Barefoot

I love to read more than I like to knit and I am torn everyday on how much of my free time to spend on each! Sharing books that I have read and love with other people and encouraging them to read them too and hopefully enjoy them really makes me happy. Just ask me to recommend something for you to read on the beach or on vacation and I am in heaven! I pull out my list and soon you have 20 books to pick from.

In the interest of getting other people excited about good books, I am going to do a brief review of each book I read....and let you know how many stars I give it in my little black book of books!

Barefoot by Elin Hilderbrand

This is the 4th book of hers I have read. And you can always tell I really like an author if I start reading all their books! The first book by Elin Hilderbrand that I encountered was The Blue Bistro which remains my favorite although I have really enjoyed the others as well. She has 2 more books that I have not yet read so I will be checking those out soon.

Three women head to Nantucket for the summer.....2 sisters and one of the sister's close friends. Each of these women are dealing with their own kind of crisis. One has lung cancer (but is not and never has been a smoker), one was a quick rising star as a professor who had a 'foray' with a student and in a fit of anger damaged the college's prized piece of artwork, and one has a husband who has a lover and she is now pregnant (she recently found out about both). The book follows these women through the summer as they stay in a 1 bathroom cottage on the ocean inherited from their strong, dominant Aunt....okay, one bathroom is VERY cozy and crowded. Several close encounters early on with a young want-to-be writer named Josh brings him into their summer life as their sitter for Vicki's 2 small boys. Each woman gently and sometimes heartbreakingly come to terms with their situation. Each emerges from the summer stronger, with a new perspective on her life.

This was a very good book. I enjoyed reading it and getting to know each character......finding out what their ultimately decide to do with their life.

I give it 4.5 stars!!!

First Edition: July 2007

Pages: 403

Ode to The Starlet

Years ago...I hate to think how many, I received a sewing machine, a Singer Starlet, for Christmas from Mom and Dad. Each of us girls got a 'big' present rather than several small. My sisters will recognize it and I know they will get a kick out of seeing it again....they religiously read my blog and hang on my every word.......NOT!!! Anyway, I think I was a freshman in high school. I used this machine so much, especially when I was in high school and college. I made almost all of my clothes! This machine has traveled with me to the many different places I have lived over the last $% years. (yes, I'm in denial, if you don't write the number it really doesn't exist!)
One of the special features of the Starlet was it was portable. It closes up and the foot pedal and the cord are stored in part of the box!
After many years of my Starlet working like a charm, I had to finally take it in for surgery a couple years ago when I was in my pillow making phase. (Remember, I have the ADD crafting problem hense another craft!) It was not working at all. I drop it at the Singer store and pick it up about a week later. The guy was very impressed with my little machine and said they didn't make very many of them 'back then'! He said it was a good little machine and he enjoyed working on it. Rather than dwelling on the 'back then' comment...I chose to bask in the fine idea that I had one of very few!!!
I have pulled the Starlet out of retirement to help me with my latest crafting project. I am finishing up a felted purse. I am actually going to try and sell this one...we'll see what happens. I needed to line it to give it a finished look.

I will post a picture of the finished purse in the next couple days. It's looking pretty cute if I do say so myself!

Happy Day!

Adult Sweater #2

This knitting is so addictive! I have started on a sweater for my husband and you can see the progress so far. Started on Friday, February 8th. Sorry about the sideways photo. I tried to rotate it in Photoshop but for some reason it didn't save. I need to spend more time on trying to master the elements of Photoshop. It is knitted in the round (my favorite) from the bottom up. There is a 2" garter stitch border around the bottom.

I love this pattern.....it's updated and cool! According to this picture I am probably not quite to the half way mark on the stockinette. Moving pretty quickly tho.
You can't really tell in my picture but it has a garter stitch column on the sides. You can see it much better in the picture from the magazine. If I would have picked a lighter color and think that would have shown up more. Hope I won't be regreting that when it's all over. Yep....you can't see it at all in my picture!

I don't know how much concentrated knitting I am going to get done....I have to work 7 days straight so I will probably be comatose! I do find that knitting is a great way to unwind....especially when it's just straight knitting with not particular pattern to follow!

Happy Knitting!

My First Adult Sweater!

Behold

The sweater is done!!! Well, I still have to block the ribbing for the buttons and then sew the buttons on, but I am done! I am relatively happy with the result.

The buttons are off as you can see in this photo.......I don't know how that happened because I was counting evenly as I went down that row! It's that darn knitting troll.....he always jumps in there and messes my garment up when I'm not looking! Any suggestions on how to fix that? I will probably look in my knitting dictionary to see if they talk about how to trouble shoot that!

Here's a few things I learned in from this project:
1. When it says cast off LOOSELY, do it right from the very first time it says that. I think that is why my ribbing for the buttons is puckering. I finally got it right by the collar!

2. I need to figure out how to fix a stitch that gets dropped several rows down. I thought I could do my own little fix but it shows.
3. Read and mark each section I am working in if it says 'work as for back' and you are on the sleeve. That's how I ended up with the Christopher Columbus incident. So in other words.....

PAY ATTENTION!

I was finished knitting in 30 days! Start date January 6th. Completed knitting February 5th. Took me a few days to actually get the opportunity to get buttons. And then there was that little stint in detox (caffine that is! That's a whole other post. If you have had caffine injected into your system for 20+ years without stop, it hurts a little to go cold turkey.....took an entire weekend to feel better!)

Of course I have to jump right in and start something new......the knitting ADD was killing me but I was determined NOT to start something new till I finished this sweater!


Here's the purse I am working on....impressive don't you think?










Here's the purse that I had knitted a few months ago but never felted so I felted it this AM and it's drying. Here are some potential embellishments for it......


This one is cute and I want to find a black and white stripe ribbon to go with it.









Which one of these 2 do you like better? I got
these flower and thought they would look great

on a bag but I'm having trouble getting my

mental vision come to reality.

I'm in a purse mood again.............the ideas are swirling! I've done several in the past. See the Sept 29, 2007 post to view my other purses....for some reason couldn't get it to track back to that date.

Next project after the pink bag....or maybe during is a sweater for my husband.

This one by Brooklyn Tweed from the Interweave Knits mag is what I am planning on doing.

It's knit in the round!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You know how I love that!

No Exploration for Me!

Well, I didn't even make it out of the harbor and the queen called the expedition back...see previous post if you're in the dark!

Good Side Bad Side

The more I looked at it the more I realized I would have the collar of the sweater in my mouth based on how high up it was going to be without the neck shaping!! So I ripped them both out....^&*(%$. How many times have I been told....trust the pattern!!!

But I must find a positive in this scrapped expedition......I really only had to rip out about 20 rows or so. It REALLY could have been ALOT worse. So I am really thrilled about that. The sleeves and the right and left fronts are drying after blocking so I should be able to start putting it together tomorrow after work.

I plan on studying the pattern VERY well to make sure I don't put the sleeves on the front part of the sweater!!!!! Don't laugh, it could happen!!!

Good Night Good Knitters!

Holy Moly! Nina, Pinta and Santa &^%$!!

So last night I weave in the ends and lay the back and two front pieces out to block and what do I find but a mess up!!! On one of the front panels I had shaped the neck all wrong!! So I blocked the back and one side then waited till this AM to fix the one side. Now that I read the directions I think the one I blocked was the wrong one, not the one I just fixed!!!!!!! &^%$#@(*&!!!!!!!

Soooooooo I think I can make it work! At least now they both match and I will be able to continue with the ribbing and I really don't think it's going to make that big a difference. I will find out when it's done whether or not directions are important! HA! I have a feeling I will be proven wrong, but I'm in the mood for an experiment....and aren't the best knitters the ones who have made mistakes and either found they needed to do it the right way OR they indeed are Christopher Columbus and have charted a new world!!!

This is the back, not the mess up!!!

The other thing I was thinking as I was dragging out all the gear for the blocking..............."I probably could have bought this sweater in five minutes flat for a whole lot less money!" What is it about spending hours and money on making a sweater????? Is it because I can't find exactly what I'm looking for? Is it because I like to be able to tell people that I made it and have them look at me with shock and awe? Is it just because I am stupid? Time will tell, huh?? When I'm off to the next crafting obession, maybe I will find the answer......or maybe it's in the 'New World'.
Off to EXLORE!!!

Happy Knitting from Christopher Columbus!

One Down, One to Go!

Here's one completed sleeve!! I can't believe how far I have gotten! I know now, I can actually finish an adult sweater!!!!

Once the second sleeve is complete then I have to block all the pieces and sew together then cast on for the ribbing for the buttons and collar.

Not too many adult responsibilities this week in the evening so I might be able to get the sleeve done in a couple nights and will be able to start the ribbing by Friday!!

Happy Knitting!