Double Knitting Potholder...

We have a new teacher in the shop... She moved a couple of months ago to town and have been going to the shop on Tuesdays. She's about my age and knows a lot of knitting, lots of techniques and technical details like the ones I enjoy to discover.

Last week I took a Double-knit class from her. Double-knit makes for a thicker fabric, you work with both colors at the same time and you can make a drawing or a patterned chart and have the image on both sides on opposite colors.

We made a Potholder...

You see, one side is the reverse of the other.

It was a little hard to get the hang of it in the beginning but after a while, and when you start seeing the drawing appear was easier and faster and I really liked it.
Since seeing Lily Chin's double color dress and now with this class I find myself a lot more interested in double color and it's variations!!! I'll start experimenting...

Also last week, MG played with his shadow in the morning... we have a sliding door in the living room and every morning the sun floods the space...

...and a very pretty sunrise last Thursday...

See you soon!!
S.

Quick trip, Halloween and Home coming weekend...

Hello guys!!!
I'm back and I hope to seriously be back to blog and catch up with you....

How you've been? I've missed you!!!

I had a quick trip back home last week... One of my friends was getting married. It was a very special wedding and I was so glad I was able to make it and be there with them. My parents went with me and all my friends were there so I had a great time!!

I came back on Thursday for a weekend full of events!!! MG didn't go with me to Mex and the wedding so he was playing crying because "he missed me sooo much and I left like for a year"... so we had an excellent loving weekend with lots of hugs and kisses because he was so happy I'm back! :o) that is perfection and happiness.

The weekend was Home coming weekend... and while we didn't got tickets for the football game, we enjoyed the night parade on Friday night... it was long and happy and I deffinetly love Bands!!!! I have a thing for them! every time I see and hear a band I get all happy and excited and jumping and more...
I don't have pictures because I forgot my camera that day... MG joined me there and he took pictures, I have to make sure to take them out of his camera and onto my computer.

Friday was a perfect autumn day. I had a nice walk in the main street downtown from the yarn shop to where the parade was going to pass... It was cold and chilly but not freezing and I bought a hot chocolate to make the walk. It was like a half mile walk and the hot chocolate was sooooo good! it was the first of the season and that made me happy!

On Saturday we went to our respective worlds: MG to his lab and me to the Yarn Shop.... :o)
Later we went to a store to pick up costumes for a Halloween party....
We dressed up as Pirates!!!

That's me... (oviously, huh?) the dress was a little tiny bit big but very comfortable, with cheap velvet and lace... I liked it... the skirt had pointy stripes in both fabrics and I wore fishnet stockings and tall boots.
Marco had boot covers, black pants and this set of hat and jacket:::

And here we are together:::  (You can see that MG is making a "Pirate" face)

We had a great time and the party was crowd packed with people in all kind of costumes...

What did you do for Halloween???

See you soon!
S.

Seasonal Jewelry...

I've been thinking and thinking about writing this post almost since we had the first snow!!!
I hadn't had opportunity to photograph my jewelry until now... today we had a bright sunny day and I took advantage and took pictures of all the pieces that I had without picture.

I have some good news!!!! last Monday I received my Work Authorization Card!!! I'm so excited because now I'll be able to give classes (crochet classes at the LYS), or take a job somewhere, and sell my jewelry... and that feels really good.... I haven't done it in soooo long!!!!

So today I spent all afternoon taking pictures and polishing my jewelry to shiny-shine! and adding clasps and hooks wherever needed... and I'll be ready to sell really soon!!!
And with all the picture taking I took some of the pieces that I have kept for myself and took some pictures too... and thus the seasonal jewelry theme....

May I present you::: My Autumn Necklaces:::

This one is made with copper wire coated in colors... it's all made by hand... all the coils and the unions and the chain at the end... and I like it but farther than that, I decided to keep it because it was more of a trial for the design and being copper is really simple to stretch it and it can loose its form really easy and I didn't want to sell something that could go bad easily. As I know that that can happen and I know how to fix it if it does, I can wear it without problems!
Here a close-up of the work... I love the colors, it remainds me of autumn...

The next necklace its also for the fall... I made this one specially for me because I wanted an autumn something... I feel that the shape I gave the wire seems to leaves falling, and then the colors of the cristals are very fall-ish. The wire I used is sterling silver, I think it is 22gauge (not the same gauge used in knitting and crochet though!) The crystals are swarovsky...
And once again, everything is handmade.

Next and last for today, we have the Winter Set... I made and designed this one also for me... not just something I kept. Back in 2007, when I was doing my degree thesis, I was working with a Chemistry Professor. I was assistant in one of his classes about crystalography and solid structure and I was making my thesis work about synthetic rubys... I was mad about crystals and minerals back there... and this professor went on a vacation and I asked him to bring me a present... and he brought me this incredible and amazing rutilated quartz (the big crystal on the necklace).
It remainded me of ice, so I made an icy, sparkling and wintery piece...

Quartz beads with sterling silver wire and handmade"snowflakes"...

I LOOOOVE them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That was my seasonal jewelry so far... I hope you liked it... I hadn't talked about jewelry here in a long time... I hope you didn't get bored with all the explanations of what I used and why!!!

I have to go for now!
See you soon!
S.

Autumnness

Look at them::::

 Aren't they gorgeous????? I just picked them up from our shared garden... I love them, I feel like a little girl with a new just-discovered treasure!!! I'm happy happy!!!
I'll try to go out tomorrow for more, I'm out of time now...

Do you want to see them again??

 I want to make an Autumn-y wreath with them... I went to Hobby Lobby today for a circle frame that I could use but didn't like none of what they have... so I'll try the dollar store soon, and I'll show you how it goes....

Look at this pretty tree that we found at campus this morning!!!
MG and I got really happy after seeing it and got into a nice discusion about why trees make that change in their colors....

Have a great weekend!!!
I'm off to have dinner with MG and co-workers!

See you soon!
S.

Donuts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Helloooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope you're having a really good day. I don't know why but my day yesterday was a bit blue. It was a gorgeous autumn day, all fresh, with clear sky, white and puffy clouds, crisp air.... and I didn't feel good for some reason. I was gloomy and down. And I went out for a walk that made me smile for a while... 

 

 

 

... though it didn't work for take away my blue mood... oh well!

It doesn't matter!!! today I'm so much happier! I'm just happy.
I woke up wanting to make donuts! my Sister in law gave us a donut maker right before I went to Mexico, do you remember??

And we hadn't try it until today... so while MG was cooking lunch and setting up breakfast, I was rambling between flour, eggs, sugar, milk and more to make the batter... then trying to figure out the right amount of batter to put on the donut maker...

So a few of them spilled out... that is how the donuts looked once I opened the lid after the waiting time, that is amazingly short!!!! just 3-5 minutes!!!
So the consuming time part is make the batter, and then, you just have to wait several 5 mins batches, and you have a whole batch of D-O-N-U-T-S ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

 It made 60!!!!!!!! it's a lot!!! and sice we don't have kids or know any neighbors to invite to eat them... I put them all (almost) in little plastic bags, and now I'm off to MG's work to share them with his co-workers...
Here's after I sugared them...

 And here in the bags....

They are not super great and are far distant of the bakery donuts with decorations and all... but hey! I'm still learning this cooking-baking thing, and this was my first batch of donuts!

See you later!
S.

My suitcase...

So every trip comes with a suitcase... and mine was very different this time:::

That was the "take with you suitcase"... I was a bit afraid of someone asking me about all that yarn, it was over 7 lbs of wool yarn!!!!!!!!!!! delicious wool yarn for my wall hanging...

 I think it's coming out great........

I am really loving it, and now that I'm here and everywhere I look is fall-y and autumn-y, this trees are the perfect mood match....

I can imagine, in a not very far future, nice hooking afternoons at home, with the heater on, with a cup of tea or hot chocolate, maybe a sweet treat and this nice wool over my lap.... mmmmh! nice! I want to do it now!!!

But no, it'll have to wait, right now I have to run, I want to go to the LYS as I bought a present for the owner... I brought her slipper soles from Mexico, so she can try them out and see if she wants them for her store, here's a pic...

 

 Allright... see you soon!!!

S.

Back home...

Finally, after a very looong trip I got home with MG...
It took me a little bit more than 13 hours to make it from my parent's at Mexico City, to our little home at B-town... that being the waiting time before a plane, the flying time, the waiting time between flights, other flight, waiting time at the airport for the shuttle, shuttle time, and driving time back home... uuufff!!! tireing!!!!

MG went to "pick me up" to the airport... more wait for me, as he took the shuttle there and didn't drive...

The reunion was great!!! I was so happy and excited to see him... it was like we were dating again, you know those butterflies that you get in your stomack when your guy is coming to pick you up to take you out????? well, I had those for the whole second flight and the time that passed until I was with him!

Fortunately, I passed all the border procedures without any problems or questioning... yei!!!!

MG had take all the clutter out of the house (he's not very cluttery) and had a pile of presents with a note on top of the bed for me... so sweet!!!

Yesterday I went to the campus with him, I walked a bit while he was working... apparently I've missed the best stunnishing part of the autumn, but still I found this... 

I love the color of the leaves, we don't have this kind of autumn in my home town, so this is still new to me (just my second year!!!)... and I discovered that you can smell the leaves, I think a fall scent... same as Christmas scent will come !

I'll share more things in the next days... have to do some errands!
See you soon!
S.