Friday, August 25, 2006

gone swimmin...

well not really swimmin..
i'm at my sisters in rochester.
my SIL is getting married today and i'm going to stay on a week to do some stitchin, some chatting and some...whatever!
i'll still blog--i'm going to get my sister blogging here too.

there might even be a "sock on vacation" picture....

edited to add: no pictures yet, as my sister doesn't have a "thingy" that lets you just upload the pictures on the computer--y'know, a "thingy".
at home we have a "thingy" that you just stick your memory card into, it takes the pictures off....magic....magic thingy.
so, i havn't figured out how to get my pictures on their computer yet, therefore no pictures.
the sock is doing well...i've knit on it two nights and i'm almost half done.
the sock has gone to the zoo, almost to a wedding and may have more adventures yet.
we'll see if i can get something to work...or find the "thingy".

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

and they're off!!


off the needles anyways...
they are done, and I love them.

Pattern: all mine!!
60 stitches, 2x2 ribbing on the cuff.
Bow-knot stitch from Vogue Ultimate Knitting Book
Needles: size 2.5mm (US 1) Susan Bates
Yarn: Some dye-your-own superwash merino from etsy.
Dyed with orange and green kool-aid and lemonade Crystal light


I also got crafty and did some quilting---I bought some squares from ebay and haven't done anything with them.
so, I pulled out a quilting book, figured out what I could do with the squares (they are all 4" squares, 48 of them) and figured this out:

I think it's quite cute!


I also picked up little man's baby-jays this morning and managed to finish one.
I forgot how much I lover my addi's.
the "I dreamed of Africa" socks were done on susan bates--they were shorter and not the greatest for socks on one circular.
with the addi's though--just zipped along, got one done and am going to finish the other one today!

it almost makes up for the eyebrow disaster....

I bought a different waxing kit--thought it would be nice to try something new.
not. so. much.
um..yeah, the wax just went on like a big drippy mess and even though I didn't even rip it off, it still took half the eyebrow with it. I seriously spent an hour soaking my eye, rubbing gently, combing and everything else I could think of....

it looks fine when I pencil it in, but after swimming I feel like I want to run for cover.

is it just me, or do I look like vanilla ice????

Monday, August 21, 2006

Somebody stop me...

I bought more stuff.
sigh...I can't help it.
busy hands yarn is having a going out of business 40% off sale...
she even offered to refund shipping, since I only live 20 minutes away!!

I got some mission falls in peony (for baby hats)

the charlotte's web lace pattern (my first lace project!)
interweave knits Winter 2005 (my first interweave knits)
and a felted ballerina slipper pattern...

I have found some stuff around the house that I can sell on e-bay to compensate for the $$ spent on yarn recently..

the second "I dreamed of Africa sock" is almost finished. I've finished the heel and am a couple of inches from the toe.
I should pull a cara and take some pictures of my feet.
maybe later..right now I'm just too tired.

okay--one foot.
I've been staying up late knitting these socks when the house is quiet.
hubby is working on a video and so he's upstairs from 6pm-whenever working on it.
I'm addicted to the quiet....but it's messing my sleep...Which makes me cranky...
not good.
the sun just started shining, so maybe I should go out and take pictures....
later added:
okay so things are getting sunnier around here. I picked some veggies from the garden:


and did this: this is tomato, eggplant, zucchini, onion and peppers from the garden. sauted with some allspice (allspice, yeah, that's what the recipe said--who knew??).

I ate it by itself with a little parmesan cheese. It was good--and nice to know it came from my backyard. I love the tomatoes. they are princess b's pink cherry tomatoes--and they really are pink.

good and good for me--better than another cup of coffee.

Saturday, August 19, 2006

a rainy saturday quiz..




What kind of yarn are you?




You are Mohair.You are a warm and fuzzy type who works well with others, doing your share without being too weighty. You can be stubborn and absolutely refuse to change your position once it is set, but that's okay since you are good at covering up your mistakes.
Take this quiz!

Friday, August 18, 2006

I'd like to thank the academy...

I won!!!
I actually won a contest.
over at gromit's blog, she was asking people to guess how many WIP's she had.
I guessed 25 and I won!!

and guess what the prize is???

more SOCK YARN!!!
wohoo!!

sigh--now I guess I should sign up for contests where sock yarn is the prize, so I won't buy anymore myself...
good plan.

Eye candy Friday


Eye Candy Friday

I decided it would be a nice way to show a kenya picture...That and, I'm a joiner.
so w/out further ado:

it's a maasai warrior doing one of their famous jumping dances.
we got to visit a traditional massai village.
the men told us stories of killing lions and the women danced and sang for us...or with us.
one of the elder women grabbed me when we came in and had me dance in a line and "sing" with them. I asked her what they were singing,but she didnt' tell me---she just kept saying:
"sing mama, you sing".
so, I pretended to sing--I had to, she had me by the wrist and wouldn't let me go....

Thursday, August 17, 2006

oops I did it again...

I bought more sock yarn....

thanks amy for the tip about the yarn sale.
I went to a quilting store in the city that is getting rid of their yarn.
got some noro (colour #234)

and some austermann step yarn for 40% off. I think I got colour #07.

nice greens....


I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the noro, but...
it's noro...for 40% off.
so basically it's like I got the austermann step for free...
yeah, that's what I'm telling my brain.

princess b liked the sock yarn too--she picked out the regia nation--the ONLY ball left that they had and it was just blue and white.....could that be Greece??
anyways, I didn't buy it..but the austermann is pretty.

sigh. I love sock yarn.
they had regia silk as well....but I didn't buy it.
now as I type this, I'm not sure why.
hmm...I might have to go back....

i am so addicted to this blog....

i just found this blog: so much yarn, so little time!
thanks to grumperina

thanks grumperina...thanks a lot
i've just spent about 2.5 hours reading this blog...
everything she makes is gorgeous.
wow....
her pictures are incredible and her knitting---wow.
stunning.
apparently others think so too, because since grumperina mentioned her today, she's had a lot of visitors.
i like grumperina...
i love jaywalkers.
i still have to knit some for myself.
i have made 2 pairs and they are featured in the gallery. they are now so far down that it's hard to find them, but i will help you out.
the first pair is here.
the second is here.

the second pair i did toe up, but i didn't really like the pattern. i thought the heel was ridiculously hard (maybe it was just me) and the fit was weird.
i'm not sure that my sockpal liked them..she said they would fit after a washing, but i'm not so sure..
anyways. i have to go to sleep now...

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

kenya inspired sock

behold the sock:


this is the sock that has emerged from my first attempt at kool-aid dying.
I was flipping through my vogue knitting book a week before kenya and saw the bow-knot stitch at the back and fell in love with it. not sure why.
I thought it looked like little sunbursts and I thought it might be a nice addition to a sock.
the colours of the sock looked all sun-shiney (is that a word?) to me and I thought it might be a nice kenya project.

didnt' get too far in the actual knitting of it as we were so busy.
I have worked on it a bit since I've been home and this sock just seems to be flying off the needle.....
I am loving this little sock and it's my first design!

okay, so I didn't invent the bow-knot, but I put it all together in a sock pattern.

okay, so it's just a simple 60 stitch, 2 x 2 ribbing on the cuff, 58 stitch for the 10+9 pattern repeat on the leg, short row heels and toes---but it's all mine.

I tried wrapping my brain around the 10+9 stitch pattern repeat after having travelled for 19 hours straight: through the night, through 2 time changes--while wearing the same clothes, eating airport/airplane food and not having any caffeine.
my brain hurt and I seriously messed the pattern up.
I ripped the whole thing out back to the ribbing and started again a week ago.

the coolest thing that doesn't cease to amaze me is the self striping quality of the yarn, especially in the heels:


I didn't set out to have any pattern to the dying.
having just wrapped the yarn around the back of a chair, divided it into "sort of" thirds and used the only colours of kool-aid I had in the house, I think it turned out well.

I am happy with the socks, they make me think of kenya, so I am naming them:
the "I dreamed of Africa" socks.
I think I saw that movie once, I don't remember liking it.

I need to make a list of all the kenya movies I need to see.
we watched the constant Gardner again the other night.
we totally recognized places in the movie and it made me so excited. for any who have seen it:
in the beginning when they first arrive in kenya and tessa is all pregnant walking around in the slum--that's the kibera slum where we did a childrens' carnival.
I think I even saw the church we visited, in the movie.
I can't see the pictures or video of the slum without remembering the smell.

also, where tessa and arnold were "found" was lake turkana--we were there and saw thousands and thousands of flamingo's there.

my movie list will include: out of Africa, born free (don't laugh I've never seen it), the ghost and the darkness (saw it once, fell asleep, want to see it again) and maybe the constant Gardner again (I'm hooked).
we saw areas where all of those movies were filmed.
we saw a private island were the animals for out of Africa were taken to film the movie. the producers then left all the animals on the island (except for the lions) and that is where we started our safari. later in our trip we saw where the lions were set free--which is also where the ghost and the darkness was filmed.

the "I dreamed of Africa sock" in natural light:


blogger gave me lots of trouble with this post. this is the second time i have done this post, the pictures were all sideways and upside down last night...has anyone else had this problem???


this is so addictive....

Click here to play Make-A-Word word game, and TRY to score better!

Sunday, August 13, 2006

i scored

i just scored some sweet sock yarn on ebay.
i have been googling, and searching for some opal rainforest collection yarn--with no luck.
i emailed a couple of online retailers, who let me know that they were sold out and that the rainforest collection was a limited edition.

everywhere i looked, it was priced at $15-18Cdn per ball.
I just got:

from Germany, with shipping less than $30Cdn!!
that's a deal for me, people.
living in a small town with no access to fleece artist, socks that rock, lorna's laces or anything else except through the internet, good prices are a blessing.
these are the zebra print and the flamingo.
these will totally remind me of kenya--we saw zebra at the massai mara game reserve where we were told there would be about 600,000 zebras roaming around at the time we were there.
we also saw thousands upon thousand of flamingos at lake nakuru...
sigh.
sock yarn and kenya memories...happy!!!!

Friday, August 11, 2006

woo-hoo i did it!!!

Click here to play Make-A-Word word game, and TRY to score better!




found this on amy's blog...
i had to try so many times to get this score.
sad. my brain is not what it used to be.
i felt like i was reading a primer: ran, can, tan, man ...blah blah blah

Thursday, August 10, 2006

behold--knitting content

just a hint of some of our kenya pictures.
we have about 300 or 400 pictures in total. these are just the ones i think are the most fun.

now for the knitting content.

long story short: last year there was a lady from our group who went to the children's home thinking "what can i possibly do?". her daughter encouraged her to take her love of knitting and teach the girls.
she asked for donations from her church and soon filled her dining room with yarn, needles etc.
she took some over last spring and taught some of the girls to knit.
she then made ponchos and poncho kits to sell, raise money for the home.
this year, she learned that all 250 pairs of needles had been used, some given to girls graduating from the program.
(note: the site she taught at is a home for former street girls. the site provides a place to live, school and gives them the tools to have their own small business if they choose. it's really amazing!)

this year, she brought her own stash of needles and some of the yarn from last year.
the girls had been taught to knit a week before we came and were already knitting ponchos!!
it was unreal--they were super fast and their work was amazing.

each girl was given one large and one small needle and made 1/2 a poncho with a dropped stitch design.
some of the girls learned to use a knitting machine and made a child's sweater in a day or so.


they were also teaching them how to knit rag rugs. i spent my day cutting scrap material into strips and tying them together into a giant yarn ball. calamari knitting a la mason-dixon???

it was great.

the sock appeared and i did some work there..but mostly i was just watching the girls knit--they are so fast. one of the girls even was a true left handed knitting and was knitting completely mirror to everyone else.



so that's my kenya knitting content. if i had thought of it, i could have pulled a harlot and showed the sock with mountains, in London on a double decker or in front of buckingham palace, but i didn't.
the sock is with me in the picture of the material ball--does this count for my vacation sock in the summer of socks contest??

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

i'm baaaaack

yes, it's me.
i'm back from kenya.
we got in at 4am on monday after being up for 21 hours for two days straight and only having about 9 hours sleep in 3 days. i was pretty tired, but glad to be home.
i have taken the past couple of days to sleep and let the kids get used to me being home.
little man was not so sure about me and it took him a while to want me to hold him.
he's changed so much and he's so funny.

i actually sat down last night with my new i-pod--knit and listened to my first pod cast!!
i downloaded the knit cast toronto edition (ep 24) with Amy Singer and Denny.
they were a hoot!!

i actually did more knitting last night than i did the whole time we were in kenya.
sad, i know--but we were so busy.

i did knit though--and i was part of a little group that taught knitting.
the kenyan girls are amazing.
they had learned to knit the week before, and were already knitting ponchos!!!! and they were fast!

i will post some pictures later...right now i need coffee...nice fresh kenyan coffee...
yum!