Almost Fall

I can't believe it's been almost 6 months since I posted on the blog. A lot has happened since then. Back in June I got a spinning wheel. She's a beauty. An Ashford Traveller Double Drive.

Since I got her I took some spinning lessons and have managed to spin several yarns that I'm reasonably happy with. Here are a couple.

The first one is from fiber I spun during Tour de Fleece, an event where I spun yarn every day that the cyclists competed in Tour de France. It's Koi Pond, a fiber from All Spun Up. The 2nd picture is a work in progress. It's from Bee Mice Elf and is a silk/merino blend and spins so fine. The 3rd picture is of Goldfish Wearing a Tutu - also a yarn I spun during TdF and also by All Spun Up. The colors in these are so much prettier in real life.

When I first named this blog, I guess in the back of my mind I knew I wanted to spin yarn. At the time, I was thinking of telling stories - spinning yarns - since I write novels.

Now I'm so happy that two of my most favorite things can be described by this blog - writing and spinning - spinning tales and fibers. It all works out. Guess my creative mind was at work all along - and way ahead of me.

I'm also back to writing, actually editing. I'm editing a mystery I wrote. I still laugh in all of the right places and am happy with what I've written. So that's good.

The summer has been a great time for reading too. It was so hot here this summer - like it was in many places in the US. I love a good mystery. I also love to have some light moments in the mystery. Recently I discovered Dorothy Howell. Loved her mystery series. Also have read Kate Carlisle. She has a wonderful bookbinder as her main character. I remain a huge fan of Patricia Sprinkle. I'm sad that her geneaology mystery series didn't continue, but I hope she'll be back to writing mysteries soon.

And of course, Lisa Scottoline and Tess Gerritsen remain favorites along with David Baldacci and John Grisham. (Just in case you think I only read female writers.)

I've finished several knitting projects. And we made a trip to St. Louis for The Loopy Ewe's Spring Fling. A 3 day event with national teachers. I got to take classes with two of my favorite people - Anne Hanson of Knitspot and Gryphon Perkins of The Sanguine Gryphon.

Here are the gift bag goodies I got when I checked into the Fling. Name tag holder, Little Loopy (the stores mascot), a Loopy mug, Loopy post-its and a beautiful skein of Wollmeise yarn dyed by Claudia just for the Fling participants. Sadly due to that erupting volcano, Claudia could not make the trip from Germany to St. Louis.

Here's a picture of the vivacious Anne Hanson during one of her classes. Anne is on the right and looking lovely in her green Sprossling. The other lady was in the class and was showing everybody her Ondule sweater that she knit and is proudly wearing. Knitspot patterns are my absolute favorite. Well-written and well thought out. Anne is a genius. And so nice. I felt like I'd known both her and Gryphon for years and years.

And here's a picture of Gryphon from The Sanguine Gryphon. I took a colorwork class from Gryphon that stretched my mind so much. She can see things and concepts that my poor mind struggles to grasp. I love Gryphon's yarns. She's just a sweet in person as she is online.

My darling husband Jorgie and I braved our claustrophobia (me) and fear of heights (him) and went up in the St. Louis Arch. The views of the city were magnificient. I'm so glad we finally got to do this although the little closed in pods we rode to the top in left a lot to be desired. But it was worth it.

I'll try to be more regular in posting. Still lots to catch up on.

Kat

On the Needles and In the Works

What's on my knitting needles right now? Several projects. I've decided that I definitely have to have multiple projects going to suit my knitting mood.

One of the projects is Anne Hanson's Longjohn Socks. Here's my first sock.

On the foot and sitting pretty. The yarn is Fiesta Baby Boomerang from The Loopy Ewe's Valentine 2010 package

I wasn't sure that I was going to love the yarn since I'm usually more of a fan of solid colors. But there's something about this yarn and this pattern that speaks to me. In fact, it's inspired me to buy more striped yarns.

Currently some of my favorite yarns are Vesper from Knitterly Things and Gothsocks.

Also on the needles is Anne Hanson's Sprossling. I've done the two fronts and the back, and am now working on the 2 sleeves - two at a time.

Here are the 2 fronts. I'm loving this pattern. Anne always does such a great job with making working from a pattern easy and pain-free.

And if that wasn't enough to do, I also am knitting a Shawl That Jazz with some really pretty Numma Numma yarn that I got from Allen some time back just for a special project.

Hard to tell from this photo how it's going to look, but trust me, it's going to be gorgeous.

I also have a Seraphim shawl in the works, but I'm not sure I have a photo of my progress. It's a fun shawl to knit. I love having easy to complicated projects to work on depending on my mood and brainpower.

I'm also trying to photograph all of my yarns. This is going to take a while. I've photographed about 6 bags full of yarns and haven't even made a dent in the 10 large plastic tubs that I have. I look at it as an adventure. I'm sure I'll find yarns that I didn't even remember that I had.

And I just put together a swap package for my Loopy Ewe Spring Fling swap partner, Shannon (Minerva Turkey on Ravelry). I had the best time gathering goodies for her. I sure hope that she loves them all.

Next post I'll tell you what I've been doing with my writing.

Happy knitting.

Kat

Projects

It's been too long since I posted. At Christmas I had the pleasure of giving my dear daughter a Girasole, a round, lacy shawl by Jared Flood. I'd given my son a hand-knit sweater from a Jared Flood pattern.

Here's BJ's Girasole done in Dream in Classy Butter Peeps. I think her expression shows just how much she loved it.

It makes me feel good to have knit this project for her. Here are a few more pictures of BJ with her shawl.

We had a great tme doing photos. And she was very kind to let me decorate her hair with a Christmas bow.

Christmas Giving and Knitting

Christmas 2009. All the yarn projects got finished on time and I hope the recipients liked them and will enjoy them. I had a blast making things for people this year.


First was my son Michael. I'd wrestled with the yoke on his seamless Cobblestone sweater (designed by Jared Flood.) The short rows and wraps and turns were challenging. These were used to shape the shoulders and neck and gave me quite a fit. Eventually, I did figure it out (very similar to short row heels on socks), but not without a struggle. And Michael witnessed my many attempts to make it work.

While he was away for a few days, I put the knitting needles to work and was able to finish it just minutes before he came home. Wanting to surprise him, I told him that I'd become so frustrated that I'd ripped the whole thing out. And Jorgie went along with it. So Michael believed that it was gone for good.



Imagine his surprise on Christmas when he pulled out his Cobblestone sweater as part of the last gift he opened. His smile says it all.




Here's a picture of just the sweater. The wool is Miss Babs worsted and the color is Hemlock. Michael loves muted colors, especially colors of the forest.



I also made a Mara shawl and a pair of Anne Hanson's Leafprint mitts for my daughter-in-law Eileen who shares a love of handmade objects.


Here's a picture of the mitts and shawl blocking.



The last big project was another Jared Flood design. A Girasole shawl/blanket for my daughter BJ. I made it in Dream in Color Classy Butter Peeps. Here's Ben not looking too happy about the 6' shawl blocking and taking up his space in the living room.




I'm already searching through my patterns for some gifts for 2010. But first I'm going to knit some things for ME. And throw in a few charity projects, too.

Happy Spring

LACE! LACE! and MORE LACE!

It's lace, lace, lace here these days. My sock addiction hasn't gone away, but boy, am I attracted to knitting lace shawls and scarves these days.

I joined two lace groups, Embrace the Lace and Year of Lace.

The picture above is from the Embrace the Lace group and is two gorgeous skeins of Malabrigo lace yarn in a special colorway dyed just for the group.

The finished project is supposed to look like this for the front and the back.

I'm in the midst of casting on and it's going slow. Not because of the pattern, but because I have so many other projects on the needles.

The Year of the Lace project is a bit bigger project.

It's a beautiful woodland shawl and will be done in Lorna's Laces in a pretty green with brown tones.

I only got this project yesterday and am still in the fondling the lace stage of the project. Need to wind the yarn and locate my lace needles in the size for this project. I don't think this is going to be one of my "mindless" projects where I watch television and knit. I think I'm going to have to concentrate on the charts.

As a long time devotee of Anne Hanson patterns, I've finally found the courage to knit some of them. Currently I'm working on her Japanese feather stole. Check out her website for her gorgeous patterns at http://knitspot.com/. She's a superb designer and the pictures of her patterns take your breath away.

I hope you're finding time to indulge your creative gene. If not, think about what you'd like to create - painting, sculpting, knitting, quilting, or whatever. And then go for it.

Happy Easter. Happy Spring.

Kat's Greenjeans

Works in Progress: It's autumn. Cooler weather is here. And I'm busy knitting. Knitting and buying yarn and dreaming of projects to do.

Here are a couple of pictures of one of my latest projects. It's Mr. Greenjeans in Dream In Color - Classy in Jungle Cloud. The picture does not do the colors justice. The subtle changes are striking and beautiful. Knit in one piece, love that, I'm working top to bottom and then will go back and do the sleeves and the bands.

Here's a close-up of the cabling. I love to do cables. This has been a really fun project so far. Love, love, love it.

I'll post pictures here when I finish it.

Fountain Bookstore Signing - October 17, 2008

Last Friday was a cold, wet, windy day here in Richmond, VA. It was also the day of my booksigning in historic downtown Richmond at The Fountain Bookstore.
Here I am with owner Kelly Justice. That's Kelly on the left looking gorgeous as usual. Don't you just love her long hair? Not only is she beautiful, but she's also super friendly and very knowledgeable about books. She is so kind to both authors and readers alike. Make a point to stop in her bookstore. You won't be disappointed.

As I walked up to the store battling the elements and trying to keep my umbrella from blowing away, I was so pleased to see a huge red banner with white lettering strung over the shop indicating an author event was being held there that day. Wow! As I got closer, I noticed a copy of my book, A CUP OF COMFORT FOR CAT LOVERS prominently displayed in the store window.

Kelly and I ran into each other outside the entrance. I was early and she'd popped out to grab a bite to eat. She instantly made me feel right at home and had a table set up for me with my books. I unloaded all of my personal items, a picture of my husband Jorgie holding our not so lovable cat Ben, a blue and white candy dish filled with Hershey kisses, promotional materials and of course, my favorite pen for signing. Photographer and fellow author, Carolyn Greene, aka The Plot Doctor, snapped shots of the event for me. She's such a good friend.

Dear friend Jackie Elston stopped by for the event. Jackie had surprised me for my birthday this year with a framed copy of my book cover. Jackie has star quality and even on a drab and dreary day, she manages to look fantastic.

Traffic was steady throughout the signing. I met many wonderful people and was happy to sign books for them. I love hearing stories about cats and the customers were only to happy to share personal bits of information about their favorite felines. I told them a little about Ben (cat) and Jorgie (my husband) since my story in the anthology is about the two of them. Here I am looking very pleased at the end of the signing.

Again, a HUGE thank you to Kelly and the whole staff at Fountain Bookstore for giving me this opportunity. It was a memorable day.