Remember my Grad Sweater? Well here is a photo of "my grad" in Kazakhstan modeling his sweater and the other garments (hat, mittens, scarf, socks) that were made for him. It is kind of a blurry photo, but I think he looks happy. The sweater looks like it fits pretty well -- Yay! The white thing on the front is a tag from the scarf, I think.

North Shore Trip

This photo is one of my all-time favorites. I love that you can see the little girl on the beach throwing a rock. I was standing on a cliff overlooking the beach.

(Click to enlarge)

This naughty squirrel kept sneaking onto the bird feeder for snacks, but we didn't really mind because he was so skinny.



We saw deer every day except the last day. This little fawn and its twin were taking a stroll with their mom.

Sunset over Lake Superior

Lupines

Above and below are photos from a rocky beach on Superior.

There are bluebells growing out of the side of this big rock.

View from the deck overlooking Lake Superior

This photo was taken from Howard's boat while we were fishing on the big lake.

Stormy Weather

"Don't know why there's no sun up in the sky, stormy weath-ahhh..."
(Billie Holiday)

This photo is from the thunderstorms last weekend. It was a bit windy as you can see. It knocked out my wireless router (but not the actual internet connection, weirdly).
Kind of a cool photo, though.

Sock Marathon 2010

I've made 10 pairs of socks for the Mittens for Akkol sock challenge this year. Hopefully I'll get a couple more pairs done. Recently I've been working on baby stuff for family and friends, but I may go back to knitting socks for awhile. The kids at the orphanage have really been on my mind lately.

Graduation Flowers

An unexpected gift from Mom and Dad. They are still blooming and super fragrant. Thanks :)

Baby Shower

Well, now the baby showers are done, so I can post about knitting for my nephew without ruining any surprises. I made him a Pembroke vest using Dream in Color Classy yarn. I've been wanting to use that yarn forever, so it was a great excuse to buy it. I had enough left over to make a little pair of socks, too. And I could not resist buying him little plaid shoes. I love preppy baby clothes!

I also made him a couple of Cabled Baby Hats using Knit Picks Swish Worsted.

Can't wait to meet the little guy! And see him in his handknits, of course!

Mother Bear Challenge

I am taking part in the Mother Bear Challenge on Ravelry and have knitted three bears. Each week of the challenge has a theme. This week the theme is "bears that represent your profession," so I made Dr. Bear. She is wearing scrubs and a white coat with pockets. I made her a felted stethoscope which has a diaphragm and a bell.






In the next two photos, you can see bears that I made for previous challenges. For alma mater week, I made Carleton Bear, who is wearing the maize and blue to represent Carleton College. I made the bear with the pink and purple sweater for fair isle sweater week.

Yarn Makeover

Awhile back I bought some Plymouth Outback Wool on sale online. It was brightly colored and I figured it would be good for my charity knitting for kids.

Well, I was wrong.

The yarn was just vile! The colors pooled horribly no matter what I tried to knit. It sat in my stash for quite some time and then.... Duh! It occurred to me that I should overdye the yarn!

Below is a sample of the yarn before dyeing. Although bright, it looks innocent enough until it's knit.


I dyed it using blue food color but it wasn't quite dark enough and I ran out of blue food color, so I dyed it again, using blue and purple kool-aid. (I hope the grape kool-aid smell will leave my house soon!)

The next photo shows a swatch that is knit with the original yarn in the top half and the dyed yarn in the bottom half. You have to agree that the dye job is a big improvement. The original yarn was unusable due to weird stripes of ugliness.


And finally, here is a hank of the dyed yarn. I plan to use it to make socks for Mittens for Akkol.

Grad Sweater

I'm in the knitting group, Mittens for Akkol, which makes a set (sweater, hat, scarf, mittens, and 2 pairs of socks) for each child who is graduating from 2 orphanages in Kazakhstan. The kids graduate at age 16 and then do a year of vocational training. I finished this sweater for "my" grad. He requested a set in blue, black, and gray. I have done grad socks in the past, but this is my first grad sweater. I hope he likes it! I decided to do a hoodie pattern because they seem to be popular with the teens. I am pleased with how it turned out.

Palm Springs Vacation

We stayed at a wonderful resort. Pictured above is the view from our balcony. I love the combination of palm trees and mountains.


The next two photos show views from our front door.

This is the side view from our balcony:

Self-Portrait :)

Of course, I did some knitting while on vacation.
These socks look like they are enjoying their vacation, too!

The next four photos were taken at Joshua Tree National Park.
Frankly, the landscape looked like it was from an alien planet!
The photo below shows Joshua trees and Mojave yucca.

Here is a large Joshua tree.

This is the cholla garden.

I love the cloud shadows and sense of vastness in this last photo.

What a great trip! I hope I can go again sometime.

Olympic Knitting

While watching the Olympics on television, I started knitting this sweater, which is tan with gray trim. I hadn't originally planned to use these yarns together, but I wanted to try a new pattern and they fit the bill. So I was happily knitting away and then it occurred to me.......the actual names of the yarn colors are.......Bronze and Silver! Later I remembered that I ordered the bronze on clearance and you had to list a backup color in case your first choice was out of stock. My second choice color? Old Gold.

Warm Woolies and Sweet Potato Fries

This is my last donation to Warm Woolies before they close. I am relieved that I finished the sweater in time to send it. I hope that I will be knitting for some new charity groups soon.




And pictured above are the seasoned sweet potato fries I made today. They were delicious, although not very photogenic. I used the recipe "My Yammy Spice" (cute name!) from the book Crazy Plates. Marmel bought an enormous bag of yams from Costco, so I decided to look for a recipe to use them.

Sock Challenge 2010

The first two pairs are each 24 cm long and made with single strand worsted weight wool.


I started working on the Mittens for Akkol annual sock challenge early this year in order to get a head start since we tend to end up rushing to meet the deadline in the fall. I got the first two pairs made and then something wonderful happened. The Warm Woolies Ravelry group decided to do a sock knit-along campaign to help Mittens for Akkol. The campaign is designed to honor Warm Woolies and WW founder Kimberly Turnbow and their impressive efforts to clothe poor children around the world. The sad part of that is that Warm Woolies is closing their doors at the end of the year. But the Warm Woolies Ravelry group will continue to knit for needy people around the world, which is wonderful.

I wanted to take part in the sock knit-along to honor WW so I made the pair above. They are 18 cm long and made with Mondial Ninna Nanna Baby, a chunky weight superwash wool.

Yarn Twins!

Hmmm...very curious. I ordered Happy Feet sock yarn in the colorway Summer Sweet from DBNY and Filatura Lanarota Fashion Toes sock yarn in the colorway #7 from Smiley's and they appear to be the same yarn. Not similar yarn...but the exact same yarn.

They look exactly alike, no?

They are both 90% superwash merino wool and 10% nylon. They are both made in Peru. Fashion Toes is 193 yds per skein. Happy Feet is 192 yds per skein.

Very curious indeed.

Now, I know that it is supposed to be bad luck to spot a doppelganger, but I consider it lucky to discover yarn twins.

The best part? I got both brands on clearance :)
Happy Feet was $3.49 and Fashion Toes was $2.99. Both are regularly $6.99/skein.

Spoiler Alert!

Spoiler Alert -- photos of knitted baby gifts that haven't been opened yet!!!

Hint: click on photos to enlarge

This little navy sweater is for Tiffany and Patrick's baby boy who will be arriving soon. I used Rowan RYC Cashsoft Chunky yarn which is delightfully soft and plush due to the 10% cashmere content, but still machine washable. The pattern is "Baby Sophisticate" by Linden Heflin.

The lavender sweater is for Tessa and Ali's baby girl on the way. The yarn is Berroco Love It, a cotton/acrylic blend. The pattern is Ribbed Baby Jacket by Debbie Bliss. And is the button cute or what?



Can't wait to see the babies in their sweaters!

Spumoni Socks

I knitted this pair of socks for my friend Meredith. They are mint green with multicolored flecks, which reminds me of spumoni ice cream. (See ice cream photo below). I also made a wee little pair of socks for her sister's baby.