"Properly practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit, and it doesn't hurt the untroubled spirit either." ~ Elizabeth Zimmerman

7/21/12

Free Background Tiles

The last couple days have been consumed with getting ready for our camping trip. I'm exhausted tonight. So much that I do not feel like I could knit. So I've been messing around with my paint program creating background tiles. I have decided to share them. Feel free to use them. Just don't sell them. They are all copyrighted by me.

I created them with Paintshop Photo Pro X3. Yes, I like abstracts. Why do you ask?

Right click to save them on your hard drive.

I call this set Angela, but I can't remember why. It had to do with the photo I started with. Heck if I can find it now. I used the 'emboss' texture tool and the seamless tile tool in these. Changing the colors is easy peasy using the 'adjust hue and saturation' tools.







This set is called Blackberry.







I was giving myself a lesson on how to use tubes and the tube I was playing with was a pair of blackberries.



Yeah. Hard to believe, isn't it? If I had to repeat exactly what I did to get those tiles again, I have no idea how I'd do it.

I really love Paintshop Pro. It's lots of fun to play with. While making these tiles I also learned about the "seamless tile" tool. I found a tutorial on a web site called Anotherjo's PSP Resources.

We are leaving on our camping trip in the morning, so I will not be posting for awhile. I shall return, eventually. Maybe with some finished knitting, if I have any say in the matter. ;-)

Live long and prosper. \\//




7/18/12

WIP Wednesday 7/18/2012

Wow, this summer is so busy. However, I've managed to carve out some time for a WIP Wednesday post, all knitting.

I'm on the last repeat of the butterfly stitch pattern on the shawl. I've got 9 rows left, then it's edging time!



I've gone back to working on the turquoise Aran baby sweater because I want to enter it in the fair. I have to get it done before the OlympicsTM start because of the Ravellenic Games. I want to start that project on time.



Since I've finished the shrugs, but there's still a pile of fur yarn in the house, I started this little baby hooded pullover with some bright yellow. The back and one side of the front is done and now I'm working on the other side of the front.



It's knitting up really fast. Almost instant gratification with this one. It's a Knit Wits project, of course.

I also got busy on the last thing I'm knitting with the left over army green Pacific (from the February Lady sweater I made earlier this year). The pattern is fingerless mitts called Treads. I found it on Ravelry.



I'm at the thumb gusset of the first mitt. I love the stitch pattern above the cuff. It's called the Linen stitch. I'm donating these to Knit Wits when they're done. If there is any of this yarn left, I'm tossing it. I'm sick of army green.

Like I said, it's been a busy summer. I've been working on my garden. I'm hating it. About half the weeds are grass and very hard to pull out. I think I'm gonna invest in a huge bottle of Round Up and use it on the aisles between the rows. Gotta kill that grass. Everything sprouted and is growing, though they're looking a bit yellow because we're getting so much rain this summer. The other day we got 2 inches in just a few hours. Lots of lightening and thunder this past week too. On Saturday it rumbled continuously for several hours.

To be honest, I don't know why I'm bothering. We'll probably have our first frost in 3 weeks. There's no way everything will be full grown and producing by then. Urg. I'm hoping by some miracle that the first frost will be delayed this year. It's happened in the past. It could happen again. Forever the optimist I guess.

As I said, we're getting a lot of rain. The past week has also been very hot and humid. I'm talkin' Midwest humid! We've had days in the 90F's with 70-80% humidity. We're not used to that kind of thing around here. It's starting to wear on everyone. Tempers are flaring and having any energy at all to get things done is hard to come by. It's hard to sleep at night because the bedroom is an oven and it's not cooling down like it usually would. I wish I could have an air conditioner in the window. I have been getting a lot of reading done though. If I can't sleep, I read.

It's fair planning time. Lots to do there. This week I've been  organizing and getting the Knit Wits entries registered. The Fair has introduced it's new online registration system for this year. If anyone wants to enter something, they have to preregister it online by August 5. I had some problems with the Knit Wits stuff so I met with the Fair coordinator, Margi, this morning. We worked out how to circumvent the problems so everything gets entered together as one group.

I only have 22 Knit Wits entries so far. I am a little alarmed. Last year we had 62. I have one more meeting for members to bring their entries to me. Maybe I'll get swamped with them?

I've also registered my personal entries. I've got 13, mostly beaded things. I am quite surprised that I only have 4 knitted items to enter. I've given away almost everything I knitted this past year.

I'm kind of dreading the day everyone brings their entries to the fairgrounds. Lots of people are gonna show up without having pre-registered, I'm sure, and will have fits when they find out they can't enter. It's a brand new system, and change is hard for people. Entries will be down due to people not knowing, or paying attention. Margi told me they've only got 600 registered so far. Usually there's around 4000 entries each year.

I am going to be gone all next week so there will be no blog posts. We are going camping. Our destination has free wifi (I find that in the strangest places!), but no electricity, so I doubt there will be blog posts. There will be no cell phone service either. Gonna be out in the boonies for a whole blessed week. I'm looking forward to it. I do have to come back on Monday for an important Fair meeting, but I'll be going right back when it's done. Looking forward to lazing around on Priest Lake in my kayak, or the floating recliner-preferably with a beer in hand.

I am taking all my knitting projects. I have to get them done by July 27 so I'll be ready to start my Ravellenic Games project. I won't be home to watch the opening ceremonies of the OlympicsTM, but I can still knit at that time in my camp site.

I can't believe the month is almost over. Summer is just flying by. August is fair month, so I will still be busy busy busy. I'm glad we're going camping so I can rest up before the big push.






If you're interested in participating in WIP Wednesday, please join us.


Live long and prosper. \\//


7/11/12

Shrugs With Fur


I was going to do a WIP Wednesday post, but I've got finished projects and a new pattern to show instead. Yay! I've finished a couple shrugs.

Modeled by my friend Rosie.

Fancy Flossy Shrug

Pattern: Fancy Flossy Shrug by me

Size: Ladies, 52 inches from cuff to cuff.

Yarn: Aldemir Lumos in Khaki Lurex
Content: Polyester and Metallic, bulky weight.

Yarn: Cascade Pacific Multi in Lucky Clover
Content: 60% Acrylic, 40% Superwash Wool

Needles: Addi Turbo Circular in size 10 and 15.

Cast on: June 24, 2012
Bound off: July 8, 2012

Comments: I had a lot of fun knitting this.

Work it girl!

It's a fast super easy knit.

Modeled by Rosie.

The second shrug is made with the same pattern.



Pattern: Fancy Flossy Shrug by me

Size: Ladies, 52 inches from cuff to cuff.

Yarn: Eyelash by Fan-Pel Collection in Multi Red
Content: Polyester and Nylon, sport weight.

Yarn: Caron Wintuk in Christmas Red
Content: 100% Acrylic

Needles: Addi Turbo Circular in size 10 and 15.

Cast on: June 7, 2012
Bound off: June 14, 2012

Comments: The fur yarn in this one is sport weight instead of bulky, but it worked just fine.

Stitch pattern detail



My daughter made one to test knit the pattern.



She actually used 3 different yarns in this one.

I love the textures.

The fur yarn is Aldemir Yumos, the thinner stripes are a bulky weight boucle' (Homespun by Lion Brand?), and both yarns were knit with a strand of an unknown worsted weight variegated acrylic yarn.

I've just published this new free pattern on my pattern blog. It includes instructions for 2 different shrugs with variants on garter lace. If you want the pattern, click:

Linky ---> Fancy Flossy Shrug


~~~~~~~~~~


We've had visitors this week. A mama and her new twins!



How cute are these two?  Squee!




Live long and prosper. \\//


7/9/12

I'm Back but...

Hi! I returned from our vacation last Thursday but I've been so busy I haven't had a chance to blog. Hopefully, I will get a nice block of time later this week. In the meantime, here's some pics from the trip.

This one was taken by my daughter. I'm standing on a very large glacier trying to look warm.



This one I took from the restaurant at the top of a mountain that I rode a gondola to get to in Banff.



Didn't get much knitting done. I'll blog about what I did later.

I'm glad to be back.

Oh yes, and summer has finally arrived. It's boiling hot this week! (97F today.)

Live long and prosper. \\//