The truth is I am always doing something.

Okay so I am getting a bit better at this blogging thing, since it has only been a week since my last post and not a few months. LOL!

I know my lack of communication makes it seem like I am doing a whole lot of nothing, but truth be told if you knew me well I am always up to something. I am still frantically trying to finish my nephews sweater as his birthday (and mine) is next Friday. I also in the misdst of all this need to figure out what I may give my sister in law for her birthday next Wednesday. I have one more sleeve to finish and then will need to block both sleeves and peice them to the body. After all that I also need to finish the collar. I like the way the pattern was written and have decided to make very few changes, one of which was to make the ribbing on the sleeves twice as long so they can be rolled up and leaves room for growth (I want him to wear this sweater for as long as possible). I will however knit the collar twice as long, double it over and sew it to the inside to make a more professional finished look. I suppose for all those interested I should mention I used the "Harry's Red Cable Sweater" pattern by Alison Hansel which is published in "Charmed Knits". I used Eco Caron's simply soft (3 oz in wheat) and have managed to get by with only three skeins for a child size 7, using size 7 straight knitting needles. Considering I bought my yarn at a local Wal-Mart that means the total cost for the project came to a whopping $9. I saved money and my nephew still gets an awesome present. My nephews sweater is not red but a wheat or beige color and I will post pictures as soon as I am finsihed.

It is finally snowing here, I was begining to think that old man winter preferred to vacation in England and the east coast this year. It has been a very strange and unusally warm winter, which makes me a bit uneasy. That is all we need is a drought! Can you imagine the headlines then? The economy will be compared to the depression and the drought will draw comparisons to the dust bowl! Hang in there everyone if they could bounce back three generations ago we too will overcome this.

Apologies and Excuses

Wow! I just realized that I haven't posted since September. This has become a stagnant blog in desperate need of new material. Seriosuly! I could give you a thousand excuses as to why i have not been posting, but I won't. Instead I will give you and update as to what has been transpiring since September.

October:

My husband and I celebrated our boys birthdays and threw a small celebration at our home. I continued knitting and picked up sewing to complete my numerous homemade Christmas gifts.

November:

My dad came to stay with us. It was the first time I had seen him in two years since he was stationed in Georgia with the Army. I decided to make Fleece scarfs/hats/gloves as Christmas gifts. They were cute and very easy to make.

December:

I finished all 43 (yes 43) gifts just in time and then had to get packing. We departed on our international flight to England. The boys were amazing during the trip and Virgin Atlantic treats you like royalty even if you are in the economy section. It was great to see my grandparents and cousins and finally introduce them to my husband and boys. I have lived most of my life in the states but everytime I leave England I feel homesick and can't wait to go back. My oldest son has decided that England has the best cheese in the world and wants to know when we will be moving there. My youngest son loved that England was full of grass and loved the chocolate of course. My husband became very fond of the english countryside and was mistaken for Johnny Depp while we were visiting Diss. I of course visited a few local wool shops and picked up copies of Rowan magazine #41 for half what I would pay in the states. I also managed to pick up four balls of Sirdar cotton and a pattern for a tank top for roughly $14. Amazing! We had a great Christmas with my grandparents and I didn't want to leave.

January:

My dad began packing his stuff to move back to southern California to be with his girlfriend. We had a great visit and I must admit I will miss my personal chef. Since he arrived I haven't cooked a meal, he took over my kitchen. It was a bit ironic since I remember him being a horrible cook whn I was little. Apparently he has been hooked on cooking shows and magazines since he moved to Georgia. Well it certainly paid off! Now we are back to crockpot meals since I work full time and can only be gourmet on the weekends.
There is a new wool shop in Truckee now called Lake Tahoe Yarn Company. It is located right in the heart of historic downtown. I was fortunate enough to be able to design a crochet scarf pattern for the shop and have also signed on as the crochet teacher. The scarf is called The Brickell Town Scarf and it is on display in the shop. If you would like to buy the pattern it is listed on Ravelry and for sale in my etsy shop. www.alo25.etsy.com. Lake Tahoe Yarn Company is also hosting a charity knit for the local hospital and underpriveleged newborns. I am participating and have finished the hat, socks and baby mitts. I will block them this weekend and turn them in next week.
Tomorrow is my niece Cora's second birthday. In keeping with my homemade gift resolution I made her the cutest little dress. I have been working on my sewing skills and recently acquired a serger. I am very pleased with the outcome and will post some pictures soon.

I promise to get better at this and post more reqularly.

yours in creativity,


Alo

Yarn overdose!!!

I know I have been terrible at keeping up with daily posts to this blog, but fear not I have been a busy bee, Knitting of course!



I am suffering a yarn overdose at the moment, my husband is also feeling the effects! I'll start at the begining. I tend to pop in to our local second hand shop from time to time (this place is great, you can find quality things at great prices and every dollar you spend goes to the local hospice) just to see what they may have that will peak my interest. What did I find? A knitters stash! Lucky for me this particular "stash" consisted of virgin wool, linen, mohair, a silk blend and lots of superwash sock yarn!!!!! Oh I was in heaven, especially when I bought the entire trash bag full of yarn for just under twenty dollars! The fours full skeins of sage green mohair would have cost me twenty dollars or more! Off the top of my head the stash included 4 100g skeins of sock yarn each in the following colors: Black, evergreen, white & nutmeg.2 100g skeins of sock yarn each in the following colors: chocolate brown, red, green, and black. 4 50g balls of sage green mohair. 1 50g ball of a silk/mohair blend in a silver grey. 1 partial skein of a varigated purple yarn that feels like wool and is a fingering weight. 2 100g skeins of Fleishmans silhouette in black, 2 partial skeins of ruby red mohair (I measured 27 yards with my yard stick. I might use this as an accent to something), 10 100g skeins of linen blend yarn in a beige (I might use this to make a wrap?) and various worsted weight acrylic balls in spring green, coral, white and beige. Lets not forget the size 3 24" nickel plated fixed circular knitting needles. Now you can see the amazing deal I stumbled upon and how I just could not pass this up, right? Well heres the problem, I made a resolution at the begining of the year to use up my entire stash, because it was getting a bit out of hand. So in picking up this little treasure I now have doubled my stash, which counteracts my previous intention. My poor husband is forced to live with this ever growing yarn stash (it multiplies faster than my little hands can knit). There is yarn in the trunk, yarn in my drawers, yarn in various baskets and at one point yarn on the counter in the kitchen (have you ever seen the Star Trek episode "The Trouble with Trebles" ? kind of like that) yarn everywhere. My incredibly supportive husband has had enough and has imposed a yarn embargo. I cannot buy anymore yarn until I have knitted through some of my stash. :(

Understandable but still a bit depressing!

New pattern!!!!

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls step right up and you will marvel at what I like to call.....

"Kick Me"

By: Alexis Norton

Materials:

Crochet cotton thread size 10 in white (MC) and black (CC)

Scrap of yarn in a different color to mark end of row.

Plastic sandwhich bag

1/4 cup of rice (add more or less as it will make the ball squishy or hard)

Hook:

Size 6 (1.8 mm) steel crochet hook

Ch 4 and join to form a ring

R1: 8 sc in ring

R2: 2 sc in next sc 1 sc in following sc repeat 4 times (use scrap thread to mark end of row)

R3: 2 sc in next sc 1 sc in next 2 sc repeat 4 times

R4: 2 sc in next sc 1 sc in next 3 sc repeat 4 times

R5: 2 sc in next sc 1 sc in next 4 sc repeat 4 times

R6: 2 sc in next sc 1 sc in next 5 sc repeat 4 times

R7: 2 sc in next sc 1 sc in next 6 sc repeat 4 times

R8: 2 sc in next sc 1 sc in next 7 sc repeat 4 times

R9: sc in backloop only of next sc repeat around

R10:Change to CC and sc around

R11-21: Repeat row 10 changing from CC to MC after every two rows

R22: Change to CC and sc around

R23:sc in backloop only of next sc repeat around

R24: (decrease) sc decrease over next two sc. sc in next 7 sc repeat 4 times

after this row fill plastic sandwhich bag with rice and stuff it into place.Tie off end of bag.

R25:sc decrease over next two sc. sc in next 6 sc repeat 4 times

R26:sc decrease over next two sc. sc in next 5 sc repeat 4 times

R27:sc decrease over next two sc. sc in next 4 sc repeat 4 times

Bind off leaving a 3" thread.

Weave thread through remaining sc and pull tight knot the end.

Halter top finally completed!!!

It has finally birthed itself. This has been floating around in my head for a bit, driving me nearly batty, but it is finally complete. I currently have it listed on my etsy shop www.alo25.etsy.com if it peaks your interest. Perhaps if enough people request it I may also post a pattern for it.

Happy Independance day

I happen to live in a small town, in which a parade is still appreciated and admired. I dragged myself and the kids out of bed this morning and was not surprised to find my dad was not only up but ready to go. We made it to the parade route about a half hour prior to the start. I was fortunate enough to score a spot on the side of the road courtesy of a co-worker and we watched the mayhem from the sidelines. The parade itself was okay, I think the general excitement was the fact that we even have a parade and it's a great excuse to get drunk on the sidewalk in historic downtown (which most were happy to oblige). There were a few "thrown together" floats, a band, some bagpipers and a drill team, there were also some small town jokes that wouldn't amke sense without a long drawn out story that would lose it's humor long before it ended. I found it amusing that a woman on the "Grand Marshall's" float was wearing a shirt with Union Jack across the front. No one else around me seemed to get it. The kids enjoyed it but I was itching to get home and finish my new top. So as soon as the parade was over we foound the car and made the trek back home. The top itself is nearly finished and the creation of has nearly taken on a life of it's own. I m very proud the way it's turned out and can't wait to post pictures. I have to finish the last two straps, but at the moment my hands are aching and begging for a break. I showed the top to my dad and he asked "Did you know it's different colors?" I laughed and said "yes".

Hello and Welcome

I am taking my first uneasy steps into the blogging domain. It seems to be the norm for many of my fiber addicted compatriots these days. I suppose it would seem ridiculous that I haven't done this sooner, but such is life in the general sense. I have so many ideas swirling around within the depths of my imagination at the moment. It is such torture that only one can become reality at a time. I hope to post pictures of latest project soon.