Knittin' and Lovin' It

Boring is Boring

Wow, I'm completely lacking in the blog department. No thoughts, no witty stories, nothing! Actually I don't have a lot of knitting to blog about either. I've been working on my sisters scarf and can't seem to put it down so it's the only thing I've really knit on since I started it the other day. It's made out of Malabrigo so can you really blame me.

Here's a not so glamorous shot of it in progress.

There's about 40" complete with another 15-20" or so to go.I'll get a better picture of it after I'm done with it.The scarf will probably be done and in the mail by Wed at the latest. Then I'll head back to the two pair of socks I have on the needles or finish up the last 8 rows of my Bee Field shawl.

After a lot of contemplating and some major thinking I've decided that my spinning wheel is neglected way to much. Knitting is my one love and I can't seem to split time between knitting and spinning. So I've sold off some of the fiber I had purchased and am now looking for a new home for the wheel.

It's an Ashford Traveller, double treadle, single drive with a clear lacquer finish. I'm asking $450 plus shipping of choice. I've posted out on Ravelry but thought I'd see if there's a spinner who reads the blog who may love the wheel and give it the attention it deserves.

I did receive some goodies in the mail.

I made a small purchase from Woolgirl. I was after the square needles to try so I bought a pair of size 8's and to justify the shipping I threw in a skein of Neighborhood Fiber Co Watershed sock yarn. It's a seacell sock yarn. Colorway is: Sheridan Circle. I really like the Square needles. The cable is very flexible....way more then Knit Picks circular cables and I thought theirs was the most flexible. The only problem I've had is the joins catching on the yarn I was knitting. I'm not sure how well these would work for lace knitting but I was knitting a dishcloth and it didn't really bother me. I'm going to pick up a pair for sock knitting to see if I like them for magic loop. The people who seem to be having the most problem are those who are really tight knitters. I only bought one needles because I didn't want to fork out a lot of money just in case I didn't like them.

I think that pretty much sums up my overly exciting week. I have more goodies that should be showing up on my doorstep to include a skein of Sweet Georgia sock yarn and a much anticipated skein of cashmere dk weight yarn from Zen Yarn Garden which will become a very yummy cowl.

Hello World

I'm up in the air over the 10 days it took me to get another blog post out here. It's not my longest quiet period but it's not the shortest either. I wonder if I'll ever get back to regular posts? Probably not. I do have some stuff to share with you so this post will most likely be picture heavy. Sorry in advance to those who have a slow internet connection.

I have a new toy! I got a brand new Apple iMac..... Yes, yes I know, I know, I'm spoiled.....thank you! (takes a big bow to the crowd)

Actually I've been waiting three very long years to upgrade my computer. Other more important things have come up. We ended up going to Helena because there is no where in this town that has Macs in stock (only special order).....man do I miss Best Buy!!!!

We didn't buy from Apple because our stupid "soon to not be" bank has decided that I'm to stupid to know how to handle my debit card properly and put a very low spending cap on it and then proceeded to tell me that it will take 24 business hours to raise my limit. Plus I really didn't want to wait through the long weekend and I helped support a local business. We asked for the raise increase on our cards only to find out that it won't do us any good because they count all pending authorizations as part of your limit so everything has to clear before the purchase amount is good. They tell us it's for our protection but it's really just there to cover the banks butt. After we found out it that if for some reason we had our wallet stolen and someone used our card that it would take the bank 2-3 weeks (yes weeks!!!) to get the money back into our account we decided it was time to change banks. All this occurred because we wanted to buy an elliptical machine from Amazon. The stupid bank told us to use an electronic check since it doesn't have a limit and you can do that with Amazon so we tried but our bank works it so that you have to have both individuals names put into the system for the computer system to accept it but Amazon only gives you the room to put in one name which is what any other normal bank requires on a joint account. So here I am still waiting to spend my money because my bank doesn't think I have enough responsibility to manage my money correctly. As a responsible 30 year old adult I really resent the banks need to control me through my money. No this is not a little bank it is a very well know major nationwide bank with the word US in it!

OK, rant is over with! Now it's time to go back to knitting related stuff.

First up is my yummy shipment from The Lord of the Rings Sock Club.

The Unique Sheep didn't disappoint! The yarn sent with this shipment is Foot Prints and the color is Hobbiton. It came with a cool pattern by Lobug Design. If you want to see the pattern knit up head on over to the Ravelry page for a look. All I took a pic of was the yarn. We also got the pattern, tea, and a button.

I've picked up a few skeins of yarn here and there from Ravelry destashes.

The top pic is of two skeins of Shelridge Farms soft touch heather sock yarn and the bottom pic is of two skeins of Rowan Cotton Glace. The sock yarn I bought just because I wanted too and it was very reasonably priced. The Rowan Cotton Glace was bought because I have a dress pattern in mind for it to make for Bree. I'm making things easy for myself this year and am making some of the dresses that have a knit top and a cotton fabric skirt. This way I can make several dresses for both girls.

Yummy mmmmmmmmmMalabrigo!

Man do I love thee! Malabrigo is definitely knitters crack! This was also bought with a specific project in mind. Some few months back I promised my sister a scarf. I forgot about the promise and I'm pretty sure I made said promise before the holidays which makes me an even worse sister. Loving sis asked about said scarf the other day and I had one of those head smacking "doh" moments. Do you think this lovely Malabrigo worsted is enough to get me out of the doghouse? The colorway is Oceanos and I bought it from The Loopy Ewe. I'm planning on using the My So Called Scarf pattern (Ravelry)(non Ravelry).

Amidst all the yarn buying I did manage to finish a few things too. Wow, Shock and Awe, what a surprise, I finished something. ;~)

First up is the Inner Truth Scarf (Ravelry)(non Ravelry) that I knit for the Crystal Palace Yarns KAL. I used a little less then 3 skeins of Bunny Hop so I have two more skeins that I need to figure out what to make. I'm thinking I have enough to make one of the girls a hat. I've mailed off the scarf and when they're done photographing it they'll send it back to me.

A dishcloth!

I know, not exactly a challenging project. This was for the 1 Feb Monthly Dishcloth KAL. It's been thrown into the dishcloth pile until someone needs it. If anyone needs some dishcloths or knows someone who does, let me know I'll send you some.

Stripey Stripey socks are done.

I finished these the other day while we were out running around. There's still enough yarn leftover to make a pair of socks for Bree. I've put it in to the leftover sock yarn pile which is getting pretty big now. The yarn is Red Hearts sock yarn Heart & Sole and the colorway is Spring Stripe.

I've also finished one sample sock for Woolgirl and am about halfway through a second sock but I can't show these to you yet.

I started a pair of Baudelaires (Ravelry)(non Ravelry) for the informal KAL in the Makin' Cookies Ravelry group.

There's a KAL going on while waiting for the new CookieA book to be released. I've already pre-ordered my copy right along with the new WendyKnits book.

I'll leave you all with this.

We bought a bouncy ballpit for the girls. Well they paid for part of it with the money they've gotten for holidays and such. They didn't have enough so Shawn and I kicked in the rest so they could get it.

Happy Crafting!

Wow! Time Flies....

when you have sick kids and a house that has gone to pot while taking care of them. Not to say that Shawn doesn't do his part but he works 10hrs a day (sometimes more) so I can only expect him to help so much. I've been playing catch up and haven't had the time or inclination to post out here on the blog. I have been Plurking more so if you're on Plurk let me know and I can add you as a friend. Here's the link to my Plurk page. It's a lot easier to send out a quick plurk then to sit down for a blog post. Both girls are fine now although Bree didn't get as sick as Kaity did....no big surprise there. I'm been feeling run down and yuck so I think I'm trying to get what they had.

It doesn't help that this has been keeping me distracted, my new LG Voyager Titanium came in the other day.

I was finally eligible for an upgrade. Well actually I still had almost two months to go but the fab people at Verizon were kind enough to waive it and let me get the phone. Out of the 3 or 4 different cell phone companies we've used over the years Verizon has to have some of the best customer service. Which in this day and age is hard to find. Course that's a whole "customer service rant" blog post all in itself. Back to the blog post at hand.

Needless to say after this long of an absence from the blog I have a lot to post about. I actually had to pull up the post to see just exactly what I had blogged about.

First up is Lorna's Lace Shepherd Sock, color: Vera.

This was a ravelry trade with Somebunnyslove. Gotta love Ravelry.

Next is the first installment of the Yarntini Happy Hour Sock Club.

The colorway is Mint Chocolatini (variegated sock). The picture doesn't do the colors justice. There was no sun for several days so I had to make do. I haven't decided what I want to make with it so it's marinating in my stash right now. I will be getting a bonus skein of self striping in the Appletini colorway in March with my final shipment. I'm on a self striping yarn kick right now.

My 6th shipment from the 7 Deadly S(p)ins club came in.

We got a beaded fingerless mitt pattern by Sivia Harding, The Unique Sheep House Blend (silk, alpaca, merino blend) colorway is Envy, matching beads, pen, crochet hook, and goats milk lotion. The House Blend yarn is very pettable. I'm contemplating making something for myself with it, maybe a cowl?

Some more yarnie goodness.

I finally managed to catch a Twisted Fiber Art update. I went out to the site to check out some info and low and behold I found an update in progress. I decided to check it out and there is was, my holy grail of yarns, Arial in the colorway Warlock. For once I had money in my PayPal account. The pink skein is a some Lion Brand sock-ease that I bought from a Ravelry destash. I figured the colors were right up Kaitys alley.

Now on to some knitting, first is one complete Cabley Lace sock.

The pattern is Karen's Socks (Ravelry)(non Ravelry). It's a great pattern. I've made a few mods, I'm knitting mine toe up with a short row heel. I've found myself knitting more and more socks toe up. I'm using Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock that I won from Knittech's blog contest awhile back. I had originally picked out a beaded sock pattern but it didn't work out. The sock turned out to small. I liked the pattern but I will have to use a slightly thicker sock yarn for it then LL.

Another project I'm working on is the Inner Truth Scarf (Ravelry)(non Ravelry).

This one is for a KAL being sponsored by Crystal Palace Yarns. They sent me the yarn for free and I'm going to knit the scarf in the pattern and then send it back to CPY to have it photoed. They're going to send it back to me when they're done. It sounded like fun so I decided to join in. The yarn is CPY Bunny Hop which is extremely soft and nice to work with. The colorway is Strawberry-Lime, #0432. I wasn't sure how well the cables would show up in the variegated yarn but they seem to be plenty strong enough that they aren't being hidden.

I got another haircut.

This one is a tad shorter then the last one and I like it a lot more. Note to self: trying to take a pic of yourself could lend to chubby looking cheeks. Sheesh. You'd never guess from that pic that I've lost almost 10 pounds. 8.5 pounds to be exact. I'm really missing bread right now but we'll soon be adding whole wheat & whole grain bread back here in the next few weeks.

Wow....ok I think that sums it up for now. That was a long post. I have a few goodies that should be in here in the next day or two and I should have some more progress to show in my next update.

Happy Crafting!