Let me Bowl you over

I have been working on a felted bowl for Cliff's (Megan's boyfriend)Birthday. The colors match their dishes. The first bowl I tried came out too tall.

Here is a picture of the too tall felted bowl:




Here is a picture of the next size not yet felted a different shape too...














Here is the felted finshed product....






For the second bowl I did a provisional cast on and less rows before the mitred squares, then when I did the I cord bind off it made the top have a scalloped edge.

This morning at Latvian Knitting one of the ladies had made a felted mobeius bowl from Cat Bordhi's Second Treasury. I really liked the shape and decided that instead of a mobeius on top I would do a latvian twist. So more felted bowls to come.

I have almost finished my baby sweater for the Baby Sweater Knit along at www.k3tog.typepad.com. Pictures to come soon.

The screens are on and Boo has a new vocation he follows outside animals from window to window.

The Cat is out of the Bag

Mom in case you can't tell this is a laundry hamper not a bag


Ok so I let out the news today that I am planning a knit along to start in August...

The Red Sock Knit Along

Details to follow....

I have been busy this week helping Megan and Cliff look at apartments and jobs and etc... the good news is Cliff got a job in his field (graphic Arts) at a screen printing place. Megan is still looking for part time as she is going to school in the fall.

I have been knitting felted bowls and trying to come up with a pattern that is the right size, so far I have one too big and one on the needles that might be too small, pictures to follow soon.... Also I am still working on my cotton socks and tried a short row heel, did not like it and ripped it out! So now I am back to my original plan of a spiral replacement one. And finally I ripped out the baby sweater hood and am redesigning it...More to follow on all of the above.

Boo The Helper

So we all know that Boo likes to help but did we all realize just how much? The other nite I babysat my friends little one and Boo was certainly intrigued.

I am just checking on Gunnie, Mom he might need help with that toy






Then Later I found Boo doing this

I was not trying to get at his formula, I was searching for wet wipes for you mom, Gunnie smells funny





Finally on to knitting content, I am currently working on some beautiful red sockotta socks and came home to find this the other day




I think my helper was involved again.
Anyway back to knitting I am working on a baby sweater for Chell and Ana's knitalong and have decided that the designer's baby had a really small head because the hood is too small for any baby's head I know.

I also have some plans to make C3 from Knitty, Annie Modesitt was wearing it at Yarnover and it looks much better in person, than the knitty picture.

Tea Swap Time

Today I received a post card from my swap pal, she wanted to know some information about me. Well here goes I like any kind of yarn and prefer it to have some red in it. I am not crazy about green or purple for colors, but that would be okay too. I really like wool blends, cotton and wool blends or all wool, my motto is any kind works for socks. Actually, that is what I tell my students when I teach socks that you can use any kind of yarn you like for socks.

As for tea, I realized when I took my picture of my stash it is mostly herbal. That kind of surprised me, because I drink all kinds of tea. The only kind I am not too fond of is Green Tea but I am trying to learn to like it because it is so good for you.

Boo liked the post card too...

Let me see if I can figure out who this is from for mom....Hmmh a US flag and a pickup truck, I don't recognize either one so maybe I will just sleep on it...

Boo is Alone

Ok so the excitement is over and the kitties are back with Megan's friend Lisa. Boo is all alone again. I think he likes being alone, he gets undivided attention and has a prime position for blog editing on the back of my chair. He especially likes to spin around.






I am participating in the Knitters Tea Swap and am looking forward to receiving a mystery package. I drink mostly herbal teas, and like any kind of yarn. Also I am putting a package together for my partner, I went to Mrs Kelly's Teas at the farmers market yesterday and picked up some tea now to just get the rest organized.

I have signed up at Michelle's Blog (K3tog.typepad.com) for the baby sweater knit along. It should be fun to see everyone's baby sweaters.

The Gran Cats are here

Well the little ones have arrived seems they are both girls and both prima donnas. Baby (the lighter faced one aka Cornflake) has taken to growling at everyone and everything, Ducky just licks ears and hisses at Boo. Boo seems somewhat unpreturbed and just hangs outside the door to the room they are in because maybe they will come out. I though maybe we could keep them until at our house until next week when Megan moves home permanently...but I think poor Baby who is scared to death of Boo would have heart failure.


Hi I'm Baby aka Cornflake and I am scared of Uncle Boo, and when I get scared I scream just like a real baby







Hi I am Ducky and since I was kidnapped oops I mean kitten napped in Indiana I like to stay close to a real person who will protect me from kitten nappers





So yesterday I went to Indiana to take empty suitcases to Megan, and bring Megan home with full ones. I got there and she wasn't all the way packed yet so I told her I want to go to the Yarn Shop while you pack. Ft Wayne only has one and it is in a refurbished train depot.

this is the outside facing the river, the two humans in the picture are Megan and Cliff





This is the main room










this is the hallway to the second room where the classes are held and more yarn



It was a nice shop and the owner did not mind me hanging out for a couple of hours. She had the usual yarns and then some I wasn't familiar with, she is a Rowan stockist and has lots of Jamison. I found some Rowan CashCotton in a light blue for socks.

I am currently waiting for Megan to get home so she can take care of her cats

The Gran Cats are coming

Megan and the grancats are coming this weekend. I am excited, but Uncle Boo seems uncconcerned.




Why should I worry I am the king of the house




Here are my newest socks, from Meilenweit Cotton Fantasy, featuring a spiral toe and the pattern is Springy Socks from Knoxknits designer Judy Sumner. As usual I changed the toe and probably will do a spiral replacement heel to match the toe.









Finally the rain stopped so I need to go outside at some point today and work in my garden. I am cleaning out some excess perennials in the front Bee Balm, Jacobs Ladder, Orange Day Lillies and Columbine. I need to go look at some new perennials to add to the garden then decide what to do with the window boxes and the back yard.

Rain Rain Go Away

I am so ready to be rid of this rain.
I need to get to my garden and want to have a fire in the pit. However this is good knitting weather, so I should not complain right?

Currently I am working on some Meilenweit Cotton socks and yesterday at Borealis found some red cotton sock yarn, I have wanted some plain red cotton socks for awhile.

When I was reading Yarn Harlot today it reminded me that we all have special people
that have passed on and here is mine.

This is my mom

My mom was a knitter too and I remember the first socks she made me for skating. The air was blue as she was turning the heel and I don't think she enjoyed sock knitting. She told me once that the reason I knit socks was because they were small and went fast. She did knit some beautiful mittens though, I remember once when I was about 10, we had an oil burning stove in our house, that had doors that opened and when we came in from outside in the winter we would drape our wet mittens over the door to dry. My Mom had just made me some red and black Norwegian mittens with a boy and girl holding hands and one day I lost one. We looked all over for about a week and couldn't find the mitten. So she made me another one and then one night at supper my dad said what is burning and then we all smelled it coming from the oil burning stove and I went to look and there sitting inside stove was my mitten smoldering. I must have hung it to dry and it fell in...No more hanging mittens after that.

So here is the moral of the story don't hang your mittens on the stove door cause they might fall in.

The days leading up to Yarn Over

April 26
I picked up my booklets for yarn over today. They turned out great!


I have so many things in my booklet, and I am wondering if the class will have time to do them all, but here is what I would like to cover.

I would like to cover, some things about ribbing, replacement heels, garter stitch heels, turkish cast on for toe up socks, Latvian Twist sock topper and I cord bind off that also makes a nice sock topper.

April 27
Today I babysat for my girlfriend's 4 month old. He is a real cute little guy.

Gunny and I had a lot of fun. He is a cat napper, sleeps in short bursts and often.

April 28
Friday before YarnOver and my packets for class are all put together, I am ahead of myself from previous years. I am only working 3 hours today and then picking up my friend Lucy at the airport she is teaching at Yarn Over and also Amazing Threads here before heading out on a long teaching trip. Sometimes I am really envious of her but then sometimes I think I would miss my family too much.






April 29
So the day started with picking up Lucy and Joan Schrouder at the hotel to take them to Yarn Over, while waiting for Lucy to check out I met Annie Modesitt and Melissa Leapman. We got to Yarn Over and set up our rooms, headed for breakfast and then Lucy gave a speech on designing and becoming a designer, she made you think you could just go out and do it! Then class I had a wonderful class only 4 people, they were great students and I think the day went well. I was good too did not buy any yarn, I did pick up a free skein to knit a baby hat from Yarn Garage for Bundles of Love. It is kind of light blue grey color, so I think an over dye is going to happen this week, they surely don't want all blue grey hats. The day ended with dinner at Champs with all the teachers and committee members, we had a great day!

April 30
I did not realize how tired I was yesterday after all the activities, I slept from around 10p to 830a this morning and then it was raining which makes me more tired so I took a nap before work. It was slow at work so I even snuck in a little knitting. April is now officially over and May is here, I am starting my 3 or 4 months off of teaching!!!!!!!! I plan to clean my house, get my teaching resume in order and get some patterns ready to publish, I hope to sell them to local stores and through The Knitting Vault. Watch for them...
but right now I need to go to bed Boo is patiently waiting for me.

Haircuts

We are in search of a groomer, but so far Petsmart is the least expensive at $45 for a butt only cut and around $60 for a lion. The vet charges $120 for the lion cut but also puts the cat to sleep for it.

Yesterday I ended up giving Boo a butt cut, so maybe no groomer after all.


here is the perfect hiding place mom will never find me here



Oh no she found me, but mom I don't want a haircut

Boo is doing okay without Alice, he did not eat for about 3 days, and has become very needy. The needy/cuddly thing is okay if you don't mind being covered in Boo fur...

I am finished with my booklet for Yarnover just need to get it to Kinko's...good thing I save all my files and just need to pull them out and put them together.

Yarn Over

I am currently working on my workshop for Yarn Over. What is Yarn Over you ask? It is the annual meeting for the Minnesota Knitters Guild. They have a keynote speaker, lunch and you can take half or whole day classes. I am teaching a class called "Lets Talk Socks" about different toes heels ribbings and sock toppers. I really enjoy yarn over and getting to meet the other teachers. So if posts are a little slow this week that is why.

If mom thinks I am getting a haircut she is in for a surprise!!!!!

Soon you will see a new Boo gracing these pages. Boo is going to the groomer sometime in the next two weeks. He will get a bath, and Perhaps a lion cut more to come... Keep watching for the new look of Boo

New Great Nephew

Ok so the doctor was wrong and my niece's baby showed up just about when she thought it should. She thought the end of April, but the Dr said no Middle of May and Nathaniel came last nite at 8:10pm. Here is a picture of Nathaniel and Dad Lyle. The whole family is doing well.



I personally have just one problem with his arrival, I did not start his sweater yet! I have been very indecisive about this because I wanted to make a sweater that Zips up the back like my mom used to make for gifts but was unable to find her pattern so here I have the yarn and no sweater!


I am thinking about a baby surprise jacket or maybe just a garter stitch sweater with some stripes the middle skein is varigated with the colors of the other two.

So lets talk about Boo, we have the old fashioned windows that you change each year. It has been nice, so we just open the ones to the porch to get some fresh air. Well Boo has decided that is how he should be going in and out all the time so he sits and mews until we open the windows, boy is he in for a surprise when the screens go on next week.

Alice's sweaters

I thought maybe I should post a pattern for Alice's Sweaters.
I used Cascade Fixation and size 4 needles. One ball makes 1 and 1/2 sweaters.
Cast on 64 stitches join into a round and knit for about 1 to 1 1/2 inches.
K8 inc 1 repeat to end of round, total now is 72 stitches.
Knit 4 rounds, then increase again 8 times for a total of 81.
Now you need to make two thumb gussets, so I knit 8 placed a marker k4 placed a marker knit 16 placed a marker knit 4 placed a marker then knit to end of round. Then in the next round I increased after the 1st and 3rd marker and before the 2nd and 4th markers every other round for 4 rounds on the non increase round I just knit(8 rounds, 4 inc and 4 knit).
Then on the next round I increased in between the markers by knitting 5 increase one knit 6 increase one knit 5. Then I knit 7 rounds increasing between the markers every other round until I had 24 stitches in between the markers ending with a knit round.
on the next round knit to the first marker and bind off all the stitches between the two markers and knit to the next one and bind off in between and then knit to the end of the row.
next round I knit to the bound off stitches and cast on 20 stitches on both gussets, knit to the end of the round. Then I knit about 2 or 3 inches (it depends on your cat, Alice's sweaters started out big and then the last one I made was a little smaller and shorter due to the weight loss) then I did about 1/2 inch or maybe a little more of ribbing. then bind off.

So there it is as a rough draft.

We are handling the loss well, but last Weds when I came home from work around 11pm there was this big fluffy yellow cat on the front step. my first thought was Boo got out and so I started to chase it, then I realized the back yard was not well lit and went to get a flashlite and there was boo in the porch. My first thought was Bob let him in...Bob said no and I looked out and there was his twin again, next nite I came home from teaching at Borealis and there was a Big Black cat, then the next nite it was luna (neighbor's cat), everynite since there has been a cat at my doorstep......My husband says they are coming to pay their respects.

So most people have pictures of the grand kids to show off not me just Grand Cats. my daughter adopted two adorable kittens Ducky and Cornflake...



They are living with her but when they do get to come visit every now and then....

The Rainbow Bridge

It is with great sadness that I am posting tonite. Today Alice the inspiration for Alicat Knitting Designs crossed the rainbow bridge to a better place. Her tumor was getting worse and was affecting the muscles in her back legs so she was having problems walking and doing stairs. We will all miss her.



Alice Cooper
Born 1986 to April 12, 2006

Spring has Sprung

Look what greeted me when I went out this morning!
Spring really is here. I think I need to knit something in cotton or silk to celebrate.


Also I think we will have mini roses in the window boxes this year.

and for the obligatory cat picture
Now if I just scrunch down enough mom won't know I am here and she will take me with her to work....

I have SOLD my first pattern

Sorry to disappoint anyone but the Skater Hat pattern was purchased by Depth of Field and will be sold there and maybe other stores around town. SO if you want one go see the girls at Depth of Field.

So what is my blog without a picture of a cat or two....and as usual Boo is helping me do something knitting related


A few weeks ago Boo learned to make adjustments to the yarn on the swift and now he is learning to turn the handle on the winder. Of course first he needs to figure out that is not the right handle to be using.

Here is an Alice update, she is still with us and doing ok...Bob has taken to giving her baths as she has a hard time doing that for herself. Next time Bob is bathing her I will try to get a picture to post.

Knitting Retreats

Yes it is a picture of a church, well actually the chapel from St Francis Convent and Retreat center in Little Falls where last weekend we had a great time at the Spring Knitting Retreat.

We had lots of food, fun and quality knitting was done by all attendees.


Here is a picture of Deb wearing part of her white elephant gift that she got from Paula.



Let me explain, the white elephant exchange is really a good way to get rid of yarn you don't want or leftovers from a project. Or in Deb's case a mobieus that Paula passed on to her.

Then on sunday back to reality and work. It has been really busy at work and I even worked an extra nite on Wednesday.

and here it is finally the Skater Hat made from Kraemer Yarns Lehigh Valley cotton Little Pebbles.

Soon to come the pattern as soon as I can get it into pdf format.

I Gave Up

I was trying so hard not to start another pair of socks before I finished two of the three I have on the needles, but that Ellen's Half Pint farm kept calling out "knit me" So I did! I gave in and started a pair the yarn is wonderful to knit with I wonder how the wool/tencel blend will wear.

Here is something I did finish another sweater for Alice. She has more sweaters than any cat I know and wears them all extremely well.

and to keep peace in the family here is a picture of Boo.

I went to Fort Wayne, Indiana Yesterday to have lunch with Megan and take her shopping for her Birthday. The weather was beautiful high 60's but Fort Wayne is still not my favorite town.

This weekend I am going to St Francis Retreat Center for a knitting retreat I hope it goes well.

A Tail of Winding Yarn

Boo just loves to help me knit. He either sits on my lap or next to me, but his favorite part of knitting is winding yarn. He gets so excited when he sees the swift and ball winder come out. I used to use my two kitchen chairs one for the swift one for the winder and he would lay between the two and watch the process. When my mom passed away in April,I was gifted with a refinished library table, that had been my grandparents. Lo and behold it is the right length to put the swift on one end and the winder on the other. This creates one minor problem:



Boo can get right in the middle of the swift and help out, like adjusting the position of the yarn and even when necessary with his teeth. Maybe he was just test tasting to make sure the quality was good, like you would with a fine wine.

Brother and Sister

Who would think that Jeannes cat Pud and my cat Boo are brother and sister...Take a look. Do they look alike? This is Jeanne's cat Aja/Pud

and here is Boo Radley her brother

I see little family resemblance accept for the face shape and eyes.

So back to knitting I am currently finishing up a peach colored sweater for Alice. She is still doing okay just sleeps more and eats less. She has become a little arthiritic in her hind legs so some days getting downstairs is a little hard so we carry her.
Lastly here is my newest great nephew Colin he is just a doll and looks like a miniature of my dad.


and so he doesn't feel left out here is his big brother Eric at the Beach