Before and After

I have been concerned about puckering in my stitches as I carry the white yarn behind the red. Someone suggested that I steam it to see if it would help. The difference (in person) is amazing. I don't know if you can see much difference in these photos, but the before is on the left, after on the right.




Oh, and someone wants to say hello...

Deer really CAN fly!

This morning our house was busy getting ready for work and school. As usual, the cats were their morning festive selves. Poppy (see below, he is modeling with the needles) was chasing Mia (the sweater model). Out of all the places for them to run, she managed to get her little hind foot caught in a loop of yarn hanging from my Lappland sweater. So, there she goes, running with the deer right behind her, and Poppy is even MORE excited because now he's chasing Mia AND the deer. He's thinking MAJOR BONUS! I'm running after them and I'm sure they're thinking, "Cool! We have Mom in on this too!! How fun!" I guess the stern "NO" (being said repeatedly) got to Mia as she stopped. In horror I saw several rows frogged down the hallway and my needle barely hanging on. Of course at that instant I wanted to kill them both. I retrieved my poor sweater. I looked at Mia and she had her ears laying down on her head and gave me that pathetic "Oh Mom! I'm so sorry!" look. I looked down the hallway and Poppy was innocently looking around at the ceiling and walls giving me that, "What??!" look. Over lunch today I fixed what was undone. When I go home tonight, all is forgiven. At least this time.

Norwegian knitting terms, demystified!

You really neeck to check out Theresa's blog. I love a lot of the patterns that Garnstudio has. I used several Norwegian/American dictionaries and muddled my way through translating several of them. However, the way Theresa talks about sure makes it easier for me and it actually is starting to sink in.

Several people have contacted me asking if the sheep stitch markers were hard to make. They also wanted to know where I found the sheep and parts to make it. If you're interested, please contact me privately (e-mail on side bar) and I'll give you the name and address of the place here in the San Francisco Bay area.

I've knitted a bit at lunch today but nothing worth posting a picture for.

Happy knitting everyone. If you're interested in learning a bit of Norwegian be sure to read Theresa's blog!

Doe a deer, a female deer

Worked on Lappland this weekend. I am almost to the point I was when I completely frogged it.

Here is Mia, waiting until Mom gets to the deer. Red is SO your color, Mia!

Marking with style

One of the things I had to do this weekend was run to the bead shop. I wanted to make some stitch markers but wasn't sure what I would find. I found exactly what I had hoped to find! I made two kinds.

Lappland, take ten?

Well, I've just started the pattern and it's going so nicely. I had to increase the number of stitches, thus enlarging the pattern to make sure the sweater ended up with the measurements the pattern gave me. You know - that gauge thing. I had already bought the yarn so I wanted to use it - of course I love Brown Sheep anyway.

All the math added up, as the rows of the pattern are ending exactly where they should. The sweater seems to be just about right as far as size and I'm SO excited. I would like to again thank Grace! Thanks, Grace! I also owe a thank you to Annette in Australia for holding my hand through all of this too. I am amazed at the talent these two have. How can I possibly go wrong with these two in my corner?

I have tons of non-knitting things to do this weekend, so depending on how much knitting I get done I will post a new picture Sunday night. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Back to school

Well, not really... I am going to my first Stitches West class on Friday February 20. I have some "homework" I have to do for my Cut Without Fear: Construction Techniques class. I am to knit a small sweater to fit a doll and I will learn my first steek on it. What I learn from this will then be used real-time on my Lappland sweater. Lolly says I should have no fear. Uh huh.

I swear, it's the last time!!

Well, I completely tore out my deer to the very beginning. Thanks to the help of my online friend, Grace H., I figured out what my problem was. So, we re-calculated the sweater and had to enlarge the sweater to fit my gauge. I learned a lot in the process. I will be able to use this in the future. Thanks, Grace! I owe you big-time!

Homemade goodness

My sweet husband made me double pointed needles out of birch!! Here they are. They are size 4 and are long enough that I think I will use them on my Dale instead of the circulars. Aren't I lucky to have married an enabler?




Of course, Poppy had to get in on the action and help.

2 steps forward, 1 step back

I lost count how many times I have had to frog the deer. :sigh: My gauge was WAY off. To make a long story short, I frogged it down to the top of the ribbing and went up one size on the needles. I am now almost finished with the grey part, just above the white as in the picture below. Then I can start on the white spots. I'm sure the "white spots" have a name but it escapes my frazzled brain. When I have time, or more when I feel like it, I need to figure out what happened to my comments section. I noticed the other day it disappeared! :-(

Just chuggin along...

Once again, life gets in the way of knitting, but I try to get a few rows done each night, if nothing else. I have Friday and Monday off. Hopefully I'll get a good bit of knitting done over my long weekend.

Real Progress!

I was finally able to get past the boring ribbing and get to the good stuff!

Croak croak

Yes. That's a frog. For you knitters, you know what that means. I frogged the deer. For you non-knitters, I ripped it out. Started over. I frogged it. I just didn't like the way it looked and thought I could do better. I'm glad I did. It looks much better!!

...and they're off!

The deer have been started! I got Lappland on the needles. Not much else done tonight. Here - take a look!

Oh "deer"! Lookie what came in the mail!

Yep! My yarn for my Lappland sweater arrived - Brown Sheep Naturespun sport! I got my yarn from Oregon Trail Yarn. I'm gonna knit me up some reindeer!

A very productive weekend

I finished my Kool aid socks this weekend! I knitted the Kool aid socks and the socks below using Wendy's Toe Up Sock Pattern. Thanks, Wendy!! I will knit my socks this way from now on!





Got this fantastic yarn in the mail on Friday, so I started a new pair - El Tigre. It's interesting watching the pattern of El Tigre develop. I took pictures of both sides to show the stripe and the subtle colors. Only one way to describe the colors - Meow, baby! I got the yarn at Over The Rainbow Yarns. Beautiful yarn. You should go see the other fantastic colors.

Alapaca from Argentina

Alicia, originally from Argentina, returned to work today after visiting family and friends in Argentina from the holidays. She is so sweet! She brought me back some alpaca! It's such a beautiful rich color of caramel brown and is not dyed. She said she was told it would make enough for socks - but I don't think I want to hide it in a pair of shoes! She suggested a hat, which I think I will be perfect.

Almost finished with my Kool-aid dyed socks. I think I'll do the hat next. I'll go through my pattern books this weekend and see what I can find for a pattern.

We're going to my mother-in-laws this weekend, so I probably won't be posting until Sunday. Have a great weekend!

A very happy 2004 to everyone!