Knitting Winter–Trivet Edition

I found a pattern in the Vogue Stitchionary (Lace) for a “Ferris Wheel” pattern, which is essentially an ornate hexagon made of yarn. The draw of this project is that it is doable in a day or less. I sat down and banged one out in a few hours. Lots of fun to make! I will be using them as trivets.

Ultimately I made two trivets. The one directly below is made from Noro Kochoran yarn.

The second one is made from Lamb’s Pride Bulky – color: Wine Splash.

You can see it in use here:

I didn’t copy the pattern from the book and it’s far too long to type out anyway. Get the stitchionary from the library, it’s that wonderful place that loans out books.

Knitting Winter– Cozy edition

Sometime during my many searches for new knitting patterns on the interwebs, I started to come across patterns for “cozies.” For to-go coffee cups these are basically knitted sleeves, but cozies also include iPod cozies, tea cozies, and so on. I have to say that it is a perfect little project for scrap yarn (the yarn left over after a scarf, sweater, or whatever is done but that you love and don’t want to throw away).

Using Noro Kureyon yarn I made a bowl cozy. In all honesty this started out as a coffee cup cozy but I made it too wide.

I had more success with Noro Kochoran yarn, which is sadly discontinued. But I had a bunch of scrap yarn of this kind because it’s so much fun to knit with that I couldn’t part with it. This is the result:

The Pattern

Materials: Worsted weight scrap yarn and size US 4 double-pointed needles (dpns)

CO 38 st over 3 dpns

Knit 6-8 rounds in 3-2 rib

reduce to 34 st by k2tog every other rib

Knit 6-8 more rounds in new rib pattern

Reduce to 30 st by k2tog remaining 3 st ribs (yields a 2-2 rib all the way around)

K to end

Knitting Winter–Part 2

As I mentioned last time, I am addicted to knitting. Knitters are shameless showoffs and always want to share their finished work. It’s such an accomplishment when a project is actually finished! So here is another scarf.

I had a ton of leftover Misti Alpaca yarn that I had purchased to make a blanket with a few years ago. The blanket didn’t work out and I had random little balls of yarn in various colors. This is what I used to make the scarf below!

The finished piece is a little short but it was measured before blocking - 5.5 inches wide by 49.5 inches long.

Materials: Misti Alpaca Chunky – various colors and US 9 knitting needles

Cast on 33 stitches

Used the “Mr. Ziggs” cable pattern from Vogue Stitchionary Volume 2: Cables

6-st RC = Sl 3 sts to cn and hohld in back, k3, k3 from cn

6-st LC = Sl 3 sts to cn and hold in front, k3, k3 from cn

6-st RPC = Sl 3 sts to cn and hold in back, k3, p3 from cn

6-st LPC = sl 3 sts to cn and hold in front, p3, k3 from cn

R1-4: Knit

R5: (WS) k6, p9, k9, p3, k6

R6: k6, 6-st LC, p6, 6-st LPC, k9

R7: k6, p6, k9, p6, k6

R8: k9, 6-st LC, p6, 6-st LPC, k6

R9: k6, p3, k9, p9, k6

R10: K12, 6-st LC, p6, k9

R11: k6, p3, k6, p12, k6

R12: k15, 6-st LPC, p3, k9

R13: k6, [p3, k3] twice, p9, k6

R14: k9, 6-st RC, p3, k3, 6-st RC, k6

R15: k6, p9, k3, p9, k6

R16: k6, 6-st RPC, k3, p3, 6-st RC, k9

R17: k6, p9, [k3, p3] twice, k6

R18: k9, p3, 6-st LPC, k15

R19: k6, p12, k6, p3, k6

R20: k9, p6, 6-st LPC, k12

R21: K6, p9, k9, p3, k6

repeat rows 6-21 until reaching the desired length

Knit last four rows

Knitting Winter–Part 1

I am addicted to knitting!! I can’t stop doing it or looking up patterns or posting patterns to Pinterest. Of course, I’m not doing anything serious – like a sweater or socks or mittens. I’m making scarves and leg warmers because I enjoy the patterns. In fact, I’m somewhat hooked on cables. 

So here is an example of a scarf I just finished – it’s a braided cabled.

It is a dense, substantial scarf. Probably would have been looser if I had used bigger needles. Here are the specs:

Finished piece is 4 inches wide and 55.5 inches long.

Materials: Lamb’s Pride Bulky yarn – Grassy Knoll and US 10.5 needles

C6F = sl 3 st onto cn, hold to front, k3, k3 from cn

C6B = sl 3 st onto cn, hold to back, k3, k3 from cn

Cast On 24 stitches

R1: (RS) Knit

R2: (WS) Purl

R3: C6F four times

R4: Purl

R5: Knit

R6: Purl

R7: K3, C6B three times, K3

R8: Purl

R9: Knit

R10: Purl

Repeat rows 3-10 until scarf has reached desired length

The rest of 2012

September

September 2012 was relatively tame and devoted mostly to making pasta. However, I did participate in the Dirty Girl Mud Run with Emily and several of her friends and neighbors. It was indeed muddy. In addition to making you belly crawl through several troughs of muddy water, there were also obstacles and walls to scale. It was seriously fun though. Here is team “what?”:

October

Other than our travels to North Carolina and Portland, which I’ve already covered, there were the following regular events:

Seeing Seth at the store

Watching the sunset on evening dog walks

Playing at the City Park playground on sunny mornings with Emily and Archer

And a tour of the Stranahan’s facility with Seth and Lisa

November

This is the month of my birthday and Thanksgiving but I have no photos from either.  Suffice it to say that both were joyous – seriously. Our Thanksgiving open house didn’t quite turn out the way we thought but we did end up with seven people for dinner.

I did do some knitting though. I knitted this hat for Seth:

There was more sunset watching.

One of my birthday gifts was Angel’s Envy bourbon! We already had a bottle of Stranahan’s and Bulleit. So we had a tasting! Although I do loooove the Stranahan’s, the Angel’s Envy is very good. It’s aged in port wine barrels and it has a delicate flavor for a bourbon.

We used the Thanksgiving left overs to make mini pot pies! Seth had the brilliant idea to make a rosemary dough for the mixture of turkey, carrots, potatoes, and mushroom gravy. The were delicious!!

December

So far December has been full of cookie making and holiday shopping. Otherwise, holiday parties and more knitting. In fact, I taught an eight-person class and it was quite a lot of fun.

Here is a sample of the cookies; these are cinnamon-ginger cookies:

This is a view of shopping at the Fancy Tiger handmade market:

Here is my finished neck warmer:

So that was 2012. That is all.

Summer 2012 recap

June

I actually already blogged about a lot of the things that happened in June. The only photos to share are of more gummy nonsense.

We staged a zombie scene where undead gummy bears partake of a gummy brain:

We put a gummy egg in the mouth of a carving:

I saw and documented, but did not share, the “zombie response vehicle” that was parked in Capitol Hill:

July

Similarly for July, I blogged about the interesting events of that month and even the gummy nonsense trailed off that month.

August

In August we took a road trip around Colorado, but I covered that during regularly scheduled programming. What I didn’t cover was my first bike race! I went to the Bannock Street Criterium. It was exciting in those few moments every seven or so minutes when the pack goes by, but otherwise…it’s a lot of sitting and waiting.

We hiked Fancy Pass, which has become something of an annual event for me but is always an amazing time – it’s so beautiful. Here’s me descending into the alpine tundra between Fancy Pass and Missouri Pass with Dempsey:

We attended a really stunning wedding at Mt. Princeton Hot Springs. That is a fantastic location to tie the knot. The weather was perfect and the feeling was good, probably the best wedding experience I’ve had.

At some point in the evening we found moustaches and Seth transformed himself from regular guy to…suave man!

If every August were so fulfilling the blah life would be in danger. 

Next – September 2012!

Spring 2012 remembered

Things actually happened in April 2012, but if I don’t blog about them it’s like they didn’t. 

April

Early in April I went on my 10th Match.com date for the month and met this guy and it changed my life. Seriously – this guy is awesome.

So, that happened.

Otherwise, Lisa and I took a Friday and went to Fort Collins for brewery tours. If you live in Colorado and haven’t done this yet, I highly recommend it. You just can’t go wrong with learning about how beer is brewed and getting to taste lots of beer! We hit the Budweiser brewery first, then New Belgium, then another place that I can’t remember…we sampled a lot of beer!

Archer (son of Emily and Josh) had his first birthday! Interestingly, I didn’t get any photos of him but his cake was super cute:

May

I ran both the Colfax Marathon Relay with the FasTracker Team and the Boulder Bolder.  Here is a photo of me on my leg of the relay:

This is Seth running the Boulder Bolder – there are no good photos of me running the event.

So many random things in May…Emily and Josh moved, Seth and I made homemade pizzas, we placed gummy creatures in various places, the WTS International Conference happened in Denver.  Here are some photos to sum it up:

the pedicab ride from the conference hotel to the opening reception:

Me and Celeste and some other folks at the opening reception:

Homemade pizza

gummy nonsense

Archer just before moving to the new house

Those are the major events for April and May I think. More wrap up on the way!!

More 2012 Unmentioned

Continuing from yesterdays post, I am covering some events about which I didn’t make time to post this year. Remember, this is the blah life so not everything covered here will be exciting for you.

March

Let’s see, in March I went to a Bike Denver event at the Denver Beer Company. At this event they were taking photos of Denverites with their bikes and with statements in a whiteboard bubble. Here’s my beer and then me with my bike:

I attended the LUPEC (Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails) prom. Basically we gathered at Bender’s after getting dressed up in prom dresses and drank. Here’s Jess, me, and Shannon at the event:

Oh, and spring arrived in March! Always a photo opportunity to catch the trees blossoming on my walk to work:

The big event for March was my trip to Moab with Jess! It got off to a bumpy start with her car breaking down, but we got lucky when we pulled into a AAA gas station that provided towing service! So it was just a slight detour. I don’t remember exactly the hikes we did but we hit both Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. The weather was amazing and we had a great time – we even met up with Hillary for an evening.

So, that was March. Up next…April!

Unmentioned 2012

Several events came and went this year and I didn’t make time to cover them here. But! I don’t want to leave them out entirely!

January

New Years Day Snowshoeing: Hillary organized a group of women (and Stephen) for a fun 1st day of 2012 snowshoeing. We slogged up Butler Gulch and back down in the chilly January 1st air, but it was super fun! Jess took this photo of Emily, me, Hillary, Shaina, and Stephen:

It was a beautiful day:

Stock Show Rodeo: Every January here in Denver the National Western Stock Show comes through town. It’s an event that last for a few weeks and includes a parade in downtown and a variety of events. I was invited to the rodeo one night! Of course, we visited the petting zoo prior. I think this photo was taken right as the little goat in my lap bit my thumb:

We also meandered through the area where the livestock are prepped for showing and sales:

Yes, sales – you can purchase all manner of livestock at the stock show. In fact, some places advertise with postcards and flyers on the walls:

Then there was the actual rodeo. Very entertaining. It is fascinating to see just how quickly a grown man can “hogtie” a baby cow…It was a patriotic affair – lots of flags:

We headed to the stock show bar after and observed some small amount of line dancing before Hillary sang “These Boots are Made for Walking” in a brave show of karaoke.

February

Not a lot happened in February…I went skiing with Lisa and her son Jack!

We got locked out of her car, but luckily the ski resort guest services guys were ready with tools:

In February, I also went thrift store shopping. Didn’t buy a lot but got some good merchandise shots. Yep, there are all kinds of animal glassware available at your local thrift store:

What else did I do…? There was the WTS Colorado annual awards gala:

There was a visit to the Butterfly Pavilion:

Ok, so that was January and February…I’ll let that soak in for a bit. Stay tuned for the rest of 2012!!