Knitting Sandwich

yarn along 10.25.13

i'm a couple days late to actually join up with ginny at small things for this week's yarn along, but that's how things are going this week... so here i am, better late than never, right?

knitting: it's that time of year again, time to knit a red scarf for the red scarf project.  this is my 7th year participating and i look forward to it every year.  this year i'm making a twin rib scarf (rav link).  it's my second time knitting this pattern for this project (the first was my very first scarf for the project back in 2007) and i have to say that i love this pattern because it is reversible, texture-y, and doesn't roll up even a little bit!

you can submit scarves until december 15th, so if you are itching to do some good, go make a red scarf!

reading: i have to admit that the main reason i wanted to be sure to post this week is that *again* my book coordinates with my knitting!  ever since kate pointed this out i am both surprised and amused when it happens!

i'm currently reading against a dark background by iain m. banks.  i have to say that i love iain m. banks and every book of his that i've read convinces me just that much more of what a complete genius this man was.  dark background is no exception.  he has a gift for developing complex characters and a literary style unparalleled in any science fiction i've ever read.  there is so much derivative science fiction and fantasy writing out there, with empty archetypal characters thrown into fantastical yet typical settings, that finding someone of banks' caliber is truly something special.

-melissa

some helpers are more helpful than others

a couple weekends ago my parents came to visit and i enlisted my mom to help me cut out the pieces for lily's halloween costume.

she was indeed very helpful, giving me the encouragement i needed to get started as well as helping with the actual pinning and cutting.

today i began the sewing process and found that i had another helper...

while she's adorable, she's not really helpful.  not helpful at all actually... but at least she matches the fabric.  i would have been hard pressed if lily had wanted to be gandalf the white!

"what?!?!  you don't want my help?!?!  merp."

-melissa

completed shawl

my adriana shawl (rav link) is finished!

i love love love it, and there's not much more to say!

-melissa

naptime supersnuggle cowl

last april when it wouldn't stop snowing i decided i needed a quick little cowl.  so i knit up the two-one cowl (rav link) in just two days.... but then it stopped snowing and i stopped needing to wear it and never did get around to taking any finished object photos.

enter today - it's cold and grey and high time to dig out the cowl and put it on.  and while it's on, why not take those photos?

here i am modeling it outside...

but what i really made this cowl for was to take naps in.  i'm serious.  i love having something warm and snugly around my neck/face when it's cold and i'm taking a nap.  

here you can see how i'm pretending to sleep in perfect woolly bliss with my cowl up partly over my face and keeping my neck warm:

i'll be honest, one feels a little silly when one is taking a photo of ones self pretending to take a nap.  it doesn't help when ones cat comes and gets all judge-y mcjudgerson.

seriously pip, mind your own business!

-melissa

crafty creatures

when i saw cheryl at time to craft's post about the book crafty creatures i knew i had to get my hands on it for lily asap!

lily has been crafting up a storm lately (yes, i've been remiss about blogging it... i hope to rectify that situation very soon) and i knew that she would simply devour this book.  and she did!

in just about 24 hours she has made 4 (yes four!) little felt animals!

the two dogs are for her:

and the two bunnies are for her bff renn:

she could barely stand to wait for me to take photos once she was finished before she ran off to rennie's house to play with them!

she even had time to make little carriers so the mamas can take their babies everywhere on their adventures!

thank you so much cheryl for introducing us to this book!  lily is in heaven and i am one proud mama!

-melissa

yarn along 10.09.13

joining with ginny at small things for this week's yarn along:

reading: lily and i found the alchemyst by michael scott at the bookstore in a display that stated, "if you liked the harry potter and percy jackson series then you'll love the alchemyst!"  we both love potter and she's percy jackson crazy (she's currently reading house of hades as i type this) so we decided to give it a try.  

keeping in mind that this is a series for young readers, and remembering how potter #1 began, i am going to say that i'm 3/4 of the way through the book and will say that the series has potential... they're fun, but very derivative.  i'm willing to give them a shot though to have a new book series to read with lily!

knitting: i've been making fair progress on my adriana shawl (rav link).  i'm continuing to love everything about this project... the yarn, the pattern, and oh, did i mention how much i love this 100% alpaca yarn?!?!  

and yes, kate, i made sure to post this week because again my book coordinates with my knitting! 

-melissa

becoming gandalf, part 1

lily has decided (all on her own, i might proudly add) that she wants to be gandalf the grey for halloween this year.

step one in the transformation: the girl's gonna need a beard!

i used the pattern jordanna's beard (rav link) with a few mods, namely i knit in seed stitch, adjusted for size, and tapered the sideburns.

this halloween costume is going to be so much fun to make!!  stay tuned there's more gandalf costume crafting to come!

-melissa

the dishcloth report

it is definitely time for some dishcloths around these parts!  

first up are some cloths for door prizes for the 8th annual earth conference.  this is my third year on the planning task force and therefore my third year knitting dishcloths to be given away as door prizes (years one and two, if you're interested).

this year we've got two sets, each one with a window to my heart cloth (rav link) and a playful plaid cloth (rav link).  

and then we've got a little birthday present i made up for one of my friends at knitnight.  she is a HUGE benedict cumberbatch fan and loves the bbc's sherlock.  (which if you haven't watched it, i highly recommend you get right on that, it's completely genius.)  

if you haven't watched them, spoiler alert... the dishcloth is taken from a key scene in the "scandal in belgravia" episode in season two.

yay dishcloths!

-melissa

on the hunt for agates

the minnesota river, which runs right though mankato, is really low right now.

i mean really low right now...

all that uncovered riverbed is the perfect place to hunt for agates!  my friend eva got me hooked on hunting for agates a couple years ago and while i'm mostly good at finding quartz and interesting looking non-agate rocks, i can spot an agate every now and again.

this is a pretty typical haul for me, a few tiny agates, lots of quartz and lots of randomly awesome rocks.  lily, who inherited her love of rocks from her mother, also enjoys pouring over piles of riverbed looking for treasures.

she and i happily spent well over an hour after school today down by the river, enjoying the weather and each others company, sifting through rocks sharing all our cool finds with each other.  

i did actually manage to find one pretty impressive agate:

although lily's favorite find of the day does a better job of summing up our sentiments:

love indeed!

-melissa