a post mainly about Philipsburg

I have a four day weekend - woo hoo!!

It comes with a heavy price though; seven full days of work spread out over two weeks -a full day is 10 or 11 hours...I normally only work four and a half hours/day!- I have worked three of those seven, just four left. whew

Scott also had a four day weekend, so we've been enjoying our time off together. On Friday we had a mini road trip up to Philipsburg, MT. My high school English teacher always told us to travel as much as possible, to always see as much as we can, even if it's just the next town. It certainly makes me appreciate Montana: the open skies, the valleys and mountains, the wide fields of alfalfa, and stacks of hay rolls.



I knit on my Hermione socks ..didn't make much progress :)





We walked around downtown of course, but also walked up the hill into a residential area. We were really lucky that it didn't rain on us because it was in the forecast! There were quite a few houses for sale, so we picked up a listing and walked to many of them. It was fun to imagine living in each (well, some were really run down and needed a lot of work) - a few were so cute! I'm not sure I would want to live in such a small town; Missoula is nice because it's not too small, but definitely not too big. (According to Wikipedia, the 2010 census had Philipsburg at a population of 820 [compared to Missoula's 109,299 in 2010]).




from bottom left clockwise: this dog at Philipsburg Brewing Company was comfortable laying anywhere, we had a pale ale and a porter, candy at the Sweet Palace!, and lunch at UpNSmokin -excellent pulled pork sandwiches! Scott had a jalapeno and cheddar dog with pulled pork on top. We went on a recommendation and it was definitely worth it!

The late poet Richard Hugo wrote Degrees of Gray in Philipsburg. I really hope you listen to it, he was such an amazing writer.


Yesterday I finished spinning this:



and washed and dried and skeined it:

I built a two yard niddy noddy too! So easy. I looked at several tutorials but basically you need one 16" piece of PVC, four 6" pieces of PVC, two tee connectors, and three or four end caps. One tutorial said to use 18" so I originally had someone at Ace cut it that size, but it made my skein much longer than two yards. At 16" it's perfect! The total cost for materials was around $3.15.

Today I am enjoying Agatha Christie's 4:50 from Paddington, a Miss Marple mystery! I have Andi to thank for turning me onto the Miss Marple tv series, and the book is just as great!



and that is the wee start for a Hitchhiker for my aunt in MadTosh.

Plans for Monday are not set yet, but I would not mind spending the entire day, reading in bed ♥

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend :)

just a drunken note...

I typed "by the beach" to make a new Pandora playlist, which brought me to "beach/shag" and the songs have been nothing short of AWESOME!!

♥

Proposed knitting

My dear knitting and Instagram friend, Jenn, is celebrating her one year blogging anniversary on Knitwise, Purlwise! Congrats Jenn!! To celebrate, she is holding a pattern giveaway each week (so go enter and check out her blog!!) :)

I won last week's and Jenn gifted me Pendulum! It is a gorgeous, swoopy shawl that will be perfect to cover my shoulders this summer. I already have yarn for it too.








It's Cascade Heritage in Turquoise and Charcoal. Originally they were to be a Great Divide shawl for my aunt, but the more I knit, the less I thought she'd like the color combo (the turquoise is really hard to photograph!). BUT, I think these two will be perfect as Pendulum.......for me....





I'd love to cast on right now but I know that's not realistic. As soon as I tame the WIP pile I will cast on immediately!


(and just so you don't think I left my aunt without, she will be receiving a Hitchhiker in MadTosh instead...in a lovely light gray that I think will suit her much better :) )

Thank you again, Jenn!!!

socks alive!

It's been such a productive day that I can finally feel like I've earned this beer :) ok, just to gush a little, I did my first ever Click-n-Ship from the USPS website, it was so. cool.!!! We dropped the package off at the post office an hour later, and they said it will arrive on Monday! How fast is that? It's Priority mail, but still, I feel that's lightening quick to get across the country. It's the little things, right? :)

I better share my last two pairs of socks. I finished them both last month but didn't blog about them.

Pair 3/13:



Pattern: a nice vanilla one, 64 stitch, toe up, 2aat, Eye of Partridge heel 
Yarn: Zwerger Garn Opal Vincent Van Gogh in the Sunflower colorway (sonnebloom I think?)
Needles: 2.25mm

I bought this yarn last summer in Portland ♥ the gauge is slightly stiff, and from what I hear about the durability of Opal yarns, I think these socks will last a long time :) the colors are beautiful, I just love this pair.

Pair 4/13:



Pattern: another plain jane!! though, the idea for this pattern came from a KAL Susan B. Anderson held last year, in which you switch colors every ten or so rows
Yarn: all scraps! There's Knit Picks Tonal, Berrocco Sox, Mountain Colors (two colors), Lynai, and Regia (two colors)
Needles: 2.25 mm

They are kind of a pain to knit because of all the color changes and tails to weave in at the end! I like the Russian join because it does a good job securing the tails and requires less weaving in. It's so much fun choosing the colors and the order they should be! I keep a bag filled with sock yarn scraps and when it gets too full, I know it's time to knit some scrappy socks.

Ok, are you ready to see pairs 5&6??



Cadence in Knit Picks Stroll Tonal (springtime)! I am knitting these two at a time (and am past the heel actually) but in this photo I separated them in order to move stitches around to change the starting point. They are super fun to knit and after two pairs of plain socks, the pattern is a great change of pace. The only problem I have with them is, I can't read and knit!! There are three charts and it requires too much of my attention.




This last pair is, yes again!, Hermione's Everyday Socks for a summer KAL :) I couldn't resist; I love this pattern! Yarn is Lynai Sock in Loch Nessa ♥ I love how it is knitting up!! I am obsessive with new yarns and patterns, I have to check Ravelry for projects to see how the yarn/pattern looks. But Lynai is so new that it doesn't have projects in this colorway listed. So it was pretty exciting to see the colors emerge in pattern :)

Let's end with Berny:




and this one I love <3>

spinning!!

my hand spun yarn!

I was never going to spin yarn because I always said I could just buy yarn all ready made. And then I bought a drop spindle and spun these...

and then I had to have a wheel...

This is a Louet Victoria I purchased from one of Missoula's local yarn stores. She is petite, folds up so nicely, and is wonderful to spin on!! I always thought spinning wheels were heavy and immovable, but not so.

My first yarn spun on my wheel!

This one I started on the drop spindle and finished on the wheel. I over plied it, but I still think it's my best spinning yet!

I. Love. Spinning. So much. Each time I improve and learn something. I just cast on with some of my hand spun, a bunny nugget:

and it is so cool to knit with it! One of the coolest things :)

I also said I would never own a Kindle (love mine), never knit a sweater (in progress, but am loving it and have purchased a quantity of MadTosh for an Abalone), never knit socks (well, you know how that one's going) ....

my updated list of nevers is, I will never knit color work socks or a fingering weight cardigan ;)

Happy Weekend friends!!!!!

Hi friends,

Thank you for all of your kind words about my grandma, the support and kindness has been very touching, and the love is wholeheartedly appreciated. Her passing has given me a lot to think about. The thoughts come to me during the day, the night, and I give them my full attention. I think they are helping me better understand death, life, passing, and the truly important aspects of living.

♥ ♥ ♥

My reading goal for this year is to read fifty books, and guess what guys? I am halfway there :) Two of the entries are short stories, but you would count baby socks towards your knitting goal, right? I want to share some of my favorite reads so far: (in no particular order)

The Education of Little Tree by Forrest Carter - I stayed up in the wee hours last night to finish this one. It is a beautifully simple, sweet story about a young Cherokee boy who goes to live with his grandparents, and learns the way of the Cherokee. I laughed and cried through this book. There is controversy surrounding this book and author, which I briefly looked at. The bottom line to me is, the language and lessons of this story are so beautiful that it is incomprehensible that someone could write it without believing in these morals himself.

The Hangman's Daughter by Oliver Pötzsch - I loved this book and a good series to get hooked on. A lot of meaning can be lost or gained during translation and I felt this was very well translated. There are beautifully detailed illustrations sprinkled throughout. I am eagerly waiting for the fourth book to be released next month! (I do have to say that the writing was annoying at times; there's always someone "lurking in the shadows" that is "unnoticed" by the main characters. It got old.)

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman - Basically anything Neil Gaiman writes and/or narrates is magical. I listened to the Audible version and it was awesome. I am always torn between buying the print or audio version of his works, because I enjoy each.

Shadowy Horses and The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley - Such a beautiful writer!! These are books you can get lost in.

She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb - All of the above books are in my favorites list, but this one especially. It's a coming of age story, and after. It's a story about perseverance on life.

I will be back soon with what I've been knitting and spinning :) ......I bought a spinning wheel!

♥

tough

grandma and mom

My grandma passed away last Thursday at home. She was so special to me and I am still having a hard time believing she is gone. She's lived with us since I was young and has always been there. The year I was in kindergarten, I slept every night in her bed even though I wasn't supposed to. When we moved to the new house, they laid carpet in her room first so we could be the first ones to sleep in the new home, in sleeping bags. We spent many hours together crocheting side by side, or watching Wheel of Fortune and eating candy orange slices.

She developed a urinary tract infection mid-February and was never able to recover. I am relieved she is no longer in pain, the last few months were very difficult for her, and there's comfort in knowing she is with grandpa again. But even though we had time to say goodbye and prepare ourselves, the time to say the final goodbye was, and still is, incredibly painful.

One of the last things she said to me was, "I have always loved you, since you were a little girl." That is my grandma in one word: love. I hope I will embody the meaning of that word as much as she did.

rest in peace, grandma, we love and miss you so much xx

Pools of sorrow, waves of joy

FO!! This is pair 2/13 !



I am in love with these socks!! The yarn is wonderful, the pattern is pretty yet simple enough that I was able to read while knitting, and they fit perfectly!!

Pattern: Vanilla Latte Socks by Virginia Rose-Jeanes
Yarn: Lynai Superwash Sock Yarn in Across the Universe
Needle: 2.25 mm Magic Loop
Notes: Two at at time, toe up. I looove the Eye of Partridge heel! I think it's my favorite now.







in love with the speckles!!! Hope everyone has a good Wednesday :)

Aquarium, Sock FO #1/13

I have finally finished a pair of socks!

Pattern: Hermione's Everyday Socks by Erica Lueder
Yarn: Knit Picks Felici in Aquarium
Needles: 2.25 mm
Notes: I knit these 2aat cuff-down with Magic Loop. This is one of my favorite sock patterns because it's easy to memorize and has awesome texture.

It has been several months since I've even worked on socks, so it felt very good to be back knitting them. I think the magic is in the tiny needles, the thin and beautiful yarn, and because the whole project fits in your lap.

My goal this year is to knit thirteen pairs of socks, and this is pair 1/13! At one point this past year I thought, I have too many socks. But, I've worn almost every pair (of hand knit) because it's been so cold! As I type, they are having a nice soak in Eucalan wash.

I have two pairs on the needles now:

The first pair is nearly finished actually, I just have the leg and cuff left:

This pattern is Vanilla Latte Socks by Virginia Rose-Jeanes, in Lynai's Across the Universe.

And the second pair is just a stockinette sock to have for mindless moments:

Actually, I cast on these plains socks to balance out the Hearts and Flowers socks I originally had planned for the Across the Universe yarn. It was, unfortunately, a poor yarn/pattern combo. Hearts and Flowers by Wendy Johnson is a beautiful pattern and I hope to knit it with a better suited yarn choice soon.

Enjoy your weekend, friends!

two old FOs :)

I finished both Hitchhiker and the Colorblock shawl in March, but never took photos of them! (with a real camera, instead of my cell phone, I mean :) )






Pattern: Hitchhiker by Martina Behm
Yarn: Madeline Tosh Sock in Tart
Needles: 3.25 mm
Notes: I wanted to use as much of the skein as possible, and ended up with 35 teeth

This yarn is soooo beautiful, I loved knitting with it. This is my second time knitting this pattern, and it is my favorite! I have yarn to knit my aunt one too :)



It started snowing!!



Pattern: Colorblock Shawl by Jenn Pfeiffer
Yarn: Knit Picks Felici Sport in Sunny Day and Lana Gatto VIP
Needles: 4.0 mm
Notes: The only modifications I made were sandwiching the MC between the CC (which ended up being the main color!), and shortening the length of the shawl.



I love it!! Both yarns are super soft, and the Lana Gatto has a touch of cashmere in it :)



That's it for now! Hope you guys are having a great weekend :)

TGIF!!!

This has been such an off week for me and it has really tested my patience... I am so happy it's FRIDAY!

Since the third clue for the mystery mitts Grand Right & Left was released today, I can share clue two!



I LOVE the cable on the top so much! How pretty is this design?! I finished knitting this clue last Saturday and it was hard waiting a week for the next clue!

You might notice my blue nails...they are so bright! They were part of my April Julep box; the color is called Ally. I normally don't wear polish this bold or bright, but after wearing it this week, I'm really enjoying it! The Julep monthly box is really neat, you can choose which colors you like and the company sends you two polishes and something extra (like cuticle cream) for $20. (if you're interested in signing up, click here)

One last thing, my parents are raising two pigs!!



About five weeks old now, they are cute and oinky and they squeal!!





Happy Weekend!

(I don't know how to tactfully say this, but the pigs will be eaten). 

Mystery KAL

In my last post, I mentioned that I'm knitting a pair of mystery mitts. Here they are so far :) This is Clue One:



That pattern is Grand Right and Left by Paula McKeever (she also designed Cafe au Lait mitts!!). Right now the Fingerless Glove Fanatics board on Ravelry is hosting the MKAL. There will be four clues; clue two was just released today :)



I started knitting them two at a time on Magic Loop, however, clue two is just for the right mitt, and clue three just for the left, so I have separated the mitts to their own needles. The yarn I am using is Knit Picks Telemark in Aubergine. It is tough to knit, like literally, it doesn't have much give! But it really has nice stitch definition, don't you think? I am happy to be using it since I purchased a bit when Telemark was being discontinued a year or two ago. Using stash yarn is always nice.

Ahem... speaking of stash... and yarn... a box with this in it was delivered yesterday:



:)))))))) 

(I was told sock yarn doesn't count as stash) 

a stash update

1. A friend on Instagram recently started dyeing yarn and each colorway is absolutely gorgeous!

I have shown you the top skein before, it's Roxanne; I purchased it last month from Vanessa before her shop opened. The other two colorways are Across the Universe (left) and Loch Nessa (right). Aren't they so pretty?! It's hard choosing a pattern for them.

Loch Nessa

She just dyed some springy colorways too! Visit her website, Lynai Yarns, for yarn and other pretty things :)


2. I have also shown you the skein on the right before (I bought it in Portland last summer) but I recently added to my Opal Vincent Van Gogh collection!!

I might go back and buy a few more...  these Van Gogh yarns just make me so happy. I am pretty sure they will be plain, stockinette socks. I have seen this yarn knit up and the colors alone make the socks.


3. Wonderful Dag sent me a great package a few months ago (which I realize I never wrote about!! erg!) with this roving that she processed and hand-dyed:

and I spun it up! 

It's about 76 yards of worsted weight yarn!! I love the colors so much, and it was a lot of fun to watch the colors emerge when I was spinning it!


April is going to be a busy month for projects! I hope I can keep up. Progress photos as soon as there is progress :) but I'll tell you there are two cross stitch projects, one mystery knit a long for fingerless mittens, some mice and hay bales, and another Hitchhiker (for my aunt). And I really want to cast on socks with the Lynai yarn!!

Today is my Friday because I have the day off tomorrow! Woo hoo :) Hope you guys have a great weekend!

(p.s. I decided to add a word verification in order to post a comment because I was receiving a lot of spam comments. I know it's kind of a bother but hopefully it's not too annoying! if you have any suggestions/comments about it, you can always email me too, at starshineluck @ gmaildotcom)

a few things...

1. a chubby chirp for my aunt:




2. another Hitchhiker Shawl in progress! Part of an Instagram KAL. I'm knitting it with my lovely skein of Mad Tosh :) I've knit quite a bit more than what's in this photo:




3. Remember the Winter Wonderland Sampler I started last Christmas? Those clever girls have come up with the Springtime Sampler at the Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery ! I am working on the frames right now, and on April 1 the first little patterns come out!! Pictures soon :)


4. I joined another Instagram KAL for the Colorblock Shawl by Jennifer, more information at Knitwise, Purlwise. My colors will be:




5. I recently realized that I can listen to Audible books on my iPhone, instead of on my Kindle... it might not sound like much to you, but when I realized this, the world stopped. So I've been listening to The Help nonstop for the past few days while I stitch on the Springtime Sampler. Have you read/listened/watched it?? It's amazing!! I haven't seen the movie yet but I really want to after listening to the audio book. Soooo good. I think I might be the last person on earth to read this book.

so happy it's Hump Day and BOOK CLUB NIGHT!!