EC Panda...

The Sichuan Wolong Panda Protection and Breed Center is dealing with the results of a breeding boom -- 16 pandas have been born since July, 2006. The brood includes five sets of twins. The heaviest tips the scale at just over 24 pounds, while the lightest weighs about 11 pounds. The pandas are due to stop suckling by February, 2007 just about the time they'll start learning to walk. Once weaned, the panda cubs will attend panda kindergarten.

Sorry to say, but I did not go to china to take the photos...

ECF

Reconnecting with my stash! That's a beautiful thing!

Conquering Clutter

Still working on finding the elusive balance and the desired order in my life. I have done a lot de-cluttering this weekend. You'd have a hard time believing it if you saw my place today, but bags of rubbish, broken toys and unwanted clothing (what is your cut off date? 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 or more years of never wearing something to send it to the thrift shop?) have been amassed!
Part of the process is what I call "House Chores ADD" (Attention Deficit Disorder). While clearing and organizing I find things that need my attention, and stray from the original route. Like 2 skeins of Noro Kureyon I found, reminded me I need to make a second Child Rainbow Scarf for my cousin's second daughter. So here it is... Rainbow # 2. I think I have some Silk Garden in the stash to make one for myself as well. These are SO much fun to make.
I found out why I stopped working on Hopeful; I needed a second circular #6US needle, so trip to LYS resulted in some wool/bamboo sock yarn from Trekking! Oh, its lovely!! So I remembered I waned to make the Gentleman’s Fancy socks from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush, so here we are.

And the de-cluttering? You best be reading all about it here:
Conquering Clutter! Yes, you too! Its for anybody who has even the tiniest stash... There is a lot more to it than meets the eye!

Talk about weird…

This is not suppose to happen in January:

The grass is GREEN.
The bulbs are popping
The Forsythia is out.
The buds are popping.
All over the world they are talking about snowless December. The first December in NYC without a snowflake here since 1877, (although not in Colorado...)
Ok, I know this is not politically correct, and I do love snow fun (although not the urban mess it becomes a day later) but I don't mind a mild winter. So there, I said it.

Six weird things about me

Rebecca tagged me- hmmmmmm...
Ok, so weird is totally relative. What is an everyday custom in one place is odd and unusual in another. But maybe there are some universal odd things.

1. I don’t buy/ read the paper. I dislike bad news; moreover, I am allergic to the ink it is printed with. Some friends think I am allergic to the news. Possible. I do scan the news on the Internet.
2. I despise things that arrive broken. Like my son’s first real bed that arrived with one of the parts broken. It infuriates me. I am writing this now (Sat morning) waiting for customer service to open. That’s when I am not calm Alice…
3. Amidst the chaos of living with a toddler, I have one closet that is only mine where all the items are standing to attention like soldiers on parade. Don’t even think of going there…
4. Got to dry my face first when I come out of the shower.
5. I don’t like to knit two things that are the exact same thing. There always HAS to be something different.
6. I guess I am so weird/ out-of-it/ eccentric, I can’t think of anything else, although I am sure my friends will disagree…….

Fantasy ECF

Edited to add: ECF- Eye Candy Friday. windows at Bergdorf Goodman NYC. click to see details. All the animals are made of mosaic!

Candy Wrapper -Twister

First FO of 2007! Neck wrap Twister. This is Rain's fab creation, she calls it Twister,
Candy Wrapper style, only this one is shorter for a little something around the neck. Its hasn't been much of a winter here, so a scarf can be a bit bulky.
The Yarn is from stash. A wonderful yarn I have had for years!
Its Esperanza yarn, from Schaefer Yarn, 70% lambswool, 30% alpaca, in the Memorable Women collection, but this one is old- the color is called Lucille Ball.
It feels so buttery and warm. I did not want to take it off last night after I finished it. I have seriously warmed up to the idea of neck warmers/wrappers, inspired by cosymakes' knits for your neck , and you'll see a bunch more soon, right here.

2006 to 2007

2006 has been my most productive knitting year to date, and I’ve been knitting awhile! last week I knit two little things- a neck warmer for me, and a hat for my dad ( the last knit, in a day, of 2006, from stash!) who said he wanted something simple for walking the dog. well- it can't be simpler, can it?
You are all to “blame” for my fab productivity. It all started last October 2005, when I found the great knitting group in NYC Sit N Knit organized by the amazing Annie. I met many wonderful young creative knitters, and some had blogs. I thought to myself: “Self, blogs are for other people who have nothing to do, not you. You don’t have spare time!” But than I thought: “Well a few minutes a week, surely, I could find a little time…” little did I know that this will escalate to a full-scale blogoditis! Not only does it take more than a few minutes a week, (ya’ right!) its addictive and I Love it! Blogging and reading knitting blogs!!!! The inspiration has been tremendous and I met so many global knitting buddies, and teachers. I also found way too many lovely, gorgeous, luscious yarns to buy. I did not even know about 80% of them, and now I find I HAVE to have some… So now knitting/blogging has to happen, so who has time for housework? What housework? Yes Annie, its all your fault, every time I knit and or blog instead of doing the laundry! So it was a great knitting year. I participated in some swaps and KAL. It was fun. I will do those again, I am sure, this year.
Before 2006 I knit 2pairs of socks, ever! I in 2006-I knit 11!
So here goes the 2006 list: (see them all here)
11 pairs of socks (not counting the bunny feet…)
7 hats
5 scarves and one neck warmer
2 pairs of fingerless gloves
1 tank top
4 sweaters
3 pillows
3 iSocks
2 miscellaneous

Only 2 projects remain UFO- the Hopeful top and the sea silk lace scarf. I have tried lace for the first time and I am still not loving it. Perhaps I need to find better needles for it. What are your favorites for lace? I will finish them up.

Resolutions for 2007
I will get more sleep. I am a much happier, smarter, faster, funnier, stronger (simply better) person with more sleep. No two ways about it. Not to mention how much better I look…
I will learn how to spin.
I will make an inventory of my stash. Rain has dared me to count every inch. LOL! LOL! That will not be possible… I am going for a more general picture with labeled boxes. My trip to the container store was fruitful and I know can see my bedroom floor for the first time in months! No ladies, not everyone has a yarn room, or a yarn cave… but I can play pretend... ☺
I will make an effort to knit from stash. I have lovely yarn! Why not knit it? I am not joining the stash KAL, but nonetheless…
I want to knit with:
Estelle: 100% Italian sportweight cashmere
 (clapotis, still waiting for the right yarn!)
Crown Mountain Farms Sock Hop (socks, and or gloves.) Does anyone know where to get it? They are always out of stock.
I will knit a toe-up. It’s about time.
For my son, I will only knit socks for a while. He seems to like those but thinks the rest of it is “not cool.” So be it…
I will knit more lace. I shall finish at least 3 lace projects in 2007. Yes I will.
I will felt some clogs with beads.
I will be very careful not to fall short in premature terminations. A few projects had to be froged and inches added. Maybe its because kids do grow at night…
I hope I will have more leisure time from now on; and use some of it to meet with my knitting friends!
No other major plans yet, although there are a bunch of things I’d love to knit, they are too many to list.
And last, but NOT LEAST- I will have fun knitting!
Oh, I forgot. I looooove all your comments! Please keep’m coming. It’s really good to hear from you! Happy New Year!

Live from NYC its 2007 baby!

How are your holidays?

My Christmas weekend was not very pleasant. I had spent it at a good friend's house and while my friend and his wife were great, some of the other guests were hard to take. I shall not bore you with the details. Its over and done with.
So I did the only thing any sane person would do to "tune out" I KNIT! Ya! When packing I grabbed 2 random skeins of Noro Kureyon, had no idea if they match, and size Us9 addi circs. I have been wanting to make the Child's Rainbow from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. (See Steph’s version of it here.) This is a great stitch (mistake rib) to knit while you might be distracted and or upset... I also wanted to see if Noro magic will work again even with random skeins. I think it does! This is for my cousin's 14 years old daughter, so I made it a bit shorter, only 2 skeins. Some bits of Noro trivia: there were no knots in either skein. One is very old. One skein was 6-7 yards shorter. I had to add a bit from a left-over bag. At one point, the 2 skeins had the same color. I managed to start and end with pink, without planning.
So this little holiday wreath like arrangement is my last ECF for 2006!

My lists, BTW, are cooking, still cooking...

As 2006 comes to its end…

I am going to take the rest of the year and devote it to filing, re-organizing, regrouping, de-cluttering, perhaps some de-stashing. (If I am brave…)And- some time next week I WILL get some rest! I am definitely going to make a trip to the Container Store and get my yarn organized better. One of my goals for 2007 is to do a proper yarn inventory, and count every thread in the house. What, what are you laughing at…………?

I am going to follow some lovely examples I saw in blogland of reviews of last year’s knitting and next year’s wish lists. Have to work some next week- it will not be all knitting fun and organizing- but hey- got to support the kid and the fiber habit… speaking of fiber- I have received my copy of Spin to Knit and I WILL learn how to spin in 2007! A girl can only take so much teasing from blogland ya’ know?So Merry Christmas from New York City to all who celebrate and I’ll catch ya’ all before the end of the year with my lists (I hope…)!
I have learnt so much from all of you! The knitting bloggers community has been an awesome inspiration to me! Thanks for being out there, and leaving great comments- and keep coming back! Thanks!

And then there were two...

Edited to add:
These are Bea Ellis traditional hats. I got the kit in the dark gray and the orange, but planned to use gray for hat A and orange for hat B, with the snowflakes in the lovely Swedish baby mohair I received from Sigrid. The kits come in lots of colors. I made the gray one for me, and the orange one for my son (he has an orange down coat). pretty much followed the very well written pattern. it comes with the cotton for the inner band. the only mods- I made the cotton band a bit deeper in the orange, and overall, a bit shorter for my son. It all falls (ha, ha, ha, probably the only place where snowflakes will fall this year in NYC...) into place in the blocking!!! Like magic. Now that my dad wants one of my "knitted items," I may send him the gray one. Problems: "but, I want to wear my cool hat mommy!" (not the one I made but...)
Thanks everybody for your kind words. I manged to knit these because I did all my shopping on line and slept very little last week...!

And here it is.

My first Bea Ellis hat. This was great fun to make. I started it Friday night and finished it Sunday evening. Here it is- inside and outside and on my head. You can see how nice the mohair shines. The inside band is cotton. Next hat, I'll make the band a bit deeper. This one covers well, but it just feels like it could be a bit deeper.
I am ready to start another one, for my son, in orange (to match his coat) and the baby mohair. I may send this one to my dad, who decided he "should have one of my knitted items" after my knitting was in the show.

Last Night

Last night, I sat up till 2am knitting my Bea Ellis snow flake hat instead of getting the place ready for the holiday party today. Today, there is a price to pay... but last night, I just HAD to... sounds like an addiction perhaps? I received it yesterday, and I have been so looking forward to knit it. My snow flakes are very natural and organic. No two are alike... that's what happens when I knit late at night. But I love it! The bottom part is knit in cotton and will fold in to create a cotton band, so it will not itch. The light grey is the lovely mohair I received as a gift from garngamen. Its wonderful, soft and warm. Its a bit thinner than the dark grey, but its close enough, and it fluffs up a bit to match. Garngamen is right of course, grey is a color, and as a matter of fact, I like all shades of grey. This will be one of my projcts for Stranded Colorwork Challange.

Seasons

Colors; now you see them, now you don't!