Time Out
by Vickie
I swear I have been meaning to post but my lap top has been playing games with me lately so I finally caved and bought a desk top. What is the most frustrating part is that not everything will transfer from XP to Vista. So some things will be on one and the rest on the other. I have not posted because my photos of what I have been doing are on an external hard drive until the desk top arrives. I can't download anything but I sure have been busy taking pictures of what I have been working on. The upside to not hanging out on the computer is that I am getting more knitting done and I am pleased about that for sure. Just as soon as I can get the new computer set up, I will be back on to blog. So for now I will just keep knitting and taking pictures of everything! I think I got an email from Dell that things are moving right along so hopefully it won't be too much longer! Thanks to those who stop by and keeping trying. I will have something up here soon, I hope!!

All Things Brown
by Vickie


I have been afraid of something in the knitting world for a few years now and I think that I have finally begun to conquer my fear. I signed up for neck down sweater class. I tried to knit a sweater a few years ago and I really didn't like the yarn I chose so I frogged it. I took that yarn and started a prayer shawl that is someplace in my stash storage area. I really will finish the shawl but I am thinking it won't be any time soon. What I really should do is put the whole thing on scarp yarn and put that needle back into the mix.

The main thing that I have been pouring myself into is the neck down sweater. Those of you who have already got the sweater thing figured out please bear with me. I have had this silly phobia about knitting a sweater for years and now I am trying to meet that fear head first. Here is where I have gotten so far. I missed the first class which was the first Thursday after Labor Day and now I am a week behind the rest of the group. I have to say, I have made good progress and it's been pretty easy so far. It's mindless knitting but that's okay with me for the first sweater that I will finish. I am hoping that this sweater will be the one I can build on and do more intricate things with later. I would love to embellish the bottom and the sleeves later down the road.

This picture was taken a few minutes ago in the morning sun so the color that looks like orange is from the sun. The pattern is from Knitting Pure & Simple. It's the Neckdown Cardigan for Women #9725. I found out from the instructor that if I had any questions I could go here and check out to see if anyone had asked the question that I have. I did check out the site, but what I mostly checking out are all the varations that others had done with the basic sweater pattern. I got some great ideas and I think I might have knit a few more of these for myself.

I picked Classic Worsted Tapestry yarn adn the color is 7012. I think the name of the yarn is Capers. It was not an expensive yarn and I really didn't want it to be in case I frogged it. I really didn't want to spend a lot on this sweater after what happened to the last one. The next sweater yarn is already in my mind. I can't remember the name of it but know exactly where it is in the shop. They had better not rearrange before I get the name of the yarn!

I also finished all the gift bags for the dinner group of friends. I have not however even made adent in the scarves I want to put in each bag. I may be changing my mind about what I put in the bags if I run out of time. We'll see...

So I finished the unnamed unseen Christmas gift. It's completely done! I felted it on this past Friday and then it spent the weekend in front of the pan packed with plastic shopping bags. I turned it inside out and gave it some fan time and it dry as a bone. I can't show you yet, but I will as soon as Christmas is over. The intended reads my blog...so no peaky.

On the Move
DH and I were lucky enough to get some time off from our jobs at the same time. So we decided to head out of dodge and go someplace where we could do little or nothing. I brought some of the UFOs that I talked about in the last post so that I could honor my goal of getting something finished and soon. I really did make some good progress on a project that I can't show you and can't talk about. The person that will be getting this project for a gift at Christmas reads my blog every now and then, and I really didn't want to let the cat out of the bag, so to speak. But I can give you a quickie look...
Okay, there is the unnamed project and it's in the van traveling down interstate 64. I am using size 13 Addi turbos and Eco Wool. That's all I can say. I promise later to show the finished project.

DH and I have found a little town in VA that we really like. We have been there once before about four years ago. Boy has it changed. What I love best about this little town is that it fit so well into a plan to do this thing I wanted to do all the month of August (this is a Ravelry link). I am thrilled I squeezed in this activity before the time was up. My friend Jennifer gave up her bag since she couldn't go. I made good use of the bag. Here is where I ended up...

On the Lamb was a stop on "Get Your Knits on Route 64". The funny part was we planned to go to Staunton before I even knew there was a yarn store or that it was on the list of shops to visit. I truly thought that I would hit The Knitting Sisters and some of the places in Richmond, but it never worked out that way.

DH and I thought a nice walk to the shop would be just great on such a lovely weekend. Boy were we ever wrong. The walk to the shop from downtown Staunton was way longer than we thought. Four blisters later we got to the shop and it was closed. They would have normally been open but the owner had a death in his family and opened a little late. He was nice enough to leave a sign on the door, but my blisters didn't really care. This is the front of the shop. It's an older two story home. What I really loved, was the really huge clump of lavender as you go up the stone steps. I was thinking how they could harvest that and make money off of the lavender by making small bags for people to buy.

I enjoyed the shop and came home with some wonderful yarns. Since I had the bag I got %15 off of some yarns that I wouldn't ordinarily buy. I am hoping that I can find the right projects for them.

Here they are and yes, they are all lace. I really love the lace shawls and scarves so that was my motivation for buying these yarns.

This is Malabrigo and the colorway is China 1. The picture doesn't seem to give credit to it's true color. It's more of a deep red or maroon than anything else.

The middle photo is Malabrio again and the colorway is Mariposa 125. The yellow is Malabrigo and the colorway is Butter 61. I did buy one more Malabrigo lace skein but I gifted that to my friend Jennifer for letting me take her bag. It was a great exchange. I am not usually one to follow a yarn brand trend just because everyone makes a fuss about it. This was a nice variegated lace that caught my eye. I never paid attention to the brand until later. I had never heard of this brand of yarn before. I usually don't buy anything with Mohair but this isn't as fuzzy as other Mohair I have knit with. It's so soft and since I am into yellow all of a sudden I couldn't help myself...

This is Wagtail Yarns from Childers, Queensland, Australia. it is 100% Fine Kid Mohair. It is a 4 ply yarn and there is 100 grams or 410 yards. The colorway is Lemon 150.004. This is another skein of Wagtail. The colorway is Midnight Red 320 900. It's a burgundy color. So that is my haul from On The Lamb. I am glad I found them. Now when we go again in October I will have someplace to go and sit and knit for a bit.

I think I might be done with stash enhancement! Well until the next time...

Knitting in Circles
by Vickie

Lately I feel as though I have been knitting in circles. I realized once I started looking at my current UFOs that I have a lot of circular needles occupied. I have signed up for a sweater class and need to get these things done before then but frankly, I feel like I am running out of time.

Here is official documentation of my current UFOs. I guess if I see them and you see them, I can't lie about them.


I truly believed that I had a grip on not starting too many projects at one time but all of a sudden I feel time breathing down my neck. Some of the UFOs are going to be Christmas presents if I ever get them finished. So if I list them here maybe I can whack them out one at a time. Since Labor Day weekend is fast approaching I might have some more time to get them done. A four hour car ride to and from our destination will help providing I don't have to help drive.
This is my second Clapotis. I ran out of yarn and had to find more. I had someone mail me some but her yarn had metallic in it and mine didn't so the search was on again. I went back to the original place I bought the first two skeins and found a third one by accident. So now all I have to do is finish the last little bit of the decrease section on the end and I am done. I have plans for the first Clapotis as soon as I finish this one.
This is a Lily Chin shawl that I work on when I have to time to constantly pick out my mistakes. There are so many stitches on it now that I rarely touch it, but I want to get it done soon. I need the space!
This pair of socks started out as a group knit between a group of friends. Sadly the friendship have fallen by the way side and so has finishing this pair of socks. I have to do the gusset and after that it will go quickly, but like so many other things I hit a snag and set them aside. Usually when I go that, it means ripping out something that I don't have the patience to do at the moment. So to keep a cool head, the project gets set aside and then basically forgotten until I go digging for something else. Yesterday was a digging day evidently.

This might be a UFO at the rate I am going. This is another Mary scarf for my friends. Hopefully here will be four knit.
Okay, so I included one finished project. This is bag #3 for the Mary scarves. It is a small redemption for all the other UFOs listed here. I have one more UFO but it is a Christmas present. The person who will be receiving it reads this blog, so no photos and no mentions until later what it is.

So you can see why nothing completely finished has been posted lately. I really am just knitting in circles.

It's In The Bag

I have confession to make. I love bags, boxes and containers in general. If I like the container I buy it whether or not I have any purpose for it or not. I like the idea of things being put away in a proper order, but I fall short of actually doing it. When I started knitting, the obsession with bags and storage container for my yarn, needles, book and such got worse.

I started with plastic bins, then to those colorful woven baskets from Ghana that they sell at MS&W. I have two of those woven baskets and decided this year I would abstain from buying one. I held steadfast to that. I saw oval shaped baskets this year and it took all my will power not to snatch one up. I don't need anymore baskets.



Then the next progression was felting my own huge bag. I took my birthday money one year and made a huge green monster of a bag. I love it but it's folded in a hasty manner and stored on top of a basket.

I have a great metal cigar case that holds 30 #1 dpns. I went into a cigar store with a friend and we looked a few cigars in their cases until I found one that would hold the length of the metal needles. I gave some lucky patron of the store a nice $10 cigar just to get the metal case. How crazy is that? If I ever need another case I would do that again in a skinny minute. I love the sound the needles make when they get jigged around in tube. I love the sound so much that sometimes, I just shake them up and down to hear that metal clinking sound.

Of course all of the other knitting do dads need their own containers too. They come in different shapes and sizes. I spared no expense. Newman's Own...

Whitmans...


and Hershey's...
are all collected because they have potential uses for do-dad storage.


Not only do I have an eye for small containers but then there are those more upscale bags that will cost you an arm and a leg. I am missing one of each lately. One arm went for the Bitty Bag ...
and the leg went for the Namaste bag.
Now the big question is, WHY? Who knows why. The same question could be applied to those who hord yarn. Can you really knit it all before you die? Do you really need 50 baskets and 30 purses for store your UFOs. I don't know what the right answer is, but my gut tells me NO and heaven help me, I can't stop.

It's not bad enough that I have a collection of bags, but now I have decided that others must know the pleasure of bags (containers). Since I hate the thought of the bag and the wrapping a gift comes in being discarded to only enjoy the present inside. So this I got this bright idea that I didn't want the gift receiver to throw away the box or the wrapping. So the box would have to be worth keeping. Hence my latest project.

The double duty gift idea is from the Last-Minute Knitted Gifts book. Since I have already made one project from the book, another was in order. The perfect idea was in the book. I knew this bag would be one that would delight my friends as well as feed my need to knit I knit this with Misti Alpaca Worsted weight in Ecru or #100. It was knit on Addis #6 (16") needles. This is a beginner pattern that can be used for some many things.
Each bag will contain a Mary scarf designed by Linda Johnson of Wallis Knits. I have already knit eight of these but will do four more before Christmas for a group of women that I have gone out to dinner with once a month for the last six years. I hope that they will be pleased with their gifts come December. One bag is done and number two is about 1/3 on its way. I will have to buy two more skeins of yarn to finish the other two bags but they will get done.
I love the rolled top and the little I-cord tie. It's just understated simplicity.
If you have the need for smart packaging of a quickie gift, this little bag will sure to be a hit.

What to knit on a plane
I am lucky enough to be able to take off about five days a year to gather with other Personal Chefs around the country. It's all food all the time, but there are times you have to decompress from calorie talk. The plane was my decompression chamber.

Going to Tucson was easy but as most travellers know there must be arrangements made in advance concerning our knitting paraphernalia. I was going to start a project that I found in a recent addition to my fledgling book collection. I was excited to try a new pattern with some newly acquired yarn. I bought new wooden needles to keep from losing my Addi Turbos, but happily nothing was taken away from me and that made me a very happy camper.

I had a goal that I have published here in the past of knitting 100 baby hats this year. I did get 25 or so done already but truly have gotten side tracked with that whole project. So to help myself get motivated to get back on track, I picked this pattern to embark on during my plane ride to Tucson. Oh yeah, and the three and half hour lay over in Dallas-twice. Don't ask....

This photo is from book, Knitted Gifts.

So I cast on right before going on the trip and could barely stop myself for going full guns on the hats. I wanted to just keep going but knowing how long my lay overs were stopped myself. I have to say, that this pattern in incredibly easy and it turns out just the way the picture from the book shows. I couldn't be more pleased. What pleased me even more is that I got two hats done and with no help from anyone. I must be improving! Okay, it was a beginner pattern, but still...

Here are my efforts. They just are so cute. I have no idea who will get them and really it doesn't matter to me. I just had fun making them and I loved the cotton yarn. This is the second project as of late that I have done in cotton. They were both pretty simple but it gave me a feel for it. DH said he likes the cotton washcloths so that's a victory. You have to take them when you get them.


Here is my effort at the baby hat. This is my second venture into knitting with cotton and I have to say that I liked it a lot, but there are two observations I wanted to mention. One, there doesn't seem to be a lot of "give" when knitting with cotton. It's pretty committed to just being what it is. Wool seems to be a little more flexible. Two, it's harder for me to weave in my end and keep them hidden. Cotton unlike wool, doesn't tangle on it self so again hiding the ends in hopes they will blend in is more of a challenge.
I have never done an I cord before and I think it turned out pretty well. Each cord was over 24" so it was pretty boring but thankfully it went quickly!
It's twins! I took two skeins of the 1824 cotton with me and I ended up with two hats one with a cast on of 60 and the other (medium size) with 70 stitches. There isn't a huge difference in the size and I have a small ball of yarn left over. I think that I will cast one the largest one and see how far my little ball and one more skein will go. It's a very quick knit. I did have to purchase size 7 16" circs which will only make my collection more wonderful. I highly recommend this pattern for a quickie baby gift for a larger sized baby. This is not a Preemie hat project but I am going to try the pattern with wool and see how it fares! Happy Cotton Knitting everyone!

From the Past...


I have been knitting so much on washcloths killing time until I go away for business, that I really don't have a ton of exciting washcloth pictures. So I found some pictures from Maryland Sheep & Wool that I wanted to share.

This first one is one that I love to see every year. I just love all the colors and they attracted me the first year I went but I passed on buying them. Then the second year I bought about five of them. This year I didn't buy any but just had to take a picture of them. They are the cocoons of the silk worms. They have been dyed to such wonderful colors. I still have not had time while at the show to watch the demo on how work them, but I have heard there are videos on the Internet. Maybe on the 8th day of the week , I will watch it and figure out how to work them. Just like food, color and presentation get you every time.

This was on the end cap of a booth. I love the color and again it's the texture and presentation that got me. Someone spent a lot of time making this and I just think it's awesome!
This one was hanging next to the one above. When you see things that are so unusual you just have to stop and look, touch and ask questions.
I know this is blurry but you can see that it's got texture all over the place. It reminds me of barnacles that attach themselves to pylons in the ocean here.
I promised the woman below that I would take a picture of her banner to give her credit for what you are about to see...

She has a hat on her head that hold a soda, beer or water so you don't lose your drink. I just thought it was so funny. I would be the one who bent over to pick up something off the ground and pour my drink completely out...and what would a sheep and wool show be without some really cute faces?




Happy Knitting Everyone!

Great Balls of Joy

I am so excited. I got the good word from a friend who owns a sheep farm about an hours drive from here where I live. She taught me how to spin and I bought my spinning wheel from her. It's sits idle in the living room but it is admired every time I walk past it. That's a start right?

Two years ago when I belonged to the local spinning guild, I was gifted two fleeces from a member who was moving from one house to another and wanted to purge her fleeces. No one in the room was jumping at the chance when they heard that they had to be picked and cleaned. Being the beginner I was, I jumped at the chance and took them home. They have been sitting under my bed ever since then. I did at least wash them, but nothing else. I bought some lock combs and have not really used them. So the enthusiasm had failed by the way side.

Maryland Sheep and Wool rekindled my enthusiasm for those forgotten fleeces. My friend Mary told me about Zeilinger Wool Co. She told me to bring my raw fleeces to them and they would take them, process them and then mail them back to me. I was truly not a believer for leaving my fleeces with someone else. Being the doubting Thomas that I am, I only trusted them with one fleece. If that one fleece came back unsatisfactory, I wouldn't give them anymore of the fleeces I have waiting under the bed. So I toted my fleece to the show and left it with Zeilingers. They said it should be to me sometime in July.

About the first of this month, I started thinking about my fleece. Where was it? Did they lose it or what? I figured that I would give them another few weeks and then start dialing. Opps, we don't dial anymore do we? Okay punching. Lo and behold, I fell asleep in the chair this past Saturday when DH went outside to mow the yard. When he came back in the had a box. I thought it was a shipment of books that I had ordered. I was so happy to see those books. I opened the box and got a BIG surprise. Not books, but fleece. It was coiled in the box like a big fuzzy hair ball. I had a devil of a time finding the end so I just picked a spot and broke it.

I somehow had it in my mind that the roving would come wound up in balls. After all, that's the only way I have seen roving. I had no idea that I had to wind it myself. Nevertheless, I did and got four rather large fluffy balls from the box. I am tickled pink with my roving. It's soft and looks pretty free of veg matter. I picked through it a bit and there doesn't seem to be too much.

I might have to spin some of this stuff here pretty quick. I have a full schedule until the end of this month so I may have to spin in August. That certainly won't stop me from admiring the ball of joy though!

So what color do you think they are? I can't decide. There is about 3 1/2 pounds of roving there. I am going to give the small ball away to another spinner so she can test it. All in all, I am just so pleased that I dragged that big honking bag up and down MS&W so I could get those. I am going to have to get the others ready to take next year!

Simplicity is what it's all about.

I love doing lace and socks. I think I am much better at socks than lace but that doesn't stop me from doing it. There are times that I want to throw the projects away and never look back, but I set them aside and take a breather. I set down the Lily Chin shawl for a few months and now have picked it back up. I have ripped out countless rows but somehow it has not stopped my desire to finish it. I want to triumph against my frustration. I can understand how other knitters have numerous UFOs. You just get to a point that if you rip out one more row on that project you are going to just toss it in the trash and move on. I haven't gotten to that point lately but I could feel my frustration level rising and needed a quick time out.

I ordered a massive amount of books from KnitPicks at 40% off recently and found a book that I think will be a lot of fun. I used to never understand the fascination with books until I became a chef. There is something about owing a book that is very empowering. If you saw my cookbook collection you would understand I have a grasp on that concept now. This concept has now moved to knitting books. I don't buy a lot of them at full price just because. So about once a year I order when KnitPicks has them on sale. I did my part this year for sure!

One of the books I ordered is this one. I have knit with one of her silk yarns and I loved it. It's this project here. So I was curious about what her books would be like. I went to KnitPicks and checked out what was on the inside for projects. I thought it had potential. I ordered the book.

A few days ago I worked on a new project to distract me from the Lily Chin shawl. This was knitting therapy that was so fast and it worked. I made these in less than two days. Yes, I did one and actually had to catch some ZZZs and darn it; go to work. As soon as I got the next day, I started and finished the second one. I still have some left over yarn and now am looking for a project befitting the left overs. I have a project in mind but not the proper sized needles. So I will have to buy needles before starting the next project.

Here is what I made. It's so simple that it was nerve soothing.
I made the washcloths from the book on page 78. I was so happy with how they turned out that I have been looking in my stash for other cotton yarns
to make more. I told DH that if they worked out
the way I hoped they will, the "others" will be
leaving us shortly. Today I will use one of them
and report back. I am not usually a wash cloth
user but this requires some testing.

I used TY-DY 100% yarn. I have never used this yarn before and I am pleased with how easy it was to work with. I split it a few times but that speaks of my technique more than it does the yarn if you get my drift.

I bought three balls total and have plans for the other two balls. I am hoping the plans work out but again, I have to buy some more needles. If you have never made yourself a washcloth, give it a shot. It's great for a really, really new beginner knitter. It's all knitting all the time. What could be easier??

Postscript: I used the washcloth after working on this post. I have to say that I was very impressed. I loved it so much that I am in the process of making more. 'Nough said...

Country Christmas Socks

I have been working on these socks a little longer than I wanted but when you have four projects going on at the same time, well you know... I wanted to get started on my Christmas knitting so that I won't be in panic mode come December. I see it all the time on other blogs that knitters are scrambling at the last minute to finish something for a family member and then other who are starting on the 23rd while driving to Grandma's house. That's just a bit too last minute for me. These will be a gift for someone in my family so I can't do into too much detail.

I have gotten better at reading instructions and these socks are from different patterns, sort of.

The heels are Eye of Partridge from Sensational Knitted Socks book by Charlene Schurch. I knit my first Eye of Partridge for the Ribbed Lace Socks. I liked it so much I decided to incorporate it into another pair of socks to see if I could do it and I did. The Ribbed Lace socks has no reinforcement yarn so you can really see the pattern clearly. This pair has reinforcement yarn so the pattern isn't as visible as I thought it was going to be. So the upside to this heel pattern is picking up the gusset stitches. It is very easy to pick them up with this heel pattern. I do like the ribbed heel that I learned first but I want to learn other patterns and this one is number two.

While I have been experimenting with the heel of my socks, the toe is still the same pattern I learned on my very first pair of socks. I am hoping to learn how to make a pair of socks from the toe up as I have heard that I can adjust the pattern more easily. I don't know this for a fact but hey, it never hurts to try and learn something new. While trying to get better at the toe, Sue from The Knitting Corner suggested a new toy. I bought it and it has made the kitchner stitch so much easier to work with.

I always dread closing up the toe but this tool has made it easier and now I close up the toes as soon as I get there. I have closed up every sock just as soon as I have finished it since getting this HUGE needle. I just love it!

I have not been posting because I have been trying to finish my UFOs and frankly, it's just not that exciting! I had to find someone on Ravelry to buy what's left of a full skein of yarn that I started my second Clapotis with. I really thought that two skeins totalling 737 yards was going to be enough. I was wrong. So I am sending her a check tomorrow morning to get that half skein so I can finish another UFO. Then it's on to the Lily Chin that is still giving me fits. I will blog about that later. For now I am off to do laundry...

Garden Update

I showed pictures a while back of our beginning garden. I went out this morning and took more pictures to update the garden. Since I belong to a Container Gardening group on Ravelry, I wanted them to see my latest pictures. I can't figure out how to post pictures on there so I am going to post them there and link from Ravelry.

Here is a view of the middle bed. The two metal trellises are supposed to be more full than what they are, but we waited too late in the season to plant the snow peas and the heat is eating them alive. If you look closely in the background you can see the vines are dying from the bottom up. I have see what happens in the past and I am debating whether or not to just pull them up and try something else. The pepper plants are skinny and look sad but I have noticed a few blossoms on them. I doubt they will yield any peppers this year but I will let them go a bit longer and see what happens. The cucumbers are small but they are going strong as well as the two basil plants I have in that bed. I am going to go and top off the basil plants and try to preserve them in a plastic bag for later this weekend.

This bed has three transplanted tomato plants. They were in the shade of our fence so we moved them about three weeks ago and they are trying but they don't look right; kind of skinny and a bit pale. I can't remember what kind they are but hopefully we will get some blooms soon. Behind the tomato plants there are bush beans. We didn't have much luck with them last year but this year they look like they are doing much better. We have some in another bed because we eat a lot of green beans. In the front is my lettuce bed. It's really too hot for the lettuce to do much more than what it is before it bolts. I am going to pinch them back for this weekend and maybe it will be enough for two portions; maybe.

This is the bed that I am most excited about. We planted more bush beans of a different variety. These are Jacobs Cattle. They are supposed to be a dry bean. We got about 1/4 cup last year. Not much to speak of and I decided that this year I was going to have enough to cook some. So we planted much more this year. Plus we planted bean in the same space we move the three little sad tomato plants from. They are coming up and I am thrilled. The bushes are full of blooms and I think this year will be the year we actually get a good yield.
Beside the beans are onions sets that are both red and white. We have never grown onions before so this is just a wait and see thing. So overall I think our little city garden is giving it a good try despite the heat wave too early in the season and the fact we were about 8 weeks late in planting. The squash and zucchini are coming along but haven't quite hit their stride but I have a feeling when the weather settles down they will be going gang busters.

Here is what the tomatoes in containers are up to. We have not done anything to them except mix in manure and water. I have not pinched the suckers. I have just let them go to see what will happen. These are supposed to be smallish tomato but I have lost the stick that came with the plant so it will be surprise. I think they might be yellow but not really sure. They are going really well and with the tomato scare going on right now, I will be glad to eat something of my own that won't make me sick.

Here is our first attempt at pear tomatoes. They are small but they are going strong. I have seen what people pay for these at the grocery store so any amount of these we get are great.
Well that's the total garden update. I will post more pictures another time when I have picked something or they are starting to show color.