Candy Bag

Jumping on the bandwagon here-
NH Knitting Mama is having a contest! You know how I LOVES MY CONTEST so ...

The "Candy Bag" contest goes like this:

• 1. Knit the candy bag
• 2. Post a pic of your candy bag on your blog and let me(NH Knitting Mama) know about it (with a link to the blog post!).
• 3. Your name will go into a drawing FIVE TIMES for some swag!

Don't want to knit Mandy's Candy Bag? That's okay! Put a link on your blog to this post so others can see the pattern, let me(NH Knitting Mama) know about your link, and I'll enter your name ONCE for the swag. (If you link it, then knit it and link it again, you'll get SIX chances! - just tell me know so I know you did it!)

Here is my bag:

Sugar & Cream Stripes- Violet Stripes. Done on size 7 needles. My bag stands about 7 inches tall. Cute & quick, just how I like 'em!

TTFN

Spinning News

First try at the wheel.... a ball of mystery wool!
"Pond Scum" 5-7 wpi. A thick & thin style bulky yarn, 2 ply, 91 yards. For sale or tradsies!
Next try- Merino wool batt from Star Gazing Farm
"Sidewalk Slush" 10 wpi (worsted) fairly consistent spinning with the occasional slub. 76 yds + 23 yds. Sale or Tradsies.
Lookit this! Roving I bought from Amanda at Black Cat Handspun Etsy shop. 4oz Falklands Roving she dyed and called "Faded Garden"
I spun it to 12 wip-DK weight, 2 ply 280 yards!!!! I changed the name to "Lemon Rose Sorbet"
Its a bit underplyed in spots, and has the occasional slub (aka I still can't figure this out) but its really nice and so very soft!
I traded this skein to Kristy for handmade soap!

Lastley, another batt from Amanda's Etsy shop (link above) a mix of Coopworth and Chow (chiengora) (yes, dog hair. totally cool)

"Sea Hag"-6 wip, 75 yards bulky 2 ply. This one came out neat. I was going for overspin on my ply and it came out ropy- like crazy Sea Hag hair. The ply is the best so far and I'm not totally sure what I did. Oh well, more practice I suppose!I'm expecting the wheel to go home soon, unless I can bribe Amanda to let me have it a bit longer... I have some bea-you-ti-ful BFL from Warm Threads called Wine Country that I may try to Navaho ply to keep the color pattern. We will see...

I have some other FO's too that I'll try to post tomorrow.

ps. the boy is good but the dog had his first trip to the emergency vet 3am Sunday morning. Possibly something he ate and after careful watch, no food 24 hrs and lots of love he is back to himself today. Now its a bland diet, a little at a time and work our way back to the regular diet. Fun times. Its never dull around here!

Saturday Sky

At Cherry Crest Farm

Near the Strausberg Rail Road- which passes right through the farm, as you can see!

Lost in the corn maze (2hrs and we did not find all the clues for our map)

Trying to "rope cattle" (while still in the maze)Riding the horsesHolding baby chicks (he wants to buy one now... we had to explain they are really not cuddly and grow into chickens quickly)And more sky from the parking lot... yes, this is the neighboring farm! Lots of cows.

Wow what a day in eleventy billion degree heat but so worth it! I highly recommend the farm to everyone. Clean, fun, beautiful area, nice people and great fries!

ps bring quarters to 1. buy clues in the maze 2. get feed for the animals in the petting area

pps Llamas & ALPACAS

'nuf said.

This week I...

Knit another dishcloth & tribble-Sugar & Cream Stripes- American Stripes. size 7 needles

Received my Yarn Pirate Booty package-

420 yds superwash BFL The color is called "Calamity". Yummy!

Spun LOTS of rovings- here is some:
I call it "Blue Blood" red with blue highlites. 271 yards sport weight, 16 wpi superwash.

Its been traded to blogless Kim for some more pottery!

I have more spun yarn, but need to get better pics. The weather is crazy, rainy, cloudy and now back tothe muggies! Bad for Photo Shoots. I'll try again later.

OH and you have to go over to Kristy's @ OK! What Next?? ! She is having a contest with 3 ways to enter. Check out the faboo yarny prizes! (or don't and she will send them all to me muh-haha!)

Talk Later!

Light the Night

This is from Noolie:
"I am walking in Honor of Betty Chase (pictured above), a dear friend and co-worker who has been battling Multiple Myeloma since December of 2001. A few years ago, Betty formed a team (Betty's Boops) to walk in the Light the Night walk to raise funds to help the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in their efforts to find new treatments and cures for Leukemia, Lymphoma, and Myeloma."

This is the same Betty that Noolie collected squares from all over the internet and made a beautiful comforting blanket a while back.

Oh and did I mention she is giving away prizes? Check them out here

Wanna donate? check the Light the Night button on the right or click here

Thanks!

So the problem with getting behind on blogs and email is that it snowballs... first the Mayor with his accident then our router "bricked" and we needed new. Ah. I'm starting to get caught up a bit, but I HAVE A SPINNING WHEEL FOR A WEEK and am having too much fun. Pics of wheel spun yarns soon!

Go Donate
Talk Later.

How much sock you can knit in 9.5 hrs

A little bit more than this: I had to rip some out when we got home.

Oh, from where you ask? The ER at AI duPont. The Mayor could not make it through the summer without an emergency.

He whacked his head and got a Vertical laceration which required surgery & a plastic surgeon. He looks like a little Revolutionary solider.
Here he is the next day. It looks great and there is practically no bruising. Its just a bad spot.

After the initial trauma, he was great! NO crying or carrying on! Really amazing.

So naturally, little else has been accomplished at the RC house. However, Amanda and blogless Kim came to visit today and guess what???? Amanda left her Lendrum wheel here for me to play with while she is away! Yippie! We had a fun visit and The Mayor got to play with the kids and all is good.

I'm going to spin now and will post pics of finished yarn later.

Later 'Gater

Saturday Sky

Tree branch with cicada shell.Beautiful weather today! Yippie!
I'm way behind on email so if you are waiting for anything from me... it will be a couple more days. Vacation and the cold took up more time than expected.

OK off to play with dogs (we are dog sitting for the neighbors), kittens (2) and guina pigs (2- my brothers) plus my 2 cats. All I need now is a big rain!

Tagged!

I'm IT. Dishrag Tag began on 8/1. The Box went from Emily-LA , to Kat – SC, to Nicole – TN to Me (PA).

We went to Dutch Wonderland yesterday and had a blast even though it rained- lots (the rides only close if there is lighting and thunder) so of course the box arrived yesterday! I was not expecting it until today.

Lookit Nicole sent me!An awesome pinwheel dishcloth, 2 skeins of cotton (one is missing because I used it to knit Becca's cloth per the rules) and an Orange Chibi! Excellent choices Nicole! I really needed the Chibi for my new travel knit gadget bag.

Here is what I sent Becca – CT today:

Her new dishcloth, 2 skeins of cotton and some secret prizes!

It looks like a couple of teams are really close, this may come down to the last person tagged and how quickly the box will get back to Emily

Here is the rest of the route:

• Becca – CT
• Carol – MA (blogless)
• Carrie – MI
• Kathy – IL
• Jill – KS
• Tracy – OR
• Kim – CA
• Back to Emily in LA who started this madness!

Stop by the team members blogs and cheer us on!

Later 'Gater!

Houston, we have a heel....

Its the Sherman heel- a no wrap short row. Go here to see. Also check the links he referenceses. The technique looks very similar to Nona's Japanese short rows - but without her safety pins.

See, no holes?Of course since its so easy I had to make it a little more complicated..... I put mini rubber bands as markers each time I slipped a stitch, since I could NOT keep track or even read my knitting last night (I have a cold. Makes it hard to focus...)

Really though, its an easy heel to learn and looks good. I'm almost finished the ribbing on the mini socks and will post a pic soon.

I'm taking a break and starting a pair of cuff downs. After that I'll go back and try Charity's tutorial. I love learning new techniques and figureing wich works best for me!

Stay cool!

Dish Rag Tag update

My team is Going the Dish-tance! (team #1)
I put a widget on the side so everyone can see all the teams + international.

So far the box has gone from Emily (Yarnmiracle and organizer extraordinaire) to our Captain Kat and I just saw that it has gone out Nicole. I'm next! Hopefully by mid week I can report back that I have the box.

Wish us luck!

ps part 1 of stealth knitting accomplished.

Saturday Sky

So.Hot.

Brain.Melting.

Must.Stay.Inside.

The August Winner.....

We had a guest ticket puller this month.... (I know its blurry. They are 5 and very busy) And the winner is.....Marsha in Hanover PA! To see the prize click here

The prize for September is:

Donated by the lovley and talented Trish at Knittin' and Lovin' It.

Remember you have to the end of the year to get your squares in! A ticket for each square gives you plenty of chances for more neat prizes.

Back to toe up socks.... I started another pair with leftovers from Scooter. Just so happens its the same colorway.

Well, I worked on both and realized there is No Way I'm going to get lucky and even make it to the cuff with the small amount of yarn here:

What's a knitter to do? Rippppppppp. I 'm going to re-do and make kidlet socks. That way I use up my yarn and get to keep expermenting with heels.

Gonna be a hot one again today! Stay cool

1 pair of socklets- Done.

I love these socks, even with 2 different heels.
but you can't really tell....
just 2 methods of hiding the wrap.


Specs: Toe up socks
Yarn: leftover Trekking XXL color 134
Needles size 1 Kit picks 2 circs

Pattern: Toe from Interweave Knits summer 07, short row heel from here on the first sock and here on the second.

I do enjoy the toe from Interweave (an Eastern Cast-On) and think it looks good. The heel, um still working on one I really like. While I did like the 2nd method of knitting wraps, in the end they look pretty much the same. The PGR heel from the magazine... well, we all saw how that worked, eh?

Next sock (I have lots of left-overs) I'll try the heel Noolie recomended- a Sherman Short Row and then Charity said the Sockknitters toe up tutorial is good.

I already have the next pair OTN but since its the EXACT same color it will make for bad blogging. I'll let you know about the heel though.

OH and some stealth knitting- ssshhhh!

Stay cool