Late Summer Lilies

Since fall here and temperatures are dropping, I thought I would include one last view of the beautiful flowers of summer.

These are some Stargazer lilies that were growing in Hubbie's sister's garden.

While I'm looking forward to cooler temperatures, I will miss the flowers of spring and summer.

Yay it's nearly time for winter woollies,
Joyce

Stitch-N-Pitch

Stitch N Pitch NYC took place recently and I got to go with the ladies from my knitting group.

We got to watch the Mets play the Nationals and, sadly, lose. 

But the knitting was great.  We geared up before hand by knitting yarn bombing squares. 

The knitters were allowed to yarn bomb our section of the stadium this year. 

Knitty City coordinated the efforts and my knitting group was assigned two garbage cans.  I think we did a great job. (Sadly, mine squares were attached at the back of the can by the wall.)

The people from Warm Up America were there giving out yarn and needles for knitting blanket squares (which are really rectangles, but let’s not get into that again). 

By the end of the night we had enough squares for a small blanket.  (Which then became enough squares for a large blanket because people kept giving us squares.  Did I mention that awesomely weird things happen when I’m with the knitting group?)

But my favorite part of the night by far was the cowbell man.  He rang a cowbell during the game to get the fans to cheering.  I, of course, thought of Christopher Walken the whole time.

More Cowbell!
Joyce

Aging and Dyeing

I had yet another birthday last week.  I thought that once you reached a certain age (thirty-mumble mumble) you didn't have those any more.  I'm happy to report that I was mistaken.

Hubbie woke me with a birthday song and cake.  I would like to say that I had a healthy breakfast instead, but what am I supposed to do.  The cake was practically daring me to eat it.  So I did. 

Hubbie later treated me to a lovely lunch at P.F. Chang's and iPhone accessories.  But one of the best parts of the day was the sunset. 

I know we've talked about sunsets before and I have to say that this one was particularly spectacular.

The colors were remarkable even as the sunset started to fade.

Thanks Mother Nature for my fantastic birthday present. 

Also, I found out earlier this week that GiGi had some pictures of the results of our winter dyeing. 

 My dyeing efforts.

 GiGi's dyeing efforts.

Notice a color pattern emerging.  It's really a great thing because then we don't have to steal each other's yarn.  (Hey!  I doesn't count if she doesn't notice it's missing! ;-D )  Thanks GiGi for the pics!

Waiting patiently for my birthday yarn to come in,

Joyce

Dyeing with GiGi

When I was visiting Gigi last winter, we dyed yarn. A lot of yarn. It was Knit Picks Bare yarn in multiple different weights and fiber contents. We used Kool-Aid and vinegar to dye the yarn and came up with a wide variety of colors. Knit Picks has a great Kool-Aid dyeing tutorial on their website. 

We also had our own preferences for color. These preferences became apparent as the yarn was drying in Gigi's bathtub.  Gigi dyed in mostly blues and greens whereas I produced mostly orange and red skeins.

Unfortunately, due to the untimely death of my computer's hard drive this summer, I have lost the tons of pictures that I took during the dyeing process.  But I can show you what one of the skeins dyed in Strawberry looks like worked up.

I knit this scarf for a friend and am happy to say that he loved the color.

Gigi and I had great deal of fun dyeing yarn and there is even talk about doing it again this winter. 

It's especially fun to do in your jammies,
Joyce

For the love of watermelon

Hubbie often tells me that Winnie loves me the most. I say that Winnie's favorite is whoever has the watermelon.

It also works with pineapple,
Joyce

My knitting history: a story of crochet gone awry and bullet points

1. I started knitting in February of 2007. I was originally a crocheter, but made the mistake of crocheting a king-size afghan in 4-inch granny squares. Crochet and I weren't friends after that. We've only recently started being civil to each other again.

2. I learned how to knit from a tutorial offered by Lion Brand, but probably wouldn't have thought to try it if had it not been for Elle.

3. I knit my first shawl in September of 2007. It was the Easy Triangle Shawl from Lion Brand and was in Lion Brand Homespun. And thus the obsession starts.  I'd knit four variations of that shawl by the time the dust settled.

4. I continue to be encouraged in my knitting by the wonderful women in my knitting group. They are intelligent, strong women and I'm glad that I know them (and not just because we are sharing a house at Rhinebeck this year).

5. I started designing in June 2009 because I lost interest in the shawl I was knitting and decided to put a different edging on it. That was all it took. The bug bit me and things haven't been the same since.

And don't get me started talking about the wonders of yarn,
Joyce

Love and graph paper

Hubbie completely supports my designing efforts. If ever I needed proof of that, it came to me today in the form of these.

These are two notebooks and two note pads of graph paper that Hubbie gave me.  That way I will have paper with me when I am struck by an idea for lace.

He also cooks a mean empanada (even vampires like them),
Joyce

Rousette Shawl

This summer I released a shawl pattern called Rousette. It's named after one of Gigi's favorite animals, the fruit bat. When she saw it, she said that she could see hanging fruit bats in the edging. I thought the name was perfect.

Hopefully those of you who are not as enamored of bats will not find this too creepy. On a positive note, if you do, you've just found the perfect Halloween project to knit.

The shawl is knit in Knit Picks Stroll Sock Tonal in Kindling. It requires 450 yards of fingering weight yarn and is worked on size 5 needles.

Just call me a lover of all things creepy crawly,
Joyce

Kitty Kisses

Somtimes kitties just need kisses.  Who am I to deny them?

It's a dirty job, but somebody had to do it,
Joyce