All American Day!

There is nothing more American than apple pie and the fair!  And you simply can not go to the fair without making your way through the animal petting farm.  Oatmeal the sheep was there and I couldn't stop hugging him.  His matted fur (?) was so thick, my fingers would disappear when I scriched (spelling???) him.  He was funny too because everytime I tried to take a picture of another animal, he would somehow get in the way and I'd get a picture of wool!  There was also baby alpaca's - absolutely adorable!  I just love the fair - and it seems that it seems that the fair is becoming a lost tradition.  Many of my friends and my children's friends no longer attend the fair.  Not sure why. 

 I walked through the exhibition hall where the quilts, knitting, canned foods and photography are displayed.  The workmanship is incredible!  I dragged my kids through the garden which is absolutely breathtaking with the grape vines cluttered with grapes, a vine patch full of zucchini, cucumber, squash and pumpkins and barrels full of beets, radishes and carrots.  It just makes you want to garden more!  They also have hands on demonstrations on making butter, milling flour and carding wool. 

Brett Micheals had a concert blaring in the distance - and Lexi was dancing through the crowd to his music.  Of course, the fair wouldn't be the same without the fried pickles (not bad), Elephant ears and the roasted corn.  The 4H cat show was underway and it's always fun to walk through the cat show where every single cat is curled up in their litter box and not in their bed that their 4H mothers had made for them.  I had so much fun, I'm going back this Tuesday with my brother and the girls. 

Shop Sample - jogless striped hat

Nothing like test knitting for myself!  Although, sometimes I prefer it as I can find my mistakes first before someone else does!  Actually - I am waiting for some yarn and I'm in between deadlines so I had some time.  I love what I call, my dead zone.  I can just knit without thinking.  This is where knitting therapy happens. 

This hat was knit out of Alpaca with a Twist - Baby Twist, DK weight yarn and it's just luscious to work with.  I'll be teaching this class at the Northwest Needle Market show in Tukwila, September 25 and at Yorkshire Yarns (http://www.yorkshireyarns.com/) late October.  This hat will actually reside permanently at Yorkshire Yarns along with the Alpaca with a Twist yarn for those of you that live in the Tacoma area. 

 It's just a fun and unique technique to striping in the round without the "jogs" or ladders.

I'm off to make the 2 striped hat now as I have plenty of yarn left over - gotta love 2 hats with 3 skeins!

Felt like Thrumming....

It seems like everytime I finish up some knitting deadlines, I feel the need to just knit someone else's pattern.  Knit something that I can just follow directions instead of writing down everything I'm doing and adjusting numbers and ripping out and re-swatching.  It just sometimes is necessary to knit without having to think.  So this weekend I picked up a project that I've been dying to do for some time. I bought the yarn (http://www.allynknitshop.com/) for my Knit A Long sweater and actually had a skein left to do these boots.  Found some gorgeous Angora Roving on Etsy - last spring and then promptly put it away until all of my deadlines were met.

I'm really happy with the slippers.  As usual, there are things I would change.  Like I think I should have used thicker clumps of roving and I would have preferred a longer cuff.  The cuff shown on the cocoknits pattern seems longer and fuller.  Aside from that, it couldn't have been an easier pattern and you just can't beat the price - 1 skein (I think it cost me $9) is all it takes to make the pair!  The yarn is Lamb's Pride Bulky (http://www.brownsheep.com/) - milled in the US (bonus in my book!) and the color is Golden Mushroom which is absolutely gorgeous.  I may make a few pairs for my daughters for Xmas in Red with White fleece.  Wouldn't that be adorable! 

http://cocoknits.com/knit/garments/accessories/fleeced-boots.html

I love this photo shoot....

My dear dear friend, who never turns me down, kindly allowed me to photograph her in the seamless short sweater that was custom knit for a shop.  Yes, this kind kind friend also sample knit this sweater.

 It was the spur of the moment kind of thing as are all of my photoshoots - like I gave her a 20 minute notice that I was headed over.  The craziest thing is that I took one look at her front door with her sitting chair and accessory pillows and I knew that I found the perfect location.  I literally took 4 shots of her and was done.  I couldn't believe that even her little dog matched perfectly with the sweater and setting.  It was like a June Clever moment.  I love my June Clever - oh, I mean, Sherri Hazen!

Going back to school...AGAIN!

After the stress and hiatus from last spring's Photoshop class at the not-so-local community college, I thought I might be done with this further education thing.  Now that I've had a break from school and forgot how much time this continued education took....I've signed up for yet another course!  This time though, I think I found the perfect class.  It's in Tacoma, every Wednesday from 6 - 7:30 at night (there goes dinner with family).  It's super super cheap (which worries me) - and it's a beginner course in Fashion Illustration, using Adobe Illustrator which I have and have not even tinkered with yet.

There is another class that caught my eye - although I'll have to wait a quarter (don't want to overload myself!).  It's Fashion Illustration - hand sketching.  Sounds like a fun class.  I hope they offer it next quarter.

The good news is it only runs for 1 month.  I pay my tech editor to do all of my schematics right now and will probably continue to have her do my schematics as she is so proficient  - but it's good for me to start dabbling in should I lose her to bigger and better opportunities - which I am sure will happen. 

I'm excited - I'll keep you posted

90 degrees...must work with wool!

One of the first and few hots days that we have in Seattle should be enjoyed by water.  I live on a peninsula surrounded by salt water beaches - some as close as 2 miles away.  It's truly a gorgeous day but somehow I must have heat stroke because I thought I should spend the day working with just wool!  Not small wool projects - but sweater size wool projects.

I'm not proud of it, but here is what I got accomplished today.............................

2 sweatesrs being blocked at the same time - one being the Baby Doll Cardigan (left) in Cascade 128 and the other being the Seamless Short Sweater (right) in Frog Tree Meriboo machine washable.

I need to go and get a button for this one.

I added buttons to my Knit-A-Long sweater (http://www.sweaterbabe.com/  #85 wavy textured hood vest).  Loved knitting up the sweater - love the style, love the construction of it and can't wait to wear it this fall.

Buttons remind me of bamboo - and I love them!  Sweater was knit using Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky - mushroom color.  Will take better pictures on my next post.

Lastly, I worked on my jogless 3-striped hat using Frog Tree yarns - Meriboo in colors purple, lilac and grey.  Loving the hat but working on size 6 needles so taking longing then I'd like.  Love the 3 colors together, very rich hues.  Class will be taught this fall.

Me and my buddy....Nicky and my new sweater too!

Okay - so, I love love love this sweater....wanted the peacock feathers super bad until I saw what it looked like on me!  I'm going to have to forego the peacock feathers.  Isn't this the most fabulous sweater you've ever seen?  It's in the Nicky Epstein book:  Knitting on Top of the World

Here's the book it came out of.  She's a fabulous designer and you must own at least one of her books to be called a knitter (that's my opinion and I'm sticking to it!)