New little lovelies

Look what came to my doorstep this morning!
On Friday the 13th, Macoco from Craft Pirate posted that she was giving away the books 'A Good Yarn' and 'Back on Blossom Street' by Debbie Macomber. I guess it's obvious at this point who got them, huh?
See that gorgeous blue and green thing sitting on top of the books? Well, Macoco included that little surprise in the package. Isn't it BEAUTIFUL? It's Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in the colorway Icehouse. And, since I have smallish feet (size7) , it's plenty for a pair of socks with a short cuff (which is how I like my socks anyway!).

THANK YOU MACOCO!!! I cant wait until this afternoon (nap time for DD) to dive into 'A good Yarn'. You're the best!

a cute lil' something...

...to go with the Daisy baby sweater I posted yesterday.
Using the yarn leftover from Daisy, I made this cute little Bunny Blanket Buddy (you might have to register to view the pattern, but it's free) for Sarah's new lil' niece. My DD (2 yrs old) fell in love with this one when I finished it, so I'm going to dig in my stash for some yarn to make one for her too.

Another FO!

My best friend, Sarah, also has a new niece arriving in Sept. So, as a joint gift for the new baby, Sarah bought some yarn, and I knit a baby sweater for the lil' pea. It still needs buttons, but Sarah will add those when she gets the chance. I used the Daisy pattern from knitty, and Caron Simply Soft yarn in the color Plum Wine. I love the bottom up construction of this sweater, but I must say my seaming skills (for the sleeves) need some work. This sweater didn't take long to knit, I cast on for it on Saturday morning and worked on it while waiting for Deathly Hallows to be delivered (I finished reading it Sunday morning and OMG it was WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!! (the epilogue sucked though)), and I finished the knitting and seaming yesterday afternoon. I can't wait to see a pic of lil' pea wearing it!

and, here is a progress pic of Icarus. I am on my 3rd repeat of chart 1. It's coming along steadily, but I am starting to get a little bored with this section of the pattern. oh well..... after I finish this repeat, I'll only have to do 2 more repeats and then I get to start another chart that looks MUCH more interesting!

Embossed Leaves FO!!!

HA!
FINISHED!
It's after midnight and I'm tired but wired on caffeine, but THEY'RE FINALLY FINISHED!!! I conquered SSS (second sock syndrome) this time....I still need to start sock #2 of Twisted Flowers...but damn......it's feels good to have an FO! Now I wont feel guilty about neglecting my knitting later today when I'm engrossed in Deathly Hallows.

Well, I mentioned that my bout of SSS (second sock syndrome) was slowly subsiding. :) I am now on the foot portion of sock #2 of my Embossed Leaves Socks. I know I'm using a yarn that's too 'busy' for the pattern (or a pattern too busy for the yarn...take your pick...lol), but I really like how it's turning out. The yarn is Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock lightweight in the Little Bunny Foo Foo colorway, and the Embossed Leaves Sock pattern can be found in the book Favorite Socks by Interweave Press.

And, here is a brand spankin' new WIP. I cast this on earlier this morning. This, my friends, is an Icarus Shawl (Another Interweave pattern, available in the Summer 2006 issue and also available for download for $6.00 HERE). I am using KnitPicks Shadow lace yarn, in the Vineyard Heather Colorway. I'm only about 9 rows into the first chart, but I'll be able to make more progress later (as in when the kids aren't bickering over every single teeny tiny itty bitty little thing) I'm hoping I'll enjoy knitting Icarus A LOT more than I did knitting the Peacock Feathers Shawl, and so far, it looks like I will.

This WIP, is just a simple raglan cardigan, and I am adding a cable alongside the button bands. The cable is the Cruller cable from the Vogue Stitchionary Volume 2. I am using Knitpicks Wool of the Andes Bulky in Sky for the collar ribbing, and Grape for the body. This is going to be for my niece, Laney's Christmas Gift. This was going to be for my niece Morgan, but I did too many increases to fit Morgan, so now it's for Laney because I didn't feel like frogging...LOL

It's gone.......

I don't know when or why it happened, but I no longer possess the burning desire to simply expand my stash. I used to yearn for yarn, I NEEDED it, I felt I needed to have as much yarn as possible in my bin. I guess somewhere along the way it just became pointless to just buy yarn having no real intention for it. I still love yarn, I just no longer have the desire to just buy it. Now, sock yarn is the exception here. That is always bought with a project in mind.....socks. It's just all the other yarns out there that I just can't get it up for anymore if I don't have a project planned out.

In other knitting news....the SSS (second sock syndrome) I was suffering from, has ebbed some. I have been working on sock#2 for Embossed Leaves again. I have gone from having 2 rows done, sitting on my shelf for weeks, to having only one repeat left to finish for the leg, in less than a week! I have also completely finished Monica and the Anthropologie Inspired Capelet. I have also started the cardigan for my Niece, Morgan's Christmas gift. I decided to use leftover yarn from the Capelet for the collar ribbing, and am using the grape for the body. I am also doing a cable alongside the button band. I'll add a pic of this WIP and more details of the above mentioned FO's when I get another chance to hop on here.