Yarn Thoughts

11

11 days since my last post.  Helllloooo slacker!

There was a super secret embroidery project I was making for my friend Heather.  And of course I didn't photograph it!  But that was where all my knitting energy was going.  I love embroidery.  It's relatively fast, easy and if you make a mistake (like I do.  Often) It's easy to rip out a part and start over!  I have all sorts of things I want to embroider.  Feeling Stitchy is a great inspiration for all different styles of embroidery.

I have been on a tear buying embroidery books for inspiration.

Recent additions include:

(all amazon images and links)

 

 

 

I also have all the Jenny Hart books and some of her supplies and transfers.  Sublime Stitching is in my opinion the very best resource for stitching materials and tools.  Her blanks, kits, transfers and and books are all top notch quality.  HOWEVER, there is one caveat - she has such a distinctive style that I feel like I'm being less than creative when I stitch her designs, I feel like anyone could tell where I got the pattern from.  Which is silly and unimportant I know, but to make sure I expand my horizons I have looked elsewhere for inspiration.  Which is why I have all those books and more.

As for the knitting I realized that I have been working almost exclusively in knit picks swish worsted for over two months.  Not really a bad thing but I'm ready to dig my hands into some interesting wools from independent dyers.  I have so many great yarns waiting to be made into cakes, I think I sense a little startitis coming on.  I'm wrapping up a slouchy hat of my own design and then I'm breaking out with the ball winder!  Onward and upward!

Also, I don't want to let this day go by without thanking Dr. King for all he gave, all he sacraficed and all he accomplished.  Thank you.

Into the Archives

My little one is home sick today and napping.  I'm cleaning and disinfecting everything I can today.  I decided to take a break and sit at the computer and instead of playing my 12,469 th game of Bejewled Blitz on facebook I would blog a bit.  That game is seriously, tendonitis-inflamingly addictive.

Seeing as fresh, current knitting-related content is going to be a little light for a little longer I decided to show you and oldy but a goody.

Here's my mom:

 

Isn't she cute?  She's holding my niece Tamlyn on her birthay. Tamlyn's hat courtesy of me! Love the pom poms.  The lady in the johnny coat in my sister.  Hi!  I hate using my flash but indoor lighting is indoor lighting.

Anyways,

This picture was taken March 4, 2010 and my mom's birthday is April 6.  Her last birthday I made her a nice little scarf out of Berroco Pure Merino.  This is great yarn.  Soft, nice weight and excellent stitch definition. 

This photo was for my stash page.  It's not there now, not even in the all used up category, don't know why.

A great yarn though.  Nicely plied and very bouncy.  It retails for about $9 which is a little high for less than 100 yards considering that Webs sells Valley Yarns Northfield for less than half price and it's entirely comparable.

My friend Gale was wearing a great scarf one day and when I asked her about it she told me it was a stitch pattern called razor shell - new to me but I guess it's an old, common stitch pattern akin to feather and fan (which I haven't tried yet either).  So I looked up the pattern and a couple weeks later, voila! A scarf is born:

 

 

This color is great with her blue eyes.  She did make sure to tell me that this year she wants a cowl, cheeky bitch!  My mom's great though, and I'm sure I can whip her up something.  My older sister (the one in the above photo) showed me that she accidentally felted a scarf I made her of Debbie Bliss Silk Alpaca.  So she has moved to the front of the knit-for-me line.   It's chilly out there, the woman needs a scarf!

This has been a long break and I have to go scrub and sweep the bathroom next.  Tonight is the Christmas Party for our knitting group.  I am so looking forward to it.  My grab gift needs to be wrapped, the champagne is nice and cold in the fridge and I'm going to be out the door by 6:30 tonight!!

No Knitting

Starting out 2011 and I have no projects planned. No knitting goals or resolutions with knitting. Me, knitting and yarn have developed a nice cozy relationship where we're all happy. I've been doing great stash diving which isn't hard when you about 300 skeins of yarn. It's not that I don't want to buy yarn or that I'm imposing rules on myself, but exploring the stash is like taking a long walk through a neighborhood you grew up in.
All that being said, I haven't been knitting much at all lately. I have a hat 1/3 of the way done that I'm not terribly excited about.
I was going to bed the other night and didn't feel like reading. I went into my closet where my second-string stash is stored and I started poking through bags and pulling out different yarns and because it was so late I was looking for yarn that didn't need to be wound off a hank and in a large bag of cottons I found a pile of GGH Goa.
Goa is a thick, ropey, noodely, multiplied cotton acrylic blend. I made a blanket once for Eli in it and he loves it. I found some Latern Moon rosewood circulars I never opened from buying them at Rhinebeck and randomly opened a page in a stitch dictionary. Maybe, just maybe if I get excited enough I'll knit a bunch of different large squares and stitch them together. No promises. I'm not committing to anything because I don't want to apply my new years resolution of more discipline onto my knitting. I've knit four rows on one square. The stitch pattern is new to me and I may have messed some knit one belows. No commitment no heartbreak if it crashes.

2011 is gonna be bananas!

These are 2010 bananas.  Mushy, rotting, over and past their prime!  A little symbolism there.

Bruised and battered.  Not very bad on the whole, but not really appetizing either.  Plenty of sweetness but very little substance.

 

 

Take these old 2010 yucky juju bananas and mix them up with 3/4 c brown sugar, 1 stick of melted and browned butter, 2 eggs, 3 tbs milk, 1 tsp of vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, a tsp of baking powder, a tsp of salt, a 1/2 tsp of baking soda and 2 cups of flour.  Bake in a greased loaf pan at 350 for an hour and you get brand-spanking-new, not too sweet, warm and hearty banana bread.

 

Here's to a 2011 of fresh bread, new beginnings, reinvention, inspiration, determination, discipline and blazing a new path.  I'm going to be taking new roads, roads less traveled and that shall make all the difference.