On The Road

We have been visiting Lovely Las Vegas for the past week. One thing I can say about Las Vegas casinos is: some people win and most people don't. We didn't.
The other thing I can say is: there's lots of smoking here. I swear everything we own is smokey smelling, eeeyuckk.
But we did have a wonderful buffet lunch at the Wynn. And we got to spend some quality time with our daughter. And we did help her move from one apartment to another.
And I did get to see this:

It's looks so natural in this setting, does it not? There is nothing so lovely as a fake pine tree cell tower in your back yard. (The black dot above is an artifact, not a UFO)
We haven't even had time to look for knitting stores here, what with helping our daughter move, etc.
Next week, we will be on to Northern California, and hopefully to resume our search for the perfect yarn.

Little Bitty Baby Stuff Completed

I, little knitter, have completed two projects! Yes, they are little. Yes, were both knit from the same pattern book, with the same yarn...

Debbie Bliss Simply Baby

Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino yarn

Patterns "Cuff Bootees" and "Two Tone socks"

The bootees have enough seed stitch in them to make you swear to never ever do anything in seed stitch again. But they look so cool, it was worth it! I used the light green with dark green trim on the socks, and dark green with light green trim on the bootees. I still had quite a bit left over from both colors.

Even finishing something this small gives me confidence that the myriad of unfinished projects which now tidily hang in tote bags in my closet may one day become the F.O.'s they so richly deserve to be!

Destash Web Page

I had a bit of trouble this morning on my little destash web page, it's fixed now, so items can now be ordered on line. I also decreased the shipping charges, it was set at an exhorbitant rate for yarn. Here's the link~ Trish's Yarn Destashing Page ~ enjoy!

Big Knitter's Blanket

Here's Big Knitter's latest completed blanket. This is folded over in half, so it's actually twice as long as is shown. Pretty much a twin bed size. It's a basket weave pattern and made from Alpaca With A Twist, Big Baby, a chunky yarn. The blanket is quite heavy but super soft.

My Stash Is Your Stash

I have listed the first of my destashing effort. I created a page on my bear store website, complete with secure shopping cart! (Click Here to check it out) There are a few sock yarns listed, some miscellaneous wool and some Encore worsted (ooh, also the Lorna's Laces vest kit). All at 50% or more off the original price.

Spring Cleaning

This is a UFO I found today while destashing...a completely knitted & sewn Christmas stocking, the only U part about it is the felting. I estimate that I made this from a kit approximately 2 or so years ago. I think I can finish this!!

De Stash-i-fying

An intrepid foray into my closet this morning yielded a large stash of unused clothing which I'll hopefully get dropped off to Goodwill tomorrow...now I can fit all my UFO tote bags in there, each one on its own hanger. Who needs clothes in their closet anyway? Someday(!) I will actually look into these totes and see if there's any hope of finishing these projects. I know some of them are on bind-off or sew-together status. Others are on swatching status. But that's for another day. I am just glad they are hanging up. You may be wondering just how many totes are in there, all hung up so nice and organized...ummm...not ready to divulge that information! Suffice it to say it's a walk in closet.

All of this (somehow logically) led me to the dresser full of yarn in the office. I collected some of my stash of wool to donate to Warm Woolies and found some wool-blends and other yarns to donate to Knitting Ladies, which looks like a Great Program.

I will also be selling some of my stash too, first up will be a kit that I bought quite awhile back that has several types of Lorna's Laces yarn in it. I never even opened the mesh bag until today and I never bought the pattern. I think it was supposed to be a vest or shawl. Hopefully someone who isn't intimidated by starting a "big" project will want to give this kit a home. (I offered it to Big Knitter, but you know, it's just not his thing)

I am working on a website page to list my destashing efforts. I should have something up by tomorrow.

Until then, back to the needles.

Trish

Advice for the Dentally Challenged

(or, survival skills for dental appointments)

1.Knit while you're waiting in the waiting room of the dentist office.

2.Knit while you're waiting for the x-rays to process.

3.Visualize knitting while the dentist is shooting you up and drilling your molar.

4.Knit while he calls the oral surgeon to say you need an emergency procedure.

5.Knit at the red lights while in traffic on your way to the oral surgeon's office.

6.Knit while waiting in the waiting room at the oral surgeon's office.

7.Visualize knitting while he's numbing up your entire mouth.

8.Visualize knitting while he fills your mouth with metal tools and who knows how many fingers and while he's saying "you will just feel some pressure". (wonder to yourself, why didn't I ask for sedation so I could Dream about knitting instead)

9.Last but not least, knit while you are recuperating on your recliner at home with an ice pack propped up next to your chin.

At least you will have something to show for your day:


Pattern for "Fetching" from Knitty.
Yarn is Noro Cashmere, from Shelley at Fun Knits, which we hope to find and visit this summer.
Surprisingly, the oral surgeon called last evening to make sure I was doing OK. I am.

Big Knitter's New Projects

The Big Knitter had to start some of his new yarn and here's what's going so far:
This one is from Catalina Alpaca Cotton, soooo soft! All stitch patterns are unvented. Often, he knits from the same end of the needle twice in a row (with separate colors) to get the effect he wants.

This one is from the Artful Yarns Jazz that Big Knitter just ordered from Webs:

This is the throw that he started three times until he got the pattern he wanted:

And this is (I think) alpaca that Big Knitter bought a couple of skeins from our lys, to see if he liked the colors. (he does, and so do I)

And, last, but not least, I finished, finished, finished (meaning I promise I will not pick out anything else or add anything else to) my first KOTR Dalarna sock. I added one more set of twining/ribbing by picking out my former cast on row and working the ribbing pattern from bottom to top. I cast off using Peggy's method from the Socknitters website.

When I make the second sock, I will have to provisionally cast on, work the first ribbing section going down, work the second section going up and cast off the top again if I want the two socks to look alike. Aah, it's the challenge that keeps me going.

Blog Links

Some GREAT blogs I have found while I am learning that blogging is addictive:
Blog 1
A local knitter whose blog I happened across.
Blog 2
Nona's inspirational
Blog 3
Talented and creative young Mom ~ brings back memories
Blog 4
Amazing Yarn! Maybe the perfect Yarn!
Blog 5
The walker treasury project, I hope they will write a book about this after it's finished!
Blog 6
Beth has free patterns for making knitted bacteria

Patterns, patterns & patterns, oh my!

I'm playing at my teddy bear store today. I am open on Wednesdays and Saturdays to the public. The rest of the time, people have to find me on the web or by appointment. It's a one-woman operation!

Between customers, I am working on organizing all the patterns and other stuff that I've printed from the web lately. I hope to organize these into notebooks, so I'm putting them into transparent sleeves.

There are loads of freebee sock patterns out there, now really, I shouldn't ever have to buy another sock book, EVER.

Here's a pile of what I have so far. The pile on the left is patterns I've bought along the way, on the right are freebees.

Here's a sample of some of the free sock patterns.

And here's a little bear that was keeping me company in the process. This is a prototype for a bear making class we're holding in May, she is holding a felt apple pincushion.

Like I said, I Don't Need Another Sock Knitting Book

Well, maybe just one more, from Interweave knits, how could one go wrong?

This one already has its own KAL.

And its own KAL Button. Cool.

Red States?

What is this?! Some kind of Republican conspiracy?
I found this on a knitting blog that I randomly visited...I DO love knitting blogs. I was looking for instructions for the "Italian" (tubular) cast-on. But then I got sidetracked when I saw this map and thought I'd try my own . As you can see, in our travels we somehow missed Michigan. (Also, we merely drove through some of these states on the way to somewhere else; does that count as a visit?)

A surreal life.

I must say it is quite strange...indeed surreal...to be conversing about knitting, gauge, basket weave or a new yarn with my husband of over 30 years! Sitting in our respective knitting chairs, with our respective Ott lights, with our 'projects du jour' on our respective laps, I often find myself flashing back to the Before Big Knitting (bbk?) days, trying to remember what life was like. I can tell you Big Knitter really didn't have alot of interest in my fiber world. Now, it's like some cosmic event has brought us to this place, to a home filled with lovely fibers and creativity, together. Whew, somebody pinch me!


BK did FINALLY open his Webs box. Here's what was inside. A whole big bunch of Artful Yarns Jazz. Two blankets worth, to be exact.

In two different colorways.

My little knitting Knucks project is almost a non-UFO. These aren't my favorite colors but I plan to redeem them with some kind of (yet to be determined) Knucks Decor and Message. I still have a few internal strings to finish. There were ten million ends in this project! I used EZ's I-cord fingers for these, that was quite fun. I also made the thumb gusset kind of short. I kept trying them on and found out I have narrow wrists, so I had to fudge.

Why is it one can have narrow wrists and then an extra __ lbs around the middle. I need some kind of redistribution of stitches, if you know what I mean.