RCYC is coming!

The first weekend in March is a big deal in the Portland metro area. It's the Rose City Yarn Crawl. This year there are 14 local yarn stores involved. For several years no, there has been a mystery kal and cal leading up to the yarn crawl. The first year I did both, though I finished the cal much later in the year. The second year I didn't do the kal, but started the cal, haven't finished it yet. This year, I started and finished the first kal clue that came out yesterday. I'm tempted to try the cal, but it's a little overwhelming. The yarn I chose for the kal is from Yoth, a company in Tolt, Washington. It's a cashmere blend called Little Brother. It's yummy! My main color is a dark green called kale and the contrast is a lighter green, called mint. Can't wait to see how this turns out. We do know it will end up being a cowl.

The weekend of the crawl is busy in other ways as well. Our wedding anniversary, Kim's birthday and my 3rd anniversary of working at The Knitting Bee. Oh, and we are getting a puppy!

Whoa!

Happy New Year! It's been a year and at least a month since I was last here. Bad Tammy!

Goals for this year:

1:  Robert and I have been eating the Trim Healthy Mama way for a year and 7 months. I've lost about 25 lbs and gone down 4 or more sizes. I don't know how much he has lost, it fluctuates for him as he won't give up beer. He has gone down a pant size though and has to use a belt to keep them up anyways. We will continue on this lifestyle of eating, it works for us and is sustainable. We do it egg, gluten and mostly dairy free. If you have questions about it, let me know.

2:  Bake more THM stuff, trying out new recipes.

3:  Blog more. Who am I kidding, I will try. I have good intentions and think about it all of the time.....but never remember to come back and just jot these ideas down.

4:  UFO's from the knitting pile are on the agenda as well as a couple of new sweaters and some new socks.

5:  Try to spend more time with my parents. It's hard as my mom tends to drive me nuts with her incessant talking and needing to know everything I do. Their health is failing and I know they won't be with me forever. I am so glad we moved them up here several years ago. Recent health events of theirs have been eye-opening.


I was going to post some finished objects from this last year, but I think Blogger has changed how they do things and I don't have them on my computer at this point. :(

Happy Knitting in 2016!

Knitting Hats

This was the original inspiration of the Imperial Stout Cap. I really liked how the cables just went into the hat, but a co-worker suggested the 1x1 rib would be better for a men's hat. I thought I'd knit up my original design though as a hat for me.

I love this Magenta/Raspberry Pink color. I have another hat in a similar but darker color. I seem to wear a lot of it, whether it is a blouse or as accent colors.

In other news, Kim leaves for Europe in 4 days. I'm doing ok until I start to think about it too much. Then my heart starts racing and I have a hard time taking a deep breath. I know she is going to have to time of her life, but I'm worried too.

I've said it before and I'm sure I'll say it many more times, but I keep thinking I'm going to keep up on the blog and it doesn't happen. I'm sorry for that.

I do have some exciting news though! At the lys I work at we have a Top 10 Quick Holiday Knits that we have done for at least the last two years. This year we decided Top 12. One of my patterns was released yesterday and it has been in the What's Hot section on Ravelry. Today it actually made it to #4! I'm pretty pleased with that. It's free until Sunday night, so get it while you can.

 Imperial Stout Cap.

And I'll leave it at that. See you next time. 

A Little Behind

Today is the first day in a few weeks where I can just breath. I did have two appts this morning, but now I'm home doing nothing and going nowhere! One  appt was with an Occupational Therapist about the tendonitis in my elbow. I think it will be very helpful to see him and get this taken care of. Right now he has me icing the elbow, heating the muscle below in my arm and massaging it, with a couple of stretches after the massage. It's not easy to do on my own so I will probably have Robert or Kim help me with the massage part. I haven't knit, except a tiny bit in about 5 weeks! I'm starting to go crazy, though I have been doing a little bit of cross-stitch. I have been testy this week and I think it might be from the lack of knitting and maybe even from being around people a lot over the past few weeks with almost no breaks. Today though after that appt and dropping the van at the shop for an overnight tuneup, I don't have to be anywhere or do anything and can just do my own thing. 

I've been thinking about crochet a lot! Last week it was flowers, this week it's how did I learn to crochet. I bought a little notebook today, with flowers on it and I started printing out some flowery patterns. I want to make a bright flower garland though I'm not sure where I'll put it. Back to the notebook. I plan to use it to jot down any ideas I have for crochet and putting some printed patterns and pictures in it. I think it will keep me more on track when I have some cool ideas.

A couple of years ago I took at class at The Knitting Bee to learn to crochet a cute little pouch/bag. Darla is a fantastic teacher and continues to teach classes there. I took another class from her last year on reading crochet charts, which is the method that I prefer! She now has a circle time where you can go in and get help on any project you are working on. I plan to go in this week and get some help on the shawlette from the Rose City Yarn Crawl. I'm a little stuck on it. 

I got my Stitch Fix shipment this last Friday and finally opened it today. I'll try on the clothes tomorrow. There are some interesting things in there this time. Skinny jeans??? I'll update you on what's in there and what I plan to keep, probably tomorrow. 

March is National Crochet Month

I've never really liked the look of crocheted projects, but lately I've seen some cute patterns.

I've blogged about most of this on Monday, but felt like I need to do an official post about it.

March is National Crochet month. I came across a group on Ravelry that is doing a 52 week challenge, starting this week.  I will be posting each week about a different thing, trying to follow their prompts. This week the question is, "How do you celebrate National Crochet month?" I've actually been trying to up my knowledge about crochet. We occasionally have customers come into the shop asking for help with their projects. I would like to help them and by learning more crochet terms and stitches I feel like I can actually help them. I guess I do have goals, like finishing several crochet projects that I've started, and trying to design a cute cowl that I've seen online.

Drive by pictures!

New Stitch Fix Clothes 

Cute dress, but it's a bit gappy in the bust and underarms. 

Cute knit top, will keep for work and every day.

I love this style and it fits nicely, but the zigs are too much. I know with my migraines if I was looking at it, I'd be cross-eyed before too long.

\

The sweater fits nice, but the cables and marled look together are too much. You can't see it in the picture very well, we were in a hurry, but the marled makes it look very messy.

This little sweater I will keep as well. The shirt I paired it with is too bulky, so tees or cami's will work well for it.

Tell me what you think?