school girl scarves

So here they are!  The scarves I knit up for my two school girls to wear this year.  It was so refreshing to knit a couple of quick and easy projects after I spent such a long time on that summer shawl.  I didn't even use a pattern -- just seed stitch with some random drop stitches thrown in to make it a little interesting. 

The blue and green one is Brooke's. 

And the pink and orange one is Brenna's.

I bought this beautiful Noro yarn on our most recent trip to Louisville.  When I go home I always try to visit our local yarn shop, Friends and Fiber in LaGrange, KY.  The yarn is called Taiyo and is a soft and squishy combination of cotton, silk, wool and nylon.  Just enough wool to make it warm, enough silk to make it special and enough cotton so it won't be scratchy.  And of course Noro is famous for its explosion of vibrant cascading colors.  Who wouldn't want to wear such a happy scarf to stay cozy on a blustery day?

Now I'm working on a cowl for myself.  Hopefully, I will be sharing that soon.  In the mean time the school year schedule is starting to pick up.  The children start on Friday and we are already beginning the plate spinning orchestration of football and soccer practices and games.  Praise God I have the comforting solace of knitting to keep me sane and my family warm and toasty.

blessings and happiness,

Athena

summer shawl

I recently bought this beautiful book and found a pattern for a lovely summer shawl.  I've been working on it most of the summer and finally finished it.

The book is a collection of Vogue patterns, so of course they're all beautiful.  I knitted my shawl with Dream in Colors' baby lace weight 100% Australian merino wool in Sour Pear.  Isn't that a pretty name for a summer yarn?

I find myself knitting a lot lately.    It's hard not to be insprired by beautiful knitting books and lovely yarn.  As soon as I finished this shawl, I cast on for a new scarf I'm knitting for Brooke for school this year.  More on that next time.

blessings and happiness,

Athena

new beginnings and new work

This is the beginning of a very pretty shawl.  I'm using the Dream in Color yarn I got from the yarn club the other day.  I guess I needed something fresh to work on for a while, because I've had some challenges with the Debbie Bliss sweater.  Despite doing two gauge swatches and being very careful with following the pattern, I'm now on version three.  My first two attempts turned out to be first, too large, and then, too small.  Hopefully, the third one will be just right.  It definitely had both Madeline and I puzzled the other night, because my gauge is spot-on.  So we decided to go up two sizes in the pattern in the hopes that that will fix the problem.  We'll see...

In the mean time, I just wanted to work with something new and this yarn is nice and fresh and green -- it reminds me of spring.  We're still waiting for signs of spring here, so hopefully, this will keep me going until we see the real thing.

So along with making a fresh start on something with my knitting, I'm also making a fresh start with something in my art.  As I mentioned the other day, I feel like something new and big is growing and sprouting in my little art world.  New ideas are sprouting and growing in my little noggin. 

So here it is...

I'm writing a book!  A children's book.  A children's chapter book to be specific.  The kind of introductory chapter books that still have pictures.  I really want to do the illustrations as well.  I hope to share the whole process here with you.

This is a realy big deal, a really big leap of faith into the unknown for me.  I feel in my heart that this is something I've been meant to do for a long time, but I'm only just now getting the courage to do it. 

Not only am I a bit nervous because I've never done this before, but also because I occassionally have a little voice of Doubt that likes to taunt my brave little steppings out into the big world. 

It says things like, "Who do you think you are?" and "You've never even taken a creative writting class, let alone have a degree in English.  What makes you think you can write a book?!" and "You don't have a fine arts degree or any formal training; what makes you think you can illustrate a book?" and even more ominously, "How on earth are you going to find a publisher?"

So, there it is.  My big exciting (scarey) announcement.  I feel oddly that I'm finely heading into the purpose and destiny I was meant for.  Like for the first time in my life, I feel like I'm doing exactly what I'm suppossed to do.  

Please pray for me.  For courage and wisdom and inspiration and grace and favor, to complete the work, that the work will be good and worthwhile and be published.  And that it will bring happiness and joy to the children who read it.

I thank you as always for listening reading.  I thank you in advance for your prayers and encouragement.  I thank you for going along with me on this crazy artful journey.

blessings and happiness,

Athena

knit night

After a lovely day at home yesterday feeling a sense of accomplishment and anticipating new things on the horizon, I was able to join some friends at knit night.  My friend, Madeline, who owns a lovely yarn shop in Edwardsville, IL, hosts an after hours knit night every Thursday night.  I rarely get to go, but yesterday was one of my rare appearances -- it was so nice to be there.

We all just sit around and chat and laugh and knit.  It's a wonderful way to spend an evening.  I continued to work on my sweater still in progress and enjoyed watching other people show off and tell about their projects.  One of my friends dyes and sells her own yarn and will soon be selling it on etsy under the name Skeined Alive.  Her tag line is Dyed and Gone to Heaven.  Isn't that cool? 

Of course, it's difficult not to be charmed by new and colorful yarn.  Madeline started a really neat monthly yarn club for us.  Each month we receive one mystery skein of Dream in Color yarn.  This month's yarn is Smooshy sock yarn.  It's 20% cashmere, so it's feels lovely.  They named the color Irish Sprout, how appropriate as we're waiting for any sign of spring to start sprouting around here. 

Next post, I think I'd like share what it is exactly that has me so excited and why I'm really looking forward to bright things on the horizon.  I don't want to keep it a secret.  Plus I could probably use your advise, suggestions and encouragement as well.  In the mean time, I wish you a peaceful, relaxing weekend filled with signs of spring.

blessings and happiness,

Athena

a good start

Yesterday after taking the children to school, I had a few brief errands to run, one of which was a trip to a local chocolate shop.  Well,  I don't know about you, but leaving a chocolate shop empty-handed is like leaving a yarn shop empty-handed -- not happening. 

So as a treat to myself (I rarely buy nice chocolate for myself) I bought a few truffles to enjoy at home.  As I cast on my new sweater, I sat back and relaxed and enjoyed a little peace and a little piece of chocolate.  I think it was a good way to start.   :)

Rob's due back from a trip later today, so I'm doing laundry and tidying things up a bit, but I'm definitely going to squeeze in some more time for knitting.  What are you making time for today?

blessings and happiness,

Athena

new yarn

Many things in life bring me great joy, and one of them is new yarn.  There's nothing quite like having a day to myself to go to my favorite yarn shop and indulge in new yarn.  You may recall I've had a sweater pattern that I've been wanting to make and just hadn't found the perfect yarn for.  So yesterday my good friend Madeline from Knit1WeaveToo helped me pick the perfect one. 

This is Cascade Yarn's Lana d'Oro -- and the name says it all -- wool of gold.  It's 50% wool, 50% alpaca (my favorite fiber!).  It's amazingly soft, and not too expensive.  I haven't cast on yet, and still need to do my gauge swatches, but I'm really looking forward to getting started. 

I chose kind of a loden green because it's kind of nuetral without being beige or grey, and I think it will look good with purple (which I wear a lot of).  It's tweedy, so hopefully that will prevent me from getting bored after 1,775 yards of knitting.  (I don't know about you, but knitting with a variegated or textured yarn always keeps me from getting bored with a project before it's done.  I'd go mad if I had to knit the whole thing with a completely monochromatic yarn!)

Although it's cold outside, it's quiet and warm inside (praise God) -- a hot cup of tea and it will be the perfect day to sit down and knit.  What are you creating today?

blessings and happiness,

Athena

knit night

Yesterday I got the itch to knit something so I pulled out the cowl pattern I did recently.  Believe it or not, I cast it on after the kiddos came home from school and had it done by the time I went to bed. 

I used the leftover greyish lavendar yarn (by dyeabolical) from one of the previous cowls and a beautiful Dream in Color sock yarn called Smooshy.  The dream in color is 20% cashmere, so it turned out super soft.  This pattern was written for a chunky yarn so I knitted this with 3 strands (1 of the grey, and 2 of the purple).  It turned out just right. 

On another note, I mailed out 66 invitations for December's open house yesterday.  Most of them are teachers or fellow parents from the children's school.  I don't recall how many I had come last year, but I remember being pleased.  So I'm hoping for even more this year.  Besides my friend (the hostess) and myself there are supposed to be 2 or 3 other ladies participating, so it will be nice to see and meet new people and hopefully get new exposure for my art. 

I know it's still a ways off, but I'm already thinking about how I will display everything.  I especially need to come up with a plan for how I will hang the paintings.  I'm thinking ... an old door or shutters hinged together...something like that.  I'll definitely use my vintage suitcases, and Ethyl and her new comrade will be there as well.

Even though it's still a month away (Sat, 11 Dec), I'm already getting excited about it.  =)

 

Isn't it nice to have new dreams and adventures to look forward to?  Plus, it will be an awesome way to get in the Christmas spirit.  Actually, I never have trouble getting in the Christmas spirit -- it's such a nostalgic and happy time of year.

Hopefully, next time I will have some new open house creations to show you.  Until then...

blessings and happiness,

Athena

festooned with flowers

In an effort to continue creating new things for the Christmas open house, I made some winter flowers.  They're meant to be hung as ornaments on the Christmas tree, but here they're festooning Ethyl's new companion.  (I haven't named her yet.)

I made them from hand knitted flowers, felted flowers (from the recycled sweaters), odd bits of fabric, lace, vintage doilies and vintage buttons.  I decided to keep the color palette whites, creams and silvers, wanting them to look like snowflakes once they're on a tree with lights and tinsel.

The assembling and hand sewing are a bit time intensive, so there are only about 20 or so.  I may do another batch later, but this is what I got done yesterday. 

I have a few more ideas still floating in my noggin to keep me busy for a while.  So, as new things come to life, I'll keep sharing them with you. 

By the way, thank you so much for your kind words, encouragement and feedback.  It's a blessing to receive input from such admirable artists.  I treasure each and every comment you leave. 

blessings and happiness,

Athena

it's finished! ... x3

Three finished projects in one weekend!  Wow.  I'm so proud of myself.  I finally finished the sock yarn shawl I started a while back.  I think it turned out pretty nice.  I was originally planning on keeping it for myself, but now I think I may sell it at the open house coming up.

I also cast on and finished two cowls.  I was really pleased with how quickly these knit up -- I got two done, so it's definitely an easy, sit-and-watch-football weekend project.

The cowl pattern is written by my friend Madeline from Knit One Weave Too.  It was designed to be knitted with a chunky weight yarn, but I had all these awesome sock yarns to use up, so I knitted them with the yarn doubled.  It's a very forgiving pattern size wise, since  you just pull it over your head, and it will stretch because of the give in the cables.

The second cowl was a finer weight sock yarn.  I used the same amount of stitches so it has a little less body, more lacy, but still works just as well.  I think these will be nice to throw on this winter, when I don't feel like dealing with a whole scarf.  I'm not a fan of turtle necks (they always make me feel confined).  But a cowl is nice, because it still keeps me warm, but has more ease to the way it fits.

By the way, what do you think of Ethyl's new look for fall?

I got inspired by some photos of a yarn shop posted by Christine of lavender and limes.  They had opened some hanks of yarn and just thrown them around the dress form's neck.  I thought it was clever and I think Ethyl pulls it off quit nicely.

as always, I wish you...

blessings and happiness,

Athena

making progress

Well, I'm making enough progress that I needed to wind a new ball of yarn yesterday to continue the sock yarn shawl.  I'm working with 3 yarns now (one of the original 2, plus 2 new ones).  I don't have enough of it with the new yarns knitted up yet for a good picture, but I'll keep you posted on how it looks.

On another note, today Seany is turning 6.  It is a big day for him.  He has been counting down the days.  Yesterday we took him out to dinner including ice cream for dessert.  Today I took cookies and juice boxes in to his class for afternoon snack.  This evening at home he'll be opening family presents and then the actual party with all his friends will be Saturday.  He's been anxiously awaiting his special day and was all smiles going to school this morning.  In the car he was chanting, "I'm the birthday boy, I'm the birthday boy!" 

How precious.  I wish I still had the innnocence to actually look forward to and enjoy my birthday, as much as a child does.  Why do I look at it with dread, instead of the joy of another year of life? 

When I grow up, I want to be more like a little kid...

blessings and happiness,

Athena