One down, four* to go

I finished up Oldest Daughter's Drapey Tam (really called the Simon Tam) - the Berroco Ultra Alpaca and the Rowan Kidsilk Haze made for a wonderfully soft hat.

The ribbing is pretty but - a little odd. You build in new ribs as you increase the stitches (to make the tam shape) but then you quickly begin removing those stitches as you decrease. So there are some wedge shaped sections that I didn't expect.

Unfortunately, I didn't have anyone to try on the hat for me - Youngest Daughter being off at college and all.

So I got Youngest Child out of bed (he wasn't sleeping - just reading!) and bribed him with a glass of water to model for me.

It still didn't work for me. So, back to the drawing board.

My version of Jack McBrayer wearing a tam.

See the amazing resemblance?

Photo http://www.buddytv.com

And finally, making its first appearance since 2010, I actually cut off the extra weft from my Cotton Dish Towel and sewed up the edges to make it actually usable. This has been hanging around my sewing room for ages.

I do not like weaving with cotton - it sucked the moisture out of my hands, even just handling the woven material. Good for a towel, I suppose.

I had a hard time getting the cut yarn tails to stay woven in, though. My favorite part? The reversible pattern.

AND never one to forget the Saturday Seven -

Four sweaters, a wool skirt, a terrible throw pillow and a brain quest set. I really, really tried to find a use for these but nothing worked out. The pillow was no good for sleeping with, the skirt was un-alterable, the sweaters either didn't fit or were quite old and Youngest Child - no longer in second grade. Off it all goes to SJTE's Huge Sale.

* The other four? This is the year of finishing up my darn UFOs - the Turn of the Glass cardigan, the Lopi Challenge Sweater, the Sailor's Delight Socks and the must-finish-before-I-die River Grass Gansey.

So, so true.

This is why I can't even read the emails from Webs, let alone visit the store.

The life we lead

So, last Sunday, we had a babysitter. So we went to the movies. You know what was on last Sunday, right? That big football extravaganza?

Well, we were the only people in our movie theatre.

So I didn't feel the least bit odd putting on my knitting light and really, really knitting at the movies! I did turn out the light once I started getting into the plot of the movie. The knitting? My Sailor's Delight socks.

P.S. The movie was "Haywire" - a fantastic Steven Soderbergh film. This movie, however, was shot by Mr. Daisy on his phone.

Mid week clean-out!

Fern lace mohair shrug

My, oh, my!

I finished this beauty late on Tuesday - just in time to be a January entry into Knittymama's Monthly Apparel group. Yes, I know she is aiming at sewing an item a month but I had to wade through my craft room first to make that happen.

And I worked toward that goal today - by cleaning out my yarn closet. An airing of the stash, almost!

The files in the back remain from when my sewing/guest room was my husband's home office. Someday, he promises that he will remove them. The tubs, bags and rolls of batting are mine. This made it all look much more reasonable!

Until you look more closely and see that I have anywhere from 3 - 12 skeins of any yarn. Sigh. Time to power through all this stash. I did weed out some yarn to take to the Minnesota Knitters' Guild's Great Guild Getaway in March.  There has been a very fun auction/yarn exchange the past few years at this retreat and I'm sure my extra yarn could brighten up someone else's day.

Now, on to finishing up that Turn of the Glass!

Steady as she goes

I've been knitting on and off for the last week on two different, yet enjoyable projects. The first is this green Fern Lace Mohair Shrug from Ewetopia Yarn Shop. It's more of a mohair cocoon. First, you knit a central lace panel -

then, you pick up along the edges and knit two sleeves.

I've finished one sleeve and gotten about  halfway down the other.

It's mohair lace weight on size 13 needles so it has been going along quite quickly. And it feels so warm! I think it will be just the thing for wearing to hockey games.

When I don't want to be covered in fuzzy mohair bits, I'm working on a Lopi sweater for Youngest Child. It's a bit of a competition, you see. A "try something new" competition between friends.

GFMelissa is knitting an Evelyn A. Clark shawl design (the Prairie Rose Lace Shawl) and I am knitting a Lopi sweater.

The Hans sweater was meant to be knit in Monet blue but that color has been discontinued. Luckily, the ladies at Lila and Claudine's were able to help me find a substitute red/burgandy.

Outside of the knitting world, life in MN has been pretty quiet. Although a gang of us did give geo-caching a try last week in Como Park.

We found a fun peanut butter jar sized parcel which we checked out and returned. 

Hail the prize hunting crew!

Big city or small city?

As a belated anniversary present, my husband and I took a quick trip to New York City this past weekend.

We had a lovely time, walking and shopping and eating, visiting museums and seeing a Broadway show (Warhorse!) and even hitting up some yarn shops - Knitty City and The Yarn Company. 

A real highlight was this view from the top of the Empire State Building.

That little blue area? The skating rink at Rockefeller Center!

And then we came back to catch the last game of Youngest Child's outside Mite's hockey tournament.

Mite hockey tournament at Phalen Recreation Center in Saint Paul

It was just such a wonderful juxtaposition of winter experiences. 

I am starting another project that is a juxtaposition of sorts - the Teknika conductive thread glove pattern from Knitty.com. The pattern calls for a solid yarn and a crazy, multi colored yarn and these are my picks:

CascadeYarn's Heritage sock yarn in mustard

Schoppel Wolle's Crazy Zauberball #1701

Yes, I'm still thinking about a Drapey Tam for Oldest Daughter and I really just need to tidy up some finishing on my Turn of the Glass cardigan but this just looks lively and fun! Now, remind me of that in about a month!

I'm also participating in Knittymama's Monthly Apparel project (make something to wear every month!) and the Craftsy.com's Block of the Month quilting project , so it's time to get to work!

One new challenge and a finished object

Last year I read 147 books in Book Chick City's 100 Books in a year Challenge. Well, I can never resist a challenge . . .

Meet 2012's 100+ Books in a Year Challenge!

Check it out here!

(I can just hear my husband groaning in the background . . .)

And meet the year's first finished object.

The Christopher Anderson Cap from Cottage Creations' Scandinavian Caps for the Guys.

Just call this "The Fall of the House of Gingerbread."

This is prior to blocking and the addition of ear flaps.