Craftylilly

Cassidy's debut at the Stitches West

Cassidy had her debut at the Stitches West Market yesterday, and what a debut it was!  I went to Stitches with my mom, and met up with our long-time family friend.  We had so much fun!  I think I had the most fun at Stitches since I took a class with Sally Melville two years ago.

First let me share the Cassidy details:

Pattern:  Cassidy by Bonne Marie Burns
Yarn:  Black Water Abbey 2-Ply worsted in Ocean Colorway
Needles:  Size 6 and 8 circs
Mods:  None.
Thoughts:  I love this sweater.  Of course, every design I've ever knit of Bonne Marie's I've loved and wear all the time (Ariann, Twist).  Her patterns are always well written, and the designs are classic and always so wearable.  I'm slowly working my way through her portfolio.  I also really like the Black Water Abbey yarn.  This Irish yarn is so pretty.  It's a rugged yarn, and not for next to the skin wear, but perfect for a sweater that will be worn over a long-sleeved shirt.  Living in California, this yarn makes a perfect sweater that can be used as a jacket, which is how I wore my Cassidy yesterday.  The Ocean colorway is so gorgeous too!  It's a dark hunter green with a blue tone that runs through it.  So pretty.  Another cool thing about Cassidy's debut, is that I got stopped in the market about 4 times by other knitters who complimented my sweater.  It was fun to have my sweater noticed by other knitters.

I didn't take any classes at Stitches this year.  I just didn't have the time or funds to do it this year.  I never miss the Market though.  The Market is big and can be overwhelming, but this year I went with only one goal, to browse.  I wasn't looking for any vendor in particular, or any fiber/yarn in particular.  Not having a real goal let me just wander, talk to people, fondle yarn, peruse patterns, and dig through buttons.  It was so nice!  I ran into some blog friends (Carrie K, Melissa), and met some new people for the first time (La, the ladies from Purlescence).  Very fun!

I didn't buy a lot.  I did get a fantastic deal on an Offhand Designs Fiona Tote, bought a couple of patterns from Cocoknits, three skeins of yarn from Habu (Cotton Gima), two shawl sticks in bloodwood and Purpleheart woods from Knitting Notions , and 4 oz of Crosspatch Creations blend in Country Girl which reminds me of a Monet painting.  All in all, the real success of the day was the visiting with knitting/fiberloving friends, and seeing all the beautiful yarn and fibers. 

A spooky season

A package came in the mail today that is going to make this Halloween extra scary.  The Fiberflix group has had another swap, this one themed for Halloween.  I was partnered up with Kelly (Corwink on Ravelry), and she spoiled me quite well!  First I open the box and find a typewritten note reading "All work and no knitting makes Jennifer and dull girl."  Yep, she sent me The Shining DVD!  Love it!  She also sent me some popcorn, Junior Mints, Mike and Ike, a handmade knitting bag, a fun Halloween cup (commandeered by the kidlets), a screaming doll, and some gorgeous sock yarn from the Red Rock Fiberworks in Colorado.  I'm all set for Halloween.  Thanks Kelly!

I've also been working diligently on RM's Cobblestone sweater.  I'm about halfway through the second sleeve.  I'm keen on getting these sleeves done.  I'm thinking that once I've connected the sleeves to the body, the yoke should be interesting.  I'm intrigued with the short rows used to make the back of the neck higher than the front.  Whenever I do short rows I just have to follow the instructions.  I can't seem to visualize what the endproduct is going to look like. Oh, and notice the tote in the picture?  I got that from Walgreen's of all places.  It's a nice sized tote made of a plastic sided fabric. 

I also thought I'd update you on how big our kitten Ranger is getting.  He's already almost as big as our 7 year old cat, Hazel.  His tail is still super long, and he's quite leggy, so I think he's got a lot of growing left to do.  I think RM wouldn't mind if he got as big as the 20 pound cat he had growing up.  Handsome fellow, no?  Too bad he's such a naughty boy.  Lately he's been wanting to get outside in the worst way.  We only have indoor cats, so he's out of luck, but he is so intrigued with the great outdoors.  For those of you that have wondered about my CSI efforts, Wiji has gone back to using the litter box, and peace seems to have been restored.  I think I've cleaned everything well, so we're good until the next incident.

I've also added a secret project to my WIP's.  I'm still working out the quirks in the pattern, but I can say that I'm using these yarns.  Yep, it's Red Heart Soft in Black and Teal.  I'm not a fan of acrylic usually, but this yarn is quite soft, and is appropriate for the pattern I'm working out.  More details when I have them! 

I'll close this post with a treat that I was given by Kati, my HSKS upstream pal.  She tagged me with this Halloween treat.  Isn't it cute?  The treat giving orginated with Anni, who's been giving out Halloween treats this month on her blog.  The idea is if you are given this treat, that you post it on your blog, pass it along to others, but also provide a link back to the source, Anni!  So, I believe that I will pass on this treat to Felicia - creator of wonderful creatures including some Halloween ones, Rhelynn - another plushy creator with some wonderful creations, and Zonda - creator of wonderful needle cases.      

The Hornet

First, I updated the shop with more stitch marker necklaces, bracelets, and added a couple of row counter bracelets.  Also, I'm always open to custom orders.  Speaking of row counter bracelets, I have an order of beads coming in with interesting focal beads to act as anchors in row counter bracelets, so if you like the look of the ladybug one, expect more themed ones soon.

Since I haven't had much knitting to speak of lately, I thought I'd share the day trip we took a couple weeks ago to the USS Hornet, which is docked at the retired Alameda Naval Station.  The Hornet is a WWII era aircraft carrier that is now a museum.  We won tickets to the museum at our kids' preschool auction, and it was a great little trip.  The picture that I posted for PQL's birthday was actually taken at the Hornet.  Just below the flight deck, there are several fighter planes and heliocopters to look at and read about.  The kids were very impressed.  So was I actually.  However, I was most interested in the space capsules that they had.   This one is from the former USSR.  It's a prototype of their space module that were working on a little after the Sputnik days.  It's hard to tell from the picture, but it's tiny.  The US space module wasn't any bigger.  I got kind of itchy and claustrophobic just looking at it.

I was surprised that we got to go pretty much everywhere in the Hornet.  We got to walk on the flight deck.  I'm impressed that planes could actually land and take off from it.  It's not that big.  We also got to go below decks to where the men ate, slept, and worked.  It felt a little like a maze down there with no real way to figure out just where we were in relation to the front and the back of the ship.  I found the medical area to be very interesting.  There is an operating room, a couple of exam rooms, a pharmacy, and a hospital ward for sick patients.  But can you imagine having to operate or be operated on in the middle of the ocean?  I just couldn't fathom it. 

The kids really enjoyed the trip, as did RM and I.  The trip to the Hornet and our trip to Dixon for Lambtown last month are our first forays into the whole day trip.  So far so good!  We're looking forward to many more fun adventures. 

As for the knitting, I'm working hard on the second sleeve of Stargazer.  I also have the belt bands to do.  I hope to have something of note to show you soon!  Also, If you haven't seen Bonne Marie's newest design Miss Dashwood yet, go check it out.  As someone who is still smarting over my last lace disaster, I'm thinking that this might be the perfect project to get back on the lace horse.

A great cause and trying to bend the time space continuum

First up, I just want to publicize Chrissy Gardiner's new sock pattern, Karen's Sugar Free sock pattern.  She is donating all the proceeds from all sales of the pattern before October 15th to her friend Karen's pledge drive for the Walk for a cure for Diabetes.  If you love to knit socks it's a win-win!  You'll get a beautiful pattern and make a donation to a wonderful cause!  You can find the details on her blog.

Ok, now for my attempt to warp time and space...  First of all, tomorrow is the first day of school for both my children.  Now, my son started his speech preschool a couple of weeks ago.  However, his regular preschool starts tomorrow.  This will be his last preschool year, and I'm hoping that it will be wonderful year for him.  He has an excellent teacher and the rest of his classmates are all very cute and sweet.  My daughter will have her absolute first day of preschool on Monday.  Her teacher also seems very nice and competent and so I think she'll have a good year.  She's my outgoing child who loves to play with other children, so I think she'll make a good transition.  I'm expecting some tears, but I think it'll be ok.  I'm sending her to yet another preschool which brings me to the first part of my time experiment.  The kids' schools start at the same time in the morning.  I'm trying to figure out who's going to be on time at school and who will be a little late.  I'm thinking about dropping off my son first as he's used to school, and spending a little time getting my daughter situated at school.  I'll let you know how it goes.

My second time warping adventure.  It just hit my grey matter today that I'll have a couple of days a week where I won't have any children for a couple of hours.  My crafting friends, I'm drunk with the crafting possibilities.  I can bead...  I can use my sewing machine...  I can spin...  I can knit...  How much can I get done?  How can I maximize my time?  Must take deep cleansing breaths...   

You knit what?

I submitted a design to both Knitty and Spun for their most recent publications. My little design was rejected from both. I have to say that I don't mind, and I do understand. I designed a little something that is very frivolous, crazy, and guaranteed to put a person on any "You knit what?" list. I designed knit sole-free sandals. I'll let you sit with that thought for a moment.

I'll tell you how this got started. Many months ago I read that Knitty's theme for their summer issue was extremities. The first image that popped into my head was a beaded one. Every summer, in some bead publicaton, there is a pattern for bead beach "sandals." These sandals are essentially an anklet that extends down the top of the foot and loops around a toe. At the time I was going through my yarn stash and had come across some leftover Koigu from my Charlotte's Web Shawl. I also had lots of sock yarn leftover from some sock knitting. I remember thinking to myself, "Wouldn't it be interesting to play around with making a knit version of the bead beach sandal?" So I did. I worked out how to do the toe loop where it would be comfortable, found an interesting stitch pattern from one of my stitch encyclopedias, and worked out how I wanted it to look on the top of the foot, created ties, and voila... the knit beach sandal was born.

Now, I knew that this little piece of silliness would probably not be picked up by an online knit publication. I'm not an experienced designer, and I've been rejected before. But I thought, "What the heck? Let's throw the sandal in the ring." I think Spun was a bit more amused than Knitty.

So anyway, I thought I'd share the pattern with you. Feel free to giggle and shake your head. Believe me RM did when he saw them. I still think they are crazy and fun, and why not?

You can get the pattern here.