Be Mine

From 7 Deadly Sinners: Enjoy!

I wish...

This was my local yarn store.


n the spirit of true confessions I am a yarn store stalker. In my dreams I am brave enough to go in and plop down and the table, whip out my latest knit and chat away.



Reality is I am a total chicken about these things. Like I lose the ability to speak.



But Loop-I think I could eventually settle in there. Maybe not the chat part at first, but they were so nice and not scary.



Plus they had yarn with lots of color. I love the idea of my local store- but it is dreary. Fifteen shades if olive brown and puce. And all rather expensive. Loop had some Berroco wool- I could have done a sweater for under $40. I'd so much rather shop local than do the big box stores.



Buy I wanted to get stuff out of my usually shopping range. Madeline Tosh for a Citron and some Berroco Ultra Alpaca.

Say Cheese!

My theme this year is "do it right" when it comes to my knitting, so I am working on technical details. Last few days I have been working on photography.

Well, working = reading about and wishing I had a better camera.

So basically pretending to take snappy pics.

In my reasearch I came accross this how to: http://www.conradhoffman.com/photographing_your_knitting.pdf 

Funny how when you Google something the answer is right there. Seriously worth the read. I need new lightbulbs.

Tropical Granola

This was supposed to be breakfast for the husband and I this week. It didn't quite make it that long, so I figured I'd better write it down.

Tropical Granola

• 4 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup unsweatened coconut 
• 1/2 cup ground flax seed
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 cup diced dried pineapple
• 1 cup diced crystalized ginger
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup dried banana 

1.  Preheat the oven to 350.
2. Mix the oats, coconut, flax, oil and honey.
3. Cook the mix in the oven for 25 - 30 minutes. Stir the mix every 10 minutes - seriously, don't skip this. Burned granola is yucky.
4. Let the granola cool. Mix in the dried fruit.

 

The ladies like granola

Technique Tuesday: SSK

So my knitting resolution this year is to expand my technique. I've gotten into a bit of a rut - I do things the same way everytime.

Brandywine by Romi Hill

So while working on the Brandywine shawl my SSK's were bugging me - they slant the right way, but end up all crooked.

Enter the Tech Knitter. This is my new favorite site. The illustrations alone are amazing. 

Here is her post on a fixed SSK. This rings some bells - I probably read it int he past and thought "why bother". Except my old ones made wonky stitches, so there.

 

Wish I could remember what this yarn is. I bought it last summer at Knitting Addiction while on vacation with the parental units and the girls at Nags Head, NC. It is cotton, and gorgeous, and I am pretty sure the label floated away while I was knitting it on the beach.

Side note: This is hands down one of the BEST knitting stores I have ever been to. They were stocked mostly with cotton and non-wolly stuff, since it was July, at the beach. Huge, sunny, and LOTS of samples - well labeled. I would be there now if I was a less responsible mother.

So the yarn. Really it would be pretty just nailed to the wall. Originally I turned it into two shrugs for the girls. The shrugs were CUTE, but by December they had worn them exactly once. Enter FPS (Fiber Protective Services). Yarn abandonment. 

So I re-purposed it into a cowl for me. Size 11 needles, cast on 80 stitches. Four rows garter, Knit until you think you might not have enough for the last four rows of garter -do the four rows of garter, cast off. If you get bores of the knit throw in a line of purls. I did prime numbers (3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19 or 23) Because I'm nerdy like that. Perfect.

Problem is I cannot get my hands on it. Yesterday the girls and I went to Carytown to look at their favorite toy store - World of Mirth:

And our local yarn store, the Yarn Lounge:

And now I can't get it back - Little-sis refused her coat so she spent the afternoon with it wrapped over her head. Last night big-sis wore it for movie night. No longer abandoned.

Knitting Books

We had an unexpected snow day today. We've had pretty miserable weather lately so the girls are gitting rather crabby with the indoors.

To liven things up we went to the bookstore to hang out. In betwee reading "Llama llama mad at mamma" and Barack Obama's new kids book I got to look at some knitting books.

I seriously want to make this:

Vicarious Thrills

So it is exam week, which has been unusually hectic this year. Generally I can get some knitting in while the kids test and I peer menacingly, but so far I have been swamped with work. Blah.

So some window shopping, if I can't knit I can pretend, right?

• Paradise Fibers I don't keep a bucket list, but an "empty nest" list of all the things I hope to have time for after my soccer mom days have passed. One is dying yarn. I have done a few projects, and I am totally ready to convert the basement into my own mini laboratory, but time and budget (and the husband) do not yet permit.

Opposite Day

So today is opposite day. I do these occasionally to prevent a funk from settling in. All day I do the opposite of my first instinct.

So today I did not stay in bed, I did wash my hair and I did not have marshmallows for breakfast.

Ice Day

We have an unexpected day home due to an ice storm. Two thing on the agenda-catch up on lesson plans and knitting.

I just finished chart A on the Brandywine shawl. The bright blue helps on such a dreary day.