Humuhumunukunukuapua'a

That is our new favorite word! It is the name of hawaii's state fish, and we love it! We love Maui, the pacific ocean, the sea-life, the island pace, the flora and fauna, the people, the glimpse of brotherhood we got as mere tourists while there!!! We are totally in love with our 50th state! Upcountry rocks, we liked Kula....

Enough time later to reminisce about our trip. Suffice it to say, DH and I are intensifying our plan to move there. He is already applying on-line for jobs, heh! What was once my dream is now becoming a crystallized plan!!! I am so excited that he is as in love with Maui as I am....I feel great knowing there are not too many more snowy winters in our future!

While in Maui, I made a shawl. I started it the moment we boarded the plane for the 8-1/2 hour flight. And I worked on it for probably 7-1/2 to 8 of those hours! I finished it 2 days before our anniversary dinner cruise and wore it then. Yay! And I had time to block it too, in our condo's kitchen, LOL....

I tried to work on Jaywalker, but honestly, having to wear magnifying glasses while dealing with the fussiness of the heel, ripping back and starting again on the heel gusset, having needles re-named in the middle of the pattern, and that kind of crap took the fun out of it so I shoved it into the bottom of my new Hello Kitty knitting bag (from Long's Drugs on Maui) and started a Haekelbeutel. Which I just finished yesterday while lounging on our home patio which is overgrown with weeds after 1 week of neglect, and trying to pretend I was still on our amazingly private lanai 4 feet from the waves at high tide....I want to be in Maui. DH and I are going through major sunshine withdrawal, and man do we miss Maui. We are already saving up for next year's trip....

So you can see, I'm not quite myself yet :) Maybe that's for the best--I don't want to go back to that overworked, stressed out, depressing maniac I was before. Pics to come, my friends :)

Camping by the Lake

Back into the groove...

We had such a nice family reunion over the weekend. It was a lot of fun to get together. The only fly-in-the-ointment was that DH had to stay home to sedate my puppy, and one bro couldn't make it. Otherwise, everyone was there. We stayed in a tent on my Grampa's property (we are, after all, just home from the trip of a lifetime to Maui, and paying off some of it still!) THAT was different--I haven't slept in a tent in about 20+ years. The tent I got was terrific; the first night we left the rain-fly off, and that leaves the whole upper half of the dome tent (which is screen) exposed. We were able to watch the fireworks display over the lake from inside the tent, and then sleep under the stars. That was really awesome, to see all that night sky from your bed!!! But the best part was to sleep on my own mattress again when we got home. I slept 10 hours the first night back!

Got some yarn-work done while there! My grampa's 95th b-day was on July 4th, and I made him a lap blanket. I started it June 29th!!! Just finished it by bedtime on his B-day, and got one pic of him holding it :) That photo to come...

I also took my lace knitting and worked on that while sitting by the lake, chatting with my family. That was fun! But I think the best part of the trip was the time I spent swimming in the lake. I think the latent swimmer in me has re-awakened since Maui. I had a blast swimming, and was often the only one in the water (like at 7:30 AM)! The lake was rather cold, but felt great when the sun was out.

I am having technical problems with my photo-uploading software. All of a sudden it has refused to stay running. I uninstalled and reinstalled it last week, but it keeps turning itself off in under 1 minute of use. I have no idea why--pics may be hard to come by in the next couple of weeks >:| I think I should have uploaded Maui photos immediately, I still have two full memory sticks to upload from that trip. Grrr.

That said, here are some remaining photos of Maui that have already been uploaded: first is our view from the lanai. It was so much fun to sit there and watch the marine life passing by in the water at the foot of our building! That is the island of Lanai in the background
Next is a view from the back entry of our condo (that's our pool out back). Look at those wonderful Maui mountains....
Sigh.

I hope everyone is having a good summer. I look forward to visiting y'all on your blogs this week :)

Hellooooooo everybodeeeeeeeee!

Remember Grover?!


Hello, I'm back. Now I feel ready to resume my "normal" life.


Our last day in Maui...roadside pics on our way to the airport, and a dolphin alongside our catamaran the previous day!

I became a changed person during my visit to Hawai'i, and DH too. So it's been slow getting back into the groove again, though I HAVE been knitting :) But there hasn't been much time (my usual complaint) because the last two weekends were WASTED--I was really sick. Today, I'm still getting over a nasty bronchitis/sinus thing >: And, my boss is out of town again, so my workload has increased exponentially as it always does when he's gone. Sigh. Whatevah...

Went to knitting last night, and had a great time! I was so bummed to miss out the week before (due to illness) but it was really nice to be back with my chicas! And chicos :) I love to see what everyone is making, and it was fun to get such great comments on my lace sampler project. Thanks guys!

I am ordering some yarn from my LYS for a Christmas present I have planned. I'm making a masculine version of the Moderne Log Cabin blanket. I'm excited, because it's not going to be made out of cheezy acrylic (I'm on that rant again). I'll be making it out of superwash Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride worsted. I just placed the order, so I should be able to cast on in a couple of weeks. Yay, more garter stitch! I'm going through garterstitch withdrawal after finishing Meinstein Coat in April. That was a great go-to project for mostly brainless knitting.

I promised pics of the Haekelbeutel:
This bag is super-huge, I have to get a pic with it on my shoulder. It reaches my knees! I guess it'll be for swimsuits and towels on our way to the beach, cuz if I try to put heavy groceries in it, it will be draggin' on the ground, heh!
I have loads of housework and yardwork to catch up on today and tomorrow, but I will try to add pics to this post later today. I finally feel like the time is now right to deal with my Maui photos. (Plus, I have to empty the digital card before next week: my grampa is celebrating his 95th birthday on the 4th of July, and a huge family reunion is scheduled around it for the whole weekend!)

I hope everyone's summer is going well. Negativity alert: We are having the most awful humidity. Ever since we disembarked from the Maui plane, I have been uncomfortable. It feels like an Amazon jungle outside--I let the dogs out at 5:30 AM usually, and the humidity hits me like a rude slap! It's awful, and incubating so many illnesses; we are seeing waves of people with diarrhea, sinus infections, bronchitis, and of course allergies!!! I really feel for those who have breathing problems to begin with, this weather STINKS.

I want to get back to blog-reading soon, and regular blogging. I'd like to see what everyone is up to. I miss you all!

But, I won't be blogging (or surfing) next weekend due to the grampa-party (in another state)...y'all have a great Independence Day :)

Swimming with the Nose-Fish

That's what I thought the moment I put my mask into the water while snorkeling off the coast of Wailea, Maui. I was in the middle of a small school of these nose-fish!! I just looked them up and found out their actual name is unicornfish and that they HAVE SHARP SPINES. Good thing I didn't harrass them, heh.

(This photo is from Maui Ocean Center's website... ) I still haven't done anything with my photos, though I have looked over DH's shoulder while he's uploaded his pics. He got some really great shots, and I'm so glad he was able to document my scuba adventure success :)

Knitting? Well...I have been working on the Summer Sampler Study, as noted previously. I am having a lot of fun doing this, but Wednesday I messed up >:( I messed up because I went to a bellydance show for 1-1/2 hours at a martini bar, had a dirty martini, and then came home and tried to knit lace from a chart. DUH! So now I'm not sure if I'm gonna leave it as-is, insert a lifeline and rip it back, or what. It's not too obvious, but is noticeable. Maybe I'll save it to remember the dance show by....like a tree growth-ring that shows the year there was a fire in the forest. I'll be sure not to drink and knit again on this project :)

I am really stuck lately. I want to start on a plain old garterstitch project like the log cabin blankie, something "brainless" to work on, but can't seem to get the yarn and the needles and the pattern to line up for any one project in particular. I should really get going on my Ballerina, which I stopped 3 rows into due to ridiculous pattern writing. But that is not going to be brainless to decipher... I have so many partially finished projects, like bunnies and kitties and hats that it is making me crazy. I need to finish them and 'get them off my back.' I don't have a monkey on my back, I have bunnies, kitties, and bears (oh my).

Well I'm back to work two weeks and now have bronchitis. Sigh. My job is really awful that way. So I need to buy stock in antibiotics I guess. I didn't make it to knitting tonight because of it, and I'd been looking forward to that all week. Grrr.

I would like to spend this weekend organizing my stash, and it'll be a good one for that if it keeps raining. I hope to get back to blogging more regularly now. I've also been a slacker moderating my Ravelry groups. So sorry :)

Organizing

South Maui, at Oheo Gulch....

I spent this morning changing this:


into this:


These are leftover cottons from my ripple blanket, soon to become part of a freeform crochet project, inspired by Maui. I have become interested in "scrumbling" and freeform crochet as new forms of crochet that I've never heard of before Ravelry (yay, Rav!) And so I'm organizing the stash of cottons for this, because it's a brainless early morning project that needs to be done! However, unlike housework (that also needs to be done), this is more fun--I get to run yarn through my fingers :D

I may not go to knitting tonight. I have not been much company lately, just kinda grumpy. My lace knitting is suffering because of it--I dare not touch it when I'm in this mood! So garterstitch and scrumbling, ball-rolling and spinning, here I come!

A glass of wine and my spinning wheel, yeah that sounds like a good Friday evening....although, I may have to run to the bookstore. I have been lusting after the fall issue of Vogue Knitting. I don't know if it's on newsstands yet, but I saw the most incredible mitten pattern on Ravelry yesterday:
Snowbird Mittensdesigned by Elliphantom! How cool is that?! I love these, can't wait for the issue to come out. I hope Vogue knows I'll be buying that issue solely based on the presence of that pattern! Way to go, Elliphantom!

Taa taa, happy Friday--(TGIF!)

More Hawaii, More Knitting

The Maui coast, east side, view from a botanical garden....

Ooooh! Last night I finished chart #4 of the Summer Sampler Study! I came home at lunch and knitted the spacer chart (that strip of faggotting that is between all the pattern charts on her stole) and now I'm ready to start the next very challenging pattern. So far I have been winging it without having to use a lifeline, and although there were two specific instances that I would have ripped back if I had one, I have done alright. I can live with a couple of small errors, especially for my first knitted lace piece, and on such a large project.

BUT, the next pattern specifically recommends a lifeline, and I'm going to do so. I hope I won't run into difficulties, but if I do, it'll be there! So that is tonight's project.

I have been dying to try making some scrumbles, or free-form crochet. If you have access to Ravelry, look up the scrumbling group to get an idea of what I mean (or Google it...) I have a specific, hugely challenging design of my own in mind, and have been skating around the idea for about a month. But I think I may start soon. All I can tell you for now is that it's related to my Maui trip. Hmmmmm, that is one broad hint! :D

Hope everyone is knitting away...I must get in touch with some of my internet pals, Carola, Hakucho, Opal, Barbara, Shell--I miss all you guys. Thanks for visiting, and I'll soon be surfing at your internet doors as well!

Buenas noches ;')


addendum: I almost ripped my hair out on that first row of the new lace chart #5! Time to be done for the night...note to self: don't slip the 7 stitches as she shows on her website, it makes it harder to K7 together and doesn't look as good!

Vacation Time!

I have a blessed week off. I am getting so much done! I love being home during the day. I could almost wish for swing-shift work, like when I was in the AF. That was awesome: sleep from midnight until 8 AM, have the best part of the day at home, then go to work at 4 pm! That was the life....

I am studiously knitting from my stash, and making a Christmas present for someone special. You can see it on Ravelry (sign in at Ravelry before clicking this link), but I can't post it on my blog for fear of spoiling the surprise!

I also started my first sock! So excited, it's now almost done. I knit on it last weekend while laying in the long-awaited sunshine on my patio. I should make the next one a tad bit longer because there is obvious strain on the heel short-rows when I put it on. But I love it, and it is really warm. Socks That Rock in mediumweight Fire on the Mountain colorway :) I used the pattern found here... and it is a nice easy short-row heel, short-row toe pattern you can tweak for yourself! It's a good one for the first sock. I'm so pleased :) Next I want to make Jaywalkers!

I am almost done making the jamaica pouch bag, that Carola made. I copied you Carola, unabashedly and to the letter!!! Using the same Sugar'n Cream colorway and everything ! It is turning out really great :) Thanks for the inspiration. Great idea to use my fav cotton yarn for this!

I had seen some comments on a group in Ravelry, about this cardigan from Anthropologie that people are wanting to copy:

I think it's cute...it actually looks like a fun way to use up swatches! Funny how color-blocked items come and go in the fashion world. Here they come again, in muted colors now!

I am recuperating from the worst stress. It was escalating at work for the past 6-8 weeks, until I thought I would explode. Add some sudden financial stress, and the fact that I have had no vacation for 8 months (aside from the day off for my colonoscopy--and THAT was no R & R!)------and you have the makings of a real stressball. Thank God for vacation time. I have been taking a long hard look at my job, and I am seriously thinking about taking a cut in pay and benefits to work 4 days a week instead of 5....I don't know if that's even an option, but I can't let the stress get out of control like that again! That's no way to live.

OTOH: Times have gotten suddenly ridiculously tight. Considering that just two months ago I felt comfortable going out on a limb to purchase a spinning wheel, and plane tickets to Maui for our anniversary next month. Now I don't know how we will afford to stay there (but the tickets are bought!)

I don't care if I have to sleep on the beach like an itinerant bum. I'm going to Maui. We never went anywhere for our honeymoon, always saying that we'd go somewhere great for our 25th anniversary. Well, it's time...and I'm not about to let that go!

So if anyone knows anything about hostel-ing, give me the scoop ;-D
It looks like we may be doing it that way, if things don't turn around here soon....We'll see! That thought is starting to appeal to me, having my hippy adventure now while I'm still young (c'mon, 46 is YOUNG!)

Hoping for our tax return quickly, and the tax rebate check too! We are also refinancing our mortgage. ARM if ya know what I mean... we close on that soon, whew!

Anyway, thanks to everyone who has been reading the blog! I sent out the prize to Lisa W, and am still waiting to hear from Mairi with contact info regarding the yarn prize she won!

I will try to post pictures soon, I'm outside getting some quality time with my garden, so am doing less blogging :) Here's a pic from last year....I love this one:

I'll check in later.

Sunday morning

Lahaina harbor from the sea....

Ah, finally, a beautiful day in the Midwest. The sun is shining, it's 70 degrees, and my patio needs weeding :)

Here is a pic of my progress on the summer sampler study . I pinned it out on the sofa this morning and was exceedingly surprised to see it pins out to 20 inches square at this point.
Because, I never pinned out the swatch like we were supposed to :) So I just figured it'd be a surprise what size it is in the end.

I'm lagging on this, due to family reunion weekend and other stuff. But Friday I started sampler chart #4 and just finished one repeat of that chart last night. I would like to keep going today--maybe I'll take my friend up on her offer of hammock knitting :)
This is a pic of a tiki at the Old Lahaina Luau. The blurriness on the right is where I removed an errant tourist from my pic. Not the best, I know, but it was my first try at this.

I just cast on last night for the Moderne Log Cabin from Mason-Dixon Knitting. I only got 1/4 of my yarn so far, and figured I might as well start with that stuff. I love the color, it's brown sheep super-wash wool in worsted, 'Pecan Toffee' colorway. I like the richness of that color. Yay for garter stitch!

And finally, pics of my Maui shawl. I just got the rest of the Maui pics uploaded yesterday...This is the shawl I started on the plane, and finished on our 3rd day there, so I could wear it on our fourth.
And here is how I blocked it in our condo kitchen:LOL!!

You make do with what you have!!! Lucky for me I finished it in time to block it and let it dry prior to the anniversary dinner cruise.

Well, I'm off to weed, wash, knit, eat, shower, study the bible, and many other things! Taa!

A quilting break...

Foot-fish (using his fins for feet!) at Maui Ocean Center

Now it's time for a break. I have a history of quilting, starting with a really hilarious attempt for my first quilt when our kids were infants. Then, I worked and worked on becoming better, attending quilters guild meetings, buying books, scouring the library for patterns, and making notes wherever I went to get ideas. I was completely 100% immersed in quilting....

Then we bought this house. It is too small--I know, I know, I have whined about that so much you guys probably know that by heart! But it's true. One of the only reasons I quit quilting and sewing is that this house is so small to have a work-table to leave out all the time. I transferred to yarnwork, and hence my quest for improving my knitting began.

This has all gone on for the past 15 years or so. And I still have the MOTHERLODE stash of quilting fabrics. But it's not until recently that I have been able to even look at the stash again. My love of quilts is being reborn.

See, I tend to be an all-or-nothing kinda girl. When I have a fascination, an obsession if you will, I latch onto it like a wolf onto a piece of flesh! No letting go until I master it!!!! (Lovely simile, eh?!)

But, some of my favorite blogs are those of quilters, and I've recently begun visiting them again. And look what I found! There is a scavenger hunt on at Bunny Tales...and it ends with the winner being drawn Thursday August 28. So if you want a fat-pack of great cute quilting fabrics, this is the place to enter. If you do, please mention me for sending you :)

Squeeee, I'm so excited to see who wins!!! Love the cutie country quilts. One of these days I'll get around to adding pics of my quilted FOs. There are a lot of little ones, and a number of big ones I'm proud of too. And of course, there's the unfinished one I started for DS when he was in kindergarten!!! He's now a sophomore at college, but, what can I say?!

Good luck you entrants!

Sunday Hopes

Here's a link to a really fun looking lace project...this might be my next lace. If I ever finish Summer Sampler Study Stole. Right now I'm on a chart that literally made me want to rip my hair out the last time I touched it, so it's been about 6 days since I have! I'd better work on it today, though. In between getting my hair highlighted (yes, I'm doing that again--it looks awful in it's natural color state) and going to a b-day party for my niece and doing the bills. Yeh, I'll have lots of free time. Not.

I had the best pedicure ever yesterday. I can't stop staring at my toes.
Aren't they CUTE?!!! I have cute toes... :)

I love the summer. It is coming slowly to an end. NOOOOOOOO, my inner child screams. I don't want any more winter. We'd better get ourselves moved to Hawaii pretty quick, because I might be able to stand maybe 2-3 more Midwestern winters. If that. And I love the ocean.

Since I posted it on Ravelry, I figured I'd post it here too. Here is a sneak peak at my freeform crochet Maui-inspired WIP called Honu's Home:

This freeform stuff is really right-braining it. I spent most of last Sunday working on it, and when I looked up, 5 hours had gone by!!! Couldn't believe it, but it felt amazing to be completely engulfed in a project like that. I love freeform and free-wheeling it!

Here's my stripey sunflower washcloth in progress. Doesn't look anything like a sunflower, does it?! I like the colors though :)

Heres a WIP pic of the Moderne Log Cabin blankie.
I worked on it yesterday while getting the pedicure, and at knit-night with all my chicas at Mollie's. It is the best kind of project for working on while watching Greta Garbo in Camille, which I did on Thursday night, and for watching Dog the Bounty Hunter on Wednesday night :D I love big giant garterstitch projects!!! So soothing, that repetition!

Speaking of repetition, and soothing, I really want to get spinning. Maybe I can squeeze in some time for that today, too! I had started spinning some blue variegated top I bought last year at the fiber fest, then stopped. It is making gorgeous singles....

One can only hope for enough time to do everything (oh, yeah, I have to do laundry too, and we are out of milk and bread....)Sigh.

Swamped

So swamped lately while the boss' wife is in the ICU. I have kept busy catching all the little friendly viruses that cross my path at work (tonight it's a GI bug with fever), I had a colonoscopy, broke a tooth, bought a spinning wheel, and generally have had all my creativity sapped by actually knitting in my limited time. DD is back from Marines training, and short of a car, so we are taking turns getting her to work, lending her a car, etc, until she can get back on her feet financially. I have been trying to book our 25th wedding anniversary trip (Maui), doling out bucks to DS, and trying to keep up with the housework. To top this off, I joined a granny swap before I knew this month was going to be so crazy, and I have a little over 10 days left to make something for my recipient and buy swap goodies to mail out! Yikes, pressure ;o)

So sorry, readers....I'll try to be back soon, but it looks like it'll be at least another week before life gets back to normal again and I can post anything. Probably April.

I must post a pic of my spinning wheel though, so proud to be an owner (at the expense of my budget this month).
All folded up between some pieces of furniture...
Slightly dis-assembled, but my pride and "joy", heh....

Ah'll be back

Some FOs, yeah baby

Hey. I actually finished something :-D
A crocheted potholder of scraps of Sugar n Cream dishcloth cotton from my ripple blanket left-overs....
Aim's first socks. Man these are awesome and cozy. The second one was made about 1/2" longer in the foot (b/c the first one ended up being a bit tight!) but they both fit! And I love them :)
A new washcloth, the feather and fan motif. The photo in the pic is a Raveler's version of the pattern in a hand-towel. I will follow her instructions for a towel to match, next....

And last night, I started my first pair of Jaywalker socks! So pleased with them already, the yarn is knitting up very nicely in this pattern. I'm using Trekking XXL in a nicely muted desert rose colorway. Beautiful. Now, if I just didn't need to use my magnifying glasses for this >:|

I've not used needles this small before--size 1 US needles. I am really getting some eyestrain working on this, so will need to continue with the reading glasses when working this fine gauge. Grrrr. Okay, I'm over 40, but that's rubbing my nose in it! Sigh, guess I can't ignore my age forever ;o)

Ten days to Maui! It's seeming real, now :)

Clean Slate

I am so glad I've logged my surfing escapades here. I just lost everything that was on my computer. All the cool places I was gonna blog about next, as well as all my files, photos, pattern downloads, and weblinks (and my resume, among other things) are all gone. I spent all of Thursday night re-formatting my hard drive, and re-installing Windows, and keeping my fingers crossed that the hard drive was salvageable...luckily it seems okay now. But, oh! The things I lost.

A word of advice...if you've been thinking that you should back up your files onto disk lately, DO IT! Don't wait :(

The flip side of this trauma, is that I get to start the new year with a clean slate. I have my blog's links to keep me happy and busy for a long time. I stored 99% of my digital photos on Flickr (thank God the Maui pics are safe!) And, I have Ravelry and all you wonderful bloggers out there to keep me well-supplied with more inspiration!

Next, I must do some other slate-cleaning....b/c I'm inspired now, you see! It actually feels good to start anew.

One thing I'm sorry I lost is all my Paper Panache downloads. This is a paper-piecing website that hosts a new free quilting pattern every couple of months. The patterns I collected over the past year are lost. They are only available free for a short time. Sigh. Well, it's not like I'm doing much quilting or sewing anymore, so I can let it go...(I'm still reeling, can you tell?!)

But, I can still use the computer, and 2009 is rolling in! We have our health and prosperity intact, so there is a lot to be thankful for!!! I hope everyone out there has the same.

Have a lovely holiday season! (Hope you like the blog's new look!)



.

Stuff

Central Maui. Sugar cane fields. Haleakala.


Hey. Here's one for ya....

Your Birthdate

You're a restless rebel with an unpredictable nature. Bright but unbridled, you tend to seek out wild experiences over new ideas. People are frustrated by your great potential, but you love your unconventional life. You're a heartbreaker. People get attached to you, and then you're gone. Your strength: Your thirst for adventure Your weakness: Not taking time for slow pleasures Your power color: Hot pink Your power symbol: Figure eight Your power month: March

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Hmmm. Okay. (what the heck is a power symbol?!)

I started a total rip-off project. I am such a copy-cat! I saw Amy #7's King Charles Brocade bathmat she was knitting on size 11s out of double-stranded sugar n cream...and HAD to make one myself. So, I got on ravelry and found a dishcloth pattern for the texture-pattern, printed out the chart, and started knitting. As if I don't have enough distractions--I am sooooooo pulled in all directions by my knitting projects!

Anyway, Amy #7 told me that she got the giant skeins of SnC Solid yarn for $3.79 at a Michael's store where they were clearanced. I then trekked to 3 area Michael's stores, but only scored some yarn at the first one. But I'm glad I did :)

Here's a pic of my bathmat in progress:


Is it not cute?! I'm using the chart from here, and only knitting the pattern rows w/o border stitches (except that I did 2 rows of seedstitch along starting row, and will do the same when I come to the cast off.) It's not the color I would have picked, my bathroom always being blue or green, but hey, a Sugar n Cream bathmat is not to be ignored--in ANY color! Cushy! Soft!

Although I dreamed big, yesterday did not give me the time to do all I wished. Oh, well, such is life at 46. But I did get to knit on said bathmat while watching the Olympics. That Men's Swimming 100m x 4 Relay was awesome! Gave me the absolute chills! Go TEAM USA, woo hoooooooo!

I have studiously ignored the Ravelympics. I have so much on my plate now, it's not funny. And I don't need more pressure! I do that to myself all the time :D So, I'll just watch y'all cranking out the projects, and keep on cranking (more or less quietly) on my own. We'll all get to the same place in the end....

Happy Knitting This Week everyone.

Summer Sampler KAL

A Hawai'ian weed....

I just started pattern chart #6 for the Summer Sampler Study Stole from BadCat Designs. I had a lot of fun with pattern #5, though at Friday night knitting, I thought I had really goofed up. This was just before I left for the night, and I was very pleased to see I had NOT goofed when I picked it back up today to work on it. And now I'm onto chart #6....

This is a really fun project. I am enjoying it tremendously! I may even be inspired by the time this ends, to pick up my Mananita lace and finish it too! That has been languishing for > 1 year...I like Kidsilk Haze, and have been tempted a few times to steal some balls from that mananita project, but I have held off on that urge. There's no way I'd be able to frog mananita, and besides, I don't want to. I guess I just have to come up with more kidsilk haze for other projects :D

I've been really good about not buying more yarn. But, as I stated yesterday, this is fiber fair weekend, and I think I'm going to give myself a small budget to purchase whatever takes my fancy! (I didn't make it to the fair yesterday, so I'm planning to go after church today). And in only a couple more weeks, it's time for Stitches!!! The bonus?! It's even closer to my home than in previous years! Wahooooo! So I'm expecting to break my buying moratorium...that's okay, these fests only come around once a year.

I'm also hoping to be inspired to start spinning again. I haven't touched my new wheel since early May...and that's just not right! Maybe I'll get inspired at the folk & fiber fair!

Seahorse at Maui Ocean Center.

Clutter

More Maui--botanical garden with bulbous base palms....

Haven't given a knitting update in a couple of posts: because I haven't done knitting! So far I am one chart repeat into the Aran Wrap Cardi--not much, I know. There are some changes I'm making to the pattern, which I'll post soon. The wool is a bit warm with our current heat wave of 90 degrees, so I am waiting for the nice fall weather to come back in. I did knit 5 hours worth on the Summer Sampler Study Stole, the other night. I'm into chart #11 at this point (of 12, and then there's the edging!!!)

I am a packrat. When I have a love of something, I collect books about it first-off, then gadgets, gizmos, tools and supplies related to that something. I have a cookbook collection that would make you cringe. I have quilting books, sewing books, crochet and knitting books, gardening books, medical books, books by my favorite pulp author Betty Neels...That's just the books, folks. Wow, how DO I live in 900 square feet with other people and two 80-lb dogs?!

So, I was inspired when I saw this link at Junie Moon's website. The video is a bit long, but it really rang true with the way I've been feeling. Less clutter, less stuff, less consumerism. You should watch it if you get a chance:




De-cluttering is going to be a good thing for this household, and so will changing our consumer habits. (I can always go shopping in my basement....)


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Toyland

Maui botanic garden

Cute stuff: look at this cute free giraffe pattern! So fun, I'd like to make one for my little nephew for Christmas...

Don't you just love knitted toys?! They are so cuddly and can be extremely cute :) I really like the patterns that Anna makes! They are surreal, and adorable! I love Jean Greenhowe's patterns too.

I'm embarrassed to say that I still have the Crafty Alien Kitty in progress. It's in pieces. I started that nearly 2 years ago. And the Baby Bobby Bear also. And the Jess Hutchison Bunny. And the Kittyville hat, for crying out loud! IT JUST NEEDS AN EAR!

Okay, before I start another project, I have to make an attempt at some of those. Geez. I want them off my list :)

Onward!

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Think Winter

Well, not that I really WANT to dwell on that thought, but winter is coming whether I acknowledge it or not. So, not only am I beginning work in earnest on the two wooly afghans I'm making for gifts, but I also just purchased the Bird In Hand mittens pattern from Kate Gilbert. These are really cute, and they're made from worsted weight yarn! So, I'm getting prepared for the long cold winter ahead. I think I'll knit them up for ME!

I am also a member of the Bird In Hand KAL group on Ravelry...so any tips from others will be available. It seems there is a lot of crying about knitting the estonian braid on the cuff--I'm not sure if I'll be one of those crying about it!

BTW, that's a pic of DH wading on the reef in front of our condo in Maui at low tide, early in the morning. What fun that was...to be posted later this week, photos of sea critters we saw on the reef!

I'm in the middle of making sun tea, and Puerto Rican Potato Salad. This stuff rocks! I'll have to post the recipe here later today. For now, Carola said she tagged me...hmmm, I'd better scoot on over there and see what that's all about :D

Oh, and Hakucho, I mailed your prize this morning, so you should have it early next week. Happy Knitting!

Aim