Lisa Kay Knits... and Quilts!

I took the day off of work on Friday, and Mitchell, Mom, and I did the St. Louis Summer's Last Blast Yarn Crawl . Here was our route: The Weaving Department Knit and Caboodle Hearthstone Knits Kirkwood Knittery The Cheesecake Factory  (Well, it isn't yarn, but...) Knitorious Knitty Couture You can see these and other StL yarn shops on the compiled StL yarn store map . I bought less stuff than you might think, but, of course, we were on a mission to obtain stamps on our "passports," as much as to obtain yarn... I did manage to obtain the following yarn and needles... Cascade 220 The Cascade 220 is to make the Hawthorn Pullover by Kathy Zimmerman, published in the Fall 2010 Interweave Knits. Hawthorne Pullover by Kathy Zimmerman Rowan Cocoon Another color of Cocoon to make a third "Haven," since there are three grandmas... This color is called "Tundra." (Recall that I bought "Mountain" and "Polar" last week to m...

Happy Birthday, Mom! We celebrated Gma E's birthday, today, with a brunch outing to Maggiano's in St. Louis. The restaurant is in the new section of shops across Brentwood from the Galleria, and the little section of shops and restaurants is a very cute little area. We had the family style dinner and ate a lot more than our doctors would recommend... Gma and Gpa E, in front of Maggiano's After lunch, we took Mitchell into the Galleria, which he calls, "The Fountain Mall," for obvious reasons. Daddy has a hold on his shirt Remember the joy of running around the edge of a fountain? Yesterday afternoon, we attended Mary Ann's 80th birthday party. It was a surprise, and everyone had been telling her it was a bridal shower for one of her great nieces. Mary Ann really was surprised. I almost spilled the beans at our Friday lunch, talking about the things I was doing over the weekend... but I just caught myself in time. Mary Ann with two of her granddau...

The Serpentine Sock is done. It makes a very thick sock, of course, since it is such heavy yarn. Not a summer sock... The stitch pattern, which I've used before , works fine in fingering yarn, with more stitches. In the worsted yarn, the socks will be a bit too thick for most of my shoes. Perhaps sleep socks on expecially cold nights? Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

Well, Mitchell was very eager for Iris to be complete. When he got up from his nap (well, trying to nap... he didn't actually sleep), he wanted to know why it wasn't done. I worked on it all evening, and I got up early this morning and finished it. The only change I made was to sew the felt teeth instead of gluing. I wonder how many more of these I'll make? It would make a cute baby gift, if the eyes were sewn... Hmmm... Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

Hi, Gma Linda (Gma E) and MaryAnn (Gma #3) both have birthdays over the next few days. My nephew, Dane , also had his first birthday earlier this week. My brother has his 45th birthday in a few more days. As a start to the birthday week, Gma Linda, MaryAnn, Mitchell and I did our normal Friday lunch... with a twist.  We tried to go to Bailey's Chocolate Bar , but they don't open until 4pm. Bummer! We ended up at Pi , a popular pizza place with three locations in St. Louis. We went to the one in The Loop. Birthday Girls (Note Mitchell at the bar) Mr. Independent Pizza #1 Pizza #2 It just so happens that Pi is right next to Knitty Couture in The Loop. So, obviously, we stopped to look at yarn after lunch. Mitchell picked out a kit to make a green monster.  Iris, The Gourmet Monster, from Lorna's Laces (with Shepherd Worsted) Thi had a lovely sample of the scarf, Haven, from Kim Hargreaves's Heartfelt knitted up an...

Hi, With all the "Socks From The Toe Up" KAL socks I've been doing, it's worth noting that there are some very generous sponsors and nice prizes every month. I won a prize for the June KAL (consisting of having my project completion number drawn), and the Yarnadoodledoo sponsor sent me this cute fingering yarn in the color "Raspberry Beret," with a coordinating project bag. Thanks! Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

Hi, Last weekend, we finished a major overhaul in the craftroom. I put everything in bins (instead of bags) and put the bins onto shelves on two sides of the room. South Wall North Wall This arrangement was primarily focused on getting my knitting projects and yarn stash organized, but it turned into something of a re-do of the whole craft room. The South Wall is seven bins wide instead of eight, because the door opens right next to the shelves, and I didn't want the door to be unable to fully open. Here are some wider pictures of the room. Northwest Corner Northeast Corner Southwest Corner You may note that I have a spinning project going. It is the Hedgehog Fibers merino I showed in the previous post . Hedgehog Fibres Merino Roving It is too bad that I didn't take any "before" pictures, but everything was in bags, so you can use your imagination... Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

Hi, And, the other thing that happened this week was that I received my Hedgehog Fibers order. It was a bit of a pick-me-up on the first day I was really sick... Gorgeous stuff... Silk Lace Cashmere Merino (Fingering Weight) Sock Yarn Merino Spinning Fiber Wow, I think I'm ready for another nap. (I've already slept 27 hours since I got home on Tuesday...) Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

Hi, Last night, I finally started feeling a little better and cast on for the July "Socks From The Toe Up" knit-along. The book pattern is "Serpentine Sock," which is a sport weight pattern. I'm doing the 52-st size (medium) on size 2 needles, using Fiesta Boomerang in the color "Poppies." I got a couple pattern repeats done this morning. Sport weight socks knit up fast, but I assume I am not going to get the second KAL sock pattern done this month. It is a knitter's choice pattern from either of Wendy's books or her free patterns... Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

Hi, Last weekend, I finished the Shetland Lace Triangle. Wonderful pattern. Wonderful yarn. :) I'm happy with how it turned out. As my second lace shawl, I think the pattern was fairly easy. The only snag was that the markers have to move one stitch to the side on several rows. The first time I came to that, I got extremely frustrated, trying to figure out why I was off in my stitch count... There is one stitch too few on one end, and one stitch too many on the other end, and all the motifs have to shift in-between. Fair warning! Previous post on yarn/pattern . Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

Hi, I've been sick a couple days, and I'm in a second day off of work, starting to feel better. The doc said I could go back to work after I'd been on anti-biotics for 24 hours, so I'll be back in tomorrow. It was strep throat. There for a day or so, I felt like I'd been hit by a truck! (Otherwise known as "Too Sick To Knit.") Now that I'm feeling a bit better, I took some photos of some projects I finished in the last week, including my Embossed Leaves socks. Previous posts on this project: One Done and Yarn/Pattern . Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

Hi, My sunflowers are blooming. I planted seeds along the edge of the porch in early spring. In the last two pictures (better in the next-to-last), note the you can see the moon. These two were taken in the early morning, looking south. The sunflower is facing east-northeast. They don't seem to track the sun all through the day like they're supposed to do (I've heard). Maybe they're moonflowers. Happy Knitting, Lisa kay

Hi, This fiber had been on my wheel for over a year. I made myself go back and finish, because I just ordered some new roving... I had seven packages of four ounces of fiber. It is 65% superwash merino, and 35% tussah silk, from Sanguine Gryphon . I had in mind a sweater, but now I am thinking of a blanket. I got about 2800 yards, which seems like a lot... It is three-ply, worsted. There were a few of the pieces that were a little more blended (brownish or orangish), and a few that were brighter with more pink and green differentiation. I tried to mix the pieces when I plied them. There will be a lot of variation in the yarn colors, so the pattern needs to use that rather than fight it. Hmmm.... Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay