One By One

Nashville Roundup

Our Thanksgiving trip to Nashville was great! In a nutshell...

Mom and Dad very much appreciated our stockpiling of sockeye salmon and cheeses from Trader Joe's in a carry-on cooler... not only is there not a TJ's in Nashville, there isn't good quality, inexpensive wild salmon either!

We celebrated Jackson's (our nephew) 1st Birthday -

And let's not forget the first experience with balloons:

Isn't he just the cutest thing ever?!?

THE DAY AFTER THANKSGIVING:

First, it was off to Joann's...

I picked up the premiere issue of "Cutting Edge" at Borders before we left. I fell in love with both the skirt and jacket pictured above... so I picked up the patterns for both and fabric for the skirt.

Here's a closer look at the skirt:

Way cute!

Then, while flipping through the Simplicity book (the patterns were on sale for 99 cents!), I found this... I love the design of the orange one, so I picked up some fabric for it:

Now I just need to get my sewing stuff organized....

THEN, it was onto Threaded Bliss - Sheila was having a grab bag sale!

Twelve balls of Debbie Bliss Soho.

Also on sale were all other yarns... 30% off... so I picked up some yarn for one of the Stitch Diva Scarves...

I figure the curlicue one with some left over Lion Brand Moonlight Mohair...

What do you think?

The rest of the stay went by way to fast... annual tamale party, 'Walk the Line', dinner at Bonefish Grill, having coffee with Mom, hanging out with my sisters.... I miss them already!

So, now you ask, what did I work on while on the trip?? Well, no other than Andy's Homme #77:

I'm about two inches into the armhole shaping... I figure I have about 8 inches to go until the back piece is finished!

Turkey Day!

I hope everyone has a fantastic Thanksgiving!

It's fixed!

After some encouragement from Kris and Miyon, and using a tutorial from The Knitting Fiend (conveniently found with a Google search), I was able to take mistake:

And fix it:

Woohoo!

Knit Night

Had a great time knitting with Kris and Miyon last night. I diligently worked on Andy's Homme #77:

That's 9" completed on the back piece.

While taking the picture I noticed this:

Okay, the picture does not really show it very well, but clearly I messed up on two rows of the ribbing pattern about 4" down from where I am at now. Argh! The purl stitches I'm not too worried about fixing - just need this and a crochet hook. I'm very worried about the "twisted" knit stitches (they are knit through the back)... any suggestions?? Is there a way to drop the stitch on my next row and "fix" it by maintaining the twisted stitch pattern??

I must try and fix this before the weekend... this was going to be airplane knitting!

I think the Buddists have it wrong (Part II)...

Remember this?

Well here is further evidence that supports my theory:

Spike, with Andy while doing work on the computer, purring so loud - I don't think he could have purr'd any louder! Yep - I definitely want to come back as Spike!

Don't ask...

SOLD:

A scarf and one red flower pin.

NOT SOLD:

Everything else seen here...

And here....

I thought for sure that these original designs would go:

But they didn't. I got a lot of "oh, how cute" and "wow, I really like these" without even a look at the price tag - but none of them sold. I was a little disappointed, to say the least.

In retrospect, I was probably in the wrong marketplace. Honestly, the majority of the booths had your typical street-fair, mass-produced crap (I hope I'm not offending anyone here). I really have not decided if I want to pursue this crafting thing further by entering handmade craft shows specifically or displaying items in a consignment-type setting - or if I should give these items as Christmas gifts. Humph!

I was at least knitting-productive during the fair... I worked on a "Thank You Beanie" for Andy for being such a wonderful and supporting husband - he went to the street fair with me and kept me company all day. He's so wonderful!

This is the one of the caps from the recent Knit 1 - the "men's" issue. It is made of Lion Brand Suede. The stockinette bottom has quite a bit of stretch to it... it fits me fine, but I just a tad loose on Andy (I guess I have the bigger head!). I've decided to give it a-washing-and-a-blocking to see if it shrinks up a bit. If that doesn't work, I will rip the stockinette edging out (from the cast on edge - scary!!) and reduce the circumference by doing a few k2tog's  to get it a bit tighter... unless anyone has some other suggestions???

Yep - it is after midnight...

Well, here goes nothing....

I am still awake - yes it is 12:30 in the morning, and I am scheduled to leave the house tomorrow morning at 6:50AM to head up to the craft fair in Encinitas. That's probably about five hours of sleep...

But, hey, I got everything accomplished that I wanted to - I just wish I would have prepared a bit more. A few of the handbags I designed came out really *cute* - wish I could have made more...

I think I have enough of a variety... I've been working my tail off the last three weeks to pull this thing together...

I hope to see some friends and family tomorrow - I need all the moral support I can get... Remember the story I told you of the last craft fair I did? I'm nervous... and anxious... I hope that I sell at least one thing...

Well... wish me luck... for those I see tomorrow, I'm apologizing in advance if I'm a sleepy-head!

P.S. - I'm way too tired to post pictures of everything right now... I did take pictures though. I will post everything after the fair...

November Goals

SEPTEMBER'S GOALS:

1. Seam and Block IK's Fiery Bolero - DONE! Check it out:

2. Block and Seam Ash - Not Done... Well, kinda done... the blocking is done, I just need to get the seaming completed.

3. Start River - DONE!

4. Make more progress on the Interlacements Fan and Feather Shawl (hopefully get it completed, but we'll see how that goes with the moving and all) - Done! Not completed though, I am estimating about eight more repeats.

5. Order yarn for Andy's Phildar's Homme Attitude #77 and Cast-On - Done! Check it out, four rows it:

6. Seam Myrtle - Not Done. Still not done. Okay, I am going to have to roll this onto November - darn it!

NOVEMBER GOALS:

1. Make as many felted bags, scarves and other accessories before the craft fair on November 20th.

2. Work on and complete Homme #77.

3. Make progress on the Interlacements Fan and Feather Shawl - at least one more repeat.

4. Make progress on River - at least one more repeat.

5. Start and complete one ArtFibers/Stitch Diva Scarf.

6. Start and finish Shackle.

7. Seam and complete Myrtle!

Seams like a lot of goals, huh? Well, I have one road trip (16 hours of knitting), one all-day crafty day planned (8 hours of knitting), a Thanksgiving Trip to Nashville (lots of hours of knitting), and the weekly knit-nights at Kris's where I hope I will get them all accomplished!