CarmelKnits, etc.

Typical. I veered off course of my Christmas Knitting. I can't resist when I have a pattern in mind and the perfect skein(s) staring me down from Mt. Yarn in my living room. I bought the first skein at the SMY Yarn Retreat. The color beckoned me like a Siren from the cliffs in ancient Greece. Then I wound it up and it was like crashing my boat among the rocks and the Siren turned into horror. It wasn't nearly as beautiful to me wound up. But I soldiered on and knit the hat. I knew that it would be beautiful to someone and the pattern itself made it fun. The second yarn I bought off a friend. She had excess and I obivously have an affection (obsession) with fibers. The pattern used in both is Milanese Lace Topper by Tante Ehm. It's very well written, so much so that it's virtually spoof proof unless you are trying to knit a round during a family get together and are chugging nursing a vodka tonic. It's supposed to...

How can it be a year already? I remember exactly when I saw your adorable little face popping up on my phone announcing your arrival. A year of showing off your picture to anyone standing still. Don't tell Mr. Brown or Gabby but ever since you got here you've been my only wallpaper on my phone :) A whole year of cuteness! And oh what a wonderful year it's been watching you grow from this tiny little bundle of love to this huge bundle of personality! Happy 1st Birthday Dude! I love you so much my heart might burst! Xoxo Aunt Carmel

It's been a while since I made a pair of these, especially a pair I'm going to keep for myself, for a while at least. I did make some modifications. In the pattern where it says to knit till the pattern measures 5" from the turn in the cuff, I knit 6" and when I wear them they are long but I can bunch them up a bit if I like. Second modification, Instead of knitting half and inch after finishing the thumb I knit an inch. This wasn't intentionally but I hate ripping back so I went with it and surprisingly remembered to do it on the second one. I started these Friday November 9th on the So Much Yarn knitting retreat I attended with my mom. and probably could have had them cracked out in about a day and half but we all know I was side tracked by knitting a bullseye and then once home I kep these in my purse and basically only knit on them at the office. I'm pretty thrilled with them myself. The silk in the yarn makes them super soft. The colors a...

Probably since I was in my early 20's I've suffered from migraines... They were worse back then for a couple reasons. I ate a lot of processed food and I smoked. Well I quit smoking almost 8 years ago and have cut back the amount of processed food that I consume. So now my migraine attacks have gone from monthly to almost quarterly. Some are light and motion sensitive others are just painfully annoying. I'm on day three of the latter. I take the medicine and the pain subsides. I thought yesterday it was breaking until I rolled over in bed at 2:30 this morning and realized, nope, still there. This one I can feel all the way down to my shoulder where there currently resides a tension knot the size of a golf ball. I hate them. I hate them because when you talk about them people who have never had one have no idea what you are talking about and just think you have a headache. People like to see something tangible to associate your pain with. Like a cut...

I have two, maybe three to share... Have I shared Pig? Hold on...  I just double checked and I did so it is indeed only two finished objects to share today... One is Oswald. You've seen some photos of him but not the details. Yarn is Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick and Quick. Main Color is Taupe, and here is where I'm going to fail as a blogger, I don't remember the two blues I chose, just that I liked them. the white is fisherman. Sorry. Polyfil Stuffing from the local craft store. The nose is 4 strands of Brown Sheep Worsted in Goldenrod because I didn't bring my Venezia Bulky scraps on the retreat. I really love him. I think everyone on the retreat really loves him... I hope Bear loves him. You wanted to hear the story about the owl didn't you? Well as I was told Bear was down visiting with my mom a couple weeks ago and he spotted her big owl that I had knit for her birthday last year. He asked her where she had gotten it and then if he could h...

 Picking up mom  Where do I begin? The weather was amazing. Sunny and bright but cool enough to warrant being wrapped up in knit accessories. A weekend of knitting with my mom. A weekend of knitting with old friends from So Much Yarn. I request the same room every year. I won a door prize for having brought the most projects to work on... I believe the final count was 8 after I went back to my room and pulled everything out of my bags. I did get a few things done. I finished the owl (a separate post on that later) I did the eyes on the pig I started and finished one Susie's Reading Mitt. My requested a knit bullseye that she wanted to use to patch a friends sweater with... so I worked on that and finished it Saturday afternoon. I made a huge leap of progress on my Aran Weight Citron Shawl by Hilary Smith-Callis. I have two rows to go and I'll bind that baby off tonight... I'm going to time myself to see how long it takes I'm thinking it ...

Mom arrived last night!! Also my brother and his youngest son Bear arrived yesterday for a visit to Seattle! D and I hooked up with Mom, A and Bear for dinner at Etta's down in the Market in Seattle. It was so great! I haven't seen A or Bear since July when we were home for the 2 day whirlwind visit! Bear is going to be six soon. Where does the time go? Every time I think about my niece and nephews and their ages I think? 'Holy crap that went fast' It's also along those same lines that I had a sobering moment in the shower yesterday... I thought to myself 'Holy S*%$! You're closer to 50 than you are to 20' When the heck did that happen? Whatever. I don't feel closer to 50. Heck I don't feel that close to 39 and it's so close I could spank it. I'm so jacked up to get to Whidbey Island today I honestly can't function. I packed all the projects I have left to knit for the younger contingent, although Bears Barn Owl is almos...

Bears Barn Owl. We had a hockey game last night and while I'm normally so wrapped up in the game that I don't have time to knit, that was not the case last night. Silvertips have had a rough go and the Red Deer Rebels really wolloped them last night. So I knit. I ate some dingleberries. Delicious. and I knit some more. I have a feeling I'll be finishing this bad boy up by tomorrow and he'll be the star of the retreat. Isn't his color wonderful?

As I spouted off a couple weeks ago, I'm going to attempt to knit stuff for people for Christmas. I've whittled 'people' down to Miss A, Bird, Bear, and Bump... (the niece and nephews). I finished Miss A's last night (except the eyes those will be done today) I knit her a pig. It's not to big, the perfect size for her 1 year old arms to wrap around and cuddle. Pattern is Big Pink Pig on the Purl Bee Blog. It follows the style of the Big Snowy Owl that I knit a few off. I used Blue Sky Organic Cotton in a pale pink. Size 6 DPN's Polyfil stuffing The pattern is 21 pages long if you print it but it's also very well written as are all the Purl Bee patterns. It's adorable. In fact she's sitting on my desk right now... I need to get her packaged up so she doesn't get dirty before Christmas morning. I can't wait for Miss A to see it Christmas morning. Next up Bear's Big Barn Owl... this is more of a sel...

It's no secret that I knit a lot. It's no secret that I always have yarn on me in some form. There have also been witnesses to what happens when I do not have a project with me. The panic. The distraction. The disbelief that I really actually forgot it. The distraction. The inability to function temporarily while I struggle to figure out what to do. During the week I knit during my lunch. Have done this for the past 3-4 years. I brought a lot of stuff to work today. I brought packages that I need to ship on my way home. I brought a finished objet that needs to be wrapped. I even brought a freaking Gooey Butter Cake I didn't bring my newest project. Happy Freaking Monday. I'm hoping that Marcy has a pair of dpn's because I know I have a partial ball of yarn rolling around in my car.

It's November 1. Halloween was terribly uneventful for us which is fine with me. Having two big dogs that go bezerk whenever the doorbell rings makes it difficult to effectively hand out candy to little trick or treaters without wearing Kevlar pants and steel toe boots. Plus, to get to our front door and down our driveway to get candy, you really gotta want it. so, the lights stayed off. Aside from the obvious upcoming events; Thanksgiving, Bumps 1st birthday, Big Brothers birthday, Miss A's first birthday as well as Christmas, it's almost time for the annual So Much Yarn knitting retreat on Langley. This will be my fourth year going and I can't wait. Know what's going to make it more awesome?  My mom is flying out to join us!  I'm so excited I'm in an absolute twitter about it. We're going to head up early Friday and knit our little hearts out all weekend along with a few dinners at Prima Bistro. I have 4...