Demonic Progress

Upcoming Event:

Unique One Knitting Weekend:

April 23, 24, &25, 2010 at the Lord Camden Inn in Camden, Maine!

(The March Knitting Weekend is FULL *yay!*, so I have scheduled a second Knitting Weekend in April)

Click HERE for more details!

FO! and sheep puzzle

Hey I finished my Bermuda socks on Saturday! Yayyy! Pictures soon. 

Today's daily Jigzone jigsaw puzzle shows sheep grazing in Scotland. I thought I would share it with you. Click HERE to go to the puzzle.

If the link above doesn't work, here is the url:

http://www.jigzone.com/puzzles/daily-jigsaw

Christmas Decorations

I decorated my computer for Christmas today. Here is my desktop background:

I use a MacBook Pro, and the colored lights around the edges of the screen are made by an application called MacLampsX, a freeware app that you can get here. It makes little bulbs, you can download or even make new bulbs yourself, you can make them blink in different orders, and it has a built-in music player and screensaver so you can have your own selections of Christmas music play when you want them to. Not bad for a freeware app! 

The cute snowmen around the tree background was another freebie I found online. You would not believe how much Christmas stuff there is for free online, for your computer background pictures, anyway. I found a couple of pages of Christmas backgrounds HERE and also HERE (the snowman picture is from the first one), but just do a quick Google for Christmas desktop backgrounds and you will find hundreds of pages of pictures to download. I have another one with Christmas ornaments & lights, and another with a cute little grey kitten in a Santa hat, and another one with funny sheep, all of which I will be rotating throughout the season. 

Have a happy decorating season!

Christmas trees and hats and knitting, oh my

A few days ago I mentioned some little Christmas trees that we have for sale in Unique One, with handmade ornaments made of applesauce and cinnamon, and garland and red bows. Here is a picture:

I wish TypePad would hurry up and activate that scratch 'n sniff feature, so you could smell how good and Christmasy these little trees smell. They are handmade by a lady right here in Camden, they are about 15 inches tall, and they are $24.00. Can you believe all that handwork for only $24? It is really beautiful. 

Also, Chief Knitter Susan brought in some very cute earflap hats. They come in both adults size ($52) and kids size ($42). They are made of 100% wool but they have a 100% cotton lining inside, so they are not as itchy when worn:

Susan has been busy! Call me if you want any more information on the hats or the trees, or want to order one. 1-888-691-8358!

And in other knews....

I worked on my Trekking socks... I like them a lot now, they are pretty:

I think I was just tired of making socks when I started them before. I like the yarn a lot now :) 

I found my red cashmere scarf! It was hiding inside another knitting bag that is holding "upcoming" projects, so I figured it would not be in there, since it is already started. I haven't worked on it for about 6 weeks, but here is what I have so far:

 I wish you could feel how yummy this cashmere is. It is my next to the last SPA project that I haven't finished. 

The only other SPA project that is still sitting untouched is the BFL in color Galaxy, that I got from Spunky Eclectic. However, I have made progress, even before casting on: I have decided what to do with it. I was originally going to just spin it into sock yarn, but now I have decided that after I finish the Bermuda socks, I will hand-spindle the BFL as a laceweight so I can make one of the lace projects in A Fine Fleece. I love that book and I still want to make everything in it, and I will.... over a period of several years, I am sure.

The only other Fiber Frolic project left untouched so far is the yarn I got from String Theory. I think it contains some cashmere, it is a gorgeous blue color with a little purple and/or turquoise, and it is fingering weight.... I think I have around 400 yards or so, maybe more. So far I have not decided what to use it for. So I have to get the BFL lace yarn all spun by the SPA 2010, to be able to say I used up all my SPA purchases within a year, and I have to knit that one skein of String Theory yarn by the Fiber Frolic 2010 to say I used up all my Fiber Frolic purchases from last year. And if I hold myself back a little more at the SPA and Fiber Frolic in 2010, maybe I can start making inroads on all the stuff I have in my stash. I have stuff from several years of SPA and from my infamous "holiday" in Bar Harbor what, 3 years ago now? and from my Freeport trip last year too. This year's Freeport trip was just the blue silk SeaWool Shawl, which is already done :) 

I should go through my stash and just get rid of most of it. I have a lot of one ball of this, one ball of that. Maybe I will just crochet one honkin' huge granny square afghan. When I was in college I used to do that with all my leftover bits of yarn. I know it ate up the yarn pretty fast. 

I guess I better get back to work :) Sorry about the long-winded post.

 

More Pictures

Spinnning on a hand spindle is like eating potato chips or popcorn. Once you start, it is hard to stop. I keep saying, oh, just fifteen minutes..... I can stop anytime I want to..... Uh huh. 

I only have 1 ounce left to spin on my Bermuda socks fiber (50/50 tencel & merino, hand dyed at The Sheep Shed). And the socks are knit as far as I have made yarn to spin for them, so they are 75% done as well. I set this spinning/knitting project aside in late August or early September and haven't worked on it much, but now it is my favorite thing:

I finished my Ballerina jacket. Did you know how hard it is to photograph yourself wearing a sweater? I got this mirror shot:

I couldn't figure out how to do a shot from the back.... and the back is the coolest part of the sweater. Maybe I can get one today when Tracy comes in. 

My new mindless, easy to knit project is this pair of socks, Trekking XXL #156:

I grabbed this skein of yarn originally to use as a “porthole prize” skein on the last September knitting cruise. Since I actually finished all the stuff I had brought with me to boat-knit well ahead of time, I nabbed this skein to make a pair of mindless socks so I wouldn’t sit twiddling my thumbs for the last day and a half of the cruise with no knitting to do. (Very sad thing to do, on a knitting cruise.)

Unfortunately I don’t like this skein of yarn much. I don’t like the color and I don’t like how it feels, but maybe I was just so dang sick and tired of knitting socks when I picked it up, that it biased my opinion. I had, after all just finished making about 4 pairs of socks in the previous 3 months…. HARD socks that took a lot of time.

I am sure I will love these socks when I finally finish them.   I like them a little better, today, so that's a good sign.

So now I only have 3 in-progess projects. Yikes.

In other news (I think it should be "knews" if it is knitting news. Right?), I finished the black socks. I have no picture. They are just black socks. 

And more dismaying, I am theoretically working on a beautiful red cashmere lace shawl/scarf, and I seem to have lost it. It is beautiful dark red cashmere from Springtide Farm, and I got it at the SPA and I haven't felt like working on it for months. Finally last night the bug bit me to want to work on the cashmere scarf, but now I can't find it anywhere. I have even looked in the refrigerator and in my car. I hope I find it! If you find a pink flowered zipper bag holding a nearly half done red cashmere scarf, walking down the road holding a sign that says "Vegas" because it was running away from home, suffering from neglect .... take it to Vegas would ya? Then mail it back to me after? Thanks :) 

Zea

Take six minutes to watch this film when you're bored.

I love the Canadian Film Board. I first saw this film on a big screen in the eighties, and we were all trying to guess what it was to the end.  It's the best movie topic ever. 

Why is it called "Zea"? Look up what zea mays is. :) 

Pictures as Promised

Okay, I got the camera and the computer together in the same room finally. 

Here is the Sea Wool Scarf, made from Colinette "Tao" 100% silk, in color "Lapis". The pattern is from Yarn Forward magazine, issue 11. It's shaped like a shawl, but it's small like a scarf:

 

Here is how you wear it (unfortunately it doesn't make me young and blonde when I wear it.):

 

Here are the yellow mittens I just made out of Peace Fleece:

Here are the black socks I am working on now. Just plain black socks. I actually already have finished the first sock and am part way up the ribbing on the second sock, since I took this picture yesterday. I am using Lang Jawolle:

 

And finally, here is the finished Hanne Falkenberg! 

 

And here is Nicky snoozing:

 

  
  
 
 

Decorating for Christmas

This morning I went out and clipped boughs from evergreens around my house, so I could decorate the window boxes in front of Unique One. They are so pretty now! I filled them with balsam fir and pine, and then I went to a local garden center and bought a bundle of twigs with red berries on them, and put them in the window boxes too. They look so pretty! I'll post pictures soon. I also went to our local farm stand and bought a decorated wreath and hung it on Unique One's door, and replaced the fall flag with a holiday winter one. The flag has a really cute snowman holding a candy cane on it. Very festive! 

I put little white lights around the store windows and hung up our usual snowflake decorations from the ceiling, so now we are all decorated up for Christmas. It feels good to be ready. I think last year, I didn't even get boughs in the window boxes until the Friday of Christmas by the Sea, which is about a week late. And I didn't even try to decorate the window boxes, just shoved greens into them, in kind of a half-hearted fashion, at that. I am much more into the Christmas spirit this year than I was last year. 

Oh, and you should see the cute Christmas tree decorations we are selling! Little trees all decorated with red ribbons, and garland and a ton of handmade little "gingerbread" people all over them. The ornaments are made of applesauce and cinnamon, so they smell amazing. They are the most festive thing ever, and the best bit is, they are made right here in Camden. They cost only, $24.00, and lemme tell ya, the amount of handwork that went into each..... well, they're a steal, in my opinion. There are gingerbread boys and girls as regular tree ornaments available too, for $3.95, and we also have the ever popular (around here, anyway) Christmas belted Galloway cow tree ornaments for sale for $3.95. Again, pictures as soon as I remember to get my camera and my store in the same time/space continuum. 

AND I finished my Hanna Falkenberg jacket 10 minutes ago, and I finished a silk scarf tonight too. I started the silk scarf in Freeport about a week ago. It's pretty. Pictures soon. 

Wooohoooo!

The new issue of Wild Fibers magazine just landed at Unique One today! Come and get it!

Don't Forget the Felines!

You know how it is, you get busy during the holidays. You are busy knitting wonderful gifts, probably. It is easy to forget to knit something for the furry ones in your life too! I know I have realized at the last minute that I haven't remembered the holiday gifts for people's kitties ..... and dashed out at the last minute to gather them. It is amazing how expensive cat toys seem to be, when you have to buy all the cat toys for the 14 cats in your family and friends circle, all at once! 

So, to forestall that problem, I am jumping in NOW to give you my little catnip mouse toy pattern that is quick and easy to knit. It only takes about 20 minutes to make one. You can make 3 of them during the hiatus between Turkey Dinner and Post-Turkey-Dinner Pie. I will post a picture of a completed mouse as soon as I can.

Here's the pattern:

CATNIP MOUSE CAT TOY

Yarn: Lush (50% wool/50% angora) by Classic Elite. I think one skein will make around 10 to 12 mice, maybe more. You could use any worsted weight yarn, but cats like angora blends. I also think cats might be color blind, so make the colors YOU like best :)

Needles: size 4 double pointed needles.

Cast on 21 sts, leaving a long tail to sew up with later (and also it makes the mouse’s tail, too). Join into a circle and knit 16 rounds. 

Begin decreases for head: 

Next round: knit 2, knit 2 together through the back loops, knit to last 4 sts in the round, knit 2 together, knit 2. 

Repeat this decrease round until there are 7 sts left. Next round: knit 2 together  three times, knit one. Cut yarn, leaving a long tail which you then thread onto a darning needle and pull through the remaining 4 sts. Pull them up tight, and then pull this yarn to the inside, to make little loops for ears at the beginning of the decrease rounds, tacking each loop in place. (You can just secure this on the inside and leave the ears off if you don’t want to bother with the ears. My cat likes to pull at the ears with her teeth. It gives her something to do.)

Thread the cast-on tail onto a darning needle and run it in and out around the cast on edge, making a mini drawstring bag sort of thing. Fill the mouse with catnip or, if you prefer, fiberfill stuffing (some cats are on a no-catnip diet, having abused the substance at some point in life, no doubt.) Pull on the cast-on tail, closing the drawstring tight; tack in place several times to secure the opening, making it as tightly closed as possible and leaving the tail outside. Tie a little knot  about half an inch from the end of the tail so you’ll have something to hold onto as you dangle the little critter in front of the cat. Or you may want to just throw it on the floor and stand back. 

If only it worked the other way.....

hahahahahahaha this is so funny:

Cats for Gold!