Awesome Autumn

You guys are in trouble now! I downloaded Picassa from Google and now I'm learning to make collages. I can impose even more of my photos on you this way! This collage is meant to signify Fall.

What brought this all on? Well I'm participating in the Fall Felted Bag Exchange and they now have a weekly question we are supposed to answer on our blogs. This week's question is:


As of this weekend, the season has officially changed on the calendar - but what makes Autumn feel like Autumn to you, and why?

First of all- the word Autumn is very special to me. I grew up on Autumn Drive and was probably one of the first in my class to be able to spell that word. So truly the first thing that comes to mind when I hear the word Autumn is the street I grew up on. I had a wonderful upbringing and remember it fondly. As for the Autumn that comes to everyone else's mind - in California one season pretty much blends in to the next but this weekend I went around looking for signs of Fall. First of all - soccer is on every field every moment of every weekend day. This is probably the most prevalent indication of Fall. Now that I have 3 kids playing soccer it is also an indication that all of my weekends are occupied! There are also changing leaves on some trees, especially the Liquid Amber which can be truly beautiful. Then there are apples and pumpkins waiting to be picked. I love the Autumn and am looking forward to the cooler days and nights but that won't be for awhile yet.

What do you like best about the Fall?

Beware the Cephalopods

The what you ask? Cephalopod - a word known mainly to marine biologists and mothers of little boys - are the family from which come octopus and squids. After having two daughters it was a whole new world having a son. I now know more about the mating habits of crocodilians than any human should really know and I am coming to know much about the little man's current obsession which is none other than Cephalopods. So imagine my surprise when I found the most adorable patterns for the little critters at Hansigurumi's Etsy store! They are called amigurumi which is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small stuff animals. Who knew? I have borrowed this picture from her store so I hope that's OK. She makes the most amazing little animals and I purchased the pattern for the Octopus and the one for the squid. I really had to restrain myself from buying others as well but there are only so many hours in the day and no matter how cute I think the seahorse is he really isn't interested in those! She makes all of them out of Cascade 220 and so I was just planning to sift through the stash as I have lots of Cascade left from a broad variety of felting projects. But noooooo, I had to go to the yarn store to get some more yarn for my pal's FFBE bag and there was this gorgeous purple malabrigo in slight variations that just looked to me like a sea creature. Pair that with some ultra soft white Cascade for his underbelly and I was sucked right in! But I swear I'm not going to start him until I finish the shawl that never ends and another hat I'm working on. Really - I mean it!

Sock it to Me

My work on the Boot Socks for Horsey Girl is ongoing. I have not worked on it non-stop but it still seems to be going very slowly and I still have another entire sock to knit! I know that many people get hooked on socks but so far I'm not feeling the attraction. Maybe after I turn the heel - I hear that is a monumental occasion. I do think the sock will be pretty when it is done but I'm bummed at how the striping is turning out. The stripes were looking nice and then the pattern calls for a decrease from 80 to 70 stitches. As you can see, then the yarn started pooling. Oddly enough, when I decreased from 70 to 60 it started striping again. It seems amazing to me that a mere 10 stitches - barely over a 12% change - can make such a difference. I think this pattern should come with a warning to use a solid color. I'll let you know if I'm hooked after I turn that heel!

Also many thanks to Janice for teaching me how to post a button (it was a seriously remedial course that I needed!) I have also just started a blog roll. I've only had time to add a few but am planning to add several more. I'm so excited to learn these new technological tricks.

Rock On!

I'M SO EXCITED!!! My good buddy Bonnie nominated me as a Rockin' Girl Blogger. You like me, you really, really like me! OK maybe I got carried away but I saw Sally Fields on the Emmy's the other night and I was really hoping she would say that in her acceptance speech! It was so sweet of Bonnie to nominate me. I have gotten to know her so well since we started the International Tote Exchange and I feel very lucky to have a friend like her. I just hope that I get to meet her in person some day soon! Thank you Bonnie - I really appreciate the nomination.

So now I get to nominate five more Rockin' Girl Bloggers!

I'll start with Jennifer who is another friend I met in the International Tote Exchange. She was my downstream pal in the second exchange and I made the surprise backpack for her. We stated exchanging e-mails during ITE and then when I went to Boston we met in person. She is a wonderful writer and the mother of 5 - yes FIVE kids. I'm so impressed with how she does it all.

I also want to nominate Brooke who was my SP9 secret pal and what a great secret pal she was. She sent me so many wonderful things and I really enjoyed getting to know her in the exchange. Her humor is just so fabulous and I love reading her blog. Then we got to meet in person when she came to the Yarn Harlot visit at my LYS. Turns out that even though she lives many hours away she grew up in this area. We have stayed in touch and I think she Rocks!

I also met Alison at the Yarn Harlot event and have gotten to know her through mutual blog comments and e-mails. She has written this fabulous book Wrapped in Comfort and if you haven't read it you should totally check out her gorgeous shawls. Her blog shows all of her amazing knitting and it is clear that she is a very generous person.

I'm also going to nominate a relatively new friend Lisa in Alaska. We have been visiting one another's blogs and she gave me some good tips when I went to Alaska. I'm hoping to get to know her better. You have to check out her blog and see how great she looks in all her beautiful knitted items.

Finally, how about the Yarn Harlot herself? No one seems to have nominated her. Can that be? She is the ultimate Rockin' Girl Blogger so I'm going to try to nominate her.

I would nominate Janice as well but she's already a Rockin Girl Blogger! Janice participated in the ITE and we've gotten to know one another through our blogs as well. I love visiting her blog for yummy recipes and just because everyone there always looks like they are having so much fun!

I would also nominate Hakucho who leaves the nicest comments and has such a beautiful outlook on life. In fact when I went to her blog to find out if she had been nominated yet I actually found out she nominated me awhile ago. I'm so embarassed that I hadn't seen it before but thank you Hakucho!

Now as Bonnie said I REALLY have to figure out how to post this button on my site. Janice explained in Bonnie's comments but it still sounded pretty technical to me with lots of HTML involved!

As to your questions and comments on the shawl that never ends, never ends, never ends - thanks for all the great feedback. WELCOME to all the new commenters and I believe I used the 42" length cord from options. That was perfect in the beginning but now it's a little on the long side (as is this post!)

The Shawl that Never ends

I have been working on my Elann Pacific Waves Shawl for many, many weeks. I have not been working on it full time for sure but it is the shawl that never seems to end. I really like how it is turning out but wonder if I'll ever get to wear it! It started with casting on 541 stitches which in and of itself was quite the challenge. Then it reduces by about 2 stitches each time you knit a row. I've knit about 50 rows by now so it's now only 441 stitches per row! As funny as it seems, that really makes the rows go much faster - but not quite fast enough. I think about 20 more rows and I'll be done. I will hang in there - I will!

In the Eye

They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. You know what I mean. You could give the same felted bag pattern to 5 different knitters and you would end up with five totally different bags. So different sometimes that you wouldn't even know they started from the same pattern. They would be different colors, someone might add beads or fringe or something totally wild while someone else would tell you they hated fringe. They say that your taste buds change every seven years - can your "beauty eye" change too? For instance, when I started knitting I really didn't care for felted bags. I thought they were ugly and I couldn't figure out why someone would spend all that time knitting something big just to shrink it down. Now I love felted bags and make lots of them. I find the same goes with color. I have never particularly liked green and I find lime green a very unappealing color. However I recently went to a big sale at a LYS and kept finding myself drawn to this lime green Malabrigo. I went back to it several times and finally decided I HAD to have it. I convinced myself I would use it to make something for my daughter who loves the color green. But you never know - you may see me wearing something lime green very soon! So how is it that my visual taste buds have changed so much?

Fall Felted Bag Exchange

Yes, I've done it, I've joined ANOTHER felted bag exchange! I'm not quite sure what I was thinking but I like making felted bags, there are only so many I can use myself and it's so fun to make new friends in these exchanges. I have decided to make something that is very functional so I will be making the Little Coco bag. The bottom, top and handles will be purple and the midle will be the multi-color yarn in the photo which has blue, pink and purple in it among other colors. It is the new Cascade 220 painted yarns and I'm excited to see how it looks. Hopefully my pal will enjoy having something functional and maybe I can even convince Mom to line it for me! Anyone else joining me in the exchange? Hope to see you there! For those of you waiting to be adopted by Mom - it's like ravelry - the list gets longer but you never quite make it in the door . . . .

Mom You Rock

Yesterday when I was buckling my little guy in to the car he reached up, kissed me and said, "you're the bestest Mom ever!" Well that certainly made my day! But I didn't have the heart to tell him that my Mom is actually the bestest Mom ever. She is probably about the nicest person you could ever meet and everyone who knows her just loves her. I certainly know my kids think that Granny is about the best thing since sliced bread. I must warn you though - the list of people wanting to be adopted is already quite long. So today's post is all about Mom. She has recently been making these wonderful hats out of some chunky yarn called Jumbo Merino. They are so adorable. You may wonder about the hat thing - could knitting choices be hereditary? As they say, "insanity is hereditary - you get it from your kids!" In addition to her cute hats, my Mom has found time to line the felted bags I have been making. I think bags look great when lined - it really finishes them off. But unfortunately I don't sew. So every now and again I impose upon Mom to line them for me. Recently she lined three. I think she did a great job and I just love the fabrics. She found some perfect tennis fabric for the noro Sophie bag which I made for my friend who is as obsessed about tennis as I am about knitting. The purple Sophie got some wild te floral fabric I found at JoAnn's and then Mom found the perfect pink floral fabric to complement the brown and pink ballband bag. THANKS MOM! Isn't she wonderful???!!!

What could be better?

What could be better than combining BOTH babies and my hat knitting obsession? Fortunately two colleagues have recently presented me with the opportunity to knit baby hats. Wasn't that thoughtful of them? One of my partners just had his second daughter and so I have made a cute multicolor hat for them from Katia Jamaica cotton which I bought in Boston when I was yarn crawling with Jennifer. That makes the hat double special! Next another friend at work is expecting so I made this lime green diddy figuring it could go for either a boy or a girl. Baby hats are really fun since they knit up so quickly. Now I just need to find someone else who is expecting . . . . . Also a thank you to all who sent good thoughts and prayers for Miss K's tonsilectomy today. All went well and she is resting comfortably. Can you hear my big sigh of relief? Hey - I even got some knitting done in the waiting room (but I'm not telling what I was working on!)

Dish Rag Tag

I've been having lots of fun playing Dish Rag Tag. Emily started it and had 200 people sign up. She formed 20 teams of 10 and each thought up clever names like Skanks with Hanks and the PostKnits. My team was the 13th team so we are LUCKY 13. You receive a box with a dishrag, 2 skeins of cotton and some goodies. You get to keep everything in the box and you pick one of the two skeins to knit a dishrag for the next person. You then put the new dishrag in the box with two new skeins of cotton and a few goodies and send it to the next person. The first team to get their box all the way through the team and back to Emily wins. My team is pretty darn competitive and we're doing well but we're not currently in first place. Keep your fingers crossed - I want to win! I received the box from AllyB and she sent me all these wonderful goodies. The colors of the dishrag are even more vibrant than in the photo. THANK YOU AllyB! I love everything. I picked the green and white cotton in the box and made the traveling vines dishrag for Katy who received it on Saturday. I can't wait to see what she makes out of the cotton I put in the box for her. This is definitely some fun and competitive knitting.

It's in the Bag!

I have always liked the look of felted bags made with Noro Kureyon but I'm not crazy about how the yarn feels when you knit with it. But Jennifer made a gorgeous Lucy bag out of Noro and ever since then I've been suffering from bag envy so I decided it was finally time to make one. I bought this yarn in Oregon and made this Sophie bag from my friend. Yes - another Sophie bag - but I find you just can't go wrong with them. I got her to pick the yarn thinking she was just helping me make a decision. Also I found this really cute button to top it off at the Sunriver Quilt festival. I can't wait to give it to her but first my wonderful Mom is lining it for me. Also given my obsession for felted bags I decided to join the Fall Felted Bag Exchange. So here are my answers to that questionnaire:

How long have you been knitting or crocheting? For 5 years

How did you learn? or from whom? My Mom taught me how to knit. I was pregnant with my son and decided I wanted to make him a baby blanket. Mom is now my knitting buddy.
What was your first felted object, and why did you decide to try felting? I actually disliked to look of felting when I first started knitting. Also I couldn't understand why you would spend all that time to knit something big just to shrink it! But now I'm hooked. My first felted item was a bag I made.
What are your favorite colors? Any you hate? Purple and red are my favorite colors but I like most colors other than dark green and maybe grey.
What are your favorite styles\types of bags? (Long straps? Short handles? Handbags? Totes? Embellished? Plain? I like bags that are usable, prefer long handles and am happy with just about anything.

What handbag or bag are you carrying today? I have an XO bag that is white with light pink and blue that is fun for summer.

Do you use a separate bag to carry your knitting? Yes, I have a few depending on where I'm going and how much I'm taking with me.
What other things do you enjoy knitting or crocheting? I have made lots of scarves, fingerless gloves, I'm currently addicted to hats and am making my first ever sweater for my son.
What sort of needles do you enjoy working with? (straights vs circs, bamboo vs aluminum) In general circular but for a smaller project like a scarf I like straights. I'm prone to really nice wood but have some great addi's when I want to zoom.
What’s one project you’ve not yet tried but are dying to make? Lately I've been collecting patterns for some cool complicated vests.
What’s one yarn you’ve not yet tried but are dying to work with? SeaSilk
What other hobbies do you have? Do you spin? Sew? Garden? I love to take photographs, scrapbook and garden. Also I suppose blogging could be considered a hobby . . . .
Besides yarn, do you collect anything? Not really.
What kind of goodies do you enjoy? Sweets? Salty? I am a true chocoholic and I also love some of the chewy candies like swedish fish, gummy lifesavers, etc.

Anything you hate or are allergic to? Nope.
Do you have any kiddos? (Furry kind count!) I have 2 daughters, one son, 2 cats, a bearded dragon lizard (she's not furry) and a husband who acts like a kid.
What kind of project best personifies you and why? I hope that any project I make for someone else personifies my love for my friends and family.
What is your favorite part of Autumn? I love Saturday soccer games, the smell in the air, falling leaves and harvest festivals.

Tell us 3 things you would do if you won 10 million dollars in the lottery. First I would buy something special for every member of my family. Next I'd make sure that my kids' college educations are provided for. I would pick a charity to sponsor and then I would invest the balance for early retirement. Oh yeah - and I'd buy LOTS of yarn!

So now you all need to tell me what YOU would do with the $10M dollars!

Oh Baby, Baby

Baby's and knitting just seem to go together. There is nothing like a new baby on the way to inspire one to buy yarn and break out the needles (like we need any inspiration!) Awhile ago I started the Big Bad Baby Blanket pattern from Stitch and Bitch just because I liked it. I knew that somewhere along the way there would be the perfect baby to cherish it. It has been a bit of a start and stop project but I have recently found out that a friend is expecting her third child, a baby boy, in the end of December. So I have "dusted it off" and am reinvigorated to finish it. I really love knitting it. It slides so beautifully on the needles. I'm using Lorna's Laces superwash wool so it can be thrown in the washer and dryer (or so the label says . . . .) I'm just over half way done so I'm hopeful that it will be done in time although it has taken me quite awhile to get to this point. Now the question is whether or not I can give it away! I may just have to make a second one for myself.

I have Succumbed

I swore I wouldn't do it. I had no desire to do it. Everyone else is doing it but not me. I WOULD NOT KNIT SOCKS. Why would anyone knit socks? You can just go to the store and buy socks. They are knit on those itty, bitty, tiny needles. They are knit on double pointed needles. I hate DPN's. I don't even wear socks! So why is everyone knitting them? And not just one pair - they knit pair, after pair after pair. Just look at their blogs. There are so many socks being knit out there. But despite my best efforts to refrain from knitting socks I now find myself knitting them. Why? Am I a sheep? Must I knit what everyone else is knitting? I really don't have a good answer except I have become more and more curious to find out what all the fuss is about. But of course can I start with simple socks? Ankle socks? Baby socks? Nooooooo, I have to start with knee high boot socks. I saw them in the summer Interweave Knits and decided I just had to give them a try. I am making them for Horsey Girl. Won't they be cute peaking out of the top of her high boots? I sure hope they fit and that she likes them. My main concern is that when and if I ever finish the first one I won't get the second one done. How many single socks do you think are sitting out there in knitland?

Pay It Forward

Remember that movie a few years ago with Helen Hunt and Kevin Spacey in it called ‘Pay It Forward’? I liked the concept but must admit the ending to the movie made it so I could never really recommend it to anyone. But the message was a good one that you should not just pay people BACK for favors they've given you. Instead, you should try to do a good thing for someone and ask that the person for whom you do the good thing, do something for someone else. In other words, rather than a "pay back" it's a "pay forward." Well, I found a variation of this on Bonnie's blog today (she got it from someone who got it from someone, etc. )

Here's how it works:Pay It Forward meme I will send a handmade gift to the first three people who leave a comment requesting to join this Pay It Forward exchange. I don't know what that gift will be yet, but you will receive it within 365 days. The only thing you have to do in return is "pay it forward" by making a similar agreement on your blog. My gift might be something I've knit or maybe even baked! I also love to take photographs so maybe it will be something photo related. Per the rules on the email I found: The "gift" you send doesn't have to be handmade -- it can be anything you wish to share with another person. If you want to join, leave a comment with your email addy (so I can reply -- spell out the email if you don't want it harvested). I'll contact you with more details. And for some knitting content - I finally finished the purple Sophie bag I started awhile ago. I call it Sunriver Sophie since I finished it in Sunriver, Oregon on our vacation. I really love the Sophie bag, it is such a simple and quick pattern (or it should be) and it looks so elegant when it is finished. I think I'll be making many more of these. This one will be making a trip to someone special very soon.

Which is Better?

Does it feel better to start a project or finish a project? At first most would say it feels best to finish a project. After all, when you're done you have a completed knit object to wear or gift or donate and there is a sense of satisfaction when you have completed something. However under the theory that "actions speak louder than words," I'm going to say that most of us like starting projects more than finishing them. That would explain why I have so many projects on the needles and so many UFOs. It is also my excuse for starting yet another project! We are on vacation in Oregon and I brought more projects with me than one could ever finish in a week. Even if I planned to spend the entire week knitting which was certainly not the plan. So of course I took a visit to the yarn store up here to buy yarn for a hat (don't say anything) and came back with an entire bag full. And then to make matters worse I took some of the gorgeous Noro I purchased and cast on a Sophie bag for my friend. What was I thinking? We'll here it is riding the whale at the lake while we were out on the Sea Doos. And here is just a gorgeous photo of the Deschutes river for you to enjoy. I love it up here!

Yarn Worthy

WARNING - This post contains some R rated content. Well actually with what I've seen at the movies lately this may be considered PG-13 but you have been warned!

For those of you who are Seinfeld fans you may remember and episode where Elaine was upset because her chosen contraceptive method - the sponge - was being taken off the market. She went to the store and bought everything they had left. However, it had an unintended consequence. She found that she was having difficulty dating guys because she was now scrutinizing them so much more carefully as she was deciding if they were "sponge worthy" before she would agree to go out with them. Not many guys were found worth the dwindling supply. Why am I discussing this on a knitting blog? Well I was thinking the other day of some gorgeous yarn that I have purchased with no intended project in mind. Despite repeated promises to myself that I will ONLY buy yarn if I already know what I'm going to make with it, I continue to buy yarn simply due to it's beauty figuring I'll decide what to make later. But the problem is I love the yarn so much and it is so beautiful it is often hard to find the right pattern. Is that scarf yarn worthy? What about those gloves? A hat? A bag? A pattern that you loved and couldn't wait to make is often "not good enough" for the gorgeous yarn. So the yarn sits in the bins being admired from time to time but yet to be made in to something wonderful. I guess it will just have to wait until the right pattern comes along and sweeps it off it's skein.

Sorry if I have offended anyone but at least I'm not talking about the "master of my domain" episode!

Stitch and Pitch

I've started something new - can you guess what it is? Not that I needed yet another project but I came across this gorgeous and soft alpaca yarn and I just had to start on it right away. Don't worry - it's not another hat. Oops - admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery. Hello, my name is Allison and I'm knitting another hat! But really, it's a top down hat rather than a bottom up hat so truly it's different. Oh well, I don't think I want to be cured anyway. Last week Mom and I went to the Giant's Stitch and Pitch and had a wonderful time. 23 major league baseball parks are holding Stitch and Pitch events this year and over 1,500 people attended for the Giant's event. We were in the nose bleed section - only 3 rows behind us at the very top of the park, but we were just to the left of home plate and had a good view. I feverishly worked on Miss K's green hat (shown in the Harry Potter photo) and finished it so she could take it to camp the next day. However when she saw it she decided she didn't want to take it to camp because she might get it dirty! Oh well - now that it's done I can start another hat . . .

The Things We do for Love

This weekend we went over to the coast to see Horsey Girl in a horse show at her camp. It is always a beautiful drive and this time was no exception. We got to the camp, hiked the huge hills to the stables and arrived in time for the show. The show was supposed to be from 12:30 - 4 but didn't start until after 1 and went until after 5 p.m. No problem you say, premo knitting time right? WRONG! Horsey Girl takes offense if you knit during a horse show. She thinks that means you aren't paying attention. Even though she isn't in the ring all of the time - only for her events - you aren't allowed to knit. You must admire the horses at all times. So in the name of love I did not knit during the show even though I could have gotten so much done! It was not a total knitting loss though - before the show we stopped at Fengari - a cool little yarn store in Half Moon Bay and got some great yarn. Pictured here is some gorgeous Malabrigo - perhaps I'll make it in to a hat . . . . .

Yes it Really Is that Bright!

At the beginning of the summer I came across a pattern on Knit Picks for these tote bags and thought they were adorable. I immediately put everything else aside and started one for Miss K in this neon shade of green in Katia Sonrisa. The yarn is a very fun color and I think that the bag is turning out really cute but the only problem is the yarn is rough so I can't work on it for long periods. I've decided to use the yarn doubled which makes it even more coarse. Of course I'm not following the pattern exactly so I need to decide how big to make it. Also it has some fussy little i-cord draw string closure which I will make to pull it shut but it seems that it should have a strap or something don't you think? Seems odd that you would carry it around by either carrying the entire thing in your arm or trying to hold on to some drawstring i-cord. Any ideas?

Are you?

Do you knit alone?

Have you ever felt you should cut down on your knitting?
Have people annoyed you by criticizing your knitting?
Have you ever felt guilty about your knitting?
Have you ever knit first thing in the morning (as an “eye opener”)?

Do you knit to forget your problems?

Do you knit when you should be working?

One “yes” answer suggests a possible knitting problem. If you answered “yes” to more than one question, it is highly likely that a problem exists. You could be - ADDICTED TO KNITTING! In either case, it is important that you see your LYS owner right away to discuss your answers to these questions. He or she can help you determine whether you have a knitting problem and, if so, recommend the best course of action.

Hello, my name is Allison and I think that I'm addicted to knitting hats. I'm blaming Hollis. Ever since I started knitting those hats for the Relay for Life I just can't stop! They are so quick and easy. So fun to use up yarn or a small skein. Who doesn't need a hat? Really, I can stop at any time - just one more hat!