Drop Spindle Question

I just got a surprise email from my mom. She purchased for me a drop spindle and it will be here by Friday. So now, I need your suggestions on what fiber, etc I should purchase to learn how to do this. I have a book, now a spindle, and soon to be something from YOUR suggestions. LOL.

New KAL

Surprise! I got the KAL for the Fair Isle Felted Tote up and running. At least started. If you are interested in joining, just email me or leave a comment.

Thanks bunches

The hard part is done

I did it, I reached my goal. My goal was to finish the body of the bag Sunday so I can start my friends Great Dane afghan Monday (today) and I can work on the I-cord handles through out the week, then felt it and do the finishing touches by December 2nd. It's good to start a Monday morning on schedule. LOL.

The kids suggested I take pictures of the bag in stages, so here is the bag before I added the ruffle edging. There are some changes I made to the order of the charts, the colors, I used double strands instead of single and I garter stitched the bottom instead of St st. The reason I changed the bottom, is that I know that mom will need this to be a little more durable.


Ok, here's the added ruffle in detail.


and here is the whole thing. Here's a funny. Even my Ex. seen the bag and actually had nice things to say about it. I was surprised.


I have been asked about starting a KAL for this bag, and I think I will. I'm shooting for getting it set up in the next 24 hours and then I'll post the information here. This is a great bag, and actually works up quickly. I started the body on November 21 and finished it November 26 so you can see that it if I can do it you surely can. I will be a lot of fun seeing what everyone can do with this bag.

So now, it's time to cast on the Great Dane afghan.

Vogue Inspired

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We had a nice quiet day. Quiet is a gift that we try to give each other once in a while since life in this house is on the go all the time. ;-) (love you Sara, GT & Gunther). But, we had a good day, stayed in our "comfy" clothes all day and cooked, baked, ate and then I got to knit.

Since my mom had requested that I make her a felted tote bag, I wanted to make her something different, but something she would use. So I pulled out patterns and looked in magazines and found in the Vogue Holiday 2006 a great Fair Isle felted tote. I love it, but mom wouldn't, so I am changing it up for mom and picking out parts of the fair isle that I like to make her bag. Tuesday I had gotten the bottom done, but had no idea what I was going to do with the body of the bag until I found the pattern. LOL. So from the pink up is what I was able to do yesterday. I hope she likes it. The kids and I are going to put her other gifts inside the tote then wrap the tote and give her. She will be surprised.



I have had a few questions about the grape yarn that I got while in TN. Well, I had plans of making some super soft socks out of them, but I just haven't found the PERFECT pattern to go with that yarn. It's frustrating because I really had hopes of working with that yarn ASAP. You can't believe how soft that yarn is, and I would feel so spoiled having socks that soft. LOL. So that's my next journey. To find the right pattern that will show off that yarn. If I don't find a pattern I may just stick with a basic sock.

Ok, that's the update, my coffee cup is empty and its time for a refil. I hope all of you that actually sucked it up and went out to shop today were successful. Since it's not my idea of fun, I just stayed at home out of your way. LOL.

Blessed be. 

Happy Thanksgiving

To all my knitting friends I wish you for you the best Thanksgiving ever. We all have so much to be thankful for, and I am truly thankful for all of you. You will be in my thoughts and prayers today.

Happy Thanksgiving

I'm back from Tennessee

I'm back with a few goodies. 4 balls of Austermann Bambou Soft in a beautiful grape color, 1 ball of YarnArt Crazy Color in warm wood tones, and a book on learning how to drop spin. Though my purchases were small and lovely it is the things that were not tanglable that I brought home with me that I'm super excited about. It started a little disappointing. The class on knitting 2 socks at the same time was canceled because there were only two of us that signed up. I asked (begged) the instructor since I was up there visiting to give me a private lesson, she refused and was a little crappy that I even asked her. Then she told me since I was an instructor I should figure out myself. So I didn't purchase anything there walked out and decided that, this was a good time to remind myself that everything happens for a reason and besides karma will catch up with her. The next day was WONDERFUL. We headed up to Gatlinburg and I went straight to the Spinnery. Several hours later I came out with the goodies, and a new friend. Nancy Thompson is the owner and spinner at Smoky Mountain Spinnery. I don't think she has a web site but if I find out she does the link will be posted immediately. Anyway, she has all kinds of goodies, amazing colors and the kind of yarn you drool over. I can't tell you how many times she said "Here, feel this, isn't it wonderful it's made from..." She not only spins, but weaves, knits, crochets, and teaches it all. So she showed me about her weaving loom and how it works, etc,(by the way this loom would fill my kitchen, it's a biggie) she showed me several of her different spinning wheels and took me to a back room where she has two of her great grandmother's wheels and her husband's great, great grandmother's wheel. I can't begin to tell you how amazing it felt that she shared those with me. It was like walking back in time. She told me all the stories that went with each wheel. It was great. Then when it was about time for me to go, I asked her about lessons, and she told me that the next time I come up there to call her, and she would be MORE THAN HAPPY, to give me private lessons, we would start with a drop spindle and go from there. I am still so excited about meeting her and her showing me so much kindness. That was the best part of the trip.


The following night we went out looking at the Christmas lights and displays. I took this while driving down the main street in Gatlinburg. I hope you can see it. They had put out new lights this year and its beautiful. If you get a chance to go, DO IT. I know the picture doesn't do the place justice, but you'll get the idea.
Actually the reason we went up there was to visit with my mom. She isn't doing well, and that is disturbing, but personal. I don't usually use the blog to get into the "other" parts of my life, but if you read this say a little prayer for her.

Suggestions???

Hi from Tennessee!

Though I just have a few minutes this morning I wanted to ask for your suggestion concerning a spam issue here on my blog. The past two mornings I have checked my blog only to find that there is a comment posted that is nothing but spam. If any of you have had this problem I would like to know how you stopped it. I have deleted the comments but I'm hoping that I can tighten security up without making it too hard for my friends to post.

I'll post pictures of the trip when I get home. I hope you all are doing well, and thanks for your help.

Twisted Neck Scarves

While I was surfin' around the knitting patterns I found a really cute twisted neck scarf, but it wasn't something that my new knitting students could do, but it sparked some inspiration. So with a lot of modification I started knitting this week and made three different twisted neck scarves. The first one is with a bulky yarn, the second is made of a ribbon and eyelash blend, and the third is made from Lion Brand Yarn's Moonlight Mohair. I really like how they turned out and can't wait to see how my students do with them.

Bulky yarn

Ribbon and Eyelash blend

Moonlight Mohair

The other thing that has kept me pretty busy this week is getting everything ready for our trip to Tennessee. It's been awhile since I went and seen my mom and so off we go Tuesday morning. (we are leaving too early to even write down in this post). We will be back the following Sunday and then it's time to plan Thanksgiving. Yeah! Anyway, I'm taking three projects with me to work on and of course I'm planning on taking the 2 socks on circulars class. While I'm thinking about it, thanks to those of you who left me comments or emailed me about all the information available online about 2 socks on circulars.

So I hope while I'm gone that you all have a wonderful week and that your knitting needles are blessed with lots of knitting. I will be taking my computer with me of course but I may not have time to post. (but I will be reading yours)

Blessed be

Finished Socks

Here they are finally finished! I did something different with the heels on this pair of socks I did the Eye of the Partridge Heel, which is an option with this sock, and I loved it. It gives you a really nice heel. You just have to try it.

The Eye of the Partridge Heel

Row 1: Sl 1 Purl wise, *K 1, Sl 1 Knit wise, repeat from * until last stitch, K 1

Row 2: Sl 1 Purl wise, Purl across until last stitch, K 1

Row 3: Sl 2 Purl wise, * K 1, Sl 1 repeat from * until last 2 stitches, K 2

Row 4: Sl 1 Purl wise, Purl across until last stitch K 1

Repeat the 4 rows 7 times for a total of 28 rows. Then repeat rows 1 and 2 once more. Now it's time for the heel turn of your choice.

Knitting, Knitting, and Life

I don't know if it's the cold weather, the hot coffee or the beautiful Fall view I'm looking at this morning, but I've been thinking about all the wonderful knitters I have met online and some of the knitter's blogs that I read that we've never commented back and forth with each other. I found myself sitting here knitting, bundled up in my PJ's, robe and blanket thinking about how each of the blogs that I read and each of the ladies that communicates with me back and forth has in the past couple of years really made a positive influence in my knitting and my life and I want to thank you.

On to knitting news. It looks like the sweater vest I was making for my mom will now become mine. LOL. It really didn't start out that way. But mom made another request. (she is one of those that gives you a list of what she wants and you don't do anything that isn't on the list) She is wanting a felted back with LOTS of color. So I'm getting the vest and she is getting all the left over wool turned into a bag.

Friday I finished the Fluted Banister socks and have them in the wash. I also broke down and got the green socks back out and started the second one last night. For some strange reason I am actually enjoying the second sock. LOL. Go figure. Maybe it's the fact that they will be FINISHED soon. Anyway, I am on the hunt for another pair of socks to make. What I'd really like to do is make two at the same time. Have any of you done that?

It's been awhile since I talked about my knitting/crochet class. I have some really nice ladies in class and we've had some crazy fun. Starting the first of the year I am changing things around a little. The new incoming students will be paying monthly instead of weekly and they will have specific projects that I picked out for them that will helped them learn and develop their knitting. I have been letting them pick their own projects I've noticed some of them don't challenge themselves to grow. I'm taking care of that. LOL. Another big change is that I am making all the crochet classes, private classes. Since I don't have really enough of them for their own class, I have had them included in my knitting class. It really isn't fair to them and so I decided that they really need one-on-one attention.

So that's what's going on here in this mind of mine this morning. I hope you all have a wonderful day.