It's cold! I'm knitting!

We have snow - just a couple of inches, but enough to make me want to settle in with a warm knitting project on my lap. I've cast on for a great many things, but managed to actually finish some stuff.

These are a pair of socks for my future brother-in-law, Wavy (don't tell him!). His birthday is on New Year's Eve and always gets kind of lost in the shuffle. So, I'm treating him to an early birthday present and will give the socks to him when we visit for Thanksgiving. I really like the way they turned out.

The pattern is Thuja, a free pattern from Knitty. I used Colinette Jitterbug in the Mardi Gras colorway, and used a bit over one skein. I know Wavy will love the rainbow colors.

I also finished my first pair of gloves!!!!

These are made from my last skein of yummy Malabrigo, and the pattern is from One Skein by Leigh Radford. It's a nice pattern and they fit like, well, gloves.

Finally, I have finished my Clapotis!!!! This is another free pattern from Knitty. Apparently, I spend a lot of time there. The Clapotis is one of those "cool kid" patterns that swept the knitting community a while back (I'm way behind the trend).

This is a wide scarf or small stole and I wore it to the Best of the Southwest Fiber Fest this past weekend. The yarn is Artyarns Regal Silk (100% Silk) and has a very slight variegation. It's lovely and soft.

So that's what I've been up to. I am working on secret gift knitting for a couple of people who read my blog, so no pictures of those will be available until Christmas. But, have no fear, I am also knitting a hat for myself - nearly instant gratification - and will post that soon.

October Catch Up

I've been super busy this month with the quilt show, a road/shopping trip and a retreat, but I have managed to finish a few items.


My regular group of friends had a log cabin challenge this year. Everyone was to make a quilt using log cabin blocks for at least half of the blocks. And we were to try something that was challenging for us - a new color scheme, quilting style, etc. The quilts were all beautiful, and we had them in the quilt show. Here's mine (sorry for the colors - the light at the quilt show was not great):




And a detail (the colors are better here):




The owls I made to sell at the show were really fun - I followed Moonstitches Tutowlrial and made owls in both wool and cotton fabric. I did have a few left over, so I'll be launching an Etsy shop soon so they can find new homes. Stay tuned...




I also finished some knitting. This is my Shifting Sands Scarf, pattern by Grumperina. I used her knitting Cables without a Cable Needle Tutorial to make this scarf, as there are 8 cables on every right side row. I did not count the number of rows, but let's just say there are a LOT!



I used super soft Malabrigo to knit this scarf and am really happy with the result. I have one more skein of this yarn, and have cast on some gloves to wear with my scarf (fingers- yikes!).


Finally, I finished some socks. These are the Swirly-O socks (Ravelry link) from The Knitter's Book of Yarn by Clara Parkes. It's a great book - full of useful information and lovely projects. I am not crazy about the toe because it seems a little long to me - I would have liked the pretty eyelet pattern to continue to within an inch of the tip of my toe. But the socks are super warm and cozy. I'm wearing them right now!




These socks were made with DK weight yarn from Crazy Monkey - I think she calls this yarn Gorilla Toes, in the color Wisteria. Gorgeous and soft!

More Quilts!

I've finished quite a few projects in the last week or so. Let's go up to the guest bedroom to look at two new quilts:

This is the super-sized queen double nine patch I pieced last year. It was going to be for sale at our quilt show next month, but I like it too much to part with it. Louis likes it too - she's often napping right in the center of the bed in a tiny little ball (Louis is a cat, and I moved her for this photo). Here's a close-up so you can see the beautiful quilting done by my friend Vickie:

This is the second red & white quilt for the guest bedroom. It's a pattern by Buggy Barn, from their book Certifiably Crazy. I like several patterns from this book.

I forgot to take the sheet off the chair in the corner - sorry. We cover it because the cats love to sleep in/on that chair and get it all hairy. Rather than having to constantly vacuum the chair, we cover it and then wash the sheet often.

This quilt was also quilted by Vickie.

I've finished some knitting too, but still have to take the pictures. I've been working on little wool and cotton owls, yes - owls, to sell at our quilt show. They are all done except for the eyes. I must do some button shopping so I can finish them. More information will follow...

Burnt Timber Trail and a Flurry of Finishes

On August 27, Marcia, Kim, Robin and I hiked the Burnt Timber Trail, accessible by driving past Lemon Reservoir and up a bit. The trail was a steady, long climb through Pine and Aspen trees. It was a good hike, lower in elevation than Highland Mary Lakes, but very nice.


At the top, there was a large cluster of Aspen trees that had lots of carvings in them. The earliest date we found was 1949. I like the eye carved into the tree on the right.



Over the long holiday weekend, we tried to go camping, but it just started POURING on Saturday afternoon and did not let up all night, so we packed up the car Sunday morning and headed home. It's just not that fun to hang out in a tent for more than 16 hours. It rained all day Sunday, so it was a good weekend for finishing stuff. I put the binding on this gigantic quilt:

This is the infamous nine patch I made from all of my batiks as of July 1, 2007, which is when I started the quilt. I cut a 6" square from every batik I owned, then cut the squares into 2" strips, then joined the strips into little strip sets and cut them up again to sew into nine patches. There are 580 different fabrics in this 108" square quilt, and it brightens up our bedroom nicely. Here's a little close-up shot:

Then I finished these cute socks last week. They are the Coquette pattern from 2-at-a-time Socks by Melissa Morgan-Oakes. The yarn is Tofutsies and feels very nice and light against my feet. My friend, Jeannette, gave me the yarn after she decided she didn't want to knit socks on US size 1 needles (thanks Jeannette!). I didn't mind - they went really fast.

That's not my leg, by the way. I bought a "foot model" on eBay so I could take pictures of the socks without contorting my body at odd angles to get photos of my feet!

Highland Mary Lakes Trail

On August 20, Marcia, Linda, Connie, Robin, Celia and I hiked up the Highland Mary Lakes Trail. The trailhead is 9 miles north of Silverton on a mostly smooth dirt road, with one stream crossing before the parking area.


The trail is steep steep steep! It was mostly dry and rocky, with just one boggy area near the top. We followed Cunningham Creek all the way up, and we passed many cascades and waterfalls.

This is Marcia and Robin leaving our lunch spot at Lake #3.

And here's Linda, Robin, Celia, and Marcia in front of Lake #2 on our way down.


The wildflowers were really past their prime, but there was a lot of color still along the trail. Unfortunately, it rained a bit on our way down, so I did not take many photos. Just as we got back into the car, the downpour really started. What a great hike!

Feeling So Much Better

I've been a sad, hurt puppy for the last couple of weeks. I had teeth extracted and braces put on and I am not young (at least not compared to my nephew, who is nearly 30 years younger than me and had his braces put on at the same time). But, I am feeling better now and very happy to be able to chew semi-solid food again.

The photo above is looking out the garage door last Sunday evening between storms. We had very dramatic weather that day, and the intensely bright rainbow was no exception. If you look closely, you can see a second arc above.

I have not been on a hike due to travel and this whole mouth makeover, but I will be hiking on Wednesday so more gorgeous photos will be posted soon. I did, however, get a lot of knitting done while lying around:

These are the Belle Epoque socks from 2-at-a-Time Socks by Melissa Morgan Oakes in the most lovely yarn - Socks that Rock Mediumweight in Tlinget. The yarn is almost black, but has a bit of fuschia and green showing through the black dye. What a neat pattern and the finished socks are warm and thick. It almost makes me wish for winter (almost). In any case, the socks turned out just great.

In other news, John bought a new (old) bike. It's from the early 1880's and does not have brakes. In this photo he is riding in front of our house with a very goofy grin. He is so happy! People driving by slow down to see this crazy guy and his old bike. He took the photo with the self-timer which is why it is so blurry. I'll try to take another of him soon.

That Funny Feeling

Saturday I was sewing on a new quilt project and spent many hours sitting at my machine working away. I suddenly had a feeling that someone was watching me. I looked out the window and there were three steers, apparently fascinated by my sewing.

Of course, as soon as I turned my camera on them they were shy and looked away. These cattle are part of the herd living in the pasture adjacent to our property. The fence you can barely see right in front of them marks our property line and is about 15 feet from my studio window. I'm still getting used to being on the ground floor, but the view sure is nice. They seem to feel the same way.