WIPs Galore

Well, well, well. Apparently I have a problem with casting on for more projects before finishing any of them! I have a sweater, sock, and cowl on the needles right now and finally took some pictures today.

First up, the sweater:

Pattern: Blair by Thayer Preece from Twist Collective

Yarn: Madelinetosh DK in Lapis

The sweater will have a 2 inch button band and larger collar that folds over (so while it looks a little small, it should be perfect once the button band is on). 

Now, I was planning on following the pattern exactly.  However, I somehow skipped over the increases that were supposed to happen on just the front and ended up with the same number of stitches as one size smaller than I was knitting. But...it ended up working out just fine. The neckline is a deeper V than is written in the pattern, and I actually think I like it better...so it's all good. 

Next up...handspun cowl:

Pattern: Simple Seed Stitch Cowl by Pongue Ette

Yarn: My handspun!

The ribbing on the cowl will be more flat after it's not all scrunched up on the needles! It makes a good mindless knitting project.

And last, but not least....the sock:

Pattern: Clandestine by Cookie A. from Knit.Sock.Love

Yarn: Wollmeise 80/20 Twin

This is my first time knitting with Wollmesie, and I'm really enjoying it so far. It isn't as soft as other yarn I've knit with, but it feels very sturdy and will make great socks. I've also heard that it softens up quite a bit after washing. 

I think these socks are going to look awesome when they're done. Cookie's sock patterns are gorgeous, but are certainly going to take me longer to knit than the plain-ish socks I've done so far this year!

I also have a couple more skeins of handspun (are you sick of seeing handspun yarn yet?!)...

BFL/Silk dyed by Two if by Hand in colorway Secret Dawn 

Spun for a custom order for a lovely customer in Alaska!

Organic Merino dyed by Two if by Hand in colorway Antique Ram

Spun up for the etsy shop

In other news, we got quite a bit of snow last week. Okay, we only got about 4 inches, but that was quite a bit for around here! The local trails are at a higher elevation, and there were about 8 inches up there when I walked with Valerie and the dogs.

Gorgeous view of town from the top of Dimple Hill

Sailor waiting patiently for a liver treat. Yes. Liver. Homemade liver treats.

Sailor and Diamond running up the trail.

And then there were the blackberry bushes that I had to drag Sailor away from. We've been picking blackberry thorns out of his fur all week!

Well, I think that's it for now! 

Love,

Liz :)

Sailor's BFF

Thought I'd take a few minutes to introduce Sailor's BFF to the blog world. Her name is Diamond, and she is a very energetic 2 year-old Border Collie.

I walk with her owner, Valerie, at least once a week and the dogs just adore each other. She has far more energy than any other dog I've met!

Sailor and Diamond running crazily through the woods

We actually ran into a couple of ladies yesterday who had 2 black standard poodles and a newfoundland with them! Unfortunately the only picture I got was completely blurry and I had to stop snapping pictures for fear that I was going to get knocked over by the 5 dogs. The dogs were hysterical...all three of the poodles were bouncing all over the place and I think Diamond was a little bit scared of the huge newfoundland, who was also running and playing! 

Really, I'm writing about the dogs because I have NO knitting to show off. I did finish a sleeve of the sweater for Seth's Dad. One more sleeve to go and then I have to sew it all together (grumble grumble) and do the collar and button bands. I'm hoping to be done with it this weekend so I can knit a couple of baby gifts and then start a sweater for me (Blair from Winter 2010 Twist Collective). 

I did just spin up some yarn for myself, though. I'm really pleased with the way it came out and I have enough to do a few projects. 

There are actually 2 skeins (plus a mini skein of about 30 yards), a total of 7 ounces. I think I'll have around 500 yards to work with. My plan is to knit up a pair of basic mittens and then maybe a hat or a pair of Toasts for my swap partner (I'm doing another swap!). 

And just 'cause they're pretty...let's have another look at the skeins of Silky Cashmerino I spun up:

I honestly think these are my favorite skeins of handspun EVER.  

The person I spun them for was really, really happy with them...which makes me happy! 

Yum. 

Okay, well our landlord should be here any minute...our heat wasn't working this morning, but miraculously it fixed itself and started working a little while ago. At least it wasn't too cold out, and the house warmed up quickly once the heat came back on!

Love,

Liz :)

2011: The Year of Socks

My knitting goal this year is to make at least 12 pairs of socks. I've discovered that I love wearing handknit socks in the winter. They are far warmer than regular socks. So warm, in fact, that I've ditched my slippers several times this winter while wearing them. And that is saying something. I always wear slippers.

I'm working on my first official pair of 2011:

Pattern: Tidelines by Anne Hanson 

Yarn: Three Irish Girls Kells Sport Merino in Kate

The thing I love about handknit socks is that I can use crazy colors I wouldn't wear as anything else!

I'm about 3/4 of the way through the first sock and I'm sure they'll be done by the end of the month. :) 

On the spinning front, I'm working on a custom spin that is just flying along. This fiber is to.die.for. It's 50% Merino, 25% Cashmere, and 25% Silk. 

How about we take a little look:

Isn't see a beaut?! And she's softer than any yarn I've ever spun! 

And now....a few pics of the pup. I bought a new lens for my camera to take sharper and more accurate yarn pictures for my etsy shop. It arrived yesterday, and I spent some time out in the back yard snapping pics of Sailor :) 

Sleepy Pup

Sailor trying to take flight!

Catching flying treats.

In other knitting news, I have finished the front and back of the sweater for Seth's dad and just have the sleeves and seaming left. The end is finally in sight!! 

Hugs!

Love,

Liz :)

Oregon Gardens in Winter

I had a lovely visit with Mama Limmer this weekend! She arrived on Thursday and after a wee bit of yarn shopping we headed back to Corvallis to rest up for all the weekend festivities. On Friday night we attended a city function called Winter's Eve. The money raised goes to the Corvallis Assistance League  which provides services to kids in need (dental services, teddy bears for kids in crisis situations, clothes for kids in need, etc). The city blocks off one of the roads and has a huge heated tent with food, wine, and silent auction items. Tickets also included a coupon book for downtown businesses, most of which stayed open during the event. I ended up with a new pair of Dansko's that I've been contemplating for a while now. 20% off helped that decision! I've also come to realize how stretched out my black Danskos are...I think I'll have to replace those after this winter. 

Anyways...on Saturday the weather was gorgeous (chilly, but sunny!) and my Mom, Seth, and I headed to The Oregon Garden. Even though there weren't many things in bloom, it was nice to just be outside enjoying the nice weather and beautiful views. 

The clouds were absolutely gorgeous the whole time we were there. 

Who says that it rains every day in Oregon during the winter? Not true.  

We'll have to make sure we visit in the spring and fall next year. These planters on the water are just gorgeous with the cloud and tree reflections. 

Fun, gnarly tree. 

The Pac NW is really dog friendly. Dogs are welcome at The Oregon Garden and there is even a "Pet Garden". Sailor posing in the Pet Garden.  

Sailor checking himself out.  

Sailor striking a pose. 

The boys.

Friday night my mom and I whipped up a double batch of chocolate mint cookies (the kind with andes candies on top) to freeze for a cookie swap at Seth's office and for Christmas cookie platters. We made 2 more kinds of cookies on Sunday (raspberry jelly thumbprint cookies and shortbread chocolate chips) and my Mom did some Christmas wrapping. 

On Monday we headed up to Portland and met a couple of ladies from one of the groups my Mom is in on Ravelry (Pug Lovers) for lunch. We went to Twisted again and hit up Dublin Bay, REI, Powell's, and Knit Purl. I bought some lovely yarn at Dublin Bay as well as a skein at Knit Purl along with some adorable Christmas ornament kits! After our yarn shopping extravaganza we checked into the Crowne Plaza (gotta love free nights from Priority Club!) and hopped a shuttle to the Lloyd Center to make some returns at the Loft. 

Yesterday I dropped my Mom at the airport and stopped at the outlets in Woodburn to do a little Christmas shopping. I, of course, found a fabulous rain coat at the Merrell Outlet. Since we moved last year I've been searching for a cute, long raincoat with a hood. All the cute longer coats I've seen haven't had a hood, and well, it rains here and I don't like to carry an umbrella. Then I found this yesterday:

But in forest green with orange rivets. Completely waterproof and cute. 

And, because no post would be complete without some shots of yarn or fiber....here's a few pictures of some roving I've recently acquired from my new favorite fiber source, Two if By Hand.

Enchanted on Merino/Cashmere/Nylon 

Miss Granger on Shetland 

Nymphadora on Finn

I love that they do Harry Potter themed colors. I'm such a dork. :) 

Okay....I must go work on finishing up my Christmas knitting!

Love,

liz :)

A White Thanksgiving. Sort of.

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you had a wonderful day with family and ate lots of wonderful food!

We've had quite the week here in Corvallis. On Monday night it started snowing and by Tuesday morning we had a whopping 1/2 an inch of snow. Yup. You read that right, 1/2 an inch. Schools were cancelled, people called into work, and people didn't dare go outside. Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration. Sort of. All the schools in the valley were closed and the wait at the tire place was about 7 hours to get snow tires. Sailor thought it was awesome that there was snow covering the back yard. As soon as he went out he started flying around the yard acting crazy.

Sailor attempting to fly away using his ears. 

Attaching the ball 

Sailor stole my glove and then proceeded to run around the yard whipping it about.

The snow actually stayed on the ground until late Wednesday, which is pretty unusual for around here. We took a hike on the trails yesterday with V and Diamond, and the dogs had a great time running through the snow chasing each other. 

I've been spinning a ton for the shop, and just added these beauties:

Merino Silk Singles 

 Blue Faced Leicester spun from roving dyed by Gales Art

Rambouillet, roving dyed by Two if By Hand 

Shetland Singles, roving dyed by Two if by Hand

And of course, there has been knitting. More secret Christmas knitting. :)

Love,

liz :)

Happy Halloween!

Last week was mostly spent working on Seth's costume, which came out pretty awesome, if I do say so myself. All of the staff at Seth's office were supposed to dress up as bugs. Seth insisted on being a praying mantis....so after a trip to JoAnn's and some internet research on praying mantis costumes and images of real ones, this is what we came up with:

The back...I sewed the wings and Seth painted them 

The armbands were sewn with spandex material (holy crap, hard to sew!) and since he couldn't have big claws, we decided on "fringe" hanging off his arms. 

The whole ensemble. The head was the most difficult and time intensive part, but I think it came out great! 

I think that he had the most intense costume out of everyone at the office...but would we expect any less from Seth? Nope.

On Friday we went over to Kara and Derrick's house to carve pumpkins with some of their soccer friends and another Doc from the office. I don't have pics of the whole gang, but will get some from Kara. Seth and Derrick each managed to cut themselves during the process, but neither required any medical attention besides duct tape. Boys. The little kid who was there managed to carve his pumpkin without harming himself, but two grown men...not so much.

My pumpkin is the one that looks like a 5 year-old carved it (Left) and Seth's is the super intense one that has various layers to it. He takes Halloween very seriously.  

Seth and Sailor posing with the pumpkins. 

Of course, we decided that Sailor needed a costume for today. And, what better to dress up as than a Doctor? 

Poor, patient Sailor.

Okay, maybe not so patient. Sailor decided it would be fun to eat the mask. 

I have some knitting to share, but I think I'll do a separate post tomorrow. Especially since most of the knitting I'll be doing from now until December will be secret! 

Happy Halloween!!

Love,

liz