Tag Archives: classic elite yarns

overload to pom pom

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right from the start,

i could not calm my head.

plans for the day changed when

my youngest woke up with pink eye

(highly contagious and dreaded by mamas everywhere).

gears changed quickly

from packing things to play with neighborhood friends,

to listing things that would hold our interest inside as we washed our hands

and remembered almost every time not to touch our eyes.

through it all my mind raced,

bounding from disinfectant to diversions,

from legos to new ways to knit new things (yes, my head truly works like this).

despite the clutter of new ideas,

i could nail nothing down

and the constant swirling begged the beginnings of a headache.IMG_2550sqa walk outside was needed, so i took one.

my head began to ease up on the chaos

and settled back into the wonderment of the way that

the world was built to work.IMG_2650sq

 for me today, the reality of this little lichen

(about the size of a quarter from side to side),

rang true.

it’s small and often in harm’s way

(it is, after all, attached to a much traveled piece of pavement),

but when i focus on the small space it inhabits

i can see its beauty

in all the tiny details of what it is. and what it’s not feels really unimportant.

the blur around it (which i captured by accident with no filter or editing)

doesn’t lessen the rightness of right where it is,

just being itself.

period.

once i was able to come back inside with some perspective,

my 10 yr old and i made this pom pom through teamworkIMG_2661sq(ok, and a knitpicks tutorial on the use of the clover pom pom maker).

a bit later, i enjoyed my rough attempts

at everything from ‘amazing grace’, to ‘the boxer’

on my new Christmas present.IMG_2658snow, my cleared head in tow,

i will take to my bed with a snack and a book

to recharge and refuel

for whatever tomorrow may bring.

go ahead and bring on the last day of 2016.

i’m as ready as i’m going to be.

‘space’ taken from 25:37 of exodus.

emerging theme

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IMG_1347cropdo you see it?

i am apparently in a bit of a favorite color rut

as these are the colors in my latest project and 3 new designs.

although, ‘rut’ isn’t really the right word for it since i’m happy as a pig in mud about it.

i guess i’m in a red/orange groove.

let the beat play on.

‘happy’ taken from 128:2 of the psalms.

note: yarns shown above from right to left:

swan’s island ‘bulky’, classic elite yarns ‘chateau’, 2 tones of schulana ‘cashmere trend’

and cascade ‘ultra pima fine’.

 

‘cherry on top’ giveaway

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the yarnit

is doing a giveaway for mother’s day

and part of the prize is a copy of my new book ‘artistic differences’.

as a bonus, enough of classic elite yarns  ‘villa‘

is included for you to

knit up a pair of ‘silve’ fingerless gloves.

would you knit them for your mother? grandma? an aunt? a role model?

maybe even yourself?IMG_0439cropbrifor more info on how to enter

check out their facebook page here.

they’re saying new ways will be posted to enter

each day this week, so it might be worth going back to enter again.

can’t hurt, right?

‘day’ taken from 12:12 of job.

the capitals

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we don’t do colored eggs and bunnies in this house,

at least not on easter weekend.

instead we encourage Hope and Love,

laughter and compassion,

and happy hearts.

we try to keep this up year-round, so when the schools

celebrate things in fun ways, we’re down with it.IMG_8964brimost recently celebrated was dr. seuss’ birthday.

that’s when my 9 yr old son

said he needed a

full sized tail that he can wear all day

by first thing the next morning.  then what’s a mama to do?

braid one, that’s what.

out of something light and airy like

classic elite’s chalet.

my only regret is that i looped the long strands i cut,IMG_8962bri

through his back belt loop, so the tail had to be cut clean off before the faded jeans

got washed and dried that night.

next year i’ll know better.

‘morning’ taken from 38:12 of job.

will travel

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i first saw kate and the yarnit

friday night at vklive in new york city.

this little nugget is so obviously made by a knitter for knitters,10410290_10100171656970027_5694256389859965537_ncropthat it stuck in my mind

despite all the other distracting lovelies in the marketplace that night.

by early saturday, i was sporting one

slung over my right shoulder.

now, you

can read all the great features of the yarnit

over on the website,

but here’s another one that isn’t mentioned:

it’s therapeutic

(unofficially, of course).

i am not very good at waiting in lines,

or walking slowly through a crowd to get where i’m headed.

no, i’m not very good at it at all.

i quickly feel impatient and fidgety

(do you see where i’m going with this?)

but, with the yarnit on, i have knitting at the ready.

my hands are happily busy so my patience kicks in,

leaving my head free to take in the rest of the scene

and enjoy my surroundings.

by saturday night i had finished the cowl

that i brought as great knitting for on the train.

by sunday i had started to design this new hat.IMG_8851cropit’s straightforward and easy to keep track of

while you and your yarnit are on the move.

i am about to write up the decreases

and will post finished pics

as soon as i can.

‘patience’ taken from 7:8 of ecclesiastes.

secure(d)

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yarn.

oh how love it.

i don’t love it tangled and unruly, though.

so, there’s this little contraption that i got in new york city: the yarnit.

i’ll tell you more about it and i at vklive tomorrow.

today i just want to show you

how happily it sits on the piano in my kitchen

(yes, i said ‘piano’ and yes, i said ‘in my kitchen’).IMG_8847cropi can knit a few stitches, stir whatever’s on the stove,

all the while knowing that the yarn will be exactly where i left it

(having not rolled down under the piano where the dust bunnies thrive).

the yarnit sits there while i chase after

whatever kid needs whatever thing at any given moment, too.

it’s sort of a nanny for my yarn and

this busy mama is really loving having a yarn nanny.

for sure.

‘chase’ taken from 12:11 of proverbs.

combos

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when i am cold

i feel the most motivated

to knit something for myself.

the other night, feeling quite chilly,

i ran into holly priestley‘s ‘nomadic night’s slouch’.

ooh, i love how much personality this hat has

and how much room it gives

each of us individual

knitters to

express ourselves in color and yarn combinations.

in true antiestablishmentarian style,nomad yarns collagei chose three different yarns altogether.

it’s a big ol’ hat, so matching up exact gauge is optional, right?

i almost never would think that,

but in this case

i did and it’s working.

holly’s version is much more colorful than mine,

which in a different mood i might have wanted,IMG_8710upbut right now, all the neutrals and mixed textures sing to me

of varied experiences and how they’ve

shaped me, made me

who i am.

i have worked through the corrugated rib,

and found the colorwork chart to be fabulously simple.

nothing like clarity to make a project feel like it’s flying off the needles!

if i juggle things right today (ie: get the necessary stuff done),

i could have my ‘nomad’ ready

before the storm hits

tomorrow afternoon.

that’s my goal.  we’ll see if i hit it.

‘nomads’ taken from 13:20 of isaiah.

yarns in top photo: (left) hudson valley fiber farm ‘farmstead’ from a local market,

(center) malabrigo ‘twist’ in terron, and (right) classic elite yarns ‘blackthorn’ in alabaster.

some things about julia

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althoughFFC-8030_medium2

i had seen her work

here, there and everywhere,

i had never met julia until this year

when our paths crossed

as we both were working on

our new books

in collaboration with classic elite yarns.

you know those people who

always have

an interesting story to tell?

that’s julia.

and you know the ones whose infectious laughs

can fill a room with something that just wasn’t there

before they arrived? that’s her, too.

she’s also

a fabulous designer.

she has this way of throwing in a twist

that makes a pattern oh so much more than it would have been without her.

do you know what i mean?

i love patterns that teach me something new.

especially the ones where that ‘new’ is so cleverly done

that i’ve learned something before i even have time to be

concerned that maybe i won’t be able to master the technique.FFC-7676_medium2like how in the lanesville pullover she takes stripes,

then nonchalantly adds slipped stitches and i-cord,

so before you have time to trip over the idea of something new,

you’ve already done it and it looks great.

that’s clever.

julia’s mind works like that

because she’s clever in the very best kind of way.

‘from folly cove‘ is available in hardcopy form on-line at webs

and at local yarn stores just about everywhere.

use the code FFC10

on ravelry to get 10% off the individual pdfs

between now and this friday, the 6th of february.

leave a comment below for the chance to win a free copy of

FFC-8078_medium2the lanesville pullover pattern

before thursday the 5th,

and be sure to

check out

the other stops

on this blog tour

especially kristin nicolas’ blog

tomorrow afternoon.

pics courtesy of classic elite yarns.

‘paths’ taken from 3:17 of proverbs.

cey & i: blog tour, day ten

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i often have ideas

in the recesses of my head,

that i don’t have the means to make real.

either i don’t have the skills (yet), or the perfect yarn for the job doesn’t seem to exist (yet),

or (as was the case with the ‘tensity’ bags)

i need a little outside help.

my original sketches looked like this.

just at a glance you can see how much changed:

i replaced both the yarn and the colors,

and somewhere along the line i decided that the sling

was more rocker while the shoulder bag was more boho afterall.

IMG_2809urbafter searching all the nooks and crannies of the internet,

only to discover that the straps i had in mind

were available nowhere,

i got in touch with laura of jul designs.

i had worked with her closures before and so admired her pieces.

we decided that i would knit both bags and then

send them to her so she could design the handle kits

to fit perfectly.

the result

of our collaboration

is ‘tensity’, both as a sling sack

and as a more typically shaped shoulder bag.

one last little secret.  the two bags are knit identically

(except for the yarn colors).  they’re exactly the same.

this means if you invest in both sets of hardware,

you could be carrying it as a sling

or as a shoulder bag

to suit your

own mood at the time.

this would totally work for me,

as somedays i’m more ‘in your face’ rocker

and others i’m more ‘go with the flow’ bohemian.

check out the deal of the day and enter to win a free copy of the tensity pattern

over on the picnic knits blog today.

corrina also lets us in on

whether she’s more

rocker or

boho.

why don’t you check out her designs

and see if you can guess her style before you read it in her own words?

last blog tour stop tomorrow  stay tuned.

‘invest’ taken from 11: 1-5 of ecclesiastes.