A Christmas Cardi

Finished, just before Christmas :)
I've just been otherwise occupied - and am running behind on my blog posts. What a way to welcome in the New Year, eh? ;) I'm sure I'll figure something out to get everything all caught up LOL

Either stay and look at the lovely collage, or cruise over here for all the gory details - be forewarned, it's a looooong post!

Happy New Year, everyone! Here's to a happy, healthy and prosperous 2008!

A Happy Holiday

I hope you all had a fantastic and festive holiday week/weekend - in addition to fantastic food and relaxation with the kitties, I got plenty of knitting done. My little teeny tree has a new topper - it's a sheep - isn't it cute? It wasn't intended as a topper, though my tree really is teeny - as in it only stands about 2 feet tall, so it simply wouldn't do as an ornament - a little bit of finagling and it perches quite happily right on top. I love it.

Excitement (other than the knitting) over the weekend included spotting some llamas (incidentally, if I had a proper yard and someplace to take them during the summer, I could have had a llama for christmas ;) ) and also spotting a small owl - unfortunately, I didn't have a camera with me, so no llama photos or owl photos are available.

Stay tuned, knitting & fiber content coming soon :D

Fickle.

So originally I was going to go and cast on for a Urban Homesteader Hat (check the bottom of the post for the link)...

And then the new Knitty came out...and I decided I needed a pair of Kilt Hose.

And then a cold snap came through and I became absolutely fascinated with knit coats. Luckily for me, my hands (right now anyway) wouldn't stand the tight gauge required to knit one of those coats - nor do I have the required 30+ balls of yarn ;)

Of course...it seems I was weak because I got an email about this pattern:


and I decided I *had* to have it. I don't think I have ever been so fixated with a pattern before. I saw it, and I decided I had to knit it. Needless to say, the pattern was purchased, the yarn was secured, a wimpy swatch was knit...and I've Cast on**. I'll figure out any fitting issues as I carry on ;)

**Perhaps "I've cast on" is a little bit of an understatement...since I got the pattern (on December 11th I think), I have knit the body and the hood, then ripped back portions of the hood, then grafted the hood - only to decide that it was much much too large, to pick back out the grafting and rip the hood back about 5 inches to reknit it...this is what I get for tampering with a pattern (I've changed the hood design) - and I've become incredibly (and scarily) proficient at dropping cabled stitches back to pick them up and reknit them...I'm now on Sleeve Island with hopes of a brand new sweater for Christmas. Think I'll make it?

Here and Gone...

My favorite cookies arrived for the holiday season...and they are already gone. Apparently this same time last year, I discovered the cookies were gone gone until next year. This year, I asked after them at my local Trader Joe's and they pulled the very last box in the shop from under their Christmas Tree for me. It was my lucky day :)

The secret is out

Secret of the Stole - CoffeePot Rock Fey
Originally uploaded by WoodlandSprite

While we were getting some much needed rain and doing battle in the house to determine who would wimp out first and turn on the heat, I was diligently working on finishing off the Secret of the Stole (whose name, by the way, is actually Guinevere). It got to a point where I would wrap the finished portion of the stole around me while knitting away on the end. Turns out I'm not so good at estimating yardage requirements when I switch yarn around, as I wound up running out and having to rummage in the shop for more yarn.

Details and more info can be found over here.

Bundt Cake?

I don't know what it is, but on occasion, when I knit from a yarn cake, it starts turning into a bundt cake or gumdrop shape!

This would be a CoffeePot Rock Bundt Cake - along with some beads that I used in the Secret of the Stole (whose name, by the way, is Guinevere). It seems I managed to get a FO this month after all ;) and before the week of "rest" from regular work that I've scheduled at the end of the month!

The stole appears to be a bit monstrous, even though I only knit a little bit of the middle clue (the designated location to add or subtract length). In its unblocked state, the stole is approximately 8 feet long...and it took about 10 ounces of fingering weight yarn knit on size 6 needles. I did have to break into another skein of yarn, and while the colorway is the same, the 2 ounces at the end are definitely more saturated - I did ease the transition, so the changeover isn't too abrupt to the eye. I'm still trying to decide if I'm going to block this baby out with blocking wires or if I'm just going to lay it out wet - I'm leaning towards the latter - I'm lazy when it comes to rectangles, especially if I'm fairly certain that it can be coaxed easily into shape while damp. Stay tuned :) FO post coming up shortly!

Happy Holidays!

Whatever holidays you celebrate, be they Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Festivus, or Winter Solstice, I thank you for stopping by, visiting, and sharing in my adventures, mundane as they sometimes are :)

I hope you and your family have a wonderful holiday season filled with joy and love.

This year's holiday photo hails from the depths of the Par

Attention: Holiday Shoppers:

...in case you haven't already made a wishlist for your fiber friends, or your loved ones to help you enhance your stash, you might find the Lime n Violet Holiday Gift Guide useful - heck, I'd find it useful year round!

I'm extra pleased that Spritely Goods is included in the gift guide again this yr :D Remember - all your purchases help benefit Heifer International, the Komen Foundation and Best Friends Animal Society!

Everyday Crochet

While I'm not a big fashion shopper, I have noticed that crochet-wear is making more of an appearance again - and like a true do-it-yourselfer, I'd rather have a look into the construction of garments myself and try to make a custom piece these days instead of buying off the rack.

As a self-taught hooker, I know that crochet makes for much speedier work for some styles and designs, though I've never really found or seen anything out there that has urged me to try to make something other than amigurumi softies or small accessories. I was lucky enough to receive a review copy of Everyday Crochet: Wearable Designs Just for You to see if this would jolt my creativity loose. Everyday Crochet features classic design and is loaded with photos. The patterns included have a wide variety of size variations and also provide additional information on customizing fit. The patterns feature variations of shell stitches to make a fabric with flow - and the patterns are clustered together to show how a basic pattern can be built upon and changed to result in a differernt garment. While I still prefer the look of knitting for most sweaters and tops, this book does have a couple patterns I'm eager to try including Galena, a lacy short sleeve pullover, perfect for layering...and Outta Sight - a short sleeve, slim fitting mod coat. I'm thinking it might be more suitable than the knit City Coat I was pondering yesterday :D In case you're looking for a bit more info on this book, I recommend reading the excerpt here. It's basically the intro, but it does a fantastic job letting you know what you're in for with this book.

Brrr, it's cold!

Mod Coat
Originally uploaded by domiKNITrix

I know...I'll knit a coat!

Just kidding - but it does seem that every time it gets cool, I start dreaming of being swathed in handknits.

When I first got Domiknitrix: Whip Your Knitting into Shape, one of the projects that really popped out were the City Coat, and the Mod Coat (mod coat featured in photo). I found myself dreaming of this coat this weekend as the weather was cold and blustery (well, as cold and blustery as it can be in the desert ;) ) I don't know if it's a good thing or not, but I haven't the yarn on hand to cast on for this coat...luckily I have thus far been saved from my own craziness and folly as I just plain ran out of time to even attempt a raid on the LYS this past weekend. My hands may be thanking me - it's bulky weight yarn knit on US8 needles I think - the small needles would result in a wonderfully firm fabric, though I suspect my hands would attempt to revolt at the prospect of all that garter stitch in such a tight gauge! Perhaps one to queue for knitting "some day"?

Kilt Hose, anyone?

Well, I've not had a spare moment to cast on for any new projects yet...so the urban homesteader hat is still in yarnball form (yarn still TBD - I'm thinking Karaoke held double stranded perhaps).

Course the new Knitty just came out, and what do my wondering eyes appear?


Lovely Kilt Hose. In case you're wondering, they aren't for my dear husband - I don't think any amount of cajoling would get him into a kilt. I, on the other hand, do have a kilt - not a traditional one - but a Utilikilt - I love it. And it goes great with my a** kickin boots:


Unfortunately, the above boots seem to like chewing on my leg a wee bit - and I've been thinking about getting my hands on some tall socks to wear with em. At first I was thinking I might knit myself a pair of these:


German Stockings by Cookie A. While these stockings are great, the boots are going to hide a good portion of them, and might muck em up a bit where the tops of the boots are - so perhaps I'm better off with the Kilt Hose - they look simple and straightforward - and even better? They are knit from worsted weight yarn. Can you say speedy stockings?

Ran with Grace

After two days of nonstop (though much needed) rain down here in the desert, the clouds rolled out, the winds calmed and the sun returned - just in time for the Iron Girl race around Tempe Towne Lake. Originally, I had planned on running the 10 mi, however injuries earlier this year that kept me benched, general life craziness and my lack of consistent training convinced me to scale back down to the 5k instead. We'll see if the photo company got any good shots once they upload them.

Results: 460/1076 overall, 71/141 for my age division. It's fair to say I couldn't possibly be more middle in the middle of the pack ;)

Chip Time: 39:54 with a pace of 12:51 - about what I would expect, especially considering the inconsistent training on my part.

Observations from this race: My shoes are no longer pristine from limited running on dry pavement and mostly treadmill miles - I splashed through a muddy puddle within the first quarter mile of the race...this race, while fun, has a lot of new racers - resulting in lots of dodging of slower folk, walkers, and individuals going from run to walk without moving to the side. Getting drinks from aid stations was an experience too. There is no shame in wogging - It probably saved me from damaging myself or keeling over from over exertion - and I was able to kick things into a sprint in the home stretch. Oddly enough, I find myself sore and stiff all over today, even my abs hurt - as if I did lots and lots of crunches, which I most certainly did not...this didn't happen last year, and it's never happened on training runs. Hopefully the kinks will work themselves out as the day progresses.

As for knitting, I'm thinking I need a new hat. I'm looking at the Urban Homesteader hat from Neither Hip nor Funky - I wear my hair in pigtails or pony tails and this hat has little flaps that can be opened to accommodate any or none :) I have a partial skein of aeval, but I'm not sure if I have quite enough yardage...so I'm searching the stash to make a final decision on yarn. This should be one quick knit, so hopefully I'll have at least one more FO before the year is out!

All you wanted to know about yarn...

might be found in this book:


The Knitter's Book of Yarn: The Ultimate Guide to Choosing, Using, and Enjoying Yarn I'm lucky enough to have received a review copy of the book, and it's proven to be wonderful reading - and fantastic for reference as well :) The book is broken into four sections - Fiber Foundations, Making Yarn, Ply me a River and Putting it all Together.

The first section provides information about protein fibers, cellulose fibers, cellulosic fibers and synthetic fibers - it talks about the origins of these different fiber types, some of their characteristics, lovely drawings (where appropriate) of the originating animal or plant and plenty of photos.

The second section explains the process that goes into making yarns with brief information on fiber prep and different dye methods.

The third section is where the fun begins :) it talks briefly about singles to 4-ply yarns - and after the intro to that particular ply-type, are some lovely patterns with nice engaging photos. Also included in this section are info and patterns for cabled yarns, textured yarns, boucle yarns, brushed yarns (kidsilk haze, anyone?), and chenille. At the very end, there is some talk about felting along with a pair of projects to send you on your way.

The very last section is a nice summary and reference section complete with tips on how to remove odors from your yarn - because if you're like me, you don't like it when your wool doesn't smell wooly ;)

Slow and Steady wins the race...

Well, okay - maybe it doesn't win the *race* but it still allows for a respectable finish, right? :)

Toppled off track by tendinitis (it's better thanks, and now my office looks wierd as the desk height has been changed and I keep a small herd of mice to allow for left and right hand mousing along with my already owned strange looking "ergo friendly" mice)... I have fallen behind on the Secret of the Stole. Some nice relaxing time was spent "catching up" over thanksgiving...though I went and ran out of yarn - I've added another ball on, alternating with what I had remaining of the original ball to try to blend the join more.

As for guessing the name of the stole, I'm definitely clueless - I had several guesses for each of the hints, and I'm still trying to make sense of it! Ah well, I'm enjoying seeing the other finished stoles though :)

Sadly, I've made next to no progress on the other projects on the needles - though once this one is finished and blocking, I'll probably dive back into the Secret of Chrysopolis and Frolic - or even the Mitered Squares...though the miters may have to wait until after I untangle the yarn - one of the cats who never before has shown interest in my knitting bags, upset the one with the miter yarn in it and proceeded to have himself a grand wrestling session. Apparently he's gotten it all out of his system now because he hasn't made eyes at any of my knitting since!

Dayflowers and Leaves - now available!

Closeup of Dayflowers and Leaves
Originally uploaded by WoodlandSprite

Happy Thanksgiving!
My thanks to those who encouraged me to try to actually try my hand at design and typing up this pattern.

I'm happy to report that after a fair bit of work, I think I have it all down nicely and properly and I the pattern is Now available at Spritely Goods

Other than Amigugumi, this is my first official Original Pattern :) and I hope people who decide to knit it enjoy it as much as I did.

Thanksgiving weekend went by with such a blur, though it was a welcome break for me, allowing me to knit happily on my Secret of the Stole (I'm running out of yarn and hope the next skein of CoffeePot Rock matches), nap with the cats, eat plenty (lots of leftovers still in the fridge - btw, green bean casserole, made from scratch with fresh beans and a bechamel sauce is much tastier than any combination canned concoction....), and read. Stay tuned - I have book reviews coming soon :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

To speed you on your way to holiday shopping, the Shop has been updated :) better yet, through the end of this month, you can get 10% off by using the coupon code GobbleGobble07 at checkout :) Happy holidays! Hope you eat well, drink well, nap well and are merry :D

I'm back!

I'm back from a much needed escape to the outdoors :) Almost December, and where I live, it still feels like late summer - with temps still in the mid 80's! My favorite season has always been the fall and it seems I'm destined to miss it as the weather appears determined to stay stuck in eternal summer. Luckily for me, the hiking trip was not only a much welcome break from work, but we managed to get plenty of crisp cool air and the smell of fallen leaves was everywhere :)

Photos have been pulled off the camera, but I haven't had a minute to really sort through them - I'm currently in mad preparation mode for trying to get an update done before Thanksgiving...there's a bunch of yarn still waiting to be skeined and photographed...stay tuned :)

OPK: A lace interlude

Cocoon Lace Close Up
Originally uploaded by WoodlandSprite

Sorry folks, work continues to be crazy, so I continue to raid the gallery for knitting content. There hasn't been much personal knitting going on here, partially due to the crazy schedule and partially due to the mild tendinitis. Fear not, I hope to get a fair bit of knitting done on the Secret of the Stole as well as some of the mitered squares soon....The socks, though with all their twisty stitches are going to have to hold while I see if my hands will put up with less stressful knitting.

As for this lovely lace interlude, it's a Coccon Lace Wrap knit by Blogless Olivia - Olivia is on Ravelry though - so if you're a Raveler, you can go check out her other projects :) Yarn used is limited edition Lothlorien on Fey from Spritely Goods, of course :D

OPK: Peppercorn Cables

Peppercorn Cables
Originally uploaded by WoodlandSprite

Look! Another sock knit by other people! It's another piece of Monica's work :) I really like how the colors landed on this sock :) This is one of my more popular (and one of my own personal favorite) colorways - Peppercorn Blend.

OPK: Dancing Tulips

dancing tulips
Originally uploaded by WoodlandSprite

And now, (because I am frazzled) I shall distract you with other peoples knitting :) My thanks to Monica at Works For Yarn for submitting this photo to the gallery!

It's Spritely Goods yarn in the Manzanita in Bloom II colorway - in a sock of her own design! She sells patterns at the Loopy Ewe" Check em out :)