The Afghan is Here!!!!

I took a vacation from both jobs on the first week of March, locked myself in the guestroom, and preceded to knit a border for the afghan. Once that was done, I then had to graft all 21 pieces together to come up with the finished product. All I can say is that "I am glad it is over!"

It was a lot of work, but well worth the effort!
The afghan is now being displayed at the local yarn store City Knitting (http://www.city-knitting.com/). So, stop by, and have a look-see if you can.

A Quick Note

This is just a quick note to let you know that I am still alive and kicking. And I finished the last of the 20 squares I need for my afghan.

The Latvian Moon Cross.

Braids.

The Tree of Life.

This reminds me of a frosted wedding cake.

The Aran Sweater Square.

And here's the socks I am knitting from the sock flat. As you can see, the color bandings matches on both socks!! Pretty cool, huh?

Productive Vacation

For those of you who are not in Michigan, I gotta' tell ya' that the weather has been frightful! I don't mind the snow, in fact, I love the snow ~ what I am saying is that things have been a bit unpredictable around here concerning the moods of Mother Nature. We get snow dumped on us, followed by a heat wave, and then more snow! Frankly, I am just sick and tired of shoveling the slush (those are almost 50 pounds a shovel-full!). Supposenly, if the weatherman is to be trusted, we are getting more snow over the weekend, followed by an arctic blast at the beginning of the week. Amen to that!

I took two weeks off from both jobs for a much needed "quiet time" for myself. Since the weather was a bit uncooperative when it comes to flying I decided to stay home, and just have a quiet holiday. It also gave me the time I needed to catch up with my knitting. Two jobs can be harsh, and the afghan project did stall during the pre-holiday rush. It was also quite a suprise
to rediscover that I do have a cat! I got into such a routine of filling the food and water bowls and cleaning out the litterbox in such an unmindful way that the cat was forgotten among all the mayhem. Well, believe you me, the situation was rectified during my vacation. I went to the pet-store to get some catnip-filled toys, and Hecate (the cat's name) and I spent a very long afternoon just playing and having a blast. We knitted together during the down times, with Hecate keeping my lap warm, and I think she approves of the afghan since she could never resist burrowing under and sleeping on my squares.

I managed to finish 5 squares during the 2-week vacation. Now I only need to knit 5 more squares and I will finally have all 20 that I need for the afghan!

The DNA Square.

The Pomegranates Square.

The Cathedral Window Square. This square has a quirky essembly. Instead of working back and fourth over the entire square, each pattern is worked individually, and you pick up stitches before working the next pattern.

The Bobbledy Aran Square. And it was the designer that came up with the name.

Over The Top Square. This is where I got so sick and tired of bobbles that I wanted to drive to Portage, hunt down the designer and shoot her!

I usually have a pair of socks on needles for "contemplative knitting". Socks are so easy, and the construction is so basic: toe, foot, heal and cuff ~ or the other way if you are knitting from the top down. I don't really knit socks from a book anymore, which makes it easy to carry the work-in-progress around in a bag, and just knit whenver there is a bit of time ~ like waiting in a check-out line. Anyways, I've been keeping an eye out for yarn for the next sock project, and I finally found it at my local yarn store. This yarn is not in a ball, hank or skein ~ it has already been machine-knitted into a flat piece of fabric!

This is a "blank" and it is very interesting. Rita of Yarn Hollow hand-dyes these sock-blanks and you unravel it as you knit your socks! In this blank, two yarns have been knitted together, and then dyed. This allows for a pair of socks with the colorways that matches each other! I will give a better idea of what I am talking about in a future blog post with pictures. Keep your eyes open!

Keep the yarn on the your sticks and I am rooting for you!

Perfect Gift

All through the evening of Christmas Eve my dad kept going on and on about the fact that he "has found me the perfect gift". When it came to the exchange, he threw a t-shirt at me. I had to admit that I laughed when I saw the graphics on the shirt with the three little ninjas.

Dad was right; it is perfect for me.

Year in Review

Never fear, I am still knitting away~ things are a bit hectic right now with the holidays and "wrapping up" my two jobs in preparation for my vacation. The going is extremely slow since I am knitting only when I have the time for it.

At this yuletide season, when the dark has reached its full power before being conquered by the light, it is that time to look back at the year that is passed, and look forward to a new year!

2008 began just like any other year, quietly and without much fanfare. I worked, took care of the home, paid the bills, and knitted. I also did a little spinning in the late winter, and came up with 5 hanks of pretty homemade yarn. Those yarns are stored away for a future project, whatever it may be.

Things started getting lively around March when I decided to do an ambitious lace project complete with beads. It took me two and a half months to finish the shawl.

The shawl got stored away. For whom? I hadn't determined the lucky recipient yet.

Things picked up even more at the beginning of May.

I got to show off one of the sweaters I designed at a Beltaine celebration.

This was also the time it was decided that the driveway in the backyard is to be demolished. I felt the contender for Paul Bunyan as I smatched the concrete to mere rubble with the aid of only a sledgehammer and a crowbar (check out the picture at the beginning of this entry). The old fences were pulled up and banished from the property along with the concrete rubble.

The topsoil to fill the gaping hole in the backyard didn't arrive until the day before I had to fly for the NorthWest. Trust me, when I got home the dirt went flying, and a prayer was recited over the topsoil after everything was raked smooth.

The end of May and the beginning of June was in Vancouver and Seattle. Had a blast.

Aunt Julie ended up being gifted with the lace shawl as a thank you in her willingness to put up with me.

The Summer was spent puttering around in my new garden where the driveway use to be. Planted a lot of herbs ~ and the fresh herbs were a nice addition to my Summer cooking. The garden did well for the most part, even though I lost the squash to powdery mildew.

I also had a job interview at the community college which went well. I was offered a position to teach American Sign Language classes offered by the college. I accepted, of course.

The Autumn was a whirlwind of working two jobs, harvesting and putting the garden to bed, and attending a couple of workshops offered by my LYS. I had a chance to learn from Cat Bordhi and Jared Flood when they were in town.

Now, I am just busy and looking forward to a long vacation starting next week. I guess my only plans for 2009 is to finish up the Aran Afghan, maybe design a few knitting projects, and complete my requirements toward a Master Knitter's certification. Wish me luck!

May you all have a great holiday and a prosperous New Year!

Yours,

Ro'

Cabling Binge

Well, I've been on a cabling binge where I've knitted up 6 cable projects all for the month of October! Whew! The first for your viewing pleasure is my cabled winter cap using a Cashmere/Wool blend of my own making. Very thick and very warm ~ so let it snow!!!!

This is me modeling the cap.

And I've completed five more squares for my afghan project. This is 10 squares down and 10 to go (YESSSSSSS, I am half-way through!!!!!!).

This one I am calling the "Support our
Troops" square. I don't necessarily support our wars overseas, but we can't abandon our soilders who are fighting on foreign soil. Also, both of my brothers are in the military (one in the Navy, and the other in the Army and in Iraq), so I've knitted this square in their honor. Hey bro's, you rock!

I love this square with the Saxon braid.

This is a really quirky cable designed by a Quebecois.

I call this one the "Interlocking Lockets".

And, finally, the Reversible Square. This pattern is on both sides of this square, thereby making it reversible.

Trailblazer II unveiled

Well, it took a while, and putting in the work whenever I had a spare moment between two jobs. I just finished the Trailblazer II, modeled after the original Trailblazer I came up with, but using finer yarns and smaller needles. I am very pleased with this pattern ~ simple, masculine and comfortable.

Here's the simple increase along the top of the foot.

This was a toe-up pattern, which worked perfectly.

The balls of the foot and the heel are reinforced to resist wear.

I just had to add the seam along the back of the cuff. So cool and it gives the sock another point of interest.