my purple passion

I've been working hard on my big Craftsy project, but I needed a little diversion! Enter some gorgeous purple yarn. This is sock yarn from Iridaceae Colorworks in Irisberry.

I can't say I've ever seen a more beautiful colorway. I worked out the modified stitch pattern at the boys' swim meet last weekend and wrote the charts up.

Then I added beads too. Bonus!

I am deeply in love with it.

All the way to the edging.

And for Teresa, I decided to add a stole version from some utterly incredible yarn I had in stash from Dark Starz. I'm working on both versions at the same time. They'll be an extra for this year's eBook: Home Is Where the Heart Is. (This yarn won't be available from Jimmy Beans, since these are little extras thrown in for fun.)

This is Cassiopeiae Lace in a luminous lavender color. I have four skeins.

I added beads to this one too, and it is utterly luscious to knit with. Angora, silk and merino. Wow. It is an amazing yarn. Beautiful halo, lovely stitch definition and light as a feather.

What do you think Teresa?

Sea silk and beads for you?

monday's musing

"Every failure is a step to success." -William Whewell

I love this quote deeply. Very deeply. :)

Have a great week!

missing in action

I know. MIA again! This past week (well...and before too!) I've been working hard on my upcoming Craftsy class. I'm trying to think of everything before I go to my taping because I want to answer as many possible questions as I can! What's cool about the Craftsy platform is that even if I don't get everything answered in my class, you all can still ask in the forums! I am super excited about this. :)

Also? In a word: Petunia. (Please forgive the not-so-great iPhone pics!)

How much can one blog with this cuteness distraction?! We picked her up Tuesday. It was a 9 hour job: 4 and a half hours there and 4 and a half back. We started immediately after the boys left for school, and got back in time to pick them up after practice at the swim center. Petunia set immediately to work in the car making me a chew toy. (Yes, she is that tiny!)

Then she was tuckered out, rested her chin on the side of the car seat, and fell asleep. She slid down into the basket in another 5 minutes.

We got back and set up her bed and cage so she would feel at home.

Otto had ignored her in the car. Here he is giving me a "how could you do this to me?" look.

As soon as we got home though, Otto started playing with her and fell under her spell. So did Bear.

The next day, I built little stairs up to the outside dog door. It's an automatic one going into the garage and I thought I could teach her to use it pretty well. That worked, but she can't push in the non-automatic one that comes into the house, so I took the remote control collar off. I didn't want her wandering the garage where she could get stuck. But then, she felt the need to keep Otto from using the door as well. She took up residence in the door frame and almost nothing would move her!

It was a long day, and she was a tired baby. It's funny; I've never had dogs before that like to be under blankets, but both Otto and Petunia love to sleep under things all snuggled up.

Two Miniature Schnauzers. Life is good.

monday's musing

I've watched this several times, and I find it incredibly inspiring! My worst day can't hold a candle to this "Bad Day at the Office."

Have a great week. :)

watery

Working working working on my watery shawl...

while I work on several other projects, including one for Craftsy (woot!).

Stand by!

leafy

It's progressing -

slowly, because I am not being a monogamous knitter these days.

It's so difficult going slow on a lace sweater, because I can't get a very good idea of how it will block out until it's finished, and I want to see! I know what I have in my mind's eye, and I did a swatch, but it's really not the same. I want to wear it.

I am still loving those raglan increases.

It's going to have longer fronts; I want it to drape beautifully.

I can't wait to finish!

monday's musing

Don't forget to take advantage of your Mother's Day treat! Until midnight PDT tonight (May 13), take 15% off my patterns on Ravelry with coupon code: yomama2013 at checkout.

And onward.... Today's musing was brought on by a recent discussion that reminded me of the time - long ago - when I wasn't hired for a job because I was, in the opinion of the company, "too nice." They hired someone who turned out to be "rude, brash, and uncultured," according to the head hunter who called me back in a few months (after I'd found different employment), and asked if I'd like to have the job. Heh heh.

And so I say to all those who think that nice equals pushover, dumb, and boring:

"To me, being nice doesn't mean having no opinions. It doesn't mean you can't disagree or stand up for yourself or something you believe in. It means being gracious, courteous and respectful of others: their feelings, opinions, and rights." - Romi

After all:

"You catch more flies with honey than vinegar." - unknown

And to those of you who wonder: the fact that I work to be as gracious and respectful as possible does not mean I'm a Stepford Wife. I just feel there's a time and place for everything. I choose my fights, and I choose how I fight. That's just me, and I respect others' different opinions of what they feel is appropriate for them. I'm a live and let live kinda gal. In fact, as long as you don't hurt anyone, it really doesn't matter to me how you run your life. I only hope you are content and happy. And that's a totally snark-free comment.

Have a great week!

celebrating mothers

...with 15% off my patterns! Until Monday the 13th at midnight PDT, take 15 % off with coupon code: yomama2013 at checkout.

Happy Mother's Day!

photo safari

My foot may not be functioning fully quite yet, but yesterday, I took my very first photo safari of the year. I had missed it so much.

It was a lovely morning, and flowers raised their bright faces.

It seemed as though the sun had shed bits of golden yellow across the ground.

Winter's brown was giving way to green,

and the smell of sage was pungent.

A single spear of purple caught my eye.

And then I began to notice more in the half shadows,

and in the morning sun.

As I bent down to take a closer look, tiny bits of white caught my eye.

I couldn't quite tell if they were flowers,

so I moved even closer with my favorite macro lens. 

Yes. Flowers.

And they covered the ground.

moving right along

Now available: Dusk into Twilight, demi size!

I love this size, actually.

Even though I like the bigger one too, there's just something so satisfying in going stash diving and then knitting it up. I've wanted to do something with my skeins of Koigu for a long time and I'm happy that three of them found a nice home. :)

The watery shawl is moving along nicely, too. I love the top stitch pattern. It looks like riffles in a stream to me.

I am particularly fond of the spine on this one.

I don't like to use the usual increase spine and it makes my obsessive little heart purr with joy when I figure out a cool way to increase. This one is a cable.

And I love the yummy Shalimar Breathless yarn! Mmmmmmmmm.

Randomness:
1. My dog likes eating apples.
2. I got my boot off a week last Monday and today was the first time I was able to walk across the room without pain. I almost cried with joy.
3. Still no kitteh, and we have given up looking and calling. When the rain stops, we'll post some pictures at the mailboxes. She's microchipped so we're hoping she might turn up. I don't want to think about coyotes.
4. The rain has been making the sage smell particularly pungent. It is incredible.
5. I've decided that I must go to knitting group tomorrow. I need diversion.
6. I am working on a secret project and I'll ask tomorrow when I can reveal it.
7. And now...back to my knitting and audio book. This is the life!

the impulse of a moment

It was a comment I saw in passing on my Ravelry forum: Dusk into Twilight isn't exactly a "small shawl." Yes, I thought. It's really not! I love using all of my yarn, so I had designed a large shawl. But really, there needed to be a smaller size. So, in early afternoon this past Sunday, I went stash diving in my bag of single skeins of Koigu PPPM, and chose three. (Strangely, two of them turned out to be the same colorway but different dye lots!)

I really questioned the wisdom of knitting this shawl with so much else to do. It reminded me of cleaning the house when I was supposed to be working on my Master's thesis: good idea, bad timing. But I couldn't stop myself; the colors in the Koigu were so beautiful! Monday morning I took a picture of Sunday's progress.

Monday night I bound off, and this morning I blocked.

This one measures 58 inches across with a drop of 21 inches.

I love the size! (Even though I also adore the larger one).

Each of my skeins was marked 175 yards, and I used almost all of my first two colors. I ran out of the third color on the bind off, but since my color 2 was so similar to color 3, I finished up with that one. I would say you'd be safe with 215 yards per color, but if you want to use Koigu like I did, you could omit a repeat of the chart (4 rows) and feel comfortable about having enough to bind off. I will update the pattern soon, but for those who want to start immediately, I used one Stripe Combination 1 and one Stripe Combination 2. :)

monday's musing

"I long to complete a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble." - Helen Keller

Need I say more? How perfect is this for a Monday? :)

smitten

Well. In answer to Denise's question: still no kitteh. We are coming to grips with the reality that she won't be back, and we miss her. She was a very very cool cat, even though she had an appetite for mohair. We are hoping that she found a good home, though it's most likely that she succumbed to roving coyotes. I just can't let myself think about it, to be honest.

We're not going to get another cat here, I think, as I don't have the heart to watch one pining at the window and not be able to let it out. And out is not an option here with the coyotes prowling.

But Otto the Dog now needs a playmate, so we contacted the Miniature Schnauzer breeder where he started out in life. She sent us several pictures, but one caught our eye and we were instantly smitten. Meet Petunia.

She was bottle fed like Otto and we are going to pick her up mid May. Everyone here is excited, and we are puppy proofing the house while we wait for the cuteness.

Speaking of smitten - in a different way - I am so loving the next shawl I'm working on for the current eBook subscription (Home is Where the Heart Is). It is coming together looking just the way I had it in my mind's eye.

This one has a water theme.

Above, you can see the spine. The increases are part of a cable down the middle, and they turned out exactly the way I envisioned them. I love it when a plan comes together!

This one is another two color shawl, though there are a couple of one color numbers to come soon.

This is a little greener than the real color, but the blue is a little bluer than real life.

It's somewhere in between. The yarn is delicious to work with, and Jimmy Bean's is getting some in for you! This is Shalimar Breathless. Mmmmmmmmm.

I'm also working on the infinity scarf.

This is the pattern pinned out, and also more true to real color!

I've been working a little on my fun sweater too, and in answer to Jocelyn's question: if people like it when I'm finished, I promise I'll write it up!

Back to knitting and listening to my audio book! In answer to Anne K, I've been listening to a fun fantasy series: The Chronicles of Elantra. Very imaginative and with a pretty good narrator. Though I must say: the (admittedly rare) mispronunciations drive me batty! Aside: this is classified as romance on some sites, and other than the fact that the publisher is a division of Harlequin, I can't understand why. I've never read a Harlequin romance before. Are they chaste? Because I'm trying to figure out how fighting dragons is romantic. Maybe I'm missing something?! Cheers!