Friday, March 30, 2007

Mandy Pies Sweater almost almost done and the new socks

here she is trying on the sweater to see how it fits. her mom came to borrow a movie and brought the kids plus the tiny tiny doggie so i had Mandy try the sweater on for us really fast.
the hood worked out just as we planned. and i had Mandy pie show her mom her mom said the hood looked like a grim reaper hood. and laughed. i said this is how come i don't knit for you anymore that plus she wont wear anything i do knit. says its to small or she doesn't like it or a dozen other reasons. what ever this addicted knitter isn't knitting anything for her again she laughed at me and said she didn't care. and that is another good reason she isn't getting anything out of me LOL on her :)
here is the next pair of socks yea i am bad couldn't wait for the 2 circ's to come in and i did go out to the lys and buy a pattern for socks called Classic Beginnings Socks for the Family which gave me not only a pattern in basic socks for myself but anyone else in the family if i choose to knit for them again LOL well you know what i mean.
so today i will finish Mandy's sweater tie off all loose ends so to speak, sew on the buttons and knit up the blue heart pocket and fake pockets she wants and then be done with that and move on to more socks and her hat :) oh yea her hat :) cant forget that now can I ? :)

Thursday, March 29, 2007

sock bag and the new hat stand :)

OK here is my thrift store bag find cost me a whole $1.00 like i said who ever had it never used it but tell you what sure am going to use it totally :)
and i fount this thing it originally had this very tiny baseball size Styrofoam ball on top of it got it for 10 cents. brought home went to Joann's paid 2.50 for a larger good foam pressed ball and walla i know have one good hat stand :) its a dowel with glued to a small base with a large wood bead and a now it has a good sized pressed foam ball on top hats fit fine on it too.
in fact i think i will buy three more pressed foam balls here soon and make more stands for them to be able to display my hats on. :) between that and coat hanger sock forms i should be styling :)
OK got to run need to finish Mandy's sweater sometime today. and wash the wings i found angel and fairy ones there huge thought the girls could hang them on their walls as decoration since Laura loves fairies :) and Mandy loves angels :)

our family cat ( sigh what can i tell you)

Fuzzy has been with us since our daughter brought her home years back and then moved out again with out the cat. by that time it was to late. Fuzzy had a new owner . i remember my daughter asking for her cat. and me saying not happening. she said did dad claim her i said no she asked did my brother claim her i said no. with frustration she asked did you mom? i said no. she said then how come i cant have my cat back? i said you have to ask dusty for her. she is his cat now . Dusty is our family dog. and Fuzzy was way to young by a few weeks when our daughter brought her home. so Fuzzy lived under our bed wouldn't come out. and our dog took care of her. as a result of that bond our dog ended up later on helping her raise all her kittens they came in batches of course and in the end she had 18 kittens . he was fond of them all and it wasn't unusual to see him lovingly walking around with a kitten hanging out of his mouth on his way to tuck them back into their bed. or grabbing one and keeping it out of harms way. it was a hoot to watch him as he gathered them all up at night and took them away to snuggle with them while there mom was out and about doing cat things.
anyway when we had her fixed she missed her kittens. and i would catch her once in awhile stealing someones moccasins and crying as she took it away. like a kitten. and i would have to retrieve it and make sure it got back to its owner.
well hellooooooo mommy fuzzy. i was on my way to get am coffee hubby had put his clogs on the kitchen table to dry he put some sort of tool dip on the bottoms for traction. seems to be working. BUT ONE WAS MISSING!!!!!!!! ugh fuzzy hasn't been a mom now in years. but these clogs are good and soft. i had to look all over in the dark before i found it laying at the foot of the recliner she uses to sleep in LOL
she is a hoot don't like humans loves dogs and my hubby. and is a demanding little thing. if i don't get her a treat every other day she just stands there and tells me off in cat language until i do. if i don't let her baby out of the room she gets mad. her baby by the way is a 3 year old cocker spaniel go figure. LOL who she bats around like a kitten when she gets out of hand. oh yea and she potty trained the dog too after the kids house broke her i know that for a fact cause my dog not only goes out side she gets done and had to do the cat thing dig backwards at it like her mom and bury it all LOL
i am just glad i found the other clog i could see it being dragged off to the basement and then if that happened it would have been all over for that clog i would be knitting a new one fast to save fuzzy's hind end LOL
other wise i got the socks done done done i was working on and am one inch away now from finishing Mandy pies sweater sleeves. should be done with that today and then i can embellish and wait for her to show up so i can take pictures. :) and hand it over.
cant wait to do the socks out of my expensive sock yarn. and i went on line and shopped like a crazy fool for a few days. got more sock yarn coming more needles and a book . and i think i should go back and order more sock yarn . yep i think i should.
other wise i am just knitting like mad her and enjoying every min of it . oh yea i found this rope bag at the thrift store. Tuesday. we were driving around and i saw this lady with this rope bag the kind that had pinks and yellow bands on them with leather handles. i used to have one and fondly thought i wish i had one again it would make such a wonderful sock knitting bag. and so we went to the thrift store and i dug through the bin with all the old purses in it and walla i found one just what i was looking for too a rope bag no color other then natural. with leather handles and a zipper closer. it had been stored in someones closet forever because it had serious fold lines. so i took out the old iron and steam ironed it and stuffed it right away with all my stuff that put the shape right back into it. hubby likes it too said it don't take up all the floor room in the truck LOL
i put everything in zippies before i head out anyway no matter what bag i use so hey works for me.
also found drinking glasses to cool was about out of them forgot to buy them at the store. but this worked for me a whole set for $2.00 yep works nicely for me.
when the boys were in high school the spoons would disappear. i finally broke down and bought thrift store silver ware instead of buying whole sets and being upset all the time because the sets were disappearing one spoon at a time. no one noticed or cared that nothing matched had i not found the set of drinking glasses i was ready to grab what was on the Mason jar shelf. yep had been eyeing those before i spied the glasses. i don't think the grands would have noticed LOL
ok coffee is on time to go get me a cup of.
ps the stuff hubby bought to dab on the bottom of his slippers is some sort of dip for replacing the grip on tools . seems to work smells bad when its first put on but seems to work.
i cant see the cat stealing a pair of what then were stinky clogs LOL must work for her though. funny cat :)

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

One down Two to go

knitting for big foot is what mike called it when i showed him the frist clog before i finished and felted both of them both hubby and mike know the magic of felting:)
this is my size 8 &1/2 foot between the clogs before i washed them down :)
and there i am again after the felting with them i had hubby try them on they fit him perfectly he cant wait to wear them . was busy trying to figure out how long it took something this thick made of all wool to dry. LOL
i had to lighten this picture up so you wouldn't have to see a big black blob but hey this is after i cut all the fuzzys off. and i tell you what they had fuzzys don't plan on using a shaver to shave anything off plan on sitting at the kitchen table a pair of scissors in hand and cutting them all off .
hubby is thinking hard now what could he find that he can coat the bottoms with to be able to wear them anywhere anytime ? i said ok i can see i will have to knit you a swatch so you can experiment on that . LOL hey today is pay day( wink) have to keep him happy so i can get more yarn LOL ok off to see the world and enjoy today hugs and love and when i can get him to pose in his clogs after there dry i will ok :)

ps nothing in a hurry about my man he wants to buy a boot dryer so they well dry faster LOl oops got to go

the rambling mind of an additced knitter LOL

well i know i have hung out with my knitting pals on line for awhile now there rubbing off on me LOL
i used to go into the local yarn store and just look check out prices color and labels and not touch much. now i am like a kid when i go in i am mushing squeezing handling you name it going from one bin to the other just to see what is what . yarn stores are no longer a place with a huge price tag as before when i would go in and if i bought i bought enough at one time to make a sweater. and that was rarer. nope now i love going in and buying one skein if not two at a time.
where before if i couldn't afford more then two i would walk out. not anymore i skein or two goes along way.
another old myth mom passed on that you all broke was don't buy more then you can use. because it could go bad. meaning as in moths. and stuff like that.
enter the zippie and my stash is growing in leaps and bounds. i am learning yarn kept well is like a good bottle of wine. if well kept its awesome. i do have a few skeins left over from the years i made some good hats. that i kept in and old zipper bag that a bed sheet came in. in fact i used some of it on hubby's hat this winter.
anyway all that aside.
i went shopping on line omg was it ever awesome no one looking over my shoulder saying hummm or look at that price or do you need that really. or can we go now among alot of other things i hear when i go out shopping sometimes though not from my hubby who i think is as addicted to my knitting as i am. i have yet to see him walk in the door holding abag of yarn instead of flowers though but i bet that will happen sometime you never know.
i took the plunge and bought two skeins of SOCKOTTA YARN in some really lovely colors and two circs size #1's as recommended by a fellow sock knitter at http://socknitters.com which i joined about a week or so back. also have a copy of knitting on the road coming from amazon love shopping there. if i had gotten it here the price would have been outrageous. give you an example i have this audio book i just got for around $20. i went to the book store here to price it about fainted they wanted $50. for the same thing. books go for a bit more then the cover price here not by much but shopping at amazon even with the shipping i saved $6.00 on the book. and maybe more had i bought it here.
anyway, hubby bought some patons black yarn at Joann's awhile back and i bought the book on knitting felted clogs a couple of days ago here kept forgetting to every time i would go to the local yarn store. finally did she is so good at knowing her customers. all i did was hold up the huge unfelted version of the clog she had on display and she knew and got me the pattern right off.
about Da Egg. for days and weeks because of the snow i didn't get out to the lys. but when i walked in to find out what sock yarn was like and i bought the clog pattern. i was greeted by Da Egg well if i took a step into the store i would have passed it . there it sat on a shelf eye level as you walked in. seems its the only official entry to date at all. there is one more but its not official yet. its this very beautiful tiny tiny pillow in yellow and reds this one lady made. she was told to go home and knit a birdy to put in the middle and then it will be officially entered. the cut off date is April 1st. somehow i think her and i will be the only ones .
ok i got both hubby's clogs about done. haven't touched the socks yet and knit a few rows on Mandy's sleeves. just a few more inches to go on her sweater. and then bind off. she comes to visit this coming week end and i want to make sure i have this done so i can take pictures.
once i finish the sleeves it shouldn't take long to do the rest. i cant wait .
oh yea hanging out with all you fellow knitters has broke another habit in me too. sticking to one thing at a time. LOL now i find i have more then one thing going at one time. one to keep at home and knit most of the time that is a sweater. there ok to take when they are a certain size but then they get to the stage of being alittle much and i leave them home now. and grab a pair of socks instead. or a hat or clogs now LOL always helps to have options huh.
but the way things are going now by weeks end i should have all three done.
i love the magic of felting cant wait to see the after of hubby's clogs LOL

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Mandy Pies sweater sleeves


ya i like this knitting both sleeves at the same time on two circulars really works nicely for me. i am 1/2 way to the bottom then knit the cuffs and on to embellishments. nothing going on here. did alittle on line shopping since getting out isnt going to happen none to soon. sure enjoyed shopping i got a copy of knitting on the road from amazon tell you what learning how to shop for books through them is awesome saved about 6 bucks doing it that way instead of trying to find one through our local book store heck being alaska it would have been well over the book price. i went to the local book store here and checked out prices for audio books ouch. one book i had been looking at was going there for 50 bucks on line gosh under 30 at least. may find it cheeper never know :)
ok time to have breakfast and running really late on that and then back to the sleeves :)

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Snow Snow and more Snow and Mandy Pie's Sweater

Hubby in front of our daughters house as we drop off our grandsons pants he left at our house. he is trying to show you how high the snow is. that is her front yard buried in snow .
this is our truck parked in her drive way next to the mountain of snow in her front yard
this is her neighbors mail box . there was a whole street of them like this and worse . we also went out to shop for dinner one more time and my brother in law informed me last time he was over that my key board was just not working anymore time for a new one. hey any excuse to get out of the house and go anywhere these days. so we bought a new key board and installed that.
Mandy Pies sweater with the hood finished. now its onto the sleeves . and then embellishing :) more pockets and a some knit hearts. hummmmm i got to learn how to knit those seems simple enough but i still have to figure it out. so far all attempts on my part have gone bust . another brick wall for me soooo more sock knitting LOL
The blue buttons i found for Mandy Pies sweater .

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Mandy Pies Sweater and the Socks

awe its a good feeling to finally get past the brick wall and head to the top just about there. a few inches more and i can bind it off and head for the sleeves
and the socks just keep going.
my brother in law showed up yesterday too and installed my old hard drive to the pc as a slave drive which is now 120 gigs strong . oh goodie more room for allot of pictures :)
and then nothing went right. must be cabin fever. took hubby out to dinner . got frozen veggies and half cooked meat. plus when we sat down. there were no kids anywhere in site. by the time we got started i swear every parent with kids under two showed up and all the kids decided to cry and carry on at the same time. hummmmmmm thought i had just left my great grandson kai man at home doing the same thing. for some reason my broken brain thought going out for dinner would get me a break from it all. scratch that bubble . its just a different location and more kids . sighhhhhhhhhhh.
hubby was not a happy camper he was a grump. so i said ok lets leave. take doggie bags. go walk the mall. he looked at me with one of those oh my god she is going to ask for the moon. we went looking for buttons at Joann's found these beautiful blue heart buttons for the sweater. oh yea and another crying child . turned out to be my great niece with her grandma looking for patterns. LOL by now i am thinking the wee people are protesting the tons of snow and no trips to the parks . ok ok i understand now being cooped up with a bunch of nutty grown ups has its draw backs.
Snow has major draw backs if what i am hearing in the grape vine is true.
seems last week when we were being told snow removal money was gone spent done with and snow removal was going to be scarce. our local fire department responding to an accident along with an ambulance. ran into something like 6 or 7 parked cars and caused quite the accident on its own. as a result all our roads here streets you name it are all bare of snow now . not one ounce is to be had. but the sides of the streets and roads look like something out of the exodus. as if moses himself came here and parted the snow for all to drive through. yea forget the pedestrian. they don't need anywhere to walk at all. LOL so in allot of places the pedestrian is walking down the middle of the road.
only in Alaska huh?
meanwhile i continue to knit .

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

leap frog ? Naw just frogging is all LOL

i was so tired yesterday. i should have known better but i am an addicted knitter what can i say.
Right now no pictures but i am working on the hood of the sweater.several ways to do that the one i am doing requires increases. my broken brain decided to try something new that didn't work. of course before i caught it i had just about hit the top. just a few more rows and i would have been there. ughhhhhhh i stop sit back take a look pleased with myself and then i see it. a mistake right where i decided to switch and try something different. FROG FROG FROG. back i go. and instead of tinking i frog knit back up to where i was happy now step back take a look .......... naw off one stitch all the way up ..... sigh and FROG. what can i say...... knit back up and take a peek now you would think i got it by that time no wayyyyyyyyy Frog again. tuck into bag which is a 2 gallon zippie and grab sock needles and cast on socks figure if i change horses in the middle of this stream maybe i will stop running into the same brick wall LOL .
oh yea , i was supposed to get out of the house today. yea go someplace any place with yarn for a bit. guess what not happening hubby got a call to go to some classes so he will not be available at all for the next three days. oh well such is life hummmm maybe a shopping trip on line would do the trick yea that might work it never hurts to look. right?
meanwhile the snow in our front yard is past the 5 to 6 ft window sill. and growing. no end in sight for this record snow fall. no word yet on if the cook with the missing car actually found it or not.
hey i am doing fine got the socks all the way past the cuffs on the way to the ankles and ready to drag around in yet another 2 gallon zippie . works for me. maybe tonight i will return to the sweater. maybe wait until tomorrow. we will see. neither of us is going anywhere sweater or me so heck it can rest for a bit while i knit up some socks :)

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Mandy's sweater and where did grandpa pat go?

here i am finally ready to bind off the sweater. of course because its knit from the neck down that includes both front and back at the same time for anyone that doesn't know what that means.
Awe :) and now the fun begins. because here i use my creative imagination. here i add on a very large pocket in the front that looks just like a sweat shirt pocket. Pattern for the pocket? I don't have one. never have. and i didn't have a pattern told me how to get from the neck down and connect both parts at the under arm either with a button flap on both upper parts. just drew out the idea on a piece of paper and figured it out from there. of course i looked at other pictures of sweaters to get the idea and of course the family requested sweaters done like sweat shirts you know grams the kind with the hood and the pocket in front? nothing like a challenge to get your knitting juices going :) i hunted through all the books and pattens i have here and came up with nothing went on line and came away with a few children's patterns but nothing for any adults or teens nothing i could use for anyone that came along. zip zero. i for sure wasn't going to knit a pocket and sew it on at all. none of the ideas or patterns i found gave me what i was actually looking for . this idea i have works on any size. so in the end of it all i had no choice but to work it all out on paper again and figure out how it was done.
soooo bottom photo i am now knitting back up to the top :) yep knit down and then knit up. working on the huge pocket its all knit into the sweater nothing sew on yet. i so don't like seams if i can avoid them at all costs.

my digital camera is deciding to work ok again. and with a good photo shop program i can come pretty close to the true colors

where did grandpa pat go? he is on the Navy Mom pages. Love him dearly but i need my room to be able to throw my knitting hands around and get down to the purls of things :)
ps.. hubby just got a call from work one of the cooks isnt going to be on time. he had to hire a metal detector to be able to locate his car. seems its in his drive way some place. but there not sure exactly where. he went on a month long vacation and came back to this LOL oh oh nothing like burried in snow :)

Friday, March 16, 2007

Mandy Pies Sweater progress


believe me this is a purple sweater...... i just keep wishing for a good digital is about it . but anyway to get where she wants me to go i have to begin with a plain knit sweater and of course i like the knit from the neck down so the first photo is of the first few days.
the one below is just as i was taking it from being a cardigan to a pull over with a button down the front top area.

once i get to the bottom and do the ribbing then its time to go back and put in the first huge pocket . and move on to other items such as sleeves and more knit in pockets. and of course i had to go get more yarn to make sure i didn't run out.
i am thinking though today i do need to dig out another knitting needle to help me do the sleeves when i get to that point or go buy one .
other wise as you can see by the amount of snow we have here there is just no way i am going anywhere even out for a walk. no place to walk anyway unless i want to walk down the middle of the street !!!!!!!!! not even going to try that one . sooooooooo knit knit knit hey better this allot of other things right. well house work too. you all have a good day catch you again soon .

Buried in snow

taken of my tiny yard in front of my house. the window is some 5 to 6 ft off the ground
this is my patio my window is about 4 ft off the patio which is 4 ft at one end and 3 closest to you. the huge pile of snow on the right hand side is all snow on the sidewalk that now can not be used due to the amount of snow so one has to walk in the street. ughhhhhh
this a shot taken between our house and the neighbors house and that is our grandson mikes truck buried in the snow its not a tiny truck either its one of those gas hogs took this yesterday before we went to eat and shop at the lys
this is the parking lot at the restaurant where hubby works that pile of snow is some three cars stacked on top of each other high. and usually when there is no snow what is actually there is a guard rail only 2 feet high. and you can see the traffic on the road coming and going and the stop lights
someone said were just a few inches from breaking our snow fall record. of 190 some inches per year. ughhhhhhhhhhhh Melt already and turn to spring.
oh well when all else fails knit :)

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Both Tiny shops are open now

long time ago sounds like a story huh? :) anyway yep long time ago i began a site on line called Stitches And Stuff where my family and i could sell anything we make . After alot of work its finally open and ready to go. anything i am still working on can be set back so no one has to wonder through that area. which i think is cool. meanwhile i began and Etsy shop. where i could test drive my items i make, create, knit or sew on my own. when i did sign up i couldnt get something on the sign up sheet right. oh yea i was missing a letter in my email LOL when i caught the mistake the site was already made but i couldnt get my activation going because the email wasnt getting to me. nothing i could do about it so i had to begin again thus the KnitMeWarmAK
boy do i have a ton of earrings the grands made i have to go back through because they sold alot last summer so there are peices missing. and i found somemore baskets my daughter made. i just wish i had a really good digital camera hummmm my daughter has one maybe i will be able to get her to take pictures. we shall see. meanwhile i have to make due with the cell phone photos and alot of time that dont even come close to what i have done. ugh i hate bad pictures. oh well patients and time and maybe soon i can buy a new one. that works right ! :)

Monday, March 12, 2007

Mandy Pies Sweater idea and the socks

after alot of questions about style ,color, type of sleeve and what to put where ,the rough draft came out as above. before knitting this i may very well work on it alot more . but the basics are down on paper .
Mandy Pie and Grandmas yarn stash
here she is picking out her yarn or something close so i get a good idea of what to buy tomorrow :)

Laura promised she would let me take a picture for all to see of the first pair of socks i did on two circular needles . so here she is . and there they are :)
and here they go

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ok other then that i did the best i could to work on a button you all can grab if you like its on the side says knitmewarm with my egg as the background. about all i could do was copy the picture i liked to adobe and put words on it where i wanted . heck if i know how to make a link out of it. but its there for anyone to grab if they want and if you know how to make a real button out of those good luck i am totally stumped haven't a clue. now take me to any place else on line and put me in front of a screen and i can link up about anything to any picture or graph but in blog spot grrrrrrrrrr ughhhhhhhhhh i haven't a clue. boo hoo

ok time for coffee been up all night haven't a clue how come just couldn't sleep but its time to get up now so its major coffee time

Sunday, March 11, 2007

socks frogs and mandy pie of course :)

first pair of socks done ... Laura promised if she could have them she would let me take a picture of them on her feet....
second try on needles frogged..... all due to trying a different look with stitches . I should know better always work on plain at first when learning anew thing.

ugh try again.. this time pick different color yarn. figured out that if i put the work down i have no choice when i pick it up but to begin with the yarn end that will let me knit. so no longer worried about setting the work down. still poke it into the yarn ball anyway good habit . i am listening to the Alexander link doing fine knitting along on this pair when i discover i turned one heel and didn't turn the other . frog back both so there the same. and keep on knitting.
i think a person learns a ton when having to frog allot. or tear it back. in doing so i learned i can put everything back on the two needles using my dp's and with effort have it on the way it should go and then continue knitting and come out ok.
so the fear of knitting on two needles is fading fast . and the total fascination of it all is strong and just taking hold fast. maybe soon i can do this and be confident enough to take on a totally different stitch when knitting socks.

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Mandy pie sweater. today she promised we will work on that. so far i know its going to have a heart some where but that is about it that and color.i told her fine but today when you wake up we work . design talk about your sweater until were done so i can begin knitting it ok . she smiled her sweet ok grams what ever smile and said yes of course and went back to her toons.
i did get the chance to fix her ivory necklace she got for Christmas. its a very tiny ivory flower with a gold nugget in the center. the chain broke. talk about a major pain trying to find a tiny enough o ring to replace the one that was missing. i finally found an earring find that i could shape into an o and cut that would actually fit . no guarantees it will hold for ever but its a working piece again . Mandy of course was tickled pink . I fell asleep last night to a sci fi movie and as she tucked into bed she said " grams if you fall asleep can i change the channel ?" i said "sure jut put the sleep timmer on ok. " woke up to total darkness and now i wait. still with a ton of questions. and alot of blank paper and colored pencils if needed .

Friday, March 09, 2007

??? and answers

my mind is just going wild with ideas on Mandy Pies sweater for the get stitchy chick knit along.
questions
1. color? purple
2. kind of yarn ? yet unknown
3. style of sweater? cardigan, pull over, yet unknown
4. long ?short ?
5.sleeves , long short or none? yet unknown
6. collar ? to be or not to be v neck turtle neck cowl neck sailor what????
still unknown or should i knit a cap onto that collor LOL who knows i dont :)
7. pockets ? how many and where ? knit in sew on? shape size ?
still unknown ??? what you going to put in those there things anyway so i know how sturdy to make them
8. hood or no hood? still unknown
9. buttons or zipper ? frankly i don't like zippers so we will go with buttons if she wants a cardigan type
10. stitch patterns what type how many and where?
12. cables inertia? lace what what what? edging or not ??? please tell me tell me tell me !!!!

oh yea and then there is shape of sleeves and shape of front and back and sides of sweater. as in bottom area points or is round or bell sleeves
the list can go on and on.
frankly i cant wait to get my hands on Mandy and just ask her. as we draw and plot and plan.
how in the world did i ever get into this area of knitting?
well being in Alaska has its draw backs. in the time i have lived here i have seen two other yarn stores come and go . wool was for years a majorly tough item to come by unless you were able to travel out of state and pick up some or have a person you knew out of state that could or would send you some . patterns were even tougher to come by. last time i bought a pattern before i began knitting again some 2 years back. again. was hummmmmm my now 28 year old son was 12 maybe if that. herrschners was just to tough to send away for anything for me too back then. Why? because there were times when this great United states postal service couldn't make up its mind if we were over seas foreign mail or not !!! which pushed the price of sending away for anything out of my price range as well as allot of others !!
knitters magazines to me after awhile if you have bought enough you have about seen it all. and allot of the styles were just way over the edge or to out of my beginners area for me anyway . still are. so i buy magazines maybe when i begin again after a long time of not knitting just to get a feel for what is new out there in knitting land such as needles or bags or tools of other kinds. hey this time i discovered bamboo:) now that was a well worth waiting to see item. i love bamboo.
not so sure about bags though i have several still waiting for someone to come out with the ultimate bag for knitters. have to close like crazy and not open at a blink of an eye. have no dividers but tons of pockets both inside and out. and be big with a large shoulder strap that wont dig into ones neck. yet have handles that would double for a shoulder strap. have a designated book or pattern area . and a private my area for wallet cell phone and the works. personal stuff.
and have a large area for the knitting items i use and the project itself which could for all anyone knows be a large sweater.
still haven't run into my dream bag. LOL
so you learned fast back then to make do. grab plain patterns up and then in between yarn stores opening and closing learn to do your own thing. using the basic pattern as the stage or foundation of your work.
i didn't knit as much for along time on a regular basis but i did knit. off and on . a sweater when it was needed a hat here and there. socks like crazy. even a dress or two for the girls. i even knit the boys black snow pants once when they were small .
the last known yarn store before this one opened was yikes in the same spot just about and about geshhhhh 8 years ago? i could be wrong i have see some embroidery stores come in and close about as fast as they got here though LOL
i remember getting into socks and thinking oh cool i should do these in wool now that i know how . and going to the yarn store and buying some fisherman's wool back then came in hanks, who had a yarn swift i had to depend on a kid to hold still or the back of a chair LOL anyway i got enough of the stuff and next thing i knew the store went out of business. for ever there was no more wool yarn to be had. had no choice but to use acrylic red heart yarn for everrrrrr.
i am so so glad the internet came along . boy it makes getting those items i can't buy here alot easier. i love intenet shopping.
even at that with the ease of internet shopping and going on lne and finding patterns gallor for free . i still love to be creative and do my own thing.
oh yea and while i am blogging today i found out it is Friday so my wait to question Many Pie is just hours away. hot seat time for Mandy !!!

Thursday, March 08, 2007

Two Socks on Two circular needles and me :)



http://www.socknitters.com/2circs/index.htm

http://www.az.com/~andrade/knit/twocirculars.html
both of the links above are wonderful sites to help learn how to knit two socks on two circular needles at the same time
which is what i set out to do over the past few days.
i spent the first evening casting on and taking off over and over and over because i couldn't figure out what needles to knit with and if i had the yarn cast on in the right direction. after allot of frustration i finally got it though so i was very happy about that . knitting from the cuff to the heel was no problem gave me time to get used to what needles to grab next and use . doing the heel flap was another easy one as well as turning each heel.
Kapowwwwwwwww slammmmmmmmmm bangggggggg boommmmmmm i then ran into a wall. couldn't get my mind to wrap around how to pick up the stitches along each heel flap and keep going. it just wasn't happening . ( been doing this for years knitting socks just couldn't get past this spot for a bit) so i gave up walked away for a bit went to get stitchy and sat and read and read and then said OK call it a night. there is always tomorrow miss scarlet LOL
walked back into the bedroom said OK one more try before i turn in . and walla it is as though a light went on in a dark room and i got it. eureka and all that. i got it. so i think i stayed up a bit longer and kept going then put it all down happy again as a clam and went to sleep .
and now today i can head for the toes. have no clue who these socks well end up with . there acrylic of course a good learning thread.
the other hurdle for me is to wrap my mind around other patterns of socks now other then the ones i am used to doing .
of course that is always how it is with a new technique.
i remember well the lady that owns the local yarn store saying she was not giving up her dp's with socks couldn't see past those. heck i remember when i couldn't either. but i got tired of dps and knew there was a way i could loose those at least until the end. so i taught myself how to do all on one tiny circular needle.
and i remember running into the two socks on two needles awhile back because the first site is the one i downloaded and printed out thinking ok maybe one day i will take a peek.
but i wouldn't have gone that far if it weren't for Get Stitchy and the gals i hang out with in here or for my friend Ronda who kept asking me if i had ever even tried the two circular needles thing. nopeeeeeeee nooo and nawwwww wayyy sorry . and then that print out kept falling out of the book shelf every time i would look for patterns. LOL so i figured ok Ronda i hear you all the way up here in Alaska . so that was it you know what after getting this far i think i really do like this. not sure i will go back to one needle certainly wont go back to 4 dps unless i am at the toes. LOL sooooooooo THANKS RONDA for the challenge.
and you know what it didn't take that long to get it either. just a couple of days . minus of course a few more gray hairs i can well do with out LOL
ok time for coffee . i think its done :)

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

All in a day All in a Day

on one side of the road you can see mountain's and snow and ice and water from the ocean coming into the duck flat area.and on the other side more of the same
but the drive to the local yarn store is breath taking
when we did get there it wasn't open just yet hours are from 11 am on to i think 6 or 5 never have tried that late.
there was a sign on the door from the day before . it has snowed so bad here over the week end and our city workers all go home for the week end and don't work. except for the buses and a few other agencies like fire department and such. no one works meaning the snow plows don't move one inch all week end. and the buses don't run on Sunday's.
which means come Monday if there has been major snow fall its tough going for everyone. soooooo this past Friday everything got closed down because of the huge snow storm and for Alaska that meant a bad one. which for this sourdough who has seen more then 20 years of winters here meant this was nothing i have seen far worse. far far worse. but they closed everything down anyway which was good for all . Come Monday they closed it all again. just way to much snow coming down for them to catch up or keep up with by then.
so when we got to the local yarn store the sign on the door saying the sit and stitch group wasn't meeting due to snow meant the store had not been open at all since last week.
i waited across the street at the other stores ... the pawn shop that carries alot of camping supplies and found time to wonder through the tool store nothing interesting just passing time. finally i saw the owner unlocking and saw the yarn dog wondering around outside. She is some sort of mix looks like a blond German Shep. she is so sweet loves to wonder around after you in or out of the store as you shop or as you come and go. sometimes i am tempted to ask her opinion of the yarn i am looking at ... one can never have to many opinions right?


hubby found when we stopped at joanns earlier they were having a sale on patons wool so he grabbed the black out of the bin seems they are not going to carry anymore of it. grrrrrrrrr. his comment was the label says this is good for felting .

and i found a magazine at the grocier store where i stopped to get a soda in fact it is the only store in town carries the best selection of knitting and scrapbooking magazines . so in order to get a good one you have no choise but to take that long drive which i dont mind much in the summer or spring or fall . but in the winter man its not an easy one to make . slow slow slow.

before days end someone hit one of the re taining walls along the road out of town and flipped their car. i am sure they we not driving at excessive speeds just not slow enough though.

and i bought to size 4 , 26 inch long which was the only short length she had at the lys in this size oops time to order more needles :) joanns had none at all smallest size circulars were 9 and up.

went home and spent the rest of the night casting on and ripping off over and over until i think i got it. trying hard to learn how to knit on two circulars two pairs of socks. doing one on two was easy . I got that in not time flat. but trying to figure out what needle to grab next for two was like a puzzle but i think i figured it out. took me until 10:30 last night to get this far ... and i got home about 4 dove right in would get frustrated and walk away for a breather and then right back at it. determined .

we will see where this goes. and lastly .........

here is my traiter sled dog . meantion anything and she is ready to run away in fact this is what she was trying hard to do in this picture. when my one grandson came for a visit Evie jumped into his suit case when he was trying to pack for his return trip home and wouldnt budge. he even grabbed her and dragged her out of it a few times before he gave up. she really took a liking to him. I am sure if i said dog sled to her she would pack up and hit the nearest airplane out of here and go live with pat. LOL

temperature today is 36 degrees as i sit her at 5:36 am. hubby has gone to work and mike will go to work here soon yep he finally got a job yesterday. walked in to put in an application and got hired on the spot and put to work right there never made it home from his doctors appointment he orginally set out to go too. yahooo i should get the house to myself me and the traitor dog LOL


Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Knitting for Mandy pie

First thing i did was measure her again every which way i could. then tucked that into my bag. hummmmmmm probably not a good place . easy to locate though. But the numbers were all on this bright pick sticky note. which i promptly miss placed when i was looking at possible patterns for her sweater.

i have taken great pains to notice if your looking for sweaters for kids your going to find tons of items for children birth to about 5. most of them are very cute and very nursery school like. nothing actually girl items orrrrrrrrr the modern girly girl stuff. oh sure if you want something hum ordinary heck i can knit that . i want a wow pattern. so after looking on line for one whole day at all the free patterns and at the for sale patterns and through countless magazines i have here all i can do is hit the old drawing board and come up with my own.
tougher to do then say though. but that is ok its all another adventure.

lucky for me Mandy Pie and her brother mom and dad had to come shovel out my drive way yesterday so i was able to grab her up and measure her all over again. this time i tucked all into my Stitch n Bitch handy dandy note book for knitters. which is becoming very stuffed. yarn labels and yarn stapled inside . notes everywhere, my favorite old stand by hand written patterns copied from the original hand written ones and stapled inside. so i don't have to hunt those down. swatches and photos of things i have knit for anyone. almost wish this was a three ring binder note book with tons of room but the same size ( the thought is tempting )

so far we have the color of what Mandy Pie is wanting and the size and were busy shopping have the hat pattern for her already of course.
but due to the weather we have had here lately and the whole town shutting down which is highly unusual for us even. Getting to the local yarn store has been out of the question. so while i wait for that to be possible again. since a 12 mile drive in one direction is not happening yet. then i am regulated to knitting socks . and playing around with designs.
write up some questions about it what it must be and go from there. see what i come up with.
meanwhile temps have risen back to bearable again were sitting at 25 degrees at 6:02 am.
oh yea, and i worked like crazy putting my audio books onto my sonic stage so i could load those into my usb port sony walkman. awesome Christmas gift i got one for myself and my two older grands. of course they run music on theirs i run audio books so i can knit and listen as i do.
latest book listening to is Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
allot better then turning on the tv and running it for background noise. LOL
even have found a place on line where i can pick up some more audio books when i want too . right now i have three full books and two of the old testment on my sony walkman makes for lots of good knitting hours.

Harry Potter and the Oder of the Phoenix
The Da Vinci Code
Lords of the North

yep i am set up and turning heels like mad. may make it to the local yarn store today may not i can only hope.

Friday, March 02, 2007

keeping me warm :)

this picture isnt out of focus or anything like that what your seeing is alot of snow being blow all over rendering it really hard to see anything out there. as we sit here at 12 degrees this am. i hear the roads are horrible one gust of wind and you cant see anything in front of you.


here are the hand warmers i knit for me over the past two days just to use at the pc to keep me warm. hubby asked for a pair for himself so hey i am busy making him a pair now in black and brown.

yahoooooooooo Joe the fuel man came a calling brought me some fuel. thank god but 90 gallons cost us $405.95 ouch and don't last but a month if lucky. so i sure do hope this weather stops and it warms up. cause this is costing us out the behind . heat the house gas up the car. pay bills and wham your broker then broke. summer i cant wait to see you cause i know i can live at the beach and save some well needed change LOL

Thursday, March 01, 2007

brrrrrrrrrr

Somehow i think for today and maybe the next week staying in my room and staying warm is about all i am going to venture to do. right now its a whole 4 degrees at 4:52 am. brrrrrrr one site msn says were supposed to dip to -6 degrees with in days. and the weather bug said were coming out of it all as of today. have no clue who is close all i know is it is cold cold cold . i run around in thremals with a wool hat on and wool socks and a poncho i wish i had made out of wool but still it works . made some hand warmers yesterday for mandy pie going to make me a pair today out of wool. THERE IS JUST NOTHING LIKE WOOL told hubby when i get my next native check i am going to buy wooll yarn like crazy and maybe even give the acrylic i do have to my daughter and grands they like working with that stuff. i need the space in my stash cupboard for the wool i do have .
lots of hot coco and tea soups beans anything stew these days. i would bake but its about all i can do to sit at the pc sometimes because the pc room has no actual heat . what heat comes in here comes in from the other rooms. its just cold no matter what way you cut it and we have winds oh lovely that brings the temps down . busy knitting what i can just to keep my sanity. good thing knitting in my passion :)
ok i think my coffee is done time to go drink a cup. ugh i love coffee but this weather ........... you pour the coffee and before i get to my room its just about cold as cold can be ughhhhhhhhhhh. SUMMER WHERE ARE YOUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!