Eye Candy Friday

Progress continues on the Secret of the Stole. I'm rounding out Hint #6 and I only have 2 hints to go. Technically I was "supposed" to finish by today but I knew when I started that I would not finish on time. I told myself that if I only had 2 Hints left on November 30th then it would be a great victory. I technically have 2 and 1/3 Hints left but I figure that's good enough. It's funny how you play mind games. Rather than count every row, my friend Jennifer suggests only counting the difficult rows. That cuts things in half right there! Also I discount the rows where there are long stretches of plain knitting. Then of course in Hint 8 you are reducing every other row so there are fewer and fewer stitches each time - so I can practically consider Hint #8 already done! But this is further than I've made it on any shawl I've started so I hereby declare VICTORY OF THE STOLE! For more eye candy visit Fryday Photo.

Fetch Me Some Yarn

We're still in Oregon for Thanksgiving week and having a wonderful time. I decided Mom and I needed a project we could do together so, motivated by Janice's wonderful Fetchings, I brought yarn for Mom and I to try this project. I got the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran called for in the pattern and they have been very fun to knit. The first one I made I - GASP - actually followed the pattern. It knit up quickly and is quite cute but it is not long enough for me. I think it will be perfect for one of the girls or a friend with smaller hands. So the next one I decided both to make it two tone (why pick when there are so many wonderful colors) and also to make it longer. I added a row of cable to the bottom, 4 extra rows in the middle and a row of cable at the top. Oh I guess I lied before, I didn't totally follow the pattern even the first time. The piquot bind off makes it too floppy in my opinion so I did a cable row and then bound off. I like the way it makes it lie flatter on my hand. It has been really fun making a project at the same time as Mom. She however actually started the second mitt for the first pair before starting a pair in a different color - what's with that???

Mosaic Mittens

Mom has been making these adorable Mosaic Mittens for Miss K who is all about green. The pattern is from from last year's Holiday Interweave magazine and she says it's pretty easy. I think knitting all those slip stitch ballband purses helped because these mittens are pretty much just slip stitch but aren't they pretty? They are made from Cascade Cloud 9 which is OH SO SOFT! Also the Little Man finally got a chance to wear the hat I made for him. We've come up to Oregon for Thanksgiving and we got some snow last night. My kids and my niece and nephew were definitely California kids scrapping the bits of snow up and trying to make snow balls. I did draw the line at trying to make snow angels in the mud!

Schizophrenia of the Stole

I continue to toil away on the Secret of the Stole. It has definitely been an emotional project. I have had highs, I have had lows. I feel like I'm knitting quickly and getting through the clues only to realize I'm 100 rows behind. I'm happy with my results, I'm frustrated with my results. It's getting too long, it's going to be too short. I love mystery shawls, I'll never do this again. I have luckily gone forward a lot more than I have gone backwards but I have had my share of visits to the frog pond. The yarn I have chosen is a cashmere blend and is fingering weight rather than lace weight so the bit of fuzz and the thicker yarn does not show the pattern as well as the lace weight yarns. My hope is that when it is blocked the pattern will show better but it still is turning out fairly well. I'm on Hint #6 but only a few rows in to the 94 rows for this week and Hint #7 comes out tomorrow! Oh well, I will continue to plug along! Here is a photo on someone else's blog that shows you what the Stole should look like!

Tres Bien

Thank you all for your kind words for Mom's birthday. I think Janice gets the suck up award and I now am feeling guilty about not giving Mom any of the yarn from the photos! Mom had a wonderful birthday and enjoyed all of your messages.

My hat craze continues with the latest installment pictured here. This summer Horsey Girl's friend Kelly spend a few days with us while her parents were out of town. It just so happened that I finished HG's hat while Kelly was here. She ooo'd and ahhhh'd over it so I asked if she would like one. Her face lit up and she asked me if I could make her a beret. A Beret??? Well I set off to find a pattern and found the lovely Snowflake Beret in a Vogue Caps & Hats Two. I had some trouble with it in the beginning so I surfed around the web and found several additional beret patterns which I love. But I was determined to make the Snowflake Beret as it was my favorite. I finally figured it out but now I have all these other patterns I want to make. Question is - how many folks truly wear berets? We may be finding out!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is Mom's 70th birthday. My Mom is the greatest. She is a beautiful, smart, kind, talented, thoughtful and fun person and everyone who knows her wants to be adopted. In fact I know that Bonnie and Janice are already on the waiting list. Mom is an excellent cook, can sew the most gorgeous of quilts, knits incredible sweaters and can fix a water heater with a blow torch! She is a woman of many talents. As many of you have noticed, I'm lucky enough to share my love of knitting with Mom (she taught me) and to spend a fair amount of time with her. She and Dad live only an hour away so we get to see them quite often. She is always there when I need help with the kids or a buddy for a yarn sale (I think I'm a bad influence on her). My kids are very lucky to grow up knowing their Granny so well. She is definitely a very special part of their lives and they adore her. Recently when she was here it was like she had 4 arms that people were pulling in different directions. Everyone wanted Granny to help them with what they were doing. I am so very lucky to have such a wonderful Mom and I love her very, very much. So please join me in wishing Mom a wonderful birthday. You can leave her a message in the comments or visit her on Ravelry - code name Grani. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

Soccer Sophie

Now that all three kids are playing soccer I am spending A LOT of time at soccer games on the weekends. I needed something simple to make so I could continue to focus on the games so I started another Sophie bag. I love this pattern, it's easy, quick, doesn't take a lot of yarn but looks really nice when it is done. I am using some Paton's soy yarn and I'm really enjoying it. I am interested to see how it felts both because I haven't used this yarn before and because the colors are so light. I learned awhile ago that dark yarns felt better and quick than light yarns and this bag is pretty yarn. However, I really haven't gotten that far and the season is almost over . . . Last weekend the little man and I took a behind the scenes tour of the San Francisco zoo and had a wonderful time. We saw the lemurs up close, got to feed a bottle to a baby giraffe, pet a koala, went to the back of the bear cages and fed celery to a rhino. I's so glad we did it. Here is the little Koala we met. He was very soft with thick, thick fur - ever heard of koala yarn? I bet it would be wonderful. Check out Fryday Photo for another zoo photo.