Thursday, June 11, 2009

Moving On - It's Been a Slice

Well, this has caused me all kinds of thinking and it's hard to leave this blog.  I've been blogging here since 2003 and documented lots of monumental things in my life and tons of little things.  Needless to say, making change is never easy but it has become due time........ I have my own domain and my own space on this big wide internet and have created a new blog.  In time, the blog will be integrated into a whole web site that will showcase my jewelry and fibre creations.

Please follow me on over to my  new home:

Uli's Creative Corner

My new home is still under construction and will take some time to get used to.  Things just have been a little odd around here.  So please, pop on over and say HI.  Farewell but see you soon.
Ulrike alle June 11, 2009 06:19 in:
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Tuesday, June 02, 2009

52 pair. Am I Nuts?

I don't have the button up yet but I've taken the 52 Pair Plunge III over on Ravelry.  The mission is to attempt to knit 52 pairs of socks over the course of the next calendar year, starting June 1, 2009.  Yeah right.... my chances are slim but with it being a summer of socks once again and a trip to sock summit and a couple of sock KALs, I'm thinking I can try.  Sweaters don't work for me these days.  I don't have the staying power to actually bring one from start to completion.  So, small projects it is and for me that means lots of socks.  It's not like I don't have a ton of sock yarn.

 

So, on June 1, yesterday, while waiting for the Little Mis to get through her primary ballet exam, I used my nervous energy and cast on the Lacy Rib Socks from Wendy Knits book Socks from the Toe Up. (and there's a KAL for socks from that book, too).
 

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I'm enjoying this sock pattern very much.  I'm using some stash Tofutsies yarn and I like how the simple lace pattern works with the yarn.  Tofutsies yarn is a bit splitty but it feels very nice on the hands.  It's hot out right now and it seems to be a good summer knitting yarn.  Of course, Sam seems to love it, too.  He's terrible about trying to steal my ball of yarn away from me.  The one thing about that particular ball of yarn is that Tofutsies seems to be a very tightly wound ball of yarn and I always pull my yarn out from the centre of the ball.  Well, I ended up pulling about 1/3 of a tangled mess of yarn out of the centre and spent several hours trying to detangle the mess. 

 

Some other things I learned with this sock so far is Judy's Magic Cast on - I don't have the link handy but there's a You Tube video out there that's fabulous.  Also, I've only done a couple of toe-up socks (I'm one of those die hard top down, 5 DPN types and I'm forcing myself to branch out) and so far, they've been provisional cast on, short row toe.  This time, I tried the "m1" toe and I'm liking it quite a bit.  It seemed to work well and combined well with the simplicity of Judy's Magic Cast on.  Now, it's just "just keep knitting, just keep knitting".

 

Well, my nervous energy was well spent as the Little Miss passed her primary ballet exam with flying colours although the stress level at our house the night before was rather difficult to take.  She was so scared and so worried.  This dance thing is very important to her.  I see myself in and out of the dance studio a lot next year as she's contemplating moving dance from once a week to 2 or even 3 times a week.  That won't leave room for many other extracurricular activities.

 

Last but not least, my motime woes kind of continue.  I don't really want to leave but I don't think the site is really supported any longer either.  I decided once again to subscribe to the paid service so that I would get more storage space for pics and such stuff and a few other things.  When I originally tried, it worked but only for one month.  I never managed to re-subscribe.  I gave it a shot last week, went through the subscription process, paid with paypal, but nothing has been done to "flip" my account over.  So, I've paid but I still have no extra storage space etc.  I've sent an e-mail, wrote a note on the help blog.  I'm hesitating to switch though because I'm thinking about getting my own domain with web space to get a web site going for "Creations by Uli" and then just house a blog there, too.  In the mean time, I guess I'll stay put. 

Ulrike alle June 02, 2009 19:11 in:
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Saturday, May 30, 2009

First in a Series

It's about time I show off some of my spinning.  This is a recent little spin of some SW Merino from one of my favourite Etsy dyers - FatCatKnits.  I have a lot of fave sellers (aka dealers....) on Etsy but I sure like dealing with Ginny.  I haven't done all the measuring and figuring but this yarn came out at about DK weight.  It's a super soft SW Merino and it's 2-plied.  To put into the store or to not put into the store.  I think it might be a keeper....  This colourway was called "Gimme Shelter".
 

Collage - Gimme Shelter SW Merino
Ulrike alle May 30, 2009 21:44 in:
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Saturday, May 30, 2009

We're Going!!!

It's offical............. this summer our family vacation will make a little detour to Portland, Oregon.  I wonder why?  Well, heck yeah, to go to Sock Summit!!!

It got a little crazy around class registration time and I am not quite sure yet if I got into one of the classes I tried for.  I'll figure it out eventually.  The VISA was charged so I'm hoping that by the end it's all sorted out, the class is actually mine.

Lots of talk going on about the registration process and server issue and many disappointed people.  To me, even if I didn't get any classes, I would still be thrilled to go just for the experience and the market.  Getting a class was kind of like when hubby tried hard to get me Elton John tickets a few years ago.  The concert was sold out in 10 minutes or something crazy like that.  We were the lucky ones who managed to snag a ticket.

I've got to go and try to get some pics of some handspun fun.
Ulrike alle May 30, 2009 16:07 in:
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Friday, May 29, 2009

Template Woes

Dang, I just messed up my old template trying to switch to a new one - now I've lost all the edits I had made to the old template - like all the extra code, buttons, rings etc.  Arrrgh.  Ah well.  Onward and upward.  I'll try to recover what I can.  Bear with me.  I like the new template though.
Ulrike alle May 29, 2009 20:01 in:
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Thursday, May 21, 2009

My Finished Revontuli Shawl

I think I forgot to show of my finished Revontuli shawl.  This was a great knit and I'm sure I will make at least one more of these lovely shawls. 
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I used Kauni in the EG colurway which I purchased from Fun Knits quite some time ago.  I love this colourway but there are so many other gorgeous Kauni colourways that it's hard to pick.  I gifted it to my Mom for her recent 72nd birthday and I think she really enjoyed receiving it as a gift.

I'm behind on my blogging and showing off what I've been up to but I'm trying to catch up a little.  We're all fighting some sort of stomach bug.  It's making its way through the family.  It started with JR, jumped to hubby, jumped to me, seems to have jumped back to hubby (men always get it worse.........) and now it seems to have afflicted the Little Miss.  It sure is tough taking care of everyone and still working and fulfilling work commitments etc.  I'm tired...........
Ulrike alle May 21, 2009 03:32 in:
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Tuesday, May 19, 2009

A Little Girl Turns into a Little Lady

As spring has sprung (and we're still getting pretty weird weather), we were very lucky to have a beautiful weather day on the Little Miss' first holy communion day.  This was a special day for all of us and the whole school year to this point was spent preparing for that day.  And here, all of a sudden, was the day and the sun shone and pictures show best how my little girl turned into a little lady that day - she even had her first pair of little white sandals with heels.  I tried so hard to find a pair of little white flats but oh no........ heels it had to be.
 

FCErika&JR3

>FCErika&JR2

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The little man didn't clean up too badly either.  I was pretty darn proud of the Little Miss.  They sang like little angels and the little man slept through mass (and that was the best gift he could have given us).  I was one of the readers who read one of the readings - they always had a shortage of parent volunteers for that task and I never minded volunteering for that when we had our regular Grade 2 masses once a month - so as a result, I got asked to do it on the big day, as well.

This past weekend, friends of ours, whose younger daughter was also in the Little Miss' first communion group, had her confirmation and I was to be her sponsor.  Another pretty special occassion.

We had a lovely family get together after.  And the kids continue growing up, faster than I could ever have imagined.

 

Ulrike alle May 19, 2009 19:30 in:
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Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Fibres West

A little late, I know but here's a Fibres West update:

Well, it was great.  I really enjoyed being a vendor and had lots of fun meeting lots of cool people.

How much more fun than being surrounded by people who love yarn and fibre and to look at all that stuff for a couple of days?
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I had a fabulous little helper. I couldn't believe that she stuck it out with me for the entire day on Saturday and on Friday, when I had her Dad pick her up about halfway through the Dad, she was so mad at me for sending her home.

Of course, I did some (lots) of shopping with most of my goodies coming from Shelley's Fun Knits booth.  A bunch of great Knitopia fibres followed me home, too.  I'm never quite sure how yarn and fibre just kind of follows me.  The thing I'm still most sad about is that one BIG ball of Kauni that was stashed away in a corner for me, somehow didn't find its way into my shopping bag and made it back to Vancouver Island rather than coming home with me.  It's still bugging me.

Work is really busy right now. I'm feeling a tad (alright, a lot) stressed.  I really just want some peace and quiet where nobody talks to me for like a whole day.  I just don't forsee that happening any time soon.  The kids are pushing my limits, too.  We've had more stomach buggies running their course through the house last week.  Well, let's just say that overall, I'm a fairly grumpy girl right now.  Looking forward to a 4-day Easter weekend.

Last but not least, these cool earrings are new in my jewelry shop and these cute stitch markers are the newest listing in Knitter's Nook.
ShaggySterlingDangles3ShaggySterlingDangles2
LittleRounds1LittleRounds3
Ulrike alle April 07, 2009 20:41 in:
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Monday, March 16, 2009

Summer of 2006........

Now, here's an old UFO finally finished.  I started this pair of socks in the summer of 2006, JR was just a baby, I was on mat leave, the Little Miss was probably still going to daycare......... so, I had quite a nice bit of time on my hands.  I started Sivia Harding's wonderful Reptilian Lace socks from Knitty.  A beautiful beaded knit.  I was quite taken by the first sock and remember just being absorbed into knitting it.  Couldn't put them down but since I didn't immediately cast on for the 2nd sock, they sat and they sat and they sat.

Well, one of my New Year's resolutions was to work on some UFO's and this was one.  Here they are, made from Loran's Laces Shepard Sock in the Baltic Sea colourway with beads that blend totally into the colour:
ReptilianLace3ReptilianLace4ReptilianLace1

I really liked how they turned out.  I'm also glad they are finally finished.

If you're local, this weekend, I'll be at Fibres West out in Abbotsford.  I have a little table and I'll be selling my wares - stitch markers, shawl pins, bookmarks, cell phone charms, spinning wheel orifice hooks and I might just bring a bit of handspun and some jewelry.  I'd love for you to stop by... if you do come out, please make sure to stop and say HI - I might just snag you to give me a break so I can do some of my own shopping. :-)
Ulrike alle March 16, 2009 05:15 in:
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Sunday, March 15, 2009

The Stash

Well, since there's been all kinds of icky sickness spreading around our house and I'm sitting here, willing the Little Miss to go to sleep and we've had a bit more sunlight so I can take more pictures, I finally played catch-up on my Ravelry fibre and yarn stash.  My fibre stash is almost all caught up.  There isn't much fibre left that hasn't also been photographed and entered into my Ravelry stash pages.  The yarn........ not even close and I've been trying for at least 1.5 years now to get it all updated.  I do try, however, to get any new acquisitions in there.  My last fairly big yarn acquisition was the Customer Appreciation sale at one of my LYSs.  That was fabulous and it was on my birthday.  What could be better than lining up at 6:30 am on a Saturday morning with many other yarnies in search of that elusive yarn.  See.... this was the line-up when I arrived:
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Between 7 am and 8 am, everything was 40% off........ could I resist?  Oh no.....  Here is the bag that I left the store with:
 
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I love the little sheep stamped on the brown paper bag.  You can see, I treated myself quite nicely but yes, I did save over $70!!!!

All laid out on the floor, the stash looks like this:
 
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There's a couple of skins of Malabrigo sock, a couple of skeins Araucania Ranco (one in multi and one in solid), a couple of skeins of Manos, 3 different colours of Crystal Palace Mini Mochi, a skein of laceweight Fleece Artist Suri Dream in purple, no less, some Tofutsies and I think that about covers it.  So lots of loveliness to make more socks with.  I get stumped when I'm supposed to think about buying sweater yarn but small, innocent skeins of sock yarn and lace weight follow me home quite easily.

Well, going through the exercise of stashing the yarn in the Ravelry database today, a few weeks after the event, allowed me to re-live the fun I had, the nice people I met, and the lovely yarns I got.
 
 
Ulrike alle March 15, 2009 21:15 in:
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