An Update on the Poncho

My Easy Folded Poncho is finished.  Well almost.  It still needs to liberated from the blocking wires and seamed.

After I finished binding off, I pinned up the shoulder and tried it on and I love it!  And at that moment, I knew that it should be cowl-less.  So, all that fretting was for naught. I'm already thinking though that I'd like another one in the Rowan Felted Tweed, this time in Seafarer (navy).

Here it is all bathed and blocking on the blocking bed.  I used my new blocking wires and I love 'em!  It's all dry now and ready for the seaming.

I haven't mentioned how much I love Rowan Felted Tweed.  It's so tweedy......so English (well my idea of English tweed anyway).  And wonderfully sticky.  I used bamboo needles this time but I would definitely use Addi's next time.  But before I start the next one, I need a good supply of movies.

Throwdown!

On Christmas Day, my niece and I had a coconut cake throwndown!  Lindsay made the Barefoot Contessa’s Coconut Cake recipe and I used a version of the one that my Mother, Grandmother, and Great-Aunt made for years.  I forgot to take a picture of the cakes before cutting but here's Lindsay's:

And here's mine:

We even had scoresheets.

The judges were my dad, my brother, my nephew, and Lindsay’s dad and they took their jobs very seriously.

And the winner was.........Lindsay and the Barefoot Contessa's Coconut Cake recipe! I understand that it was close with only a few points separating the two.  One thing though.  We didn’t count on two coconut cakes being a LOT of coconut cake! 

Inch by Inch

My Easy Folded Poncho is coming along.  Inch by inch.  An inch is about all I can manage to knit  in the evenings before nodding off.  I blame it on the TV, of course.  There doesn’t seem to be much on other than Law & Order and Everybody Loves Raymond reruns, most of which I saw last January.  I could get better cable than the 120 stations plus local that I have now, but that would seriously cut into my yarn funds and I’m not willing to do that.  So, until the weekends, when my favorite Britcoms come on, I’m slowly, but surely, making progress.  Right now, I'm at 28.25 inches.  Only 21.75 more inches to go. 

New Toys

I have two new toys that I’ve been coveting for a long time:  a  Rowenta iron and a set of blocking wires.  Now, I think I can do just about anything! 

I’ve been wanting a Rowenta for a long time and I look at them just about every time I go to Bed, Bath, and Beyond,  So, a couple of days before Christmas, I was in Target and you know how you cut down an aisle that's not crowded?  Well, I did that and found myself on the laundry aisle and lo and behold, there were Rowenta irons!  Rowenta's at Target!  I remembered a gift card I’d had for a couple of years because I couldn’t decide what to buy and I knew then, that’s why I’d held onto it.  It was destined for a Rowenta.  I even had enough left over for a much needed new ironing board cover. 

I’ve used it several times and can I tell you, it is wonderful.  The heft is wonderful and when you press the steam button, it sounds like a steam engine!  This baby can steam any curling edge into submission quickly and efficiently.

Then, there’s my new blocking wires from Churchmouse.  I love ‘em.  I had saved blocking my Catherine’s Shawl so I could try them out on the top edge, and they worked wonderfully. 

Speaking of the Catherine’s Shawl, blocking, even with my new blocking wires, didn’t redeem it.  It just didn’t seem to matter how I draped it, tied it, stretched it, or scrunched it, it looked just plain horrible on me.  My mother and my friend, Pam, both seconded the opinion.  I guess I’m just too big for it or it’s too small.  I can’t decide which.  So, I’m frogging it.  Any ideas of what to do with two skeins of Madelinetosh tosh merino light?

Pull From The Tangle

Kay, over at Mason-Dixon Knitting, wrote a blog post entitled “Pull From The Tangle” about how pulling from the tangle applies to life.  That has stuck with me as I've pulled from the tangle a few times for the past week.

Some Finished Objects

Several people have asked me about the photo in the Christmas post.  The photo is of my Granddaddy and this is my all-time favorite photo of him.  He loved Christmas and every year, he hit the woods with his ax, sometimes with one or more grandchildren in tow, to find a Christmas tree.  The quality of this photo is not so good since it was one of those polaroid photos but I love it anyway.

I have a bunch of finished objects to tell you about:

My Mother's Christmas scarf.  The Two-Way Ruffled Scarf by Churchmouse Yarns done in Kidsilk Haze.  She loves it!  You may remember that I made one like this for me back in the summer and almost lost it when Mother saw it. 

Catherine's Shawl by Madelinetosh Yarns.  This Kale colorway in tosh is very difficult to photography.  I finished this in December and it is still unblocked.  I'm rather disappointed in this.  I can't decide it it's too small or I'm too large.  I'm hoping that blocking it will work some sort of sizing magic.  I'm waiting on my new blocking wires from Churchmouse to arrive and hopefully, will have a blocked photo next weekend.  I think if I were to do this again, I would add more repeats and might do in a DK weight.

Two baby hats for my sister-in-law to give as a gift.  Good old Berroco Comfort Chunky along with In The Making's House Hat Worksheet makes short work of these!



Welted Fingerless Gloves for me in Rowan Baby Alpaca DK.  A wonderful pattern by Churchmouse and the yarn, wow!  The yarn was buttery soft.  But......I knit the second one at a much tighter gauge than the first so I frogged the first and reknit it.  See how much bigger it was.....

 

(Please forgive the red tissue paper.  It was nighttime and I was in the middle of gift wrapping).

And finally, a decent photo of my Koigu Linen Stitch Scarf.  I've discovered something.  It's mightly hard to photography (at least for me) Koigu without it looking all mottled.

Hope you've enjoyed these!

Merry Christmas to all.........

Tristan's Blankie of Many Colors

Tristan’s Blankie is finished.  It was actually completed back in November, November 17 to be exact.  It is now in Kentucky, ferried by a family member going to visit at the first of the month, and is all packaged up waiting to be opened by the little fella himself on Christmas Day.

This blanket was fun to knit in a being 8-years-old and rolling down the grassy bank at my Grandparent’s house kind of way.  When it came time to change colors, I closed my eyes, plunged my hand down in the basket of not used yet yarn, stirred it around, and pulled one out.  Unless the color family had been used in the row immediately below, it was used, no matter what.  And along the way, I happened on some surprisingly pleasing color combinations, well, surprising to me anyway. 

Here’s how the entire blanket looks  Forgive the lumpiness.  That’s from the dead grass underneath.

I hope the boys love their blankets as much as I loved making them.  I've told their Mother that these blankets are for loving, for taking on picnics, for spreading out to look at the stars, and for cuddling on the sofa on a cold day. 

Along towards the end of this blanket, I started thinking about making another one, this time for me.  But since I had so many baby gifts to knit, I decided to wait until after Christmas to make that decision.  But for the past several days, I’ve been thinking more and more about log cabins and blankets in general.  I've realized that I miss having a log cabin going.  All that garter stitch going on for miles.  The kind of zen knitting after a long day, the comfort when I could use comfort, and the joy of having something familiar when I’m between projects or having a “moment” with a project.  So, we'll see what happens.......

Seen at the Piggly Wiggly

Seen at the Piggly Wiggly (aka The Pig) in Warrior, AL this evening. 

I've seen this bear riding up and down Highway 160 and Highway 31 but this was the first time I've caught him stopped.  I didn't realize this was a business, I just thought it was some guys having fun with unsuspecting motorists!  It turns out that Larry of Larry's Bear Den is just promoting his business, which is located in Warrior.  He used a chainsaw to carve the bears and birds that you see in the truck.  He does amazing work, doesn't he?  That standing bear is impressive. 

So, if you're looking for a last minute gift for the person who has everything or would like a lifesize bear for yourself, give Larry a call.  He'll be happy to hear from you.