Knittingupastorm: July 2006

Monday, July 31, 2006

Whew - what a fantastic weekend we had, especially me! I took advantage of Romni's July Sale of 20% off everything and bought this:

Yes people I bought the Ashford Joy wheel and LOVE it. I am so lucky to have a husband that understands by fiber obsession and didn't even blink an eye when I suggested we go down to Romni to pick it up. Here is my first try:

Not very good, but then again it was 10:30pm and I was too tired and hungry to keep going. Tonight I'll give the wheel another go. I'm sure the girls are interested to see how it all works. Maddie desperately wanted to be in the picture, but considering she was buck naked she settled to have only her feet in it!

After the big purchase we then walked around Queen St West, then Queens Quay and went to a driving range. What an awesome afternoon spent with the family. The girls are at such a great age that these outings are so much FUN!

Well that is all for now - have a good one.

posted by Lisa @ 10:33 a.m.

Friday, July 28, 2006

I received my order from elann.com a few days ago and absolutely love the dark chocolate brown cotton Sonata. It is beautiful. I can't wait to get started on this little chemise:

The real reason I ordered this yarn was I wanted the below sweater pattern and didn't want to pay 3 bucks in shipping. While on the site, I thought, hmmm, if elann has a dark chocolate brown in Sonata, I'll order the patter as well. Turns out they had the perfect colour, and now I can knit this chemise and the wrap cardi! What a lucky girl am I?

No shipping charge on the pattern, because, really how much does paper cost anyway? I am really excited to start this project and I can use stash yarn. I have some Peruvian Highland wool from elann in sage green which will be perfecto for this sweater.

Once I am finished the Chicknits Ribby Shell (I have divided the front & back this morning) and the 2nd Koigu sock, I am going to start both projects.

BTW - I had a job interview yesterday and I am one of two they are considering for the position. I do hope I get it. Keep your fingers crossed. Have a good weekend.

posted by Lisa @ 8:59 a.m.

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Summer is quite a hard season to get up the energy to knit and blog, and I think I am not the only one out there. I have been knitting and er, crocheting granny squares but have nothing to show because I doubt you guys are that interested in boring 2x2 rib and blue squares. Take my word for it, I'm knitting.

I went to Romni Wools yesterday and discovered they are having their everything is 20% off sale. The only thing I bought was the new Knitscene magazine, but have my eye on some Katia Buffalo yarn to make another Tulip. This stuff is SO freaking soft and at 5 bucks a ball, the tank would only be 20 bucks! Should I make the trip? I am sure I will. But I have no business buying anymore yarn considering I ordered 11 balls of elann's Sonata last week to make one of the summer cardis from the IK summer issue. Ah, freaking sales, what the hell are you doing to me?

Oh, yeah, their spinning wheels are 20% off too, decisions, decisions and difficult ones too. Don't think I will be buying one, but one can dream right?

In other great news, my daughter's ball hockey team came in first place for the season and were the champions of the playoffs! She now has two championship trophies sitting on her sports trophy shelf. I am so proud of her. I have to give her a lot of credit for having the courage to play on an all boys team AND be one of the few girls in the league. I love that about her. She doesn't care who she plays with, as long as she enjoys herself and plays her best.

I am aiming to have the Ribby Shell and the 2nd Koigu sock done by the end of July. I want to start the little summer cardi/cami thing as soon as the yarn arrives. Stay tuned.

posted by Lisa @ 11:29 a.m.

Friday, July 21, 2006

My older daughter J is going to a hockey/golf camp the first week of August and she needs a set of golf clubs for the camp. So we went out and got her a set to share with her sister:

How clever the company is to but a backpack strap on the set to make it so easy for the kids to cart the clubs around. Clever I say!

We have been taking them out to the driving range so J can get some practice before heading off to the camp, because I'm sure she will be the only girl and she needs to have a bit of a head start to show the boys what she is made of!

We are off for a weekend of camping and a whole lot of swimming in the lake:

Have a great weekend.

posted by Lisa @ 10:25 a.m.

Thursday, July 20, 2006

I always thought the title of these books were kind of cute but kind of stupid until I needed to refer to this one on how to make Granny Squares:

I went to countless websites describing the how-to of Granny Squares, I consulted the SnB Happy Hooker instructions and didn't crochet a successful square. Until this book. It is the 'Complete Idiots Guide'. Not just idiot - but complete idiot. That is me, a complete idiot. But it did help, see:

So my advice to you complete idiots out there, if you want to learn how to make a granny square, don't go to the Internet, use this book. It will help you out tremendously. I am not sure why I felt this sudden urge to make a GS, but I think it has to do with Samantha's call for 8x8 blanket squares for the blanket she is making for a friend. I thought why not include some granny squares to make it look interesting. I wonder if she would like to get some?

Samantha - if so, I'll whip out a few and send them to you! They are ever so fast and would really look good scattered throughout the blanket. That is my opinion.

Speaking of Annette's blanket, here are the five I made:

Nothing fancy, but you need plain and simple in sections. The yarn I used for the top three was sent to me from my SIL in France, so it is special yarn I used. The other two was left over from a newborn sweater/hat combo I recently made. So I tried to use yarn that had some special meaning as the blanket that is being made is for a special reason.

Maybe one day in the near future I'll have a knitted FO. One can only hope!

Have a good day!

posted by Lisa @ 10:14 a.m.

Monday, July 17, 2006

Not a lot of knitting going on due to the blasting heat Toronto has been hit with. I am not complaining, believe me, but the heat really doesn't allow you to do anything except veg out! I bought the SnB Happy Hooker book a few weeks back to give my hand a try at crochet and whipped out this little clutch:

A bit blurry, but you get the picture. I used Bernat Handicrafter cotton I had in the stash and because it is a pinky colour, my youngest daughter claimed it was hers even before I finished it. I gave it to her because I doubt I would ever use it, I just wanted to make something easy and practice my crochet skills.

Samantha has asked for 8x8 squares in greens or blues so she can put together an afghan for a friend who recently lost her husband. I will send her over some green squares, so that is what is on the needles currently.

Other knitting news is really not that exciting, I started a Ribby Shell in Lewiscraft's Cotton Sensation in a pale pink, started the 2nd koigu sock and keep feeling guilty about not finishing the 2nd piece of Orangina. Ah, but these can wait for now.

posted by Lisa @ 11:59 a.m.

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Tulip is finished:

I love this tank - if I make another one, I will knit another inch of the reverse stockinette stitch before I decrease for the armholes. This will have the ribbing sit right below my bust line, versus right on it!

I highly recommend the pattern and the yarn - Katia Jamaica. What a great combination!

posted by Lisa @ 10:20 a.m.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Man, I can't believe it has been almost a week that I last posted. M's dance recital was a success. My four year beamed while performing for both acts and both shows. She loved dancing on stage in front of a hundred or so people. M is far from shy, but I find it quite funny that even though she is not shy, she is not adventurous like her sister J. J will do about anything adventurous, but M won't - and J would never dance on stage in front of an audience. Funny how my two girls are so different.

I do finally have some knitting to show you. First, a really bad picture that M took of the Chickami:

Project Specs: Chickcami by Chicknits Yarn: Lewiscraft Cotton Sensation. Size 34", used exactly 4 balls.

An almost finished Tulip. A bit of ends to weave in and the crochet edging and I have a wonderful top. Thanks Lisa!

Project Specs: Tulip by My Life in Stitches Yarn: Katia Jamaica, Size Small used 2 balls and a bit, and by a bit, a mean a bit.

This top fits wonderfully - I can't believe it - I think this is one of the best fitting knits I have made so far. I would so make another one, maybe in a different yarn!

posted by Lisa @ 9:24 a.m.

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