Strike A Pose

This is my first blog post with my new MacBook! I love it so far (when I can get my hands on it) there is so much to learn, and I'm afraid I will only learn the basics for a while until I have time to devote to it.

We are headed to the beach this week on Wednesday for the rest of the summer and I am so excited to go. I was lucky enough to be able to go for the summer last year and it really is a great chance for me to recharge my batteries!

I am finishing up a great new shawl/vest pattern in Frog Tree yarn. The cool thing about it is that if you wear it one way, it looks like a swing coat (but cropped) and if you wear it upside down, it looks like a vest with a shawl collar and a funky bottom, I am thrilled with this. The color is great, and with the Frog Tree yarn very economical (I believe it will be about $60.00 to make the medium/large size.) Pictures of that tomorrow.

This weekend I was involved in my first "photo shoot" of my pattern Impression. The pictures are going to be used for the finished pattern, and I have to say........I was a little nervous having my pictures taken. I have a few that were taken with my camera, (by the super talented Mr. Cho) and here are the ones I like....

Are you noticing the common theme here? Yeah, no face shots!!! After looking through the ones I have, I feel like my face looks like I either was eating lemons prior to the shot or I was smelling a poopy diaper! Now, I know we all have issues with ourselves, and I always joke about it, but really, my arms in many of the pictures make me look like an Olympic Russian Shot Put er! I mean really - you will be missing me this summer, not because I will be at the beach, but because I will be competing in the Summer Olympics!! Holy Cow!!

This is the Noro sock yarn version of Impression. The sample is crocheted in the smallest size, so it does not fit me perfectly, but you can still see how beautiful the yarn looks! (Once again, notice the absence of my face!) The small and medium version only takes 2 skeins of this beautiful yarn (if you want sleeves!)

I am off to work on a cool project for Coats & Clark and to block the shawl/vest. Have a great day!!

PS - OK, I did most of this post on my Mac, but had trouble moving the pictures around. I had to come up to the PC to finish - I'll get there!!

Goddess and the Three Beasts

Once upon a time there was a house Goddess. She worked very hard at keeping the house looking neat and laundry done and meals balanced. One day, the house Goddess decided that she wasn't contented anymore with these tasks. She was looking for a creative outlet.... a craft to keep her mind and her hands busy. Eureka! this house Goddess found her calling.... knitting and crochet! How happy the Goddess was....... she even began to publish some designs! Thrilling, everything was in order, house, knitting, and then she started a blog. Oh, how much fun, the Goddess' family in other kingdoms got to see what she was up to. Perfect. The blog, did, however cut into the Goddess' chores about the castle. Some times the blog was not updated because it was too late, and Mr. Fantastic was sleeping (the PC is in the room just off the bedroom). Sometimes the other members of the family were on the PC when it was time for the Goddess to blog... What will happen when the family vacations? How will the Goddess continue to design, write patterns, email contacts, look on Ravelry???? Mr. Fantastic came up with a spectacular solution. Buy another computer.... this one for the Goddess alone.... something portable, so it can be in the kitchen (where she belongs?!) and about the countryside (or the beach!).

Research was done, private shopping completed, and Lo and Behold!! a White Knight appeared!!




On the third day of the Knights arrival..... the Goddess was looking to update her blog.... use her mind, think up witty things that others in the kingdom might want to read.... and found this:



What is this? How can it be? Isn't the White Knight for the Goddess and the Goddess alone? Here is what the Beasts replied:

This one is too small....


This one is too big......


But this one, this one is Just Right.....


THE END.............I am on the PC, updating my blog.
Have a Great Weekend!

Gorilla Glue, Check......Clamp, Check......

I never thought in all of my Knitting and Crocheting, that I would need these tools:



Yep, that's Gorilla Glue and a set of Clamps. It seems that on very hot days, when Mommy is trying to get a design out of her head and onto paper, little girls that are seemingly sweet and innocent get into mischief.





See how cute they are? See how it looks like they are content to be dressing up and playing dancing princesses? DON'T LET THEM FOOL YOU!!! It seems that in the very hot land of princesses, they needed to get into left over yarn and wind it around my entire knitting room. Where was I, you may ask? Me being Cinderella (aka the slave of this kingdom) I was folding laundry and wearing my magical happy maker (my ipod) to get me though this torture and I did not hear the little fingers or giggles in the other room. I did hear the loud crashing boom that snapped me out of my happy folding (thanks to Cold Play). What I found was this.




My poor dress form. She takes so much from this family, with our 7 and almost 10 year old boys constantly feeling her up and being naked so much. The poor dear, she was knocked over, and one of her legs broke. Leaping to her aid, I found the Gorilla Glue and Clamps - can you believe it! I read the directions and got right to work. In about 1 to 2 hours, she should be right as rain. Hopefully tonight she will have a new shawl on her (can you see it in the corner?). I was working this pattern in the Noro sock yarn, but I wasn't thrilled with the way it was coming...a quick stop at the yarn shop and some Frog Tree later, and a new creation is under way. I do think that since the Frog Tree is a worsted weight yarn, I will also write the pattern for lace weight yarn (since I already started one) and I do know someone who really liked the way the Noro looked! Groovy..... two patterns for one, a really quick worsted version and a lace version.

After the shawls are finished I am going to start on Miki's bag, here are the colors I picked.




I am excited for this one.

Noni for Nonie

Well, I finally did it, I finished the Noni bag. I am so happy with the way this looks. I love every bit of it. I hope Nonie likes it too! I met Nonie at a party and instantly thought of this bag! How cool they are the same name (spelling is a little off, but you can't have everything.) I never made a Noni bag before, so I thought I would give this one a try. Let me refresh your memory...

The patterns are worked up in doubled 100% wool, the patterns are very easy to read and very easy to make; the pieces are then felted in the washing machine so that the stitches are no longer separate, but look like one piece of fabric. For my bag (well, not mine but Nonie's) I used Ella Rae Amity in black and red. The flower pattern is separate, but I know I will use it again, and the flower is huge! Here are some pre-felting pictures of the bag and flower.





I also used my front loading washing machine. I read a great tutorial here and I was very happy with my results. I think one of the reasons this took so long was that I was waiting for an opportunity to go to the laundromat and that never happened, so my bag just sat and sat in my knitting basket waiting to be finished.

Here is the lining. I found a great tutorial here about lining the bag, and I did that this weekend. I couldn't believe how well the fabric (I found it at A.C. Moore) matched the flower and the bag colors! The lining was fun to do and I have a few projects (well, no, one project) that I would like to do using my sewing machine, so it was good to get the big machine running! I have missed making things with my sewing machine.


Instead of attaching the flower (which you may have noticed is different from the picture on the pattern) permanently to the bag, I attached a pin backing so that Nonie can move the flower if she wants, or wear it like Carrie Bradshaw!


Voila! Here is the finished product - I LOVE it so much I was inspired to design my own, this time in crochet and I will be working on that pattern soon (that one will be for you Miki!!!)








I am beginning a new shawl design, I have picked the stitch pattern and I am working on the numbers, this one is going to be cool!! It is going to be worked in Noro sock yarn!! You know what? I finished the last Impression using the Noro sock yarn, but forgot to take a picture of it, I will get a picture next time I see it. Let me tell you, it is so beautiful - it will be worth the wait!

Ode to the Little Man

Oh Little Man, how good of a Godmother am I?
to let your birthday fly right by...

Without so much as a birthday call...
I guess you could say I "dropped the ball"!

But what did I do to make things right?
of course, a woolly to warm you tight.

A beautiful cable, for a handsome little boy...
a sweater this year, not a useless toy.

Little Man, Little Man, I love you so...
I made this one with room to grow!

I will not forget, never again, my dear...
for if I do, the next will be cashmere!



The pattern is Get Ziggy from Anny Purls and I loved the design, Anny's blog and her adorable model! The yarn is Rowan cashsoft dk in color donkey. I made the 24 month size and it took only 3 balls of yarn! I loved this project - but not as much as I love the Little Man.....oh, and his dad (that's my brother!)

Good night Di Di!!

My Father

Happy Father's Day Daddy! Do you know how much I love you? Here are some reasons why:

I love how soft your hands are.

I love how you try not to cry every time I give you a birthday, Christmas, father's day card.

I love how when I was growing up I could talk to you about anything.

I love the way you look in a suit and wingtips.

I loved my wedding!

I loved how when I told you my S.A.T. scores you asked me which section. ( I know you have heard that one before, but it is a crowd pleaser Dad!)

I love going for boat rides.

I loved seeing you hold all of my babies and not really wanting anyone else to hold them.

I love how you like to brush Dumplin's hair.


I love your coffee!!!!!

I love hearing stories about Grandpa Raymond

I love spending the summers with you!!!

I love how you still call me my childhood nickname (it's Bony for my readers info, and not skinny bony, it's short for lazy bones!)


Thank you for all of the opportunities your hard work provided for me Daddy, I have a wonderful life, and I am so glad you are in it.....

I love you-

Bony

Whew!!

Well, this week was crazy!! And I didn't even go to TNNA! This week the house painting was completed. I had a 24 hour knit deadline (which I met!) and today was Miss Dumplin's little princess birthday party! Whew!!



Here are the new pictures of the house. Do you remember the old colors? Well, here are the new colors and I have to say, we have been getting a very warm reception on them! My parents were here on Wednesday and they both agreed that the colors look great! Whew!!




I received a call on Wednesday afternoon from a friend who knows someone, who knows someone, etc. and would I be interested in knitting something for a fashion magazine shoot. I said sure and the ball started rolling. I then heard from my magazine contact that my piece may not be for sure in the magazine and there is another designer working on the same thing. I thought OK, no harm done, I don't have any pressure to do this - no problem. Wednesday night I proceeded to work on my Noro sock Impression (pattern coming soon!) and didn't think another thing about it. Well, on Thursday morning I woke up and I finally had the house to myself (no more painters!), so I thought I would give the garment a shot. I emailed my photos to my contact person and was contacted right away by her saying......"we love them, could you make 2 different colors, oh, and we need them by tomorrow morning...." Yeah right. Well, you know what? I did it!!! (well, you already knew that from the first paragraph, right?!) The pieces (two, remember, two ..................................in 24 hours, and they weren't hats either!) were picked up this morning at 10:00am and I was even showered! Whew!! I will show pictures when I can......but I can't mention anything about it now.

The last bit of this week was Miss Dumplin's princess birthday party. We had a delicious menu of hot dogs and mac n' cheese. We drank water out of Real teacups, and had delicious cake. It was a very fun afternoon (well, to be real honest, it would have been really much better if I didn't pull an all nighter...........see description above) Whew!!!




Have a great weekend!!! Don't forget Father's Day!!



P.S. Katherine, click on the house pictures to make them larger, you will be able to see the colors better. I don't know why this is bold type either, so I can't fix it!

Man It's Hot!

Last week the temperature was in the 60's and 70's (my favorite). I love that weather, sometimes you need a little sweater and I was almost finished with the Herringbone mesh sweater (which would be perfect!) I was explaining to anybody that listened that Spring is a little chilly at times, layering is the key and it is nice to get a Spring (sometimes Spring really just blows us off in the East and it gets hot, hot, hot!).

Well..............Spring is gone, gone, gone! This weekend the average temperature was 95 degrees and it was unbelievable!!! So, of course, I finished this!
Isn't is so pretty? I love this pattern. The sweater is worked from sleeve to sleeve and then the yoke is added after, pretty genius I think!


The only difference in my yoke and the pattern is I worked the decreases every other row for 4 rows and then every row for 2 rows. I also finished off with a row of single crochet (wrong side facing) starting at the beginning of the yoke and ending on the other side of the yoke, instead of the patterns double crochet.



Thanks to Amy (yeah the designer, we're buds now!) for being so patient and listening to me. The yarn is MerLin from louet and the entire sweater only used 2 1/4 skeins. I, of course, bought 5 skeins, so I will be making something else out of this wonderful yarn. It is amazing how soft it becomes after washing. I can't decide on a closure for now, but I really don't need to, it's not like I can wear this for awhile!An all around good time with this pattern!


I have written the pattern for Impression (that's the groovy name the Magnificent Ms. M gave to the newest sweater!) and I am starting to test crochet the pattern in the Noro sock yarn. So far it looks so cool!





UPDATE: I have updated the pictures. School was closed early today (12:45) due to extreme heat.

p.s. Happy 4th of July Mom!!!

Unfinished

Well, today I thought I would have some finished things to show you, but, I don't........I have been working on things, but nothing is finished. I have the Herringbone mesh jacket almost complete. I just have to add the right front and work the yoke. I should have this finished today..



I also have the Noni Bag felted, but I haven't started the flowers yet. I decided to decorate the bag with unfurling roses instead of the fuchsia shown on the bag. I was reading on Ravelry that some people made the flowers into pins, so they can be removed and worn with something else. I think I am going to do that.





I also have some Noro sock yarn (isn't is so beautiful?) to test crochet the pattern for the last finished sweater. Oh, and I still have to write the pattern. Ugh!



This is Son #1 after his last lacrosse game. It was a new sport for him this year and although practice was, "so boring Mom", he scored a goal in his last game! (whew! I actually attended that game)

Here's something I didn't know....if you click on my pictures, they become really large and you can see a lot of detail.

And Now Back To Our Regular Blog Posts

I know, I know, I've been away........really I have just been super busy with the end of the school year things! It is nice to know people are waiting to hear from me! Without further delay, here is what I have been up to the past few weeks.

We had our Memorial day parade. Here I am with Son #2 (my mother says he hasn't had any blog time). I have to say, this year the parade was Boring. I was a little disappointed. It was a beautiful weekend, great weather and we had a great time as a family.

In my last post, I showed you a picture of this yarn. It is going to be my Herringbone mesh jacket....I just re-started it last night and hopefully will show you pictures this week of a finished garment.


The yarn is called MerLin from louet and is 60% linen and 40% Merino. I can't wait to wash this and see how it feels after washing.

The latest design project I have been working on is this little number:



Isn't she pretty? It is made out of Claudia Hand Painted Yarns and is their 100% linen-sport weight yarn. The sweater took only 2 1/2 skeins (at 270 yds per skein) and I have worn it twice already.

It is the perfect little thing to wear when you want a little warmth in the air conditioning or it is a little cool outside. Here is the back



It is hard to tell from this picture, but the sweater is made from the top down with raglan increases and shortly after the bust, the pattern changes to a more open pattern. Here is a better shot of the two patterns




Finally the closure is a crochet i-cord which is very, very easy to do and one of my favorite closures. The way this is done is to chain as many stitches as the length you want and beginning with the 2nd chain from the hook, slip stitch each chain. It's that easy!!!

The pattern will be available soon from Knit knack. It is so wonderful that they continue to ask me to design things for them. I feel so lucky to know such great people.

I also have been working on a few submissions which are top secret and I cannot show you anything about those. Finally, we are getting our house painted. This is not a small task, and our house is very visible in our town. We live on a main street (as most old houses do) and I have to say, the response of most town people to us changing the colors of our house has not been that positive. This leaves me feeling uneasy about the choices my husband and I have made. I really loved the colors the house was (my mother has exquisite taste) and to change her colors was just another step in making MY family house into Our family house. I hope we don't disappoint people. Here is a picture of the way the house looked while I was growing up and I will show pictures of it when it is done.