Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Holy Smokes !



















Another day with miracle worker Debbie. The stash cabinet has been transformed into an organized wonder. I can actually find things and Holy Smokes I have alot of yarn ! What was I thinking !

Keep trying to tweek the Redo hat. It's too large and I'm still in denial that I can somehow fix it. We'll see.....

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Nordic Felted Bag

This sweater felted alot nicer than the other one.
No Nordic dog toy this time ! Next finishing my Do Redo hat. I love the challenge of trying to use as much of the sweaters as I possibly can.
Anna Brita modeling my Chevron Evening Wrap using Claudia's Hand Painted. I'm still plugging away at it in between everything else, it's about two thirds finished. The colors are so vibrant.

Sunday, October 22, 2006

Felting gone awry !










All hot to trot after getting inspired at B & B knitters my daughter Anna and I went to the thrift store to pick out wool sweaters to felt. She chose this nice man's sweater with a variegated white and green yarn for me to make a purse out of. Well, not having much experience with this I felted the HECK out of it ! It now looks and feels like colored drywall !! I've found though that all is not lost ! The arms make great chew toys for Wennie the Corgi. She loves it !


It also makes great chew objects for the gerbils Sven and Olle !
Guess which one is Sven ! Desert Beavers I call them
as they chew like crazy ! Barbro's gerbils were
so cute I couldn't resist the urge to get a
pair when we got home. They are so cute and fun to watch.

The Travelogue continues !


Barbro and I - all because of the Internet ! A few years ago I typed "Värmland knitting" into Google and Barbro's blog popped in at the top of the list ! It was great to meet her this summer as I've written before. Here's another one of her creations - a Danish pattern if I remember correctly !

Friday, October 20, 2006

Let it Rain Yarn

Found a charming, tiny yarn shop in Mukilteo called Let it Rain Yarn. It carries the nicest selection of good quality yarn and the owner is very friendly and helpful. There is something to be said for excellent customer service. I stumbled upon the web site on one of my Nordic knitting fact finding web sessions. My mission was to find yarn to buy for Barbro in exchange for books she bought for me in Sweden. It was fun trying to select just the right ones that hopefully she will love.
I did resist to buy some for myself for now ! That was HARD.

Saturday, October 14, 2006

More Slöjd Kalaset and it's a blue day......

A few more pictures from the Museum in Karlstad. It was a wonderful exhibit and I'm so happy we went with Barbro.



It is a gray day and I guess I'm letting it make me feel blue. I don't seem to get much knitting done but spin my wheels with everyday family life, the Nordic knitters, work, pets, etc.. I think I have Adult ADD ! I've let the chaos of my childhood haunt me for too long. I come from a long line of packrats too. Thanks to Chris at Weathered Wool for suggesting an organizer to help me out. Little did Debbie know when she agreed to work with us what she was up against ! She's been here two days and I feel there is light at the end of the tunnel as far as dejunking the house and bringing peace and harmony into our surroundings. The downstairs bathroom, cupboard,laundry room, and part of the family room have been done. I can't wait to get the kitchen and dining area finished. It is so hard not being able to find anything. Soon the yarn stash and all crafty things will be more accessible and I hopefully won't have to keep buying things over and over because I can't find them ! There has to be a hundred pairs of scissors in this house ! It is daunting but I am trying to rejoice for every bag and box that makes it out of the door for donation. It will be hard to change a lifetime of bad habits but I want to try.

On to lighter subjects. I just cut out a hat from a felted black sweater from a pattern in " Second Time Cool" If it turns out it will be for Ryan as black seems to be one of his favorite colors-typical teenager I guess ! Have to decide whether to embellish it or not. Off to sew it up.

Thursday, October 05, 2006

One down !



Can't wait to finish
this pair and start
the red ones ! The
hat pattern is coming
in a few weeks.
Simple but elegant.
It will be a big
thrill for me to
meet Sirkka in
person in 2007 at
the Nordic Knitting
Conference.

Monday, October 02, 2006

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNA !!!



It's Anna's 20th today ! Hard to believe our baby girl is no longer a teen !
We are off to our favorite Indian/Pakistani restaurant tonight for a B-Day dinner.
Here she is out on the Clemence's boat in the San Juans.

Since I jump from project to project this is the Crystal Palace jacket I'm working on for her. It's a free pattern on their web site.
I love the feel of the Merino Stripe yarn.