First day of school 2011

North Shore Hat

I made this Frog Tree Alpaca hat from yarn I purchased on our North Shore trip using a pattern written by one of my roomies.  What are the odds of there being a yarn shop right across the street from our resort?  
Hat details here

North Shore Trip

The last week of June some friends and I spent some glorious days relaxing on the north shore - it was chilly weather but we had a blast.  It was 52F when we left our lodgings that late morning and 92F when we returned home!

 

 

 

 

 

Happy birthday to me!

The Dude

Great sweater pattern for the sweater in the The Big Lebowski

Adorable bib!

Here's a link to an adorable bib pattern - this would be great as an addition to a baby hat for those Sibley East babies I knit for.... or for my favorite grand-nephew!

Finished - Cap Sleeve Vest

I finished the Cap Sleeve Cardigan vest I was working on and wore it to work on Tuesday.  Love the fit of it, definitely glad I shortened it from the written pattern and copied another vest I liked.  The Berroco vintage chunky yarn will gladly be used again!

Here's details:  http://ravel.me/tamsden/1cscv

my how he's grown

Excellent weekend of hockey where our team managed to make it to the Championship game and win in sudden death overtime.  MN Hockey Hub even wrote an article about my favorite goalie  ;-)

"Strapped into his goalie skates, Amsden transforms into a one-man skyscraper. Hockey’s version of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar."

afternoon naps

 

Drake and I worked so hard on projects during our "mini-vacation" that we decided to reward ourselves on Sunday.  He took the love seat and I got the couch  :-)

Buzzbee hat

GREAT pattern from Wooly Wormhead called the Buzzbee hat.

This one was made with some Cascade 220 Quattro superwash wool I got at The Tangled Skein and is adorning the head of a new baby in the SEHS district.

Ravelry details here

I got to SPIN!

I was thrilled to attend an all-day Spinning workshop at the Minnesota Textile Center.   (Definitely recommend their classes)

They introduced us to the spinning wheel, gave us some pointers and then gave us fiber and let us play.  They even let me use a wheel that is exactly the same as the one I have at home so I could get some practice.

I am so pleased with my results.  I can't believe it was my first - definitely not perfect but I made it!  ;-)

Spiral Hat addiction

Here's a spiral hat for me that I finished out of some Misti Alpaca Hand Painted Chunky this winter.  It was the first time I had knit the spiral hat pattern from Tangled skein and it wound up being very addicting!

I started this on February 2nd and finished it on the 3rd... details are here

It turned out really well and both my teen age sons said I could wear it in public so it must look half way decent on me as well - yipee!










This is another spiral hat I made out of one skein of Berrocco's Borealis yarn that was new at The Tangled Skein.

It was a valentine gift for someone...









...and guess what - ANOTHER spiral hat!

This one for a valentine for a spunky blonde in our life that totally rocked it.

This one was made with part of a skein of Berrocco's Vintage Chunky in black to match her black and gold Gustie mittens.

Unfortunately I didn't get a shot of the finished hat.

Garter Cowl

Bonnie is the inspiration for this garter stitch cowl that shows off the lovely Misti Alpaca Hand Paint Chunky yarn.

Ravelry details are here

Cast on 30 stitches and knit every row.
Slip the first stitch of each row purlwise.
Bind off when the yarn is almost out and sew ends together offset.
Top half of one side to bottom half of the other side to form a circle.

 

Knitty's Quest and some bulky mitts

This is the Quest hat from the most recent Knitty magazine.... made with hand painted cascade 220.  The actual image is not sideways so I'll have to figure out why it is turning it.

You can see more details here

This is the Tangled Skein's bulky mitten pattern made with Misti Alpaca handpainted chunky.  

You can see more details here

Gustie mittens - a success!

I may be a little nervous that this needle felting business is just as addicting as knitting but we shall see.... details on ravelry here

I want to do these coasters!

... maybe I can find some time this summer to create these great coasters?

courtesy of the website linked above

Olek and the Charging Bull

... all I can say is .... WOW




OLEK AND THE CHARGING BULL ON WALL STREET from olek on Vimeo.

These jokes will leave you .... 'in stitches' - HA!

These fiber related jokes showed up in my inbox today and I couldn't resist sharing (I hate to groan alone!)

Why did the hog farmer give up knitting?

Answer: He didn't want to cast his purls before his swine!

What did the knitter use to make a suit of armor?

Answer:  She used steel wool!

 

What did Puff Daddy say when 50 Cent gave him a hand knit scarf for Christmas?

Answer: " Gee, you knit?!"

 "G-Unit" is the name of 50 Cent's rap group.  

GROOOAAAAAANNNNNNNN!

Molly's finished mitts

I finished Molly's two color mittens after what took way too long due to my own errors.  I used Cascade 220 yarn in a bright green and a purple and she loves them!  I saw her today at the rink and she had them on - ya hoo!

Details here

I'm teaching a class on these in February on Tuesday nights so there will definitely be another pair on my needles soon.  My photographer was TOM - thank you!

Drake's view

Our christmas gift this year was new furniture (finally) for our living room. 

Drake isn't too sure of it yet.  The old furniture had a great oversized club chair that he could curl up on and put his head over the one arm and see out the window.  This one is a little more complicated to see out and sometimes it just isn't worth it!