Oscar Oscar!

Last weekend is officially a blur. Dinners with friends, film directors' symposiums, hair dresser and nail appointments, revisiting my favorite cafes and of course, attending the Oscars. Oh and almost being run over by George Clooney. :) But more about that later.


After knitting like a mad woman for a week, I manage to get enough done on my shawl to make it wearable. I would have still like to have it another 10ins longer, however slow knitters with time management issues can't be choosers. I'm really happy with the way it turned out. The pattern is Meandering Vines Shawl by Susanna IC and was worked in Rowan Kid Haze for the slight halo effect. 

The actual event was a lot of exhilarated craziness and fun. The red carpet is divided into two sections. The front section near the cameras is for the movie stars and glitterati. Behind a velvet rope is the lane for everyone else. And that is where my friend, Mary Anne and I, were making our way towards the theater. At one point, I stopped to talk to my friend Mary Anne and tried to get a look at the latest movie star who had just arrived (I think it was Gweneth Paltrow). When Mary Anne suddenly remarked in slight alarm "Oh, watch out, there is George Clooney. He's jumped the rope!". I turn around in time to see a blur of grey hair go rushing past me on his way to the stands behind me. Shaking hands with people in the bleachers, George Clooney then endeared himself to the 200 or so people present by talking to and then kissing on the cheek of the older lady waiting patiently on the red carpet in her wheel chair. A collective "Awww!" went up from everyone around him. Good job Mr. Clooney. :)

Now I'm back home and it's back to reality. At noon last Saturday I was attending the Oscar nominated foreign language film directors' symposium. Today at midday, I was deworming llamas and shoveling llama poop. I love me life! :) 

One tick on the bucket list

Sometime last year I got the idea that I was going to attack my fear of lace. So, in true me style, I dove headlong into something way bigger than I intended. Encouraged by my knit night tribe, I started and completed Traveling Woman by Liz Abinante. My project here. This gave me the courage and know-how to attempt something that I considered to be a lot harder - Haruni, by Emily Ross. In internet and social media speak, this pattern went VIRAL. Over 5000 knitters have taken on the challenge and completed their own Harunis. These are only the ones that have ravelry accounts. Who knows how many undocumented Harunis there are out there. 

I started mine before all of my Christmas knitting. I put it down for three weeks while I got the Christmas knitting out of the way. So, now I give you, my green Haruni:

I tend not to keep what I knit. So, in keeping to form, my green Haruni is now winging it's way to my sister in Australia. I hope she likes it.

And the award goes to...

I've been asked to go with a friend to the Oscars at the end of February. The first thing I thought of was "What can I knit for it? Do I have time?" and "Is there anything in my stash that would suit?"

The eventual answers to these questions were:

1. Meandering Vines Shawl
2. If I can decide a color and start this very second, then maybe.
3. No. After much research and three intense trips to yarn stores in two counties, I ended up with Rowan Kidsilk Haze, held double and in a gorgeous pink/purple color. 

After swatching on US8's and US9's, I decided to add a horizontal repeat (12 stitches) and go with US8's. I am almost 4 vertical repeats in and am really happy with this way it's turning out. I just have to ditch the rest of my life for the next month and knit like a woman possessed. With two small children, a hubby and lots of animals, this isn't going to happen. So, we will see how it goes.

Here is the link to the project on Ravelry.  From there, you can watch my progress (or lack there of). You'll need a ravelry account to do so.

2011 Play It Forward Summary

Happy new year everyone! I went to ground for a couple of months after releasing the Platypus blanket into the world. I managed to complete the 5 projects I had promised to people for my "play it forward" self-imposed assignment. To recap, the "Play it forward" project: 
I promise to send something handmade to the first 5 people who leave a comment here. They must in turn post this (on facebook) and send something they make to the first five people who comment on their status. What you make is completely up to you. Handmade by you and sent to your 5 people sometime in 2011!

Although the choice of project for each person was completely in my hands, I did set a few of my own guidelines: 

1. All five projects would be knitted. 
2. I would not use the same pattern twice. 
3. They had to be patterns that I had never completed before.
4. I could get ideas of what the person wanted (ie give a list of 5 items, they chose three and I would choose one). 
5. I could ask the person what neighborhood of the color wheel they felt the most happy in.
6. Try and use "test knit patterns" if appropriate. 
7. Only use yarn from my stash.  My stash is pretty healthy, so this wasn't hard at all.  

So, here is what I came up with:

"Gilly Weed" hat for Jane, in Australia. This was a test knit for a Sarah Woodbury and was easy and fun.

Saroyan for Margaret. just up the road!  I LOVED making this. It was really fast and using one of my favorite yarns (Ultra Alpaca by Berroco), it was something I will make again and again.

"Gretel" for Deborah in Australia. I made this from a worsted alpaca skein that I was given from the UK. I wish I could find more of the yarn. The hat came out a little bigger than I had hoped, however I think it was still a nice fit. Good pattern, good yarn. 

"Fire Pio Covers" for Brandi here in Colorado. This was a made up design with help from Jessy Henderson’s “Flame On” hat for the flame design. Fire poi - A regular favourite of fire twirlers/dancers. Poi is a Maori word and the art of spinning poi originally comes from New Zealand, though can be found throughout the world today. Fire Poi are made of a ball of kevlar wick on the end of a chain that is swung around the body. Usually twirled in pairs, they create a beautiful circular fire trail about the fire dancer.

You use covers on your fire poi to stop the kevlar wick part of the poi from putting soot everywhere while you’re practicing. They were greatly appreciated. 

"Elbow Length Fingerless Gloves" for Pixie in Colorado. The fifth project I forgot to take a photo of before I sent them... DOH! Rookie mistake! :) Lengthened them to the elbow and ribbed them all the way to the fingers. I also extended the cables all the way to the elbows. I made them from yarn we received in goodie backs at a Colorado Rockies baseball game a couple of years ago. The annual "stitch and pitch" was sponsored that year by Zealana yarns. I highly recommend their possum wool blends.

I loved taking on this project and I am planning on doing the same this year. I called for people to sign up on my facebook page and currently have three takers. Let the planning begin! :)

Platypi released into the world

Thanks to the help of four fabulous test knitters, I can now safely say my platypi blanket is ready for release into the world. The pattern now comes in two files - one for the pattern and one for the main body of the blanket chart. At the suggestion of one of my test knitters, I added row and stitch counts. To see them, you'll have to blow the chart up! :)

My Dad has been visiting from Australia and will be taking the original Platypi blanket home with him to give to my sister. Must remember to tack it in place before he leaves! :)

Knitting Bucket List

I got to thinking the other day. "What would be on my bucket list?" Then, I got to thinking "More importantly, what would be on my knitting bucket list??"

I one of the top items on my bucket list would be my knitting bucket list. But that is cheating I reckon. :)

My ravelry.com queue could be considered a knitting bucket list of sorts. However I think I need to pair it down and think about it some more. I treat my queue as a place holder for stuff I like at the moment. At the moment there are a lot lace shawls and kiddie clothing pieces. However I don't know how many of these I will go out of my way to complete before I kick the bucket. I grant you, there are a couple of items on that queue that I consider "graduation" pieces. Pieces that I want to complete before I feel that I have gotten significantly better as a knitter.

The following are current contenders for my knitting bucket list:

• Haruni by Emily Ross - stunning full size shawl with beautiful detail. Love it.
• In Bloom by Kimberli Mackay - I am intimidated by felting. This would be the project to prove to myself that I am over my intimidation AND I would have a gorgeous bag to boot.
• Peacock Feathers Shawl by Dorothy Siemens - This is huge, awsome, stunning and truly scary. I want to make one.
• OpArt by Melissa Dominguez - this make my inner geek happy. I just have to find the right parents/baby who love it too.

stay tuned for more additions...

Platypi Squared baby blanket

Last week was a week of extreme knitting for me. This week marks the start of the local county fair which meant I needed to get my entries in last Friday. I had everything completed, blocked and finished.... except one.

With 24hrs to go, I still had 7,000 to go, all the ends to be sewn in and needed to at least attempt some sort of blocking. So it was off to my mother-in-law's place so that the kids could run around and play while I sit down and KNIT! By 2am, all bar 10 rows where done. I thought it wise to get at least 4hrs sleep. To give some context, I am not the fastest knitter in the world and can average about 1,500 stitches on a good day.

The next morning saw a DvD go into the player for the kids and the last 10 rows completed. Sewing in the ends was done during my son's speech therapy session. With four hours left I still needed to block. So, I packed up my rubber blocking mats, my spray bottle and pins and headed to the swimming pool where the kids were having a swimming lesson. I think knit blocking was a first on the pool deck of my local swimming pool! :) Thanks to Colorado's hot and dry summers, blocking was completed in about 15mins.

I managed to get it submitted with 2hrs to spare. It didn't win any prizes, however I am really happy with the way it turned out. Once I get it back, I'll back it with fleece and send it onto my sister in Australia. I also submitted my Traveling Woman Shawl, which came 2nd, which I was pretty happy about.

I've written up the pattern and it is currently up for test knitting on Ravelry. If anyone is interested in test knitting this pattern, just follow the link:

Platypi Squared Baby Blanket

Note: you'll have to have a Ravelry.com account to be able to see the above link.