Knittin' and Lovin' It

I Think It May Be Fall!

Ah, cooler temps are finally showing up here. It seems so weird because wearing shorts in the middle of Sept is not the norm for here in this area and definitely not in October. Of course as soon as it starts dumping snow on us I'll be complaining about it being too cold. At least Shawn bought a snow thrower which will make my life much easier when he isn't home.

Shawn was told that he has to go to the NCO Academy now that he has passed his PT (physical training) test. Yup, he finally passed it. Failing his PT test is what got our orders to Germany cancelled. I still regret that we didn't go. While it would have been a major pain in the butt at first I think it would have been a wonderful experience. So anyway, Shawn's been selected to go to in January to Colorado for 6 weeks. They wanted him to go now but with my med issues still not figured out he doesn't want to leave. At least if I hurt too badly he can help me out around the house or help me get to the doctor. If my meds are still an issue in January we can get the class pushed back again. I'm really hoping that my pain is better by then though. I shudder to think that I will still be feeling like this several months from now. The steroids worked great but I finished up the last of the pack the other day and I can feel the stiffness and pain coming back.

The tree guys came back and gave us a new tree....woohoo!

Here's hoping the poor thing survives the winter. The tree provides a bit of shade on this window which unfortunately is huge....it's about 6 feet tall by about 6-7 feet wide. I wanted to put some curtains up to make the girls playroom look a little more homey and friendly but the damn things are going to be expensive. I need to check into the cost for a valance for the window which should be a bit cheaper plus it can most likely be used when we move. The whole house is painted white, the ceiling fans are white and the carpet is a boring gray....looks like the carpet is dirty kind of gray. I seriously need a little color in this house that isn't going to require days worth of repainting walls when we move. I swear they would have put put white door knobs on but I think they got a better deal on the cheapo tacky gold ones that are on every door in this house. 

I'm making great progress on my moms Rosalind Shawl (ravelry)(non ravelry). 

This is a great knit and it's going quickly. I just started the 5th repeat of Chart B. There are six repeats of Chart B before moving on to Chart C. It does seem a little small but I know it will grow a lot when I block it. It's amazing how much lace grows after a good soak in wool wash. My Bee Fields and Whispering Pines shawls looked small until I blocked them and they are huge. Ah, the powers of blocking!

My Rainbow and Cloud socks are working up quiet nicely.

I've placed my waste yarn where I want to knit the heel and I'm just going to keep going till I get close to running out of yarn. I want to make these as long as I can.

I started a pair of socks for my mom.

The pattern is Catnip Socks (ravelry)(non ravelry) and the yarn is Zen Yarn Garden Bling! in the Blue Spruce colorway. I don't really need to rush on these since it's still in the 90s at home and it doesn't appear that there will be a drop in temp anytime soon. So needless to say moms not really wearing handknit socks much right now. 

I've been working on making some new dishrags for my Granny. 

The pattern is Grandmother's Favorite (ravelry)(non ravelry) which is my favorite basic dishrag pattern. Granny is staying with my mom for the winter so I have the whole winter to get a stack of them made for her. I'm off to a pretty good start though. Six done so far and number 7 is on the needles. I think I'll stop when I hit 10 dishrags. She's also requested some nylon scrubbies so I'll start those after I finish the dishrags.

Yarn order from Knit Picks came in today.

The purple yarn is Comfy Worsted and is going to be used to make a blanket for my cousin who is due in November. My cousin is having a little girl! Yippy I get to knit for a little girl again. It's been boy after boy in my family so it'll be a nice change to knit something girly. I haven't settled on a pattern yet. I have three picked out. These are all Ravelry Links: blanket 1, blanket 2, blanket 3 and blanket 4. I want something simple since I don't have a whole lot of time to knit this. I'm leaning towards blanket 1 or blanket 4.

The rest of the yarn is mine to try out and make a few new cowls for myself because I didn't want the purple yarn to be lonely and I needed to hit the free shipping mark. The dark green is Capra DK (merino/cashmere blend), the red one on the right is Gloss HW (merino/silk blend) and the red on the left is City Tweed HW (merino/donegal tweed blend). I want to see who I'd like any of these for a sweater. I wear cowls a lot in the winter so if after being abused and washed all winter they still look good then they'll work for a sweater. My cowls tend to get a lot of wear because they rub against my jacket and then there is the constant wear on them from getting pulled over my head and stuffed in a pocket. I think they get more abuse then a sweater ever would.

I'm expecting my Lord of the Rings shipment in any day now and I ordered a new row counter bracelet that has a clasp instead of the toggle so I'll post about them in my next post. I'll probably start the baby blanket by this weekend, provided I can settle on a pattern. I'm trying really hard to get back into a regular blog posting habit.

Knitting Knitting Everywhere

I have lots of knitting stuff to post about and a few non-knitting goodies too. Thanks to everyone who commented on my last post. My RA doc has given me a round of methylprednisolone and it seems to be working. It's just a 6 day dose pack but he wanted to give me something to help bring down the inflammation while he waits for the metric crap ton of tests he is running on my blood. The lab vampires pulled 6 tubes of blood. I think they should have given me juice and a cookie. The Red Cross does when you donate blood. ;~)

We got our first snow back in the middle of September. 

Look I have a picture to prove it! It wasn't much and it never stuck to the roads but with the nice weather we've been having since then it was hard to believe it had ever snowed. If I remember correctly the year we had 30+ inches of snow dumped on us in December we had very mild fall weather. The girls only wore a light weight sweater to go trick or treating that year.

I got enough money in my yarn destash to buy the electric kettle I really wanted.

I picked up the Cuisinart PerfecTemp Electric Kettle. It has 6 different temp settings and a keep warm function that keeps your water at the temp you set for 30 minutes. It also has a cordless base so no more plugging and unplugging it to fill it up. It's one of the best reviewed multi temperature electric kettles I came across and the price while a bit high isn't bad for a multi temp kettle. I'm definitely getting my moneys worth out of it. We have a wonderful little tea shop (In Cahoots for Tea) here in town that fuels my tea addiction. They have a wonderful selection of loose leaf teas and I don't have to pay shipping and handling to get new teas.

New sheepy pj pants.

Aren't these the cutest things you've ever seen? I found them on sale at JcPenney's the other day. Cute and on sale! That's a great combo in my book. 

I think we'll start with finishes projects first and then move on to goodies I've got in the mail.

I finished my Stripey Socks I was knitting for the TLE 3rd Quarter challenge.

I was going to knit a fancy pair of colorwork socks but this was about all my brain and hands could handle at the time. The yarn is TLE's new solid sock yarn line and the colorways used are Strawberry and Smoke. The pattern is my own basic toe up sock pattern with a short row heel and a picot cuff.

I finished my blue striped "on the go" socks.

These are my basic toe up sock recipe with a short row heel and picot cuff. The yarn is Fortissima Socka, color # 9094. This yarn has been marinating in my stash for years. It was a gift from a dear friend. I didn't bother to match up the stripes because I've learned that leads down the path to madness. I tried that once with some Patons Kroy sock....lets just say I said some very inventive cuss words and threw the skeins across the room. If I can't match it in less then 30 seconds they get knit as mismatched socks. I honestly don't care if they aren't perfect matches.

My Sun Ray Shawl (ravelry)(non ravelry it's a free pattern from elann but you have to log on to view them) is finished. 

I finished this one up the other day. The yarn was originally being used for a Mara shawl but I quickly got bored with it and went searching for another pattern. The yarn is Araucania Natures Wool Multy, colorway #415. I still have some left over and haven't decided what to do with it. It's a bit scratchy so I won't be making a cowl of it.

I started the Rosalind Shawl (Ravelry)(non Ravelry) for my mom. 

The yarn is Dream in Color Baby and the colorway is Blue Sage. I picked up some beads from Earthfaire. They're 4mm frosted Megatamas. Cables, lace and beads....what more could a gal ask for.

New pair of "on the go" socks.

My basic toe up pattern. The yarn is from KnitPurlGurls Etsy shop, the Rainbows and Clouds colorway. I'm using some coordinating red yarn for the heels and toes and I'll use an after thought heel to keep from breaking up the stripes.

Now on to yarn that I've gotten in the mail. First up is some Woolen Rabbit Harmony Sock.

The colorway is called Boysenberry....yum! Purchased it through a friends destash.

Zen Yarn Garden Serenity Sport.  

This was a custom dye job. The colorway is called Spruce Tree and it's absolutely perfect! Roxanne did an awesome job with this one. I'm planning on knitting Poplar and Elm (ravelry)(non ravelry).

I purchased a new case for my Knit Picks Options Interchangeable needles and cables.

This has got to be the best case I've come across. Here's the Etsy site. The only thing I might do is buy some elastic to run across the top of the needles to make sure they're definitely in there secure. I was browsing for cases on Etsy when I came across one that was pink and well I'm generally not much of a pink person so I contacted the shop owner to see if she could custom make one for me. In addition to the different fabric she also added more pockets for mine. It was absolutely wonderful working with her for this custom order. Now I need to find the perfect case for my sock needles. I Magic Loop so I need to find a good case to hold all my 32" and 40" needles.  

I've also received some kits but don't want to post photos so as not spoil it for some one. I'll link to my Flickr account. Here's the ones I've received: Wicked Witch Returns, Divinely Inspired Cupcake Kit, and Lollipop Guild. All of these are kits from Woolgirl.

Wow, that was a long picture filled post. I think that sums up everything quiet nicely. Hopefully I'll be back soon with an update on the socks I'll be starting for my mom using some ZYG Bling! sock yarn.

Nada Zip Zilch...Well Almost

The title sums it up quiet well. I don't have a whole lot to post about. I have a few projects going on but I've kind of stalled on knitting. I have a few little projects that I'm working on but haven't cast on any more big projects. I really need to finish Shawn's sweater so he can wear it this winter.

On the non knitting related front our poor tree in the front yard died.

I looked out the window the other day and noticed our dead tree was noticeably shorter. The tree chopper guys came through and lopped off the top. They should be back by the end of the week to dig up the stump and plant a new one. I don't know what happened this year but there were a lot of dead trees here on base and around town.  

I'm working on a new pair of fingerless mitts for my mom.

The pattern is Basketry Mitts (Ravelry). The yarn is from The Loopy Ewe. It's their solid sock yarn brand in the Strawberry colorway. The yarn is really nice to work with. I'll definitely buy the yarn again.

Striped socks for The Loopy Ewe's 3rd Quarter Challenge. 

The challenge is to make something using their new solid sock yarn brand. I was going to knit some socks with fancy colorwork but frankly my brain isn't up to the challenge right now so I opted for some simple striped socks. Their my basic toe up, short row heel sock recipe and I opted for a picot edge. The red stripe is the Strawberry colorway and the gray is Smoke.

My "On the Go" socks.

These only get knit when I'm in the car so they take awhile to finish. The yarn is Fortissima Socka. I think in my last post I said it was Regia. This yarn has been marinating in my stash for several years now. I was originally going to use this yarn to knit socks for Shawn but he doesn't want hand knit socks.....I know the shock of it all.

And that covers all the knitting content for this post. I'm trying to get my Sun Ray shawl done so I can start my moms shawl. It's a big lace one with beads and cables so it's going to take awhile to complete.

I'll leave you with a photo of our newest addition to the household.

Meet Mr. Blue the parakeet. He's a crack up and full of entertainment. He loves to get out of his cage and hang out with Shawn and I in the evenings after the girls are in bed.  

Summers Done!

Alright, so summers not technically over with yet but Kaity went back to school yesterday and thus restores the peacefulness of the house for most of the day. Thankfully next year Bree starts Kindergarten and I can promise you this, I will not be a sad crying mom when I throw her butt on the bus. I'll be doing a super happy dance. Kindergarten goes all day here so I'll have the house to myself....wooohooo! Just gotta make it through one more year.

Alright lets see, what the heck have I've I been up to since my last post which was over a month ago. A lot has happened since I last posted.

I got my new baby in and it was love at first sight. My Apple iPad.

I'm still using it like crazy. This thing is way better then my iPod Touch. Don't get me wrong the Touch is great but the screen is tiny and some things like surfing the net are a royal pain. Did I really need to buy the iPod? No I didn't but I did because I'm selfish and dang it I deserve some fun stuff too. I'll just fall back on the excuse of "but Shawn got a new motorcycle!" He's already traded in the Honda Rebel for a more powerful motorcycle with the understanding that this will be the last motorcycle he gets until it's paid off. When you compare his motorcycle to my iPad, well I think you get the point. :)

I finished my "on the go" sock and have started another pair.

These are toe up, two at a time with a short row heel and a picot cuff. The stripes don't match because it's insane to try to match up the stripes on Patons self striping sock yarn. The yarn is some Patons Kroy that I picked up from Michaels a while back. The new pair I started are made with Regia that I got from a dear friend when I first started knitting. The yarn has been marinating in my stash for over 3 years now.

A new pair of socks for Bree.

These were made with some leftover yarn from a pair of socks I knit for myself. She does love her handknit socks.

I picked up the anniversary kit from The Loopy Ewe.

The mug is now holding my crochet hooks and cable needles....I already have a favorite mug for my one for my tea. I finally broke down and bought one of those 16oz mugs from Montezuma Mudd and it's worth every penny I paid....love it!! I have all of the Loopy anniversary kits with the exception of the first year. If I remember correctly we were flat broke when the yarn went up for sale. I think the first year was just yarn and a pattern. The mugs didn't come into play until the second year. I've managed to snag a kit every year since then. It is after all around the same time as Shawn and my anniversary. We hit year 12 this year on the 7th of Aug. Hard to believe we've been married that long.

My latest shipment from the Lord of the Rings sock club came in. You can click here if you want to see it. This is the last set of shipments for this club. I think there are one or two more shipments left.

I finished my Diamonds and Cables Socks.

These are knit with String Theory Caper sock in the Isle colorway. The pattern is from Toe Up Socks for Every Body. I've been slowly working on knitting up all the patterns in the book.

I finished re-knitting the Butterfly Garden socks.

They were way to tight so I had to rip the leg and reknit them without the pattern on the back. I opted for seed stitch on the back of the leg which blends with the seed stitch in the pattern on the front of the sock. I'll definitely work these again with a slightly thicker yarn. I'm thinking DIC Smooshy would be perfect for the next pair.

I finished the bleedin, flippin, boring as all get out to knit, baby blanket.

I used Knit Picks Comfy worsted weight yarn. It's a really nice yarn to knit with. I'm contemplating using this to make the girls some cardigans for next winter. I'm not a baby blanket, afghan knitting person. I get bored with them and have to force myself to finish them. Little L was born awhile back so I obviously missed giving it to my Sister in Law before he was born of course it doesn't matter much since it's the middle of summer in So. Cal and it gets hotter then the hubs of hell in Bakersfield. I do not miss that heat. Hell come to think of it there isn't much I miss about home besides my parents, oh and going to the beach. Oh man how I miss going to the coast and walking the beach. Being in a landlocked state sucks at times. :)

All the rest of my finished knits are secret knits and I can't post about them for obvious reasons. I'm still working on my Sun Ray shawl and I've started a new pair of socks. I was going to knit the Norwegian Rose socks from Toe Up Socks for Every Body but my brain and hands can't take stranded socks so I'm going with simple stripes.

I'll leave you with this photo of Bree and her lambie Pillow Pet.

It was love at first sight. Her current pillow was thrown off the bed and she's slept on her pillow pet ever since she opened it up on her birthday.

Hate Waiting

So anyways hubby and I were sitting at our computers a week or so ago and out of the blue he said, "go ahead and order yourself an iPad." Of course this shocked me a wee bit but I know he wanted to order one for my birthday but at the time we were planning a trip and didn't want to spend the extra money. The trip got cancelled due to the huge amount of money it was going to cost (way more then the iPad cost me), work issues for Shawn and not being able to find someone to watch the house (ie mow and water the lawns). The news of me buying an iPad will most likely piss off more then one family member reading this blog but I'm at the point where I just don't give a damn what other people (namely my family) think. Don't get me wrong, I love my family to pieces but they do tend to be a tad too nosey.

Anyways I'm sitting here waiting for my iPad to ship. It has a ship date of 30 June....oh the agony! I'm not what you would consider a super patient person. I picked the 32G Wi-Fi model. I didn't see the point in paying for the Wi-Fi + 3G model because I'll never pay for and use the 3G function. We do not have AT&T 3G in this area. What cracks me up is the lawsuit that AT&T brought against Verizon saying their commercials were misleading. I may be just an average everyday person but how can it be misleading for Verizon to show that they have a bigger 3G network then AT&T?...btw Verizons whole network is 3G. I mean they never stated that AT&T doesn't have service everywhere in the US. I can get AT&T service up here but they are using Verizon and Altell cell towers to provide that service. This is the main reason why we swapped to Verizon right before we moved to Montana. I didn't relish the idea that my calls would drop more frequently because I would be using a Verizon or Altell tower and their customers have priority over the other companies they have an agreement with for their tower usage. I guess my point is: what's the point in claiming you have the fastest 3G network when the majority of the people in the US can't use the 3G service. It's only great for those who live where it's available which I can assure you is no where in Montana.

So anyways, I've been doing a bit of knitting. Well mostly it's been work on my Cassidy cardi which is in the process of being seamed so I can finish the hood and button bands. I'll see if I can get the kiddo to help me take a few pictures once I have it seamed together. I have one week to get this finished to be able to enter it into The Loopy Ewe challenge.

I've also gotten a few knitterly goodies in the mail. 

First up is a skein of Dragonfly Fibers Djinni sock. 

I needed to pick up some wool wash and didn't want it to be lonely on the trip from MO to MT. It's a long two day trip courtesy of the USPS. Even longer when it's shipped right before a weekend. ;)

A yummy skein of Bugga!

Because I absolutely positively could not resist this skein. I adore the colorway and honestly if I would have had the money I would have picked up enough for a sweater.

A rainbow sock yarn kit.

I picked this up from Dyelectable Yarns etsy shop and it came with some lovely goodies including the sock blocker stitch marker holder and stitch markers. There's over 600 yards of yarn here so I'm thinking some stripey knee socks.

Knitterly Things Vesper sock yarn.

Because I have a weakness for self striping sock yarn. The colorway on the left is Love Stinks (Yeah Yeah)....and now I have that stupid Swiffer commercial stuck in my head. The colorway on the right is Neapolitan.

Bree needed a new bed. She only had about 2 inches left before her feet were touching the foot board of her toddler bed and lets face it crib mattresses are not very comfortable. So over the weekend we went out to the local furniture store to look for a new twin bed. As luck would have it we found a bunk bed that was perfect for her and was cheaper then all of the single beds so we picked it up and gave Kaity the bottom bunk. 

Bree's new bed:

She's on a Prince and the Frog kick right now. This won out over the Tinkerbell bed set which is rather surprising since Tink has been Bree's favorite from the get go.

Kaity's bed. 

Yes the walls are eye searingly bright but she loves it and yes she's a tad obsessed with the Jonas Brothers. I for one am not looking forward to repainting these walls before we move. The thing that really kills me is they will go through and paint all the walls when we move out.

Yarn on the Move

A couple weeks ago I decided that my stash needed to move from its current location to a less stinky spot in the house. Our house is connected to our neighbors house and our neighbor stores their gasoline and lawn mower in their outside closet which unfortunately is next to my yarn closet and the stink is seeping into my yarn closet. So for two days I worked on moving everything around in our bedroom so I could move all of my yarn and fiber stash upstairs. I'm keeping my swift, ball winder, and knitting books downstairs but the yarn and fiber had to be moved before it started taking on the nasty smell of gasoline. I also bought some more plastic drawers for yarn storage. I lucked out and found a sale at ShopKo so they were buy one, get one free. I'll take some pictures for my next blog post. All my sock yarn is sorted out nicely but self striping, semi solid, variegated and mass produced balls of sock yarn like Opal, Regia, Patons, etc. My sweater yarn has a home in the cedar chest Shawn bought for me years ago.

Now if this was my house I would look into fixing the problem, unfortunately I live in military housing and anyone who has ever lived in military housing knows that it is like pulling hens teeth to get housing maintenance to fix something. They act like it's a crime to want to live in a house where stuff isn't broken. The less they fix the more money they save thus more money for the military to piss out the window on stupid stuff....course that is a whole new can of worms I'd much rather not ponder about. Thankfully we only have a little over two years and then I can buy my own home which after seeing the craptastic way most of the newer homes are being built I we will most likely look for a older home with a sound structure and a little fixing up needing to be done. I don't mind doing some of my own house renovations.

Now on to knitting which sadly there is some I can't show you.

Here's Cassidy (ravelry)(non ravelry) in all her not finished beauty.

I finished the other front panel so next up is the sleeves. I'll most likely knit both sleeves at the same time which may be a bit of insanity on my part since I'll have four balls of yarn going at the same time. I'm alternating rows to make everything blend better.

I frogged my Mara shawl and started a different shawl with the yarn. I was counting on getting most of the Mara shawl knit in the car when we were traveling from here to Oregon and back when we visited my Granny last October. Unfortunately I didn't get as much done as I had planned and while tons or garter stitch while traveling in the car is fine I haven't touched it since we got home so ribbit ribbit.

Here's the pattern I went with.

It's the Sun Ray Shawl (ravelry). It's not a complicated shawl but there is enough going on that I'm not completely bored out of my mind which unfortunately is why I wasn't working on Mara. It probably didn't help that I knit the sample for Madelinetosh so I'd already knit one. I rarely go back to knit a pattern again.

I also have a new "on the go" pair of socks on the needles.

This is just my standard toe up sock pattern with a short row heel. The yarn is Patons Kroy sock yarn that I picked up from Michaels. It feels a tad thicker then most sock yarns I use. To save my sanity I didn't bother trying to match up the stripes.

I finally decided to start working on a sock yarn blanket.

This is based off a pattern I used to knit a baby blanket for my sister-in-law. You knit a mitered square and then pick up stitches along one side, cast on the other half of the stitches and knit another mitered square. You just keep going until your row is long enough and then go back to the beginning and pick up more stitches and start a new row. No sewing up your little squares and all you have to do is weave in the ends. I'm working on this off and on. 

I picked up some yarn to make another shawl for my mom.

The yarn is Dream in Color Baby in the Blue Sage colorway that I picked up from The Loopy Ewe. I received the beads I ordered from Fire Mountain Gems and Beads but they are to small to work with DIC Baby which is a light fingering weight yarn. These beads would work perfectly with lace weight. Unfortunately Fire Mountain didn't really list what size these beads are so I was kind of flying blind. Oh well, I'll set them aside for another project. I have the right beads on order from Earthfaire which is where I should have went in the first place and since I was ordering the beads from them I picked up the pattern too. I've heard nothing but good things about Earthfaire. I'm going to knit the Rosalind Shawl (ravelry)(non ravelry) by Sivia Harding. It's a lovely combination of lace, cables and beads. I got hooked on her patterns after a test knit I did for Woolgirl. I love knitting lace shawls but don't really use them. The only ones that I really use are worsted weight shawls that I can snuggle under during those cold winter days.

Oh and I finally blocked my Rivolo (ravelry)(non ravelry).

I have no idea who will give this scarf a good home. I started out making socks with this yarn but the a portion of the skein didn't have the little bits of green color so one sock was coming out a dark purple/pink color and the other part was much lighter with the green and lighter coloring so I figured a scarf would work best. You can actually see some of the color difference when you look at the scarf. I'm not much of a scarf wearer but I really wanted to knit this pattern. I normally wear cowls because they are easier to put on and take off when you're out and about shopping. Plus the bonus is that you can pull them up to cover your mouth, nose and ears. When a biting wind is ripping through here in the middle of winter it feels rather nice to have as much of your face covered as possible. 

I have some fabric to make a doll blanket for Kaity which I really need to get started on next week. I'm thinking about going with a simple four patch quilt. I need to do some measuring but I think I'll go with 2 inch squares. Time to bust out the sewing machine. 

I think that sums up what I've been up to. Until next time!

Happy Crafting!

Plugging Right Along

I'm trying to get back into a regular blogging schedule. Yes, I know I know this isn't the first time I've said that. It's only been a week since my last blog post so that's progress. I've finished a few projects but two of them are secret projects so no showing until well after the packages are sent out.

I did finish my "on the go" lemon socks.

These are made out of Lionbrand Sock-Ease in the Lemon Drop colorway. The pattern is my standard toe up pattern with a short row heel. The yarn is like most typical wool/nylon workhorse sock yarns. I'd say it's about as thin as Trekking. I haven't found any locally but people on Ravelry are destashing it at a reasonable price.

I have gotten a few kits too. I just link them to my Flickr account so I don't end up spoiling it for anyone who hasn't gotten theirs. I've received the Yellow Brick Road Wizard of Oz sock club kit, my Tea Party kit, and the final shipment of the second installment of the Lord of the Rings sock club from The Unique Sheep. There is one set to sign up for but I haven't yet. I hope to sign up for it in the next payday or two.

My Cassidy (ravelry)(non ravelry) is moving along well and I'm about a quarter of the way through the other front piece. I would have been farther along but I messed up and had to frog 20 plus rows.

I also started another pair of "on the go" socks. I'm using some Patons Kroy sock that I picked up from Michaels a few weeks ago. They're toe up and will have a short row heel. They're going to be plain stockinette because it's easy and I can toss them down and not have to worry about losing my place.

Happy Crafting!

Back from the Dead

Things haven't been all that exciting around here. I've been dealing with a nasty head/chest cold that I'm finally starting to kick though I still have a nagging cough that is driving me crazy. So needless to say I was sporadically online but just not feeling the love to work on a blog update even though I do have a few things to post about. Amazingly enough I do have some finished knitting projects even though there was a good week or so where I didn't touch my knitting needles....shocking, I know! I'm really looking forward to kicking this cough so I can go back to physical therapy since my back is starting to bother me again. 

Lets see, hmmmmm, what should I start with first. Ah, I know the Butterfly Garden socks (Ravelry)(non Ravelry).

They are a bit snug so I'm trying to decide if I want to frog the leg and reknit without the pattern on the back of the leg and do a simple ribbing or seed stitch to match the front of the sock. I did change the cuff to a basic k2, p2 ribbing. I tried the cuff from the pattern but it was way to small for my foot let alone my leg. The yarn used is JulieSpins M420S (etsy)(artfire) which is a lovely superwash merino sock yarn and the color way is called Golden Glow. I'll definitely make these a again but use a slightly thicker yarn, maybe Dream in Color Smooshy.

I finally finished my latest "on the go" socks.

These are knit using Patons Kroy Stretch sock. The colorway is called sugar and the pattern is a basic toe up sock with a short row heel and k2, p2 ribbing. I do believe I can get this at Michaels so it's cheap and easy to obtain. It's not a bad sock yarn and I think they'll make great summer socks. Not that I stop wearing wool socks in the summer. I don't wear them outside but I do wear them around the house. Certain parts of the floor here in the house are freezing because the designer of this house was a real idiot when they decided where to put the vents for the air conditioner. This of course wasn't the only thing the designer messed up on but I won't go into that since it would probably be a blog post in itself.

I started and finished a scarf using the Mountain Colors Crazyfoot I won in a blog contest. 

The pattern is Rivolo (Ravelry)(non Ravelry) by Knitspot. As you can see this is the progress photo that I took. I haven't blocked the scarf yet so I'll post a finished picture when I get that done. This was a great knit and the pattern repeat was easy to work so I had no difficulties working on it when I was watching tv. It took me less then a week to knit. I haven't decided what I'm going to do with the scarf....keep it, gift it. The yarn is Mountain Colors new sock yarn called Crazyfoot and the color way is called Wild Raspberries. I originally started a pair of socks but the two socks were completely different colors. There was a portion of this skein that was a much darker purpley color and then later lighter parts with bits of green and an almost orangish color (which is very pretty) for the rest of the skein so one of my socks would have had a dark purple foot. So to the frog pond it went and became Rivolo which played much more nicely with the yarn.

Here's the projects I worked on for Woolgirl/Miss Babs for Stitches West.

The top picture is Gust (Ravelry)(non Ravelry) in Miss Babs Yummy Sock in the A Day at Blue Spring Park colorway and the second picture is Hayrick Socks (Ravelry)(non Ravelry) in Miss Babs Yummy Sock in the Vlad's Red colorway. Both patterns are Knitspot patterns. I really need to get my hands on some of the Vlad's Red for myself so I can make my own pair of red Hayrick socks. I love the way these socks came out. 

I did pick up a few goodies along the way. 

An order from The Loopy Ewe.

 I picked up some ShibuiKnits sock yarn to make the Transitions socks, Dragonfly Fibers Djinni sock (merino/cashmere blend), and Needle Foods sock yarn. 

The first shipment for The Loopy Ewe sock club came in.

I'm sure most, if not all people have gotten theirs in now. We got Fiesta Baby Boom sock yarn, a sock pattern by WendyKnits, a shawl pattern, and two wooden shawl pins. I haven't decided which pattern I want to knit yet.

Gave some JulieSpins BFL (etsy)(artfire) roving a new home. The colorway is Peach Melba.

Someone on Ravelry was destashing and I do adore BFL although I haven't used my wheel since I threw out my back several months ago. She's been rather lonely and neglected. I really must give my Precious some attention.

I found some self striping Watermelon sock yarn on etsy from KnitPurlGurl.

The colors are vibrant and the yarn is super soft. I'll probably end up using this one soon for a pair of socks.

And that sums up my blog post for this round. I'm currently working on some test knits so I won't be working on my own knitting much. I was lucky enough to be picked by The Loopy Ewe to be a sample knitter so I'm really excited about that.

No Snappy Titles Left

I think I've used up all my snappy titles. After several years of blogging I'm all tapped out. Actually I think maybe I just need a vacation. I keep saying my motivation is hanging out on a warm beach sipping mojitos and enjoying a good book so maybe I should join my motivation. I does sound like a great idea! Nothing better then your toes in the sand, reading a good book and sipping on a cold drink.

Not a whole lot going on here in the Luvs2knit household. Same junk just a different day. The base is undergoing a huge inspection so I've pretty much been stuck at home since Shawn is working late hours and weekends. If all goes well this weekend will be ours although they haven't announced if they'll get Presidents Day off or not. It's getting kinda boring sitting around the house and no I don't want to scrub the house from top to bottom just to keep the boredom at bay. Between you and me, I'd rather be bored....just sayin.

Let see if I can play a little catch up here. My mom now has her shawl and loves it to pieces. I've been working on a few test knits for Woolgirl and I have some yarn coming in to knit samples for Miss Babs for Stitches West.

Might as well get started on posting FO's and new goodies that I've received in the mail.

First up is the beaded socks (ravelry).

I ended up making these for my mom. The yarn is Huntington sock yarn from WEBS. It's very soft, super cheap, and I loved knitting with it. I see more of this yarn in the future.

Shawn's Iain cabled hoodie (ravelry)(you can find the pattern through various stores online)

The picture isn't all that great. We had a lot of days with little to no sunshine so an indoor photo was all I could get at the time. All I need to do now is knit the sleeves and hood. Shouldn't take much longer. 

I broke my no yarn till after we move rule to pick up a few skeins of yarn since my last post.

First up is JulieSpins MCN355 in the Ginger Cat and Emerald colorways.

I found two people on Ravelry who were destashing these colorways so I had to give them a new home. I can't get enough of this yarn. It's so squishy and soft plus JulieSpins colorways are gooooooorgeous!

My Ruby Slippers Oz Sock Club package came in. You can see it here if you want. This is one of the patterns I test knit for Woolgirl not that long ago.

Next up are two skeins of JulieSpins M420S which is her superwash merino sock yarn.

These were from her Unclub that she does out on her Ravelry group. The top color is called Golden Glow and the bottom is Beach Plum. I absolutely loooooove these colors. I'm using the yellow one right now to knit the Butterfly Garden Socks (ravelry)(non ravelry).

Then I picked up some Fearless Fibers Merino Cashmere Nylon sock yarn.

I like Fearless Fibers sock yarn so I wanted to give this MCN base a try. The color way is called Feel the Love and is absolutely gorgeous.

Skein of String Theory Caper sock that I picked up from The Loopy Ewe.

This is the Isle colorway. OK, I have to admit it appears I've got a merino/cashmere sock yarn addiction now.

I have in my possession a skein of the new Mountain Colors Crazyfoot sock yarn.

Mountain Colors was having a contest on their blog and I won along with I think 49 other people.....woot! The colorway is Wild Raspberry. As soon as I finish up my sample knits this will be hopping on the needles. I just need to figure out which pattern I want to use. 

Finally this yummy squishy yarn ended up on my doorstep.

It's Dream in Color Classy in the Deep Sea Flower colorway to knit Cassidy (Ravelry)(non Ravelry) for the TLE 2010 Q1 Sweater Challenge. Thankfully the challenge is going on till July so I have plenty of time to get it finished. This is my "woohoo we got our income tax refund reward".

I have a box full of goodies coming in from Woolgirl's "closing the shop" sale. She posted out on Ravelry that's she closing down the online/store portion of the business and is going to concentrate on kits and clubs. Everything is 35 percent off. I'm sadden to see her close the shop but it's for her health which is more important then yarn.

Now it's time to go wake sleeping beauty (who is snoring on the couch, quite loudly I might add) and go to bed. Course it's very possible that sleeping beauty won't wake up and will sleep on the couch for the night. I swear when Shawn falls asleep on the couch in the evening time it's almost impossible to get him to move.

Happy Crafting!

Making Up for Lost Time

Every time I type up a new post I swear to myself that I'm going to start blogging more frequently and every time there is always something that seems to get in the way. It takes a bit of work to get a post put together. 

On the moving homefront we're getting prepared for the big move although it looks like it could possibly be pushed back due to some schooling the military wants Shawn to have. Right now we're set to leave around the 10th of March but if Shawn gets sent to school he'll leave the beginning of March and won't be home until mid June. As much as I'd love to pack the house up and have everything sent to Germany and follow him to Maryland for those 3 months I have to think about the kiddos. Kaity is still in school so that means missed time from school and dealing with the pains of enrolling her in a new school for the last 3 months of school. Logistically it's easier for me to stay here with the girls while Shawn's in school.

Anyone else having freakishly weird weather this year? Apparently Mother Nature is a tad confused because we're having warm spring like weather here in our part of the state for last few two weeks. We've had a few days where it's hit in the 60's (Fahrenheit that is). Of course that's not destined to last because the forecast is showing that we're suppose to dip back down into the 30's here in a few days. 

The destashing has gone well and I'm thinking there won't have to be another round to get rid of more yarn. Between what I sold, what I'm sending to my mom, and yarn that I donated to charity I think the stash has been culled down enough. There are a few things in my trade section on Ravelry that are still for sale but I'm not planning on pulling more out of my stash. I will admit I've splurged and bought a couple of skeins that caught my eye and some time toward the end of the month I should be getting the Ruby Slippers shipment from the Woolgirl Wizard of Oz club.

I managed to snag a skein of Skinny Bugga! last week from The Sanguine Gryphons site.

The color is called Emerald Swallowtail and is the most gorgeous green I've ever seen. I was also looking at this gorgeous yellow color too but decided that I should stick with just one skein.

A skein of Knitterly Things Vesper sock yarn managed to jump in my cart the other day.

I swear I don't know how it got here.....I'm sticking with the theory that it was lonely and wanted to hang out with the other sock yarns in my stash. I swear I'm innocent of all charges!! Seriously though I'm still on a self striping sock yarn kick so when I saw this colorway (Shamrockin) I knew I needed to pick it up.

Dream in Color Classy in the November Muse colorway.

OK, this one was part of my winnings from the Sonny and Shear Nutkin KAL. I won first prize and my winnings was a gift certificate for $50. So the gift certificate paid for over half the cost and it's not sock yarn....mah ha ha ha! I'm thinking maybe making Wisteria with this yarn.

Now on to knitting projects. I do have a few I'm working on and I finally finished blocking my moms Whispering Pines Shawl.

First up is the Whispering Pines Shawl (Ravelry)(non Ravelry).

I absolutely love this shawl. As soon as I finish the socks I'm knitting for my mom I'll be dropping her package off in the mail.

Here are the socks I'm working on for my mom.

The pattern is the 2009 January Socktopia mystery pattern (Ravelry). I started them for myself but it occurred to me that I haven't made my mom socks in awhile so I now they are moms. Guess I'd better make a pair for my sister. I haven't made her any in quite some time too. The yarn I'm using is Valley Yarns Huntington. This yarn is soooooo soft and great to work with. It's a great price too at less then $9 for a pair of socks. I've heard a few people complain about it being splitty but I've yet to have a problem with it splitting while I'm knitting.

Basic toe up socks using Patons Stretch Sock.

It's not a bad sock yarn. It's a tad splitty but not horribly so. This is just a basic toe up sock with ribbing and I'll be using a short row heel. Nothing fancy, just a no pattern required sock that I can take with me where ever I go.

I've been making great progress on Shawn's cabled hoodie. I'm about 12 rows from finishing the back and will then move to working the v-neck for the front. The sweater is knit in the round until the armpit area where it's split and the front and back are worked separately. I don't think it'll take me much longer to finish this up. I'll try to get a picture of my progress for the next blog post. 

I do believe I've managed to catch up on all the projects I have going on. I do have some secrety secret test knits that I've finished up and will show them when I get a chance. 

Happy Crafting!