Knitwith Homespun

I didn`t think I could get any sicker, but oh my goodness did I ever! My throat is swollen and I`ve been to the doctor again. My uvula (sp) is very swollen and bugging me to death. For those like me who don`t know, that`s the little dangly thing at the back of your throat behind your tongue. Well mine is soooo swollen that it`s resting on my tongue and also dangling down the back of my throat and making me gag some of the time.

I haven`t had time to do any of the stuff I wanted to do while I”m here. I wanted to hike and go geocaching and all kinds of really fun things with my sister and her kids. So, I`m knitting. It`s going well. I am working on Amanda`s socks and decided (in my sickness) on a simple k2 p2 rib. Toe up in my special way I like making a nice round toe. Tried a short row heel and it worked nicely. On one side of the heel, all is well and beautiful. On the other side, I have a hole. I think this is one of the spots where I was supposed to pick up a double wrap but I don`t think I did. If anyone knows, could you please let me know if that is what this looks like. Looks to me like nothing is dropped so tell me what you think.
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The glasses I got at Goodwill up here for $4.00. Aren`t they cute? One thing I like about getting old is buying reading glasses and knitting glasses. Especially cheaply like this! Awesome!

I am totally sick! Congested beyond belief, coughing, sneezing, tired, not sleeping and crabby! I didn`t even want to knit. But the good news is, I found a Kaiser up here and I went and got some medicine today. My throat hurt so badly, I wanted them to make sure I don`t have strep and I don`t. Anyway, just thought I would update you all. I started a spiral scarf from One-Skein Wonders edited by Judith Durant. This is a handy book for me as I am spinning up one skein of yarn at a time. So, all you spinners out there, if you don`t have this one, you should definitely get it. Ok, I have to lay down cause I totally don`t feel good. Have a good day, all!

Gone tomorrow. Will be travelling for a couple of days and will post something as soon as something is available to post. Talk to y`all later!

I have been practicing Andean plying so I can do something with my fiber I have been hording already. I have two skeins drying right now and I plan on spinning an entire batch of merino shortly. I will post the pictures when they are ready. Here are the resources I used to learn and practice the plying.

Mielke`s Fiber Arts This one was very helpful in learning how the wind the yarn on my hand. I couldn`t figure out what was going to happen and I thought I was making a big mess. But, I trusted the diagram that I was looking at and trusted the people bringing me the diagram as well. So I followed the diagram and begin winding. It didn`t make sense to me, but I did it. Then, I was able to pull the inner tail that I left to grab, line it up with the other end on the outside, and I attached it to the leader. I started pulling, and bingo, it worked! After I starting spinning the plied yarn, I understood how the wrapping of the yarn worked. I`m glad I tried it the way the diagram showed and trusted that they knew what they are doing!

I`ll keep you posted on my plying progress. I am hoping to take some yarns up to Portland with me to knit while I`m there. One of them is dry already. It is pictured to the right.

I knocked these out last year during the summer for quick knits and everyone I knew wanted one. They are super fun to knit and very very very very quick. I liked them because they were great to practice stitch patterns and cables. I will do my best to write a pattern for this one. I have never written a pattern before so please be patient and let me know if you find any errors or problems with this pattern.

Super important to string your beads before you start casting on. These beads on this particular case glow in the dark! Very cool. I got a case of these beads at Wal-Mart for about $8. If you want a more solid looking beaded case, string more beads and where the pattern says knit the row, use the slip, bead, knit pattern.

Generally: Knit this lengthwise as you can see here. Wrapped around the phone (or the ipod) and closed by picking up stitches and then using a three needle bind off to close.

The purl rows create these ridges that help shape the case. The part of this case that I like, is that there is no seam sewing. It is quite sturdy and holds the electronic device of your choice pretty securely and on the outside of your purse. The problem I had with this one is that I knit a little looser now than I did before, so it`s not quite as tight as I would like. The yarn I used here requires a size 7 needle on the label, but I used size 3 needles and still it`s quite loose.

This case took me 2 days to complete but I was busy as well and should only take a couple of hours if you knit it straight through.

On another note, part of my busy-ness that I had on Wednesday, I took Bella to Disneyland to ride ONE ride. We have passes. With the passes, sometimes, come some perks. We got a letter a month or more ago saying that we could put our passes into a lottery to win a ride on the Finding Nemo Submarine ride that opens on June 11, 2007. I put in for 6 passes for the ride and I got them! We all went on Wednesday and our appointment time was at 3pm. They recommend us getting there 30 minutes before the time we are scheduled for so I got Bella out of school 30 minutes early (does that make me a bad parent?) and she missed PE that day. She had 2 cousins come with us and their moms. It was amazing! As you might imagine, Disney does a GREAT job with this one. I think they have some advanced technology here because they show video under the water. I couldn`t figure out how they were displaying it or what they were displaying it on, but it was extremely well done and worth it to go.

We had a great time and I didn`t bring any camera because I had my point-and-shoot set up to take my bead placing video (that sucks but I`ll post anyway) on a tripod next to the couch. It was wonderful though, because there was only a short line. I imagine, we wouldn`t get on the ride at all this summer because the lines will be so long at that time.

Cooking:

Lots to do today. If you have read my blog before, you may have seen or noticed the little wormy guy up above the articles.

I have put this here to remind me about my exciting summer. Bella and I are taking three trips and David is coming with us on one. Therefore, I am leaving him home on two of these, the first being the trip to Portland. We leave next Thursday, the day after Isabella gets out of school. Since I am a housewife (a happy one at that), and my job is to take care of my family and my house, I tend to feel guilty when I take my daughter and leave town and David has to fend for himself. Of course, he doesn`t mind and likes that we are able to do these things. So, I like to spoil him and take extra good care of him before I leave. This is what today is about plus a few other ideas I had while shopping.

Plan:

Onion Dip (from Vidalias at Costco)
Chicken Salad (his fave)
BBQ Salmon and Horseradish Cole Slaw (dinner tonight)
Spiced Nuts (for me and Bella in our trail mix for the long car ride to Portland, OR)
Pesto (for storing and using while we are gone)

I managed to get all this done so far and it`s not quite dinner time yet! Hoooray!

Knitting:

I have blocked Isabella`s bathing suit cover up and posted the picture. It turned out very well I think and she likes it so it`s a success!

This song has been introduced to me and my family by accident. Perhaps we have been living under a rock, or maybe the stairs, but it`s new to us. Apparently, Gary Brolsma started this whole thing about a year ago on YouTube. The only reason I now know of this phenonenon is because I posted a video of Bella on YouTube and the video immediately to our left here is always in the box next to hers. It led us to the next video, which is one of my favorites and I watch a couple of times a day (since I am now addicted). David`s favorite is the one with the cutie patootie girl up top. Next, we did our research and found the original by Gary Brolsma linked here, if you want to see it (we did). This last video is another one of my favorites that totally cracks me up but the Navy is still my number 1!

Done! I can`t post a picture yet because I need to block it cause boy is it curling. How is that for a sentence! Anyway, I`ll post a picture of it before you know it. It also needs blocking because the fit is a little funky. Hey, it`s hard to size something where the pattern is written with the smallest size extra small woman and you are knitting for a six year old! I`m lucky it fits at all! But it does and it will be fine. I am now starting a mystery project which I will list on the left as “Mystery” since people`s birthdays are coming up (a bunch of them) and I don`t want to give anything away. Pictures coming soon, I promise.