52 Weeks of Happy 1/52

I saw this on Irish Girlie Knits blog.  Once each week for a year I will post something that made me happy that week.  This will give inspiration to me to blog more.  I have been very lazy in my posting.

Spinning with friends makes me happy. I went to the spinning group and started this braid of Falkland wool.  Is is so pretty spun up.  I am about 1/3 of the way into this. I am trying to spin thin so that I can get a sport weight yarn.



Last week we got more snow.  This photo is from a few weeks ago but the mountains look the same.
I try to enjoy the green color on our mountains because in a few months they will be dry and brown.
In the lower mid-section of the photo is a large orange grove. I live to the right of the grove.  My backyard is next to this grove.  In April when the trees begin to bloom the air is so sweet.


And lastly here is a knitting project that is making me very happy.  This is lace.  I am knitting with lace weight yarn. It is like knitting with string.  My yarn is 50% merino wool and %50 silk.  It is so soft and beautiful.  I have knit shawls before but nothing so detailed.  So this is my first lace shawl in lace weight.  I am loving it.  I did start and rip out 3 times. But now it is going very good.
The red thread is my life line.  That is incase I make a mistake or drop a stitch and can't fix it. Then I can undo the shawl back to the red thread and go from there.


So there is week one of Happy.
Join in if you like.
God Bless,  Carol

A post from the Past: May 28, 2008 - Socks & Sun

I am transferring my blog post from Live Journal over here to Blogger. I will start with the newest first so that the last post I post will be the oldest one from LJ.  That way you can scroll down and read it in order. 2008 to 2009

May 28, 2008  Socks Enjoying the Sun



So I finished the "Step" socks for my daughter in law Anne today. They wanted to take a little sunbath so they spent some time on the grass and........................ then they wanted to view the pool.




They were afraid of the water, a little cool. So they just watched my granddaughter lay on a HammerHead Shark while eating ice cream.





The horse tried to entice them into the pool. But these socks haven't seen water in all their life and they are waiting for their maker (me) to put them in gently for a nice bath before being wrapped up as a birthday gift.





The Step socks wanted to try a few steps so they ran in the house and jumped on my feet just to see if I knit them comfortably. The answer is yes, they made me put my feet up and boy were they cozy. 

A post from the Past: May 28, 2008 - Notions

I am transferring my blog post from Live Journal over here to Blogger. I will start with the newest first so that the last post I post will be the oldest one from LJ.  That way you can scroll down and read it in order. 2008 to 2009

May 28, 2008  Notions

So the box of books and a few more notions came yesterday from Knitpicks. I put all of the needles I own on the floor to check out all of the beauty of these wood needles. I do have some straights that don't fit in the little box.



Then I put them in their Striped Box. I love Stripes and the box is metal and I wrote in the lid all the sizes I have in DPN's and Circulars.
I know you can hardly see my writing but it is there.



So I started the next pair of socks for my daughter in law. Her birthday is July first. I am starting early because she will get 2 pairs of socks and a hat/felted. I have started the hat, see other blog. 

I cast on the new socks while sitting at the plaza, outside at a table, in the sun. It is a beautiful day today. Warm but not hot. 




I'm using Harmony's size 3.00mm DPN's this time. I think the step socks were too tight, they fit but they are snug. The swatch was asking me to go up a size too. Well ok, it was yelling at me to go up.





That is my new sock cast on and a few rows done. And that is my knitting bag with all my Notions, Lovely Lovey NOTIONS.
I have the pattern, notebook, Ipod, pencils, etc. in the bag.
I keep my ball of yarn in a plastic bag so that it stays clean and doesn't get all fuzzy. I embroidered my name on the bag. You never know....

Now for the bad news. I timed myself on the last sock I made. For one sock it took me 3 weeks and a day. There was a wedding for my son thrown in there during that time but I did knit at his house in Idaho while we visited. I think I am slow. I hope I speed up with each pair of socks I do. I read that some people can whip out a sock in a day or two. How do they knit so fast?
I have been knitting socks since the middle of March 2008.

A post from the Past: June 1, 2008 - Knitting Projects

I am transferring my blog post from Live Journal over here to Blogger. I will start with the newest first so that the last post I post will be the oldest one from LJ.  That way you can scroll down and read it in order. 2008 to 2009.

June 1, 2008  - Knitting Projects

I received this beautiful wool yarn yesterday by mail. I couldn't wait to cast on and start a scarf. It is K1 P1 so that it is thicker and reversible.
My first project on my new needles. I love them. they are short for this kind of project. Size 3.5mm US4 and 7 inches long. This scarf is for me.


At the same time I am working on the first sock of the second pair for Anne my daughter in law's birthday. It is knitting up very fast. I'm using ONline Supersocke 100 sock yarn in color Tropic. Needle size 3.00 DPN's by Harmony. 



And then there is the wool felted hat I am also making for Anne's birthday. I am using Patons Classic Merino in color gray and blue/green. I am putting stripes with recycled sari silk.
Hook size is Boye I (as in eye). 



I hope I am not working on too many things at one time. I won't begin any more projects till I finish these. I'm excited about all of them.

A post from the Past: June 1, 2008 - MOTHS

I am transferring my blog post from Live Journal over here to Blogger. I will start with the newest first so that the last post I post will be the oldest one from LJ.  That way you can scroll down and read it in order. 2008 to 2009.

June 1, 2008   MOTHS!

Yesterday my sister and I moved a cedar chest to my living room. I wanted to put my stash of wool yarn into it.
I'm so freaked out right now. This is a cedar chest I got from my mom. I have had this chest in a bedroom for about 4 years. And all that I have had in it was photo albums and a few cotton doll dresses, a wool hat, and an old old patchwork baby quilt. The chest was pretty empty. My mission was to clean out mom's stuff and put in mine.
So today I brought out my box of Wool Stash to put into this chest.
I just began buying wool for about 2 months now.

I opened the chest, and there on the wool hat was LARVAE. I am sure they are moth larvae. 

Ewwww Ewwwww ewwwwww!!!!! I took the cloth things outside and smashed anything and everything I saw. Then I shook out everything.
I came in and washed my hands 100 times.
I put the stuff back in the chest and closed it up. 
My wool stash stayed in their Zip lock bags.

I thought cedar was a wood that kept moths out. I'm so freaked.

Do I need to take the chest outside and spray it with bug spray?
How could I throw out all the paper stuff when the paper is photo album pages with photos from the 40's, 50's & 60's?

I don't know what to do. I haven't seen the moth larvae in anyplace of my house ever. My house is new, built in 2001. 

Help. Any advice is appreciated. Please? HELP. Ahhhhhhhhh
I'm in moth hell.

A post from the Past: June 20, 2008

I am transferring my blog post from Live Journal over here to Blogger. I will start with the newest first so that the last post I post will be the oldest one from LJ.  That way you can scroll down and read it in order. 2008 to 2009.

June 20, 2008       Felted hat before felting.







The blue/green wool and the red silk yarn are only for stripes so I didn’t use very much. 
I am making up the pattern as I go. When I feel like it needs an increase I just crochet 2 sc in one space. Then to get the hat to turn down at the crown I decrease by skipping a space. I just do this when it seems it needs to be shaped here or there.
5/26 
I start crocheting from the top down and increase as needed to make a hat shape. I crochet the hat larger than normal since I will be felting it.
6/20 
I had not been working on this much. I was finishing my other projects. 
So today I finished the crocheting. I added a few inches of blue to the bottom which I crocheted the first row in the back loop so it would turn easy. Then I turned the blue strip to the inside and sewed it down with the gray yarn. It makes a nice edge. 
I still need to felt this project then it is done! 
I love how the colors look on this hat. The picture of the hat on my granddaughter is closer to the real colors.

A post from the Past: June 27, 2008

I am transferring my blog post from Live Journal over here to Blogger. I will start with the newest first so that the last post I post will be the oldest one from LJ.  That way you can scroll down and read it in order. 2008 to 2009.

June 27, 2008

My late daughter’s friend A. or Monkeyspinner posted a photo of her friend PIPPA who made this hat in one evening. All I saw was a photo of one side of it on her head. I love this hat and the way the colors are positioned. 
I hope that I am not offending her by trying to make this hat. Autumn was a dear friend of my daughter Sierra and I am hoping she will be honored that I want to make a hat for Sierra’s daughter. And that she tells Pippa that this is who will receive the hat. 
So I did some sketching in my notebook to make something similar.


My change is by adding a black and a white stripe. 
I also did some K2P2 ribbing for the beginning.
I read about 15 different hat patterns to understand the basic knitting of hats and how many stitches to cast on for a child. 
Other than that I am winging it.

This is my first hat I have made by Knitting in all of my life.
I have never done color changes except for the scarf that I am making 


I have done some color changes in crochet but this is really different.







I have about 8 skeins of Red Heart yarn connected to this little hat. After I started this hat I read that you can't do "intarsia" with circular needles. Intarsia is when you have large color changes like a big red heart on a white background. 
I think when you have never done something new, you just jump in and if you knew how difficult it was or how it should really be done you would never start it. 

2 days of a few hours each day and I am this far.

Here is the sweater I started last Saturday. It is merino,cashmere & silk. The yarn feels so good to work with. I know it will be warm. It is my first ever sweater. This is just the bottom band.


Wednesday I dropped off Peanut for her day camp and I went to the local coffee shop and got the best cinnamon roll I have had in a long time. I love when there are a lot of layers cinnamom. Best of all the frosting was made mostly of cream cheese. Yummy. The coffee was a Mexican Mocha. They make the best coffee at this shop. The shop is privately owned, it's called Stell, they are on FaceBook.
They roast their own beans there. It is so yummy.

A post from the Past: July 7, 2008

I am transferring my blog post from Live Journal over here to Blogger. I will start with the newest first so that the last post I post will be the oldest one from LJ.  That way you can scroll down and read it in order. 2008 to 2009.

July 7, 2008   Feed the Monkey!

That is a great line from The Big Lewbowski, "she had to feed the monkey". But really I wanted to write that I started a new pair of socks. They are the Monkey Socks by Cookie A. 
I am doing them in Knit Picks Essential yarn of superwash wool & nylon. The color is called Peacock Multi. The yarn is now called Stroll sock yarn.






So while I fool around with socks, Peanut my granddaughter is turning into a crafter. She has a white fish and she is coloring the body. 



This is very intense work as you can see.




In the end it is exactly how she wants it. Bravo!!!


We took the 'ol fish swimming. The fish swam great. Crayon art work stayed on, no problem. 
It's only 104 degrees today. The pool felt great. Peanut is swimming so well. 
We found a Potato Bug the other day. It was yuckie. He was in the pool trying to get cool too but he didn't know how to swim and he died.
I got him out and of course took his photo.




Have a nice summer. Peanut had her first day at Vacation Bible School. It was so much fun. 

A post from the Past: August 9, 2008

I am transferring my blog post from Live Journal over here to Blogger. I will start with the newest first so that the last post I post will be the oldest one from LJ.  That way you can scroll down and read it in order. 2008 to 2009.

August 9, 2008

This is my first project in dyeing wool for knitting. I will show you step by step what I did. It was really fun and I love how the wool turned out with soft rich colors. I used natural dyes & one acid dye. I do like the shades of the natural dye better.
Ok, lets get started.

Three days before "dye day" I put my wool:Superwash fingering(sock) 75%merino wool 25% nylon, in the kitchen sink to wet it. I left it there while I got things ready.

While it was soaking I mixed up my Mordant. I mixed alum with water and a touch of cream of tartar. The mordant will let the fibers accept the dye. So the 4 skeins soaked in this pan of mordant for 3 days.

I did go shopping at thrift stores to get my containers & pans for dyeing since they will only be used for dyeing. Never for food. I like the white enamel because I can see the colors of the dye.


I chose to only mix up 3 colors that were all lovely together. I felt if I mixed up too many colors I would want to use them and end up with a muddy color of wool. I chose a deep red that I got from Cochenille. This is an insect that lives on the Nopales cactus. He is harvested and sold for dye. I have here the powdered cochenille. Then I chose Logwood for my deep violet. Logwood is from a tree and the dye comes from the leaves and bark. Lastly I used an acid dye for my green. I mixed 2 shades of green together.

Then after I heated the dye on the stove in my pans I put the dye in the larger containers and added warm water.


Then the dyeing begins. As you saw in the other photo I have on my lab coat and latex gloves. Here I am adding the skein of wool but just half of it.


I then let this rest before putting back in because I wanted to have part of this skein darker than the rest.


I let part of the skein lay in the dye bath to darken.

When I got the color I liked I put the skein in a warm bath of water with vinegar. I left it there for over an hour.


I did 2 skeins with 2 shades, here is the magenta/red cochenille with green. Looks like Mexicos colors! In the background you can see my logwood skein getting some cochenille on one end.

The second multi-colored skein is this logwood & cochenille.

Here is my skein with Logwood laying in a fresh vinegar & water bath.


Here are my 2 solid skeins draining off the dye.


After all the dyeing and the vinegar baths, I rinsed the wool and gave it a cool bath in some wool wash (soap). Then we all went outside to dry.

Well that is the photo journal of my first dyeing project. It was fun. It was satisfying, it was challenging and it brought out the artist in me. I plan to be dyeing again real soon. I really loved it.