Trish Knits.com

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We Now Return to Our Regular Blogging…

I’ve got no excuses really… there just hasn’t been much to blog about lately and I haven’t felt like doing it. Except for last weekend’s knit group, which was really a lot of fun! I’ve been late in sharing those photos, so here we go, As usual, click the thumbnails to make with the bigger and read details:

Yvonne models the sweater she made for her sister.

Alice is working on a poncho.

Bernida is making cute little toddler dresses.

Jenn and Heather are making matching shrugs from Vogue.

Marie is helping Kristin figure out her pattern.

Leslie is making good progress on her sweater.

Marie taught Trish how to purl this day.

Rhoda is knitting another bag. The first one turned out great!

Stacy is reading up on sock knitting.

Tammy shows the cute little bag she made for her granddaughter.

That Wanda can’t even fake a frown!

It was a great day where we welcomed a couple of new members… Bernida and Kristin. I hope you guys had fun, and we hope to see you again next time!

Wanda had to take a trip to the frog pond because the sweater she was making was just too big for her skinny self. She tried to pout for her photo to express her lack of glee over ripping back, but if you know Wanda, you know it’s hard for her to turn that big smile of hers upside down!

Marie as usual was eager to help folks out of their knitting trouble spots. Trish was learning to purl and Kristin had been having trouble with a pattern and Marie helped her figure it out.

Tammie made an adorable little bag for her granddaughter, which wasn’t supposed to be quite so little, but can you say SUPER-felted?? She even felted her granddaughter’s name onto the bag. I’ll have to ask her about her technique. It looks perfect.

Yvonne modeled the sweater she made for her sister, and confessed that she’d probably wear it once before sending it off. I don’t blame her; it looks great!

I love our little group (which is getting less little every time) and how everyone is such great friends. It’s only been a week and I can’t wait for next month already.

I’ve had a crazy week. The kids got off to Florida yesterday after a week that included much packing. (WAY too much packing, according to Grandpa.) The hubster and I are tackling a project to reorganize our den/family room while the kids are gone, and trying to enjoy some alone time. So far, it’s mostly just quiet around here; the cats don’t even know what to do.

I’m documenting our progress in the den for a full confessional — from clutterville to calm. Look for that in about a week when it’s all done. Today we had a professional organizer come and help us sort through everything and pack up to get it out of here. Custom shelves come on Monday. I even found places for all of my yarn. It’s all good. Yessssss…..

Tomorrow? Date night. Hubster is taking me to see Harry Potter as a belated birthday present. Can’t wait.

Ciao for now…

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July 17, 2009
Tiny Knitting, HUGE Bag

log cabin square in progress
I’ve been knitting in a small way. A teeny tiny way. See this? It’s a miniature log cabin afghan, just started. In sock yarn. It’s probably going to be no more than 5 inches wide and maybe 6 or so inches tall. The photo is deceiving; it’s probably no bigger than a postage stamp now.

What’s it for? Why knit something so painfully small? Well, that part I can’t say. But I do hope it’s going to be fabulous. I like small knitted things. I’m fascinated by knitted miniatures, and how detailed they can be despite their miniscule size. Have you seen this video on YouTube? It’s miniature knitting as a true art form:

In contrast to the really small, something really big came in the mail today!

Namaste Hermosa Tote

It’s the Namaste Hermosa Tote, in eggplant, of course! OMG is this thing HUGE! It’s not really a purse, like the other bags are. It’s more a giant tote, with a nice firm bottom that stands well on its own. It has an attached “saddlebag” thingy on the outside, great for stashing knitting tools, or purse-y stuff or whatever. There are pockets on the inside and out, and the main compartment is so cavernous that one could easily carry an afghan in progress or a REALLY big sweater to knit group. There’s also a large pocket on the outside perfect for carrying sheet patterns so they don’t get rumpled by being jammed in the bag.

What I don’t know is whether this bag will be an everyday use sort of thing. It’s really so big I wonder if It’ll get in my way more than not. But, I also bought this:

Namaste Small Clutch

Namaste Small Clutch, open
It’s the Namaste Small Clutch, also in eggplant. It’s sort of a wallet, but bigger, and I’m hoping that this in combination with the clutch will make it easy to grab the money and other necessities of life, for those times when I need to just leave the tote and go. I’ll do the ol’ purse switcharoo tomorrow, so I’ll be able to give a review of what I like and don’t like in the coming days. Wish me luck!

I have more to tell but it will have to wait for another day. My pillow beckons. Ciao!

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July 9, 2009
In a Slump

Various colors of Cascade 220
I’ve been in a slump.

A knitting and blogging slump. In the last week I have done the equivalent of less than one row’s worth of stitches on Jen’s scarf, and about a third of a row on my February Lady Sweater. Hardly worth blogging about, huh?

I think it’s because everything’s in a mess around here. I’ve had piles of yarn with no place to go all over the couch for months. I bought some of those new Ziploc Totes and I’ve discovered that I don’t think I like them. I can’t say why, really, but I’ve got one here in the middle of my floor which is not quite full of yarn and won’t hold its shape, and so it’s constantly falling over and getting in the way. I guess it’s good that the totes apparently hold a LOT of yarn. As much or more than my Rubbermaid tubs which are also overflowing. But I can’t quite figure out if there’s an advantage to this product over a Rubbermaid tub. I guess, for me, there probably isn’t one.

We’re getting ready to totally organize this room and I am growing impatient now. The kids are leaving in about 10 days on vacation with the grandparents and we’re going to seriously attack this room where we spend most of our family time. I’ve hired a professional organizer and I’ve been to the Container Store. There are going to be some major changes around here!

The reorganization, as great as it will be, does not include space for my yarn! My yarn, which as much as I love it, has completely taken over my life. My husband and I have been discussing this conundrum, and he has agreed that we should clear out the closet in the front entry hall and stack the yarn bins in there. I think this will be good because I’ll be able to get to things relatively easily, and finally it will all have a place to be. At least I HOPE it all fits in there. Wish me luck on that! I shall come clean, as they say, and take photos of the transformation in this room as it happens. I know I’m not the only person who lives in a cluttered mess and if documenting the process helps anyone (or keeps me from repeating it myself) then so be it. I’m going to share.

I think this is gonna be great. But probably not so much knitting this month. I’m nervous and hopeful all at once. Wish me luck.

My mom’s birthday is next Monday, the 13th. I am working on a birthday card idea that includes a wee bit of knitting. More on that later.

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July 5, 2009
Just Testing

Cat photo
The amount of white space around my photos has been bugging me so excuse this dumb little post as its only purpose is to try out an edit I just did to my photo script that will hopefully tighten things up. This is Tegan, who is usually only too happy to oblige for an emergency photo pose, more so than even my human children. (Well, not entirely true. The little guy is still a camera ham, but the teenager? Fuhgetaboutit.) Besides, it’s the middle of the night so a cat photo would have to do.

I guess I’d better go check and see how this sucker looks. Let me know what you think, too, ok?

Only one more day of work this week, then we get a four day weekend around here. I’m already looking forward to it, believe me. Guess I’d better get to bed for now…

Edited to add… ok so it’s the style sheet dictating the white space around the photo. I thought it was my photos, which have some white space around them to accommodate the drop shadow. Oh well… maybe I’ll get up the gumption to mess with the style sheet sometime soon…

Edited again… Ok I played with the style sheet. If you look at the cat photo versus the tomato photo below, it is now obvious that the tomato has more white space around it. I think the tomatoes have too much white space, so I think I’m happy with the new spacing. Am I weird, or is it ok?

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July 1, 2009
The Joys of Summer

Mouth watering and delicious
I can’t tell you the number of ways that I love summertime. There are so many! But, chief among them? The FOOD. That’s what summer is about to me. All those lovely, fresh fruits and vegetables which are tasteless and colorless at other times of the year come alive with color and flavor in summer. Tomatoes, cantaloupe, watermelon, sweet corn on the cob… oh, just thinking about all of it just makes my mouth water. Some summers go by in a blink around here and I miss some of those great flavors before they pass me by. This year, I’m going to make a point to savor it all. The best thing? My favorite thing about summer is fruits and vegetables… practically guilt free, and good for me too.

Yesterday I spent most of the day nursing a lingering migraine. Spending the day in a dark room with my eyes shut was not my idea of a good time, but it was necessary. Even though my headache was not gone by evening I was itching to get out of the house for even a few minutes, so I went to the store to pick up a couple of essentials, then we stopped as a family at the Rita’s Italian Ice stand. I wish I had brought my camera, because by the time we were done, BoyZilla was dripping in sticky grape and was a perfect vision of what summer is all about. I do confess that for me it was a chocolate custard, but next time I will get a lemon-cherry combo ice. Yes, I am already hoping for a next time, though I know that I cannot expect that any other trip this summer will be on an evening as lovely as last night. We’ve been having warm weather with no humidity this week, and that is truly a rare event worth celebrating.

Ok, it’s time for work! At least it’s a short week.

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June 30, 2009
A Card for Genny

I couldn’t blog this the other night when I made it, but Lookie!!

Birthday card with flowers on it

I really enjoyed making this! I got the idea for the flowers from this hat pattern, and went into my button stash and a jar of confetti for the rest. I printed the saying on my computer first, directly onto the card paper. I found the saying on the internet (thought it was appropriate for the person I made it for) and set it using my greeting card maker software.

Several people have asked me about the card stock I use. It’s this one by Avery (the label people). Their plainer cards come in boxes of 30, and with these, you only get 20 in a box, but the paper is really quite lovely and worth it.

I find that making cute little cards is the perfect antidote to the problem of big project monotony. Often I find that I can’t focus on a large project very well. This happens to me during times of stress, or when there’s a lot going on at work or something. With small projects like these i can feel like I’ve made something cute and it does usually involve yarn and it offers a sense of accomplishment–and the all-important break from the project that I can’t seem to concentrate on anyway.

Tonight we had a family pool party with my Mom and Tony, aunt and uncle, and cousins. It’s an almost annual event that includes a ton of wonderful picnic foods. I supplied the steak and hot dogs. Yes I said steak. We eat GOOD in my family. There was only a scrap small enough to give my cat a good snack later. It was a beautiful day, too… hot, but not humid at all, and breezy. This is rare for a Maryland summer and I’ve learned to take full advantage of days like this when they happen.

I did bring some knitting along but only knit about 8 stitches in total. The company was just too good.

it was a great day. Too bad it has to be over… sigh.

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June 27, 2009