Happy Monday! Weekend Update

The final flower class was lots of fun as usual. There are more flowers to knit and use for embellishments. We will look at others for future classes. For now, their gardens are started.

I have made good progress on the February Lady Sweater and finally have the pattern memorized and can easily do 4 reps an evening. I think I may have it ready to wear before the end of the month.

And I found a pattern I liked better for my Plain and Fancy Scarf that I purchased yarn for in Taos. So I restarted it and I think I like this much better.

And in my spare time I created some more Buttons with Bauble stitch markers for my Etsy shop.

While I was reading blogs on Saturday AM before I went to class I ran across a video on how to make origami cats. I fell in love with it and stopped for origami paper on the way to Woodland Park. I created my first one as a test and gifted it to my co-worker for her desk. I have great plans for others.

I hope you have exciting discoveries!

Weekend Update

With the kid cardis completed and packaged for shipping, I decided it is time to start a project for me.

I am casting on the February Lady Sweater for my house project and I will be working on the Plain and Fancy Scarf pattern I got in Taos as my car project.

Around these items I will finish more samples for the shop and some small gift items I need to prep for upcoming birthdays. All in all, it has been a very productive year so far.


For the rest of my weekend I worked on seasonal clothing changeout and reduction. Then I took the folks to the Butte Opera House in Cripple Creek for the production of Arsenic and Old Lace staged by the Butte Players Community Theater.

Even though over the years the productions have become more professional with paid actors for the parts in the Thin Air Players, this group showed their mettle and hard work under the tutelage of the director, our favorite Mel Moser. I hope we see more of these kind of productions in conjuction with the season of "professional" productions.

Weekend Update

I had a great turn out for the Ooh La La scarf class. I think everyone had a great time learning yarnovers, and the modified bind off. We discussed the difficulty of remembering cast ons and bind offs when you only do them once a project. There are classes coming up soon that are devoted to just those components of knitting.

The rest of my weekend was spent working on the kid cardis as the deadline for mailing them draws nearer. They are going to be really cute. I can hardly wait to see them modeled by their recipients...hint to the parents to remember to take and send me pics. :-)

I also worked in my stash to set up a list of projects I want to work on next. With a list I can prioritize what comes next and do I have everything I need to start. My next project is the Plain and Fancy scarf with the yarn I purchased from Brooks Farm Yarn at the Taos Wool Festival. I discovered while reading the pattern that it does not specify a needle size. The instruction reads "Appropriate knitting needles for the yarn you use." This does not help me.


So I went to Ravelry to see if I could find someone else who was working with this yarn and pattern. Not much luck as I found the same yarn, however in sport weight instead of fingering. And the pattern does not discuss gauge, just the following: "Gauge is not important." That is all well and good except I would like the scarf to look something like a scarf, not a doll blanket.

So I am still on the hunt for someone with information since Plain & Fancy does not have a website and only attend two festivals a year, Estes Park and Taos. I hope to have this knit and wear it to Estes Park in June.

While writing this I emailed the question to the designer. My guess is size 3 needles, will see if I am close. I hope you all have fun projects to spend time creating!

Previously on my blog...

we talked about knitting, and I am sure you have been waiting for a comprehensive update from me. As you can see, the guy with the glowing eyes has convinced me it is time to share the news.

The best news is: yes, I have been knitting, a lot. The bad news is: I cannot really tell you about it.

I know, you think I am teasing you. Well, I'm not. Since Ravelympics I have been trying to finish my gift knitting for this year. Most of the things I am working on I cannot show you pictures of or discuss.

So, now you ask yourself, why should I continue reading this post? Because I am going to share with you what is on the top of the knitting list when I finish the gift list. It is my Taos project purchases. First on the list is a lovely lacy scarf pattern with an unusual shape and some fabulous yarn from Plain and Fancy.

The shape is more ellipictical than rectangular and has a beautiful lace edge. The yarn is fingering weight in a multi-color with brown, gold, teal, peach, and lavendar. It looks like it will go with anything. I had help from my friend CatWithCats picking it out. There were too many choices and it always helps to have another pair of eyes.

My other great purchase was dyed mohair locks from Kai Ranch in Texas. They had them lined up in bins in every imaginable color. I was baffled by what you might use them for. While I stood there pondering their use, CatWithCats had located Gale Zucker and Joan Tapper of Shear Spirit.

Besides convincing me I had to buy a copy of the book (Shear Spirit), Gale showed me a great idea to use the mohair locks. She was wearing a scarf that she had made in a plain, dark color with the mohair locks incorporated into it randomly to get a very fun look. So I picked out the colors I liked and we decided that they would look great combined with a charcoal gray. I have not found the base yarn yet, but am looking forward to starting that project the first of the new year.

Well, it has been great getting caught up with all of you. Hope you are pursuing your passions and enjoying the start of the Holiday Season. I promise to share pictures of my gift knitting ventures after December 26th.