Knit Flix

Friday, January 27, 2012

HKF

It's Hand Knit Friday! What hand knits do you have on today?

I'm wearing cotton blend socks.


Primavera socks
Project details on Ravelry

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Sunday, January 22, 2012

Sunday snapshots

Wind and rain outside, cookies and coffee inside. Inside wins.

Oatmeal Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookies
Oatmeal Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookies

Oatmeal Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookies
Oatmeal Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookies

The recipe is from Quaker Oats: Chewy Choc-Oat-Chip Cookies. I substitute dried cranberries for raisins.

The tomato seedlings are doing well. It's been 2 weeks and you can see the second set of leaves emerging.

Heirloom tomato seedlings
Heirloom tomato seedlings

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Friday, January 20, 2012

HKF

It's Hand Knit Friday! What hand knits do you have on today?

I'm wearing entrelac socks. Fancy!


A Step Above socks
Project details on Ravelry

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Monday, January 16, 2012

The Monarchs are here! The Monarchs are here!

It just occurred to me that the title of this post might mean something completely different to those in the UK, Canada, Australia, and other parts of the world. lol. This post is about the Monarch Butterflies overwintering in California.

Pacific Grove is well known for this annual event, but there are other locations in California where the butterflies hang out in the winter months. Why the locations are chosen by the butterflies is a topic of research, but all of the sites have a few things in common: mild winter temperatures, Eucalyptus groves for overwintering, Milkweed for the larvae to eat, and flower nectar in the Spring for the new adult butterflies to eat.
Wikipedia: Monarch (butterfy)

Ardenwood Historic Farm has a Eucalyptus grove where the Monarch butterflies overwinter and this year there are ~10x more Monarchs than last year. The admission for Ardenwood is only $2 for adults and they have guided walks to learn about and see the clusters of butterflies, or you can view them on your own.

Monarch Butterfly Walks at Ardenwood Farm

Ardenwood has the early stages of the Monarch life cycle on display in their greenhouse (click on a photo to see a larger image):

Monarch larvae (caterpillar) feeding on Milkweed
Monarch larvae (caterpillar) feeding on Milkweed

Monarch larvae (caterpillar) and chrysalis
Monarch larvae (caterpillar) and chrysalis

Clusters of butterflies are in the Eucalyptus grove. I wish I had a tripod and a lens that would allow me to get "closer".

Monarch Butterfly cluster
Monarch Butterfly cluster

The day we went was cool and cloudy, but at one point a few rays of sunlight hit the cluster and the butterflies became more active. There are thousands of butterflies in the grove all packed together in these clusters.

Monarch Butterfly cluster
Monarch Butterfly cluster

Ardenwood is a working farm and holds special activities throughout the year like Sheep Shearing Day and the Harvest Festival.





Here are more sights from our visit to the farm--

What?
What?

Up from an afternoon nap
Up from an afternoon nap

Farm gear
Farm gear

Corn Sheller
Corn Sheller

Popcorn on the cob
Popcorn on the cob

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Sunday, January 15, 2012

The Spin-in

Spinning, knitting, weaving, and socializing (and eating!) kept us engaged at Spinnity's Spin-in. It was nice to catch up with everyone in the new year.

Here are a few images from yesterday's gathering.

Spinning and Knitting
Spinning and Knitting

Knitting and Spinning
Knitting and Spinning

Weaving
Weaving

Navajo Ply on the Fly
Navajo Ply on the Fly

Laughing
Laughing

Discussing
Discussing

Laughing
Exploring

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Saturday, January 14, 2012

Saturday snapshots

It's in the rotation
It's in the rotation
Project details on Ravelry


Italian Cypress Villa
Italian Cypress Villa

Who's that peeking out up there? I should have known. :(

The Penthouse
The Penthouse

I can show the next project now that it has been gifted. It's 100% cotton woven in an 8 pick herringbone Fibonacci sequence. It's my first FO for 2012.

Herringbone Sequence
Herringbone Sequence

Herringbone Sequence
Herringbone Sequence
Project details on Ravelry

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Friday, January 13, 2012

HKF

It's Hand Knit Friday! What hand knits do you have on today?

On this second HKF of 2012, I'm wearing socks knit with handspun yarn and a hemp cardi.


Mars Mission socks
Project info on Ravelry



Basket Stitch Cardigan
Project details on Ravelry

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Friday, January 06, 2012

HKF

It's Hand Knit Friday! What hand knits do you have on today?

I'm wearing my Tahoe Broadripple socks. Did you know that golf courses are open in Tahoe right now? In January?? We need snow and rain. Come on Mother Nature, bring it on!


Tahoe Broadripple socks
Project details on Ravelry

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Thursday, January 05, 2012

Finishing WIPs... later

I hope to finish all of my languishing WIPs in 2012, so can you guess what I did this week?

Ding! Ding! Ding! That's right, I started a new project! Those WIPs will just have to wait.

New Year's Day 2012

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Sunday, January 01, 2012

New Year's Day 2012

New Year's Day 2012

New Year's Day 2012

New Year's Day 2012

Honeycomb towels

Honeycomb towels
Honeycomb towels
Project details on Ravelry


The Honeycomb towels took a trip through the washer and dryer and they're GREAT! They shrank beautifully and are really soft. I was worried that the towel body wouldn't shrink at the same rate as hem, but it did. Success.

Happy New Year!

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