A Day Well Spent

Today three knitting friends (Kelly, Karen Michelle) and I went on a little adventure north into the Wilds above Milwaukee… okay, maybe I’m embellishing a bit here.  We actually went to the towns of Grafton and Cedarburg, WI to do a little shopping and eating and sight-seeing.  The weather was excellent for a day spent going in and out of little shops and such. 

We started out by hitting the Grafton yarn store.  I found the Curlicue coverlet pattern I’ve been on the lookout for and some really cute buttons for a future project for little Miss Sylvia. I also picked up some Noro in a kicky colorway, a back issue of Debbie Bliss Magazine that I had seen last summer but never got around to buying, some Arauncunia Yarn to try and an original hat pattern from the store that will be good to use with the Noro. 

Then we went to Cedarburg.  What a pretty little town.  It is chock full of little specialty shops, antique shops and museums.  There was also a store for the Cedar Creek winery.  We were all hungry when we got there, so we stopped for lunch at the Cream and Crepe Cafe.  I had the best vegetable soup, paired with a ham and cheese crêpe. Everyone else had soup or crepes and we all enjoyed our meal.  Of course we all were careful to save room for the pumpkin crepes for dessert - totally yummy.  Then we meandered around town seeing what was there to see.  I picked up some cute little sheep charms at the bead store and some handmade caramels at the candy shop.  Adjacent to the bead shop was the Cedarburg Woolen Mill Textile Museum which unfortunately wasn’t operating while we were there but we did get a peek at the carding machine and some of the other historical equipment.  Mostly we just had fun poking around and seeing the different things to see.  I may have also picked up a couple of bottles of wine from the winery store which I’ll have to sample soon!

On the way home we felt the need to make one more stop, so we swung into Ruhamas Yarn store and checked it out.  I didn’t really find anything there to buy, even though the display of Kauni did keep trying to trip me and Kelly.  I managed to stay on my feet and avoid the temptation, although there is one colorway that I could see working up really nice… Kelly found a colorway she liked, but she was unable to buy any because they didn’t have that color in stock. (excuse for return trip in future!)

After that we were feeling a little need for refreshment so we visited Kopps Custard and had some treats for the road.  Pumpkin Shakes for Kelly and Michelle, a sandwich and tea for Karen and the flavor of the day chocolate chocolate chip custard for me.  MMMM

I didn’t take very many pictures, but here’s a shot of my loot:

Even though I was certain that nothing but wilderness existed north of Milwaukee, I discovered a couple of charming little towns.  It was all very civilized and nice.  We had a fun time visiting and exploring and I’ll definitely have to take DH there sometime after he comes home.

All in all, it was a day well spent.

Oh, and in case you were wondering if I’ve been knitting anything lately; on Friday, I finished these:

This was a fun and pretty pattern which I will probably make again someday.

 

Niagara Falls Socks by Janelle Laidman (The Eclectic Sole)

Yarn KPPPM in P416138

Size 2.25 needles (magic loop, 2-at-a-time)

Happy Knitting!

Nana

What’s In Your Basket?

I figured it was time I shared a little of what’s happening here at Nana’s.  I’ve been doing more serial casting on and less knitting than I would like (again).   But I am seeing progress on a couple of projects…

But before I get to those, I thought I‘d share a few yarn acquisitions I made recently.  The first is some beautiful handspun that knitter friend Paula gifted some of the knitters in our little Thursday night group.  Sherri got two skeins of brown energized singles and I got this:

About 270grams of a nice grey and white twist yarn.  Paula wasn’t 100% on the fiber content, but I think there is enough here for a nice hat or pair of mittens or maybe a cowl.  Ah, the possibilities.

Next up, you know I can’t resist alpaca in any form, so I went to the Northern Illinois Alpaca Extravaganza at the new Lake County Fairgrounds a couple of weeks ago and after ogling all of the lovely alpaca on the hoof, I found these two skeins of  Sport weight from the Whisper Meadows Alpaca farm… The yarn is named after the alpaca it came from … how fun is that

Peruvian penny (cream) and Patent Leather (black)

I’m thinking maybe a tam?

Then last weekend on Halloween I went on an excursion with Kelly and Carol out to the Fold in Marengo, followed by a lunch where we decided to go visit yet another shop that none of us had ever been to (Gene Anne’s Yarn in Barrington).  All in all it was a lovely day and a few things followed me home:

From the Fold, Cascade Heritage Hand Painted Sock Yarn in the glamorous color 9926

And from Gene Ann (who practically thrust it upon me) Dream in Color Knitosophy in Strength

So you see, with all this yarn shopping, who has had much time left to knit?  No seriously, I have still been seeing too many patterns that I want to knit right away and have been totally unrealistic with myself about the amount of time needed to actually knit the pattern…

So, here’s what’s patiently waiting turns in my knitting basket

Niagara Falls Socks by Janelle Laidman

Yarn KPPPM

Big V Vest by Melissa Mathay

Yarn SWTC Terra

I might have showed this one already… the It Ain’t a Pair of Socks Shawl (pattern Simply Effective Shawl by Cosmicpluto Knits

Yarn Down Home Art by Knitivity colorway Ain’t Gail

And the newest and most exciting project:

Arena from Knitters Fall 2009

Yarn: Valley Yarns Stockbridge from Webs

Whew! What’s in your basket?

Happy Knitting

Nana

Home Again and Yarny Goodness

I and thankfully my suitcase made it home safely. The Fairbanks-Anchorage and Anchorage – Minneapolis flights were fairly unremarkable. Knitting happened mostly as desired and no infants or queasy moms were seated nearby. The flight from Minneapolis-Milwaukee which should have been an efficient 56 minutes took more like 2 hours and 47 minutes; spent mostly sitting on the runway in Minnesota; due largely in part to storms in the great lakes region. The drive home was not fun either, but like I said I made it, and was greeted by two (happy?) kitties when I came through the door.

It's good to be home but I miss my guy terribly already. Here he is in uniform: The kitties and I were pretty lazy yesterday and I thought I’d get this post up, but we were really lazy…. anyway, as promised, I wanted to tell you about yarn stores in Fairbanks.

Here are the goodies that my DH helped me pick out:

(my apologies for the dark pictures... it was a bit cloudy that day).

The first stop was A Weavers Yarn; which is co-located with the owner’s home, so we initially thought we took a wrong turn when we ended up in a residential area, but found it easily enough. A nice shop with lots of good choices for knitters, weavers and other needle artists; since it was the first stop, I had to show a little restraint, but these goodies ended up in the bag:

One skein of Pagewood Farms Hand-dyed Sock Yarn; 2 skeins of Watercolours cotton embroidery thread (for embellishing) (and because it was just so darn pretty), and 2 skeins of Rabbit Ridge Hand-dyed sock yarn. Plus the owner Susan was helpful and friendly and threw in a couple of free sample patterns.

The next stop on our tour was Northern Threads which is also a quilting shop. This was a large shop which is primarily a quilting shop. The shop offered an excellent selection of yarns, fabrics and all the essentials for knitters and quilters. My Mom would love this shop. Here my biggest decision was over colors more than brands. I found an excellent yarn called Rustic Tweed from Queensland Collection. It came in so many nice colors that I had a hard time deciding. Even DH was stumped (he really liked both of the greys so well even he couldn’t decide which was better). The yarn has a very subtle variegation within the skein. So I really wanted to buy a sweater’s worth, but didn’t bring that big of a suitcase, of course the owner assured me that they do ship! I settled for two skeins of a soft creamy gold toned color… and there was also a scrumptious skein of Misti Alpaca sock yarn that I couldn’t resist, as well as a couple of nice buttons to tuck away for a future project.

After that we decided to take a break for lunch and went to a Chinese restaurant where I had some yummy cashew chicken and DH had some teriyaki chicken. We must have been hungry because there were no leftovers! Thus fortified we trekked onward.

Next stop was Inua Wool Shoppe which is a must not miss place. The shop is beautiful and the yarn selection is very well balanced and again I had a hard time not buying several things that I could have bought and settled instead for a few well-chosen things. Of course the one I know you’ve been waiting to hear about is the big-ticket item that is home-grown in Alaska. I’m talking Qiviut and yes! I got some. I had hoped to get some in a natural color, but the shade I preferred was only in stock in fingering weight and I wanted the lace weight because I figure I need to make something very special with this yarn and of course lace weight knits into spectacular things. I settled for a pretty cranberry color and found a lovely smoke ring pattern to knit it up with*. The shop also had an extensive selection of Noro Sock yarn (both Kuryeon and Silk Garden) and I got to see, fondle and pick from colors I hadn’t seen much of locally. After narrowing it down to three possibilities DH helped me decide on color S102 which is predominantly pink-blue-orange. (I see more striped socks in my future). I also found this funky little button that says “will knit for coffee.” It is supposed to go in the hole of a croc type shoe, but I think I will figure out a way to attach it to my knitting bag. (Maybe not the one I take to work… don’t want Linda to get any bad ideas.) I have to give kudos to my hubby here. He didn’t gasp or tremble at all when we checked out. Love him!

The last stop was the Memories and More shop which is a combination scrap booking and knitting shop. Her yarn selection was smaller, but by no means inferior to any of the others. I already had a rough idea of what I wanted before we went (from looking at the website) and was not disappointed! Malabrigo… yippee! In (ahem) a nice light purple shade. And she, too had Noro Sock Yarn and I found a shade of navy-gray-black (S233) that I hadn’t seen at Inua… it too needed to come home with me. I also got a couple of “Alaska” themed pages so I can do a memory page for the trip. (If I ever get photos printed, etc).

Whew! That seems like a lot. I’ll have to talk about my knitting in another post!

Have a Yarny Weekend!

Nana

* In a kind of funny coincidence I was telling DD#2 about our adventures and the pattern I found but I couldn’t remember the name of the designer. Then, she told me about this designer she really liked who had a lot of smoke ring patterns. After she sent me the info on line, I went to the website, and it turns out that it was the exact same designer!

Clarification of Sorts

Thanks for the comments on the Mother-in-Law sweater. To answer your questions... I'll probably hang in there with the yarn. It's what she wanted. I don't think she crafts. My stepdaughter saw it in progess and had more or less the same reaction, but said if that was the same yarn her MIL gave me, then it would be okay. The weather in MI during our recent visit canceled the event where I was supposed to meet the recipient, so I'm taking SD's word for it. The pattern itself, though, is really quite nice and I have a much nicer yarn in mind for my very own version, so I'm considering the first go around as practice and a way to discover any areas of the pattern I might need to adjust.

Whirlwind

Well it feels like I’ve been caught in one these days. My cousin got married last Friday, in a lovely ceremony in Lake Geneva; so I had my parents visiting over a few days. (Unfortunately the Cardinals were in town playing the Cubs and I was surrounded by Cubs FANS)… humpf. Anyway it is always good to catch up with family and we had an opportunity to visit with (ironically) the Twin City branch (Aunt, uncle and cousins) and meet some nice folks who are friends of my cousin and his new wife. (the happy couple)

Then, with barely time to catch my breath Linda, Chris and I took an early flight Monday for a quick trip to St. Paul to meet with the fabulous staff of the Yarnery; to get tips on marketing and promotional ideas to help our shop grow. We also hit a couple of other shops while in MN to get some of the local flavor there and ideas about displays, etc. we also checked out some surrounding non yarn-related shops. There might have been one teeny-tiny yarn purchase on the trip (yarn we don’t carry and which might be hard to find for a while) Linda made me swear on a stack of alpaca that I wouldn’t knit with it at work…

(Malabrigo Silky Merino DK, colors Hyacint & Bahia)

We arrived home late Tuesday, tired, but with heads swimming with many ideas. I suspect things at the shop will get busy for me as I start working on some of the projects and ideas we’re planning.

Yesterday was laundry, recouperating and I think some knitting...

I made progress on a few projects while others are feeling neglected. I’ll try to get some knitting content up in the next post.

The Greys Have it!

Most of the voting went with the Grey Knitpicks Shimmer! It looks like that's what the Swallowtail shawl will be made of! Thanks for voting... I'll be drawing for a winner later today, Saucey said she'd help, but there's naps to be taken! I'll post the name in my next post.

Tuesday Tidbits

Yesterday’s mail was bountiful:
A little advance birthday package via Knitpicks

Harmony Sock Needle set and the Riverside Cafe Lace Sampler

And a check (rebate) from my credit card!
Yarn and money; a winning combination I’d say!

The dish cloth pattern is progressing; I had to swatch some more and am hopefully attempting the finished item today. It's really hard to take good pictures of this, but here's a sneak peek:

Leaf v2.0 (done in some spare blue yarn, this is not the final color I'm using)

And finally, I'll leave you with some random stuff I've been thinking...

I was thinking the other day how nice it is to finally be a part of a bigger knitting community. Not so very long ago, I was really just a lone knitter doing my little hobby in my “off hours” when I wasn’t at work or involved in some other activity. Squeezing in knitting projects and knitting with whatever I could get my hands on. (Which was mostly the type of yarn available at ‘big box’ type stores). The only feedback I got was the type you get from non-knitters – you know - mostly “Oh, I could never do anything THAT complicated” “Well, I learned to knit once, but haven’t done it in years” or my personal favorite… “[insert name/relationship here] used to knit [back when] but I thought it had gone out of style” PAH! I suppose those are meant to be encouraging, but mostly I felt like I was some sort of bug on exhibit doing some quaint little thing. So looking back over the past few years, I am happy to say that I have been on a journey of discovery about the joy of being part of a knitting community. From discovering actual yarn shops while living in CA (but still being a little too far away and too busy for regular visits); to having a regular yarn shop to visit, take classes from and join a group of knitters at, in MN; to discovering the world wide knitting network through websites, blogs and now Ravelry; and best of all being able to work in a yarn shop. Still, the most amazing part is having the ability to connect with like-minded people in person or online and in short order get a knitting technique explained or demonstrated; get a valid opinion on the progress of a project. (Should I rip; should I go on knitting?) (Do these instructions even make any sense?) It’s really such a shame that there are still knitters out there who are unaware of the resources and friendships that exist in the bigger knitting community. I count myself very lucky to have become aware and involved with this community. I love the fact that I don’t have to knit with, heaven forbid, a local discount store’s version of a wide range of yarn choices (shiver) anymore. I love the fact that if the pattern calls for brand “X” that I have enough options to be able to track down the specified yarn and use it for my project. I don’t think I could ever go back to knitting the way it used to be for me. So where am I going with this? Oh, yeah! I’m just very thankful that this evolution from lone knitter to enlightened knitter has taken place. Not only has my knitting improved, but I feel empowered to experiment with techniques, patterns and yarns that I might not have tried before and even to forge off on my own with just my basic understandings of the craft, yarn and needles. Now I don’t have to sit alone in the “dark” trying to figure it all out for myself. I feel the same way about being part of this community pretty much as I did all the way back in the ‘80s when I discovered Knitting Without Tears in the Ferguson, MO library and had my very first knitting break-through. “I knit continental; I am not a weirdo!” “Thank goodness for another knitter who understands me!” So today, I say: “Thank goodness for knitting pioneers and thank goodness for the visionaries who have found ways to adapt today’s technology to keep knitting fresh, current and relevant.”

Weekend Update

So as it turned out, my class ended up being a private lesson with the owner of the shop, Lynette! I had a wonderful hour of her undivided attention while she showed me one-on-one some of the little tricks she uses for making neat seams and she also helped me with my tension problem by figuring out that I was actually "throwing" the yarn when I purled. Since I knit continental, I guess the result was that my stitches were formed differently, so they ended up looking differently as a result. She taught me a different way to do my purling and it seems to work. She also showed me a couple of great reference books which will have to go on my “wish list” for the time being. All in all it was a very fortuitous morning! Oh, and this yummy Koigu KPPPM might have followed me home. Lynette was very kind and helpful to me and has such a nice shop; it’s just too bad that I don’t get to go there as often as I would if I lived closer. Unfortunatly, I spent so much time with practice-purling that I didn’t actually get to finish the baby sweater yesterday as planned! So no pictures of any Finished Objects just yet.

Sunday, Sunday

Between the weather I’m tired of having and hearing about and the craziness in the news lately, I find myself just wanting to curl up in a ball and hibernate along with the cats. I don’t know anyone currently attending NIU, but have several family members and friends with ties to the school and the Dekalb community. The whole incident is stunning, distressing, perplexing and just a little creepy. What can I say? I’m so sad that something like this can happen. (Ever, anywhere)

Yesterday was pretty much all about getting our taxes done (yet another reason to hibernate) in the morning and in the evening we had a “Sweetheart Banquet” at church. One event was decidedly more pleasant than the other.

I have been doing a little knitting, but the project I’m making the most progress on is not being tracked here (due to it being a secret swap project). The Annetrelac socks are progressing, I’ve actually turned the heel and started on the foot;

but I wanted to get more of the other pair done first… plus on the Annetrelac, there’s a yarn-sucking-pattern issue threatening… I think I’m going to have to start the second sock before I finish the first sock because my yarn cake is looking pretty skimpy in terms of doing a foot and a whole other sock.

I do have some complimentary yarn in the same weight if I need to do the contrasting heel-toe maneuver… that’s why I think I’ll probably go ahead and start sock number two before I work any more on sock number one. So that’s a little less than motivational on that pair. But, there will be less ripping and gnashing of teeth later on.

I also realize that I have a baby sweater that needs to be knit sometime in the next couple of weeks for our new grand-daughter. The baby is due the 24th. We will probably go up to MI to see her sometime in March, so in my mind there is no hurry…. But everyone knows that best-laid gift knitting plans often do go astray. I have a pattern and yarn picked out, but have been too unmotivated and only worrying about the two simultaneous pairs of socks to actually think about casting on for a baby sweater.
Good thing baby sweaters are usually quick knits, and the pattern I plan on is a very quick knit by all reports.

Since I don’t have many pictures to show of the socks I’m working, here’s the finished shot of the yarn I dyed the other day. I haven’t come up with a name.

Wow just as I was typing this, it just struck me that the purple didn’t quite turn out as bright as I hoped and is actually more … gray… so … wow…NIU colors. I think it might be fitting to call this colorway ‘Husky Love’.

Happy Valentines Dye!

I tried my hand at something new today. Kool-aide dyed yarn. Here’s what I did.
I used instructions that were given out at last year's Knit Out at Mall of America (which is coming up this weekend again, *whoo* but no road trip to MN for me *sigh, sniff*). Anyhow, the instructions were published by Leisure Arts, but I could not find an online version of them, but I did find this one and another one with slightly different instructions.

The yarn specified was Patons Classic Wool Merino (Aran #0202). I had some in Winter White; 1 package of Kool-Aide per ounce of yarn, a microwave safe dish, dishwashing detergent and microwave. The skein was 3.5 oz, but I only used 2 packs of kool-aide. I used grape and fruit punch. Here’s how it went:

First I prepared the yarn by soaking it in warm water with a little dishwashing detergent – this opens the "scales" of the yarn (according to the directions).

So I let it soak and waited:

Good time to catch up on the internet…

Then I mixed the "dye"...

Once the yarn soaked for about 30 minutes, I rinsed it, squeezed it to get out all the excess water and then the real fun began:

I put the yarn back in the microwave safe dish, and spooned on the dye.

After all the dye was on and the yarn absorbed most of it; I put it in the microwave for 2 minutes on high; let it rest for 2 more minutes and repeated until the water was clear... which means the yarn has sucked up all the dye.

Then I let it cool and rinsed it again, squeezed out the excess water and hung it up to dry.

Voila… pretty hand-dyed yarn (oh, and it smells nice too!). (hee, hee). Once it’s completely dry I’ll post some pictures of the finished product!

Too fun! I might have to try again with another flavor… um color!

Oh, and lest I forget it is Valentines Day…. I have to show off what my sweetie got me:

Behold:

Yummy, yum, yum... a huge box of chocolate ..... He spoils me!

Monday Musings

Super Bowl is history and now we’re headed for Super Tuesday…. So don’t forget to vote! Whether you watched the game because you are a fan of one or the other team, just for the commercials or because you are like me and have a sports fan living in your house, and are therefor obliged to watch pretty much any playoff/bowl/sudden-death/tournament type thingy that comes along... you have to admit that it was a very exciting foot ball game. We personally didn’t care much about the outcome since the Packers, the Bears or ahem… the Rams weren’t playing. Our thinking was that if the Patriots won it would be the perfect end to the perfect season… if NY won… they got a parade… oh yeah, and it’s always fun to see the underdog win. (And it was!). Not to mention that it’s pretty neat to see brothers win in back to back seasons.

I needed something uncomplicated to work on while we were watching the big game, so I knitted these. I’ve done this pattern several times so it’s pretty much a no-brainer for me.

Pattern: Special Occasion Slippers from Socks, Socks, Socks (XRX)
Yarn: Handspun Shetland Wool (Worsted) from The Yarn Farm, Kewaunee WI (Purchased at the WI State Fair)
Size 6 dpn needles

When I bought this yarn, I had no specific plans, but I figured something would come along. I always like to buy a bit of yarn or something when we go to events or travel. Yarn makes the best souvenirs by far. It’s a fun thing when you buy it because you are excited over the find and it’s a fun thing when you get to knit with it because you remember when and where you bought it and you get to enjoy the memories all over again. We went to the fair one Saturday after DH played baseball, it had been a pleasant morning, but after walking around the fair for a little bit checking out the exhibits and finding something to eat (and buying yarn of course) we went into an exhibit hall, then came out to a little sprinkle, which quickly progressed to a heavier rain fall. We ducked into another exhibit hall, walked around while peeking outside occasionally, then once it looked dryer headed for the car before it decided to rain again. It was a really nice day. (Oh and I seem to remember potato pancakes, pork tenderloin and apple cinnamon donuts, yum!)

Over the weekend DH and I found another small organizing project (read: ‘excuse for going to the container store’) and while we were down that way, I talked him into letting me stop by the yarn shop. (Happy Dance). He’s so good to me. I really ONLY went in there for some needles… really… I did… but look what somehow ended up in my bag when I was all checked out and in the car heading home:

Oops! Is that a skein of Noro Sock yarn over there?

I worked on the I Love Gansey Sock a bit and have gotten the heel turned. I have enjoyed working with this pattern and will probably make another pair down the road.
Hopefully I can use a slightly different yarn/gauge combo as working with the aluminum size 000 needles is giving me a blister/callus on the joint of my pinkie finger (yuck). I hope to finish it off tonight!