All Finished!

This past week I’ve accomplished much. Here are my feats in no particular order: I helped a friend line my Quinn Cabled Bag (see above), finished my Blueberry Waffle Socks, experienced a Jimmy Buffet concert, celebrated my oldest daughter's 22nd birthday, launched my baby at Michigan State University, and attended meetings and got my classroom ready for 145 sixth graders. I also think I might have prepared a meal as there is a pasta salad in our giant red Tupperware bowl that looks haphazardly thrown together. Since only I use Big Red and the salad is mediocre, I’m thinking it’s my handiwork. Anyway, I’m pretty tired even after sneaking in an afternoon nap today but was too excited not to blog.

My Blueberry Waffle Socks were finished a few days ago, but I just got around to snapping a few pictures today. Since the pattern calls for DK weight yarn and I used 4-ply sock yarn, I really only used the 4 row waffle stitch pattern and winged the rest. You can link to my Ravelry page to see details if you’re interested. The yarn, Sausalito, is divine. A little splity when knitting but so soft and squishy. Squishy, adjective, used to describe divine sock yarn.

First time ever I tried not to match my stripes. They ended up pretty close anyway.

When I say I experienced a Jimmy Buffet concert, it’s because Jimmy Buffet really is an experience. We started tailgating in Alpine Valley, Wisconsin at around 1:00 for an evening concert. There was much debauchery for entertainment, none of which I participated in, but I thoroughly enjoyed watching. The actual concert was great, especially since I knew all but one song. Here’s a picture of our group. Our friend turned 40 on the day of the concert, which added to the fun.

See how well-behaved we were?

Last but not least, we moved our youngest into Phillips Hall at Michigan State University. Her closet, or rather dorm room, is 10 x 13, and she shares it with a roommate. Anyway, she was so excited to have an actual key of her own to her own place. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this will be a successful launch. So hard to sit back and hope you’ve taught your kids everything they need to be successful, independent adults. On that thought, I'll sign off with a few move-in day pictures. Thanks for reading. ~ Christina

Arriving at the dorm.

All moved in and so grown up!

Waving goodbye. Sniff. Yep, I shed a few tears.

To Pom Pom or Not to Pom Pom?

While on vacation in beautiful Holden Beach, North Carolina I did a little knitting. I cranked out a dishcloth for a dear friend vacationing with us who was also celebrating her 75th birthday! Happy Birthday Beth!

Grandma's Favorite dishcloth: a classic.

I also knit a pair of footies. But, first a few obligatory vacation pics. Thank you for indulging me.

Are we there yet? (Aren't they so cute cuddling with their iphones?)

Typical day at the beach: reading, swimming, surfing with family and friends. 

My youngest: Where'd she learn to do that?!

Right, back to knitting. With leftover yarn from my Pettine Shawlette, I knit the Pom Pom Peds by Purl bee. 

The pattern calls for the top band and a pom pom to be knit using a contrasting color. Well, I just happened to have some leftover Noro Taiyo sock yarn laying around. I think I’ve covered my Noro love affair/obsession in previous posts. I’m not yet seeking therapy, but writing about it does help. Moving on. The yarn was leftover from my Featherweight Cardigan by Hannah Fettig, which was the second sweater I knit. It’s a great pattern and I wear it often.

Featherweight Cardigan. Click for pattern info Ravelry

Back to Hamlet or the question at hand. The whole time I’m knitting my footies, I’m thinking about how cool the pom poms will look. A Noro pom pom! Can you imagine the possibilities?! Sorry, calming back down here. Anyway, as I was getting ready to make what could possibly be the most cool pom poms ever, I started thinking about washing these babies. I know. Every now and again, I let my practical side out to play. I machine wash my hand knit socks in Woolite on the hand wash cycle and dry them flat. If I pom pom, using the term as a verb here, I think I’ll have to hand wash. And, I’m worried about how the pom poms will look after repeated washing. So, to pom pom or not to pom pom? That is the question. 

What do you think? Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for your thoughts and advice. ~ Christina

Brazilian What?

Yep, teaser, more on that later... 

Pettine Shawl Project Details Here: Ravelry

I finished my Pettine shawl over the weekend. It became rather large after blocking (69.5" x 25"), but I am very pleased with the results. I’m still working out the blocking with wires thing. I seem to make extra loops in places where I don’t necessarily want them. I’ll have to surf YouTube to look for a video which will help me sort it all out.

Took this with my iphone and used Instagram for the fancy lighting effect.

I finished my shawl at the beach, where there was a pole vault competition on Saturday. Very fun to watch and great to see so many people enjoying the ever beautiful Lake Michigan.

See, I really do knit at the beach almost every weekend.

I have quite a bit of sock yarn leftover from the shawl. About 90 grams to be exact-ish. So.... I decided to actually knit footwear with it. Crazy, I know. I found a free pattern from the Purl bee for footies with pom poms, click here.  And, I have Noro Taiyo sock yarn left over from my Featherweight Cardigan, click here, to use for the contrasting color. I was also spot on with gauge. Since I’m using leftover yarn, I'm calculating the cost via the voodoo economics method and telling the hubs they are free. Not to worry, he doesn’t read my blog. 

Plenty of yarn AND gauge!

About that title... Those of you who know me personally, know I have been cursed with naturally frizzy hair. No, I’m not exaggerating. And, my frizzy tangle is not really beautiful ringlet curls that are to die for. I wish. Those who only know me from pictures, have seen me after much time has been spent with flatirons and anti-frizz products formulated by scientists from MIT and Harvard. Not an exaggeration there either. Check out the No Frizz product line by Living Proof: http://www.livingproof.com/

For years I’ve said, and I quote myself here: “Scientists can return shuttles from space and protect them from burning up in the atmosphere, can they not tame frizz, seriously?!” Well, apparently now they can. Finally, a salon in my sleepy little hamlet started offering the Brazilian Blowout (some sort of keratin and formaldehyde cocktail applied with a blowdryer and flatiron). I am, for all my complaining, way too lazy to drive to the bigger city 45 minutes away to tame my frizz. Here are my before and after pictures. The results are amazing! I actually hugged the salon owner, who is a complete stranger, when I saw and felt my hair. The real test will come next week as we head to the lovely, but humid state of North Carolina for a week on the ocean. I’ll report back on the status of the frizz.

Before (and somewhat behaved)

After: Can't believe that's my hair!

Thanks so much for reading. Am off to pack and find a few projects for the trip. Keep in touch. I sincerely enjoy reading and responding to your comments :)

 Signed, Christina with well-behaved hair for the next 12 weeks.

Beads?!

Favorite Scarf Ever. Pattern info via Ravelry.

I know nothing about beads. Not completely true. I know that beads are round-ish and have holes so they can be strung. Relevance? Well, a while back I bought some van Gogh inspired sock yarn at my LYS. (Translation: local yarn shop) Click here to see original post. Later, when I was in another yarn shop, having neither the yarn nor a picture of it on my phone, I stumbled upon matching beads at a trunk show. I like trunk shows and when there is a bead trunk show at a yarn shop...   

Here's a pic of the yarn and perfectly matched beads.

Anyway, the scarf has been finished and blocked for a while, meaning May 24th. So, after a metaphorical nod to my friend procrastination, I decided there’s no time like the present to add the beads. I’ve never added beads before, but I have added fringe, should be easy, right? 

Ready for beaded fringe

Not so fast. Due to my lack of knowledge regarding beading along with my disdain for most things math, I paid no mind whatsoever to the diameter of the holes in relationship to the size of my yarn. In other words, the yarn was too large to simply string through the beads. And, the beads were too large to loop and crochet. Thus, my dream of adding beaded, crocheted fringe was not to be. Sigh.

Beads attached to yarn and ready to become fringe.

Again, not so fast. After mourning the demise of my dream for a respectable 5 minutes or so, I dried my eyes and set about making this work. I mean, the beads and yarn are a perfect match. I ended up tying/rigging the yarn with regular thread and using a sewing needle to thread/force the yarn through the bead. I attached with a crochet hook and voila! 

Queue the happy-ending music and roll the credits: beaded fringe.

I'm very happy with the results. Thanks for reading. I'd love to hear about your project challenges and how you overcame them! ~ Christina

The Perfectionist and the Lifeline: A Story with a Happy Ending

Once upon a time a perfectionist named Christina decided to knit a lace shawl. She had once again bought sock yarn that was far too beautiful to hide inside shoes, and she had given up wearing glass slippers long ago. So, Christina set off on a quest with her friends Ravelry and Pinterest, and before long found the perfect pattern. Click here: Pettine Shawlette. In no time at all her Visa card was back in her wallet, the pattern was downloaded, the swatch was completed, and her needles were clicking away. 

I wish you could feel how soft this yarn is.

But, alas, Christina was a perfectionist and would notice a stitch here or there that wasn't quite right, so she ripped her shawl four, yes, four times. "At this rate, I'll never finish," Christina despaired to no one in particular, for her family had learned not to respond to her random prattle whilst knitting. Christina pondered her dilemma. The yarn was so beautiful - what with its subtle, nuanced, natural shades, and baby soft texture; the pattern would so perfectly show off its beauty and sit so softly against her skin, but it was proving to be a frustrating knit. Convinced these two were a perfect match, Christina refused to give up. She knew her prince would ride in and, oops wrong story ... Christina was a resourceful, determined knitter and needed no prince. She thought through her previous challenging projects and then remembered lifelines. Yes, lifelines: the perfect solution! 

Lifeline: simply thread yarn (same or lighter weight) through a tapestry needle and work through the last completed row. Keep track of which row the lifeline is in. If you have to rip, just rip back to the lifeline and carry on. Genius.

And with that, she cast on again and clicked away happily ever after ;)

Finishing, Starting, and Busy in Between

First the finishings...  My youngest daughter, Shelby, graduated with honors from high school Thursday night. We are very, very proud of her. And, I think we were all ready for this chapter of her life to come to an end. She’s ready to move on to college, Michigan State University, and I was ready to be done with school. My girls are 4 years apart, so I’ve been in high school for 8 years. Definitely time to close that book of fond memories, vigilance, lunch money, dances, swim meets, soccer games, choir concerts, etc.

Here's a picture of the happy graduate and me.

As for knitting, I finished my Oaklet Shawl. Click here for pattern details: RAVELRY. I’m very happy with the finished product, both the yarn and the knitting. It was my first experience blocking points out on wires, and I learned much through trial and error. Isn’t that usually the best way? Anyway, if you look closely, you can see some of the loops made when I fed the wire through the lace. I need to feed and pin those better next time around. One cool thing about working with yarn is that I can fix the loops by getting it wet and re-blocking. Right, I’ll get on that in my spare time.

Here’s a picture of my shawl on blocking wires.

Lucky for me the weather turned chilly so I could wear my shawl right away. I think I’ve covered Michigan’s crazy weather in a previous post. Anyway, it really is not a huge exaggeration to say you can be in a swimsuit one day and a snowsuit the next. So, below is a picture of me wearing my shawl and long sleeves on June 2, which happens to be hubby’s and my 12th wedding anniversary. No need for a shawl 12 years ago in Las Vegas where we were married. Lest you think the worst of me, we planned to get married there. It was not a drunken-regret-it-the-morning-after-affair. We had a lovely chapel wedding, a minister called Rob, and I wore a shimmery pale pink dress that still fits!

Sorry. I’m getting off track. Now for the in between. Finished my shawl on Tuesday or Wednesday, blocked it, and cast on another project. Shelby graduated Thursday, my 29th (again) birthday was Friday, and our anniversary was Saturday. 

Which brings me to starting. I began a blanket buddy for my dear friend who’s expecting her first child, Calvin James, the end of this month. This is the same friend I knit the booties and mitts for in April. A blanket buddy is part stuffed animal and part blanket. I found this adorable elephant/blanket pattern for 3 bucks - and, well, did not even try to resist. Click here for pattern details: RAVELRY. This has got to be the most adorable thing I’ve knit yet. Although I think I’ve said that about every baby project.

Here are the pieces so far.

Adorable, right? Thanks so much for reading. Hope your week wasn't too busy and you had time to enjoy something just for you :) ~ Christina

Unwinding!

First and most importantly, hope you all are unwinding on this long Memorial Day weekend. Thank you to all of our service men and women both past and present for your many sacrifices. Honoring you this weekend!

“What have I been up to the past couple of weeks?” you ask. Or, maybe you didn’t ask, but please humor me here as I catch you up. Oh, and my goings on are in no particular order.

Starry Night colors

I’ve finished knitting my lace scarf. See the picture above. I am going to add beaded fringe so it’s not officially finished, but it's finished enough to blog/blab about. I used blocking wires for the first time. It does take forever to guide the wires through the knitting, but the result is fantastic. My scarf is light and lacy, and I’m in love with the Van Gogh inspired colors. This is a free pattern. Click here for details: Ravelry.

Blocking with wires

I’m also (still) stash-busting and am determined not to buy anymore yarn until I use up (most of) what I have. With this in mind, I dove into my stash with the intention of knitting a pair of socks. But, just look at these amazing colors. The photo does not do justice. Too gorgeous to hide in a pair of shoes, I agree. So, I did some surfing on Ravelry and Pinterest and found this free pattern for a shawl. I have about 7 rows left and am up to about a million stitches per row or maybe 247. Click here for information: Ravelry.

Oaklet Shawl

Last weekend we went to Indiana to see my younger brother graduate from Indiana Tech. I’m very proud of him. He’s been working hard to get his degree and has given up much in terms of time: family time and time for himself. Hopefully he’ll get some time to unwind soon.

My little bro and me

I’ve also sent in a square to participate in my first ever yarn-bombing. I knit this square using a pattern from the book “100 Afghan Squares to Knit” by Debbie Abrahams. The charity is in Ireland and is raising money to provide service dogs to people in need. I must say I am very impressed with the U.S. Postal Service. I mailed my square Monday and it made it to Ireland (yes, that Ireland - the one across the Atlantic Ocean) by Friday. No more snail-mail jokes from this knitter!

Next, just call me Heloise, because I’m about to give you a helpful hint about unwinding yarn. After spending one too many hours untangling gargantuan, colossal yarn knots, I tried an unwinding suggestion from a friend: use a chair. It worked beautifully. Here’s a picture.

No more tangles!

It’s beautiful beach weather here again in Michigan. Spent yesterday afternoon unwinding on the beach with our dear beach friends and am headed back today. Thanks for spending some of your weekend with me. Hope you are unwinding as well. Would love to hear about your goings on. ~ Christina

Chili, Blues, Van Gogh, Frenchmen, and Secret Projects

You're probably asking yourself what these seemingly random things have in common, right? Well, me of course! I’ve been busy this week. So in no particular order, here’s what I’ve been up to. I started a new project called Favorite Scarf Ever. You can link to pattern information here: Ravelry. 

Here’s a picture of my WIP - notice the scalloped edge.

Did I mention the pattern is free? It’s knit using sock yarn in two pieces and joined in the middle. This way each end will have a wonderful scalloped edge (see above) due to the chevron pattern. I found this yarn at my local yarn shop. The colors are inspired by the colors in paintings by Vincent Van Gogh. When an art lover who’s a knitter or a knitter who’s an art lover stumbles upon such a find, well, someone like that couldn’t possibly be expected to resist.

Here's a picture of the yarn from Opal's website. Click here to link.

And, now a helpful hint when you need to split your skein:

To divide yarn for a project like this, use a food scale. Wind yarn until it's half the total weight, then cut.

On Thursday, who can believe my luck, I stumbled upon beads that match this yarn in another yarn store, and I didn’t even have the yarn with me. So, I’m going to add some beaded fringe. I can’t wait to finish this project.

Can you believe how perfectly these beads go with the yarn?

Friday night I curled up with the classic, Frenchman’s Creek, by Daphne Du Maurier. I’m just getting into it, but I loved her book, Rebecca, so I know I’ll love this one too. This is the first paper book I’ve read in about a year and a half since getting my Kindle. Holding the book and turning the pages came right back to me, just like riding a bike! Although I do miss reading hands free with my Kindle propped up on a pillow. Not to worry though, I’m sure I’ll persevere.

Here's a picture of my library book

Saturday we went to a local chili cook-off with friends that features blues music. The name of this event is appropriately: Chilly Blues. The contest is held at a restaurant on the channel that leads to Lake Michigan. Gotta love West Michigan; you just pitch a tent and bring in some heaters and you can have events like this all year long. The weather was sunny so it was a gorgeous albeit chilly day. 

Here we are in the tent. The tall thing behind us is a heater.

Finally, I was invited to the baby shower of a dear friend. The shower’s in a couple of weeks. So... I began a knitting project that I can’t really talk about yet or it will ruin the surprise. I’m about halfway through the first item, and I think it’s about the cutest little thing I’ve ever knit. And, the yarn is Sublime! Really, that’s what it’s called: Sublime. Check out the composition: 75% extra fine merino, 20% silk, and 5% cashmere. Let’s just say it’s a good thing what I’m making would never work for an adult or I’d be tempted... scratch that, I’m sure I can find something to make for myself with this yarn ;)

Well, I better get back to clicking my needles so I can make some progress on these projects and still have time to read before hitting the sack. As always, I’d love to hear about your projects and latest reads. Thanks for following along! ~ Christina

Yep, Spent St. Patrick’s Day Afternoon at the Beach!

Wow, what a weekend here in West Michigan. Carpe Diem! Beach weather Saturday and Sunday - and it looks like more is on the way. Spent St. Patrick’s Day afternoon at the beach. Definitely a first for me in my, ahem, 40-ish years of living here.

Here’s a picture of feet - mine and a friend’s at the beach yesterday.

Here’s me dipping my toes in the Big Lake. Yes, it was cold!

Here’s a picture of the beach scene in Grand Haven St. Patrick's Day afternoon.

Some brave, for lack of a better word, souls were even swimming. Gotta love teenagers! After an afternoon at the beach and a brief stop at a local watering hole, I spent a lovely evening star-gazing with a new app, SkyView, in flip flops in my backyard. In March! Have to keep typing that because it is beyond belief. Sorry, no pictures of the constellations. Could be my iphone camera or it’s operator, (probably the latter) but the pictures were black with a few dots. Nothing to blog about, oh wait, I just did.

Oh, and about my knitting. I finished a pair of socks for my Aunt Karel. The pattern is called Windjammer Socks by Jennifer Tepper Heverly. Found the pattern in a book I checked out of the library called The Knitter's Book of Wool. The pattern was pretty fun. My first chevron experience, and I love to knit cables. This pattern has both. You can click here for more pattern information. Just have to soak the socks in Eucalan to soften them up. And, of course go out to dinner to gift them :)

Here’s a picture of Aunt Karel’s socks modeled by my daughter, Shelby.

Finally, I’ve been reading Russian Lit again. I’ve forgotten how much I enjoy this genre. First, it’s challenging so I can’t let my mind wander. And, it’s Russian so it’s filled with the rich history and unique nuances that are Russia. I love that Russian authors are so blunt - never hesitating to call a buffoon a buffoon. Almost forgot to mention that I’m reading Dr. Zhivago. I’m about 37% of the way through, according to my Kindle. Spent a few hours in the sunshine with this book collecting tan lines. Yes, tan lines! In March! Sorry, am I overdoing the March weather thing?

Anyway, I’m always in the market for a good book, so I’d love to hear about the pages you’re perusing. As always, thanks for reading! ~ Christina