Krafty1

700 Club

Welcome to the newest edition for Krafty1!

After 2.5 years of writing, 700 posts total, it felt like time for a bit of an overhaul to the look of the blog.  Something a bit cleaner.  Something that made it much easier to add all of my favorite "reads" and yet wouldn't bog down load times for all of you.  Let me know what you like (or don't like) about the new layout.  Give it some time...I know I will.

Of course, a redesign has been on my "to do" list for awhile now.  (Can you say New Year's Goal!?! We don't do resolutions round here!)  I hope you like the new "look".

Last week, Loopy Ewe had another "sneak up" that I fell for.  The parcel arrived on Friday.  Inside was an added surprise or two wrapped inside a special Loopy Tote that I hadn't ordered.  Turns out it was my sixth purchase which makes me an official Loopy Groupie. 

That was when I decided it was time to use the surprises (& special K's absence) as incentive to take care of several items that have been nagging me to deal with.  I must be the only Loopy Groupie who has held off diving into that lovely tote.  It's currently going on five days since the order arrived and the tote is still sitting next to my knitting chair unopened!

The blog update is finished.  There remains a pattern write-up to complete AND THEN I'll allow myself to open the tote to see what's wrapped in the pretty blue tissue!  (The white tissue is my actual order.)  Watch this space for the pattern and the contents of the tote...coming soon!

Destruction to creation

  This pair of socks has sure had a "lively" creation!  They were started as something for me to do while Special K would be gone for the week.  I liked the pattern so much from the previous SKP event and wanted to use up the green, but wasn't sure when casting on who would be the recipient of this particular pair.  However, from the beginning, the "universe" must've decided that they were meant for Special K. 

First, they kept me company while storms blew through our area and postponed her flight.  Her late departure meant she tried the cuff on (for sizing) before finally flying north.  Then, they kept me company while waiting for roadside assistance when my tire blew!  I started to worry about what might happen next that these socks might need to keep me company for!!! 

It became apparent that these should be for Special K.  Among other "meanings", she shares her name with a Hindu goddess.  This particular one is a goddess of destruction from which all creation is born!

With the destruction we'd seen during the knitting of the first sock, I'm just superstitious enough to have kicked knitting the second sock into HIGH gear!

Ta-da!!  Green Rattlesnake Creek socks from Opal yarn that has been in my stash since 2004.  They are now quietly waiting on Special K's bed awaiting her return.  Hopefully, the destructive forces have been quieted with the creation of these socks.  (How's that for superstition!?!)

Debris

The tornado passed through last evening.  In its path, there is PLENTY of debris throughout town!  Pretty much anywhere you drive, you'll find trees and or branches in the roads and in yards.  100s of trees like this one.  Amazingly, not one landed ON a house!  Sure, they landed on cars and yards and streets, but no houses received direct hits!

This morning was a much better time for Special K to depart on her adventure. She boarded the plane with a big, healthy grin and was on her way...she checked in and let me know she'd arrived safely.  Now we hope she has a great time and miss her for the next week.

Did I mention that the city is littered with debris?

How about a little knitting in public? 

In my skirt...

In the shade of a random standing tree...

In 90 degree weather...

What reason could I have to be sitting on the side of the road, knitting a sock!?!

Could it have anything to do with the sudden puncture in my tire!?!

Have I mentioned debris in the roads?

Debris that was not just of the garden variety tree branch sort? How about debris that was aluminum that more than likely had been blown from a nearby scrap metal business!?!  The kind with the ability to puncture the sidewall of my tire.

All I can say tonight is thank goodness my daughter made it safely to her summer vacation and thank goodness my knitting was in the car while I waited for roadside assistance!  Now I'm hoping for a quiet, uneventful weekend!

Staying Put

If you haven't figured it out by now, we LOVE to travel!!!  In fact, we love it so much that we've sent an inanimate object Luke to travel the world this summer since it's just not currently in the cards for us.  We've worked hard to instill the love of travel on to our kids. Special K asked for a passport for her 7th birthday gift.  Both girls have already been to Europe.  Panda hopes to study abroad in China, Japan, or Germany someday. And, Special K has a few things up her sleeve as well!

This afternoon, she was to have taken her first solo trip.  Over the past year, Special K has built a friendship with a girl her age from Chile.  The girl is visiting her grandparents for two weeks and invited Miss K to join them at their summer home in northern WI.  The plans have been in the works ever since!  (BTW The girl's grandparents happen to also be my bosses.)

This afternoon, Special K was to board my bosses' plane and head north.  As we pulled out of the garage, the sirens went off (3:50 PM), a storm front moved through our area and dropped a tornado and 70mph winds in our vicinity. (Photos here.)

She wasn't worried in the least.  She has complete in my boss and our company's pilots to make the right decisions.  (So do I.) The flight is rescheduled till morning.  As much as we love to travel, there are those times when staying put is fine by me!  (Especially when my baby is flying SOLO!!)

Daydreaming

We knitters are an interesting breed.  Talk to one and you'll discover that we have amazing daydreams while we knit!

  While finishing this pair of socks (#7 for the 52PP), an email hit my inbox from Beth Brown-Reinsel.  What set me off dreaming? This cruise through Europe & Estonia with classes taught by both Beth AND Nancy Bush!

The daydream included cruising with Doogie & two of my favorite teachers visiting, among other places, Norway where my great-great grandfather sailed from bound for the US.  Hmmm, perchance a few meet-ups along the way with fellow bloggers.  Ooooo, and to be in St. Petersburg, Russia with my husband on our wedding anniversary!!! (Aug. 30, 2009)  How cool would that be!?!

And that's when it happened...the bubble burst.  No, it wasn't the price, it was our anniversary...which...always...falls...at...back-to-school...time. Coincidentally, "back-to-school" 2009 will mean "off to college" for Panda's freshman year!  Wild horses couldn't keep me from delivering her to school for freshman year! 

Hmmm, would it be wrong to persuade her to pick a school that would start early enough to allow her parents to go on a knitting cruise through Europe!?!

When I'm 94.

It's time to update the old Beatles song.

This weekend was "reunion" weekend around here.  A long time ago a brother and a sister from one family married a brother and a sister from another family.  Ever since, the families have been meeting up during the summertime.  Around 120 of us gathered this time around.  It was a grand time.

This time around, my Grandma was the eldest of the relations (though she isn't one of the siblings that married into the other family).  How old is she?  Well, coincidentally, July 14th is her 94th birthday!! 

"Grandchildren on your knees..."

Little Taylor...not a grandchild, but the oldest and youngest at the reunion!

It'll do.

Happy Birthday Grandma!!

Stash

Each Wednesday, my job has been to post a "Question of the Week" for SP12 participants.  Oops, this is week five and I haven't answered my own questions yet. Time to do a bit ofcatch up!

Week 3: "What would you consider the perfect amount of stash?"

This is nearly all of my current stash. (The rest, three sweaters worth, is in the footstool.)

There are days that "this" feels like too much. I used to think it would be cool to stockpile enough sock yarn in order to be able to walk in, grab a skein, and begin knitting.  Now I wish that there was a bit less on the shelf so that I could go to a yarn shop (or online shop), see something wonderful, buy it, and not feel guilty about all the yarn that is sitting on the shelf waiting for its turn on my needles. (No wonder so many knitters keep their yarn hidden!)

The feeling comes and goes.  Sometimes, it's so easy to look at the shelves and know exactly what would be perfect to knit with next.  Other times, I look at the shelves and NOTHING appeals to me. Those are the times that it all seems like too much stash. My current goal has been to get my "visible" stash down to four cubes instead of six.  My sweater yarn, on the other hand, is and always will remain at three sweaters worth.

Week 4: "What yarn would make your stash complete?" and "What yarn do you never want to be without?"

Don't start with me!  Sure, the previous paragraphs lamented my bounty of stash.  However, if one more could be added, currently (because a knitter can be fickle afterall!) it would have to be Franklin's Panopticon exclusive LL colorway.  Hey, what would one more, itty-bitty skein hurt!?!  Okay, so it would have to be two skeins because that's what you need of Lorna's Laces to make a pair of socks. 

It should be no surprise then that Lorna's is the one brand that'll never be missing from my stash.  They produce everything from laceweight to chunky yarns.  Every pair of socks I've knit in the past with Lorna's, has been a pleasure!  Currently, there are two pair of socks worth of Lorna's in-house. Two pair, that's all that's left in my sock stash!  There should always be at least two pair in the stash of Lorna's...my rainy day mood booster!  Maybe it's time to restock!?!

Weaving in Tails

That's right.  I was a "good kid" and resisted the temptation to cast on something new in order to weave in the tails on my BYOBag.  Will power!

The bag was a fairly quick knit, but was surprised me the most was how big it is.  It's kind of hard to tell from the photo but the red that you can barely see is a LARGE box of breakfast cereal.  The two 3# bag of coffee beans aren't even visible.  (I just noticed when linking to the pattern, my handles are in the wrong place!  How'd I manage that!?!)

This one probably won't be toting any groceries though.  It is more than likely bound to tote cross-country running gear (sweats, socks, dry clothes, snacks, etc) for the upcoming season.  Panda will be running for her fourth and final season.  Hard to believe the final year of high school is coming up!

After successfully completing the bag project, there was a lot of evening left to go without knitting.  Again, I resisted the urge to cast on something new and instead opted to pick up the "old" Spring Vest.

The orange stitch marker indicates how much knitting on the fronts has occurred.  It feels good to finally be in the decrease stage of this project.  However, there seems to be a bit of a fly in the ointment.

That red footstool that has been the resting place for the vest back happens to sit in front of our bay window. You guessed it, there has been a small amount of color fade going on!  Oops.  Thank goodness it's all on the back.  The back will be one shade of pink and the front another slightly darker shade.  Not really obvious (hopefully) when viewed from the sides. Time to finish this puppy!  (But maybe, just maybe I could cast on a pair of socks since my needles haven't seen socks in four WHOLE days! Mom gave me permission to bring knitting to the family reunion afterall.)

Geek

This is how I managed to resist Monday's temptation to cast something new on.

Awhile back Lime'NViolet were discussing KnitWars on their podcast.  They use it as a way to keep track of the time they've spent on projects plus motivation and rewards for completing projects.  There are even experience points (XP) given for blogging! 

All these months, I've resisted signing up. (That hasn't stopped 1480 others from doing so!)  For some reason, it called to me Monday and the rest is history.  Thankfully, it doesn't require a lot of time once you're signed up (no loading photos of stash or projects) so it can easily updated at the end of the day.

This may be the shot in the arm that's needed to help me finish a few long-standing projects (like the "Spring Vest" that was started in Winter, stranded in Spring and revisited for Summer).  Plus, from what I've read, others use their accumulated gold as "stash enhancement" incentive gold.  You can set your own rules for spending gold.  Mine probably won't be dollar for dollar (gold), but it may help me reisist the Loopy "siren song" (but it didn't stop me from looking...new stock snuck up Tuesday night!).  Plus, it might be the shot in the arm that's needed to avoid the summer blogging gaps that have been creating holes all over the place on this ol' blog.

Monday's poll was fun. (Tomorrow, you'll find out which option was chosen.) There may be more polls in the future. Time to shake a few things up as far as my blogging is concerned.  Look out, it could be a bumpy ride!

Decisions, decisions

Do I weave in the tails on BYOB?  Do I resume knitting on the Spring Vest? Or cast on a totally new project (Ravelry link)? 

What's a knitter to do when faced with these tough decisions!?!

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