OK, some pictures

Here are finally some pictures as I had been promising.


Stitches East 2007 - Baltimore:

Brand: Comfort Berroco

Worsted : 10 ply (9 wpi)

Yardage: 210 yd

Unit weight: 100 grams (3.53 ounces)

Gauge: 18.0 - 20.0 = 4 inches

Needle size: US 8 - 9 or 5 - 5.5mm

Fibers: Nylon, Acrylic

Texture: Smooth

Machine wash?: yes

I had worked a swatch to get a feel for it. It is very soft and smooth. I think it will pleasure to work with it.


Then I got some sock yarn:

Name: Extrafine Brand

Mondial

Weight: DK / 8 ply (11 wpi)

Yardage: 193

Unit weight: 50 grams (1.76 ounces)

Gauge:26.0 = 4 inches

Needle size: US 2 - 3 or 2.75 - 3.25mm

Fibers Merino

100% Extrafine Merino

Regia Design Line Kaffe Fassett

Regia Design Line Kaffe Fassett

Brand

Schachenmayr nomotta

Weight

Fingering / 4 ply (14 wpi)

Yardage: 230

Unit weight: 50 grams (1.76 ounces)

Gauge: 30.0 = 4 inches

Needle size: US 0 - 2½ or 2 - 3mm

Fibers: Wool, Nylon

Texture: Plied

Machine wash? yes

75% New Wool, 25% Polyamide (nylon)

VK project yarns:

Conjoined creations

I do not have any more info about the yarn at this time . You can look it up on the web, I suppose, ( I guess I have to research it on-line myslef). I had worked a little swatch to see how it behaves. When unblocked, it has rather a rough feel. When blocked, it elongates and smooths out - then it has a beautiful sheen and drape to it.









Blue Sky Alpacas - Alpaca & Silk

Alpaca Silk
Brand: Blue Sky Alpacas

Weight: DK / 8 ply (11 wpi)

Yardage: 146

Unit weight: 50 grams (1.76 ounces)

Gauge: 20.0 - 24.0 = 4 inches

Needle size: US 3 - 5 or 3.25 - 3.75mm

Fibers: Silk, Alpaca

Texture: Plied

50% alpaca, 50% silk.

Hand wash or dry clean. Wash in tepid water using a mild soap. Do not twist. Shape and dry flat on a towel.

Again, I made a swatch to see how it behaves. It's a pleasure to work with.

Name: Goshen

Valley Yarns

Worsted / 10 ply (9 wpi)

Yardage: 92

Unit weight:50 grams (1.76 ounces)

Gauge: 4.5 = 1 inch

Needle size: US 8 / 5.0 mm

Fibers: Cotton, Silk, Other

"incredibly soft with an elegant sheen. Garments will not pill. a great yarn for textured stitches and cables." (From the catalog.). 48% peruvian cotton, 46% modal(R), 6% silk; hand wash with eucalan.

Shelves Project accomplished

Quick and easy project (easy because my husband was doing it :) ). The shelves made a huge difference in our living room: they enlarged it and added another dimension. Now we have to find a suitable picture to hang next to it.

Many things..

It's been a while from my last post.


SURGERY
First, my baby girl's surgery and recovery went great. She had no significant swelling, redness or bruising and it healed faster than the first time. She looks pretty and she tells me that she can see better than before.

Birthday party.
2 days after the surgery we had a birthday party for our second daughter. We invited several of our good friends and all had a great time. It was a nice, relaxing time, since we have not seen them all summer. And it was nice to have fun after the stressful anticipation of the surgery.

STITCHES EAST
The following week I went to Baltimore (again) to see the Stitches East. This was my first time there and I did not know what to expect exactly. Since I did not take any of the classes, I only went to visit the Market. There were some great vendors - some of them I saw at the Sheep and Wool Festival. Unfortunately, I did not big budget to spend, though I got some bargains at WEBS booth. They had so much great stuff ( pictures tomorrow).

DESIGNING
I have gotten 2 projects to work on for Vogue Knitting and that really has been occupying most of my "free" time in past couple weeks. I have gotten some great yarn for the projects - Conjoined Creations yarn (I have never seen this one before) and Blue Sky Alpacas - Alpaca & Silk (yummy yarn) - again pics tomorrow. Today I feel good and accomplished quite a bit - First project finished (just need to add a button). Second project - 1/3rd done. I am trying to finish it by Friday.

HOME DECORATING
My husband have decided that today was the day to put some shelves up over our sofa. He bought 3 4-feet shelves in IKEA. It took him about an hour and the job was done - it has transformed our living room tremendously. Now we just need some big picture to hang next to it. We went to look for it yesterday, but we have not found anything suitable - if we liked something it did not have the right dimensions. Again pics tomorrow.

RAVELRY
Last week I have gotten invitation to Ravelry- great place for knitters and designers to hold in one place all projects accomplished, WIP, UFO, patterns you want to work on in the future; you can keep track of all your stash and needle sizes and much more. I had been on it since last week and have lots of things to download. But for right now, I have to focus on finishing my projects on time and then I'll catch up there.

Off to bed. Pics tomorrow.

Surgery went good

So today our youngest one had her eyelid surgery and everything went as planned. She was recovering OK, though when she woke up she was in a lo of pain. They gave her some pain killers and it worked wonders, that she was dosing off for another hour. By noon we were leaving hospital. Tomorrow, we are going back to the doctor to have her patch removed. That's the time we will see how she looks. We were told that the second time around there will be more bruising, so we'll see. The first time it looked great, but I am trying not to set my hopes too high - the doctor said that the way she look the first time is not very typical.

Day before surgery

Short post today because tomorrow, my little girl is having an eye surgery to correct her droopy eyelid. She had the same surgery one and a half year ago and it was very successful. Unfortunately, 4 - 5 months later, her eyelid started to droop again. We were told that because she was so small and her head grew significantly since, her eyelid muscles stretched. So hopefully, this surgery will solve the problem and she will not need another surgery for long, long time.

New Pattern finished

So I have finished the pattern for Marina - Leaves Top. You can see some pictures left. I had been trying to upload a picture to my Pattern of the Month sidebar and had been having a trouble with it. My pictures always came out stretched and unclear. I don't know why. Does any of you have any clue why this could be happening? Anyways, I managed to download one pictures, which seems to be in focus on the sidebar.

Well, to the pattern. Here are some facts about it:

This is a PATTERN for a girl's top worked in WORSTED yarn. The top can be worn by itself as a top or over a long sleeve shirt or T-shirt as a vest. You can get lots of use out of this garment. The pattern is written in wide range of sizes.

SIZES: 4 (6, 8, 10, 12) yrs.

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS:
*Chest/ Hips: 22, (24, 26, 28, 30)" / 55 (60, 65, 70, 75) cm
*Waist: 21 (23, 25, 27, 29)" / 52 (57, 62, 67, 72) cm
*Length 13 (14, 16, 17*, 18*)" / 32 (35, 40, 44, 46) cm
Shown in size 6.

MATERIALS:
*1 (1, 1, 2, 2) 7 oz./198g ball (each approx. 366yd/334m) of Caron Simply Soft (100% acrylic) in color # 9904 Country Blue.
*One circular US size 8 (5mm) 16" and/or 24* long needles OR SIZE TO OBTAIN CORRECT GAUGE
*Tapestry needle
*Stitch marker

GAUGE:
*16 sts and 24 rows = 4*/10cm over St. st. using size 8 (5mm) needles














Again, you can buy this pattern in my store here.


Proposals finished

Tomorrow, I am expecting to get yarn for my new project for Vogue Knitting: therefore today I was trying to finish few things I was working on. I have finished my proposals for Knitter's magazine; only I was unable to put them into a comprehensive package to mail. Hopefully I'll be able to do it tomorrow, though I have a few errands to run.

I am hoping to go to the gym in the morning before the kids get up for school; but I am not holding my hopes too high since it's almost midnight and I am still up. Hmm, maybe I'll run on the treadmill at home (!?). We'll see. At the end of the week, my youngest daughter is going for an eye surgery, so I am feeling little uneasy about that. She had the same surgery a year and a half ago, and it was quite successful; I still have that uneasy feeling. Also, my second to oldest daughters is having a birthday party on Sunday, so it is a quite busy week for me (more stressful I guess than busy - you guys probably know what I am talking about). It's just few days away and I don't have everything ready yet.

P.S: I have also a few of tutorial pictures for the Marina - Leaves Top / Vest to make the pattern as easy as possible to follow - it's a pretty easy pattern I've got to say, no sewing required. So check in back later for that.