HELP!!! To Fringe or not to Fringe

I only had enough of the one yarn for the body of the shawl. I had another yarn that I salvaged from a goodwill sweater. It looked really gross as the blackberry border on the shawl. *blech* Its a small boucle type yarn. The yarn is the same color as the yarn in the shawl..but the binder is black, so it kind of looks darker.

Here's a couple of shots of the fringe that I've done with the boucle yarn so far.



extreme closeup



What would you do?? I can't decide if it looks good or crappy and I don't want to keep going. Need a little advice here. Thanks!

TGIF

We got another new addition to our household yesterday.



My 6 year old read enough books in the library's summer reading program that he got a coupon for a "free teddybear hamster" at one of the local pet stores. The "free" hamster cost me around $20. *sigh* I think he's decided on naming the hamster Diamond, even though I call him Ham-Ham. (I love that show)

Been working a bunch on the shawl. Here's an obligatory fence shot.



I just started the fourth and last ball of yarn last night. I have some yarn from a sweater recyclying project that matches pretty well that I think I'm going to use for the lace edging.

Here's a close up of the pattern stitch.



(as always you can click all my photos for a larger view)

I am going to be doing the Madli Shawl from the Summer (?) issue of Interweave Knits. Jen is hosting a knit along for it. It starts August 20th. Theres a button on my sidebar. Join us!! Come on!! You know you want to!! Oh Jen?? Can you give me the link to where we found that good deal on the yarn for it?? I thought I bookmarked it, but I can't find it.

My oldest, the daughter turns 14 one week from today. Dang I feel old. She's a good kiddo though. I'm very proud of her. 1st Degree black belt, on the school swim team and makes fairly good grades and doesn't get into much trouble. Not much more a mom can ask for.

Everyone else is doing it

You're Sudan!

Every time you get a headache, you reach for some aspirin, only to
realize that someone destroyed it.  That's just how things are going for you right
now... it's hard to eat, hard to sleep, hard to not have a headache.  You try to
relax, but people always jump on you about something that doesn't make sense.  If
you were a goat, you'd be a Nubian.
Take the Country Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid

Please keep them in your thoughts

These are the people I bought my Denise's from

Crystal's accident

She was very lucky.

Look Mom! I can make cables!!

It's the Coronet pattern from Knitty. I used the yarn that I won ages ago from a contest on JenLa. I got to use my Densies for the body of the hat!! So far I looooove them!!


Here it is on my loverly daughter. She makes a good knitting model huh?? This yarn is amazingly soft. It was called Rio and was 100% viscose. (Am I right thinking that's a plant fiber??)

OH..we are trying to potty train the wee lad. It's not going too terribly well. I have one funny thing to share though. We put his potty chair in the living room so that it's easier for him to get to. He did this all by himself on Friday and my daughter just had to take a snapshot of it.



Yes...he put the potty chair on the coffee table.
I think my son has a weird sense of humor. *sigh* I will probably use this photo as future blackmail/embarrassment material when he is a teenager.

ideas anyone??

I am going to get my own domain...so I can use either wordpress or moveable type for my blog. The site will not just be my blog..but my family home page with the kids photo galleries along with our interests. I can't think of a decent domain name.

Anyone have any ideas??

I could just regitster KnitSteph ...but ...well...its not ALL about me. *grin*

I think I want to make these......

Knitted Mary Janes

Shawl progress

I am now 22 inches into the shawl. I just started the third ball of yarn about 5 rows ago. I only have 4 balls and theres supposed to be a lace edging. Not sure what I'm gonna do.

here is a good shot of the color



And heres a shot without flas with the monitor for backlighting to show the stitch pattern...(see Kae..it has holes)



I'm anxious for my Denise's to get here! I can't wait.

End of Contest!!

Well..the votes have pretty much stopped coming in so I think I'm going to end the doggie name contest today!

The winner is

*drumroll*


Estrellita del Cielo Tejano submitted by Wendy. Yay Wendy!

I like this name and it fits since our last name is Garza. ;)

Wendy...send me your addy and I'll get your prizes on the way to you. :)

Yay me!!

I just bought these on ebay



Now I can probably focus more on yarn than not ever having the needles that I need.

I started the third ball of yarn on the shawl. (sorry no photo yet) I want to make Charlotte. I'm babysitting a friend's kid until school starts and hopefully I can get the yarn with my babysitting money. (jeeze...what am I 15 again?? LOL)

psssssssssttttttttttttt.....

Ubercuteness

It's a dogs life huh??

Don't forget to vote in the poll for her name if you haven't yet.

Photo heavy

Haven't posted in a bit so I have lots of photos. *grin*

Finished the first sock on Saturday.



Looks good on huh??



Looks wonky not on. I think its just the ribbing pulling it in making it look strange. It fits great though. I'm about 3 inches into the cuff of the second one.

Here's the embroidery I was telling you about.



Yeah..I know it's not finished. It will be soon

I PLIED I PLIED!!!



It's 22 yards. I think its about 12 wpi.

Here's a closeup of it.


And finally..I finished up one ball of yarn for the shawl.



I think its looking good. It's about 14 inches to the point now. I think there was something on the lens of my camera for that photo...sorry bout the blur.

HOT HOT HOT

It's about 5:30 pm and the temperature is 97 (F) and the heat index is 105. *le sigh*

The Six Sox Knitalong pattern was released and I like it...but I don't have any appropriate yarn in my stash to make it. :( The pattern calls for 350 yards of lornas laces sport or sock. I really like the pattern. Its a cable pattern and I've been dying to try cables. I'll just have to wait til I have some money to get the yarn so that I can start that sock. Good thing they give us 2 months!! LOL

So..in consolation I started this today for a friend. I owed her a pair of socks in exchange for her charting a cross stitch pattern for me.



It's magic stripe in the denim color way. I'm really liking how it's looking.

Oh..I have to brag, because no telling when she'll post it to her own blog. Geebaloo Made this for her Taekwondo Master.



That's the logo of the type of taekwondo she takes and she embroidered it. It's a little thing like you hang on your doorknob. I'm one proud mama!

I've made more progress on the trinity stitch shawl, but I won't post photos because it just looks like the one below..only a little bigger. LOL

*pause*

Sorry..had to go put the noodles in the hamburger helper. Gourmet dinners here I tell you. Hey..it's quick and easy and cheap.

The poll is going great! There are a couple of names that are neck and neck! If you haven't voted yet...please do so!!

Ok..I think dinner is getting close to be ready and I'm hungry so I'm going to end this now go stuff my face.

Happy Knitting!!!

Yeah..I do knit sometimes

Thanks to Vidardottir I am now a shawl knittng person. Not that I didn't want to be, but I was just holding out for Charlotte. I read that she was having problems with her Trinity Stitch Shawl so I picked up some yarn and needles to make sure that there wasn't a pattern error or something that she didn't notice and I just kept going.



This is going to be my "sitting outside the pool while my son takes swiming lessons" project. We started two weeks of level 2 on Monday so I should get quite a few hours on it at swimming lessons.

I'm also working on an embroidered celtic knot. No photos til I'm done.

I'm waiting on the next six-sox knitalong pattern to come out so I can see if I want to knit that for my friend..or if I just want to do a standard pattern. I may start the main portion of my alpaca scarf. I think it would be a bit before I got the the part where I need the beads...we'll just see how I feel.

OH..and finally someone wrote exactly how I feel over at TomatoNation

If you haven't noticed, I got the poll uploaded for Star's full name. It's over on the sidebar. I sat the kids down and made them pick five names, otherwise I'd have had the whole list of names up there. I'm not sure yet how long I'll leave the poll up. I just want to get a good many votes before I close it and announce the winner. Please vote if you haven't done so.

Now its off to do icky laundry and vacuuming and dishes. Blech

EDIT

Finished the back of the Slit Front Tank



It's not wonky..its just stockinette..and you know, it curls. LOL

Photos Uploaded

I got the photos uploaded from the weekend.

Argent Anniversary Photos

There's no captions on them yet, but I'll get to it later.

I made this today.

We're Home!!

Tired and happy.

I took a period natural dyes class on Friday. It was about 4 hours in the hot Texas sun in 90+ weather over hot fires, but I had a great time. Here's a few photos.


1. A view of the pots set up. 2. The black walnut dye pot simmering


3. The cochineal pot simmering 4. Clockwise from the left. Tumeric pot, onion skin pot, cinnamon pot and the pot of tin mordant heating back up


4. The madder pot simmering. 5. My test cards (acid afterbath, basic afterbath and no afterbath)


The yarn and fiber that I dyed. Left to right. Angora dyed with cochineal. Skeins of wool, silk and cotton dyed with cochineal. Angora dyed with madder. Skeins of wool, silk and cotton dyed with cochineal. Angora dyed with black walnut and silk, cotton and wool skeins dyed with black walnut.

Had a fun time. Will post more photos later!

Im Outta Here!!!!!

Well for a few days anyway!! Going to Ansteorra's Argent Annniversary. Leaving about 5 pm and should get there about 6 pm.

We'll be back on Sunday afternoon sometime.

I am going to be taking a fiber dyeing class on Friday!! I'm not sure what else I'll be doing but I'm taking my camera!!'

I'll post the poll on Monday after I get back!! If you have some final names for the contest...send them on!!

Googlism

1. Go to www.googlism.com.
2. Enter your first name into the search box and Googlism! yourself.
3. Pick the BEST responses and list them on your LJ.
4. Bold your favorites of the BEST.

steph is god (I KNEW IT!!)
steph is a booger
steph is always known for lending peeps a hand when they get in a jam with their computer or with html stuff
steph is not for sale
steph is a very busy girl
steph is wild tonite
steph is very good at it (IT)

ACK

I awake this morning to a tinkling sound kind of like small wind chimes blowing in the wind. At least thats what it sounded like to my sleep clouded ears.

Guess what the noise was?? The two year old had gotten up and into my dpns needle roll and had thrown every single one of them across the kitchen floor. I am now missing one of my size 0 and one of my size 3 dpns.

*le sigh*

Anyone want 3 kids for a while??

Today consists of packing up all the camping gear and going and getting the food for the weekend. I'm going to go the cheap route!! I want to get some knitting in but I'm feeling totally un-inspired. I found a pattern for the alpaca yarn that I am going to make. It's the Fancy beaded scarf from the Encyclopedia of Knitting . I think that it might be the same as this one Beaded Scarf. If it's not the same its very similar. Can't start on it though because I don't have the money to get the beads yet. Also...I'm a big chicken so I'm going to make one from some acrylic yarn I have so I won't mess up my alpaca if I can't figure out the beading.

I need to start a pair of socks. I'm just blah. Someone kick me out of my rut.

Blah...

I am sooo lazy today. Can't get motivated. It's kind of sad to be eating lunch in your pajamas. LOL

I have been working on the slit front tank from the last Interweave Knits magazine.



This is the back. The top edge is only wonky because of the circs. I have about 4 inches to the neckline. I'm not going to tell what yarn I'm using. It's cotton...and you'll just have to guess what it is. LOL

I won't be around after Thursday afternoon. I will be HERE until Sunday. Yay!! Camping in Texas in July! LOL

Keep your entries coming for the Contest so that you might win the wonderful Prizes.!! We will choose our favorites next Monday and put up a poll for voting!

Off to finish my lunch and get some packing done. Hopefully some knitting too!!

A pretty productive weekend!

I made this



and these




From a skein of yarn that I found at goodwill for $.50. Yippee. I think there's enough left to make him a small matching scarf.

I also made this



It's a needle case for my dpns. Sorry about the crappy photo..something is weird with my camera today.

My daughter posted a photo of the scarf she's working on in her BLOG. I think she's doing a really good job. She's almost used one ball of fun fur and she will start the second ball pretty soon. (Thanks Jen!!) I'm not the best teacher and I know I'm probably teaching her wrong..but she's doing a good job.

The response has been great for the CONTEST keep your entries coming!! Some of them are VERY creative!!

I made this last night and we are headed over to my mom's right now to share it before I eat it all. *grin*

Peach French Toast Cobbler

1 loaf French bread, unsliced (1 lb)
5 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon cornstarch
4 1/2 cups sliced fresh peaches (frozen are Ok, too)
2 tablespoons butter, melted
powdered sugar

1. Slice bread into 8 slices (approx. 3/4 to 1 inch thick) and arrange in a shallow baking pan.
2. In a bowl whisk together eggs, milk, baking powder and vanilla.
3. Pour mixture over bread, turn slices to coat evenly, then cover with plastic wrap and let stand 2 hours at room temperature or refrigerate overnight.
4. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
5. Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.
6. Mix sugar, cinnamon and cornstarch in a bowl and then fold in peaches, coating well.
7. **Ifusing frozen peaches that are sweetened you might want to add less sugar** Spread peach mixture in the greased baking pan and cover with the egg-soaked bread slices, wetter side up, wedging the bread in tightly.
8. Brush the top of the bread slices with melted butter.
9. Bake 20-25 minutes or'til toast looks golden and the peaches buble around the edges of the pan.
10. Place toast on plates and spoon the peach sauce over the top and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Prizes!

I have come up with a few things for the prize for the contest.



A keychain made from a mini sock that I knitted (cascade fixation)



A cute little bag to carry around a (small) knitting project. Fully lined with a pocket on the front. I made this myself also.



Stitch markers!! 12 stitch markers, 4 each of Dragonfly, daisy and stars. I also made these myself.

Ok..there ya go! I may come up with something more...but my brain is fried for now.

A contest!!

Ok...Tell all your friends!!

At the urging of La, I am having contest to give the puppy a full formal name. The kids have named her Star which she will be called by, but I believe that all anmials should have a full formal name.

So, send me your suggestions to sgarza AT cablelynx DOT com. I will collect them until July 11 and then pick several of my favorites and put them up in a poll for people to vote on. Make sure you put "dog name" or something similar in your email subject line so that I can tell it's not spam. You can see photos of the lucky puppy HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE. Just keep in mind that we will be calling her Star, so that shoiuld figure into her formal name.

Oh yeah..there will be prizes. I haven't gotten them all together yet but hopefully will have them later today and will post photos of the prizes that the lucky dog namer will win. (Not only the proud namer of the dog but prizes too!!) They won't be much since I'm a poor knitter..but they will be from my heart.

LET THE CONTEST BEGIN!!!!

FINI!!

Finally done!! Will pop them in the mail tomorrow!