Finally!

  

 Finally a post!  Finally a Finished Item!!!

This is the alpaca Orchid Thief I made for Dena's and my last knit along.  I finished it in time for the Ravelry Knit Along where the designer was giving out prizes but she hasn't given them yet.  

I think it turned out quite nice, even with the variegated yarn - at least if you don't look too closely at it.

I was a little concerned about the yarn when I was knitting it and even more when I was blocking it . . .

But in the end, it is a lovely shawl and the alpaca is so soft and nice.

Thanks Mom, for the yarn!

I bought these beads for something, not sure what, but they look so nice with this yarn.

Had to move all the plants to the greenhouse this weekend.  It hasn't frozen (or even frosted) here yet, but if we go off next weekend without having moved the plants, it surely will.  Of course, now that they are moved, it will be warm and sunny!

And a recent Zuzu shot.  She takes up most of a lap now - she's grown so much!  I trimmed the hair above her eyes so you can just about see them (not quite).

Teresa

Halloween has gone to the dogs!

Got the costumes the day before for just a couple bucks each.  If they had been full price I wouldn't have bothered.  Casey didn't mind her pirate costume and Zuzu loved chasing and chewing the lion's tail.  

Teresa

Orchid Thief

When we decided to do the KAL for Orchid Thief, I had to choose a yarn.  I had been saving this yarn for something very special because it was so beautiful and sparkly and soft.  So very very squishably soft.

So I started the Orchid Thief Shawl.
I don't know if I like the way the colors are turning out.  Or if it is too many colors to let the pattern show.
So I kept knitting.

I am on the last repeat of the third section then I have one repeat of the outer flowers.  I am NOT ripping it out.  The colors are sort of growing on me again.  And it is soft and squishy.

I think I am just an earth tones kind of person at heart.


Dena

Happenings

It has been sooooo long since I posted here.  Avoidance, I am afraid.  I haven't had much to show lately.  Partly because I have been busy doing non-knitting things and partly because much of what I am knitting now I cannot share yet (another test knit).  Also because I really wanted to show my part of the doodad dare but I cannot and now I'm almost a month late with it.  I can't show it because I came up with what I thought was a great idea for tatting on the doodad and started it but messed up.  So, I set it aside to cut the tatting off and start over - still think the idea will work, but need to be more careful as I tat - and now I cannot find it anywhere.  It's not lost, just misplaced.  It will turn up and I will do my doodad dare.

 So, in addition to the test knitting I am working on, I am knitting the Orchid Thief Shawl by Ysolda Teague.  I love her patterns and this one is no exception.  It was originally published in a book called Brave New Knits, but there were errors in that pattern and nothing else in the book I wanted so I never got it.  When Ysolda recently released the pattern by itself I jumped on it and then found out she was having a Knit a Long with prizes so I started it right away.  This lovely yarn is some alpaca that Mom bought me to make myself a shawl with and this the perfect one!  I need to finish it by November 15th and I will make it cuz I'm almost finished with the test knit shawl (which I LOVE).

This is a shawl called Bigger on the Inside that I am knitting for Mom.  It's going to have the lacy portion on the top and a row of Tardis's on the bottom.  If you don't know what a Tardis is, look up Doctor Who.  Mom loves Doctor Who and so do we - the girls and I.  I knit this one already for Girl Far From Home and she loves it - sometimes ties it around her waist like an overskirt which looks terrific.  The pattern is free on Knitty.com.

Both of these shawls are actually further along than the pics show - I took these a while ago in the hopes that I would get a post done.

Zuzu is growing like a weed.  She's 5 and a half pounds now and in a few weeks will be old enough to be spayed.  She's got quite the personality, this one!  But she's cute and sweet and that makes up for a lot.

I have to tell a funny story about the little devil and her big sister, Casey.  I was knitting on the test knit shawl and it involves dividing several balls of yarn into two equal parts.  I had divided the first hank of yarn into two smallish balls and was working on winding the second into a ball when I got interrupted.  I came back much later to find the hank I was winding moved and disturbed and the two smallish balls missing.  Zuzu had taken them - she shows far too much interest in balls of yarn and my knitting in general, she has already chewed up one cable on my interchangeable knitting needles but thankfully didn't chew the needle itself.  Anyway, back to the missing balls of yarn.  I looked and looked for them and finally looked at Casey (bigger dog) and said "Casey, I will give you a reward if you can find my missing balls of yarn."  To my amazement, without missing a beat, she walked right over to the first ball and nosed it in my direction.  She didn't know where the second ball was, but I eventually found it unwound all over the floor of the dressing room.

Teresa

Finally

Thank you Teresa for my Birthday Present


Dena

Ready for the Zombie Apocalypse?

My husband is.  At the very least, we will be well caffeinated when we get eaten.

Yes, that really is 17 bags of coffee and we didn't dig very hard to find those, so there might be more.

Teresa

So Foxy!

This is the Stone Cold Fox by Katie Boyette.  It is a free pattern and a quick and easy project.  I made it for Girl Far From Home because the first week of October involves a lot of grade level fun where she is and her class are the Foxy Foxes!  Now she will have a fox stole to wear to the festivities!

Teresa

Jacqui

My Jacqui vest has been finished and blocked for a while but I have no photographer to take pics of it on me, so you get a hanger.  I blocked it longer than it originally was because I thought longer would be more flattering.  I'm suprised at just how much play there was in this yarn - it's still thick and smushy and the vest is a good bit longer than when I knit it!  

Gratuitous sleeping Zuzu shot . . . because I can.

Teresa

Mom's Nails

Mom loves getting a manicure every week.  And Trev loves doing Mom's nails every week.  They create.

They will pick a theme and then the nails are created, by hand, by an artist.

I still remember the first time Mom sat down in Trev's chair.  Panic.  Trev was so new to manicures and the ones that she did were very very plain and simple.  But not any more.

Meet Trev who makes Mom coffee to start off each session.

Then it is off and running with whatever the current theme is.  This time it was the Chinese characters for Good Fortune, Friend, Wealth, Health, and so on.  A different symbol for each nail.

 It usually takes two weeks to get the nails finished because of the detail that goes into the design.

 For the Chinese characters, the first week was the red background and the characters drawn in black.  The second week was to outline each character in gold.

 And then it is usually time to move on to something different.  These two did Doctor Who with a different character or item on each nail.  Who is Doctor Who?  Well, Trev didn't know either but they turned out great.

They use pictures (for Doctor Who and the Chinese symbols  but currently they are doing Halloween.  Cats and bats and haunted houses, ghosts and candy corn.  And enough things for each nail to have a unique item.  Christmas is the same, something different on each nail - stocking, tree, wreath and so on.
And several times a year mom has Trev put a photograph on each nail.  Of mom and dad, each child and grandchild.  Sorry not enough nails for great grandchildren.

Dena

huarizo named ????

Last year after Dai was born (October 15) I saw Polo doing it with Mama Llama Tanna.  Using the gestation calenders that put the baby due between October 5 and November 6.  The earliest date was September 27.  My digital camera is broke and is taped together.  You have to hold it just so, squeeze here and there, to take pictures.  So I ordered a new camera this morning.

I took pictures of Tanna yesterday cause she was looking more round than just getting chubby for winter.  Teresa agreed that it might be more round than chubby.  But the earliest due date was next week.

This morning we did Bountiful Baskets and when we pulled into the drive something was not right.  I told dh that a baby was nursing on Tanna.  He said it was just Augusta who tries to nurse on all the Aunties.  No, this one isn't quite the same color but I don't see Augusta any where else so maybe.

So, Maddie, what is your new llama boy's name going to be.

Alpacas and llamas can successfully cross-breed. If it is a llama mama and an alpaca papa the resulting offspring are called huarizo, which are valued for their unique fleece and gentle dispositions.  The most common hybrid between South American camelids, huarizo tend to be much smaller than llamas, but their fiber is longer.  Pronounced hua·ri·zo. noun \wäˈrē(ˌ)zō  And what will he look like?  More llama or more alpaca?  If the huarizo grows up to more llama-like than alpaca-like, he’ll be a warilla.Or if he is more alpaca-like then he is called a t’aqa.  And yes he is fertile.  And yes Polo is in the front pasture so he can't get Angelique (Augusta's mom) or Tanna pregnant again.  We possibly have a baby due for Christmas (one of Teresa's girls) but I would prefer spring or summer babies.

And now for cuteness.

 A farm in France had a brown alpaca (almost the same color as dad Polo) jump the fence and spend time with her female llamas.  Several cute huarizos resulted.

More cutenes - Mom and Augusta

 My Mom and Augusta

 Augusta's Mom (Angelique) and Augusta
Augusta and LLarry

Dena