Trekking KAL Event

Wednesday evening Green Planet Yarn in Campbell hosted Michelle Hunter of Knit Purl Hunter fame, to talk about the Trekking KAL contest that is going on through June.  Each month, Michelle presents a new project on her web site for people to work on, whether they are entered in the six month contest or just want to join in and knit along with their friends. Each week during the month, she releases another part of the pattern instructions and the finished project isn't released until the end of the month so everyone has an equal chance to finish in about the same time.  The first month's project was a toe up sock pattern called Center of Attention and if you have never done toe up socks before, or short row heels ( I have never done either) there were some great videos right on her site to go to and the written directions were well done as well.  As I have heard from many of my fellow knitters, she has done a great job with this.

Here are some pictures from last night:

Michelle answering questions about the KAL and the folks who. are taking part in the contest along with Beth and some people from Skacel. 

Here's a picture of our socks:

                                                                                                                                                                        Yarn for future projects in the contest.

                                                                                                                                                                     Michelle and I with her Center of Attention sock sample.

And here's my sock:

                                                                                

                                                                             

Happy Valentine's Day

Hope everyone is enjoying Valentine's Day in any manner they wish -  celebrating or ignoring it.  I , for one, am pleased that I actually have a Valentine's Day related project finished to show off on my blog.  This is the vest I have been making for Maeve and she is going to wear it to school today. 

                                                                             

                                                                                    
Had lunch with my friend Jamie, and she showed up wearing a wonderful Noro jacket made with Iro.  Great looking buttons as well:

 
                                                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                                                          She and I have been knitting the Center of Attention  socks from the Trekking KAL and she brought along another pair of socks she made from Socks That Rock: 

Love the colors and this looks so warm and cozy.                                                                        

My grandson Rowan celebrated his 6th birthday on Saturday.  He is very interested in anything relating  to outer space and I made the Out of this World sweater for him a few months ago.  My daughter sent a picture of the cake she made for him, complete with astronauts walking on the moon:

Only three more days until Stitches will be here in Santa Clara!

                                                                                                                                  

A Few of My Favorite Things

A new year comes along and we all start looking at that looming pile of yarn known as The Stash and all the other knitting paraphernalia we have collected along the way. Stitches in Santa Clara is closing in fast and there will be more to add to this "collection".   How can we clean this up, even a little?   Let's not, dear friends, at least for now. Actually, this post is not about my Stash, but about other knitting  collections I have managed to accumulate - like my Faves and Queue on Ravelry. It's so easy to click that " Fave"  button and before you know it, you have a list of projects a mile long that will never even see a gauge swatch.   The plus side to this is, unlike your Stash, it is so easy to get rid of many of these with just a click of your delete key.  I have to admit, I haven't looked at this whole group in quite a while.  I managed to eliminate several "What Was I  Thinking Projects?", but I also found some neat things that I will  hold on to.  Such as:

                                                                                        
The Rosie Posy Tea Cozy by Loani Prior.  This is just too cute!  It makes you want to run out and buy a teapot and take up drinking tea.  I actually have taken up tea drinking and I really would like to make this,
 and think it would be a great gift as well.

                                                                                
The Ruffled and Ruched Scarf by Pam Powers is another keeper.  This is made with Malabrigo yarn and I think the colors are wonderful.

The Love Bytes mittens by Grace Schnebly are  on my list for my grandson.  So cute!!  These were actually done by a Ravelry member named woolings:

   
This is the Long Lace Shawl-Collared Vest by Sweaterbabe.  I think this would look great with leggings.

                                                                                 

                                                                                                                                                                         The Lizard Ridge Afghan by Laura Aylor.  This is from Knitty Fall 2006.                                                 
Last, but not least, The Foolish Virgins  by Kaffe Fassett. This version was done by woolnutzi on Ravelry.  I have been wanting to do this for years.  Maybe this is the year...

                                                                                 

                                                                                                                                                                   

A Favorite Blog

Reading Kristen Nicholas' blog, Getting Stitched on the Farm, is one of my favorite things to do early in the morning over a cup of coffee.She just keeps turning out one great post after another.  Not only is she a very creative knitwear designer with a great sense of color, but she has developed into quite a good photographer.  I asked her if I could show a few of her pictures on my blog and she was nice enough to say yes. I love these winter scenes:

                                                                                                                                                                     

Pretty cold there - this sheep has icicles hanging off his/her ears!

                                                                                                                                                                             


  I love the pictures of her sheep farm in Western Massachusetts and I 'm tempted to sign up for classes at her farm next summer just to have a chance to hang out and soak up all that atmosphere (without all the work of course!)  There are some wonderful pictures of her house in Color by Kristin -  what a charming place.   Oh, those wide planked floors! Those handpainted walls! Those great flea market finds and colorful, exotic fabrics she has artfully placed around her rooms!  Not to mention all the knitting.  Enough with the exclamations - it looks like a pretty neat place and I'm sure there are many like me who imagine living that kind of life.

Weekend at Tahoe

What a great weekend!  Sunny weather, fresh snow, dinner with friends and lots of time for knitting!  Jim and I woke up Sunday morning to ten inches of new snow and decided to get out and snowshoe at the Tahoe Nordic Ski Center in Tahoe City.   Beautiful trails and great views of Lake Tahoe:

Here's a little stream we saw along the trail:

 
And here's Jim and I taking in the view:

                                                                                                                                                                       Stopped off at Lake Tahoe Yarn Company to see how folks there were doing with the Trekking KAL.
Kelly said she has about 10 people working on their socks and here is a picture of hers:

                                                                                   

                                                                              

Diane Soucy of Knitting Pure and Simple came by to look at yarn for a new project of hers:

                                                                                           
I love her children's patterns; they are mostly knit from the top down and work up so quickly!  Here is one I made for my grandson.  It's called Easy Baby Cardigan and I finished it in three days, much to the amazement of my husband and a friend who was visting.

                                                                                  
Kelly's St. Bernard puppy was hanging out with the gals while they knit.  He is so cute and very polite - no grabbing yarn or drooling on projects.  Hmm... what's  in that bag?

                                                                             
Here is what he looked like last Fall and here he is now at 9 months.  How many times a day does Kelly patiently stand there while Bernard has his picture taken?

                                                                                            
   

         
Good bye Bernard!  Hope to get back to see you real soon!