log cabin square in progress

What’s it for? Why knit something so painfully small? Well, that part I can’t say. But I do hope it’s going to be fabulous. I like small knitted things. I’m fascinated by knitted miniatures, and how detailed they can be despite their miniscule size. Have you seen this video on YouTube? It’s miniature knitting as a true art form:

In contrast to the really small, something really big came in the mail today!

Namaste Hermosa Tote

It’s the Namaste Hermosa Tote, in eggplant, of course! OMG is this thing HUGE! It’s not really a purse, like the other bags are. It’s more a giant tote, with a nice firm bottom that stands well on its own. It has an attached “saddlebag” thingy on the outside, great for stashing knitting tools, or purse-y stuff or whatever. There are pockets on the inside and out, and the main compartment is so cavernous that one could easily carry an afghan in progress or a REALLY big sweater to knit group. There’s also a large pocket on the outside perfect for carrying sheet patterns so they don’t get rumpled by being jammed in the bag.

What I don’t know is whether this bag will be an everyday use sort of thing. It’s really so big I wonder if It’ll get in my way more than not. But, I also bought this:

Namaste Small Clutch

Namaste Small Clutch, open

I have more to tell but it will have to wait for another day. My pillow beckons. Ciao!

Listen to this article

Various colors of Cascade 220

A knitting and blogging slump. In the last week I have done the equivalent of less than one row’s worth of stitches on Jen’s scarf, and about a third of a row on my February Lady Sweater. Hardly worth blogging about, huh?

I think it’s because everything’s in a mess around here. I’ve had piles of yarn with no place to go all over the couch for months. I bought some of those new Ziploc Totes and I’ve discovered that I don’t think I like them. I can’t say why, really, but I’ve got one here in the middle of my floor which is not quite full of yarn and won’t hold its shape, and so it’s constantly falling over and getting in the way. I guess it’s good that the totes apparently hold a LOT of yarn. As much or more than my Rubbermaid tubs which are also overflowing. But I can’t quite figure out if there’s an advantage to this product over a Rubbermaid tub. I guess, for me, there probably isn’t one.

We’re getting ready to totally organize this room and I am growing impatient now. The kids are leaving in about 10 days on vacation with the grandparents and we’re going to seriously attack this room where we spend most of our family time. I’ve hired a professional organizer and I’ve been to the Container Store. There are going to be some major changes around here!

The reorganization, as great as it will be, does not include space for my yarn! My yarn, which as much as I love it, has completely taken over my life. My husband and I have been discussing this conundrum, and he has agreed that we should clear out the closet in the front entry hall and stack the yarn bins in there. I think this will be good because I’ll be able to get to things relatively easily, and finally it will all have a place to be. At least I HOPE it all fits in there. Wish me luck on that! I shall come clean, as they say, and take photos of the transformation in this room as it happens. I know I’m not the only person who lives in a cluttered mess and if documenting the process helps anyone (or keeps me from repeating it myself) then so be it. I’m going to share.

I think this is gonna be great. But probably not so much knitting this month. I’m nervous and hopeful all at once. Wish me luck.

My mom’s birthday is next Monday, the 13th. I am working on a birthday card idea that includes a wee bit of knitting. More on that later.

Listen to this article

Cat photo

I guess I’d better go check and see how this sucker looks. Let me know what you think, too, ok?

Only one more day of work this week, then we get a four day weekend around here. I’m already looking forward to it, believe me. Guess I’d better get to bed for now…

Edited to add… ok so it’s the style sheet dictating the white space around the photo. I thought it was my photos, which have some white space around them to accommodate the drop shadow. Oh well… maybe I’ll get up the gumption to mess with the style sheet sometime soon…

Edited again… Ok I played with the style sheet. If you look at the cat photo versus the tomato photo below, it is now obvious that the tomato has more white space around it. I think the tomatoes have too much white space, so I think I’m happy with the new spacing. Am I weird, or is it ok?

Listen to this article

Mouth watering and delicious

Yesterday I spent most of the day nursing a lingering migraine. Spending the day in a dark room with my eyes shut was not my idea of a good time, but it was necessary. Even though my headache was not gone by evening I was itching to get out of the house for even a few minutes, so I went to the store to pick up a couple of essentials, then we stopped as a family at the Rita’s Italian Ice stand. I wish I had brought my camera, because by the time we were done, BoyZilla was dripping in sticky grape and was a perfect vision of what summer is all about. I do confess that for me it was a chocolate custard, but next time I will get a lemon-cherry combo ice. Yes, I am already hoping for a next time, though I know that I cannot expect that any other trip this summer will be on an evening as lovely as last night. We’ve been having warm weather with no humidity this week, and that is truly a rare event worth celebrating.

Ok, it’s time for work! At least it’s a short week.

Listen to this article

Birthday card with flowers on it

I really enjoyed making this! I got the idea for the flowers from this hat pattern, and went into my button stash and a jar of confetti for the rest. I printed the saying on my computer first, directly onto the card paper. I found the saying on the internet (thought it was appropriate for the person I made it for) and set it using my greeting card maker software.

Several people have asked me about the card stock I use. It’s this one by Avery (the label people). Their plainer cards come in boxes of 30, and with these, you only get 20 in a box, but the paper is really quite lovely and worth it.

I find that making cute little cards is the perfect antidote to the problem of big project monotony. Often I find that I can’t focus on a large project very well. This happens to me during times of stress, or when there’s a lot going on at work or something. With small projects like these i can feel like I’ve made something cute and it does usually involve yarn and it offers a sense of accomplishment–and the all-important break from the project that I can’t seem to concentrate on anyway.

Tonight we had a family pool party with my Mom and Tony, aunt and uncle, and cousins. It’s an almost annual event that includes a ton of wonderful picnic foods. I supplied the steak and hot dogs. Yes I said steak. We eat GOOD in my family. There was only a scrap small enough to give my cat a good snack later. It was a beautiful day, too… hot, but not humid at all, and breezy. This is rare for a Maryland summer and I’ve learned to take full advantage of days like this when they happen.

I did bring some knitting along but only knit about 8 stitches in total. The company was just too good.

it was a great day. Too bad it has to be over… sigh.

Listen to this article

scary closeup

I should know better.

I’m itching to cast on something new. I want to work on my Girasole blanket or the Coraline cardigan. I must, however, avoid the urge. I have so many other things to finish! Sigh. And more yarn’s coming tomorrow. I have visions of tiny flowers on a greeting card…

My brain’s a busy place.

Listen to this article

But, on to the knitting, even with my heavy heart. I realized earlier today that it’s been a while since I’ve updated Jen’s Hello Kitty Scarf. A solid 6 weeks of knitting, and this is what I’ve got:

Pink scarf in progress

It’s probably close to three feet long now. I figure I’ll knit until almost the end of the ball, then fringe. So it will be however long it is. Thankfully, Jen is small and so it doesn’t need to be hugely long. But it will, I am convinced, be quite long enough.

And ok, here’s a yarny confession:

Purple Yarny Goodness

Yes, I hit the Knit Picks yarn sale last week. I got 22 balls of Andean Treasure yarn, with which I am going to make Ysolda Teague’s Coraline Sweater. I met Ysolda at Maryland Sheep and Wool this year and she was wearing that very sweater. I was smitten! And totally thrilled when she said she had made the pattern in larger sizes. Wow.

Then today? I ordered small quantities of brightly colored sock yarn for another birthday card project. I’ll be rushing. Shhh… it’s a secret.

Oh, and Jon and Kate? I’m so over them now. So sad for the kids.

Listen to this article

Father's day card with knit heart

I have a long way to go in the “it doesn’t look like first grade art” department, huh? But, I hope he likes it. It has a knit heart, sparkly Mod Podge (because the plain mod podge wouldn’t do!) and carefully printed upon and then recklessly torn up paper. I still have to learn the art of effective yet not overkilled and messy gluing. (Is that a word? Gluing? It looks weird.) Any advice for an inexperienced card maker? I’d love to get better at this.

Of course, Tegan had to get into the middle of my photo shoot:

Tegan gets in on the photo shoot

And then my daughter spent 10 minutes digging the cat hair out of the card. Ick.

Today was a busy day. We had a party at my mom’s house, where I made homemade guacamole and lime fizzies. Both seemed to be well liked. I’m on a lime kick these days. I had never made lime fizzies before so I sort of “winged” it. Basically I squeezed about 5 limes into a measuring bowl, and then added enough sugar to make it syrup-y. Don’t ask me how much, but it was a lot. Then mint leaves and stirred it all around. Then poured about an inch or so of the lime/mint syrup into the glasses, over ice, and then filled the glasses with club soda and stirred. (The glasses were actually small plastic party cups, so for a tall glass, perhaps more lime syrup would be called for.) Yum! Someday I’ll post my guacamole recipe but I don’t know proportions for that, either. I’m a very seat-of-my-pants sort of cook.

Tomorrow is Father’s Day but we don’t really have any big plans. Some years are like that. We have lots of housework to do and grocery shopping. Maybe I’ll surprise John with a meatloaf. He’s pretty easy to please.

I miss my dad.

Listen to this article

Birthday card with sleeping cat on the cover

The cover says:

“I herdz u wants naps fur ur birfdays…”

Inside:

“Already took dems… Srry.”

Now I need to figure out how to knit a father’s day card for the DH. Thoughts of what could go on it? I thought of a teeny knitted necktie, but not sure how that will work. I need inspiration. Thanks for your help!

PS–yes that’s my own cat on the cover. I took the photo about three months ago and have been waiting for something to do with it.

Listen to this article

Today we welcomed Kathy (is it with a K?) to the group, who brought along her Amazon Kindle
to show. Boy oh boy, do I covet one of these! Dina, who works in the publishing industry, worries about how this device and others like it are changing the way people read books. For me it would make a huge difference to have one, because many books are too bulky and heavy for me to manipulate. Sigh… the device is still too expensive for me… plus I have other big projects to work on later this summer. Can’t talk about that now, though. I’m veering off subject. Back to the knitters.

Helene brought her amazing sweater coat that she just finished and blocked, for all of us to ooh and ahh over. That woman’s knitting is amazing! Just look at it! Isn’t it stunning?

We even had a power outage at our Borders today, which made alarms go off and the air conditioner stop working. For the most part though, the knitters were undeterred and just kept on knitting.

I also got some more card making supplies today. some decorative papers, lots of hole-punchy things with different shapes, some glues and a paper cutter. I’ve decided for sure that my knitted cards are going to have some added flair. I can only hope that I can somehow make it work, that my fingers can do what I see in my head, and that I can create items that don’t look like kindergarten refrigerator art. Wish me luck on that!

One more thing to show you before I leave you for today:

Halloween Scarf

It’s a slightly better photo of the Halloween Scarf, complete with eyeballs. I wore it to work the other day and got some weird looks! But hey, it’s ready for the Harry Potter movie release next month. I’m hoping it won’t be 100 degrees that day.

Listen to this article