Knitting Design Class

Aroha Knits is putting on a #initiatedesign challenge that started on Monday. Here is a link to her page that briefly discusses the challenge:  Yarn Alchemist. She does these periodically, I didn't participate  in the previous one. I'm following it on Facebook and she has a live session discussing the assignment and answering questions. This challenge is free and then if you want to dive in further, she has a class you can pay for call Swatch Studio. Currently, there is a $247 fee..not quite in my budget at this point, and I'm not sure how far I'll get on publish patterns for sale.

I turned in my homework for the course with a picture of my swatches. Here is picture of my design. and swatches. It's time for me to start writing and knitting. Based on my progress, would anyone be willing to test it? If you're local, I could give you yarn. The color scheme would differ, but it could be fun. I'm doing a modular knit cowl. The colors remind me of comic books with the black outlines.

Work has been very busy and I have a couple of engagements that will kick into gear immediately as well. Billing and readying for tax planning will also kick into gear. Ahh!!!

Hopefully, there will be time for knitting. I need to finish up that test knit and continue on holiday knitting. There is never enough time (understatement).

I'm excited to get through this work deadline and will be able to enjoy next weekend. We have birthdays to celebrate tomorrow so that should be fun. We're in charge of bringing party favors. Sammy picked out something fun today and I'll find something more tomorrow morning.

Lastly, I found a beautiful collection of patterns...I want them all:  Twist Collective Fall 2017. There is no budget for buying patterns these days. I either get them free or have to wait until I've caught up on everything. Catching up sounds like a good plan. I was good and didn't buy any yarn from Knitpicks Spooktacular yarn sale. I thought of  lovely sweaters with oranges, purples, and grays all mixed together...someday.

Have a great week.

There is a lot going on in the world...

Ok, start with a random question...Have you seen the movie V  for Vendetta? This is not a kid friendly movie (rated R). It's based on comic of dystopian future with heavy fascism and fear. What spoke to me most were words from one of the victims who simply wrote her memoir shortly before passing. Even when this character was at the darkest point of her life she thought of love.

Given all of the craziness in the world I wrote this. To be honest, this puts me in a vulnerable place. Now that I'm in my thirties, I'm not as worried as I once was.

Just remember you're loved

It's hard to cope and love might feel lost
Being so sad and alone
If I could make your world better
Make it all clear
Make you happy and remove
Feeling of loss or fear
If you knew that you were loved
Even by a stranger like me
Would you escape this woe
Could you find love and peace
If there is a hope or a chance
Just remember you're loved
Not only by me

When I was a preteen...so long ago :), I would write poetry. I figured out how to print on some lovely Lisa Frank paper and I saved them in an envelop. I know I would giggle and laugh if I found them now. I wrote about feelings and I don't think I've ever had a literary gift.

I actually wrote a lot as a kid and slowly over time I found the idea silly and that no one would want to read my thoughts. Teri, one of my knitting buddies for the last five or so years, is a creative writer. She is truly inspirational. She clued me into NaNoWriMo, short for National Novel Writing Month. I remember seeing the articles about the November challenge to write a novel in one month. This is a national organization. I've tried to do this a couple times in the past. Is this the year? I have the idea for a scary story about the strange rooms in the storage area of the rental property we're happily living in currently. My hubby said not to share it with our eight-year-old. I totally agree :).

To crafting, I've started a scarf for my sister-in-law. I finally decided on a pattern and have made progress. I ordered some lovely Danish yarn for a woolly sweater and decided to treat myself to a grab bag that is based on one type of yarn and a color scheme. I might need to pull a bit from my stash to make sure the scarf is long enough but the majority of the scarf will be crocheted in a 95% Geelong (specific breed) wool and 5% cashmere. It's fancy for me, but will be perfect for my sister-in-law. The feel of the yarn is very nice and luxurious. Check out Holst Garn. The prices are actually quite reasonable and the shipping has not been problematic for me. It's much cheaper to buy from their site directly.

There is a crochet along starting on October 18, that I'm super psyched about. Check out Tatisana's blog for the Spirits of Life CAL at Lilla Bjorn Crochet. The yarn amounts and colorway information has been posted. I dug through my stash and created my own little kit. I was tempted to purchase a kit since $62.50 and free shipping isn't too bad given the amount of yarn included or make my own kit from Knitpicks for cheaper. There is another sale...eek! Knitpicks Spooktacular Yarn Sale. Who doesn't love yarns in orange, gray, black, or purple....so tempting. I'll post picks of the yarn I pulled from my stash. The colorways that they picked in the kits are lovely.

I'm still working on the test knit and hope to have the back completed in a week or so. I had forgotten how much I love color work. The tough part is that it's time consuming. Here are couple of pictures from the last sweater that I completed during the summer.

I'll be wearing this sweater soon enough now that it's getting cooler. It turned out great.

Have a great week!

Must keep knitting!

It's been a busy month. I can't believe it's the last day of September. The rain seems to be coming and going. I took a long walk with my older kiddo and we were soaked. Finding a way to get outside in the rainy weather is so important.

We've been battling with our kiddos about bedtime and other things. I'm not sure why things need to be so tough sometimes, but kids are all about stretching your abilities to manage daily life.

Ok, no more whining :).

There is neat knit along that started this week. Check out Socks of Narnia. I'm not a big sock knitter, but the patterns look interesting. I entranced by the two color work socks. Voyage is the first and you might be able to get that pattern for free if you're quick. I remember seeing Voyage as a test knit pattern on the forum I regularly use. If you get one or sock or a pair completed from each of the four patterns by November 30, 2017, you'll be entered in a drawing.

Other mystery patterns are being posted, yet I'm finding that I've signed up for too many that all start sometime between September and the end of October. It's a good problem to have.

On October 18, the Spirit of Life Wrap crochet along will start. This looks like a beautiful pattern and that it will be a lot of fun to make. It's entirely free if you use the blog to view the pattern. There are some kits that look nice, but my stash will have to suffice :). It looked like four full skeins of fingering weight yarn are necessary. Maybe I could fudge the use of my stash a bit with other colors.

I've made some progress on my current test knit. It's definitely a marathon project. A fair isle sweater in a fine gauge...what was I thinking...

It's been a lot of fun so far and I'm excited to see it shape up. I have about 6.5 inches on the back. I'm using an itchy wool that still contains lanolin that you can smell. I hope you like the look. I love the colors.

Here is a pick from spending time with my boys tonight. We could get along for an entire hour together :).

Have a great week and happy crafting.

Autumn has arrived...

Fall is my very favorite season. The hot summers in the Midwest were always difficult for me. Once the crisp cooler air arrived, I was thankful. It's also a time of transition. A new school year, changing leaves, fun holidays on the horizon...who could complain?

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. After collecting tons of candy I would get November 1 off as a holiday. Who can beat that? I've already started getting into the Halloween cheer by listening to some fun spooky podcasts. I'm a big fan of Stuff You Missed in History and they several Halloween podcasts (Check them out). I also found a list of top ten horror podcasts from a couple of years ago that was a fun starting point to finding new podcasts (Top Ten Horror Story Podcasts). My two favorites are "The Horror" which plays old mystery and spooky radio shows from 30s to the 70s, and the other is "Anything Ghost" in which the host reads or plays back real life accounts or local legends. There are several that I plan to turn back to.

If you try any of these and find one to follow, but sure to contribute financially to keep them going. Some lifetime memberships are only $25, others have monthly fees. These are great to listen to while you're crafting or working :).

If you know  me very well, you'd know that I was afraid of everything as a kid. Not all of the fear was unfounded, but it was all very irrational. I think my hubby is surprised that I like it. Feeling fear along with many other things is part of the human experience. Facing many real life scary things and awareness of the real dark scary things out there makes much of the spooky stuff seem almost silly at times. I still get scared and spooked, but it's all short lived. I remember my beautiful boys and family, the roof currently over our heads, our currently stable health, and the food in our kitchen.

Here is our one decoration for the season. The spider is cuddled with and is named Fuzzy Dude.

Funds are tight, so I'll need to make the rest. That's the plan for Christmas decorations as well. I plan to make some crocheted stockings.

I volunteered for another test knit, which will be challenging and time consuming. Here is my gauge swatch. If you have the time and patience, please sign up to help:  Fiona's Sweater.

I love the Tiffany blue and I've gotten started on the back. This will be a minimum of two months to knit along with my list of Christmas gifts that I've firmed up. We'll see how much I get done between now and December 24...eek!

Ok, back to work...10/15 is just around the corner.

Have a great week.

Home again, home again, jiggity-jig..

I still remember my dad saying, "Home again, home again, jiggity-jig," when he'd come home from work or a  trip. It's a nice thing to remember. I think it's a sign that I'm very happy to be home. Seeing more of the country is a wonderful blessing. Seeing it all with my family would make it better.

The gentleman who drove my shuttle from the DC airport to the Gaylord National Harbor resort chose to take the long route, which I had not anticipated. The great part about the extended trip is that you could see several landmarks along the way. I saw the Capitol Building, the Jefferson Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, and some other stuff. The resort sat right along the Potomac and was quite nice. It's amazing how clean a hotel room remains when there are no kids with you.

Here is one of my pictures of the resort. The atrium inside was neat and the place had almost 2,000 rooms.

Here's the view from the resort.

On Saturday, my last day, I saw a portion of a lovely wedding that occurred just outside the atrium. The whole bridal party was gorgeous.

The expert skills workshop was very helpful, while also a ton of work. Besides trying to keep up on voicemail and e-mail,  I studied the case study and terminology for at least two hours a night. I never ended up getting used to the time change so I couldn't go to sleep before 2:00 AM.

Besides the studying and work, I knitted and crocheted to help relax me. I completed the first clue for a mystery cowl, I'm almost done with the yoke of a sweater, I have eight dinosaur legs for two mystery dinosaurs. I expect the crafting will slow a bit with all of the work and activities ahead.

Here is the picture of the sweater yoke. It's fun :). 

My first flight home was delayed to the point that I could have stayed to watch the second round of mock testimony, but that typically happens when I'm traveling for work. I almost didn't catch my connection, which would have meant a long night since I was taking the last flight from Denver to Portland until about 7:00 AM the next morning. I truly got off my first flight and immediately boarded the second flight. I'm so thankful. 

I saw some lovely folks at my crafting group. A nice lady discussed traditional rug hooking of which I knew nothing about. She is so very talented and knowledgeable about the history of the craft (Wiki: Rug Hooking).

Ok, I've rambled on enough...

Have a great week.

Thank You for 1,000 Views!!!

Whether you're a bot or an actual person thank you for visiting and possibly reading. It was a rough week is a sick kiddo and deadlines at work. Now I'm preparing to head to the east coast this week. We'll see how it all shapes up. It will be an interesting conference and I have much to learn.

I'm keeping this post pretty short this week. If things go well with my travels, I'll post while out and about :).

I'll post a video of my kiddo learning to skate today. It will be done processing momentarily.

Wish me luck. I haven't done much in the way of traveling for a long time.

Have a great week.

Labor Day Weekend Fun

I'm happy to report that I've completed my most recent test knit. Here is the lovely Sakura cowl that I was able to knit with Nadia's instructions.

It's a beautiful striped cowl with two garter sections and two lace sections. The last portion gives instructs for short rows to make the cowl more of a hoodie. I made the large version and can't wait for the cooler temperature to enjoy wearing it. It's much too hot to wear it now.

On another note Aroha Knits is doing one of their shawl swatch challenges. I've completed two of the five swatches and three patterns are out to knit. On top of that Aroha recently put out her first quarterly pattern book Seeker 2017. There are some lovely patterns and I'm excited about. I really love the hat patterns. There is also a short discovery quiz that tells you what fiber muse you are Aroha's Discovery Test. I'm a Mystic, which generally means that I use crafting as a form of self-care. There are patterns and ideas that Frenchie and her team provide based on the Discovery quiz.

With a few spare moments this week, I've started trying to nail down crafty gift ideas and a plan to attack them.  Progress will be slow for about six weeks as we face a few deadlines at work. There is also a conference that I need to fly cross country to attend soon. The timing isn't the best, but I'm hopeful it will make me better at expert witness testimony.

Here is a swatch for a test of a potential Christmas scarf...haven't decided what to do. It is so pretty even after I flubbed it a bit :). Although my picture doesn't look quite like it does in person the colors are more of a navy blue and cream.

My boys started skating classes today and it was quite a hoot. My poor husband had to hold up our two-year-old through most of  the class. My eight-year-old had fun even after he argued all morning that he didn't want to go.

Have a happy Labor Day and week!