Knittin' and Lovin' It

Been Over A Month....Wow!

It's hard to believe it's been over a month since my last post. All I can say is things have been super busy here in the Luvs2knit household. We've been dealing with all the wonderful viruses that are floating around making everyone sick.

Then to make things even more fun, in the beginning of November I started having this pain that was shooting down the back of my leg to my knee. I went to the doctor who referred me to physical therapy here on the base who managed to make the problem even worse by causing the pain to work its way all the way down my leg, half my foot and calf to go numb and my leg go into spasms every time I sat down. I had to fight for several weeks before I finally got my referral to see another physical therapist. There was no way I was going back to see the crazy lady who tried to cripple me. Turns out that my back spasms have caused me a lot more then just a little bit of pain and have now managed to cause my muscles to start locking down and pushing on my sciatic nerve. I'm seeing a wonderful physical therapist in town who has really helped me out. I'm now having less pain and am finally starting to do a few things around the house.

We've heard back on our medical clearances for Germany. The girls and I are cleared to go so we're leaving for Mannheim Germany in March. Thankfully we were able to get the report date pushed back otherwise Shawn would have had to have left for Germany in Jan and the girls and I would have stayed here to get our house packed up and cleaned before heading over to meet up with him.

I'll be destashing yarn here in the next few weeks. I'm not looking forward to weeding through my stash but I can't take it all so I'm going to have to decide what to destash.

I have tons of knitting projects both finished and in progress to post about along with a few goodies that I've gotten in the mail. I'll try to post here soon. I have a lot of pictures to take and the weather isn't looking very promising for picture taking. We're getting ready to get hit with a winter storm tonight and could see up to 12 inches of snow.....yuck! Plus the temps are getting ready to plummet to the subzero range for the next few days. I'm planning to knit and stay here in the house where it's warm. Even Starbucks can't tempt me out when this storm hit.

A Little Progress

I'm up with a sick kiddo so I figured I might as well start a blog post. Might as well put my time to good use, right? Kaity is sick with the flu and Shawn's getting over his bout with it although he still has a cough that is driving him crazy. I'm have my fingers and toes crossed that Bree and I escape the crude but seeing as we're surrounded by it it'll be amazing if we don't catch it.

I have finished a few projects since my last knitting related post but that shouldn't be to surprising since my last knitting related post was almost a month ago.

The Raspberries & Chocolate Mallow socks (ravelry)(non ravelry).

I knit these with Frog Creek Fibers Ebullient sock yarn in the Raspberries and Chocolate colorway. The colors are gorgeous, the yarn was nice to work with and I really enjoy the fit of these socks. I will be trying some of their other base yarns.

I'm trekking right along on my moms Whispering Pines shawl (ravelry)(non ravelry).

I'm actually not far from starting the edging on the shawl. I do believe I have around 21 rows left before starting the edging.

I started Mara (ravelry)(non ravelry) for my trip to and back from Oregon.

I'm using Araucania Nature Wool which I picked up on sale at WEBS awhile back. I want to make this as big as possible so I have something warm to use when I'm sitting in my chair. The only time I worked on this was in the car with the exception of one evening at my granny's house where I knit maybe one row before swapping to a pair of socks.

I finished my stripey Regia socks.

Their just a basic toe up sock with a short row heel and a picot cuff. I used a Turkish cast on and knit until I was bored with them. The stripes aren't matched up with this pair. I thought I had it but they were off by several rows and I didn't feel like ripping them out to start again.

We got snow a few days before Halloween.

Friggin' crazy weather! It melted in about 2 days but all total I think we ended up with about 4 inches in town. I don't think we got quite as much on the base.

Thankfully Kaity didn't get sick until the day after Halloween so she was able to go out Trick or Treating for a little bit.

They both had a lot of fun. Kaity went as Mitchie from Camp Rock and Bree was a little bumble bee. I think Bree was just as excited to hand out candy to other kids as she was to get candy.

I did get some goodies since my last post. I'll just link to my Flickr account since some of these could possibly be spoilers for some people. My Woolgirl Emerald City Wizard of Oz sock club kit made it in. So did the 3rd installment from the Zen Yarn Garden Spin Art fiber club, Lord of the Rings sock club, and My Perfect Fall is Halloween Kit.

My first skein of Bugga! that I managed to snag from some one who was destashing on Ravelry.

I can see why people are going crazy about it but I'm not going to miss sleep or go crazy trying to get more when there are other cashmere base sock yarns out there that are beautifully dyed and easier to get. Yes, yes I know it has 20% cashmere but frankly I think ZYG's Serenity sock is just as squishy and soft and it's a whole lot easier to buy. That said, if I had some extra cash and I stumbled upon some in an update I would buy it if I liked the colors.

I'll leave you all with a pic of my little yarn hugger.

Bree is my knitting helper. She loves helping me take pictures of yarn and projects and sits in my lap to help me knit. Plus she loves to "fuzz" the yarn. For some reason Bree asks to fuzz instead of feel but only when it involves yarn. She always asks if she can "fuzz it" when I get a new skein of yarn. I've even caught her sniffing it. The kid is a crack up in a yarn store. She treats the yarn as if it's super special (of course it is and I've taught her well). I think I have a yarn addict in the making. :~)

Snow! Seriously!!

It's snowing here and not just a little bit but a whole lot. Yesterday we broke the record with 8.1 inches of snow and it still continued to snow after midnight so who knows what we are up to now. All I know it this is what my back yard looks like.
**Edited to add: Just found out that as of noon today we've received another 9.9 inches of snow. All total the records say we've received 19 inches of snow over the last 2 days.....sheesh!

It's insane! To make matters worse, it's still snowing and it's not the nice light & fluffy type of snow it's that wet, heavy snow. Kaity was almost 2 hours late for school because it took Shawn forever to clear the driveway and the sad part is he was using a friends snow blower. He's already stated that he'll be buying a snow blower! This is the second time this year we've had to use one to get our car out of our garage. December was a bad month for snow too. I'm so ready for the warm to come back. The only thing good about the snow is that it'll push back fire season. The wetter it stays the longer it staves off the fires.

Well enough about my crappy weather. On to the good stuff that you all are here for.

I received my second LOTR sock club shipment.

We received The Unique Sheep Tinsel Toes. The colorway is Prince of the Wood Elves. I've already knit up the pattern.

This is the first sock club sock yarn and pattern that I've used in awhile. One side of the sock has a lacy leaf pattern and the other side has a bow and arrow pattern. I just fell in love with the pattern and yarn color. I'm not a big tinsel sock yarn lover and normally avoid sock yarns that have tinsel in them but I just couldn't pass this one up. I'll be making this pattern again with some other socks yarn. I'm thinking maybe some Dream in Color Smooshy.

I received my last shipment of the Yarntini Happy Hour sock club which included my self striping bonus skein.

The final shipment was a semi sold called Honeytini and is gorgeous! I decided to go with the Appletini self striping. I'd love to get a few more skeins of self striping. I'm still on my self striping sock yarn kick.

Picked up a skein of Trekking Handart from TLE awhile back.

I needed to order some more soap so I threw in a skein of yarn to justify the shipping. It's a fairly mute color and not normally what I buy but I like it. Wonder if it's because the name of the colorway is Ireland. Who knows!

I also got a skein of Cascade Heritage Handpaint when I needed to order some needles a week or so later.

Gotta get something to go with the needles....right? I know it's not as if I really needed another skein of sock yarn but hey I'm on a sock kick again and have knit several pair so I need to replace the yarn I've used.

I also received some new books. I'll spare you all the pictures. I picked up: The Eclectic Sole, Toe up Techniques, Sock Innovations and Socks from the Toe Up.

I finished the April mid-month cloth for the Monthly Dishcloth KAL group.

It was a pretty simple cloth. I used Peaches & Creme, color Faded Denim.

I do have one sock project going right now but will start one for the Makin' Cookies KAL that starts 1 May.

These are just a simple pair of socks using some self striping Regia sock yarn I bought from someone who was destashing it on Ravelry. I'll probably use a simple ribbing on the leg after the heel turn. It's my "to go" project so I only work on them when I'm out and about.

I'm also working on a little lacy cardi for Kaity to wear over her shirts.

She has a cotton one that was bought for her almost two years ago by my mom. The poor kiddo is growing out of it so she needs a new one. I'm using a acrylic yarn for this one for easy washability but will probably make her another one for winter wear later this year.

I'm also working on a project for my TLE swap pal but for obvious reason I can't post about it until she's received her box. I should be getting a new test knit from Woolgirl in the next day or two also. It's for one of the club packages so it'll be awhile before I can post that one. I think I pretty much covered everything.

Happy Crafting!

Fall, Finally!

It appears that Fall has finally made it to this part of Montana. The days are getting cooler and the nights are getting colder. They are forecasting that Friday and Sunday are days we could see some snow....burrrrr! The great news is that the winter woolies will soon be worn again and I'm feeling the urge to block and seam my Rogues sleeves. Yes, it's still in storage, no I haven't finished it yet.

Unfortunately with the return of Fall my tomato plants are not longer producing, so the 5 tomatoes sitting on my counter are the last of the yummy deliciousness until next year. It's almost enough to make me want to cry.

I've finally caught up on CSI Miami and am now watching the current season as it plays on CBS. Of course this means I need a new show to watch. In comes my mom talking about NCIS and a USA marathon of the show to get me hooked. So now my Netflix queue is full of NCIS disks and I now have 6 seasons to keep me busy. Season 7 is currently playing on CBS right now.

I've done a little knitting and have a bit to show you all this week. Some of it's test/sample knits that I can now show you and others are mine. I'll just apologize in advance for all the not so great pictures. Most of them were taken during cloudy, nasty days.

I can show you the big blue test knit that I was working on for Madelinetosh.

It's Tribeca (Rav)(non Rav) knit using Tosh Worsted. Easy pattern with moss stitchy goodness (yes I'm crazy, I like Moss St) and soft, squishy yarn, what more you you ask for? If you want to see a better picture, head over to Amy's blog post for a peak. If you're interested in the pattern or the yarn you can find them at Woolgirl. The yarn is soft and has a nice twist and the colors are beautiful. I'll be getting some of this yarn in the near future.

A pair of Dimpled Socks (Rav)(non Rav) for Madelinetosh.

I knit these using Madelinetosh's sock yarn. The color is Oxblood and it's yummy but a little difficult to take pictures of when it's cloudy out. Follow one of the links above the pic to see what the sock pattern looks like. The pattern has been out for awhile but I worked them with a few tweaks in the pattern.

A sample knit for Woolgirl.

The yarn is Madelinetosh sock and the color is Fig. I do believe that this yarn is the September shipment for the Magnolia Society yarn club. The pattern is Interlocking Leaves (Rav)(non Rav) from Knitty. I really liked this sock pattern and will be making a pair for myself in the near future.

Kaity's A-Line Coat (Rav)(non Rav) in all it's "in pieces" glory.

I've been working on this in between sample knits. When my hands need a break from small needles I pick this coat up to work on. I need to get it finished since it's starting to cool off now. The big piece is the back and then I have one front piece finished and although it doesn't look like it, I'm about halfway through the other front piece. The pattern isn't bad but it could have been a little better written. I'm not big on patterns that leave out details like diagrams to save on space. I'm one of those people who think that diagrams with measurements on it are helpful. Maybe I'm just crazy and am expecting to much. The pattern is one page, front only. Why couldn't they have given just a tad more detail and used a second page?

A pair of socks for Kaity.

I knit these with the leftover Berroco Sox. They are plain jane socks knit toe up, two at a time, magic loop. I think I prefer making Kaity's socks two at a time, toe up. I always end up making one sock smaller then the other when I don't knit them at the same time which drives me crazy everytime I see them! There is still enough yarn left to knit a pair of socks for Bree. Note these socks do not come close to matching. I knit from the inside and outside of the ball so the striping is reversed.

I started another pair of socks for Kaity.

These are being knit with some Regia bamboo sock yarn my mom bought for Kaity quite some time ago. Look Ma, I'm finally knitting those socks.  ;~)

I'm one of those people that lets sock yarn marinate in the stash for awhile before knitting with it. They're the same as the last few I made, two at a time, toe up. Since I'm currently not in any need for new socks (I have like 16 pair) Kaity is the lucky recipient. As if she's sitting there complaining about new handknit socks. She does a happy dance each time I toss a new pair of socks at her. She's even happier now that it's getting cold enough to wear them.

Finally a teaser shot.

This is one of the projects I'm currently working on for Madelinetosh. I'll post more about it when I can.

The girls are all geared up for Halloween. We managed to catch both costumes on sale this year. There are some good things about them putting the stuff up early. It means that they start marking down the stuff earlier too. Shoot I even made out like a bandit buying the candy the other day at ShopKo. I picked up the big bags that are normally around $7 something each for the lovely price of 2 bags for $8. Can't argue with those kind of savings.

The other good news is that we've completed just about all of the Christmas shopping for both of the girls. Most of it's sitting on Layaway at K-Mart. It'll stay there until it has to be picked up in early Dec. We still have a few small things to get but for the most part we're done. Shawn's gift will most likely be a Palm. He really wants a new one.

I'll leave you with a shot of my little monkey.

Happy Crafting Everyone!

Snow's Not Right!

Anyone else agree with me when I say "there shouldn't be snow on the ground in June!"

It snowed last night. I'm not sure what the official total is but there was about 2 inches in my yard around 6am. As you can see in the pic, it's starting to melt and will probably be gone before the end of the day. We're suppose to get more rain later this afternoon and the possibility of snow again tonight. Sheesh! Life is never dull here in Montana. To top it all off we lost power some time last night/early this morning and when the power came back on at the butt crack of dawn it scared the crap out of all of us. When our power comes back on it sets off all the smoke detectors in the house. We have one in almost every room and they are all wired together. It's a lot of racket when they go off. The only one who wasn't woke up was Bree. How she slept through that I'll never know!

I'm so glad I was watching the weather or my poor babies would have been snowed on and more then likely killed.

These are our two tomato plants. They're in the garage right now where it's nice and warm. It seems that the military got something right with the garages in these houses. Even in the coldest part of winter our garage never dropped below 45-50 F.

As you can see one of the tomato plants has some flowers on it. There are several more on there now. I took this pic about a week ago and it looks like the second plant is going to have a few flowers soon.

My June Art Walk Sock Club (a Zen Yarn Garden Club) came in the other day. Here's the link since there are some that probably haven't gotten theirs yet. The colors are gorgeous! Now I need to find a pattern to show off the colors.

Shawn brought home a gift card and coffee cup for my birthday.

It didn't take me long to spend the money. I picked up Teach Yourself Visually Handspinning. It looks to be a good book and I'll soon be trying my hand at more spinning.

I've started a new dishrag.

This one is the Woven Basket Stitch Dishcloth. The pattern is easy enough to do but it's kinda fiddly and you have to use a bigger needle then you'd normally use for dishcloths because the pattern is tight. I'm using US8's instead of the US 6 & 7's I normally use. I added a garter stitch border because I'm not big on dishcloths without some kind of border. I'm crazy, I know. Yarn is Peaches & Creme Fiesta Ombre.

I've also made good progress on Kaity's skirt.

**Edited: Thanks KT for the non Ravelry link for your skirtsicle pattern.

I'm using the Skirtsicle (Rav Link)(non Rav link) pattern. The pattern use to be available through MagKnits but since MagKnits has died a very ungraceful death the designer edited the pattern and is now offering it for sale. I'm using Peaches & Creme Pink Lemonad

I have one Woolgirl test knit completed and in the mail and I'm about halfway done with the second test knit for her. I won't be able to show either of these for awhile since they are for future club/kit shipments. The third test knit is for Madelinetosh and it is on hold right now due to some pattern issues which are to be expected with a new pattern. When I get some better weather I'll give you all a teaser of this third test knit.

Rib Socks Update

I finished the gusset on my Butternut Rib Sock last night.



I think the sock is coming along well. This pattern fits nicely so it will more then likely become my "go to" sock pattern for simple socks. I have about 4 inches of foot left to knit before starting the toe.

It other news, it's freezing outside this morning. It's like 27 F with the wind chill.....burr! We are suppose to see snow starting through Sunday but Monday is suppose to warm back up into the 60's. Freaky weather needs to make up his mind.

Sorry for the short post but I'm just too tired to think of anything other then crawling back into bed. Both the girls have been restless at night which makes for a bad sleeping environment for me. I'm going to try to snag another hour or so of sleep after Shawn leaves with Kaity.

Updates, Babbling and Such

Just wanted to let everyone know that I didn't blow away yesterday.  The wind blew through here really bad until between midnight & 1 am.  At least the windows didn't rattle all night.  Today is gorgeous and sunny if not very warm.  It's only about 36 but we have high hopes to hit 52 and the sun is shinning nice and bright.
Last night I frogged several UFO's and rewound the yarn.  I'll be starting them again but for now they were just in the way.  I frogged the baby hat because I need to start it over again making it a wee bit bigged.  I frogged the 7 rows I had on the Civil War Shawl.  I'll make that one later but right now life is just in the way.  I'll probably start that one again after we move and get settled in.  I also frogged Baby Peanuts blanket....who is now Baby Blake.  :~)  I wasn't quite happy with the gauge so I will try again on needles one size bigger.  I'll be starting that one again here in the next week or so.  But that blanket is going to be a super fast knit and I may have enough yarn to make a hat and dare I say it.....Booties.  I'll be looking for a cute double point pattern.  I'm  not really thrilled with making the two needle ones though the pattern my mom had me attempt made a really cute bootie.
Did I tell you all that we are now suppose to here about our assignment selection on 27 April.  *sigh*  The military can never make up their minds what they want to do.  :~)  So it looks like we won't have to wait until mid-May to find out now.  Lets hope what they are saying is true.