A Perfect Sunday

Last Sunday looked to be a good day - the temperatures dropped and we all were happy hanging near the wood stove.


They kind of look like yin/yang cats, don't they?

When to my great excitement, I learned my friend Teresa and her husband Ken were going to be in the neighborhood! We met at Simon Pearce restaurant in Quechee VT, which isn't too far from me. Aren't they a gorgeous couple?


I felt a little, um, short if not well loved!


I hate to tell you I have heels on...

The company was fabulous and lunch was spectacular - Simon Pearce has such great food. Very light and fresh. Go there if you're in the neighborhood!

Simon Pearce is known for its glassware. They had glassblowers on site that day. Amazing to watch him make a simple water goblet - it looked so easy when the artisan did it! There also was a bag piper playing which made the whole afternoon even more festive.



Thanks, Teresa and Ken for a wonderful day!

FOs

That's "finished objects" to you muggles. Also a few new projects I just started.

This is what I've finished this weekend:

Here are the Falling Leaves socks by Debbie O'Neill. It's a sock of the month club kit from The Knitter - isn't it gorgeous? The yarn is Alpaca Sox - soft, soft, soft and it feels great. This is a sock for ME.



I finished two pairs of felted clogs for the menfolk in the family. Here are Hugh's:


And these are Sam's:


I also finished Sam's Red Sox "good juju" socks (which got the Sox only so far this year *sigh*). The yarn is Lorna's Laces Loopy colorway. It's a self-striping yarn - very tiny stripes which I kind of like and Sam loves!

This is a Christmas present for "someone". The pattern is Monkey by Cookie A The yarn is Panda Wool Circus - isn't it gorgeous? Sometimes it's really hard to give away socks I make!



A couple of new projects OTN:

This is the pattern Menehune Cobblestones by my favorite designer, Adrienne Fong The yarn is Malabrigo sock, which I purchased from The Loopy Ewe in St. Louis. Gorgeous, soft yarn. Not sure who the sock will be for - maybe my older son?


This pattern is called Take Flight by Monica Jines - I purchased this pattern and yarn also from The Loopy Ewe (they have such a fun, interesting selection and their customer service can't be beat). The yarn is Cherry Tree Hill - possum. Yes, you read that right - there's actually possum fur spun into the yarn. It's supposed to be really warm, which should be wonderful for our cold winters in New Hampshire.


Tom's are OTN (on the needle):


(sorry about the bad pictures - I clearly need photography lessons!)

Frogged....

For you muggles (non-knitters), think "rip it rip it". I ripped out the scarf I had partially knit and started it again with a different pattern and larger needles. I changed to size 6 U.S. needles using the Branching Out scarf pattern by Susan Lawrence. The yarn is Noro silk garden sock - it's just gorgeous. It's such an addicting pattern and yarn "just one more row".



I'm making this for Miss Linda, teacher of the deaf extraordinaire. I hope she likes it!

Happy Halloween!

I give you HazMat man and a Goth? Or perhaps emo? Heck, I don't know! Oh - they're "Joe the HazMat Man" and "Joe the Emo" - that's it! :-)


Logan and Tom ready to head out for a Halloween party. I still have black stuff in my tub!

I have a few works in process - nothing finished but I'm expecting that to change anytime now.

I'm on a felted clogs kick right now. I'm making them for the "man cave" - what could be better than a comfy man cave with warm clogs?

This is a generic "for the basket" pair made of Patons Merino wool. The pair is finished but for taking a dip in the washing machine to be felted:


Here's a better picture of the clogs as they're being made - the colors are better in this picture:


These are Sam's - one is finished and I've started on the second. Sam is really into orange and navy right now.


I'm making this scarf for the fabulous Miss Linda - the boys' teacher of the deaf. It's pretty hard to say thank you enough for all she's done for all of us.

Check out this yarn!

It's called PolarKnit, which I purchased at The Loopy Ewe. Such a fun place to shop - they have an incredible, unusual selection of all things yarny.


It's such a cool yarn - very thick and knits up super fast. Here's the start of Sam's hat:


I started it this morning using size 10 needles (I cast-on with size 11s) and knitted for maybe 1/2 hour to get to this point.


The colorway is Mermaid; each ball is about 55 yards or so and it's made of 100% polyester fleece. I'm guessing I'll use three balls for this project. It's so much fun to work with and best of all, will be wonderfully warm this winter for Sam.

I'm adding onto this post this evening to say the hat is FINISHED! Talk about a fast knit. Here's Sam modeling his new hat:


Cute, isn't he *cough cough*.

Family Conference

We were lucky enough to get to attend a conference this week at Clarke School for the Deaf. They do a yearly mainstreaming conference - this year was the first year that the whole family got to attend. The boys went off to "Making Connections" which is a track designed for teens with hearing loss in the mainstream. They had a blast meeting new friends and seeing old ones (which includes the conference organizers). The height of their day and ours was getting to see comedienne Kathy Buckley. Wow - what an amazing woman. And did I say how funny she is? Kathy is hard of hearing but wasn't diagnosed with her hearing loss until she was 8 years old. I listened to her alternating between laughing so hard I cried and crying because parts of her story just about break your heart. It's safe to say she ruined my make-up that day. You should check her out. She's so inspirational.

Here's a picture of the boys with Kathy - I won't tell you what she told them all to say when smiling for the camera! Aren't all three of them just gorgeous?


John Anderson is one of our favorite people. He grew up hard of hearing then lost the rest of his hearing as an adult and was one of the first to receive a cochlear implant. John is Clarke's adjustment counselor - such a great guy!


Hugh and I got to volunteer with the conference which was a lot of fun - I haven't done that before. It was fun catching up with old friends at Clarke as well as moms of other teens who now are buddies. It was wonderful being there for all of us - as usual!

The Pioneer Valley, where Clarke is located, is one of our favorite areas. It's located in western Mass and is home of Webs which I didn't get to visit. *sniff* I really need more yarn too. We went to the Holyoke Mall on the way home - I swear our whole town could fit in that mall! It's a little overwhelming.

I did knit all along the way - no new projects but making progress on several which is good. The holidays are approaching!

Go Sox!

This is what the morning looks like after a late Sox game...

Fall!

You can tell it's really fall - the leaves are just gorgeous this year. Last night we had our first hard freeze. It's funny the way the leaves all fall off of this tree in our backyard all at once. I don't know what the tree is, but here's what greeted us this morning:


Another way is that the cats get really snuggly. Nothing like a warm cat on a chilly morning!


I've been busy with projects, as usual. I started this week another Debbie O'Neill pattern called Autumn Leaves in Classic Elite Alpaca Sock - very soft yarn!


I'm also making a hat for my nephew, Joshua that I started this week. The yarn is Malabrigo worsted weight - it's the softest yarn I think I've ever used!


The pattern is Mighty Mitts and Flap Caps by Cottage Creations. I also made this pattern for my boys, both using Malabrigo worsted.

I also made a flap cap for our newest nephew, Jonah using Green Mountain Spinnery's Mountain Mohair yarn. It's way too fun (and tempting) to have GMS down the road a ways!


I'll be making Jonah and Joshua's brother (Justin) a flap cap too. Flap cap central!

We're off to a football game today - perfect weather for it.

I figured since I was updating Ravelry, I should share a couple of my latest projects. This is the latest offering from theknitter.com's luxury sock of the month club. The pattern is Licorice Twist by Debbie O'Neill - isn't it gorgeous? I particularly love the cuff - very fun to knit and kind of different.


The yarn is Dream in Color - Smooshy. It's a little thicker fingering weight but will be so warm and lovely! I think the fall colors are great and go well with our burning bush in the front yard.

Every year a group of us Sox Knitters on Ravelry knit "good juju" socks to cheer the Red Sox on. Here's this year's offering - so far, so good. We believe the formula this year is (1) me knitting the socks; (2) my colleague Peter going to the game; and (3) my other colleague Holly's cat (Shebu). Oh - we're NOT superstitious!


This is my plain vanilla sock knit in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock stripes in the Loopy colorway. I got the yarn from The Loopy Ewe What a fun shop! These socks are for my younger son.

I've been making hats! My friend Beth (Ms. Baseball Knitter) told me about Malabrigo yarn - heaven! It's SO soft and the colors are gorgeous. Here are flap caps I knit for Tom and for Sam. Both in Malabrigo worsted weight. The pattern is a Cottage Creations design - Mighty Mitts and Flap Caps.




Happy fall!

Resurrecting the blog - if only for brownie points

My buddy, Adrienne is having a 100th post contest on her blog

She'll be giving away Socks that Rock Yarn - which is heavenly. If you join her contest, let her know the Bionic Knitter sent you! Another friend, Debi, told me about the contest.

Another yarn contest!

A fellow New Hampshire knitter - NH Knitting Mama - is having a contest to spotlight her Etsy yarn shop. She has the most beautiful yarn! Her shop is HERE

For info on the contest, check our blog blog at http://nhknittingmama.blogspot.com/2008/03/pms-contest.html

Have a look - don't drool too much! I'm thinking pumpkin spice has my name on it...

Yarn contest!

Now that I have your attention...

Adrienne is having a contest - it's a yarn giveaway! Just go to her website here to read all about it.

Free yarn - does it get any better?

Wash Day

You can never have too many pairs of handmade socks - it's laundry day! Nice to have a wood stove to hasten drying.


It occurred to me that I've finished up or started more socks.

This pattern is A Little Twisted Socks by Debbie O'Neill for The Knitter's SOTM club. The yarn is Reynolds Soft Sea Wool in Eggplant colorway. The leg was somewhat complicated - LOTS of cables - but the sock I thought turned out really well.


Ta dah! Here are the finished Maze socks from Sensational Knitted Socks vol. 1.


The charcoal color is Regia silk and the offwhite color is Dale of Norway Baby Ull. It's knitted on size 0 (2.00 mm) needles. The leg pattern was FUN - mosaic looks so complicated but really isn't. The feet were very tedious... Hugh loves them!

Speaking of Regia silk, this pattern is for my older son. The pattern is Snicket. I'm done with the first leg. Once I figured out how to cable without a needle, it was much, much easier.


I'm making another pair of Jaywalker socks. This is Regia yarn, colorway is Nation Color #5399 - isn't it fun?


I'm loving the big stripes and what the chevron pattern of Jaywalkers does to it.

Lastly, here is Tea Time - another design by the wonderful Adrienne Fong. This is another mosaic knit, using Meilenweit colors #1334 & #1335. It's going together really fast. I'm loving this design - and wondering what black with a self-striping yarn would look like in another pair?


Off to cheer on the Pats!

Projects for the December and January

I am SO behind on blogging - so I'm starting on projects I've completed and have in progress, then we'll talk about the holidays (fun!) - I'll get there!

With the holidays I've been busy knitting for family and friends. I made these socks for Uncle Steve - this striped design always reminds me of him and the colors he likes. It's my own design and made with Regia mini-Ringel. The self-striping pattern is really fun to knit with!


The luxury sock of the month club offering from the Knitter was my cup of tea! It's an Adrienne Fong design - what could be better? The pattern is called Zen Garden and the yarn is by Claudia Handpaints and is also called Zen Garden - specially designed for the SOTM club. With apologies to Mike Myers, it was like knitting with butter! So, so soft and wonderful to knit with.


Among my other Christmas treats was this beautiful yarn from Adrienne - I tested knitted a sock for her and she sent me this beautiful yarn by Blue Moon Fiber Arts, home of Socks that Rock yarn. The colorway is Xmas Rock. Isn't it gorgeous?! I had such fun knitting these socks (for me, me, me!). It's another Adrienne design called Crazy over You - very fun pattern and it knits up fast.


In terms of *ahem!* stash exhancing, I just bought some beads from Earth Faire and then noticed they had Apple Pie yarn which I've been wanting to try, thanks to positive recommendations from Baseball Knitter. She's right - it does smell good! Not like apples though. DS 2 has already claimed the yellow yarn for himself. This should keep me out of trouble for at least a little while... Aren't they beautiful beads? I can't wait to knit with them!


I *finally* finished the socks I was knitting for DH! I started the first one last March at taekwondo winter camp in Maine. I loved knitting the mosaic pattern for the leg of the sock but the alternating dark/light in the foot was just plain tedious! This sock is from the book Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch, the pattern is called Maze. The dark yarn is Regia silk - charcoal, the offwhite is Dale of Norway Baby Ull. Soft, soft yarn - if I did this pattern again I'd do the foot as plain stockinette and NOT do the alternating colors again.

This is a picture of the sock in progress - I promise there are two! I'll take a picture soon with the laundry hunk modeling them.

It's time to knit!