Uli's Creative Corner

Just at the end of October, I have one more pair of socks to show.  They've been long in the making but they are as lovely as any of them.  The yarn is Gedifra Sportivo.  I tested out the yarn and love it.  It has a bit of stretch and some lovely graduated colours.  This pair of socks is a nice warm and I think very wearable pair.  I knitted them on 2.5 mm needles (usually I go for the 2.25 mm needles) and 60 stitches instead of my usual 64 stitches.  I figured the stretch in the yarn would accommodate the combo of 2.5 mm needles and 60 stitches.  I also did a pattern of K4, P1 around the leg and that adds a bit of extra spring to the sock leg.  I do quitle like them.  Thanks for the yarn Shelley - Fun Knits has the yarn and I would definitely recommend trying it.

It's almost happening........... JR is starting to move in a crawling position.  He's been getting up on his hands and knees for weeks but now he's actually starting to make small movements.  Mind you, he's been rolling, shuffling and all kinds of other ways of moving himself around the floor, covering quite big distances for weeks.  So crawling is just another step in this process that will make life a lot more difficult.

Daddy and Little Miss are carving pumpkins right now and I'm on stand-by to roast pumpkin seeds.

I've put a new bracelet that I just created up over on All that Glitters.  Isn't it lovely.  Amethyst is my birth stone and I love purple........ what else can I say.....

I had one of those moments yesterday evening......... I even dreamt about it last night.  It's not a big deal and maybe it's just a sign that I'm becoming picky about my yarn even though I wouldn't go so far as to say I'm a yarn snob or anything like that.  But let's just say that I like to be up on what's new when it comes to yarn and that I enjoy a special fiber or yarn or something neat as much as any of you that come to visit me here to see what I've been up to.

So, last night, I went to a craft fair.  I've got something in my head and so this year I'm trying to check out a few of the pre-Christmas craft fairs.  This one was one that was organized by a group of ladies.  I think it's a yearly deal, close to where we live but I had never gone.  It was all done up very nicely.  There were a lot of people and people were buying.  I would call the set up quite classy and the way it was organized, it was easy to shop, get everything you want from any of the sellers and then just go and purchase your items all at once.  Shall I say that I only went to look and not to buy and although I did find a few things that had me very tempted I didn't buy a thing.

That leads me to a conversation I had.  One woman was selling knitted scarves (the novelty kind - and they weren't that great) as well as baby and children's hats and toques.  She also had sewn place mats and soft baby blankets and stuff like that.  I pulled out one of the boy's hats.......... just to touch.  It was made with a worsted to aran weight acrylic....... definitely acrylic.  So that led me to know immediately that this lovely lady probably shopped for her yarn at Walmart or Zellers.  She came to me to say that these were the bigger boy hats and I then explained to her that I knit the stuff myself.  She was all over me.  Wow..... really?  I'm so tired to hear that nobody knits any longer, especially younger people.  There is just nobody out there who knows how to do it any longer.  Knowing how huge this internet community of knitters is, I didn't really comment.  Just shrugged my shoulders.  So she asked me what I knit and I told her and then I felt compelled to pull up my pants and show her my socks.  Guess what............ a self-proclaimed knitting designer had never seen a ball of self-patterning sock yarn.  She was amazed that you could even buy the stuff and she didn't believe me at first.  She thought I was piecing all the colours together etc.  She even called another lady over and I had to pull up my pants again.  She was in complete disbelief - making me realize even more that she probably hasn't ever set foot in a quality LYS in the area because every LYS in our area carries self patterning sock yarn.  It was just so funny.  Then I happened to have JR's little hat in my pocket that I made with Lorna's Laces' in the rainbow colour.  It's just the cutest hat I just don't have the time to find the link for the picture of the hat.  Well, she was feeling it and touching it and she had never seen a handpainted skein of yarn as lovely as something made from Lorna's Laces.  So I got a kick out if it.

I ended up dreaming about her and her knitting last night and I almost went back to bring her a ball of sock yarn or at least some leftovers from a ball of sock yarn so that she at least could see and believe me that what I was talking about was true.  I decided against it once I woke up in the morning.

Don't get me wrong......... I am not putting down this nice woman at all.  She had what probably works for the type of market coming through a craft fair but I just somehow had in my head that someone who was selling handknit things like that knew more about what's in and what's not.  Know what I mean?

Really, I went to go see the handcrafted jewelry and the stuff that was there was quite pretty.  Definitely got some inspiration.  I need to build a bead stash though and having no money for yarn or beads really puts a crimp into that.

I don't have many straight sets of knitting needles as I prefer to do everything on circulars but I still think this is a cool, cool idea for a knitter's gift - from a knitter to a knitter - especially if the knitter likes to use straight needles like that.  I do have some for scarf knitting.  The smaller case shown for the crochet hooks could probably easily be adjusted for a DPN case. 

Better go and get the gang ready.  Little Miss is getting her own public library card this morning and I promised her a Tim Horton's lunch before going to school.  JR, of course, will just tag along.

Have a great weekend.

So I was in the shower this morning, enjoying a nice warm shower.  I had just ran out of my usual shower gel and had a little tester shower gel bottle in the shower with me.......... now for a true knitter, this shower gel has the most appealing name - Pure Cashmere - wouldn't you want to try a shower gel on your skin that's called pure cashmere?  I used it, I can't say that I felt like I was wrapped in cashmere but geez.... the sheer naming of this product might make me go out and buy a bigger bottle of it while I'm grocery shopping today - just because I'm out already.  Sink yourself into Pure Cashmere and rinse all those worries away. 

I've been taking a little time to knit whenever I get a moment but I have to admit that trying to form the perfect spiral from a piece of wire has demanded tons of my time and attention.  I'm embracing this new interest and am wasting a lot of the wire I've bought just cutting off little pieces and trying to copy the techniques that are shown in my book.  But hey, I can't learn how to do this stuff without trying.  I'll put up some more stuff on my Vox blog All that Glitters at some point today.

I've been knitting scarves........... it seems to be the Christmas present of choice for me to make this year.  Another Christmas gift I am working on that I don't want to talk about here is also coming along nicely.

But here are a few pics of the scarves:

This is the Diamond Lace Dress-it-up scarf from Heartstrings.  It's half done and it's worked horizontally.  I'm using some handpainted yarn that I bought from Shelley at Fun Knits last summer.  First I tried to make a Flower Basket shawl with it but soon came to my senses.  The variegation and strength of colour was just too much for that delicate shawl with the intricate lace pattern.  This is working out quite nicely.  I think I'll need to see what it looks like blocked.  Even the lace diamonds don't show up very distinctly in this particular yarn.  But it will become a gift and if I keep perservering, it can be finished soon.  Lots of garter stitch in this one right now.  So it's fast but boring.

Next up is the Branching Out using some very lovely Blue Sky Alpaca yarn.  It's an alpaca/silk blend and just to die for.  I added some little beads to the cast on and I'm halfway done because I've used exactly half the yarn.  I'm not wasting an inch of that loveliness.  Another gift halfway finished.  If I just wound that other hank into a center pull ball, I could almost be done with this gift.

Here's the slowest of the all.  Sivia Harding's Angel Pearls Scarf.  It's a beautiful pattern and it really only is going slow because I put it down over the other scarves.  But I will pick it up again as soon as I can especially since I've joined the KAL for this scarf that rose out of the Sivia Harding yahoo group I am a member of.  This shall be for my Mom.  For the life of me I can't remember what the yarn's name is that I'm using.  It's not quite as luxurious as Kid Silk Haze or any of those but it's a kid mohair/nylon blend and I bought it at my LYS for 1/3 of the cost of a ball of Kid Silk Haze which is what I really wanted to use for the scarf.  But this is just perfect.  I love it.

Other knitting........... I'm 10 rows shy of finishing the body of Ruby for the Little Miss.  Not much else is going on as I really want to get the Christmas knitting under control.  But except for a pair of socks, all the gifts are in progress.  Now I just have to fixate on finishing them off one at a time.

You've got to see these pics of the kids.  My boy is just the funniest little guy and of course his sister had to match his goofy picture by trying to get in on the goofy action shots.....

Have a beautiful day!!!

To clean or knit - that is the question......................

Little Miss is at daycare.

JR is napping.

Baby laundry is running on "sanitary" - due to major diaper blow outs ............. yuck

House is a mess!!!!!!!!!!

It's Friday............

I love a clean house on the weekend..........

But I want to knit.............

Okay.......... I'm going to go clean a bit and knit a bit

But before I sit to knit, the family room has to sparkle.  That's a deal....... isn't it?  JR will probably wake back up before then but that's the life of  a Mommy.  Oh yeah.................... 3 more months exactly and I'm back to work.  Let's not think about that today.

Major goals this weekend - Finish a pair of socks for Socktoberfest and work on Christmas gifties as well as Erika's purple Ruby sweater.

Have a good one.

I'm still knitting.......... actually in full swing Christmas knitting mode but I haven't taken any pictures of anything and of course, I have to be careful as to which pictures I choose to show here.  So that's why I'll show a couple more beading attempt pictures.  I'll post details of how those came about on my blog All that Glitters later........... but don't go there yet - don't have time right now to post more details.

Here's my first necklace:

And my first attempt at shaping a shwal pin.......... the wire is too soft and I knew that to start with.  I also didn't finish it by conditioning and sharpening a point.......... I just wanted to see if I could work my pliers in a way so as to create the shape I was after.  Here it is:

I like..................

Off to do more laundry and all those fun things in life.  We are getting a family portrait taken at Little Miss' school tonight.  I need some clean clothes for all of us for that.  I'm doing it but I so hate getting my formal picture taken.

I'm writing more about my beading adventures over on my Vox Blog that I've named All that Glitters.  I'm not sure why I've split up knitting and beading and the rest of things but I really feel like keeping a seperate record of how this beading thing progresses.  This blog will stay my main blog where I talk about everything, knitting plus me plus the kiddos and all that's me.  I'll stick to the beads over on All that Glitters but I will talk about it here, too....... just maybe not in as much detail.

We had a busy fall weekend with our annual visit to the pumpkin patch.  We go to this farm called Aldor Acres as it's a fun outing for the kids especially.  Well, JR was a little small to appreciate it all but in due time, he will enjoy it as much as Erika.  For the memories, we love taking a picture at the Aldor Acres growth chart every year.  Here is this year's picture (note the sheep sweater I finished a long time ago - it fits perfectly this year):

Here is last year's pic to compare

Two years ago can be found here.  LIttle Miss sure is changing and growing taller.

Here is my International Scarf Exchange scarf - it went off in the mail today:

Not much knitting this weekend because yesterday I spent the afternoon at a bead show and attended a basic wire work course.  Here is what I came home with:

It's a very simple, simple bracelet but I made it all myself, including the clasp.  All with wire, some really basic beads, pliers and my hands.  I had an awesome time.  Of course, some lovely beads also had to come home with me.  Mind you, unfortunately by the time I really knew what I needed (in terms of wire so I could practice at home), I had spent all my money that I had with me and I had to rush home.

It's hubby's b-day today but we already celebrated yesterday.  Happy B-day to my special guy!!!!

Over on Vox.com:

http://mommyknits.vox.com/