WiP Wednesday, On the Fly!

I was sick all of last week and when I couldn’t find my card reader (the Hubster had swiped it!), I punted. So here are my pics from last week

Christmas Present #1, Knucks

Christmas Present #2, Watch Cap

Those were both finished in time and gifted last Friday. Hooray!

Massively Stressful Project was finished in time and handed over to the client. Double Hooray!!

I’m in California at the moment. Tigger and I took a hike yesterday. I have more pictures and will blog that trip, possibly tonight. Here’s a teaser:


And here’s what I’ve been knitting since I’ve been away from home. A “reverse colorway” pair of Northman’s Mittens! They’re flying along and I lurve them!


Expect my end-of-year wrap-up post to be much later than Friday. I’ll be on a plane all day that day, plus I have a crapload of finished projects I still need to blog. I’m gonna do it (I like the simple reference for all of my finished projects on an annual basis) and I’ll probably just blog a bunch of them and set them to post daily while I’m watching ALL THE GAMES on Saturday. Can’t wait!

Ho Ho Ho?

I can't find the card reader for my camera, so no WiP Wednesday for you.

I have a massive Friday-deadline project that is sucking the life out of me. I have zero Christmas spirit and am starting to think I won't have time to find it any time soon. That doesn't even touch the shiny new freelance workload. Which is a good thing that started at a tough time.

I'll be back. Once I have a few spare minutes to rub together. See you then.

Holiday Spirit

I’m freaking out a little bit about the holidays. It’s not the knitting, it’s an in-trade quilting gig. I’ll get it done. I just need to buckle down.

In other news, I’m knitting a pair of gift Knucks.

Pardon the crappy indoor photo. It was a busy day today.

The replacement scarf is finished and in the hands of the USPS with its cohorts.

The tree is decorated and I got a wreath I really liked today (no picture. It went up after dark.) But here’s the tree!


And here’s a picture of one of my favorite ornaments. Way back when we first moved to Pittsburgh, I blogged about our scantily clad Christmas tree (we were low on ornaments. We've been picking up ones we really like slowly, as we find them). A dear friend from my Bruin Softball days took it upon herself to purchase a UCLA tree ornament and send it to us. Makes me smile when I think of all the friends I made during my eight years in Bruin-land.


That’s about it from here. I’ll try to keep the finished scarf blogging going. I have two more to show you!

Purple and Gold

While the commission scarf I showed you last week was a disappointing failure (only because of the color miscommunication), there has been other successful weaving progress around here.

This purple and gold scarf (college colors of the recipient) was the first of the commission trio that I put on the loom. It’s the same yarn as the Navy/Green scarf, but I guessed wrong on the sett (weaver’s rough equivalent of gauge) so it’s a little bit stiffer than I had hoped. Hello, weaving learning curve!


Fortunately, a nice bath loosened up the fabric and it drapes much better now.


Again, the scarf sports some twisted fringe. I just love the way twisted fringe looks in these multicolored warps!

Speaking of stripes, this was my first attempt at a plaid. I'll admit to picking the brain of one of my weaving heroes, but it really wasn't that tough (yay!). I used some graph paper and sketched it out and I think it turned out just fine!


This scarf will be on its way to my client later this week. I hope it is used and loved by its recipient!

Karen's Christmas Scarf

Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash Sport
Colors: Royal Purple and Daffodil
Quantity: 4 skeins Purple, 1 skein Daffodil
Width on Loom: 10”
EPI: 12
Finished Size: 69x8.25” excluding fringe
Pattern: Plain Tabby/evenweave
Started: 28 November 2010
Finished: 1 December 2010

For Sale

If you know me IRL, you’ve heard me yammering on about a trio of commission scarfs I have been weaving. I needed to get them all finished up so I could fold up my loom for the rest of the year, since it lives in the spot where the Christmas tree goes.

I finished on Friday night.

Then, yesterday, I discovered that my favorite of the three scarfs has the wrong complimentary color.

So if you know anyone who would like a handwoven scarf made with a superwash wool, here’s your big chance.


It’s roughly 64” long and 8.5” wide, excluding fringe


Speaking of which, it’s a twisted fringe.


A plain tabby weave in a simple plaid pattern. Very subtle, and I think it would easily be man-approved. It was the second scarf of the trio that I had on the loom for this project and was my favorite the minute I took it off of the loom. And then it softened up even more with wet-finishing. It’s very soft and lightweight. And yours for $50!

Honestly, I’d keep it but I have a gazillion scarfs around this house and nobody on my gift list that “fits” for this particular scarf. I’d like to recoup the cost of the yarns with a little extra thrown in for my time. New scarf goes on the loom pronto. Once I figure out where the loom can be used in the living room with the Christmas tree already in place.


The "flecks" in the above picture are itty bitty snowflakes, not dirt or imperfections on the scarf.

Navy/Green Scarf (For Sale)

Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash Sport
Colors: Navy and Hunter Green
Quantity: 3 skeins Navy, 1 skein Hunter Green
Width on Loom: 10”
EPI: 10
Finished Size: 64x8.5" excluding fringe
Pattern: Plain tabby/evenweave
Started: 1 December 2010
Finished: 2 December 2010

FOR SALE: $50

WiP Wednesday

I haven’t touched the Musique socks.

I haven’t touched Nonpareil.

No weaving is happening … I finished the commission stuff so I could put the loom away and get a Christmas tree.

Oh yeah, the tree!


Tree is in the house, in the stand and sucking down water like there’s no tomorrow. But it’s not decorated yet. We’ll get there. Eventually.

I desperately need to buckle down and do some commission sewing. But I don’t wanna. Which means I’m getting a gold medal in procrastination.

But I have been putting in some good time on my last scheduled piece of deadline knitting. Bagstopper #4 is well into the second skein. Yay, quick knits!


Since it’s Weaving Wednesday and the loom is on the shelf until after the first of the year, I’m going to lock myself in the dungeon and sew. All. Day. Or until I’m done. Whichever one comes first. Gotta turn these into a pair of quilt tops.


Send cookies.

Penguins

I don’t remember when, exactly, I started collecting penguins.


I know it was before I moved to California in the spring of 1999, but I can’t pinpoint it more closely than that.

In February of 2000, I was a bridesmaid in the wedding of one of my best friends from college. She and her hubby had taken their honeymoon months before the wedding, going to New Zealand and possibly Australia (I don’t remember if they did both or just NZ). Our bridesmaids gifts? Glass penguins from New Zealand.

My Kiwi Penguin is the small one in front.

As we finished up our master bed/bathroom renovation nearly two years ago, one of the last steps was plaster patch and painting of the living room ceiling to fix the water damage from the shower pan failure that precipitated the renovation (got all that? There will be a quiz later!)

All of the sub-contractors our contractor brought into our house were fantastic, and I would hire all of them again independently. Somehow, when I put away all of my penguins for the painting process, some of them were left in a vulnerable position. We lost a couple beaks that day. I’m not quite sure how, but it happened.

The bird that was most obviously damaged was a cheapie I’d picked up somewhere along the line, I'm pretty sure he came from a cigar shop in the Eugene, Ore., mall. Not a big deal and certainly not worth trying to fix the smashed beak (although our contractor offered to try!)

Broken beaks! Sad!

The other casualty wasn’t noticed for nearly a year, and was much more disappointing. My Kiwi penguin had also chipped his beak. Sad! But the damage is so subtle, he’s still displayed with my personal colony.

Fortunately, my parents spent November Down Under, visiting both Australia and New Zealand. When they left, I showed my mom my poor injured flightless waterfowl. She found two of his countrymen to bring home!

New guys on the outside with my "old" Kiwi penguin in the center.

One penguin is even a Penguins fan, sporting a bit of gold along with his snazzy tuxedo.


The other is slightly shorter, but just as cute.


Many thanks to my parentals for bringing such cool keepsakes back from their trip to the southern hemisphere!

Give a Hoot

This is a very picture-heavy post. This was possibly one of the most photogenic things I’ve made and I simply couldn’t narrow down which photos to use.


A few weeks ago, I was perusing a stack of new magazines at the store while doing some mindless store sample knitting. When I got to the back of the KnitSimple Holiday 2010 issue I knew I had found a Christmas gift for my year-old nephew.


I’ve knit Susan B. Anderson toy patterns before. You may remember last year’s A Hippopotamus for Christmas, and last week’s Snake was also from Itty Bitty Toys.

The Owls hangin’ in their birthplace, the Blue Sky Worsted cubby at Bloomin’ Yarns.

All of her toy patterns are written for four DPNs, so you’re knitting in a triangle. Aside from the rapid increases on the owl-butts, they are simple and quick knits.


I did make one departure from the pattern. You may have noticed that these owls have no feet. I knit all six feet, but the more I looked at them, the more I didn’t like them.


After polling my audience both at Thanksgiving and at the store during our Black Friday sale, I was happy with the decision that the owls did just fine as Weebles. They have poly pellets in their butts (poly pellets are contained in a piece of knee-high stocking, so no choking hazard), so they stand up just fine on their own.

Owls with most of the rest of the store menagerie.

Dealing with some of the other small bits, including the pupils, required some manual dexterity, but all the pieces went on to the owls quickly and easily. No complaints on the construction at all.


This parliament of Owls is currently terrorizing Bloomin’ Yarns until they need to fly south to Little Rock, where they will hopefully be enjoyed by our nephew for years to come. Another A+ project from Susan B. Anderson!

Give a Hoot

Pattern: Little Owls by Susan B. Anderson
Source: KnitSimple Magazine, Holiday 2010 issue
Yarn: Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton
Colors: Drift, Pumpkin, Aloe, Toffee
Quantity: Scraps of all. I used the most of the Toffee.
Needles: US 6/4.0mm Susan Bates DPNs
Started: 13 November 2010
Finished: 26 November 2010
Mods: Skipped the feet. These dudes do just fine as Weebles. Especially for a 1-yr-old.

WiP Wednesday: Random Edition

There’s been some weaving, but I’m between commission scarfs at the moment. I’m also a bit limited in mobility today. Did you know that some couches have six legs instead of four? With a hidden front-center leg lurking behind the skirt? Yeah, I didn’t either. Until I kicked the crap out of one last night. Ouch.

Meanwhile, the Musique socks are getting good “waiting time” knitting.


And I cast on another Christmas present. This one for my sister in law. It’s an Everlasting Bagstopper since she has admired mine. Here’s hoping she likes it! I know it’ll go quickly.


In other news, as much as I hate LeafWars and fought the (hopefully) last battle of the year on Monday, with the weather yesterday and today, I’m glad I took the time then. Looky what I woke up to this morning!


With all the rain yesterday, Santa and the tree lights shorted out twice last night (the rain popped the safety switch on the outlet). With the switch to snow, here’s hoping they behave properly from here on out. Have a great week!