Birdie And Bunny

A few weeks back my husband and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary.

Every year around this time we do a little family gift exchange, so I indulged in a few 

quick and tiny little knit toys for the kids.

Meet Birdie and Bunny. 

These toys were knit from the Chubby Chirps and Bunny Nuggets patterns by Rebecca Danger. Her toys are always so fun and quirky. I knit up one of her monster patterns for my daughter a few years back and have been following this designer's work ever since.

These patterns were so incredibly quick to make and would make an excellent last minute gift for any child. 

My daughter has seemed to really enjoy them. And my son...

...finds them delicious.

Chicken Family

Great news! "Mama Chicken" has a found a rather plump, polka dotted "Daddy Chicken" to share her life with! They met and fell in love while spending some time together in the knitting bag. Before I knew it 2 little babies flew off the needles.

Finally the chicken family is complete!

I was really attempting to differentiate between the hen and the rooster with this pattern. As I mentioned before, the Mama Chicken has eyelashes and no tail feathers. The Daddy Chicken has the white tail feathers and I knit one extra in orange and sewed in to the top of his head to make his comb more prominent and rooster-ish. And of course I knit the small size for the Mom and the medium size for the Dad. I think it works.

I think they make a fine couple.

I used the Spring Chick pattern to make the baby chicks. Now this was a fun pattern! So fast! It was great. It took like an hour to make both of the babies. Also I felt good using up some of the yellow I had. I had only taken a little bit from the skein to make the chicken beaks and had nearly an entire ball left over!!! So it was nice being able to use some of that up. I had planned on making more babies but then got kind of sick of chicken knitting. I'm really feeling excited about my next knitting project so I was eager to just be done with these.

But who knows? Maybe they will expand their family in the future?

I shot these photos at one of my favorite locations. Avila Valley Barn. Its a little farm you can visit to buy fresh produce, feed farm animals and eat corn on the cob. I put the Watermelon sweater on my daughter because I felt that it was quite festive for the occasion.

It also was a great place to photograph the new chicken family. All that hay and stuff. But we unfortunately went on Memorial Day and it was packed! So many people. So you can imagine how insane I looked taking pictures of knitted chickens in front of tons of onlookers.

It was kind of normal feeling when my daughter was there, but she soon tired of the chicken pictures idea and left to go get a snack with my husband. So there I was, now alone. Just me and the chickens. I seriously looked like such the "crazy chicken lady" rearranging and posing my little chicken friends for all to see.

So weird.

Oh the things I endure for the sake of this knitting blog... :)

The Beauty Of Easton Mountain

One of the reasons we host the annual Men's Spring Knitting Retreat at Easton Mountain is because of the beauty of the area.

Annual Arrival Photo
It's been a custom for me to take a photo of my arrival at the retreat.  This year, I opted to do a one minute video instead.

 It's also an annual tradition to have a group photo of all the guys at the retreat (well, at least all the guys who aren't taking a nap when the photo is taken).

Here are the guys from this year.

Yes, the weather this year (despite the rain on my day of arrival) was glorious enough to sit at the pool.

Current Knitting/Crochet
By the next blog entry, I should have a photo of the latest spiral square blanket...at least with all the Poem Sock yarn used up.

I'll post photos in the next blog post.

Last Words - MSKR 2013

This year's retreat seems to have had a more profound and lasting impact on some of the guys...it certainly has for me.

Transformational

I've done self-realization workshops and trainings for decades now, and when one of them has an impact on me whereby it shifts my whole being, the result is very difficult to describe.  It's experiential and looks different for each of us, but has some core characteristics that are the same.  Certainly, most of the guys at the retreat felt a closeness and intimacy that isn't present in everyday life.  And most of the guys would also probably say they changed somehow over the course of the four days of the retreat, although how that change exhibits itself for each might be different.

One man's experience, which I think is extremely well conveyed is Van's.  He comes closest to describing the experience of the retreat this year, and mostly because of how well he conveys feeling in his written word.

My one hope is that I can continue to draw on the feelings of the retreat in my day-to-day life.

I've posted the last of the random photos I took during the weekend at the bottom of this post to help me when I need to recall my time there.

Current Knitting

I was able to finish the newborn baby outfit for my sister, so she could give it as a baby shower gift.

Well, almost.  Turns out the shower was the Sunday of the retreat, so she had to give a bit of a raincheck to the mother-to-be.

I still love how the outfit turned out.  The cap is just a simple roll-brimmed cap with a little umbilical cord knotted at the top, and the booties might fit the newborn for a day...they're so tiny.  Hope my sister and the recipient enjoy them.

Final Photos of MSKR 2013

Brady and Aaron in the well-lit library

Chad, John and Kyle

Jeff telling Kirk he has no pulse and John enjoying it

Matthew and Jack

Ray working on an uncharacteristically colored project - pink!

Tom, Matthew and Alasdair

Supporting Those That Support Us

Being part of a group can have its advantages, whether the group is men who knit, the LGBT community, a religious community, or just a large group of friends on Facebook.

QueerJoe Blog Readers

The people that frequent my blog is another affinity group for me.

Being strongly opinionated about issues that some may consider controversial, is a great way of separating the wheat from the chaff, if you will.  I am grateful for the abundance of "wheat" readers here.

And it never ceases to amaze me how this group rallies around those I consider important.  I always feel like y'all have my back.

A good friend, Kyle Kunnecke has taken on a monumental goal to raise $10,000 dollars for the AIDS walk, and I'd like to ask readers for THREE things to help support him:

1. First, I'd like you to contribute.  It would be fantastic to see him quickly reach and surpass his goal, so anything you can contribute would be wonderful.  He's also doing a lottery of thank-you prizes for anyone that donates - including a Schacht Sidekick wheel.
2. I'd like you to help support the people that have supported him.  Purlescence Yarns has been a huge support for Kyle in his fundraising efforts.  If you could patronize their business (especially if you're in the Sunnyvale, CA area) or "friend" them on Facebook, it would be a great show of support.
3. Finally, if you could promote Kyle's fundraising cause to all of your friends, it would be very much appreciated by both Kyle and me.  Post this blog entry or Kyle's fundraising page on Facebook.  Post this blog entry to Pinterest (using the beautiful scarf below as the rationale).  Tweet about Kyle's big goal.

I don't use this word often, but I feel blessed by the support of the people that read this blog, even if I've never met you in person.

Men's Knitting Retreat
There are a number of people that help support the Men's Spring Knitting Retreat each year as well, and I'd like to thank this year's generous sponsors publicly:

• Koigu Yarns
• Puff The Magic Rabbit Fibers
• Black Bunny Fibers
• Wunsapana Farm
• Blind Buck Farm

Lubna from Blind Buck Farm posted a blog entry about our visit there.

Current Knitting/Crocheting

I started another Interlocking Crochet Scarf, except this time, it's with much thicker yarn and a larger crochet hook.

It's being made using two colorways of Opus 1yarn on a size K - 7mm crochet hook.

I also tried swatting a couple of different colorways of Koigu in a crochet stitch called the Granite Stitch.

I was thinking it might make another nice scarf design, but the fabric is a bit too rigid.  It would probably make a fantastic women's jacket.

Here's the Granite Stitch pattern stitch:

Row 1: Ch an even number of stitches.  Sc in the 4th ch from the hook, *ch 1, skip 1 ch, sc in the next ch; repeat from * to end, turn.

Row 2: Ch 2, sc in the next ch-1 sp, *ch 1, sc in the next ch-1 sp; repeat from * to end, finishing with a sc in the ch-3 sp at the start of Row 1, turn.

Row 3: Ch 2, sc in the next ch-1 sp, *ch 1, sc in the next ch-1 sp; repeat from * to end, finishing with a sc in the ch-2 sp at the start of the previous row, turn.

Keep repeating only Row 3

Making Decisions

Remember the pattern collection I eluded to earlier? Well, my first piece is now DONE.

Mostly knit in the throes of early pregnancy morning sickness, this sweater has taken w-a-y-t-o-o-l-o-n-g and I cannot tell you how excited I am to get it off of the needles!

Isn't it strange how sometimes picking the right buttons to finish a garment can be the hardest thing about the project? Choosing buttons is such an important part of the process and it's the part I find very challenging.

I went back and forth between these three options for awhile and finally settled on the middle row of buttons.

They most captured the essence of what this sweater is all about. Sweet and feminine with some vintage charm. I look forward to showing you the entire thing when the time comes.

I know it's annoying when designers show you these kinds of vague and non-revealing photos of their upcoming patterns, but this is how it will have to be for now. Please bear with me while I finish the rest of these designs.

My pregnancy put me way behind schedule, but I still hope to be able to reveal the entire collection to you at the end of the year. This is a very special and personal collection of knits and I hope that it will be worth the wait!

I will keep you all up to date with my progress. And just so you don't get too bored, I will be releasing some other designs that will be part of my regular pattern line in the next few months. 

With my new pregnancy, this collection of knits, and my podcast season starting up again, this blog will be one busy place! Stay tuned!

Good Blogging

When I first started blogging, I had some VERY basic ideas on what constituted a good blog entry.

Those Days Are Gone
Today, it's not enough to just have some commentary or helpful tips with corresponding photos and web links.  Today, I also need to come up with an idea that most others haven't addressed in the blogosphere, or minimally, have a different take on current views.

In essence, blog entries now also have to be clever.

I guess the initial requirements for a blog entry were the bare minimum, and still are to some degree.  When all else fails, I can always throw together a blog entry that just rehashes old crap and call it a blog entry.  Even when I put a lot of thought into one of my posts, it doesn't always guarantee that readers will appreciate it.

Current Knitting/Crocheting
The Poem sock yarn spiral squares blanket gets incrementally bigger and bigger.

Since I only have one ball of Poem sock yarn, I think I'll try and supplement this by adding on a border in a solid shade.  I figure if I don't like it, I can always rip it out and order another ball of Poem in this colorway.