Confessions (rantings)

Sisters,

It is one week until Christmas Eve when we open presents. I must tell you, I have failed. I am still only on the first sock for BIL's Toe Socks. I spent an hour today, one whole hour, picking up dropped gusset stitches from the thing as I was trying to knit it on to 4 dpns from the broken circ fiasco. I Had No Crochet hook. I am still at the gusset decreases. I don't know if these will fit him, I will have to fit each blasted toe to his foot (with a blind fold on?) His sister is nagging me to work on them when I am at home doing something else. I must not get myself worked up. Sorry.

To my confessions: Forgive me fiber sisters, for I have sinned. It will be 8 unknit Christmas gifts this year. A pair of socks for S, felted slippers for M and P, shawls for L and J, Mrs. Beetons for B, scarves for B's 2 girls. I began with such noble, pure thoughts in October, but my sin of selfishness and pride took over and I knit myself 2 hats and bought yarn for two sweaters and spent many hours on the computer over in the devils den of Ravelry making new friends. Please deliver me from this unrighteousness and help me resist the temptation to wrap up yarn and patterns and give them with an IOU. That is the path to my eternal destruction. Pray for me, sisters, now and in the hour(s) of my knitting. It is by your grace that I will finish the blessed toe socks and a miracle of your love if they fit.

As my penance I promise to give away much of my stash (especially with Acrylic in it) in 2008 and never again promise, hint at or tease with, a hand knit item for anyone else at Christmas. Amen.

Catch up and Fourth Comment drawing

Hello all you out there in fiber-holic land! I have been absent from this blog due, in part, to Ravelry! I love it. My daughter, Sharayah, has just gotten her invite too, so it has been double the fun, as she is in Bellingham, WA and it is so fun to see her WIP etc. She is Ravelrayah, in case you want to check her out. (Thanks Cindy of Delighted Hands!)

I have been madly trying to get ahead on BIL's Toe Socks. I was cruising along with the KP Harmony wooden circs, size 1, when last night, I put them in the beaded bag and heard a sickening "SNAP" Ughh, one broke. Now I have to find my addi turbos in the red toe up socks and switch and make sure they are the same mm size... Tomorrow morning.

I made a crochet hat this week out our SWT soy wool. It is sooo cute, don't you think? It fits me better than the bear!

The spun autum colored wool is going to be our next prize for this months comment drawing. I am going to wind off half the bobbin and 2 ply it. Ran out of Bobbins don't ya know! But now I have the little gem as well as the Rose from Majacraft and so I have 8 bobbins now!!! The little gem spins like a dream and seems to be much lighter on the feet. The tension is a bit touchy, but so far, if I leave it alone, no problems.

Gotta run and get ready for work, which has been terribly slow. Have a great day and be sure to comment! Hugs, KC

Handspun Cap Karma

I found this pattern on Ravelry under the patterns for hats. Wrong, sorry, I found it with the help of Stash and Burn! It links you to a yahoo group of a new designer named Marie: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smariekknits/. Brooklyntweed put a modification on her blog to continue the cables up into the decreases, rather than stop, so that is what I did. Then I added the little eye cord on the top. Reminds me of my Brownie Beanie!

I loved knitting with my own handspun. The roving was from Deborah Brunner, a memeber of our spinners guild. She has her own web site where you can purchase. http://www.deborahbrunner.com/. Just look under the store section. Mine was the wool and silk blend. I want to get more, but I am determined to spin what I have and keep dyeing my own.

I am having my friend Natalie over today to do some dyeing. she is also my beading buddie. Next week we plan to go up to Scottsdale to Jessica Knits for a trunk show and hit the big bead store, too. We need to get more hanks of the size 8 beads that are so good to use on yarn. They go on fast when you use the beadspinner from the Bead Spinner Lady!

Gotta run, have a great day/week. Until Soon. KC

Great felted Clogs!

Yeah! Ann's felted clogs (second attempt) came out great! I used the Berrocco Ultra Alpaca and, though it takes a while to felt down to the right size, it works great. I found that adding a pair of old or kinda dirty tennis shoes to the load helps it move along faster. Also, folding over the pillowcase that the clogs are in and pinning it with safety pins is a good way to go. Better than a wet knot! The sun is not as hot, so it is taking a longer time to dry them.
Has anyone had success with putting them in the dryer for a short time???

I began a hat for me with some hand spun that is coming out really well. I will post more in a few days on that. But I did find the pattern on Ravelry. gotta love it.

I went out with Ann to the golf course today, and really had a good time. The weather was perfect and on the 10th hole, I wish I had my camera, it was so pretty. I just go a long for the ride and watch the pin as she putts, but I did make a few Practice shots off one tee. I can't get hooked on golf. They say it is worse than knitting! Ann is a member of The Pines, which is close by the house. It is an old gravel pit with lots of turns on the cart path. Not good for knitting, but fast, when she is playing by herself with just me. As long as she plies me with beer, I can hang :)

Good luck with all of your holiday knitting and Happy Hanukkah to those who celebrate it.
We have most of our decorations up but still need to put ornaments on the tree. Hugs, KC

We Have a Winner!

The winner of the November comment drawing is Cate K. Thanks to all who participated and I will attempt to have one for December, too.

Congratulations Cate! I will be getting in touch with you today.

I stayed home sick yesterday and this morning I got back on the computer and still no Cast On Pod cast. Total Bummer. I am checking out Stash and Burn due to many postive comments from Brenda's fan club on Ravelry.

Take care and happy knitting! KC

Uggh Slippers!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We sure did. We learned a new dice game that was very addicting.:) It was just our family which includes Ann's bro and partner, so it was very relaxed. The Turkey on the grill was gorgeous. As I tried to take a picture of it, of course my battery pack had to be recharged. I am going to ask for an extra one for Christmas.

Well, as you can see, Ann's slippers came out UGGGhly. They didn't get small enough, but the cuffs got extra small, so that my son could not even put them on. After tossing them in the yarn room for a few days, Ann got them out and began wearing them! She is such a good sport. I have, of course, began another pair for her in the Ultra Alpaca. The first one is done and I must cast on the second one today. Lesson: do a test shrink for any yarn not used before. Plan: Only use Ultra Alpaca for felted clogs!

I am loving Ravelry! It is a real time vortex. I spent two hours yesterday at work on it and could have been knitting. I already have several friends, including all of you who have read and commented on the blog. And I found a group up at Western WA that gets together to knit and I sent the info up to my daughter who goes there.

In celebration of Brenda Dayne coming back to Podcasting after a looong break, I will anounce the winner of the yarn drawing on the 30th, tomorrow. So if you are new to the blog, comment now and be in the drawing! Have a great day and I will see ya tomorrow! KC

Comment Drawing for November

Please tell me your ravelry name in your comment so that I can put you on my friends list. I am having a lot of fun exploring ravelry. Last night I tried to put my pics into Flicker and drag them over, but was unsuccessful. I will keep at it this week.

The yarn for this months drawing is a merino. It came out heathery with pink and lavender in it. I will draw the winner at the end of the month. Enjoy time with family and friends this Thanksgiving! KC

I am on Ravelry!

Yeah! I got my invite to Ravelry this weekend. I need to spend time on the home computer to add my picture, but you can find me as "Knittincacher". I set up my library, some of my projects and joined the Arizona knitters, the Brother Amos KAL and the Brenda Dayne fan club.

If you haven't signed up yet to join Ravelry, you ought to. It is way fun and soon, after the Beta site is done, you won't have to wait. It really is meeting the goal of being a huge meeting/finding place for knitters and crocheters. It is on the www at ravelry dot com. You sign on to the waiting list and then you can check back on the tracker and it tells you how many people are ahead of you and on the blog it tells you how many they are "inviting" a day.

To Celebrate, I am announcing my third comment drawing. So do leave me a note and I will put you in the drawing at the end of the month.

Ann loves her slipper. I am finishing the second one this week! We had a great time at her party and she loved her big gift from me, a sky caddie. She used it the next day and it really helped her game on a course she was unfamiliar with. She loves golf like I love knitting!

Pictures of the yarn soon. KC

Thanks for voting in the poll!

It seems that there are only a few reasons for me to create yarns for ebay or etsy. And right now I have decided that I just don't have time to prepare dyed yarn or spun yarn for either.
I am getting lots of knitting done for the holidays though! Unfortunately, if I post pictures of any FO's, the recipients may see them.
A bit of really good news is that sales seem to be picking up right now. Which makes a huge difference in our budget. Also, Ann's company, 'a la carte real estate services, is booking all of our properties for the winter. So, if you want to come to warmer Tucson during the cold winter months, check out her website at alacartehomeservices dot com. If you mention that you found her site through me, you will get a break on any properties that are owned by us.
I go to spinning guild tomorrow and then clean the house for the weekend of company and party on Saturday for Ann's b-day. We have 22 people scheduled to come on Sat. night! It wil be our biggest party since the bash of 2006 on 4th of July. Hopefully I won't end up being thrown in the pool this time! LOL.
Happy knitting, spinning or fiber petting! KC

Blue socks done!

I got the blue socks finished and they are good. I really like the leg pattern which is from Sensational socks. I got half way done with Ann's felted slipper yesterday at work, so I am encouraged that I will be able to get them done for her B-day next week. I wrangled the day off for her too! I will spend part of the day with her and then clean while she is golfing with friends. Fun! Have a great weekend, all and I will check in later in the week and update you on the slippers. KC

New Poll, Please Vote!

Hi all, I am considering putting a few fiber items on either EBay or Etsy. I need to know from you which one you may prefer, or any other comments that you would like to share.

As for my research, Ebay costs a bit more, and seems to nickle and dime you for things like extra pictures. Etsy is all handcrafted items, which is great, and it is cheaper, but the site itself is not very search friendly. Ebay is really specific and user friendly.

As for my knitting, I have another pair of Mrs. Beetons nearly finished and am finishing the second blue sock so there will be Two, Two Christmas presents done. HAHAHA (think of the Count on Sesame Street!) Then I will go back to some felted slippers for Ann's birthday which is in less than 2 weeks and hope I can get them done while at work, so they will be a surprise. It is hard to knit for someone you live with when they work at home and you see them all the time.

And David Reidy came back from break! So now I am waiting for Brenda and Heather to both get well. Sending them love and light and health!

Well, back to finishing the blue socks. KC

Happy November!

My goodness, I didn't realize how chubby I looked last year! Or perhaps it is just too early to face myself with only 1/2 a cup of coffee in me. I have lost weight since then, really. To make up for it, here is a picture of the lovely HooDoos at Bryce Canyon. It you haven't been, you must try to go.

OK, I have more coffee and my computer glasses. Sorry about the odor, I just put base coat on my nails. I use Orly Bonder which is rubberized and makes my polish last at least 5 days which is 4 days more than if I don't use it!

Socks are on my mind and in my hands lately. I have the toe ups for Ann going well, and I went back to a pair I had set aside that are out of Tofutsie. I am using the blue color way. I had started the pattern from a mystery sock group, but when I realized the pattern of the mystery only made an ankle sock, I changed what I was doing and began a yarn over cable on the leg. It is a great pattern. When I got to the gusset, I stopped and began the second sock so that I could remember how I did the first one and not be caught in second sock syndrome. Then I put them away. Now I am back to them and, besides having to rip the first one back a bit, they are going well. I have both at the gusset decreases and hope to finish them this weekend. That will be one more gift done!

This morning it came to me to put together a "Sock Notebook". You see, I have so many patterns for socks printed off the internet just floating around, that they need a home. Actually they need a home that goes with me. I have a file folder stuffed full of patterns of socks, but there they languish. I want to have a portable, non crushable, nearly hugable, way to have my favorites with me. I will be working on that today.

The other thing on my mind is "I Miss My Pod Casts!" Brenda Dayne of Cast-On has been in Italy, David Reidy of Sticks andString has been on break, and Heather O of Craft Lit had a sore throat last week. I was sooo hoping this morning that all three would be up, but no. So for the last two weeks I been listening to a new podcast (to me) Forgotten Classics with Julie D. I am really enjoying "The Black Moth" of her early shows. Julie reads a few chapters a week and does a great job picking stories. If you like Halloween, she did several shows last month of short spooky stories!

It still is in the mid 80's here and I can't stand it. I am ready for some cool. At least at night it gets down to the 60's and we can have the windows open. Ohwell, enough complaining. I am off to get ready for work. I will post pics of the blue socks in the next few days. Take care all. KC

La Duchesse Wins!

The winner of our monthly drawing for handspun yarn is La Duchess. Check out her blog at http://bubblycauldron.blogspot.com/. It was her very cool Meez animation that made me want one! Congrats Duchess.

Happy Halloween, everyone. I am not in the mood to dress up for work today, but here is the pic of last years fun.

good beginning

Well, I have the first toe done on my Socks for Ann. After talking with her, I decided that I will not be doing the "brimstone" pattern in the foot section, as it may bother her. So I am off the hook for the moment. Brimstone waves will have to wait for the leg section to be figured out. I think the toe up method will work well for both of us, as I am noticing wear on the sides of my socks where I have done the k2 tog and the ssk. They get stretched and thin and look like they need some TLC, even though they may be less than one year old.
Hopefully tomorrow my book will come from Amazon about knitting toe up with 2 circular needles. I will let you know.
Thanks to everyone who has been posting comments! You all will be in the drawing for the light rust yarn shown below. It is a blend of Merino that was dark rust with spashes of green, gold and red that I carded with some natural alpaca and spun up on the wheel. It is two ply and aprox. 100 yards.
And for the poll, I am glad to see most everyone is in the same boat, with several Holiday gifts still on the needles or perhaps still just in our inspired section of gray matter! For the wonderful person who says that they are nearly done and just need to sew in some loose threads, I applaud you! Please email me with photos and I will have a special prize for you.
For everyone who is affected by the devistating fire in Cali, my heart goes out to you. My Brother in law is safe so far in Carlsbad, but I am anxious to get to work and see if our San Diego division was hit. I wish I could just pack all my yarn and needles in the car and drive over to the stadium and sit and knit with whoever needed to. If any of you in the area there can do this, please, let me send you supplies. email me kcqqltr at comcast dot net. Best to all, KC

Time for another comment drawing!

As last months hand spun yarn drawing was so fun, I am going to offer it again! All you need to do is post a comment, or send me an email, and I will enter your name. I feel that I have two new friends from this experience, LDS Venus and Delighted Hands, aka Vicky and Cindy.

Cindy won the yarn last month and made a lovely pair of wrist warmers. Check out her blog at http://delightedhands.blogspot.com/.

Thanks to everyone who has voted in the poll. It seems many of us are in the same state of Hope/denial. I have to admit that I can't seem to stop knitting for myself long enough to knit up those gifts. I know all of you are not selfish like me and will persevere to the end and be met with cries of delight on Christmas morning.

My latest obsession is toe up socks. I began Brenda Daynes Hellfire and Brimstone socks yesterday. It is here http://www.cast-on.com/?page_id=160 under the title Brother Amos. Be sure to donate and get your copy. Just remember, it is in British pounds which means if you donate 5, you will pay 10 in US dollars.

I am using a red multi colored sock yarn from Pattons that I bought in Pinetop. As I was flogging myself with guilt over starting another project for ME, I realized, "Hey, this yarn was to be socks for ANN. She picked it out. So, for the guilt abatement record these socks will be knit and given to Ann. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

For more suppport in this new endevor, I am going to be joining http://myfirsttoeups.blogspot.com/ that I found thanks to Cindy's profile. Another reason to make friends in this online knitting community! We all have such diverse groups and things we know about, we can continually help each other.

The puppy got the yarn!

This dog got into

my handspun from the other day (see below) and now it is a knarled mess! So that answers the question about wetting it on the niddy noddy. I will have to untangle it some day and re-wash it.

We have been busy this weekend with golf, (Ann) and work (me) and celebrating my birthday! It is actually today, but we went out with Ann's brother and friend for dinner on Saturday to Fletchers and had a great time. Ann got me "Bag Style" and a spa day at Gadabout! And her brother got me an ipod Shuffle! It is soo tiny and it is purple! I used it at work yesterday and just clipped it to my shirt. It was so easy to take off when customers came in. I love it!

Early morning meeting at the main office, so gotta run. Then my co-workers are going to breakfast with me for my B-day. Gave a great day, all. KC

Knitting and Spinning

I have been knitting more every day, now that I am back at work! LOL. Here is the finished pair of Mrs. Beetons, (see link in last entry), as well as some spinning I did with batt from Kathy Wither's ranch here in Tucson. She creates really interesting mixes of her wool and mohair and I am trying to get enough like this spun to make her crocheted shawl pattern. Her company is called Unique designs and her web page is here:http://www.uniquedesignsbykathy.com/.

It is getting nice and cool here in the mornings, though still up in the 90's during the day, which all of us in Tucson are sooo tired of! I am enjoying being back to work and am trying to focus on knitting up my Christmas gifts. It is at this time of year that I wish I had started earlier!

A finished object!

This is my latest finished piece. I was feeling blue one day so I stopped by my LYS, http://www.tucsonyarn.com/ and looked around for "comfort knitting". I don't remember how it all got started, but I tried on this shawl knit out of a mohair and loved how it draped. But the mohair was out of stock so I began looking around for a worthy substitute. I embraced the fluffy Lafayette by Bristol Yarn Gallery, which is a blend of 96% Suri Alpaca and 4% nylon in the lovely soft green, color 1042. But we (the wonderful shop gals and I) agreed that it needed a second yarn to get up to bulky weight called for in the pattern. I decided not to add merino in the same color way, as I thought it would be too pastel for a year round shawl, so Syd suggested Berroco's Softwist. It is a wonderful mix of 41% wool and 59% Rayon in a deeper blue green, color 9416. This yarn has a definite shimmer to it. We were all so excited about the combination, Ava wound both for me, even going the extra mile and winding the two together. I sat down and cast on a swatch with borrowed 13's and determined the fabric was perfect, so ripped out the swatch and began the shawl.

The pattern for the shawl is Oat Couture's English Garden. It starts at one narrow edge rather that the top or bottom. In garter stitch this was a breeze to knit, in fact I finished it in just 6 days. When I went back to the shop to report my progress ( and get more of the Lafayette, I had run just 20 rows short) there were 2 finished shawls and one on the needles from our brainstorming together! I have a request for one in multi colors from a friend and I want to knit several more to have on hand for gifts or "prayer shawls".

I will say though, that all those rows of garter stitch on big needles, had me looking longingly at my lace knitting and socks! I now have gone back to finish the second Mrs. Beeton's ruffled wristwarmer by Brenda Dayne of http://www.cast-on.com/, which is on http://www.knitty.com/issuewinter05/PATTmrsbeeton.html I will have a picture soon. Having begun my first one with beads as the pattern suggests, and then deciding it wasn't what I wanted, I can tell you that the first row With Out Beads is much easier to knit and nearly as charming. Also, before you knit the two ruffles together, make sure that your bottom one is showing as much as you like. that was the problem with my first attempt, so on the second go round I added a few more rows at the top of the underside before knitting the two ruffles together.

Also, on the work front, I am off hiatus and back selling at the master planned community Rancho Sahaurita, south of Tucson. It is lovely there and I am enjoying myself. Take care all, I am off to get my second cup of coffee! KC P.S. the dog in the picture is our Molly:)

New poll

Check out the new poll and give me your thoughts! Thanks, KC

We Have a Winner!

Yesterday I put all of the names of kind folks who had commented on the blog or via email on paper and did a drawing at my knitting group. I had brought my camera, even, but

Murphy was with me and I needed to charge my battery.

I am excited to announce that "Delighted Hands" won the hand dyed, hand spun yarn!

This was so much fun, that I am going to do a drawing a month for a while. It might be handspun, it might be roving, or it might be something from my stash. So keep those comments coming!

Last Day to Post a Comment

It has been a busy week, but I haven't forgotten those of you who have posted comments and will be put in the drawing for some of my hand spun yarn! I will be doing the drawing tomorrow at my knitting group. So far these kind ladies have posted:

Cate K: magicneedles.blogspot.com

Delighted Hands.blogspot.com

Vicky aka LDS Venus

Marmee

and

Linda aka Zing

Friends who have emailed me with comments include:

Nancy

Candy

Sandy

Paul

Marie

So please, if you are interested, post a comment before 8 am tomorrow and I will put you in the drawing! Happy Thoughts to all, Kc

Thanks for your comments!

Everyone has been so kind on their comments. I really appreciate it. It is easier for other bloggers to post comments and my non blogger friends seem to be having problems. So if any of you bloggers can give me a hint or two to pass on, I would love it. I think I am finally ready to explore and learn more about blogging so any site recomendations would be great too.

I know I owe you a pic of my hand spun for the drawing next Friday, but I am wanting to spin up some more choices before I pick the one I will give away. So, today I spin.

Also, I have added myself to the purling puppies blog ring. So look for more pictures of me and my four delightful doggies! I wake up with so many thoughts of things I would like to share with you and I want to get more adept at adding links and my favorite podcasts, like Cast On with Brenda Dayne and Sticks and Strings with David from Australia. But for now, let me leave you with a pic of my best boy, Lucky, heart of my heart. Ta.

First Pattern to share!

Some of you saw me knitting this scarf and asked for the specifics, so I decided to add them to the blog. I hope you like the pattern and give it a go!

The yarn is Tonalita by Trendsetter Yarns. It is a lovely wool (52%) and acrylic (48%) blend. It self stripes with soft, blended transitions that keep you waiting with baited breath for the next change. I purchased two balls in Pintetop, AZ this last weekend at Yarns and more. I also found it online at http://www.thevillagesheep.com/. And I would check Kiwi if you are in Tucson. The new Tucson Yarn Co. doesn't carry it.

With size 10 1/2 needles, I cast on 25 stitches and knit the first row.

I then began the seed stitch pattern, slipping the first stitch as if to knit, knitting the next stitch, purling the next, etc... ending with a purl stitch. Then the next row, I did the same thing again. As you repeat the row with an odd number of stitches, you automatically are purling the knits and knitting the purls, and by slipping the first stitch knit wise and purling the last stitch on every row, you get a great smooth chain edge. So, to write in pattern-ese, it should go like this:

Tonalita scarf in seed stitch on size 10 1/2 needles.

CO 25 stitches

row one: knit

row two and all following: Sl first stitch knitwise, *k1, p1* repeat to end of row, ending with a purl stitch.

Knit in this fashion for two hundred yards of yarn, or two balls of Tonalita for a scarf that is 6 1/2 inches wide by 47 inches long. This size is great for under the coat, as it only comes to your waist, if you are short. For a longer scarf out of two balls, try narrowing it down to 15 stitches, or buy 3 balls.

Cast off gently, so as not to pull in edge. Tuck in trailing yarn with your favorite darning needle and wrap up!

If you put a comment on my blog with your first name and email address, I am going to put them all in a hat next Friday, Sept. 28th, and do a drawing. The winner will get 100 yards of my handspun yarn. I will post a picture of it tomorrow.! So post those comments! KC

Weekend in Pinetop

We had a wonderful time this last weekend up in Pinetop. Our dear friend, Minda, married a wonderful man, Kevin. Their wedding ceremony was a very spiritual experience, created around an outdoor fire ceremony. Afterward, many of us drummed and conversed around the fire while everyone ate and drank with sparkle lights in the trees. Unfortunately, I left my camera in the car in the parking area, too far off to retrieve. If I get pics from another source, I will share them.

On Sunday, I went with Ann to Pinetop Lakes Country Club. We paid the riders fee for me and she golfed with two nice men from Albuquerque. I listened to my ipod and read up on Geocaching. All the while, knitting last minute gifts for Kevin and Minda! The weather was beautiful, with a slightly chilly breeze of 70 or so. I enjoyed myself more than I thought possible. Ann played well and it was fun to see her in action.

As we left the golf course, it began to rain, so we put off going hunting for caches and went to see our old neighbor, Carol, instead. We found her in weakend health due to a massive heart attack last year. So we stayed for a good visit and encouraged them to visit us in Tucson this winter.

That evening, we went out to eat with Marilyn, Barbara, Minda and Kevin, to our favorite place, Mountain Thai. Yummy food and great friends. We left the next morning from Marilyn's great new house on the hill, feeling like we had had a perfect visit home. I even got Ann to go to the local yarn shop, Yarns & more, and she bought yarn from me to knit her two scarves and a pair of socks! The first scarf is going great and I will post the pattern and pictures later in the week.

Enjoy a few pics of Ann and the gang. Also, what I knit Minda and Kevin: Wristers for their early morning walks and evening time around the fire.

Slippers done!

Here are the post-felted slipper clogs. They keep getting softer and yummier to wear everyday. I have already started a pair for Ann!

I played bunko last night with a group of gals and had a blast. They said the "newbies" get to host right away, so next mont, Bunko at our place! It is fun having something fast to play. It is a good change from knitting and spinning!

Lest you think I have forgotten my "cache" part of things, I am going to attempt to find a cache or two this weekend when we are in the Pinetop/ShowLow area for Minda's wedding. Ann will be playing golf on Sunday, so that is when I hope to get out in the woods! I will keep you posted. Oh man, please disregard the skinny ankles! KC

Felted Clogs

Well, Sharayah and I finished our purple clogs. We made them out of Ultra Alpaca from Berocco using the FiberTrends pattern. We both made the medium size and it took about 20 minutes in the washer to felt them, checking them 3 or 4 times. I finally got smart and rather than tying a knot in the pillow case, I folded it over and pinned it down with 6 safety pins. Then to check the clogs as they felted, I just had to unpin one or two! Duhh!

Here is the before felted picture, showing Sharayah's leg, not mine! Will take pics of the after, today and post later.

Summer fun updates

Here is a pic of Shad and Sharayah in the pool, as well as our friend and her dog!
Shad went back home and Sharayah has stayed on for a few more weeks. We had a wet felting day and a knitting day where the weather was bad and we listed to Harry Potter on CD all day while we knit! We have been having bunches of fun doing all our fiberlicoius activities. We plan to do some more felting of some knitted items, as well as dyeing some roving. As she leaves to go back to Bellingham, WA next Saturday, we had better get more done.

Summer is flying by....

I have been busy enjoying the visit of Shad and Sharayah for the last week. We have been swimming and Sharayah and I have been spinning. Since I have nowhere to sell at the moment, I have plenty of free time. It seems that I need to make more time for this blog, before going out to the pool!

The above picture is of my favorite dye job yet! I spun some of it yesterday with my spindle and navajo plied it last night. I only got 40 yards so I will be spinning more soon!

Two days off!

I am looking forward to my two days off! It has been HOT here in Tucson; up to 109 degrees. I hope to do some swimming in the pool and some spinning. I also am going to plug in some area caches and try to get to them early while it is cool. I will let you know.

I am participating in the Mystery stole KAL : http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mysterystole3/. I began my swatch with Lilac Zepher with my new Addi Turbo Lace needles. Man, what a breeze. So far, they only make them up to size 3, but I can see knitters all over the world clammoring for sizes 4, 5 & 6 for many lace applications. I am anxiously awaiting the first clue on Friday!
I will check in tomorrow to let you know if I made any progress with the treasure hunting. If you want more info, check out www.geocaching.com.

KC

The start of another week

Well, I wasn't able to explore with my new GPS this weekend, as I had hoped, but I did search the web and found that there are a few caches near my site where I work. There are a lot of caches in Tucson and I look forward to finding them in the future.

I am currently knitting a stole with my handspun yarn. It is a lovely lavender colored mohair single. I will post pictures soon.

We were over at our friends house last night and I was able to spin cotton for the first time on my drop spindle! It is really interesting to have to "add more twist" when I have been attempting to keep my wool from being overly twisted!

I just signed up this morning for the "tour de fleece". Check it out! http://keeponknittinginthefreeworld.blogspot.com/2007/06/tour-de-fleece-2007.html.

Thought for the day: What could I do today to help me when I am 100 years old?
Spin On! KC

First Blog

Well, for my first Blog, I would like to say, Welcome to the wild and wacky world of Knittin' cacher, where you can follow me on my journey to find the pot o' gold! I am a knitter who is getting started in the geocaching world in between selling new homes for America's Builder in Tucson, AZ.

This evening I sat outside in my back yard, enjoying the cool evening; meaning it was around 80 degrees in the dark. I had spent the day at my sales site, selling two homes and working until 8:45 pm. It is nice to earn a living helping people buy a great home. But I digress from our main topics.

I have been knitting for several years, and have recently learned to spin. Yes, I warned you it would be wild and wacky! Spinning adds a whole new dimension to my knitting. It also helps me center myself, as it is such a simple, creative act. I follow the spinning disk of my spindle as I gently pull small amounts of wool up and up as it becomes it's true self; yarn.

On geocaching, I am a beginner. I have a GPS, the manual, and some batteries. I hope to get the whole thing working tomorrrow. I am kind of worried that the cache sites in this area will be too hot to look for. I am not, repeat not, an early bird. I also worry about snakes. When I went caching with my brother, we were in cool weather in northwestern Washington. To take up this hobby of adult treasure hunting was due to his influence. You can find out with me how enjoyable it is in the 105 degree sun in southern AZ!

And, a little about me: I am a happy person who hopes for peace in the world. I live with 4 dogs, a cat, and my life partner of 10 years. I have 3 children and I would like to wish my oldest child a happy 21st birthday! On this day, 21 years ago, I birthed a wonderful human being and one of my dearst friends. Happy, Happy, RayRay.

Enough Blather, time for bed and a few pages of "Bitten", my latest night time read. Catch ya on the cache side! KC