Lisa Kay Knits... and Quilts!

We've had Mitchell to the park a few times, to enjoy our unusually warm March. Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

Twisted Fiber Arts makes really interesting self-striping yarns that shade in long transitions and have intermediate colors that make the stripes seem to glow. Here are my socks in their Ravelry colorway. I used a gusset heel pattern… just stubborn. If I were going to use this yarn, again, I would do an afterthought heel in coordinating color. TFA offers mini-skeins in coordinating solids. I didn’t manipulate the colors to come out in stripe pattern after the heel. Perhaps I should have broken the yarn after the heel and re-started in stripe to match with the instep. Oh, well! In shoes, no one will notice... Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

We had Mitchell in to see Mikaela last Saturday. It had been over eight weeks since his last cut, and he was getting shaggy... Ready for a cut: Critical assessment of progress: Checking for shaved-off eyebrows: Happy with the final results: Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

I've been busy tooling away on multiple projects... The Elina body is done to the shoulders. Now, I have only the sleeves to knit, and the finishing.  I'm also spinning up a storm. I've finished the fifth of eight bobbins of Leaf Peep (see previous post for the first bobbin).  I took a break from knitting Elina (since "ready to cast on the sleeves" is a pretty good spot to come back to later...) and cast on my Tappan Zee out of the SCF & Friends SAL fibre . Here's a shot of the yoke progress. Of course, it lace always looks a little bit like a raisin before it is blocked, so use your imagination, but isn't the yarn knitting up beautifully? I'm really happy with the carded and spun fiber! The top down construction is a great choice for this yarn, because I can finish the body and then stop the sleeves whenever it runs out. Doing a bottom's up pattern would be dicey, because there is no feasible way to make any more of this yarn. Even...

You know those Leaf Peep fauxlags ? Well, here is the first bobbin (of 8). Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

We found a circuit-building kit during our latest trip to the bookstore, and Mitchell has enjoyed it. Of course, we wouldn't encourage him to do engineering-related playing or anything like that... Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

My dad's father used to have a very extensive wood shop at home, and he made all kinds of projects and sold them at craft fairs. In 1979, he retired to Florida and sold his house and all his woodworking equipment. He gave my dad two unfinished clocks, partially assembled. The parts were still in my dad's house when he moved last November, and he gave the pieces to me. I purchased new paper clock faces and asked my father-in-law to finish the wood of the clocks, since he has a lot of experience re-finishing furniture. He was gracious enough to take care of the project for me. I gave one of the clocks to my brother and will keep one for myself. It is quite a keepsake. My grandfather passed away on All Hallows Eve in 1995. Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay