tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72813152590942391442024-02-19T03:22:30.670-05:00They call me Yarn.Don't worry, I do other stuff too. But mostly yarn.Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14949662606966372530noreply@blogger.comBlogger169125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7281315259094239144.post-52769300831720923082015-08-11T13:42:00.000-04:002015-08-11T13:42:26.623-04:00Quick, to the fair!
This year getting ready for the Altamont Fair was more stressful than ever before. I had work to do on all of my entries after the deadline and before the drop-off and with one last minute item swap, I made it. But I didn't get good before pictures of all of my items - in fact, some of them aren't even DONE in these. Next year, will be the year that I plan better, and this time I mean it.
Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14949662606966372530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7281315259094239144.post-54160872236785097842014-08-12T16:26:00.003-04:002014-08-12T16:26:33.075-04:00I did finish Mario, by the wayHere's Mario.
Here he is on his first outing to Starbucks to visit my knitting group.
And here he is being opened by my 7 year old son - this was his birthday gift, and I made the squares in front of him but did all the seaming and finishing while he was at school. So the blanket was a huge surprise.
He was a little lukewarm at first, because he thought I was giving him a learn-to-knit Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14949662606966372530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7281315259094239144.post-24992459707680349672014-04-21T15:42:00.001-04:002014-04-21T15:42:01.153-04:00Monday Mario, AgainSpring Break is over and the birthday is fast approaching, so it's time to get down to business on this blanket. I took Mario to knit night last week for about 3 hours of work in the privacy of a busy coffee shop because he hadn't been out of the back of my closet in a week and I was getting twitchy.
Friday, before:
Friday, after:
I wasn't there by myself at a huge table, I just Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14949662606966372530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7281315259094239144.post-4190323265075731432014-04-07T15:24:00.000-04:002014-04-07T15:24:39.963-04:00Monday MarioMario actually didn't get that far today - after I took this picture I got the rest of the (Mario's) left foot pieces partially attached.
I'm really enjoying seeing Mario come together, but I think I usually do other non-crafting things when the kids are at school because I'm not spending nearly as much school-time on this as I thought I would. Time to reevaluate what I do in the mornings!Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14949662606966372530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7281315259094239144.post-36123215851178740972014-04-03T09:30:00.000-04:002014-04-03T09:30:00.178-04:00The thing that makes it all worth itThe Wonderful Wallaby is a great pattern, don't get me wrong, But there is only so much stockinette a person can handle before they go a little mad, and somewhere in the sleeves I just didn't want to go on anymore.
But I powered through, and here we are - a kid very happy to be wearing a sweater his mom made for him.
He picked out the colors and watched it come together, so he has some Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14949662606966372530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7281315259094239144.post-74477329603632456142014-04-02T17:18:00.000-04:002014-04-02T17:18:07.234-04:00WIP Wednesday April 2, 2014This is my big secret project.
It's secret in that everybody knows about it except for my six year old, Spike. But what is it you ask? As far as he knows, just a pile of squares.
But when Spike is at school, I get to work.
And today began here:
It's going to be the Granny Square Mario Bedspread, sized down a touch (by making 3-round Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14949662606966372530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7281315259094239144.post-86919692179580236972014-03-05T20:15:00.001-05:002014-03-05T20:16:19.755-05:00WIP Wednesday, March 5, 2014The sleeves are on! Wonderful Wallaby is coming along. I'm into the raglan decreases now but my will to go on is waning fast.
The other thing I'm working on is still my ongoing blanket sampler. This has moved so slowly as to look like it's not moving at all over the past few years, but I've picked it up a few times lately.
These are the top two rows all finished.
Back to the Wallaby!Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14949662606966372530noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7281315259094239144.post-87403337318147198242014-03-03T14:21:00.000-05:002014-03-03T14:54:00.084-05:00These are the sleeves that never end...I'm making a size 10 children's Wonderful Wallaby for Spike. He saw the one I made for Zee and asked for one, but with a red torso (he said torso) and sleeves, orange pocket, and blue hood. So of course I promised to make it happen!
But, this Wonderful Wallaby isn't feeling quite so wonderful right now in sleeve purgatory.
Here's a pic of the body.... I mean torso:
I'm making measurable Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14949662606966372530noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7281315259094239144.post-18356669641952806572013-11-10T15:44:00.002-05:002013-11-10T15:44:40.180-05:00Yarn BowlI started some mitts yesterday, one from each end of the yarn cake. My new yarn bowl from my friend Kim of Clearwater Handcrafts is perfect for this, because I ran the center strand out of the cutout and the outside strand can unwind in the bowl.
I wasn't sure how a yarn bowl would work for me before, so now I know at least one way that it's quite helpful keeping things straight!
Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14949662606966372530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7281315259094239144.post-28666091439272852152013-10-17T12:05:00.001-04:002013-10-17T12:05:13.945-04:00WIP Wednesday on a Thursday, October 17, 2013Let's do this thing!
I started a spinning project. It's kind of an experiment because I'm using the stopwatch on my phone to time how long it takes me to spin.... oooooooo.
It came home in this crowd, from the Southern Adirondack Fiber Festival in 2011 (click through for notes).
As an aside, I've lately had an interest in looking at my pictures from fiber festivals and thinking about what Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14949662606966372530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7281315259094239144.post-36919932483667542672013-10-09T16:17:00.000-04:002013-10-09T16:17:21.716-04:00WIP Wednesday, October 9, 2013It's October! WIP Wednesday is where I take photos of everything I've worked on in the past week, and right now there are a lot of things going!
=== This post contains spoilers for the Morticia mystery knit-a-long.===
Zee's Wallaby - I'm in the hood now and it's mindless stockinette, which means I can work on it while reading or otherwise very engaged. Then I just have to attach the underarms Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14949662606966372530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7281315259094239144.post-27836918978793465432013-10-06T20:16:00.001-04:002013-10-06T20:16:38.967-04:00Let's Play Catchup, Shall We?It's been nearly a year since I posted. What have I been up to in that time?
I finished that big red sweater I last posted about. It won a second place ribbon in the fair (the ribbon is out of the frame - all the ribbons you can see are for other items!) .
The Evenstar got blocked (twice, actually) and ended up taking Reserve Champion Wool Product, and earned me the Knitting with Distinction Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14949662606966372530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7281315259094239144.post-69009727393034510592012-11-05T08:35:00.000-05:002012-11-05T08:35:03.632-05:00The sweater continues...
Sweater fronts in progress, Fireside Sweater. I'm almost to the shoulder bindoff part!
Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14949662606966372530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7281315259094239144.post-2533491472415579512012-10-28T15:06:00.001-04:002012-10-28T15:06:23.204-04:00October MadnessOctober is fast coming to a close! I'm making a dash for the finish line on hitting 50% complete on my OWL to get the 50 points set aside for that achievement, which means that this sweater back needs to start knitting itself a bit faster.
It's coming up purple, but it's actually a deep wine red.
The rest of it looks pretty much like this, except the sleeves are done now.
Chugging along...Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14949662606966372530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7281315259094239144.post-43685546498021790312012-10-24T23:30:00.000-04:002012-10-25T12:23:11.530-04:00WIP Wednesday, October 24, 2012No longer a WIP!
Well. I still have to block it. But it's DONE!!!
Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14949662606966372530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7281315259094239144.post-33325326534358614022012-10-10T20:58:00.000-04:002012-10-10T20:59:47.727-04:00WIP Wednesday, October 10, 2012Been a while since we had one of these, but I have something to show AND it's still Wednesday! At the beginning of September my longsuffering Evenstar WIP looked like this.
Tonight it looks like this! I'm about halfway through the border.
After stalling for almost a year at the "before" picture stage, it's so nice to see progress and it's going really quickly too.
By the way... Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14949662606966372530noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7281315259094239144.post-5448486700047072142012-09-20T14:58:00.000-04:002012-09-20T14:58:04.887-04:00Banana Applesauce Muffins
I put together this recipe when my kids were too young to have eggs. I still like to make these sometimes because, well, I can eat the batter with no guilt whatsoever.
Banana Applesauce Muffins
2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 c. olive oil or canola oil
1/3 c. sugar
1/2 c. applesauce, unsweetened
3 mashed ripe bananas
SpicesStephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14949662606966372530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7281315259094239144.post-36226387900116006192012-09-16T17:14:00.000-04:002012-09-16T17:14:05.106-04:00A little light buildingIt's no secret that I kind of love Ikea. So, when the time came that we decided to upgrade the kids from their mattress and boxspring sets on the floor, we went through a couple possibilities. Do we get, you know, normal people beds, with the headboard and footboard and a cat and a dog and a briefcase and a pleasant housekeeper named Maud? Naaaah. Do we get a prefab bed from Walmart or Target or Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14949662606966372530noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7281315259094239144.post-41503227373857199122012-02-01T20:29:00.000-05:002012-02-01T21:41:51.841-05:00WIP Wednesday, February 1, 2012..... February. I thought January would never end and yet I'm surprised to see February here so soon. What's up with that?
This week I have more exciting things to post about for WIP Wednesday. First a stitch marker, one of a pair, that I made to go along with a test knit that I can't show you. It's sparkley and gold and silver and red and very Gryffindor. Plus I used little bitty jump rings andStephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14949662606966372530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7281315259094239144.post-44450991490064224672012-01-25T23:49:00.000-05:002012-01-26T00:03:17.047-05:00WIP Wednesday, January 25, 20122012? Can that be right?
What's on the pile this week? Oceanspray is coming along at roughly 6.5% complete based on my adjustments to not run out of yarn.
So far so good....Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14949662606966372530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7281315259094239144.post-61298244687829134312011-11-12T12:06:00.000-05:002011-11-12T12:06:00.614-05:00Project 38: Traveling WomanThis project was completed in May, 2011.
Traveling Woman is a very popular pattern that's been around a while. The designer re-released the pattern with a host of matching patterns and directions for making the shawl in other sizes and yarn weights. I used the free version to make my own, at long last!
It's a nice little shawlette, and the yarn really makes it. It was also a quick knit, Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14949662606966372530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7281315259094239144.post-54583862562944867762011-11-10T10:59:00.000-05:002011-11-10T10:59:00.483-05:00Project 37: Deathly Hallows Illusion DishclothThis project was completed in May, 2011.
This dishcloth was my first try at illusion knitting. Very cool!
Pattern: Deathly Hallows Illusion Cloth by Jenn Bragg
Yarn: Natural color is a Peaches & Creme cone of cotton in Ecru; blue is Lily's Sugar & Cream in cornflower blue. I used 34.4 yards of ecru and 38.4 yards of blue.
Needles: Size 8 (5.0mm) boye aluminum circular Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14949662606966372530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7281315259094239144.post-82953615884696629182011-11-09T21:52:00.001-05:002011-11-09T21:53:48.893-05:00Locals, read this! and WIP Wednesday, November 9, 2011My Tour de Sock....er ... tour.... ends tonight, as Stage 4 is ending in a few hours and this is all I have.
Oh well, I stuck it out as long as I could and that was far longer than I expected! And now I'm a sock knitter!!
But, right now, this sock knitter wants to look at lace.
This is a variant of the very popular pattern Ishbel, where the lace is started first thing instead of having a Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14949662606966372530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7281315259094239144.post-78768675439966619812011-11-08T08:21:00.000-05:002011-11-08T08:22:01.360-05:00Project 36: Dane ShawlThis project was completed in May, 2011.
Another lovely free pattern on Ravelry! This is called Dane Shawl.
It's supposed to be a shallow triangle, based on traditional Danish heart-shaped shawls. I blocked mine to more of a triangle and less of a heart shape.
I think every comment about this shawl in person has started with the colors. It's all in the yarn, Plymouth Zino. &Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14949662606966372530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7281315259094239144.post-74668272658939653632011-11-07T14:04:00.000-05:002011-11-07T14:04:30.304-05:00Monday, Monday
I'll apologize right now for getting that song stuck in your head...
I've been longing for some spinning wheel time since, oh, the last time I used it, and I finally gave in because I couldn't stand waiting anymore. My wheel is a Kromski Minstrel, a double drive that I've been using primarily as a single drive because I'm a newish spinner and it helps me not lose Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14949662606966372530noreply@blogger.com1