The Gift of Giving Thanks

Last night I had the rare opportunity to do something that I have wanted to do for a long time. I got to say Thank You to the man who started my design career. What a thrill!

My friends at Knit-A-Bit are celebrating their 10th year in business and this week they are having some heavy hitters in the the knit/crochet world. Last night the featured guest was Stacy Charles of Tahki Stacy Charles.

Now a lot of you know that Harriet and Susan started my design career by taking me to TNNA many years ago. For those who don't, the quick version is: while they were placing their order with TSC, Stacy asked if I was a designer, Harriet immediately said yes (even though I wasn't) and the rest is history!

Leave it to Harriet and Susan to have an event many years later that would connect me with Stacy again and give me the opportunity to say Thank You for giving me the opportunity to begin a completely new chapter in my life.

What a wonderful gift for me.... to be able to say Thank You to the man that started it all. I even got a hug!

**top I am wearing is the Java top I designed for the 2nd crochet book.

Let's Play Catch Up

This week let's get caught up with each other, shall we?

In the spring Marin was asked to be the flower girl in our Niece's wedding... I was , I mean, Marin was so excited to be in this wedding!

The wedding was in June and was going to be at a vineyard on Long Island...

We ordered the dress.....

We practiced with hairstyles.....

Of course I knit a sweater for her to wear in case it was cold....

Pattern is by me.... but will never be written. It was a pain, but look at how beautifully it matched! The lace is called vine lace (Barbara Walker first book, I think) because that kind of stuff really blows my dress up, if you know what I mean.













She looked so beautiful.... I cried really hard when she walked down the aisle, really it was a bit embarrassing.... she is a vision....

Dress.... $100.00
Hand knit sweater..... blood, sweat, and tears
Hairstyle........ 1 hour to roll, overnight to set and 45 min to style....(all by me)

Having pictures like these for the rest of my life....... priceless.

The Smell of 50 Shades

So, let's just acknowledge the elephant in the room and say, yes.. once again I have let my poor blog suffer from my lack of posting... What, made me come out of my hiatus?

Was it a super new knit job that I am so excited about? Nope.

Was it the hurricane that destroyed my beloved summer and left us in the dark for days and days and days? Nope... but totally would have if I was posting regularly

Was it kids getting back to school? Nope, that helps the blogging.

Nope to all of these (but more to come on each subject)

It is my friend Kristin Omdahl's new wool wash called..... Wrapture. It's smells so good, I wanted to mix it with vodka and take a swig!! I blocked a swatch with it... oh, so, good!

What does this have to do with 50 Shades? The scent is a sensuous, delicious, jasmine oil.... and for all of us who read 50 Shades of Grey.... that's what the chick in it always bathed in. If you want your warm woolies to give you that smirk (remembering that book) every time you wear them? Wrapture is for you friends, and if you just want your stuff to smell great? Wrapture is your wash!!

I love, love, love my buddy Kristin... to find her and wrapture click on over HERE.

It's even Otis approved!

Almost forgot with all of this 50 Shades talk! The winner is..... Figaro, please email me your address and if you wish for fiber for spinning, yarn or a book on knitting or crochet. Email me at kmcalindin@yahoo.com. Thanks everyone for your comments!

Wait For Me!!

I'm coming back....
I have so much to tell.........

Will you wait for me?
Respond to this post with a comment and a random winner will be picked to win some fiber or a pattern or a book or some yarn!!
See you soon!

May Day

Red Heart Boutique Yarn in Midnight

Happy May Day! It sure seems like May snuck up on me....I feel like we were just skiing. This is a wet and raining day - it even thundered last night!

Yesterday, Mr. Fantastic was not feeling well so I took the day off to give him a little TLC. He needed it. I worked a bit on my design that's due and actually knit my quota for the day. I'm hoping by tomorrow at this time the body will be completed. In this picture I am almost up to the armholes. The sweater will be worked all in one piece to the underarms and then split for the fronts and back. I can't decide if I should work the sleeves separately and sew them in or pick up stitches around the armhole and knit the sleeves down. The yarn company asked for a beginners pattern, I'm torn.

Coopworth fleece soaking

Since it's a rainy, yucky day and I am here knitting away, I thought I would wash some more of the coopworth fleece. I made some packets last night while watching television. I just love the whole fiber prep thing!




I am also washing this fleece from Namaste Farms... lucky me to have a friend who is a shepherdess and will send me fleeces! I am getting more fleeces this week. A merino (which I am sending to a small mill for processing) and two more fleeces from the same shepherd the coopworth fleece came from. I would like to have a bunch of fiber washed and prepped so that I can spin the summer away at the beach!

Beautiful Namaste Farms Fleece

Flippin' Friday

Were are the weeks going? I feel as if the weeks are just flying by! This week I finished up the little shawl for my friends daughter... here it is all blocked and looking pretty.

Yesterday morning I was finally able to unpin Marin's wedding sweater and this morning she tried it on for me. She is still in her pajamas and has sleepy hair... but when she put the sweater on? I was so happy with it! Boy, it really is a spectacular feeling when you see something in your head and are actually able to translate it and make it a reality. I just love this little sweater!

Last night during Blogtalk radio, I was happily flicking away on my coopworth fleece. Wow, what a pleasure this fleece has been to process. Originally I was going to send it off to a processor, but I can't bring myself to do it. I want to process the whole thing myself! Here are pictures of the box of fluff that I worked on - I can't tell you how much I love feeling the softness of the fluff!

 I was going to show a quick tutorial of how I flick open the locks. I started to take still pictures of the process, but I needed two hands to actually flick the locks (it's really just like brushing hair with a special brush - you can actually use a dog brush) but my camera is too heavy for my little tripod. I thought well I'll do a quick video and post it here. I went to the drawer to get my flip and...... nothin'. I went through each child's room... nothin'. I wasted 45 min trying to find this thing... and I came up with nothin'.

box filled will delicious fiber!

washed locks (remember that photo with the packets of fleece?)

twist fiber, holding the twist brush out each end.

fluffed out fiber... so soft and pet-able!

Sorry folks no video, but I now know going into the weekend that there is no contraband in any of my children's rooms..... and believe me I searched!

Yesterday I wrote the pattern for the new RedHeart design and I will be starting that up today. Hopefully I will have a major chunk of the knitting done this weekend so I can start a baby blanket on the rigid heddle loom my friend ordered.

Progress

This morning I finished up a quick shawl for my girlfriend's daughter. She is making her First Communion (May can be unpredictable in NJ). I went to an all girls Catholic school and my friends that I keep in touch with I offered to make shawls for their daughters when they make their First Communion. I have visions of adding length to the shawl for their Conformation and then again more length for their wedding. The pattern that I have chosen is so quick to memorize and it really flies off your hook.  The pattern is call Seraphina and is a free pattern on Ravelry. I started this yesterday morning and it is soaking right now as I type. The pictures are of the shawl pre-blocked.

Next up is swatching for a knit pattern for Red Heart. It will be a sweater. The yarn feels soft, it has some sparkle in it.....

I also have been spinning with my new Woolee winder. Can I just say I have mad love for my new Woolee winder. I asked Mr. Fantastic for it for Mother's Day, but he thinks I have enough 'fiber machinery' (silly man) so I took matters into my own hands and ordered it myself.

The beauty of the Woolee winder is that you don't ever have to change the yarn in hooks... it saves time and winds your singles onto the bobbin in pristine fashion. The bobbins are large and you can spin and spin and spin not worrying about how it is winding up. I have heard that some reviews say that they don't care for the take-up on single drive wheels. I didn't find this at all. I have a single drive wheel and thinking there would be a lot of adjusting while I spun for the first time... it didn't happen. It was pure spinning zen, baby. I also was a bit worried about the color of the winder if it would match the stain (I have a walnut Kromski Sonata) of my wheel.... another perfect score. I love it!

Waiting

Today, I am waiting for a delivery to come. My window is between 12 and 4 o'clock which means I have been waiting around for most of the day. I don't really like waiting for things, but it's not that I didn't have plans to stay home today... it's just that now that I HAVE to stay home.. it's bugging me.

Last week was a busy one. I am trying a new fitness routine and let me tell you, it takes a long time. It is the biggest time suck of the century but I hope it's worth it.. I do feel better when I exercise, so the 'new normal' (meaning not a lazy piece of cake sitting on the couch working all day) is taking some getting used to.

We celebrated Graham's 11th birthday on his actual day April 18th, but on Sunday had dinner with family and I made this cake. Sunday was earth day so I tried to make a globe.. I was pleasantly surprised with my earth... even though Africa kind of looked like a piece of broccoli.

Guess what was finished up today and is on the blocking board??? The never ending sweater for Marin to wear at the wedding. Let me tell you... I came down to the wire on the yarn... I even had to unravel my gauge swatch to have enough yarn!











I also am taking advantage of my homebound-ness to pick some locks from the coopworth fleece (Tootie) and package them up for washing. I have to say, I washed just a bit of it last week and simply flicked the locks open and spun from the lock.... Holy Sheep!! I am in love with that spinning technique.











I have a First Communion Shawl to crochet this week and a knit design that's due on the 15th of May - so that's what I will be working on this week.

Washing

Can someone please tell me why I would rather wash and process this:

Instead of this?

This is a coopworth fleece from my friend Vickie at Big Valley Ranch. Unbelievably spectacular fleece!!

I am STILL not finished with Marin's wedding sweater, but the sash came on Friday and the yarn color I picked??? It's perfect!

So I have that going for me.

Project Offer

Dear Mr. Fantastic-

This morning I came down to this:

I did this:

I accept Prada and diamonds....

PS: if by 'handsome reward' you mean Yourself? I'm good with that too!

Long Arms

I am plugging away on the sweater I am making for Marin to wear in a wedding. She is the flower girl (Squee!!) and the wedding is at a vineyard on Long Island. I was worried Marin would get chilly, so I decided to design a little sweater for her to wear.

I completed the back and two fronts in a weekend thinking this would be the quickest lace sweater in the history of sweaters... and then I started working on the sleeves. They are NEVER ENDING!! I swear the sleeves could fit me!! I buckled down last night and got a lot done on the first sleeve and finished it this morning. I even started the second sleeve....

Here is a picture of the fronts and back of the sweater next to one sleeve... see what I mean? Looooonnnnng arms, man!

The lace will open up and everything will look real pretty once I wash it.... The lace pattern is from Barbara G. Walker's A Treasury of Knitting Patterns (pg. 218) called.... wait for it....

Vine Lace... get it? the wedding is at a vineyard??

Yep, I dig that stuff!

Easter

We had a wonderful Easter! It was a great day filled with food and family. Marin looked so pretty in her Easter outfit all ready for church.

Here is our living room/dining room all dressed up for the Easter Meal:

Otis opening his eggs from the Egg Hunt:

Even my newest nephew/niece came for Easter!

Here is my favorite part of the whole meal... I made my famous apple crisp, but this time the crust was cinnamon buns... I got the idea here.

I thought today I would simply be, but there is still too much to do. I am still putting away dishes and getting the house back to normal. The crew is off of school this week, so I just finished cleaning up the massive breakfast we had!

Maybe tomorrow I will be able to sit and spin for a bit!

Just Like Papa

This morning I am getting ready for Easter and family visitors. Mr. Fantastic and I decided to wash the slip covers in my knitting room and I am hanging them to dry on an old wooden dry rack... while I was dusting off the dry rack I got a splinter in my finger. It didn't hurt or anything, but I wanted it gone!

Marin woke up this morning and I told her that I had a splinter in my finger. She asked if I wanted her to take it out. "Papa showed us how to do it last summer".

Papa is the splinter remover at the beach... he has special tools and can basically remove anything from feet, fingers and everything in between.

Marin set up shop, got her supplies:

And... it's gone.

It's good to have a daughter.