Day 21 ~ Pretty Pattern

The title would more than likely make one think of something like this: patterns on fabric

However, I think of something like this: knitting patterns

My neck tends to get chilled as the cooler weather sets in. You should knit a cowl, also called a neck gaiter by some to wear this winter and all those to come. I thought to myself, you've made oodles of them for charity but not one for yourself. As my daughter, Erin brought me one (1) skein of Rowan Pure Wool Aran weight yarn in a lovely celery green from England, I decide to look for a pattern that I could use it for. I went to Ravelry and looked in my favourites to see what I had pinned there and lo and behold, there was Nic's Ashford Cowl requiring less than 180 yards of yarn. Woot! So, now I have cast on and have one repeat completed.

Day 5 ~ Someone I Love

Here's my dear daughter, who left yesterday for her home and husband in England. It was lovely to have her here, after nearly a year being gone.

30 Day Photo Challenge ~ Day 1 - Self Portrait

My blog has been sadly neglected these days, so I am going to do a 30 day photo challenge to kick start me back to updating it. It will indeed be a challenge as I am going to be really busy this month what with Erin leaving on Tuesday then the Highland Games in Estes Park next weekend. I am going to learn if the schedule feature of Blogger really works. Herein is the first post for the 1st day of September:

What I did Yesterday...

I regularly get the LBY Studio blog from the Lion Brand Yarn Studio. This wee project caught my eye on Tuesday and appealed to me in many ways. It's about memories and I have a lot of them relating to knitting. My mother taught me to knit when I was six years old. She also owned a fiber retail business called By Hand in Philadelphia, PA when I was in my teens. I spent many an hour either knitting samples from our new yarns or helping our knitting customers to be more successful with their projects. The memories of being taught to knit and the various projects I worked on over the years is a very long thread of my life. When I was in England two years ago, I was working on a pair of kilt hose for my Da whilst riding the train down from London. A wee lassie watched me for awhile and then asked me what I was doing and how long I had been doing it. I thought about her questions and realized that I had been knitting at that point, for fifty years!

I also am enjoying passing those memories on to the next generation as I have taught both my daughter, Erin and my niece, Mimi to knit. I think both of them will far surpass my skills in the end. After all, Erin has become an extraordinary independent yarn dyer with her own business called The Asylum for Wayward Yarn and Mimi has just finished up a lace shawl project called Evenstar that also included 3000 beads.

So, onto this project. I grabbed some of Erin's hand dyed yarn that was leftover from a hat I knitted for my dear old friend, Rocky. I just cast on 15 stitches and did 4 rows of seed stitch and then 4 inches of stocking stitch and 4 more rows of seed stitch. After casting off, I folded the fabric in half and crocheted the seams and then the loop. Wallah!

There will be a meet and greet for this project at the studio in NYC in May, which sadly, I will not be able to attend. After that, the wee bags and their stories will go to the Wales National Wool Museum for an exhibit during the summer. I, of course will not be able to visit the museum while the exhibit is there, but the thought of my bag being part of it makes me smile. Hopefully I can convince Erin and Guy to make a run to Wales and see it for themselves.

For Auld Lang Syne

In many ways this was a great and wonderful year and in others, not so much.

My daughter, Erin finally got married!
Mimi changed positions at work and is much happier.
All my kids were together for Erin's wedding.
Rebecca moved to Illinois, boo!
I went to Minnesota and met up with Hunie after a 7 year absence and got to meet Amanda and Hannah who are both a hoot and a half.
Anne was diagnosed with cancer, more boo!
Jann and I enjoyed each others company more.


Things were accomplished, things were learned, things were left undone. More shall be revealed.

20 May - Maybe

Maybe:
I got nothing done today.
The washing machine is finally fixed.
I bought some new knitting needles and a skein of yarn whilst waiting for Erin to see the dentist.
I found a lovely blue teapot for my ownie-oh.
I had a wonderful supper of London B with Parsnip Potatoes and an Artichoke.

19 May - Maybe

Maybe:

The dentist in Pueblo will have a cancellation and Erin can get in sooner rather than later.
I will cut out my new linen chemise.
I will sew up my new Folkwear Patterns Victorian Walking Skirt.
My back will stop hurting.
The soil will warm up enough to get the tomatoes into their big pots.

18 May - Maybe

Maybe:

Quilt guild will be a great learning adventure today.
Rebecca will be ready when we go to pick her up.
The photography class this afternoon will be very helpful to Erin's business.
I will get the tomatoes planted.
I will not take an afternoon nap.

Montone at the Movies

On Tuesday, Erin and I went to see Shrek IV. In order to avoid the top coating of our parking lot and the accompanying odor of creosote, on Wednesday, after a visit to Mountain Shadows Restaurant for brunch and Green Valley Weavers, Mimi, Erin and I went to see the Prince of Persia and Montone went with. In the background of this photograph is one of the Kilt Stockings I am knitting for my Da to wear to Erin's wedding in October.

Part Trois - Tour de Fleece 2010

Here's the last installment of photographs of what I got done during the Tour de Fleece 2010.



The green is my 3rd and 5th attempts at chain plying. Feel better about the 5th attempt, still need more practice to feel really comfortable with the process. The purply grey is the 80/20 Merino/Silk single, that I will make my shawl from to wear to Erin's wedding.

#101 of 365 - Watch Tower or A Day Spent Rallying Around the Town.

The first thing we did this morning was to head south to pick up Rebecca and the BOM pattern for guild. Then far out to the east of town for the guild meeting. Met our Cheryl's lovely mother, Violet whilst there. Then after, a quick trip back to Rebecca's for some packages she needed to mail. Then we headed back to the west and downtown Colorado Springs for a sushi lunch at Yoo Mae and then a wander along Cascade heading north to look at the sculptures all along the streets as we went. We saw 34 thousand plus Helios, a snowman with rocks in it's head, giant metal koosh balls scattered across a lawn next to the giant Spanish dancers on the lawn by the Money Museum.

Also there were stone plinths, metal and glass figures, stone carvings, bronze sculptures and Patrick Dougherty's woven wood sculpture on the Colorado College campus.

During the wander, we saw bulbs about to spring into bloom, checked out an herb garden behind the McAllister House and found out that I qualify as a senior citizen at the Money Museum. Le sigh... I showed Rebecca the climbing roses we, the Grace Gardeners planted yesterday along the ugly chain link fence on the south side of the church. Then it was back down Tejon to Poor Richard's Book Emporium to meet up with Erin again. We also noodled through the goodies in the front part of the store. Rebecca and I felt up some kewl journals, no, really we did. We talked yarn with one of the clerks after she admired my Summer with Ishbel. I also saw the coolest pair of half chaps that would so work as part of a Steampunk outfit.

We walked east back to the parking garage which is over the bus depot. Which is when we got a closer look at the Watch Tower, which I am looking through in the above photo. There were black Suburbans and dark sunglasses abounding when we got there. The exit to the depot was blocked off by a bus and there were ARMED TSA agents littering the sidewalks. We still don't know what was up with that. Erin could only say, Mother, you would leave a baggie of bay leaves on the front seat of the car, hah, hah, hah...


In the end, Rebecca and I had a loverly day of art for art's sake...and by the way, Rebecca, I was right, it was a hawthorn.

Erin and I hit the Sunflower and saw a red fox just chillin' on a neighbor's lawn on the way there. Spooked the USPS guy right out...

#100 of 365 - Big Weekend and a Big Kilt

You all, dear readers will just have to forgive me for not posting since last week.

It all started on Friday afternoon with finding the shoes for both the bride-to-be and the MotBtb for the wedding in October. Whoo-hoo, another task off the wedding to-do list (a really big one, as shoes are difficult for the both of us).



Then the last regular season Avs game at the Can (the Pepsi Center, thus the nick-name). This was the last opportunity for Erin to see an NHL hockey game in an arena before she leaves for the UK this summer. After the game, we went and spent the night at Castle Judd and heard some really hopeful news on the home front.

From there, I segued to the Colorado Tartan Day celebration in Arvada all the long day on Saturday. Curtis, Boo and I were dressed in our garb as Ren Scots and out the door by 7:00 am. The village was up and operational by 9:00 am. Sadly, as my camera is now officially dead and not replaced as yet and I am the only one that is remotely regular about taking photos, there are no photos of the event for me to share with you.

Then it was back home to the Springs and the item referenced in the title of this blog. I made a big kilt and I made it all by myself without Judy's help and I think I did a pretty great job on it, all in all. I just came up for air today as the kilt is FINISHED and going into the mail overnight tomorrow to the Carolinas.



This is a picture of the kilt I made for my Da, but you get the idea...

#99 of 365 - Big Shawl to Be

So, yesterday I frogged a shawl that wasn't growing to my satisfaction. It was a simple triangle in Stocking Stitch, made be increasing at the beginning and end of every row, but I could see that it would be dragging the floor before it was a wide as I wanted it to be. I had been more and more getting to the point of decision, press on or frog. Frogging won, sigh! No pictures of what it looked like as I neglected that part. Oh well.

After my daily perusal of the blogs I read on a regular basis, I discovered the Mini Weaver's shawl on my friend, Judy's most recent blog post. I cast on for the new one yesterday. Here was the beginning of it as of last night.



Here I am as of today.

It's all scraps and skeins of these two yarns with some mystery yarns thrown in. The two yarns are Reynold's Lopi and Brown Sheep's LambSpun. They are blending together quite nicely. The weight and the shape of this shawl will make me very happy next winter.

This is a replacement big warm shawl for me, as Erin is taking the fringed triangle shawl (which is currently living with Rebecca) with her when she moves to England. It was made from the remainders of some Manos from projects of my dear departed Mum and therefore is sort of a family heirloom now.

#88 of 365 - Pinning Out Erin's Ishbel

We pinned out Erin's Ishbel today. I really thought we would get my Summer one pinned out as well but we used nearly every pin we have on Erin's. I want to get it pinned tho as I would like to take it with me when I leave to dog-sit.

#87 of 365 - Two Days Later

Erin and I turned out the lights Saturday night for one hour for Earth Hour. Here's photographic proof, much to Erin's dismay. I just realize that I wear that sweater pretty darn often. It makes it into nearly every other photograph of me. Thanks, Mum for your efforts, oh, those many years ago.







P.S. We did cheat and kept the TV on as we were trying to finish up a DVD that needed to go back to the library. The computer and all the lights however, were dark. Guess what, we actually talked to each other! What a concept... Now, maybe for a game of canasta and more talk, what do you think about that?

#86 - 365 - Slept Right Through It

I missed posting yesterday because, indeed I slept right through it. I did, however, make these palm crosses yesterday before church.

Erin made an awesome lasagna for the supper, which is what put me to sleep.

#77 of 365 - Obligatory Last Snow of Winter Picture

Of course, the snow is done coming down, is now trying to melt and the sun is also trying to break through as I type this.

It dropped over 40 degrees in temperature since yesterday. So, here's Erin and Pan getting warm together...

I say this is the last picture of snow in Winter, as believe it or not, Spring starts on Sunday and we are done with snow for the moment...

#74 of 365 - Irish Soda Bread in the Making

Twas the Night Before Saint Patrick's Day and all through the house...the scent of caraway and buttermilk permeate.




...I promised that dear daughter of Eire, my wee lassie, Erin that she would have the Irish Soda Bread to the supper. I also promised my friend, Marie that she would have it at quilt guild tomorrow which coincidently happens to fall on Saint Patrick's Day.

The remains of the day or rather the first round of the Irish...

Now on to the Boiled Supper also known as Corned Beef and Cabbage..

#73 of 365 - Missed A Day, Hates Getting Old

I missed blogging yesterday due to being sore and tired from the parade waiting and walking and from standing at the GBS show to be able to see something, anything of the show on Saturday. I had one of the Twin Towers in front of me who insisted on talking to the person next to her EVERY five minutes so I could never find a place to peek thru, so I stood up for most of the show.

However, that said, it was a fabulous show! The music was great, old favourites, show tunes and some new ones from Allan and Sean. Tis Sean and Bob in this photo.

and Allan and Bob in this one.


Even tho most of my friends went Friday night, there was still a number of my friends there Saturday along with Erin there were Helen, Lisa, Linda, Pat, Dave and Marty and Tom. Definitely, a must see band, in my opinion, you can't not enjoy them and yourself.

#69 of 365 - Birthday Supper

Erin made the birthday supper. Tuna steaks, sweet potato chips with rosemary and tomato, mozzarella and spinach salad. Yum, and I didn't have to cook. Perfect present!