Knitter: Salvation - or Yarn: Overload

Okay, can you tell I've been watching a lot of summer blockbuster movies? But it's true about how it never rains but it pours.

Yesterday, I got not one but two packages of yarn in the mail!

First of all, the Fiber Fix saved my bacon big time in that I found a skein of Pagewood Farm Yukon sock yarn in Bird of Paradise on their site on Saturday, placed an order and it arrived yesterday.



A very good match. I plan on ripping back to the start of the final lace border and knitting again using the new skein. The rest of the skein - I'm thinking socks for me (since the shawl isn't for me) or some fingerless gloves.

In the very same post came a package from Scout's Swag! My sock club skein came! I have the last one earmarked for a baby surprise jacket but this one might make a pair of socks for me.



I'm backed up on the projects and Older Sister just asked if I've remade her 1824 Cotton sweater yet. No, not yet!

Oh, and one more thing. Some people (who already have entirely too much yarn! You know who you are, Guinifer!), wanted to know where I got my Spud & Chloe yarn. I bought it up in White Bear Lake at the Sheepy Yarn Shoppe. I think they are getting ready for a big Spud & Chloe yarn opening later this month but they had it there and were happy to sell it to me last week!

I'm not a big fan of knitting with cotton but I'm liking the Spud & Chloe so far. No photos because it's just a lot of garter stitch right now but I'll post something when it gets interesting.

Right - now, off to do something with all that yarn!

Saturday - so you say!

I found this Saturday Seven in a pile on my sewing room floor. "You can get rid of those," said Middle Daughter nonchalantly as I passed her in the kitchen. Oh, can I? Three tee shirts and four pairs of bottoms. Remind me never to take this daughter to Target again!

On the yarn hunt front, the local store's yarn just didn't match up enough to use. I have since broadened my search to the Internet - one online store claimed to have it but didn't actually have one to ship - and another is shipping a skein as you read this.

In the meantime, I am still working on the heel of Mr. Daisy's Gentleman Sock



and . . .



I cast on for a Lillie's Little Sweater.

Now the countdown for the Swallowtail Shawl begins!

A knitter's emergency

Okay, I have twelve more rows to go on my Swallowtail Shawl and I am down to my last seven feet of yarn. AUGH!!

SO, this morning I am driving to a not-so-local yarn shop to see if they have a matching skein of (drum roll, please!)

Pagewood Farm Yukon Sock Yarn in Bird of Paradise.

They actually have a skein of PF Alyeska - which is their wool/cashmere blend - but it is supposed to be almost the same. I'll bring along the shawl and if it seems possible, will consider ripping back to the start of the edging and doing the whole "Peaked Edging" of the shawl in the Alyeska. The Yukon is the yarn mix with bamboo so it's more shiny. Hmm. Updates to follow.

Also, back on the sock front - I reminded Dear Mr. Daisy late last night that I needed to measure his heel this morning in order to determine if I can turn the heel on his Gentleman Socks but he went to work instead.

He may have thought I was hallucinating since it was about 12:30 at night and we were in bed and almost asleep.

Just a reminder, I never joke about sock heels!

So, with both of these projects at a standstill and awaiting further action, I am loading up the needles with Ye New Spud & Chloe yarn in grass green for another Lillie's Little Sweater.



This is a superwash wool/cotton blend which is very soft. I'm hoping Sam's parents have learned to wash baby clothes carefully by now and I'll make the 24 months size.

Oh, and Tuesday's bread making skills turned into delicious grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner last night!



Youngest Daughter and her first loaf of bread. Please make more!

In her honor, I present this Friday Film:



Watch more cool animation and creative cartoons at Aniboom

Lingering doubts

Okay, maybe I shouldn't have gone to that yarn store. Maybe I should have stayed home and gone running. Too late now!

A Cool Wednesday would a big hit in the Twin Cities this week. 85 degrees F. and a little muggy. I don't really mind heat - but I do mind humidity. I couldn't even hand the laundry out to dry, it was so muggy.

So, since I decided to stay inside a nice cool yarn shop - I thought I should make this week's selection yarn related.

How about Rachel's One Year Blogoversary over at Twist Your Stitches? She has a lovely contest involving Blue Sky Alpaca's Suri yarn and chocolate - how could she go wrong with that?

Knitwear designer Susan B. Anderson turned me onto Blue Sky Alpaca's newest yarn, Spud & Chloe. I broke down and bought some of the "Sweater" weight yarn today to use in baby gifts. I also bought the "Lovey Dovey" baby dress pattern.

The colors are really bright and cheerful but not over the top, if you know what I mean. Happy colors, not electrified ones! I did feel a little weird asking for them by their name. I almost expected a little dog to come running out.

My last Cool Wednesday item is a site called The Belly Project . It's all about body image and what a real woman's body looks like.

Some of you may know that I've been swimming and training for triathlons for some time now and while I am perfectly happy with my performance so far, it's been bumming me out that it hasn't shown up in much weight loss.

Hanging around with a lot of very fit triathletes doesn't always make you feel so good about yourself! So I appreciate the site very much and probably will put in a photo of my belly some day. Just not yet . . .

I have some more photos for this update but, alas, my IPhone is acting up and not allowing me to send mail. Better luck tomorrow!

Cruising the streets

Okay, back home from the pre-Father's Day Festivities. We don't actually go to the Back to the 50’s Weekend Car Show in St. Paul but we do go cruising at it.

Yep, we pull out the Jasmine Yellow British TR6 (a 1969) and go out on the town. No hole shots for us - we just sip ice tea and wave politely.

My Saturday Seven was also chosen politely. Two small-ish backpacks I found when we cleaned out the garage today and five shirts I found when I cleaned out Youngest Daughter's drawers. It was a pretty polite clean out - I didn't really need to ask!



Enjoy the rest of Knit in Public Day - I knitted on the front porch and at a sandwich joint in Falcon Heights - and have a restful Father's Day on Sunday.

Ta Ta! (I must still be feeling British from our car ride!)

Fridays leave me exhausted.

Everyone wants something - the car, a ride to work, a trip to the outlet mall, time to work out, make me some dinner. That was basically the whole day so far. To which, I say:

"We need lounge chairs."

Summer should be relaxing but so far, I haven't seen that aspect. I did have a great time at my race last Sunday - a slow time, mind you but a fun time - but unfortunately I've come down with a wicked case of swimmer's itch. Which isn't much fun during this hot, muggy weather.

I can only hope you are being entertained in a cool, quiet room at your end of the Internet.

In the meantime, check out this Friday Film: Consider it a breather at the end of a busy week!

Sliding in sideways, just under the wire

Ha! Five minutes left of Cool Wednesday!

I loved making my son's Pokemon cake and his robot birthday cupcake toppers but this Dragon Cake, well, takes the cake. Stay and look around - Nancy over at Dabbled has a lot of great idea. And robots!


Take a look at Derek Hoy's blog, creatively titled "Derek Hoy's blog - it's personal" Don't know him, didn't know about him until earlier this week but he seems like a creative gent.

Knitting-wise, I claim this as mine. The Owls in a Tree Sweater. Don't know when or with what yarn but I will make this someday!

Back to watching Anna Paquin - can you guess what I'm watching?

Save the world - save the shoes.

Okay, I've misplaced my Saturday Seven photo. Six pairs of shoes and one shirt from Youngest Child!

The six pairs of shoes came from Youngest Daughter's closet when we cleaned them out - basically, she kept collecting cast off pairs of shoes from her sisters. Trouble is, she has oddly shaped feet so they never fit her. Despite that, she saves them. The shirt - well, YB just outgrew it.

So, just imagine this:







Don't forget the shirt -



A shirt just like the one Little Guy is wearing here!

Not much else going on today. We've been cleaning up after the party (According to the gang, meatballs are good for breakfast and for lunch!) and getting ready for my triathlon tomorrow morning. A little knitting on another face cloth as well.

Send some good wishes my way and I'll fill you in on Monday.

My life as a yak washer

Found this message at my house today.



Here.



Second face cloth finished - third on its way. Big Grad Party in about two hours. Bye!

Cool Wednesday not a bust. I just forgot.

I knew there was something I was supposed to do last night before I went to bed. But I went anyway. So this morning, my computer was still on and there was no Cool Wednesday. So, let's do this again. (with addendum.)

Knitting is occuring but photos are not. I'm on another Cotton Chenille face cloth and hope to finish this this evening. (I didn't)

I have been having fun! (and I've been sleeping.)



Good Friend Melissa lent me her Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker (table top, easy to use!) and I made Cherry Frozen Yoghurt. I used non-fat Greek Yohurt so it is very tangy - not too sweet - and destined for the dinner table. I recommend one of these! (It was very tangy - good with chocolate syrup.)

One Cool Wednesday item is this neat (and easy) tutorial for making Batman-themed soap. Since I'm making washcloths for gifts, I may have to branch into soap. Lesley over at The Pink Toque has a lot to share - check her out! (I especially like her Knitting Under the Desk blog!)

And just for fun - Youngest Daughter recomends this:



This made me laugh out loud! (And it made me a little hungry!)

Graduating to big things

These three lovely girls will be graduating today and going on to higher education in elementary education, history, and psychology. Congrats to the very nice girls who met in seventh grade when they had lockers in alphabetical order. Thank goodness no-one was a "V!" I never managed to teach any of them to knit but besides that we're always happy to have them around.



Spring Formal 2009



Middle Daughter as one of the witches in Macbeth with Buddy #1.



Oldest Daughter and Middle Daughter on their way to Italy in 2008.




Today's Saturday Seven came about when I made Youngest Daughter clean out her closet. Three jackets, two long sleeved blouses and two dresses are all in a bag waiting for a trip to Saint John the Evangelist's Big Sale.

Now if the sun would only come out again, this would be a great day!

Don't forget - Next weekend is Worldwide Knit in Public Day!




Put it on your calendars now! There are at least five events in the Twin Cities so you will be able to find something close to home.

Slowing down on the knitting, gearing up for the graduation!

Only two of the three besties were hanging out in my kitchen today. They dashed in after graduation practice, dirtied up a sink full of dishes and then dashed out. Tonight is their school's graduation dinner where they have a tradition of a speech being given by a teacher about each student! Who the teacher is and what pictures they use is a big secret - we can't wait. Middle Daughter is planning on buying waterproof mascara today . . .

Any way, I'm on my way to GF Melissa's house to MAKE SOAP! I'm hoping to not be the Mom at graduation with lye burns but she's got a lot of experience (ask her about her Bacon Soap!) and I think we'll have a good time.

Next week, anticipate more face cloths and possibly the end of the Swallowtail Shawl. Also, I'll be live and in person at the Manitou Triathlon in White Bear Lake on June 14 so stop by, I'll let you run my leg!

In the spirit of graduaton, whether it is Middle Daughter's high school ceremony this weekend or Youngest Boy's kindergarden graduation on Monday, I thought this would make you smile. It's no one that I know but I'm sure the laughs and tears are the same all over.

Lumpy but soft!

Last week I picked up some cute and very soft Crystal Palace Cotton Chenille. Although I investigated several projects, I decided to go with the designs from "Color Splash Dish Cloths" - by my besty, Evelyn A Clark! I decided to make some chenille wash cloths as graduation presents.



Mauve, pink and green should give me a little wiggle room for those girls who don't like pastel-pretty colors.



I made the Dapper Dab (a silly name!) this time and I think the cotton chenille is working out great. It makes the "dish cloth" designs into something more suitable for "face cloths." I'm thinking the "Spot Free" or the "Soap 'em up" as the next project. I'm pretty sure I could have finished one in a day but I've been doing "back from college" laundry and taking the teens shopping. That growing thing is over-rated if you ask me!

A Cool Wednesday project I've been trying to get started - my printer is acting like an old lady who's lost her keys! - is the Buttercup Bag. This cool and free pattern from Made by Rae looks easy to make if I could just get my pattern printed. It's made from "fat quarters" of quilting fabric so I'm sure to have the fabric.


Buttercup Bag
Originally uploaded by Grandma G.

This is just one of the many Buttercup Bags listed on Flickr - all of them are cute!

My other Cool Wednesday is something to listen to. Mr. Daisy and I are big fans of the band Fountains of Wayne and band member Adam Schlesinger has a side project - a supergroup, if you will! - called Tinted Windows.

It has Taylor Hanson (the grown-up "cute" one from Hanson), James Iha from Smashing Pumpkins and Bun E. Carlos, the drummer from Cheap Trick. Let me tell you, it sounds like you should be cruising past the high school in about 1982. And in a good way! So, I'd recommend the album and point you to this:



Think of it as watching a Saturday Night music show, circa 1982. A very Cool Wednesday!