Better than a Wonder Bra

Christmas has come and gone so its safe to post the little baby hoodie I made for cousin's daughter's daughter. (Life can be confusing to post about when multiple generations get together!)

Anyway - This cute little hoodie is made from Mexican Wave yarn by Elle. I used 3 skeins to make the small size of the Divi Hoodie.
Baby's Mom and her Grandma (a fellow knitter) were impressed with the sweater and loved the yarn.
Speaking of the Grandma - she made baby the absolutely cutest dress for Christmas. It was red with a white collar and the yoke was ribbed. The hem was so cute. Many little prairie points. The only problem of the day was that I forgot where I put my camera for safe keeping so I didn't get any pictures of it. Maybe cousin will see this post and send me a digital pic (hint-hint).

Being a knitter cousin knows I enjoy a wee bit of yarn. She brought me a fun present.

It's a Yarn Wonder Ball. It came wrapped and obviously "handmade". The little note on the side explains what this is -

"Different yarns of many colours and lengths are manually tied together to create a surprise yarn ball of wool blends, textures, small amounts of cotton, and surprises. Popular in the 1800's, the wonder ball was given as a gift at Christmas. As the person knit, and used up lines of yarn, small gifts inside the ball would surface. The knitter could not fast forward to see what the next trinket, surprise or yarn would be. The ball of yarn embodied the spirit of giving, as the gift continued to reveal presents, and the knitter produced a lasting gift or either a scarf or wrap."

Here's a better look at the side so you can see some of the different yarns. When I took it out of the wrapping to get a picture I could feel some things inside. I can't wait to get knitting on it and see what is hiding inside. I hope I can manage to hold off knitting it until after my surgery Jan 4th and I can have this as a special recovery present.
If you're interested in this fun little present the paper with patterns inside the wrapping says it came from Threads and More. Their website is: www.threadsandmore.com.au

Actual Knitting Content Ahead

Don't drop over - I have some actual knitting content and pictures for you.

One of the sympathy cards I received after Mom's death was from a friend I haven't seen for 25 years. She was my closest friend in Sunday School and after her marriage she moved away and we somehow lost track of each other. On the card she gave me contact information and I was thrilled. Last week we decided to meet today for lunch halfway between our houses.

Lucky for me there was a yarn shop very close to the restaurant so I left an hour early and went to visit Knitter's Palette in Lakeville. What a wonderful shop. It has plenty of yarn but isn't crowded feeling. There are wood floors and a couple couches to sit at. The yarn choice is wonderful and they have spinning wheels for those interested in spinning.

I did not leave empty handed. I left with some yarn, a Rowan book and something else.
The yarn is something I had not heard of before Talinay from Chili. It's a great looking wool. The picture does not do it justice because today is a very overcast day and the colors are much more rich than it seems. The Rowan yarn is Tapestry and is to be a a swatch for a project that hopefully you will see one day but - not for a while.

The Rowan book is their 30th anniversary pattern book/magazine. It's huge and has some great patterns in it.

As I was ready to buy the yarn I noticed something calling to me. It sat there with quiet dignity saying my knitting projects deserved to be carried around town in something better than an old tote bag or a Target plastic bag. I listened to it and decided to bring it home.

This is my new project bag. It's nice enough to double as a purse. Has lots of pockets inside and outside. It's a Namaste according to the tag and was very reasonably priced. Some of my blogger functions aren't working right so I can't link easily but the site is www.namasteinc.com and the bag is in the Cali collection - Laguna.

The knitting that's been keeping me busy much of the week is my Jade Sapphire Cashmere/Silk scarf. I decided to use a simply pattern (KnitPicks 1,2,3 lace scarf) so I could take this anywhere. It's very soft and once finished and blocked it will be fantastic.

Other knitting is the continuing of the Soft Shoulders sweater. You know - the one I started back in 2003 and kind of forgot about. I have to pay attention to this one because there are different cables with different numbers of rows per repeat. I wrote up the design row by row and it had a repeat from rows 15 - 38. There's enough going on that I don't want to goof up a section by getting distracted so this project stays home and is only worked on during boring TV shows.

In case you're interested- Lunch with my friend was great. It's hard to catch up on 25 years in just a couple hours but the friendship and bond is still there. We're not going to let 25 more years go by before getting together again. We've already started hatching a plan to get the old Sunday School group together. Wish us luck!

Plastic Inspector ready for duty

I think someone needs a new hobby. I came home tonight and Chief greeted me at the door. A little bit too friendly, just like kids do when they want to hide something they did wrong. In the living room the kitty tunnel was sideways and on the other side of the room. The door between the living room and the hall was half way closed. The bathroom - the pile of towels I put on the counter were, well - not stacked neat like they were this morning. The den had the kitty jungle gym in the middle of the room and Bert was sitting in the kitty chair trying to look innocent. Just a guess but I think the boys were busy today.

Last month Jeanne at K3tog was collecting preemie hats and gave prizes out to some that donated hats. I won and the package arrived yesterday. I got 5 skeins of TLC Cotton Plus. Jeanne says it is wonderful for baby garments. I can't waited to find out for myself.

The yarn came in a package containing plastic bubbles inside. This means, of course, the plastic inspector must get busy and do his job.

Chomp, chomp chomp. Yep. it's plastic. Got any more for me to check out? - Chief

20 Year old Christmas Sock

Well I survived the second day of Mom's surgery stuff. Today was fill in the pothole on her face day. She got a skin flap put on and it ended up taking a long time. I planned on 2- 2.5 hours away from work but it took 4 hours. But - we're done other than keeping it clean and getting the stitches out in a couple weeks.


So- here's the pictures I promised for several days.

1. The Christmas Sock - I started this about 20 years ago and just had the foot to do. It's a bulky wool - I still can't remember the name. Size 9 needles. There may have been a pattern at one point but the heel and foot were just me horsing around with patterns. After all -it doesn't have to fit.


Here's the 20 year old part of the sock. It aged well.



2. The Mitered Washrag. This is the Sugar 'n Cream stripes cotton. Size 7 needle. The basic miter square. I think I started with 70sts. I tend to throw stuff on the needle and just wing it so I'm really bad a details some time. I like the way this yarn stripes. Looks like I did more work than just knit!
3. Which way is up Cable Scarf.



Back over a year ago ( I was still in the other house) I saw a reversible cable scarf in a shop and thought - I can do that. I didn't have any time to really look at it other than to see the cable was done with k1,p1. But driving home I thought about it and figured the body of the scarf would need to be reversible "flat" stitches with a little bit of variety so. I work on it here and there and here's what I have so far.


Sorry the picture isn't better contrast. The basic pattern is:
CO 36.
Start with 6 rows (3 ridges) garter st.
3 garter st, k1, p1, 3 moss st, cable ([k1,p1]x4), 4 moss st, cable, 3 moss st, k1, p1, 3 garter st.

Do a left 4x4 cable every 10th row keeping the k1, p1 pattern.
Knit to desired length.
End with 6 rows garter st. I'm using Woolease on size 8 needle.

Final set of pictures is a present to myself. I ordered some stuff from KnitPicks during their move and it finally came. Yup, that's another sock book. Can't have enough even though I NEVER use any of the patterns but they're great inspiration.



I got some Options needles and cables. I didn't buy the full set because I have so many needles and I have the Boye Needle Master so I just wanted a few of the basic sizes. I also got the size tags.

I got some yarn. Wool of the Andes. I have absolutely no idea why I bought this. If I had a project in mind I can't remember. These aren't my usual color choices for stash so - got any ideas?

Once everything got out of the packing the Box Inspector got busy to be sure it was made to the proper specs.

Yup. Looks like we'll need to inspect this further. - Bert

Worldwide Wednesday - Nepal

This week’s Worldwide Wednesday is a bit different. Since buying “The Knitters Book of Yarn” I’ve been a bit obsessed with odd fibers.

I found a website from Nepal that has fascinated me. It’s a manufacturer so we normal folk can’t buy from this site but it has great information. So this week we visit Nepal and the Asian Trading Centre.
Some of the yarns they have are: Recycled silk made from saris, Banana fiber, Cotton (well they all can’t be unique yarns), Hemp, Nettle, and more. There’s a photo gallery of people creating the yarns and garments made from the yarn. Each yarn type has several pictures including “raw” banana fiber.

Recycled Silk Yarns is another site from Nepal. This site tells about the women for work for them. Some from home and some in “a safe working environment that offers child care and meals”. There are many pictures of how the recycled silk fiber is made. These ladies are using drop spindles! It really makes me appreciate the yarn. This site is actually from Sacramento, CA. I can’t find where on the site you can actually buy yarn and the only dates I can find are 2006 but – the pictures are great and you get a chance to see how the yarn is made. The yarn is made from the factory "leftover" from the making of saris. These ends are sent to women around the country where they are processed to a fiber base and then sent off to other women to spin into yarn. From what I understand the colorways vary depending on what part of the country as colors for saris vary in the different areas. More greens in one area - more blues in another area.

The last site this week is Himalaya yarns. Not too many pictures, but this will give you a place to buy some recycled silk yarn if you’re interested after checking out the other sites.

After reading these sites and some other bits of info I've picked up I decided I need to hunt up some recycled silk to try. If somebody sees some recycled silk yarn in the Minneapolis-St Paul area, let me know.

Christmas Preparation

It's less than a week till Christmas. I got a phone call today from one of the Aunts asking what she could bring for dinner. I had to admit, I haven't even thought about the meal yet. Shoot - I've got the weekend to think about that! I gave her the generic - a salad would be nice - line. Guess I'm going to have to think about the rest of the food one of these days.

Secrets Revealed

When I got home from work today I had a package waiting for me. I needed to check emails from work one last time so I set the package aside for a few minutes but Bert had other ideas. He wanted in - NOW!


What could possibly get him so excited about a package? Well, it was my reveal package from my Secret Pal. I'll give you a sneak peak at what got Bert so excited. -


Kitty treats and toys filled with catnip. There's a couple of the catnip puffs missing from that bag because I had to open them up in self defense so he'd leave me alone long enough to open the rest of the package.

This lady is one serious pal! Remember the flowers I got the week I said work was going crummy? Remember all the good stuff I got in my first package? The flowers for my birthday? The other good stuff in other packages? I have been gifted beyond belief! My goddess of the gifts is Jennifer from Urbana. This time around I didn't expect much because I've received so much already she must have totally blown the Christmas budget for the next 3 years on me! But surprise! I opened a box filled with yarn goodies - chocolate goodies - kitty goodies - and other goodies. WOW!



Just to give you a feel for how much I got - Chief is a huge 18 lb cat and he looks dwarfed next to the stash I received. Want a closer look at the goodies? Me too!

Well - you already saw the kitty goodies how about checking out the yarn.


PRETTY! Blue - It's deeper than the picture shows-midnight blue. Malabrigo merino wool. The label says kettle dyed 4-5 sts /in. 2 skeins. What should I make?????
But that's not the only yarn. Jennifer, this is crazy! You are way too generous!! I also got this -


4 skeins of Blue Sky Alpaca. These guys are from my back yard (about 20 miles away) but I've never been there. After fondling these skeins I think I'll have to make a trip up there. The alpaca is so "pet the kitty" soft. They feel like Bert. (side note: British Shorthairs have very short, very dense fur and feel like shaved beaver. I tend to rate things by the Bert scale - how soft and pettable they are compared to him. It's sick but, hey that's just me...)
Next - the food of choice - chocolate.


Not just any Chocolate. My beloved Lindor truffles in dark chocolate. I love to pop one of these in my mouth and just let it sit until the outer coat melts away and the inside oozes liquid chocolate all over my mouth. Besides, chocolate is good for you, the health reports say so!

Last but certainly not least -

Addi Turbo Lace size 3 which I don't have yet and a cute little Christmas angel. Did I mention I collect angels? How did she know?

This weekend I started unpacking Christmas boxes and some of the angels are hanging out together waiting to find their holiday position in the house.

Here's 6 of the angels patiently waiting. I haven't decorated this house for Christmas before so I don't have the placement of things figured out yet.

Here's 9 more angels. I haven't unpacked the tree angels yet and have several others hanging out on different tables and shelves. I need to get busy and find homes for these ladies!

Meanwhile, back to the Secret Pal package. This was my first time doing the secret pal and I wasn't too sure about doing this. Jennifer has been a pal I'm not worthy of. She read my blog, figured me out (yarn, cats, chocolate) and spoiled me beyond my wildest dreams. Thank you for everything. I've got your address from the box and will be sending you some REAL tea to show you why it's worth the extra effort!

Just to prove we like all the presents - Bert is STILL playing with the catnip puffs.

My Secret Pal Strikes Again

I heard from my Secret Pal yesterday that my package had taken an extra journey but was on it's way. I got it today - YEAH!

Last package Chief was all over it from the second I set it down. This package - Bert was the chief inspector.

After I got all the packages out of the box Bert wanted to check out each one. He doesn't care as much for paper as the actual goodies so he left.

In comes Chief - let's see what's in the packages. I got goodies. My Secret Pal has obviously read all the little bizarre comments I've made lately. I got Lindt candy - truffle candy bar and Lindor truffles. YUM! There's only one thing I like better than these and there it is - 3 Aero Candy bars. These little goodies are only available from England or speciality import stores here in the states. I've only found one source so far. My Secret Pal found one too! YEAH! The boys also got treats. Hand picked by her "boy".

Of course there's yarn goodies too. I got Regia - the Kaffee Fassett line color 4251. I almost bought some of this on the Shop Hop last week but decided to hold off till next time the shopping bug hits. Now I don't have to. Then there's the last skein. I've been petting it since I opened it. The light lavender skein is Cashmere Silk from Jade Sapphire. Color - Lupine. It's very pettable (Chief likes petting it too). I've been gathering silk and "nice" yearns to make a sampler sweater. This may be saved for that project or I may just have to find a scarf that takes 400 yds. Such decisions!

Well, once again my Secret Pal has made perfect choices. My only problem will be how long can I hold out before I snarf down all the chocolate. THANKS!

Shop Hop + Podcasts = Fun Weekend

Small stash but - good stuff!

Twin Cities Treasure Hunt - Shop Hop
This weekend is the Shop Hop for 7 of the Twin Cities Yarn Shops. If you haven’t begun, there is still time. Here’s a quick breakdown of what’s going on at each shop. To start with you get your card stamped at each shop and at the last shop turn in your card to be entered in the grand prize drawing. Each shop has drawings for prizes every hour and if you win they will contact you so you don’t have to be present at the drawing. Also each shop is giving away a knitting tool and some are giving patterns.

Here’s what I got: Friday I ended work on the west side of town so I could visit a few of the shops. Trust me , this wasn’t an accident as to where my work day ended! I headed over to Coldwater Collaborative in Excelsior after work to start the event. I’ve always liked this shop but it is a bit far to travel for me. At the shop I got my first stamp. Being the first stop I got a plastic bag (with zipper) to hold all the treasures I’d be getting and their tool – a stitch holder (about 4” long). They also gave a packet of pattern leaflets. I found a great sock yarn from Chile I haven’t seen before.

The label says Araucania. It also says Ranco Multy, color 302. I don’t have many sock yarns that are hand-dyed with subtle enough color changes to be good for wearing to work. I like this one. I should also mention the yarn I got from my Secret Pal last month is also this type yarn – has color “movement” so it’s not boring but subtle enough to be visually comfortable to wear to work and business meetings. Back to the shop hop- I also found a copy of the new Interweave Knitting Holiday Gifts. I saw pictures of the projects on someone else’s blog and decided I HAD to have it. Lots of quick but not “cheesy” present possibility. My friends should be pleased with their Christmas presents this year if I get busy!

Next I went over to Needlework Unlimited. Their treasure was some safety pins. Big deal I thought, I drove all the way for a few lousy safety pins. I should have known better. Once I looked at them I realized they were coiless pins and will be great for marking rows (1 pin every 10 row makes it much easier to keep track of where you are in your knitting. They also gave some patterns from the shop.

There was still some time before 6pm so I got on the road, headed south and ended up at Zandy’s. They provided me with a new tape measure and of course another stamp for my card. I looked around a bit and headed for home with 3 of the 7 shops checked off my list.

Last night gave me time to watch Numb3rs and a few other TV shows and get a bit of knitting done on the Smooshy socks. I should get sock #1 done tonight. I should mention I’ve discovered (a bit later than most people) podcasts. I spent the last few days with Kelley Petkun of Knit Picks and her dog Xena. They have amused and informed me during my travels to the many shops. I started listening a couple days ago and just between work travel and shop hop travel I’m up to episode 17, Kelley has a similar knitting style to mine. I don’t mean she’s picker cause – I’m a thrower. But, both of us are multiple project people. You have to have project to fit your current mood and circumstance. I’m not going to take a big bulky project with multiple skeins when traveling, but a home – it’s perfect. She also got her start by learning to create your own projects. I learned the basics of knitting on Grandma’s knee with no patterns. We made Barbie doll scarves and other small items. After I took a bit of time off from knitting (4 grade thru sr high) I returned to knitting in college and made an afghan that I saw at my cousin’s house. It didn’t even occur to me to ask about a pattern. It was squares of knit blocks and squares of purl blocks. I went to the store bought a ton of blue and gold yarn, large needle and a small book on knitting. You see, Grandma never taught me to purl. She lived far away and we never got to that lesson. But I still have my first pair of knitting needles, metal pink size 8, and undying gratitude to Grandma for getting my started.

I’m starting to ramble – I’d better get back to the Shop Hop. This morning Bert woke me up early and demanded some quality butt in face time. Don’t you love how cats show their love for you by allowing you to see their back side close up! Fortunately Chief is more into petting my face to show affection so I only have to deal with one backside!

Sheepy Yarn Shoppe was my first 10am stop. They gave Chibi needles. One regular size and one small for socks. I didn’t know they came in small. This will be used very often! I bought a small purse pattern (which I forgot to get a picture of). The purse is multicolored cotton about fairly small but so cute I had to get it. Perhaps another Christmas present?

Heading south to Three Kittens. I haven’t been there since the new owners were having a huge “get rid of the old stuff” sale. They have done a great deal to the shop since then! They gave a gauge card as their tool. Lots of yarn. Lots of little nooks and crannies to search.

Journey onward to The Yarnery. Meanwhile, I found out Kelley at KnitPicks finished her baby kimonos. It was strange to have her as my travel buddy but fun. I actually found on street parking at The Yarnery – YEAH! I got stitch holders and decided I had to buy Charlene Schurch’s Sensational Knitted Socks. This is Kelley’s fault. One of the podcasts she went on about this book and, oh well, she convinced me. I also met another NW suburb person there. She was looking at sock yarn and I mentioned I was working on Smooshy. One thing lead to another and we figured out we both use Amazing Threads as our LYS. I was very stupid and didn’t write down her blog name. I remember Elijah is in the name but can’t remember the rest. If you happen to read this – leave a comment.

I left Amazing Threads for last. It seemed like the right thing to do, finish at home. I got my card stamped with the final stamp and turned it in. Then I headed up to the sale loft and found a few ladies having a ball digging through the baskets of ½ price yarn. I found some Mexican Wave by Elle – color 004 Pink Roller. If you look at the picture it looks like I got 2 different colors. Nope. It is that “slow” to make color changes. One of the ladies I was with bought yarn that was green/brown and pink. Here skeins looked totally different but we checked colors and dye lots multiple times to be sure. I’d love to see her sweater when she’s finished. It’s going to look “way cool”. I bought 5 figuring the baby mill at work will be able to use up this yarn. I’ve done 3 surprise jackets so far for work and I think there’s another baby on the way I haven’t heard about. I’m pretty good at knowing when people are expecting. I guessed my cousin was having her first about 2 weeks before she even knew. Just a side bar, I’m also good at guessing boy or girl. I’ve been wrong 2 times in my life. And no I don’t look at if she’s carrying high or any of the usual methods I just “know”.

Back to the Shop Hop. I got done and enjoyed it. My SUV is tired but it will survive. Bert and Chief are very happy to have new plastic bags to chew on. If you’re not doing anything Sunday, live in the Twin Cities and it’s between 10am – 6pm, think about going out and checking out the shop hop. You’ll enjoy yourself.

Quick Update - Renee knew the name of the periwinkle cable weater from my last post. Check out the comments from that post for the details. THANKS! Renee

How do they do that?

Sock knit group tonight had a vital question - how do they do that? I was finishing up my Tufutsie sock and we got to talking about the new natural fibers. The typical silly questions - if someone is allergic to shellfish would they be allergic to Tufutsie because it has 2.5% shells. That got us to -how do they get the 2.5% in the yarn. Is it a powder that is put in liquid and the yarn is soaked in it? Do they make a fiber out of it somehow? That of course led to the discussion about soy - how do you make soy fiber? Bamboo we could figure out but soy? Do they make a tufu type mush and then create fibers from that? Or are the leaves long enough to create a fiber?
Anyone have any answers?

Tonight's new yarn is Dream in Color Smooshy. They has a color dyed special for Amazing Threads - Cobalt Diablo. Very subtle purply blue blend. The pattern is one of Dream in Colors patterns - look a bit like leaves. When I start knitting I'll get some pictures up.