My New Toy

So, when I was at my LYS purchasing yarn for Miss Dashwood, 9 skeins of yarn seemed like a lot to wind into balls. I'll get a ball winder, I thought! I don't have a swift, but that was not a deterrent. I brought this home:

I love the look of the "cakes" of yarn it produces.

(bad photo at my kitchen counter)

So, I try the Berroco Bamboo. I heard a little voice in my head at the LYS saying ' this yarn is too slippery to wind....too slippery.....DON"T GET THE BALL WINDER FOR THIS YARN'!!! I don't listen. I get it home and it's winding pretty. Then I try taking it off the ball winder. Oh, yeah, collapses on itself. Voice in head says disparaging things about now! I try winding it onto a cardboard tube- won't collapse now, hahahaha!! Wrong! Here's my two tries, on the left off the ball winder, and on the right, wound onto a cardboard tube.

Not Pretty.

This is how the other 7 skeins have ended up:

Wound into a pretty ball without the aid of any fancy tools or gadgets!

I do like the ball winder, though. It is easy to use, actually fun! And it makes the plainest of yarn look mighty fancy:

Sugar N Cream, top, and Wildfoote, bottom, in their cakiest finery.

WIP Monday

Meet Miss Dashwood:

Miss Dashwood by Chic Knits. She doesn't look like much yet, this is only one pattern repeat with many more to go! The yarn is Berroco Bonsai, it has a very nice feel to knit with, not too slippery on metal needles, and not too splitty. This is for Child Of Mine, who is a bridesmaid in a wedding in New Hampshire in late September. Since she gets cold when temps dip below 70, she wanted something to put over her shoulders after the ceremony. Her dress is a strapless, mid shin brown number, she calls the look "poo on a stick". (Can you tell she is not too enamoured with this dress)? Below is a photo of the yarn with the dress, I think she picked a good complimentary color, and the dress really isn't that bad (said by one who doesn't have to wear it)!

I'm enjoying knitting this, but I have to pay close attention to the pattern. I'm paranoid that I'll miss a YO or mess it up, and have to tink back. My nightmare is getting 3/4 way done, finding a mistake and getting hopelessly lost in the pattern. As we all know I'm not the fastest knitter, and I have about a month to finish it. Wish me luck!

Saturday Sky

Tropical clouds, rain on the way. It was more overcast today than typical for South Florida.

FO Monday

Pop Tart!

ipod cozy

Pattern: Pop Tart Cell Phone Pocket by Heather Kaminsky at BitterSweet

Started and Finished on August 15, 2007

Yarn: TLC Lustre for the Pop Tart, Sensations wool (store brand from Jo Anns, on clearance, yea!) for the "icing", assorted beads, and a snap closure sewn in.

Needles: size 5, straights

Comments: Saw this on a website and thought it was adorable. Very fast knit (ha, if it's fast for me, you know it is ultra fast to knit)! I increased the width stitches by 2 thinking it would be too small, but the pattern as written would have fit my ipod (video ipod) just fine. I like having different cozies for the ipod, which I take everywhere.

Saturday Sky

Warm, breezy, nice day today. Showers early, then blue sky.

Parrots waiting for their turn at the feeder. Similiar to these visitors:

Fairchild Tropical Botanical Gardens

Since I live in a tourist area, and I am not the most prolific knitter, I thought I'd occasionally share some of the local places that are interesting to visit. My first stop is the Fairchild in Miami.

Fairchild Tropical Botanical Gardens

10901 Old Cutler Road Coral Gables, FL 33156 • Phone: 305-667-1651

The Fairchild is an 83 acre botanical park, located in south Miami. It's a beautiful place to picnic and spend the afternoon among the palms. There is a pair of wild blue and yellow macaws that live at the Fairchild, which is always makes me think I am in some far-away tropical place to see them fly by. The Fairchild is home to a lot of festivals, such the Mango Festival, the International Orchid Festival, and the International Chocolate Festival. Yes, chocolate!! Recently it housed a Chihuly exhibit that complemented the gardens beautifully.

a cormorant checks out the Chihuly

The iguanas are curious.

A nice place to relax and knit!

The Fairchild is really a beautiful place to spend some time. If you have a membership in your local science museum, your membership is reciprocal for a visit to the Fairchild. Bonus!! We use our membership to visit Flamingo Gardens, Miami Science Museum, and The Fort Lauderdale Museum of Discovery and Science. A very nice membership perk, indeed!

FO Monday

String Bag:

Pattern: String Bag from Erin, at My Best Friend's a Dork blog

Yarn: Lily's Sugar 'n Cream in Ecru, 2 plus a smidgen more balls

Needles: body in # 11 circulars

Started July, 2007 Finished August, 2007

Modifications: I added some texture to the bottom by adding purl stitches, only because I got tired of knitting it plain. I like how it came out.

Comments: This was my first time with a circular cast-on, which was not as daunting as I expected it to be. I will knit this again, but probably use a needle size or 2 larger, I am a very tight knitter!

bag bottom:

bag thief:

My other finished object is the flamingo dishcloth, found here.

Sugar 'n Cream cotton, size 7 needles. Took me a couple of sittings to finish it. I think he's cute! I'll enjoy the color until it fades to beige like all the other sugar 'n cream dishcloths. Anyone use a kitchen cotton they like that doesn't fade with repeated washings??

Saturday Sky

The day really was this pretty. Hot, but pretty.

Kids, I got kids!

Out in the backyard we put in a butterfly garden about 2 years ago. In this climate, it only took about 6 months and all the plants looked like they have been there for years. The garden supports about 12 different kinds of butterflies year round. Since we have host and nectar plants, I get to see the whole cycle, from egg laying to emerging butterflies. This is my way to relax, to putter in the garden for a little while after work. I've been watching these "kids" this week:

Oh, a face only a mother can love! He's almost ready to turn into a chrysalis, and then into this:

A Gulf Fritillary.

Also out in the garden is this:

Does anyone else see this and think :

Must just be me.

This is the caterpillar of a Zebra Longwing, the State Butterfly of Florida:

We also have some Monarch caterpillars and some Giant Swallowtail eggs. Butterflies are just amazing to watch!

WIP Monday

I've had cold symptoms all week, which has zapped my energy and left little motivation for any complex knitting. I finished my string bag and a couple of fish (pictures later). I wanted to make something easy, comforting and something that would make me smile. This flamingo dishcloth is just the project! The pattern is here , by Enid Danforth. I used a moss stitch border,and have about 5 more rows to go. Not sure what I'll make next, but using all this cotton with the string bag and dishcloth, my hands are ready for some merino or cashmere, something SOFT!!

Saturday Sky

Hot and humid today, probably the warmest "feel like" temperatures we've had all year. Only the backyard avocado tree liked the heat today!

Notice anything similiar here?

these yarns are in the witness protection program and their names will not be revealed

When I was photographing my stash for Ravelry, I noticed that a lot of the skeins had the price tag covering the name. A lot. The offenders were all purchased in yarn stores, never if purchased on line or a craft/fabric store. Why is this?? And it seems to be from Boston to Miami and in between. I mean, if you have to cover anything, why the name?? Makes it hard to look up the other pertinent information for the yarn when I can't remember what the heck the yarn is. (Never mind why I bought it and WHAT did I think I was ever going to make with THAT yarn)! *sigh*