Knitters against MS!

Hello Dear Readers!

Well, it's that time of year again....the sun is out, the sky is blue, for some of us our knitting is put aside for outdoorsy pursuits. You know what else it's time for??? Come on...I know you know!

It's time to support Claudia on her annual MS 150 bike ride!

That's right. Two days. 150 miles. All for multiple sclerosis!

You might remember that MS is close to the knitterly hearts of us here at weheartyarn. I am a research scientist in an MS research laboratory in Portland, OR. We are working very hard to find a cure for this debilitating disease. We have friends with MS. We have friends whose children have MS. We know other knitters with MS.

MS is an unauthorized attack on the central nervous system by cells in the body that normally protect us. MS affects over 500,000 people in the U.S. MS causes a range of chronic and progressive symptoms, including fatigue, numbness and paralysis.

It's time to wipe out MS. Now.

Please, follow the link in the side bar to Claudia's Knitters Against MS page, read why she is riding, and please consider donating as you can. Last year Claudia and her team raised almost $18,000 dollars, this year she is aiming for $20,000!!

Please, help Claudia ride for those who no longer can.

We heart you Claudia!

Thank you in advance, for making this her most successful ride yet!!!

Growing Pains

Dear Readers,
I'm glad you found us! I hope the web-ride to get here wasn't too bad!

We have been transferring domain names here at WHY...who knew it would cause such chaos!

For the time being, you can get to us directly by using our http://www.weheartyarn.blogspot.com URL.

Hopefully our domain name, weheartyarn.com, will be able to communicate again with Blogger directly. Soon, very soon we hope!

We are so sorry for the inconvenience, but so appreciate your loyalty!!

ETA: We are back in business here at WHY!!! woot!!! Brinkster mended us! You can now reach us via www.weheartyarn.com AND weheartyarn.com

Now, back to regularly scheduled knitting!!! :)

What are Saturdays for?

A little bit of knitting...I finished up my Popsicle socks!

Specs:
Pattern: Toe up, short row heel, Feather and Fan cuff
Yarn: Spunky Eclectic Super Nova 'Popsicle', 1 skein
Needles: 2.5 mm for the foot, 3 mm for the cuff
Stitches: 64 stitches, increasing to 72 for the cuff
Fit: ooohlala!! I heart them!

...A little napping...my two favorite guys were tuckered out after the Kentucky Derby!

And on our way out to dinner, we came across something neither one of us had ever seen before...A vulture...I would've rather captured a photo of the hawks and eagles that periodically hang out...but I had never seen one of these critters before...

I hope your Saturday was all that you wanted it to be and then some!

And since I'm posting about Saturday on Wednesday, I'll throw in my AI commentary...fair to midland, partly cloudy. I predict Blake is going home...Nobody was particularly stellar, I think they're getting tired. Jordin and Melinda have a steady history of good/great/masterful performances so I think we'll be seeing them in the finals. Lakisha will be off next week. Just a prediction...

ETA post results show: Well, WG, it looks like I'm buying coffee!! So, Lakisha went home tonight. I'm not surprised, but I guess my wishful thinking didn't serve me well in my ability to predict...Next week: bye-bye Blake!

Hail and Popsicles

It's May in PDX. Time for a hail storm, I guess.

Luckily I have one toasty popsicle completed, with the second well underway!

Happy Knitting!!

And then there were four

Yeh baby...Jordin is safe...and they didn't do any of that pregnant-pause messing around with her stuff!! Yay!!!

My girls Melinda and Lakisha were also safe!!! Double Yay!

Blake was safe.

Although I was hoping that it would be Chris and Phil leaving us tonight, I found myself a wee bit, just a weeeeeee bit mind you...sorry to see them leave. Phil had been doing really well the last few weeks and opened up Bon Jovi night with a bang! Chris had been so-so, but last night was he brought it home and I liked him...last night! It's good to leave on a high note...

If you can't sing it once, why bother with it twice..you know what I'm saying, right?!

Good bye Chris and Phil...best wishes! Let the games begin!!

Gibson (who would be the cat, not Mr. NK) was so excited that Jordin was safe he rolled around in his kitty litter. 'nuf said.

Knitting content in the next post! Stay tuned...at least one, maybe two finished Spunky Super Nova popsicle socks for your viewing pleasure!

ETA 5/4/07: For those inquiring minds (Hi Courtney!!), Bon Jovi was hot!!! That guy just doesn't seem to age or lose his hair, does he! The song they performed on AI is being released to country stations and you can see the video of it here!

Weekend Warriors

Well....it isn't a wooly fiber...but it is fibrous...cellulose (Tencel, anyone?)!!! Mr. NK is building a wooden kayak from strips of wood....Western red cedar, Northern white cedar, and an amazing Alaskan yellow cedar that has no grain...very cool stuff. Well, this was the weekend to epoxy and fiberglass the hull. Mr. NK has been reading and reading, and checking out videos of others doing the deed, and was ready to go...so, this past weekend we went.

Day 1: Friday night. Coat 1. When you apply epoxy and fiberglass to a boat, you have to do it at around 85 degrees...I don't even want to think about our electric bill this month...

Day 2: Saturday. Fiberglass and coat 2. Mr. NK has transformed himself into a Ninja epoxy turtle man superhero, complete with a pre-cooled sweat-catcher-raggy-thingy!!! He is ready for the task at hand. We pre-heated the garage (i.e. drank coffee), applied the fiberglass, let the wrinkles straighten out (i.e. had breakfast at the local cafe), applied the epoxy (Dear Readers, your own NK was transformed into a resin weighing-mixing-pouring machine; the choreography I enlisted brought me to tears...ahem, perhaps the resin vapors seeped through the mask!), put on this other fabric that was supposed to soak up the excess epoxy, but that didn't go so well...took it off, and squeegeed the excess off. Turned off the heat and cooled down over Will Ferrell in 'Blades of Glory' playing at the local theater...God forgive me, I laughed my arse off.

Day 3: Applied another coat of epoxy. Used a foam brush to squeegee the excess. Worked pretty much like a charm.

Cooled down over a Stiegl..not really, but it sounded good. Mr. NK is a grad from UP and a 'Salzburger'...if you know UP, you know what that means!

A pretty nifty accomplishment for the weekend, huh? If you like what you've seen, go ahead and leave a comment if you have the inclination, it would really make Mr. NK's day!!!

In the pink!

And we have a finished pair of socks!!

How about some heels up close (short row)....

Pink toes! I just can't resist the pink!

Specs:

Pattern: My own (cuff down, short row heel, and anatomical toes)

Yarn: Union Center 'Wool Girl' Colorway

toes in Baby Ull (double stranded)

Needles: 2.5 mm

Stitches around: 64 around the cuff; 30 sole and 32 instep after the heel (32)

Mods: get a second job to buy more of this luscious yarn!!

Re: AI: So nobody went home Wednesday night, but how cruel was that thing at the end with Jordin and Chris...these were my thoughts at the end of Tuesday's competition: top 3: Melinda (agreed, the master), Jordin (she just gets better and better, high tissue and goose bump count), I'm still hanging on to the power of Lakisha (haven't needed a tissue in quite awhile tho), but fear Phil might move in (not on the tissue radar at all); bottom 3: Chris (he gets my vote for 'needs to go home, Now!'), Blake (should've needed tissues with 'Imagine', sadly not), and whoever loses the Phil v. Lakisha battle. Going home: Chris (I guess I'll have to wait a week for this to happen)

Happily, I could knit with an even tension knowing Sanjaya was gracing the stages of Jay, David and Ellen...aren't his 15 minutes up yet???

Happy knitting everyone!!!

There, but for the grace of G_d

go I.

You can give here: Idol Gives back

You can give here: Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund

You can give here: One Campaign

Give somewhere. To someone.

Just Give. Please.

The repair of the world needs to begin at home. Now.

XO

Here is a bit more detail on the baby blanket I knit for Nicole.

Pattern: my own

Yarn: 5 skeins of Cascade 220 superwash in 'Apple Green'

Needles: Size 8

Stitch count: 193 across the cable/lace section

Rows: alot!

Mods: I would make wider borders next time around

And what have we here....?

It looks like some Spunky Super Nova in 'Popsicle'!

2.5 mm needles going toe up! See you at the top!

Happy knitting everyone!

Pssst: Our first Sanjaya-free week of AI is tonight!!!

Life Cycles

W.H.Y. was very busy celebrating life yesterday!

Emily and Shannon are having some much needed down time from launching their new store, Twisted. Wool Girl is taking a breather to wind some yarn and start a new sock!

First up, we celebrated the upcoming arrival of our friend Nicole's first baby! It was a knitterly centric party as Nicole, and many of her friends are knitters.

We had one blanket...more details in a later post...

A darling bathtime basket filled with hand knit washclothes, gentle baby soap, burp clothes, and a darling hand knit Pixie hat (Annette, you rock!).

A hand knit lace hat (and booties not caught on film) knit and designed by Courtney! Awesome work C!

And we had another baby blanket hand knit by Elza! Awesome work E!! This baby will be able to brave the cold in style in all these beautiful knit goodies, that's for sure!!!

And we had a ton of darling cute baby items, a sampling is captured here!

Best wishes Nicole!! Your little one is off to a roaring good start with all this knitted finery!

Next up, our own W.H.Y. member, Julie, had a birthday celebration at our current fibery hang out complete with a cafe....do you think we're being to loud for the register person?? :)

J got some lovely scented Lavender soap....

Some awesome yarn from Spunky Eclectic....note the dude in the background, he is always hanging out with his laptop...This is 2007...your LYS is the new produce aisle..you know, the place to pick up a date!

And more wonderful yarn from Miss Babs....Do you think she liked it?! (I think so!)

Not pictured was some darling knitterly stationery and a doggie tape measure! Happy B-day Julie!! Many more happy and healthy returns!!! We heart you!!

And as life cycles by their very nature are bittersweet, we want to extend our thoughts and prayers to the families and loved ones of the victims of the Virginia Tech tragedy, and to the greater community of Blacksburg, VA during this most difficult and trying time.

Visual DNA

I saw this over at Sivia's...This is mine...

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Changes

Well, we've had some changes here at W.H.Y. First, we sadly, but excitedly, say farewell to Shannon and Emily...they are gone from the blog, but not from our fibery hearts! Shannon and Emily are following their dreams and are launching a new Yarn-Craft shop, complete with a tea bar, in the Portland area named Twisted. You can still follow their knitterly (and otherwise!) antics and shop happenings at their new blog: TwistedPdx Good Luck Shannon and Emily!! We can't wait for the grand opening!!!

In other news, our own Wool Girl is following her passions, and has started an online fiber adventure! You can check out her shop at woolgirl.com. She will be blogging about her shop and her adventures with her friends Abby and Snuggles at her new blog.

We here at W.H.Y. wish all of you every success and we hope all your fibery dreams come true!

Multitasking

I work on a hill in the big city. Pill-hill to be exact. I live almost 25 miles from work, in a more rural community. The commute isn't too bad coming in to work...65 mph for the first 20 miles or so, than some congestion on the freeway and going up the hill.

Coming home...DOWN said hill...a very different story. It took a whopping 30 minutes to get from the end of the driveway to the freeway entrance...maybe 1.5 miles...no more than 2. Crazy making.

What did I do, you might ask? Typically I knit. This time...I photographed skeins of yarn. A whole different level of multitasking.

Check out the new skeins from Spunky Electic! Mandy on the left, and Popsicle on the right

A chicken tape measure (note the anatomically correct!) egg...

A skein of Fishy and Kitty's eyes from a new online shop...more on that later!!!

Nothing like a Kitty and a Fishy sharing a moment...

Note...we are still at 0 mph....Fishy is pooped and lying down to nap a bit....

Remember, sock yarn doesn't count as stash! :)

AI Update: And so we lost Haley tonight...finally...I figure Sanjaya is good for another 2 weeks until we can lose Chris (gosh I want to hurl everytime he opens his mouth) and Phil....then let the games really begin!!

Is AI over with yet....

Top 3: Melinda, Jordin, Blake (sorry Lakisha, but Blake was good tonight, you'll be back in the top 3 next week!).
Bottom 3: Haley, Phil, Sanjaya (one can hope, can't they?), but probably Chris.

Simon, the traitor, who thought Sanjaya wasn't horrible...he doesn't have to say everything that he's thinking...crikey.

Sanjaya's tactic (brilliant...he'll be running for office some day, I'm sure) is to wait until the other contestants who have been giving 110% week after week, and whose voices are getting tired, to finally perform in a not so horrible manner...to eek out a few more votes and last another week...hate him. No, really, hate him.

My knitting was so tight tonight with Simon's crankiness against my girls (M, L and J), that I think I ended up 2 inches shorter than when I started!!

Welcome to Sanjaya's universe!

Gina went home tonight, too early in my mind, but not unexpected. Phil was spared...go figure. And Haley and her "nice legs" are safe for yet another week. Sanjaya has now made it to the top 8. Crikey!! Un.Believable. Sigh.

babies and such

It's spring...babies and baby hats are in the air...well at least one important baby! My friend Nicole is pregnant with her first baby. Yay!! She is due in approximately 5 weeks. I can't wait to meet him or her! Congratulations Nicole and Jim!!!

For those of you worried about the kitties...their people did leave food for them, we just provided supplementary food and gave them lots of love! Their people are home now, but Theo and Gigi are still regulars on our front porch....yay!!! Shhh, don't tell DH, but I think they have adopted us!! :)

Happy Knitting!

Neighbors

We have newish neighbors. They have two adorable kitties, Theo and Gigi. They come over alot, the cats that is...not the people so much.

The people are away for Spring break. The cats have been visiting...ALOT...kind of like clockwork, ya' know? Twice a day in fact. This is who I saw peering up at me early this morning...

Gigi....

and Theo...note the paw action...manipulator to the max!

And I thought they wanted our company...

Hah!!

And then there were nine....

Well, I'm writing this post in advance of tonight's AI results show. I want to share with you how Gibson watched AI last night...

....hiding from the 'faux hawk' that S was sporting by burrowing into some of Tina's lovely yarn!! Poor little guy, the wails of pain and hilarity when S took the stage almost drove him from the room...but the prospect of snuggling with his stash stayed his evacuation from the premises!

Knitting content without pics: I have been working on a couple of secret projects, which I'll show on the blog after the recipient has received them. My sock projects are moving along at a snail's pace until I get the secret projects completed. Bear with me. I'll be bahck!

ETA: Oy! The AI results show is over and Sanjaya is still standing! Can there be a greater mockery of a person than Ryan Seacrest opening up the show wearing a faux hawk wig?? I'm ferklempt. I'm vexed beyond belief. I had to stop knitting. I voted my little knitterly heart out for an hour last night, with no busy signal. Not one. It's a conspiracy...a true cropcircleAtlantisArea51luciddreamingremoteviewing-worthy of Art Bell conspiracy! I'll be watching next week.

Clearly, hell has indeed frozen over...

Dearest Readers,
I realize that my last post was about AI. Again, I find myself stunned by the results show. Stephanie may not have been the best of the 2007 contestants, but she deserved to be in the top 10 IMHO.

We must close ranks! We must shut Sanjaya out...I want to get out of my fetal position. I want to enjoy the glorious sun that graced Portland today. But mostly...I want to knit again. To knit with an even tension. A relaxed tension. I don't want my size 13 needles to *snap* in my fingers. I long for the days of yore.

Here is my strategy: We must increase the number of votes the poorest contestants receive, so that they can beat out Sanjaya. Vote for the contestants you think are at risk...vote for them for the full two hours. For me, in addition to my top 3, I'll be giving a shout out to Phil, Chris R. and Haley, who I think are circling the proverbial drain.

We must vaccinate ourselves against the legions of votefortheworst.com and Howard Stern led troglodytes, including the weepy 10 year old Tiger Beat voters who should really be asleep and not text messaging their votes with their little pink Razor phones (no--I'm not jealous of their youth or their phones, I have STR stash)!!!

Unite Dear Readers. Tonight the wail you heard across the continent was mine.

Check out this link, hopefully AI will be on the air long enough to give this kid a spot...hopefully the spawn of youknowwho won't be competing against him :) :)

Thank you for your patience. I will leave you with dear, sweet Gibson enjoying the spring collection of STR...If only I were a cat!

Stunned

Unbelievable. I'm stunned. Speechless. The volume was clearly turned down on the TV sets across America when Sanjaya and Haley picked up the microphones this week.

I will wear black tomorrow for Sabrina and Sundance.

Back to regular knitting content after I recover... if I recover... from the shock.

Sigh.