Tea with Sarah McLachlan

Well, kind of anyway. Yesterday I met with Carrie and Rebecca for tea and knitting at Queen Mary's Tea Room and who was sitting at the very next table? None other than Sarah McLachlan! I thought she looked familiar but didn't quite recognize her. After she left, Rebecca leans over and says, "I think that was Sarah McLachlan!" Then the waitress and the owner came running over to us and said, "Oh my gosh! You guys practically had tea with Sarah McLachlan!" Our tables were so close, I could have reached over and borrowed her cream and sugar! After she left, we got down to knitting business as we all began casting on for socks! 2007 is the year Rebecca is determined to make us learn how to knit socks! After a shaky start with mine, I think they are coming right along!

(See that guy over Carrie's shoulder? That's where Sarah McLachlan was sitting!)

Goal Reached!

This year my Christmas knitting goal was not to be knitting gifts at 1 a.m. on Christmas morning. And I'm happy to report that I finished the gaiter at 11:15 p.m. on Christmas Eve while watching (yet again) the TBS marathon of A Christmas Story. While I didn't take too many pictures - very rare of me I know - I can report that all knitting gifts were treasured. My sister loved her wrist warmers; dad loved his gaiter and wore it part of the morning, but the big hit - at least for my dad - was the beer cozies in University of Idaho colors for Matt and Boise State University colors for my dad. He's thrilled because his beloved Broncos are going to the Fiesta Bowl and he'll be using his beer cozy for the party. Now it's back to the baby knitting grind.

A knitting miracle...

This may just be possible!


The wrist warmers are done! (No, you're not seeing things, one is slightly bigger than the other. The pattern was very large and didn't fit right. I may redo the larger one if that is what the giftee would like.)

And the gaiter is back on track! I haven't measured it yet but am almost finished with the first skein! Lots of time at the airport tonight to keep working on it!

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas! I'm off for a family visit and sadly, they have dial-up. So unless one of the unsuspecting suburban neighbors has unsecured Internet access for the lap top, there won't be any posts for a while as I don't have the patience for blogging with dial-up!

Happy Holidays!

It's someone's birthday...

Happy Birthday Supergirl!

Some tough knitting decisions

In the effort to not stress myself out this holiday season with all of my Christmas knitting, and with the little "Mancho" incident, I've come to a knitting decision: I don't think I can redo the gaiter for my dad. So instead of frantically trying to finish up my other projects - 1 more wrist warmer and the beer cozies - and redoing the gaiter, I'm just going to concentrate on getting the rest done. If I have time to start the gaiter, I'll try it. Otherwise, it may sit and wait until next year because his birthday falls in the middle of summer at a time when one doesn't really need a gaiter.

Knitting Guild Christmas!

Wednesday night was the Seattle Knitters Guild Christmas party! We knitters know how to live it up! The food was yummy, company fabulous and the gifts - well - they were great! I was very lucky and scored in the raffle drawings and gift exchange!

I got some beautiful wool yarn (perfect for felting) in deep orange and fall colors. Plus I got some tea and a yarn calendar and I won a book from our guest speaker Anne Bartlett. I'm very excited to read her novel "Knitting." She autographed it and I picked her mind about writing as I'm always in awe of someone who actually writes a book!

(The little devil ripped out the Mancho for me. She seems to be enjoying this.)

While the party was fun, the knitting was not. The Mancho lived a good life, but it came to an end tonight as Rebecca pulled it out and wound the yarn back up for me. As she did this (I couldn't look) I cast on for the second wrist warmer. On the 3rd row I realized I made a mistake, knitted back, fixed it and carried on. On the 4th row, I realized I made another mistake and decided - who the hell cares and kept going. On the fifth row, I found yet another mistake and this one wasn't to be ignored. Exasperated, I yanked the damn thing apart and threw it in the bag. I concentrated on the party at that point. Aside the from the knitting, it was fabulous night!

The Mancho

Now what is a Mancho you ask? Lemme tell you. It's when you get Rebecca and I collaborating on a pattern. She may have given me wrong info about how many stitches to cast on (I was using different needles and yarn than what the pattern called for) and I may have not checked my gauge - neither of us are taking full responsibility/credit for the Mancho which is why we're friends. So then you have this:

A gaiter that is way to big, possibly the beginnings of a poncho except for the fact that it's for my dad. One suggestion at knitting last night was from another fabulous knitter named Rebecca. She thinks like me and how can we salvage this and not have to rip out. Her suggestion: to add a ribbed collar to the Mancho to give it a tighter feel around the neck and a flare around the shoulders. While that is a fabulous style idea for the Mancho, I informed everyone that my father isn't a gay man, but rather and outdoor-Idaho-let's-go-fishing/camping-and-build-stuff kind of a man. Needless to say I provided the group (and myself - more so myself) with a good laugh. Now comes the next day sobering part: what the hell do I do with the Mancho two weeks before Christmas? I think it's time for a little holiday frogging.

Three down, one to go!

The third of the baby sweaters is done! It's the Baby Bolero from One Skein. It's for a little British baby who is due any day now! I hope he/she likes the sweater! It was made with lots of love - and to be honest a little bit of profanity when I thought I was finished yesterday be instead, about 10 stitches from the end, I realized I had made a big ol' mistake and had to rip out pretty much then entire ribbed finish! But, alas, it's done and that's all that matters. That and hopefully it fits the baby. Now I have to start another baby sweater for a little boy due the end of February!

Inspiration with Leigh Radford

Last night I took a creativity class with Leigh Radford. It was all about thinking outside of the box and just what I needed. We had several creative exercises including grab bag knitting - we had to knit whatever was in the bag - wire, tulle, tinsel, the tape out of a cassette tape. It was very inspiring to hear about her designs, where she gets her ideas and what she's working on next. She also had several examples of needle felting projects. I'm taking another of her classes at the Madrona retreat next month and I'm so excited about needle felting. I feel it could be my next knitting obsession!

P.S. Be sure to wish Mara a happy belated birthday! I meant to post yesterday but that was the class! Sorry Mara, but happy birthday!

The shirt for me!

Jessica sent me the link to this site - Cafe Press - that sells these shirts "Football is more fun now that I know how to knit!" So true....so true. I do get a lot of knitting done on Football Sunday as it's known around my house! Thank goodness the Purly Girls meet on Monday Nights!

One down, one to go!

It was a little unnerving ripping out the live stitches to add the thumb...

but I think it worked out just fine! Now the big question remains: Can I finish the second one by the 25th? Stay tuned...