Knit Quest

Favorite Thing Friday: Chocolate Arts

My all time favorite chocolate shop is Chocolate Arts in Vancouver, BC.

Their chocolates are rich, complex, beautiful and never too sweet. The selection is huge and everything they offer is tempting and interesting and down right decadent.

I love the cranberry log (dark chocolate, roasted almonds, dried tart cranberries & rice crisps), adore the tart raspberry fruit leather dipped in dark chocolate and the candied cashew log (roasted cashews candied with homey & spices in dark chocolate) is startlingly good and addictive.

Hubby was in Vancouver last week on business and brought me home a big box of chocolate satisfaction. I love that man.

If you call them they will mail chocolates to the US & Canada. If you’re ever in Vancouver be sure to check them out and don’t forget to send me some!

Fast and Furious

I’ve been knitting as fast as I can trying to get through my list of projects before camp. So much that I rubbed my skin raw pulling the yarn through and am now sporting a very fetching Belle band aid.

Turns out the band aid makes a nice slick surface and the yarn pulls through a bit easier. Hmm.. I may need to stock up. I’ll take all the speed improvements I can get.

The Urban Aran is under way again. A tiny bit of back, two fronts, and a collar to go. The sweater pictured underneath fits me perfectly and I’m feeling pretty good about how close I managed to match it. Not so good that the knitting fates need to intervene though. Fates if you’re reading please move along, no cocky knitters here. I have plenty of knitting left to screw up all on my own.

This is 5 balls of Koigu Kersti in miles of garter stitch goodness. It’s the first half of a pattern I’m working on.

Believe it or not this little bit is a much smaller version of the same pattern (it’s done). I’ve got five balls to go and the finishing touches to put on the pattern, but I hope to release it and all the details next week. The pattern will include instructions for both projects.

Now back to the knitting.

Leyburns

Finished well over a week ago and photographed for your pleasure today. I love them.

These are the fastest socks I’ve ever knit! It doesn’t seem like it since I started them over a month ago, but in terms of time spent on actual knitting they were super speedy. Once it occurred to me I could slip all five stitches at once instead of one at a time, they flew. I’d be really proud of myself for figuring that little gem out, if I didn’t feel so stupid for not thinking of it sooner.

They fit my feet and my shoes very well. And being pink and brown will match at least 3/4 of my wardrobe. The color is so perfect I’m really wishing I had some more of it.

They were knit toe up using Judy’s Magic Cast on.

My new favorite short row no wrap heel.

And EZ’s sewn bind off. All the gory details here.

Favorite Thing Friday: New Discoveries

I know two weeks ago I wrote about how I was going to destash  and it seems wrong that today I’m going to tell you about the new yarn I bought at Madrona. But I don’t believe I ever promised I’d be logical or even realistic, so that’s what I’m doing.

I did at least set some rules for myself before diving into the vendor fair. Number one – only yarn I haven’t tired before.

This is BFL Sport from BMFA in Brick. New color and new yarn for me. Check!

Rule two – no pink! And preferably no green. This is Meet Brown, Joe. Brown is not pink or green. Good for me. I don’t know if this is a new BMFA yarn or just new to me, but it feels and looks a bit like velvet. I can’t wait to knit it.

I couldn’t find either yarn on the website, sorry no links.

Rule three – I took $150 in cash, no using any credit cards. I’d almost made it out with only the two BMFA yarns, and well under budget, when I discovered Rainy Days & Wooly Dogs. Not only new yarn, a whole new company! And after a little chatting I discovered that she lives about 2 miles from me. How could I not support a local gal with such great NW names?

From top to bottom they are; Umi in The Hanged Man ( a seacell and superwash merino blend), Fuwa Fuwa in Songs from the Wood ( %100 superwash merino), and Yuubi in Geoduck (cashmere, nylon, and superwash merino blend). All are very soft and a wonderful mix of colors.

In the end I spent $157, which was close enough to make me happy, and bought only one skein with green and a bit of pink. How could I possibly resist them together? I do see a brown trend emerging though, so next time I may to have to add brown to the list. I give myself a solid B. 

On the destash front, I completed my reorganization and came up with 4 bags of yarn and a number of needles that need new homes. I listed the needles on Rav today (addis, denise, lantern moon) and am slowing working on getting all the yarn up too. I’ll let you know when it’s all there.

Kleenex and Cake

For the last four days I’ve been leaving a trail of Kleenex, mugs of tea, and chap stick as I shuffle from couch, to chair, to bed. The kids have been home (mid-winter break, what ever the heck that is) and just making it through the day is about all I can manage. All spare minutes are being spent hacking up a lung or trying to nap. Why is it that Hubby has a business trip every time I get sick?

I’m sorry it’s been so long since my last post and for now I’m finished being pathetic. Moving on.

Glitter Queen had a great birthday and birthday party. As you can see they really went to town decorating the cake. Just in case you can’t tell, it’s a flower cake.

It’s important to sample your decorations before adding them to the cake.

 

They painted t-shirts. Glitter Queen knew exactly what she wanted and did the whole thing without a bit of help. Check out how she spelled love, so cute. We even convinced big bro to join in.

I love how their personalities come out in everything they do. She lets her creativity rule, doesn’t believe art should be realistic (that’s boring), knows exactly what her vision is and trusts that she can make it happen. Her creations are colorful, wild, bright and uninhibited. Very much like her.

Just the facts man, decided to use stencils and pens after discussing all his options and gathering all the details. He likes words over pictures. Symmetry rules.  He was the only one who asked, or even noticed, why the shirts had cardboard in the middle (so the paint doesn’t soak through). My scientist.

We had lots of tissue paper flowers.

Presents of course.

And just to make sure it wasn’t too girly or ordinary, we had to throw in some reptile balloons. Cuz what say’s 6 year old girl more then a big frog and alligator. My girl anyway.

Look what we got her. I think I may be as excited about it as she is. Thanks to my Plurk buds I even found some recipes for it, so we won’t have to buy and eat the awful mixes. Didn’t you love your easy bake when your were a kid? Mine was the red one with a actual opening door.

Money’s good too!

I have quite a bit of knitting stuff to catch you up on as well, but it’s time for my nap. If you want to see even more birthday pictures (this is for you Mom) I’ve got them on Flickr.

Favorite Thing Friday: Madrona

I couldn’t go for the whole weekend or take any classes, but I did manage a visit this morning.

After searching for a parking spot and finding the vendor fair, I made a beeline straight to the Blue Moon Booth.

I found Cockeyed. Check out her shawl! Gorgeous!

The wonderful and talented Tina.

I was too embarrassed to ask Cat for a photo so I kinnered her backside. I did get a chance to talk with her and she said my socks were beautiful! Boy does that feel good.

 

Weebug and I met up to hit the vendor fair. Yes, I bought more yarn, but that will have to wait for photos. My folks will be here any minute and I’m already typing as fast as I can.

After selecting my new stash additions, I had a nice lunch with Cathy-Cate and Laurie.

Whew! That was a whole lot of fiber, friends, and fun in just a couple hours. Next year I’m determined to go for the classes.

I think that was my fastest post every. Maybe I still have time to vacuum.

Flashes

As usual time is flying by and I’m flapping as fast as I can to keep up.

Saturday was spent at a chess tournament. Bug won 4 out of 5 games to win 11th place (out of 75)  in the K-3 division and help his team bring home first place. Go Bug!

Sunday we made valentines boxes and cards for school. Lots of red, pink, and hearts everywhere!

What could this be? Other then another time suck I mean.

My next pattern and it’s almost done. I’ve managed to combine my two current obsessions short rows and garter stitch. More on that later.

The Glitter Queen is turning 6 on Valentines day and as you might imagine she has a lot of ideas about her party. We’ll be making painted t-shirts, tissue paper flowers, and the girls will be decorating the cake before they eat it. Wish me luck.

The second Leyburn has been started. My dinning room still isn’t fit to eat in. In fact it looks exactly like it did on Friday.

I’ve been reading Knitted Lace of Estonia: Techniques, Patterns, and Traditions' target=_blank>Knitted Lace of Estonia and Shakespeare's Champion (Lily Bard Mysteries, Book 2)" target=_blank>Shakespeare’s Champion. Love them both. They would be even better if only I was reading them on one of the new Kindles. Have you seen it? So cool. Sexy. I want one bad.

Not everyone feels the need to have a lot going on.

I think she may be smarter than I am.

Favorite Thing Friday: My Stash

With all the events coming up, I’m going to have a lot of opportunity for some very exciting yarn shopping. Normally this would be nothing to worry about, but after almost 14 years of “opportunities” I’m running out of room.

Not only that but my stash is just down right over whelming. Joy and guilt.

Finding something can really be difficult and in fact half the time I go looking for something only to discover something else I forgot I had.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. But it seemed like high time I took a hard look at my stash.

So.. What the heck is all this stuff anyway? And do I still want to knit something with it?

As you can see these questions resulted in a yarn explosion in the dining room (good thing we have another table in the kitchen to eat at).

Hubby came home, took a look around, and just had to double check that I wasn’t working on a new decorating scheme. Nope. I’m cleaning. Uh sure.

 

Everything in the dining room, is currently stored in the Costco room (my storage room) in big Rubbermaid drawer units. 6 of them to be exact. Downstairs. Out of sight. Hard to get at, easy to forget.

The whole process started with 2 extra sets of Denise needles and snowballed. If I don’t need them, maybe I have other needles I don’t need. Indeed I did. Well, If I’m going to destash those maybe I should look at my yarn. There does seem to be a lot of it.Hmm.. 10 minutes later, I had my I-pod in was toting bins to be sorted.

After 14 years of collecting, for the first time I’m going to get rid of something. I’m telling you now so I can’t change my mind. Hold me to it.

I’m motivating myself to do it with three things. One - any money from destashing goes to my travel yarn fund. Two - I keep reminding myself that I can’t possibly knit it all and that having it sit around taunting me is not bringing me joy. Three – even if I had unlimited time and funds for yarn, I don’t have unlimited space. So if I want to bring anything new home I’m going to have to weed some of it out or get a storage locker. As I don’t imagine that would be a fun conversation to have with Hubby, some of it’s got to go.

And holy cow have my tastes changed over the years (why did I think I needed so much novelty yarn). Some of the yarn is nice, but just not the kind of thing I knit anymore.

Some of it I love, would be happy to knit, and am having a hard time imaging parting with, but really how many pink, green, or pink and green things can one person knit. Note to people going shopping with me, please stop me from buying even more of what are clearly my favorite colors. 8 sweaters worth and god only knows how many hats or socks worth of green yarn is enough. There are other colors.

Clearly it’s going to take a little time to finish the job. I’ll post what I decide to part with on Ravelry or donate (any suggestions?) and of course I’ll let you know when I do. Wish me luck.

And no, I didn’t photograph all of it. This enough damning evidence as it is.

Perfect Serenity

Done! 2 weeks plus miles of garter stitch and I have a new wardrobe staple.

I wanted something casual. Just throw it on with a pair of jean and a t-shirt kind of thing. Nothing fussy or flashy.

Some extra warmth and hand-knit comfort, but not so big it gets in the way. Notice how it hangs just to my elbows but not past. Perfect.

I love the soft, barely there ruffle.

The meld of yarn and pattern are exactly what I hoped for. Nice drape, good structure, and just the right thickness and warmth.

For once I was sad to finish a project. I completely enjoyed knitting this and since Artfibers is going out of business it's the first and only time I'll have the joy of this yarn running through my fingers.

Details:

Serenity Shawl

Yarn: Artfibers Valparaiso - 700 yards

Needles: US 6 for body, US 8 for cast off

Shawl was knit top down, starting with 7 sts and increasing at sides and center every other row. Ruffle begins 19" from top, measured down center and is 4". Ruffle was created by k1, k1fb for one row. Center increase in ruffle section are m1 instead of yarn over.