Knittin' and Lovin' It

Fasten Your Seatbelts.....

we're in for a long trip post. Go grab your favorite beverage and I'd grab a snack if you're starting to get hungry because this is going to be a long post. I've got my trusty Mac and a ice cold diet cherry pepsi so I think I'm all set for the post. Now to figure out where to begin.

For starters, we found out that the "we're no longer picking up plastics for recycling" was a misquote so I'm very happy. They are still picking up plastics but they are asking us to separate the #1 & #2 plastics into separate bags. No biggie I can do that! I'd be much happier if they picked up some of the other numbered plastics too but beggars can't be choosy so we take what we can get.

On another note, I'm having second thoughts about selling my wheel. Frankly I think trying to sell it right now isn't going to be a good decision. Everyone is buckling down on their spending and cash isn't as readily available. This isn't the reason I've decided to hold off on selling it though. I'm feeling like I didn't give it my "all" and didn't give spinning a chance. So I'm setting at least 15-20 minutes every afternoon for spinning. This will start this Monday (9 March). If by later this summer I haven't found a love for spinning, I will find my Precious a new home.

On a second note, Kaity is taking piano lessons now and is taking to it like a duck to water. She didn't feel like playing baseball so she asked if she could take piano lesson we said sure and she has done really well. She's actually sticking with the practicing every day too. I'm a proud Mama.We even managed to snag a full size Yamaha keyboard from ShopKo for like $79. It retailed everywhere else for almost $200. Don't have a clue why ShopKo had them marked down. Their loss is our gain.

I finished some dishcloths for the Monthly Dishcloth KAL. I'm trying to knit all the cloths for the whole year.

For the 16 Feb KAL there was the Circle Cloth (ravelry)(non ravelry).

You may remember that I knit this the first time in two colors and ended up cutting the dishcloth short because I got sick of the color changing. This time I used only one color and I have to say I enjoyed knitting it a lot more. It does make a very thick squishy cloth. I bet that this would make a great pattern for knit bathmat....hmmmm, must think about that for a few. I might try it.

For the 1 Mar KAL there was the Pot O' Gold Dishcloth (ravelry)(non ravelry).

Cute pattern. I used yellow instead of gold since I had in my stash and I think Shawn would kill me if I bought anymore cotton yarn. I have at least a metric ton. Some of it is from my pure lack of self control. I can't walk past the stuff at Michaels, Joanns or Walmart without through a few skeins in the cart. I can partially blame the enabling of Sue too. ;~)

What else have I been working on? Oh, I finished my sisters scarf a day or so after posting about the progress here on the blog. The Malabrigo was so yummy I couldn't put it down!

It's already happily keeping her neck warm although I don't think it's as cold in Idaho as it's getting here. The yarn is Malabrigo worsted, Oceanos and the pattern is My So Called Scarf (ravelry)(non ravelry).

I'm making great progress on my Baudelaire socks (raverly)(non ravelry).

I'm knitting these for the Makin' Cookies KAL (it's a ravelry link). The heels are turned but I still have several repeats before I can knit the ribbing and bind off. I'm confident that I'll be done with these before the end of March. I'm thinking about increasing the stitches to make sure the legs are big enough. I'm afraid they might turn out to tight. Guess I should try them on to see.

Since I finished my Stripey stripey socks I needed a new on the go project so I started another pair of socks.

Please meet my newest project, Rainbow Toe Ups. Their just a very basic toe up sock using Regia Bamboo, color 1062 that I purchase from the LYS here in town. I'm knitting a stockinette foot, short row heel and I'll probably use k3, p2 ribbing on the leg. I'm actually about 2 inches from starting the heels now. Plain socks work up so quickly.

Lets see, what else.....give me a minute to back track through my photos. Oh, here we go....Kaity's Silly Socks.

Every year the school does holds a sock hop after school with a Dr. Seuss theme. The kids are encouraged to wear silly socks so Kaity and I threw these together. Well actually I threw them together she just came up with the idea. She thought it would be silly if her socks wore socks. I knit 4 mini sock and attached one to each side of a pair of commercial socks and then knit a few rows with some fun fur....shudder! I hate fun fur....see I told you I loved my kids. ;~)

These are a couple of the socks I knit for Woolgirl here recently.

They are samples of a new cotton sock yarn she's getting in by Kollage. It's called Luscious. The rusty colored sock is Mona (ravelry)(non ravelry) and the peach one is a basic cuff down sock with a picot edge, k2, p2 ribbing and a slip stitch heel. I really enjoyed knitting with this sock yarn. I was afraid that the cotton would bother my hands but it didn't. The yarn doesn't feel very springy when you are holding the skein but it has some very nice bounce once it's knit up. I had problems with it being splitty and coming untwisted when working the cast on but after a few rows knit I didn't have any problems at all. I'll be buying some to make summer socks for the kiddo and I. I really miss my handknit socks in the summer so this will be nice to have to make some I can wear.

Alrighty! I finally made it through the WIPs and FOs. Now on to the goodies I've obtained since the last post. I destashed some yarn I wasn't using so of course I needed to replace said yarn with new yarn right. Well, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

First up is the second installment of the Yarntini Happy Hour Sock Club.

It's called Blackberry Kiss and is just as yummy as the first shipment. I have one more shipment coming later this month with my bonus skein of self striping Appletini.

Some Crystal Palace Panda Silk.

I picked this up from a Ravelry destash. I'm not sure what I'm going to make with this. I may go ahead and knit it into socks. Who knows!

Some Regia Kaffe Fassett sock yarn, color #4453.

I picked this one up from another Ravelry destash. I've been wanting this color but kept putting off buying it. It was reasonably priced so I picked it up. Plus I'm still going through a self striping sock yarn obsession.

Next up, I finally snagged some Sweetgeorgia sock yarn.

This is the superwash sport and the color is Berry. The exchange rates were in my favor and I had money burning a hole in my PayPal account. She had some very tempting colors.

Some Cascade Heritage Handpainted sock yarn.

I picked this up from 2 Old Divas ebay site. It was on sale for $10 so I picked it up. I'm a sucker for sales. The colorway is Cherry Berry. I know I know, I need more sock yarn like I need another hole in my head.

The piece de resistance, Zen Yarn Garden Cashmere DK.

The colorway is called Truffle. This is for me and only me. It's soon to become a yummy cowl. I can't think of anything better to keep me warm then a yummy cashmere cowl. Now if only I could afford a whole cashmere sweater.

Zeus really enjoyed the sun we had the other day.

This happens to be one content little doggie. If there's sun shining you can bet you'll find him soaking up the warmth. I don't blame him during the winter the sun tends to disappear a lot. We're back to snow, cold and cloudy here. Bree and I enjoyed the morning sun shinning through the living room window too.

Our living room Arctic Rec Room (well it's not really the living room but it's the room we use as the living room) has huge windows on one wall. It's actually several smaller windows put together but all total they are like 7 ft wide...needless to say our living room is almost like a sunroom.

I'm done! Finally!! I just finished up my Woolgirl test knit today so that will be on it's way to her very soon. I have a new test knit coming in from Madelinetosh soon. When I have enough progress I'll share a little with you. I'm hoping to have my Baudelaire socks finished soon so I can pick up my cable lace socks again. They got tossed to the side for the Bauds.

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!

Another Good Christmas

Well Christmas is over, the presents have been unwrapped, the dinner has been cooked and we're not to far from finishing up another year. Where in the world did this year go? It seems to have gone by so quickly.

We had a great Christmas here in the Luvs2knit family.

The girls loved all their gifts and have been playing with them almost non stop since they were taken out of the package. Shawn is very happy with his Zelda game for the Wii and the dogs are enjoying the toys Santa left for them in their stockings. I'm also enjoying my gifts.

Shawn and the girls got me a Namaste Laguna in Peacock, a skein of Miss Babs Yummy sport weight sock yarn in Denim, 3 new knitting books, a coffee grinder (hubby gets bonus points for this one since it wasn't on my wishlist but I've been wanting a good grinder), and Kaity got me a mom coffee cup and a pretty little angel bell.

I think I even have a pattern picked out for the sock yarn and now that I have a bag big enough for everything I need, I can ditch the diaper bag for something a little more stylish. I've already queued up several patterns from my new books.

I'll be back at the end of next week with an end of the year wrap up. Hope everyone is enjoying their time off and got what they've been wishing for.

Happy Crafting!

Still Freezin'

The weather here is still suckish. Since the weather here is hovering around subzero temps (when you factor in the wind chill it goes below zero) I'm contemplating a trip to The Bahamas. Check out their weather. I don't think you can get much better then that! Anyone else want to join me?

Today's post is a goodie post. I've received a few things in the mail since my last knitting post.

I wanted to see for myself what the Noro Kureyon sock is like.

I have some of the Silk Garden Sock and it's pretty nice but I wanted to see what the Noro Sock is like. Since the only way to find out if you are going to like a yarn is to buy some and try it I've been keeping an eye out on the Ravelry Destash board for some. This is colorway S185. It's definitely rougher then any sock yarn I've ever used but I'll give it a try. I can handle scratch specially if it softens up a little bit and is warm. Plus Noro's colors are gorgeous.

I bought the new Socks a la Carte sock book.



I have a half a bazillion bonus points with my book club so I used some to get this book and it cost me less then $10 with shipping. The book actually came in when it was still a pre-order from Amazon and SWTC. Guess the book club decided to get a head start on things.

It's a unique book and I only have two complaints. The first one is that they used a red yarn to knit the sample socks so some of the sock patterns don't show up as well. Hello, everyone knows that red is one of the most difficult colors to photograph. The second is that after you build up the sock the way you want it you have to go to three different pages for the instructions. This can be a little annoying. I generally make a copy of the pattern so I can make notes, changes, etc so it's not a deal breaker for me but I have a scanner/copier/printer so making a copy isn't a problem for me. All in all I think it's a pretty good book and the fact that it helps you customize your sock is awesome.

Two knit coffee mugs.

Shawn picked these up from me today. How can a knitter pass up knit coffee cups? They are fairly lightweight so they don't kill my hands to hold them when they are full of coffee.

Some yummy Twisted Fiber Art Kabam!

I got this from someone who was destashing on Ravelry. The colorway is Saucy. The colors are gorgeous and it's a self striping so I'm happy now. Although I still want to get my hands on some of the Warlock colorway. Kabam! is a merino/bamboo/nylon blend. I really like the merino/bamboo blends. I missed this last update but there's always hope that I'll catch the next one.

A sock project bag.

Don't you just love all the funky fun colors? During this time of year anything bright and cheering is welcomed. I picked this bag up from Annie Purl who was wonderful to deal with. She sent me a message to let me know that she'd dropped the package off at the PO. It's a great project bag and the perfect size to hold my current "to go" sock project. Plus if Santa is kind and brings me my new knitting bag I requested it will fit in there wonderfully.

Some very yummy holiday Madelinetosh sock yarn.

I picked this up when Madelinetosh did her holiday update on etsy. The colorway is Grinch. I love the colors and am looking forward to knitting with it.

Wollmeise, who can pass up Wollmeise!

I swapped with a Ravelry user for this color, Tiefer See which is gorgeous mix of blues and greens. She was looking for the Sultan colorway and I had fell out of love with it so we swapped and everyone's happy!

Christmas Sock Monkey (Ravelry)(non Ravelry).

It's now complete and ready to be loved by Kaity. I'm thinking about making it a hat and scarf. We wouldn't want the poor monkey to get cold now would we. Plus Kaity is going to ask for them anyway. It might get a little cardi too.

Christmas Bucket O' Balls (Ravelry)(non Ravelry).

This one is made for Bree. I was going to make her a monkey but decided she'd have more fun with these toy instead. I used several different colors of Red Heart Classic from my stash. It's not my most favorite yarn to knit with but I wanted something durable.

Now I leave you with cute toddler!

I had a doctors appointment the other day and since the wicked freezing cold weather is still here it calls for warm stuff. I found the hat/mitten set on sale at Kmart....isn't it so cute? It's a tad big but that's OK Bree didn't seem to mind.

Happy Crafting!

Yarn Goodies

** I'm changing the title because the other one keeps attracting tons of Spam.

Dear Great Falls Water Department,

Could you kindly do something about making the tap water taste a little better. It smells and tastes like I have a direct line pumping water from the Missouri River to my house. It tastes so bad that I'm willing to cut into my yarn stash money to fork out money to have more water delivered to my house. When water tastes this bad it makes a person wonder if it's really all that safe to drink. In all the places I've lived so far this has got to be the #1 nastiest tasting water.

Thank you for your time,
The Luvs2knit Household

Seriously the water here tastes nasty. I swear my water is pumped straight from the Missouri River with no filtration at all. We use to use the bottled water for drinking but now we use it for cooking and I've resorted to using it for my coffee. We have our water delivered in the 5 gallon reusable bottles and the company we go through delivers once a month. So all in all I think we are doing pretty good from the environmentally friendly standpoint.

I'm loving the new haircut but I'm definitely going to take it a wee bit shorter when I go in again. I have received some goodies in the mail since my last post.

First up is an order from TLE.

I needed some more knitters hand soap and of course to keep the soap from being lonely I picked up a sock pattern and another skein of Malabrigo Sock....the color is off in the photo. For a more accurate photo you can see it here on my Flickr page. In the month of December if you are a Loopy Groupie and place an order you'll get a 2009 Romney Ridge calendar. I love looking at all the sheepy photos.

Next up is a my very first order from Perfect Day Yarns.

This is the Ode to a Sea Sock which is a merino/seacell yarn. The color is Can't Catch Me! I fell in love with this color combo the minute I saw it.

Lastly is my Twisted Fiber Art Arial and the colorway is Flair.

It's a mutating variegated. I was hoping for one of the self striping but I love the colors and I think I have the perfect pattern picked out. Guess I will have to keep on looking for some self striping. I'd really love to get my hands on a skein of the Warlock color way.....drool. Although Warlock isn't the only colorway I want, check out their colorways....yum! I think the only base yarn I wouldn't care for is their Shiny which is a merino/tencel base. I'm not really big on tencel in sock yarn.

I have one monkey done, well almost done since it still needs to be stuffed and seamed. I've decided not to make a second monkey so this one will be for Kaity. Bree isn't really a big stuffed animal kid. I may make another one later on down the road but not right now. I have a toy picked out for Bree and have already started it. It's the Bucket O' Balls pattern (Ravelry)(non Ravelry). I'm using some girly colored acrylic from my stash.

Shawn has already finished my Christmas shopping and I know he placed one order to Woolgirl and another to Amazon. Of course he's been teasing me with it** since he already got a portion of his Christmas gift. We bought him a new pair of boots from Corral West which is going out of business. We didn't want to pass up the sale plus there is no way I could buy something like that for him without him trying it on. He offered to give me one of my gifts but I resisted the temptation and will wait for Christmas morning. Yup, I'm a fool!

** No he is not being mean to me. It's all in fun.

I think that just about sums it up for now. Hopefully I'll be back again soon with some knitting progress.

Anyone have a nice warm place for me to stay. I'm thinking the The Bahamas are sounding really good bout now. The temps are going to start plummeting tonight and are suppose to hit as low as -29 on Sunday night. Mondays high is suppose to be a balmy -12 degrees. This is friggin' insane. NOAA is stating that we could see 7-10 inches of snow by tomorrow night....Yikes!

****FYI, I'm in the US so all my temps are in Farenheit.

12 Days till Christmas!

Happy Crafting!

Oh the Fun!

I figured that a post is way overdue. Not that it's really a shock that it's be awhile since my last post. I haven't done a green post in quite some time either but never fear not we are still working on becoming more earth friendly. The recycling is still going strong and we try to help out anyway that we can. I have tried the fabric softener and colorsafe beach by 7th Generation and loved them so they've been added to my laundry regimen. I didn't care for the vinegar as a fabric softener. It worked OK but not as well a commercial liquid fabric softener. The 7th Generation fabric softener is much more comparable with other fabric softeners on the market.

We are also working on becoming a more healthier family. We are trying to cut some of the red meat out of our diet and increasing our exercise to become more healthy and to lose weight. We've swapped out ground beef for ground turkey. It tastes great and has less fat in it. We are trying to eat more vegetarian meals too although you'll never see us give up meat we are always willing to try new things. Thanks to Knit-R-Done I have some great Veggie meal ideas to try on my family. We've also discovered some of the veggie products from Morning Star Farm. Their website has some recipes I'd like to try too.

I don't think I mentioned that we finally got a Wii. We also bought Wii Fit and love it. It makes exercise a lot more fun. We normally play a few games together on the weekend as a family. Our favorite is bowling in the Wii Sports game. We rented Mario Cart for this weekend and I can definitely see buying that one soon. We never laughed so much watching Kaity try to drive the cart. She had a case of the giggles the whole time we were playing. So worth the money!

Now on to the knitting since this is after all a knitting blog. It's going to be another long post so if you want to go grab a snack and something to drink go for it. I'll be here when you get back, promise! Alright, are you ready? OK, here we go.

I knit a scarf for the Special Olympics Scarf Project.

Click on the link above and it will take you to the page with all the details. You have to use to specific colors of Red Heart Classic yarn which I will openly admit is not my most favorite yarn on the face of the planet but it's for a great cause so I dealt with it. I have enough yarn to make another scarf so I probably will. The pattern is Meandering Stripes (Ravelry) from the book Knitting New Scarves. I'll most likely make this one again with wooly type yarn. Bet it would be yummy in Malabrigo. Hmmmmmm, must go buy to color coordinating skeins.

I started a new pair of socks for Kaity.

These are in my "to go" knitting bag. I take them when we are going to be in the car or if I have a doc/dentist appointment. I haven't been anywhere so there hasn't been much progress on these socks. I'm using Knit Picks Essential sock yarn, colorway Fruit Punch. It never fails, if you don't take something with you to a doc/dentist appointment you will inevitably be stuck there with nothing to do for 45 minutes because the doc/dentist is running behind. I made the mistake of not taking my knitting when I went to pick up meds from the pharmacy one day. I figured on running in and getting out in less then 10 minutes. I ended up waiting for almost an hour before someone finally got my prescription filled. It took them an hour to slap a label on a box, print up the info sheet, throw it in the bag and check my ID. Yup, gotta love military pharmacies. Oh well, at least I don't have to pay a copay when I use them.

Moms Errant (Ravelry) socks now have heels.

These have been put aside because I keep casting on other small projects. I hope to have them done and in the mail before the end of the month. A lot of that is going to depend on how much longer it takes me to finish up the current test knit I'm working on.

Kaity's coat is getting close to being done.

Please ignore the rag muffin look. I took the picture right after she got out of the shower and hadn't gotten a chance to brush her hair. I have to attach the hood and work the icord on the body. We've decided that we don't like the pockets and will leave them off since Kaity doesn't use them anyway. She says that she has mittens to keep her hands warm. Guess I'll use the leftover yarn to make her some thrummed mittens. I still need to find some cute buttons too.

A teaser.

This is the current project I'm working on for Madelinetosh. It's Tosh Worsted and that's about all I can tell you guys at the moment. I will post about it when I get the go ahead.

I received some yarny goodness in the mail the other day.

TLE was having a Halloween sale so I picked up a few things. I bought Cassidy by ChicKnits. I haven't decided what yarn I want to use to make this one but I've been thinking about splurging on myself so I may pick up some DIC Classy or Tosh Worsted, maybe some Malabrigo if it isn't to thick. I need to look at the pattern details a little better. I also picked up some Noro Silk Garden Sock and some Araucania Aysen. I only picked up one skein of Aysen since I can't really see this yarn being used for socks. I'm thinking about a pair of mittens or fingerless mitts. I haven't decided which one yet.

Knit some coffee cup cozies.

 

I needed something to replace the cardboard thingies that they use on the to go cups from Starbucks. I'm now totally hooked on the Peppermint Mocha Twists....yummmmmy! Anyways back to the post, I hate the cardboard thingies and wanted something better. The green/brown/white one is yarn from a kit I purchase from Woolgirl (the yarn is dyed by The Unique Sheep)((the kit can be found here)) and the purple ones are made from leftover Cascade 220. The pattern that came with the kit wouldn't work for me because of my gauge. I got 5sts per inch instead of the 4sts the pattern called for so I threw together my own pattern that has a cable on both sides. I'm going to be offering this pattern up as a freebie here on the blog. I hope to have the pattern posted here within the week. I'll post about it when it's up. There is enough yarn left over from my kit to make a second cozy.

Started a dishcloth.

It's the Circle Cloth (Ravelry)(non Ravelry). It's pretty cool and I love how the colors are working together. The only drawback is weaving in all the ends but it's not enough of a drawback to keep me from making it.

Started a cowl for Kaity.

She had her hair cut into a cute bob but now her neck is exposed and I think this is going to work better for her then her scarves. The pattern is Darkside Cowl (Ravelry). I'm using Plymouth Galway Paint which matches her mittens. After this I'll make her a hat to go with the cowl and mittens.

I got my final TLE Sock Club Shipment in today. I really love this one. You can see a picture and description out in my flickr photostream. I don't want to post and spoil it for anyone. I'll post it out in Ravelry some time next week. As much as I loved this club I will not be throwing my name into the lottery next year. I'm taking a break. I have tons of sock yarn and I already signed up for The Lord of the Rings sock club with The Unique Sheep. Plus this leaves one less name for competition so hopefully my slot will go to someone who didn't make it in last year.

OK, I think I got everything in on this post. I'll be back soon to show you a few of the test knits I've done for Woolgirl. It's safe to post about them so post I will. I also have a skein of Malabrigo sock and a pattern coming in. It should have been here today but for some reason it decided to take a trip to Boise, ID first. Hopefully it will be here on Monday since Tuesday is a no mail holiday (Veteran's Day) here in the US.

Happy Crafting!

No Much Going On

Karen (The Knitting Patch) is running a contest to raise money for RFB&D (Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic...you can read more about RFB&D on Karen's blog. The contest is going to run through the month of April so you still have a chance to jump over there and donate to be entered into the contest. Donate, don't donate, that's up to you. I did because I believe that RFB&D has made a major difference in a lot of peoples lives. I just wanted to help Karen spread the word. I've been wanting to post about this the last few posts and I kept forgetting about it. Bad Blogger No Biscuit!

I've been working on my Rogue for the last few nights.


The front and back have now been split and I'm working on the back of the sweater. It won't be long before I'm starting the front. I can't wait to finish this! I really like the detailed pattern of Rogue. No, I don't need a pattern that will hold my hand but the extra detail in this pattern makes things a lot more clear with less frustration. Thankfully I have a laser printer so I can print 19 pages front & back in nothing flat. I love my Lexmark printer!

Hide and Sheep stitch markers.


I bought these from their new site where you can customize your markers and bracelets. These are Tigers Eye and I decided to have them fit up to a size US9 needle, they're hanging on US 7 Knit Picks Option needle. I bought these for my lace projects. I love these markers!

I have my eye on Eris as my next sweater project but haven't decided on the pullover or the cardigan. I like both so it's a tough decision. Then again I may change my mind between now and then.

Shawn picked out a sweater pattern. He wants Iain by Figheadh Yarnworks. The designer is reworking the pattern to add in bigger sizes which is a good thing because the current pattern wouldn't fit Shawn's 50" chest. That's gonna be a lotta cables! Once I find out the yardage needed I'll order the yarn from WEBS.

I'm going to grab a little quiet knitting time before the monster toddler of the house wakes up.

Feelin' Better

My knee is starting to feel better. It isn't tender anymore and it's only swelling now if I'm on my feet for too long. I'm trying to get back into the swing of things but it's slow going when I constantly have to take breaks. Still no spinning. I'm giving my knee a little more time before I start peddling.

I do have a few things to show you. I received these in the mail on Saturday.


I had a $25 credit at TLE so I decided to pick up the red canvas bag (sold out again) and Little Loopy.

Isn't Little Loopy cute!! I still have the bag but Bree stole Little Loopy away from me and renamed him Pie. She calls all lambs "Pie". It's short for Lambie Pie which is what we called the first lamb we gave her. She's fascinated with his movable arms and legs. So the next time I order I'll have to buy a new Little Loopy for myself.

I finished Kaity's mittens.


I didn't have much left to knit to finish them but always found other things to knit. Next time I'm going use a provisional cast on to make things easier.

I just looked at the list of my WIPs on Ravelry and noticed that I only have 5 projects. It's been awhile since I had so few WIPs.

I also finished the Cross-Stitch Block socks.


I'm still waiting for sunshine to get a better shot. Kaity fell in love with this colorway so I'm going to order a skein this payday to make her some socks for her birthday. It will be a late birthday gift but she knows about it and I'm going to let her pick out a pattern.

I'm starting another pair of socks for myself using some blue & Green Cherry Tree Hill potluck supersock (flickr link) that I bought from The Yarn Shoppe way long ago before I had a stash. Actually this yarn was the start of my sock yarn stash. The pattern I'm using is Rattlesnake Creek Socks (Rav link)(pdf link).

Goodie Filled Post

This is going to be a long, picture filled post. The mailman and UPS man brought lots of goodies to my door....weee!

The lunar eclipse from the other night.


My camera doesn't zoom in close enough for a super shot but this one that Shawn took wasn't too bad. The sky was clear so we had an excellent view of it. Kaity found it fascinating and Bree could care less what was going on.

The mailman brought me a box filled with Loopy goodness.


This is the stuff I ordered from The Loopy Ewe. Three different colors of Sakina Needles BFL Roving and DIC Smooshy in Spring Tickle and Go Go Grassy. I have a real obsession with Smooshy right now.

I received this in the mail the other day but wasn't going to create a blog post for one thing.


It's a mini crochet key chain by 5elementknitr. I got this one after reading about it on Nell's blog. Here's the etsy link. Definitely a must have for every knitter.

Oh look, cute baby.


Thought I'd throw that in to break up all the enabling. Back to the drool fest.

My baby still in her packaging.


All her parts laid out on the floor ready for assembly.


Assembly was fun but took awhile. Putting together a spinning wheel is not something to do if your in a hurry. I put it together while watching reruns of Crossing Jordan on A&E. I really wished they wouldn't have canceled this show. A&E is currently my favorite TV channel and is the reason I'm hooked on CSI: Miami.

Here she is all put together.


Preeeecious, My Precious (gotta use Gollum's voice from Lord of the Rings). You know the voice, the one he uses when he's petting the One Ring. Yes, I love Lord of the Rings and yes I read the books way before the movies were ever thought of.

Oh look my very first skein of over twisted fluff.


This is a small amount that I spun last night. It's not the prettiest in the world but it's a start and I'm proud of my over twisted bit of fluff. I'm going to try to spin some more after I get Bree down for her nap this afternoon.

Alright, I've finally made it through all the pics. I should be seeing a box from Wool Girl soon carrying a couple skeins of sock yarn and a new sample knit! I'm planning on ordering from her again this payday. I want to pick up Knitspot's Bee Fields Shawl pattern and enough Malabrigo lace to knit it. I don't wear shawls but I want to knit them. Guess they'll make great decorations. Anyone have creative ideas for shawls?

Goodies

My Knit Picks box finally got her yesterday. Shawn and I went into town to find new computer desks and came home to find it sitting on the porch. WooHoo!


I got 2 skeins of Felici: Arugala, 2 skeins of Essential: Blue Violet Multi, a WPI tool, 2.5mm 40" Circ for knitting 2 at a time, Knitting on the Road and 2-at-a-time Socks. As soon as I finish my Marie Antoinette socks I'll be starting a pair from one of these two books.

I also picked up 4 more cones of Peaches & Creme the other day.


I can't help it. It's a sickness. The colors are starting to disappear so I snagged 4 more cones yesterday. I think I have enough now.

I've also been knitting. I finished the 2nd panel in my Cable Comfort Throw.


Still have 4 more panels to go. I decided to add one more panel to make the throw a little larger. I'm going to look for a thinner yarn to seam all the panels together. I think the Thick & Quick yarn is way to thick to make for easy seaming.

I also started the Celtic Knot Stole but since I've only finished 5 whole rows I didn't figure it was far enough along to post a pic.

Why is it that I always seem to have troubles when ordering things. I placed the order for my wheel the other day. It shipped out that same afternoon...woot! Now the problem, someone decided to add a double treadle kit to my order making the price go up $100. So needless to say I was charged $100 more then I should have. I don't need a double treadle kit, my wheel comes with a double treadle standard the kit if for older wheels that the owner wants to upgrade....sigh! So I called customer service and they fixed it right away. They are issuing me the credit and all I need to do is refuse the one box and have UPS send it back. But I need to figure out which of the three boxes needs to go back without opening them! What a PITA!

So now I have to stalk the UPS website to make sure that the delivery date doesn't change so I can catch the UPS delivery person before they drop the boxes and run. If not I'll have to schedule a pick up and have the delivery person come back.

Anyone else out there have an UPS delivery person who drops the boxes on the door step, rings the doorbell and then runs as fast as they can to their truck like someones standing in the doorway with a double barrel shotgun? I have one of those, unless of course they need a signature then they give a few extra seconds before they leave a slip and run for the truck. I miss our delivery lady in Idaho *sniff, sniff*

Today I leave you with Kaity.


We bought her a new snow suit. Not that she's using it right now, it's like 47 degrees outside. We bought the next size up so she can wear it next year.