by Sarah

Prize Revealed...

Here is Debbie's Prize from the What should I make my grandma for St Patty's Day? Contest I held last week.  I decided it should be green in honor of the holiday we were discussing.  And that since Debbie is a super-busy crafter, she should have one of the large tote bags I sew to help carry all her crafting loot around.  These bags work particularly well for spinning events, cause you can really fit a lot of fiber and spinning paraphernalia into them.

I made the bag with one pocket to match the main fabric, which was a dragonfly print I really love made by Waverly.  The second pocket matches the bottom, a heavy, slightly textured upholstery fabric from the sale rack at Joann Fabric.

I hope Debbie likes this bag as much as I do.  Everytime I make one of these totes I think its my favorite so far.  This one is certainly no exception!

SOCK MONKEY!!

I am knitting one of the BMFA sock monkey kits.

He is truly adorable, and cant wait to get him done.  Right now he is mostly only a head:

I am also working on TKGA's Level 1 - Master Knitters Program.  I signed up to do it before I moved back to New England, but never took the time to sit and do the coursework.  I have knit 11 of the 16 required swatches so far.  This weekend, I hope to finish the rest of the swatches and start answering some of the written work.  Still to come...Knit a hat!

Keep watching here for Debbie's prize reveal.  I'll show it to you as soon as she receives it!

Another Lace Shawl Completed...

I completed my Wisteria Lace Shawl last night.

The pattern is from the book All New Homespun Handknit and the yarn is some of my own handdyed louet gems.  Sadly, I ran out of yarn halfway through the boarder chart, so I had to switch to some leftover from a pair of socks I knit a while back.  Luckily, the shades of the greens matched, even thought the substitute yarn was much darker.

I am contemplating overdying this shawl to get the colors more uniform, but I thought I would block it first, and see how it looks just how it is. The darker edge is kind of growing on me.

If you are thinking you like the pattern of this shawl, I have to say, this book has a lot of great patterns, and although it is geared toward knitting with your handspun, you could certainly use commercial yarn for any of the patterns, as I did here.

Click on one of the pictures to go thru to my flickr account and see bonus pictures of Morgan Supervising the Drying Process, and the fan I use to speed up the drying process.

I made butter...

I made butter using this recipe from Tasty Kitchen. And cream from Christiansen's Dairy.  If you are local and visit the springtime farmers market in Pawtucket, I recommend getting some dairy products from Christiansens.  They are nice, and their milk is really fresh and hormone free.

So I salted most of the butter, and made a little into cinnamon honey butter. The salted could have used a TINY bit less salt, but both are excellent.

Too bad I'm out of bread.  I guess I know what I'll be baking tomorrow.

PICTURES!

Here are a couple of pictures of me modeling the Rooibos Vest.  Pattern from Knitty.

Although I probably should have taken pictures right after I put it on, instead I wore my outfit all day and wrinkled it up before I could get Marva to take a couple of pictures.  Still, its pretty cute.

I recommend this as having good directions, and an easy fit.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEN!!

Remember when we went on this camping trip to the Shenandoahs and it rained the ENTIRE TIME? 
(I can't believe that was 5 years ago.)

 

You still look just as youthful!!  I miss you.  Happy Birthday!

Contest Winner!

I actually didn't make my grandma ANYTHING for st patty's day.  And I'm going to see her tonight.  So, I am going to buy her a shamrock plant, or a bunch of flowers, depending on which looks nicer when I go to the florist on my way there.  I completely blame it on the Rooibos Vest, which I will be completing tonight. I actually knit the entire thing in about 5 days.  And its GREAT!  I cant wait to block it out and wear it.

But your ideas were still AWESOME!  ALL OF THEM!!  I really appreciate them, and I will use some of them to make stuff for her bday in June.  So thank you so much.  I will tell you that in past years, I have made my grandma some funny St Patty's day stuff.  This guy is my favorite:

But you probably just want to know who won the contest...According to Random.org:

DEBBIE!  Debbie, I am going to work on your prize next weekend, and will get it to you soon.  I think you will really like it.  The rest of you can see it when she does, so its still a surprise.  Thank you all for playing!

I almost knit a whole vest this weekend...

It was a nice lazy weekend here, with a lot of rain, and a lot of knitting.

I cast on for the Rooibos Vest on Friday evening, and had time to finish knitting all the pieces, and the pockets, and even to seam it up before I went to bed Sunday Evening.  Hopefully I will be able to finish the second armband, as well as the neck and front edging tonight, as I am really anxious to get it blocked and see how it looks.

I have to say, the shaping of this garment is really clever, and I think it would also look excellent as a 3/4 length sleeved sweater.  For now, it remains a vest.

What should I make my grandma for St Patricks Day?

This is a contest post...

My grandma is Irish and proud of it.  I definitely send her a card for St Patty's day, sometimes a little gift.  This year I found this cute little chinese take out box with shamrocks on it.  Now I need to put something in it.  And it can't be food, cause she's on a restricted diet.  And it has to be pretty easy, since I need to make it in about a week.  Something that would take one or two evenings to whip up.

Any suggestions?

Let's make it a contest.  If you make a suggestion, via comment, I will enter you for a prize. 
If you're usually lurking.  Make a comment!  I'd love to hear from you.

Wisteria Lace Shawl Progress...

I picked up my Wisteria Lace Shawl last night. 
It is getting really big, and going is slow.
It takes about 10 minutes per row to knit now.

I am on the second to last edging chart - and have a total of 35 more rows to knit.

Even though I started off with a lot more yardage than the pattern calls for, I am a little nervous to run out of yarn now...

I guess I'll find out in 6 hours or less of knitting.