Dances With Yarn

Hope's Shi Chi Pups

Happy New Year!

Hello Friends and Happy New Year! 

I've made it back to blog-land (once again) with some knitting and spinning news.

Spinning continues...

and continues...

and continues...

I even tried dyeing some of my own fiber!

And then knit these...

 

And out of Ella Rae Classic knit this...

And y'all thought I was slacking off, didn't you!

Those single mittens will have their mates soon. 

Knitting the second mitten isn't nearly as bad (for me) as knitting a second sock.  And it's lots of fun saying that

this...

was knit from this...

which was spun from this...

which was dyed by me!  My family fears I'll be raising sheep soon but I think not :-)

More knitting pics can be found here (Ravelry link).

And finally, for Glamaw, some Christmas pics... 

Pawpaw got a simple 3 X 3 rib scarf knit from some oh-so-soft Misti Alpaca Chunky...

Cheerleader Daughter got a new tennis racket...

and gear for college...

Football Star Son got a new TV...

and I got a hair cut.

Little Brother Football Star got Guitar Hero III...

 

that everybody else played with except him...

And where was Little Brother Football Star while everybody else played?

Under the desk keeping everything working properly for everybody else.  Now THAT is the true spirit of giving!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!

Merry Christmas Glamaw!!!

Here's a pic of what your Christmas present will look like. 

Or should I say, your Hannukah present?

Hope you like it!

We miss you and wish you were here with us!!!

Where Have I Been???

Spinning my little arse off, that's where!

Santa came early this year and brought me an adorable little Louet Victoria spinning wheel.  Many of you know that I've been toying with the idea of getting a wheel for quite a while now and well.... I finally decided to take the plunge.  Unfortunately, I don't have any spinning guilds nor LYS's near me to take lessons from so (as usual) I'm just winging it. 

Here is what my spinning looked like about 2 weeks ago when I first got my wheel and didn't have a CLUE what I was doing.

Yeah, it's pretty bad.  The bottom skein is some American Romney (from a ram named Desi) that I picked up at the Kid 'n Ewe fiber festival last year, and the skein above that is some ugly batt plied with a strand of Desi.  Ugly batts are a pretty good idea for a beginning spinner since you get SO MUCH fiber for SO LITTLE money, and even though the ugly batt plied with Desi looks pretty horrible, ugly batt plied with ugly batt doesn't look so bad.

With each skein I spun I could see improvement.... little by little.....

I've been experimenting with lots of different kinds of fibers to see what I like and what I don't like, and I've come to the conclusion that while spinning dyed roving is probably more interesting than spinning undyed natural fibers, I think I prefer the look of the finished undyed fiber yarns. 

I also think the undyed yarns will be more practical for actual knitting projects as I tend to prefer solid colored yarns over multi-colored yarns.  It is nice though to be able to take a break from spinning brown, beige, or oatmeal colored yarn and spin up some beautifully dyed roving, and some of the dyed roving does indeed spin up into a subtle somewhat muted colorway that I wouldn't mind using for a hat or scarf.  I've not actually knit up any of my handspun yet -- I think I'm afraid to actually, as I fear it will knit up all wonky and skew terribly to one side or another.  Soon enough though, as I'm hoping to knit up a pair of mittens (or two) as one of my first handspun projects.

But don't think I haven't been knitting too!

   

In other news, we celebrated Glamaw's 70th birthday with a huge surprise party!  Friends and family members flew in from all over the country....

Glamaw's baby brother and his wife flew in from St. Louis....

One cousin and her family flew in from San Antonio....

    

Another cousin flew in from Manhattan...

More cousines from Cedar Rapids...

And more cousins flew in from various parts of the country....

Friends Suzy and John Young (the astronaut) attended....

Football Star Son and Sarah did too....

There was cake....

And trick candles....

 

 

And birthday presents...

 

And lots and lots of celebrating...

The party continued the next night with dinner...

Dancing (the hora)...

And a special rendition of You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby from our favorite entertainer...

Glamaw, if this is what 70 looks like, I can't wait!

 

Happy Birthday!

What started out as a simple Halloween costume dress-rehearsal....

turned into a full fledged knitwear photo shoot!

Hello, I'm a knitwear model!

Starting from the top, you see a cute little red Gretel beret made for a cute little Red Hatter I know.

Specs:

• Pattern -- Gretel by Ysolda
• Yarn -- Hill Country Yarns Merino Silk in Fire Red
• Size -- Slouchy (yes, that's a size!)
• Modifications -- Used a regular cast-on 2 X 2 ribbing instead of the tubular cast-on called for in the pattern and went up a needle size for both needle sizes (used 6's and 8's instead of 5's and 7's).

Next up are a pair of Fetching fingerless gloves shown with the Haruja Scarf I finished.

Cheerleader Daughter knows how to "work" the knitwear.

Specs:

• Pattern -- Fetching by Cheryl Niamath
• Yarn -- Malabrigo Worsted Merino in Sealing Wax
• Size -- One size fits all
• Modifications -- added 4 extra rounds of stockinette stitch after the thumb and before the last cable, and could have added even more!

• Pattern -- Haruja Scarf by Tikru
• Yarn -- RYC CashCotton 4 ply in color 910
• Size -- At least 60" long (probably longer)
• Modifications -- none

Okay now, this is scary...

FO

Specs:

• Pattern -- Haruha Scarf by Made By Myself
• Yarn -- Rowan Classic CashCotton 4 Ply (less than 2 skeins)
• Needle Size -- 7
• Finished Dimensions -- about 11" X 60+"
• Notes -- If I ever make another one of these, I don't think I'd do the funky little edging stitches that are supposed to give a cabled effect.  First, they are all wonky, and second, I think the scarf has enough going on that it really doesn't need another design element.  JMHO....

Weekend Reno, Haruha, and Football

What do you do when your playroom carpet has worn out its welcome?

Oh and do you remember the old drop-cloth trick?

Hey, with three teens, two dogs, a husband, and a couple of cats spending the majority of their time in this room, a mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do.

In knitting news, it had been determined (by me) that a particular stealth FO for a particular person's birthday needed a bit of revision (the story can be read on my Ravelry page) so it was carefully unbound, tinked back a bit, and painstakingly placed back on the needles to be "altered" and then re-bound off.  Making the decision to revise this FO (which was fine to begin with, but I knew it could {and should} be better) wasn't easy but I'm so glad now that I did it.  I've also been steadily working on my Haruha scarf, which seems to be taking longer than I thought it would.  I'm about 34 inches into it (unblocked) and I'm thinking it should probably be about 60" long -- does that sound right for a scarf?  Believe it or not, other than some scarves crocheted out of some fugly novelty yarn years ago, this is the first "real" scarf I've ever knit.  I'm using Rowan Classic's CashCotton 4 Ply which is a super soft yarn -- I just hope that it will hold its shape after it's been blocked.  It took just one skein to do all 34", so two skeins should do the trick.  And can I just say that I'm loving lace right now?  I just can NOT get enough of lace knitting lately.  It does take some concentration though, which isn't always easy, but when the house is quiet and I'm able to focus a bit, I pick up a lace project and am completely absorbed.

In other news, Football Star Son came home last weekend for Homecoming, and this was about all I got to see of him.

He actually turned around at one point and asked me if I was okay because I was being so quiet.  Ha.  Anyway, several people have asked me how he's doing at school, and to be honest, I don't really know.  I do know that FSS is DEFINITELY spreading his wings, perhaps a little too far, but nothing out of the norm for a kid going away to his first semester of college.  Grade-wise, only time will tell in that arena, as there are no progress reports or parent/teacher conferences to rely on.  Yep, it's a lot of wait-and-see right now.... something I am NOT very good at, but am slowly learning.  Of course, there are two other teens who keep me very busy these days too....

 

And guess who's no longer the smallest player on the high school freshman team??? (Yes, I said high school freshman, augh!)

   

I'm Not Gonna Lie....

... the last month's been rough.  Sending a kid off to college can be a pretty difficult transition... if not for the kid, then most definitely for the parent.

Throw in to the mix a little credit card fraud, two additional teenagers, and some PMS and you get the idea...

But today's been a good day.  Cheerleader Daughter finally found a part-time job, I finally found a (much needed) house-keeper, and Football Star Son and the lovely Sarah are "working things out".  Don't ask.

And I cast on for this.

And finished one of these.

Yep, today's been a good day :-)

On My Mind...

 

Daydreaming of Fall.....

Back On The Blogwagon!

I received an email today from a friend who asked me if I'd "fallen off the blogwagon" since it's been so long since I've blogged, and basically, yes I had.  But just because I've been missing from the blogosphere does not mean I haven't been knitting (and doing all the other crazy stuff I normally do).  And so I figure since someone other than my mother is "reminding" me about my lack of blogging, it's time to get back on the blogwagon.

Now first, let me just say that there has been some stealth knitting going on.  And because it's for a certain someone's birthday, it can't be shown here.  It can however be seen on my Ravelry page for those of you who have received your invites.  And for those of you who haven't, from what I've been reading on the Ravelry blog, it sounds as if you will be receiving your invites any time now, so hang in there!  Anyway, so much for stealth knitting.

Also on the needles are the Sweet Pea Socks which is the first pattern to go out in the Hill Country Yarns Sock Club.

(I have no idea why Cheerleader Daughter's foot looks so HUGE in this pic....)

I'm actually quite a bit further than this pic (taken just earlier today) and am almost ready to bind off the first sock.  Woohoo!

I also accidentally felted my Something Red made from a scrumptious brown merino/silk blend and will tell the entire tale when I can do so without sobbing.

 

This "Something Brown" (now called "Something Felted") was probably one of my favorite FO's (and yes, it was completely finished before I accidentally felted it) and was knit to be worn while I was at Stitches Midwest, but alas.... it wasn't meant to be.  I loved this sweater so much though that I'm determined to make another one.  Some day. 

In other news, football season has begun once more and I'm down to a mere two games per week (Freshman football for Little Brother Football Star and Varsity for Cheerleader Daughter). 

Fall must be just around the corner.... I can't wait.

 

The Beginning of the Beginning

This summer has been a whirlwind of activity and I can't believe it's already time for back-to-school shopping.  Where has the time gone?  And why is it that the older we get, the faster time seems to go?  (heavy sigh.....) 

Speaking of getting older, guess who sent her first-born off to college yesterday?  That would be me! (again with the heavy sigh.....)  Much of the summer has been devoted to college preparations, and yesterday was finally Football Star Son's big day to officially "leave the nest" and go off to school.  The first order of business (or was it the last order of business) was for FSS to say his good-byes.

As you can see, he was quite sad to be leaving....

And on the girls' side of the dorm, the lovely Sarah was getting her room ready...

Sarah's room-mate's side of the room.  Oy.

I am so excited for you honey!  Be good, and remember, "Go Slow and Say No!" We love you and we're only a phone call away if you need us!

For you Ma!

Well, I've been getting a little flack from a particular someone about not having posted anything to my blog in a while, so here goes...

First, there has been knitting.  I've jumped on the bandwagon and am knitting a pair Monkey socks.  It took me four tries to find the "perfect" yarn.  My first attempt was with Hill Country Yarns Alpaca Sock yarn in a warm cinnamon color.  The yarn was yummy and so squishy soft, but the gauge was off and the sock was turning out to be ginormous!  Then I tried a skein of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock and that pooled like crazy.  My third try was with a skein of Happy Cotton Sock Color but I didn't like the colorway I was using and frogged it.  I finally settled on Hill Country Yarns Superfine Superwash sock yarn in the Aquarina colorway and I love it!  No pooling!  I'm actually quite a bit further than this pic and am already about halfway down the foot!  I used a garter stitch short row heel and am not too sure whether I like the looks of it -- I'll post a pic as soon as it stops raining and I can step outside and take a nice sunny pic.  I really love this pattern -- it's an 11 row lace pattern repeat that's actually quite easily memorized.

Also, Football Star Son and I attended his freshman college orientation.  This was my view from my hotel window.  Nice, eh?  Yeah well, despite the view from the hotel window, the accommodations were by far better than the dorms that most of the other suckers parents opted to stay in.  Um, no thanks.

And while we were in the area, we decided to do a little sight-seeing and headed up to Gruene for dinner at the Gristmill River Restaurant, which is a restaurant "built in the remains of a brick boiler house that was originally constructed  in 1878 as a part of a cotton gin powered by water from the Guadalupe River".  Very cool.  After dinner, there was shopping in the General Store of course, where I picked up some Cinnamon Honey-Butter and some Apricot Salsa!

Yes, I've been very busy knitting and traveling, but I have to be honest and tell you all the real reason I haven't had time to blog lately.  It's Ravelry.  Ravelry.  The Ultimate Time Vaporizing Website.  You know, when I first got my invite to Ravelry I swore I wouldn't blog about it until all other 7,000 (plus) of you got your invitations because I felt it was a little rude to do so.  You know, kind of like being inside of a really jammin' night club screaming to all those standing in line outside waiting to get in about how much fun you're having.  Just.  Not.  Right.  But having said that, let me just say that it's wonderful, it is worth the wait, and it will totally rob you of entire weekends without a moment's notice, so be warned. 

And finally, as if I'm not busy enough, I decided today that I'm going to fly to Chicago in August to attend Stitches Midwest!  I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!  Let me know if any of you are going and maybe we can meet up!

Okay, my Monkeys are call me! 

Got Hair?

So we had bit of a garage sale and well, the girls got a little crazy with the attachable hair.

The garage sale was a huge success and my husband is very happy to have his garage back!

Cheerleader Daughter won the award for best helper during the garage sale, as she was up early both days (the boys slept in on the second day) and did a great job throughout the whole shebang.

In crochet news (I'll bet you thought I'd NEVER talk about yarn again!), I finished my second Babette Blanket.

   

I hate to say it but try as I might, I just don't like it. 

I don't like that (in my opinion) the predominating "design" you see is the zig zaggy diamond-ish pattern instead of the individual granny squares.

 

Aren't the squares prettier???  I think so.  I don't know why but when I first set out to make a solid-colored Babette, I thought the squares would be more distinguishable than they are.  So my recommendation is that you NOT make a solid-colored Babette if you want to be able to see the squares.  If you don't want a lot of colors and/or prefer a muted palette, choose colors that are similar but not identical.  In hindsight I wish I'd have gone for a half dozen shades of beige and cream as opposed to going with one color only.  The only benefit I found of using one color was that there were fewer ends to weave in and weaving in those ends was much easier to do since I didn't have to worry about the colored yarn showing through the other stitches.

I'm also nearly finished weaving in the ends of my first Babette!

It's hard for me to imagine that these two blankets are actually made from the exact same pattern with such different results.  Funny.... 

But aren't the colors wonderful?  And LOOK, no zig zaggy diamonds!

And since I finished my Babettes, I picked my striped crocheted afghan back up and have about 2 feet of it done.  Talk about color! 

It's SO incredibly soft and is made with Hill Country Yarns Country Alpaca in several solid shades.  I don't know what my deal is lately with afghans but for some reason that's all I'm interested in working on.  Oh well, it probably won't last long....  I just hope it lasts long enough to finish this one!

CSI Yahoo Part 2

Case closed.

Apparently my little hacker's been at it since (at least) 2001 and actually hacked into at least two of my email accounts.  She saved copies of all types of email correspondence including emails containing account numbers of all types....

...emails containing private stock information...

...emails to and from our home builder...

...email order confirmations from just about every online order I ever placed...

...private emails from friends and relatives...

She even hacked into my eBay account to see what I was buying and/or selling.

Seems someone had way too much time on her hands.

Football Star Son's Tribute to Kyle

Football Star Son was asked to honor Kyle with a tribute at the SFHS 2007 graduation ceremony.

Good evening, for those of you who don’t know us, my name is aaron and this is my best friend adam garza. I feel that God puts a certain person in everybodys life who is truly amazing. Kyle Jonas Adams was that person in many peoples lives, including the two of us standing here before you and many of you out there. Kyle was an A student at Santa fe High School, a member of the varsity football and baseball teams, and was a member of the national honor society. He strived for greatness at everything he did…and most of the time he achieved that greatness. There were struggles along the way such as mrs nolens freshman english class and mrs scullys world history class but he always gave 110%. He was a caring brother, a loving son, nephew and grandson and a loyal friend. I am sorry for all of you who did not know him because he was truly an outstanding young man. Kyle served as a light to those who needed guidance both during his life and his death. Whether you needed advice or just someone to vent to, Kyle was always willing and eager to help in any way he could. Adam and I both could go to kyle with any issue or trial we were facing and he somehow always found a way to make us feel better. Its hard to step back and look at my life without Kyle because he was such an important part of it for so long. But when I do this I realize that he is as present now in my life as he always has been and he is more important than ever.He is not with me physically but rather emotionally and spiritually, Kyle is with me more than he ever has been. I know that I can speak for adam and myself, and much of the graduating class of 2007 when I say that Kyle was the most caring, honest, humble and loyal person we’ve ever known. He was an asset in the hallways of santa fe high school because it was hard to catch him in a foul mood. His smile could easily turn the worst day of your life into your best day and he never missed the chance to prove it. His bright blue eyes could pierce into the very depths of your soul if he knew you were upset. The sound of his laugh made you smile, even if you didn’t feel like it. He was an all-American great guy and I thank God for putting him in my life, even if for only a short while. Kyle’s life was much shorter than it should have been and proves the statement that God only takes the best. He took Kyle, and he got the best. To my graduating class I say that Kyle’s memory lives on in us and I pray that you remember him in all the good times and the bad times. I wish everyone the best of luck in their future and go forth knowing that Kyle is watching over us all. The last thing I would like to ask of everyone here in attendance is to help me in recognizing the people that made Kyle who he was. Please join me in applauding Mr. and Mrs. Ken and Karen Adams………thank you for your time and all of the support that you have shown his family and those who knew him.

A Door Closes....

Last ride to school together..... ever.

 

Graduation gifts in the parking lot.... classy.

Stocking up for college....
   

Sarah's turn...

 

Yes, I'm exhausted and no, I don't have any knitting (or crochet) to show you :-(  Hopefully soon though!

What Knitting Has Done For My Crochet

So I figured before I posted more non-fiber related stuff, I should at least post a picture of my Babette-in-progress.

This tiny little thing is sections 1 - 7 or 8 (I can't remember) of my second Babette.  Did I mention it's tiny?  Because it is.  Tiny.  Clearly, if I want to cover anything more than a foot or an arm, I'll need to add more sections on to this baby, which is fine because for some unknown reason I'm still enjoying crocheting all the little squares.  I've already decided I'll be adding at least 4 more sections onto the 10 sections called for in the pattern.  I'm nearly finished with section 9 already, so even though I'd like to be done with it, I don't mind making it a little bigger.  And while I don't really like this solid-colored Babette as much as I thought I would, up close, the texture isn't too bad.

I do like the DMC Wool/Cotton Senso enough that I am planning on making yet another multi-colored Babette in it (even though I know I'll be adding on to it as well).  These squares really are addicting -- they're so easy to pick up at any time and it's really fun to see how they all look when seamed together (even in a solid color).

I have to say that knitting really has changed the way I view crochet now.  For me, knitting is slower than crocheting, so while it seems that these Babette blankets take a long time, I think I've grown somewhat more patient than I used to be before I knit.  For instance, it probably takes me about as long to knit a pair of socks as it does to crochet one of these blankets (with second sock syndrome and all...)   And the crochet seems a bit less monotonous than endless rows of stockinette, so that keeps it interesting.  Not that I'm dissing knitting, 'cause I'm not.  I'm just sayin'.  Or maybe I'm just trying to psych myself up to do another one of these blankets.....

In other news, tonight was Football Star Son's Honor Grads banquet. 

Congratulations Sweetie, we are so proud of you!

Then, after I'd gotten into my p.j.'s, Cheerleader Daughter decided we needed some mother-daughter My Space pics.  Why she couldn't have decided this BEFORE I'd gotten into my p.j's, I'm not sure...

 

I promise I'll have more knitting and/or crochet content soon, but with proms, banquets and graduations, it's pretty much all about the kids these days.

Prom '07 Part II

Absolutely no knitting content whatsoever.  Who has time to knit when you have two teens to help get ready for prom???

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