Merry Christmas!

Sunset on the Beach

We waited until the very last minute to head down to the beach. But we got some great photos! I love that both Chaun and I see the world slightly differently, we end up with some really good ideas. You will have to check out her blog to see her pics. And she is full of such info, it's great to be able to pick her brain on why certain things happen when I take pictures or how to make certain things happen. I just love her. :)) Oh, and if you want to check out more photos, I post them all at Flickr. If you do a search for people, look for tellen24.

Let's start out with Weeds n' Sunset:
Next, we have the family in shadow (left to right: Tyler, Trevor, George, Chaun. Sadie was at a friends house):

How about a Profile (or two) in Twilight?
Last but not least, let's look at those things that are in constant motion:

Swing Jacket

Swing Jacket, originally uploaded by tellen24.

Pattern: 103-1 Jacket in Eskimo or Silke-Alpaca with A-shape and ¾-long or long sleeves by DROPS design
Yarn: WoolEase Chunky in Charcoal
I used size 11 needles and knit this in 5 days. Very quick, very cute. I still have buttons to sew on but for now, the large safety pin suffices.

Tangled Yoke

Tangled Yoke, originally uploaded by tellen24.

Pattern: Tangled Yoke from Interweave Fall, 2007
Yarn: Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool in Chocolate
This took 6 and some balls. I used needle sizes 5 & 6. I added 1 1/4" to the sleeve length and made the button bands two rows wider. Very very pleased with this sweater!

I know...

...you are all sitting here thinking, "Does she ever knit anymore?" I am here with proof that says with a resounding Yes! She does knit! Unfortunately, I don't have proof yet for you. :) I have two finished sweaters to show you. One, the Tangled Yoke, has been a labor of love for a few months now (it really shouldn't have taken me this long to finish it but stockinette is just a pain sometimes, don't you agree??) and the other took a total of 5 days to complete. We are heading out to the beach today to get 'action shots' of our sweaters. Well, and some really cool beach photos. It's a beautiful day here in SB and we don't want to waste it! Maybe I can get some really cool pics of the kids for some more panoramas... Hmmm... my photo wheels are a'turnin'!

Have a great day and internet connection willing, you will all have some nice pictures to look at tomorrow!

Jalama Beach

Last Saturday, I went on a beach hike with my friends Jeff and Laura. I must admit, I knew walking in sand was tough but c'mon, there would be hard sand, right? I am here to tell you folks, it doesn't make a difference. We hiked from 11am to 6pm that night. And I was tore up the next day! It was a lot of fun though! We hiked down to the light house and back.

We started out with a little bit of fun:

There was a lot of walking:

After that, there was some resting:

We finally got to the lighthouse:

Where we saw many of these:

We ended the day with a beautiful shot of this:

All in all, it was a great day. A highly recommended hike. Make sure you go early in the morning and check the tides!

How Cute Are These!

How perfect are these! I found them in my BluePrint magazine this month. They are by an artist, Alyssa Ettinger. She even has jewelry!

Picture 1715

Picture 1715, originally uploaded by tellen24.

It's not much to look at right now but this is the back of the Drops sweater I mentioned about 4 posts ago. This yarn is an oiled cashmere (made for machine knitting) so it needs to be washed to get the full effect. The little rectangles in the corner are my swatches.

KoolHaas #1

I finished this hat, KoolHaas by BrooklynTweed. Pattern is in the Interweave Knits Holiday 2007. I used Queensland Kathmandu DK in Orange. It's an easy pattern to knit but not a quick one. The only issue I have with it is that the crown gets decreased pretty quick. When I put the finished hat on, it felt as if it was going to pop off the top of my head. So, I wet the crown, popped it on the StyroHead and let it dry stretched out. Fits much better now! This is a Christmas gift for a friend.

Zeebee #2

Same yarn, different color: Natural Violet. This hat was cast on 2 stitches less to make it slightly shorter. The hat is finished and fits great. I think the next one will have 35 stitches. That might be the perfect hat right there...

Zeebee #1

Picture 1698, originally uploaded by tellen24.

My friend Thuy came up with this pretty brilliant pattern for a 'seamless' garter stitch hat. I am not a fan of garter stitch but I saw (on Ravelry of course! ) someone's (possibly Chauntel) Zeebee in a self striping yarn. I promptly went to my stash and found my Patons SWS in Natural Pink. I used size 9 needles and cast on 36 stitches and did 9 wrapped stitches in each section. And the hat turned out wonderful!!

I started a new one.

Sweater, that is. It's justified!! It's bulky and quick and only has 3/4 length sleeves. And I only have the button bands to do on the Tangled Yoke and that baby is done. Oh, I put it on at knitting last night? I got a group wide OOOOH! It was nice. :) Anyway, I am finally using my Colourmart Cashmere for this new sweater (it's from Drops). The yarn will be doubled and be so luscious, soft, warm. I can't wait for this one to be done! I will give you pics once I am past the cast on.

And just to give all y'all a head's up. All you knitters out there need to join Ravelry. Even if you don't use it for yourself, I am seeing less and less blogging happening and more and more Ravelry-ing. It's such a useful source of yarn info, projects, corrections, substitutions, etc. I am having trouble keeping up on the blog. It may go by the wayside sometime here in the future. I have to give a lot of thought to that... Just wanted to let you know.

A Match Made In Heaven

Do you ever think about the personality of a store when you go shopping? Do you ever wonder why it is you have your 'favorite' shops? I think a lot of it has to do with the personality of the shop. I am not talking Ross, Target, etc, I am talking the fun little boutiques that might be expensive but are so worth visiting. The owners/employees are friendly, the shop is set up to accommodate you (or so it seems!). Everything about it just seems 'right'. Well, I found my knit shop. The Loop & Leaf. The owner, Celeste, is super friendly, loves knitting, and has brought my esthetic to her little shop. It's open, airy, fresh, and colorful. She organizes her yarn by color!! It's my dream. If you have a moment, you should stop in and check it out. I didn't buy any yarn yet but I have plans for many things I saw in there. She carries many yarns that aren't readily available: ShiBui, Shokay, Fleece Artist, Jade Sapphire, and many others.

A comment was recently made on the Santa Barbara Group's forum in Ravelry that we "have what you'd call 'an embarrassment of riches' for those of us living in Santa Barbara." She's right, we have 3 boutique knit stores plus Craft Essentials and Michaels. And I love it! Each store has it's own personality and suites just about everybody in town. I appreciate the fact that we can share the wealth. :)

She made me another two pairs!!

Seriously. Best BFF ever. All I have to do is make a pair of felted slippers for exchange?? Okay!

This one is the same pair but how can you resist a closeup. I can't!

This is the first pair she knit. Same yarn, Socks that Rock Silkie, different colorway. Just as awesome. :)

8 Unusual Things You Probably Didn't Even Want To Know

I've been tagged. And I actually am going to play along!!

1. If I meet a new person, I have to know how to spell their name. When I talk to/about them, I picture their name in my head, not necessarily their face.

2. I use the Cascade 2in1 Packs for my dishwasher. And even though they are nice, little contained, premeasured packages of detergent, I have to put it in the detergent dispenser. Even though I know as soon as I flip the door closed, it will fall to the bottom of the dishwasher. Trust me, I've tried to just toss it in, it doesn't work for me.

3. When speaking to someone with an accent, I will start talking in their accent. I hope they don't think I am making fun of them.

4. I chain chew gum while at work. I love gum and as soon as the piece is flavorless and old, I will pop it out and pop in a new piece. Not to worry, I am SO not a gumsmacker. I chew the gum because it prevents me from snacking all day. Which I will do.

5. I walk around looking at my feet. I like to see my shoes, my tattoo, my new nailpolish, whatever happens to be on my feet.

6. When I get scared, I run in place. Seriously. It's been proven many times over. Also, if I am really scared my arms will flap in place and then I may grab whatever/whoever happens to be standing next to me.

7. I love Twix. But I like just the cookie and the chocolate. So, I will scrape off the caramel with a knife before I eat it.

8. I sway in place when I am standing still. The baby sway. Never had one but it's an automatic thing I do. I do wonder what people think when I am trying to sell them some flooring and I am standing their holding a sample...swaying.

I won't tag anyone but if you feel like sharing some unusual things about you, feel free!!

Are you surprised? I'm not.

I am 75% Addicted to Coffee

Sister Love

This post is so long overdue. Chaun's sister, Cori, recently (okay, like over a month ago) had an opportunity to see the Yarn Harlot in person. She actually bought a book, had it signed by Stephanie, and mailed it to me!! To me!! Look!

October 20, 2007 10:31pm

I do believe we have two sleeves!

Here they are attached to the body. Next up, 3" of stockinette. 3"=27 rows. And at 276sts a row... eh, whocares! When I get done with the drudgery, I will be ready to start the fun cabling. I gave myself a goal of 4 rows a day, after those are done, I get to work on the fun stuff. Like the KoolHaas hat I started out of Kathmandu DK. Pictures on that later...

Baby Love

The Baby Shedir hats have reached the parents. The mom of soon-to-be-born twin boys (they are already 6lbs. Each. She's carrying 12lbs of baby!) loved them so much that she wanted to frame them. I guess she took up knitting years ago because she loved how cabled items looked. She may have liked the look but she hated the knitting. I told her she was welcome to frame the hats once those boys have turned 20 and refused to let her cram those hats on their heads one more time.

I love when people appreciate a handmade item. :) Wouldn't a picture of two cute little newborn baby boys wearing their oversized Shedir hats be precious?? (hint, hint Aunt Kalah!)

Where do you get bogged down?

I asked everyone a couple of weeks ago to share when they tend to put projects down, when they get tired of working a project. I was surprised when everyone had different answers! I truly thought that majority of knitters got stuck on the finishing stage. But no! Apparently it's different for everyone. Picking up stitches, getting 50% completed, sleeves, finishing, there were many different answers. Thanks for sharing!

I need to share a little more with you. My pitfall are the sleeves. I have a tendency to just like the fronts and backs and screw the sleeves. In fact, I now have a total of 4 projects at the sleeve stage. From left to right: Julia (I thought knitting two sleeves at once would alleviate the problem. It didn't), Tangled Yoke Cardigan (seriously, I should be finished with these), and the Rebecca Hooded Sweater w/Lace (I thought I only had to pickup stitches for a hood...oh no. I barely started the second sleeve).

And let's not forget my last stalled project. I started a sweater out of Silk Garden based off my Shinano pattern (Elizabeth Zimmerman's Percentage sweater). The front and back is done...but no sleeves!

So for now, I plan on finishing up the Tangled Yoke Cardigan. And after that, the Rebecca Hooded Sweater. That's today's goal...we will see what changes tomorrow. :)

Onto other things. My cousin Kim (mom's side) came up for a visit on Friday night. I was really happy to have her here. It was a tough week. Mom's birthday was Wednesday and I ended up having a pretty deep conversation with my brother on the state of our relationship. Whew! Let me tell you, I was not the most pleasant person to be around at the beginning of this week. Anyway! It was nice to be able to talk with Kim about memories, thoughts, feelings about our family. I forget that I am not the only one that lost my mom so hearing her side of last year was really helpful.

On that note, it looks like I need to get started on knitting some sleeves! Have a great weekend!

I just don't get it...

I do understand artisitic license and the need to create. I am a crafter, I get it. What I don't get is this stuff. I have admired Pluckyfluff's creations for awhile now but from afar. I don't enjoy spinning so maybe that is partly why I don't get it. Why use stuff like bubblewrap, plumber's tape, wallpaper shreds, etc.? That's the part I don't get. And what do you do with it?? Does this stuff ever get used? Or is it just purely creative and that's it. Just wondering...

Fan & Feather Blanket

The reason I am so jazzed to knit this blanket is because BrooklynTweed knit something very similar and it turned out beautiful. It could also be that he is a professional photographer and his photographs are just lovely... But that being beside the point. Last Christmas I knit the Fan & Feather Shawl out of GoL. Around that same time, Chauntel decided to try knitting that same pattern out of HPY Merino, to use as a blanket. And it just looked so warm and wonderful. So, I decided to make my own. BrooklynTweed's is based off a doily pattern but I figure since I have already knit the F&F, why not do the same thing? This is my F&F shawl, blocking. Don't you think a blanket version would be so cool?? Of course, it won't be the full pattern. And I got enough yarn for a lap version of it.

Long time no talk!

Well, it's been a little while since I posted, hasn't it! How about a little update. My teeth are fine, thank you for all of your well wishes. I am now just dealing with 4 gaping holes in my mouth that are going to take far to long to fill in. Not complaining, mind you! Just making a statement of fact. :) I was off the innernets there for about a week and a half due to computer complications. No need to get into detail, just know that I am now up and running on dial-up, still working on the wireless. Oh, and then I was gone for a weekend to visit my dad. It was a surprise for his birthday (I can't believe he turned 60!). And yes, he was surprised! His girlfriend, JeriLyn, had some events planned for the weekend. Friday we went to the Imax theater (along with Kalah and her parents, Margaret and Al) to see Harry Potter 5 in 3D. That was pretty cool! The last 20 minutes were in 3D. On Saturday, Dad, Jerilyn, and I went up to Plymouth for a bluegrass festival. What a kick in the pants that was! It was a very good weekend, exactly what I needed.

You know, it's funny. I always think when I am sick or just down and out, that I will get plenty of knitting done seeing as how I am just sitting in my chair, doing nothing else, not feeling up to doing anything really. But no. It doesn't happen like that. I end up reading, napping, or watching tv. So, I didn't make all that much progress on the Tangled Yoke during the surgery recovery but I have been working on it. The body is finished (I may have posted about that already) and one sleeve is about 2/3rds done. See, what happened was...I was distracted by babies. My cousin and his wife are having twin boys in about 5 weeks. I have been wanting to make something for them (they already have a 2.5 year old son) but after the Tiramisu, I had NO desire to make another blanket. I finally settled on a baby version of the Shedir. After much discussion and debate (mostly in my head) I picked up two balls of Little Lehigh Pebbles. This is a great yarn if you haven't tried it yet. 250 yards for $6? Can't go wrong! I have finished up the green hat and cast on for the blue. It's not the easiest pattern (I had to frog it twice to get the ribbing right) but I love the way it turned out.

I also picked up 7 balls of SWS in Natural Wood for a version of BrooklynTweed's Hemlock Ring blanket. I am just going to do the Feather and Fan shawl from Gathering of Lace. I am so very tempted to cast on for it right this very minute but I need to get that second hat done before the babies arrive. So, I will hold off. Besides, it turns out that when knitting a sweater, sleeves tend to be my downfall. I went through some of my older projects recently and discovered most of the sweaters have stalled because I stopped knitting on the sleeves. Try three projects: Rebecca lace sweater, my beautiful Julia, and the Tangled Yoke. When you find yourself stalled on a project, is it something different every time? Or do you have one particular portion that stops you in your tracks? Just curious.

Go Speed Racer!

I had forgotten how pleasureable stockinette stitch can be. Being incapacitated this week, well, just for a few days, it made it so much easier to knit when it was on plain 'ole boring stockinette. I finished up the body and have moved onto a sleeve. I will say it again and again, I love love this yarn. It's the perfect yarn for our weather. I am already trying to figure out how to use this yarn in my next project. Haven't picked it out yet but if it could incorporate my 5 hanks of Silky Wool in purple, that would be super!

The One About The Teeth

I unexpectedly had all four wisdom teeth taken out yesterday. I have had my wisdom teeth fully in for years but have always known that they needed to be taken out. I waited because I have such a high fear of being in the dentist chair. Well, over the weekend, one of the teeth started to fall apart and I knew it was time. I made the call Tuesday and was lucky enough to be able to have the surgery on Wednesday (the surgeon is only in SB once a month). I was very nervous that morning, I couldn't even laugh at Chauntel's jokes. Nor could I stop my leg from shaking. They took me in and got me hooked up to an IV and a half hour later, I was awake and questioning whether or not they had gotten all four. Are they sure they got all four? :) I felt them pulling one of the teeth out and I was so sure it was the first tooth but it turned out to be the last. A few minutes later, I was walked into the recovery room where Chaun met me. All in all, not a bad experience. I am just so glad to have it over with. I am recovering here on my couch at home. I am a little tired of oatmeal, yogurt, and applesauce but it's all fine. Soon enough I will be able to have my cheeseburger and salty fries. Oh, and I am not swelling up like some people do. I have some slight swelling but no chipmunk cheeks. Whew!!

Thanks to everyone for the well wishes. :) This is a very common surgery and I feel a bit silly for having put it off for so many years. I had it so built up in my head to be horrible but it went fine. Thank you again!

And a big fat Thank You to Chauntel. BFF's!!

New knitting and an Old moon

The time has finally come... I started a new project! I made myself finish up the Rusted Root before I cast on again. I don't have photos yet of the Root, she's languishing in the finishing pile. A dozen or so ends that still need to be tied in. And you know how much I love tying in ends... So, I moved onto the Tangled Yoke Cardigan from IK Fall '07. I was so excited to cast on! And to start knitting. Not so excited to remember how much I dislike 2x2 rib. :) Don't get me wrong, I love knitting this but ~sigh~ it's the entire sweater on the needles at one time. I do have the Mystery Stole still to work on when I can't take the stockinette any longer... I am knitting the Tangled out of Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool in a dark chocolate. I absolutely love this yarn. It's a very springy/spongy/tweedy yarn. I think it's going to turn out very nice in this sweater.

We had a full moon this week and I took the camera down to the stairs at the beach to see if I could get some cool photos. I was trying to play around with shutter speed on the camera but I didn't get the effeect I was looking for. Despite that, there is something that attracts me to these pictures...maybe a quietness or something about them. Anyway! Here they are:

And on a complete sidenote, having nothing to do with knitting or moons, I absolutely love the music in the Lord of the Rings movies. Our cable is out this morning and I am not a fan of just turning on the radio so I popped in the Fellowship of the Ring. The music evokes such feelings for me. I love how the music reflects the lifestyles of the people in the movie. Long flowing music for the elves (it brings to mind their jewelry with the long delicate strands of silver) and hard choppy music for the Orks. I love these movies...

Knitting!

The one bad thing about Ravelry is that I update my projects on there but I forget about my blog. So here you go, I have updated pics of the Swan Lake (aka MS3) Stole. I didn't really work on it the month of July but have been trucking right along on it this past week. I am so very pleased with this project. I love the yarn, the pattern is very pretty, and beading is a breeze! If you aren't a member of the group, I would highly recommend purchasing this pattern for yourself.

Whoops!!

I could have sworn I posted about my Father's Day present to my dad this year but in searching my blog, apparently I didn't!

First let me tell you a story. Many years ago, my dad's grandma started a quilt. She took the cast off clothing of my dad and his siblings and crafted a Dresden Plate patterned quilt (I think that's what they are called). She passed away before she was able to finish the quilt and my mom, being pretty much the most crafty woman in our family, inherited all the pieces. I remember from when I was a little girl, my mom working on this quilt, embroidering around the edges, with bright orange yarn. After awhile, the quilt was relegated to the back of our linen closet where it sat until this past year. I took this quilt and had it quilted for my dad for Father's Day. There is a wonderful woman, MaryAnne Huggins, based out in Ojai that took on this task. My dad was mildly pleased with the present, his first comment being, "Wow! It sure is bright!" I wasn't expecting him to fall over gushing so I wasn't too disappointed. He did recognize though, that this is now an heirloom quilt for our family. This first photo is the quilt on my dad's bed. This second photo is a close up of one of the panels.

Breath of fresh air

It is kind of hard to convey the physical effects of the smoke in our air through a computer. But let me give you an idea: every day I wake up congested, my throat is scratchy and I am constantly clearing my throat. I lack energy and my thought processes are slowed down. But today, today I went down to the beach for a few hours. And I finally was able to clear my head of the smoke. There was a nice breeze coming off the ocean. So no smokey pictures today. I do have more to share, especially of yesterday's HUGE smoke plume. But let's pretend for just a few minutes that there is no fire going on. I spent yesterday at Golf N'Stuff in Ventura for Sadie's 10th birthday. I don't spend much time with kids let alone a gaggle of ten-year old girls but I was pleasantly surprised to have enjoyed my time. It's been a very long time since the last time I played miniature golf. I will let Chaun share the story of the day. I do want to share one photo with you though. It's a great example of what happens when you regularly shop with your best friend. :)

That's right, similar outfits. Very similar outfits. How funny that both of us thought of Preppy Cute as the theme of the day. And how funny that we were dressed appropriately for golfing!

And speaking of Chaun, I just love her. She always knows just the right thing to say or do when I am not feeling myself. It was a rough week and due to something that I chose (and had) to do, I have been feeling kinda lonely and slightly depressed. So, what could possibly make a girl feel better? Yarn of course! Ahhh, SeaSilk in Peridot. It's some of the most beautiful yarn I have ever seen. It's ideal for the Hanami. Thank you, thank you Chaun! I love you!

More ashy pictures.

What... you wanted knitting pictures?? Sorry, I only have ashy, smokey photos today. It was a bad one today. Not only did the smoke and ash come down like snow but we had the marine layer to contend with. It was quite the depressing day actually. The first photo is of my car window after a night outside. The second is outside Java Station at knitting last night.

Okay, fine. I will talk knitting! I have finally gotten back into knitting again. I had a bit of a social life there for a few months but I am finally learning how to balance the two. I am working the Mystery Stole again and will post pictures of that over the weekend. Maybe I will. If my wireless comes back up and I can do the uploads quickly. If not... we will see. I also have pulled out the Rusted Root and the Julia. Both are turning out beautifully. The Rusted Root is such a simple knit I really should be done with it. It's almost embarrassing that I've let it languish this long. Yeah. That's about it. I don't even have new yarn to brag about. :)

Picture 1446

Picture 1446, originally uploaded by tellen24.

Really, I am just playing around in Flickr instead of working. I just found out that I can post pics direct from Flickr to my blog. That's damn cool! This is the light box setup that I started out with so I could log in alllllll my stash into Ravelry.

Ignoramuses

So I was watching the news last night and they had some fire people on there to answer questions from the public. I changed the channel after I heard these two questions:

"Is Hope Ranch in danger?" They had JUST gotten done explaining how the fire burns, timelines, who was in NOT in danger, etc. And can the woman who called NOT see that she is on the other side of the freeway?? Meaning she is about as far as she can get from the fire??

"How toxic is the fire retardant they are using?" Who cares?? Put out the fire!!

I can't say that we've known the entire time what was happening with the fire but much of the time (in July) it wasn't a threat. As soon as it started to head towards Santa Barbara/Montecito, we were inundated with information. I can't believe how selfish and ignorant people can be in these situations.

That's all. :)

Beautiful ending to an otherwise crappy day

I guess fire is good for one thing...beautiful sunsets.
How about another one for good measure. :)