It's a String Thing

Knitsey Knitsum's Top 40 Knitdown

2014-01-09T10:46:00.000-08:00

Have you spent time looking at the most popular patterns on Ravelry? How many of them have you knit? Why did you knit them? Why didn’t you knit them? Did you customize it? I always found myself looking at these patterns, but never knitting them, I may be one of the few people on Ravelry who hasn’t knit a Monkey sock. When I had String Thing Shop, I came up with the idea to start a group to talk about what makes these patterns so popular and to finally get around to knitting them to see what the fuss is all about. We had discussions and KALs. This series is a revival of sorts of the Ravelry group. It looks to answer some of these questions while having fun knitting these popular patterns. When we started the KALs at the shop we started with the most popular, unlike Casey Kasem who started at 40 and counted down to 1. I thought for the blog we'd start with 40.
And I'll make updates to the list monthly, I think.
But for now let's get started with #40 Daybreak by Stephen West. Incidentally, Stephen is the only designer to have 3 patterns in the top 40. Several have 2, but no one else has 3. Daybreak was published in August of 2009 and since then 5057 have been made. It is a semicircular shawl in 3 sizes and it uses 2 colors, even more interest is added by using a striping or gradient yarn. For my Daybreak I am going to use an unidentifiable ball of Crazy Zauberball crazy and natural Heritage.
I am leaning towards knitting the medium size.

I am going to revive the Knitsey Knitsum group on Ravelry so join us there to share pictures and discuss the patterns.

Sunday Sockdown: Focus Pocus MKAL

2014-01-05T17:56:00.000-08:00

So I've got some ideas for ongoing post series and this is one of them. (be prepared to be introduced to all of them this week)

Sunday Sockdown is going to be all about... wait for it... Socks! Socks are the reason I wanted to learn to knit in the first place. I remember becoming enraptured with all the pretty self patterning sock yarn a la Opal. It was love at first sight, but alas I didn't know how to knit and crocheted socks just didn't cut it. So I learned to knit and not long after I was churning out pair after pair of socks. My second pair of socks was a Cookie A pattern. And my favorite and most popular class to teach is Intro to Sock knitting.
Part of this year's plan is to knit 14 pairs of socks. So let's see what pair we are starting with.

One of my favorite knitting bloggers/teachers in Knit Purl Hunter. Her tutorials, both written and video, are excellent: clear, concise, and fun. Her knit-a-longs began a few years ago with the help of Skacel, when she designed and led the knit-a-longs to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Trekking yarn (a favorite). She introduced new techniques and highlighted old favorites in a mystery knit-a-long format while utilizing a versatile and diverse line of sock yarn. I really enjoyed knitting those 6 pairs of socks, they were some of my favorite to knit and to wear.
This year she is starting with a new sock MKAL, Focus Pocus. They are knit cuff down 2 at a time using one of Skacel's newer sock yarns CoBaSi. CoBaSi is a wool free sock yarn, something that is rare in the world of yarn, but is much sought after. CoBaSi gets its name from its fiber make up: Cotton, Bamboo, and Silk. To be perfectly honest this is not my favorite yarn to knit with, but it is worth knitting with to see how the other side lives. I find the yarn to be a little splitty and not spun tightly enough, that said, it is a good alternative to wool yarns.

The first clue for Focus Pocus was released Thursday and well sadly, I haven't gotten very far on my socks. I have gotten cast on but have only gotten a few rows in. It's 2 at a time cuff down and that can be really fiddly in the beginning. I've already knit half a sock with the wrong skein of yarn. But I will keep at it. The next clue will be release on Thursday and I will have clue 1 finished by then. Again, this is a really great KAL for anyone who wants to learn some new sock tricks or just beef up already familiar techniques. Her pattern are fully supported with video tutorials or blog post explanations. And she responds really quickly to emails and is very friendly. You can also join the Ravelry group for the knit-a-long and find support there among your fellow knitters. So if you want to try something new for the new year, jump in and join us for Focus Pocus, its never to late to start.

And here's the sad little bit I have started:

2014, You're here already?

2014-01-01T12:46:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year!
I can't believe it's here already, but it is. I'm not sure how ready I am for 2014, there are some big things in store for this year, the biggest of all being the little one set to arrive in a little more than a month. As if I haven't struggled to keep up with this blog before that, now I'm going to have 2 little ones to keep me busy. But everybody needs an outlet, I'm really hoping and going to try to make this my place for sharing. I have some ideas to help with that consistency including club spoilers (yarn clubs being one of my favorite things). I have signed up for 2 new clubs this year in addition to my favorites, including Cookie A Sock Club, Barenaked Knitspot, which has turn into a year long club instead of 6 months, and Romi's Pins and Lace. The 2 new ones are WPKnits Mystery Club and Miss Babs Knitting Tour. Miss Babs is one of my favorite yarnies and I have wanted to get in this club for a couple years, but I kept missing the sign up window, finally the stars aligned this year and I am in and am very excited.
Other topics you can expect to see are progress reports on mystery knits, work on One Little Word with Ali Edwards, and trying my hand at project life. Last year I started out the year with a word and made it exactly one month with it. Let's see f we can't keep that word with us for more of the year. I will share my word in a future post. I discovered Project Life memory keeping last year and loved the idea of it. I then had months of internal struggle where I couldn't decide if I was doing a paper version or a digital version, so I didn't do either. This year I am going with the paper version. I'll talk more about it when I get my first layout finished which should be Sunday or Monday.
Back when I had my yarn store, I came up with this knit along idea: Knitsey Knitsums Top 40 Knitdown. Basically it is a look at the 40 most popular patterns on Ravelry and knitting and discussing them, asking questions like what makes this pattern popular and would it be in our personal top 40 among other things.. I'd like to make this a weekly topic with a link up for those who want to join in knitting the projects or you knit them in the past. (There are one or two I might not reknit).
I have set a goal to knit 14 shawls and 14 pairs of socks in 2014. Since these are basically the only thing I knit consistently I shouldn't have any problem achieving this goal. I just have to decide on some guidelines for myself.
So stay tuned for some knitting adventures.

Yarn and Kool-Aid

2013-11-08T07:02:00.001-08:00

What do you get when you combine yarn and Kool-Aid? Some pretty amazing colored yarn. Like spinning, I never thought I would get into hand-dyeing, but now I find myself fully intrigued by the art and science of it. It's another avenue for me to stay connected to the industry that I love and the subject matter you can't shut me up about. I had pinned and read numerous versions of "How to dye yarn with Kool-Aid" articles and blog posts, and in my usual fashion i have multiple books on the subject do dyeing. So I took all that I had read, mashed it all together, and winged it. I used my crockpot. I added some water turned it on high and added some Kool-Aid. I had soaked the yarn in some plain water to get it saturated first. I used some KnitPicks Stroll Bare and some Cascade Heritage in natural to play with. I wanted my yarn to look like it was sprinkled with confetti when it was done.

I filled my crockpot with just enough water to mostly cover the yarn, I wanted a little bit sticking out of the water to get, what i thought would result in, the best speckles. Before adding the yarn I added a base color to the water. I used 3 different colors and left one skein natural. I let the yarn sit in the 'dye' until the water was clearish and the yarn had soaked it all up. Then the fun began. I just started shaking different colors one at a time onto the yarn. I would shake some color on then wait for the water to return to clear, then added another color. Once a color had set I would move the yarn around a little to make sure all sides were covered evenly. I didn't like how the orange went on and really only used it for the first skein, i found the orange to dissipate and not speckle like the other colors. I would still use it for a base on future skeins, but not for speckles. The whole process didn't take very long per skein, but overall it was a good hour or 2 because I did each skein seperately. After I was happy with the color on the yarn, I squeezed out as much water as i could then ran it under clean water to make sure all the residual was off, then I hung it over a plastic hanger and hung it in the shower to dry. In hindsight, I should have soaked it in some wool wash before hanging it up to dry. I can't wait to wind it up, and knit with it.

30 Day Sweater

2013-09-30T19:07:00.001-07:00

Who doesn't like a good challenge? And this one is right up my alley: knit a sweater in 30 days and same take it a step further and sign their own. Of course, I need to take it that one little step further, but I have thinking about starting to design for at least a year it have been scared to take the plunge. So I am considering this my shove into the deep end. I am going to design my sweater for the 30 day challenge. It is going to be a cardigan and that is momma-to-be friendly. I pretty much have it sketched in my head and need to start playing with some yarn and stitch patterns. I am not completely pulling this from thin air the folks behind the 30daysweater.com have an ebook to hold your hand through the process even giving you daily goals. Tomorrow, day 1, is all about swatching, gauge, and math. Stay tuned!

Catch Up

2013-02-17T18:14:00.000-08:00

Ugh, sorry didn't mean to be absent for so long.

I have gotten my butt in gear somewhat and started a new exercise program and I am pretty stoked about it. First off I have a confession to make: I am addicted to buying workout DVD systems. I am a devotee of the Firm and Beachbody. I think I can safely say I have 90% of all the Firm videos and I have most of the big Beachbody programs, namely P90X (which I bought under cover as a gift for my husband, truthfully he does use it most everyday) P90X2, Chalene Extreme and my newest acquisition TurboFire. I am on my third day which happens to be a rest day and so far I am loving it. Can I do all the moves? Not quite, but I keep moving. They are pretty intense... so intense that I decided to follow their prep schedule instead of jumping right into the normal rotation calendar. It's not all HIIT cardio, there is also yoga, strength training and core work. My goal for February is to follow my calendar and not skip a day. Along that line, I actually didn't rest today.... I did my run workout from the Galloway 10K trainer and it was not my best run... I had the Princess in the jogger and it just throws my rhythm off and I couldn't get into it. It was lovely out, but oy not a good run. I plan to do a 10 min yoga video later this afternoon.

In crafty news, I have been on a knitting tear. Finishing projects left and right. I've finished 2 hats, a pair of mitts, a sock, and a shawl that had only 8 rows left since September in the last 2 weeks. I am halfway through another pair of mitts and have new socks cast on. I'm also working on a pattern for a toe up sock class I am teaching in April. In addition, I have club packages arriving: I got my winter Pins and Lace, my first Cookie A of 2013 in one of my favorite yarns, my ami kit, and a new club for me Laura Nelkin's new knitted jewelry club from Patternworks. I am eagerly awaiting the first installment of the Barenaked Knitspot Club for 2013, I already saw the spoiler on Ravelry and it is ah-ma-zing. I cannot wait. I just hope my yarn comes before Sunday when the pattern is released.

Knitting has pretty much taken over my time. I haven't worked on any quilts or stitching or project life. I know I need to catch up on these projects as well but really I just want to knit right now. I might even have to go cast on another project I have been meaning to cast on since last March.

Shout Out

2013-01-30T19:11:00.002-08:00

A big shout out and thank you to my personal photog and friend Debkm. She's a one shot wonder! Get my awesome new headshot in one shot.

Move More Eat Well Wednesday

2013-01-30T18:23:00.002-08:00

Intro and January report

I am taking Cathy Zielski's Move More, Eat Well 2.0 class on Big Picture classes. The class focuses on being healthy in whatever way that means to you. She provides prompts to get you thinking and staying accountable. Let's just say I hibernated during January.... after I ran a half marathon.

This was my first half marathon. I ran with my sister and as you can see we dressed the part. We had fun, but it was a challenge and if it weren't for my sister, I may not have made it through the last 4 miles.

So, other than those 13.1 miles, my movement for January was pretty much limited to laying on the couch and sometimes dancing with the little one. My husband did convince me to do a couple P90X workouts with him, but there has been no consistency.
I blame the weather. Does anyone in their right mind really want to do anything when it's hovering around zero outside?

I know that I am a better me when I get up and do some cardio first thing in the morning. I know I feel better. I know I think clearer. I know I have more energy during the day. So why haven't I been doing it? Bed has just been too comfy. Let's call it hibernating. But that has to stop. I know what I want my day to look like and it begins with a good sweat then a healthy breakfast.

I would also like to up the ante and include some yoga. I have wanted to begin a personal yoga practice for years, but I've never done it. My type A-ness sometimes prevents me from doing something without doing it "right." Does that really matter with yoga? Of course I don't want to get hurt, but if I am getting a good stretch and some meditative time, then that's right.

I also need to incorporate strength training whether it be doing a P90X program or Jillian Michael's Body Revolution or some else, I know as I get older muscle density decreases and muscle burns more energy. I need to make it a habit.

I am going to do my level best not to mention the d-word. I am more concerned about being fit and healthy and able to keep up with my 2 year old than losing weight. Would I like to lose weight? Sure. But it seems when I focus on that aspect of it I feel that I am good enough and stop working at it.

Eating is probably the hardest part for me despite my background in nutrition. New flash: I was an RD but I never practiced. But over the years I've come to believe that the healthy eating taught to dietitians and endorsed by the ADA is way to simplified and dumbed down, and possibly influenced by outside forces. Also, nutrition is also a very young science and as such we're still not sure how things really work.

Currently, I am trying to embrace a whole foods approach with an equal distribution of nutrients if not slightly skewed to protein. I am trying to enjoy cooking again. I always enjoyed cooking and making meals for my loved ones, until I started working at Jenny Craig and got out of the habit and got lazy about it and kept looking for shortcuts. I want to cook again. I want to enjoy it again.

I have a love hate relationship with meal plans. I love that Clean Eating magazine includes a 2 week meal plan each month. I look for diet books specifically with meal plans. It's something about not wanting to think. When I find a meal, I start out all gung-ho. I take the shopping list and follow it to a T. I get 3 days in and I find myself starting to rebel. No I do not want banana crunch oatmeal for breakfast, turkey roll-up for lunch, not today thanks. Fish for dinner, how about pizza. And then 4 days of food slowly rots in my fridge.
Is there a right way to eat? Is it simply calories versus calories out? Or is there more to the food you eat?
I want to follow the Clean Eating meal plans. They are my idea of the ideal way to eat. Preparation is key. Knowing that I am the one in control and that I chose to follow the plan in the first place is another. I don't need to rebel, I am the one who chose the meals in the first place.
Another way to eat that I like is the Flat Belly Diet because of its mix and match approach. The meal plan is more open: pick a breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a snack from the list and you are right on track.
I'm having an internal struggle over which way to eat is for me. The added challenge is my DH. The man does not eat vegetables. None. I can try to sneak them in, but he's like a heat seeking missile. He always find them and gives me grief that I don't consider him when cooking. The truth is I do consider him, I want him to be healthy and around for a long time. I want him to eat the good things. But I'm afraid this is a loosing battle, so a lot of time I end up making 2 pots of similar things. It's doable, but it takes a lot of the fun and enjoyment out of cooking.

So most of January was spent thinking about what I want to do with very little doing. February needs to be about doing.

Camper Progress Report 1

2013-01-27T19:07:00.005-08:00

I'm really enjoying the projects for Handstitched Camp with Rachel from Stitched in Color. I've admired her work for awhile now and am very excited to be learning from her.

Our projects this week focused on reverse applique. I chose to make a flocked t-shirt and the dogwood blossom which will become the center focus for my modern medallion quilt.

Rachel did a flocked tank top as her sample for this lesson. With temperatures barely above zero this week, I couldn't think about doing a tank top! I chose to use a long sleeve V-neck tee instead. I used some Vintage Modern Snickerdoodle in Candy Apple, that I had leftover.

I couldn't get my transfer paper to transfer, so I adapted and did a kind of free-handed the design with a water soluble pen. I only managed to get the front done but I'm happy with the fabric choice. I'm thinking about ordering more Snickerdoodle and making PJ bottoms to match. We'll see exactly how ambitious I get.

For my Modern Medallion Quilt I am using this bundle as the basis for fabric selections.

This is Kaye Prince of Miss Print Blogger's Choice bundle for the Fat Quarter Shop. I know there are some Rock n Romance prints, some simply color and Pure Elements Solids, but that's all I remember off the top of my head! Check out her blog for more detail.

I'm fairly happy with my stitching. I think I was pretty consistent but of course there are spots where inconsistency happened. I need to get my borders on, and that is tomorrow mornings project before the embroidery lesson. Hopefully a little someone will sleep in and let me get it done.

Half Marathon

2013-01-26T06:23:00.001-08:00

I've started this post 3 times, and for some reason I can't make it fun and witty like I want to. So here it is:

I ran my first half marathon, the Walt Disney World Half Marathon.

It was hot. It was humid.

I started to overheat around mile 9 and if it weren't for my sister I'm not sure if I would have finished or passed out.

We woke up at 3:30am and had Mickey Waffles. What else would you eat before a Disney marathon?

We dressed up like Buzz and Jesse from Toy Story

We had fun (except for the overheating part).

We finished.

The End.

Squishy Mail

2013-01-21T18:27:00.001-08:00

The best kind of mail is squishy mail. What's squishy mail you ask? Why it's yarn or fabric all wrapped up and delivered to your door! I had quite a nice pile of squishy mail waiting for me when I got home from vacation. My favorites being my Knitspot Fall in Full Color installment and last year's installments that I ordered. Spoiler Alert! If you are a member of the Fall in Full Color Club and haven't gotten your January shipment yet, and want to be surprised do not look at the picture!

From left we have Briar Rose Fiber 4th of July in October Zest, then String Theory Yarns Merino DK in Corylus, and lastly we have Miss Babs Alpacacita in Winter Rose. All colorways were/are club exclusives. October Zest and Corylus were released to the public 1 year after they were club yarns. I ordered last January's yarn the other day. It is New Hue Handspun Bam Huey in Crystal. That leaves 3 yarns that I am still looking for from last year's club.
I am patiently waiting for my new Signature Needle Arts needles to arrive so I can start January's patter Sugarfrost. In the meantime, I'm plugging away on my Sparrow Dance Socks.
Sooner or later I'll get a project page set up for it on Ravelry.

I also got my title page and the first page of my Week 1 Project life layout finished. I'm really happy with it. And this is just another rabbit hole! There are all kinds of embellishment, cards, techniques and oh so much more! I'm trying to keep it simple and be about the photos, but sometimes you just need that little extra something.

I really enjoyed the Digital Project Life Class I took from Jessica Sprague. I've signed up for a few more! So stay tuned for new techniques and cool things on the blog.

Supplies used:

Seafoam Kit from AC Digitals

January Card Kit from Splendid Fiins

Traditions Elements 1 &2 from Carta Bella

That's all the little one is going to let me get done tonight. I still have to tell you about Disney World and the Half Marathon. Stay tuned.

2013-01-21T18:10:00.001-08:00

Home...Finally

2013-01-16T19:29:00.000-08:00

Can you ever get tired of being on vacation? Absolutely. I just wanted to get home even if I was in Disney World, one of my absolute favorite places to be. I was tired of not having things at my finger tips that I'm used to having nearby. I missed my awesome internet connection at home. I just spent 17 days with spotty internet... I almost went nuts! Not that I didn't have a lot to do without the internet, but you take things for granted and home tends to be the number one thing that gets taken for granted.
This is just a quick pop in to say Yay! I'm home! and we will return to our regularly scheduled program soon. (I hope tomorrow, but please don't hold me to that.) I'm fighting a cold and if the cold wins I may not have the energy to type. (I ran the half marathon this past weekend and the adrenaline has finally worn off and I am succumbing to all manner of nasty bugs and overwhelming fatigue).

2013-01-06T08:12:00.002-08:00

Yarn Barf

The plan was to get a lot of knitting done while on vacation, but my yarn had other ideas. I wish I had taken a picture to share with you. Yarn barf happens and when it does I am loath to get out the scissors. I am stubborn and will sit and untangle that ball until its all rewound and ready to go. This one did me in. The scarf is frogged and the yarn had to be cut, and I only cut it because there was a break in the skein, a knot from the dyer. So I cut it there and tried to untangle some more, but I surrendered. I have what seems to be enough rewound for the socks, so we're going with socks right now. Besides, I'm mad at the scarf.

Since I am on vacation I am not writing as much as I would like to. The plan is for Friday's to be Free Motion Fridays and to link up with Leah Day at the Free Motion Quilting Project. But there's no quilting happening for the next week or so since I didn't bring my machine with me. I did order my panel from Spoonflower for Leah's new project Express Your Love. I'm also practicing with her Craftsy class which I love! Stay tuned for more FMQ in the coming year.

Stitchy Saturdays are going to highlight my endeavors in cross stitch which I'm trying to get back into. I have a lovely Japanese angel that has been in progress for a few years now. I don't have a picture to share with you right now but I will share when I get home. I also have a pattern for a project for Tony for his birthday, but I think that might be a little ambitious and it might turn into an anniversary or Christmas gift. Watch for the monthly installment from Frosted Pumpkin's Woodland Sampler. The first design is really cute!

On Sunday I am going to do a weekly wrap up with my Project Life pages for the week. I'm going to use a fairly simple approach but I plan to use digital and paper elements and some embellishments. I haven't tried to use Photoshop at all yet and my class at Jessica Sprague doesn't start until tomorrow so we'll see if I get adventurous this afternoon and try to put a page together.

I have to get a 5 mile run in this afternoon and get to work on my costume for the marathon. So if I get that all done I'll get to knit and play with photoshop.

2013-01-03T18:12:00.001-08:00

Off and On the Needles

I've kind of been in a knitting rut lately. The mojo just hasn't been sparking. But I think it's back!

When I signed up for the first round of the BareNaked Knitspot Club my goal and promise to myself was to knit each project as it arrived and to finish each month (at least one of the projects) before starting the next month's. And I pretty much kept to that goal. Check out my Ravelry projects page to see some of the finished projects. So my definition of "finished" might differ slightly from yours when it comes to knitting. Are socks finished when the pair is done? Is a shawl done when it's blocked or when it's knitting is finished? Some projects got more 'finished' than others. April's yarn was a specially spun alpaca sock yarn and it is yummy! The pattern is a lovely classic cable unisex sock, Waffle Creams. Well, I finished 1 sock. And promptly got side-tracked and suffered a case of Second Sock Syndrome. I am usually immune to SSS but it struck with a vengeance this time. I don't know what made me pick up the second sock last week, it might have something to do with finishing all of last year's projects before BNK2013 starts, but I did and 2013's FOCUS came into play and I concentrated on that sock and finished it today!

Oddly enough, I finished it in Florida where it's a little warm for alpaca socks, even if I just have one with me.

And since the Little Miss was napping I promptly cast on my next project. I am woefully behind on my Fall In Full Color Club projects. I have zero finished. Zero, Zip, Zilch. August's lovely shawl is 5 rows from being completely knit, and none of the others have been touched. I didn't want to start the next month without finishing the previous month's. I didn't bring the August shawl with me. It needs to much brain power for vacation knitting. So I brought September and October's yarn and patterns with me instead. I cast on September's Sparrow Song Scarf.

I'm about 20 rows in and it's a easily memorized pattern. Hopefully the 21 repeats won't take forever. I usually stay away from scarfs as I get bored easily with them. Hopefully FOCUS will carry me through to the end. Besides its good vacation knitting.

I'm still formulating how this blog will run. I'm going to try to post everyday. I have ideas for a different theme for each day, but it's all subject to change. You can also find me on Pinterest and Tumblr.

2013-01-02T13:42:00.002-08:00

FOCUS
Welcome 2013. I started this blog back in 2009 and you can see where it went. I'm in a different place now. The store I spoke of in the first and only post has come and gone. There's a new purpose in my life and she's 2 and adorable. This is going to be a creative outlet me for and a place to share my trials and triumphs. There will be yarn, quilting, sewing, running. memory keeping, maybe some homeschooling as we explore our schooling options, and definitely some growing.
Some of you may have chosen a word to guide your year. I did. My word is FOCUS. I will be working along with Ali Edwards in her class One Little Word on BigPictureClasses.com.
My focus will be on organizing my life so I don't miss important times or those small moments that creep up on you or forget about them when time moves on.
I'll be sharing lots of yarn with you. I'm most excited about the second year of the Bare Naked Knitspot Club that I am honored to be a member of. I'll be sharing spoilers so be aware if you like to be surprised. I am also a member of Cookie A's Sock Club and Romi's Pins and Lace Club.
Something I've been looking forward to since I missed the last opportunity this past summer is the Stitched in Color Handstitched Class. I'm a camper and very excited to make my own Modern Medallion quilt.
I'm also starting Project Life. I'm off to a slow start as the little one isn't feeling so good the last 2 days. But we'll catch up. So stay tuned for new yarn, new projects, and learning a new hobby. I hope you'll join me on this journey in 2013.