Island Girls

Just returned from our 3rd annual Roche Harbor knitting retreat on San Juan Island.  Zoe and Jo came along for the ride and behaved themselves quite nicely:

The weekend was filled with wildlife (these deer were crazy!!) ~

A visit with old friends on the farm:

And meeting some new:

Wardrobe additions from Peru:

Beautiful views from the front porch, morning and night:

Captured moments:

Autumn splendor:

Tons of laughter and sharing with this amazing group of women:

And another adventure shared with my best bud and partner in crime:

There are some good stories that go with the deer, the beads and that dazzling dress but I'll save those for another day.  And oh, yeah ~ I did manage to get some knitting done!  madeline, madeline, madeline....mmm mmm mmm ~just can't get enough of ya:

I cannot wait for next year!  What a fantastic weekend!   ~ Melissa

Knitted Bliss

Now, this is what makes me really, really happy!  Juliet Scarf from Loisa Harding's Knitting Little Luxuries (this pattern is also available free on Ravelry!)....made with Kimono Angora Pure in Tan (which is really the palest shade of pink I've ever seen).  The button on the knitted flower pin is vintage glass from my collection.

This was a good project to work on after this week's Fair Isle Fiasco....Failure....Success.  ~ Melissa

Game Day

Houston, we have a problem

How I managed to get this much done as quickly as I did remains a mystery:

All that's left is the folded hem......which will have to wait until I knit another hat that will actually fit my husband.  I was so excited to find this yarn in my stash (it was meant to be ~ you know that feeling ~ the right colors, sport weight like the pattern calls for, exact yardage) that I neglected to double check my pattern notes from his last hat where I clearly noted that I used WORSTED weight yarn.  Needless to say, when he tried this on at 11:30 last night he couldn't hide his disappointment that it just doesn't fit.  At all.  He tried to convince me that after I blocked it everything would be okay but the fact that it doesn't fit me either speaks to the contrary.

So, a quick stop at Great Yarns! on my way home and lucky me, they had the EXACT same yarn I used on his last one, in Seahawks colors so I'm back in business.  GAME ON!!  Think I can whip out a second one before Sunday morning?  Wish me luck ;)   ~ Melissa

Cascade Yarns Pure Alpaca ~ ooo, lala!

Hats and Other Things

I'm making good progress on my Peerie Flooers hat.  The knitting is going a bit faster and I seem to be getting into a little rhythm which makes me relax, which is nice!  I got to this point yesterday and decided to stop and get started on a hat my husband asked me to make for him (you read that right!).  I was on complete lock down for 4 years ~ 'no thanks' was always the polite refusal when I offered to make him something.  Then last year, I got a 'I would wear that if you made it for me' as he was looking over my shoulder one day while I was on Ravelry.  Shocker!  The hat he asked for was done immediately!  Fast forward to a year later and he's nicely asked me for 2 of the same hats, one for Seahawks game days so he can wear it to the stadium and one in 'work colors' so he can wear it everyday and not worry about it getting dirty.

So, while he was at the football game yesterday, I started on his next hat & hopefully I'll have it done by Sunday so he can wear it to the game at the end of the week.

It's a fun pattern that you can find on Ravelry for free ~ 'We Call Them Pirates'.  It's going much quicker since it's only 2 colors instead of 7 like Peerie Flooers.

On a side note ~ if you haven't checked out America's Knitting, you should.  It's a really neat website with maps and locations of fiber shops and festivals across the USA.  I've been on Mary's site before and was surprised and a little tickled that she sent me a note over the weekend to ask if she could feature my Vitamin D sweater that I recently finished on her Fall 2011 projects page on the site.  I love unexpected things like that ~ makes life more fun!  If you want to take a peek, here's the link.  Dozer even managed to make it on the page ~ that's his bushy black tail in the photo.

Have a good week, everyone!  I've got lots of knitting to do so better get to it!   ~ Melissa

Another Peerie~

I think we're at the same spot.

I'm loving this hat. Wish I lived closer I'd help you two finger fair isle. I'm the same way with not wanting to put it down.

Your hat is looking great!

Stay loose~

Kelli

Polar Opposites ~ at least for today ;)

Kelli finds peace and poetry in her knitting ~ for me, the last 3 days have been all about tension.  Tension in my neck and shoulders from concentrating so hard on trying to get my tension right on this hat:

Peerie Flooers by Kate Davies

Honestly, I can see where I could eventually really, really enjoy fair isle.  There is such a rhythm to it and there's never a good spot to put it down and walk away from it because you want to do 'just one more row' to see the magic that happens with the next color changes.  Kind of like that last potato chip ~ do you ever stop with your first thought of 'that's the last one' when you have the munchies?  Anyway, I'm proud I've gotten this far with no color mistakes (Kathi ~ there will be no sharpies touching THIS project!!) but I wish I could speed up the pace just a bit.  I'm a slow knitter by nature but, holy cow, since I don't know how to carry yarn with both hands and I have to stop with every color change, it's taking me twice as long as it should!

There is definitely a colorwork class in my not so distant future.     ~ Melissa