Too many secrets

(Does anyone else remember the movie Sneakers?)

Six secret knitting projects. Two unavoidable life projects.

Almost four knitting projects done. Life projects in motion.

I know. I promise more later.

Meanwhile, behold the gold.

I am definitely in a gold mood lately. I've been fondling these and am balling them up to knit on between the secret projects. Then at least I can show you progress, right? The golden merino/silk on the left is from Ripples Crafts and it's going to be a muse shawl. The golden mink/cashmere is from Great Northern Yarns and it will be a muse, as well, but one of the extra fun little non-shawl projects in the eBook. Dreams of petting/knitting with these beauties are making me smile.

S is for sleepless

7 Small Shawls: T - 112 days and counting down.

You may remember that I hurt my wrist this past weekend. Annoying, yes, and for several different reasons! One was that I needed to have a secret project in Canada by this Friday. And I lost a lot of knitting time. Heh. So on Wednesday night, I did something I haven't done in years. Many years; about 17, actually. I pulled an all-nighter.

I know. I'm too old for this. But I did survive. And, although I had a few setbacks (including falling on the stairs in my frenzy!), I did make it to Fedex on time. But once they got the package, it was a miracle that it actually got to its destination. Oy. UPS next time, I think. :P

It was a surreal day. The problem with no sleep is that it makes my brain very dull, indeed. My dear husband ran out to the local coffee shop and got me a triple latte. I could only drink half of it, though, because I'm a decaf kinda gal and I was shaking like crazy! But it did me some much needed brain cell rehabilitation. I didn't end up having lunch, and everyone was warned to steer clear of me. Because really, me without sleep is bad enough, but me without sleep and food is really too over the top.

Thankfully, I got my project finished and blocked (although I packed it a little damp!) and, thanks to my brand new and wonderful shipping scale:

I got an accurate weight and saved some money on shipping!

On the way back from Fedex, I dropped by and helped a friend with her knitting, and then I went back home to fix dinner for the boys when they got back from swim practice. So by the time I lay down to doze a little, it was already 8 and the boys were doing the dishes. Mr. Romi was out. When I went in the kitchen, this is what I found.

And the other side.

"We love you Mom. Get rested." Written on my caffeine delivery system. I was speechless. I have the greatest family EVER.

knit knit knit tink tink tink

That's about what I have been doing this weekend. Listening to A Rule Against Murder and working on a secret project, while thinking about shawl shapes. Multi-tasking is Good. :)

I am so loving listening to audiobooks! It turns out my local library has a ton of them and they are just the thing for deadline knitting. But I'm in need of more, so back I go tomorrow. I'm about halfway done with the project and the Maia mitts are nearing test knitting completion. Then there are shawls 3 and 4 for the ebook....

Off to bed with me - long day tomorrow! School (online) starts for the boys and they are super excited.

Peachy

7 Small Shawls: T - 174 days and counting down. (Yikes the time is moving fast!)

Thank you all so much for your kind thoughts and notes about my mother. I know a lot of you have had similar experiences, and I so appreciate your sharing them with me!

This weekend was pretty much a continuation of the past week. I covered my wound:

And lots of knitting on my secret project continued. It's almost finished. Thank heavens it is, because I'm sending out my pins & lace club packets this week (and I still have bunches of wholesale orders to catch up on). I have a guest designer for my club's summer shawl: the lovely and very talented Miriam Felton!

All this knitting time on a secret project, and the only thing I really want to be doing is my patterns for the eBook challenge. :sigh: It's hanging out there like a carrot on a stick. Dessert after liver and onions and Brussels sprouts.

Speaking of desserts....high on the list of the reasons I love living here: Dry Creek Peach and Produce.

zOMG, incredible peaches - all ripened on the tree and picked by hand. We went for the first time this year. It's only over the hill, less than three miles away, but somehow we hadn't gotten there yet. Well, today we made up for it with some white peaches (my favorite and the Bear's).

And some yellow peaches (Mr. Romi's and #1 Son's favorite).

We gorged ourselves. After all, peach season only comes once a year. :)

knit knit knit

7 Small Shawls: T - 192 days and counting down.

Today the reality of my secret project deadline hit me full force. And, I admit, I only knit four rows on my lovely shawl #3. I know I should have been doing my secret project more before this, but I so love my precioussssssssss beads and yarn. :sigh:

So today I have been knitting away on the secret, and not making much headway. On secrets such as these, I like to knit gigantic, family-sized swatches. Then I wash and block them and let them shrink or expand or do whatever they do when they sit around. It's one thing ending up with a product that doesn't fit when it's for your personal use and quite another when it needs to fit someone else's particular measurements exactly! I could always frog a project that doesn't fit me, or give it away. But that's not an option on this one.

So today, I'm afraid I have nothing exciting to show you. I hope you will forgive me, though, if I share my cupcake recipe with you. What do you think?

We always make this recipe for birthdays and special occasions around here because the Bear is allergic to dairy and egg whites, and this has neither. A bonus is that this is the absolute best chocolate cupcake recipe I've ever ever tasted. It is yummy, and it works great as a sheet cake, too! Just bake about 10-15 minutes longer.

The Bear's Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

makes 24

Pre-heat oven to 350 F

Sift together and set aside in one bowl:

2 cups sugar

2-2/3 cups flour

2/3 cups powdered unsweetened cocoa

2 tsp baking soda

scant tsp salt

set aside in another bowl or large measuring cup:

2 cups cold water

2/3 cups olive or other vegetable oil (not extra-virgin)

2 tsp vanilla

2 Tbsp white vinegar

To a large bowl, add a portion of the dry mixture and a portion of the liquids. Mix until smooth. Add dry ingredients and liquids alternately, stirring thoroughly after each addition and keeping batter on the stiff side throughout the process, until all ingredients are used. End by using the rest of the liquids, as the batter will end very thin and you want to avoid lumps.

Pour batter into cupcake pans lined with paper or foil wrappers. Bake at 350 F for approximately 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean. Remove from pan and let cool on rack. Frost with your favorite icing.

Enjoy! We do. :)

Olympic knitting FAIL

I'm currently freaking out a little trying to finish a secret project, so I will attempt to distract you with pretty pictures of a little crocheted scarf necklace I did for Inside Crochet last spring.

It's made from Habu's silk and stainless steel yarn, which is a ton of fun to work with!

Did it work?

No? Didn't think so.

The secret project I'm working on? It was supposed to be finished before I went off to Stitches West, so this week, I could start on the other secret project that is due one week after the first secret project. Heh. Secret Project #1 was my Olympic knitting project. It still isn't finished. Fail! Secret Project #2 isn't past the swatching stage. :whimper: I may be a little scarce in the next week or so. Oh, yeah. I almost forgot Secret Projects #3 and #4. Ulp.

Valentine's Day round-up

Happy V Day, everyone! Don't forget my sale. :)

I have sort of a thing for hearts. Which is kind of odd, since I've never been very girly in other ways. This heart is a painting from my days as an illustrator.

I haven't had time to paint for a long long time and I miss it. There's something about the paint and dirty hands that really appeals to me! :)

Yesterday, I got to spend time with my knit group (yay - no swim meet!), and almost everyone was knitting Brandywine. My group has been so amazing and supportive; between them, they bought over 20 patterns! Here are a few of us.

It's difficult to see, but there are several Brandywines on the table in different stages of completion. Overall, I've sold almost 500 patterns, and sent off $2,000 to Doctors Without Borders. When I hit 500 sales, another $500 will go to them! Brandywine is currently number 8 in the new and popular patterns on Ravelry.



Thank you all so much for your help. Knitters are the best!

I knit almost all day yesterday, which is unusual for me since I get really fidgety sitting still. This year, I'm participating in the Knitting Olympics, but I'm not really sure why I signed up since my Olympic project is a secret. Duh! That will make for some scintillating blog posts, no? But I absolutely have to get this project finished by the time I head off for Stitches West, and I'm hoping this will give me the needed push. The challenge will be getting all the shawl pins for Stitches made and the knitting finished in time. I'm kinda freaking out about it, actually. I'm taking lots of deep breaths. And still freaking. Off to knit some more!

Classic

One of my secret projects is seeing the light of day! I love that I can finally share this with you; it was difficult to keep it under wraps. In the past few months, I've been lucky enough to work with Classic Elite Yarns and designer Tonia Barry on a new holiday shawl kit!

I designed a twist pin to go with Tonia's lovely asymmetrical wrap, Giselle.

The kits are now up on the Classic Elite site, and will be coming to a store near you soon! I had a great time, and enjoyed working with the folks at CEY immensely!