I made a list

I really have to get organized, so I made a list. All of my UFOs (for those not familiar, UnFinished Objects). Disgusting! I must have over 30 here at home. I have 6 unfinished lace shawls, 5 lace scarves, 8 pairs of socks to finish, 5 sweaters or cardis in varying degrees of completion, and yes 4 purses to be finished and felted. I know I'm missing some stuff, in some plastic bags lying in some corner, with needles attached.

But first, I have to get rid of some yarns. Lots of acrylics I know I will no longer use, well, except for my crocheted teddy bears. I finished one 2 days ago. No pics, no camera, no batteries yet. Hats for the homeless this coming winter.

It feels good to make a donation to Ships Support. I was going to knit some more hats and adult booties and sew up some cool ties for the troops but I've been sooo busy lately. So, I auctioned up some of my yarns and donated the proceeds to Ellen for postage. Voila! Boy, it feels good.

Black Flower Power

My digital camera's totally dead. I hope it's just the battery. I'm off to Walmart to buy new batteries. I feel completely lost without my camera since I use it all the time for my Ebay pictures.  Before it fizzled out, I had a chance to take some pics.   This is another version of Stitch Diva's Mini Flower poncho.  I added a few rows on the neckline and made the bottom even. The yarn used was Read Heart Casual Cot'n in Zebra colorway. It doesn't really show the flower stitch but I loved working with it. A blend of acrylic, cotton and polyester.  Here's the original version, finished several weeks ago.

See what happens when I get bored

I used to do rag rug crochet and wanted to do something really quick. Plus, it will help me organize some of my yarns.  Hence, the basket.  Made with strips of fabric crocheted with a Q hook (one of those blue plastic ones at Walmart and Michaels).  Super quick and finished in less than 1 hour.

Library book sale

Being a member of the Knitswap group in Yahoo,  I saw a post that blew my mind. I believe it was Lynda who posted that she donated her collection of  Interweave Knits, Piecework, Vogue Knitting, FCEK, and Spinoff magazines to the local branch of the Sacramento Library, just a few minutes away from where I live.

Come Saturday morning, I was there at nine o'clock , and zeroed in on the magazines.   I was the only one interested. There were no others.  Almost everyone flocked to the books.  I saw them all and I conquered.  I asked the girls manning the table if I could have several paper bags because I'm buying a lot of magazines.

Most of the issues were out of print. There was a premier issue or two.  They were all my favorite magazines.  Final count:  50 magazines at  10 cents a piece!   A whopping $5.00  .   It was sad because the library did not know the value of those magazines.  And I felt like I was stealing.  But before I went home,  I made a donation. 

Thank you, Lynda, wherever you are.  THANK YOU!

Lace pictures

This shows the pretty border.

Simple Elegance Shawl (stole) designed by Debra Chinn, in the latest issue (Aug 2004) of Knit 'N Style magazine. This is the one I'm knitting for Jonelle Raffino of Southwest Trading Co. (Soysilk anybody?) using Infinity, 100% soysilk yarn.


A close-up of the center panel. Susan, I believe Debra. It is sloooooow going. Picture this: Sewing thread size silk yarn, double stranded, knitted with size 3 US circular needles. Arghh.....

But then, I am cheating. The pattern calls for stockinette stitch lace, 147 stitches of purling on teeny weeny needles. Just shoot me!
So, I'm doing garter stitch lace and knitting every stitch that requires purling. I like it better.

Maybe it will only take me 2 hours to do a 12 row repeat.

More FO's this week but no pictures yet. I finished number 2 Flower poncho from Stitch Diva but with changes. I tried it on and it looks good. Believe it or not, it can also be worn as a skirt, on top of another skirt. It's too lacy to be worn alone--lol! Scandalous!

Finishing 2 more socks. I'm making a dent in my stash, an itty bitty teeny weeny dent. Unfortunately , I also dyed more sock yarns, and added more to my stash. Fortunately, I sold several lots of handpainted sock yarns in my Ebay store.

I mailed the pair of pattern tested socks back to Mary McCall with the 2 foams heads that she asked me to obtain for her. Sheesh, we waited for 2 months for those foam heads to arrive! Foam heads, you ask? Head-shaped styrofoams used to display your knitted or crocheted hats. Can also be used to display wigs.

Southwest Trading has also sent me the latest knitting project for me to work on, Simple Elegance shawl (Knit 'n Style pattern) using Infinity yarn. Picture sewing thread size but doubled on size 3 needles. I'm working on it! Slow going but I'm making progress.

The rest of the projects are put on hold. No more new ones until I can see progress on the shawl (yeah, right). And of course, I can still do socks. Socks are quick.

Addicted to Socks

Yes, definitely, I am. I love to knit socks: small project, portable, and you get that warm tingly feeling when you finish a pair. I have so many pairs already that I don't know anymore what to do with them. And I can't stop.


My finished Cloverleaf pair as part of the Six Sox Knitalong, sport weight discontinued Country Cobbler yarn from Brown Sheep.


Mermaid socks, pattern from "Cool Socks, Warm Feet" by Lucy Neatby. Lana Grossa Cotton Fantasy yarn #807. Neat book, lots of techniques, some I haven't even tried yet.


Soy silk socks, Bella sock yarn given to me by Jonelle Raffino, pattern is Ladder socks from the Craft Yarn Council website.

My new wheel

We go on a long weekend and I get into trouble. Here's my newest baby, a Louet S17 spinning wheel. The ad says perfect for beginners and for production spinners. It may be lacking in looks but it does the job. And for the price, I can't go wrong. This was so easy to assemble! Even for someone like me who hates diagrams and anything technical, I was able to put it together with only 25% help from hubby--lol! Well, sheesh, a washer and a screw look the same to me!

It's so sturdy that even my 7 yo Matthew can't do any damage. Emily, 3 yo, is determined to learn how to spin. I figure, I can teach them on this one. My other wheel, an Ashford Traveller, is for delicate spinning (if there is such a thing). That one is my other baby, the one I learned to spin on 2 years ago (or is it 4?).

I got the S17 from Teresa Simons of Mountain Shadow Ranch. She sells it for $219 plus shipping. Can't beat that!