Inappropriate Tweeting led to her downfall

I am a little hesitant to post this photo since the last time I tried to show off the Blackberry Stitch portion of my Child's Aran Sweater, I discovered that I had sent it only to author Neil Gaiman's Twitter feed instead of out into the general ether.




And the title? Red Light Knitting. Which, if you are a knitter, is a funny title. The knitting was on my lap and the photo taken in my car. I had been knitting at on ramps again.

If you are an author, it is probably a red flag that someone is sending you an inappropriate photographic advertisement for their evening job.



I've worked my way a few inches into the second sleeve and I'm hoping to be able to sew it together next week. It's finally nice in here in Minnesota and the good weather plus the Easter holiday will be cutting into my knitting time. Maybe I'll have some photographs of the egg dyeing and Hot Cross Bun making going on here at Chez Daisy.

In the meantime, enjoy this Friday Film: A True Paean to Sock Knitting



Watch more cool animation and creative cartoons at aniBoom

Cute crochet cherries for spring

♥ Happy cherries ♥ free crochet pattern
Originally uploaded by la fée crochette

La Fee Crochette has the cutest things - she just put up this free pattern. She is also the author of the Crobots book.

See! See! What did I say?

I found this on YouTube (oddly enough - right after watching a friend's cover video of "White Wedding!") and now I feel vindicated.



I'm pretty sure Mr. Daisy thinks i just knit so I don't have to hand out with the family - but I'm actually watching my health and keeping my blood pressure down.

What do you think?

Getting ready for May Madness!

Since we've established that I like to sit on ideas for awhile, I thought I should point out some wonderful events going on in Minnesota this May.

And since they are both on Mother's Day Weekend, perhaps you can turn them into family outings!

First off, plant lovers shouldn't miss

The 2009 Friends School Plant Sale
May 8, 9 and 10 at the
State Fair’s Grandstand Building
Midway Parkway & Snelling Avenue, Saint Paul

Friday, May 8, from 11 a.m.-8 p.m.
Saturday, May 9, from 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
Sunday, May 10, from 12 noon-4 pm. Sunday is half price.

This really cool plant sale is a fundraiser for the scholarship fund at the Friends School Minnesota. They say that this year there will be 2,200 varieties of plants are offered for sale! There is no admission fee and the plant costs are similar to what you'd pay elsewhere.

GF Melissa turned me on this sale and we've been meeting there since Youngest Child was a baby. It's a "bring-your-own-wagon" kind of event which is why I still have my double Burley stroller! I recommend their herbs and their heirloom tomatoes. Oh, and the tye-dye teeshirt guy is great, too.


Fiber fans should check out the . . .

2009 SHEPHERD'S HARVEST
Sheep and Wool Festival

May 9 and 10, 2009
9:00 a.m - 5:00 p.m. Saturday
10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Sunday

The 12th annual Shepherd's Harvest is at the Washington County Fairgrounds in Lake Elmo, MN. Admission is free. Fiber vendors and vendors of fiber related products as well as animal demos, live entertainment and classes makes for a really fun weekend.

I'm taking a specialty spinning class on Sunday afternoon and I'll also helping out at the Minnesota Knitters' Guild's Knitting Help table on Saturday. Dress warmly and in layers - sometimes it's warm and sometimes it's nearly snowing!

This week's Saturday Seven was assembled item by item:



Three turtlenecks (I know I'll regret giving these away next fall but change is a good thing!), two child-sized aprons, a window curtain topper and a book. I did learn a lesson about keeping things in my laundry room when we had the "water event" this week - but I can't drop things off until Monday. Ah well, they'll be dry by then.

Letting things ferment

Like a lot of people, I have some UFOs (unfinished objects) lurking in my house. What? You never start more than one project at a time? You never leave something unfinished? If that's really you, I'll tell you right now - move along. We ferment here.

How do I know this? Well, Middle Daughter was filling the sink in my upstairs laundry room and left the water running - for a while. Luckily, she did catch the "raining inside the house" thing pretty quickly and the water ran to the outside wall and ran out windows. Not much damage but many things stored in The Knitting Baskets behind my Knitting Chair got wet.

While setting things out to dry, I realized that I had forgotten why I had set these projects aside. Boredom with a particular yarn or knitting style, probably. But they are not boring now! A quick review -



Item #1: Husband's brown sweater: The River Grass Gansey - I think I thought it seemed to have a lot of boring stockinette between patterns but it really doesn't. I think my experience with the Child's Aran Sweater has whetted my appetite.



Item #2: Road not taken scarf: While I still love the pattern and the yarn - I ripped it back and restarted it as a garter stitch lace project. In other words, I am working the back (even numbered rows) in garter stitch instead of stockinette. That was just taking me forever! It will still be a thin scarf so I'm not sure who it will be for.



Item #3: Gentleman's socks: My husband's birthday present - maybe I can finish them by Father's Day? My, oh, my.



Item #4: The Interlocking Balloons scarf from "Scarf Style." This is from my hand-dyed indigo experiment from a few years ago. The yarn is still so soft ("Berroco Ultra Alpaca again?" you say.) At the time, it was taking me forever to complete each repeat. Now, it just doesn't look so hard. And I love the mottled effect.

Diana over at Streets and Yarnovershas an excellent finished project



(Photo is from Streets and Yarnovers.)

- and she just completed some wicked shawls for Christmas so stop by and take a look.

I'm still chugging along with the Child's Aran Sweater. This was the final day of Spring Break around here and my un-interrupted knitting time has gotten even shorter. Despite this, I'm finishing up the shoulders.




To continue with the fermentation theme, I thought you might like to hear all about making your own sauerkraut. I've just requested Sandor Ellix Katz' book "Wild Fermentation" and this looks like a lot of fun.

Robot Day Smiles!

Yep - it was a busy two hours but Birthday Boy loved his Robot Birthday Party. Look at that smile! He is wearing a name tag made from a full-page sticker sheet. The opening activity was coloring name tags - we had their names already printed.



After getting in a quick game of "Feed the Robot" - clothespins in the bottle - we made robots out of art supplies.



Youngest Daughter drew the cute robot for "Pin the part on the Robot" and then the whole gang broke out the moves for some "robot dancing." You haven't laughed until you watched 10 six year olds dance and sing along with "Yellow Submarine!"



Knitting-wise, I'm getting ready to start binding off at the arms. I think I've spotted one faulty cable - perhaps some severe blocking will help?

Down to the line . . .

With tomorrow's Robot Birthday Party looming on the horizon, I've been spending a lot of time this week researching crafty "robot" themed games and crafts. I think I blame the Twitter updates from Craft and Make magazine - each Tweet is better than the next!



These two little guys were real learning projects for me - I discovered I making a double crochet stitch every time I thought I was making a single crochet stitch. They are from the Crobots book and they were very fun to decorate. The large buttons will make wheels for the smaller robot. These will be prizes for "Feed the Robot" and "Pin the part on the robot."



I combined two different birthday banners for this project - the Birthday Banner from SouleMama and another made up of letters on circular scrapbooking paper which I unfortunately forgot to bookmark. I am sewing the banner but pining on letters to spell out "Happy Birthday."




It was a lot of fun picking out scraps of fabric to make up the banner - very circus like! There is a great tutorial on making the banner over here.

Martha Stewart Twitters as well - so I used her magazine's Bottle Cap pins and magnets as one of the items in our "goody" bags.



I cut out circles with small robots on them from some robot-themed fabric that I bought from Crafty Planet. GFMelissa gave me some of her bottle cap collection so I used craft glue to fix the circles in the caps.



Dear Mr. Daisy mixed up the clear casting cement and poured it into each of caps. After they set for 72 hours, I hot-glued magnets and pin backs to them.



Some of them worked better as magnets - I think it had to do with the weight of the casting cement.



Craft magazine led me to the customized cupcake toppers over at The Naughty Secretary Club. I had one of my daughters draw some robot heads and scan them. I think they will be a little big as cupcake toppers but - hey, at least I didn't have to make a Robot Cake!



For this week's Saturday Seven, I found these books while cleaning out some bookcases at our house. I don't usually give away Bibles but one of my daughters received this as a gift in third grade. She has at least two other copies that she uses so I don't feel too bad giving this one to a rummage sale.

Robot Weekend

This is not what is going to happen at our Robot Birthday Party! Sunday is liftoff for the Youngest Child's 6th birthday party.

I've been crocheting, making robot magnets, robot cupcake toppers and folding boxes for our robot craft. When I haven't been Dr. Roboto, I've progressed a few inches on the front of the Baby Aran Sweater.

Tomorrow, I promise photos!

Some knitting retreat results

GFMelissa and I had a fancy good time at the Knitting Retreat - cold and rainy though it may have been.



I did get a chance to finish the back of the Aran Baby Sweater - loved having uninterrupted knitting time!



And I got a chance to spin - Yea!

Saturday Seven by remote control

Here's an easy Saturday Seven - three books, a child's beading kit, a puzzle, a pencil box and a pair of gloves. All from one drawer, oddly enough.

Also - my new fave crochet book:



Nelly Pailloux is the author of Crobots and she blogs at La Fee Crochette. Her work is lovely and I can't wait to master this.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Friday Follies

AFter a very exciting few days of "Dog on, Dog off" - I'll leave it to you to decide which end of the dog is connected - and the resulting dog walking, I am finally getting ready for the Minnesota Knitters' Guild Knitting Retreat. I'll be loading up the car and heading out very soon - but I thought you might like to see a few knitting delights first:



My package from Hong Kong arrived! Yep, the yarn I won from the Vestuary contest - from Traveller's Yarn of Yarn Workshop - came today.

It is lovely and has a very subtle lanolin smell - much like handspun - and a nice firm amount of twist. It would look very nice in the Aran Sweater pattern I'm making right now!



Speaking of which, I was hoping to be bound off at the shoulders right now. Despite my lack of knitting time, I am still in love with these cables. Why have I never done Blackberry Stitch before? Love it!

For my trip - I may be overestimating my time but I am bringing my baby sweater, a pair of half-done socks and my spinning wheel. I'll need to get into spinning shape for Shepherd's Harvest - I am taking the Novelty Yarns spinning class on Sunday. And don't forget to stop by the Minnesota Knitters' Guild knitting help table . . .


And in the meantime - check out this film:



Enjoy your weekend!

Seven pathetic things

When these are the best items in my Saturday Seven, things are getting pretty sad. Yep, I was cleaning out the basement and found three puzzles and a Trivial Pursuit game that needed to leave. I also weeded out the "'80s edition Trivial Pursuit" and Pictionary and a pair of shoes. Those photographs were pretty pathetic so I just thought you should use your imagination.

Luckily, things are looking up. I am moving things around to set up my growing table for starting seeds in the basement and I'm hoping to have some nicer photos by next week.

Robot updates:

I also had a trip to Crafty Planet today for some really cute robot fabric. Good Friend Melissa is parting with some of her large soda bottle cap collection so I can make robot magnets and Craft Magazine has instructions for "cupcake toppers." More robot crafts to follow!

I'm thinking these are more than I want.

These racing robots sound just right - Bristle Bots!

Robots ate my brain

Well, that may be an overstatement. I really think he only showed up for the cake.

Youngest Boy just turned six and we are planning his "real" party for an upcoming weekend. Robots are the interest of the moment so I'm designing a "Robot Lab" birthday party. Youngest Daughter created the birthday robot artwork and we'll be making matching cupcake toppers, a "Pin the part on the Robot" game, as well as a "Feed the Robot" game. That's the classic "Clothespin in the bottle" game for all you oldsters out there!

I'm considering how much time I should spend on making crafts for the gift bags - either "plushies" or amigurumi robots like this one from La Fee Crochette. Pretty cute!

My baby sweater is moving along pretty slowly but I have discovered I love Blackberry Stitch!


Front - aran sweater
Originally uploaded by humbledaisy

In the meantime - enjoy this glimpse into Robot Life:



Watch more cool animation and creative cartoons at aniBoom

You may already be a winner

Okay - this was already a hectic week. What with birthdays and birthday cake baking, meetings and snow storms - I have been one busy lady.

But what straightens out a knitter's life?

Free Yarn!

I found out that I won a vest worths of Bellingen Yarn from The Yarn Workshop after participating in the Vestuary knit-a-long on Ravelry. Bellingen is a soft, machine washable worsted weight yarn and I am so looking forward to it! And, it's just about the right temperature outside for wearing my Vestuary Vest.

Then, the week got better.

Free Swim Stuff!

I also won an AquaTowel because I came in first in my age group (40-45) at the Northfield Pentathlon masters swim meet. In this meet, you swim five individual events and it was the first time I'd swum butterfly since high school. The towel - well, we'll see how that works - but the meet? I'll be there next year! It was a great reintroduction to swimming.



Now I can just go back to my gloating and knitting . . .

Youngest Child is home from school so that means no swimming but lots of knitting.

The best place to be

The First Pancake Daughter and I at the Saint Paul Bike Classic.

Oldest Daughter came home from college for a doctor's office visit on Friday. Nothing big, just one of the shot updates recommended for college students these days. Well, she was never one for shots and it hit her hard. I'd forgotten how being sick at home feels better than being sick at school - now, if only we hadn't sent all her clothes to school. I think there will be some sisterly sharing going on by the time she leaves on Sunday night.

Since we are all hanging out tonight, we had a couple of hot games of Farkle.




Don't know what Farkle is? Well, you must not have been to Ingebretsen's in Minneapolis then! This is a pretty fast dice game which requires no cards, the counting is easy, and it can be taught in just a few minutes. It also uses a lot of strategy which is why Middle Daughter was playing the "Angel/Devil on your shoulder" role. She won, by the way.



Today's Saturday Seven was a simple drawer and shelf clear out. A flannel blanket, a couple of books, some pants from Youngest Child and one unfortunately chosen hat. Now I can get back to the knitting with a clear conscience.

Friday Films from a new source

I found this film through Louise Bagnall's website, Elbooga. She is a young film animator and has a plushie store called Happy Plush Plush. Her work reminds me a bit of Lucinda Guy's illustrator, Francois Hall, but with a more grown up bent. This film was entered in a competition, so if you liked it - go over to aniBoom and look for more like it!




Watch more cool animation and creative cartoons at aniBoom

Enjoy! (And don't forget to check out her website -those are cute, cute plushies!)

Coincidence?

This came right after . . .



this.

While I love winter, I am really looking forward to spring. I think I just need a little more blue sky.

I'm using the blue yarn, Crystal Palace Yarns' Merino 5 in 5228/Wedgewood to make the Child's Aran Sweater from Yankee Knitter Designs. I should have made a much simpler sweater but I've had a hankering for something a little fancier than the usual Wallaby. Well, at least the yarn is washable!

The last day of Vestuary!

Well, this finally turned out nicely. I made Middle Daughter try it on for the photographs - she even said it was "nice." It is incredibly warm, however, so I think it will work well over a long sleeved tee shirt in the spring when the heat in the house isn't quite so high.



I'm not too crazy about the single crochet edging on the back of the neck - it just looks a little thick - but I can change that later if necessary.



I really like the colors in the vest - I have a bit left over so I may attempt a hat. I might even make another one using my handspun - but not in the bulky yarn!



The Saturday Seven came about when we painted Youngest Daughter's bedroom last week. We moved furniture, sorted out books for her bookcase and are still thinking about curtains. I haven't even attempted her closet yet - maybe for next week.

Well, Youngest Child and I are "Batchin' it" tonight - the girls and their dad are out at their school's annual Father-Daughter dance. The Boy and I are making pizza and then making some finger puppets as a project. Very exciting stuff!

The return of the mouse house

After a brisk walk to the bus stop, I may have changed my mind about that ski trip. 16 degrees F. and sunny looks nice but feels like crap. Knitting and muffins sound much, much better!

Youngest Child had some time to rebuild his Mouse House for the snow mice.



I think there may be a Neil Gaiman story about the things that live in snow - and they definitely belong outside.

And while some kind soul has roughly snow-blown the main sidewalks, I would need to wake the teens to make them shovel the other walks so I might as well do it myself. And to think I could be working in some dry, warm museum someplace . . .

My morning vest

Okay, my older children's school was off this week and I've spent a fair amount of time goofing off, eating ugly-but-tasty cookies, walking the dog, shopping for dance dresses and . . . Face Book Farming. Yes, the snow has done nothing to quench my urge for spring - I want plants now!

When not goofing, I was knitting - a little.



If I hadn't been reading a book last night instead of knitting, this would be a finished vest. I just need to knit up the front straps and then connect it. Perhaps tonight I'll post a finished vest. Of course, that means GFMelissa won't be able to kidnap me for a long ski trip later this morning. A short one would be fine!

Sadly, this morning I read of the death of poet Bill Holm. I highly recommend his last book "The Windows of Brimnes."

Here is the Friday Film, a clip of Bill Holm talking about the late Senator Paul Wellstone:

On the go

Another busy weekend - got to go out with Mr. Daisy. In the meantime, discuss this amongst yourselves:



Saturday Seven? I cleaned out the toy box between the front doors. Mr. Daisy calls it the decompression chamber but it's really just a little space. Usually filled with a boy's toys.



The pathetic vest is still underway. Smaller size, same large needles.




I bought this at the Weavers' Guild of Minnesota's Holiday sale. Ten or so skeins of handspun black/brown Shetland wool. What to do . . . what to do.


Bye!

A belated Valentine's Day film

In case you were able to tear yourself away from Twitter or Facebook in order to actually send a real valentine last week . . . I just hope you were able to address it correctly.



Back to re-knitting the Vestuary Vest.

Remember this?

This was the start of my Abrazo Vest (pattern from Knitty.com) for the Ravelry Vestuary Knitting Group until I realized one serious thing.

Way back about two inches from the beginning, I was supposed to switch to stockinette stitch from the ribbing. So, today I ripped back to those two inches and reknit the vest.



I still like it but the change to stockinette stitch has caused the vest to grow quite a bit. Even though this is just under the bust line, it seems too wide. Tomorrow morning I will try it on and get the final look. Who knows, maybe I'll go down to the medium size.

Luckily, there was a lot of good late night television last night (The rise and fall of Rome) and tonight (Rattle and Hum) so I don't have to spend the day glued to my chair. Gluing my eyes open, maybe!