February Lady....

Well, it's been finished for a while now, but here are a few pics of my February Lady Sweater. Taken out back of our house, during an afternoon scooter session with Matthew :0) Close up shot......

Action shot.....

There's a great little slope down from our garage. Good for getting up just enough speed to take us over the lane and almost to the end of the opposite house. Not very lady-like, but FUN!

Yarn is Dream in Color Classy in Shiny Moss. Four skeins, all the same dyelot, but two definite different shades. Oh well, there was no way I was going to rip out that whole thing. I don't think you can tell, as I whizz by on my scooter anyway.

Thanks to Matthew and my iphone for photography :0)

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I've been SO busy lately. I started work at everyone's favourite bookstore. Just part-time during the holiday season, but that part-time is turning into 5-6 days a week.

And when I haven't been checking out your book purchases, I've been chained to my sewing machine, stocking my etsy shop with diaper bags for the little mommies of the world. I can say "of the world" now - I just got my first sale to Italy. And I passed the 50 sales mark - woot!

Check out Teddy's store too. After seeing it, his teacher commissioned some work from him, as did his Nanny. He'll be buying us dinner soon :0) He's so proud of himself for running his own business.

Happy Monday!

disco xxx

Happy Halloween 2009

Happy Halloween from Chez Disco.

;0)

Welcome back

It's been so long.

I just finished this hat, for our friend, Ollie, in England. Modelled by Matthew, both of these four year olds have big noggins, so it should fit Ollie just fine.

I love the decreases at the top of this hat. The pattern is Shedir from Knitty.com. It is rather complicated and you must pay attention to every other row - the ones with the cables. It went a little quicker once I'd worked out how to do ALL of the cabling without a needle. I had to tink back a couple of the cabling rows - pretty soul-destroying, but worth it.

The yarn is a test skein of the new Malabrigo yarn "Dos", in colourway "Pearl Ten". I picked that up from Stitches West earlier this year. I love the colour, but think I may be allergic to the yarn itself - every time I knit with it, my eyes would get itchy and watery.

In the interests of equality, here's a pic of Teddy, getting his first badge at cub scouts this week.

That wheelchair lady must've been going REALLY fast!

Covetting Cotty

Hands up all those who like an easy pattern that gives really pretty results. I know I do, and I have loved making these Cotty socks the past couple of weeks. I started them just before we left Florida and knit on sock #1 during our journey up to our new home here in the Carolinas.

Congratulations to Carrie for writing a winning pattern :0)

So, here they are, completed in Socks That Rock Mediumweight - a rare gem, that I think is quite likely "Jade". Still with the cameraphone pics, so excuse the washed out colour look. Can you spot my 'deliberate' mistake?
This pair came out a tad small for my huge hoofs, so they'll be winging their way over to England pretty soon - Hubbs has a more delicate foot than me :0)

I loved this pattern so much, and had been reading about the merino/cashmere/nylon blends that others are, or will be, using that I just had to cast on right away with another yarn from my stash. The Yarn is the Pagewood Farms Alyeska I showed you a few months ago.

Do you like how I set the swift and winder up? My usual table is covered in crap, so I had to improvise. It's actually a pretty good solution for me, as I don't have to worry about the clamps scuffing the wood.
Blurry pic of the skein wound. You get the idea. It is mostly greeny, grey-y, but every now and then there is a little fleck of pink. Pretty.

So, this is my first experience with a cashmere blend sock yarn, and boy, do I like it. The yarn is so soft as it flows through your fingers while knitting. I think if Blue Moon made a MCN blend I would never need to buy from another dyer again. Tell me they don't, please!

Here's a progress shot, so you can see how it's knitting up.

Rockin in the Carolinas

Thanks to all for your kind compliments on my Shurtagals, they really are a pretty sock, right.

And so, to end any confusion. We are in Fort Mill, South Carolina. It is about spitting distance from Charlotte, North Carolina. Both towns being close to the borders of their respective states.

We rented a house in a master planned community which has its own 'high street' (or market street, if you like ;0) ) with a bunch of shops and restaurants on it; along with a YMCA which we live across the street from, literally; a 'British' pub (yay), a community center with pool and playgrounds; and all sorts of entertainment for our delight and delectation.

This past Saturday evening was 'music in the park'. They had a Beatles cover band playing from 7-10pm. It was SO much fun, we all had a blast. The boys were up and dancing almost from the start.

As chance would have it, for the past few months we've been listening to the Sjt Pepper CD in the car. I'm trying to give the boys a musical education beyond whatever is being played on the radio right now. We've started with Sjt Pepper, Abba Gold and Janis Joplin. They like it all I'm pleased to say. I have a Bob Dylan CD to be added to the mix anytime soon.

I have tried to sing Yellow Submarine to them before, but I'm not much of a singer. So it was totally cool when the band asked all the kids to join them on 'stage' to sing it. My boys, I'm proud to say, were first in line at the mic.

Here's a shot looking down the 'village green' to show it was busier than the previous pics made it look. And to the right, can you see the huge slidey bounce house too.

It was an absolutely brilliant evening and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. The boys lasted til almost 9.30, when Dad had to go get the car - yes, you could drive right up the side of the green to pick up - amazing.

And one thing I REALLY loved about the event? FREE. Yes, no money. The HOA organises it all. Well I guess we pay the HOA via our rent, but it feels free, so please don't rain on my parade ;0) The Carolinas are looking better and better.

And you know what else is looking better and better?

Matt's muscles. He's been taking part in kids fitness classes at the YMCA. They call the classes 'wee fit'. Too funny. Both boys are loving it. And it's great for me too - I get to work out while they do.

Happy Monday :0)

Shurtagal

I'm finally back in the land of the living wi-fi. We are firmly ensconced in our new home in South Carolina. We have electricity, gas, furniture, cable and internet services, yay!

So, I can do some catch-up blogging......

To start, here are my finished Shurtagals. STR mediumweight in Stormy Weather. This pattern is most definitely best in a more solid colour, The pattern isn't drowned in the colours. Just my humble opinion ;0)

pretty heel shot. I like the stripes.

And a final pool shot. These were finished while I was still in Florida. I couldn't resist. Look at the beautiful water......

Aye, aye, shipmates ;0)

I knit a wee something for the "Coat for a Boat" art project, in my home town. A telescope. Here's Matt, modelling the finished article.....I love his little sly peek to see if I'm still photographing him. This was knit in Lion Brand Glitterspun. The insert to keep it tube-like is a paper towel cardboard innerd. Cut down the middle and rolled on an angle.

The boys were fascinated while I was making this. I have another ball and a half, so, if I can find the scrap of paper I noted my stitch count on, I may make them some of their own.

:0)

p.s. note the wet ground. In the summer, it really rains here in Florida. Rains hard.

Up, up and away.......

I'm still in the land of the living. Even reading y'alls blogs, although not commenting much (mostly catching up using bloglines on my phone - teeny keys are not conducive to regular blog-commenting). I've been so busy the last few weeks. I've gotten a bit of knitting in, between house-moving, looking for a new house, birthday parties and organising volunteers for Teddy's school book fair (otherwise known as pulling teeth!).

We found a new house - it's in the community we wanted and is VERY close to the town centre. As in, three of the corners of our street are occupied by 1. the YMCA, 2. a preschool for Matt and 3. a pub for Mommy and Daddy :0)

We move in June 11th and I seriously can't wait. I even found a knit group on Ravelry that meets at the local coffee shop - about a 3 minute walk for me - woohoo :0)

In fun news (as if a new house wasn't fun enough), tonight we took the boys to see the new Disney-Pixar movie "UP". It was totally hilarious, and don't my boys look awesome in their 3D glasses. We ate out afterwards and what else would make the boys happy, but balloons.

I've a fun knitting project to show you tomorrow, so stay tuned.

:0)

Some cute mommy stuff

Mother's Day, yesterday, started off really nicely with a breakfast menu brought to me in bed. What a great effort from Teddy with his writing. Over breakfast, I opened up some wonderful cards and handmade gifts - a decorated cookie and stamped 'purse'. I'm a lucky mommy indeed :0)

Later that day, we had a family party, which left some of us pooped. Here are Matt and his cousin, Owen, snuggling together on the couch. These two boys are in the same class at school this year and have become very close.

And I HAD to get a picture of the latest sport at Chez Disco-in-laws. We call it fistycups :0)

In house news.... we closed this afternoon, so I am now officially homeless, broke and living with my in-laws.

But with three awesome 'boys'. What more could a girl ask for.

Happy Monday :0)

Baby girl surprise

Our house didn't close yesterday. The buyers loan still wasn't ready! Not happy, and that's all I want to say about that.

Onto happier things. Like knitting.

Here's a Baby Surprise Jacket, made with Bernat Organic Cotton, from the stash. Finished this morning, just in time for the baby shower. I love it when people find out what kind of baby they're having. Then you can knit in the 'appropriate' colour :0) I wrapped it up with some other girly goodies in a dolly's basket. I figured that might come in more useful than the usual gift bag.

Here's mom, opening a LOT of baby gifts. The friends hosting the shower did an awesome job decorating the party room. Cute, huh!

Baby showers are something about America I really enjoy :0)

Happy Mothers Day for tomorrow. Even if you aren't a mom, you have a mom :0)

Sometimes, you just need a laugh....

We moved out of our house today. It's completely empty. Tomorrow is the closing. If our buyer's loan is approved, that is. Who leaves that shit til last minute?!!

Enough of that.

I took Teddy and his friend to the library after school. While his friend played on the computer, he took a sheet of plain paper (there were no colouring pages available) and said he wanted to draw me a surprise picture.

I was sitting right next to him, playing a new word game on my iphone, but kept glancing over. He was super-secretive about the whole thing and kept giggling and telling me it was supposed to be a surprise.

From my brief glances, I thought he was drawing me a picture of a butterfly.

He wasn't!!!

On a scale of 1 to 10, how funny is that?!!!

The Money Pit

I've been a bit preoccupied lately. We sold our house, from now on only to be known as The Money Pit.

Our buyers are paying more than $100 grand less than we paid for it. $104 grand, to be precise. Hence, TMP. Oh well, it's only worth what someone will pay for it and they were our first offer in over 6 months on the market.

Now we are in the unenviable position of coming up with a big wad of cash to settle our mortgage AND pay closing costs. Ouch. Then we have to save up (again!) for a deposit on our next house.

Thank goodness for Bezzie and her Random Meanderings. Reading her blog has been really good preparation for the cheapassedness which has now become part of daily life at Chez Disco.

Out are our regular dinners and lunches out. In are brown bag lunches and coupon cutting.

Out is our cable, internet and home phone. In is using our iphones to their fullest extent, mooching the in-laws wi-fi and watching DVDs (which we already own, or can borrow from the library).

Out is taking 'stuff' to Goodwill. In is some major activity on Craigslist.

Out is our two car family. In is our one car family.

Out is accepting the first quote for the Radon remediation work we must have done before our closing. In is shopping around and getting a cheaper quote by $250.

And on it goes.......

We close on May 8th. Then we'll spend a month living with my parents-in-law (they live only a 10 minute drive from us), while Teddy finishes up at school. Then we're all (including the in-laws) moving 'up north'.

Charlotte here we come.

That's about all I can stomach writing about the situation for now. I'm sure there'll be a little more economy-ranting to come at a future date.....

But for now, I'll leave you with a couple cute pics of my Teddy. He had surgery on Monday (goodbye $500 deductible!) to remove 4 large moles from his scalp.

Before the op, flying high with his bear, Bob.

Afterwards. My little sick siekh.

It's quite amazing how quickly children recover from things like this. We dropped $8 on a prescription of tylenol and codeine for him, in case he was in pain afterwards. Only 1 teaspoon of that has been taken and I'm left wondering what to do with the rest!!!

;0)

OK Amigos, that's all for now. I'm off to pack up some more boxes. Happy Wednesday :0)

A Coat for a Boat

I was surfing the web tonight and came across this story on the bbc news website.

As well as being a totally cool and fun art project, the Customs House where it's all being put together is just round the corner from where I grew up.

Not 'round the corner' as in the same region. Not even 'round the corner' as in the same town. I mean quite literally round the corner, as in 30 seconds walk round the corner. Too funny!!!

I emailed to ask if I can knit something for the project. Watch this space.........

Rockin' Chevron Scarf

Last in my big batch of FOs. The Chevron Scarf, made with Socks That Rock mediumweight in Rainforest Jasper, and a mill end which I think is Peaceblossom. Everyone should have one of these scarves. So pretty and the pattern is so simple.

I love the combination of pink and green, and pink and brown.

Californian Puddles

I love cables. And I love scarves. When Irishgirlie made this pattern, I was head-over-heels. The cables aren't too close together, so the fabric is fairly flat, and they look like little rivers, or waves on a (calm) beach. This scarf is made with Aslan Trends Artesanal. It's a tweedy, soft yarn, containing cotton and alpaca. It was quite a joy to work with.

This scarf is for display in Gabriella's yarn shop.

My plan is to knit up the Woobu (Obsidian) I bought at Stitches into this pattern, for Tommy, for next fall. In the meantime, I'll be looking for a good hat pattern to match.

Crochet, baby!

My first real crochet project.

Back in January, I took a class at Gabriella's (where I'm no longer working, btw) with knit and crochet designer Kristin Omdahl. As well as signing her new book, Wrapped in Crochet, she taught us how to crochet the Blaze scarf, featured in said book.

More crappy pictures from the video camera, sorry. I love my new glass head from Pier One. A bargain at only $15. And green too - made from recycled glass.

Lovely curly corkscrews.

And a closeup of the very simple stitch pattern.

I used Trendsetter yarns "Tonalita" - there's some acrylic content, but it was so soft to work with, and the colours are beautiful too. I really enjoyed it and am using it for another project I'm now working on.

Tomorrow, another FO - I know, I can't believe it either!!!!!

Happy Monday :0)

Cervical Cancer

Really sad news today from the UK.

Jade Goody was a contestant on the Big Brother show in the UK. Tommy and I watched that season when we were first together. It was his first experience of the show. The UK show is completely different from the US version. It's waaaaaaaay more fun and the whole country (almost) watches and loves it. Trainwreck TV at it's best :0) And Jade was the best of the best reality show 'stars'.

Jade passed today (Mothers Day in the UK) at age 27 of cervical cancer. She leaves behind two sons aged 4 and 5.

I'm really grateful to Bezzie for her couple of years of hosting her KAYE program. And tomorrow I'll be booking an appointment for myself again.

btw: is anyone else missing Bezzie's blog?

Yabadabadooooooooooooo.....

I'm so excited to have these socks completed. They were my first toe up and also first short row heel (don't look too closely). Part of the Leyburn KnitALong in the Socks that Rawk group on Ravelry, I chose Fred Flintstone as my colourway. It's not a colourway I'd usually choose - way bright. But I'm so glad I branched out.

Orange, red and yellow.

I love blue, although it doesn't appear too often in my life (wardrobe or home). I love green - that features heavily in my home decor (sofas, accents) and a little more in my wardrobe. Although, if you looked at my wardrobe, you'd insist my favourite colour is black - maybe it should be, it's very slimming ;0)

When my boys ask me what my favourite colours are, I always say blue and orange. Orange is just so lively and cheerful, I love it.

Having said all that, I've chosen Stormy Weather as my colour for the next KAL - Shur'tagal.

Anyway, back to the Leyburns. They fit like a dream. So snug. The only change I made to the pattern was to change down a needle size for the leg. They sure do look baggy, but they fit so nicely. I wore them the very next day after finishing them.

Happy weekend :0)

Chester

So, I've been camera-less for almost two weeks, but itching to take photos of the multiple FOs I have waiting to be blogged.

I finally gave in and pulled out our old video camera, which also takes photos. Poor quality photos, but photos none-the-less.

The first FO I have to show you is for my darling Teddy. The pattern is called Chester and you can find it in the organic cotton kids collection book by Rowan.

It is made with Rowan's "purelife" organic cotton. The yarn was nice and smooth to work with, although as with all cotton, a tad hard on the old hands. The colour is a sort of mushroomy brown.

I think Teddy likes it........ And he can't have his photo taken without his kid brother wanting some of the action too.
On the same day I took these photos, Teddy came home with his first piece of clay artwork. Like it? I do - it's my favourite colour :0)

When I found the video camera, there were some really old photos. Including this one. Teddy, aged one.

Oh, how they change ;0)

Words, words, words

I seem to have lost my camera. I'm upset. I always have it in my purse. For those kodak moments I'm always too busy enjoying, to get photos of.

It's a bummer because I have 5, yes FIVE, FOs to photograph and post. I guess they're like London buses - none for ages, then a ton show up at once.

To sweeten this pictureless blogpost deal, here's a link to a blog I always mean to do things with - Blog Giveaways. Enter to your hearts content, and let me know if you ever win anything. I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for a new camera giveaway :0(

Stitches Haul

Dinner anyone? Here are the yummies I brought back from Stitches this past weekend (well, it would've been this past weekend, had I got this post up the same day I wrote it)...... My beloved. Everyone's beloved. Blue Moon Fiber Arts. Two STR heavyweight skeins in green. One a rare gem, the other a mill end. I think this is going to complete the collection for my special green blanket project - more to be revealed in the near future on this one. Irishgirlie gifted me this mill end of The Cookie Next Door - gorgeous, gorgeous. And a MASSIVE skein of Woobu in Obsidian - I have this earmarked for a winter combo for the hubby. I'm thinking hat and scarf, maybe....

Miss Babs. She was manning the booth and took my payment for these pretties. A full skein of Yummy Sport & Sock in Chocolate Roses and 3 pretty mini skeins of Yikes, Toes in Lilacs, Dahlia and Spring Lettuce.

Some randoms: A coin purse kit from pickupsticks. I really think Gabriella should be stocking some of their kits - they are adorable, especially the baby shoes, and just right for Florida's demographic (never mind the poinsetta wreath for Christmas). Another brown and pink skein of sock yarn from Chameleon Colorworks - their Bambino yarn in the Briar Rose colourway. And a big old piece of BFL fluff beautifully dyed the colour 'lichen' by Pigeonroof Studios.

Freebies were also out in force at the show. For Malabrigo Junkies, test skeins of their new Pearl Ten yarn. And Tapmouse generously shared some offerings from Painted Moth Fiber Arts. I have both the Blue Jay and Spring Concerto mini bits of fluff (my spinning terminology needs some work, I know) and they are both beautiful colourways. I just looked in her shop and she has both colourways in stock at only $16 a piece. I say that like I know that $16 is a bargain - I know nothing!!!

So that was my haul from Stitches West. I haven't knit a shred of it yet, but, some projects are in FO status right now, so who knows, there could be some handspun soon, or a new pair of socks in the works. Watch this space......

STITCHES, baby!!!

What a whirlwind this weekend was. I left home Friday night and arrived late, late, late to San Francisco airport. It must have been the hour of the day (or rather night), because I started chasing down complete strangers, whilst calling out "Irishgirlie, Irishgirlie". Only to see them hug other strangers and reveal themselves NOT to be Irishgirlie. Oops!

Big thanks go to Irishgirlie for hosting me in style a second time - I'm hoping this gig will become an annual get-together. Not only does this girlie give up her room for me, but she gets up at godforsaken hours of the morning to traipse me to classes, waaaaay before she has to start work at 'the booth'. Thank you dahlink ;0)

So. Many friends were seen, not many pictures were taken - too much fun for camera time. But here's a rare one: me, Irishgirlie, CPurl and Leftcoastknits. Fun girls, one and all.
Saturday afternoon I took an Introduction to Entrelac class with Margaret Fisher. Wonderful woman whose notes finally decoded the mystery. Now it's easy-peasy-lemon-squeezie.

Sunday morning, my class was Suitable Seams, with Judy Pascale. Boy, does that woman have energy! And now I have the confidence to go forward with my TKGA masters course and complete the seam swatches with matching length either side. Thank you Judy :0)

After another wonderful lunch, I stopped by the booth of some spinning guild and learned to spin. In three minutes flat! I immediately bought the dowel and CD demo spindle and headed back to the booth to show off my new mad skillz. See that disco-spindle fly, baby!
Main attraction: The Blue Moon Fiber Arts booth. All those gorgeous colours. See them all? No? Oh, that'll be a late Sunday afternoon picture then, when the booth had been stripped bare of all its wares. Man, those knitters love a rockin sock yarn :0)

Who needs to knit the stuff, just wear the skein as is. In the background is the lovely EttaMae. See what a blur of activity that woman is? And beautiful to boot. Love her!

And here's the whole blue moon booth gang (and me). Tapmouse, EttaMae, Irishgirlie, and Cockeyed. Wonderful ladies, all. Those west coasters sure do know how to show a girl a good time :0) I absolutely can't wait for next year.

...............................

I arrived for a plane change in Charlotte, you know, my favourite city. The one I want to move to. Soon. Here's a picture of the airport, with a few inches of snow on the ground. Don't know if that contributed to the loss of my carry-on bag, which had been taken from me at San Francisco due to lack of overhead space (liars, I got on the plane and there was plenty!), but I'm happy to say we are now reunited.

So, tomorrow, I'll give you a look at my new pretties. Sigh, so happy.