Done and Done

Dear Mom,
September's socks.
Late, but done.
October's socks- done with time to spare!
Love,
Kim

I learn a new trick

 Dear Mom,
When I was Up North earlier this month, and while visiting the charming Melissa at Wool and Honey, I noticed an attractive, funky bracelet on Melissa's wrist. Our conversation was moving along at such a pace that I neglected to ask her about the bracelet.
When week 3 of The Twelve Knits of Christmas rolled around I was happy to see the bracelet kit as that week's offering. I ordered the kit and received it a few days later.
I was taking a Giant Step out of my comfort zone with this one. It is crocheted, not knit. But Melissa's directions were easy to follow and during last week's Project Runway episode I crocheted not 1, but 2 cuffs! (The kit has ample wire for more than one cuff, but just enough freshwater pearls for one cuff. I stocked up on a variety of beads from Michael's before beginning that first cuff. Foolish, maybe, but determined and optimistic.)
Here are the results:

Crocheting will never be my "thing". I decided to try knitting them. Much faster, the knitted ones.
Here are the two I've knitted:

I'd show these around a wrist, but it happens that photographing your own wrist is harder than it sounds.

I've not just been knitting wire bracelets. These have been a little interruption to my devotion to finishing 2 pairs of socks this month (September's AND October's). I've finished September's pair, and October's socks have the first sock finished and I turned the heel on the second sock last night. My plan is to finish that sock during tonight's Project Runway finale. I'll definitely show both pairs when that they are all finished.

I've also been putting the finishing touches on an idea that has been brewing in my brain for a while now.

ReLinkWishes....

ReLinkWishes are the answer to committing an expensive button to one sweater, or to being able to close a shawl or scarf with something other than a shawl pin. I've affixed a variety of beads, buttons, and found objects to cuff links backs, which can then be slipped through a knitted scarf or shawl or sweater and used as a closure or as an adornment.

My plan is to offer them for sale on Etsy. The problem there is that etsy is so big and things tend to get lost in the crowd.

Here is a sneak peak at what I've created so far-

Love,
Kim

Patsy learns a new trick

Dear Mom,
As if it weren't enough that Patsy can open all the interior doors- (that's easy enough, after all, just stand up press the handle down and let her weight push the door open)- last weekend Patsy demonstrated a talent for PULLING open exterior doors and letting herself out.

I thought it was a fluke the first time it happened. I told myself that the door was probably not closed tightly and that is how she came to be with me in the back yard.

A short time later, it happened again. "Did you know Patsy can open the back door", My Hero asked.
"I was afraid of that", I replied with resigned breath.

The third time it happened I was home alone and sitting in a separate room when I heard the back door open. It has been rather damp and chilly. I KNOW that door was shut tightly.

So. Okay. I'll look upon this as a little less dog maintenance if she can let herself out. Even better if she lets Bumper out, too. The trouble is, she doesn't close the door behind her. Yet.

Last night I watched Patsy open the garage door. I recorded it.

To set the stage- My Hero, The Young Man and Uncle Eggie were all in the garage having some sort of manly conversation. I was seated at the kitchen table watching Patsy prancing around the door, head cocked and listening intently. Fun stuff might be going on out there and she wanted to be a part of it.......

You'll have to take my word for it that there was no assistance on the other side of that door.
As we would have said in grade school- "I swear on a holy stack of Bibles."

Love,
Kim

Introducing...

Dear Mom,
Meet Chloe Noel.

I've updated a personal favorite from The Young Lady's preschool years. Back in the days before Tights became the Enemy and she wore whatever I put on her cute little body. Back before she learned the phrase "it itches".  I do not lie when I state that even a soft cotton itched that kid. I think she saw me approaching with a handknit and decided it itched before it even touched her.
Do I sound bitter? Or scarred?
Clearly, I am not Over It, because here I am, designing and knitting sweaters for imaginary little girls....

Anyway.

This is a pretty quick knit, and a speedy and/or dedicated knitter could easily turn one of these out in plenty of time for Christmas!
More details and the link for purchasing the pattern can be found over at the Warm Thoughts Blog, or on ravelry.

Love,
Kim

Bungee Cord

Dear Mom,

I think I've discovered how to spin bungee cord.

It's pretty bungee cord, though.

I decided to spin some grape roving, ply it, and then cable ply that to the copper penny yarn that had me tied up in knots last week.

Seriously over twisted. I think I'll make a cowl and hope it doesn't strangle me.

Love,
Kim

This time last week....

Dear Mom,
This time last week I was on my way to the paradise that is Northern Michigan, in the company of 3of my knitting friends, for a long weekend of bliss.
We were blessed with beautiful sunrises every morning.

Most of the weekend looked like this:

And if I wasn't knitting lake-side, I was knitting right here, on the porch.

We nestled in, enjoyed hearty soups and good wine, laughed hard and often, and knitted.

Finished projects were modeled on the rocks.

We left the cottage just once during our stay.

To go to our favorite yarn shop.

Wool and Honey is located in Cedar, Michigan and the owner, Melissa, is an absolute delight. I've often wished that Wool and Honey weren't 7 hours away, but Wool and Honey is now open 24//7 thanks to the internet.
Melissa does a clever thing at this time every year. It is practically a public service for knitters. I may be wrong, but I think this is her third year of "The Twelve Knits of Christmas". For each of the 12 weeks before Christmas, Melissa has a knitted gift idea - something that can easily be accomplished during that week - and she has the yarn and pattern kitted up and ready for purchase. Brilliant. Plus it's a gentle reminder that Christmas is coming sooner that we'd like to think. FYI- The first two weeks have already passed....12-2= 10 weeks 'til Christmas. I am sure there is a spot on the website to sign up to have the 12 Knits reminders emailed to you.

I arrived back home late Sunday afternoon, and it has taken me this long to find the time to sit down here and blog about the weekend. Re-entry wasn't as smooth as Departure and this has been a busy week.

Ill take a gamble here- I am pretty sure the Young Lady is not a blog follower- and show you the poncho I knit for her while I was Up North. This is getting hidden away for a Christmas gift.
The poncho is not an original idea. I've loosely based it on a poncho I'd seen a few years ago. It is a very simple knitted project- basically it is a long rectangle, folded in half with a short seam on one side, leaving an opening for the head to pop through. Before binding off I dropped a stitch in 3 evenly spaced locations. Tied on some fringe and tah-dah! A poncho fit for a teen.

As you can see, when I started to set up Elle for the poncho photo shoot, I had some "helpers" who were quite interested in the view out the front door.

I have another finished project to show you- one that I finished before I left- but I still need to take some decent pictures and write up the pattern. First I need to attend to some laundry, but I should be able to have something to show you early next week. And if I work real hard, maybe sooner!

Love,

Kim

Spinning my wheels and chasing my tail(s)

Dear Mom,
Well, September flew past. And so did my September socks.....
This is how much I've managed to knit

and I'm pretty sure this didn't get started until the last few hours of September. I'll do my darnedest to get both September's and October's socks done this month.

My absence here on the blog only means that I've been busy - with things that are too mundane to be considered blog worthy, or things that are top secret and cannot be shared here. Yet. Let's just leave it that I have had some serious bouts of creativity interspersed with the last tennis matches of the Young Man's high school career. And thanks to all the good rain we had last week, that last match took three days to complete!

Thanks to a tip from Bonnie Jo, MelissaWhoSpinsButDoesNotKnit and I went to the Hoosier Llama and Alpaca Association show at the county fairgrounds on Saturday morning.

In addition to the llamas and alpacas, there were a few vendors and I managed to bring home some snow white alpaca roving to spin, some colorful Shetland wool roving to spin (which I've already done and am extremely disappointed in myself. Note to Self : No good ideas come after 10 pm and spinning at 2 am is never gonna be good.) In my defense, I never intended to be spinning until 2 am, but was so tangled up in "my good idea" that there was no way to stop. And when I say tangled up, I mean TANGLED UP. Knees and teeth, in addition to both hands and feet, were occupied with plying. It was like Lucy and Ethel Learn to Spin.

I also brought home some wonderful ceramic buttons. All reasonably priced and there was a very healthy selection of buttons from which to choose.

Can you blame me for trying to figure out how to get around the neighborhood covenants, re-fence my yard and build a shelter for a couple of these guys?

Love,
Kim