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.

WIP's and YARN!

well....My Monica in the round has been coming along quickly. The Body and Ruffle are done, it's just the straps left now. I'm working both straps at the same time from 2 balls of yarn, and will graft them to the stitches held for the straps at the back. This Monica is going to be a birthday present for my Niece, Laney, who turns 3 at the beginning of August. I used Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in Prosperous Plum and Blush. Pattern from Knitty.















This WIP is an Anthropologie Inspired Capelet that is for my Niece, Justice's 10th birthday coming up in August (3 days after Laney's birthday) (if you wanted to know, Justice and Morgan are my Nieces from my sister Jammie, and Laney and new baby are from my sister Dawn) I am working on the sleeves, but there's not much work left to do on this. I altered the pattern slightly to accommodate a buttonhole (instead of using a broach) and to make it smaller to fit a youngster. I need to find the perfect button. I'm thinking something pale pink and/or lavender and sparkly would be prefect for a 10 year old. The yarn I'm using is Knitpicks Wool of the Andes Bulky in Sky.

My Nieces are going to look SOOOO FREAKING CUTE in their birthday gifts!!!! I'm all giddy and excited!

And, now, YARN!!!

Here we have some Knitpicks Wool of the Andes Bulky in Mauve and Grape. These are going to become some cabled cardigans for my nieces Laney and Morgan's Christmas Gifts. I'm still planning the cardigans out. Right now I'm thinking make one mainly grape with mauve ribbing for the collar and cuffs, and the other mainly mauve with grape for the collar and cuff ribbing. Both with a cable pattern going down the front panels beside the button bands, but the cables will be different on each sweater.

This is Knitpicks Main Line yarn in the Red Velvet Cake colorway. The lighting in all of these pics is off, but in this pic the color is the most inaccurate. It's a really pretty creamy red. I'm not 100% sure what I'm going to do with this one. I only have 5 balls of it. I'm thinking maybe using it to knit a cardigan for DD to wear this fall. I probably don't have enough for that, so I might just use it to make a sweater for my newest niece, Due September 1st. 5 balls is PLENTY for that.


......and here we have some sock yarns that have been residing in my stash bin for a while, but I don't think I've ever posted a pic or even mentioned them here before. From top to bottom, we have BMFA STR lightweight in Socktopus, Lime & Violet yarn 'Penelope' colorway, and another Lime & Violet yarn called 'The Human Skeleton'. You can see a gallery of Lime & Violet yarns HERE. They do WONDERFUL and BEAUTIFUL work.

want some details?

After I read the comment CraftPirate left on the post I made yesterday, I realized some might like some details as to what it was on my needles in the second pic in the post below. Well, remember the Monica I was working on before? I wasn't happy with it, and I had a sweater version of second sock syndrome (couldn't make myself start the back), so I decided to frog the fucker and start it over, but knitting it in the round this time. So I'm making a slightly altered version of Monica from Knitty, using Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in Prosperous Plum for the body and Blush for the ruffle.

Speaking of second sock syndrome, I still haven't started sock #2 of Twisted Flower, and I've only managed a few rows of sock#2 of Embossed leaves.

I LOVE Options!!!!

I FINALLY ordered the Knitpicks Options needle set a week ago (Monday 6/11th), and Saturday (6/16), a mere 20 minutes before I had to leave for work, they arrived!!!! I hurried finishing getting ready to leave, and ended up having a full 10 minutes to play with my new beauties! I transferred one of my wip's onto the KPO's, and as soon as I started knitting.....I was in love :)
They're SOOOO very smooth and slick....the stitches glide easily across them. DH likes them too. He already transferred a project to a set of my KPO's. Sometime soon, I think we'll have to get DH his own set of KPO's....I don't want to share :)

the ability to breathe through ones nose is greatly underappreciated

Sorry it's been so long since my last update. The kids are out of school on Summer break so I've been busy chasing them around and going crazy. The little boogers decided to bring home one last cold from school too. I felt it coming on Friday, and it hit me full force Friday night. Yesterday was so miserable, I spent the day half passed out on the couch. Today, I'm much better. I still have a sore throat and some muscle soreness, and I get dizzy if I try to stand for too long, but still, MUCH better than yesterday.

As for knitting......not much has gotten done lately. Thursday evening I was working on a project for my niece's 10th birthday, and the cable snapped on me. This was the 2nd Denise cable to do this to me. DH, hearing the string of profanity leaving my mouth when it happened, told me, "just order the Options you've been blathering about for the past year". So, that's what I'm going to do :) (don't worry, I got all of my stitches rescued on some scrap yarn) I am also going to have Denise replace my snapped cord (they have EXCELLENT customer service), so I'll have 2 sets of interchangeables soon :) Not much else has been worked on lately. I started knitting yet another garterlac washcloth, and I did a pinwheel washcloth. A few stitches on some other projects have been knit, but not much.

Also, because of some family drama, and my freaking cold, I was unable to attend any part of Knitters Connection. You have no idea how torturous it is to know that not just an emporium of beautiful, yummy, spectacular yarn and fiber, but also my two favorite podcasters (Lime & Violet), were just a mere 25 minute drive away from me. Not to mention missing out on the Knitters Connection goodie bags. Sometimes life fucking sucks ass.

an update....YAY!

Here's a pic of a WIP that I've mentioned here a few times, but haven't posted a pic of. It's going to be a throw for my Mom & Dad's Christmas gift. I am using the Kerry Blue Shawl pattern, but instead of using lace weight for a shawl, I'm using worsted weight yarn and size US7 needles for a small blanket. My Mom & Dad's living room is tans & browns, so I chose this red (it's a bit darker IRL than in the pic). It'll look beautiful in their living room.

And here is sock #1 in the pair of embossed leaves socks DONE! I've already cast on for sock#2, but have only done a few rows so far. I still need to cast on for Twisting Flower sock #2.

I've been tagged......

GI tagged me with the 7 things meme.

The rules: Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about themselves. Those who are tagged need to write on their own blog those 7 facts as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag seven other people and list their names on your blog. Then you leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and to read your blog.

I'm bad at these things because I never know what to write......

1. When I was 8 my family and I went on vacation/business trip with my dad, and we stayed at the Orpyland Hotel. While my parents were checking us in, I went and sat in a chair to wait. A nice 'old guy' sat down next to me and we started talking. Then he gave me a piece of gum. A few years later I learned that the 'nice old guy' I remembered was Willie Nelson.

2. Dh and I met when I was dating his old best friend in high school.

3. I was practicly raised in a Gas Station. My dad has owned gas stations my whole life, and my mom does the books. I used to go to work with my parents A LOT.

4. When I was 5, I decided that I didn't want to have bangs anymore. But, I didn't want to wait and grow my bangs out. So, I got the scissors out and cut my bangs off. At the hairline. After I had done it, it occured to me that this might piss off my mom. So, I put a hat on. BUT, I was the kind of girly girl who never wore hats, so as soon as my mom came home, she knew something was off. Then she went into the bathroom and saw hair in the sink. uh-oh...

5. During our wedding, DH saw how nervous I was. So, to distract me and to make me smile, he started playing thumb wars with me while the judge was marying us :)

6. I was 5 months pregnant with my oldest son when Dh and I got married. Despite us announcing out engagement in August, and DH and I getting married in May, I STILL have family who insist that DH and I only got married because I was 'knocked up'. DS was born September 28 1999. (2 weeks past due)

7. I was diagnosed with Acid Reflux and Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis when I was 12. That means I've been living with these painful conditions for 13 years now. Well, living with the pain for longer, it's just been 13 years that I've known what's wrong.


ok...who shall I tag?

Sheep of a Different color
PinkPorcupine
Pointy Sticks
FiredUpFairy
Knit Happens
The Witch Learns to Stitch
kellibus

One down, one to go.....

I have finished sock#1 for the pair of Twisted Flower Socks!!! I made a few minor alterations to make it fit me better. I eliminated part of the second repeat for the leg, and I did a typical slip stitch heel instead of the lacy heel that was written for the pattern. The pics aren't all that great. I blame it all on the sun. It looks all pretty and bright outside, so, I go out to try to take pics and the sun immediately runs off hiding behind a cloud. What a bitch....LOL.
Now off to work on Embossed Leaves, and maybe cast on for Twisted Flower #2.

Little Bunny Foo Foo...

Come on....you know you want to sing it with me. " Little Bunny Foo Foo, Hopping through the forest, Scooping up the field mice, And boppin' 'em on the head......" (click HERE for full lyrics)

ahem.......

I started a pair of socks with my BMFA STR lightweight in the Little Bunny Foo Foo colorway :) I am using the Embossed Leaves Pattern from Favorite Socks. I absolutely adore how this yarn is knitting up. I even love the color pooling that's happening on the gusset. (see pic below) This sock has been a really nice, welcome distraction from Twisted Flower.








I'm becoming a little demotivated on the Twisted Flower Socks, but still plugging along. Today, after ds#2 goes off on the bus to Kindergarten, and DD goes down for her nap, I'm going to attempt to get in some knitting time with Twisted Flower. It's a lot easier to work on when the house is quiet.

huh....so I am still working on it.....

The Twisted Flower socks, they're a bit tedious, and I can't work on them as much as I want to (because I uhhh.....have to actually pay attention to the pattern...lol) But what I have done so far is very pretty. I have just completed the top of foot chart, and now have to do the repeat section until I'm ready to start the toe.

My other WIP's...well, they're still WIP's...lol. Not much knitting at all has been done this past week. The weather has been absolutely beautiful and I've been taking advantage of it. DH took me along with him to go Discgolfing on Friday. I have to admit I had much more fun than I thought I would. I want to go again sometime, but I'll have to arrange for a babysitter because I'd have more fun if I didn't have to take the kids with me. I've also been playing outside with the kids a lot, just running around the backyard. (do any other yarn addicts have issues typing the word yard? every.freakin.time I try to type yard, I first type yarn and have to go back and fix it....LMAO) DH and I are also planning some big projects for the yard. We're going to tear down part of the old playset out side, and rebuild part of it and replace all the swings & the slide (the swingset was severely neglected before we moved in); and we're also getting ready to put together a small garden for me. I can't wait until it's all done!

FO, Kool Aid and Blue Fingers.......

First, the FO. The Garterlac Baby Blanket. I ended up making it 8 base triangles wide and 7 side triangles long. I couldn't find my size 8 Dpn's or my 7's, So, I got out my size J crochet hook and crocheted 3 rows of double crochet boarder around the blanket. I used Bernat CottonTots yarn, with the body in color 'Wonder Dreams' and the border in 'Pretty in Pink'. This blanket was an idea stolen from Twinsanity, based on the Garterlac Dishcloth by Criminy Jickets.

The past few days, I've been playing with using Kool-Aid to dye yarn. This pic was dyed with Strawberry Kool Aid, and the one below was dyed with Berry Blue. I used a yarn from my stash that I just didn't like the way it looked. It's Patons Classic Merino Wool (which I love) in the Natural Marl colorway (which I don't love). It took the dye beautifully.

The Berry Blue yarn is still outside drying, as I just dyed it about an hour ago...LOL If you look down at the last pic, you can see where I was a dumbass and forgot to put my gloves on.....my fingers take the dye beautifully as well...LOL My right hand has more blue on it, but I'm right handed and couldn't get a pic of my right hand using my left hand, so I said fuck it and just took a pic of my left hand.

WIP's and Yarn Porn

This first pic is a spinning project I've been working on for the past few days. It's the same Olive Green and Grape Corriedale roving from Hello Yarn that I've been playing with, plyed with some Gold colored sewing thread that I had laying around. My tension was much more even while spinning this yarn, it's mostly a fingering weight and a little thicker when I wasn't paying attention...lol It's only approx. 65 yards long...so I don't know what I'll be doing with it. I'd like to spin enough yarn for a whole project...but I don't have the patience to do that on a drop spindle. I'm becoming more and more obsessed with needing a spinning wheel. I know it'll be a really long time until I can get one.....but that fact doesn't stop the drooling over the pretty wheels I keep seeing.

~~~~~

This is Monica from Knitty. I am knitting this for my Niece's birthday coming up this summer. I am done with the front, just need to make the back. I'm using Brown Sheep's Cotton Fleece yarn in Prosperous Plum and Blush. My Niece is turning 3 years old and she wears a size 2 now. I'm getting a gauge of 5.5 sts/in when the pattern calls for 5 sts/in, so I'm just following the directions for a size 4 in the pattern, Hoping for an outcome close to a size 3. So far, it's working. So let's cross our fingers that it fits my niece properly.
~~~~~

...and here's more yarn porn! From L to R: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock Lightweight sock yarns in Socktopus and Little Bunny Foo Foo, then South West trading Company's Tofutsies sock yarn in the Tenderfoot colorway. The Little Bunny Foo Foo I've posted before, but it was a crappy pic, and Socks that Rock are pretty soft wonderful beautiful yarns so it deserves another pic. :)
~~~~~

I am also still working on the Twisted flower socks, and the Garterlac baby blanket. Both are coming along very nicely, but not as quickly as I wish they would..lol.


I also have a wonderful announcement! I'M GETTING A NEW NIECE!!! My Sister, Dawn, announced her pregnancy at Christmas, and last week she found out it's another GIRL!!!! I get to put a pink border around the garterlac baby blanket I'm making for her, and I can get some more gender specific colors to do more baby knitting with!!! I LOVE baby knitting!

my first yarns

This first pic is actually my first 2 lengths of handspun yarn. The green is twice as long as the purple, so when playing with plying them together, when I got to the end of the purple, I folded the green in half and started plying it back up the purple. It's about a yard long and very thick & thin, but I think it's pretty :)



This is what's on my spindle now. I'm alternating lengths of the green and purple roving, and it varies between lace and sport weight (just an estimate..TOTALLY eyeballing it here). When I park & draft, I get a fairly consistent thickness, but when I try to draft while the spindle is spinning, it gets thicker. but still, I think I'm doing pretty great for a newbie spinner :)

Now I just need to convince DH or someone to buy me a spinning wheel....hey, my 8th wedding anniversary is coming up (May 14th) so maybe it'll be pretty easy to talk DH into buying one for me..hehehehehe

look what I got in the mail today.....

Beautiful, isn't it?

This is corriedale roving (olive green and grape) from Hello Yarn, with a Louet drop spindle. I can't wait to sit down and start playing with them!!!! Hopefully my first attempt at spinning yarn wont be a disaster. Wish me luck!

Projects......

These are the two main WIP's I have right now. The others are slowly making their way to the UFO pile.
First, to the left you can see what I have done so far on the Garterlac baby blanket I've been working on. I'm planning on doing two more tiers, so that it will be 8 base triangles wide and 8 base triangles long. Then, I will do either a pink, blue or white attached i-cord border. My sister has a U/S this Friday (4-20), and hopefully baby will cooperate and show the world if I'm getting a new niece or a new nephew.

And here we have a progress pic of the Twisted Flower sock I'm making. I decided to change the heel flap of the sock. Instead of the pretty leaf design, I went with a more durable slip stitch heel flap. I am about 10(ish) rows into the gusset now, and I'm in love with this sock. I know I say that about every sock I knit, but I love knitting socks so it's bound to happen....LOL I just LOVE watching the pattern come together, and even though I've knit A LOT of socks, turning a heel is still magic to me :) And, dude, Kitchener stitch, It's freaking amazing!!

I am also anxiously awaiting the arrival of Favorite Socks. I placed my order Monday (i think) and this morning I got the shipment notification email!!! I've wanted this book since before it was released, and I, finally, was able to get it. Now, If I could justify getting all the other books on my amazon wish list...lol