...and a lot of other stuff, too!
Today is Day 5 of blog week and we’ve been challenged to blog in a way that is new and different to us.
So, I decided to share my morning knitting time with you:
It was definitely a challenge for me to actually knit and be chatty at the same time! But, enjoy.
On Friday my daughter’s school Wind Ensemble participated in the Dixie Classic Music Festival at Hanover High School in Mechanicsville, VA. I am proud to say that they achieved a Superior Rating. Below are videos of the performance, for your enjoyment (and my bragging!). Thanks for having a look.
Our daughter plays flute and piccolo, and is “first chair” stage right of the conductor.
This last number is my favorite of all. I hear the kids loved playing it, too. It sounded like a real challenge.
Way to go, Wind Ensemble! This mom is proud of you.
Hi There!
Sorry I’ve been away so long. Do I have an excuse? Not really. I’ve been knitting, as you’ll see in a moment, but for the last couple weeks I thought it was sort of boring to look at so I didn’t blog about it. Which doesn’t mean I didn’t at least think about blogging. I thought about it, a lot. The thing is, I’ve been having trouble turning the thinking into doing. I didn’t even do the knitting group meeting report from two weeks ago yet. Maybe I’ll try that tomorrow. Or sometime before the next meetup on Saturday! Wish me luck on that.
In fact, I’m setting a goal for this month. In honor of the Holiday Season, I am going to try to blog at least 12 times this month. 12 times. It won’t be easy, given that the dark days of winter suck the motivation right out of me, but I am going to try. Hang in there with me!
So anyway, on to the knitting:
Long Stocking Cap in progress
I’m finishing up the third stripe of my long stocking cap. I like it, I think. But, the design has a lot going on and some of it is getting lost. The original pattern was two colors (a main color and a contrast color for the ribbing and tassel). I decided to incorporate stripes. But there’s also these cables in the pattern, that creep up the hat and shift around in a spiral as you do each repeat. Well, the stripes are sort of eliminating the effect of the spiral. So I could have left the spiral out, I think, but oh well. It will be interesting to see how this hat comes out.
I’m hoping to have it done for Christmas (it’s not a gift), but right now it’s feeling doubtful.
Hey, guess what? My Christmas shopping is almost done! Next… the dreaded Christmas card. I ordered custom ones again this year with our photos on them. I like making the card but I hate the whole mailing part. It’ll take me from now til Christmas to get them all done.
Finally, I’m going to leave you with a video of the cutest little kitten I have ever seen (today, anyway). If you watch the Ellen Degeneres Show, you probably saw this today, but it’s worth sharing:
Until next time!
Stuff from Knit Picks, that is. I’m becoming a slut for Knit Picks Kits. It’s true. Why, yesterday, these three babies found their way to my door:
Three Knit Picks Kits
They are the Maeve Hat and Mittens Kit, The Knitter’s Tool Bag Kit (in purple, of course!), and the Line By Line Mittens to Gloves Kit. I can hardly decide which to knit first! This is the year I am going to master the mitten. These patterns, I hope, will get me well on my way. The Knitter’s tote kit, by the way? It comes with the fabric to line the bag with. Way cool.
I don’t have an extra Rubbermaid tub yet but I do have an empty DVD bin on my side of the entertainment center, so all my kits are going in there. Wait! What’s this?
Cat in bin
For some reason, my cat loves to lick plastic bags, and there’s no shortage of plastic containing the knit kits in this drawer. I caught her in there the other day and so snapped this picture. My cat doesn’t love my yarn, she only cares about the bags it comes in.
So all week I’ve been working on this:
Noro Kureyon hat in progress
It’s a simple top-down hat made out of Noro Kureyon yarn, and I think I’m going to love it! I finally increased it to the size I want at the top and will knit for a couple of inches before decreasing to the size of my actual head. The end result, I hope, will be something sort of beret-shaped. Stay tuned on that!
Oh, and I wound yarn for a new project tonight. But it’s late, so I’ll have to talk about that tomorrow.
And if you liked that one, you GOTTA see this!
That’s all for now; I’m off to bed at a decent hour for once this week. What? It’s not a decent hour? Well poop. I’ll try again tomorrow.
Knit Picks Learn to Knit Kit
Today I received the Learn to Knit Kit from Knit Picks. It is fabulous! If you know someone who wants to learn, do consider getting this as a gift! The kits comes with three hanks of Wool of the Andes Bulky, in coordinating colors, size 10 Harmony straight needles, and the most fabulously complete knitting instructions I have ever seen in any Learn to Knit Kit of its sort.
I thought sure I’d get them with the very first step. No way would they have instructions on how to wind the hanks of yarn into a ball in the booklet. But they did! It really looks like they thought of every detail to get a new knitter on his or her way.
The kit includes instructions for a hat and scarf, including how-to’s for several different techniques, from stitches to decreases to finishing. Maybe even I’ll learn how to do mattress stitch yet! God knows Lea-Ann tried to teach me (over the phone!) years ago, and more recently, my good buddy L. showed me. In person. I’m still pretty bad at it, but I think I get the idea. Having the booklet with the explanations will help.
It also has a section in the booklet on fixing mistakes! How cool is that? Knitting mistakes even happen to experienced knitters, as we know, but it is often those mistakes that will cause the new knitter to throw the needles across the room and give up. The detailed pictures and reassuring writing style throughout this whole kit are about as close to having a real knitting teacher sitting next to you as any booklet could be. Overall I think this kit is exceedingly well done!
But wait! There’s more:
Digital Scale
Last week I complained that I needed to be able to split my yarn hanks into two balls each to work on a shawl project. I had seen this scale for a while on the Knit Picks site . It’s also available on Amazon,
Finally, I have to share the funniest kitten video I have seen in a long time:
Not much knitting happening here, so I thought I would share a couple of really cool things I found on YouTube this week.
The first is 12-year-old singer, Abby Miller, of Virginia. She’s been making the local press here this week because of a fundraising video/PSA she created to help a 4-year-old girl with neuroblastoma. Check out this amazing young singer:
Abby has been featured on the TV news and in the Washington Post this week, and when I checked out her YouTube page, I was amazed! Enjoy!
Next is a new videocast by Carin, AKA, Alcariel, who gained podcasting experience by guesting from time to time on another podcast, which I won’t mention, but the knitters all know which one it is. It’s called Round the Twist, and here’s a sample episode:
I hope Carin doesn’t mind me posting this to her blog, but the “embed” feature on YouTube makes it handy, and I told her I’d help to promote her new adventure. Check it out!
As for me, I’m still in the knitting doldrums, and I don’t know why! Sigh. I just need to cast on something new and be done with it. Once again I’ve knit about 5 rows all week. On a scarf. Where is my mojo?
Sigh…
log cabin square in progress
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
I have more to tell but it will have to wait for another day. My pillow beckons. Ciao!
