Finished Eyelet Hat and Scarf

Here are the finished Eyelet Hat and Scarf by Marly of the Yarn Thing podcast. The pattern is on Ravelry and in the holiday 2008 Knit Simple magazine. Dd wouldn't even give me time to block it. She is outside wearing them in 62 degree weather.

What will you knit while you wait to vote?

It is Election Day in the US. A good day for major knitting time while you wait in line to do your civic duty and follow the democratic process founded by our forefathers.
My 8 yr old daughter is very into the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. So far, her favorite presidents are George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. She will come with me to the voting booth as she has done for the last 8 years. I didn't knit all of those years or even 4 years ago for the last presidential election. You bet I will be knitting today. The scarf in the picture is the lovely Eyelet Hat and Scarf by Marly of the Yarn Thing podcast. The pattern is on Ravelry and in the holiday 2008 Knit Simple magazine. The 3 colors was my idea to keep my daughter who like multi-colors entertained. She told me the other day she lost her scarf so that gave me the reason I needed to cast on Marly's pattern as I'm off this week making x-mas presents.
BTW, go to Marly's site and wish her well as she had a tooth pulled yesterday and is in pain.

Time Passes Quickly

A month since my last blog update. A month ago I was on Plurk, Ravelry, and keeping up with Knit Wars. I've been so busy. I would go into why I've been busy, but you've all seen the news on the economy and you're not coming here to be depressed so let's move on. I've given up on Plurk. I haven't updated Knit Wars in 2 months. I am on Ravelry every now and then.

I still keep up with the podcasts. Have you heard the new podcast The High Fiber Diet? If not, go check it out. Lots of laughter and the sound quality gets better over time.
I was very happy to hear that Sydney from Knaked Knits is teaming up with Marly from Yarn Thing to run the Holiday KAL-CAL 2008. If you haven't heard of it, head on over and check it out. Join others in knitting or crocheting holiday gifts and maybe you will win one of the prizes.
If you need something to knit for the KAL-CAL, check out Marly's hat and scarf design in the holiday issue of Knit Simple or Sharon of She Knits Dumpling Bag in the fall issue of Interweave Knits or her Big Lace Scarf in the 2008 issue of Interweave Felt.

OK, so what have I been knitting this past month?

Hats for the Stash and Burn podcast 7 Long project.









A section of the charity blanket for Stitch It Podcast charity blanket drive. My section is overlapping waves in the blue.










I have also knit another bear for the Mother Bear project, but I need to get it stuffed and sewn so I will show that another day.

A hat for my husband. The pattern is the Twisted Rib Watch Cap. The yarn is Valley Yarns Sugarloaf colorway 26752 aka eggplant. This was an easy pattern to knit. I finished it today at dd's soccer game so you get to see it modeled by dh.










Although it is not finished, I have made much progress on my daughter's hourglass log cabin blanket. It now covers the top of the bed so only sides to be put on. The blanket is currently at 225 stitches a section so it takes a long time to knit each strip and you add 9 stitches every two strips. Hopefully, I will be done by x-mas. We'll see because I need to make other gifts as well.










Although I haven't been buying much yarn (last yarn I bought was for the 7 long hats and other charity knitting), I have been receiving yarn club yarns.

From the Scout's Swag sock club is the third installment of Posa:









From the Doodlebirds Creations non-sock club are the first two installments:
Here is Indian Summer:
Now unfortunately, I didn't think about the yarn content before joining the club so this lovely skein that contains mohair is on its way to a new home. I sent it along with the hats to Stash and Burn and hope they will be able to use it as a prize and give it a good home.




Here is Gentle Rainbow:
I'm trying to decide what to make with this one. It is a very pretty colorway reminding me of Spring as we enter Fall. The yarn did come with a pattern for a one skein hat and wristlets, I just have to figure out if my sensitive skin will like it. I seem to be able to wear merino on my feet, but not sure about the wrists. We'll see.




I am off to start working on holiday gifts or maybe take a nap. Happy knitting!

Loopy visits the libraries

As many of you know, Loopy from The Loopy Ewe travels during the summer.

During Loopy's visit here, he went and visited some of the sculptures for Art in the Pages. While Loopy didn't make it to all the finished sculptures, he did visit six of them.





Here is Loopy at the Patrick Henry library:













Here is Loopy at the Oakton library:

















Here is Loopy at the Thomas Jefferson library:



















Here is Loopy at the Dolly Madison library:
















Here is Loopy at the Tysons Regional library:















Here is Loopy at the Chantilly library:

September? What happened to August?

Time flies when you are having fun or something like that. I've been so busy I've given up on Plurk and get to Ravelry once or twice a week. I haven't entered anything into Knit Wars either. Ah well, being busy is good.

I have been getting some knitting done.

Here are hats for the Knaked Knits podcast drive for preemie hats.










Here are my Animal socks. The pattern is Temptation Top-Down Socks. The yarn is the Animal colorway from Yarning Yenta.






Here is a swatch created from my handspun. The blue is bamboo and the multicolor is tencel.









I am currently working on a bear for the Mother Bear Project and a hat for the Stash and Burn podcast hat drive.

Wrap up on vacation goals - look what is done!

My vacation is over. Here is the update on the goals.

1) I wish my vacation was longer because it was mostly a medical time as I was in the Dr office every day. However, that gets me more towards vacation goal #1 of getting better. I was able to work out today so I will call that victory.

2) The Labyrinth afghan is done!

All the multi-colored yarns are colorways inspired by the Labyrinth movie and I found a Labyrinth stitch in a stitch dictionary. Carrie of Dharmafey Cosmic Fibers did a set of colorways for the movie characters, places, or songs and I decided to keep them all together in one afghan rather than making socks out of them. I will post better pictures when it is all done, but the top middle square is Goblin's Elbows, the second row from left to right is Bog of Eternal Stench, Goblin King, and Fireys. Middle row is Dance, Magic, Dance, then Hoggle, then Lichen. Fourth row is Ambrosius, Sarah, and Sir Didymus. Middle square in the bottom row is Ludo.


















3) Spinning - I did start spinning some lovely blue bamboo.

4) Knit on 2nd Animal sock - didn't get much done. I got distracted by preemie baby hats for the Knaked Knits podcast.

5) Nothing done on the office.

6) Spent some days at the pool with dd and watching clouds.

Come celebrate my birthday

Welcome one and all to my birthday :)

Here is the second part of my birthday present - KnitPicks Harmony needles. The DPN pack and size 4 for the interchangeable needles with a 40 inch cable. Also a Chibi thrown in as I keep having more knitting bags and needing more needles.






I was mentioned on the Lime and Violet Daily Chum in What's On Your Needles Wednesday so if anyone is coming by from there - hi. The Labyrinth afghan is pieced together and I am now going around the outer edge. In case you are wondering why it is called a Labyrinth afghan, it is because all the multi-colored yarns are colorways inspired by the Labyrinth movie and I found a Labyrinth stitch in a stitch dictionary. Carrie of Dharmafey Cosmic Fibers did a set of colorways for the movie characters, places, or songs and I decided to keep them all together in one afghan rather than making socks out of them. I will post better pictures when it is all done, but the top middle square is Goblin's Elbows, the second row from left to right is Bog of Eternal Stench, Goblin King, and Fireys. Middle row is Dance, Magic, Dance, then Hoggle, then Lichen. Fourth row is Ambrosius, Sarah, and Sir Didymus. Middle square in the bottom row is Ludo.
If you are into Jim Henson's work, check out the Smithsonian Instituation Traveling Exhibition Service for Jim Henson's Fantastic World.

Please note that Carrie is moving her shop to Cosmic Fibers Yarns and is currently offering spots for Harry Potter UK covers inspired yarn.