The Gauge Wars

Ponchos, Socks, and Parenting...

2015-02-11T12:21:00.000-07:00

Book: Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child

Yarn: Crazy Zauberball, color: 1564

California

I returned from my California trip for the memorial service of my friend on Sunday evening. It was an amazing, wonderful, sad, and healing weekend. And I returned emotionally exhausted but so glad that I had made the trip. It was great to catch up with old friends and share memories and tears with our dear friend. The sadness is still overwhelming when I stop and think about the loss, not so much for me, but for his wife and son. So I try not to think about it....

My New Book

I'm still plugging away on the poncho. And reading a new book. Some ladies in our neighborhood are starting a book club for parenting books and this is our first one. I am about 20 pages in and so far it is intriguing and I think will be helpful. It was a rough parenting morning. I was told that my daughter hated me and I was ruining her life because I got her up early to do the chores and homework she didn't do yesterday. Pretty stellar start to the day. Ah, the joys of parenting...

Works in Progress

I cast on this amazing Crazy Zauberball for my trip. I am knitting some vanilla latte socks. Zauberball is my favorite sock yarn. Just such fun colors and really comfortable to knit with. I visited a new local yarn shop, Wool Cabin, in January. They had their socks yarns on sale for 20% off for the month. I went specifically to get a zauberball with my Christmas money. But I walk in and, of course, went straight to the sale table to check it out. I saw this purple/orange yarn and carried it around with me for awhile. It didn't have any information on it except the price. I asked the owner about it, who said that it was shipped to her just like that. She had no idea what it was made of, how many yards, etc. I decided to stick with my original plan and put it back. When I was purchasing the zauberball she gave me the purple/orange yarn for FREE! Isn't that so generous! She said she wasn't really able to sell it because of the lack of a tag and I should just go for it and see what I can make. I am not sure yet what it wants to be. I'll knit up a swatch and see. But with that type of kindness I will definitely be shopping there again!

So I finished two projects last week and cast on two this week (I'll show you the other one next week), keeping me at 9 WIPs. My new years goal wasn't to not have any WIP, it was to not have the SAME ones at the beginning of 2015 as at the end of 2015! :) When I finish my next project, I want to cast on a pi shawl from Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitters Almanac. I bought this book for $5 from walmart, shipped to the store for free. I was pretty excited about that find. And I'm already to cast on... as soon as I finish something...

Joining with Ginny, Nicole, and Andrea.

Are Ponchos Totally Out of Style?!?

2015-02-04T09:18:00.001-07:00

Pattern: Very Harlot Poncho

Yarn: Cascade 220

Book: Ruth's Journey

Project Bag Pattern: Knitmore Girls modifications

Thank you for the kind words concerning my dear friend that passed away. I really appreciate your thoughts and prayers. This weekend will be emotionally as I head to California to celebrate his life with friends and family.

If you follow me on instagram you know that I have a few finished projects but first I will show you one of the WIPs I am planning to finish this year. My Harlot Poncho. I love this yarn but was concerned about whether I would like wearing a poncho, especially with such a loose gauge. So I put it on scrap yarn so I could try it on and I do really love it, so I am plugging away at the stockinette. It is a lot of stockinette... I am almost done though and need to decide if I will finish it with a few rows of garter stitch to match the top or with a simple lace border. No fringe for me. I may put in a life line and do the lace pattern and see if I like it. Then I can rip back and put in a garter stitch border easily if I don't.

I LOVE this project bag. My sewing machine makes these amazing embroidery stitches and it makes me happy every time I use it! I made one for me and one for my mother for her birthday. It was pretty simple and I plan to make more.

I saw Ruth's Journey at the library and had to read it. I love Gone with the Wind. This is, of course, not as good as that, but still interesting to read about the beginning of the lives of the characters in that classic. I felt like this author tied it all nicely in with Mitchell's story. It is a pretty simple and quick read.

And on to my finished objects! The fox mitts were a pain but are so stinking adorable. My daughter LOVES them. The foxes were all done in duplicate stitching this time and that is not so much fun. But totally worth the results.

And I finished my Kai Mei socks with Candy Skeins yarn in the bombpop colorway. Once I got going on that lace pattern I really liked it. It was pretty simple and fast. I could see myself knitting this pattern again in a solid color but probably wouldn't do all that ribbing....

And I finished spinning all my alpaca singles. A very productive week....

Joining with Ginny, Nicole, and Andrea.

Word of the Year: Compassion

2015-01-27T10:11:00.002-07:00

Well, I had intentions of writing my New Year's post long before the last week of January, but life happened. Some bloggers write through the challenges of life. But I find that when life gets stressful it feels better to take a short break from blogging. My little family of 6 came down with the flu. It seemed like for about 10 days straight someone in the family was truly sick and everyone else was either coming down with or getting over it. It was pretty all consuming but everyone is healthy again.

Sadly in the middle of this my dear friend passed away. We have known each other since high school and he married another good friend I've known since grade school. They have an adorable red headed one year old son (I'm partial to ginger babies). He has been battling colon cancer for a year and when I visited them in October before my cruise he thought the cancer was beaten. But it sadly came back and took his life 2 weeks ago.

(new Turkish spindle from Snyder Spindles, Peruvian Highland Wool roving from Knit Picks)

His death has really rocked me. It is hard to understand why a 36 year old father of a one year old needed to be called Home. I am trying to trust in God's plan for this little family. But I am grieving the lose of a friend for myself and also the lose of a husband and father for my dear friend. I have shed so many tears for her! The one positive is that I will be returning to California next week for his memorial service along with ten friends from high school. Along with his wife, we've all played soccer together since junior high. It has been a very long time since we've been together so the weekend will be full of joy and sadness.

On a happier note, I finished this cute handspun hat pictured at the top over Christmas break. I cast it on on Christmas Eve, since all my Christmas knits were finished! It is my navajo plied mystery handspun from Alaska this summer. It is very thick and knit incredibly fast, like 2 days. I love how it turned out. I wish I had made it a tad longer, but not enough to rip it back. It fits great with my hair down but a little less so with my hair up. The brown is a Plymouth Encore chunky tweed yarn.

As far as New Years goes I have chose a new word of the year. Compassion. My scripture this year is:

"And of some have compassion, making a difference." -Jude 1:22

I feel like compassion, love, and unselfishness are all things that I am struggling with concerning my walk with Christ. In last year's post, I shared that I was focusing on mindfulness -- trying to enjoy the moment, being still and knowing God is in control and I need not fear or worry. I feel like I spent a lot of time reading my scriptures, praying, and worshiping in our temples. And now I see that I need to put that spirituality into practice by loving others. As I prayed about what my word should be I debated between those three, compassion, love, and unselfishness, and felt that learning to show better compassion to others will encompass the other two. So I am going to focus on seeing the needs and suffering around me (especially my own children!) AND making an effort to alleviate the suffering.

(Alpaca roving from Blue Moon Ranch on my new chopstick spindle

with a Filipino coin whorl the husband made me for Christmas!)

Aside from that personal focus, I have a few knitting related goals. I am thrilled with the patterns I was able to publish this past year. Especially that I followed through with my previous goal of submitting pattern ideas to magazines and companies, which provided me with yarn support for my Contrary Cabled Cowl (Thank you Dyeabolical yarns!) But this year, with my new job as business manager at The White Coat Investor I am not planning on publishing much. That job requires that I spend a lot of time at the computer so I don't want to spend even more time writing patterns. I feel like my children already think I neglect them for the computer. Which also means I will be posting on the blog, hopefully, just once a week on Tuesdays or Wednesday. I am cutting back on social media but instagram is my favorite so I post pretty regularly there, let me know your instagram user name so I can follow you.

My fiber goals for 2015 are:

Spin 15 minutes per day. I am participating in #spin15in15 on Instagram and the #spin365 group in Ravelry. To check out my daily progress follow me on Instagram. I want to spin fingerweight yarn this year that I can knit into socks. So far all my handspun is pretty chunky.

I am going to finish or frog my 9 current works in progress. These mitts are one of them (Malabrigo worsted yarn). They are for the fox hat owner, I just need to duplicate stitch little foxes on the back of the hands. I am also going to finish or frog a work in progress before casting on a new project, EVERY TIME. This has been REALLY hard so far this month. I have wanted to cast on three different projects but I am dutifully knitting away on current ones.

And lastly I am going to knit ONE sock a month. January was a little of a gimmy because my Kai Mei WIP socks were already on to the foot part. The yarn is Candy Skeins, bombpop. Probably not the best yarn and pattern match up but I cast them on long ago....and I am now almost done with February's sock too....

So that is it. That's what I am hoping to accomplish in 2015. Rump is a fantastic book I read with my daughters for the county library mom/daughter book club this month. I mean it has spinning and knitting in it. How could it not be amazing!?! :)

Have a great week! Sharing with Ginny, Nicole, and Andrea.

Showing off my Christmas Knits

2015-01-07T07:44:00.001-07:00

Pattern: Variation on the Tin Can Knits Rye pattern

Yarn: Regia Hand Dyed Effect in color 06551

Pattern: Hat with Fox Pattern in Lima by Drops Design (free on Ravelry)

Yarn: Malabrigo superwash merino in Lettuce and Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Orange, White, and Coal.

Pattern: Contrary Cabled Cowl

Yarn: Dyeabolical Aran Singles Yarn, King of the Pond

I finished three knitted gifts for Christmas but I didn't get a chance to share those last Wednesdays because we had family in town and we were off having a grand time in the snow. I am very excited that I finished my husband's socks. With size 11 feet that is no small feat. I swear that after thought heels are a lot faster than heel flaps now and I think I am convert. Joel noticed right away that these socks were constructed differently than the normal pairs I knit him but he said that they fit even better. I used Laura's after thought heel pattern but just added an extra row or two before the decreases. I can't wait to cast on a pair for me and see how I like wearing this heel.

Maeve loved her fox hat. I knew she would. She has worn it to school and almost every day since Christmas. This is the child who thinks I should give up knitting because it takes too much time away from her. But she actually said after Christmas that this was the one time she was glad that I knit! I am working on some matching mitts for her now.

And I knit my Contrary Cable Cowl for my oldest daughter for Christmas so after I finished the pattern I stashed it away in the Christmas box. I chose this color when asking for yarn support specifically for her. It looks great with her red hair. She is excited about it and has already worn it skiing. This last ski trip reminded me that I need to knit one for me! And check out my sweet mom knitting in the background of that photo! She finished this pretty pink twirly scarf while she was visiting. She use to knit before I was born but picked it back up since I became obsessed with knitting. It is fun.

I want to share some New Years goals and my Word of the Year with you but since I missed the Christmas gift posting last week, I will save the New Year's post for next week.

Have a great week! Sharing with Ginny, Nicole, and Andrea.

Merry Christmas

2014-12-24T13:47:00.001-07:00

Merry Christmas! With school ending and our schedules slowing down the Christmas spirit has come into my heart. Yay! Happiest of Christmases to you. May this Christmas bring peace and joy into your heart as we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

P.S.
One heel to go on the Christmas socks... a Christmas miracle!

Trying to Turn "Humbug" into Christmas Cheer

2014-12-17T09:11:00.003-07:00

Pattern: Variation on the Tin Can Knits Rye pattern

Yarn: Regia Hand Dyed Effect in color 06551

Favorite Christmas Book: This version of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Anyone else struggling to really get into the Christmas spirit? Other than our Advent activity each night, nothing about this Christmas is exciting to me currently. I don't why. Maybe that time of the month? I always seem to blame that....

We put up Christmas decorations last night. We waited until after my daughter's 13th (!!!) birthday party this last weekend. I think part of my bad mood was the desire to have things looking "just so" versus having my children "help". We opted for a compromise, making me wonder how other mothers get their homes to look so wonderfully decorated this time of year. Oh well. It isn't like decorating has ever really been my strong suit.

I planned an Advent activity weeks ago, wrapping up Christmas books with a scripture about Jesus Christ written on a card inside of them for us to open each night of Advent. Pictured is our pile of books we've unwrapped so far and the basket full of what is left. It is amazing how many Christmas books I've accumulated over the years once I went looking for them in the house. I only had to buy 7 to have 25 for Advent. I am really enjoying reading these books with the kids each night. When you only read them once a year, they always seem new. One of my best finds was this Rudolph book from my childhood. On Amazon a used copy was $15. But I found one in my local used book store for $4 so I was very excited. I just love the pictures. It was my favorite book as a child. I wish I could have found the bigger one my parents have but settled for the little golden book.

I am making pretty good progress on husband's Christmas socks. I needed to knit 2 inches a day but yesterday I only did 1. Last weekend I knit a lot though and then started to have some carpal tunnelish pain. I've never experienced that before. It got me a little worried but after a quick google search on "knitting yoga" and other knitting stretches/injuries it is feeling better now. It is kind of funny to think of a knitting injury, makes me feel old. But I found a few things that helped decrease the pain.

Knit with hands close to the lap

Knit with wrists as straight as possible

Sit up straight with feet on the ground

So there you go, some little knitting tips for the day.

Have a great week! Sharing with Ginny, Nicole, and Andrea.

One Knitted Present Done, One to Go, and a Lesson on Budgeting

2014-12-10T09:01:00.002-07:00

Pattern: Hat with Fox Pattern in Lima by Drops Design (free on Ravelry)

Yarn: Malabrigo superwash merino in Lettuce and Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Orange, White, and Coal.

Pattern: Variation on the Tin Can Knits Rye pattern

Yarn: Regia Hand Dyed Effect in color 06551

Book: The White Coat Investor

I finished the fox hat! Super excited about that. The duplicate stitching was not difficult at all. Two great tutorials for that on Craftsy and Purl Bee. I like how it turned out. Though I want to practice with my color work so the tension is more even. I blocked it but that can only do so much for the tight tension on those foxes. Oh well. It will fit my daughter and I think she will love it. I got distracted watching Elf with my boys and knit too much before starting the decreases for the crown so it is a little slouchy of a hat on top.

I now have only one knitted Christmas present I am trying to finish. I was going to make a tiger stuffie for my daughter but have postponed that until Valentine's day because 1. her sister is giving her a fox stuffie from IKEA and 2. she is already getting more gifts than the others. I normally don't make the number exactly even but no sense in stressing out to rush and make another when it isn't needed.

So I am trying to finish my husband's Christmas socks. If I knit 2 inches a day until Christmas I will finish them. I started this plan on Sunday and so far it is working out. We will see. I am kind of using the Rye pattern with a few variations.

I used finger weight yarn instead of worsted, casting on 64 stitches and including 18 in the garter stitch column.

I am doing an afterthought heel for the first time, using Lala's pattern from the Knit Girllls.

I am not a super fan of this yarn. I like the colors but it isn't a really tight twist so it splits a lot. I have dropped a few stitches and they are a PAIN to pick back up. I dropped one and didn't realize it for several inches. I almost threw my knitting against the wall while trying to fix that mistake. I am getting use to it though and I think the husband will enjoy them. I gave up keeping this gift a secret and am just knitting it in the open, pretty much the only way to have time to knit 2 inches a day.

The Book

I started working a few months ago as a business manager for the White Coat Investor . It is interesting work and I am learning a lot both as a business manager and from the personal finance posts that I now have to read and prep for publishing. The editor published this book and I recently finished reading it. We are on a quest to pay off our student loan debt from my husband's graduate school and are pretty intense about budgeting to make that happen as quickly as possible. What I liked best about this book is the way it makes you think about spending your money intentionally. For instance, the author says that financially successful people live far below their means, saving 20-30% of their income.

After reading that I went back and figured out what % of our income we had been paying on our student loans this year, 22% and we saved 4%. But after reading this book we decided that we would take 30% of our income to pay off our loans and try to live on 60% (after 10% goes to tithing). So far it is working great and our debt is decreasing nicely.

The financial education journey, that we have been on the last two years since Dave Ramsey gave us hope it was possible to get out of debt, as led me to know that when we are financial wise with what God has given us by living within a budget and getting/staying out of debt, AND being generous with our means to help His children, He blesses us immensely. I have seen this in our lives the last 2 years. As we have learned to be wise and generous, our income has increased to pay off our debts.

Have a great week! Sharing with Ginny, Nicole, and Andrea.

Foxy Hat Part 2

2014-12-03T10:23:00.004-07:00

Pattern: Hat with Fox Pattern in Lima by Drops Design (free on Ravelry)

Yarn: Malabrigo superwash merino in Lettuce and Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Orange, White, and Coal.

Book: Hope Runs

So I am making good progress on my foxy hat. I'm super hopeful it will be done by Christmas. Only problem is that I am not sure it is going to fit. :( I tried so hard to knit the color work at an even gauge and keep my floats loose but not too loose. But it is kind of tight. I am not sure what kind of magic I can work with blocking. I'm not going back though. I've come too far to frog it. Someone will get a fox hat for Christmas. It just might not be the recipient I had in mind. I still need to do the duplicate stitches for the eyes, nose, and mouth. It should be interesting. I've never done it before.

I found this sweet handmade pottery bowl at our local thrift store. It isn't a yarn bowl but I'm using it as such and it is working great. Super thrilled to find it for $1!!

I am really enjoying Hope Runs. I love these inspiring stories about people making a difference in the world. They inspire me to want to make the world around me a better place. Hope is such a powerful thing. It is to desire with the expectation of obtainment. Hope is motivating, to continue to work towards your hearts desire even when faced with challenges and failures.

I have been thinking a lot about hope lately as I have a child that is feeling very hopeless about her ability to interact nicely with people around her. It is sad and frustrating. In a moment of despair last night dealing with this child, I began to think it would be better if she didn't have Christ's gospel in her life because it is just giving her expectations for behavior that she is not able to achieve and thus makes her feel terrible about herself. So guilty and horrible that she can't behave better. Which leads me to feel like a bad mother, that my parenting is making her feel like she is worthless. It was a bad night.

But this morning, I had this thought, we can't do it by ourselves. Trying to live up to the standards of Christ on our own is impossible. We would fail and feel full of guilt. And that is exactly how my sweet child feels. But we aren't suppose to do it on our own. Christ paid the price for our sins, failures, pains, heartache, etc so we don't have to carry those with us. He can take those away and make up the difference for when we fall short. And all of us do. Accessing the power of Christ's atonement is the only way we can become who He knows we can be. As a parent it is my job to teach my child this. Not an easy task but with God nothing is impossible.

"Through the Savior's sacrifice, we have the hope, opportunity, and strength to make real heartfelt changes in our lives." - Elder Robert D. Hales

Have a great week! Sharing with Ginny, Nicole, and Andrea.

Foxy Hat

2014-11-26T09:05:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Hat with Fox Pattern in Lima by Drops Design (free on Ravelry)

Yarn: Malabrigo superwash merino in Lettuce and Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Orange, White, and Coal.

Book: The Meaning of Names

I finished my fetching mitts out of my merino/silk handspun. Yay! I really like them. Now I am dutifully working on 2 Christmas knitting projects. We will see if either gets finished my Christmas. I've been spending my evenings online finishing Christmas shopping instead of knitting. But I am done now! So hopefully I will get this hat done this week.

One of the Yarn Along-ers suggested this book a few weeks ago. I am sorry I cannot remember who. But I picked it up from the library and I am really enjoying it. It is sad as it recounts the discrimination against the German-Americans during WWI but the history and the characters are interesting. I highly recommend it.

That's all for today. I am off to make rolls and pies today. We are hosting Thanksgiving tomorrow with my brother and another family of six, friends of ours from our undergraduate days at Brigham Young University. It will be fun but busy exhausting hours cooking before that. Happy Thanksgiving to all those celebrating this week!

This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24

Sharing with Ginny, Nicole, and Andrea.

One Handspun Fetching Mitt -- and a lot of vomit

2014-11-19T08:45:00.005-07:00

My hopes of finishing my mitts fell through. I'm going to blame it on vomit. A. Lot. Of. It. Like the worse messes of my almost 13 years of motherhood. Cleaned it off the walls. Out of children's hair. Totally disgusting. And then I joined in the fun for a little while. Good times.

But I finished one Fetching Mitt with my 2 ply merino/silk handspun and I love it. For a long time I thought fingerless mitts were silly. I mean what is the point if your fingers were just going to get cold. But now that I live in an old drafty house with the computer right next to a window I realize the benefit of wearing fingerless mitts inside! I wore my one for a bit while knitting in bed sick this week and my hand was so nice and warm. I can't wait to finish the other one. Then make another pair in sock weight yarn. I love the warm bulkiness of these but also want some thinner, more manageable ones.

Instead of a lot of knitting, I laid in bed reading, finishing 3 books. Two by Joan Bauer: Hope was Here and Close to Famous. I really like young adult fiction these days and I highly recommend these two. The characters are really likable, they over come great adversity, and you feel good after reading about them. I also finished Iceberg Hermit, which is the book my book group during my co-oping time at my daughter's school is reading. It was interesting. It is a story of a boy who survives in the arctic for several years, living on an iceberg.

I wish I had something more exciting or inspiring to share this week other than talking about vomit so I'll leave you with this scripture I've been repeating in my head a lot this week.

"Be Still, and Know that I am God!"

-Psalms 46:10

Sharing with Ginny, Nicole, and Andrea.

Handspun Fetching Mitts

2014-11-11T22:55:00.000-07:00

Yarn: Merino/Silk 2 ply handspun

Pattern: Soon to be knit into Fetching Mitts from Knitty 2006

Book I'm reading this week: Hope was Here by Joan Bauer

Roman was very insistent that he needed to be in the photos. I kept trying to get him to move but that turned it into a game and made it even more fun to photo bomb my pictures. Oh Romey. We started chore charts and commission last night. Today was the first official day and by this afternoon he declared he wasn't doing his chores because he didn't need money. He gets enough for his birthday so why should he work? In the next breath he asked me to buy him "everything he wants" for Christmas. We will see if he changes his tune when the others get paid next Monday night and he doesn't. :)

I have a bad case of startitis. November is never a good time to have it. Not when I'm suppose to be dedicated to Christmas knits. But knitting is also suppose to be fun so I started something new anyway. I was hoping to get more yardage from this 4 oz roving. I was drafting it as thin as I could. Then I 2 plied it. I ended up with just under 150 yards. More than my last 4 oz roving, so I am improving, but less than I wanted. It is still thick and thin but slightly more consistent than the last yarn I spun. It is amazingly soft. I figured that 150 yards is enough for a hat or fingerless mitts. Since I am not really a hat wearer much I searched for a mitten pattern I liked that could work with this yarn and chose Fetching. I'm hoping by this time next week I'll have a new pair of mitts. Since my home is old and drafty, I plan on wearing them while I post next Wednesday!

Sharing with Ginny, Nicole, and Andrea.

I Like Giving...Circle Socks

2014-11-05T08:24:00.002-07:00

Pattern: Circle Socks

Yarn: Candy Skeins Yummy Fingering (in Colorway Bomb Pop)

I missed posting last week. It was a hectic week. My husband returned from his business trip to the Philippines and we celebrated his belated birthday. Then my sweet Jude turned 6 and we celebrated his birthday 2 days later. And 2 days after that was Halloween. Makes for a busy week for the mother who puts it all together! But a good time was had by all. Lots of candy consumed, silly games played at Chuckie Cheese by the cousins, siblings, and friend of the birthday boy, and a TON of gum chewed. 6 is a big deal around our home. It is the legal age for chewing gum. And Jude has had a piece in his mouth ever since he woke up on his birthday morning. Literally. You can see it in the Chuckie Cheese photo. He is enjoying smacking it and we are desperately trying to get him to chew with his mouth closed. I can't wait until the newness wears off. :)

I finally finished my circle socks. You know the ones that my sister received for her birthday in July still attached to the needles? :) Here she is modeling them with her cute feet. She loves them. And they fit which I was excited about because they seemed a little big. I am not pleased with the pooling on the feet. I broke the yarn and reattached it in a different place on the ball thinking that might help but nope, still pooling. At that point in the knitting I wasn't sure what I else I could do so I just went with it. But I am steering clear of variegated sock yarns for awhile. At least for socks.

Okay here is the important part of my post! My book this week. I Like Giving by Brad Formsma is literally a life changer. Or could be if read in the right spirit. I randomly picked it up at the library. It was on display close to the check out desk and looked intriguing. I thought I'd just take it home and flip through it. That is why I love libraries. You can take a book home not knowing if it will be terrible or not without it costing you a dime. Well if you return it on time... :)

Anyway I flipped through it at home and didn't put it down for 2 days. Read the whole thing cover to cover. Then went to the website and read there too. There are some pretty remarkable stories about generosity in both the book and the website. From giving the shirt off your back to a complete stranger to buying your child's bus driver a vacation to Florida to recover from cancer treatments. It inspires you to want to be generous too. An interesting question is asked after explaining that being generous make you happier. It is "What if money can buy us happiness if we spend it in a different way?" Research confirms that spending money on ourselves doesn't improve our happiness all that much but spending money on others does.

I like this quote from the book,

"Every time I take a step in the direction of generosity, I know that I am moving from fear to love."

-Henri Nouwen

The author suggests that when we feel moved to be generous that we don't think about it too much but just do it. Days before reading that I had felt prompted to send my friend that I roomed with on our cruise one of the new Mary Kay cosmetic bags I had in my inventory. She had expressed liking the one I used on the cruise. So I packaged it up, adding a skein of yarn from my stash for her daughter who is learning to knit, and mailed it to Alaska. And felt really happy about it afterwards. Thinking about how fun it would be for her to open the package. The author says that after finding a giving opportunity you should share it, not to brag but to encourage and inspire others. I don't think giving opportunities should always be shared as sometimes it is best to keep it anonymous. But I also see the value in share it to inspire others. I was certainly inspired by the giving stories shared in this book! I hope you'll check out the website and read the book and be inspired too!

Visit Nicole, Ginny, and Linda for more fun.

Taking Annis on a Cruise

2014-10-22T11:17:00.001-06:00

The Annis Shawl went on it's first cruise this last week...pictured here with my bunkmate/friend Erin and Latoya on her wedding day. We've been friends since junior high. Such a fun weekend!

Pattern: Annis by Susanna IC

Yarn: Malabrigo lace Silkpaca in Teal Feather

Beads: Size 6 purple seed beads

New Fancy Tool: Addi Capped Steel Crochet Hook size 0.6mm

Here are the brides with their sons. Aren't they adorable? The family looks so beautiful and happy. The boys were my dates on Friday night while their moms went out and their grandmother recovered from a red-eye flight from Alaska. We watched Maleficent on the big screen up on the deck as the boat left the harbor. One of them asked me my name the next day. I asked him why he didn't ask me my name while we were on our date the night before. His response, "You look scarier in the daytime." Lol. I love kids honesty.

It was an interesting weekend for me. I love Latoya. She was one of my best friends in high school. I'd met the boys before but I just met Athena this weekend and she is wonderful. I am happy for them. I wanted to be there to support Latoya in something that makes her happy. But I also don't believe that same-sex marriage is right in God's eyes. I believe that "marriage between a man and woman is ordained of God and is central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of his children." God ordained marriage and we do not have the power to change His definition of it. So it was sort of a weekend of contradictions for me. But I love Latoya and I am glad I was able to be a part of something that she wanted to have happen.

We sailed on the Golden Princess from Los Angeles, CA to Encenada, Mexico. This ship is freaking huge. As I boarded I got a little nervous about sailing. I asked the first crew member I saw about the number of life vests and life boats. She assured me there were enough for the 3100 passengers and 1000 crew members on board. :)

On our day at see, before the wedding, I knitted on my circle socks and finished reading The Lions of Little Rock while sitting by the pool. It was a very relaxing morning. I highly recommend the book. I really liked it. It inspires you to be more courageous in facing your fears and stepping outside your comfort zone.

A cruise can be very relaxing but is also kind of a strange place. Did you ever see the movie or read the book Austenland? It is about a resort in England where guest come and live like they were characters in Jane Austen's books in the 1800's. So the guest are living in this fake world but all the staff are in the real world. The cruise reminded me of that. The crew never broke character, they waited on you hand and foot (which made me feel slightly uncomfortable), and I felt like I was in a make-believe world of gluttony where everyone was eating and drinking as much as they could, while the staff looked on in disgust. The crew never expressed any disgust, I just thought how could they not be? Most were from other countries, mostly eastern European, and they were serving a bunch of greedy, fat Americans. Me included. I ate tons. :) Anyway it is a weird experience. I had a wonderful weekend. So fun! I would probably do it again, with a group, maybe a family reunion or something where no one had to worry about hosting or feeding a bunch of people, but I won't be booking a romantic cruise for two anytime soon.

Erin and I were woken up on the morning we docked in Encenada to the barking of a 20 or so sea lions like this one. It was awesome! They were hanging out where the cruise ship was trying to dock so we got to watch them all jump in the water from our balcony. A few came back that afternoon before we sailed so we could take pictures.

We walked downtown to do some shopping. This man made name bracelets for my daughters. It was amazing to watch. He whipped them up in 5 minutes or less. It was super cool. But in Mexico is were the cruise ship atmosphere really became a little bothersome. We'd just been engaged in such gluttony on board and then walked off into such poverty. It was disturbing. People and children begging on the street, following us around trying to sell little junky trinkets. The contrast between the cruise ship and Encenada was just so extreme. I left feeling a little sick to my stomach. But I didn't put money in the cups held by mothers with babies on the street or buy the children's trinkets. I bartered for lower prices. I don't know. I couldn't bring myself to be more generous or buy junk. So my stomach sickness came from a little bit of disgust for myself. I'm trying to redeem myself now by thinking of ways to help those in need closer to my home.

Joining with Nicole, Ginny, and Andrea.

Beaded Annis Shawl

2014-10-15T13:01:00.003-06:00

First off I just had to show you a photo of a beautiful place we went hiking last week. Millcreek Canyon. Isn't it gorgeous?!?

Second. I FINISHED MY SHAWL!! And it is blocked and DRY. Are you totally impressed. Me too. I also finished the Divergent Series. I did a little knitting while reading. It was tricky but I managed it. I liked Allegiant. It is sad. More people die. But the ending. It feels hopeful. Like the community will survive, recover, and thrive. I liked the ending. Much more positive than the Hunger Games.

I think this is my first crescent shawl. And I am hooked! Those short rows make it go so much faster. I still don't know if I will like wearing a crescent shawl but I will give a try at the wedding. Beading was so much easier than I thought it would be. I used the crochet hook method and it was fabulous! I tried buying a crochet hook small enough for the beads at Joanns and Michaels with my coupon but they don't carry anything near small enough. I purchase my new hook at my LYS, Blazing Needles.

Pattern: Annis by Susanna IC

Yarn: Malabrigo lace Silkpaca in Teal Feather

Beads: Size 6 purple seed beads

New Fancy Tool: Addi Capped Steel Crochet Hook size 0.6mm

And speaking of the wedding. I should be packing for my wedding cruise and finishing the mound of dishes that need to be done before I leave! :) But instead I am blogging and packing my knitting. Priorities! I am so excited to be kid free, I may be over packing on the knitting but I want to have choices! 2 socks: circle socks which are almost done and a new pair of vanilla christmas knitting socks. And 2 lacey works in progress. I am hoping to finish the circle socks for my sister and the I Heart Cowl for me.

And I'll leave you with a little spirit message. Our church's General Conference was the week before last and there were several messages on caring for the poor that touched my heart. I really like this quote. As a family we are trying to decide how we will answer this call.

Sharing with Ginny and Nicole

The Miracle of Spinning with a Silk Blend

2014-10-07T22:11:00.002-06:00

I attended the Great Basin Fiber Arts Fair in August with my sister in law and purchased my first silk/merino blended fiber from the Fiber Addict. It is a merino/tussah silk blend (70/30) in the Jamaica colorway. I knew that I wanted to buy some fiber but I wasn't sure what type when I went. I was just looking for the most bang for my buck. And this fiber was it. The price was good. It is beautiful colors; purple, yellow, blue, green, orange, and white. I am planning to 2 ply it and hoping that doesn't muddy the colors too much. I'd be disappointed if it all turned out a little brown.

I am pretty sure that I always want to spin with a silk blend from now on. It drafts like a dream and is the thinnest that I have been able to spin. Okay I don't have that much experience spinning other fibers than wool and maybe my alpaca roving will be just as amazing but I seriously love this silk/merino blend. It was 4 oz and I am shocked by how many yards I have been able to get out of it so far. Yay for spinning progress!!! Spinning is so meditative. If I can just sit for 15 minutes and spin, I get up in such a better place mentally. It is better than yoga, deep breathing, counting to 10, meditation, etc for helping me come back to a happy place.

I numbered my toilet paper rolls so I could ply the "bobbins" I spun first with the ones I spun last in hopes of getting a pretty even yarn even with the progress I have made in my spinning. I am not sure what I will make with the yarn. I will have to wait and see how many yards it really is. I didn't know how to do that with the singles without putting it on my niddy noddy or without a scale. So I just guesstimated on how much to put on each roll, trying to make it look even. We will see how I did when plying time comes.

I finished Insurgent. Frankly I kind of hate these suspenseful books that I can't seem to have enough self control to put down. It is annoying. I am a little tired of the dystopian young adult romance/violence novels. I decided after finishing book 2 that I was not going to read book 3. So I asked my sister how it all ended. She told me everything she remembered but that left more questions than answers so I picked up book 3 anyway today at the library. Dang it. I just need to get it all out of my system and move on. :)

Joining with Ginny, Nicole, and Andrea.

It's Autumn Time, It's Autumn Time, The Leaves are on the Ground -- and I'm starting a Summer of Lace and Beads...

2014-10-01T00:20:00.001-06:00

As a child growing up in Alaska, Spring, also known as Break-Up, was my favorite season. It was so full of hope and promise. When the sun was back bringing with it endless energy and the world was filling with beautiful colors again as everything bloomed. I still love spring. It was fun this last spring to see what beautiful colors popped up over night in our new yard. It was like a new surprise every morning. But Autumn time in Utah is starting to win my heart over. THE COLORS. My pictures just don't do it justice. I am in awe of God's magnificent creation.

The boys and I chauffeured for Maeve's field trip to Silver Lake up Big Cottonwood Canyon this last week. It was a beautiful place and the weather was fantastic. It was great to just be present without an agenda. We couldn't keep up with the class on the hike so we just played around after the guided nature walk around the lake, in which I learned that beavers are really, really important. Even if they keep flooding the homes up there.

On Saturday we braved a nasty rain storm to visit the Blue Moon Ranch alpaca open barn days. Holy moly alpacas are adorable. I am not an animal lover and I wanted to take one home with me. Except the one below with the leash. He was pretty much the terror of the herd. Chasing the others around and yelling at them. We were in the fields when it really started to rain and all the alpacas turned and ran for the barn immediately. Smart animals.

If I wanted to take one home with me, this little girl, who wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up, wanted to to take the whole herd. She said we could trade in our lawn mower for them. She stayed out in the rain with the animals the entire time I was in the shop picking out my first bag of alpaca roving to spin. Maeve can't wait to come back next year and see her friends. I've been a little scared of spinning alpaca because people have warned me it is difficult to spin well but I am going to give it a try.

The Knitmore Girls do a Summer of Lace and Beads Knit-a-long. In the 5.5 years that I've been knitting I have never once had a desire to add beads to my knitting. But hearing little snippets about their KAL planted a seed and when I was looking for a shawl to where to a wedding next month I just became obsessed with adding beads. My friend emailed asking that everyone wear something teal or purple to the wedding, inspired by peacock feathers. It is a small wedding and she wanted everyone coordinating in the wedding photos. I just bought a black dress and thought a shawl would go well with it.

I chose Susanna C's Annis shawl pattern, replacing the nupps with beads, because lots of people said it was a fairly quick knit. But after this busy week it may need to knit itself to be finished in time. I totally miss calculated with the bead count and had to go back to the bead store today to buy more size 6 seed beads. Oops. I am half way done with the lace section. It is malabrigo silkpaca lace weight yarn (70% alpaca, 30% silk). In the teal feather colorway. I am super excited to wear it.

Starting to read Divergent didn't help the busy week. What an addicting book. I can't say I really liked it but I also couldn't put it down. Did you read it? What faction would you have joined? Initially I probably would have said Amity (peaceful) but I'm having second thoughts after starting the second book. I know that if I had joined Dauntless (brave) mice, falling into an outhouse, and falling from a tall building would have been in my fear simulation/ladder thing. Bleh. I'd never survive.

Joining with Nicole, Ginny, and Andrea.

Knitting Circle Socks on Variegated Yarn

2014-09-24T07:49:00.002-06:00

We went to Lake Powell this last weekend with my brother's family. It is so beautiful there. Wake boarding on the water is like being on glass. The slot canyons are fun to explore. The water is warm. The cliffs are great for jumping. You get the idea. It is like paradise. And the STARS. So many. So bright without the light pollution from the city. It is amazing.

When I was in college I was dating this guy and we went to his parent's home to see the stars or a comet or something I can't remember. Anyway we climbed up on their roof and were looking at the sky when he quoted this scripture:

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth His handywork. -Psalm 19:1

I had never read this scripture before and I loved it. Every time I look at the stars at night this verse comes to mind. In the book we listened to on our way back from the lake, Three Times Lucky the main character, Mo, is taught about stars. Her step-dad tells her,

"There's nothing like camping out to restore a sense of size. Remember that. When you lose your way, wait under the stars. We're born over and over, day by day. When you feel lost, let the stars sing you to sleep. You'll always wake up new."

The stars might be my favorite part about camping. The book is really good. We read it for the mother-daughter book club at our local library this month. We just finished it late last night and what a great ending!

I took advantage of some down time at the campsite to knit on my Circle Socks in Candy Skein yarn, colorway Bomb Pop. I tried really hard to be monogamous to this project. Especially after I gave it to my sister for her birthday in July as a half finished sock with needles attached. Now I have the commitment to finish them. Luckily now I am on the foot of both pairs with my parallel sock knitting strategy. I did however cast on another project last week. It is only getting a few rows here and there but enough to take the edge off these socks. I'll show it to you next week when there is more to see.

So I love how the Candy Skein bomb pop colorway knit up on the leg of the sock with the knit and purl pattern. But once I started knitting on the foot in straight stockinette some serious pooling started happening on the sole with the white color. I didn't get any of that on the leg or heel. The one knitting guild meeting that I was able to attend last year (all the others were on the night I have a monthly committee meeting at my daughter's school) we had the owner of Intrepid Tulip yarns come and speak. She talked about knitting with variegated yarns and ways to avoid pooling. The ways I remembered where:

changing stitch pattern
changing stitch count
interchanging balls while knitting

None of those strategies would work on my sock. You can tell what a difference stitch pattern makes since there was no pooling in the leg with the circle pattern. I couldn't change stitch count or the socks wouldn't fit right. And I didn't measure my balls of yarn when I made the two balls so they were completely uneven. I've already finished one ball part way through the foot because all the rest of the yarn is in the second ball so I have no yarn to interchange it with. Oh well. I'm not too worried about it because it is on the bottom of the foot.

On the way back from Lake Powell we stopped at Goblin Valley State Park and hiked around, making sure to take our traditional silly camping photos. I fell off the rock while Jude went running to the camera but luckily no one got hurt in the craziness. Isn't Goblin Valley amazing?!? So pretty. One of my favorite places in Utah. In the year we have been here we've visited 3 times and it is 4 hours away...

Joining with Nicole, Ginny, and Andrea.

Contrary Cabled Cowl - Worsted Weight Version

2014-09-16T08:04:00.001-06:00

Now that I have finally published my Contrary Cabled Cowl pattern, I can show you the first one I made. It is in worsted weight yarn, so to adjust to the thinner yarn I made the cables 8 stitches instead of 6 so that changes your cast on number a bit. And I used size 10 needles. Other than that it is the same pattern. With those two adjustments I was able to get the same dimensions for the finished project as mentioned in the pattern.

I made it for my little Maeve last Christmas (sad that it took 9 months for me to make time to publish the pattern!). Malabrigo yarn is the perfect yarn for her. So soft. Her itch factor is high, she is easily irritated by uncomfortable things. It is a Rios yarn in the Zarzamora color way. One of my favorites. I'm pretty partial to purples when it comes to my knitting. I borrowed this a few times last winter to wear while skiing, when my older daughter, Adelle, wasn't wearing it...

Let me tell you a little story about Maeve and I this weekend. She had a play date on Friday after school and by the time I picked her up a little after 6 she had not eaten since lunch time. Apparently she said she didn't like anything that the other mom offered for an after school snack and Maeve didn't give her any ideas of things she did like. So as soon as Maeve got in our car she was a GROUCH! Hot, tired, or hungry really does Maeve in. Unfortunately dinner and a good night sleep didn't help her attitude and Saturday was pretty brutal too.

It didn't help that I had decided that Saturday we were going to do some ~~spring~~ fall cleaning in the house and weeding in the garden as a family, two of Maeve's least favorite things to do. We had to take separate time outs in our rooms to survive the afternoon without hurting each other. That night as I prayed for forgiveness for losing my patience and to be filled with a greater love for her, to be filled with Charity, with Christ's unconditional love for her, I immediately felt the Holy Spirit strongly. I was forgiven and the Lord was comforting me, helping me to feel I could be/do better the next day. The Spirit is real. It brings a warm, peaceful feeling, like being wrapped in our Heavenly Father's arms. He understands that parenting is difficult at times but that with His help we can do it. I am so grateful for this experience!

Sharing with Ginny, Nicole, and Andrea.

Oh yeah, I finished two books lately that I really recommend. Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver. I finished that Saturday while I was taking a timeout in my bedroom. I'm still a little sad about how the book ends for the main characters, even though you see it as inevitable as you are reading, I was still sad that it didn't work out. And One Came Home by Amy Timberlake. It is a Newbery Honor Award winner. It isn't really about the passenger pigeons but they play a part in it. It was interesting to read about them. I didn't know anything about them until Paula from the Knitting Pipeline podcast talked about them a few episodes ago. She talked about the Fold the Flock website, people who are remembering the 100 year anniversary of the passing of the last passenger pigeon by folding one million origami pigeons. It is one of those things that I want to do with my kids but have not yet...

Book Review: Up, Down, and All Around Stitch Dictionary by Wendy Bernard

2014-09-10T08:18:00.001-06:00

Thank you so much for the positive feedback concerning my new design! I really appreciate it. Designing has really been an educational and fun experience for me. When I first heard about this book by Wendy Bernard I was so excited about the possibilities. I've been checking out a lot of stitch dictionaries from the library these last few years and was frustrated that most of them only gave instructions for bottom up construction. So I was thrilled that this book might make designing from other directions a lot easier.

I'll talk about the thing I didn't like and then the things I did. First off it claims to have "more than 150 stitch patterns to knit top down, bottom up, back and forth, and in the round." But right from the beginning I was annoyed that 3 of those 150 stitches are stockinette, garter, and seed stitch. To me those didn't really needed to be added to the book. They seem pretty simple to figure out how to do in various directions. It seems a little cheating to list those as part of the 150 but maybe I'm being [k]nit picky. :) But actually that is really the only thing that bothered me about this book.

This milanese lace stitch pattern is one that I have had marked for a design for awhile and I was thrilled to find it written out in all directions. Isn't it beautiful!

This swedish weave is another stitch pattern that I really liked. I don't remember seeing this in other stitch dictionaries. One of the things I liked about this book were the pictures. I like that they are in color and big enough to see details. And that the instructions are written out and charted. Yay!

Now the next two stitch patterns thrill me to no end. Remember that poncho that I was working on before I started my Summer of Socks? Well I've been wanting to add a border other than the fringe shown in the pattern but all the borders that I've seen in stitch dictionaries before gave directions from the top up except the feather and fan stitch pattern. I believe this is the first one that gave other directions at all for borders. I haven't decided which of these 2 borders I'll use but I am really liking both of them.

Here is Wendy. She has also published a book called Custom Knits to "unleash your inner designer" which I am excited to check out. And one last thing I like about this book is the binding. It has the spiral binding so it will stay open on its own which is great for being able to knit and read from it at the same time. But also the spiral binding is covered by the outside cover so it won't catch on things and/or being tangled and broken. Smart move.

I'm pretty frugal when it come to books. I mostly check them out from the library over and over again. So when I say that this is a book that I will total buy that says A LOT. It is on my short list of books that I want to add to my home library just as soon as I stop spending my pocket money on fiber every month. :) But seriously this book has opened up easier possibilities for designing which is making me rethink my stitch pattern choice for my triangle shawl that is in the works....

Joining with Ginny, Nicole, and Andrea this week.

Contrary Cabled Cowl Knitting Pattern

2014-09-02T23:59:00.000-06:00

I am so excited to publish this new design. This snug fitting cowl has an interesting texture where stockinette and garter stitch cables meet. With aran weight yarn, held double, this is a quick knit. It is September after all so we need to start thinking about Christmas knitting! :) The top circumference is able to accomodate children (see my cute daughter wearing it in the picture below) and adults, with the bottom widening to fit comfortably on the shoulders under a coat. It is the perfect accessory for winter play, ensuring no one’s neck or face get cold in the wind and snow.

It is knit with Dyeabolical Aran Singles yarn. If you have not checked out this Indie Dyer, you have to! She has a wide variety of colors. They are really vibrant and beautiful. The aran singles is wonderful to knit with. And very soft. Perfect for this "next to skin" cowl.

I love knitting cables with thicker yarn. It just makes such a fun, squishy fabric. You can better see how the garter stitch and the stockinette stitch cables meet in the middle in this photo. It makes for a really unique looking cable.

The Contrary Cabled Cowl is now on sale on Ravelry and Etsy for $3.99. The pattern has been test knit and professionally tech edited. For today only, September 3, you can buy the pattern for $.99 as a thank you for being a loyal reader of The Gauge Wars blog. I really appreciate your visits to the site and your encouraging comments on my knitting. The promotion code is DARTHVADER. :)

Isn't my friend Melissa beautiful? When I texted asking her to model my newest design for me, she responded with, "you do know you texted Melissa right?" Lol. She did wonderful. And it was hot modeling a wool cowl in August!

I really enjoy designing. The challenge of coming up with new ideas and then figuring out how to knit them is fun. The math part can be frustrating. But so rewarding when I figure it out! I recently have been obsessing over this new book, Up, Down, All- Around Stitch Dictionary by Wendy Bernard. It gives the directions to knit over 150 stitch patterns from the top down, bottom up, or in the round. Brilliant idea! Most stitch dictionaries that I've seen just give instructions for one direction. Anyway I'm working on a review of this book so come back next Wednesday to read that. Thanks!!

Sharing with Ginny, Tami, and Nicole.

Yarn Along: Oomingmak Musk Ox Producer's Co-operative and Qiviut

2014-08-27T07:26:00.000-06:00

Guess what? SCHOOL IS BACK IN SESSION! I can't say I'm excited about my girls being gone all day and I'm anxious about the time commitment I'm making to homeschool my kindergartener, but I am THRILLED to be back on a regular schedule after a summer of vacations and exciting visitors. It has been wonderful to finally get my children and me in bed at a regular hour so I have my early morning quiet hours to myself again. Yay!

And hopefully I'll have time to write all the blog posts I've been meaning to all summer. We will see about that. :)

But here is one to start. I've been wanting to post this since this summer when I returned from Alaska. While I was there I went to downtown Anchorage and visited the Oomingmak Musk Ox Producer's Co-operative shop. It is a small shop that is mainly for tourists but the idea of the Co-operative is fantastic. It has been around since 1969 and has produced amazing Qiviut knitted items, (pronounced "kiv-ee-ute") which is the downy-soft underwool from the Arctic Musk Ox. On a side note as a child my father hunted a Musk Ox whose head currently hangs on their living room wall (check out my Instagram photo of that). Now that I know how expensive Qiviut is and how amazingly soft it is, I REALLY wish Dad had kept that fiber for me. Didn't he know 25 years later I would be a spinner?!?

Anyway the Co-operative is owned by 250 Native Alaskan women from villages all over Alaska who knit and sell the items to help with their subsistence living in remote villages. Each village has a signature pattern from traditional aspects of their village life and Native culture. The women don't design but just knit the patterns and the Co-op only sells the finished goods or yarn kits, no fiber. Mostly they sell scarves, smoke rings, hats, and one tunic ($625).

They had a board up at the shop with swatches from every animal product you can imagine and Qiviut is BY FAR the softest, most amazing fiber there. But considering that the kit for a baby hat was the cheapest thing in the shop at $90 I couldn't really buy my Alaska souvenir there, only these 2 postcards above.

I wanted to take pictures in the shop but it felt awkward because it is so small and personal. You walk in and there is a front counter where you place your order and one table off to the side where a woman was blocking a smoke ring. So I didn't whip out my camera. But I did take this blurry photo from their brochure because I thought it was a brilliant way to block a cowl, on one of those dress making boards that my mom used when I was a child, only a smaller version. I'm not sure what those kind of boards are called. Mom use to measure and cut her fabric on it but it can't be used as a cutting mat with a rotary cutter because it is kind of made of cardboard like material. I want one to block cowls.

I talked with the man working the counter at the Co-op about the Musk Ox. He said they have a Musk Ox farm in Palmer, an hour from Anchorage, where they get about 50% of the fiber they need. And there are also a few wild Musk Ox herds in Alaska out by the villages where the woman can get fiber. He said that some women chase the Musk Ox into the woods on 4-wheelers and then stop and pick up the fiber that sticks to the trees as the Musk Ox run by. Quite an adventure. The whole place was really fascinating. Someday I want to buy a smoke ring there, when $185 doesn't seem like too much money to spend on a piece of amazing clothing for myself. :)

I've been finishing up a design this week and I finishing Julie of the Wolves. It is a Newbery Medal Award winner, which I am interested in reading these lately as they are clean, easy, but interesting reads. Julie is a young Alaska Native girl and it is about her experience living alone on the Artic Tundra. I thought it was really good. And a fitting book for me this summer.

My design is a cowl, in the beautiful Dyeabolical yarn in the colorway King of the Pond. It is really a fantastic yarn. It is a single ply aran weight but I am using it held double and loving how soft it is. It will be nice and warm for snow sports this winter. My pattern is currently with the test knitters. I am planning to release it next week. As always there will be a discount code here for readers on the release date. Stay tuned!

Sharing with Nicole and Ginny and Andrea.

Spinning Straw into Gold: Navajo Plying

2014-08-14T21:31:00.000-06:00

Here is the free fiber I received from the yarn store in Homer. The dyer didn't like it but I think it is fun. It is mostly wool but I think she told me it had some nylon and maybe tencel too, I can't remember. It has such different colors I wanted to protect that and not muddy the yarn together so I learned to Navajo ply or chain ply instead of making a barber pole-ish 3 ply. I really like the result.

Here are some Navajo plying tutorials I found useful:

Sarah Anderson's youtube video
Lee Juvan's article in Knitty
Knotty Gals picture tutorial for Navajo plying on a drop spindle
Simply Notables picture tutorial for Navajo plying on a drop spindle

I found Simply Notables to be the best for me. It help me finally understand what I was trying to do. I still need a lot of practice but I'm pretty pleased.

I really want to see how it knits up. It is only about 36 meters but I thought that it could make a fun accent to a hat if I used it with some similar weight mill spun yarn. We shall see. I have two projects that have to be finished before I can cast this yarn on.

Have a great weekend. One more week until school starts again here. I'm not thrilled about the early mornings with the kids but I'm looking forward to getting back into a routine again.

Sharing with Andrea, Linda, and Tami.

Finished Object: Vanilla Socks with a Plaid Twist

2014-08-07T23:38:00.002-06:00

Yarn: Candy Skeins Yummy Fingering in Spearmint Colorway

Pattern: Vanilla Latte Socks by Virginia Rose-Jeanes

This may be the only socks I finish during my Summer of Socks but at least I have 3 more cast on and in progress...

I've talked here before about how I don't like following patterns for socks. It is a portable project that I prefer to not have much thinking involved so I can use sock projects as social knitting time. But I also want the socks to be interesting and not just stockinette or ribbing. I really like the Vanilla Latte pattern but with this tonal yarn I wanted a little more design going on.

So here is what I did:

Every 9th row (or so I just eyeballed it) when the pattern called for a knit and purl row, I did a row of purl stitches to make that square plaidish look.

When I got to the foot I had three columns of squares still going down the foot. About 4 inches from the end I stopped doing a purl row on one column. Then I knit another repeat of the 9 row square ending with a purl row and then stopped knitting a purl row in that column. One more repeat ending with a purl row in the last column and then ended the purl rows. So the last 2 inches of the foot are just straight stockinette. On the second foot I alternated the columns that I ended the purls rows with first so that the socks were not identical but mirror images. It makes the pattern a little more exciting but didn't require much thinking.

So now look at the left big toe on the last picture. See that row of ladders that look like a dropped stitch but isn't? Why does that happen? What am I doing as I decrease for my toes that causes those gaps on the stitches? It is annoying and I can't figure out why it is happening. Any suggestions?

I gave these socks to my sister, Michelle, the crazy photo bomber from my last post and the foot model here, for her birthday. It is challenging to give away something that took weeks to make. But I purchased the yarn with her in mind 2 years ago so I wanted to stick with that. You better wear them Michelle!! :)

Sharing with Linda, Tami, and Andrea this week.

Summer of Socks and Apricots, Vacations, Family...

2014-08-04T13:39:00.002-06:00

Remember when I use to blog regularly? Before I left on an epic adventure driving to Alaska and taking pictures of half knit socks and sock yarn in the most beautiful places? (You know it has been awhile since you last posted about knitting when all your sidebar ads are about Alaska now.)

Yarn: Candy Skeins Spearmint

Pattern: Vanilla Latte Socks with Modifications (come back Friday for finished photos and modification specifics!)

My Alaska souvenir: Fingering weight yarn from Knitty Stash in Homer, AK.

Colorway: Chugach Forest (except that it was labeled "Not Quite Perfect" so it was discounted!)

And mysterious fiber (mostly wool) that was on the free shelves left behind by a dyer who was less than pleased with it. I love it!

And then I came home to a gigantic apricot tree full of ripe apricots. I mean FULL. I was buried in apricots here for a week or two or three. I gave them away to everyone I could. I preserved them in every form I could think of. Jams. Syrup. Leathers. Puree. Dried. The syrup is really amazing. I just used some to sweeten by peppermint tea. So good.

And then I played with my family as they came to Utah for a reunion. Hiking to Cecret Lake in Alta to see the beautiful wildflowers.

And hosted a cousin party for my 70 cousins (okay only 30 came) as part of our family reunion weekend. There is my sister Michelle photo bombing my picture of my favorite cousin, Larry (in the middle), my little sister Suzanne, and my cousin Ben, who miraculously survived a heart attack in his 30's. It is so fun having a large family!

And that is it. That's why I've not been around here a few weeks. Now I have 3 weeks to ~~get my life back into some recognizable order~~ just knit before school starts. :) (And read my new book, Julie and the Wolves. It is a Newbery award winner and really interesting so far.)

Joining with Nicole, Ginny, and Tami.

Postcard from Homer Alaska

2014-07-06T23:16:00.002-06:00

We celebrated Independence Day in Homer, Alaska. It was beautiful playing on the sunny beach. We are headed home tomorrow morning -- 3300 miles! But the husband is driving with me so lots of knitting time. Lower 48 here we come!!