My Needles are Free!

Two projects that have been are the needles are now on their way to their respective homes before going on to a display adventure at TNNA next week. Life happens and as it happened working on these projects overlapped, so they were completed and shipped out within days of each other. One item is still under wraps as it is in a new yarn and a new pattern from y2knit.net. The second item was for Lorna's Laces to showcase a new yarn and new colors, a shawl, Brick House by Laura Nelkin. Once I got going and established the pattern I really enjoyed the knitting. It is the type of project that requires you to notice the row you are on, but is good for semi-auto-pilot knitting. I do not want to ruin the fun of seeing these beauties in person at TNNA, so for now here is a black and white photo of the shawl:

I am looking forward to getting some baby projects knit, maybe a Christmas gift or two done, and some selfish projects at least started.

Almost exactly one year ago I was dealing with girly pink princess flip flops. Hello, full circle:

Those would be princess shoes. Snow White, red sparkle heels with a sparkly blue bow and a picture of Snow White on the bow.

Someone has gotten quite picky about the local paparazzi, so I have to be sly with my photo taking. The shoes were a reward for a successful potty moment. We will take anything we can get, so, no matter how small, we praised it to no end and gave her the prize. We are still quite far from being done of course, but it is getting ever-so-slightly better. Baby steps, little acorns = big oaks, etc, etc.

Over the weekend I made this Strawberry Yogurt Cake. If, like me, you have given in to the temptation of strawberries in the grocery store, give this recipe a go. The strawberries I bought recently were ok, but having come from California they just aren't the same as local ones. They look juicy and red, but once you cut into them the flesh is still white in the middle. The cake had strawberry flavor with just the right amount of sweetness. I can only imagine how good this would be with local berries. I also tried a Popsicle "recipe" along the lines of this but I was not entirely impressed. They are almost too sweet (which is really saying something if you know my sweet tooth!) and I think I should have let them set a bit before putting the sticks in because when I went to share I pulled the sticks right out, no pop! Oh well, the weather is just heating up - there is plenty of time to try something else.

Maglia Ritorta

I finally have some knitting to show! I finished something, wove in the ends, took some photos and sent it off. Presenting... Maglia Ritorta designed by Jill Wolcott (her website is y2knitpatterns) and knit up in Mountain Meadow Wool - Laramie (their worsted) and the "Sky" colorway.

Front.


Back side. (Wow, I need a haircut. I do like how red my hair looks here.)

It's not blocked (per my sample knitting instructions) - it still looks pretty cute. It nicely wraps around your shoulders and being worsted wool created a dense fabric that is quite warm. It blocks out quite nice though - apparently I didn't upload the swatch photo to flickr, but it is on the project page on Ravelry.

I am very pleased to have that project finished. I'm just about done with another super-huge-super-secret project, I'm working on a test knit for a fellow SnB (and I have to say - having friends who have nice taste in yarns makes for a dreamy project. Silk = luscious!!), one "Memorable Women" sock is done and I've got another sample sweater started and then I have also started to think about Christmas gifts...