Finally finished!

Whaddya think? It's so warm. And just in time, too! The weather is due to be warm-ish tomorrow (in the mid-60s) but then will drop back to more seasonable temperatures. Next up is a hat for Chief Baby Brother!

But now it's time to work on my second thrummed mitten so that when it gets cold again my fingers won't freeze.  G'night :-)

~mz

Giving in to my Fair Isle obsession

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Originally uploaded by mzundercover

This is a hat I'm knitting for myself. Found the chart in my 1000 Great Knitting Motifs book. Decided to repeat the chart twice and put a row of dots between them. It's hard to see the color. It's a beautiful blue called Oceanic from Jamieson's. I may very well be able to finish the knitting on this tomorrow. Fingers crossed! I need some new wool hats to battle the cold of the "frozen tundra." Winter is here!

~mz

More Fair Isle hat knitting

I'm really diggin' this Fair Isle knitting.  See?

This one is totally for me.  I like how the pattern is emerging.  I've noticed several mistakes (like using the wrong color in the wrong place here and there) but I like how it is turning out.  I'm actually knitting the hat in the reverse of how the colors are displayed in the chart I'm knitting from (so what is white on my hat is blue on the chart and vice versa).  That sometimes makes it a bit of a challenge (for me anyway) because my tendency is to knit what I see, and sometimes my brain doesn't want to make my hands do the opposite!  I'm thinking of knitting the Fair Isle chart once more before decreasing at the top of the hat. 

Here's what the inside of the hat looks like:

I'm using the Two-Handed Fair Isle technique I picked up from Philosopher's Wool.  It's a very cool way to knit with yarn in each hand, and weave in your yarns as you knit so that you don't have long floats on the back side.  My technique isn't perfect yet but I'm enjoying the process, and I'll definitely enjoy a nice warm hat.  Which I totally need since temperatures have plummeted here lately.  There was frost on the ground this morning.  Winter is here, regardless of what the calendar says!

And with that, I better get going.  I am looking forward to my first day of Shaun T's Insanity workout, and then definitely some knitting on my sweater so I can compete in NaKniSweMo!

Until next time!

~mz

I totally bought yarn.

Jamieson's Shetland Heather aran weight yarn. Color: Mallard. Quantity: 17 50-gram balls. This will make an awesome sweater!
Originally uploaded by mzundercover

I totally just bought this yarn from a seller on Ravelry, and now I'm looking for just the right sweater pattern. I'm thinking maybe the Shalom cardigan. Can't wait for this beautiful stuff to arrive!

Fair Isle hat

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Originally uploaded by mzundercover

This is the hat I'm knitting for my fella.  He loves it, and so do I!

Swap cloths

These are the cloths I knitted for a dishcloth swap. Aren't they pretty? It is the Ball Band cloth that was made popular in the first Mason-Dixon knitting book. I will have to make some of these for myself and for gifts as well. I thought the pattern was easy and fun!

Ball Band Cloth

Ball Band Cloth
Originally uploaded by mzundercover

I'm sure some of you have knitted, or at least seen, the Ball Band dishcloth that was featured in the first Mason Dixon Knitting book. Here is my first attempt at knitting one. I'm participating in a cloth swap on one of my email lists and thought it would be a good choice. Cloths are small enough that you can practice a new skill or technique without investing too much time (or yarn!). I hope my partner likes the colors I've chosen ... I think they look good together!

~mz

Great seats!

Got free tickets to an Indians game ... these seats are better than the ones we paid for a few months ago!

My PVC niddy noddy

IMAG0223.jpg
Originally uploaded by mzundercover

Some of you wanted to see the PVC niddy noddy that my fella made for me a few weeks ago. Here she is! She works really great for me. She's made from 1 18" piece of pipe, 4 6" pieces, 2 "T" connectors and 4 end caps. Right now "Nita" (that's her name) is holding some bright pink wool that I spun. There is more of that fiber to spin up but I needed the spindle to spin up some fiber that will become a scarf for my fella's mom (either birthday or Christmas gift).

Hopefully one of these days (soon!) I will have the money saved up to put my dream spinning wheel on layaway. Until then, Liesl (my Louet spindle ... maybe I should give her a Dutch name rather than a German one?) is worth her weight in gold!

Back to the studio to make some more goodies for my brand new etsy shop. Check it out, and tell me what you think!

~mz

Announcing ...

... my new etsy shop!  It's still *very* new (there's only one item currently for sale!) but stay tuned for more goodies to be posted soon.  Also, check us out on Facebook.  I plan to spend lots of time in my studio this weekend, making pretty stuff!  I am also hoping to experiment with dyeing yarn using the Kool Aid method ... Can't wait to see how that turns out!

Meantime, this will have to be a short post.  Gotta focus on my "day job" ... maybe the more I focus, the quicker the day will go and the sooner I can be home experimenting in the studio!

Ciao for now, amigos :-)

~mz

Knittable yarn!

Look at what I spun up recently. It's overly spun in some spots but I think it's knittable ... and very pretty. What do you think?

Almost finished!

May baby sweater 062510
Originally uploaded by mzundercover

How's this for making progress? The baby sweater for a coworker is almost finished. Good thing, too, since she is due back from maternity leave soon ... maybe next week sometime? In any case, I'm on vacation starting on Thursday so my hope is to finish the second sleeve, attach the buttons, wash and block it so that I can leave it for her before Thursday.

Soooooo, with that, off I go to find a cool spot for knitting. It's hot as hell outside and inside so I will be near a fan for sure. I'll post another pic as soon as the knitting is finished, which will hopefully be sometime this evening.

Bye for now,
~mz

Nobody beats the GIZ!!

(Remember Nobody Beats the Biz by Biz Markie?)

GOOD NEWS!!

Gizmo checked out just fine at the vet this afternoon; aside from a tick on his right ear everything was great! No ear mites or anything, his heart rate and temperature were all normal. Yay ... that means we get to keep him!! I'm so happy I could just pee (my parents used to have a cocker spaniel puppy who peed every time he got excited about something haha). He was SUCH a good boy during the whole examination and getting his shots, too. So now that makes 4 kitties here at home (3 boys, 1 girl) and I think we have reached our kitty threshold! He's going back to the vet in 2 weeks to get neutered and two weeks after that for booster shots etc.

So that's all the good news from here. I wish I could close out with a picture of the little guy but he's somewhere sleeping and I'd love to get a photo that shows off his eyes and cute little face. Maybe next time? And I'll be back soon with more of my haul from the Great Lakes Fiber Show, promise!

~mz

Edited to add ... a PICTURE!!!

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Originally uploaded by mzundercover

WWKIP day/week

Yesterday I was so excited to meet up with my friends jcoop and knitonepurltoo for a little knitting in public at The Slow Train Cafe.  Slow Train is a new coffeehouse/cafe type of place that I think will quickly gain in popularity.  When I got there yesterday the place was jam-packed with people watching World Cup soccer (England v. USA) but luckily my friends had already secured a table ... whew!  We sat there for a few hours, happily chatting and knitting away on our socks.  jcoop was knitting a pattern from WendyKnits (I don't remember which one, though), knitonepurltoo was knitting Leyburn socks and I was knitting Treads (<-- Rav link!).  What a great way to spend a weekend afternoon, just hanging out with friends!  I hope there will be more of this fun and fellowship over the summer months.  Maybe I could stand a chance of actually FINISHING something if I have nice long blocks of knitting time?

Right now, though, it's time for breakfast.  I think the Mr. is in the kitchen chefing something up ... yum!  I am also going to nuzzle with the new kitty (who's going to the vet tomorrow).  That little guy totally has me wrapped around his little paw!

~mz

Hello, kitty!

This little guy (and yes, we know for sure he's male!) found us last night and he is probably a keeper, so long as he checks out okay at the vet. He's just so sweet and loveable and he kinda made himself at home last night.  Spent lots of time nuzzling with me, made his way right to the food bowl and even got cozy on the couch for a moment.  We decided to keep him sequestered from the other cats last night (well, once we got them all inside, which wasn't until around 2am -yawn!-) and this guy spent the night in the basement.  But boy, this morning as I was leaving for work, he spent about 15 minutes saying, "Good Meow-ning!" :-)

Edited to add:  I am thinking of names for this little cutie (even though my fella says I'm thinking too hard and that the right name will come when it's time).  But just in case it doesn't ... do y'all have any ideas?
~mz

Blew it on NaBloPoMo

So I missed posting for Thursday because we have apparently been adopted by a new kitty who found his way to our house.  What a sweetheart he is!  We were discussing what we should do (keep him? if so, let him inside for the night?  if so, where to keep him until we can get him to the vet tomorrow?).  That conversation took more than a few minutes!  Meantime, the other cats were all wary of the new guy (who's a black cat that reminds me a bit of Bordhi from French Creek Fiber Arts (sorry, there's no pic of him there).  Anyway, I tried to get a good pic of the new guy but he was too busy burying his face in the food bowl and nuzzling up to me to be bothered to pose for a photo!  The biggest personality conflict is between Tiger and the as yet unnamed new kitty.  At one point they were both out on the back deck and we couldn't manage to get Tiger inside (she really doesn't like the 2 other cats that live here too, let alone this little newcomer -- who's still intact!) so decided to leave them alone for a while and try to get her inside later.  Well, a few minutes later I went back out to check on them and they're both gone!  So I dunno where they are if they're busy mating (even though she's been fixed) or tearing each other to shreds (although I didn't hear any indication of either scenario).  What I know is that it's after 1am and I'm tired as all hell but it feels weird trying to sleep with only 2/3 of our kitties inside.

In any case, I will keep trying to post every day this month, even though I blew it.  At least I made it for a few more days than the last time I tried to do this in November 2009.  Gonna go try to find my cat so I can finally go to bed.

~mz

feeling better ... and worse

So I've had what I think is strep throat since Monday.  Right now I'm feeling a LOT better (no headache to speak of, throat hurts way less and fever finally broke) but now I'm nauseous as all hell.  What gives!  Methinks it will be a super early night tonight (might go to bed before it's even dark outside!), and I hope to be back tomorrow with a more substantive post.

~mz

Yay turnips!

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Originally uploaded by mzundercover

This is the first turnip harvest of the season ... how cool is THAT? My honey works so hard in the garden every day so that we can have good, organic, nutritious food. Just think about how much money we can save all summer just by growing our own. This is totally awesome. I love him SO MUCH for all that he does for us!

~mz

Short post today ...

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Originally uploaded by mzundercover

... because I am sick to DEATH with what appears to be strep throat so I'm gonna take myself to bed. But in the meantime, I wanted to leave you with a picture of the funnel cloud that I took last night from my front porch (this was after snapping the pic of the beautiful rainbow!). Yes I know I should have had my ass in the basement but I just couldn't help myself. Luckily there was no rotation and it blew over in just a few minutes.

Hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow and post more of my Great Lakes Fiber Show goodies.

Until then,

~mz

Somewhere over the rainbow

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Originally uploaded by mzundercover

I love rainbows. Maybe because they don't happen often, maybe because they're so pretty, maybe because they remind me of the Noah's ark story in the Bible ... maybe because of all of the above. But earlier this evening I looked out of my back door and this is what I saw. Isn't it amazing?

Training for Tour de Fleece!

Have you all heard of Star Athena's Tour de Fleece?  It's an online spin-along that happens at the same time as the Tour de France.  "The concept is simple, They spin, we spin. A real spinning themed spin-along."  Sounds so cool, right?


So I decided yesterday that I need to "train" for this event.  I so wish I had a Majacraft Suzie Pro that could be properly "christened" for this event but I don't so I will be using a drop spindle.  I finally broke out my new Louet  top whorl spindle that I bought last year during the Yarn Discovery Tour.  It's SO much better than the student spindle I'd been using.  Anyway, I started training last night and as of this afternoon I have this: 

I am using some Punta wool from Highland Handmades.  I just found out that Punta is a region in South America, not a type of sheep!  Anyway, this colorway is called "Harbinger" and I love it!  It's shades of red with a wee bit of purple and a teensy bit of palest pink.  Isn't it spinning up nicely?

I read a blog post from Girl Meets Needle today and she was talking about pre-drafting some yarn that she's spinning for a shawl and I'm like oooooooh.  So I did some pre-drafting but then I couldn't wait to spin.  It's still a little lumpy, and the spots where I'm joining new fiber are a little awkward but it looks like yarn doesn't it!  This is a refreshing change from spinning plain undyed fiber.  I thought maybe I should save the pretty dyed stuff until I get more skilled at spinning but nevermind that foolishness!  I've no clue what this lovely stuff will become once it's all spun up.  Maybe a cowl or a hat or ... ?


So maybe I'll go pre-draft some more, or knit for a while.  Either way I will be dreaming of the day when I have a spinning wheel of my very OWN!


~mz

Day 1 of my of my "bike to work every day and get ur ass in shape" exercise routine

Hell yeah!  And I did it in less time than I planned for ... YAY!  I need to find a better backpack that will accommodate a change of clothes and shoes but whatever, I did it!

Now back to my regularly scheduled work day.  Talk to ya later!

~mz

Guess what I did today!

I rode 15 miles on my bike.  That's almost all the way to work and back.  The only reason I didn't go all the way to campus is that the sun was setting and I wanted to get home before dark (I'm kind of a wimp).  I'm pretty sure that starting tomorrow I'm going to bike to work daily (or mostly daily).  I won't ride in the rain because -- like I said -- I'm kind of a wimp.

My backpack is all packed with my usual daily essentials -- wallet, keys, work ID, makeup bag, iPod, cell phone and knitting (not like I can knit and ride but knitting goes with me everywhere -- it's kind of like my security blanket!).  The only other detail that I haven't quite worked out yet is work clothes.  I certainly don't want to bike in them, and as of now, at least, I don't have a change of fresh work clothes at my office. I think I will just toss some clothes in the backpack and leave it at that.  I can refine this whole process as needed over time, yes?

I would show you my next batch of goodies from the fiber show but I just can't get a good photo so I'll try again tomorrow when there's some (hopefully) good natural light so that I can capture truer colors.

Right now, however, I must get ready for bed ... and get ready for tomorrow.  Until then ...

~mz

Great Lakes Fiber Show: haul #2

So this is the second beautiful thing I got from the Great Lakes Fiber Show:

These are hand-poured pewter buttons from The Ram's Horn (but incidentally, I don't see these buttons listed on the site!).  I saw them and HAD to have them.  I think they will be perfect on a hand knit sweater ... haven't decided which sweater pattern yet (and you can see from my last post that I already have quite a few things on the needles already.  But I have a potential yarn picked out for said sweater ... just have to knit a swatch and see how the buttons will look with it.  These are really special buttons, though, so the yarn and the pattern have to be special too!  As you can see, I have 8 of these buttons ... plenty for one sweater or maybe even 2 (for cardigans that only button part of the way, for example).  Either way, I'm supremely happy with this find, and can't wait to get to the point where I can actually PUT them on something.  Though, I must admit that just looking at them is mighty satisfying, too.

~mz

Great Lakes Fiber Show haul #1

So I thought I would start off NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) with a series of posts about the wooly goodness that came home with me from the Great Lakes Fiber Show on Saturday.  Nevermind that June's theme is NOW -- I'm a procrastinator anyway so maybe I'll get around to NOW sometime later :-)

Anyhoo, this lovely sock yarn is from Creatively Dyed Yarn.

The yarn is called Sami, but unfortunately I don't know the colorway because it's not labeled.  But lemme tell ya, it's beautiful.  Kind of beet red/purple, which I don't have any of in my wardrobe anywhere but it doesn't really matter (sorry I can't get a better picture ... the sun's gone down so there's no natural light).  It will make some lovely socks.  Not NOW because I have a bunch of other WIPs that I need to finish up. Including ...

• Eric's socks.  Currently knitting down the foot of sock #2.
• May baby sweater.  All that's left is to finish up the body and knit the sleeves.
• XOXO scarf for Nyketa.  Maybe if I get my act together I can finish by the end of June.  Especially since she asked for it for Christmas 2009!
• Clapotis.  Beautiful, pink Clapotis knitted in lace-weight Malabrigo.  On size 0 or 1.  Something *really* small.  So yeah, it is pretty much taking forever.  Well, that and the fact that I haven't knitted on it since like, November maybe?  Yeah.
• Top-down pullover for me.  Body's all finished, gotta knit sleeves.  Easy mindless knit, but it's 100% worsted weight wool and it's been in the 80s here lately.  This might go into hibernation until after summer.  But then again, if I just finish it, it will be ready to wear come Autumn/Winter when I'll really need it.
• Thrummed mittens.  I started these just as spring was approaching then it got too warm for thrummed mittens so I put them aside.  Will pick them up in Autumn for sure, and then knit a pair for my Momma.  She lives in the desert southwest so why she wants some wool thrummed mittens is beyond me but I will knit them because she asked!  Better yet, maybe I'll knit some for her next month while I'm visiting.  It'll be a good reason to go to a yarn shop for some Noro Kureyon and roving!

Okay NOW, I'm gonna wrap up this post and get ready for bed.  Unfortunately, my bike isn't ready for me to start biking to work.  I was really looking forward to being able to do that, but I will also enjoy a little extra sleep in the morning.  And the quicker I get to bed, the more sleep I'll get.  Boy do I like that arrangement.  

Ciao for now, talk to you again tomorrow.

~mz

Still recovering from a fiber coma :-)

Yesterday I went to the 2010 Great Lakes Fiber Show in Wooster with my friend Jan.  She's been for the past 3 years but it was my first time.  I was so excited I could hardly sleep on Friday night!  


My main goal was to do some "investigative research" on spinning wheels.  I am itching to buy my first wheel, but I don't want to make a huge investment like that until I'm sure of what I like.  Makes sense, right?  So we got there and decided to look at all the vendors before buying anything (great plan!).  There was so much to see!  Vendors from all over the country were there, including some folks that I follow on Twitter (like CreativelyDyed).  The fiber was soft and colorful, the yarns were amazing, the animals were fun to watch, and the people were very friendly.  So off we went!  Made our first rounds, stopped for lunch ("fair" food, ya know ... french fries, lemonade, Jan had a pulled pork sandwich and I had an Italian sausage sandwich.  Yum!), and then started round two.  That's when I saw some wheels (-drool!-)

First stop was Majacraft, and the first wheel I tried was the Suzie Pro.  I think that's the one I fell in love with.  It treadled so smoothly and I took to it like a duck to water.  See?

 

I also tried the Little Gem, which I also loved.  Both seem to be very portable, were easy to spin on and just a joy to use.   Another plus is that all of the Majacraft parts are interchangeable with each other.  Of course I wasn't planning to buy a wheel (this was only a research expedition!), so after a bit I moved on to the next booth and tried an Ashford Traditional.  Nice, but not as nice as Majacraft!  (Thanks to Jan for taking such great pics!)

Then it was off to try a Lendrum.  That was also a great wheel to spin on, and is currently a very close second to the Majacraft wheels (and it's a plus that it costs a bit less, too).  It was smooth to spin, and easy to fold down for traveling, which is a definite plus.  I don't have any photos of me spinning on the Lendrum, but here's the yarn I spun on it:

Let's see.  I also tried out four different Spinolution wheels (Mach II, Bee, Echo and Hopper). 

 

Those are neat in that you basically get the wheel going with your toes rather than the whole foot but I found them a little fiddly.  For example, I found it a little tough to feel the wheel taking up the yarn ... I didn't feel much of a pull, ya know?  I like to feel a bit of a tug as I'm going to help me get into my spinning groove, but everyone is different, right?  Spinning on those wheels didn't feel as natural to me as the Majacraft wheels did.   Not only that, but a few times my yarn slipped off the pegs on the flyer/spindle thingy so I had to keep stopping to adjust.  Didn't like that at all!

I saw some Babe wheels but gee, a wheel made of PVC pipe?  I didn't try one, but maybe I will in September when Jan and I go to A Wool Gathering in Yellow Springs.  I hope to also try the Schacht Ladybug as well.  That's the wheel that Jan has and she will let me try it out sometime.  

One vendor (who wasn't vending wheels but had a Ladybug that she was spinning on) encouraged us to get Woolee Winders for our wheels.  These flyers are made to fit several different wheel models and what's super cool about them is that it automatically fills your bobbin evenly so you don't ever have to stop spinning to change hooks.  That's a huge plus too, so I will be buying this flyer and some extra bobbins when I'm ready to order my wheel. 

So that's it for my spinning wheel report. Next time I will show y'all all the beautiful stuff that came home with me!

Until then, happy knitting, and do enjoy this long holiday weekend!

~mz

A night at the game

It's time for Stitch N Pitch @ the Indians game! I'm here with Nyketa. It's our first SNP and so far it's fun. Look at Slider joking around with some fans in our section. But note to selves: next time eat at home, or else go broke buying stadium food!  Now to pull out some knitting ...

~mz

Sweater yarn!

So I'm in West Lafayette, Indiana for a couple of conferences this week (leaving today actually) and some of the knitter among us visited a local yarn shop called River Knits. I decided to specifically look for yarn to knit the famous February Lady Sweater.  Look at the great yarn I found ... 100% wool from Jojoland. 110 yard balls for $3.75 each! What a great deal! I bought 10 balls (more than enough for FLS) plus 4 more to maybe knit something to match.  I'm really excited and can't wait to finish some stuff so I can cast on!

Enabling a new knitter!

My friend Heather saw me knitting socks at the 2008 USAIN conference and recently asked me to give her a lesson on knitting socks. I bought her a set of double pointed needles, grabbed some charcoal gray yarn from my stash (one of her preferred colors) and printed out a color copy of the first sock pattern I knitted.  In turn, she agreed to buy my dinner.  We met up @ an Irish pub last night, where I got her started with casting on, joining the needles and knitting/purling in the round.  She's doing great!

Can’t resist casting on!

Hi … I know I’ve been gone for a while.  Life has kept me busy in general.  Work, housework/chores, gardening, art class blah blah blah.  It feels like months since I’ve knitted anything (though in reality it’s probably been less than two weeks!).  

I recently finished a Seamless Yoked Baby Sweater (<-- RAVELRY LINK!!!) for a coworker’s new baby.  Silly me … I forgot to take a pic of the finished sweater, but I hope to get a pic soon with the wee one wearing it.  Thankfully I upsized it and she hasn’t yet outgrown it.  That gives me hope for the next baby sweater that I will start soon for another (very) pregnant colleague.  For some reason I haven’t been able to get my head out of my ass long enough to plan a baby gift in advance and only decided yesterday on a pattern.  She had a baby shower at work today and I let her know that a sweater is forthcoming.  It is still cool enough here for sweaters, especially for babies, but I will also upsize this sweater quite a bit so that the wee one (it’s a girl!) can hopefully still wear it when sweater weather returns later in the year.  Oh, I guess I should tell you that for this baby I’m knitting the February Baby Sweater from the inimitable Elizabeth Zimmermann (EZ).  I am a HUGE fan of top-down raglan style sweaters, and at some point this year I want to knit the February Lady Sweater for me me me!!!  Yeah, pay no attention to those WIPs in the sidebar …

Later this week I will continue with the Stash Yarn of the Week, and it will likely be the yarn I’ve chosen for the FBS I just told you about.  Oh, I should also tell you that I’m knitting that sweater in a lovely medium lavender color … still “girly” but not pink.  And that reminds me, I will need to get buttons for the sweater this weekend.  What a great excuse to stop by my favorite LYS in search of the perfect buttons! 

Speaking of shopping at local, independent shops have y’all heard of The 3/50 Project?  Essentially it’s a way that all of us can save our local economies … by helping the “brick and mortars our nation is built on.”  My quaint little town has several of these types of shops and I try to spread my $50 around, not always to the same ones (although the yarn shop is one exception!).

Anyway, thanks for listening to me ramble.  I might try casting on and knitting a few rows of this new project.  Then again, maybe I won’t. The idea of going to sleep is winning over the idea of knitting.  Tomorrow is another day.

And until then, good night!

~mz

Stash yarn of the week

Brand: Noro
Yarn Name: Cashmere Island
Yarn Content: 30% cashmere, 60% wool, 10% nylon
Yardage/skein: 110
Total yardage: 330

This beautiful yarn was on sale at my LYS this week and these 3 skeins were calling my name! Couldn't resist bringing them home with me. I think they might eventually become fingerless mitts and cowl. But I'm always looking for ideas ... what would you make with this beautiful stuff?

Stash yarn of the week

Mystery yarn 032910
Originally uploaded by mzundercover
More yarn from Natalie Demuth's stash. Looks like handspun ... it is thick and thin. I hope you can see all the wonderful colors in this yarn. I have what wound up to be 8 balls (no idea of yardage) but I thought it would make a nice cowl at least.  Maybe a cowl and short fingerless mitts?

Stash yarn of the week

Mystery yarn 031310
Originally uploaded by mzundercover
This is from the stash of Natalie Demuth, a member of my guild who recently passed away. Her stash was brought to a guild meeting for members to take. This yarn is unlabeled but the "burn test" says it's part wool and part acrylic. It looks like Plymouth Encore (which is one of my favorites!) and this will knit up into a nice baby or charity item.

Anyone know how to get rid of the smell of mothballs?

~mz

What I've been knitting

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Originally uploaded by mzundercover


Well hello ....

I know I've been under the radar lately but I'm back now! Just wanted to pop in and show you a bit of the loveliness I've been knitting. A friend of mine had a baby recently and I'm knitting a lovely pink sweater for the wee one. It's not the sweater I originally had in mind -- was having troubles with that one -- but this one is working up quickly and beautifully. It's the Seamless Yoked Baby Sweater by Carol Barenys and you can find it on Ravelry or on the web. I hope to finish the knitting this weekend so I can sew on the cute pink heart-shaped buttons I bought for it. With any luck I can send the sweater and some other "welcome to the world" gifts.

But first, I must get to the grocery store so that I can cozy up with my crime dramas on DVR and my knitting. What a great weekend! Enjoy the rest of yours, too!

~mz

testing testing 1,2,3

I’m just testing out this Windows Live Writer thing.

What are your knitting quirks?

Here are some of mine!

1. I hate using double pointed needles (and straights, too -- see item 3).
2. I don’t like when people that I’m not close to say something like, “Knit me a sweater!!” My “nice” answer is, “No, but I’ll teach YOU how to knit so you can knit your own sweater.” The not-so-nice answer which I say to myself is, “HELL NO!!”
3. Once I found the joy and beauty and elegance of knitting on circs, I dropped my straight needles like hot rocks. I keep them in vases in my office. They are a nice decoration, if nothing else.
4. I love sock yarn and am trying my best to get as much of it as I can.
5. I find that I navigate toward reds and pinks, especially lately. Everything I am currently knitting (well except one thing) is a shade of red or pink.
6. I am learning to appreciate the gauge swatch.
7. Addi Turbos are my favorite circs and I always buy them 2 at a time. I think right now I have 2 each in sizes 0-6.
8. I can’t stand knitting with “novelty” yarns … ladders, ribbons, eyelash and all that other crap is not for me. At. All.  I'll use it on occasion but only if I have to!

Thrummed mittens

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Originally uploaded by mzundercover

My thrummed mittens are FINALLY finished and I lent them to the yarn shop to advertise the workshop I will be leading in a couple of weeks! Only got to wear them for a few days but they were sooooo warm. Looking forward to helping others have warm hands for the rest of the winter!

2010 knitting resolutions

You know how it is at the first of the year.  Everyone makes resolutions for all sorts of things:  losing weight, getting out of debt/saving money, quitting smoking, etc.  I don't know about you, but I usually make knitting resolutions.  I wrote my list like weeks ago, but hadn't gotten around to making the list public ... till now.  So here goes:

• learn brioche stitch – and knit something with that stitch. I’m thinking something simple like a hat although I would LOVE to have this capelet: Shadow Dance
• knit a sweater for myself – specifically: Incredible Custom-Fit Raglan
• knit (or crochet) 1 Christmas gift each month (except January)
• knit a sweater vest for myself – specifically: Veste Everest or Ticuna
• start cataloging yarn/fiber stash on Ravelry – perhaps one per week
• learn to knit 2 socks at a time on 2 circulars. I already know the 2 circ method (Cat Bordhi is my hero!) so the next step is to do 2 socks at once

That's it!  Seems easy enough now, but we'll see how it goes as the year progresses!

Oh, I've also been meaning to show y'all my new Rio bag from Jordana Paige.  What can I say?  I. LOVE. THIS. BAG!!  Here's Rio at work:

I have my regular purse stuff on one side of the center divider (from left to right you see my red Moleskine notebook, a small pack of tissues, keys, cell phone, orange makeup bag and iPod-- in a knitted iPod cozy of course).  Inside the zipped-up center divider are my wallet and a compact of my favorite Chantecaille lipglosses. The other side of the divider has my bag of knitting tools, my Kindle, 2 knitting projects in vinyl bags and a folder of some of the various patterns I'm sorta working on. This is a true carry-it-all bag!!!  There are tons of pockets, and even the pockets have pockets ... seriously.  I am already looking forward to getting another Rio.  My only wish is that the garnet red wasn't discontinued.  But there is hope for maybe being able to purchase one during the upcoming sale ... 100% of the sales are going to help victims of the earthquake in Haiti so it's for a good cause.  I'm gonna buy one, and you should too!

But now, I'm gonna cozy up on the couch, watch the fire burn in the fireplace, and maybe knit on my mitten.

G'night!

~mz

Happy New Year!

I am totally wondering what happened to the past year -- actually I'm wondering what happened to the past TEN years.  Time flies indeed!

I wish I could say that I've spent nearly every spare moment of my vacation knitting (working on the few projects that are currently on my needles.  Part of my vacation was spent sick in bed, unfortunately!  My mom successfully doctored me back to health and after a few days under her care, I felt halfway human.  But I still didn't do much knitting, which means that I still need to finish 3.5 dishcloths for Momma's annual Christmas gift.  Also have to finish Eric's second sock (I was going great guns on it but messed up a cable and couldn't fix it so I had to rip and re-knit), and also need to finish my laceweight Clapotis.  I'm prioritizing those projects in that exact order and would love to finish all of them by the end of January, so that I can start my "Incredible Custom-Fit Raglan Sweater" for my "Ravelympics 2010" project (careful, that's a Ravelry link!). 

So in other news, I will share what "Santa" brought me for Christmas ... gee I must have been very good this year!  My parents bought me some cute stuff, including a "Porn for Women" wall calendar, a neat mug that I can use for sipping my morning tea, and a couple of charms for my Pandora bracelet!  I got some Christmas money from other family members too,  and my honey gave me an Amazon.com gift card.  So what did I buy?  Knitting stuff of course!  I got 4 of Cat Bordhi's books:

• Personal Footprints for Insouciant Sock Knitters: Book Two in the New Pathways for Sock Knitters Series
  
• New Pathways for Sock Knitters: Book One
  
• A Second Treasury of Magical Knitting
  
• A Treasury of Magical Knitting 

I also bought myself 2 charms for the above-mentioned bracelet. And today I bought a Rio bag from Jordana Paige.  Boy, I can't WAIT for that to arrive.  It seems like it will be the perfect solution to carrying my purse, my knitting bag and often a work bag.  I'm a total bag lady but from all accounts this bag is woooooonnnnderful and is the only bag a knitter needs.  I can't wait to try mine out!  I'm afraid I will get hooked and maybe feel compelled to buy another in a different color :-)  I got black because it goes with everything, but I would love to find a red one.  Apparently Rio used to come in red but not anymore.  How sad!    Anyhoo, I think this bag might make me get rid of some of the others that I've tried and don't like for various reasons.  I'll definitely give y'all an update as soon as it gets here! 

That's all for now, dears.  Methinks it's finally time to cozy up in bed and head off to dreamland.  Hope your New Year is productive, fun and full of knitting.  May your yarn never tangle, and may your dye lots always match!

Until next time,
~mz