Wedding

By now, I am sure you all know that Steve and I got married this past weekend. Many people thought it would never happen, but here is the proof.

The ceremony and the party were everything I had hoped for. The weather was absolutely beautiful, what more can you ask for an outdoor wedding. We had the company of our friends and family, although some very special people were not able to make it, we had a great time.

Steve surprised me and wrote a poem and read it during the ceremony and Sami, one of our cats, decided she didn’t want to miss out on the fun and she showed up at the back door just as the minister was getting started with the ceremony. We had created a safe haven for the cats in our bedroom away from all the activities of the party so we didn’t have to worry about one getting outside. We had put up two safety fences stacked on top of one another that reached nearly 6 feet high, but some how Sami found a way to scale the fence and escape through the hole near the ceiling. Everyone thought it was quite priceless that she choose that moment to make her grand entrance to the party.

And yes, there was knitting. I invited my friends from knitting club and encouraged them to bring their knitting. It was in fact a casual wedding party and there was no reason to miss out on perfectly good knitting time.

 

Here is the whole group of knitters.

Here are some of my friends from Stamp Club.

And friends from Kick-Boxing

 

 

And of course I can’t leave out our biker friends, who by the way didn’t ride their motorcycles to the party.

 

The evening was a great success. I leave you with a picture of the flowers that were incredibly beautiful.

Ravelry…I have been invited

Okay, so I was invited to Ravelry last Friday around 7:00 pm, but since I was preparing to get married on Saturday I didn’t have much time to look around, so I decided it would be a better idea to wait until at least Sunday to start poking around. More about the wedding party later.

That thought lasted about 12 hours, because Saturday morning I just couldn’t take it any longer I just had to click that invite and sign in, at least to get a quick taste of what was to come. Again at that time I didn’t have much time because I had to go to my sweater designing class that morning. Yes, yes, I went to a knitting class on the day I was getting married, but who doesn’t, RIGHT!

Anyway, I have been added my projects to my Ravelry page and it is so cool. If you haven’t already requested an invitation to join Ravelry, do it now, don’t wait. The list of those waiting to get invited continues to grow, and it took me more than a month to get my invitation. But let me tell you it was well worth the wait, and I got lots of knitting done in the process. This site is absolutely fabulous and I just know you will want to be a part of this knitting community.

The thing I like the best so far is that as I add my projects, current and completed, the site would automatically go out and find other users who have knit the same patterns, and I can easily add them to my buddy list. Another thing that I really like is that it tells me how many other knitters are working on the same project and links me right to them so I can check out their progress. It does the same thing with the yarn that I have chosen for my project even if it isn’t the yarn selected by the designer.

It will take a lot of work to get all my projects entered and queued, as well as my stash and my needles, but I am not stressing about it, I will just take it one day at a time and do a little each day. What would we have done without this site???????

Projects, Family, Knitting and Reading

This weekend flew by. It was filled with projects around the house, errands, visiting time with my soon to be father-in-law (who had an emergency quadruple bi-pass last week), knitting, and reading. It makes me tired just thinking about all the stuff we did this weekend.

As many of you know, we have been preparing for a very special party at our house next weekend. I just never imagined that we would have so much to do. It seems like once we get one project completed we think of ten other things we want to do. I almost got Steve talked into putting in a small fish pond at the corner of the deck, which might happen later this summer, but will not be done for the party next weekend. We also have plans to put in some pavers in the back corner of our yard, but that too will have to wait until later this summer or next year.

I didn’t have much time for knitting, but I did squeeze in a few hours on Saturday. I am taking a 5 week sweater designing class and this weekend was week number two. During class I worked on the simple stockinette stitch toe-up socks, I didn’t want anything to distracting during the class. I also did a few rows on my socks pattern socks. I didn’t get too much done on either one of them, but I did make a little bit of progress.

Friday night and Saturday I spent my time sewing curtains for my living room. Now mind you, sewing is not my forte, but I was able to accomplish my goal of completing the curtains. They came out quite nicely if I do say so myself (as long as you don’t look to closely at them). I didn’t follow a pattern; I engineered them based on the ratty curtains that were in the house when we moved in. I also lined the curtains with blackout lining so it would be nice and dark during the day, making it conducive to watching movies without having to worry about the glare on the TV screen. After completing the first panel I decided to re-engineer my design. It seems that I tend to do that with my knitting too, after I try something I find a better way to do it. I guess I am like that when it comes to life in general. Anyway, at some point, hopefully this week, I will redo that first panel to match the others. Luckily I have plenty of extra material, just like yarn I tend to buy way more than I need.

Saturday evening Steve and I spent three hours putting up our new gazebo. It was a lot of work, but boy is it nice. It has mosquito screens all around and we will be putting up lights tonight. The furniture won’t be arriving until Wednesday, but we moved the swinging bench in there so we could enjoy it right away. 

Although I thought I was done with the yard work there was more to be done this weekend. I decided I had better cover the ground around my new plants with mulch, so Sunday morning I was out spreading 3 bags of mulch, only to find that I was two bags short. That stuff just doesn’t go as far as you might think. We picked up two more bags last night, but I just wasn’t in the mood to get dirty again, so that will be this evening’s project.

We spend a few hours on Friday and Sunday visiting with Steve’s step dad, who was admitted to the hospital last Tuesday for observation and then proceeded to have a quadruple bi-pass on Thursday. The doctors where quite surprised that he didn’t have a massive heart attack because 3 of the four arteries were almost completely blocked and the other was well on its way. Prior to the surgery they thought they would only have to do a triple bi-pass, but once they got in there they determined that all four had to be done. He is recovering rather quickly for a man of 70 years. There is a good chance they will be sending him home today.

I know it must seem like every second was taken up with the projects, errands and other stuff that we accomplished this weekend, but I still had time to take up reading again. A few weeks ago Miranda mentioned a Paperback Book Swap website that had me intrigued. I use to love to read. It seemed that I was always reading a book, but when I went back to school, a few years ago, I had so much school reading to do that I didn’t have much time for casual reading, and it has been quite some time since I have picked up a novel for fun. Needless to say, this weekend I found time to finish a book that I started many moons ago, start and finish another, and start a third. I also rounded up all the books I have read (which actually wasn’t many because last year we gave most everything to Purple Heart or sold it a a garage sale), and joined the Paperback Book Swap. Thanks for sharing that, Miranda. So far I have only posted three books, so I don’t have any credits to get more, but if all goes well I will keep reading in my life and will have more to post really soon. I currently have a few shelves of books in my library which I have had for years, but haven’t had the opportunity to read.

This week, more projects errands and such to get ready for the party. Hopefully, no more yard work, except for spreading those two bags of mulch. Family and other helpers will be arriving on Friday to help with the final preparations. We can’t wait, it will be a load of fun.

Is it a sign

Is it a sign that you have to many knitting books when your bookcase starts to show signs of stress. It just can’t be, because I plan on buying more books. Last week I was putting away some of the new knitting books that I recently purchased and all the shelves dropped down. Needless to say, the bookcase didn’t have a backing and the sides were bowing out and the shelves couldn’t reach the little pegs that they are supposed to sit on, so all the shelves just dropped down until they couldn’t go any further. I had to take everything out of the bookcase and Steve, my wonderful husband to be, put a backing on the book cases so the sides would stay were they are suppose to be and my shelves wouldn’t slip out of their spots. Now I have to put all my books back, what a pain, but it gives me a change to browse through them as I replace them in the book case.

I did a lot of knitting this weekend. I spent the day Saturday with two of my knitting friends for the World Wide Knit in Public Day. We had lots of fun and I think we all got a lot accomplished.

I worked on two pairs of socks and a sleeveless turtleneck. I am through the foot and short-row heel on the first pink and green socks and now I am working up the leg. I think I will make these socks short with a rolled over cuff, so I shouldn’t have to much more to go.

I also worked on my Hill Country Sock Pattern Contest socks. The first one is finished and the second is nearly to the short-row heel. I had hoped to have the second sock completed by this coming weekend, but I have so much to do that I don’t think there will be much time for knitting this week.

I still haven’t started the Green Gable sweater, but I did work on the sleeveless turtleneck sweater this weekend. I have only done a few rows on the back and it isn’t much to look at yet, but I will take a picture soon.

The fun I have planned for this week will include planting flowers in my backyard and making curtains for my living room. I don’t know if I will get it all done and still have time left over for knitting, but I am certainly going to try.

Finished Objects

I am a little behind on posting these finished objects because it took me so long to get the pictures off my camera and into Flickr.com. I know that is no excuse, but anyway, here is what I have officially finished.

Roll the Dice Bag, here it is drying. The cool thing about felting is that if it doesn’t come out exactly the way you wanted it the first time you can throw it back in the wash for another go round. I had to do that with this bag as well as the ones to follow. I guess the first time I didn’t want to let them get too small, but I really like how they turned out in the end. These pictures were taken over Memorial Weekend, but I haven’t had a chance to take additional pictures because I felted them a second time over this past weekend, and they are yet again drying.

French Market Bag - complete and in use

Machine knitted Bag before and after felting

I also finished the Turquoise Socks and wore them too. I love making socks. I cast on two more pairs this week, and will have some pictures soon.

The Baby Jacket, which I started in January just after the baby blanket was complete, is finally finished and gifted as well. I also made some cute little socks to match. The color of the sweater is a really nice shade of lavender, but this picture just doesn’t do it justice.

This week I have also done some gauge swatches for three new sweaters. The Green Gable, which will be made with Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in a berry color. I haven’t started this one yet, but hope to get started this weekend.  Day at the Beach Sweater in Twist by Knit Picks, I am not sure that I like this yarn, but I will probably make this sweater anyway. It looks like it would be great over a tank top on a cool night. I did start a sleeveless sweater with a cable in Aerie by Moda Dea. This yarn is so soft and yummy. I can’t wait until I finish this sweater so I can wear it. Pictures to come of all three as soon as I get more than just the cast on done.

So at this very moment here is what I have on my needles:

Brown Ribbed Sweater - a little further along on the arms, but still a ways to go.
Pink Short Sleeved Sweater - not sure I will ever finish this one, I don’t really like the yarn.
Pink & Green Basic Toe Up Socks made in Panda Cotton
Hill Country Sock Pattern Contest Sample Socks
Sleeveless Sweater with Cable made in Aerie
Green Gable - not started yet but soon to start
Day at the Beach Sweater - not started yet but soon to start

I can’t believe I cleaned up so many of my UFOs in just a few weeks. Now on to some new UFOs.

Designing

Oh my Gosh! My pattern for the Hill Country Yarn Sock Pattern Contest is finished, I think. I have to give it to a few test knitters to work out the kinks, but for the most part it is done. You should see all the notes, sketches, and re-sketches I have done for this pattern. I have so many slips of paper with notes and numerous sheets of graph paper used to plot out the pattern. I am sure a seasoned designer has a much better process than I used with this pattern. I think I need to invest in some spiral notebooks so I can track my progress with future designs. That way it will be much easier to see where I started and how it all ended up.

Anyway you look at it; I had lots of fun designing this pattern. It forced me to try new things and think outside the box. This process encouraged me to pave my own path rather than to follow someone else’s lead.

And you wouldn’t believe the brain power it takes to write out the pattern so someone else, even a novice knitter, can understand it, MUCH MUCH harder than actually coming up with the design itself.