CarmelKnits, etc.

I always have yarn with me. You never know when you're going to get to use it. Opportunity strikes when you least expect it, or if you're like me, you plan ahead knowing when you're going to need the yarn to keep you from going insane just sitting and waiting. I carry a fairly large handbag, in fact all I pretty much own are large handbags, however, I have been known to try and cram a sock I'm knitting into this little gem. Clearly from the picture inside the little clutch I had a good time when I last used it. I knit in the car, when my husband is driving of course. When I used to commute on the bus to work I would knit there as well. I always knit when I fly, and I always bring extra yarn whenever I travel. I may not use all the yarn that I bring, I may not knit at all once I reach my destination, but that's not the point. The point, it's there if and when I need it. I'm traveling to Florida soon and I'm already thinking about what I'm going to bri...

Thank you for the package that arrived yesterday in the mail. We love that you think of us on your foray's into the world of retail. We aren't easy to shop for because of our awkward shape. We want you to know that we appreciate how hard you work to find beautiful things to cover us in. We tend to sacrifice beauty for comfort because, well, it's embarrassing how hard it is to get things wrapped around us and how other parts are too short to peek through delicate openings. Yet, you have a knack for finding the perfect thing everytime. Comfort, beauty and fit. It's almost too much for us to take. You've wrapped us in comfort and made us the envy of every couple out there walking around. The only other thing that does that are hand knits . We bow to your greatness and humbly give thanks for your thoughtfulness. Sincerely, The Feet. P.S. Please send more shoes....... These are quite fantastic by the way. I wonder if anyone can figure out what they are? Have a good ni...

It's been one of those days where 2 out of 3 things are right where I want them. The third thing? My husband isn't home from work yet. He always makes a bad day better, or at least funnier. However, if that doesn't work the wine comes in as a close second and if I drink more than that, well February Lady is going to have to wait till later. What is February Lady ? Well Click the link and browse the beautiful blog of Flint Knits. After careful stash review I have enough yarn to make 4 of these delicious cardigans and am starting the first one in my deep charcoal as pictured above. The yarn is Lambs Pride worsted. As you can see below, in the picture on the top, Marcy's finished her first Nasturtium sock and on the bottom, the cuff and heel flap of my second Nasturtium Sock. If you are interested in the pattern please let me know and I will send you the link to the designers blog. She has wonderful stuff on there. The socks are coming along well. They knit up a bit big ...

(this is the yet uncataloged yarn stash...makes you want to take a nap in it, doesn't it? ) The yarn stash is an amazing thing......I suppose you could tell a lot about a person by their stash, but the only stashes I've seen are what people are getting rid of. Sometimes apologizing for what they say was a black out moment, and they can't recall why they bought it but maybe it had to do with that bit of shimmer right there if you hold it just under the fluorescent light...do you see it.. yes, that's why I bought those four balls of Louisa Harding glisten...... Clearly, after close review of my stash, I'm a wool girl. Wool is my dirty little secret. It's hardy, consistent, doesn't let you down, I always know I can get gauge with wool and it lets me achieve so much knitting satisfaction. Wool comes in so many different varieties. You can get natural wool which can be a bit scratchy so it works well as an outer garment or a hat, as long as you have a layer betwe...

Sunday night. Is it the end of the weekend or the beginning of the week? I suppose it depends on how you look at it, and what type of calendar you use. I consider it the end of the weekend. Monday is the first day of the week. It's when everything starts. People go back to work, kids return to school, traffic picks up on the highways and at the local drive- thru coffee stands. One 20 ounce drip two extra shots one equal and a splash of half and half for me please. That's my daily order at the coffee stand. I'm glad it's now ordered as "can i just have my regular please?" it gets hard to say the first line over and over. I remember when my 'regular' barista went on vacation. It was a whole week of explaining my drink, I almost switched to a 20 ounce non-fat triple shot latte, oh yes, and don't forget the equal. But I've veered off topic. I was talking about things coming to an end.......I am almost done with sock number one of the Nasturtium ...

"knitting makes interesting and mundane things intriguing. The only other thing that does that has the disadvantage of giving you a hangover instead of a pair of socks" This quote is from the book Knitting Rules by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, http://www.yarnharlot.com/ . I love this book. It was a gift from my mother in 2007 just as learning to knit was a gift from my mother in 2001. My mother has knit for as long as I have been alive, and probably longer. I can't remember her not knitting. When she is frustrated or angry she knits more. My brothers and I can tell when she is going through a big event in her life by the amount of knit projects she starts cranking out in a year. If it's a year where there is not much turmoil she'll probably crank out 10 sweaters ranging from adult sweaters to toddler sweaters. If it's a year of turmoil, where she needs time to think, meditate and focus, that amount can double, and will range from a variety of projects. To top it of...

I make lists. It's what I spend about 30 minutes of my day doing. I have a list of knitting projects that I'm doing and one for what I want to do. I have a list of yarn I have and yarn I want to buy. I make grocery lists I make a to do list for work, a to do list for home, and a to do list for in between, like all the places I need to stop and in what order. You would think that with all these lists I'd be over efficient. If anything I'm the opposite. The lists are like a guide for me and what I need to accomplish. I have a list taped to my fridge that I made 3 years ago. This is a list comprised of things that I want to do in my lifetime. Seem daunting? Not at all. It's just a list. I revisit it every year and scratch off stuff I've done, add new things I want to do, and take off the stuff that sounded good at the time but after some review probably not a good idea for me, for example mountain climing. I have friend who loves to climb mountains, really big moun...

I'm in Trouble... (this picture was taken on Lopez Island in the San Juans we've done many bike rides on this island. Tour de Lopez is a blast) Marcy decided that she didn't like the colorway she chose for her Nasturtium socks and so she ripped it out and chose this color from her stash instead.....she'll get back to us on what the exact color name is What I do know is that it's a lovely, soft blend of greens and creams, nice and springy like the Monarch and is knitting up in the Nasturtium pattern so nicely. But this is from Blue Moon, http://www.bluemoonfiberarts.com/ , if you click the link and then click colorways you'll see where the trouble comes in.....how, HOW do you decide which colorway you want to knit with? The desire is to buy one of each, the knitting budget, especially now that my stash is in plain view, has been shrunk........So....now I need to create a wish list......for those of you who are interested in things I want.... i'll create a spe...

Yesterday was a bad day so I chose not to post as a precaution to writing inappropriate things, and as I would prefer to keep this clean, those of you who know me quite well know this will be a challenge, especially given my favoritism for certain swear words. However, the day ended well and that I will talk about. Marcy and I started the socks. She had to rip back a row right away, I had to rip out the whole thing last night while watching 24. However I am now working on the heel flap of the first sock. The yarn is fantastic. I like the colorway that I chose and I would probably choose it again except that I won't do it with this sock pattern. I think it's better suited to a straight up simple short socklette , but I am enjoying the feel of the yarn, it's soft, springy and knitting up wonderfully. As soon as I get some pictures of Marcy's sock I'll post our progress. Last night, since I decided I had to be at the office super early, I took my shower before bed, wel...

Here is Marcy's ball of Monarch Here is mine , above, all wound, below still in it's natural state of a hank..... We are ready, Marcy and I to begin the Nasturtium socks. I wound mine up before I met my husband for lunch....I'm itching to get started.....I've read through the pattern and it looks like they are knit on 2 circular needles vs the traditional double point needles. No worry, it's easy to convert the pattern, especially with Marcy there to help me.... I know that it's good to make yourself wait for something that you want to do but ........ I am looking forward to this and as I promised I'll post status pictures of both our socks as we work on them...also I'll find out the name of her colorway in case anyone wants to order some of their own! Ta-DAA!! Let the knitting begin...(tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. that it....)

And I'm glad my husband does it. Scooping the back yard. His only request is that I go out and keep him company during the task......so yesterday I took some pictures of the dogs out in the yard as it was 60 degrees here. Quite warm actually. Gabby always takes this opportunity to try and convince one of us that we need to throw her ball for her. Actually I think the routine is, yard gets scooped and then my husband will go and toss the ball for her to catch. As soon as I get the video camera on my phone figured out I can post a video of that. It's really quite cute. So I appreciate that my husband does this, especially since he wears these awesome boots with his shorts to do it in.....Are you wondering what my gross job is.......I'm not going to tell but it involves my neighbors bird feeders all along the back fence, what bird food attracts and great big traps in our crawl space........ In the top picture though it's hard to see Gabby has her ball with her....