farrah knits!

knitting weather

2009-09-12T21:03:00.001-07:00

it was cool today and rainy.... perfect fall knitting weather. so when i got home tonight i decided to finally face my baby surprise jacket. about a week ago i discovered my stitch count was off and knew the mistake had probably happened in the last 5 rows i had knit. i could have fudged it, but didn't want to..... instead i procrastinated fixing it for a week..... the knitting weather won out tonight though, and i frogged 4 rows before discovering my mistake. now i can continue the forward progess!

tomorrow is supposed to be good knitting weather too!

out of steam

2009-09-03T10:25:00.001-07:00

well i knit three of the bibs o love before i ran out of steam and needed to knit something else. i also was running out of peaches n cream..... however i have plenty of sock yarn! so i am now knitting the second half to this baby gift, a baby surprise jacket from the opinionated knitter. i am using this beautiful rio de la plata yarn that looks like it is kettle dyed. it is all one color, but has subtle shade variations.

i still have to sew the buttons on the bibs, and then they are complete! i think after i finish the surprise jacket i will work on my jaywalker socks which are halfway done.... again, we'll see because i also decided to knit myself the cabaret pullover..... so many knits..... so llittle time!

old knits, new pics

2009-09-01T22:41:00.001-07:00

so i finished this green gable sweater way back in 2006, but the photo i had for it in ravelry was a stinker. this morning on the way out of the house i had my husband take a photo with my iphone for the blog. that is about the only knitting related activity i have done the past few days.

i am almost done with the third bib o' love, and i want to get some more yarn to do a few more. i was thinking some browns or neutrals that i could mix with some of the bright colored sugar n cream i have left. who knows.....

another convert.......

2009-08-29T19:42:00.001-07:00

this is angela.... she is in the early phases of developing a knitting problem...... and i am helping her. i taught angela to knit last week, and as you can see from the picture she is holding a completed hat from itty bitty hats. to my knowledge she has already cast on her second baby hat and will probably have it close to finished by tomorrow. angela also has yarn for a third hat and a pair of socks. my job here is complete.

mobile solution?

2009-08-28T15:48:00.001-07:00

ok, so i realized i have not blogged in forever.... and i may have a solution.....a mobile solution. i have discovered that there is an iphone app that allows me to upload photos to my flickr account from my iphone. i can then blog from flickr as well as update my ravelry pics.... could this be the solution? no promises anymore, lets just wait and see

yes, i did

2009-03-21T09:51:00.001-07:00

rip out my icarus shawl. i realized after months of it sitting there that I would never finish it. lace that intricate takes long periods of time sitting quietly and just counting and knitting. those of you who know me probably can guess the probability of this happening for me on an extended basis. so i frogged it. I am going to use the yarn however to knit the "whisper cardigan" form the newest edition of interweave knits.

i also have been on a knitting hiatus, and i think it's because i haven't knit enough stuff for myself lately, and so have not enjoyed any of the fruits of my labor to keep me motivated. is that horrible?

so for now i am going to knit just for matthew and i for a stretch. this will be put to the test with an upcoming baby shower.

monkey see, monkey do

2009-01-08T15:51:00.001-08:00

i finished my monkey socks this afternoon, grafting the toe on the second sock while i was having a latte with my good friend jackie. jackie is the kind of friend every knitter dreams of having, in that while she is telling you a story and you begin grafting a toe, she understands you are listening. jackie is the kind of friend who understands my multi-tasking personality and i am blessed to have her in my life.

i was just about to blog about my friend angie and how i was looking forward to meeting her for knitting on saturday. while i was typing her name she called to say she was fighting a cold. so everyone pray for angie to get better so i can knit with her.

knitting with a vengeance

2009-01-05T13:11:00.001-08:00

here is my nolan scarf knit from the "cashmere for him" kit by jade sapphire. it was a delight to knit, and i seriously could become addicted to knitting with cashmere. i seem to be on some kind of knitting frenzy however, because the monkey socks i began last week are almost finished. i have two 11 row repeats to finish and then i begin toe decreases!

i met angie this saturday at the yarn shop again, and picked up two skeins of malabrigo worsted in "forest". i am going to use these to knit another alligator scarf, this time for one of my nephews. my nephew totally deserves malabrigo, because at the age of three he asked for hand knit socks for christmas...... truly a knitting aunties dream come true.

i decided to make a new years resolution for better health this year (like millions of other americans) and so have dug my gym membership card out of hibernation. this morning matthew and i attended an aerobics class called "boot camp". it kicked my bootie for sure. toward the end of the class i felt like i was pretty much just flailing around more than following the routine. however, i feel fabulous. after only a few days of eating more sensibly and exercising i feel a return of energy. this is a good contrast to the tiredness and constant grogginess i was feeling during the holidays. gee imagine that, if i eat well and exercise i feel better, novel idea huh?

home from the holidays

2008-12-31T13:00:00.000-08:00

i love going to other cities and checking out new yarn stores, and since i did not knit when i lived in the midwest every time i visit it's like a new adventure. this trip to matthew's hometown of madison, wisconsin was no exception. i had thirty dollars to spend and i wanted something i couldn't find at home. i hit the jackpot when i checked out a yarn store i had never been to that another knitter at another yarn store recommended (this is when you start whispering in hushed tones in yarn stores). the shop is located right outside madison in the town of verona and is called the sow's ear. it is lovely. it is a coffee shop and yarn store combined, which to me is the golden ticket. they brew good coffee and have great pastry. i got the necklace pictured above for only ten dollars, and i was told it is made by a local artist. i also got this yarn:

a ball of araucania ranco multi, a fingering weight yarn with which i am knitting myself a pair of socks. i had to buy the yarn because i finished knitting the cashmere scarf on the trip and needed something new to knit. pictures of the scarf are forthcoming.....

all in all it was a good christmas.

merry christmas to me

2008-12-22T11:54:00.000-08:00

i met with angie on saturday to knit and catch up. she surprised me with a christmas present! a copy of the yarn harlot's new book "free range knitter". thanks angie! it was a treat, and i have enjoyed reading it.

in other news, matthew and i leave for wisconsin to spend the holidays with his family. we are driving, which to most people sounds awful, but we love road trips. i will post as i am able while on the road, but not too optimistic that it will actually happen!

i elfed myself

2008-12-18T14:55:00.001-08:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

new yarn

2008-12-15T10:18:00.001-08:00

my lys knitter's kove, has started carrying malabrigo and i couldn't be happier. i bought this ball to celebrate:

i am going to knit it into thorpe, a simple yet beautiful earflap hat pattern. i am making it for one of the boys in the neighborhood who recently shaved his head and now needs something to keep his poor head warm.

while i was sick last week a nice suprise came for me in the mail from jen. it had this:

and these:

the yarn jen got for me at the rhinebeck sheep and wool festival. i love the colors, as jen knew i would and i cannot wait to knit something out of it. i am going to wait a bit so i have time to think about it and find the perfect pattern for this super bulky wool. any ideas?

yes i am still here....

2008-12-12T11:55:00.001-08:00

see? i even have a picture to prove it. i know i have been away a gazillion years. i guess i was in a rut, a blogging rut. however i am hopeful that the rut has ended and i have knitting/yarn happenings to update you on. the hat i am wearing in the photo above i knit the past two nights. the pattern is called "ela's favorite hat" and is from the book "one skein wonder". i used my precious ball of malabrigo silky merino in the color way "amoroso" to knit it, and it is delicious. it is so soft.

i also finished an alligator scarf (which blogger won't let me upload the photo of right now) for one of my nephews for christmas. it is a kit sold at morehouse merino and it is a delight to knit. i am excited to make a few more of them.

matthew and i are planning on visiting his mother during christmas so we have a long road trip to look forward to. we love these road trips together. i am excited to leave.

my husband went to alaska and i got

2008-08-21T14:20:00.000-07:00

this yarn:

and a cold! he came home with the sniffles, passed it along to me, and then had to leave town again. sadly the setback in my knitting from laying on the couch watching documentaries with a cold for the past three days has made me highly doubt i will finish my olympic knitting in time. i am pretty much admitting defeat. today is my first day back on my feet, and i have cleaning and errands to do before matthew gets back home tomorrow. am too ashamed to post a picture of my shawl progress.

slow off the block

2008-08-10T22:57:00.000-07:00

so this morning i finally cast on my ravelympics project, the icraus shawl. i tried to cast it on while i watched the opening ceremonies friday night, but i found it too hard to focus on those early rows with other people around..... however i have made up for lost time.......

this may not look like much, and the picture is horrible, but i have finished knitting chart 1 once, and am 3/4 of the way through the first repeat of rows 19-42 of chart 1 (which i have to do five times). it feels like this part is going really fast, but i am trying to leep in mind that every RS row i am adding two stitches, so every row added takes more time to knit than the last.

in other, simpler, happier project news, i finished the "last minute purled beret" on the 3rd, and gave it to my friend jessica today. it was her very belated birthday gift. she knew that a condition of receipt was to model the beret for me for the blog and ravelry. here she is, fulfilling that obligation

i am happy with how it came out and ended up in using malabrigo worsted. this colorway is called esperanza green, and looks fabulous on jessica. ok, back to the shawl.

a lot of knitting, not much blogging

2008-08-04T21:57:00.000-07:00

sorry for the absence of blogging, my friend angie told me at our regular saturday knit meet up that she was sick of the giraffe at the top of the page, so angie this one's for you.....

i finished this cardigan several days ago, and just got the buttons sewn on saturday night before i had to give it to it's recipient sunday morning. it is the baby cardigan pattern called "daisy" by stephanie pearl-mcphee. i used plymouth wildflower d.k. to knit it with and the buttons are from a giant candy dish my lys has of glass beads they sell for 40 cents a piece.

i am currently working on a beret, which is also a gift. i need to have it finished by the 8th when the ravelympics start! i still need to get a copy of the chart for my ravelympics project in a larger size, but other than that i am ready to go.

what i did with my winnings

2008-07-26T15:17:00.000-07:00

i went to the zoo today with family. as you can see, our zoo lets you get really close to the giraffes. it was a fun afternoon, although slightly warm. after the zoo i went to my lys to pick up a few things. i am able to do this because last night i happened to be the winner in a poker game i attend every now and then! i was completely shocked that i won, but happy to have a little extra cash to spend. one of the things i got was this

it is "happy choices" by plymouth yarn. it is a length of sock yarn knit up (by a machine from what i can tell), which is then hand dyed by plymouth yarns. you take out what appears to me to be a provisional cast on at the bottom and knit socks directly from the length of yarn. i thought it would be really fun to see how the colors come out. i also got some addi turbo lace needles to knit my icarus shawl with for the ravelympics. that's really all that is new. i have some major knitting to get done tomorrow, but other than church and family dinner i don't have anything planned, so it should be a relaxing day.

an overly verbose description of knitting progress

2008-07-24T09:10:00.001-07:00

here are the finished results for the first of the tea dyed dishcloths. i think it came out pretty. i also found a great tea cup at the thrift store yesterday afternoon. major progress was made on the baby cardigan, and the other dyed yarn is now dry and waiting to be wound into a ball. i should have the body of the cardigan ready to block tonight while i begin the sleeves, which gives me all next week to finish the other two dishcloths before i have to package them up on the 1st and mail them off. sighhhh...... that is my knitting progress............

photo fun

2008-07-23T08:40:00.000-07:00

courtesy of mason-dixon knitting i found this really fun web site photofunia! i made this one last night, and had to upload it to share with everyone. go check it out, it's a blast. all the yarns for the dishcloth swap are officially dyed and are hanging to dry. so i cast on for that baby shower gift last night, and it is coming along swimmingly. here is what the yarn dyed with red zinger tea looks like:

warning: knitting content in full force

2008-07-22T15:37:00.000-07:00

well, i am finally caught up on sleep and knitting! last night i finished my charade socks, and here are the finished products:

the pattern was great. turned out pretty, and was easy to knit. they were given to the recipient this morning, upon the condition that she model them for me.

i have been working as well on the three dishcloths for the swap i am in on ravelry. i have changed my game plan a bit, and am dyeing all three skeins of yarn with tea. the first with black tea, the second ball with red zinger tea, and the third with green tea. i am going to include the unused tea bags in the care package as well as a tea cup from a thrift store. it will be a totally tea themed care package. i am almost finished knitting the first dishcloth:

the second skein of yarn is dyed, and the third pot of tea is brewing now. thank goodness this swap only involves dishcloths, which take little time because i was just invited to a baby shower of a friend from church. she is having a little girl and i am planning on knitting her a sweet little cardigan in yellow, and putting bumble bee buttons on it!

desperate for rest!

2008-07-20T21:11:00.001-07:00

matthew and i are currently in recovery from the desperation conference. we took the high school youth group from our church this past weekend, and had a blast. however, now into our thirties, we forgot how little sleep teenagers require. so today we are in recovery. tomorrow, knitting updates and pics.

summer madness

2008-07-13T16:00:00.001-07:00

you may remember the post where i talked about my new knitting rock star? well here she is again, having almost completed her first knitted item ever! (i forced her to pose for this)

my knitting on the other hand is moving along, but being hindered by some summer business. i am three quarters done with the charade socks, having turned the heel on the second sock this morning. i really need to finish it this week, because i just found out today that i have been invited to a baby shower and i want to knit something for it. i also have the dishcloths to knit for the swap i am in, then olympic knitting..... sigh

july has turned out to be a very busy month. this next week i have vacation bible school to help out at, and this weekend matthew and i are taking the high school youth group to the desperation conference. it should be a really great weekend with them.

during august i plan to do virtually nothing!

2008-07-05T15:31:00.000-07:00

i hope everyone had a fantastic fourth. matthew and i grilled out, then went and saw the pictured above fireworks. the nice thing this year is that we live close enough to the park where the display is that we can walk, thus avoiding traffic and parking.

in knitting news i am plugging away on a pair of socks, and then i am knitting up the dishcloths for the swap i am in. when those are done, it is time for olympic knitting! i cannot believe august is so close already.

2008-07-01T15:13:00.000-07:00

i finally finished the vest i have been knitting for matthew last week, and i have to say, i am pretty happy with it. i used a pattern found in the magazine, "knit it!" (spring 2007). it was knit with lamb's pride cotton fleece in pine green that i bought from the second's shop at the mill when i went about a year ago.

in other show and tell news, jen knit me these socks as a gift!

i really like them. they are perfectly simple with pretty lace in the back. the pattern is called "apple harvest sock" and can be found on ravelry. she used sock yarn she also got at the brown sheep mill, and i love the color! thanks jen!

icarus brave

2008-06-30T21:57:00.000-07:00

i got to do something really cool yesterday..... meet another farrah, who knits. it all started on ravelry when i decided to look up my own name and see if there were other farrah's. turns out there are, seven of us. well another of the farrah's was coming to denver for business and suggested we meet up. we went to the lambshoppe which was an awesome choice. we hung out for the whole afternoon, knit, talked and drank coffee.

turns out, the other farrah is a brave, brave girl. she is knitting the icarus shawl, which i attempted two winters ago. i say attempted because after a fatal flaw with no life line i decided to rip. my plan is to start over and re-cast on for the summer knitting olympics. when i mentioned this to farrah she said, "don't start over again, just drop that stitch all the way down and figure it out again like this...."

and then she dropped like what seemed a million rows down, and i sat there with my mouth hanging open staring at her stunned. the other farrah makes me want to be icarus brave.

the post i cannot come up with a title for

2008-06-29T08:26:00.000-07:00

so this is what the first ball of white "sugar n' cream" looks like post tea dyeing. i wasn't sure what i was going to use to dye one of the balls red, until i spotted a cherry tree in a friends back yard! we'll see if i get there in time to get any cherries before all the birds do.

this is hailey, who i taught how to knit yesterday. hailey is a knitting rock star. her first project ever was on double-points! when i asked her what she wanted to knit she said wrist warmers, so i was planning on finding her a pattern that was knit on straights and then seamed together. however, hailey (who i kept on calling katie for some strange reason... sorry hailey) took to knitting like a fish in water, and i knew she could handle dpn's. hailey is one blessed girl, because her mother knits as well! hailey has an adolescence of good yarn to look forward to.

and last but certainly not least is jen, who is seen here knitting some sock which it turns out she made for me..... in my favorite color no less, red. i have to take her to the airport today...sigh. i am going to miss having her here.

yarn and brenda leigh johnson

2008-06-24T21:27:00.000-07:00

sadly, jen is feeling under the weather these past two days, so we have made ourselves prisoners in my home. during our imprisonment today we knit a ton and watched endless episodes of "the closer". we both have an affinity for brenda leigh johnson.

i finished the back of my vest which is now blocking. tomorrow i have to seam it up and put in the neck and armbands. photos will be taken this weekend once my husband is home and can model it for me.

in the meantime, i began a little project. you see i am a part of the christian knitters group on ravelry, and joined in on a dishcloth swap. i have to knit three dishcloths by early august and ship them to my secret partner. well on the questionnaire for the swap my partner mentioned that she would like the dishcloths i made to have a personal touch to them. i had no idea how in the world i was going to add a "personal touch" to knitted dishcloths. i dug through all my peaches and cream, and none of the colors i owned already were anything close to what she liked. she likes natural colors, i like bold brights. i did however have 4 balls of white. then it hit me: my personal touch will be three dishcloths dyed using plant material found outside when i go on walks. i am going to do one brown with tea, and one reddish, and one green.

here is me unwinding my ball of peaches and cream for the tea dyeing which i started tonight. i am going to let it sit overnight, and finish in the morning. also tomorrow i hope to go on a walk with jen if she is feeling up to it and get plant material for the other two skeins.

here is the yarn in the dye pot. i am eager to see the finished results.

another convert

2008-06-22T20:21:00.000-07:00

this is jessica, and she is a yarn addict. i taught jessica how to knit a few months ago and she made a felted bag for herself. then jessica's boyfriend (and my adopted brother) jimmy saw my noro striped scarf and wanted one for himself. well, since jimmy now has a girlfriend who knits, she's the one who gets to knit it for him. as you can see in the photo above, she is delighted. jessica says she thinks knitting will be a "phase". we'll see about that! waaahaha

f is for friend.....

2008-06-20T08:34:00.001-07:00

jen came for a visit on tuesday and is staying until the 29th. yesterday she came to my pilates class with me and then we went to knitter's kove for an afternoon of knitting. last night we walked with my friends tom and kim and their baby thomas for an ice cream. i have to admit i was a little nervous before jen came. i mean, we have been apart for a year now, and in that year we have both grown and changed. i wondered if we still would get along as well. but the moment jen stepped into baggage claim and i gave her a hug, and swallowed back a tear as i did so, i knew it would all be good.

so much knitting has been accomplished. i have finished the front of matthew's vest, and am a few inches into the back of it. the photo game has stopped for now, as i would rather be talking to jen than looking for pictures on my walks. today we are planning more knitting....saturday more knitting.....

p.s. you'll bawl your eyes out

2008-06-16T09:53:00.000-07:00

so i am staying at a good friends for a few weeks watching her house while she is out of town. last night i sat down to watch that documentary i mentioned yesterday and get some knitting done. i finished the documentary and then decided to watch a few chick flicks from my friends collection including "p.s. i love you" which i remembered her telling me she really liked. i was not at all prepared for the bawl-fest that ensued. yikes i did a lot of crying! but i also got a lot of knitting done.

leavings

2008-06-15T15:10:00.000-07:00

so this was my word for yesterday, and when i looked it up the definitions it gave me where remains, scraps and the like. so i went out and took this picture

and come home only to have matthew tell me later that "leavings" also can mean poop? seriously, has anyone else heard of this? i can see how it could be translated into that but that's not what it said in the dictionary.

i didn't get knitting done after all last night because of my latest addiction: sudoku. my mom taught me how to play when i was visiting last week, and i cannot seem to put those puzzles down. i do have another documentary to watch this afternoon, and i am so close to the decreases for the front of the vest that i really want to get it done.

evenhanded

2008-06-14T13:47:00.000-07:00

was the word for yesterday before I set out on my little walk. here are my pictures for evenhanded:

i have been thinking about if i should write what my thoughts were when i took the photos and how they relate to to the word to me, but i think it will be more fun if i don't and you make your own story up.

in knitting news, i haven't knit for days...... sigh...... i went this morning to meet my friend angie for our regular saturday morning knit-fest, but i left my knitting bag at home. tonight hopefully matthew and i will have time to watch some movies before going to bed and i can knit on the cable vest i am making him.

i did find out that colorado springs is having a stitch n pitch event here, and i am totally signing up!

new game

2008-06-13T13:54:00.000-07:00

so while i was home i invented a new game for myself in which i open up the dictionary, close my eyes and choose a word at random. I them go on a walk and try to take some pictures (or one depending on how many i can find) that represent that word to me. it's a fun little challenge that i am going to try and do regularly. when i was in college i was studying photography and was pretty good at it. i had quit doing it for some years, but am thinking a fun game like this will be a good way to play with it again. also i am trying to walk 10,000 steps a day and this will get me out of the house. the first time i played it at home my word that i got was lunatic fringe (can you imagine this out of all of the dictionary?) and here is the photo i took:

there's no place like home

2008-06-13T12:51:00.001-07:00

i arrived home late last night, and wanted to share about my trip. matthew and i left colorado

the night of the 31st and drove straight through to madison, wi. we made record time getting there in only 16 hours. while in madison i went on a lot of long walks with my mother in law, and i knit, drank vast amounts of coffee and watched several movies. if you have not seen "miss potter" yet and you like period movies, get it. we got to see grandma which was awesome, we went and visited her everyday we were there.

while i was in madison i made a few yarn scores. i went to lakeside fibers, which rocked my world. it is a huge yarn store, friendly staff, and a coffee shop inside, could a girl ask for more? i bought some regia sock yarn in the kaffe fassett design line:

i also visited the knitting tree, and found a ball of malabrigo silky merino in a fabulous color called amoroso:

i then ventured to minnesota (matt had to fly to albuquerque for business) to see my family and surprise my dad for his birthday. i got to see my nephews:

and go yarn shopping with my sisters. we went to several yarn stores in the twin cities including borealis yarn where i bought this hand dyed sock yarn from pagewood farm. it is made from merino and bamboo and the color way is camo:

then i hit the road yesterday morning and drove straight through to colorado back home, and i am glad to be here. while traveling and seeing family is good and all, there's no place like home.

new beginnings

2008-06-10T22:39:00.000-07:00

well, jen and i just had a talk on the phone and decided to take down our "faith and fiber" blog and start our own blogs. so, this is my new blog. sadly i am out of town right now and unable to upload pictures. as soon as i am home in a few days i will be able to share some new yarn buys and pictures. thanks for your patience while i put this new site together.