Card Buffet

I've been very busy lately making up new card kits for my next Card Buffet on August 12th. My goal is to have 24 kits to choose from.  I love making cards and this has been a great excuse to do just that!  Now that I'm close to my goal, I can get back to some other crafty projects.  

My niece wants to make a mini book based on a tv show she likes.  I helped her make one a couple of years ago based on the mermaid show H2O. Maybe we can squeeze in a crafting session before she goes back to school!

Even More Memories

August is a great month to try out or expand your PML scrapbooking.  Get a special price on certain memory protector packs when you purchase any Picture My Life kit while supplies last.  Take advantage of this deal by 8/10 and you can put your album together at my PML workshop on 8/23!

Not only will you get tips on card/photo placement, but you'll also make 2 greeting cards and put together a mini album.  This workshop is only $5 this month if you pre-purchase your kit by 8/10.

Annual Inspirations Open House

I can't wait for Friday night!  I'm hosting an open house to debut the new Close To My Heart Annual Inspirations catalog.  Drop by if you get a chance.  The event will be between 5pm and 9pm.  You'll get to make a quick project using a new paper pack, and snack on light refreshments while checking out some new products! 

Picture My Life

I can't wait for my Close To My Heart Picture My Life workshop!  This kit will help you put an album together in no time, and you'll have plenty of material left for more creativity!

Let me know if you would like to join me on July 17th at 6pm to create a Picture My Life album and a few other coordinating projects.  The cost is $35 and includes one Picture My Life set, a journaling pen, and all supplies to complete the bonus projects.  I recommend adding a My Legacy Album to your workshop so you can take home a complete showcase of your memories!

The Honeymoon is Over! (A lost and found post*)

I had been looking forward to Stitches West for an entire year. Then after months of waiting, February arrived and I purchased my Market ticket and my train ticket. I just couldn't wait until the 27th.

I prepared by writing down the yarn requirements for several patterns I wanted to knit and deciding what knitting I would take for the trip. I planned what I would wear and what I would put in my backpack.

Finally the day arrived. I got up early, made Safeway open the deli so I could get a sandwich to take. I ordered my favorite: turkey and havarti on sliced bread with avocado spread on the bread and sprouts. Problem. Safeway deli doesn't have sprouts. So I went to the produce section and bought a pack of sprouts and an apple and picked up a water bottle at the check out stand. I was ready to go to the train station. There was some issue with the tracks and we had to switch to a bus for part of the trip, but I didn't care, I was on my way!

My day at the market, was awesome! I bought some yarn, bought some tools, bought some patterns! Hooray! I came home and finished a couple of projects so I could start in on my Stitches goodies.

First I wanted to cast on for a Stitch Diva scarf that required the tunisian crochet hook I had just purchased. Glitch. I also needed a ginormous regular crochet hook which I had failed to notice when I was reviewing the pattern and making my "to buy" list.

Next, I cast on a shawlette. I purchased both the pattern and the one skein of yarn required for the pattern at Stitches. Glitch. I had trouble interpreting the instructions beyond row one. Got past that and then...glitch. I didn't have enough stitches to move from chart one to chart two.  I got past that as well and then yet another glitch.  This is where the honeymoon ended.  I didn't have enough stitches to move from the second to the third chart. I fudged that again and got through charts three and four and then, you guessed it, glitch. My stitches didn't line up for the final chart.  Another stitch fix and I was on  my way, on my way to running out of yarn!  I had to leave some rows out of the final chart and then had to do a yarn-saving bind off but I finally finished it.

I gave it to my mom for her birthday.  My mom loved it.  She's not a knitter, so the sad tale of the knit wreck it was won't be shared with her.


*this post has been patiently waiting in draft for over three years.

Little Bit Pretty-Pretty

Since my cat's passing (RIP :( Harrison), I have been missing the pitter-patter of little feet about the house. I've considered another cat or maybe a dog. But really those were fleeting thoughts. No other cat could replace my Harry, and a dog needs a yard!

One day in January I stopped at the pet shop by my house. My niece and nephew each have a Betta and they seemed fairly easy to care for and lovely to watch. Needless to say, I left the shop with a pamphlet on Betta care plus one small Twin Tail Halfmoon male Betta and all its accoutrement!

So far he has been very easy to care for: feed twice daily, clean tank once a week, and very lovely and relaxing to watch.  However, he is still mostly nameless. I tend to call him "Little Bit" or "Pretty-Pretty" neither of which I particularly like. Though that doesn't stop the words coming out of my mouth. Maybe I'll find the perfect name soon, but until then he'll be a lit bit pretty pretty.

My New Noisy Neighbors

Normally my neighborhood is pretty quiet, and I like it so. But today when I got home I heard some strange sounds not far off. Of course I looked around to see what was causing the aforementioned sounds. Lo and behold, it was rented sheep and goats grazing on the wetlands preserve next door!

Ravelympics 2010

Behold my finished Clapotis #2!

Started in April 2008, my second Clapotis had been marinating in my UFO basket for several months when I decided to compete in the 2010 Ravelympics. My event...WIPs Dancing. To qualify for this event, my project must have been previously started and not worked on since at least January 12, 2010. My clap qualified without any problems. I registered, entered my project in the proper event thread, updated my project page and started training. In my case, training meant I needed to locate my pattern, locate the other skeins, wind the unwound skein, and figure out where in the knitting I had left off. I finished my training by 4pm pacific standard time 2/12/2010. The opening ceremonies for Ravelympics started at 6pm pacific standard time. I was doing well! I uploaded the picture of my project as it was before the competition. I had some time to wonder if I would finish my project by the closing ceremonies. I hoped that I had not bitten off more than I could chew. I showed up for the Parade of Nations. Because of my doubts, I started knitting right at 6pm. Within an hour or so, I had finished the working skein and was ready to attach the second skein. The next day, I had finished the second working skein and was ready to attach the final skein. I couldn't believe how fast I was going through this project after it had been sitting around for about a year! I finished knitting my Clapotis before I went to bed on Valentine's Day. As soon as I was up on Monday, I wove in my ends and dropped my Clapotis in Soak. I set up my blocking boards and set about blocking my shawl and taking pictures to post in the finish line. I FINISHED MY CLAPOTIS! and here is my reward:

Managing WIP's the Geek Way

I haven't been doing a lot of knitting lately. Mostly because I'm not always excited about knitting my WIP's and I don't want to end up as in times past with 22 WIP's at once. Mycki-2009 was all about finishing what I start. I'm down to eight projects on the needles now. That number feels a lot more manageable. Yet I'm not always in the mood to knit the same type of thing and if all eight of the projects are lace shawls, I have no variety! What to do?

Mycki-2010 is all about organization. I'm making great strides in organizing my home and everything in it. I decided that I should organize my WIP's. My knitting group may laugh and tease me mercilessly, but here is what I came up with:

I can have up to ten projects on the needles at any time. However, each project must fall into one of ten categories I have pre-determined. While one project may fit multiple categories, only one project is allowed per category. For instance, a sock may fall into the "sock" category or the "gift" category, but I can't have two projects in the "sock" category even if I leave the "gift" category empty. That defeats the purpose of having categories. I have figured out that I like to knit for others. But if all I'm knitting are gifts, I don't feel charitible, I feel cheated. The same goes for lace. I like it, but if that is all I'm doing, I don't have any social knitting or quick projects. I want to have a variety of projects going at all times so I always have something I want to knit. With that in mind, I tried to come up with general categories that would essentially give me variety in complexity, yarn weight, and finished projects.

Here are the categories I came up with:

-Garment (can be a sweater, vest, skirt, shawl, etc.)
-Accessory (can be a scarf, purse, wrist warmers, hat, sock, cup sleeve, teapot cosy, etc.)
-Shawl (can be triangle, circle, rectangle, capelet, poncho, etc.)
-Sock (can be any length, any construction)
-Lace (can be a garment, sock, shawl, tablecloth, etc.)
-Garter/Stockinette (no fuss projects: blanket, potholder, simple sweater, vanilla sock, etc.)
-Worsted/Chunky (can be anything using thicker yarn, a blanket, a sweater, a scarf, etc.)
-KAL (can be anything that is part of an organized Knit A-Long: sock, sweater, bag, etc.)
-Gift (can be anything as long as it is for someone else)
-Stash Buster (can be anything that uses left over yarn or single skeins from my stash only)

As I mentioned earlier, I only have eight projects on the needles now. I've put each one into a category listed above.

-Garment: Habu Giselle Sweater
-Accessory: Clapotis
-Shawl: Charlotte's Web
-Sock:
-Lace: Rona Lace Shawl
-Garter/Stockinette: Moderne Baby Blanket
-Worsted/Chunky:
-KAL: McGuiness Branch Socks
-Gift: Kaylie's Socks
-Stash Buster: Pinwheel Blanket

I now have variety to knit and I have leeway to start two new projects if I want! So what if I want to start a lace-weight neck warmer for my mom? Right now my open categories are "sock" and "worsted/chunky". I could wait until I've finished the project in the accessory category or (depending on how badly I want to start it now) use creative thinking. It could fit into the following categories: lace, gift, accessory, possibly stash buster. Can any of the projects I have in those categories be moved to one of my open categories? Kaylie's sock can be moved to the open "sock" category and I can fit the neckwarmer into the "gift" category. Yet strangely enough, I don't feel compelled to start any new projects right now in spite of the 'empty' categories. I'm perfectly happy to knit one of my current WIP's.

Just how many…

bamboo spoons does one person need?

I apparently need more than most. As I unpacked my kitchen boxes when I moved earlier this year, I discovered several items of which I had multiples. My name is Mycki and I'm a kitchen gadget buyer.

Other things I found: three whisks (two exactly the same), four pie servers (two styles), three paring knives, three can openers, three bar boards, two scallop-edge slicers, three potato mashers, three slotted spoons, five nylon serving spoons, several spatulas (at least two exactly the same), and four bamboo tongs.

My kitchen is not very big and I can't help but think I would have more room if I get rid of my duplicate implements, but I have a feeling that I might need them someday!

Jumpin' Jellyfish!

I'm on vacation again. This time, I'm in Southern California. I came to visit my sis and to go to the Happiest Placed on Earth! The day we planned on going it rained (but it never rains in Southern California, right?) so we decided to go the the Aquarium of the Pacific. Can I tell you how much I'm mesmerized by jellyfish? This aquarium has several different varieties (?) of jellyfish. Also, not all of them are dangerous to people. The second picture above are moon jellies. Their sting is not enough to harm. Another thing I fell in love with during this trip are stingrays. I'll post a picture of them later. Right now I'm off to have Thai food with my other sister. Laters...

Harry Potter UK Cover Yarn Club

September: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

October: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

November: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkeban

These are the first three colorways of the first Sock Yarn club I've joined. I've been hesitating to join any clubs because you never know what you'll end up with. This club seemed like a safe bet because I know which colors would be used and I've seen other colorways by this dyer. There are a total of seven skeins I'll be receiving in this club. Each one is based on the cover of one of the Harry Potter books released in the UK. The cover art for those editions is vastly different than the US Scholastic versions. If you look closely at the ball band you can see a picture of the actual UK cover that colorway was based on. I am so pleased with my skeins so far. I think Dharmafey (Ravelry name) from Cosmic Fibers does an excellent job matching the dye colors to the cover art. She also includes a little extra something with each shipment. With my first skein I received an HP trading card, with the second I received temporary tatoos of all the covers, and with the third I received a matching stitch marker. I can't wait to see what I get next!

Time to Dye

This post goes out to Knitvicious! Cause she's tired of the lake...

Way back in September, I got together with a couple of fellow Chicks to try our hand at dyeing our own yarn. Okay, it was not my first or even fourth time dyeing yarn, however, it was my first time using the dip method and my first time dyeing a sock blank.

The top photo is the result of dipping the ends of a pre-wound skein into two canning jars, one with pink dye and the other with chestnut dye, then microwaving the whole shebang. Hot Stuff! (By the way, Felted I still have your jars) The resulting skein has a deep chocolate color fading to tan and then a vanilla middle and light pink darkening to a perfect strawberry ice cream color. Neopolitan!

The bottom photo is the sock blank. This was a little harder to dye than I supposed, but only because my dye bottles were leaking. You can see little spots of blue on the pink and purple sections. I had a pattern picked out for this yarn before I dyed it so you would think that now, being two months later, I would have finished this project and could post an "after" picture. You would be wrong.

I spent the rest of September finishing old projects and working on WIP's. I didn't want to start any new projects until I'd done something about my total WIP count. I can't seem to bring it under 13. (I haven't decided if that's good or bad luck) So, while I have finished some projects (Mystery Stole 3, Carmen sweater, Marie Antoinette sock #1, Baby Ripple Blanket) I did not start my socks in September.

For October, my focus was all Halloween... (check back for my next post)

A Little Vacation

Ever since I can remember, my favorite part of summer has been going to the beach. It was always the Pacific Ocean when I was growing up, but now that we live in Northern California, we are trying something different. (Besides, I did go to Dohene in So Cal a couple of months ago so I don't feel like I totally missed out this year!) We went to Lake Tahoe last week. It was a great getaway and the lake is gorgeous. We stayed in Tahoe City at a pet friendly place (because we took the dog). The room had a nice woodsy decor featuring black bears. There was a lovely grassy area leading to the beach across the road from where we stayed. I spent a lot of time there reading Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth. I got a sunburn my last day because I was so into the book I forgot to turn! Overall my time there was relaxing and I plan on doing it again, but the lake, no matter how beautiful, doesn't compare to my beloved Pacific!

Going Home

Who says you can't go home again? I recently went to visit my sister in Laguna Niguel and since Bakersfield is on the way, I stopped for a short (one hour) visit with my cousin. My mom was with me and she suggested we drive by our old high school. Yep, I went to the same high school (and junior high!) as my mom, exactly twenty years later. Above you can see one of my favorite spots, the East High Auditorium. I was in Drama (so was my mom, does the apple fall far from the tree?) so I have many fond memories of plays and musicals held there. I can still see the lines of people waiting for the doors to open. I can even remember snippets of conversations as we hurried by to get into our costumes and make-up. Oh, the memories!

In Da Hoodie

It's finished! I am completely done with my Neck Down Hoodie. The pattern is from Knitting Pure & Simple. I used fabulous Brook Farms Yarn wool and silk blend Four Play yarn and size 7 and 9 needles. It feels great on and I can't wait to wear it. You might be thinking I'll have a long wait for cool weather since I live in California, but not so! I work in a very cold office and so I'll be wearing it later this week...ahh! I started this project in March, soon after coming back home from Stitches West where I bought the yarn. I wove in the ends and attached the button on Friday. It was a pretty fast knit considering I didn't work on it for much of March and April. I recommend it to anyone that doesn't mind lots of knit stitch.

Waiting for Habu

Last month I went to Petaluma's yarn shop Knitterly with some of my fellow Chicks (Hi Cathy and Janice! ) and their friend (Hi Shar!) We had a great time learning to read Japanese knitting patterns and trying on all the great samples. I spent my life savings (well, not really but it felt like it) on some sweater kits. Now I'm impatiently waiting for my swell yarn to arrive. I've been checking the porch patio everyday to no avail. I believe my package is 3 business days overdue. I would absolutely love to order more kits, one for a bag in particular, but I need faster gratification. Okay, I've got go research Habu retailers...Bye!

Fawkes in Socks

This is the yarn I dyed to make Gigi Silva's (Monkey Toes) Fawkes pattern. The pattern was inspired by Dumbledore's phoenix from the Harry Potter series. I looked and looked and searched high and low for a colorway reminiscent of the mythical bird that rises from the flames.
Finally I decided to dye my own to get the exact colors I wanted in the exact order I wanted and the exact stripe size I wanted.

Considering that hand dyeing at home (by a someone new to the process no less) is not an exact science, I am well pleased with the result.

I am finished with the first sock and well on my way on the second. I'm trying to finish them before the end of May to enter them in Socktopia's May theme "Hot Feet". Wish me luck, please!

April is for Anklets

This year I committed to finishing one pair of socks a month for the Sock-a-Month group on Ravelry. For April, that pair had to be anklets. I chose a pattern that I received in a swap last year. The yarn I got from a sock kit swap a couple of years ago. The yarn is Marion's Sock Yarn from Germany. I like this pattern and think the yarn was a good fit for it. The toe is not my favorite, but I wanted to, for once, work a pattern exactly as written!

Single Sock Syndrome

I never thought it would happen to me. Okay, it has happened to me before, but I never thought it would happen again. I like to knit and I like to finish projects. I also love symmetry. So how could I fall victim to SSS (Second Sock Syndrome)? I blame it on my iPod and Ravelry. There are so many great patterns out there in the knitting world, especially for socks. I hear about this pattern and see that pattern and find these oh-so-convenient links. Last month I had five socks on needles at once. I finished one complete pair (see post below) and one sock each of the other 4 patterns I was working on. Leaving me 4 mates to knit up. Now we're in April and I have committed to knitting at least 2 new sock patterns this month. See how my dilemma grows? I will faithfully cast on one pair tonight (the Nutkins) and another pair tomorrow (April Mystery Sock) and when will I work on my second socks from March? Now that my training time at work is over, I have four less knitting hours each day. I predict knitting insomnia for the next few weeks.