Knittymama

May 17, 2007 · 3:08 am

Shepherd’s Harvest

We’re in the midst of our little teething crisis. Two have poked through on top, and the bottom two aren’t all that swollen yet. I’m really hoping to get my needle rolls sewn tonight. Yes, I’m that behind. Never fear contest winners, they will be done!!!

But before I drag my machine out I’ll actually let you know what all those Flicker pictures were about.

So Shepherd’s Harvest was a blast. The guys and I started out in the morning. We went right for the llama barn and then the sheep shearing. Little Man was enthralled and had a million questions for the shearer and even got to take a sample of the fleece with him.* A shepherd in training perhaps? Knittybaby just wanted to walk around and wasn’t that impressed with the sheep. The Skeptic? Well, he’s a good sport.

At the shearing we met up with my cousin who gifted me with two, two bags of alpaca fleece!!! She was given them by a breeder to use and report back on, so all I have to do is let her know what I think of them. She gave me a bag of suri and huacaya. You’d think after that I’d have all I needed already, right?

No, because I met up with my friend Jen, my queen fiber enabler. I can completely blame her for the closet full of yarn and fiber I have, because five years ago she kept coming into work going on and on about all this knitting she was doing, and running off to spinning class. (People, I thought she was going to the gym for three months; then I realized, wait…. knitting…. spinning…. oh spinning, like, with a wheel????) Anway, I wish I had pictures of her stuff because she’s awesome (locals: buy her yarn under Knittergirl at the Textile Center!) both as an amazing spinner, knitter and all around wonderful human being. Who else will chase sheep all day with me and not get bored?

We shopped for hours. The guys left to go to a birthday party and we girls just wandered around, going nuts for all the amazing stuff we saw. I seriously could have spent a thousand bucks but kept it at under $125 as I’m saving for another exciting fiber event in June.

Here’s the rundown:

1. My first fleece!!! Blue Faced Leicester/Romny from… this is terrible, I have no idea!!! I felt the fleece, saw 4.5 pounds for $36 and paid cash. They were so nice too. But the receipt doesn’t have their name on it.

2. Huacuya from my cousin.

3. Felted squares from Misty Meadow Designs. She has some seriously cool felted stuff.

4. Suri from my cousin.

5. Shirts for me and Little Man.

6. Roving from another mystery vendor. (darn cash…there’s no trail to follow!)

7. Merino roving from Carpool. She was very friendly!

8. Wool fat quarters from River Rock Wool. These will be put with those felted squares for some sort of bag.

9. Silk hankie, mystery vendor.

10. Pink fluff from Spinner’s Web.

11. My only yarn purchase from Morning Sun Fiber Barn. Don’t you love the yellow??
12. Same yarn with the 5 ounces of mohair I bought.

13. A sweet face

14. Ready for a haircut
15. Little Shepherd

16. Cozy

Sorry I don’t have more links. My memory just did not serve me well and either the places gave me generic recepits or else they are so small they have no web site. But man, what beautiful, beautiful stuff.

*Little Man put his sample in my back pocket. The next day I threw on the same pair of jeans and ran off to a party with Little Mr. Runny Nose, I mean Knittybaby. I reached into my pocket for a tissue and found fleece, of course! Doesn’t everyone walk around with fleece in their pocket??

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Filed under Uncategorized

May 15, 2007 · 4:50 am

Teething

I have approximately 3.5 minutes before Knittybaby will wake up again for the 80th time this evening. Therefore, there will be no long incredibly detailed post on my wonderful day at Shepherd’s Harvest. If you want a sneak peak, check out my Flickr badge. There’s lots more on my page. Otherwise stay tuned for:

A really detailed account of Shepherd’s Harvest and all the cool stuff I saw and bought.

An update on everything I’m knitting, since I realized most of my “In Progress” stuff is actually done and the stuff I’m working on isn’t even on this blog yet.

A cool community project I was a part of.

Okay, he’s still asleep. Maybe I’ll have time to brush my teeth too before I give in and just stay in bed for the night.

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May 11, 2007 · 2:55 am

My new plan….

I’m training them already.

Not only will they be doing the dishes for me, but mopping and folding laundry too. I’ll sit on the sofa drinking coffee and knitting socks. Seriously, it’s really going to work. Look how hard they’re working!

Okay, I’m delusional because soon after I took that picture there was a tidal wave of water on the floor and I had to rewash but hey, a girl can dream, right?

Shepherd’s Harvest is this weekend! I’m excited, although it looks as if we’ll have to be out of there by 12:30 in order to get Little Man to a birthday party. The idea of maybe skipping it so we could stay longer was not met with much enthusiasm (many tears in fact) so we’ll try to make it back for the last hour of the party. That means I plan on getting the family there at 9am sharp. I really wanted to pick a meet up time, but not so sure how that will work with limited time there now. But, we’ll probably be around the sheep shearing area around 11 or so. Just keep your eye out for the pink flowered baby sling (with the baby of course!) and a very shaggy four year old. Hope to see some of you out there!

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Filed under Uncategorized

May 9, 2007 · 3:48 am

Joy

We made it to the May Day Fesitval on Sunday. We missed the parade, which was sad as it is really one of my favorite events all summer. Take some time to check out the link; fabulous puppets and constumes. We did manage to get there to see the pagent and sing “You Are My Sunshine” with the crowd…I love that part and it always makes me tear up just a little (I’m sappy like that) but the best part came afterwards, when Little Man, Knittybaby and I were heading back to the car while the Skeptic finished up his work. (He always gets stuck doing audio for Mayday).

Anyway, the three of us were getting ready to hike up the big hill towards our car, but we decided to grab some ice cream first. As we sat there, a local Cuban band started up. They were fabulous and Little Man was really into it. He finished up his ice cream and found a pink, wilted flower on the ground. I was beat and trying to convince him to head up the hill with me. We got about 20 feet up when all of a sudden he puts the flower stem between his teeth and just started dancing this happy, gleeful little dance…the funniest most joyful dance I’ve ever seen. The kind of dance only a four year old can do. I neglected to have my camera, but it was one of those moments that I will always have captured in my heart. I gave in and we ran back down the hill into the crowd and I watched him dance his little heart out until we were finally tired enough to head home.

I finished the apron on time. Wiggly boys are not very good models.

The finished shot:

Finally, for my Dishcloth Swap partner:

When did you learn to knit? Who taught you? Wow, four years ago now! A friedn got my started then my Grandma made sure I really knew what I was doing.
What was your very first completed object? A little garter stitch hat for Little Man. Your most recent? A hat and sweater set for my nephew.
What was the very first thing you sent to the frog pond? A sock (pulled out and started over) Your most recent? A sock! 🙂
What is currently on the needles for you? Four pairs of socks, Swallowtail Shawl, a Noro Cotton/silk scarf.
What types of needles do you enjoy working with? I’m pretty flexible. Pretty much depends on the typw of project. But usually bamboo or Addis. What have you tried and hated? The only ones I really hate are super sticky ones.
Have you knit dishcloths before? Yup!
1. What was your favorite one? Mason-Dixon
2. Least favorite? None, really…
Do you use homemade dishcloths or face cloths yourself, or give them as gifts, or both? Both!
What are your favorite and least favorite scents? (For your body, such as soap/lotion/etc) I love lavender and citrus, but it’s got to be 100% natural, no artificial dyes or fragrances. I’m pretty sensitive:-)
What are your favorite colors? Pinks, blues, browns. Lately I’m on a yellow and green kick.
What colors (if any) are your bathroom and kitchen decorated in? Blue bathroom. The kitchen, pink!
What other hobbies and crafts do you enjoy? Spinning, sewing, crochet.
Chocolate: Dark? White? Milk? Ew? All of the above! (except ew:-)
Do you like salty treats? What kinds? Cashews, almonds, any kind of nut really.
If you could go anywhere in the world for one day and spend the day any way you wanted, where would you go and what would you do? Italy. Eat and knit
Do you have any allergies? (Yarns, foods, etc. that might impact what your pal can send) nope!

Crying baby, not proofreading tonight! 🙂

15 Comments

Filed under finished objects, kids, swaps

May 6, 2007 · 2:27 pm

Oh, O-Mop!!

Okay, so I was pretty exccited about the concept of Method’s O-mop. I’d never bought a product like this before as I didn’t wan’t to be throwing all those sheets in the trash. But compostable? Heck yeah! I was thrilled and went out and purchased one about three months ago.

The dry sheets work great and picked up every little spot of dust and cat hair off my floors. The wet cloths also do the job well and for the most part I was very pleased.

So what’s the trouble??

First, I was disappointed that the refillable sheets come in a plastic clamshell, which is not recyclable in Minneapolis. What’s wrong with consumer-waste cardboard, which can be recycled in most places? I could picture something much cuter than the plastic and more environmentally friendly. Something very Martha-ish, brown cardboard with a sweet little label.

Second, the microfiber wet cloth works great, but the one long velcro strip down the midle isn’t enough. The mop folds up when I scrub back and forth. Two horizontal strips would probably do the trick.

Finally, the worst problem? The plastic handle on top broke off!! This is the biggest disappointment. I expect a mop to last for YEARS, not months. This first two troubles I’ll deal with. But broken?? Nope. I think this is one of the biggest troubles in our consumer laden society. Stuff breaks, but it’s so cheap that we just toss it in the garbage rather than complain.

I’m complaining. I actually wrote to them about all of the above. I can’t remember the last time I wrote to a company about what happened. It will be interesting to see what happens.

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Filed under home

May 5, 2007 · 1:25 pm

So back to Toronto…

The trip was restful and a lot of fun. But it was also tough to enjoy it completely, as I kept seeing other families out and about which made me miss mine terribly. Of course, those families all seemed to have children in remarkably good moods. Not one meltdown did I see. Not one mother frantically gathering up her children who are on the verge of collasping the entire restaurant, with the father mumbling over and over, “sheesh, just bring the check already….where’s the dang check??? I knew this was a bad night to go out…waitress!!” And of course, buy Monday morning I was missing them so much I still would have taken that rukus over a quiet cuppa in the coffee shop around the corner. Funny how we parents always want some time so badly, but really, just a little time will do.

The boys did okay while I was gone. Little Man was sassy and Knittybaby was clingy, but otherwise things went pretty well. The only big problem was I vastly underestimated the amount of pumped milk I needed to stash away for Knittybaby while I was gone. He only nurses a few times during the day, but I guess he’s nursing a lot more than I realize at night. The poor Skeptic was up about every hour and a half with Knittybaby, who was hungry. The freezer stash was used up in the first couple of days. Luckily he’s old enough for cows milk and was fine with that as a temporary replacement. In the meantime, I was back in Toronto dumping bottles of pumped milk down the drain. The airline rules say you can’t take pumped breastmilk on the airplane with you unless you have your baby with you. So crazy, as most moms who have their baby with them have no need for pumped breastmilk. It’s the poor the moms who travel for work who are the ones who need to bring the milk back home with them. So frustrating….

On to the yarn:

Lettuce Knit was as tiny as Romni Wools was huge, but everything was so nicely arranged in that “jammed packed without feeling jammed packed” way that little shops are so good at. It was a lovely visit and the perfect day for just wandering around. It was hard for me to make up my mind as there was so much I wanted to take home.

I stuck to my promise and bought only stuff I can’t get back here in the Cities. The boys aren’t going to last much longer playing, so I’ll just direct you over to my Flickr pictures to get the lowdown on all the yarn I bought. It was a great day, just wandering around Kensington and Chinatown. I really want to go back there with the whole family.

Lucky me, after all the great yarn, I came home to more of it!! My SP10 pal strkes again with another great package:

The package was cleverly sent in a scotch whiskey tin which Little Man hijacked for his own. I was happy to be left with the contents!

A close up of the yarn:

This one is a new brand to me, which is always fun! I love the blend of different browns. Thanks so much SP10!!! Spoiled again! 🙂
Today’s project, to sew an apron for a party by this afternoon. The Skeptic’s at work, it’s me and the boys. Will I make it?

The puppies are crabby. They don’t think I’ll be done in time.

I was just about to post when two things happened:

I realized I haven’t posted about all the knitting I did in Toronto. I need to take pics and then I’ll do that. That’s not that exciting.

This is exciting. My cousin Terri called. Not only will she be at Sheperd’s Harvest next weekend (that alone is fun!) but she’s got alpaca fleece to give me as well!!! I’m seriously dancing around the room now.

Now that I mentioned the festival, who’s going? Anyone up for a bloggers meet-up?

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Filed under stash, swaps, travels

May 3, 2007 · 5:08 am

Bad Hostess

Okay, so I’ve been so busy galavanting around Toronto (yarn pics here, update on Lettuce Knit to come soon) I totally spaced out on my Coffeeswap questions. Some hostess, huh? 🙂 Anyway, here they are for my lovely partner over at Girl with a Sword!

QUESTIONS
1. Whole bean or ground? Whole bean
2. Fully-loaded or decaf? I probably should mix in some decaf since caffiene keeps me up more these days than it used to, but I still love it fully loaded. Decaf just never tastes the same
3. Regular or flavored? Definitely regular. I used to like flavors like hazelnut or vanilla, but my MIL is on a flavored coffee kick, and since that last batch of cranberry (yes, cranberry!) flavored coffee I vowed to never drink flavored again
4. How do you drink your coffee? In the mornings, black and very strong. Afternoons I like a latte or cafe au lait.
5. Favorite coffee ever? This is tough….I’d say Peace Coffee is my favorite brand.
6. Are you fussy about your coffee or will any old bean do? Yeah, I’m pretty fussy. I typically buy fair trade, organic, or from small local roasters. I’m terrible at actually remembering the blends and roasts that I like. I always forget what kind I buy.
7. Favorite treats to have with your coffee? Chocolate or cookies.
8. Anything else about your coffee preferences? Don’t think so, except that I would love a magic spell that would keep my boys quietly happy for at least ten minutes every morning so I could drink my coffee really, really hot:-)
9. Yarn/fiber you love? Handpainted sock yarn, Malabrigo, Manos, any natural fibers. I especially love local/online or smaller dyers and yarn companies, stuff that I can’t find in the shops around here is always a nice surprise.

10. Yarn/fiber you hate? Acrylics, froo-frooish/fluffy stuff
11. What’s on your needles? Four pairs of socks (ack!!) The Swallowtail shawl, a Noro silk/cortton scarf. Wow, I need to update my pictures, I don’t even have half this stuff on the blog now.
12. Favorite colors? Just about everything except pastels, although I do love pink. I’m on a big pink/brown or blue/brown kick lately. I’ve also really been digging green and orange lately.
13. Allergies? Nope
14. Anything you really love, really don’t like, or just need to get off your chest. Yes. Baristas that make lattes with TOO MUCH DARN FOAM make me crazy:-)

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Filed under swaps, Uncategorized

April 29, 2007 · 1:12 am

I Dig Toronto

What can I say? Toronto is, of course, great. The past two nights after I was done with my conference sessions, I just walked, and walked and walked. One of the things I love about living in Minneapolis is how you can just walk for miles and never run out of things to see and do, but I never really do that anymore since I always have the boys with me. While we walk back home, it’s never the “wandering, stop in wherever you want” kind.

So that’s what I’ve been doing. Meandering, stopping, browsing, all over the city. Heck, I even shopped. I found Lush, which I’ve been eyeing online but never ordered and got some nice treats there. I’ve mostly been wandering through the Fashion District, I think it’s called. Interesting people and places. Tons of crazy fabric shops, independent clothing designers, and unique people and places to eat. A posh shop with $200 dresses right next to a run down used book store with dusty old knicknacks in the window. All the things I love about a city, and I actually have some time to enjoy it.

I even bought clothes for myself. I found a lovely boutique called The Fresh Collective which is full of hand made clothing that is so incredibly cute, stuff I hope to learn to make myself someday. I bought a silkscreened hoodie from Cathy Peng and a lovely jacket from The Candi Factory. I even bought myself a newsboy hat since I forgot my hat and it’s chilly here. I can’t decide if I look really cute in it or really goofy, but at least it’s warm. Sorry, no picture of me in the hat!

Of course, there is yarn. I made it to Romni Wools today.

The place is flippin’ huge, that’s all I can say. Just about every yarn in existence is here, in a billion stacked up bins all over the place, in every nook and cranny. I stuck to my “only buy yarn I can’t get at home rule and bought some Fleece Artist, laceweight and a silk/wool blend. Pics later as my batteries are dead.

Tomorrow I will head over to Lettuce Knit and wander some more around Kensington and Chinatown. Tonight, I have a date with the Swallowtail shawl.

Finally, a picture for Little Man and Knittybaby, who as of last night’s phone call were enjoying pizza and staying up late with the Skeptic, Grandma and Grandpa. I miss them terribly but as I figured, they’re all just fine without Mommy for a few days.

Cows and a piano stuck to a building:-) I need to get a better, non blurry one tomorrow.

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Filed under random

April 26, 2007 · 4:01 am

Cover your eyes…

…if you are easily made jealous. Insane amount of stash enhancement ahead.

But first, thanks for all the love on the sweater set. I’m still trying to respond to all the comments, but I’m so behind from the Coffee Swap madness (madness in a good way, that is:-) These knitters love their coffee! I actually managed to match up 114 people and and send out their partners in two days. Yes, I know I totally rock. Or I’m just a little too crazy. Not sure which one yet.

Before I get to the pictures, are you ready for my major excitement? I’m off to Toronto in two days for an educators’ conference. Three nights, four days all by myself in a knitting mecca of a city. I’m excited but also upset about leaving my boys. I know they’ll be fine with the Skeptic, he has a very tight bond with both boys, but I’m really having a hard time with the idea of leaving them. How I can be so excited to go yet so not want to go at the same time is beyond me, although I’m sure all you moms understand.

So then, who’s got great suggeestions for places I should hit while I’m there, so I can keep busy and have some fun. Yarn shops? Fabirc shops? Good food? Anything else not to miss? I’m staying right downtown. I don’t have tons of free time but I do have a decent size chunk of it.

On to the pictures:

Yarnover haul (small, ’cause I’m going to Toronto!!!:-)

Shepherd’s Choice sock yarn:

Peace Fleece, meant for swatching for a possible sweater for the Skeptic

Spunky Eclectic sock of the month club:

Now, really cover your eyes if you need to. Remember the contest I won? The sock yarn for FIFTEEN PAIRS of socks? Here is it:

And more:

You can get the whole link-o-rama for the yarns at April’s blog, as well as her motive for such an incredible contest. I am so totally floored at her generosity and thankful for such a beautiful prize! Thanks, April:-) I’m not even sure what to start with!

18 Comments

Filed under contests, giving, stash

April 22, 2007 · 3:11 am

Catching Up

I have so much to post about, I’m not even sure where to start. Knittybaby has decided it’s okay to sleep on his own again. He’s still not quite %100, but at least he wants to play again and get back to normal baby business. He just needs extra cuddling and sling time.

Between Knittybaby’s virus and the swap I’m way behind, so I’m actually backing all the way up to last weekend. I have something I absolutely love to show off!

I finished the garter stitch baby sweater! This sweater and accompanying bonnet went to my sister-in-law for her baby shower last weekend. I was right up to the wire with the bonnet. Thank goodness she’s not a knitter, as I actually spent last Friday knitting it right in front of her. When my otherSIL asked me what it was I answered, “a purse.” Sneaky me!

I am in love with this project.

Patterns: Garter Stitch Baby Jacket from The Baby Knits Book by Debbie Bliss. The bonnet is a free pattern from Hello Yarn.

Yarn: Rowan Soft Baby in Meadow and Claudia Handpaints in Bearded Iris.

I’m pretty happy with the Soft Baby. It feels a lot like knitting with fleece, and the only thing I don’t like about it is that it has that fleecy tendency to pick up every piece of lint and cat hair in a mile radius. Other than that it is a nice baby yarn. The Claudia? Butter.
The pattern for the sweater was easy, but I didn’t like the unfinished look it seemed to have, plus the Soft Baby was crying for some contrast. I also felt that the sweater needed more width in the front. When I went to button it as is, I didn’t like the way it pulled in the front. The crocheted button band allivated that problem, plus I love the look of it.

The bonnet is an excellent basic pattern. I changed the I-cord ties to a side tie with buttons. I think I sewed them on a little too close together.

I’m happy to say the ensemble got “oohs” at the shower and my SIL seemed to love it.

The rest of the weekend was wonderful. We spent Sunday down by the creek with the boys on a perfect Spring day. We spent a lot of time just wandering, wondering if we really could ever be farm people. I could go on for pages about this issue…I guess I’ll save that dilemma for another day. I think the bottom line is that no matter where we lived we’d miss what was elsewhere…

Little Man had an exciting discovery, however. I wish I had the camera with us. He and the Skeptic found an entire beaver skeleton buried in the muck along the edge of the creek, pretty much fully intact. I had to get over my “ish” factor but Little Man was so enthralled. I love watching him in moments like these. The best part was we also found where the beaver had been chewing the trees and found quite a few stumps. What an amazing lesson and a wonderful day.

One last thing, since I’m on the topic of wonderful things. Then I’m calling it a night. In my rush to get Little Man to pre-school on Thursday, I left my purse on top of the car and drove off. Smart, I know. In what can only be called our “transistional” neighborhood, I figured it was gone for good. Nope!! Some lovely man found it, called me up and delivered it to my house. Every penny, every check, my phone, all still there. This so restored my faith in my neighborhood and the people in it. I get a little frustrated with the goings-on at times. But here’s a guy, who (I’m only guessing) probably could have used what was in that purse more than me. I wish I could send him something but he would only give me his name. Anyway, thank you Feliciano!!! You made my day. I only wish you were reading this to know how much I appreciated your kindness.

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Filed under finished objects, kids