Bead Soup

I received my 'bead soup' bracelet kit from Earthfaire yesterday and made it last night. I admit when I read the first direction - string 200 beads on the thread, I thought it was going to take a week just to do that, but once I got started it went pretty quickly. Here is the result:
It's tedious work, but easy and kind of addicting. I went to A.C. Moore today and bought more beads, gold thread and toggle clasps and started another one.

Knit The Classics

Thanks for your post KTC Swap Pal - I'm looking forward to this swap!

We are swapping children's books - how could I resist this one!

And..guess what? I won the Tender is the Night project contest with my bottle bag (lots of alcohol issues in that book).

The prize is three skeins of Cascade 220 purple - one of my favorite yarns!

This month's book is The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, which I have already finished reading. I haven't come up with an idea for a project for this one yet.

Fiber College on the Penobscot Bay

This weekend I went to "Fiber College!" It was held at a campground in Searsport, Maine, an absolutely beautiful spot, a little more than an hour's drive from my house, on an absolutely perfect day. I went by myself, which is a good thing, because I really don't have any local friends who would spend a whole day petting wool with me and I wanted to be able to spent as much time with the wool as I could. And wool there was! bags full, bins full, baskets full, and even real live wool walking around! It was fiber heaven! Above are some bins of carded bunny blend (50% angora and 50% wool).

Colorful bunnies - aren't they! Here are some in their natural state.

The owners assured everyone who asked that their bunnies are never killed or harmed for their wool, and by the way they cuddled them, talked to them, and called them by name, I can tell that is true. They are so cute and fluffy! I would have loved to take one home! Instead I settled for some bunny blend handspun yarn. It's enough to make a scarf - and it is so soft! I have to find the perfect pattern for it. And it was easy to tell that these 'dollies' were their owners babies! I even got to feed them - so cute!

Besides all of the wool and spun yarn, there were classes and demonstrations going on. I hadn't signed up for any of the classes, but did enjoy some of the demos, like the spinning wheel, which I got a chance to try - now that could be addicting! And relaxing!

I also tried spinning with a drop spindle, and although I was definitely all thumbs, I'm determined to learn how to do it with the spindle that Vicki sent me in my ITEIII package last year. I even bought a bag full of angora/wool blend carded wool to practice with.
This was carded on an electric carding machine. The colors in my bag aren't

showing up very well in the photo, but they are different shades of purple and blue.

At other demonstrations I learned about dyeing wool with acid dyes (I think I'll stick with Kool-aid, although the colors were beautiful), and about mixing colors, combining colors according to the color wheel, etc. There were also a needlefelting, beading, silk dyeing demonstrations, and weaving demonstrations. There were also handmade items for sale. One booth had felted hats for dolls - and they were adorable! Another had necklaces made with many strands of a boucle yarn all gathered into a clasp - they were really pretty and would be so easy and quick to make. Others had felted items, hats, scarves, gloves, etc.

My shopping goal was to find very soft, locally, handspun yarn, and after many trips around the booths these are the yarns I came up with. At the top is

the bunny blend yarn dyed in shades of mauve. The blue/green yarn is a silk/alpaca blend and about the softest yarn I have ever felt. It's 300 yards of lace weight, enough for a scarf.

Although my goal was to buy local handspun yarn, I fell in love with the yarn on the right. It's a hand painted Schaefer yarn, 95% wool and 5% nylon, called "Nancy." It's made in NY and each colorway is named after a memorable woman. Mine is named Renata Tebaldi, after an Italian opera singer.

It's a textured yarn and the sample shawl that was in the booth was gorgeous! It was pricey, but it's a 600 yard skein, and the shawl pattern was included. This is what it looks like wound - I can't wait to get started on the shawl to see what it looks like knit up.

It was really a wonderful day, and I plan to go again next year. Maybe I can entice a few of my blogging pals to come along with me?

Maine knitters (and spinners) are the friendliest people in the world - and September is a beautiful month in Maine!

My Virtual Vacation in North Carolina

This morning I found a large mailing envelope in my mailbox and I was very surprised to find out I had gone to North Carolina on my virtual vacation! It was from Jana, who had been so secretive during the swap that I had no idea where I would be going. In the envelope there was a beautiful skein of superwash wool yarn that Jana dyed herself, a Carolina Tar Heels t-shirt and peds (I have to admit I have no idea what a Tar Heel is!*), a cute little package of tissues and a small photo album. I still don't know what I saw or what I did in NC, but I must have been there because I got the t-shirt! Thanks Jana!

*Update - I googled 'Tar Heel' and now I know!

"Tar Heel is a nickname applied to the state and inhabitants of North Carolina, as well as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's athletic teams (see North Carolina Tar Heels).
The exact etymology of the nickname is unknown, but most experts believe its roots come from the fact that tar, pitch and turpentine created from the vast pine forests were one of North Carolina's most important exports early in the state's history.[1] A town in Bladen County, North Carolina, is also named Tar Heel.

TGFF and Amazon

I made it through the first week of school. The kids were great - but we were all (teachers and kids) very glad it was Friday! I
Came home to a package from Amazon - always a welcome sight. It was my 2008 Knitting Pattern a Day Calendar, and the Whoduknit October book,

Slipknot by Linda Greenlaw.

The other book, Lobster Chronicles is a non-fiction story by Linda Greenlaw that also arrived today from Paperbackswap. I've been browsing through the 2008 calendar (no - I don't wait until the day comes up on the calendar!). There are a few cute things I have seen so far that I may knit. January 2nds Taos Tee Top is cute, I love January 23rds Felted Basket, May 15ths Felted Flare-top Tote Bag is adorable, as is May23rds ruffled clutch. There are a few cute sock patterns, baby sweaters and stuffed animals. There are also a few strange things, like January 4th's string bikini gloves, and Feb. 14ths turtle hats. Then there is the Raspberry Rush Scarf - I don't think I'm breaking any copyright laws when I tell you that you CO 10 sts, knit until desired length, and BO - Duh????

(I hope the designers of the last three patterns are not fans of my blog!)

I'm only up to May - I'm sure there are more good (and bad) patterns to come.

For Carolyn - here is my OTN Fan & Feather scarf knit with Paton's SWS in colorway #70610. And for Joan -Thanks for being such an enabler!

I just ordered a bead soup bracelet kit from Earth Faire.

I have a friend and sister-in-law who would just love one of these for Christmas.

Whoduknit Summer Swap Package

For our Whoduknit Summer Swap, the challenge was to take $10.00 and see how much we could buy with it at yard sales, thrift shops, etc.

When I got home from work today I found a package from New Hampshire waiting for me. My SP was Joyce - and what a bargain shopper she is! When I opened the box the first thing I found was this wool sweater.

Joyce suggested that I might want to felt it and make a bag out of it. It's a beautiful sweater - but wouldn't it make a beautiful felted bag!

Next was this tote bag - nice and big and roomy with a big zippered pocket in the front. What a great project bag this will make!

And look inside! Two skeins of Navy wool yarn, one skein of Dazzle ribbon yarn (the two of them together would make a great felted something!) Three skeins of a cream colored yarn, and two skeins of a multi-colored yarn. Then there were some vintage knitting magazines and booklets. I just love looking through old knitting patterns - so many of them are classics that just never go out of style. And there was more! Three books - two Agatha Christie's and one Anne Perry - both authors I love and books I haven't read. Not done yet! In the pocket of the tote bag there were some raspberry chocolates (no I'm not sharing them) and an invitation to come to her house and knit and nibble on a bowl of them, and some beautiful stitch markers that her DD made, and a cute little pen to go with the notepad.

Thank you Joyce - You are a super bargain hunter and a super friend!

A Little Contest

The counter on my blog shows that 500 people have visited my blog since Aug. 27. I have a hard time believing that - who are all you people? But that's what it says, so I'm having a little celebration contest. Guess how many stitch markers are in the glass and you will win....a set of stitch markers! Leave a comment on this post with your guess before Sunday, Sept. 9.

Happy Labor Day

Although Fall doesn't officially start until September 23, for a lot of us, Labor Day signals the last of summer. Here in Maine, the mornings and evenings are quite chilly, the leaves are already beginning to change, the apple trees are loaded with ripe apples and school starts tomorrow! We celebrated Labor Day Weekend with a backyard barbeque with friends and family yesterday, where the kids decided to hang out in a tree.

I celebrated the beginning of fall by signing up for this Back to School Swap on Knit the Classics. Just couldn't resist this one. And by officially ending my yarn diet (which was a big flop anyway). My not-so-local A.C.Moore has finally started carrying Paton's SWS which I've been wanting to try, and they even had it on sale Saturday, so I picked some up in great fall colors to try out.

It's very soft and I think it will be perfect for

the Misty Garden scarf in

Scarf Style. I'm also working on another Patchwork bag from Easy Knitted Accessories in fall colors, and some Red Hot Necklaces from One Skein Wonders, which are going to be Christmas presents. They are easy to knit

Just a three row lace pattern,

but the beaded tassles take forever to do.

Christmas Around the World Knitters Swap Questionnaire

How long have you been knitting? About 40 years on an off.
Would you consider yourself a Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced? Somewhere between intermediate and advanced.
Do you have any other hobbies besides knitting? Reading, scrapbooking, a little jewelry making.
Favorite color(s)? All shades of blue, green, purple. I like them all!
Do you collect anything? You mean besides yarn? Books, Maine lighthouses, Snowmen.
Are you allergic to any fibers or animals? I'm allergic to cats, smoke, perfume.
Do you have any pets? A beta fish, and a dear Maltese grandpuppy.
Coffee, Tea, or Hot Chocolate? Yes!
Cookies or Sweets? Yes! I'm a chocoholic.
Do you knit socks? I have knit a few pairs of socks - not my favorite thing to knit just yet.
If not socks then what? (tell us about your favorite knits) Felted bags, scarves, dishcloths, baby gifts, shawls (but not with laceweight yarn) - mostly projects that I can finish quickly.
Do you put up a Christmas tree? Yes
Favorite holiday treats? All those yummy baked Christmas cookies.
Favorite holiday smells? Cinnamon, pine, spice.
Do you celebrate Christmas in a traditional or unconventional way? Fairly traditional.
Please elaborate. Family, presents, Santa Claus, stockings hung by the chimney with care, too much food, etc.
What are your favorite holiday traditions? We all go to my daughter's house on Christmas Eve for dinner, then the whole family comes to our house for brunch Christmas morning. After brunch we open presents. During the week between Christmas and New Years we have a party for friends where we do a "yankee swap."
Finish the sentence: “For me Christmas is all about....” Family and friends.
If you were a Christmas ornament you would be…….? Hmm - maybe a snowman - but it would have to be an indoor snowman!
What was your favorite gift you've ever received? Or given? I have to think about this one - check back later!
When do you start your Christmas? Well - knitting begins in the summer, shopping begins in November. I teach 2nd grade so we start doing Christmas units, like Christmas Around the World, and making Christmas ornaments (yes we still celebrate Christmas at our school)at the beginning of December. Our Christmas concert and Christmas party all happen the week before Christmas.
Do you send Christmas cards? Yes
Do you make them or buy them? I make them.
What is your favorite Christmas dish? I like everything!
Carolers are at your door. What do you do? Give them some figgy pudding?
When do you open presents? Christmas eve or Christmas morning? Christmas morning.
Do you celebrate with family or friends or both? Both

A Dream Come True

Years from now, there will be hundreds of thousands of folks who'll say they were there. Memories will dim and wannabes will exaggerate and it will be impossible to prove who really sat in Fenway Park Sept. 1, 2007, and who watched it on television or heard it on the radio.
It was a night dripping with fate, fame, and circumstance.
Clay Buchholz wasn't even supposed to pitch at Fenway Park last night. He had only one game of big league experience under his belt and he was still in the minor leagues Friday.
And then last night, he was back in the Show, pitching a 10-0 no-hitter against the Baltimore Orioles in his second start in the big leagues. At the age of 23. And he told us, "This is what you dream about growing up."
(Boston Globe)

Once in a Blue Moon

Once in a Blue Moon ... is a common way of saying not very often, but what exactly is a Blue Moon?
According to the popular definition, it is the second Full Moon to occur in a single calendar month.
On average, there will be 41 months that have two Full Moons in every century, so you could say that once in a Blue Moon actually means once every two-and-a-half years.

And 'once in a blue moon' 14 years ago - two precious babies were born!



Seems like just yesterday I was holding my first born grandchildren in my arms. They were premies at 34 weeks, and weighed 4 1/2 lbs. each. Now they are taller than I am - and starting High School next week.

I'm giving Jordyn this felted bag (adapted from Jaynes AP Bag) It has a cell phone pocket inside and an adjustable strap.

I'm filling it with some jewelry from her favorite store, Aeropostale, and a gift card.

For Jacob - a game for his X-Box and a gift card.

They are having an overnight Survivor party at their 'camp' (lake house) - my job is to make up a treasure hunt for them. I'll let you know how it turns out!

Happy 14th Birthday my precious babies!!!!

Oprah's Pay it Forward Challenge

After two long days of inspirational speakers who were not inspirational at all, staff meetings, and getting my room ready for the first day of school on Sept. 4, I turned on the t.v. to check the score of the Yankee/Red Sox day game - saw the Red Sox were getting sweeped and switched over to the Oprah show. It was probably a repeat, but I hadn't seen it before. It was a Pay it Forward challenge to her audiance...now, that was inspirational!

Bring on the Yankees!

Gonna knit some red sox while I watch the games!

Visitors

I've been playing around with my blog - notice the buttons on my sidebar - they actually link to the sites! And I also added a counter. I started the counter at 100, so no one would think I didn't have any friends :), but was amazed and quite flattered to see that I had over 70 visitors today. That is until I realized that most of those visitors were ME - trying to figure out how to make the buttons link! So, if you visit, leave me a comment, okay - so I don't have to keep talking to myself (VBG).

American Folk Festival

I went to the American Folk Festival in Bangor yesterday. It's held on the waterfront the last weekend in August each year and there are performers from all over the world, craft tents, and lots of food. The music and food are great, but I spent most of my time in the craft tents. There were only a couple of fiber booths - Crows Wool had wet and needlfelted wool framed art, which facinates me and is something I want to try someday, and Done Roving Carding Mill, where I spent a lot of time petting wool. Maybe it was the heat (the weather here turned hot and sticky after a week of fall weather), but all of the yarn felt stiff and scratchy - and suspiciously like kool-aid dyed yarn. I hope no one caught me smelling it! Another favorite booth was the Lucinda pin booth. Lucinda spent two years being homeless, and created these pins as a fundraiser for the homeless. This particular booth was raising money for Habitat for Humanity in Bangor. They are actually made on a cardboard base, which is coated with layers and layers of varnish. The detail on them is amazing. I bought these two which I absolutely love!

They are $15.00 ea. and you can order them in bulk for fundraising or individually on line here.

I love pins and have a large collection of them. Because I teach young children most of my pins are whimsical - the kids love them. So in addition to the Luncinda pins, I couldn't resist this pin by Lisa Bess. She makes the most amazing pins, badge holders, eyeglass holders and other adornments out of new, found, and recycled objects. As with the Lucinda pins - the detail in her work is amazing. You can see more of her work and check to see if she is going to be showing at a craft fair near you here.

Those are actually real rocks from the Maine coast that the lighthouse is sitting on.

In other booths there were all kinds of yummy lotions, soaps, herb mixes,maple syrup, fudge, jewelry, way too much to name.

It was a long day and the heat finally got to me, so I headed home with my treasures, listening to the Red Sox beat the White Sox 14-2 - and stopped to do some food shopping - see below!

Share Your Chocolate

Food shopping is not my favorite thing to do. I guess they know that where I shop and that's why they put a reward at the check-out counter for me. I'm sure that the raspberry counts as a serving of fruit - right?


And this was the message in the wrapper

So, this is for you!

Galway Striped Bag Pattern

For those of you who asked - I wrote up the pattern for the Galway Striped Bag.

Braided Neckpiece

This is the braided neckpiece from the Loop-d-Loop book. It was a really fun knit, once I figured it out. I didn't care for all of the ends I had to weave in though! I would have loved to knit it from the yarn called for in the book, 3 balls of Karabella Yarns "Super Cashmere" (100% cashmere), but at $55.00 a ball it was just a tad over my yarn budget! So I used some bulky LB Wool-Ease instead, because I had some in my stash (who knows why I bought it - must have had something in mind). It needs to be blocked, but with an acrylic yarn, that's not going to do too much for it. I am going to make more of these, the Knit Picks catalog that arrived today has the perfect yarn - Panache - @ $4.99 a ball, and Quarry @ $3.99 a ball both would be perfect for this scarf. Well, yes, of course I know I'm on a yarn diet (you don't have to remind me that my ticker at the top of my blog is not moving along very quickly), but the exception to the rule is that I can buy yarn for gifts, and these scarves are going to be gifts (and one of those gifts is going to be to me!).

Galway Striped Felted Bag

Here is the finished sling bag. I forgot to take the measurements before I felted it - but it's about 11" x 10" now, knit with Galway wool. This is a gift for my DD's anniversary. And, yes, I know it's her hubby's anniversary too - so I put a Home Depot gift card in the bag. Actually my DD can be found in HD more often than her hubby!
This is not exactly my own pattern, it's a combination of several different free patterns I found on the internet, so I think it's okay to post the pattern I came up with. I used Plymouth Galway 100% wool in five different colors - dark torquoise, light torquoise, dark pink, light pink, and purple. The stripes are random - wider stripes are 8-10 rows, and narrow stripes are 2-4 rows. You can make up your own stripe pattern, or use the radom stripe generator.
Using size 11 circular needles, cast on 100 stitches and join in the round. Place a marker at the beginning of the row. Work in desired stripe pattern for about 20". Next Row - Knit 19, knit 12 and place these 12 stitches on a stitch holder, knit 38 and place these 38 stitches on a stitch holder, bind off next 12 stitches, knit 38 and turn (you will now be working back and forth on one handle side) Keep working in the stripe pattern as you work the handles.
Handle: Row 1 (and all odd rows) Purl
Row 2(and all even rows) K1, SSK, knit to last 3 sts. K2TOG, K1
Repeat these 1 rows until you have 12 sts. left on the needle. Place these 12 sts. on a stitch holder and tie off yarn leaving a tail.
With wrong side facing you, pick up the 38 stitches from the stitch holder for the other side of the handle and repeat the two rows above. When you reach the 12 remaining sts., keep working in st. stitch (keeping stripe pattern) until your handle is as long as you want it (remember it will shrink about 40-50% in the felting. I made my handle about half as long as the pre-felted bag. Then graft it to the other side of the handle.
Tab: Pick up the 12 sts. remaining on the stitch holder and knit in st. stitch (I made my tab a solid color) for about 5", then decrease (K1, SSK, knit to last 3 sts. K2TOG, K1) on each knit row for a couple of rows to round off the tab.
Turn bag inside out and sew up the bottom. Felt bag (Galway felts pretty quickly so watch it) until it is the size you want. Mine was about 11 x 10 (not counting the handle). Stuff with plastic bags to shape while drying.
When bag is dry - cut a slit in the tab, and sew a corresponding button on the bag.
I also made this solid color, needlefelted, version of this bag for my ITEIV pal.

Pay It Forward

Jopal, Marysaline, and MaryLynn will be receiving a 'pay it forward' surprise sometime in the near future! Thanks for playing - and don't forget - don't pay it back - pay it forward!

Priceless

Ten packs of Kool-aid :$2.00, One skein of white Paton's Classic Wool: $4.99, An afternoon of fun with my granddaughter: Priceless!


Mixing up the kool-aid


We tried painting the yarn first Then we tried pouring

The third one (on the right) was dipped.


The painted one was her favorite - I think it's beautiful too!
Yes - she's a Red Sox fan too!

I mailed out my package to my KVVS Pal Nancy today. To find out where she is going (she already knows!) Click here. To see what was in her package, click here. I still don't know where I am going! :(

Pay It Forward

I found this on Donna's Blog and thought it was pretty neat. It’s based on the movie with Helen Hunt and Kevin Spacey in it called ‘Pay It Forward’.. Here's how it goes:

I will send a handmade gift to 3 random people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this Pay It Forward exchange. This isn't a huge gift, just a little something to lift your spirits. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do if you like, is in return pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

TGIF (NOT)

Funny how when you are on vacation you are not so thankful for Fridays!

It just brings you a little bit closer to going back to work. Here is the Patchwork bag from Easy knitted accessories after felting. I really love this bag and think I will be making different versions of it. It's about 11" x 11" after felting. The handles are felted braided of yarn - much faster than I-cord!

Front

Back

Over on Shut Up I'm Counting, Cass is celebrating her 222th post with a contest. All you have to do is answer a few easy peasy questions. You can even get some bonus points - go find out how.

Thank You Vicki!

Isn't this cute? It's a wrist wallet that Vicki sent me from Canada. Vicki was my upstream pal in the ITEIII swap and we have become good friends. She knit this from handspun yarn (she raises alpacas) and even lined it and put a zipper in it. And can you see? I'm a Rockin' Girl Blogger (private j0ke) It will hold a cell phone, credit card, and some cash - all the essentials when you don't want to carry a purse. Thanks Vicki - I love it!

I Love Alpacas

I think I want to raise alpacas when I grow up! They are such sweet, gentle, animals. And...their fleece is the softest and warmest ever. Alpaca farms seem to be sprouting up all over Maine. I visited this one today and met the sweetest alpaca! My friend Vicki on Purple is a Fruit raises alpacas and spins their wool. Alpaca people just seem to be the nicest people, and they love their alpacas like their own children!

Mandy over on NH Knitting Mama is having a little contest She has a free pattern for her "Mandy's Candy Bag" which is really cute. Go on over and check it out. I plan to make a few of these! And you know what else? She's a Red Sox Fan!!!!! Gotta love her.
Progress on my DDs yellow tomato from Knitting Daily:

And my Patchwork bag from "Easy Knitted Accessories" - pre-felted it's 13"x20". I still have to make the handles, which are braided.


Tonight I am casting on for the Comfortable Felted Sling Purse from Knitty Chick, also for my DD.
I'm using these colors, and probably I'll add a little purple too. This is the same bag I made for my pal in the ITEIV Swap except that I made it in a solid color with needlfelted flowers. My DD loved it, but wanted it done in stripes.

Christmas Around the World Knitter's Swap

I try not to join too many swaps at one time. To be honest, I get confused about which pal is which! But my dear friend Vigdis from Norway lured me into this swap. And since ITEIV is just about over, and the KVVS and Whoduknit Summer Swap will be over soon, I joined up. It's the Christmas Around the World Knitter's Swap and sign-ups are open now. Maybe I can lure you in too??