motherof2

Christmas Knitting

2010-12-15T23:01:00.000-08:00

www.nataliedee.com

Ironman/Penticton Update...

2010-09-08T18:19:00.000-07:00

Didn't blog right after the race, but here is the update (finally!).

Picture of our car using Crayola Window Markers. It worked out great, except when it started to rain up at Yellow Lakes. Then the colours ran and the rear windshield wiper wiped parts of it off.

Me and the boys waiting for daddy up at Yellow Lakes. A really good spot to see the athletes as it is the last big climb on the bike route.

Hubby on the last stretch of the run. Yippee! You're an Ironman!!!

Our friend, Curt, going out for his run. Way to go! You're an Ironman, too!!!

Hubby did 11:14:07 and Curt did 15:48:37. Considering the conditions, it was a good race. Now hubby's looking at 2012. We'll see....

Go Ironman Triathletes!!

2010-08-29T09:08:00.000-07:00

This is it! Today is Ironman Canada. My husband trained during the last year for this. What is Ironman, you ask? It's a triathlon consisting of 3.8 km (2.4 mi) swim, 180 km (112 mi) bike, and a 42.2 km (26.2 mi) run, one right after the other. You have 17 hours to complete the race, starting at 7am until 12am. Ironman Canada is in Penticton, BC. It's beautiful out here. Kids and I are ready to go see Daddy out at Yellow Lakes. The last tough climb on the bike route before they head back into town for the run. Results and pictures will be posted next.

EH-O-CANADA GO!

2010-02-17T21:23:00.000-08:00

I just have to say I'm very proud to be Canadian and for our Canadian athletes. For them to make it to the Olympics is an accomplishment in itself. But to win a medal, now that's going to go down in history.

For being a woman snowboarder myself, I was very stoked to see Maelle Ricker win a GOLD MEDAL in something that she worked hard for. And also very proud to hear my good friend, TT, commentate all the snowboard events on TSN. T, you're awesome! Also, you're husband did an amazing job on the boardercross course!

GO CANADA!!!

Spinning!

2010-01-29T18:12:00.000-08:00

I apologize. It's been a while. I've been quite busy over the last few months and haven't been able to keep up with blogging. I'm still knitting whenever I get a chance, but I've also taken up another obssession. I got a spinning wheel at the end of last summer and have recently started to get into it. Still need practicing. Not very consistent with the twists and my plying needs work. Here I have Fiber Optic Yarns Foot Notes Unspun in Honeysuckle Rose. I just started spinning this so do not have progress pictures yet.

I signed up for Crown Mountain Farms Fiber Club. This roving here is the first of many. It's a Falkland Top in the colourway Awakenings. This colour is the colour of the month. Love the colours. Can't wait to spin this!

This roving is for February's fiber. It's a Finn Top in the colourway Shiva/Shakti. Not sure if I like the colours, but we'll see how it spins up.

This one was also from January's fiber, but choose the colour Bacchus. The colours don't really do well in the picture, but it's kinda like purple and pink with coral. I finished navajo-plying it and is currently resting, so hopefully I'll be able to have better pictures of the finished product.

This finished product is from Fiber Optic Yarns and is also Foot Notes Unspun in the colourway Lazy River. It's navajo-plied as well. This came out to be a DK weight and approximately 170 yards.

This one is also from Fiber Optic Yarns. Foot Notes Unspun in the colourway Black Coffee. I made The Yarn Harlot's One Row Scarf and gave it to my kid's caregiver for Christmas.

I'll try to have more pictures of my spinning next time.

Still here...

2009-09-21T21:14:00.001-07:00

I think. Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Been a little busy the last couple of months. Was out of town a lot during the month of August and just went back to work last week. Life's been a bit crazy. Will hopefully update you all about my trips, work, and of course, knitting. Just have to say that I'm still adding to my stash and getting lots of wonderful kits in the mail. Will have to take pictures of all the yummy goodness soon so that you can all see what I'm talking about.

Introducing.....Emma!

2009-07-19T13:21:00.001-07:00

So here she is...Emma! All knitted up and felted. Currently stuffed and drying before I start to use her. LOVE it! It was so easy to knit and very fast as it uses chunky weight yarn doubled. I felted the bag a little before attaching the straps as I didn't want the cables to disappear. Then, after I attached the straps, I felted the whole bag and...voila! I'm thinking of knitting another bag as a gift, but doing strips for the pattern instead of the swirls. Some knitters in the KAL did it with stipes and I like the way it looks. So, now that I'm finished this bag, I can finally start finishing my other projects that have been on the needles since February!

Happy birthday to me!

2009-07-15T14:20:00.000-07:00

I was pretty bummed today as I found out that my Wollmeise yarn order from The Loopy Ewe didn't go through. My guess is that they all jumped out of my basket when the payment was taking forever to go through. I guess I'm going to have to stalk like everyone else tomorrow night. Hopefully I'll be able to get some from the actual website.

But, on the up side of my birthday, there's a package at the post office for me from yesterday, which my guess is the Rockin' Sock Club package. I'll go pick that up later. I also got these in the mail today (oh...and WARNING! just to warn you if you are part of The Six Kingdoms Yarn Club or the She-Knits mystery bag KAL):

This all came today from KnitPicks. I got a wooden swift (DH is happy about this since he has been my human swift), a couple of their lace samplers in shades of purple, and books, books, books. Finally got Elizabeth Zimmerman books that everyone's talked about. Also got a handspinning book as I'm learning to spin on a drop spindle (pictures to come), a book on dyeing yarn, a Mason-Dixon book, an Amirigumi book, and the Best of Interweave book. Lots to go through.

Also got this, too, in the mail today. It's the second project from The Six Kingdoms Yarn Club by The Unique Sheep. This one is inspired by Eubacteria. It's a Lacey Charmed Nacklace and Bracelet. I'm not sure if I'm going to knit this one up, so I might use the yarn for something else. Not sure what right now.

To compensate for the Wollmeise at TLE, I bought some, okay...lots, from ClaireR yesterday. She's a very good stalker and very generous to sell me some of her stash. Mmmmmmm....Wollmeise....

And last buy not least, here is clue #4 for my She-Knits mystery bag KAL. We made pockets on both sides above the patterned part. I also made a couple of pockets on the inside. One little one for my cellphone and a bigger one for little things, ie. chapstick, handcream... Got clue #5, our last clue, yesterday and still working on it today. We're making the straps for the bag and then we felt the whole bag once we're done. I'm really excited to finish as I really like the look of this bag. Hopefully for the next post, I'll have pictures of the final product.

Caution Ahead!

2009-07-08T12:43:00.000-07:00

There are pictures of beautiful yarn and a mystery bag.

Bought some yumminess today at The Knitting Room. These here are Schoppel-Wolle Zauberball. I just love the colours. Soooo beautiful. When knit up, it has long colour repeats and the colours fade into each other. Get them while the store has them. They're practically running out the door. Ran into ClaireR at the store and she was there picking up the same thing.

Here is the mystery bag after finishing clue #3. Loving the bag so far. Can't believe how fast this knits up. I guess with bulky yarn doubled, anything knits up quick. The bag looks good even when it's not felted. It will be interesting to see how it looks once its felted. Clue #4 comes out today. Can't wait!

Oh, and as for the long strands of the blue on the wrong side, I just used those lockable stitch markers to hold the stitches and tinked out the blue yarn. Then I threaded the blue yarn back into those held stitches and wrapped it around the strands on the wrong side as I went. Don't know if that makes any sense, but it worked out!

She-Knits mystery bag KAL update

2009-06-25T14:16:00.000-07:00

As I said in the last post, I will try to update my progress on the mystery bag KAL. So here is the finished clue #2 that we got yesterday. I'm very new to Fair Isle knitting, but this was fun to do. You just carry the yarn along as it is knit in the round. The only issue I have is that I carried the blue yarn along, but didn't twist it with the other yarn as I should have every 5th or 6th stitch. So now the blue yarn in the wrong side is very long and just hangs there. Any suggestions as to how to fix this? Can't wait for clue #3 that comes out next week! Now on to my other projects...

Another KAL??

2009-06-24T13:35:00.001-07:00

I finally finished my Kiila socks. Love the pattern and how the cables look. Yarnissima's an amazing designer. It was an actual easy pattern to do. Lots of stockinette stitches, but still have the cables on each side gives it the excitement. And the increasing ribbed leg and cuff. Beautiful. I will definitely be doing another one of these considering this pair is going to my best friend and I want a pair for myself.

The only issue I had with these socks was the yarn. As you can see in the picture above, the colours are a bit off on both the socks. These were knitted in Knitpicks Essential yarn in Gold. They were both from the same dye lot. I bought these on sale as they were getting rid of their 50g skeins (they introduced the 100g skeins because of the colour difference) and tried to match the colours when they sent them out. Oh well. C'est La Vive. That's life.

Another KAL you ask? Why yes! Now that I've casted off the KAL socks, I've signed up for a mystery bag KAL. It's designed by She-Knits and the clues are being sent to Raveller's weekly. You must be signed up to participate and unfortunately the sign-up is now closed. She will be making this pattern available for purchase once the KAL is over. I've already done the first clue and just got the second clue today. It's so far an easy knit and it has Fair Isle, so it's quite interesting. Can't wait to felt it once it's done. Hopefully I'll be able to keep you updated with pictures as I go. Just need to make sure I don't spoil it for other people in the KAL. If you want to see what I've done so far, you can check it out (Warning!) here. It's only the beginning, so there isn't much to see.

Name change

2009-06-05T10:01:00.000-07:00

Well, I changed my blog name from Stash Obsessed to motherof2. After looking through other peoples stash on Ravelry, I found that I'm not as obsessed as others (you know who you are ;-P). So I decided that I would change my blog to what my user name is on Ravelry. This would make it easier for people to remember who they clicked on and it's also consistent.

Nice to get away...

2009-06-03T10:28:00.000-07:00

We were in Penticton, BC a couple of weeks ago during the May long weekend/week because the DH had a bike training camp, so why not make it a vacation for the whole family. I just love it there. With two beaches, two lakes, wineries all over, I could definitely move there in a heartbeat. I think we'll move there when we retire. The weather was beautiful and it was nice to just get away.

The DH was out doing a long ride one beautiful day, so I packed up the kids and we biked to the beach on the opposite side of the town. The Lake Skaha side is nicer than the Okanagan Lake side and much warmer. As you can see, B-boy loved playing in the sand and Little M enjoyed sitting and eating.

We're going back there in late August as the DH is signing up for Ironman Canada 2010. Can't wait!

The kids and I also went to Kelowna for the day and I met up with Evelyn at the KVR Coffee shop for their bi-weekly Sit 'n Stitch. It was nice chatting with her. She even started a new podcast. Check it out.

As for knitting, I signed up for the Unique Sheep "The 6 Kingdom" club and this is the first package. This may be knit up as a gift for someone. In the little tin, there is flower seeds for planting. Not sure what kind of flowers, but I think I'll plant them in my little planter pots in front of our house and see what comes out.

Well, I said that I would update you on my Kiila Mystery KAL socks, but didn't keep my promise as it is now June and my last post was at the beginning of May. I am almost finished the first sock of the Kiilas. It is a really fast knit, but I'm working on other projects, so it's been a bit slow in finishing these. I just need to finish them before June 30th for the KAL.

I just finished my Elsewhere sweater by Amy Swenson last night, but it still needs to be blocked/steamed. So far I love the look of it and can't wait to wear it. I will hopefully have pictures of it up soon.

I also got some yummy goodness from Yarnissima. Two pairs of socks. One of them is Fratello and the other is La Digitessa. I just love the colours of the yarn.

Mystery sock KAL

2009-05-08T15:50:00.001-07:00

I just started my first mystery KAL sock. I'm pretty excited about it. It's designed by Yarnissima. She designed Firestarter. The mystery sock is called Kiila. I'm using Knit Picks Essential Kettle Dyed in Gold. I'm working the socks two at a time while I wait for the next part. The KAL started May 1st and the first part was the foot (toe-up socks). She just released the gusset part today. Can't wait to start the gusset, but I'm trying to finish the second sock's foot before I start that. This is knitting up pretty fast and so far loving it. I'll try and keep you posted with the progress of the socks.

At least one post in April!

2009-04-25T11:03:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in a while and I apologize for that. Wanted to get pictures so that I can post them. I've been busy knitting these last few weeks and have a few finished projects. Here are some of them.

I finally finished my Silky Green Gable sweater by Zephyr Style. Love the style of this pattern and it was very easy to knit up. Gotta love topdown projects. This was made with Tahki Yarns Savoy. The colour is Olive and it is a blend of 52% silk and 48% merino wool.

Finished my first BMFA's Rockin' Sock Club socks, Queen of Beads by Sivia Harding. Love how the beads are used. I've had many compliments on them. I had rushed to finish the second sock before I received the next sock kit in the mail.

Still haven't started the new socks. The ball is wound, but have not casted on yet. Love the colours!
I also finished a sweater for my Sister-in-law that she started a year and a half ago. We took the Top-down raglan class at Make One Yarn Studios back in September of 2007. She got to the bottom hem of the sweater, but got really discouraged with the moss stitch, so she stopped working on it. I volunteered (well, Sandra from the store suggested that I do a good deed and offer) to finish the sweater for her. I just needed to finish the hem, the collar with the ties, and both the sleeves. It took a while for me to work on it as I like to work on my own projects, but finally got to it and finished it for her last week. She came over on Sunday and she was thrilled that it was done (she wore it the whole time she was here). The pattern is Knitting Pure & Simple Topdown Cardigan and the yarn used was Misti Alpaca Baby Alpaca.

I wasn't able to be part of The Loope Ewe's sock club this year, but was able to get the consolation sock kit for those that didn't get in. The yarn is Handmaiden's Casbah in W(h)ine with Roses. The sock pattern is by Wendy Johnson. Also got a Loopy pen and a Loopy spring bag.

It was my youngest son's first birthday yesterday, but we had his birthday party on Sunday. I just love watching baby's first discoveries of cake and icing and how they try to stuff the whole thing into their mouths.

A hat and a Bluebeary

2009-03-21T09:57:00.000-07:00

I had finished this hat back in February, but forgot to post it with my other finished objects. It was very easy to make. Made it in two days. I had originally made it in the slouchy style, but did not like it. So I ripped it out and redid it in the regular fitted style and LOVE it.

Pattern: Devra2 by Jennifer Tallapaneni
Yarn: Nashua Handknits Creative Focus Chunky
Needles: US 8 & US 10

I've been looking at making a bear after I saw one last fall at a retreat. The things to find were the right pattern, yarn and colour. I had found a pattern I was going to do, but it got trashed when Sandra from Make One Yarn Studio showed me a pattern by Blue Sky Alpacas - Bobbi Bear and the yarn I should make it in and I was hooked. What's great about this pattern is that there is very little seaming to do. It is pretty much knit in one piece. How great is that! I made it in blue 'cause Sandra thought it would be cool and wanted me to call it Bluebeary. So, I give you "Bluebeary". I made this for Sandra as a gift for looking after Little M last year at their retreat for the day. I will be making another Bluebeary in blue, but also another one in brown for both my little boys. The only thing I would change is the size of the needles. I found suze US15's were a bit big for this yarn, so I may go down a size or two to make it a bit tighter.

Pattern: Bobbi Bear - Blue Sky Alpacas
Yarn: Sirdar Big Softie in blue
Needles: US15 - but I'd go down a size if you want the knitting tighter

What is the best way of knitting TWO socks?

2009-03-12T18:01:00.000-07:00

Okay...so I've been knitting socks with double pointed needles for most of my sock projects. I like the thought of knitting in the old, traditional way. I've tried knitting socks with two circular needles and that seems to work well for me, too. I've even tried the magic loop. But I only knitted one sock at a time with these methods.

I'm really wanting to try knitting two socks at the same time so that I don't get SSS - Second Sock Syndrome. I've read that some people work both socks on separate dp needles at the same time and that works for them. I'm currently trying to knit two simple k2,p2 ribbed socks for my husband on two circular needles. But, I'm getting a bit frustrated. I get confused with the yarn when they cross each other as well as which needle to use next. It could be that I'm using the wrong length needles!?! I'm using 32" circulars. I know, I know! A bit too long for my project. After reading some websites, I need to get 24" circulars, maybe even 16" circulars. Has anyone tried knitting two socks with the one circular magic loop? Is that easy to learn? I'm curious...

Finished objects!

2009-03-04T10:37:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Terra and The Kniterpreter, here' my hero that I made here. It was a load of fun!

Here are some finished projects that I did in last few weeks.

I finally finished Cookie's Monkey socks last week. The first sock took me awhile to finish, but once I finished it, I breezed through the second one. Really. The pattern was actually easy to remember, so I didn't need to follow the chart as I did for the first one.

I also finished Amy Swenson's Emerald. It took me a couple of times to finish it as the first time I finished it, it was a bit too big for what I liked. So I frogged it and redid another one in a smaller size and now I just LOVE it! I was also hesitant on the colour, but I'm glad Trish convinced me. I just love the colour! And it didn't take me very long to do either. I did the sweater in just over two weeks, including the first time I finished the sweater and frogged it.

Here is my finished Noro striped scarf by Brooklyntweed. I'm pretty happy with it and love how the colours worked together. I will definitely make another one of these in the future.

I am currently working on a few projects right now as you can see on the sidebar of my blog. Hopefully finish more projects soon.

Until next time.....

New goodies!

2009-02-12T09:53:00.000-08:00

Well, I broke down and bought a Namaste knitting bag. It's the Newport style and the colour is Saddle. I wanted a knitting bag that functioned as a purse and had room for my knitting project(s).

At the same time, I bought a couple of skeins of Koigu sock yarn. I just love the colour. For some reason I'm on a green kick lately. I used to not like the colour green, but lately I just love it. A lot of my projects are in that colour. Funny how that is.

I'm waiting on a few parcels coming from my favourite on-line stores (The Loopy Ewe, Eat.Sleep.Knit, and Knitpicks). I went a little crazy last week. Hopefully that will be it for a little while.

Too many projects???

2009-02-09T09:58:00.000-08:00

I currently have four projects on the go and I want to start some more. I have the disease Starteritis. It doesn't seem to want to go away. Starteritis is when you want to start more projects. It's pretty common with knitters. It just sneaks up on you. You see something you like, you buy the yarn, then you want to start it while you have other unfinished projects that need to be finished. I just need to have stronger will power.

The four projects on the go are as follows:

1. Noro strip scarf (Brooklyn Tweed) which I'm 3/4 finished. I'm almost there. I just love how the colours change. I have more Noro yarn waiting for another scarf.

2. Monkey socks (Cookie A) that I started a few months back after a retreat I went on. Cookie A was one of the instructors at the retreat. I'm using yarn that was dyed just for the retreat by Lorna's Laces.

3. Green Gable (Zephyr Style) in which I'm working on the body. I'm using silky wool blend yarn by Tahki Yarns (Savoy). It's coming out nicely, but knitting in the round for the body is starting to get a little boring. I just need to keep it up. I really want to finish this so that I get to wear it before winter is over.

4. BMFA 2009 Rockin' Sock Club - Sock #1 (Queen of Beads) - I'm very excited to work on this as the pattern uses beads and is designed by Sivia Harding.

Oh, and I finished Amy Swenson's Emerald sweater a few days ago. I am in LOVE with it. I was pretty hesitant with the colour as I thought it was a bit lighter green than I had wanted, but it turned out pretty good. I also used less yarn then the pattern called for. It called for 11 skeins for a size small, but I only used 7 skeins in total.

I will have pictures up, hopefully, in the near future. If you are on Ravelry, you can check out the pictures there under my profile 'motherof2'.

A new year!

2009-01-02T15:29:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year!

Just got back from vacationing with the family in Radium Hot Springs. It was great. The weather was actually pretty good out there. It wasn't too cold and it snowed a little while we were out there. It's nice to get away after Christmas just to relax. Well, somewhat relax. It's sometimes tough with a two and a half year old and an eight month old. But, still nice just to get away. Especially in the mountains.

I was happy that I was able to help out at the Make One Yarns store for their annual Boxing Day sale. I was able to get my hands on some great sales! I was sad that I wasn't able to visit the other knitting stores in the city for their Boxing Day sales as we left for Radium that afternoon. Hopefully next year I'll be able to attend them.

Can't believe it's now 2009. 2008 seems like a blur now. Other than the birth of our second son and the Fall Fibres Retreat, I'm not sure what else happened!?!? Well, one thing for sure is that I started knitting many more projects during the year than the previous year.

Here is my list of what I finished in 2008:

3 pairs of socks
2 baby blankets
3 sweaters (one for me, one for hubby, one for B-boy)
2 pairs of gloves
2 pairs of fingerless gloves
2 toques/knitted hats

This may seem not a lot, but it's a lot for me. I'm hoping to have more finished projects in 2009 and post them onto my blog as well as Ravelry.

Well, here's to a great new year!!!

2008-11-28T14:14:00.000-08:00

Well, I finally broke down and decided to make my own blog. I've blogged before, but it was mostly about me and my family so that friends knew what was going on in our lives. Then Facebook was launched and the old blog diminished. So, now I've decided to blog about knitting and anything else that's interesting my life. We'll see where this goes.

With two little boys to look after, hopefully I can blog as much as possible. I definitely try to fit in as much knitting as possible with my free time. Currently I`m working on three projects.

One is the famous Noro self-striping scarf by Brooklyntweed.

The other is a sweater for my oldest son which will be his first knitted sweater by mommy. Hopefully he`ll like it. Hopefully he doesn`t ruin it so that his little brother gets to wear it later.

And the third is the also famous Monkey sock pattern by Cookie A. The yarm I`m using for this is Lorna`s Laces sock yarn that was dyed especially for a retreat I went to during the first weekend of this month. Cookie A was one of the guest instructors at this amazing retreat.

I never have only one project going as, I`m sure, most knitters don`t as well. Keeps me busy and not bored with the one project.