Pick Up Sticks

Knit Night

Every Tuesday I go to a local Panera and meet up with several others for a knit night.  This is a group of ladies that I did not know very well but joined up with and have really enjoyed this night out.

We are of varying ages and stages of our lives.  I am the oldest at 49 and we have the youngest who is 27 - my oldest son's age.  But it is a fun group of ladies.  They may not know this but this group has helped me so much - to overcome my shyness and my tendencies to be a homebody.  While I have many friends I am content to stay at home and putter around my house.  This tendency has grown as we became emptynesters...not sure why.  Maybe it was all the running around we had to do with our kids growing up - which I loved at the time - but relish time at home now.  Maybe it is because by the time I come home from work I am exhausted and don't feel like going anywhere,

But I try really hard to make time for Knit Night on Tuesdays.  Sometimes work gets in the way - actually it does way too often - but my husband encourages me to try and get there.

It is funny because I am the only one who regularly knits at knit night.  Most of us grab a quick sandwich or bowl of soup and then I whip out my latest project.  I always have an easy project on the needles so I can still chat while knitting.  We talk - alot - and laugh - alot!  And luckily Panera does not mind that we take up a large table every Tuesday for seveal hours.

We have also taken to doing other knitting related activites together.  We try to meet at First Friday at our LYS - which is a monthly event at Yarn-Love - our LYS.  Sometimes we meet for dinner beforehand.  We have visited other local shops together and local knitting events. 

It is a fun time and I truly appreciate this group of ladies!

 

Thursday

This week has been flying along.  Work is crazy busy as usual and I am looking forward to a 3 day weekend where I swear I WILL NOT DO ANY WORK!  And by work I mean work work...the kind I get paid for....

I had a good week.  Tuesday was my knit night which I always look forward to.  We have a small group that meets at Panera for a few hours for knitting, food and some laughs.  I diligently worked on my Barb's Koigu Ruffle scarf.  I love the look of this scarf and am using up some partial skeins of DIC Smooshy in shades of blue.  I try to take a mindless project to knit night as I like to be able to knit without paying too much attention to my project.  This definitely fits the bill - lots of mindless stockinette...lots. 

Last night I finally cast off and am really loving it.  I need to weave in the ends and steam...will take pictures this weekend.

We have been enjoying above average temps this week - in the mid-50's - Friday is supposed to be in the mid-60's.  I usually love winter but for some reason am craving Spring this year.  I am looking forward to getting into my garden and making some big changes this year.  I want to add more structure into the garden through some small trees and shrubs as well as some trellises and fencing. 

So in honor of Spring and gardening I will add a picture from last years garden - especially since a blog post must contain a picture.

 

Busy

I seem to have quite a few posts about being busy.  Life never seems to slow down.

I did receive the promotion at work!  It was a long process as they had 52 applicants and I was luckily chosen for the position.  Now it is a matter of getting us fully staffed so I am not working 70 hour weeks. 

Amongst all this we went on vacation...planned long before all the hassles at work.  And it was greatly needed.  We camped in NH in the White Mountains and had a wonderful, relaxing time - just me and the hubby.  We biked and hiked a little - hit up several microbreweries and had wonderful fall-like weather.  Daytime temps were in the 70's and night time in the 40's.  I night the whole ride up on Traveling Woman - and ended up using it as soon as it came off the needles - unblocked and no ends woven in.  I had knit it in DK weight yarn and it was so warm and cozy to wear at night around the campfire.

This picture was of the creek 10 foot from our campsite...so peaceful! 

Then we headed to VT to stay with my aunt and uncle for a few days...they live just outside Burlington.  Again we had wonderful weather and had a great time.  We went to Stowe one day for the Taste of Stowe Festival - with great food and wonderful artisans.  I celebrated my new promotion with lots of purchases including some great pottery pieces.

We spent Friday evening on a dinner cruise on Lake Champlain.  They served a NE Lobster dinner - so good!  And then we headed out on the upper deck to watch the sunset over the Lake.

 This vacation was so relaxing...we had no set plans except for the number of days wew wanted to spend in each place.

I visited 2 lovely yarn shops - one in NH - Yarn Garden - and one on VT - Kaleidescope Yarns. Of course I bought something from each shop - I try to buy yans I can't get in my area. 

The highlight of the trip was taking the Cog Railroad to the top of Mt Washington in NH.  The views were spectacular!  Unfortunately our pictures do not do it justice.

 

Traveling Woman Shawl

I finshed my 5th Shawl for the 10 in 2010 KAL.  I have been breezing through some small shawls. 

The latest is Traveling Woman by Liz Abinante.  This is the second pattern of hers to knit.  The first was Saroyan and both were great patterns..easy directions and include written and charted directions...which is wonderful for chart challenged knitters like myself. 

I used Dream in Color Smooshy and it was a wonderful to knit with.  It wasn't very soft when knitting but softened up with a soak.  And this color - Flamingo Pie - was so Springy - peachy orange and pinks.

 

I used up almost all of the 450 yard skein...in fact I tried to get 5 repeats of Chart A and ran out of yarn with about 10 rows to go.  Luckily I had put in a lifeline after the 4th repeat and ripped back and finished with about 5 yards leftover.

The yarn blocked beautifully although I couldn't get the points to stay crisp...but it looks fine to me.

 
   

Back to Normal

cabled neckwarmer
Originally uploaded by hearts812

Well today is back to reality...I head back to work...except for leaving a little early to take Matt to the doctor. He gets his splint, drainage tubes and packing out...he can't wait. He will spend the day with his girlfriend...who is here for a few days over Spring break.

I hate that weekends seem to go so fast. I spent Saturday morning working on my craft studio...trying to make everything fit in my tiny space...but it's getting there. I also took some pictures of finished knitting.

This is a cabled neckwarmer I made after the last big snow storm. It was so windy and my scarf kept blowing off so I decided to try some neckwarmers... one for me and one for my husband. We have been wearing them when we walk and they are toasty.

Here is a picture of mine...hubby's is the same except in a back tweedy yarn. I didn't use a pattern just cast on and figured how to make the cables work in the round.

Simple Yet Effective Shawl

Simple Yet Effective Shawl
Originally uploaded by hearts812

One of the good things about being home so much this week was I got lots of knitting done. I knit the whole time Matt was in surgery...it kept me distracted and helped me to avoid the daytime television that was on in the waiting room - we decided daytime TV is obnoxious!

I made a Simple Yet Effective Shawl (SYE) last year in Noro Silk Garden and it is my favorite one to wear. The Noro seems scratchy at first but softens after a good soak and with wear. It is so fun to knit with...watching all the colors develop.

I saw someone had knit a Textured Shawl in Knit Picks City Tweed in the lemon curd colorway and I fell in love with it. I ordered the yarn last year but just cast on a few weeks ago. I adore this yarn...it is soft and the color is amazing...a mustardy yellow. I changed my mind about the textured shawl and did another SYE shawl. I finished it this week...it still needs a slight blocking...but I can tell I am going to wear this one a lot.

This was #4 of 10 shawls in 2010. 

Prize Winner

Manos Silk Blend
Originally uploaded by hearts812

I have read Margene's blog for a long time. I read a lot of blogs but tend to be a lurker rather than a participant. Margene's blog always has wonderful knitting and great pictures of her area...spectacular pictures.

Last week she had a blogiversary contest...post a comment for a chance to win...and I did! I won four beautiful skeins of manos silk blend. It came in the mail today and is so pretty.

Now...how to decide what to knit with it...hmmm....

Citron - Shawl #3 of 10 Shawls in 2010

Citron
Originally uploaded by hearts812

I am not much of a joiner...I have done a few knit (KAL) alongs but am usually content to knit at home - in the peacefulness that is my home.  But our LYS decided to host a KAL for Citron from the winter issue of Knitty...I was in...and I had laceweight yarn I had purchased at my LYS...so I could join without having to buy anything - as I am trying to use up my stash.

The KAL was scheduled to start Feb. 10 at knit night at the shop.  I decided to cast on early - as we received snow the weekend before and I was bored and I needed a new project.  Then the night of the KAL our area was right in the midst of another storm and was getting 20 inches of snow.  So the KAL was postponed.  I kept knitting on it as it was a nice easy pattern for TV watching and especially while watching the Olympics.  Needless to say I finished it before I even made it to the shop for the KAL - which was postponed until Feb. 17.  OOPS!!!

I truly wanted to add another repeat to the small shawl but once I got to repeat 5 and the stitch count was 540 stitches in laceweight...the thought of having to bind off more than 540 made me ill.  So Monday night I bound off all 540 stitches...it took me forever...I did a k2tog bind off so it would be nice and stretchy on the ruffled edge.  I immediately threw in to the sink for a soak and then lightly pinned it out.  I had read on Ravelry not to block it very hard or the gathered bands lost their definition.  It turned out so pretty and light!  I threw it out on the snow bank for a picture.

And in reality - it is the perfect size - to toss over your shoulders and attach on one shoulder with a pin.  Because it is so light it will be perfect for Spring.

Ravelry details.

Saroyan - Shawl #2 of 10 Shawls in 2010

Saroyan
Originally uploaded by hearts812

I signed up for the Ravelry KAL - 10 Shawls in 2010. I have been having lots of fun finding patterns to match up with stash yarn - since my goal is to knit all 10 from yarn I already have.

Saroyan is a lovely free pattern that is easy to knit, easy to use any weight yarn and can easily be made larger or smaller.

I love green - especially this bright cheery green. The yarn - Filatura Di Crosa Zitron Solid - is tightly twisted and this made for great stitch definition. I was surprised by how much drape the finished fabric had - almost too much as when I wear it the edges tend to roll.

I modified the pattern to make it slightly wider and longer. Since I am a larger sized person some of the smaller shawls just are not big enough. This turned out to be the perfect size.  I did 7 repeats on each of the decrease and increase sections and 14 repeats on the straight section.

And I love the little bird pin - it is made by Perl Grey.

Tea Leaves Cardigan

After working on some larger knitting projects I am ready for a few smaller projects. I recently finished up the Tea Leaves Cardigan. This was a lovely, easy pattern. I used Knit Picks City Tweed in Tahitian Pearl. Not only was this a wonderful yarn to knit with - the price point is great. The yarn is a blend of 55% Merino wool, 25% superfine alpaca, 20% Donegal tweed - which is so soft and shows great stitch definition. And at $3.99 per skein, the sweater only cost $40 to knit - and that is at an XL size. Not bad!  I found the perfect buttons at Joann Fabric's - the yarn is grey but with a purplish cast to it - and the buttons area mother of pearl and match great!  Each button cost as much as one skein of yarn - but luckily they were 50% off the day I bought them.

But I am ready for a few smaller projects...some one skein projects.  With all the snow we had this past week - 40 inches total - I decided I needed a cowl.  I have plenty of scarves - and I wear them regularly.  But the high winds had them whipping around and coming untucked.  A nice wool cowl would have been great to tuck into my jacket.  So yesterday - while on a conference call for a staff meeting (oh the joys of technology) - I cast on for a cowl.  I am winging the pattern.  I recently used some Knit Picks Wool of the Andes so I knew what my gauge was and cast on 132 stitches on size US 4 needles.  The yarn calls for size US 6-9 needles - but I am a very loose knitter and always have to go down a needle size to get gauge.  I actually went down 2 sizes because I knew I wanted a tight fabric.  I am working a small cable stitch and so far it is looking great.  I got about 3 inches done yesterday in a short amount of time - got to love knitting in the round - it always seems to go fast - and hopefully can finish it tonight.

***This is the first time I used the "blog it" feature on flickr to do a blog post directly from a flickr picture.  It seems to have worked fine.  Plus I played with the picture in Picnic first - hence the black and white version.