An 80 degree day...

...and I'm wearing a wool sweater!

Yes, I'm nuts, but I just had to take a picture of my FIRST cabled sweater today and get it posted! I finished it this weekend while camping and I've been dying to show it off. It is the Cables in Chamonix sweater from the Yarn Girls Guide to Beyond the Basics on size 10.5 needles. I made it a crew neck instead of a turtle neck. It is knitted with two hanks of yummy Sonoma (I alternated from one hank to the other, every two rows).

Thanks for letting me share. I LOVE cables!!!

Mystery ? shawl

I set some knitting goals to reach before casting on this incredible yarn...Forth of July (I believe?)

It is cloudy today, but the colors are pretty true. I can't wait to get this blocked - I've a way to go before accomplishing blocking.

Do you know what pattern I'm knitting?

...One more hint:

Great Lakes Fiber Show

This weekend I saw this:


and came home with Abundance:


enough to make the Central Park Hoodie from KnitScenes fall '06:

It was great seeing Chris and Kristy again! Anne's Morning Glory Wrap is so gorgeous - even better than the photos. There were cards of handmade buttons just begging to be taken home. Their 'shop' is so inviting and cozy that I wanted to stay all afternoon. The Great Lakes show keeps getting larger each year, but Briar Rose is still the main reason that I go.

Clapotis to be

One of the reasons I love this site is the many photos of BRF Yarns, as finished objects or in progress. So please forgive a few gratuituous photos of a plain old ball of yarn. No WIP. No F.O.

Here is a motherlode of Wistful, soon to become a Clapotis shawl. I even took it out to my garden for a photo shoot. It was a very happy ball of yarn.



Ain't it grand?

The end of the Seven Random Things

It has thrilled me to no end to see all the posts and you guys really cracked me up! It interested me that doulcia and my daughter Amy went to the same fine arts camp...........that someone else read "Little Women" as one of their first chapter books. That someone else has crocheted for twenty years (me too) but not now that I knit..............
Now, the comment about me eating Circus Peanuts.....that she would definitely have to revise her opinion of me? Circus Peanuts just make me sweeter :)
So we are off to the second fiber festival of the season......maybe I'll see one of you there?
Have I told you all how much I enjoy this blog? I DO!!! Thank you for sharing!

The Meme Winner

I kept you all waiting for the winner's name. The 2 hour season finale of Lost beckoned to me. How can it be that Jack can be on the island for so long and look super sexy, but a few days back home and he looks like he hasn't ever shaved or showered?

Oh, the winner of some fabulous Briar Rose Fiber? Corinne - Congratulations!!

Seven Up

1. I have a degree in history, and am working on more, but I started college in chemical engineering.

2. I have never used any sort of illegal drug. Ever. I didn't even drink much before I was 21.

3. I used to play Janet and Columbia for the Rocky Horror Picture Show (which may be why people find #2 shocking).

4. I used to wear tie-dyed underwear for good luck at big events (this may be another reason why people find #2 shocking).

5. I am a great-aunt, many times over, at 34.

6. My favorite color is blue.

7. I've had pet rats. Now I have dogs, which would make keeping pet rats difficult. But rats are great pets.

Laura at My Dog Has Fleece

Seven Up

Here are my facts:

1. Like RC, I had Lasik eye surgery three years ago. I can't think of anything I've done in my life that I have been quite so glad I've done. It is wonderful. No contacts! No glasses! I can see, I can see, I can see!!!

2. I have a nearly freakish ability to remember numbers, particularly phone numbers. I have always been this way.

3. I have never been thin and, while I would not object to losing some weight, I have no aspirations to be what anyone would ever call "skinny". Contrary to popular perception, not all fat women are secretly crying in their Rocky Road, longing to look like Calista Flockhart. (Though I wouldn't mind keeping company with Harrison Ford.)

4. Like RC and Trish before her, I love to read but my reading has been on a serious downward spiral ever since I learned to knit.

5. My car once broke down on the side of the road. This was before I had a cell phone so I had to repair my car by myself. I used Fimo clay that I had in the trunk.

6. I once hit an owl with my car. More accurately, an owl flew into my car while I was driving down the road. (This is the same car that was involved in the incident in #5)

7. I love sushi, particularly yellowtail (hamachi).

OK - here goes...

1. I hate peas but love pea soup.

2. My mom taught me how to knit, embroider and do needlepoint. My granny how to crochet and sew on a sewing machine. Although I do remember learning to sew on the machine (I sewed through my finger. Not something you'd forget) I don't remember learning how to knit or crochet. I know I learned when I was a small child and that's about it.

3. I'm agoraphobic. I always thought this was when you never left your house, but after being diagnosed and reading up on it - I am.

4. When I knit I am surrounded by yarn. It is piled up on each side of the chair, on top of the ottoman, next to the ottoman and it front of it too. I need to organize it all desperately.

5. I'm the person my nephews come to when they have one of "those" questions. I've had to explain breasts, lugies, bras, why all those toys were in the back of Mommy's van at Christmastime, "Doing it", and what happened to Bambi's Mommy.

6. I have my own coloring books and crayons.

7. The very first cat I owned (who owned me) was my baby. He would sleep in my arms and had to be on me any time I sat down. He would lay under my knitting while I was working on it, which was sweet. But the most annoying thing he did was how he would wake me up. He would sniff and then lightly lick my closed eyelids. Talk about getting the heebie jeebies first thing in the morning! Ewwww!

Seven facts that only Kniterella might know

1. I have been knitting for over fifty years--and never seem to get it all finished!

2. I have four grandchildren by birth and three other that call me Grammy. Maybe that's why
my knitting never gets done.

3. I also strip and hook--rugs that is.

4. I too LOVE to read just about anything except scary books cause then I have
nightmares. My first chapter book was Black Beauty and then Little Women, which I
read over and over. In fact, I still pick it up if I have a cold or nothing else to read. My currant favorite author is Debbie Macomber.

5. My Husband moved us to Hobart, IN about two years ago so he could open a Woodcraft tool
store. Thank God for knitting!

6. I love to be near or in any big body of water. Oceans, lakes or just big ponds. I also love
thunderstorms.

7. My dream vacation would be one of three. Taking a train across Canada, getting off and on at
whim. Going to Nova Scotia to meet the hookers up there and or going to Ireland for an
extended time. Maybe while there taking a side trip to England to meet the designers at
Rowan.

My Seven

1. I taught myself to knit using a book when I was seven years old.
2. I was a theatre major in college, and hold a degree. I went to college again in my thirties.
3. I flunked driver's education in high school, and didn't get my license until I was 21. Not to worry, I'm a good driver, and get plenty of practice.
4. I got my first dog when I was in my thirties. Until then, I did not consider myself to be a "pet person."
5. I am a middle child, and the only girl.
6. I worked in a costume shop in college, and am a pretty good seamstress.
7. If I didn't have a life established in Chicago, I would move to San Francisco in a second.

My 7

1. I have one of the greatest father-to-be husbands out there. If I have a craving, there is no ifs ands or buts, he will make sure that it is fulfilled.
2. I have always been a spoiled girl, and it continues into my thirties.
3. My husband and I have is one of the sweetest, funniest and handsomest dogs (Princie Baby).
4. I LOVE shoes. I have 6 pairs of Crocs, 4 pairs of Danskos and that is only the beginning.
5. Love the Little House in the Prairie series books, and intrigued by the Amish community. Amazed how they choose to live their life simple...simple is not in my vocabulary I guess.
6. I learned to knit three years ago, from Chris's daughter Amy.
   
7. Knitting, scrapbooking, cardmaking are only a few of my shopping excursions that I enjoy to venture out in.
   

My 7

These really are totally random, yes? Let's see...

1. We just brought the piano I grew up playing to our house from my parents' house. I'm thrilled to have a piano in the house again. I went to Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp for Piano when I was in 7th grade.
2. I used to always imagine what I'd say when I was a guest on The Tonight Show (with Johnny Carson). I was never sure what I'd do to merit being a guest, but I knew what I'd say!
3. I'm debating getting a tattoo for my 40th birthday (in 2 years...plenty of time to think).
4. I got engaged after 2 months of dating and married 4 months later. That was 14 years ago and I have no regrets.
5. I feel severely disabled in the home decorating department; in inverse proportion to my desire to live in a lovely little space.
6. I like the way big old libraries smell, that mustiness. The U-M Grad Library stacks are divine!
7. I like eating wild edible plants, even if I don't like their particular taste. Just the idea of things growing haphazardly and having nutritional or medicinal value tickles me. Random enough?

My 7

1. I can crochet, but have chosen not to for 20+ years.

2. My baby is a Schipperke.

3. Favorite sandwich: Monte Cristo

4. When I was little I wanted to be a reference librarian. Cool, huh?

5. I secretly love gray rainy days because colors seem more intense on those days.

6. I knit socks 2 at a time, on 24" circular needles.

7. Craziest thing I've ever done for yarn: Post a meme.

My 7 Random Things

What fun!

1. I work one Saturday per month in my LYS - just enough to keep the discount!
2. I'm a Jamaican-born Canadian citizen now living in the southeast US.
3. Red is my "power color".
4. In my dream life I'm a masseuse who owns a yarn studio and publishes a fiber magazine...in real life I sell software systems.
5. My favorite fiber for knitting is alpaca.
6. I'm allergic to every ingredient in a traditional pizza.
7. I used to have a wonderful side business selling scrapbook supplies.

You have one week!

You have one week to post your Seven Random things about you, then we'll draw a name.............

Great Idea!

I have great ideas once in a while! yes! I do! I don't know why I didn't think of this before..........YOU ARE ALL TAGGED!!! Post your seven random things about you to the blog and get your name put in a drawing for some Briar Rose Fibers yarn! It will help us get to know one another better!

Seven Random Things

I've been tagged! Thanks Kim! When trying to come up with seven things, I thought to myself....wow, am I boring! I knit! I knit and I dye! What else do you want??
1. I am going to be a Grandma again! My son Nate and my daughter in law Christy are going to have a baby in Oct.
2. I can recite most of the movie "Nemo"..... I wonder why that is?
3. I love books! Any books! Hardcover, on tape or downloaded. From the classics to kids books to knitting books. When I was little, the first "chapter" book I read was Little Women...
4. I LOVE Brach's (they have to be Brach's) Circus Peanuts........
5. I learned to knit just 6 years ago, and wrapped my yarn the wrong way for 6 months. So then I had to re-learn.
6. I make killer chocolate chip cookies as big as the palm of your hand. When my kids were growing up, they thought I should sell them. They come in really handy when you want to bribe someone.
7. I LOVE going to the fiber festivals and seeing everyone's excitement over fiber and projects......and seeing glazed over faces and hubby's in the background holding packages....and arms full of yarn....

WIP: Clementine Shawlette

Just a quick photo of my Clementine Shawlette in progress. I'm using Sea Pearl* and, no surprise, loving the way the colors work together. This photo doesn't do the yarn justice.

And as for the pattern, I've discovered I'm a real fan of Michelle Rose Orne. Only recently did I put together the fact that several of my top "to do" patterns are by her.

*Ed. Over the weekend (5/19/07) I realized I had confused the names. I own some EarthSong, but this is Sea Pearl: 50% merino, 50% tencel. Such sheen and softness...

Spring Weather

Today I was sitting on my screened porch enjoying the birds that come to the fountain. In my lap was a new book and in my hands was the latest pair of socks. I discovered a "page holder- downer" at B and N that keeps the book open so I can read while I knit. What a great way to spend the afternoon. Try it, you'll like it.

Pink Socks

Hattie has been bugging me to knit her some pink socks. Well, her wish has been granted.
Knitted with Fourth of July using the Classic Socks pattern by Yankee Knitter Designs.

Grandma's Blessing Gauntlets

Just a quick progress post. I'm working on a pair of Elegant Gauntlets (arm length fingerless gloves) from Sally Melville's Purl Stitch book.

This yarn was gifted to me by her awesomeness Brenda and it makes me happy :)
More photos when it becomes a pair...

Pearls to Oranges?

Alright. It's been a while since there were any new posts. Get knitting!

I wound my [exquisite, pulse-accelerating, let-me-roll-in-a-bathtub-full-of-it] ball of Sea Pearl, closest in color to this) yesterday. My plan is to use it for the Clementine Shawlette. Hopefully I'll be able to cast on this weekend.

I know telling what one plans to do with yarn isn't half as interesting as what one ultimately does with it. But I wanted to say I'm out here and hope to have something to show soon.

Interestingly, by searching under "Clementine Shawlette" on blogs, I found a lot that complained about the poor result of seaming the two halves together. THAT makes me nervous as I've never knitted lace nor used the Kitchener seam...