tiennie knits

family of hats

My family and I spent last week, our first week of the summer vacation, visiting my sister and her family in Pocatello, Idaho (that's Poke-a-fellow to you  Wendee!)  It was hot, relaxing and fun.  While there, I was able to complete a few hats requested by my sister:

Yes, I knitted a hat that says Beer Me.  My BIL likes his last hat so much and wanted another to wear to his Beer Festivals.  He loves beer like no other I know, and is an aspiring Brew Master.  He's pretty darn good at it too!:

Of course I had to knit my cute nephew a Juice Me hat to match his daddy.  It wasn't easy getting an energetic toddler to model a wool hat in the summer heat.  You'll notice the candy bribe he's enjoying:

But I couldn't leave my sister out of the woolly goodness.  I knitted her a WSU hat (and the other hats) in her & her husband's alma mater colors.  It was a bit hard for a rival UW girl like me.  Go Huskies!  The things I'll do for my loved ones:

Here's a picture of the happy family - and no, my nephew isn't drinking the beer!:

All the hats were knitted using my Norwegian Star Earflap Hat pattern.  The celtic lettering was created from this link which I found from Julia of Fricknits.  Thanks for the idea Julia!  I used Cascade 220 Superwash Yarn and US #7 needles.  More pictures of the hats can be found in my Flickr photostream and on my Ravelry page.  Speaking of Ravelry, you know what's really cool about it?   I had some extra yarn, from socks I knitted last year.  Jennie needed some extra in order to finish her socks and found mine on Ravelry.  She asked if she could have it so I happily sent it off to Sweden for her.  I didn't expect anything in return but she sent me some gifts anyways:

Chocolate, a cute handmade bag and a creative DPN holders that she made herself.  Thanks Jennie!   I really like it all!

I've been getting so much goodness from blogland lately that it's time I give some back!  I'm about to  receive my 7000th comment and you know that means it's contest time.  Just leave me a comment and if you are that 7000th commenter, I will send you some sock yarn.  I will also pick a random commenter to win too.  Don't forget to tell me what color you like.  Thanks so much for always being so kind to me!

boys will be boys

There's just something about those creatures we call boys:

They are so full of this crazy energy.  Trying to take pictures of 5 of them, all at once, on a playground, in between all their fidgeting, and lots of "hold stills!," takes 2 photographers (thanks Matt!):

Last month, when it was raining so much, my boys and their friends were playing inside and found 2 skeins of my Socks That Rock Heavyweight in Terra Firma.  They promptly asked to have matching socks.  These went beyond matching - they were the same sock over and over and over again.  Yay me??:

Fortunately, they just wanted ankle socks.  I think they really just wanted socks to slide around on the hardwood floors with.  At least it was heavyweight yarn knitted on US #5 needles.  I really didn't think it would take me so long to knit 10 simple stockinette ankle socks.  In fact, these were suppose to be the end of my Project Spectrum Earth, which was over last month.  But then my life exploded into a blur of busyness and I ran out of yarn.  I found the wonderful Linda on Ravelry willing to send me her leftover yarn to complete the project.  Thank you so much Linda!!!  Ravelry is the coolest.

I was glad to have simple socks to knit while trying to get through all of the other stuff needed to be done at the end of the school year and gymnastics and baseball season.  These socks didn't take a lot of brain power and the boys seemed to really like them:

I do have to laugh at the wildness of boys!  They just couldn't wait for the photo shoot to be over so that they could run off:

I think it all the time, and I hope I say it enough - I am grateful to the generosity of knitters like Linda and knitbloggers, like Ami.  I won a contest on her lovely site that I didn't even realized that I entered.  I am so happy to have won though!  Thank you so much Ami!  If you haven't checked out her site, you should.  She does gorgeous work and takes beautiful photos of it.  Look at all the goodies I received from her.  Ahem... there may have been more chocolate that didn't make it to the photoshoot:

Here's to the end of my Project Spectrum Earth (albeit a little late!)  Bring on Summer and Project Spectrum Air!

birthday fun

I feel guilty for not posting more.  It's been so busy that if I try to post everything we've been up to, this post will be miles long.  I haven't even been able to finish any knitting projects lately and if I wait until I get a chance to finish a project, more and more weeks will pass.  I do try to post at least once a week but with nothing interesting coming off the needles, it's been hard.  So how about I share something fun instead?

A certain princess in my household recently celebrated a birthday (and the loss of her 1st tooth!)  We went to the Cookalicious Club where she and 11 of her friends and family got to make their meal.  They made pizza dough (a princess always wears her tiara, even while cooking!):

Adding the pizza sauce:

Yummy handmade pizza!:

Preparing the butter for the cupcake batter (Seriously?  A cake can be made without a box?):

Everyone got a chance to stir the batter with a friend's help:

Shelby's turn to ladle the batter:

Frosting the cupcake:

Birthday wishes:

Enjoying the smoothies they made:

The party gang in miniature:

It was great fun to watch everyone.  The best part?  I didn't have to do any of the preparation or clean-up!  Ah good times!  Until next time, when I hope to be able to show you an FO!

knitting in philly

Hiya!  How have you been?  We've been good, thanks for asking!  Matt had a conference in Philadelphia this week so I tagged along.  What better knitting project is there for traveling than socks?:

These are the Hedgerow Socks by Jane Cochran from Knitter's Review (Ravelry and Non-Ravelry link) which I started as the plane took off from Seattle, and finished just as the plane was touching back down in Seattle.  This was an easy, mindless project and I love how the pattern continues down the heels:

These were knit with US #2 circular needles.  The only modification I did was to change the toe pattern to create my favorite kitchenered toes:

This is another Project Spectrum Earth contribution from me since I used Sundara Sock Yarn in the perfectly named colorway of Mossy:

I love using my daughter as a hostage sock model.  She has cute feet, is seasoned in sock-modeling, and chats with me about her day as I shoot photos, especially since I really missed the kids this week:

We had a fun time in Philly though.  Here are a few shots of the historical sites we saw:

But I know you'd rather hear about the yarn stores in Philly.   While Matt was in his conferences, I wandered around to the yarn stores where I got totally shy about pulling out my camera and taking pictures.  Sorry!

I first went to Sophie's Yarns, which was a cute little store.  I then went on over to Nangellini's, where the owner, Nancy, was so dang nice to me and had me join their Tuesday night knitting group.  I had a great time since it was my first experience knitting with a bunch of other people.  I met some friendly knitters, but aren't knitters friendly everywhere?  I love that I could just plop down and pull out my knitting (you know I had it in my bag!)  The next day I went to Rosie's Yarn Cellar where I fell in love with how jam-packed the store was with yarn, lovely, lovely yarn!  Then I strolled over to Loop, which was quite possibly the most beautiful knitting store ever.  Of course I had to go next door to Spool, another beautiful store, which made me miss my first love, quilting.  Being on not quite a diet, the goodies I purchased was just a bit - I was limited by the size of my carry-on luggage:

I did purchase some Hiya Hiya needles.  Just look at how incredibly tiny these US #2 9" circular needles are!  They were so cute I had to buy them:

I only wished I had more time to visit the other yarn stores.  I loved walking around Philly, even in the rain, since this Seattle girl can handle a little drenching!

seraphim

It seems like every time I unexpectedly disappear for longer than anticipated, I pop back in with only 1 big project:

This is the Seraphim Shawl (Ravelry and Non-Ravelry link) by Miriam Felton.  This came out much smaller than the original because I knit this on US #3 needles vs. the US #5 needles suggested by the pattern.  I just like the fabric created by the smaller needles more.  I  think this ended up being about 60" x 30".

This was knit with Sundara Yarn Silk Lace in Green Tea which I was lucky enough to receive from the generous and amazing dyer herself, Sundara.  I absolutely love her yarn (as you can tell from my latest projects.)  Thank you so much Sundara!!!

Honestly, I do not get paid to use her yarn.  It just seems like lately, all the colors I have from Sundara Yarn fit into Project Spectrum colors.  This is my latest addition to Project Spectrum Earth:

I think I can become a lace knitter after knitting Seraphim and Icarus.  Now if only I could become a lace wearer!

There have been quite a few bloggers who have wondered where all the WIP posts have gone and why there have only been FO posts in blogland.  While I really enjoy reading everyone's WIP posts, I am guilty about only posting about FOs.  The time it takes for me to shoot photos, choose which pictures I'll use, write a post, edit the post, upload the photos to flickr and update my Ravelry page, is hours and hours and frankly I'm too lazy and tired to do this with my WIPs.  I hope you'll all forgive me for not doing many, if at all any, WIP posts!  Thank you for always stopping by anyways with such nice comments.

This was our first sunny day in sooooo looooong.  Yay for me to be fortunate enough to be able to go outside to snap these pictures.  We are suppose to be having a record heat wave the next few days!  I hope you're enjoying your Spring!

old shale scarf

Lately, I have really been trying something new to me.  It's a bit strange and daunting and sometimes I think I can't do it but I'm persevering and I believe I'm doing pretty well.  Yep, I've been knitting using just the yarn in my stash.  I'm not on a diet, I just haven't actively been buying any yarn.  I'm getting my fix by the 2 yarn clubs I belong to - the Rockin' Sock Club and Sundara's Seasons Yarn Club.  Looking through the stash, I see that I have a lot of beautiful Sundara Yarn that I have been "saving."  But I realized I should just go ahead and enjoy knitting with them.  Sundara's Seasons Yarn Club introduced a new yarn to her line - the Fingering Silky Merino.  This yarn is amazing!  Problem is, you only receive 1 skein in the club and I had a hard time figuring out what to knit with it.  I finally decided on a scarf so that I can enjoy the warmth and softness next to my face:

This is a simple feather and fan stitch pattern, otherwise known as Old Shale for it's resemblance to waves upon the sand.  It's often used as edging for clothing.  I'm not sure where I first saw this stitch pattern but it seems like I see it everywhere now:

I used US #6 needles for this fingering weight yarn.  I think this pattern would work well with any of the sock yarn that might be laying around in your stash.  This lovely color is Autumn Rose:

The yarn came in an amazing amount so I had plenty for this scarf.  I finally decided that it was long enough at 80" and I still have about 1/3 of the skein left:

This is a simple and an enjoyable stitch pattern and I have written it up if you'd like to have it.  I do not take credit for the stitch pattern.  I only take credit for my scarf:

Download old_shale_scarf.pdf

Happy May everyone!  I love May.  It's my birthday month.  It's Mother's day month.  It's all about me month.  Yippee!  So happy May it is!

socks and jocks

I have to 'fess up.  In my last post I mentioned that Matt's socks seem to be shrinking on him so I have to knit his socks a bit larger for him.  What I didn't mention was that they might be shrinking due to the fact that I might be throwing them in the dryer. Ahem.  So I guess this means that I have to knit the fella a few more pairs of socks:

It's not so bad when I find a pattern that is enjoyable to knit.  This pattern is a melding of Nancy Bush's Gentleman's Half Hose Socks from Knitting Vintage Socks and Wendy Knits Toe Up Socks with Gusset Heels.  What do I mean by melding?  I really liked the stitch pattern from Nancy but I don't like to knit cuff down for my husband for fear of running out of yarn.  So I changed the stitch count and switched the pattern to toe up and used Wendy's gusset heels:

There's something so fancy about knitting toe-up and magic loop.  A few loopy loops and increases and more increases and then voila!  A toe appears.  When non-knitters see what you're doing, they are suitably impressed and can even tell it's a sock!

These were knit with US #2 needles using Koigu yarn in a dark forest green shade.  This is another Project Spectrum Earth addition for me. 

Somehow I goofed a bit.  When I have 2 balls of yarn, I weigh each and start knitting with the smaller ball so I can be sure of not running out of yarn for the second sock.  Somehow I ran out yarn anyways and the cuff of one sock is 2 rows shorter than the other.  I don't think anyone can really tell.  Matt said they're fine so I'm not going to bother making the sock cuffs even:

On another topic - have you ever noticed the term Jock is usually reserved for tall, athletically inclined, males that usually excel in Basketball, Baseball or Football?  My boys are both good baseball players but they like soccer too.  They are also excellent at lots of other sports too.  My kids learned how to ride their bikes without training wheels as young as 3!  What do you call the kids that are top in other kinds of sports?  What if they excel at skateboarding or swimming or dancing?  Well, what to call girls that excel in their sports?  Why am I asking?

My daughters are so awesome at gymnastics.  My older one rocked her Sectionals meet and is going to State!  Yay!  She works so hard and at her level, she is at the gym 12-14 or more hours a week while still doing so well at school.  The higher up she goes, the more hours she'll have to spend at the gym.  She is in better condition than most all of the kids in her class.  She routinely beats the boys in strength, endurance, flexibility and even speed tests which gives her a thrill.  What do you call a girl like that?  If you call a girl a Jock, is it construed as a negative?  I'm just so proud of her and of all my kids.

Here are the Gymnastics State Cards that I made for Hailey's team.  They are given to the girls, from their coaches, to wish them luck at the meet.  They are also given to the girls to say great job, on their hard work for the season, if they aren't going to State.  Their team colors are Purple, Black and White:

On the back of the cards are diamonds where each girl can write in their scores for each event. Why diamonds?  Well, it's their turn to shine!:

Hailey and I had a lot of fun putting these cards together for all the girls:

Good luck to all the athletes out there!  I am amazed by all of you!

there's no place like home

Thank you so much for all the have-fun-on-your-trip wishes!  We did have a fantastic time at Disneyland and hardly wanted to come home:

Here's my gang on the steamboat:

It was the best time with my family!  We had such a blast just hanging out together.  I am glad to be home and in my own bed though.  I stayed away from the internet, while we were gone, and didn't really knit much (gasp!)  Here is the only thing I worked on while we were on vacation (and most of it was done during the traveling and since we've been home):

These are just a simple pair of garter rib socks for Matt using my own pattern.  They were knit a little big since it seems like all of his socks shrink a bit after washing.  There's nothing better than a sock project to work on while traveling!:

These are my first contribution to Project Spectrum's Earth.   The colors are perfect for Earth, huh?:

They were knit on US #2 needles using the ever fabulous Sundara Yarn from my Seasons Yarn shipment of Bronzed Forest.  If you're interested, Sundara's Seasons Yarn is now open briefly for sign-ups.  I love her yarn!

It's been crazy getting back into life.  This weekend, my daughter had her Gymnastics Sectionals Meet where she did beautifully and qualified for State!  Yay!!  I'm so proud of her but what's even better is that she's so proud of herself.  I love how much self confidence she has.

Also, I did this on Saturday:

This is about 10-12 inches of my hair that's going to Locks of Love.  Eek, my hair feels so short now!  I think this is the 6th or 7th time I've done this and the last time was about 1 1/2 years ago.  Please consider donating to Locks of Love or to Beautiful Lengths.  It's such a simple and easy thing to do.

Now it's time for me to catch up on all your lives!  Bloglines tells me that you all have been rather chatty while I've been away.  I can't wait to see what everyone's been up to!

a-tisket a-tasket

I have this little basket:

It is filled with 52 cards worth of good luck for Hailey's Gymnastic Team:

Every parent has a job to contribute to the success of the team and my job is to make good luck cards for the girls that make it to Sectionals and State.  I also make good job cards for the girls that don't.  The cards always have places that the girls can write their scores for Vault, Bars, Beam, Floor and All-Around on them.  In this case, the flower petals:

Hailey and I had a lot of fun making these together.  Just wanted to show you all what else was keeping me busy! 

We're off to the Magical Kingdom of Disneyland for awhile. 
See you when we get back!  Have a great week everyone!

pedicure socks

Ordinary pair of socks?

Why no, they're pedicure socks!

These are modeled by my daughter but requested by my sister Brandi who lives in cold Idaho.  I hope you like them Brandi!:

What better way to show of a nice pedicure and keep your feet warm?  I think they sort of resemble leg warmers.  What do you think?  Should I knit a longer pair and call them leg warmers? 

These socks are my own pattern and were knit with Sundara Sock Yarn in Crushed Cherry on US #2 Needles - another addition to Project Spectrum:

Here are my daughters' cute feet after I took them to get a pedicure.  We had fun doing that!:

Remember the last post when I was happy it was Spring?

Well, not so much!  Yes, snow in Seattle in late March.  Crazy!  There's so much of it in my area.  At least I have this cute little owl to enjoy:

Along with these yummy gifts by the extraordinary Moonstitches:

She generously sent them to me as a thank you.  Thanks so much Alex!  The owl that you created is too sweet!  You're so talented!  I love them.

I'm feeling like life is so hectic right now and I'm just going going going so I'll leave you all with a picture of my daughter at one of her meets.  It's taken from a video so the quality is not so great but I love it anyways and I love my daughter - the beautiful and amazing, sock modeling, gymnast: