Barely Spring

Barely Spring

 and a few daffodils have appeared

We're looking forward to a string of warm days

so we don't have to drag out the sweaters or jackets.

Clear blue skies and white puffy clouds

are my dreams.

☼  ☼  ☼

My needles have been clicking and clacking.

I've finished the Honey Cowl

You do know it's a free pattern from

Madelinetosh, don't you?

Love this Malabrigo Rios yarn.

ABSOLUTELY smitten with the Azules colorway,

Great pops of luscious pulsing-purples.

Makes my heart sing.

May have to wait 'til December to get any time to wrap this lovely 'round my neck.

♥  ♥  ♥  ♥

hugs

My Mailbox !

We'll skip the bills and all the junk mail

to get right to the GOOD STUFF

You may remember the

Stripe Study Shawl knit-a-long

hosted by

Knitting in Circles Podcast

Aimee and Darren

I finished the shawl

here

and then finished and entered a second shawl

here 

I won two prizes by the Random Draw.

Episode 30 is where my name is drawn

TWICE ! !

Thank you, Darren.

I was able to follow the package of goodies because Aimee provided a USPS Track & Confirm Number. 

I followed it's itinerary day-by-day.

Yesterday morning I saw that 

the pkg was 'out for delivery'.

I was watching and watching for the mail truck.

Wouldn't ya know it.

The Mail was delivered as late as it ever been in months and month.

It wasn't 'til five-thirty yesterday afternoon that Aimee's package arrived ! ! !

Lookeee what I won !

Aimee hand-crafted these Stitch Markers.

Markers for every technique that I use knitting my shawls.

I just love these!  

Aimee's created some terrific markers.

See how she's made them not to snag on even the lightest of lace weight yarn 

Notice the lobster clasps on the Wrong Side and Right Side markers.

I'll be able to move them up the rows with no hassle.

Love these, thanks Aimee.

The other prize -  -  -

This just might end up as a 

Stephen West Boneyard Shawl.

I ♥ KALs

almost as much as I ♥ knitting

hugs

♥  ♥  ♥

Friday Evening

Friday nights 'round here are not too exciting

but are productive in my knitting realm.

X  X  X  X  X  X

Worked on a couple of projects.

*  *  *  *  *  *

This is Honey Cowl in Malabrigo Worsted Azules

 

So much fun to knit even with the larger needle.  

Am lovin' the rolled edge.  Usually not a good thing when the stockinette edge curls.  

Most times we begin a scarf or cowl with a ribbed bit to counteract the curling.  

This time it's making a wonderfully soft edge for this cozy cowl.  

Lovin' it ! ! ! 

Also, worked on Intagliata Henley for a while, too.

The Madelinetosh yarn so beautiful ♥ ♥ ♥ 

This is my first pullover and I'm here to tell you - - -I'm anxious about the project.

Big undertaking.

When I think about all the measurements to take into consideration.

~ ~  << my worried brows.

The color is wonderful to work with and 

should be an easy one for me to wear.

Now, fingers crossed that it holds up to my expectations.

If not, Hey ! ! ! , it's only yarn.

T - T - T - T

Tea time ! ! ! ! 

must pour,

set the timer,

and wait for the brew.

Time for a cuppa Chai

See my Tea Toter with my Chai ?

It's for my purse tea bag stash.

Took just a short time to make.

Great left-over stash buster and excellent for gifting.

I was put on to this cute project by a sweet friend who saw it on The Knit Girllls podcast

^V^V^V^V^V^

All three of these patterns are wonderful, each in their own respect.

If you're a little bit interested, just follow those links I put up there for ya.

A couple of the patterns are free ! ! ! ! 

Let me know what you think.

btw, have you taken advantage of the

subscribe by email

feature on the blogspot blogs your reading and commenting on?

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

hugs to you and a special hugs to all who have experienced the winds and tornadoes.

Yarn Clubs

Hoota thunk !

Certainly not me.  But I have.

Yep, I joined my first Yarn Clubs

this year.

Bare Naked Yarn Club

by

knitspot

My first shipment ARRIVED ! ! ! 

This club is knitspot's club by Anne Hanson the

designer of my les Abeillies Shawl from Camp Loopy this past summer.

Here's a blurb taken from her description of the purpose of this club:

"in this club we’ll knit with a variety of fibers in their natural, undyed state to learn about and appreciate the unique characteristics of each. yarns will be a surprise each month but will include a range of animal and/or vegetable fibers (sheep, goat, camelids, yak, silk, and cotton are some possibilities) in shades from cream to khaki to gray to chocolate—”sheepy” yarns if you will. some will be soft, some will be lustrous, some will have stout, sturdy character that softens over time with long use (like vintage blue jeans). yarn weights will vary; projects will focus on accessories, scarves, and shawls (possibly including a sock or baby item) that feature lace and openwork stitch patterns. "

&&&&&&&&&&&&&

AND

this week I received the second of three shipments from

Fibernymph Dye Works'

[here's the link, just in case you've a hankering for beautiful yarn]

Knitter's Choice Yarn Club

My little purple-y Owlie Delight came from 

Ocean Patch Creations.

ETA: And, now I just placed an order this morning.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Not certain when these two yarns will be knit up into some lusciousness because tomorrow is March First.

What's special about March 1st, you ask.

Why it's a start of a new month of kals.

i.e., Knit-ALongs

I'm joining at least two this month and I think it is doable.

*************

Diane at Knitabulls is having March Monster Madness That is - any monster knit between the first and the thirty-first.

Diane's podcast is great!  Lots of enthusiasm for knitting and spinning.

Plus, if you've a love of English Bulldogs - - -

Take a look, see if I'm right about enthusiasm.

My designer of choice 

for the Monster Madness

is 

Amy Spinler of Stockinette Zombies Podcast

I'll be knitting her design of

Zombie the Podcaster

[there, I did it, THREE links in one sentence]

-   -  - 

A new-to-me designer of knitted monsters 

is

Jenna Krupar a.k.a. RetroLemon on Ravelry

Chelsea the Chatterbox Monster

-  -  -

My all-time designer of Monsters

is none other than

Rebecca Danger

[you'll recall Gort the Gym Bag Monster and 

Angus from last month]

I'm going to attempt yet a third monster

for this kal

and that would be Rebecca's

Penelope the Empathetic Monster

using some very special yarn.

I certainly hope that Penelope is understanding 

when she is third in line for this kal . .  . :*)

and may or may not get finished in March.

>  >  >  >  >  >  >

Must run, time to sharpen my needles ! ! ! 

♥  ♥  ♥

hugs

Blogger's A-Changin'

Have you noticed how many blog's word verification has changed to the two-word verification?

Half the time the 'blurred' is near-impossible to decipher.

There are many unkind thoughts being bantered about in blog world about this change.

Thankfully, my blog Comments haven't been effected.

I removed word verification some time ago.

All Comments for my blog posts arrive at my Gmail mail inbox so that I can catch spam right there and then.

I  delete it  from appearing in my Comments.

It's that simple.

That's the only more-or-less-negative change.

**)(**   **)(**   **)(**

The Positive change, IMHO,

is the change in the Comments portion of my blog.

You've noticed at the end of each Comment there is a

'Reply' button.

By utilizing this Reply button anyone can reply to any Comment.

  Best of ALL !!!

I can

Reply to each of your Comments right on the blog Comments.

Oh, how I love this ! ! !

You can read visitors' Comments and my Reply to it.

You can Reply to any Comment!

All that is necessary to be able to keep current 

is to go to just beneath and to the right of the Comment Text box area 

find the Subscribe by email 

and click.

Any Reply posted to that blog post will arrive at your email inbox

to be read by you and deleted from your inbox. 

 Easy-Peasy.

hugs

♥♥♥

Put a Smile on Your Face

Katwise Sweater Coats

click on this link ^^^^

This never fails to gladden my Heart.

hugs

♥♥♥♥♥

No Guts, No Glory

Intagliata Henley

designed by Connie Chang Chinchio

Madelinetosh 80/10/10 fingering

merino wool/cashmere/nylon

in the Briar colorway

*******************

hugs

♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥

Busy As Can Be

Okay, okay.

Maybe not all that busy.

But I have been having FUN ! ! 

I've joined a couple of KALs on Ravelry

so have been knitting right along.

opps, for those who don't know,

KALs are when a group Knits ALong together on a common project.


Oh, there are a number of links.  To follow the link,
just click on the colored text.

I've joined Diane at her Rav group

Knitabulls

I chose to knit the Valentine Scarf

by Shui Kuen Kozinski

It's an easy pattern,

even if it's been slow going for me.

However, it's moving along.

You may recognize the yarn from my previous post.

+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+

Another KAL I've joined is at

Sockbunny Knit & Fit Rav Group

We're knitting the

Citron Shawl.

I'm using Malabrigo Lace Yarn

in Garnet.

It's a brownish-orange.

Kinda the color of a,

well, the color of a Garnet.

Honestly, the lace weight yarn is easier to work with than I originally thought.

I'm up to the Fourth Section of Five,

though I think I'll make it at least a couple of sections beyond that 

since it's still pretty much a shawlette size and I do have more yarn remaining,

guess I'll keep knitting 'til the yarn runs out.

It's designer,

Hilary Smith Callis

describes as such:

"notice a resemblance to a slice of citrus due to its semi-circular shape and increases subtly radiating from the center. With its bit of ruffle and ruching, "

Her description is spot on.

<^><v><^>

I couldn't leave the dye pot on the shelf,

had to pull it out

along with

three dyes:

brilliant yellow,

deep magenta

and bright aqua.

And came away with this:

This is what I've been up to, what about you?

Brrrrrrr,

oh, baby, it's cold outside.

hugs

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

I've Been Dyeing To Do This

You may remember my yarn-dyeing ventures.


 First there was Kool-aid dyeing.
Then Wilton's Cake Icing Dye.


Since then I've been entertaining the idea of using 'real' dye;  
i.e., acid dye


Kool-aid and cake icing dyes aren't exactly 'real dyeing'
Their color-fastness is not exactly of an archival type.


This past week The Garden Bell blog 
has gotten me off the fence and into the fun of dyeing.


Take a look at Kate's blog
here
and here
and here

How inspiring Kate's yarn can be.


She graciously responded to my query re: dye


and 
here I am posting my first adventure with acid dye.

I purchased six colors to work with 
as well as a dye pot.
Yep, was able to find the kitchen department in our local Wal-Mart 
to find just the right stainless steel pot.


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~


First, I soaked by Knit Picks Bare yarn, but not before adding several additional ties to keep the yarn skein from tangling during the dye process.


I used inch-wide fabric stripes wrapped several times 'round so that it covered that area very tightly so the dye would not penetrate that area.


After a very long soak the yarn was ready
and so was I.


 I assembled my measuring spoon, a cup of hot water and a stirring utensil which is real life is a spatula.


And put my yarn on to dye

The pot/yarn was left on the heat 'til the water cleared of dye.

After the water cleared of dye

and after rinsing out the excess dye from the yarn

and after it dried.

Here's my first skein of acid dyed yarn.

Once it was wound into a 'cake' it looks this.

and this

Just wanted to share this with ya.


&&&&&&&&&&&&&


Now to cast on for the Knit-A-Long
with Knitabulls Podcast
Her podcast name reflects two of her loves
knitting
and bulldogs! 
Diane's podcast is a hoot to watch.
If you have a few minutes, I invite you to view her most recent podcast.




I'm knitting with this KAL



This Valentine Scarf will be the project I'll be knitting.


X#X#X##XX##XX#


hugs


♥  ♥  ♥