Lisa Kay Knits... and Quilts!

We stayed around home most of the weekend, slept a lot, and took it easy. Chris and Mitchell drew pictures on the driveway with 3D sidewalk chalk. The chalk comes with glasses and had pairs of colors that are supposed to work well together to make 3D drawings. The chalk came with "polarized" glasses, which I'm not sure I understand with regard to the two-color chalk. It makes more sense to me that the colored glasses would work... Obviously, these pictures had to be posted... :) Hee, hee! Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

Mitchell started school today, in pre-school. At four-years old, with a birthday in December, he isn't eligible for kindergarten until next year. He's in a class of ten little four-year-olds, six girls and three other boys. He's got a Sponge Bob back pack, which he was happy to carry, empty. The teacher said to bring one on the first day, to take home projects. He  wore his Superman T-shirt, which was a family power struggle. Everyone wanted to choose what he wore the first day. In the end, it was down to what Mitchell asked to wear. He's my super hero! Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

We headed over to old town St. Charles for the craft fair, "Festival of the Little Hills," today. We had a chance to stop in Knit and Caboodle , and we picked up a few things from vendors, including some praline pecans. Yum! Mitchell Walked When We First Got There.... Though He Needed to Refuel Pretty Soon.... And He Wanted To Be Carried a Lot of the Way I didn't get any pictures of the booths, but they went all the way down Main Street, as well as some side streets. Very cool outing! Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

I finished the first sock to match the Alexandra Hoodie. Toe Up Instructions: Cast on 15 sts on each of two needles, using Judy's Magic Cast On or Turkish or your favorite "closed" circular cast on. Increase every other row until you have 66 sts total. Work 18 rows seed st, 18 rows stockinette for pattern. I used the gusset and heel instructions I (almost) always use, from "Socks From The Toe Up" for 33 stitch heels. I start the gusset increases 24 rows before the heel, with 72 rows total before the heel (not counting the toe). So there are four 18-row blocks before the heel. There are five 18-row blocks after the heel. If I did another pair, I’d use 14 row blocks instead of 18. That would make five blocks before the heel, which would end with a seed stitch block. That would make the first ankle block be stockinette instead of seed. The seed is a little looser and appears a bit wider… not the best look at the ankle. Otherwise, love ‘em! Happy ...

I finished seaming the Alexandra Hoodie this morning. It really is a wonderful pattern. The only mods I made were to lengthen the sleeves 2", I used less seed stitch on the front shoulders (by mistake), and I used a 3-needle BO on the hood instead of grafting. I tried grafting, but I wasn't happy with the results. I know a few things I did wrong, and I could try it again, but I'm satisfied, for now! I also have to mention a fun thing that happened, yesterday. Chris, Mitchell, and I went in to Knit One Weave Too in Edwardville, and someone recognized us! I say "us," because it wasn't really just me. She said, "You're Mitchell!" I turned around in surprise, and probably looked a little confused, and she said, "And you're Lisa Kay." She said I had looked familiar, but she really recognized Mitchell, and that she reads my blog. Isn't that neat? Her name is Lisa, too. Chris has been teasing me about being famous, a...

Daphne and Delilah are done. ( Pattern and yarn .) Mitchell has been enjoying them already, and he likes to let Iris hold Delilah, for some reason. She must be an aunt, or something. I ordered a sampler of toy safety eyes from 6060 . I made them a knitting bag as a prop. Chris said people will think I have too much time on my hands. The knitting needles are one tooth pick, cut in half, with beads glued on the cut ends. I made the bag out of a grocery bag. The yarn in the bag is Opal sock yarn. Mitchell wanted to take the little needles and knit with the little balls of yarn. I'm not quite that gung ho about it. I put the bag up on a shelf. Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

We dropped by the homecoming, today, mainly to visit the high school. They're going to tear it down next year because they're building a new one. It has been 25 years next summer that I graduated. Chris and Mitchell had never seen it.   We Didn't Ride Scooters Like That Back in the Day...   We also took Mitchell to the park to see the rides and ponies. All the rides were one ticket less before 5 p.m. Mitchell enjoyed the dragon roller coaster. I was a little surprised at his sophistocation... he said it wasn't a "real" roller coaster because it only goes in a circle and not "up high and all around." Wow. He's hard to please. Last to Climb On, He Sat Near the Tail Last to Climb Off, He Seemed Reluctant to Leave Ready to Ride the Car Carousel The Best Ride By Far... Gma and Gpa E, sorry we didn't call you, but I know Mom didn't get much sleep, yesterday... (and it was brutally hot out, too).

I began to make Daphne and Delilah . Daphne is the mom, and I think she is looking good: The blue and pink really work well together. They are similar shades and both very saturated, and they really "pop." Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

Mom and I both won Yarn Crawl prizes! Mom won the Namaste Hermosa bag from Hearthstone Knits . The color is called Eggplant. I thought it was a black bag when I saw it last week, but I guess I didn't look closely enough! It is funny that I mentioned in my Yarn Crawl post that it was a prize even Mom would like (non-knitter that she is)... because she won it! Namaste Hermosa in Eggplant I won a tote with two skeins of yarn and knitting needles from Knitorious . Knitorious Tote Baby Twist, Jumbo Hank in Seam Foam Green (#4001) Malabrigo Rasta (a new yarn) in Colorway Archangel Sox Stix, Size 0 The knitting needles were my choice, and I picked a treat... Sox Stix, which I have been wanting to try. These were high end, but Sandy said I could pick anything... I am not sure just how Mom and I both managed to win a yarn store prize from the crawl. With such good knitting Karma, I can only conclude that we were extremely well-behaved in a previous life. Maybe we raised sh...

After making Iris last week, I found a group on Ravelry for Danger Crafts , the pattern designer, Rebecca Danger. She has many monster patterns on her Danger Crafts etsy page , most of which are available as pattern downloads. Iris is unusual in that she is only available in a kit. The Ravelry Danger Crafts group has been doing monthly KALs for the monsters. The August KAL is a mother/daughter pair called, "Daphne and Delilah, the Momma and Baby Monster." I joined the group and downloaded the pattern. Daphne and Delilah, the Momma and Baby Monster Since it isn't a kit, this time, the question is: which yarn? It think it will be cute in my hoodie yarns, from the Central Park Hoodie and the Alexandra Hoodie: Dream In Color, Classy, colorway "Blue Lagoon" Dream in Color, Classy, colorway, "Ruby River" I'm not done with the Alexandra Hoodie, of course, but I have plenty of yarn, so I could work on Daphne and Delilah without worrying about lea...

I happened to glance out the front window on my way down the hall, just before bedtime last night, and I noticed that there was a suspiciously amphibian-shaped silouette on the top of the arch. On closer inspection, it was a froggy visitor, hanging out, eating bugs. Go for it, buddy! I wanted to get a picture, though I wasn't sure it would turn out usable. Mitchell was highly amused, and he wanted to be held up to see the frog. Never mind that we were in various states of dress, in the front window of the house. :) Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

Where did the summer go? Alright, I know we have a few weeks left... But I still don't understand how it got to be August already. Mitchell starts pre-school on the 24th, so maybe that is the source of my consternation. The pool closes after Memorial Day weekend, and we have barely used it... It's nice when we do, though! Gma W gave Mitchell a pack of floaties (water wings, ring, raft, ball), and he loves the ring and water wings. We tried to get him to take them off and practice his swim strokes, and he said, "I'm not practicing in this pool." I guess the YMCA is for practicing and Gpa's pool is for playing. Well, at least he likes the water! Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

The cover sweater on the Fall 2010 Knitscene magazine is another fabulous hoodie. Of course, Knitscene is the magazine that brought us the ubiquitous Central Park Hoodie, as well. The latest jewel of a hoodie is the Alexandra Hoodie by Rosemary (Romi) Hill. Fall 2010 Knitscene, Alexandra Hoodie on the Cover Romi is also the designer of the Brandywine Shawl, which is downloadable from her website, Designs By Romi . Not only is it a lovely shawl, but all proceeds go to Haiti relief. As of today, the Ravelry pattern page indicates that $13,000 have been sent to Haiti. Wow, that is a lot of patterns! I've finished the back and the fronts, and just started one sleeve. I'm using Dream In Color, Classy, in the colorway "Blue Lagoon." Alexandra Hoodie, Back Completed Alexandra Hoodie, Fronts Blocking (one upside-down) Stitches Close-Up (Stockinette with Seed Stitch Border) And since I always have a sock going as my "take-along" project, I started a coord...