new design and gift certificate winner

Hey all! Webs was kind enough to publish another one of my sweater designs. This one is called the Harlequin Yoke Pullover and is knit out of Valley Yarns Deerfield. (Ravelry link for the sweater). This was a fun sweater to design, especially sorting out the correct decreases to keep the diamond pattern in the yoke. The idea came when I was knitting while watching a Six Feet Under episode with Elliott, and saw one of the characters wearing this sweater out of the corner of my eye. But when I looked up that's not what she was wearing at all! So I scribbled down a sketch before I forgot the idea and here it is. I had a lot of fun trying different color combinations for the diamonds, and I think you could really change the feel of the sweater depending on what colors you chose.





In other fun news, Jane won the raffle for the Webs gift certificate. Thank you so much to everyone who entered the raffle and supported Emmaus's work with the homeless. I'm thinking I might have to shoot for the 100 mile ride next year...

well it wasn't the tour de france but it was fun...

Do you all find socks hard to photograph? They look strange without feet in them, but it's hard to photograph your own feet. And it's hard to come up with a good pose for your feet - if only I knew more ballet positions perhaps. Today I tried the self timer and placing the camera on the floor. The only problem with that is you can see how dusty dirty our floors are with giant dustbunnies roaming the plains of the living room. But I digress...

finished socks!
specs:
pattern: your basic 64 stitch toe up recipe with short row heels. I like heel flaps better, but I think the short row heels look better on the stripy socks.
yarn: stripes of Noro Kureyon sock yarn colors 184 and 95
needles: 1's
verdict: Love the fraternal striping action - these amuse me to no end.



In other finishing news, my friend Lisha and I had a great time on our 62 mile charity bike ride. We were part of the amusingly named team, the "pink-yellows" which consisted of us, Lisha's husband Bobby and our friend Nate who both did the 100 mile route. When they left for their ride, an hour before us, the sky was threatening with rain and it looked pretty unpleasant, but when we left at 8:00am the sky had cleared considerably and we all had beautiful weather. I hadn't gotten as much training in due to general work business and super humid weather, but I surprised myself by finishing the ride in good shape. Everyone volunteering and riding were so nice, and the route was beautiful, going through Haverhill, Amesbury, New Hampshire, Ipswitch and Boxford.

As for the raffle for the Webs gift certificate, I'll be holding that on Thursday. If you're still interested in donating to Emmaus and getting a raffle ticket, you can do that through Wednesday. Here is the donation page. Thanks so much to everyone who donated to the ride, I really appreciate your support. I'll leave you with a photo of team pink -yellows.

I'm still knitting - really I am

It's been pretty quiet on the blog front with general summer outdoor enjoyment and bike rides, but I have managed to sneak some knitting in. I found out that one of my cousins just had a baby girl so I whipped out this cute little bonnet for her this weekend.

you want details?
pattern: Anime Bonnet from Hello Yarn
yarn: 1 ball of Valley Yarns Goshen
needles: 5's
notes: I used heavier weight yarn so I made the smallest size and ended up with a 6-12 month size hat. I also used embroidery floss to stitch up the face with my mediocre embroidery skills.



I'm also making a soft waves ripple crochet blanket for my brother who is getting married this fall. I'm using piles of cascade 220 and other worsted weight leftovers. My plan is to do a color stripe (2 rows) a night and hopefully I be done in time. I'm going to have a hard time giving this one away...

Other than that, I'm trying to sort out what big project I want to tackle next. As always I have more ideas than available time, so sometimes I let them simmer for a while and see what stays on the list. What projects are you flirting with out there?

charity 62 mile bike ride for me & Webs raffle for you

I'm finally committing and signing up for a 62 mile ride to benefit Emmaus Inc. is a non-profit corporation that provides housing and helps out homeless adults and families in Haverhill, Massachusetts.

I love biking but I've never really done a ride this long before. I've been lucky this year to have nearby friends and upstairs neighbors who road bike and convinced me that I can do this by the end of the month. So I've joined my friend's team - the "pink yellows" - and will be riding on the 27th of July. That's soon!

To raise some money for this good cause, I'm offering to raffle off a $100 gift certificate to Webs from some of the store credit I earn by knitting samples for them. For every $5 you donate to Emmaus, you will receive one ticket. So, for example, a $25 donation gets you 5 tickets in the raffle.

Donate for the ride here:

And then email me at yarnbeeATgmailDOTcom to let me know how many tickets you purchased. I will hold the drawing on July 31st. Email me with any questions as well.

Thanks!

too hot for wool?

Hi blog! It's hot here. Almost too hot for knitting and too hot to want to have a sweaterful of yarn in one's lap. So for the moment I shifted over to the sewing machine for some crafty fun.



We had a lot of rain this holiday weekend, so ended up staying inside and making a skirt. This is Simplicity pattern #3834 -skirt B. I had a lot of help and hand holding with this wonderful tutorial from Green Kitchen. I have a lot to learn about sewing and it still takes me most of a day to make a skirt.

There is a little bit of knitting going on - I've been making some noro stripy socks from some noro kureyon sock leftovers:



I also finished a store sample for Webs: the Lily Vest out of Misti Alpaca sport weight. It's a little too small for me to model and it's too hot out anyway.



stay cool peeps!