x1 rib, I like the look of stockinette with out the rolling. It is very light, warm, soft and fuzzy. Me likes.

And my favorite furry guy in the whole wide world. Mugsy, laying on top of Sensei on the couch. Sensei, a bit camera shy that day. Mugsy IS the king of the house, we just live around him.

Knitting and Love

I love my niece and nephew, a lot. You will know how much when I show you the finished objects, but for now, these are just progress photos. I went down to visit them back in September and had a great time. That is when I started the "missing" socks, the ones that have never been delivered still. While visiting, I opened my mouth and said, "You know, I could knit them (the kids) matching sweaters for your family Christmas photos." Now, I in no way am regretting this moment at all, but I have to admit at times it is overwhelming to think about all the knitting that I have committed myself to completing. These sweaters will be the first to complete because of their deadline. My niece and nephew are little, 5 and 3 respectively, so I chose to knit something fairly simple with room to grow for them. This is a ribbed drop shoulder sweater from the Debbie Bliss Easy Knits book. The sweaters are going to be the same style but in contrasting color schemes. Pictured is my nieces sweater, I have completed the front and the back and now have casted on for the sleeves. All the pieces will be done this weekend. Then on to the little guys!

No nickel for me...

So I faithfully read Janet's blog, my Twisted counterpart, she was reviewing the KnitPicks metal DPN's. Read her review here. I do not used DPN's, they are my enemy, I have never been able to use them successfully. And that is OK. Others love DPN's and wouldn't think about using anything else. I on the other hand am a circular needle kind of girl. So much so that now I am even Magic Loop knitting several things.


My needle usage started with Clover Bamboo needles, straight, then to circulars. Then I discovered Addi needles and that fantastic flexible cable, score since they have them in bamboo too. Then I bought the nickel plated Turbo Addi needles and I thought that I was a machine knitter it was so fast. I was in love, well not with the price, but hey, the cables were the best on the market in my opinion. Next thing I know, I was introduced to the KnitPicks needles, not only were they hollow, nickel plated needles like the Addi's, they also had fantastically flexible cables and the best part, way less expensive than the Addi's, TRIPLE SCORE.


Then came my discovery, my hands eat nickel. They really do. This is the evidence...

These are Addi Turbo circular needles US5's. The two in the middle are the ones that I used to knit some worsted weight wool slipper socks, one pair only. The ones on the top and bottom are the replacements, new needles never used. I have done this to KnitPicks, Addi Turbo and Addi Lace needles. Stitches no longer slide across the needle like intended, they have to be forced. Makes for difficult knitting. So I am heading back to wood. I still have some Addi's Natura's and I have now started knitting with KnitPicks Harmony needles. I am not as fond of the wood, I am forced to knit looser now. It was suggested to me that I try steel needles, so I will be buying one and giving it a go when it arrives.

Any thoughts? Any like experiences? Any suggestions? Let me know please!!! I am leaning in the direction of buying the KnitPicks Harmony Options, I am not fond of the Denise cables and plastic needles.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

I was in the mood for a change, actually it was long over due, I cut my hair. I am very pleased with it, I think it suits me. I cut about 10 inches off. Next step, color. The greys are coming in too fast. Sorry for the crappy camera phone pic at work no less.

I have 2 finished sweaters to show, yes, I have FINISHED two, count them, one, two sweaters. Next blog post, with the new hair cut!