The Outer Limits

The Outer Limits has been released and is now available on Ravelry!  Shalimar Yarns will have kit's to make The Outer Limits at the Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival this weekend.  They will also be carrying the Oktoberfest, Ribbon Street Cowl and Frost in Bloom patterns along with the yarn's to make them. If you are in the area, be sure to stop by the booth.  Andy and I will be there and are really looking forward to meeting you.

 

The Outer Limits is a super fun knit and makes a great gift. Knit it in your school colors, favorite team colors or to coordinate with your winter coat. The pattern is addictive so you may find that you have knit a whole bunch of them and have your holiday knitting done ahead of time!

The pattern requires 210 yards of each color of Breathless. One skein of Breathless in each color will make two hats. You could make them identical, or reverse the colors on the second hat.

Laurie was so kind to test knit this pattern for me.  This is her adorable grand daughter who I think may have a future in modeling!

 My morning was full of surprises including an email from John Warley asking if he could write about me on his blog.  If you have a moment hop on over to his blog and check it out. I just finished his book, Bethesda's Child.  Not only is it a great read, but it has a surprise ending which I really enjoyed. I really think the blog post he wrote is to shame me into starting his socks and sending them to him.  There is nothing like calling a knitter out in public!

Oktoberfest

First, I have to say how very wonderful my husband is.  The day I wrote the Dance of Spider Lunacy post he came home, donned a hat and went on a spider hunt.  I followed him around (he is much taller than me and I figured if he went first he had more of a chance of the spider jumping on him) while he searched under the eaves on top of the pergola and through the bushes.  I knew the chance of finding the offending spider was very slim and we were just about to give up when we came across him.  He was curled up on the side of one of the beams that goes across the top of the pergola.  Let's just say that he had an untimely demise and will no longer be scaring the crap out of me building his gigantic webs of horror on our deck.  The patio is now safe and hopefully spider free!

We were happy as clams (are they really happy?) and thought we were spider free.  Then we went to Busch Gardens for Hallowscream.  We love to go through the haunted houses, they really are so much fun.  What was not as much fun was having to walk through the spider bridge of horror.  I kept wondering if the was some sort of bad karma that comes along with eradicating a spider from you patio.  As large as these were, at least they didn't move.  They were creepy non the less.

Oktoberfest is now available in my Ravelry Pattern Shop.  It's a fun and very easy knit.  The stitch pattern is easy to remember which makes it a great take a long project. 

"Cool crisp days, falling leaves, fresh apples, and heading out to our local Oktoberfest are just a few things that make Fall my favorite time of year.

The Oktoberfest Cowl is the perfect accessory to wear to while apple picking and at fall festivals like Oktoberfest.  When the sun goes down and the air cools off, wrap it twice around your neck for extra warmth.  A luxury yarn like Shalimar Breathless DK will be extra soft around your neck and feel like a cozy hug!"

Margie, Diane, Holly, Robyn, Peggy and Linda did a fantastic job test knitting.  They had wonderful feedback which I really appreciate.  Be sure to check out their Oktoberfest projects on Ravelry.

The Dance of Spider Lunacy

There is nothing I find more terrifying than a spider.  I love scary movies and can watch them by myself in the dark.  Want to go through a haunted house?  No problem, I'll go and will even go through them ahead of you if you don't like to go first.  Put a tiny eight legged monster within ten feet of me and I turn into a shrieking lunatic.  The larger the spider, the louder I scream.  So the other morning when I went outside and nearly walked into a web that was more than two feet across I completely panicked.  And when the spider that made the web scuttled onto it with it's creepy legs and bounded around in a threatening manner I nearly lost my shit had a hard time keeping it together.  I slammed the sliding door (this is possible, who knew?!) grabbed a broom and a can of wasp killer.  If it kills wasps, it should be good for other bugs, right?  The can also guaranteed to shoot from as far away as twenty feet.  Broom in my left hand and wasp killer in my right, I went onto the deck and fired away.  First lesson that should be learned, wasp killer does not work on spiders.  The second is when you spray an insect that can shoot a web out of it's behind it's not necessarily the best way to go.  I'm spraying away and the spider starts swinging back and forth on a new web from it's behind and it's getting closer and closer to me.  I spray more and more wasp spray now wishing that I had gone with my original idea of a can of hair spray and a lighter.  I am now trapped in a corner of the deck while the spider from hell is swaying closer and closer.  The can of wasp spray is nearly empty and there is a puddle of it under where the spiderweb is. When the spray runs out, the spider lands on the deck and starts creeping around.  I scream like a little girl and start beating the heck out of it with the broom.  I'm swearing and screaming and beating at something that can't be seen from a distance.  So of course one of the neighbors was outside and saw the Dance of Spider Lunacy.  Of course they saw because what I haven't mentioned was that I was also in my pajamas.  It doesn't get much better than this.

Now the spider has had an entire can of wasp spray on it and is now being beaten to death with a broom.  What is the worst possible thing that could happen and go wrong here?  Yes, that's right the spider got away.  He managed to scuttle between the deck boards and was then no where to be found.  I looked all over.  Andy looked when he came home.  We figured that the spider must have died and all would be well.  That would be the logical thing to think and obviously the best case scenario.  As luck would have it, this morning I went out to take a few pictures of The Outer Limits hat before I send one of them off to Kyle.  Not only is there a new web the size of Manhattan on the lilac bush, but now there is an even bigger one on top of the pergola.  It's so large that part of it is connected to the birch tree growing next to the pergola.  The spider was in it and I swear he was laughing at me.  I doubt they make more than one web so I think he must have invited his friends and now there is an entire colony of them living out there.  I am sure they are conspiring to attack us while we sit on the new patio in the dark.  Little do they know that tonight when Andy comes home, it's going to be our Take Back The Patio night.  I'm heading to Home Depot for some spider spray in a little while.  

 I kept feeling like they might be crawling on me or plotting revenge, but I was able to take a few pictures of The Outer Limits without being attacked by the spider. The one's on the left and right are in Breathless Blue Raspberry and Ore.  The one in the middle is Breathless Love Potion and Ore. It's a really fun pattern and one skein of each color can make two hats.  Laurie has been test knitting the pattern and should have a picture to share soon.

 

Finish Line

"There is nothing like the feeling you get when crossing a Finish Line. Whether you cross first, last, or somewhere in between it is unlike anything else and gives us a wonderful feeling of accomplishment."  

I'm so pleased to announce that Finish Line has been released and is now available in my Ravely Shop for an introductory price of $4.50 until September 14th.

After I had writers block on the name for this pattern, Andy came to the rescue with Finish Line.  It's the perfect name for this fun to knit sock.  He came up with it right after we finished the patio which was a major finish line for us to cross. It had taken me a while to come up with the original name of Walk The Line and as soon as the test knit went out another pattern was released with that name.  Lydia suggested Hold The Line, which I loved, but had also been used. 

The Finish Line socks are the perfect sock for first time sock knitters and seasoned knitters alike. This unisex pattern is quick to learn and easy to knit making it a great take a long project. The completed socks sure to please your favorite guy or girl on your knitting gift list.

Finish Line written as a cuff down sock, but can easily be modified for knitting toe up. Instructions are given for using four double pointed needles, but can be converted for using the magic loop method, two circular needles, or your preferred sock knitting method.

The Test Knitters all did a fantastic job and you can see their projects on their Ravlery project pages. Lydia, Jen, Karen, Cathy, Andi and Steph, thank you so very much for all of your help! This was Steph's very first time knitting a sock and she did a wonderful job!

Have I mentioned that the patio is finished?  I'm so excited that we can finally sit out on it and relax, I can't even tell you!

I got the idea for putting large stones around the fire pit from Tierney's blog.   She has amazing ideas and if you have a chance, be sure to take a peek at her blog.  I'm hoping to find a few more stones to add to it when we are fishing.

Last night we light the tiki torches and started a fire in the fire pit. We put our feet up and had a chance to relax and have some time together enjoying the cool evening air.  Fall will be here soon and I can't wait to be able to wear hand knits and sit by the fire with a nice cup of cocoa. 

PS The den/spare room is finished too!