Figuring out Knitting

Traveling Woman Originally uploaded by karyn_settles I finished Traveling Woman by Liz Abinante. It turned out beautifully! I wore it yesterday and got several nice comments on it. I used Malabrigo Sock. I loved this yarn and already have more for another shawl. I don't know if I'll do this one again or maybe Ishbel by Ysolde. On other fronts . . . we'll be having Thanksgiving at our home on Thursday so I am busy getting the house ready for all the family and friends who will be attending. I finished painting my bathroom and it turned out very nicely. That's a post for another day. Onward and upward!

I am almost finished with Traveling Woman by Liz Abinante of Feministy.com. It is a free pattern for a scarf size shawl with a wonderfully pretty but really easy lace pattern. I used Malabrigo Sock for it. I am in LOVE with Malabrigo. It is the most luxurious fiber I have ever used. I can see why so many people love "the Mal". It is going well and I am debating right now whether to add a repeat of one of the lace charts in order to make the overall size a little bigger.

First, the Fun, a quiz Question for you: What's the best knitting gift you ever received? Weather outside: Warm, but I do belive that it will soon be fall. What hurts: My heart. I am sad about the loss of my FIL on Monday. What I want to eat: Nothing in particular, my appetite is pretty much gone. What I'm wearing: Tinkerbell What I'm crafting: two sweaters, Mermaid Socks, traveling woman shawl What I'm watching: HGTV Best thing that happened this weekend: Volleyball Worst thing that happened this weekend: Barely slept at all - FIL was dying What I'm most looking forward to this week: getting to the end of it What I'm least looking forward to this week: a funeral Last thing I bought: Yarn Something I want to buy: nothing in particular A link to share: nothing in particular Now, the not so fun. I have lost a special person in my life. This last week my FIL took a turn for the worse and sadly, passed away on Monday. Our family is doing well thanks in large part

A LB Homespun Country Beret Originally uploaded by karyn_settles I finished my beret. It is going to go with my Splendid Triangle Shawl. It was made from the leftovers of the shawl so the colors will match perfectly.

This weekend will be spent taking care of things about my house and for my family. I am cleaning closets, DD #2 room and boy do I have a lot of stuff that I'm getting rid of. I am in a good mood to be cleaning. I want to be rid of clutter right now. I need it. That means its a perfect time to be doing what I am doing. On other family front . . . my FIL will be moving to a nursing facility soon. He has been in the hospital and not doing very well outside of the hospital. I know that it will be very hard for my MIL to be without him at home but he will be much better off going where his condition can be monitored. I know that he wishes things could be different. It is hard for me to imagine how hard it must be to want to do so much and not have your body working for you. He is a wonderful man and I hope that we as his family can make what we can see as the end of his life with us as wonderful as possible. I have decided that I am going to finish a shawl I had in hibernation

This weekend will be our last weekend of summer vacation for my girls. They start school again the day after labor day. We have gone school shopping for them and aside from a few things that we have to get in supplies for DD#2 we should be set for the start of school. Both the girls will be playing Volleyball this fall and we hope for some fun. DD#1 has made her HS Junior Varsity girls team. DD#2 is playing in an outdoor league to begin learning the basics.

Herb Garden Shawl Originally uploaded by karyn_settles Today I finished my Homespun Herb Garden Shawl. I love the color but the pics don't do it justice. I have the feeling that I will be giving away this shawl . . . there is a special person who needs my prayers right now and a warm shawl. My MIL is dealing with my FILs illness. We are all praying for him right now.

I am particularly close to my family. I love them dearly and would never give up the time I have to spend with them, thanks to them being so close. Along that line, I enjoy genealogy . . . the study of one's family tree as well as my knitting. I found a wonderful site today that I just had to post about. It's a website and blog called The Family Trunk Project . If I even had 1/10th of this woman's passion and creativity I would be blessed beyond belief. She is taking on the job of designing knitwear of all types based on her feelings and remembrances of family members and friends. Such a wonderful thing. The designs are truly original and beautiful. Check them out.

I started a pair of socks yesterday. They are in the Summer 2009 Knitty . They are the Mermaid Socks. So fun. We also had a very nice time with my BIL and his children. They were visiting from San Francisco. We had a BBQ and a Bonfire to have S'Mores. We also played RockBand on our Wii. The day was really fun.

I have been working on two projects that are a second time made by me. I am working on the Combo Corset T by Annie Modesitt. I am making it in Cascade Sierra Quattro in a beautiful Yellow/Gold Colorway. I am also working on the Easy Triangle Shawl in Lionbrand Homespun in the Herb Garden Colorway.

Soleil Originally uploaded by karyn_settles I have finally gotten back to the point where I was when I frogged Soleil awhile back. I have to say that I am very happy that I made the trip to the frog pond because I am going to have a very nice sweater to show for it . . . one that will fit. When I cast on again, I retook my measurements and realized that I was two, yes two sizes to small on the cast on. Glad I found out early and decided to go back.

Remember . . . awhile back I said that I had to frog soleil

DD #1 is leaving for Volleyball Camp today. She'll be at the camp for a week. Several of her friends are going and she's really excited. We are making our final preparation for her departure so I better get back to work now.

. . . that is the question. Sadly for me, the answer was to frog. I started Soleil late in June and had finished all of my lacework along the bottom edge when I realized I had cast on for the wrong size. I debated for awhile . . . every knitter does it. I rationalized that it still might fit and that I would waste a lot of work if I went to the frog pond. But when my husband . . . the dear, sweet, and logical to a fault man that he is, said, "Won't you feel silly when you get any further and have to rip out anyway?", I had to agree. But, just to make sure I did my measurements again. They didn't lie. I definitely needed the bigger size. So a trip down memory lane it was . . . with hubby as the narrator. "This is where you were so happy to be finished with the lace.", and the best of them all, "This is where you were all excited about starting a new project." when I had gotten to the point where I had only a few more rows to rip out. At l

Textured Circle Shrug Originally uploaded by karyn_settles I am so happy. I am finished with my Textured Circle Shrug. I can't wait to wear it. It is a little to warm to wear it outside right now but in the office it will probably be just fine. My office is always cold! I posted information on Ravelry about it

Baby Set Originally uploaded by karyn_settles I gifted this baby set to a friend at work who is expecting a baby in July. She loved it. I made a hat from Stitches from the Heart. An adorable set of booties that is from the Berroco website and the baby kimono from Mason Dixon Knitting. The shower was a surprise and with the help of a couple of other ladies in my office, we were able to set up a very nice little party.

Week 4 Progress Pic Originally uploaded by karyn_settles I have just been able to keep up this week with the textured circle shrug KAL I finished my sleeves. Didn't have to add any stitches at the underarn so it worked out great. Now to the fun part. Picking up stitches.

Lately I have been doing a lot of reading. DD #2 likes to spend time at our local library and that means that mom gets to take her. I really don't mind at all. I remember a lot of childhood times when I could spend hours in a library. I was and am a reader and know that a love of books can take you anywhere. My most recent reads are quick and remarkably different genres. The first was Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich and the second was Summer on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber. I read them in one sitting each. Twelve Sharp . . .I have read all of the Stephanie Plum Series up to twelve and am trying to pace myself so that I don't have to wait to buy the latest two which aren't in my library. I have one more to read before I'm caught up and it's likely that if I sit down with it, I won't stop. I am picking the day to read it. Maybe on Saturday next week. My Birthday is that weekend and maybe I can get away with it. These books make me laugh hysterica

Week 3 Progress Circle Shrug Originally uploaded by karyn_settles I am still up to date on the KAL for Stefanie Japel's Textured Circle Shrug. I have been able to keep up with the posts each Thursday and still get my two other projects worked on two. With the Memorial Day holiday coming I hope to make quite a bit of progress on all my WIP.

Circle Shrug Yoke Originally uploaded by karyn_settles I decided to join a KAL. I tried one before but I never seemed to be able to keep up and decided that the sweater, Lionbrand's Cable Luxe Tunic, must have been too much for me at the time. I am slowly finishing the Sweater though. This next one is going much better. I was able to join the Lionbrand Yarn, Textured Circle Shrug, Knit A Long and keep up. Stefanie Japel, one of my favorite designers is moderating / hosting and I am so excited. Her designs are elegant, yet very easy to wear and make. The design chosen for the KAL is her Textured Circle Shrug from the Book GlamKnits. Lionbrand has offered the pattern for free for a short time so you don't have to buy the book. Stefanie is blogging weekly at Lionbrand with lots of great tips and hints for making things go smoothly. It is like having the designer sitting next to you helping you with knitting the design. It's great! I'm looking forward to having

DD #1 had a Cinco De Mayo celebration at her school as part of a HS volleyball game. She and her friends made some great shirts to root the mens volleyball team to victory over their arch rival school. They even had sombreros! It was so fun to see them have such a good time.

Super Bulky Wristers Originally uploaded by karyn_settles Yesterday evening I finished my Super Bulky weight wristers. They are based on a free pattern called "Chatty Bulky Wristers". The original was made with a bulky weight yarn but I did a little math and converted the pattern to work with the super bulky weight yarn I had left over from my beret. Both took only the one skein I had left over from a sweater project I finished a long time ago. It is part of my Stash Busting resolution I made. They were fun and easy to do.

100_1870 Originally uploaded by karyn_settles This pattern from Wendy Bernard was so fast to finish. I am making a pair of mitts from left over yarn and will post on that when I'm done.

I finished some projects for a friend at work who is having a baby. They came out so cute. I am very happy with the results. I am going to add the baby kimono from Mason Dixon Knitting to this and make it a set. I am going to make the kimono white and pick some nice buttons to put on the kimono and at the cuff of the booties to really finish off the set. I also attended my nephews first tee ball game today. It was so cute to see the team of 5 year olds having a good time. The day was beautiful.

My younger DD and I dyed Easter eggs today to prepare for the celebration tomorrow. We used Dudley Rainbow Eggs kit and the results were really pretty. We put out yard art and set up bunnys in several places in the house. We had a really good time. We also decorated some rice krispy cookies. We had a kit from Michael's that had everything in it but it could just as easily been done with grocery ingredients.

Sunday we spent a great day at Disney's California Adventure. The day at the park included several shows, a lot of great rides and a fun time with family! If you get to DCA don't miss the Aladdin show at the Hyperion Theatre. It was great! Broadway caliber performers! My 5 year old Nephew loved the Playhouse Disney on Stage show. I was so cute to watch him participate in all the fun the audience had. My daughters both liked California Screamin. I'm not into roller coasters so much anymore so I skipped that one. I think my favorite ride had to be the toy story carnival ride that opened recently . . . so much fun I was laughing the whole time and it was way worth the 45 minute wait to ride. All in all had a great day with family!

Today is likely to be spring cleaning day in my house. I am so far behind on getting things ready for spring. I'm putting DH to work on some house maintenance . . . that will get that stuff put away. DD's will be helping me with cleaning. I'm there with the Yarn Harlot when she said, "I'm sure I lost a couple of days!" in one of her recent posts. The woman is hilarious! We're headed to Disney's California Adventure tomorrow to celebrate my nephews birthday, so all the housework needs to be done today. This isn't making for much knitting . . . but that sometimes happens. Life is nothing if it isn't unpredictable. So . . . wish me luck.

Hi all I'm posting on a new location for the first time. Let me catch you up. What's on my needles . . . A new set of fingerless mitts. My own changes to a great pattern I found on Ravelry . A new pair of socks . . . basic ones for me! 2 @ a time socks . . . Melissa Morgan Oakes rocks! A ponchette from the lionbrand website What's in my ears . . . The knitscience podcast The Yarncraft podcast The knitpicks podcast