Thursday, December 30, 2010

Yes, we CAN eat those . . .

Part of the reason I’ve slacked on my knitting quite a bit this year is because I spend a lot of time in the Diabetes On-Line Community (or D-OC).  Just like with knitting, it’s incredible to interact with a group of people who “get it”and know exactly where you are coming from.  (And we talk about “needles” in the D-OC too, although unfortunately we don’t use them for knitting.)

When one of my dear D-OC friends mentioned that her blood glucose meter was missing, I offered to send her one I had but never use.  You see, it was included when I received my insulin pump, but I prefer to use my old meter instead.

How does this story tie in with knitting?  Well, sending her the meter spurred me to finish up a little surprise I had been working on for this friend . . . um, since July.  (Yes, yes, I know, I really need to get my knitting mojo back.)

caracake
Cupcake from One Skein by Leigh Radford
Cast on: July 2010
Completed: December 2010
Yarn: Misc. from stash

Yes, it’s a cupcake.  For a diabetic.  Because cupcakes are quite a hit in the D-OC, with long debates over where to get the best ones (maybe Crumbs or Magnolia?).  And before you call us a bunch of “bad diabetics'” it’s important for you to understand that it is a misconception that people with Type 1 diabetes can’t have anything with sugar.  (We also didn’t get diabetes from eating sugar, but that a whole other rant.)  In fact, most of us find our blood sugar remains more stable after a cupcake than it does after an order of French Fries.  Sugar raises our blood sugar, yes, but so does fruit and bread and any carbohydrate.  Gone are the days of restrictive diets and taboos.  Now it’s all about understanding what foods do to our blood sugar and dosing our insulin accordingly.

So yes, we CAN eat those cupcakes . . . . except the ones that are made from yarn.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Fall Fiber Fests in Pictures, Part 3

Are you tired of the parade of yarn yet?  I hope not, because this year a new fiber festival started near me, The Fiber Festival of New England.  So of course, I had to be supportive and check it out.  And yes, maybe a few skeins followed me home . . .

AislingTheGreenMile
Aisling Yarns Merino Superwash in The Green Mile

MistraleeFarmStudioPrimeAlpaca
Mistralee Farm Studio Prime Alpaca in Chocolate

As you can see, I had much less money more self-control at this last fiber festival.  But I couldn't resist these two beauties.

Phew!  With that, you are completely up to date on my ever expanding stash.  Except, of course, the yarn Santa left under my tree . . .

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Fall Fiber Fests in Pictures, Part 2

Welcome back to “This Girl Has Way Too Much Yarn”.  Today, we’ll take a look at what followed me home from Stitches East!!

FlatFeet
Conjoined Creations Flat Feet

GryphonRojas
The Sanguine Gryphon Little Traveller in Rojas

MissBabsForestAfternoon
Miss Babs Yummy Superwash in Forest Afternoon

STRHeavyJasper
Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock Heavyweight in Jasper (already on the needles - go me!)

STRLightStrangeBrew
Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock Lightweight in Strange Brew

STRMediumBriarRose
Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock Mediumweight in Briar Rose

Isn’t it funny that I swore I wouldn’t buy any sock yarn (because I have more than I could ever knit) and then it turned out sock yarn was all I bought?  Willpower?  What is this thing you call “willpower”??

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Fall Fiber Fests in Pictures, Part 1

I never did get around to blogging about the Fiber Festivals I attended this fall.  So since time is short with all of the holiday bustle going on, I figured I’ll catch us up on them with a barrage of pictures.  Because really, all anyone wants is to see the pretty loot, right?

First up is Rhinebeck!!

rhinebeck
The entire haul of goodness!!

FiberOpticFootNotesPassion
Fiber Optic Foot Notes in Passion

MiniMochi110
Crystal Place Mini Mochi -sooooo soft!

NoroSilkGardenSockComposition
A great kit containing a sock pattern, a skein of Noro Silk Garden and a basket!

WildAppleHillFarmDkSheepsGray
Grey wool from Wild Apple Hill Farms to knit Stilwell . . .

WildAppleHillFarmNatural
and some Natural for the contrast.

GnomespunMountainTrails
Gnomespun Yarn Phouka in Mountain Trails.

All this new stash should keep me busy for quite a while, no?  And we still have Part 2 and Part 3 to go!!

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Ketchup . . .

Well, it seems we are long over-due for some ketchup catch-up.  Although I suppose you don’t relish the fact that this post is peppered with lame little puns.

As you mayo may not know, I’ve been buying much more yarn than I’ve been knitting lately.  But at least I have finished one project.

I started these in August so I could complete a quick pair of socks for the Sock a Month knit-along.  The fact that they ended up taking me three months to knit really rubbed salt into my knitting wounds!

NovSocks
Little Pansy Socks (pattern is my own)
Cast On: August 2010
Completed: 14 November 2010
Yarn: Cascade Yarns Fixation Spray Dyed/Effects
Needles: US 4 (3.5 mm) DPNs
Now that this honey of a project is off the needles, I can move on to knitting some of the new yarns I bought at the fall fiber festivals.  But don’t worry, we can ketchup on those in another post.