Sunday, May 27, 2012

lots of satisfaction

Goodness Gracious!


I think I may have a new favorite shawl (or it has at least moved toward the top). I L O V E this one!


 Kind of Nautical. Kind of Preppy. Kind of Classic. Kind of Sophisticated. Just my Kind of Shawl!


 A Special Thanks to my lovely knitting friend, Natalie, for her guidance thru out this project.  She suggested I use the Lucy Neatby provisional cast on and she took time to walk me thru the attached i-cord and i-cord cast off process.  The i-cord cast off makes for a wonderful finished edging.  This is a very slow process, but is a million times worth the time investment.  Again, Thank you Natalie, you are a constant source of inspiration! 


 The Isager Wool Fiber was a perfect selection for this project (truthfully I can't wait for my next Isager project)! After a nice cool bath, this earthly yarn is now an airy, light, soft and elegant fiber. Again...I L O V E it!
  

With lots of knitting on #3 needles and learning two new knitting techniques, finishing my Volt left me with a real sense of accomplishment and GOSH, more satisfaction than I had imagined. 

Hugs & Purls!

Sunday, May 6, 2012

volt and parenting

Living life in the fast lane and I don't even get to look back!
I am now in celebration of my Mom's total recovery from a broken pelvis bone. There were the normal (whatever is normal) ups and downs that come when any change occurs in a family's structured life. But Mom is now 100% Mom again and we are elated to have her back in the driver's seat!!  I can't wait to share another Mothers Days with her!

One would think with all the extra activities that come with family injuries/sickness, it would be "the time" to have a soothing project on the needles; thus, the beginning of my much beloved VOLT!  I purchased the 8 skeins of  Isager months ago to knit an exact copy of the modeled shawl in this book.  O.K.  All that was a good idea and the pattern is really quite simple.  Many knitters chose to knit all the increases and decreases on the same row, but I really wanted to knit to the pattern and knit the decreases on the right side and the increases on the wrong side.
My problem with the pattern came with my obsession to count every single stitch. OMG!!  Each row has about 380 stitches! That counting is insane!!  I mean I couldn't watch NCIS or Downtown Abbey (what a downer).  After way more hours than I want to admit, caution was thrown to the wind and I decided to relax and enjoy the process by visually following the pattern on my needles.  Easy... Peasy and this project is now serving me well.
Volt is an interesting and now the soothing knit I had hoped for, while the Isager wool is a wonderful earthly fiber that is softening with every stitch.  I can assure you this will not be my last knit using Isager.  Perhaps this will be my next Isager project. Love.Love.Love.

During my delightful visit with Mom this week-end I kept hearing much laughter regarding  my 15 year old Great Nephew's new duties for the week-end.  All 9th graders are required to complete the "Parenting Class" - Real Care and Reality Works! This involves full parenting responsibilities for caring for a new born baby.  So Kannon James Anderson came home with The Nephew on Friday afternoon and will be diapered, feed, burped, cradled as needed and all cries satisfied when necessary. He will be graded based on results of data collected from his wrist band. 
(see wrist band and New Born, Kannon)
Of course, I had to see this to believe it....and how cute! I did sneak a picture of The Nephew but knew better than to post such evidence (with face forward).  We can all relate to how a 15 year old boy of all boys might feel about such a venture.

Anyhow, here is a shot of Kannon and he appears to be loved and very well taken care...Looks like an A+ for the Nephew's parenting abilities.