Yarn Caddy

I like to read Nichole's blog.  She's got cute dogs, great instagram photos, product reviews, and giveaways.  Recently she reviewed the Della Q Cleo Yarn Caddy.  And she was giving one away.  I loved the bag in her review so of course I entered.  Imagine my surprise when I won!  I chose the color Tequila Sunrise and the nice people at Della Q promptly sent my Yarn Caddy.

This is a great bag!  It's big so it can hold a lot of yarn or in-progress projects in the interior.  It's got four big pockets on the outside for even more stuff.

Currently mine is holding an oh-so-close-to-being-finished Carson shawl, which is a pretty big project.  Should I get bored with that, there is some recently-wound yarn for an Anne Hanson scarf.  Of course the patterns for both are in the bag.  In the front pockets I put my little notions pouch and a bottle of water.  I know I could fit even more stuff in here but I'm trying not to start too many projects at once.

The Yarn Caddy is stylish too!  Look, it's in an ad in the latest issue of Vogue Knitting.

Thank you, Nichole and Della Q, for the fabulous Cleo Yarn Caddy!

And she's off!!!

Normally at the dog park I'm too busy throwing the ball for Lucy to take pictures as she launches herself into the pond.  But since my mom was here, she threw and I photographed.

Look at her go!

Big splash!

Such a smooth swimmer!

Quilting

I took some time away from knitting to quilt.  My mom is a quilter and she was here the past few days to visit and attend the big quilt show, the International Quilt Festival.  I was inspired at the thought of all those beautiful quilts and knew with my mom here, she'd be glad to help me with my quilting efforts.  

I knew what I wanted to make.  I loved the quilt on the cover of the winter edition of Simple Quilts and Sewing (see small photo of the the cover at the left in the link).  But rather than brights, I wanted to use my violet fabric.  I've been buying fabric with violets for years.  (My sorority flower is the violet.)  I just needed a solid color that would tie everything together.  I went to a quilt store and found the green.

Before my mom arrived I cut all the fabric and assembled the blocks that consist of both violet fabric and green.  I should add that I also did a lot of dehoarding (including taking the old printer and broken cameras to the electronics recycling place and shredding a whole bunch of stuff--really, why did I think I needed to save those old pay stubs and bank statements for so long) in my office/library.  I thought the clean, uncluttered floor would be a good place to lay out the quilt and I could shut that room's door to keep the livestock out.

We laid out the blocks, looked, rearranged, and came up with a pleasing distribution.  I sewed everything together.  Mom kept track of things like which way to press the seams and how to logically put the parts together, stuff an experienced quilter knows but might have taxed my brain.

Here's the result.

And a close-up.

Not bad, huh?

Now it needs borders.  I found some great fabrics at the quilt show for this.  We'll work on the borders next time we get together.

Not far from where I live there is a big park called George Bush Park.  One of its attractions is a nature reserve.  Within the nature reserve are some lakes.  It's really amazing that this is so close to the city.  Once you park and walk over the levee, it feels like you are a million miles away.

I had some spare time on a recent morning so I took Lucy for some hiking and swimming.

No one was there but us and this bird.  I think it is a great egret but I could be wrong.

Of course Lucy's favorite activity is swimming for her tennis ball.

This makes her happy.

Lucy was here!  That's what the footprints seem to say, however fleetingly.

We had a good time!  We'll be back.

Lawbreaker

I made the Springtime Bandit shawl.  Sometimes I really wonder how designers name their creations.  This shawl is not a springtime garment in most of the country, given the worsted weight alpaca, wool, and silk yarn.  And what's it got to do with a bandit?  Anyway, it was a fun, fast, and lovely thing to knit.

Just over a month ago I had knee surgery.  My mom came to help me out.  Turns out surgery was not bad at all and I was immediately walking around.  So we had some time for a few adventures.  We went west to Katy (a suburb of Houston) so my mom could shop in a quilt store.  Since we were already there, we went a few more miles down the road to Yarntopia.  I wasn't going to buy anything.  Really, I wasn't.  But this shawl was knitted and displayed around the shoulders of a mannequin.  My mom really liked it.  I had just given her her original Christmas gift for coming to help me out.   So I decided I would make this as a replacement Christmas gift.  She picked out the color.  The yarn is Terra by The Fiber Company.   It was really nice to work with, very soft, and it blocked out beautifully.

Given the color and the feather-like pattern, this reminds me of a peacock.

Completely unrelated:  I did some fall decorating with mums and pumpkins.  And this pumpkin chiminea.

Somewhat related:  I previously made the Springtime in Philadelphia beret so I am not completely clueless about the shawl's name.  But sometimes the names are just too cutesy for me.

1.5 Mittens, Circa 1986

Last week I was looking through a plastic bin in a spare closet.  I had no idea what was in there.  My theory these days is, "If I don't know what's in there, I probably don't need it and should get rid of it." 

I did that with some of the stuff, but not these.  No.  I need to keep them as a souvenir of my earliest attempt at knitting.

This mitten is the first thing I ever knitted, way back in 1986.  (Not a bad job, is it?)  I'd wanted to learn to knit since I was in high school.  But I didn't know any knitters.  My mom and grandma were crocheters.  The internet and YouTube videos didn't exist at the time.  So I just had to wait until I met a real-life knitter.

That summer, between sophomore and junior years of college, I flew to Connecticut so I could then drive back to Colorado and the new semester with a friend.  His mom knit!  This was my chance to learn!  So I did.  I have no memory of the actual knitting lessons but apparently I learned.

I thought I'd lost this first project.  I knew I completed one mitten but I was surprised to find the second one half done and on the needles.

Interestingly, these mittens were knit on straight needles and then seamed up the side.  That seems so old-fashioned now.

The pattern was from this Jack Frost Knitting company.  I don't know a thing about them.  However, I did an internet search and if this blogger is correct, the pattern is from 1942!  Wow, it's even older than I thought.

I think I'll leave these mittens as is, just a souvenir from my earliest attempts at knitting.  It might be fun to try making them again in some prettier yarn.

KALing Away

Sometimes I really enjoy knitting along with other people.  I can ask questions if I have a problem and someone will help me out.  I like seeing everyone's results and color choices.  I don't have a local knitting group but instead have a worldwide knitting group thanks to Ravelry.

Lately I've been participating in two different knit-a-longs.  The first is for Anne Hanson's fall club.  The project is called Sonneblume and it is a big green sunflower shawl.  The start of this project is the most unusual I've ever done.  Thankfully the group points the way and answers questions! This project takes all my brain power so I mostly knit it during lunch and when I am fully awake. I'm quite sure I won't finish this before the October project arrives. Maybe before Christmas? Here is my progress so far.

The other KAL is for a Romi shawl called Carson.  This one has been quick and easy.  This is good TV-before-bedtime knitting.  I went for fall colors.  I think it will end up looking like the sunset.  Here's what I've done so far.