Finished...Finished...Finished

I've been finishing lots of knit and crochet objects lately. Unfortunately, I've been spending more time putting their photos on my Ravelry page than on this blog... Anyway, here are some photos for you.

First, Amigurumi - all from Ana Paula Rimoli's Amigurumi World:

Second, a crocheted 'Drool Baby' bib from Needle Noodles:

And, finally, my Mobius sweater by Norah Gaughan:

I'm desperately working on a couple of punchneedle teacher gifts and a needlepoint pillow for my buddy Ann. All three of these projects need to be done in the next few weeks in order for the finishing to get done in time for the end of school and Ann's birthday. SIGH! I don't like deadlines too much, but it's probably for the best, because they will get done!!!

ZZZZZzzzzz...

I went in for a sleep study this past Tuesday to try to figure out why I am tired/sleepy all of the time. It was quite an interesting experience. I went to a HealthEast facility in Maplewood, and the rooms were fabulous! I expected a hospital-type room with hospital beds and cramped quarters; instead, what I got was a nice hotel room with a double bed, a nice easy chair and a flat-screen t.v. I arrived around 9 pm, and after changing into my p.j.'s, I had about 20 wires attached to me to measure my breathing, heart, brain waves, oxygen levels in the blood, etc. I thought I would never get to sleep with all of that stuff attached to me, but, really, I didn't have any problems. I did wake up more than I usually do, because the techs had to come into the next room and fit the person in there with a CPAP machine to help control sleep apnea (at least I think that's what was going on).

I was lucky - no one came into wake me up and put me on the CPAP, which I knew meant that I didn't have sleep apnea. Unfortunately, the doctor I met with in the morning couldn't pinpoint anything from the sleep study that was causing my tiredness - no apnea, no problems with REM sleep, no unusual leg jerks, etc. She basically said that I just need to get more sleep. Currently, I get between 6 1/2 and 7 1/2 hours a night (and 8 - 10 hours each weekend night), but not at the times I would really like to get my sleep - I'm trying to go to sleep earlier than my personal circadian rhythms dictate by about an hour and I'm getting up a couple of hours earlier than I would like.

I still think there's more to the big picture than just needing more sleep. My next step in the sleuthing process is to get a physical, including a more thorough thyroid function test than the typical test that I've had several times. Hopefully I can figure out how to fix this. I hate being tired all the time!

Requisite crafting component: Me in my Noro Taiyo hat #2.

Yarnover 2008

I was at the very fun, highly motivational, incredibly awe-inspiring Yarnover today! The Yarnover is the Minnesota Knitters' Guild's annual one-day workshop. It's loaded with classes taught by many of the superstars of the knitting world: Sally Melville, Joan Schrouder, Melissa Leapman, Chris Bylsma, Beth Brown-Reinsel, Lucy Neatby, etc. Plus, there is a market of local and not-s0-local vendors. Of course, 3 Kittens had a booth, so we were there by 7 am unloading cars and setting up our table, and we didn't start breaking everything down and packing up until 5 pm. It was a long day!

I was lucky enough to take a class in the morning from Sally Melville. She's a fun and energetic teacher who makes sure that everyone in the class gets the help they need. The class I took was called "Stripes and Stripes that Aren't." The first half of the class was all about stripes - whether to cut the yarn at the end of each stripe or carry it up along the edge (carry up); how to line up stripes from body to upper arm on a set in sleeve; how to do stripes so it doesn't make you look heavier (make sure that you don't do the following: have wide stripes and [not or] have stripes that match up and have high contrast between stripe colors); how to weave in ends as you work, etc. The second half of the class - and where I got most excited - was basically on slip stitches and how to carry colors up your work from your previous stripe color (clear as mud, I know...) Now, I've worked with slip stitches before, and I could have figured most of the info out on my own, but one of the best things about it was having Sally show her garments from her Knitting Experience 3: Color book and talk about the design process and the use of these stripes that aren't in garments - I came away with two garments I want to make. Which, of course, means that I will be buying the book at the store tomorrow, and seeing if I can use my Fiesta Rayon Boucle for one of them.

Luckily, in the process of the day, I just about finished my last sleeve for my Mobius. I think I have about 5 rows to go. Then I can put it all together, block it, and maybe by the end of the week, I'll be able to wear it! I also almost finished my Regia Bamboo socks - just the toe shaping left. I haven't worn knit socks in a long time, so I'm excited to get them done. No photos tonight, because I don't have my camera. You'll have to wait until tomorrow...

Also, I had a great experience being one of Franklin Habit's 1000 Knitters. I had no idea that he was going to be there, so it was a thrill to be photographed by him (you can see what a good photographer he is in the self-portrait at right). If you're a listener of the Cast On podcast, you'll know Franklin by his funny, funny essays. At first, I couldn't find him - he was not in the room where all of his equipment was set up, and I went back to the market. But, as I was walking back to the booth, I heard his distinctive voice and went towards it. He was quite generous to allow me to come to the photo shoot even though I didn't have an appointment. We chatted while he took the picture, and I got maybe 6 rows done on the 1000 Knitters' scarf. I was pretty soon after Lucy Neatby. I did my section in plain ol' garter stitch - Lucy put a nice big, on-purpose hole in her section. That's why she's the designer - she's creative...

All in all, I had a great (albeit exhausting) day. Next year, Lily Chin will be the keynote speaker, so it should be another great event!

California Dreamin'

Not much to write about lately, so I haven't. I did go on a short trip to California with my husband last weekend. Flew into LAX, then drove to Claremont to have lunch with an old friend at 3 Forks, which was lovely because we got to sit outside and the food was delicious. We then drove to Palm Springs to visit cousin Janie. We dined at the famous Smoke Tree Ranch

and the next day we visited the Indian Canyons park which was fascinating - desert, except along the stream beds where there were, of all things, palm trees.

Then for our last night we drove to San Diego and spent the night at the Loews Coronado Beach Resort, which was lovely but too short of a stay to really enjoy it.

I needlepointed on the plane trips and in the cars I worked on my Regia Bamboo socks and the collar for my Mobius top.

I've started and ripped out a little Noro Taiyo crocheted hat twice tonight... SIGH!

I returned from my vacation - which was lovely, despite getting a head cold.

I'm happy to say that I worked on all seven projects I took with me. I even finished two of them: the whale I posted last week and my Celestine Crochet:

I think the Celestine is fun, but oddly shaped - some of the points are way big and some way small. But, it would still make a great baby toy. I put two jingle bells inside to make it even more appealing to little ones.

Humpback Whale

I'm in sunny Florida for Spring Break with my family. We're staying near Seaside, the cute little town where the movie The Truman Show (with Jim Carrey) was filmed, at a resort community called Watercolor. This is our 6th year vacationing in Seaside and Watercolor. We've rented houses in both communities and have enjoyed both of them.

I brought 7 projects to work on!! EEK! Of course, they're all small... I've finished the first one, humpback whale I purchased from edafedd on Etsy.

I made this whale for my sister-in-law, Kristin, who is a marine biologist whose specialty is humpbacks. She loves her little whale! She says it's a pregnant female, because she's much bigger through the belly than a non-pregnant whale would be. Edafedd also has patterns for a manatee and a narwhal. They're really cute and life-like.

More Amigurumi

I'm still doing the crochet Amigurumi thing. Here are my current two projects:

This is Celestine Crochet, a free pattern from Berroco. It doesn't look like much now, but I think it should get finished today or tomorrow, then it will look like a dodecahedron (no, I didn't know how to spell that... I had to look it up!). It's being made out of Regia Stretch Crazy Color.

Well, it doesn't look like much yet, but it's going to be a Humpback Whale. I bought this pattern on Etsy from edafedd. There are hundreds of crochet patterns on Etsy. I bought a sushi pattern last night for someone I know (no names, yet). And, there was a cute little pattern for baby bibs that have an amigurumi feel, so I bought that, too.

BTW, I'm now on Ravelry, and I would love to have other Ravelry members look at my stuff and join my friends list. So check it out! My user name is k5tog.

FO

I'm falling down on my commitment to post once a week. SIGH! I joined Ravelry yesterday, so maybe that will give me some incentive. Anyway, thought I'd post a photo of a finished object, just to show that I have actually accomplished something!

This is the piece I worked on while recovering from my broken leg last summer. Of course, the stitching was done before Christmas, but I got it back from the finisher in February. So here it is in all its glory. I love what the finisher did with the little embellishments at the top. I love it!

Amigurumi Madness

On Wednesday, we received a shipment of a new release book, Amigurumi World by Ana Paula Rimoli, and I've been going crazy ever since!

The cup was the most fun to make! I absolutely love it. I made the cup out of Needful Yarns Kim, the turtle is made out of Classic Elite Pebbles, and the daddy Lion is made out of scraps of Cascade 220 and Ella Rae Classic. I have yarn to make several other of these fun little guys, so you may see more photos in the days to come.

Oops, I Did It Again!

So much for my New Year's Resolution of posting at least once a week! SIGH! But, at least I am knitting, crocheting and needlepointing. My most recently completed project is a crocheted "Pidge" that I designed as a give away pattern for the 3K Club at 3 Kittens:

It was a very quick and simple project. It took 3 skeins of Mirasol Sulka and a wonderful button made by Eric Salverda (a teacher at my children's school, my son's football coach and the dad of one of our employees). We originally received our first Pidge pattern from Misti Alpaca and used that as our 3K Club Perk during January. It was so popular that we got a second design from them for another knitted Pidge, and I made this crocheted one up for all of the people who wanted to crochet one.

I've also been stitching away on two needlepoint canvases. I don't have my camera with me at home, so I can 't take a photo of them in progress, but here are the two designs I'm working on from Maggie Co

Needlepoint Fun

I've been doing a lot of needlepoint lately. Knitting, crochet & punchneedle are sidelined for a bit - except when watching t.v. when the knitting comes back out. I've been working on a Blackberry holder for a while out of Soy Luster, a 100% soy floss:

This project has not been always fun, but I'm into it right now, and it's going quickly.

The fun project is this one I'm making for a friend:

I'm changing the floor tile color (the gold) to something else, but I'm waiting for the background color to arrive from a special order before I choose what to use. The gold just competes too much with the dress, so I want something more subtle... Eventually, this will be a pillow.

I've got several knitting projects still going: my Einstein coat, a child's sweater, my 8-year afghan, etc. In terms of crochet, I've got two projects going - my toe up socks and a Louet Kid Mohair sweater from the cover of the Fall Interweave Crochet. I completed a series of snowmen with punchneedle, but I'm trying to decide if I should make one more. One snowman has a floppy hat, one has a stocking cap, one has a cowboy hat, and I'm thinking of making one with a sombrero.

Resolutions

O.K., I'm not really big on New Year's Resolutions, but I have one this year - post on my blog at least once a week! Good, eh?

I had fun over the weekend taking my daughter and her friends to a Tarot Card reader. I thought I would knit through each of the sessions, but I ended up taking notes for the girls (ages 14 - 15). It was really interesting. So interesting in fact that I ended up getting my cards read as well! I'm supposedly going to have a very good year. Both my daughter and I received similar "messages" regarding having a vacation near water and about someone in our lives who is going to be working longer and harder this year and will need our support. Interesting, since she didn't even know that Emily was my daughter (we never told her whose Mom I was - although maybe she looks a little like me...).

We are planning two vacations, one to Watercolor in March and the other to Australia (!) during the summer. I can't wait for either of them...

I've been knitting and crocheting and needlepointing up a storm these days. Here's a photo of the Infinity Wrap by Kristin Omdahl from the most recent Interweave Crochet magazine, modelled by Tiffany, one of the employees at 3 Kittens:

The New Interweave Knits

I received my copy of the Winter 2007 Interweave Knits this past week. While I think the articles are good, I was pretty disappointed with the patterns offered this issue. The editorial staff were going for a "classic" look, and I think they achieved it; however, I found very little that I thought I would ever want to knit. Perhaps the Citrus Yoke pullover (see below) will be in my future, but I'm not chomping at the bit just yet!

The interview with Kristin Nicholas was interesting, and the Pam Allen article on set-in sleeves was very well done.

I've been working on stuff like mad. I've finished 3 punch-needle items and a needlepoint bracelet, plus a single sock for the store in Regia Silk is already on display. I'm trying desperately to finish my Pumpkin Man canvas. It's taken much too long, and I want to move on...

It's Been a Long, Long Time

I am so bad... Bad blogger, BAD BLOGGER!

O.K., so I finally have some down time, because I'm in San Francisco for the Nike Women's Marathon with Team in Training, and since I can't run the race, I'm just here for support, cheering and photo taking. Which means, I can actually post to my blog!

My hotel room really leaves alot to be desired, but after a long day of travelling, I was pretty happy to get into it:

O.K., I'm only joking! This was at Alcatraz which I visited last night with some of my teammates. Some of the cell blocks were set up as if prisoners were still living in them, and on the audio one of the ex-prisoners was talking about teaching some of the other prisoners to crochet.

Pretty interesting, eh? I guess the prisoners had to have something to do to while away their "time."

I'm visiting a needlepoint store later this morning, so hopefully I'll be able to post some photos later of that.

World War II Knitting

I had the opportunity to attend a talk today at the Minnesota History Center on World War II Knitting. The program was presented by Linda McShannock, the Textile Curator at the History Center, and Steven Berg, aka 'The Glitter Knitter' and owner of the Yarn Garage in Rosemount, Minnesota. Linda talked about the museum's collections (and mentioned me and Carol Ogren because of our volunteer work cataloguing the knitting collection - years ago) and showed us some wonderful pieces that were on display for today's event. Steven talked about the history of male knitters as well as the charity knitting done during the World Wars for soldiers. It was really interesting!

Here's Steven (in a sweater made out of multiple fibers, including 8-track tape!):

You can just barely see in the background a mannequin with a fantastic dress made out of a silk underdress, covered with an overdress made of copper wire! It is so cool. I wish I had gotten a better photo... It was made by a local fiber artist (can't remember her name) and is called something like "Yeah, I'm a Goddess."

At my table there was a wonderful woman named Trudy (sorry, I've forgotten her last name) who is 82 years young. She had a couple of great anecdotes about wartime knitting. In addition, she has given a couple of her hand-knitted items to the collection. Here she is (on the left) with Linda McShannock and Trudy's beautiful, Chanel-inspired sweater. The sweater was a blue ribbon winner at the Minnesota State Fair in the 1990s.

Progess - Slowly

I'm back at work on a regular basis, plus the kids have gone back to school, so I can no longer spend my days lounging on the sofa knitting and crocheting and neelepointing while I listen to books on my iPod! SIGH!

Hence the slow as molasses progress on my needlepoint piece. Here's a photo anyway:

Mostly, I have a bunch of green left; however, I do still have to do seven stars plus some beads on the bottom of the pants and some sparkly thread (Kreinik) in some places. But then it will be ready to go the finisher. This piece is 7" x 17" - a perfect size for a wall-hanging.

I also have to finish my 'Maude' jacket/duster this weekend, since it needs to go up in 3 Kittens for a class sample. I made the XL size, but now I'm thinking I should have made the L. It worked up so quickly that I might just have to make another one in a different color! Photos to come when the first one is done.

Maggie Jackson at 3 Kittens

We were really lucky to have Maggie Jackson of Maggi Knits visit our shop this week. She is an amazing designer. Her one-off creations used to sell at Neiman Marcus and other big name stores for $600+. Now, of course, she has her own yarn line and an amazing collection of pattern books. She taught two classes for us this week, plus she did a fashion show. Because I still have kids home from school (summer's almost over though; they go back to school next week - WHEW!) and my leg still needs to spend some time elevated, I couldn't attend either of the classes. However, I did get to see the fashion show, and from what I hear the classes were fantastic. Here are a couple of pics from the fashion show for your enjoyment:

Finally Photos!

I finally remembered to take my camera to 3 Kittens today to get some photos of the garments I've finished recently. Here they are in the order in which they were finished:

This is the Knit One Crochet Too Ty-Dy top (modelled by Tiffany, one of the employees at the store).

A fun little cardigan with an interesting shape, made out of Berroco Touche from one of Berroco's summer pattern books.

Ascot-style scarf made out of Simply Shetland's Lambswool Cashmere. This is a free pattern with the purchase of the yarn at the store. It only takes one skein - 10 bucks!

I love this scarf. It is crocheted out of Berroco Keltic (modelled by Ana, another employee). This is a free pattern from the Berroco website. It's part of the Dram set which also includes a hat and mittens. I did make the mittens but am not enamored of them. Apparently, Berroco also has a knitted version of this pattern, but I haven't looked at it.

I've also done about a zillion swatches for the store. No one likes to do swatches, but it does give you a way to learn which fibers you like and why. We just got Nashua Velvet Wool and Vignette in the store, plus the Mirasol project yarns. I can't wait to do swatches of those! Kind of...

Finished Projects - No Photos

Sigh! I keep finishing things and sending them off to 3 Kittens without taking photos. Now that I'm driving maybe I'll be able to take photos of everything next week at the store. I've finished a K1C2 Ty-Dy top, a Berroco Touche cardigan, a Simply Shetland Lambswool Cashmere scarf, a Berroco Keltic crocheted scarf and mitten (just one, because if we have a pair in the store it's more likely to be taken than just a single mitten), and ... Can't remember if there was anything else.

My poor leg is on the mend. I'm in a removable cast now, which means I can take showers without having to get a garbage bag taped onto my leg. I'm not the best on crutches, but I figure by the time I'm off of them I will have the buffest arms around. Of course, they may still be covered with the some excess flab, but I'll know they're buff... Now, if I could just figure out how to do all of the shopping that needs to be done to get the kids ready for school.

Languishing

This is the first day since my accident that I have been really down. You would think lazing around, knitting and stitching all day would be heavenly. And, don't get me wrong - it's not like I'm in hell or anything. I'm just tired of it all... But, I have finished a couple projects - samples for the store. One of them I've sent with my partner Cis to block and sew buttons onto, so no photo yet. But here's the other one:

This is the Whirlwind Scarf by Christine Furber, part of the iKnitiative line of patterns. It's made out of Berocco Suede. I fell in love with this scarf at The National Needlearts Association convention in June. I took a class with the owner of iKnitiative on using ribbon yarns, and she had this scarf made out of browns and blacks - way cool colorway, too.

I'm also plugging away at my Kaleidoscope Tote by Sheryl Lange. The Kaleidoscope Tote is one of our 3 Kittens Designs, but this version is for my own use - not a store sample. And, I'm working on my needlepoint. Plus, we've gotten so many new yarns in the store in the last week or so, I have a ton of gauge swatches to do. So, as you can tell, I really have nothing to complain about.

I guesss what's bothering me the most is the lack of mobility. I'm a pretty active person, and right now I'm stuck lying on the sofa with my foot propped up.

I'm trying to keep the swelling down - not really doing a very good job of it though - look at the 2nd toe on each foot! EEK! But, the pain is getting better... Anyway, I wish I could do my regular stuff - even the laundry! SIGH! I do have it bad...