Wow!  I did not realize it had been so long since I last posted on the blog.  Not a lot of excitement in my life.

I have been in Oklahoma, Texas and Alabama since I last wrote.  I am currently in Texas for the holidays.  I came down before Thanksgiving and will be staying until late in January.  It's fun to visit with family and friends.  It's great to see the grandsons.

I have been knitting while I was away from the blog.  Mostly shawls and socks although I did manage to turn out a sweater that I am pleased with.  I was at a fiber festival back in July and bought some yarn from Brooks Farms.

Not much else going on here.  I hope everyone has a safe, blessed and happy holiday.  Merry Christmas!

Bar Hopping Cowl



Recently I had the opportunity to test knit a pattern and new yarn for Denise at Lost City Knits.  The pattern is called Bar Hopping Cowl.  It was a very fun knit.  Easy pattern to memorize, but interesting enough to not be boring.  The yarn is Hard Workin' Worsted also from Lost City Knits in the Houston colorway.  I really like this yarn.  It is soft and has a nice twist.  It does not split or snag.  I  have two other types of yarn from Denise, too.  I have some of her silk lace weight and some of her merino/silk DK weight yarn.  Both are divine.

 

I knit this pattern with US size 7 bamboo needles.  It took two skeins of yarn. 

This is the professional photo taken by Chris at Lost City Knits for the pattern.

 

If you get a chance, drop by Lost City Knits and check out Denise's yarns and patterns.

Alpacas and more



A couple of weekends ago I went up to Guthrie, OK, to see Donna Hilton.  Donna is the owner of The Weavery at Indian Meridian.  I went to see Donna because she has alpacas, roving, looms, spinning wheels and drop spindles.  But mostly I wanted to see the alpacas. 

 

 

Donna has several alpacas (I think she said 8), but she also has llamas and angora goats.  She showed me some of the roving from her alpacas, and it was beautiful.  Almost made me want to learn to spin.

Here are just a few of Donna's alpacas.  They were very curious to see these strangers who were visiting.

 

Donna showed me her shop and weaving room, too.  She was very informative, and I had a lot of fun.

 

 

Here is a small sample of the roving Donna has.  I love the colors.

Spinning wheels anyone?

 

All in all it was a great trip.  If you are in central Oklahoma and interested in spinning or weaving, you should make an appointment and visit Donna.  She is just a few miles east of Guthrie.

Oh, and I might, just might have come home with a 10 inch Cricket loom.  Just maybe.

Minty Socks

 

I have been knitting some, and I actually finished some socks.  These are my usual basic pattern knit on US 2 needles.  The yarn is Felici from Knit Picks in the Minty colorway.  Not too exciting, but fun.  I did not match the stripes exactly.  The dark gray stripes match, but I knit one sock with the yarn from the inside of the ball, and one sock from the outside.  Yes, it was intentional.  I wanted the stripes to be a little bit different.

 

 

Gray day here in Oklahoma.  Not much going on.  I am still working on my red socks.  I am sorely tempted to start something else, but I have too many projects started to start another.  I need to finish some before I start anymore.

Back in Oklahoma after nearly a month in Texas.  I am trying to get back into some kind of routine.  So far, I'm not doing too well.  I am missing all the family and folks down in Texas. 

On the knitting front, I finished a pair of socks.  I will try to post a photo later.  The photos I have are not very good as the light was bad.  The sun is out today, so I will try for a better shot.

I am also working on another pair of socks that I started while in Texas.  These are red cable socks.  I was aiming for Christmas, but now have set the goal to Valentine's Day.  I need red socks for Valentines, don't I?

I watched the first episode of season three of Downton Abbey on Sunday.  I am enjoying it as much as the other seasons.  Maggie Smith and Shirley Maclaine are a hoot.  They get the best lines.

Happy New Year to everyone.

Happy New Year!

It's been quite a while since I posted to the blog.  That's me being lazy.  However, I am going to try to better this year.  I'm going to try to write more about knitting and life in general.

Meanwhile, I hope everyone had a safe and happy new year.  May you have many blessings in your life.

Beaded!

I just finished a new shawl.  This one is beaded!  This was my first attempt at adding beads to my knitting.  I have to say I am really happy with the result.  I have to give thanks to Denise Bell at Lost City Knits for teaching me an easy way to add beads.  You can see how Denise does it on her web site lostcityknits.com.  Click on her videos to see how Denise beads.  You also might want to check out Denise's yarns and patterns.  They are so beautiful.

The pattern is Alexandra by Dee O'Keefe.  It's a well written pattern with great charts.  It has written instructions as well.  This shawl is knit out of Malabrigo Sock in the Persia colorway.  This colorway is teal and gray.  The photos are fairly true to the colors.  It took 2 skeins with some left over.  I used US size 5 (3.75mm) needles.  The finished size is 60 inches wide by 36 inches deep.  The beads are size 6 in an iridescent gun metal color. 

Sorry all the photos were taken while the shawl was being blocked, but I did not have good light after I took it off the blocking wires.

August already!  Where does the time go?  I came back to Oklahoma in mid-March, so I missed winter here.  Not that there was much winter.  It was pretty mild by Oklahoma standards according to most people I have talked to.  I was back in Houston in June for doctor and dentist appointments.  The end of June we headed to Gulf Shores, Alabama for two weeks.  This was our annual trip to visit with family.  We have been going to Gulf Shores since 2001.  This year we had 14 family members, so it was lots of fun. 

On the knitting front, I have a few projects going, but not too many.  I have tried a few new things, but frogged most of them.  Either the yarn wasn't right, or I just did not like the pattern.  I will try to show some things I am working on soon.

Unstuck

I finally got more yarn for the shawl I was stuck on.  I finished the shawl on Monday and blocked it yesterday.  I'm really happy with the way it turned out.  This is the Wast Side shawl by Gudrun Johnston.  It was knit with Cascade Heritage sock yarn on US size 6 (4mm) needles.

Finally Finished

I started these socks sometime last summer, but have only worked on them off and on since then.  I have been working on other projects so these socks only came out when I was too tired to do more complicated work.  That said, I love these socks.  The yarn is Brown Sheep Wildfoote Luxury Sock Yarn in the Symphony colorway.  My photos do not do justice to this yarn.  It is not as blue as in the photos, but a lovely mixture of blue, black, turquoise, green and burgundy.  These socks were knit on US size 2 (2.75mm) bamboo needles.  I am going to wash these socks separately at first, because I'm sure the color will run.  The yarn turned my bamboo needles blue while I was knitting them.

Too Many Projects

I have been working on several knitting projects lately.  I have probably spread myself too thin, but it is hard to resist some patterns.  Currently I am working on a plain pair of socks, an afghan, a triangular shawl, a round shawl and a scarf.  I will try to post some photos soon. 

Good Book

I just finished reading The Reading Promise by Alice Ozma.  What a wonderful book!  My daughter read it and recommended it to me.  Definitely worth reading.  It's a nonfiction book about a nine year old girl and her father.  They make the promise to read together for 100 days.  The Streak, as they call it, turns into 9 years.  

Muckle Mitts

A finished project!  I started these on Tuesday and finished today.  Three day project, just what I like.  These mitts are from a free pattern by Mary Jane Mucklestone.  They are made from baby alpaca, knit on US size 3 (3.25mm) and US size 4 (3.5mm) needles.  The colors are not quite true here.  What appears to be blue in the photos is actually turquoise.  I knit the pattern with no alterations, and the mitts fit both Sarah and I, although they were made for Sarah.

Stuck!

I have been knitting the Wast Side shawl by Gudrun Johnston in a bright fuchsia Heritage solid sock yarn.  I thought I had enough yarn for the project, but alas, I did not.  So...I am waiting on another skein of the yarn to come.  I could technically bind the shawl off as is since it is knit from the outside in, but I really don't want to do that.  Bah!

Icarus Shawl update

I was looking back over some of my old posts and saw that I had mentioned 'still working on the Icarus'.  However, I never posted about finishing it.  I did finally finish the Icarus shawl back in April.  It only took me 4 years to do it.  I kept getting bored/frustrated with the shawl and it went into timeout about 5 times.  I do have to say that I am happy with the finished product.  It's a beautiful pattern.

This pattern is by Miriam Felton.  The yarn is Jaggerspun Zephyr in the Admiral colorway.  It was knit on US size 4 needles. 

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone.  I am still in Spring until later this week then it will be back to Oklahoma.  I had a very nice Christmas with my family.  It was nice to have everyone here at one time even if it was a little chaotic at times.  New Year's Eve was very quiet.  I watched four episodes of Downton Abbey with Sarah and Sean.  I got the Downton Abbey DVD for Christmas, and this was the first opportunity I've had to watch it.  We will watch the last two episodes tonight.  If you have not seen Downton Abbey and like English historical dramas, try to see it.  


On the knitting front, I have not been doing anything spectacular.  I have been working on a pair of socks for several months.  I have started making garter stitch squares for an afghan.  There are a couple of other projects that are in time out right now.  I will pick them up later.


I hope everyone has a prosperous and happy new year.  Take care.

Texas

I'm in Texas for Thanksgiving.  I will stay through the Christmas holidays since I have some doctor and dental appointments here in December.  Life is relatively quiet.  I have been doing a little knitting, but nothing worth blogging about as of yet.  I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Still Here

I can't believe I have not blogged since March. I apologize. Not that I have much to blog about. Life has been relatively quiet. We did take our annual trip down to Gulf Shores for Fourth of July. It was a lot of fun. I have been reading quite a bit and knitting a little. It's been very hot this summer in Oklahoma, and it's hard to get excited about knitting when it is so hot. We just had our first cool front come through, so maybe I will be more motivated to knit now. I have plenty of ideas, I just need to work on them.

Gray Days

It has been gray and cold here for the past several days.  No sun and windy, cold air.  Not my favorite, of course when it is 110 this summer, I will probably complain about that, too.

To off set the gloom here, I give you my finished Easter socks.  They are bright and cheerful, almost glaringly so.  They are knit out of Indulgence sock yarn on US size 2 (2.75mm) needles.  It is my usual plain pattern with the exception that I knit them with after-thought heels instead of my usual flap heel.

I tried the after-thought heel for two reasons.  1.-I wanted to try something new.  2.-I did not want to interrupt the stripe pattern on the front of these socks.

The socks came out a little bit long, since I wasn't quite sure how long to make the foot part and I wasn't sure how much space the heel would give me.  If I do this type of heel again, I will know better how long to make the foot.  The heel itself is a bit fiddly to do, but it does give a nice finished look.  The other change I would make is to knit this yarn on an smaller needle.  The fabric of these socks is a little bit loose.

Over all they are OK and I learned something new.

I leave you with a new photo of Oscar.  He got a new bed since we moved, and as you can see, he just hates it.  8-)