Updates and New Toys

OK, I've been busy working on my Ravelympics project - Gail. Here is a "bad" picture of it. I tried to take a close up of the pattern, but it was too blurry. I'll have to pin it out tonight.

I had to take last night off though. I'm prone to Tennis Elbow when I knit too long and it was starting to hurt on Tuesday night when set my knitting aside. I'm going to try knitting tonight, but probably not as many rows as I have done before. Maybe I should knit a couple of rows, take a break, knit a couple rows... We'll see how it goes. I am anxious to get this done so I can start my next new project.

Which leads me right into the "New Toys" topic. A year or so ago, Knitpicks.com had a colorwork bag pattern for sale as a kit. I was too intimidated by it to even contemplate buying it. But now that I have tried knitting colorwork, I think I'm ready to give it a try. So I went looking for the it. The kits are no longer available, but I was able to get the pattern and yarn. Here is a picture of the bag. It is called Sipalu created by Kerin Dimeler- Laurence. Ain't she beautiful?!?!

I got the yarn to do the orange/fall colored bag. The pattern calls for 17 balls of yarn, but if I read it right, that is enough to make 2 bags. I figured it out that if I bought the 17 balls of yarn, it would actually have been more expensive than buying one of their Sample packs which has 21 balls yarn. (All different colors of course) And since it was such a bargain :o) I bought the Sample Pack . It came in the mail on Tuesday. Can't wait to start it! Still need the right size needles though.
I did buy 3 extra balls in the orange colors (on the left), because I really wanted my bag to look like the fall colored bag. I played with everything Tuesday night and have all my colors figured out. It will have more green in it than what the picture shows, but I cool with that.

While looking on-line for the needles for my Sipalu bag, I ran across an interesting link on Erica's Sewing Center web-site. Joyce Roberts of Arkansas, sent in a great new idea for storing all your knitting tools. I was floored!! I have been looking for a solution to all the different containers that I have my needles in and low and behold she found one. Thank you Joyce for the wonderful idea.

It is called the StitchBow Needlework Travel Bag and it is made by DMC (as in DMC embroidery floss). It works perfectly for storing my Knitpicks options circular needles, Boye interchangeable circular needles, DPNs, and crochet hooks. Check these photos out.

Nice expandable handles and an outside pocket.

See the dark spot in the lower left corner? It's piece of dark felt for putting your needles in. Thanks to an idea by Antonette, I'm going to put saftey pins there to hold my stitch markers. There is a 3-ring binder inside that hold floss binder sheets that are perfect for storing your needles. 1 sheet comes with the bag when you get it, but you can buy more in packs of 2.

I put a piece of paper behind it so it is easier to see it. Here are my Knitpicks Options Circular needles. Each sheet flips out and you can store the needles on both sides. I plan to label all the pockets with the appropriate needle size. (Just need to buy batteries for that pesky label maker)
It even fits your 8" DPN's.


The front and back sides have nice big pockets for storing all your miscellaneous items also.

I took this to my knitting group last night and they were all oohing and aahing over it. I just know there is going to be a stampede once everyone realizes they can buy these at JoAnn's with the 40% coupons.

No pushing or shoving ladies!!!

Ravelympics Begins!

Team Michigan
Events: Lace Luge and WIPs Dancing

Well, it will at 9:30pm tonight at the start of the Vancouver Winter Olympics. I can't wait. This is my first time participating in the Ravelry Olympics (ravelympics). You are supposed to start a project or work on a WIP (work-in-process) project with the idea of pushing yourself to finish the project before the end of the Closing ceremonies on February 28th.

I'm going to be working on a shawl Gail (Ravelry link) and also my Bagged colorwork tote bag that I started last September. I figured 2 projects would probably be my limit, however there are people signing up to do a lot more. There's no way they could possible get them all done. I think signing up for too many would just overwhelm me. I wouldn't be sure what to start first.

Tonight I am going to Heidi's house to watch the opening ceremonies with several other knitters as we begin our projects. Should be fun. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

If you don't have a Ravelry account, click here to see a picture of Gail from the designers Flickr page.

They're Done, They're Done, They're Done!!

I finally finished a knitting project. It has been awhile, so yes, I'm kind of excited. Also, I love the project that I finished so I'm doubly happy to have them done.

Here they are; my Faux Fairisle Fingerless Mitts.

I tried to be a little artsy with my photo, but ... not so much. The bottom mitt was the first one I completed and the top mitt is the one I finished last night after I got home from Knit Nite. I like the colors of the second one better, because it's more purple. But they both look great. And they are toasty warm. I've been wearing them today at work.

So happy and excited!!

Edited: I just looked on my Ravelry project list and I think I can get 2 more projects done over my Christmas Vacation. I'm going to work on the Pooling Scarf (which only has about 6" left on it) and the Felted Colorwork Bag (which only has 1 more repeat and handles). I'm slowly but surely getting some UFO's done. I have a little Christmas knitting to finish up too, but it's not on my rav list. Just in case people peak!

Knitting and Spinning

On Saturday, I meet up with a few friends for a day of knitting and other sundry crafts. We had great food and goodies too. Kathy made chili and Katie brought this Toffee Bar dessert. It was a first attempt at this new recipe and she figured we would all make great guinea pigs. It was very good. Thanks to Carlina for opening her home and to Devon for the nice bag pipe concert.

Kathy spearheaded the meet-up and decided we should have lots of different crafts to try out. She brought her weaving loom and knitting looms. I brought my spinning wheel, because she wanted to try it out. I was a little panicked by that thought though, because I hadn't done any spinning in a year. I mentioned that to one of my other spinning friends and she laughed. She said just think of it this way "They don't spin, so they won't know the difference!" I laughed and thought she's right. I practiced for a while, then turned it over to Kathy. She did pretty well. Then her niece Katie wanted a try. She had a little trouble coordinating the hand and foot motions. For a little while I spun the wheel while she did got used to spinning, then I turned her loose on her own. She seemed to really enjoy it and she did surprisingly well for a first try.

While she spun I knitted on my blue hoodie. I'm only 40 rows away from starting the sleeves. What I really need to do is dedicate myself to doing 4 rows a night for the next 10 days and I would have that part done.

But, last night after dinner, I decided instead of knitting I would do some spinning. The rocking chair was a little too low, so I got out my office chair. It worked just great after I adjusted the height. Here's a picture of my mystery fiber. Well, I do know it's wool, but other than that I've no clue. I got it as a gift from one of my spinning friends when I got my wheel.

I still quite a bit left to spin. I'm hoping I have enough after I get it all spun up to do a pair of socks or may a pair of fingerless mitts. Not sure if I will ply it or just knit it as is, but I will probably ply it.

Merry Christmas To Me! Merry Christmas To Me!

My 'early' Christmas present to myself came in the mail yesterday. I'm so excited! Here it is:

It's the Knitpicks Options Nickle-plated interchangeable needle set. It comes with needles sizes 4 thru 11 US, 2 24" cables and 2 32" cables. I also bought an extra 40" cable and 2 extra needle tips in size 8 & 9. But those are the wooden Harmony needles. I really like metal needles, but I wanted to try out the wooden ones just because. I meant to play with them last night, but I got caught up in a book I was reading and didn't knit a stitch.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Mine was pretty good. I went to my Parents house for dinner. This year since there were only going to be the 3 of us (everyone else was doing their own things) we had Rib-eye steaks instead Turkey. Boy were they yummy too! Along with the steaks we had oven baked potatoes (both white and sweet), sauted green beans with bacon, cranberry relish and rolls. It was all very good.

My Mom stayed at my house that night, so that we could get up at 3:30AM to go shopping. We weren't really planning on going shopping this year, but my friend Staci needed some help. She had a list from her 2 brothers and her Mom that she needed to get in addition to her own stuff. It was such a mad-house at Wal-marts that we took turns watching each others carts while the other one went after one thing or another. It was too hard trying to get the carts through the crowds. I got most of my Christmas presents bought and only have a few things left to get.

After Wal-Marts, we headed to Lowe's for the 99 cent Poinsettias. Staci asked me how many I wanted and I told her that I tend to kill them and just give them to Mom when I get one. And since Mom was buying her own, I didn't need any. Then we headed to Menards, but the checkout line was so LONG there and Staci was only looking for one item, we just turned around and left. Then we headed to Target, Bed Bath & Beyond and PetSmart. We parted ways after that. Mom and I headed back to Niles where we met up with my cousins Tracy and Erica for breakfast and a little more shopping. I was exhausted by the time we got back to my house around 3pm. After they left, I took a nap!

On Saturday, my friend Kathy J. came over. After a quick trip to the Red Purl and Moon Beads, we spent the rest of the day chatting and knitting. I made a pot of the Tomato Florentine Soup for dinner along with grilled cheese sandwiches. I got a lot of knitting done on my Hoodie. I am now 2/3 of the way done on the body. Only 45 more rows and then I get to start the sleeves, which should be much faster to knit since there are fewer stitches. I also worked on my fingerless mitts and my pooling scarf.

I forgot to get a picture of the Hoodie, but here are ones of the mitts and scarf:

I still have to weave in my ends on the first mitt, but the 2nd one is coming along nicely.


The scarf measures 44", so I only have about 16" left. I was having a little trouble lining up the colors after I added in the 2nd skein, but I'm getting used to it now.

Really Good Weekend

I don't know about you, but I had a really good weekend.

The weather was AWESOME! Sunny and warm and sunny.

My Mom and I made a day of it. We started out at Goodwill for their 50% off sale. I hit the mother lode too. I got 2 practically new pairs of jeans, 1 lime zippered cardigan, 1 brand new still had the tag on blue sweater, 4 scrub tops, 2 scrub pants, a small brand new Tupperware strainer and 4 wool felting sweaters. I spent $40, but new scrub tops alone cost $12.99 each. I wasn't expecting to spend that much, but I definitely got more than my money's worth of merchandise.

Then I took my Mom to the South Bend Farmers Market, where we got some dark espresso roasted coffee beans for my Dad, some herbs, loose leaf tea (darjeeling, french vanilla, chai), fresh pumpkin donuts (the yummy cake kind), broccoli (which I steamed on Sunday for dinner), tomatoes, garlic, yellow bell pepper. I got to taste a chanterelle mushroom, which was very good. We probably spent a good hour to hour and a half wandering around checking everything out. She's already making plans with her friends to come back for another visit.

Then we headed to Goshen to the Ewe-Knique Knit Shop, where I had to exchange a skein of yarn I bought when I was at the knitting retreat. While trying to find the end of the yarn from the center of the skein, I totally messed up the skein and had to re-wind it. In the process, I found 6 big slubby areas. 1 or 2 I could have lived with, but not 6. Well they didn't have the same color of mini mochi, so I got another colorway. And to be on the safe side I decided to go ahead and get an extra one while I was there. :o)

After lunch at the chinese buffet, I went home and took a nap. When I woke up, I did laundry. I had to wash my new scrubs, so I could wear a set to work on Sunday. And I figured If I was going to do one load I might as well do several. Not going to admit to how many loads I did; I let the laundry kind of pile up. I finished up the last load on Sunday morning before work.

All in all, a very good weekend!

New Recipe - Tomato Florentine Soup

A pizza restaurant here in town (Barnaby's), used to serve Tomato Florentine Soup everyday on their menu. I loved it! I don't know if they tried to do something different or what, but they removed it and replaced it with Italian Wedding Soup. Oh it was horrible! I stopped going there as often, because I was always getting the soup/salad combo and they didn't have any other soups that I liked.

Well I got to craving that soup last week. I looked up recipes on-line and found several that I liked "bits" of. So I combined them and WOW I loved it! So here it is:

Tomato Florentine Soup
Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

1 lb ground Italian sausage

1 small onion, diced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

3 beef bullion cubes

1 cup boiling water

2 cans diced tomatoes

1 12 oz. Can V8 Juice

1 small can tomato sauce

¼ tsp Tabasco or other hot sauce

2 stalks of celery, diced

2 tsp. oregano

2 tsp. thyme

2 tsp. basil

1 tsp. dill

2 cups of water or milk

1 bunch of Spinach, julienne

1 to ½ cups cooked shell pasta

Salt and Pepper to taste

Brown sausage until it is almost done. Add onion and garlic. Cook until onions are translucent. Add this and all other ingredients except the pasta to a crockpot. Cook on high for 1 ½ hours. Add cooked pasta. Cook for ½ hour. Serve with crusty bread/butter or grilled cheese sandwiches.

Note: I took this to work with me, that’s why I used the crockpot, but the original recipe(s) were geared towards making it on the stove. It was very good the first day, however it was awesome the next day.