get yer boots on!

You appear to be a Knitting Adventurer!

You are through those knitting growing pains and feeling more adventurous. You can follow a standard pattern if it's not too complicated and know where to go to get help. Maybe you've started to experiment with different fibers and you might be eyeing a book with a cool technique you've never tried. Perhaps you prefer to stick to other people's patterns but you are trying to challenge yourself more. Regardless of your preference, you are continually trying to grow as a knitter, and as well you should since your non-knitting friends are probably dropping some serious hints, these days. http://marniemaclean.com

Have a little fun @ quizilla

Phat Fiber's Sheepshape give away

Are you so into a WIP that you're ready to teach yourself to work rows in the dark, so you don't disturb your partner? Maybe you've thought about picking up a set of "light up" needles to keep on purlin' when you 'aughta be sleeping? Here to enable your knit obsession just a bit more is glow-in-the-dark yarn. Yes, you heard it here, folks! Those crazy Brits are at it again!

In the dark ...

... and in the light of day

Etsy shop Sheepshape Spinning does have glow-in-the-dark yarn yes, but they also have a delicious selection of hand spun yarns, roving, and even a few knitted toys a parent might want to keep for themselves ;) You know ... for when you need snuggling! Or better yet, pick up some Rocky Road white silk, black Shetland & grey gotland for a seriously cuddly (and fat free) treat!

Yummy!

Thanks once again to the Phat Fiber Sampler Box blog for continuing to enable me! Stop by their blog for this, and many other yarnlicious goodies!

Done! (with personality & charisma!)

I finished my Molly's funky hat today - made with Material Whirled's own quirky, chunky style yarn "Egg Hunt". The Personality Hat pattern from Material Whirled is supposed to come to what I call a kind of "pixie point" ... this one wasn't decreasing for me like it was supposed to. Honestly, I don't know why but, I began free forming my decreases after alternating decrease rows, as the pattern called for. Once I noticed I might be in trouble yarn yardage-wise, I worked to keep it fun and cute ... and something I liked as much as I liked the original pattern!

Before whip stitching it flat on top ... taking a look @ the possibilities

my faithful volunteer - always willing to model for me ;)

Heck, it even fits me! But she loves it and though it reached a high of 92, she still wanted to wear it! I'd call this one a successful project finished!

the weekend off! well, sorta :)

The last few days have been seasonably hot here in the lovely Metro DC area (said not with tongue in cheek but, biting my tongue really ... I cant help it, I miss California) Aaaanyway, both yesterday and today were in the low 90's. Not bad but, I swear our house has the single worst placement on the planet when it comes to how the sun travels and it's beams hit our homestead.

Having a tri-level town home, we don't have tall enough trees to give any shade to the windows and, we've also found out just what a hunk-o-junk our a/c system is! Thank goodness the owners were already getting estimates to replace the entire system... I just hope the ball rolls fast! For example; outside the temp is 73 ... inside our house is 81. bleaah At 11pm @ night? Gnarly. And that's why I haven't had it in me to pick up any of my work in progress knits this weekend! I don't want any excess materials touching me LOL Heck we've stayed as least dressed as possible in our house this weekend!

What we did do though, was get up early and head out to the March For Babies fund raiser today. Both last year and this, I've corralled a team together from a mom/kiddo group I belong to and raised fund for the March of Dimes March For Babies. Yeah so, it was a bit warm, even at 9am to walk but ... it was only 3 miles and it was for a beloved cause. Baby girl and hubby joined me today! Hubby and I had some funny conversation for the haul and Molly was content in her shaded stroller thru the route. I'm still collecting donations till June 30th ... if you have loose change, 5 bucks, anything, it's all appreciated! 77 cents of each $1 goes directly to defeating premature birth and neonatal treatments.

It was a great weekend to sweat for a great cause!

Molly practicing her "marching!" for babies!

He looks innocent enough!

You can find out just why he was created by checking out my projects on Ravelry! ... If you daaaaaare!

my only tulip

And there you have it - the only tulip in my garden! We moved in to our town house back in October so, the front garden was already established. Since then, I've pulled up a few things that were just plain eye sores (in my opinion) and now that there's more room in between blooms and bushes, my strawberries are a lot happier. The Hosta too. I'll get some new gloves soon ... I have zip at the moment so, no gardening till then! I'll post more pics when I get some work done!

Oh, by the way ... did I mention I frogged my Clapotis? Here we go again! ;)

progress and stash

Clapotis ... 18 rows in, aka work up to row 4 in section 2.

I'm taking a breather from my Clapotis. I'm almost afraid to work it since I'm scared I'll frak it up completely LOL Naahh, I'm ok really just, distracted tonight. Hubby is in Boston for the Red Sox game. Nope, he's not a fan, he's in the Army Honor Guard and if you were there, he was the guard to the right of the national colors. And yes, he was lookin a bit like George Washington. It was a colonial job :) And tomorrow night after he gets home, we're driving frantically to the sitter so we can go to a Y&T concert. (go Jamie, it's yer birfday!) Yep, it's my present ... bday not until Thursday.

Lady Slipper ... yummy!

That is a snap of my recent purchase. The photo doesn't do the delicious color justice. See Harrisville Designs for more info about their large variety of knitting, weaving & felting goodies.

knit.1 mag spring/summer 09

Ahh Spring ... the flowery scent in the air, the sneezing, the sun warming my shoulders ... and Knit.1's Spring/Summer issue! On the shelves May 5th, I just rec'd my email preview of the patterns. Hot, hawt, haute! I think my fingerless glove pattern may have just gotten changed from "Dashing" to rock 'n roll cool!

Knit.1 magazine ... check out the next issue preview!

shout out for an awesome day!

Big kudos to the fine fiber folks @ Connecticut Yarn & Wool!

I ordered an extra hank of Farmhouse Yarn, Fannies Fingering Weight in Choc. Covered Cherries this morning, to make sure my Calpotis shawl is nice and roomy. At the end of my online transaction I was suddenly sent into a (slight) panic that I might receive something other than what I ordered. (the description was a bit off) I started by making a call, and ended up speaking directly to the lady herself who creates the fabulous yarn @ Farmhouse. It's always nice to speak to "the big cheese" of any company, know what I mean?

Anyway ... long story short, not more than an hour after my worry began, I received a call back from a wonderful woman at CT Yarn & Wool assuring me that I was going to get exactly what I had asked for! I was content (ok, I was still worried) to wait it out and see what arrived in the box and go from there but, it was awesome to get the personal call. Thank you! I hope I get a chance to make it up to CT and show off my Clapotis sometime!

Also on this frikken fabulously gorgeous day ... no really, it was perfect! ... I made a trip to Knit Happens, over in Old Town. I grabbed a 16" 10.5 circular to work on a hat for my daughter, and 2 hanks of delicious Harrisville Designs New England Shetland wool in Lady Slipper. Yummmmm! It'll make for fabulous fingerless gloves!

"That's all?" I came home with, you might ask. Maryland Sheep & Wool is in a few short weeks ... I'm conserving!

After nosing around the book and magazine sections and feeling my way through the yarn selection, I decided maybe I should go back home to make sure it was still standing. Of course it was :) The hubby painted his motorcycle while our 22 month old enjoyed her "outside play", and mommy had some mucho needed "gotta have yarn time". Hope your day was half as good as mine!

xoxo

youtube goodies

I found this vid tonight while seeking info about yarn swifts and winding your own. A gracious freecycler has offered to give me her yarn swift that she hasn't used in some time ... never using one, I decided it was time for a tutorial! Also, time to shop for thank you cards! The freecycler was so nice to meet, not to mention how generous... wow!!! I hope she decides to join our Monday night group sometime, too!

knitting = love

I am one lucky knittin gal tonight! First, I went to my usual Monday night knitting @ a local Panera here in NoVA ... just getting to do that in itself every week is like a mini vacation with a bunch of good friends you don't see a whole lot on the regular.

Secondly, it was our "Bunny Swap". We each chose a person to gift a few weeks ago, and anonymously shopped for them. Tonight was the night gifts were revealed. Eve, a knitter I haven't seen much on Monday nights, hit the nail on the head when she ended up getting stuck having to buy for me :) I received a lovely project bag in a blue reminiscent of the ocean, a yummy organic chocolate bar and a 400yd hank of Fannie's Fingering Weight Merino & Nylon yarn ... in Chocolate Covered Cherries, no less!

Eve rocks! (and the candy was delish!)

Also making me a lucky girl was finding another treasure presented by the always-oh-so-awesome Phat Fiber! This time the Etsy artist, Poly Art Girl, is the featured gift creator for one fortunate Phat Fiber reader! Follow this link to the give away, follow the instructions (uber easy), and comment for a chance!

xoxo

hold tightly your dreams

Hand Crafted Shawl Pin, Brooch

Dawning Dreams is an Etsy shop of dreamy, delicious wonders. However, the best thing about these dreams is that you can hold them in your hands.

At Dawning Dreams you will find items to enhance your knit and spinning supplies. Yummy roving that will make you google every "learn to spin" website available, and pretty stitch markers to dangle from your work - to name a few. But the most stunning item for sale (IMO) is the Gold Wire Mask. Maybe it's my *thing* for masquerade balls in times of olde? Or perhaps it's just the idea that a delicate shiny object can change the way I go about my day ... making it somewhat easier and more fun :) I dare you to get it and knit while wearing it! And don't forget to send me a pic!

Enjoy!

got sock pattern?

This just in from Whip-Up.net ...
By entering the yarn, needles, gauge, heel design and ankle circumference you wish to use to create a knitted sock, Elizabeth Bennett's Perl Sock Program will calculate a sock pattern using the information you plug in. Wow!

Follow this link! And thank you, Elizabeth Bennett!

Phat Fiber's latest temptation

Ohh that Phat Fiber! They offer a wonderful Sampler Box every month, and now they are teaming up with NorthStar Alpacas to give away a yummy 4oz hank of yarn. The best part? You get to pick which fiber you like best! Visit Phat Fiber Sampler Box and read the instructions. It's the easiest thing you'll do all night-owl long! Check it out, and good luck!

ohh what a tangled web we wind...

My uber Spring-timey and yummy Egg Hunt yarn from Material Whirled came to me in a hank (kind of a long twist). I actually won this yarn in their monthly yarn give-away! A lot of yarn you might pick up out there are already in a ball, or skein, or "hour glass". In the case of hand dyed and small fiber creators, you're gonna run into what you see in photo #1 ...

1) Egg Hunt unveiled

Instead of running out to purchase a contraption to wind your yarn for you, you might be lucky enough to have an experienced knitting friend to do the winding for you. Or, you could just jump in with both feet (or hands, in this case) and gain some personal experience from winding it yourself. I might have had an easier time if I'd waited till my hubby got home to borrow his two hands for my first winding endeavor, but what the heck... it's not like I was gonna kill the yarn trying it out! Besides, the tactile sensation of handling the yarn so intimately was really worth a little bit of brow furrowing on my part ;)

2) a simple thing - paper towel cardboard & scissors3) tuck an end into your cut4) begin to wind, keeping it a bit tight
5) too tight, and you might end up with 2 balls of yarn in the end :)
They can always be connected to continue on a project if needed!

To remove the yarn from the paper towel (or TP) cardboard, just bend it in half and slip it out.

Fear not, novice knitters! You can't ruin a yarn ... unless you do something really stoopid, like set it on fire. And even then, depending on the fiber, it might just poof out almost immediately! This was my first shot at hand winding, and certainly not my last. I hope the suggestion that I found and tried here for myself helps you decide to maybe take on a knitting project or activity you thought might be out of your range. Bah! Go for it! :)

xoxo

knitting posts @ mommy loves candy

I'm unable to back date posts to their original dates and simply post them here as if they were here to begin with so ... here are a few links to previous posts I have made in regards to knitting on my blog "mommy loves candy"

3/29/09 Got fiber? It's a yarn giveaway!

3/11/09 Project finished!

2/5/09 Work In Progress

First post!

I decided it was time to move my knitting posts to their own home!

When people you've known for anywhere from a few months to a few decades look at you as if you just told them you now smoke crack on a daily basis, when all you really just said to them was, "hey, I took up knitting... and I like it!", it's time to create a place where you can go on and on about about your new found habit, err I mean hobby, so they don't have to read thru my project posts and abbreviations wondering when I became an "old maid".

Truth is, they just don't understand me!

An old friend of mine actually said to me, upon finding out I knit... "WTF, I thought you were cool!" Excuse me? I mean, do people really think clothes grow on trees, or has technology just advanced so far that an art like knitting seems obsolete to some folks?

Yarn skeins my grandmother had crocheted with actually beckoned me to learn how to work it on a hook. I didn't take well to that, and I didn't have anyone to teach me so, I dropped the idea. Finally (and this was about a year later) I decided I'd give knitting a try. After trial and error, youtube videos, googling everything I could think of, sitting the knit section of Borders Books reading instructions, and finally the patience of an experienced knitter, the light bulb fired up big time, and I was hooked! Grandma's chunky pink yarn was about to become my first project to cast on and finish.

A few months later, I am diving into DPNs and about ready to cast on to create fingerless gloves. They are practice for working on socks in the future! I hope you enjoy my latest blog endeavor ... named "purl-wise" in honor of my grandma, Pearl, whom I love and miss so very much. Her crocheted creations drape my couches and cover my baby girl at night. And that's just one of the most wonderful parts about knitting and other yarn arts - when you're long gone, someone who loves and misses you, might find comfort still in works that your hands made.




xoxo
Jamie