Take that blogger!

I fixed my header. Stupid blogger. I decided not to fight the battle for now and just add my blog name to my picture and be done with it until I can figure out the code. (Well, I looked and tried to figure out the code, but I really do not see why things seem to be going astray.) But it's FIXED! La la la laaaaa! Happy!

Blog Header Issues - Grrrr!

Okay, so things with the header are not so good. Apparently, part of the bottom of my header image is being cut off by blogger. If I use the image instead of my blog title and description, it's fine (but then I have no title!). If I use the image as a background for my title and description, it gets cut off at the bottom. I'm going to have to try and figure it out later tonight. Ugh! Grrrrr.
And I just looked at the preview and the top is coming and going! WTF!

Cha-cha-cha-changes....

A new look for the bloggie! I've taken a pre-designed blogger template and tweaked it to my satisfaction! So happy. (well, for now at least.) Now that I know how to do this, I might be making more and more changes! I used a blogger template called Polar Bears that I found on the net with a google search. (I'll try to add the website here once I track it down.) I changed the header picture and the footer picture using my own images. I also editied some of the html code to make it so I could use the blogger dashboard to change the colors. I took the sheep picture in my header on a vacation to New Zealand last year. I was lucky enough to be there during lambing season. Cute! (How I wish I had been more of a knitter back then, I definately would have shorn a sheep and bought some yarn!) The picture in my footer is the first yarn that I bought for no specific reason. (Mirasol Hacho) I just liked it. Thus beginning my stash! My stash has grown a bit now.....I just bought sock yarn just becuase I liked it and I have ordered some sock books. (So I really did need some sock yarn!) So, new look. Better than the plain ol' jane look I had with the basic blogger template. Yay!

Binary Hat rocky beginnings

I'm knitting my brother a Binary Hat (from redshirtknitting blog). But I'm putting a different word in it.

Ugh. I cast on and knit a few inches. There is NO WAY that the man's size would have fit my brother's head. I was on gauge too. I'm going to have to measure some poor man's head. (Someone I know, of course!) Could you imagine me going up to strangers asking to measure their heads? Ha ha ha ha ha!

FO Pasha the Penguin

My sister's godmother is a really awesome lady. I've gotten to know her and really like her bunches. She's great. For Chirstmas, she goes above and beyond normal decorating and hires people to come and decorate her house. It looks incredible. And it is sprinkled with many many penguins. I had seen (and saved the link) to Pasha the Penguin on knitty.com, just saving it for some day when I would have the opportunity to knit it. I walked in her house while decorations were going up and BLAM! I knew I had found a home for a little knit penguin.

This is the cutest thing ever. I knit it up in a couple days and spent a Saturday while watching football seaming and stuffing. Oh - and one more day knitting a scarf. I just thought the scarf added a little something extra. (Plus, lots of the penguins in her house have scarves, so it went with the overall theme.)

Cute penguin!

Pattern: Pasha the Penguin from Knitty.com
Needles: size 6 - I think I used Clover bamboo DPNs or maybe my Boye interchangeable circs
Yarn: all from Michaels or Joann's -
Lion Brand Wool-Ease Solid, Color: 153, Black
Lion Brand Lion Wool Solid, Color: 187, Yellow
Lion Brand Wool-Ease Solid, Color: white frost - 501, White

Modifications: none really, although I did fold in more of the beak stitches (about half) to make a pointier beak and let those folded in stitches be the stuffing for the beak. Made a scarf out of scrap yarn. (6 stitches wide, as long as I thought it needed to be.)

Instructions are very complete. Great instructions. I did have to look up how to pick up the stitches for the short rows (my first short rows ever). Just wanted to make sure I was doing things correctly!

Top row: Under beak, close up of face
Bottom Row: View without scarf and posing with the kitty for size comparison

Super Cute. I have to make one for myself! Lots more pictures on my flickr account.

We have a tree of beads!

It was inevitable that I would put the branches into tree form sooner rather than later. I now have a tree! Yipee! I just need lights and some more ornaments and I need to make a tree skirt. (and did you know that one of these suckers sold on eBay for almost $300!) Woah!
I present le tree!

Le Tree fini!


Tree with pen (for size comparison) Yeah - it's leaning a bit. But hey - it's wire. I can bend it to straighten it out. Just didn't notice the lean. Of course, it could have happened when it fell over after this shot.....


Kitty don't chew on that! No! *Crash*

Whenever I am taking photos of something, Kaya (the pictured

kitty) just has to get involved..

Beaded Christmas Tree - branches

A long, long time ago, my mommie bought me a beaded Christmas tree kit. (Reminds me of the opening line to the song American Pie. Hee!) Yeah, so she bought this for me at Michaels (75% off, after Christmas) over a decade ago. It contained everything to make a beaded Christmas tree out of the little seed beads and floral wire. You string the seed beads on the floral wire and then twist the wire to make loops. Several to many loops make a branch. And many branches make a tree. I was young and lost interest after forming branches to make about the top third of the tree. (maybe even less than that, I don't know.)

Around Christmas last year, I was flipping through channels and passed the DIY channel and the lady was using a bead spinner to put seed beads on floral wire. The seed beads were green and I instantly thought of my long-forgotten beaded Christmas tree project. I mean, I was putting those beads on by hand one little bead at a time. It took FOREVER! Using a bead spinner was about a hundered times faster. Maybe even a million times faster. No joke. You can put an inch of beads on in about 10 seconds. So, my interest had been renewed in those five seconds and the segment continued. And the lady was making a beaded. Christmas. tree. Oh. my. gosh. It was like the heavens had opened and angels were singing. I just happened to filp by the DIY channel just at that moment. And I had not thought of this project in over a decade. Seriously! And I happened to be watching and saw the bead spinner and in moments remembered the project and how a bead spinner would be perfect but who knows where my stuff for the project is now and I will never find the directions, ever. Maybe I can figure it out or buy directions off of eBay or google it and find something. And *BAM* I'm staring at my project. Too perfect. The project instructions are at DIYnetwork.com. I also made my own bead spinner out of a small tupperware-ish container. (Not the real tupperware, but the reuseable kind you buy in the grocery store.)

So, I try and buy green seed beads at Michaels, but apparently there was some kind of green seed bead emergency somewhere and the three Michaels closest to my house were all sold out. So in February, I bought said seed beads and floral wire and was ready to make branches. I spun my spinner and *zip* filled the wire with my green seed beads and twisted and made branches. I have finished all of the branches I need now. YAY! Aren't they pretty?

My pretty branches.


I have lots of them.

FO Fetching

These Fetching Mitts from Knitty.com knit up very fast.
I used the extra ball from leftovers from backyard leaves scarf. (which oddly enough, happened to be the same yarn and color from the Knitty pattern!)
I did make one modification - I added another cable row in the top part of the mitt. Just thought that it mirrored the bottom better.
Let's see, first cables, first picked up stitches (to make the thumbs). Neither gave me any troubles (but I also have my Vogue Big Book of Knitting to use as a reference - so I have good reference materials to help me out.)
Love them. I can drive in them and my hands won't slip on the wheel. They are suprisingly warm.

Fetching. Still needs blocking, but
that will have to wait until I can part
with them for a few days!

Last Harvest of the Garden

I am actually involved in other things besides knitting. But I designed and envisioned this blog to be almost totally knitting. *Almost* being the operative word here. So, prepare yoruself for a non-knitting post. If you choose to opt-out, then do so now. But this won't be a regular occurence. Plus, you might be inspired. I like to grow things. I've always had a way with all of my indoor plants and I had tremendous luck with a pot of tomatoes once, so this year, I started an outdoor veggie garden. I had mucho success - most of it due to my automatic watering system and my homemade earth-bucket. I might post the directions here at some point, but if you are somewhat proficient at a google search, you will find some instructions on a homemade earth bucket all on your own. I cannot say enough good things about a homemade earth bucket. I had three, two filled with tomatoes and one filled with peppers. (It also had zucchini, but the zukes fell victim to a wind storm and were broken off.) So, long after my friend who grew a traditional garden. I was still harvesting veggies. GO ME! I also had a couple tomatoes in regular containers and the earth bucket tomatoes outperformed the regular ones by far. Significant difference. I love having fresh homegrown veggies. They taste soo much better than store-bought ones. No comparison at all. I don't really like green peppers, but I love my homegrown ones. Also, nothing will ever compare to eating a ripe sun warmed tomato. If you ever grow your own tomato plant (which I highly recommend) then take the time to eat one that is still warm from the sun. Glorious! I absolutely got a kick out of eating my cherry tomatoes in front of my other gardening compadres long after their plants had kicked the bucket. I believe it was all due to my system. With out further ado, I present my last major harvest of the season. (I still have a few peppers and tomatoes to come off, but this is the last major bunch.)

Cherry tomatoes. I grew Sweet 1000s. Good to eat all by themselves. (In fact, I ate most of them by popping them into my mouth. Incredibly delicious!)


My last pepper harvest. Yummy!

Blocked!

So, just wanted to show off the blocked Backyard Leaves scarf from scarf style. (Love this book! There are soo many things that I want to knit out of it.)
This was my first foray into blocking and boy howdy, did it make a difference! So much better now!

Hello! I am a scarf. I lie nice and flat now that I have been blocked!


Another angle. Look at the pretty leaves!

When I was first knitting this (almost a year ago), I brought it to Florida and was showing it to my Grandma. (Who used to knit and ran a KNIT SHOP! Drool. I wish I could do that now....) And anyways, my Grandma kept pulling the scarf wider and saying that it was so skinny and maybe I could add on to the sides. I could add on here or even use a different color. But my scarf was too skinny. Harumph. She did keep commenting on how nicely it was knitted and how even my stitches were, but she was stuck on the fact that my scarf NEEDED more width. (but it has this cool edge Grandma! It will be fine eventually! I don't want to add on to the sides! No really. Not. adding. to. scarf.) This time, after blocking, she thought that it was great and just kept on saying how nice it was and the design was so pretty. (and complicated! and look at all of those leaves!) Awww. I lurves you Grandma!

So yay! for blocking! Blocking helps! Go block your stuff!

And just for comparison - the unblocked version.

I am unblocked. Determined too skinny by professional Grandma knitter.