This is about to be the world's shortest blogpost since I have been up 22 hours already but I did promise to do the drawing on May 31 so here goes. After entering all the comment leavers (is that a word?) into a spreadsheet and using a random number generator plucked randomly off the web, the winner is .... Danielle!!! also known on her blog as GrannyDani. Danielle, please drop me a line at stlwatrs "at" hotmail "dot" com. You know the drill, replace the words in parentheses with the appropriate symbols. You now have your choice of either Mountain Colors Bearfoot, Muskat mercerized cotton or a skein of Lane Borgosesia Cashwool. Let me know which one you want and how we can connect and I will be glad to get that out to you.
Thank you everyone for not only leaving comments on my blog but for doing such a good job on the Hat Quest. We already have over 70 hats!! We are going to make the goal for sure. That is just too cool!
G'night for now. More to report soon, just need to get some pics for the post.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Finally back online!
Isn't it amazing how addictive the online community is? I was without a modem from Thursday till Tuesday and it made me nuts! How was I supposed to check up on the progress on Kristy's Hat Quest on Ravelry? Who posted a comment on my blog to enter the drawing? What was the Yarn Harlot up to? I am pretty sure I used to have a life once upon a time. When did I find time to watch TV? read books? clean house? (well, I never was much good at that one) I do still find time to talk to my daughter but that is mostly on the computer since she is in New Jersey. Who would ever have thought that we could communicate so easily with people all over the world who come together to discuss a common interest and help out friends in need? It is truly amazing!
I have slowed down somewhat on my hat knitting. Number 7 is just about in the bag and I am taking a short break to work on my true love, lace! Finally finished Clue 1 of the Slow Bee Mystery Shawl. I have no idea why it is called Slow Bee since the clues come out once a week and there is no hope in h--- that I can keep up but it is oh, so gorgeous. Don't yet have any pictures as I don't have a long enough cable on my circular needles to be able to spread it out but if you go take a look at the Ravelry group Slow Bee Mystery you can see some of the projects being shared there. I am doing mine in Lane Borgosesia Cashwool in a pale grey with silver lined beads. It is going to be stunning! I am just going to have to figure out somewhere posh to show it off. LOL
Have some other fun stuff I was doing yesterday but I hope to be able to get a picture or two to go with it so I will leave that for a later post. In the meantime, here are some of the hats I have done for Kristy's Hat Quest so far.
A simple 3 x 2 rib done on size 10 1/2 needles. I think the yarn is Teseo by di Ve. (I am so bad about keeping track of basic stuff like that.)
This purple and white yarn was part of a stash inherited by a friend of mine. She offered it to me and I decided to make a basketweave hat out of it. Just made the pattern up as I went along. If I remember correctly, it started out as k6,p6 for 6 rows and then reversed. Isn't it funny how the whole look of the striping changes when there are less stitches in the round?
I cheated on this one. This is a hat I knitted up last year just to try out the stitch. Once again, my memory isn't so good but I am pretty sure it is Elizabeth Zimmerman's Watch Cap in the Prime Rib or Brioche stitch. Amazingly(if I followed the directions) there are only 36 stitches cast on for this hat!
Last picture for now. I have no idea where I got this yarn or why since it is certainly not my normal cup of tea. However, it makes for a pretty cute hat! Colorful, at least.
Happy knitting all and don't forget to enter the drawing for the Mountain Colors Bearfoot or Muskat cotton by leaving a comment before May 30. I will draw on May 31, hopefully before I head off to an afternoon wedding. Talk to you soon.
I have slowed down somewhat on my hat knitting. Number 7 is just about in the bag and I am taking a short break to work on my true love, lace! Finally finished Clue 1 of the Slow Bee Mystery Shawl. I have no idea why it is called Slow Bee since the clues come out once a week and there is no hope in h--- that I can keep up but it is oh, so gorgeous. Don't yet have any pictures as I don't have a long enough cable on my circular needles to be able to spread it out but if you go take a look at the Ravelry group Slow Bee Mystery you can see some of the projects being shared there. I am doing mine in Lane Borgosesia Cashwool in a pale grey with silver lined beads. It is going to be stunning! I am just going to have to figure out somewhere posh to show it off. LOL
Have some other fun stuff I was doing yesterday but I hope to be able to get a picture or two to go with it so I will leave that for a later post. In the meantime, here are some of the hats I have done for Kristy's Hat Quest so far.
A simple 3 x 2 rib done on size 10 1/2 needles. I think the yarn is Teseo by di Ve. (I am so bad about keeping track of basic stuff like that.)
This purple and white yarn was part of a stash inherited by a friend of mine. She offered it to me and I decided to make a basketweave hat out of it. Just made the pattern up as I went along. If I remember correctly, it started out as k6,p6 for 6 rows and then reversed. Isn't it funny how the whole look of the striping changes when there are less stitches in the round?
I cheated on this one. This is a hat I knitted up last year just to try out the stitch. Once again, my memory isn't so good but I am pretty sure it is Elizabeth Zimmerman's Watch Cap in the Prime Rib or Brioche stitch. Amazingly(if I followed the directions) there are only 36 stitches cast on for this hat!
Last picture for now. I have no idea where I got this yarn or why since it is certainly not my normal cup of tea. However, it makes for a pretty cute hat! Colorful, at least.
Happy knitting all and don't forget to enter the drawing for the Mountain Colors Bearfoot or Muskat cotton by leaving a comment before May 30. I will draw on May 31, hopefully before I head off to an afternoon wedding. Talk to you soon.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
The Quest is On!!
Wow, where does the time go? I cannot believe how much has happened since my last post just two short weeks ago. Remember me mentioning Kristy's plan to take hats to a Ukrainian orphanage? Well,things are spreading like wildfire. The quest is officially now called Kristy's Hat Quest on Ravelry and we are getting new members all the time. The group has only been up a few days and already we have members from all over the world. Most of these people have never heard of Kristy (or me for that matter) and yet they are stepping up to the plate and helping out with this great cause. There is a yarn shop in Maine that has a group of knitters gathering hats, a knitter in Norway who is sending a boxful and a loom knitter in England who is planning on sending some hats. Hooks & Needles Yarn Shop in Oakdale is the official yarn store of the quest and Kaylee is offering discounts on yarn or shipping depending on whether or not you are local to the shop. Kristy's friend RC is sponsoring a contest which will give you one entry for each hat you donate and that drawing will be in September some time. In the meantime, I figured I should get in on the action so ... for all of you who are knitting for the Hat Quest, leave a comment here on the blog letting me know you are doing so and I will have a random drawing on May 31 to determine a winner. The winner will have their choice of either a skein of Mountain Colors Bearfoot
or 550 yds of Muskat,
a mercerized cotton in fingering weight. I realize neither of these yarns is a hat yarn but I am using all my hat yarn up at the moment. I hope this small token of my appreciation will make someone happy.
For those of you who might be wondering: the Marvellous Mitt had a chat with Stephanie's travelling sock while we were at the Maker Faire.
It decided that maybe flying isn't so bad after all. Last week, it winged its way to New Jersey for Jen to try on. We don't want a repeat of the sock debacle! Everything is copasetic so the Mitt will hopefully be on its way home soon. I will knit up a mate for it and, before they travel back to New Jersey, they are going to be my very first ever fair entry! I have already entered them in the Stanislaus County Fair Home Arts division so now I have to get them done! Nothing like a deadline to give you incentive. It will be fun to see how they are received.
or 550 yds of Muskat,
a mercerized cotton in fingering weight. I realize neither of these yarns is a hat yarn but I am using all my hat yarn up at the moment. I hope this small token of my appreciation will make someone happy.
For those of you who might be wondering: the Marvellous Mitt had a chat with Stephanie's travelling sock while we were at the Maker Faire.
It decided that maybe flying isn't so bad after all. Last week, it winged its way to New Jersey for Jen to try on. We don't want a repeat of the sock debacle! Everything is copasetic so the Mitt will hopefully be on its way home soon. I will knit up a mate for it and, before they travel back to New Jersey, they are going to be my very first ever fair entry! I have already entered them in the Stanislaus County Fair Home Arts division so now I have to get them done! Nothing like a deadline to give you incentive. It will be fun to see how they are received.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Lots to report!
Well, I have no pictures for this blog entry but so many things have happened since I last posted I figured I better not wait any longer or I would forget all of it. The most important thing is my friend Kristy is back! Not only in blogland but actually in person. She came to Girls Night Out on Wednesday for the first time in a long time and brought with her an important project. She is going to blog about it in more detail but unfortunately her internet is screwing up at the moment so here are the highlights.
She needs 300 hats by Sept 20!! Yep, that is 300, you saw correctly. She is going to the Ukraine to work at an orphanage for special needs kids who have absolutely nothing of their own. When she first took on the hat challenge, she needed about 160 hats from size infant to big enough to fit a 15 yr old. Since then, she found out that another orphanage is closing and will be consolidated in to the one she is visiting so there will be about 300 kids in all. Can you help? I have already given her two and am working on a third. Hats don't take long and it is for a great cause. Her blog is OK What Next Check it out and help if you can, okay?
Yesterday, Kristy and I went to the Maker Faire in San Mateo for the express purpose of seeing the Yarn Harlot She, as usual, did an amazing job of amusing several hundred knitters while also giving us scientific data on how knitting is good for you, not only emotionally but mentally building your brain. How cool is that! We were lucky enough to be seated in the first row and were then the first ones in line for her book signing. I took along the Marvellous Mitt to meet the travelling sock. Kristy has the picture, I will have to get it from her so I can post it on here soon. Afterwards, we wandered about the faire and saw some weird and wonderful things. Wonderful would be the demonstration on chocolate making from Scharffen Berger Chocolate followed by free samples. Weird .... well there were too many things to list. Let's start with a mention of people in little ... I don't know what they were but it was a parade of little cupcakes in a variety of flavors including one with giant size prozacs all over the top. There was a huge version of the old Mousetrap game, a robotic giraffe, some of the most off the wall attire you have ever seen and we didn't even get in to most of the buildings to see what else was there. However we did find an independent yarn dyer, Kelly from Ceallach Dyes, who uses solar power to set her dyes. We also found Allison from Imagiknits, the folks from Noe Knits and a couple of other places that had lovely yarn and roving to pet and fondle. I refrained from buying all but some Malabrigo that I bought and gave to Kristy for her hat project.
Last weekend was a totally non-knitting weekend but I had a ball! I went down to Ram Tap in Madera where I volunteered at my first ever CDE. A CDE is a combined driving event (with horses, not cars) that is based on three day eventing which you may have run across if you watch the Summer Olympics. On the first day they do dressage, meaning they have to perform a prescribed set of moves that is judged on accuracy, obedience of the horses, quality of gaits,etc. On Saturday, which is the first day I got there, they do marathon. They had a 14 minute trot section which covered several kilometres, followed by a walk section and a 10 minute halt which included a vet check to make sure the horses weren't overstressed. Then it was on to the hazards section. That was the most fun of all for the spectators. They had to go up hill and down dale, through lettered gates in prescribed patterns, splash through water hazards, weave through poles with balloons flying through them and make sure they didn't go off course during the process. I was lucky enough to pull a job as a score runner which meant I got to see all the hazards and goings on. On the final day, since they can't jump like in regular 3 day events, they do a cones course, which means driving through an obstacle course of cones with balls set on top of them. If the balls got knocked down they received penalty points. The width of the path between the cones varied for each entry depending on how wide the wheelbase of their cart was. My job on that day was cone setter. It was pretty amazing to watch the drivers maneuver their teams through the cones as there was only about 10 cms clearance on each side of the carriage. I got to see such a wide variety of horses that weekend, from tiny minis to a four in hand of Welsh ponies, to Friesians, Arabs, Morgans, and some breeds I had never even heard of. All in all, I had a great time and I am sure I will volunteer again.
She needs 300 hats by Sept 20!! Yep, that is 300, you saw correctly. She is going to the Ukraine to work at an orphanage for special needs kids who have absolutely nothing of their own. When she first took on the hat challenge, she needed about 160 hats from size infant to big enough to fit a 15 yr old. Since then, she found out that another orphanage is closing and will be consolidated in to the one she is visiting so there will be about 300 kids in all. Can you help? I have already given her two and am working on a third. Hats don't take long and it is for a great cause. Her blog is OK What Next Check it out and help if you can, okay?
Yesterday, Kristy and I went to the Maker Faire in San Mateo for the express purpose of seeing the Yarn Harlot She, as usual, did an amazing job of amusing several hundred knitters while also giving us scientific data on how knitting is good for you, not only emotionally but mentally building your brain. How cool is that! We were lucky enough to be seated in the first row and were then the first ones in line for her book signing. I took along the Marvellous Mitt to meet the travelling sock. Kristy has the picture, I will have to get it from her so I can post it on here soon. Afterwards, we wandered about the faire and saw some weird and wonderful things. Wonderful would be the demonstration on chocolate making from Scharffen Berger Chocolate followed by free samples. Weird .... well there were too many things to list. Let's start with a mention of people in little ... I don't know what they were but it was a parade of little cupcakes in a variety of flavors including one with giant size prozacs all over the top. There was a huge version of the old Mousetrap game, a robotic giraffe, some of the most off the wall attire you have ever seen and we didn't even get in to most of the buildings to see what else was there. However we did find an independent yarn dyer, Kelly from Ceallach Dyes, who uses solar power to set her dyes. We also found Allison from Imagiknits, the folks from Noe Knits and a couple of other places that had lovely yarn and roving to pet and fondle. I refrained from buying all but some Malabrigo that I bought and gave to Kristy for her hat project.
Last weekend was a totally non-knitting weekend but I had a ball! I went down to Ram Tap in Madera where I volunteered at my first ever CDE. A CDE is a combined driving event (with horses, not cars) that is based on three day eventing which you may have run across if you watch the Summer Olympics. On the first day they do dressage, meaning they have to perform a prescribed set of moves that is judged on accuracy, obedience of the horses, quality of gaits,etc. On Saturday, which is the first day I got there, they do marathon. They had a 14 minute trot section which covered several kilometres, followed by a walk section and a 10 minute halt which included a vet check to make sure the horses weren't overstressed. Then it was on to the hazards section. That was the most fun of all for the spectators. They had to go up hill and down dale, through lettered gates in prescribed patterns, splash through water hazards, weave through poles with balloons flying through them and make sure they didn't go off course during the process. I was lucky enough to pull a job as a score runner which meant I got to see all the hazards and goings on. On the final day, since they can't jump like in regular 3 day events, they do a cones course, which means driving through an obstacle course of cones with balls set on top of them. If the balls got knocked down they received penalty points. The width of the path between the cones varied for each entry depending on how wide the wheelbase of their cart was. My job on that day was cone setter. It was pretty amazing to watch the drivers maneuver their teams through the cones as there was only about 10 cms clearance on each side of the carriage. I got to see such a wide variety of horses that weekend, from tiny minis to a four in hand of Welsh ponies, to Friesians, Arabs, Morgans, and some breeds I had never even heard of. All in all, I had a great time and I am sure I will volunteer again.
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