Lisa Kay Knits... and Quilts!

I warped my loom for the first time in about a year and a half. I started on Memorial Day Weekend, winding the warp chains. I used a kit from Lunatic Fringe Yarns , the Tubular Spectrum Comes to Dinner kit. The warp chains were pretty, but they didn't give a great sense of the gradient. I used lashing cords to tie onto the back beam. After winding the warp onto the back beam, the gradient really tells its tale. I have woven the first four colors of the weft, in plain weave. The colors are the purple/blue colors that are in the warp, starting from the left of the picture. The kit is supposed to make 8-10 napkins, one transition through the colors in the weft of each napkin. The first one will be in plain weave. After the first one, I'll put in an inch of white for hems, and then start in on a twill weave pattern. Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

Mitchell's school had them dress up as their favorite movie stars, today. It was sort of a funny task; we found it difficult to define notable characteristics of any stars he liked without picking a character (rather than an actor out of character). So... he dressed up as Daniel Radcliffe, in character. Mitchell reported that many of the little blond girls went as Taylor Swift. Apparently, it is widely accepted that her distinguishing characteristic is red lipstick. Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

And speaking of gradients, I finished spinning nine bumps (nearly 36 ounces) of Southern Cross Fibre's "Beyond The Yellow Brick Road" on Organic Merino. I measured a total of 1637 yards (based on niddy-noddy wraps), all colors combined. At an average of about 180 yards per bump in aran, it is about what I've gotten in previous aran weight yarns (such as "Tempest" and "Seraglio" ). Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

I decided I wanted to make a Noro Silk Garden sweater in one long gradient, which meant combining balls of yarn by breaking them at the color changes. It was an interesting experiment... Here's what four balls of yarn, split into colors with all like-colors piled together, looks like: Overall, I split apart 10.5 balls of yarn, and I had less than one (of pieces) left over when I was done. I made up a pattern, explained more on the Ravelry project page . The chevrons transition into the Carillon pattern nicely... centers and edges of the chevrons lining up with the "bell ropes." Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

We started the day with an egg hunt. I'm not sure he'll humor me in this for very many more Easters... So we enjoy it while it lasts! Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

We lost Pancake a couple of weeks ago, due to breast cancer. I was a little surprised that a hamster would be diagnosed with such a thing, but the vet said it is a frequent problem in the critters. Very sad. Mitchell did not wait long to be asking to get another hamster, and I have to admit that the wee hours were eerily quiet without our nocturnal exerciser running on the wheel. We went to several pet shops over a week, and we were thinking of getting another Russian Dwarf due to what a nice pet Pancake was. When we ran across the "Sunfire" color variety, we were surprised how bright and lovely they were, and these two baby sisters stole our hearts. We took them both! They were seven weeks old when we got them, now about eight. They're growing really fast, and they keep their cheeks full of seeds, so they look even bigger. They're incredibly active, and it's hard to get photos of them that aren't blurred, especially showing both of them together...

Mitchell played winter basketball, and he just played his last game this past weekend. They had one practice and one game per week. It is fun to see how quickly the kids improve when they are just starting out. Onward to Spring! Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay