Taiga

This last December Shui Kuen Kozinski had her first Mystery KAL and I decided to participate.  KAL, stands for Knit ALong, meaning everyone is supposed to knit the provided clue every week and by the time all of the clues are released everyone participating will have the same completed object.  OH its great fun as everyone has different yarns, some use beads, and no one knows what they are knitting.  We just have to have faith in the artist. 

Well, that's how its supposed to be done anyway.  I can comfortably say this is not how I did it.  Nope, not by a long shot.  I received the same clues as everyone else and I did cast on at the same time as everyone else and I had good intentions of actually doing what I was supposed to do.  That is, to knit the clue every week like everyone else. 

Clue one was released and I excitedly casted on and actually knit the first clue as instructed.  That's when all hell broke loose.  One of the girls got sick and then the other one followed suit.  Of course Mother Nature has a sence of humor where sickness is concerned.  Directly after the release of clue 2,  She kindly allowed the sickness to be passed on to me.  Around this time, I stopped knitting on the shawl altogether.  During the release of clue 3, Ray got sick.  By the time week 4 rolled around the Grant family was all back to normal however I only managed to knit clue 1. 

Over the course of the next 2 months, I slowly knit through the clues.  Last night I gave the shawl a good soaking and firmly blocked it.  After 3 months of knitting I'm happy to be finally finished!

Our New Home!

I'm so incredibly excited to tell you that my family is moving!  Ray and I have been wanting to move for over a year and we finally found the home that will work for our family.  Currently we live in a 1000 square foot, 2 bedroom 1950's ranch home.  And while we love our home, to which we have made improvements, the house is just getting to be a bit too small.  One night over a glass of wine, make that several glasses of wine, the conversation turned to increasing our living space.  And with the interest rates as low as they are, we started looking. 

We had certain criteria that had to be met.  A better school system for the girls, bigger house, 15 yr fixed mortgage, a pretty home, stuff like that.  The search was on for the better part of a 9 months. We started looking online and then started going to the open houses on Sundays.  Eventually we discovered what worked for us and what didn't.  The floor plans that we gravitated toward and the exterior that the both of us just loved.  Finally after much negotiation we found the perfect home for our family. 

A Tudor style home that was built in 1929 with tons of character.  Hard wood floors, decorative plaster, stained glass windows.  Need I say more?  To be honest I'm in love with the place.  Don't get me wrong.  There is plenty of work that needs to be done.  Fixing leeks, repainting, plasterwork,  a new upstairs bathroom, new carpet, just to name a few.  But like I said, I'm in love.  Ray and I both committed to the place and put the down payment the second we could.  We officially sign the final papers on Wednesday.  Which leads me to my dilemma.

Moving Day.  I'm a knitter as you well know.  And being a knitter for the better part of 12 years, I have acquired and considerable stash.  OH it didn't grow over night, but rather a couple of skeins here and there.  Kind of like weight.  The extra cookie that didn't get burned off, equates to a bit extra on the hips and before you know it you have an entire back porch.  Kind of like that. 

I started counting the totes that contained the stash.  Now let me be the first to explain that the totes contain about 20 gallons of yarn each and I counted about 9 totes.  And the stuff not in a tote could fill about another 2 totes.  GOOD LORD AND BABY JESUS 11 totes 20 gallons each?  Oh dear God I'm sooooo going to Hell for gluttony of the yarn.  Is that even a sin?  Regardless, I can't let Ray know about the 12 totes of yarn.  My God, I'll never see the inside of a yarn shoppe again. 

So what's a girl to do?  Devise a plan of course.  I'm just gonna move a bit over to the new house piece by piece.  I thought about sneaking it over but then someone at work said "Don't sneak Libby Grant, just lie about it. Deny it all together."  Very wise choice.  Very wise choise indeed.  Denial is the best choice given the circumstances. Not to worry, I'll be keeping you abreast of the moving situation!

Detroit Zoo

  It was the first weekend that the mercury hit 74F and sunny.  What is a family of 4 supposed to do on such a great day?  Go to the Zoo of course!   

Once we got there, we beelined for the butterfly house.  The girls just LOVE the butterflies!  They have different species in a variety of colors and sizes.   

The butterfly house is connected to the bird house where again one will find different species in all different colors and sizes. 

New to the zoo this year is the carousel.  Naturally Syd had a ride!  The carousel is amazing, for lack of a better word.  It doesn't just have horses.  It has bats and seahorses and dinosaurs and eagles and giraffes and snakes and all kinds of different animals for the kids to ride.  And if there is any confusion as to which species you are riding, have no fear, it is listed above the animal! 

Next stop was the polar bear exhibit.  I love this exhibit because you walk through a path containing placards all about the Inuit people: how they survived, what they ate, where they lived. Also on the path is the white fox and seals, again with placards about each animal.  And then at the end of the path is an underground area where you can see the polar bears and seals swimming under the water through very thick Plexiglas.  The other amazing part about this structure is that it is air conditioned, which was actually my favorite part!  Now I know that you are all thinking: Wimp... its 74, whats the problem.  The problem I tell you, is that for the better part of 5 months the temperature has been less 32F which is freezing.  I'm very much acclimated to less than 32F and 50F feels warm and wonderful so 74 was a bit much.

As we were about to leave, a pretty little bird flew and landed right in front of us.  Ray was armed and ready and began shooting!  I'm so excited we managed to get this great shot of him looking directly at us!

And through it all there was absolutely positively no knitting.  I just enjoyed the day out with my family!

Beaded Rib Socks

These are Ray's Christmas Socks.  I can't even tell you how excited I was when I finished the second sock.  Especially when I feel like I've climbed Mt. Everest after finishing one sock. Especially when what I really wanted to do was start on the next new and exciting project but instead, I knit the mate.  And most expecially when my husband has size 13 feet.  And that is a whole lotta knittin' for just one sock let alone 2.    I'm used to knitting for my small size 6 feet so knitting a pair of mans size 13 socks was quite the experience. 

These socks consumed 1.5 balls of Regia Sock Yarn and I used US1 needles.  This is a personal design of course and naturally I posted the pattern on the side bar as well as on Ravelry!

Hello, Anybody There?

Good Lord and Baby Jesus, it sure has been a long time since I've blogged.  I'm not even sure I still remember how to do this! LOL just kidding. 

Christmas has come and gone. 

Valentine's Day has come and gone.

St. Patty's Day is here and Easter is approaching fast.

Let me start off by saying that there has been no knitting.  None.  Zilch. Nadda.

OK that statement is not entirely accurate.  I've finished the Mystery Kal (which still needs blocking), Karolyn's dressy (still working on the pattern and pics), and I've started Sydney's dressy. Come to think of it, that's quite a bit of knitting isn't it?  I'll share all eventually.  The key word here is eventually. 

The Christmas Knitting went almost to plan.  All my nieces and nephews received a hand knit.  Karolyn has her dressy and I'm currently working on Sydney's, and she asks me daily when she can wear it.  To which I reply, as soon as its finished.  Cut me some slack kid, I just started it!  Ray loves his socks, but I had to take them back cuz I didn't have a proper pic and didn't want them ruined before I got one.  No worries, I'll be sure he gets them back.  My sister did not get her slippers which gives me something to look forward to knitting!  Other than that, everything went according to plan.

My sister said that her kids loved the knits and she sent pics! 

Remember the Clara Dressy?  Here it is being modeled by my neice Jacqueline.

The back of the dress is just as adorable as the front!

Isn't that the most adorable baby you've ever seen? 

Mary also send me pics of Alana wearing her Kitty cardi.  To be honest I was completely worried about this knit.  Mary told me that Yellow was Alana's favorite color and I didn't have any yellow in the stash so I subbed in some purple.  On Christmas I talked to Alana and she said that she LOVED it because purple is her NEW favorite color.  Way to go Auntie Libby!!! 

The back of the cardi.

It matches her outfit perfectly!

SOOOO Cute!



Love you Alana!



I don't have any other pics because Bryce didn't fit into the Pembrook Vest and my brother didn't send me pics of Trenton in it.  So John, if you are reading this, please send me a pic of Trenton in his vest.  Thanks!



Mystery KAL

I'm excited to announce that Shui Kuen Kozinski is hosting a Mystery Knit Along.  We all know SK from her very popular designs for Elann.com as well as her self published designs.  She is best known for her lacy shawls and I'm very certain that we will be quite pleased with what the mystery has to offer.

For those not familiar with a Mystery KAL, it goes like this.  Its called a knit along because you are knitting each clue along with dozens of others.   First you sign up and receive a detailed list of everything you need to complete the item.  Yarn type and how much, needles, beads, stitch markers, how many clues you get.  Stuff like that.   Then each week a clue is given in the form of a pattern.  And each week you knit that clue.  When all of the clues have been received and knitted, you will have a finished object! 

The exciting part comes in with the forum hosting the KAL.  Discussions start about what we think the final shape will be.  What the stitches remind us of.  What to name the final piece.  Who pissed off whom because they didn't like their input.  Like I said its fun stuff.

SK states the following:

This pattern cost $3.00 now, it will be $7.00 later.

4 clues will be given on Jan 1st, 8th, 15th and 22nd 2012.

Please use my mystery picture as the project picture till the end of KAL. Thank you!

The project will be a crescent shape lace shawl with shawl collar, which is knitted in one piece. The gentle scalloped lace part is knitted from the top down (less stitches to cast on), and later finished with short rows.

EXPERIENCE LEVEL
Intermediate
SIZE
Medium size Shawl is 14 inches deep, 36 inches wide at the top and 78 inches at the bottom, relaxed after blocking. Small and large size will be discussed.

MATERIALS
-600 to 800 yards of fingering weight yarn
-5.5mm (US 9), 4.5mm (US 7), and 4mm (US 6) 24 inch circular needles
-tapestry needle; 2 stitch markers
GAUGE
20 sts and 28 rows per 4in after blocking
(Gauge is not critical)

I've already signed up and paid my dues for the Mystery KAL.  For my $3, I received a 1 page .pdf file with what is needed to complete the shawl.  Next is the hard part.  Waiting. 

Who's in?

Winter Winds

Winter Winds is the first collection of patterns by SK Kozinski.  It is $16 and contains 7 patterns: 3 scarfs and 4 shawls. This would make a great stocking stuffer for that special knitter in your life.

My favorites include:  

Fleur De Lis

 Fleur De Lis is one of SK's first patterns she designed.  A simple yet elegant lace pattern will dress up any outfit!

Sweet Embrace

Sweet Embrace is my favorite of this collection.  It is a scarf based off of Estonian knitting. Its one that I will have to knit one day!

Longing for Robins Return

Longing for Robins Return is a sweet shawlette that can be knit in any color you choose.  It can easily be wrapped around the head for a makeshift hat or used as a scarf.  An elegant design.

Sans Souci

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We sure did. This year I made the turkey with a rub instead of injecting it with a butter sauce. It was wonderful. Of course we have tons of left overs which has become Turkey and Cranberry Ravioli, Turkey Pot Pies, and turkey chili.  The rest I will turn into lunch meat. 
Black Friday shopping was quite successful if I do say so myself! While the majority of Michiganders were standing in freezing weather waiting for the stores to open, I was inside staying warm and cozy clicking away at my computer. Click, click, click, eat my pumpkin pie. Heaven! All of my shopping is complete with the exception of my husbands big item which I will pick up at the store as soon as the crowds have desipated.

Yesterday Ray went diving.  It has been the longest time sense he has been diving with his buds and I'm glad that he was able to go today.  He dove off of Harsons Island near Sans Suchi and the weather here was not the best of conditions.  It was raining all day and that means that there will be next to no visibility.  Imagine being under water with a tank of air strapped to your back, knowing that is your only life support system, and being able to see about 5 inches in front of you.  You can't see your computer, if you are lucky enough to have one.  You can't see your dive buddy, you just trust he is there.  You can't see your air pressure gauges, you just guesstimate how long you have been under water and just guesstimate how much air you have consumed.  Basically you are blind under water.  You have to be a very confident diver, know every aspect of your diving style, know all of your gear, and plan for the worst case scenario.  Heaven forbid.

Naturally Ray took his goody bag with him.  He told me of all of the cool things he managed to see and dig up and put into the goody bag.  Old beer bottles, beer cans, an old rusted out garbage can lid under the bottles and cans.  Its appears that someone actually dumped a garbage can full of beer cans and lids into the river.  Then as he was ascending to the surface his goody bag gave way and he lost all of his loot.  Which totally sucks because I have no picture to share.  Such is the life of a Michigan Diver!

My Helper



Happy Thanksgiving

Black Friday

This time if year, I'm on the hunt for the Black Friday deals and this year is no exception.  I've been scouring the adds for Toys R Us, JC Penney, Kohls, Sur La Table, Kay's, Walmart, Art Van, Home Depot, and Best Buy.  Researching the web for the Black Friday websites and deciding where I'm going to spend my money.  There is no standing in line for 10 hours tailgating in front of the stores with the rest of the crowd.  I'm all about the online shopping.  While the rest of Michigan is outside braving the blistering cold, snow and wind, I'm inside clicking away eating my pumpkin pie! 

During my research, I've noticed something very alarming.  I'm not seeing many Black Friday ads for the yarn companies.  Sure JoAnn's has their sales along with the rest of the big box stores, but it's not the yarn at JoAnne's that I'm after.  I want some Blue Sky Alpacas, Malabrigio, Woolmeise, and other high end yarns. 

I did manage find some specials:

Elann.com usually has a Black Friday sale however I'm not seeing any such notice on their website.

Paradise fibers has some White Shetland Spinning fiber, Kollage square circular needles, and Lantern Moon needle cases.

Discontinued Brand Name Yarns is offering 15% off with the coupon code "NoTurkey".  They have some lovely Mission Falls Cotton I have my eye on.

Yarn.com has their Holiday Gift Guide published.  TONS of needles and other fun stuff!

Happy Shopping!!

Toothless

A very exciting event took place at the Grant household.  Karolyn lost her first tooth!  She could not have been more excited.  She is now among the first graders with missing teeth.  A rite of passage for kids her age.   For the longest time she has been telling me who lost a tooth and how long it was loose for and how much it hurt when it came out. 

There she was sitting at the kitchen counter eating a bagel, I was making dinner, and she announces "Mom, my tooth came out!  See."  She looked so adorable with her missing tooth.  I asked her where the tooth was and she didn't know.  We looked all over the kitchen for the missing tooth but could not find it.  We think she swallowed it.  The tooth fairy left her a note on the table explaining that even though she didn't find a tooth she left her some money anyway on the kitchen table. 

On the knitting front, the second sock is almost complete.  The heel is turned and about one inch of the foot portion has been knit.  All that is left to do is to finish the foot and turn the toe!

36 Days

There are 36 days left until Christmas and I only have one sock completed.  I'm feeling the pressure here.  Just sayin'.  I still have to knit 1 more sock for Ray, 2 sweaters for my girls and some slippers for my sister. 

Every year my family has drawn names for Christmas and this year is no exception.  The difficult part is that we all live in a different state.  I live in Michigan, my sister Mary is in Louisiana, my brother Mike is in Nevada, and my other brother John is in Florida and mom and dad are in Idaho.  Like I said, we are all over the country.  So as you can imagine, the drawing of names has its difficulties.  What if the person drawing the names doesn't actually like the way the names were drawn and decides to switch them?  OR decides they don't like the person that they got paired with and just switches their name?  It's been known to happen.  There is no one to police the drawing of the names.  SO to try to make it honest and on the up and up, Mary decided to use an online name drawer.  She said that you just assign each name with a number and the program will tell you who has whom.  This year I have Aaron, my sisters husband. 

To spice things up even more, we decided to make the gifts we are giving.  Yep you read that right, we are making the gifts not buying but making.  And I'm not finished with the already Revised Christmas List.  What's a girl to do?  I can't very well revise the list again and I have to make something or I'm gonna be that person that didn't make something.  I'm gonna have to do some serious thinking about what Aaron will just love.  I'm guessing that gluing Popsicle sticks together and calling it a napkin holder is out of the question.  LOL

Meeting Santa

This last Sunday was the Christmas tree lighting ceremony at one of the local outdoor malls.  They advertised free cider and donuts, lighting the tree, and meeting Santa.  The girls were all about meeting Santa.  They could care less about the tree lighting and cider and donuts and being around others, they just wanted to meet the big guy himself.  Karolyn needed to tell Santa that she wanted some makeup and Sydney, not wanting to be outdone by her big sister also wanted makeup as well as anything to do with Rupunzel.  We got to the mall early, walked around, window shopped and then found out where Santa was going to be.  After careful consideration we chose to skip the tree lighting and stand in the Santa line.  We were the third in line after all and that does have its advantages.  40 minutes later, the girls were very happy to see Santa being escorted in the store by a marching band and ballet dancers! 

After leaving Santa, Sydney asked why she didn't get a present.  I told her that Santa was just taking orders and had to go back to the North Pole to make all of the presents to be delivered on Christmas Eve.  She seemed to be satisfied with the answer. 

Ray's Christmas Socks

After knitting so many kid garments, I decided that I needed a change of pace.  The next item I'm going to nock off the list is Ray's Christmas socks.  Naturally I do not have a pattern in mind but I do have the book entitled "Sensational Knitted Socks" by Charlene Schurch.  The book truly is a must have book for avid sock knitters.  While it does not have any one sock pattern spelled out for you, it does have lots of stitch patterns and charts for you to decide exactly what you want your sock to look like in the yarn of your choosing.  The book also contains feet measurements for various shoe sizes ranging from children to men and women in narrow, medium and wide widths.  Invaluable. 

First did a gauge swatch in sock yarn on US1's and found that I get 10 stitches to the inch.  I then found my husbands shoe size the finished measurements.  Next, I decided on a 5 stitch ribbing pattern which called for 90 stitches.  Because I want my socks to match when its all said and done I need to cast on at the same point in the color run for both socks but I need to know what my color run is.  I started pulling out the yarn from the center of my ball and wrote down the colors until I had found where the colors start repeating themselves.  My yarn has the following color repeat: leaf green, blue, brown, blue, forest green, blue, light green, blue, tan, blue, light green and brown.

As mentioned above, I do not have a pattern so I got out a piece of paper and wrote down all of the essentials for the sock.  Gauge, stitch pattern, number of repeats,  length of the leg portion, the total length of the sock, where in the color run to cast on.  Stuff like that. 
Now that the hard part of is out of the way, all I have left to do is knit them.  Easier said than done because my husband wears a size 13.  Wish me luck!

The Kitty Cardi

I've decided to knit Alana's cardi first because her present needs to be shipped across the country to New Orleans. 

With the yarn already picked out, I just need to make the correct gauge.  The stated gauge of 6 stitches per inch was easily achieved with US4's and I cast on the correct number of stitches.  The pattern instructs you to knit the cardi from the top down and I was on a roll until I got to the underarm at which point you are instructed to switch from stocking stitch to the lace pattern.  I didn't think much of it as I've successfully knit plenty of lacy items.  I just kept on knitting as instructed and 3 rows into the lace pattern I thought it a good idea to count my stitches.  The desired number of stitches is 209 and I managed to acquire over 240.  Oh dear, this is a problem.  I tinked the entire last 3 rows I had just knit and re-knit the lace row.  Having learned from my initial mistake, I counted my stitches after I finished the row.  207.  I ripped it again and re-knit that same row.  Again. 

The lace pattern isn't all that hard. Knit 2 together twice, followed by a yarn over knit one combo which is repeated 3 times, yarn over, and knit 2 together twice.  The stitch count remains constant with 4 stitches being decreased and 4 stitches being increased.  Like I said, the pattern is pretty straight forward and yet I was still unable to knit it correctly.  After the fourth try, I knit that lacy row successfully! 

All in all the cardi is a fast knit and I'm quite pleased with the results.  The only modification I would make would be to add sleeves, which I plan to do for my girls' cardi's provided I have enough yarn.

Revised Christmas Knitting Plan:

My family:
Ray: socks
Karolyn: Kitty Cardi
Sydney: Kitty Cardi

My sisters' family:
Mary (my sister): slippers
Alana (niece): Kitty Cardi = complete
Bryce (nephew): Pembroke Vest = complete
Jacqueline (niece): Clara Dressy = complete

My brother John's family:
Trenton (nephew): Pembroke Vest = complete

Kitty Cardi Colors

Now that I have the cardi picked out, its time to pick out the colors in which to knit the cardi.  To increase the odds of the cardi ever being worn, I'm going with the girls's favorite colors.  Karolyn's favorite color is a sunshine yellow.  Sydney's favorite is pink and Alana's favorite is purple. 

With the yarn stash totaling over 9 bins of yarn,  I was astonished to discover that I do not have a suitable sunshine yellow or a non-baby pink yarn in a fingering weight to knit up the Kitty Cardi.  The purple I happened to have.  To remedy the situation, I scoured the internet in search of the perfect shade of yellow and pink in the correct weight.  I looked at all of my favorite sites to no avail.   There simply was no sunshine yellow or pink to be had in the middle of November.  And with good reason,  who in their right mind is going to stock yellow and pink with winter approching?  The Loopey Ewe, that's who! 

With Benne's help, I should actually call her Momma Benne because she always knows what I need,  I was about to locate the correct shade of sunshine yellow and pink my two angels would love.  Benne steered me in the right direction and told me about the Loopy Ewe.  I was able to search by colors, a feature my go-to internet yarn shops seriously lacked.  In the end, I found what I was looking for and placed the order right then and there. 

Now I'm Sick

Now that Karolyn is better, I'm sick.  Completely congested and unable to stop coughing.  Its times like these that I'm grateful that I live in an age where we have over the counter medications.  My current drug of choice is Theraflu.  Stuff works great, I'm somewhat uncongested and the coughing has decreased to a minimum which means that I'm not rendered completely useless. 

Mother Nature sure has thrown a monkey wrench in to the Christmas Knitting Plan.  Taking care of a sick child as well as being sick myself has definately caused the knitting to come to a halt. Or at least a very slow crawl.  So changes must be made to the Christmas Knitting Plan if everyone is going to receive their handknit gift. 

The original plan included designing a sweater for the girls.  I've done a fair amount of work on this: sketched out the sweater, determined what yarn to use, sketched out 3 separate yolk patterns, swatched one of the patterns and decided that I didn't like it, and re-sketched out another yolk pattern.  What I've not done is: re-swatch the new yolk pattern, do a gauge swatch,  crunch some numbers (aka determining how much to cast on and off as well as when and how many stitches to decrease so it will fit my angels), and knit the actual sweater.  As you can see, there is quite alot left to do before I can even cast on the sweater and with Christmas being less than 50 days away, I just don't see this project as one that will get completed in time.  Maybe for Valentines day?  Afterall, the design is loaded with hearts.

The new plan is to knit Kitty by Heirloom Stitches.  I saw the pattern when I was at Stitches South in Atlanta earlier this year and thought it would look just great on my little girls.  I bought the pattern and it has been sitting in the stash for a good 6 months waiting for me to add it to the Revised Christmas Knitting Plan. 

Revised Christmas Knitting Plan:

My family:
Ray: socks
Karolyn: Kitty Cardi
Sydney: Kitty Cardi

My sisters' family:
Mary (my sister): slippers
Alana (niece): Kitty Cardi 
Bryce (nephew): Pembroke Vest = complete
Jacqueline (niece): Clara Dressy = complete

My brother John's family:
Trenton (nephew): Pembroke Vest = complete

Happy Birthday Karolyn

Happy Birthday Karolyn

I love you sweatheart!

Another Pembroke Vest

This last week has been quite hectic.  Karolyn came home from school sick, we took her to the Dr. and she was diagnosed with croup and an ear infection.  Needless to say she is currently on antibiotics.  During the course of her being sick and coughing excessively, she had an accident on the couch.  We cleaned the couch with the special carpet cleaner and still the stink remained.  And I can't stress enough how I detest that smell.  So I googled how to clean up that stink and the results said to use a diluted white vinegar on the couch.  And I did just that.  Sprayed those couch cushions so all I could smell was the vinegar.  When my husband came home from work, I could hardly contain myself with excitement about my accomplishment.  To which he responded: "So what you are telling me is that we are full of piss and vinegar!"

Despite the week being hectic, I am proud to present another finished Pembroke Vest. I always have such a feeling of accomplishment when I complete an item no matter what the size. Granted a child's garment is a much different feat than say a man's aran sweater but it is still an accomplishment none the less. Imagine, that vest was but a ball of yarn just a couple of weeks ago and now it is a vest that will keep my nephew warm. I only hope he has as much fun wearing it as I did making it.

The Christmas count is now:

My family:
Ray: socks
Karolyn: personal design
Sydney: personal design

My sisters family:
Mary (my sister): slippers
Alana (niece): personal design
Bryce (nephew): Pembroke Vest = complete
Jacqueline (niece): Clara Dressy = complete

My brother John's family:
Trenton (nephew): Pembroke Vest = complete