4 Score and...

...A couply years ago (3), if you've been around that long, you might remember this wall hanging. A woman I know, had a small herd of - alpaca's and this was the very first yarn she had made from her first alpacas. I ran into Alpaca Barb yesterday at my friends shop and she just told me she had to sell her herd, (very sad) and she realized she had not given me yarn from her very first alpaca Savannah (also very sad).

Alpaca Barb's herd had grown to 15 before she had to give it up. After a nice long chat yesterday, we decided another wall hanging for Barb will be in order. Not sure when I will be starting it yet, but I will have to see the yarn before I plan the blocks, like I did last time. Might be that I could even just add on to this one since the numbers are right.

I started this shawl a little while ago. I got pretty cocky having successfully made those other two shawls, so I thought I would try my hand at something a little more challenging- The Traveling Woman's Shawl. While not really a difficult piece, it has been challenging for me. I am learning the value of not only counting stitches, but counting rows...even more importantly - using a row counter!
Ya'll know I am not really a fan of lace knitting, yet because of the very nature of conceding defeat...I keep right on trying! I've had to frog back a couple of times, to figure out mistakes but so far so good...I am on my second lace chart (this pattern is charted and spelled out for us chart dummies), and nary a one design feature!!

Now that I have said that crap will surely hit the fan ;)

I'll have to slide the knitting back into the basket for now. Looking forward to a weekend with that hillbilly cousin of mine, I just got a call that he was comin' up.

Good Grief Charlie Brown!

Well could I feel any more stupid than I do right now... Sock's for Pete's sake... I can do them in my sleep... well I thought, and well, apparently not. I was happily ripping out my stocking when I noticed, oh horrors of horrors...I forgot to turn the heel... and did I not notice that it looked kinda funny?? Worse, I took a damn picture of it and put it on the Internet, so that nice person in Istanbul that read my blog could see what an idiot I am.

All I can say is Good Grief Charlie Brown! I wonder where my head is sometimes!

Well, I always say that a little public humiliation is also good for the soul...like I don't get enough of that on my job...LOL

Anyway my little stocking is ripped back to the do over part, and sadly, I did not get to work on it. I had planned on running to Hobby Lobby on Monday to look for a green, but I spent the day fighting with Sears to get my washer fixed instead. Fun times!



I think maybe I have Adult ADD! I just flit from project to project, willy nilly. Instead of going to the store in the evening and finishing up one project, I decided to work on the mystery bag...ok the cat is out. It is a bag. Can you tell? I am up to the little snappy parts and then the pocket. The pattern is called Blue Sky Bag from Pursenality Plus. I planned on it to be a Christmas present but if I don't stop spreading my self out I will never be done in time.
Flit again...

I decided I needed to make two pairs of socks for a last minute, overdo Christmas gifts, so I ordered4 skeins of Lorna's Laces charcoal from my favorite Ebay store.
Of course I don't wait for the yarn to get here, but dig around in that ridiculously over stuffed sock yarn bag an pull out a ball of Bamboo yarn from Southwest Trading Co. that I bought at Stitches Midwest this summer.
I have to say, bamboo is absolutely amazing! It feels so incredibly silky on the needles, I can't wait to have it on my foot.Sorry, just another pair of plain ole' boring socks. No exciting pattern for me. I knit for comfort now, since I need to be careful of what I put on my feet. My days of toe socks and cutesy patterns seem to be over.

Here is where I am at with the hats. I currently have 11 finished and 5 scarves. As soon as Sears decides to show up and repair my washer (which better be in the morning) I will get them all washed and packed up to go to the P.A.D.S. shelter. I plan on delivering them along with some donated baby clothes on my next day off, which is Tuesday.

I wanted to have more of them made by now, but I will have to pause on the hat making till I get my other Christmas gifts finished. The little bit of shopping I have done made me realize I am running out of time.

Time to Flit again.

Hats for Homeless

On the Hats for Homeless Front:
So far I have only three hats completed, two adult and one child. I feel like I am making excel ant use of what would otherwise be sitting in the closet waiting to become vintage yarn.
I started out making scarves, those are great one skeiner projects. But then I remembered something that the nurse told me when Sarah was born, babies (people) loose most of their heat through their head, and it is best to keep it covered.
That was when I decided that hats would be a better way of helping the homeless, plus I thought the homeless man that spent the night in our lobby a couple of weeks ago might have appreciated a hat more than a scarf.
So these three hats will get added to the basket o scarves to take to the local PADS shelter (homeless shelter), where I know that they will get used for what they are intended for.

I actually had two more but my girl Raine spied them and absconded with two of them, a pink multi colored one for herself and a green camouflaged one for her new step brother Ethan ( he is 5). I had to make her a new hat this year anyway so I let her take her pick. I thought it sweet she thought of Ethan on her own.
I have burgundy hat on the needles now that I will probably finish tonite. I am going to try to knit a hat a day. Probably a lofty goal, but as the temperature drops I knit faster.
I am trying to recruit a couple of girlfriends into helping. It is a busy time of year, but even if I can get a couple hats each, it will be a help. There are so many people that have so much less than we do.
My mother always said that charity begins at home. I see a lot of unfortunate people in my line of work, so that is where I will begin, in my own community.


On the alpaca front, I dropped of the wall hanging to Alpaca Barb on Friday. She was ecstatic! Seeing her face light up makes every time I ripped it out and started over all worth it! She was going to have it on display this weekend at the alpaca show at the Fairgrounds. I told her we will be able to add to it as she has her other animals shorn for the first time. I think that will be soon, she already gave me a skein for one called Savannah. we will have to add them by three's to keep it symmetrical.

And for payment??? Well all I wanted was a couple of skeins to make myself a hat and scarf, Barb gave me 6 (holy cow!) and then I took one of Savannah to start a square to add to the hanging. So I walked away with an armload of selfish knitting !!

A note on the mill that spun the yarn, I told Barb that I had noticed that some of the skeins had some thin spots and some fatter spots, and that I was surprised at how dirty it was even so far as several skeins had little pieces of straw in them. Not that it detracted from the pleasure of knitting with it but, if I had purchased the yarn, I would have been all over it.
After I washed it the second time you really noticed the difference in the softness, it was incredibly soft! and beautiful!
I told her that I was surprised at the different textures from each animal. I did learn that they are all Suri Alpaca's but she agreed that each animal had a different texture wool.
Just like people I guess.
She has a new mill in California that she is getting her second batch of yarn from. I can't wait to see how that turns out.

Current Project
This is all I can show of this one, suffice to say, I am knitting on size 15's with Knit Picks Wool of the Andes, Blue Ink. It is a nice rich dark blue color, which I noticed with Knit Picks darker yarns that the color tends to adhere to the bamboo needles. I have used this yarn before for felting and it felts up very nicely! Same yarn I used for Mark's hat.

This project is working up very quickly so even with my limited time this week I have managed to get pretty far with it.


And not to forget, I also had chocolate socky #deuce on the needles, which is now complete and my happy feet wore them to work last night!

FINITO!

Yesterday was a complete waste of 24 hours! I was not feeling well and ended up staying home from work. I hate wasting my day in bed, I lay there thinking of the thousand and one ways I could be spending it, instead of laying there with not even the strength to do some mindless knitting. Ticks me off to have to burn a sick day for such weaknesses.

So today I had to make up for it. I started my day bright and early, (that will happen when one spends an entire day sleeping). Scrub the floors and take care of last nights dishes (yuk). Do laundry, and in between, catch up on some of my recorded shows, rip out the five border rows of the Carbon Copy square re-knit it and sew the squares together. Plus knit with my granddaughter, and OMG! after 20 years of trying to get my daughter to learn to knit, she finally succumbed!!! I think it was because Raine, who usually only knits about 5 stitches once in a while when visits, sat in the other room and finished her first half of her bean bag.
It blows us away that the little stinker can remember how to do it after not touching it for months. She knit several rows today and then shamed her mother in to learning.

So for the first time Sarah knit, and Raine knit unsupervised, and has now taken hers home with her in her very own basket! (I'm so excited about it!)
I think I had a full day.

And now for the creme de la creme...

FINALLY FINISHED!
And not a moment too soon, Alpaca Barb's show is this weekend and now she will have her hanging to represent her first six alpaca's. Poor Barb, I'll bet there she thought I would never get this done! And to be honest, there were times I wondered myself. It took me a long time in the beginning to figure out the how's and the what's I wanted to do with this project, with only a vague idea of how I wanted it to look.
Then there was the stitch patterns to choose from, and oh boy are there a lot of choices!! Once I got my head wrapped around it, it went swimmingly, for the most part.
I am still not sure I like how the names came out, but my niece tells me it is very vintage and cool. I just hope Barb will like it.
I am giving it a final blocking tonite, and plan to be able to give it to her tomorrow afternoon.


I almost hate to give it up, because as I sat in this frozen tundra we call home, (no, the heat is not on yet, but in my mind it should be) I sat with this luscious fabric on my lap while I watched a movie, it kept me nice and toasty warm. It still surprises me how such a light and soft fiber can be so warm.

Now on to stash busting!

Still a Work in Progress

Yes I know...I should be done with with by now, and this is the weekend of the alpaca show at the fairgrounds!
Here is some progress so far. One more to go and of course, it is Carbon Copy, the one with the longest name. Sorry about the blur but I was kinda in a hurry when I took this.
This is also the layout in which I am going to sew them together, the missing space is for the last square.
Stitching the names on was harder than I thought it would be. And of course I eyeballed it. I am not 100% happy with the results, but I really did not have a clue how to go about it.
Tomorrow is my Friday (finally) It seems like it took forever to get here! I will finish this on Wednesday come hell or high water!
And don't you know it, just as I suspected...the final square to be knit is the only one that did not match up in size...yes, I foo-barred that one and now I have to frog the last 5 row and continue the pattern stitch for about an inch...then re-knit the last 5 border rows. WHAT THE HECK!
Best laid plans...and all that! I guess was over anxious to get them done.
I will be giving the whole thing a swish in the wash water once it is all put together... and yes I will post a better picture.

And Dawn, my thanks on behalf of my friends in the pink! I will pass on your comments to them!

It's Laundry Day!

Here it is- each square handwashed and pinned to dry. I can hardly wait for them to dry!!! I had to stand on one of those bouncey -wobbley dining room chairs to get this shot.
As usual, I have only a vauge notion of how I am going to stitch the names in. Each square has a panel of 15 stockenette at the bottom for the names, and I will have to use a contrasting color for obvious reasons. I think I would rather have them in all the same color except for one. I think that would show up the best and tie it in together better. I will have to look at the quanities of yarn that I have left over from each one before I decide.


Then there is the layout to be decided on. What will be the best color scheme? And should I make it a long or wide wall hanging? While these dry, I will sleep on it, and hopefully the idea fairy will give me a nudge.
I am open to suggestions if anyone wants to comment on it! What do you think?

Last Square Knit!

Yesterday prior to leaving for work, I finished the last few rows of my very last square for the Alpaca Project!!
YAY!
I was having a lazy morning today and did nothing more on them, but tomorrow morning I plan on being productive and get the squares washed and blocked out, then lettered.
I can't have them sitting around without names, now can I? I don't think it will take long to get that part finished then sewn together. I am anxious to see if the finished project looked anything like what I pictured in my minds eye.
(And I hope Alpaca Barb likes it! She's been waiting a long time for this.)

" Carbon Copy"

Stitch pattern - waving rib

I should mention, all of my stitch patterns came from 365 Knitting Stitches A Year, Perpetual Calender. This has been one of the handiest little books I have run across. You can probably tell by how curled up my copy is, and the ton of posty notes sticking out of the side of it, that I use it a lot.

I always make a photo copy of my patterns, to make it more toteable, and of course to write all over. But even so, my little desk calendar is starting to look like it has been in a war zone.

I did cast on the mate for my orphaned sock :) before I left for work today, but did not do much else. (It was a little Ant-Arcticy inside the house today and my daughter and I huddled over our coffee cups while we visited, burrrrrrrrrr!)

I have decided that a knitting essential is to always have a sock on the needles...especially in my case of the, 19 (OMG!) skeins of sock yarn stash... What was I thinking??

Is it black or is it brown?

Here I have been thinking this little beauty was black all this time. Until I actually started working with it. In real life it looks just as black as it does in this picture. Ok so maybe it was a case of poor lighting in combination with poor eye site, but until I started knitting in some good lighting, I would have sworn it was black yarn!! Good thing my new glasses will be in soon, the Optometrist was not impressed with the pair I have been wearing for the past several years. I believe he mentioned something about a garbage can.

I tried to take several pictures that depict the true color, but as with most things, there is no justice in the photograph.

I am still in awe of the beauty of nature and the variety of colors of these lovely animals.


Some progress made. Yes I have been working on this piece, but I have frogged more than I would have liked. I should have had this one finished by now, darn that job of mine for getting in the way of knitting! Darker colors do not show off the stitch pattern as nicely as with the lighter color yarns. This is the fourth pattern stitch I have tried this week. So I rip it, rip it, rip it until I get it right. I am liking the look of this one.
Alpaca Barb's alpaca show is looming up fast (no pun intended)! I so want to have this wall hanging on display for her (ok, and for me too, yes, I am vain enough or I would not be here in the first place). Nothing wrong in wanting people to ooh and ahh over something we have made, right? It makes all the frogging we do well worth it!

(Carbon Copy- pattern stitch - waving rib)

This picture shows the beautiful rich brown of the yarn so much better, try to ignore the little fuzzy stuck to it, I promise not to have that in the completed shot. This is my last square to complete, the alpaca's names have to be added. I still have not decided how the layout will go.

I have been pretty much flying by the seat of my pants for this whole project.

Basa unlettered

I finished Basa last night when I got home from work I only had the five border rows to do so it went fairly fast. For some reason this square wants to be bigger than the rest, go figure - same amount of stitches, same needles, same yarn. I am hoping it blocks out the same or it will have to be a do-over.

"Basa"

pattern stitch - basket weave

My fingers are getting anxious to begin stitching the names on each block, but I am going to knit the last block first before I start any lettering. I haven't yet picked out the pattern stitch for Carbon Copy yet. I am trying to decide how best to show off the black yarn. I am thinking my late October deadline will be a piece of cake!

The Alpaca project

Each panel has a section across the bottom done in stockinette stitch where I will stitch the name of each animal.
(stitch pattern name to be posted below each square)

"Meringue"

stitch pattern- garter-stitch step

You can see that the pictures really do not do the fibers justice. These two squares are not as close in color as they appear here.

" Patriot"

stitch pattern- stockinette triangles

"Starlyn"

stitch pattern- double moss

(keep in mind please that none of these have been washed or blocked yet.)

and this one is from "Sweet Time"

stitch pattern- bramble

Still on the needles is "Basa", again, no justice in the photo! This yarn is a beautiful rich dark brown that is so pleasing to the eye. My absolute favorite! Next to it is "Carbon Copy" which is actually black.

Alpaca Heaven

Seriously... I told you I had been busy!

In between working a bizillion hours of overtime, some extreme dizziness to boot, I have also managed to squeeze in some important knitting time.

Six bags full of natural alpaca yarn from BarmiksHummers

What could be better than that?!?!

Barb has a total of (lucky) 13 Alpacas now I think and this yarn came from the first 6 of them. First time it has ever been spun!

Each bag contains undyed natural yarn from each animal. Each skein (having been wound first) is being knit into a 14 ish inch square, a different pattern for each square, and will be sewn together to form a wall hanging that Barb will be able to display. I plan to stitch each animals name on the squares (accordingly).