Oh, how I love old churches!

Ok, so this post will have nothing at all to do with knitting, except that I had a photography adventure with a dear friend of mine who is also a knitter ... if that counts for anything :)
Anyway, my friend wanted to arrange a practice bridal shoot so that both her and her sister are ready for an upcoming wedding. Since it was my idea for them to use the Fort Sherman Chapel, located near North Idaho College in Coeur d'Alene, ID, I decided I'd tag-along for the shoot - get some glorious shots of this lovely old church (oldest church in Coeur d'Alene) and practice my people photography skills. Hope you enjoy the shots!!
Models:
Monica Sumner and Ashley Krickl

Find out more info on the Ft Sherman Chapel here

     

Knitting & ____ go together like 2 peas in a pod :)

Delving into the world of knitting, one begins to find that there are things about knitting and knitters that just go together. Some things are merely obvious, but others, well they might just seem plain odd. And then others might just apply to me :)

* Knitting & Black Tea and Dark Chocolate
This one is a big for me! There is nothing better than enjoying a quiet evening with my knitting in my lap, a big cup of black tea and some dark chocolate I can savor just one bite at a time :)

* Knitting & Coffee Dates with Mom
This is our bonding time! On any given Saturday, you will find the two of us at a local Coeur d'Alene coffee shop knittin' it up. If one of us forgets our knitting, well, we go back and get it. It is too easy to let an afternoon just slip by when you get lost in good conversation paired with good knitting :)

* Knitting & Photography
What can I say, I like to take pretty pictures of my knitting! It's part of the reason I got a fancy DSLR camera. I have some amazing photog friends that are teaching me all I know about this crazy hobby called photography and I am thoroughly enjoying taking macro shots of my stitches!
* Knitting & Good Food and Wine
When you get a group of knitters together, there had better be some darn good food and wine to accommodate, or it will not be pretty! Knitters are more likely to enjoy more natural and organic food selections, still with high sugar and fat content so that it's not considered "too healthy".
* Knitting & Good Music
Whether it's live or coming from my iPod, I just love being immersed in beautiful melodies and harmonies while knitting - it's therapeutic ... I also love to play music and sing if that has anything to do with it :)
* Knitting & Obsession to touch fabric
I'm hoping that this one is fairly obvious
* Knitting & Intellectual thought
I don't know about anybody else, but I just feel smarter when I'm knitting.

* Knitting & Little Dogs
Yes, I have a little papillon. And I love her. And I love when she crawls into my lap while I'm knitting ... it's so cozy. As long as she doesn't decide to get tangled up in the yarn! That can be a nightmare :/
* Knitting & Kitties
Ok, this one I don't quite get ... a lot of knitters happen to be cat ladies (or is it that cat ladies just happen to knit). Well, I don't fall into this category. I have nothing against cats ... I just don't have one, and really no desire to get one either :)
* Knitting & Perfectionism
If you are a knitter and a perfectionist... you are in big trouble ... you are also not alone. Perfectionism can be measured as the quotient of how many rows you are willing to rip out over the number of mistakes you need to fix factored by the inverse of the needle size and lumpiness of the yarn. Skilled knitters have the foresight to know if these mistakes will matter in the finished product :)
* Knitting & General Craftiness
Yes, knitters are crafty. We can't help it ... we scrapbook, we quilt, we bead, we throw pottery, we make cute notecards ... we just love to create :)
* Knitting & Blogging
Just an observation ... there just seems to be a lot of knitting blogs out there. We have a lot to say about our craft :)

I did it! I bought pretty yarn :)

ok, I caved. I bought more yarn. It's very pretty yarn :) Yes, I'm going to start knitting with it right away and no, I do not have a pattern
I bought 2 25g balls of Schulana Mosco in kiwi and I plan to knit a little keepsake sachet bag for an adorable bride-to-be who I work with. I'm planning to start with the magic cast-on method for the bottom and maybe a little lace pattern for up the side of it.





Other than that, I decided to take some quick snapshots of my works in progress:

This is my Fit to be Tied cowl from Cowl Girls: The Neck's Big Thing to Knit. I am knitting it with temptation by Alpaca with a Twist - 80% alpaca, 20% silk. I love the luxurious feel of this yarn and can't wait till I finish this pattern! Unfortunately, I'm not too thrilled about this stitch, it's called the beaded rib and is just a little awkward to knit. I shall get it done one of these days!

This is my Scrunchable Scarf. I am using leftover malibrigo yarn that my friend pawned off on me ... :) ... the stitch is actually very similar to the beaded rib, but I like it more. It's not quite as awkward. So, it will be interesting to see which one gets done first!

It's Thursday & I have a few things to say..

* It's almost Friday .. Payday Friday (yarn shopping perhaps?? but I already have lots of pretty yarn ... *sigh*)
* It's almost the weekend which means spending knitting time with my dearest mommy ... Who has lots more pretty yarn than I do ... *sigh*
* I actually do have to go to the yarn store tonight ... For legit reasons ... I'm 150% sure I don't have enough yarn for a certain project that is taking forever to finish ... Praying that they have the same dye lot!! and I resist the urge to buy more pretty yarn ... *sigh*
* Tonight I will be shelling out half the cash needed to go on a Spring fling adventure to White Fish, MT with a local knitting group where we will buy pretty yarn ... *sigh*
* I am equally torn between starting my Imagination cowl (which is on my list) and using some lusciously yellow malibrigo that has been in my yarn bag since my friend just GAVE it to me .. Uh a few weeks ago .. to knit a hat ... it's really pretty yarn
* I'm wondering .. Do people out there buy yarn/knit to match their clothes? Or do they buy clothes to match their knitting? Just curious..

Staghorn Cable Neck Wrap

ok, as this is the first time ever formally writing a pattern, I apologize in advance for any mistakes! Please let me know if any of this is unclear and I will definitely try to revise!! Feedback is much appreciated :) :)






I used 1 skein of Cascade Pastaza in White with size 10 needles, I encourage you to use whatever yarn and needle size suits your fancy - I just wanted this to knit up quick so I used relatively large needles! It's been great to add a little warmth to my early Spring wardrobe!!
















CO 40 stitches - leave a long tail
Ribbing:
k2, *k4, p4* rpt to last 6, k6
k2, *p4, k4* rpt to last 6, p4, k2
Repeat these 2 rows until you have about an inch of 4x4 ribbing

Staghorn Cable (from Interweave Press Cables & Arans):
The actual cable stitch is centered and involves 16 stitches:
Foundation row (WS): purl
R1 (RS): k4, C4B, C4F, k4
R2, R4, R6: purl
R3: k2, C4B, k4, C4F, k2
R5: C4B, k8, C4F
Repeat rows 1-6 and on either side of the cable panel work 10 moss stitch and 2 reverse stockinette stitch until wrap reaches desired length

Repeat 1 inch of 4x4 ribbing as before
With a crochet hook, weave the long tail from beginning in a couple stiches and chain a button loop. Weave in ends and block. Sew button on opposite end from button loop.

 

 and Voila!












Abbreviations:
C4B = right leaning 4 stitch cable. slip two stitches onto cable needle, hold in back, knit 2, knit 2 off cable needle
C4F = left leaning 4 stitch cable. slip two stitches onto cable needle, hold in front, knit 2, knit 2 off cable needle 

My epically cabled neck wrap ... just needs finishing touches!

So I stayed up kinda late last night getting the knitting finished on this cute little neck wrap I've been working on using white Cascade Pastaza (note to self: the minute you start knitting with white pastaza, you WILL be covered in white fuzz.. ) Consequently, I'm at my day job right now and not feeling so great! I woke up late this morning, bad hair day and apparently I look pale (was hoping the the tanning sessions I paid beaucoup bucks for would take care of that, lol). Anyway, I am looking forward to getting home this afternoon so i can sew some buttons on it, take some pics, and figure out how to write a pattern for it!! (it'll be my first pattern writeup).