Tudor Roses Knit-a-long

This is my old blog and boy was I surprised to find it was still up and running! As you can see from my old posts it's been a while.

I needed a Blogger account to be able to join the Tudor Roses Knit-a-long, so this fits the bill!

I am going to be knitting Henry VIII. In fact, I have already started and I hope by being in this KAL it will cheer me along to finally get Hank finished. I am about 10 rows from beginning the arm steeks.

Is it a sleeve?

Here is Mia, modeling the Sparkle Plenty sleeve. Not many can pull this off, but doesn't Mia look gorgeous in her poncho?




We have all recovered from the hustle of the Thanksgiving holiday. My MIL visited us and Tippi made it clear she loved having her Granny visit!




Hope you all had a terrific Thanksgiving. The countdown is on for Christmas!

I was just reminded by my 20 year 11 month and 15 day old son that his birthday comes before Christmas and he will be 21. :gasp: I feel so old.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A very happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

It's 1 year old!

Yup. My blog's first birthday was Nov. 13. I missed it. However.......

Unconscious Mutterings

Reconnect:: Modem
Gearshiift:: grind
Mania:: crazy
Manhattan:: drunk
First date:: too young
District:: school
Yearbook:: long ago
Breakup:: adios
Episode:: again?
Costume:: halloween

Play along! Go to Unconscious Mutterings.

There's a whole lotta sparklin goin on!

I sparkled in traffic yesterday.
I sparkled in my office at lunch too.
At breakfast this morning I sparkled with my coffee.
I even was prepared to sparkle at the DMV this morning, but I didn't have a chance.

Tonight, I sparkled at the dining room table with my husband!!




This is Dale 9006. I don't want to call it 9006. My friend Junie showed me this and I fell in love! I like how there are white lines going up - like rays of light. I have named this sweater "Sparkle Plenty" in honor of Junie's baby doll she had as a little girl.

I am doing the sweater in Dale Heilo with Indigo bought from Elann. I am making the contrasting colors in off white, light brown heather and medium brown heather. There will also be a light celery and medium celery color. Right now, I'm just at the stockinette stitch phase. Boring, but ya gotta do it to get to the good stuff.

I'm sending get well wishes to Junie! She has PINK EYE!

I'm going to go sparkle for a little bit and get to bed. I cleaned carpets and upholstery all day today. I'm exhausted!

3 years in the making

I knew when I saw it I just had to make it. I didn't know who it would be for, didn't know how long it would take, but I just had to make it.

That was 3 years ago. It was carefully packed away before the last move, carefully unpacked and put with the rest of my knitting things and has been languishing in the basket since. I finally took pity upon it and finished it. It is the Hooded Pullover from Paton's Weekend Retreat book. I knit it in Paton's Classic Merino, dusky lavender.




When I got it all put together I instantly knew who it belonged to - my sister, Marlys. This afternoon it will be wrapped and put in a package on it's way to Virginia. Wow. Hope she likes it! Wow. I'm glad it's done!!

My babies

Pardon the blurry picture, but sometimes you just gotta take what you can get. Here is my human baby (Kyle) holding my fur baby (Mia).

Boo!

It's a Rogue!

It has taken about a month, but I have finished Rogue. I made this out of Jamieson's Aran in chartreuse. I think it's a bit thick for winter in Northern California, but I'm glad I made it. I definitely will be making another one but a lighter weight yarn.

Wool is very forgiving and there are a lot of puckers and imperfections that I'm hoping will disappear. Here is Rogue, before blocking.

Full side view:



Here is the hood:




.... and the side....



What's next? My Iceland Lopi-along. Stay tuned for more specifics.

I'm busy!

I've been busy knitting up Rogue. I have had so much fun with it, I can't put it down long enough to take a picture or post anything blog-worthy. I am really going to be sorry when this is finished. By the time I finish most projects, I'm really glad to have it finished! But not this time. It's a nice relaxing pattern, yet enough cabling to keep me interested. I am knitting it out of Jamieson's Aran in Chartreuse. It knits up very thick which is nice. I'm hoping that when I wash and block it, it will soften up a bit. However, I think next time I will knit it so it's not so thick.

I've already got my next project ready to go. I got Lopi-ish yarn from Elann - Gjestal Naturegarn. I'm going to be doing Sigradur from The Best of Lopi. I'm not doing it in the colors pictured as my Rogue is about the same color. I have chosen winter blue as the main color with rust and cream as the 2nd and 3rd colors.

Enough for now - back to my Rogue!

I've got the blogger blues

I've been busily knitting away on my Rogue. I know I haven't posted pictures, but it's nearly completed! I just have to do the sleeves and block it. Pics soon. I promise.

Until then, I'll hopefully have pictures up of knitting and da cats.

Button, Button - Who's Got the Button?

I do! I do!

For my fellow ASOF'ers, here are the buttons for the Lopi-Along or the Iceland project of your choice. Please PLEASE copy them and save them to your own site. If you could please leave comments and let me know which one you are using, I would really appreciate it!

Condiment Queen

Uh huh. That's me. I'm the Condiment Queen. My drawer at work is filled with all kinds of varieties of ketchup, mustard, hot chili, salt, and pepper, and ketchup. It's mostly ketchup. I go to McDonald's or Wendys often. I'm sure it's obvious. When asked if I would like ketchup I say, No!" But it never fails - there is ketchup at the bottom. Sometimes a handful of ketchup packets. I just can't seem to throw them away, so I toss em into my drawer.

What in the world is the difference between ketchup and fancy ketchup??? One ketchup packet I have is from Wendy's. It has a picture of the Heinz ketchup bottle on the front. It says "Heinz Tomato Ketchup". It's ingredients are tomato concentrate made from red ripe tomatoes, distilled vinegar, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, salt, spice, onion powder, and natural flavoring. The other packet is the fancy ketchup and is clearly from McDonald's. It has the McDonald's logo on the front and says "Fancy Ketchup". It's ingredients are tomato concentrate from red ripe tomatoes, distilled vinegar, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, water, salt, and natural flavors. It does not mention a name brand, however, it says it is made in the USA for exclusive use by McDonald's Restaurants. So, the plain ketchup has MORE ingredients than the fancy ketchup. By not having spice and onion powder it is fancier than the one with those ingredients?

If the Big E ever happens while I'm at work and I get trapped in my office, please by all means search and rescue the others first. I will most certainly be able to survive quite a while because I have been squirreling away these condiments. With the red ripe tomatoes in the ketchup and all the corn syrup I should survive the Big E nicely!

Introducing......

(drum roll, please)..... Alan and Alan!

Or, is it Alan in Alan. Maybe it's Alan on Alan?

For those who haven't been reading my blog, this sweater didn't have a name. It's a Dale of Norway pattern with no name. I couldn't possibly knit something that didn't have a name. Since it was for my husband Alan, what better name than, Alan??! (I wonder how many more times I can use the word "name" in this paragraph?)

And a close-up of Alan in Alan....

In case you couldn't tell, he's Scottish. Yeah, I love him anyway. :-)

I absolutely LOVE this yarn. It was made from about 2100 yards of Bendigo Aran wool. Stitch definition is GREAT and the wool is very very soft. I converted the called for crew neck to a V-neck. Other than the fact that I asked him to model this for us during a heat wave, he is very happy with this sweater. If he's happy, I'm happy.

Hot stuff!

Wool is hot when it's 90+° outside. Fortunately I'm still struggling along with Alan's sleeve, so I don't have a pile of wool sitting on my lap.

Poppy says, "Do whatever it takes to stay cool!"

My partner in crime

I certainly have no shortage of desired new projects hanging around. Lately I've been very good in staying focused on finishing my projects and NOT starting another. I'm about 1/4 of the way done on Alan's 2nd sleeve and was looking forward to getting it done, blocked, and put away. However, a small package arrived from my partner in crime the other day. It contained small bits of various colors needed for the Interweave Knits Floral Felted Bag. I fondled the colors and oohed and aaahed at them. All I needed was to get the background color. No biggie. But, could I resist? For the moment, yes. I found the background color I wanted and that was it. I just had to cast on. My intentions were good but it was just calling for me. I have been feeling very knitty lately.

One down, one to go

.....sleeves, that is. One more sleeve and I'm finished with Alan! I just finished the ribbing and am now working on the sleeve and have started the increases. I am always surprised at how quickly sleeves go.

On the school scene, my baby started 8th grade yesterday. He came home excited about one of his new teachers, his science teacher. It always makes me happy when he likes one of his teachers. Maybe there's hope for him yet??!

I plan on enjoying my last week-and-a-half of my summer before school starts on September 7. I'm only taking 2 classes, one of which is done on the internet. I'm starting at ground zero so I'm starting off with English 1A and Introductory Algebra. Betcha I'm the oldest one in the class! Meanwhile, I'm looking forward to finishing Alan. I need to get going on the Oregon again. Don't know why, but it's lost it's "umph" for me. Maybe because I know I have to go back and re-do the front and neck bands? I'm looking forward to starting my Rogue, though. I'm doing it in Jamieson's Aran chartreuse color. Yummy.

My daily therapy

You know the saying - you can't please everyone. Well, that certainly holds true for me at work. I just can't seem to get everything done at a pace that is satisfactory for everyone. By lunch I have turned into a beast. Fortunately I can close my office door, eat my lunch and knit a few rounds of whatever I have thrown into my bag. Right now it is a pair of socks knit from yarn from my stash - Fortissima Colori in color 545. They're knit on Clover Takumi 2.25 mm.

This is one reason why I love knitting. It calms me - it soothes the savage beast in me.

My new sweetheart

I finished my Sweetheart hat! The design is by Anne Featonby. I knit it in Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift in colors Crimson (525) and Shetland Black (101).



This hat was SO much fun to knit! It would be a great project for someone wanting to try their hand at fair isle. It was a great project as a break from my Oregon Cardigan and my husband's Alan aran.

Well, back to the aran. Thanks Anne for a great pattern!