Taking a break from testing patterns...or so I thought

After finishing the wrap last week I said that I needed a break from testing. Well, on Monday I received an "earburn" that a designer I follow was having a test knit. A pair of fingerless mitts that would take 6 - 8 hours to make seemed realistic with a month to complete them. So...

They are done! I  was good and didn't work on anything else until I was finished hiding all of the ends. The Estonian Inlay technique was fun. I hadn't tried it before and the results are lovely. I feel like that would be a lovely front panel to a sweater.

For those in the Portland area you might be enjoy the off and on snow showers today. It's been a pretty mild winter so the snow has been a bit of a surprise. Even when I see it in the forecast I don't expect actual snow.

The Winter Olympics are another reminder of snow :). There are the 2018 Ravellenic games that are ongoing as well. I always forget to join in on the fun (Ravellenic Games).

I'm hoping to complete a hat before the games are over next weekend. The Olympics always remind me of a few years ago that the powers that be of the Olympics said very rude things about knitters who wanted to use the term Olympics for the knitting games. Here's an article from about six years ago (Knitters Outraged). Knitting/Crocheting can be athletic!

While working on a hat this week, I'm hoping to make more progress on my Lilla Bjorn sweater and a few other ongoing projects (just a quick post this week). Have a great week.

Happy birthday...to my knit/crochet group!

It's a couple days early, but it's the 7th anniversary of the first Meetup, which was scheduled for February 13, 2011. Thank you to those who've been part of the group. Whether you've only made it to one Meetup, moved away, been a member for as short time or since the beginning, your involvement means the world to me. Here are a few pictures from today's meeting/celebration. It's been several years since I've celebrated the anniversary, but it seemed like the right time.

I wanted to give a special shout out to Margaret, Shar, and Cathie for helping with lots of the organizing and hosting while I've largely stepped out that role.

While at the group I was working on a hexagon for Lilla Bjorn's crochet along. I love the idea of the top. Now that the second step is out...I'm still not done with the first. I need to get this one to 22 or 24 rows and then create the second. Then I can do step 2. This is an entirely free pattern and there are some great instructions on YouTube. I'm thinking of working on a corner to corner join as you go pillow to learn a neat way to incorporate so color and triangles.

My test knit is complete. So...so...so happy to be done. I'm also finishing three days late, which is was a big bummer. It turned out beautifully :).

A lovely little surprise was in my mailbox yesterday. Quick shipping is always nice, but it was entirely unexpected. There was also some tea, which I gladly enjoyed today. This yarn is from Six and Seven Fiber. I looked up the shop because it was supposed to have kits for a mystery knit along and I was curious what colors they were putting together. I didn't see any kits, so I'm assuming they sold out. After poking around I saw a colorway named "Luna's shoes" and I thought it sounded lovely. I'm not a big Harry Potter buff, but I always appreciated Luna and the colors are lovely. After deciding to treat myself to a skein, I wanted to enjoy a few other colorways, so I purchased three mini skeins. This minimizes the guilt factor for me and I have more colors to enjoy :).

I had discussed a mood blanket that I wanted to start today. I believe I've found a nice lacy square that will be easy to join as you go:  Square Upon a Square. This link is straight to the Red Heart website, so you can see it without being a Ravelry user. I also love the granny square so much that I started to modify one to make the edging comparable to the more lacy one. I think I've done it. I'll start my tracking spreadsheet tonight and then try to work in the squares periodically. They are about 2.5 inches wide so if I made the table cloth or runner 18 by 20 squares, it would be 45 inches by 50 inches. That wouldn't quite be a table cloth without a significant edging for out modest dining room table, but maybe that could be the center.

The cotton really shines in with the flash :).

One last note, my family has had several unfortunate events over the last week or so. If you could send them some good thoughts or prayers, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Have a nice week and happy crafting.

The Long Weekend

I took a day off to try to kick the potty training into gear. It's been a long weekend and progress hasn't been great. We tried the three day approach and besides special night time pull up style pants, he has had no pull ups on. The question as to what we do tomorrow is still unclear when he heads to daycare. We'll see what happens next.

My older son's book report is done...thank goodness. Now what's the genre for the next book report?...so many things :).

So...the kids are driving me crazy...ahhh! It's all normal.

I found out some great news this week that my uncle's cancer is still in remission.

On the crafting front, I'm contemplating a modular table runner/cloth based on my mood that day. I'm going to look at my crochet cotton and come up with a color scheme.  Here are my initial ideas.

I looked through all of my size 10 cotton thread. I have plenty of colors. Trying to make a mood table cloth with so many colors might be a bit tedious.

I shrunk down the contenders to eleven colors or Knitpicks Curio and basic white Aunt Lydia cotton. I'm thinking of starting it on my birthday and then making 360 squares and some kind of crochet edging. Even if I get behind or don't have my cotton with me, I'm hoping to make a chart. I need to identify what kind of square or modular piece I'll make. I'd like it to be something that you attach as you go. Maybe the white can be used to put the pieces together. Once I come up with the square, I'll measure how large it will be and consider different layouts. One thought is 18 by 20 squares or 15 by 24.

Now if you're concerned about moods, I'm hoping to use this as a reflective means of thinking about the good things during the day.

Here is a quick list of ideas by color for various feeling (I don't remember the names of all of them)

Grey: Accomplished
Blue:  Calm
Purple: Hopeful
Red:  Loved
Green:  Took the opportunity to help someone else
Darker pink: I'm a good mom
Lighter pink: I'm a good kid
Light blue:  I made a new or better connection
Brown: I'm a good employee
Yellow: Happy
Light green:  Grateful

As simple granny square of a few rows might be a good way to go...then a picot edge in white to pull it all together. Part of me thinks that maybe the natural color instead of what would look better with the color scheme. Not sure just yet. I might make a few then put them together over the weekend. However, it's probably better to put them together each day so I can see how things change throughout out the year.

I'm frantically working on my test knit due this Thursday. I ran out of yarn until last night so I'm behind and work is busy. It will be the first time I'm late to complete a test. I'm hoping to wrap it up by the end of the week and have all of the finishing done over the weekend. Wish me luck.

My birthday is looming (cringe...cringe). Hopefully, since it's the start of a luck number year, it will be a start to a good year. I picked out a couple new sweater patterns that I'm super excited to get to...in a few months ;).

From Caitlin Hunter and this is her pic of Alyeska.

Courtney Spainhower's pattern via Knit Picks and this is their picture:  Bistort Pullover.

Lastly, I've been putting together little yarny prizes for my Meetup next Sunday. I'm trying to have a prize for everyone and the plan would be to do a drawing for people to have first dibs. The prizes are modest, but I think it will be fun for those who show up. There will be some Holst Garn yarn (arg, that seems redundant :)), Knitpicks yarn, an indie dyed  skein, Cascade yarn, and a few small gift certificates to Twisted (a little help with the future yarn crawl). The last of the prizes should arrive on Friday.

I hope you all have a treat week :). Happy crafting.

January Draws to a Close

I'm preparing for another busy season, getting my younger kid potty trained, and looking forward to a dynamic year in helping people through an expected boom in divorce. Yes, it sounds strange, and I'll report that I wasn't the first one to say that. We'll see where the roller coaster takes us this year.

Aside from all the craziness, I found a very exciting pattern and crochet along for busy season. Not much crafting goes on during the tax season, but I like to have pattern to get me focused. Here is a big contender Dutch Rose. This is not my image and sadly my yarn won't have the same look, but I'm  excited to work on the lovely blooms and striping in Cascade Heritage 150. I intend to use six colors instead of 14, so you can image the look will be quite different.

I enjoyed seeing many of my buddies at the TiGo Knitting group last weekend. There was discussion of the Rose City Yarn Crawl, which is super fun. The timing doesn't work well (March 1 - 4), but maybe I can stop by a couple of shops to put my name in for some drawings. There are lovely baskets and gift certificates. If you stop by all the shops (11 for 2018) and get your passport stamped in each one, you can get entered into the big prizes. The thought of visiting all of the shops is amazing, yet dangerous. I received yarn for Christmas and then I bought some...where would I put more yarn? If I limited myself to one skein...maybe some pretty sock yarn...then it wouldn't be so bad...

On a yarny note, Holst Garn is having a January Sale. If you don't mind the wait for the shipping from Denmark, there are some lovely yarns. I ordered a few cakes for the anniversary celebration of the knitting group so others can try it out with minimal risk :).

I'm making progress on the test knit. I have over 280 rows completed and I need to keep up on it each night. Weekends pride much more time. I'm worried that I'll need to ask for a few more days to finish it past the deadline.

I love that blue so much. This is made with Holst Garn Supersoft in Tiffany (which was not on sale...no wonder, the color is lovely).

I hope you all have a great week and a great start to February. Happy crafting.

It feels like it's been one long year...

I remember thinking last year at the annual estate planning conference on this day that I needed to leave early to miss the inauguration protesting. In Portland, I-5 and bridges had been closed due to the protesting. Whatever side you fall on...it's been a wild year.

Hopefully, 2018 will be a great year. Numbers have lots of meanings in the superstitious part of my family. My favorite number is three and there will be lots of threes in ages this year in my household. Another critical number is eleven. It will be my eleventh wedding anniversary. Lastly, seven is another special number, which will be my knitting group's anniversary. I started it as a birthday present to myself in the hopes of spending time with other crafty people. It's been such a blessing to share time and ideas with these awesome people. Now that we're through the move and other weekend craziness, I plan to attend regularly...even during busy season.

For our crafting anniversary I plan to bring a few yarny door prizes and some treats. We will be at the groups original location, nostalgia here we come :).

Besides working and cleaning this week, I've been trying to add some of my old completed projects to Ravelry...it's crazy how much time flies by and I don't add something.

A new test knit caught my eye, so here is my start (100 rows in) for The Fibonacci Wrap.

I was looking at some patterns and thought it would be fun to work on a super chunky pattern. I saw a lovely, but my yarn is a bit too chunky. I grabbed my old Twinkle Knit books:  Twinkle Website. The first book came out in 2007 when I started to pick up crafting again. The patterns are a mix of simple to more extreme patterns. I'm working on a chunky, striped, lace sweater that will probably be ugly. I think I can finish it this weekend if I sit still and do it...we'll see how it turns out. It will take me probably another week to block and finish it.

The patterns and style don't appear to have aged well. Bulky doesn't work on most of us. I think the bulky look is primarily for models standing awkwardly ;).

So many neat patterns...knowing that busy season is around the corner...will there be time to craft?

Have an awesome week!

Kicking into Gear

It's been a wild crazy start to the year. Dealing with tax reform, plenty of new clients, settling into our new place...the list goes on. I'm happy that things are settling down (hopefully in time for busy season).

I started running again, which is so hard after months of not moving. Here is a picture of some of the 51 stairs on one small part of the trail I've started to frequent. It runs along I-5 in SW Portland. 

Here is another lovely view from part of my run. It doesn't look picturesque to many, but I find it to be very interesting visually. I like to run and see both nature and the infrastructure. There is a bridge run that I should check out :).

Here is a small attempt at decorating. I like the glow of this lamp and IKEA always has fun ideas at millennial prices. I might get the table lamp version...someday :).

I've been trying to get a start on a new brioche knitting pattern that is just gorgeous. Impulse knitting has set in. The patter was released this week and decided I needed it immediately. Getting a swatch going was critical to making sure I remembered how to brioche knit. When I saw the pattern...I was in love. I've started it so many times only to make a mistake. Maybe the 8th attempt is the charm. Here is a picture of the original sample by the designer of KnitGraffiti's Coffee at the Grand:

The contrast in the three colors works so well. Hopefully, I can make it happen.

I have some wonderful yarn for the sweaters I want to knit for the boys. The gauge swatch I made was buttery soft and a little bit off from the numbers. The plan is to have Jeffrey's as green, Ethan's as grey, and James' as yellow for the main color. There are several wonderful contrasting colors for the yoke.

I was very tempted to work, but decided to hold off until Monday. It's not busy season yet...it's not busy season yet...it's not busy season yet!

My dad was in town so I missed my knitting group today. I'm so hopeful that nothing will get in the way next weekend. I miss all my buddies and the gap between my last attendance is too great. It was very nice to see Dad and Lori, so no complaints there :).

Have a great week and happy crafting.

Getting into 2018 Cheer

I hope your 2018 is off to a great start. Taking a few days off from work has been a nice change of pace and I might get a few things done out our new place.

I'm happy to report that I've finished a cute little jacket for my nephew. I hope it fits :).

Also completed is the Done in Love shawl. The pattern will be out soon. I ran out of yarn towards the end so I added some gray. Blocking is needed, but I love how warm it is. One night when my 3 year old wouldn't go to sleep, I wrapped him in it and he seemed quite happy.

I started an interesting sweater from the recent Pom Pom winter issue. If I focus and don't jump to another pattern, I think I can complete the front this weekend and have it all done sometime next month. I know I'll be distracted, so things will be delayed. I'm using odds and ends for the modular pieces in the front and then I'm using some lovely indie dyed yarn that I posted about a couple weeks ago.

Sweater Girls IS lovely vintage sweater pattern collection. I had been eyeing the collection for some time and I particularly fell in love with the Hedy Tyrolean-Pattern Cardigan. Seeing how beautiful the pattern turned out for others really makes me want to knit it myself. This is a picture form the book. of the lovely cardigan. There are so many other fun patterns in the book. I'm curious to see with the onset of 90's fashion if the vintage or other looks will seem passe. I hope not.

Other than struggling with sleep because my boys won't sleep well in the same room, everything seems fine.

Happy 2018!