ravelings from bea

I'm too out of it on muscle relaxers to think of a title

2012-01-03T03:01:00.000-05:00

I have one thing to say to this year, You better be AWESOME. Or at least way better then last year. On New years Eve, I was driving with my mom over to the market to buy New years day dinner. I was in the lane to turn into the parking lot, when I got rear ended. I still don't know how, it's all a bit of a blur, but the guy who did it had to have gunned it, because he slammed into me. My car has minimal damage, but mom and I both got whiplash. Hers is mostly better now, but I still can't move my neck, I hurt so bad, and I seem to have a lump on my neck/shoulder.

I'm trying to take it easy, but it's hard to not do anything. I casted on for a calorimetry on the first, and it'll be finished today. I read a book (the help, VERY good), I watched Foyle's War, I'm watching Justified now, and drinking tea. I'm thinking that for the time being, till I'm not on heavy duty muscle relaxers, I should stick to easy knits. Because having to rip out a few rows on a calorimetry because you messed up kinda sucks.

All that has been

2011-12-05T10:25:00.000-05:00

OHAI! Remember me? Been a while. The past few months have been nothing short of hell. Maybe one day I'll write about it (while popping xanax like nerdz, do they even still make nerdz? I loved the strawberry) but for now, let's just say that it's done with, and try not to dwell on it.
In case you hadn't noticed, it's December. Which means one only thing, Well, two things. Those soft peppermint canes are now in stores. And it's time for Holiday gift making.
So far, I've managed to make four scarves and a pair of socks. I have yet to make:
1 handspun cowl
1 ishbel shawl (I'm at the lace bits)
1 large daybreak shawl (we're not talking about how far behind I am)
1 knotty but nice hat
1 ice scraper mitt
and about 15 washcloths.
All that have to be done, photographed, and shipped before the 20th.
I am really going to need rum. And cookies.
I hope to blog my progress (or insanity, your choice) every day.

After the Storm

2011-08-31T03:58:00.000-04:00

Over the weekend, Irene came blowing in. I never went thru a hurricane before. I hope to never again. Our damage was small compared to others. Lots of leaves and small limbs all over, a huge 20 footer blocking the driveway, and lines that bring power into the house got knocked over. We still have power, so it's ok.
New England got hit really bad, and my thoughts and prayers are with everyone there.
During the hurricane, I knit this. It's Elizabeth's Cowl from the new book, Wendy knits Lace. It's a great book, lots of great patterns, ranging from just starting to somewhat advanced.
Knit in Chunky Al on size 10 needles. I've had this yarn for ages in my stash, just waiting to be something. I thought a hat, but about an hour before the hurricane started, I grabbed the yarn and cast on for the cowl. I have to block it and get a better photo, but here it is.

Rav link here.
the colour is so lovely. This is a rather fast knit, seeing as how I knit it in one night while watching Sweet land (if you haven't seen it, go watch it NOW. I think it's streaming on netflix) and my two favorite Sense and sensibility movies.
I'd knit this again, i'd love to see how it would look in some handspun.

Keep calm and puffy on

2011-08-24T18:54:00.000-04:00

I am sure, by now, you have seen this pattern, the beekeepers quilt. It seems like everyone and they uncle is making one. It's adorable, and kitchy, and SQUISHY!! I've made about 20 so far and here is what I'm doing.
I'm using circs, size 4, as called for.
Using the long tail cast-on, cast on one needle (so you would have two stitches). (ignore the crappy phone pics, I don't have a camera)

Now carefully slide the first stitch off and transfer it to the 2nd needle.

You now have one stitch on each needle! Now, onto the first needle ONLY, which is the needle you cast-on with, cast-on a stitch.

Now, repeat this with the second needle.

Contine to do this till you have the amount called for in the pattern. When knitting the first round, I like to knit the first few stitches with the tail and the yarn.
Now knit your hexipuff.
For the cast off, I do a reverse grafting, So, you want to go as if to knit on the front stitch, then as if to purl on the back stitch.
Now go as if it purl and slip it off, and as if to knit (not slipping) for the second. For the back, you knit and then slip, and then go as if to purl (again, not slipping) It's easy and gets a great edge.
When I'm done, I like to take my end and weave t thru the decreases to pull them together a bit more. I find this gets the edge clearer and I don't have the gaps, which annoy me.

This is the cast-on edge.

This is the cast off edge.

This is the finished hexipuff. Isn't it adorable? I hope this helps you! If you have any questions, you can pm me on rav or email me!

This is what a Feminist knits like

2011-08-20T00:00:00.000-04:00

Have you read this? If not, go read it. I'll wait..... Done? good.
I started writing this on Facebook, but I want to post this here instead.
Because I knit my own clothes, spin yarn for those clothes, make all my own food from scratch, read whatever I want, go to school for "girly" things if I so choose, wear make up and pretty clothes, paint my nails, I'm not a feminist? I do these things because I want to do them. Because, NEWSFLASH, thats what feminism is.
You know what feminism isn't? Telling women how to live their lives. Like this so called "writer" is doing. We now have the CHOICE, as women, to do what we want with out lives. Demeaning what I do? Demeaning what thousands, millions of women do? Is a bad idea. I carry sharp pointy sticks. We all do. We will stab a bitch.
Let's talk about her little jab at Miss Jane Austen. you know why her books are so loved? Because they are wonderful. Simple as that. These books hark back to a slower time, without cell phones, without the constant babble of technology. Some weekends, I'll have a Jane austen movie fest and knit or spin. and BAKE. this does not make me less of a feminist. Also, Mr.Darcy.
The more I think about this article and read it, the more pissed off I get. This "writer" claims that Jezebel is a great feminist blog. Sometimes, yes. But other times? It's very anti-women. Yet she wrote that the Yarn harlot is anti-fem, when, if this women would have read any of her posts, she is not. The yarn harlot is a great example of a strong feminist.
This "writer" is wrong. All those comments (read the comments this one time, pure win) and every single one is against what she is saying.
I knit, I spin. I crochet. I sew. I quilt. I read. I bake. I can also shoot a gun, swear, fix things, tell dirty jokes, and do whatever the hell I want to do. Because I'm a feminist.

Obsession

2011-08-15T10:00:00.002-04:00

I have things that have "need to be knit by dates", I have two houses to clean out (my grandfathers house was sold, so now I have less then a month to empty it), I have food to make (SCONES. and cookies. and soup. plus I really want some cake). I even have some things that must be spun soon. Yet all I can do is knit these little hexipuffs from The beekeepers quilt.I'm on my fourth and I just started.
I can't stop. I have a BSJ to finish and send out this week, along with a baby hat to make. I have to take this handspun

and turn it into a daybreak shawl for a Christmas Gift. I have 5 gifts to knit for Christmas, so I'm going to try and knit them all before November. As to avoid the still awake at 4 am on Christmas day trying to finish a fetching glove.
Yet all I can manage is to make more Hexipuffs. Send help.

CRAFT ALL THE THINGS!

2011-08-09T02:55:00.002-04:00

Lately, I really want to do all the crafty things. I want to do some iron on tshirts and tote bags (to further my complete and total obsession with tote bags) with sayings on them. Some of there are
"Judge me all you want. We're all going to die. I intended to deserve it"
"The babe with the power"
"What would Bruce Campbell do?"
" And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it."( roald Dohl)
And so many others. And I want paint this table I got in a tea shop thats been waiting to go into my bedroom for ages now. I was having such a hard time deciding what colours to paint it and then i realized i could get paint to match my favorite nail polish colour!

I was thinking of doing a swirl on the top with another colour, maybe a greenish blue?
I want to make a huge crazy quilt and sew my own clothes and make my own curtains. Bath salts and soaps! I have a feeling this is just the start of it.

I'm not dead yet

2011-04-04T21:49:00.002-04:00

"well, thats what they always say" Yes, I am a huge nerd, why do you ask?
To sum up the past 2 months in a very short sentence, got sick, hurt my knee, my cat ran away, knee got better, got very sick, landed in the hospital, got out of the hospital, cat came back over two weeks later, slid on steps and hurt my knee. Again. this morning.
In between getting poked and prodded by needles and coughing up my little brains (fyi, artery blood draws hurt. OMG do they ever) I managed to do some knitting and cooking!
Over the weekend, I made these cookies and they are by far the best peanut butter blossom cookies EVER. I changed up the recipe a bit, adding in a bit more vanilla and upped the brown sugar to half a cup. I also baked them a bit longer, about 13 minutes.
And as for the knitting, I made this last year but just got around to uploading it (the gnomes returned the camera, now if only they'd return my cell phone). I just love this photo of Asta and I,

the pattern is quant from knitty,a great intro to entrelac if you're new to it. Raveled about it here.
Around the same time, I also knit up a handspun hat. Handspun hats are my drug, I swear. Raveled here!

this weekend, Cpaag group on rav had an auction for japan. I, being me, knit up and designed a knitted boob washcloth. I'm working on the pattern, and even have a few test knitters for it! If you want to test it, just pm me on rav. I'll publish it here this month, I hope.

I'm very happy with how it turned out, just like what I pictured!
As of right now, I'm stuck sitting and knitting and watching dvds and netflix. Which is just so horrible.

Different verse, same as the first

2011-02-07T02:37:00.002-05:00

Concussion is almost gone, I still get waves of WHOOOOOOOOEEEEE every once in a while,but those moments are only moments and are gone rather fast.
but, it has been replaced by Death by Snot cold of 2011 (it is still odd to type 2011) and I have lost my voice. I am now reduced to texting and making motions as to what I want. I'm hoping I'm better by mid-week because I'm really sick of being sick. and I want to bake.
I did finish a pair of socks! YAH! first socks of 2011 (nope, still weird). I need to get photos,but i snapped a quick pic with my crapy phone.

the yarn was flat feet, and it's a basic toe up pattern 60 stitches on a us 2, I think.
In other news, my Grandfather fell out of bed on Friday morning, and broke his hip. We had no idea, no one called us. Friday, late evening, the doctor at the ER called and told us. He had a partial hip replacement and is doing well.
Meanwhile, we're iced in the house. Poor Asta slid on the ice yesterday trying to go out. I know, I know.I love snow. but I do not love ice. At all. bad ice. Bad Bad Bad ice.
I heard we might get another storm this week.I hope it's snow! *ducks and covers*

you fart helium?!

2011-01-14T11:38:00.004-05:00

This year started out great. And then, well, not so much. Last Friday, i went to the ER. 6 horrible hours later, I was diagnosed with a concussion, sprained toe, and possibly torn tendons in my knee. What happened was this. My mothers knee hit my head (she claims that my head hit her knee, which is so not true) and then, about half an hour later, I was feeling dizzy and fell, landing all my weight on already bad knee (it had an egg on it already, I was going to see a doctor for it that day) and managed to sprain my toe on my other foot. I really should win a medal or something for the sheer idiocy of that injury.
Meanwhile, I'm stuck sitting on the sofa watching Netflix and dvds. and knitting and reading, of course, when my head will allow it. Currently I'm reading How to Bake a Perfect life, and loving it. It has some great looking recipes, and several bread making tips.
As for knitting, I finished a pair of knucks that should have been done by Christmas (whoopsies) and I'm just about finished on my first 2011 cast on to cast off project. A pair of fuzzy feet! i did run out of yarn doing the last few rounds on the toe, brown sheep in this lovely dark rusty red, so I dug thru my stash, ripped the toes out, and am now doing them in a bright lime green. I can't wait to felt them.
For the next two weeks or so, I'm not allowed to walk much or do anything but sit and knit. Oh, the horror:)
I have cinnamon bread in my breadmaker (made while my tea was steeping), Farscape on netflix hence the title, and my fuzzy feet about to finish and a nice new bottle of painkillers. Maybe this year isn't all that bad.

HAPPY 2006!

2011-01-03T22:57:00.002-05:00

New year, new..... wait. What? It's 2011? But.... WHAT? Well, ok. If you say so.
2010 was... in a word, Wretched. Everytime I thought things were getting better, they got worse. So, here's to hoping this new year is so much better in every way.
I didn't bother to count how many projects I made, or books I read (which is way below what I wanted to read, see crappy year), but this year is going to better! She says hopefully.
I have PLANS. Shocked, aren't you? My plans are:
Finally knit and *key word here* finish a sweater for me.
Design and publish a few patterns. More the 3 is the goal. Which should be easy, since I have 2 patterns waiting to be written up.
Read more classics. I got an e tablet (I refuse to call them pads, its gross), so I can read things on guttenberg now! My goal is to read about 30 classics. I hope to read about 100 or more books this year.
Cook anything and everything! Since i make all my own food, my plan is to make anything I want. I wanted calzones the other day. I made calzones. Best damn calzones EVER.
Redo my bedroom. I've very excited about this. I have quite a few ideas of what I want to do.
BLOG MORE! I am going to try and blog at least once a week. even if it's to say how great my nail polish is and how I stop knitting to stare at my nails
I'm sure there are more things. but these are the things I most want to do this year.
It's the third, and I already finished a project! A pair of knucks for Christmas!
So far, this year is pretty neat. How's your year going so far?

HEY!

2010-10-31T13:02:00.002-04:00

It's been utterly crazy around here, Between spraining my ankle so bad it would have been better if I had broken it, mom being sick, and all the other crazy stuff, I haven't thought to blog. Yes, for months, But, I shall get better.
Last time we left, I had discovered that I was allergic to msg. And I was making everything myself. It's been hard, but I've been doing it. Making my own bread, pizza, crackers (not as hard as you would think) muffins, cookies ICE CREAM. It's still a try and see thing, but I haven't had to use my epi pen! I found a restaurant where I can eat, granted it's 2 hours away, but still. Yesterday,
I made this amazing soup using stuff I found in the pantry. It was a mason jar of mixed beans, 28 oz of diced tomatoes, a thing of Swanson chicken broth (which doesn't have msg in it!) some water, garlic powder, pepper, and 2 bay leaves. I threw it all in the crock pot and cooked it for a looong time. a few hours before I ate it, I tossed in a can of tomato paste to thicken it up. Considering I had no idea what I was doing, it turned out so yummy!
but the best part about making everything myself? I feel so much better.
The knitting I shall save for next time (this week, i swear), once I get photos. I have quite a few projects too. Several calorimeterys, a few hats (all blue), some socks, a cowl, some entrelac, washcloths, and even a shawl!

And now for something completely different...

2010-07-21T13:13:00.002-04:00

Last week, I saw my doctor. I found out that I have anti-bodies attacking my system. From my lungs, skin, lady bits, thyroid, everything is being attacked. The anti-bodies are from an illness I had when I was younger, one I thought was in remission. To get the anti-bodies, which I have named Borris, to die, my thyroid has to become normal range again. Also during that visit. I realized just how allergic I am to MSG. my heart speeds up I feel twitchy. Everything is in hyperdrive and yet it slows down to a maddening slow speed. I've also been trying to avoid HFCS, which has been very hard.
I decided then and there, with borris attacking me, my heart beating so hard it felt it might burst, I would start making everything I eat from scratch. I've been doing this since sunday. so far, I've made white bread, dill bread, which is omg good, I've made potato salad (barefoot contessa, best ever), egg salad, snickerdoodle blondies (from baking bites, very yummy) and I'm about to go out and make bluth mini muffins, which is just banana and chocolate chips. I've eaten so much fruit, chicken and veggies. Already, I feel better. I'm using my inhaler less, I have more energy, I'm eating a lot less.
this is going to be hard, but I'm sure I can do it. I think.

Coming out of the fog

2010-05-28T14:36:00.000-04:00

You know how you drive someplace and have no idea how you got there? Or how you realize a few hours has passed and you have no idea what you did? Thats been me. For the past few months, I've just been, for lack of a better word, drifting thru life. I've felt blah, had no energy to do anything, was depressed and worst of all, I barely knit. Then my doctor ran some tests and turns out, my thyroid is very low, and my vit D levels, which should be 30, were 9. It's going to take a while before everything is back to where it should be, but I'm so glad to know what was the problem.
In the past month, I've cast on for several things! A pair of socks for my mom, and for mothers day, I'm knitting her Saroyan in mal lettuce. For me, I'm making a Baktus (it's for the CPA KCAL on rav), which is my "watching german subtitled movies" knitting. I'm also knitting a few baby sweaters for some friends and just cast off my very first BSJ. I've also been sewing! I'm on a pillow kick right now.
Yesterday, my mom was taking some laundry out of the washer and found she had washed a mouse (the animal, not the cat). Best we can figure, Dezi caught a mouse and then after he was done playing with it, dropped it in the laundry basket. That was new...
The past two days, it's been hot. 97 hot. I don't have a fan (I'm hoping to buy one this weekend), so I spent the entire time complaining about the heat and missing my snow. I just keep thinking only a few more months, then snow. Then I'll complain about how cold it is.

Still here

2010-04-06T23:45:00.002-04:00

You can't get rid of me that easy. I know I'm a bad blogger. My laptop got sick and I can't upload any photos till it gets fixed.
Last month, Sherlock passed away. I was going to write a blog post about her, how amazing she was, but just the thought of it made me want to curl up and sob for hours. So, let me say this. Sherlock was my Best Friend for 17 years, No matter what happened, she was there for me. I trusted her so much, which I'm sure seems rather foolish to you. She never once scratched me, altho when she was getting in a tizzy, she would nip. I used to hold her and put her paws on my face and she would just let me. When i was little, I would dress her up. She was the most patient cat I've ever met. At least with me. She treated me differently then other humans. It isn't something I can describe, but if you ever had met you, you would know. She hated to be held, but would sit next to me and let me scratch her till she grew bored and wandered off. I loved her completely, and will miss her forever.

I have a lot to share with you, but I have no idea where to start! So, short version. I srsly messed up my ankle, can barely walk, and, I can't spin. I have this lovely fingering weight yarn halfway spun up, and i can't finish it. Poor Ella hasn't been touched in over a month. I turned 22, somewhat in shock because I have gone 22 years without serious hospitalization. My parents gave me some books and DVD's. I knitted a hat with yarn I spun. Actually, I knit it several times since I was unhappy with how it looked, so I kept frogging it. I read a ton of books. There was Easter, where I got 7 kinds of cheese and some really good chocolate from my parents, along with some books and DVD's and some pink things (mom, I mean, The Easter Bunny did a pink presents theme this year). i went to the first library book sale of the year, where i got some really great reads , and today, it was 91. I found a bumblebee in my bed. I couldn't kill it (see blog name for reason. ok, it isn't really a reason, but I can't kill a bee for no other reason then it somehow got into my room) so I grabbed a glass and tossed it out my window. Where it came back a few minutes later trying to get in. Not the smartest one in the hive. Did I mention it was 91? going from snow to 91 in less then a week is just cruel and heartless. I shall now spend the next 6 months bitching about the heat.

Lovestone

2010-02-01T04:33:00.001-05:00

Today is the 1st of February but more importantly, the end of January. Which really sucked. Why you ask? My mom got really sick and her BP was insanely high and she was in danger of having a Stroke. Brain Attack? Brain Fart? Whatever it's now called, she was very close to having one. They now have her on pills that make her very sleepy and her BP rather low, but hopefully soon, she'll be much better.
I broke my nose. For the third time. In less then 3 years. How pathetic is it that I'm used to it by now? Black eyes, swollen nose, cursing every time I go to itch my nose, or the worst thing? When I go to push my glasses up. I've been wearing glasses since I was 8ish, so I do it without realizing it. And I'm wearing contacts since my glasses are too painful to wear right now, so I keep hitting my nose. One day, I will learn. I think. And yesterday, on the very last day, a huge bottle of mouthwash fell on my foot and now my pinky toenail is about to fall off.
To take my mind off of all that, I crocheted. And read (10 books this month!). I went Stash diving and came up with a skein that I got when I first started knitting. It was one of those giant skeins that I got at A.C. Moore in those $5 mill end boxes. I believe the yarn is Red Heart Light and Lofty, which I've worked with before (on my very first blanket) and it's pretty nice for blankets. Without giving it a second thought, I grabbed my J hook and chained on, doing a double crochet. I began working on it over the holidays, but really focused on it the past few weeks.

While working on it, the pooling reminded me of ivy climbing up a house. Regional English common names for ivy include Bindwood and Lovestone. I really hate to admit this, but I knew that from reading some trashy bodice ripper when I was 12, 13.

I love it. Totally absolutely love it. I can see myself watching a movie eating popcorn and wrapped up in this.

Moby Dick

2010-01-05T17:12:00.002-05:00

Holy Cow, it's 2010! Remember 10 years ago when everyone was all freaked out about Y2K? And you stockpiled Mandarin oranges and beef stew? No, just me? Ok then.
Last month, it was my Dad's birthday. Back in June, he mentioned that one of his favorite quotes was from Moby Dick. From that, I started designing a hat. It would have the look of a Seaman's hat, plenty of ribbing the quote around the brim, and waves with a whale hidden in them. I was planning on knitting it top down, but after casting on several times and it not looking the way I wanted, I decided to make it bottom up.
My mom was amazing and charted the words and the whale for me, and I used HelloYarn's wave chart, the top half only. I placed the whale above "Object" because well, that was his object. When it was done, after the months of planning, all the hours knitting, the freakouts (this happens when you knit the first row and a half of a quote backwards), it was totally worth it. Dad loves it and has even gotten compliments on it.

Pattern: My own (on Ravelry here!)
Size: 24 inch head
Yarn: Cascade Heritage in Navy and white/undyed. I knitted a few swatches of it and abused the crap out of it. And it withstood it beautifully. No fading, no felting, no dye leaks, it softened a bit in a soak, and was nice to work with.
Needle size: 1 1/2 us 2.50 mm. I used a KP 24 inch circ.

The quote is "All my means sane, my motive and my object mad." Oh and the sweater Dad is wearing? Mom spun and knit it for him about 30 years ago.

Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas

2009-12-24T22:45:00.002-05:00

‘Twas the night before Christmas and all around me was unfinished knitting not under the tree. The stockings weren’t hung by the chimney with care ‘cause the heels and toes had not a stitch there.
The children were nestled all snug in their beds, but I had not finished the caps for their heads. Dad was asleep; he was no help at all, and the sweater for him was six inches too small.
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, I put down my needles to see what was the matter. Away to the window I flew like a flash, tripped over my yarn and fell with a crash.
The tangle of yarn that lay deep as the snow reminded me how much I still had to go. Out on my lawn, I heard such a noise, I thought it would wake both Dad and the boys.
And although I was tired, my brain a bit thick, I knew in a moment it must be Saint Nick!
What I heard then left me somewhat perplexed-ed, for not a name I heard was what I expected. “Move Ashford; move Lopi; move Addie & Clover; move Reynolds; move Starmore; and Noro - move over!”
“Paton, don’t circle round, stay in the line. Come now, you sheep, you’ll work out just fine! I know this is hard being just your first year, I’d hate to back to eight tiny reindeer.”
I peered over the sill; what I saw was amazing, eight woolly sheep on my lawn all a’grazing.
And then, in a twinkle, I heard at my door Santa’s coming across the porch floor. I rose from my knees and got back on my feet, and as I turned round, Saint Nick I did meet.
He was dressed all in wool from his head to his toes and his cloths were hand knit from above to below. A bright Fair isle sweater he wore on his back, and his toys were all stuffed in a aran knit sack. His cap was a wonder of bobbles and lace, a beautiful frame for his rosy red face.
The scarf round his neck could have stretched for a mile, and the socks peeking over his boots were Argyle. The backs of his mittens bore an intricate cable, and suddenly on one I spied a small label.
SC was the duplicate stitch on the cuff, and I asked “Hay Nick, did you knit all this stuff?”
He proudly replied “Ho-ho-ho, yes I did. I learned how to knit when I was a kid.” He was chubby and plump, a quite well-dressed old man, and I laughed to myself for I’d thought of a plan.
I flashed him a grin and jumped in the air, the next thing he knew he was tied to a chair. He spoke not a word, but looked in his lap where I’d laid my needles and yarn for a cap.
He quickly began knitting, first one cap then two; for the first time I thought I might really get through. He put heels on the stockings and toes on some socks while I sat back drinking scotch on the rocks!!
So quickly, like magic his needles they flew, that he was all finished by quarter to two. He sprang for his sleigh when I let him go free, and over his shoulder he looked back at me.
And I heard him exclaim as he sailed past the moon “Next year start your knitting sometime around June!

While this christmas song is rather depressing, it's one of my favorites.

And I heard this one the radio today and just loved it. And it makes up for the whole depressing song above.

Merry Christmas!

It's the final countdown!

2009-12-04T06:42:00.000-05:00

Holy crap it's December! You know what means. It's time to start freaking out about whether or not you'll be able to finish everything in time. And cookies. December is the month when the most cookies are baked! (I totally just made that up, but it feels true to me) For Christmas, I'm knitting 4 things. For my Mom, Endpaper Mitts and a pair of twinkletoes which I finished!! Well, mostly anyway. I just need to crochet a strap (I chose to make them like Mary-Janes) and sew on some buttons. For my Dad, a pair of knucks and a Bokaclava. I showed my parents a photo of the bokaclava, saying that it kinda freaked me out, (my friend and I agreed, it was the eye slits) and as soon as my Dad saw it, he said " Cool! Can you make me one?". This was the first time he ever asked for something, so I figured why not. He puts up with my fiber habit, he jokes that a drug habit would have been cheaper, and he's going to build me a lazy kate. And he loves the handknits I make for him. He wears the hat I made him for his birthday all the time. Which brings me to why I'm not knitting on any of the Christmas gifts.
Dad's birthday is in 12 days and I've been planning on knitting him a hat. In fingering weight. GAH. I'm convinced I can make it because I've knit a pair of socks in less then two days, so a hat should go fast too. I hope.
I finally got my Sexy space aliens skeined up, and I couldn't be happier with it! The roving came from The flying ewe on Etsy, it was 4 ounces of Corriedale.

I tried to not over twist the singles so that when I chain plied it, it would be rather soft. When I was spinning it up, I was worried the finished yarn would be mostly green and purple. But I was pleasantly surprised at how it came out.

It's about a dk/sport, and 240 yards. I think it's destined to become a hat and maybe a pair of mitts.

7 Random things

2009-11-28T22:42:00.000-05:00

1. My family and I have yet to have thanksgiving. We're planning on having it tomorrow. There are a few reasons why we didn't have it on Thursday. The sink was clogged. And none of us really felt up to cooking. I felt very bad because..

2. Last Thursday, I suddenly got sharp, stabbing pain right above my belly button. It then later moved to my lower right side. I thought it would go away, but Monday, I gave up and went to the doctor. 2 minutes after seeing me, he told me to go to the ER. I went at 4ish, they did a few tests, and hours and hours later, they told me nothing was wrong and to go home. At around 12:30. I still have the pain, and have no idea why. My parents think it's chronic appendicitis, because that's what my mom had.

3. I need to knit faster so I can have all the gifts finished by Christmas. There are 26 days left to knit. I have one gift mostly finished, just need to crochet a strap and sew on buttons.

4. I have lovely bruises on my hands from being poked at the Er. They hurt. Especially when I poke them.

5. I'm reading a YA book about fey. After I'm done reading it, I'll be reading Issac's Storm.

6. I've been spinning. A lot. I finished Sexy Space Aliens and I'm now working on a yarn so bright it hurts your eyes. Needless to say, it is pure awesome.

7. Is it possible to eat too many clementines?

Walking on Sunset

2009-11-20T19:22:00.003-05:00

A while ago, a friend of mine on Ravelry asked if anyone wanted to test knit a hat for her. She graciously offered to not only ship the pattern, but the yarn as well. I've had it finished for a bit, just needed to get photos.

Walking on Sunset
Pattern: Harvest Hat
Yarn: Martha's Vineyard Fiber Farm Cormo Worsted / Super / Heavy. Color was Mememsha Sunset
Needles: 3.75 mm size 5. I used my kp options and magic looped it.

The pattern was easy to follow, very straight forward instructions. And it made such a lovely hat! The yarn was so nice and squishy and I just adore the colors.

I decided to give it to my mom since *gasp* she doesn't have a single handknit hat. Well, I just had to fix that.

Ovid's

2009-11-12T09:20:00.002-05:00

I couldn't think of a name for my socks when I first started them, so I went and did one of those random name generators. Ovid came up. Publius Ovidius Naso (20 March 43 BC – AD 17 or 18), known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who wrote about love, seduction, and mythological transformation. While reading more about him, I read this quote from him, which is fast becoming one of favorites. "Time, the devourer of all things".

I love this pattern. I found it to be really fun and not completely mindless. I could watch movies and still knit on it.

Ovid
Pattern: Charades
Yarn: Austermann Step, I don't know the color way
Needles: 2.75mm
Mods~ I knit the heel flap for 15 rows (30 really) and therefore, only picked up 15 stitches on each side. Since I knit the sock using Magic Loop, and I was too lazy to figure it out, I changed the toe to what I consider my normal toe (k1 k2tog knit across to last 3 on needle, ssk k1 and the repeat on the other needle) until I had 28 stitches. .

I've used this yarn before and I really love it. It's so soft and yummy. And when you're knitting with it, I think it makes your hand softer. Out of so many commercial yarns, it has to be one of my favorites.

Swinebeck

2009-11-06T22:41:00.002-05:00

First, thank you so much for all your kind words about Miss Marple. She was such a wonderfully sweet cat and she will be missed tremendously.
The day after I got home from Rhinebeck, I got sick. Turns out, the group of people I hung out with (Completely pointless and arbitrary group group on Ravelry), most of us got the Swine Flu, so we've taking to calling Rhinebeck, Swinebeck. Hence the post title. I'm mostly better, but I still have a cough and I can't do a lot for a while. I've been somewhat drained of energy. But compared to how sick I was, I'm much better. At one point, my fever was so high I thought the seals were after me and the monkeys wanted to eat my brains. Of course, I couldn't find a thermometer till after my fever broke and then, it was about 104. A day or so after it broke, I also passed out. Apparently, eating helps you not pass out. Which, in case you didn't know, really is not good. I had no desire to eat at all and even now, it's hard for me to get up the desire to eat. For some reason, the entire time I was sick, all I wanted was a kiwi. And I still want kiwi's. I get the oddest cravings when I'm sick.
Now, RHINEBECK! My gorgeous Entrelac scarf that I finished in the nick of time and I had a great time. And the scarf even got it's photo taken a few times and was told how lovely and gorgeous and amazing it was (blog post coming soon). I barely took any photos. I blame the wool fumes. Wool fumes tend to make me forget everything. My mother couldn't make it because she is having health problems (she can barely walk, she has such pain in her legs. The doctors have no idea why) so I went up by myself. And I'm so proud of me. I didn't go insane and buy everything in site. I had a plan and I stuck to it. I know, I'm as shocked as you. I wanted to get the cowboy Tsock kit, a spindle, some Ellen's half pint sock yarn, and a fleece. I did really well. Other then fleece. I got 3. Whoops.

Here, we have my haul. The cowboy Tsock kit that I can't wait to make, my spindle with a merino/tencel blend on it, above that is some more merino/tencel. Both are from the Sheep Shed and I just adore them. Then we have the yarn, the red and blackish grey (which I call Vampire yarn) and the blue and yellow (one of her new colors, Santa Fe) are from Ellen's half pint and the other yarn, the mulberry and grey from this little stand in one of the buildings. I thought it was such a great price (about $8 for the two skeins and $4 for the grey) that I couldn't resist. The spindle is from Adam's Woodshop. I got it at the Carolina homespun booth. It's a Lizzie spindle, 16 grams cherry whorl and birch shaft and spins like nothing I've seen before. It's like the energizer bunny. It keeps going and going and going and going....

Close up of the yarn

While I was up there, I was knitting a sock. A few weeks before, I decided to knit my mom a pair of socks since well, because. I finished turning the heel before I got home, and finished the sock while I was sick.

I'm hoping to finish the other one this week so I can get started on *gulp* Christmas Knitting.

2009-10-19T20:17:00.002-04:00

I just got home from rhinebeck and found out my cat, Miss Marple passed away.

I'd only had her for about a year and a half, but I loved her so much.

Race against time

2009-10-08T08:13:00.002-04:00

Rhinebeck is next week (If anyone knows where summer went, please tell me. I have no idea) and I'm hoping to be able to wear my scarf. Without the needles in it and all the ends wove in would be preferable. I want to be able to wrap it around my neck and it still hang down quite a bit. Right now, it's my height. 5 foot, 2 inches, in case you were wondering.

I'm still on my second ball. Will I have it done it time? Tune in next time for the trails and tribulations of the never-ending Entrelac Scarf!

Triumph over Joy

2009-09-21T11:29:00.002-04:00

Finally! This seems like it took forever. It still has to be blocked and the ends woven in, but all the knitting is done.

I love this thing. Insanely so. I spun the yarn, and knitted it. I so rule.

Scones

2009-09-02T14:20:00.002-04:00

A while ago, while I was in my knitting slump, I cast on for Toast, hoping to get my mojo back. It didn't work (or if it did, it was a month or so late). But I picked it up yesterday, and fell in love. I finished the first one, and cast on for the second right away. In a few hours, I had Scones. I think the main reason I love it is the yarn. If I could, I would marry this yarn and make babies with it. Of course, it's malabrigo. You know what yarn should make babies with malabrigo? Noro. How amazing would that be? I got the yarn at Stitches um... 2? years ago. It was FREE! The malabrigo people were handing it out so I somehow wound up with 3 skeins of worsted in red and 2 of lace in a tan. One of the red I made into a foliage hat and the other one I'm thinking about making into a cowl.

Size 8 needles and I cast on 38 stitches. I really love this and would make another pair. Mindless knitting at it's best.

This is me trying to do that twilight apple in hand shot. I had no apple, so I used the closest thing. A small dog.

In other news, Rhinebeck is getting closer. So I decided to have my scarf finished by then. I still have 2 more skeins to go. I have also decided I'm insane.

Parade of pink

2009-08-23T23:17:00.002-04:00

I love pink. Always have, always will. But lately, it seems that I've been knitting (yes, I've been knitting! A lot really. Shockingly, I got my knitting mojo back when the AC was turned on) more pink then normal. Case in point.
I cast on for this in April according to my Ravelry project page. I just finished it and I have no idea why it took so long. I think it maybe took 2 nights in all to knit it.

Winter'snow more
It's the Urchin pattern in the largest size (I have a big head) by Ysolda. Flipping brilliant pattern. Size 11 needles. And the yarn? That would be my handspun. Thawed Roses .
I didn't do any mods, unless you count the fact the somehow a stitch got lost from the cast on edge, so when I was grafting it, I just grafted 2 together so it would be even.

Melting Sunrise

My own pattern, and my own handspun yarn. Needles are size 9's. I love this so much I can't even begin to say. I cast on, did some 2x2 ribbing and then knit till I had enough left over to do the k2tog decreases.I have no idea why I look so sad in that photo.

I think this has spurred a hat obsession. Because this is what I'm working on now

Belphoebe. My own pattern with a cable pattern I borrowed from Cables Untangled.

Still, I have more pink.

That? Would be a sweater. For me. A pink sweater. I love pink.

Recap

2009-08-10T13:34:00.002-04:00

In the past few days, this is what's happened. Thursday, I went to the ER because I could no longer breathe. I spent the next 5 hours there. I had blood drawn, chest x-rays and lots of other stuff. I found out I have (Had?) a very bad case of bronchitis, and that my asthma is out of control. So that's all being taking care of. Saturday, I went and got my hair done. And by done, I mean I got it cut and dyed red with Atomic pink and blue mayhem stripes. The entire underneath back of my head is blue.

I can't begin describe how much I love it. It's my favorite hair ever.

Later that night, I went and had dinner with my dad's family. It's no secret I don't like them, but I was nice and put up with them. I decided to be uber nice and take my cousin (who was visiting with her dad from Seattle) out the next day to a book store and a chocolate shop. Which I did (we won't get into how she never thanked me for buying her books or for her hot chocolate). I took her home and her father said he wanted to have a talk with me. The talk? Was about how fat I am. Not only did he say that, but he went on about how I'm going to be dead before I'm 40, that I need gastric bypass and lipo. For about 5 minutes, he did this. And I listened. I didn't want to cause a fight in the family, but it's too late now. After a few minutes, I stood up and said "I'm fat. and happy" and left (altho I really wish I kneed him in the balls. but I took the high road. He said more, but I think you get the idea. I don't think I'll hear from that family again, which doesn't upset me. More of a relief that I never have to deal with them ever again. This happened yesterday and I'm still upset over it. No one has any right to tell me that. or you. It's your life. You decide to live it the way you want. Yes, I'm fat. So what?

A loss

2009-07-31T01:50:00.004-04:00

A few weeks ago, something tragic happened. I lost my knitting mojo. I tried to knit, but my heart wasn't into it. Part of the reason was that I was sick. I caught this nasty flu bug and had no energy at all. I finally started feeling better a few days ago when my knitting mojo began to return. Today is the first day I woke up feeling like a human. Hopefully, I can get back to knitting all the time again.
But none of that has anything to do with these photos. I just loved how very goofy my dog looks.

not dead yet

2009-07-04T23:32:00.002-04:00

I'm alive! Mostly anyway. Last month I went to the shore for a few days, came back and caught a nasty bug that's going around. Took me a while to get over it and it zapped my energy. I'm finally feeling somewhat better so I thought I would show you some pics from the shore. If you want to see all of them, clicky here. Bowen and I stayed here and this was the view from the hotel. A block or so from the beach.

View from where we ate dinner (With a rainbow!)

and a cute bird thing that was there

And there was the big blue thing that I love so much.

This is one of my favorite photos that I took

And this one too. I just love the bird next to it.

I had a fantastic time, and I was even in the pool!

I make black eyes look good

2009-05-27T04:34:00.003-04:00

Last friday, I did something stupid, even for me. If you don't know already, I'm klutzy. Very dopic. A Walking disaster really. I was balancing my laptop on my knee and holding a piece of chicken in one hand. My laptop started to fall and I quickly moved my hand to catch it. I slammed my right hand on the edge of a table so hard. It got swollen, turned blue and on sunday I went to er. The x-rays showed no breaks, it was just VERY badly bruised. Which means I can't knit or spin or crochet without a shooting pain after a few minutes. So all last week I read. And read. And read. One of the books I read was The Guernsey literary and potato peel society, which was amazing. Had to be in the top 5 best books I've read this year. If you haven't read it yet, you must. It's so good. Anyway, then Saturday night, I opened the freezer to get some ice cream (cherry Garcia in case you were wondering) and a bucket that was on top of the fridge fell and hit my nose. I woke up Sunday (When the bucket fell, I had been up for almost 24 hours and was tired and it just hurt, I didn't think it was broken) with a lovely swollen nose and black eyes.

I've never had a black eye before and I thought it was cool, but they really didn't look like black eyes. More like I just put some eyeshadow on. It was still pretty neat. Yesterday, I went to my ear, nose and throat doctor and have to get a cat scan to see if it is broken. If you remember, I broke my nose last may too. I'm starting to think I should call this summer "The summer of klutziness".

Distractions

2009-04-29T04:58:00.002-04:00

On Friday, I sprained my ankle. So I spent Saturday bumming around and knitting mostly. Then Sunday night, my mom came home from the grocery store and asked me to put the cold stuff away. I went out the kitchen and was going to put the bag on the stove to unpack it, went to move a muffin tin (which had held pineapple upside down muffins) and knocked a bowl over. It fell, shattered and slashed my foot. Blood started gushing (ok, maybe not gushing but it was a lot of blood) and I was bleeding everywhere all over the kitchen. The stove was a nice bright red. I thought I was going to have to ER but thankfully, after a while it stopped bleeding. Now (over 2 day later) it's mostly stopped (just a tad on the band-aid every once in a while) unless I do something stupid like get up to pee and then it bleeds a bit more. It also hurts like hell. Only I could do something so klutzy. In case you have a morbid curiousity about what it looks like, you can click here and be grossed out. And this all means that, unfortunately, I can't make it to MSW. I'm so upset but I know if I did go, I would be in so much pain.
To keep my mind off of my sprained and gashed foot ( also not going to msw, swine flu (someone in the completely pointless and arbitrary group on rav that it's really a cover-up for zombies, which amuses me so much) getting everything planted in time, and a ton of other things) I've been knitting on 2 main things. The first one is a handspun (the big top I spun) Shawl. It's dead easy and totally mindless.

I've knit 2 skeins and have one more to go. Of course, it's 90 degrees so I really don't have much need for a wool shawl. This is why snow beats heat anytime in my book. The other thing is an entrelac scarf.
The yarn is an Easter gift and it's Zauberball, which is very nice. I can't wait to make socks out of it sometime.

this is first venture into entrelac and it won't be the last. It's addicting. You keep saying to yourself "just one more square one more, this is the last" and before you know it, you've done 2 rows of squares. Which may or may not be a good thing.

Revenge is sweet

2009-04-16T22:54:00.002-04:00

Every year, my mother bites the ears off of the chocolate bunny she gets me for Easter. So I decided to get some revenge and knit a chocolate bunny. Without the ears. I was looking thru patterns on Ravelry and stumbled across the Chocolate bunny pattern and I thought it would be perfect. And I believe it is

(notice the egg with my name on it. It was filled with this yummy butter cream type of stuff. I got another one that said happy Easter. Peanut butter. Nom)
Pattern: Chocolate Bunny (here's my project page on it)
Yarn: Patons Classic in brown. I used some of what I had left-over from knitting my dad's birthday hat. Barely used any yarn.
Needles: US 4's. It produced a very firm fabric.
Mods: Nothing to the pattern itself, other then the non-ears. I think I knit the ears for maybe 3 rounds and then grafted. I took the yarn and went in and out a few times to make an eye.
The real chocolate bunny it's kissing/talking to is a solid milk chocolate 12 ounce bunny.

W.C. Fields

2009-03-31T01:59:00.002-04:00

Yesterday, we had a tornado. Well, not here, but around this area. Roofs were ripped off, trees plucked out of the ground. the sky was green, there was hail. It was awesome. While most sane people (which we all know I am not) would be inside, I was outside (under the pavilion, I'm not THAT insane) watching the lighting and rain. After the storm was over, I took this photo. It's all the hail.

Last Saturday was my mother's birthday. I decided to spin and knit her something
W.C. Fields

Pattern: Chickadee cowl
Mods: Not much. I just knit about 5 inches instead of the 6 that were called for
Needles: 10 1/2.
Yarn: Twilight Purple my handspun. I bought the fiber here and then spun it up hoping for a bulky malabrigo softness kind of yarn. Which I think I got. I double plied it so it wouldn't pill as much. I only used 2 ounces of fiber, so I still have another 2 to spun up.

I'm rather bad at keeping secrets, but I somehow managed to keep this from her. I loved this patten and will definitely be making it again. It only took a few hours and was pretty mindless.

Better late then never

2009-03-18T23:05:00.002-04:00

I finally finished Mom's socks that were supposed to be for christmas, but they got sidetracked.

Pattern: Basic sock pattern in a k2p2 rib from the book Sensational Knitted socks. 80 stitches around
Needles: 0's 2mm
Yarn: Opal rainforest in Lilly.

I also read Twilight (honestly, do I really need to link it?) yesterday. I heard that people either loved it or they hated it. I loved it. It was a cheesy vampire book. What's not to love? I know you can't help but love this

This post is full of awesomeness

2009-03-15T08:33:00.002-04:00

I finished my stripey pink socks!

Pattern: Wendy's toe up, but I fudged it a lot. 36 stitches around, and then I started increasing 2 stitched every 4 rounds 9 times.
Needles: size 7 knitpicks options, I magic looped it
Yarn: Cascade 220. I forget the name of the colors. I just call it light pink and dark pink.

I knit the toe and heel in the dark pink and the ribbing in the light pink. The stripes are 2 rows each. They are so warm. I had to take them off my feet were so hot.

I had a few people tell me that toe-ups are evil and horrid. THEY LIED!!!! I loved making them. In fact, I'm planning on making another pair using my handspun. This handspun

I'm calling it Winter's End. I took this (in Northern Lights)and spun singles

Which I plied to this

It's around a thick fingering. It took me a little bit to get used to the Targhee. I might have insulted it's mother quite a few times getting used to it. Compared to other wools, it has a lot more sproingyness is the only word I can think of. I adored spinning it and will definitely spin targhee again.

2009-03-12T08:06:00.001-04:00

My birthday was grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeat!! (I'm sorry, it had to be done) I spent all day at home in my pajamas, Mom taught me how to make cheesecake and my first cheesecake turned out amazing. Dinner was Pesto chicken with mashed potatoes and garlic bread. I also made baked potatoes but we were too full to eat them. Carbs. I luvs them.
I got gifts too! A bottle of Chambord, Some books (3 knitting, one fluffy romance novel that I finished) Some dvds (2 old movies, Dr. Horrible, Life after death and the BBC's Planet earth) yarn, of course (DIC Smooshy, Cotton Kureyon, Lorna's Laces, some sock yarn I've never heard of before, some galway to make felted clogs and some Panda Silk print for socks), a bag with bob on it, Ravelry mug and a spindle!
But the cheesecake was incredible. I'm so proud of me! It was a Chocolate Sin Cheesecake. A chocolate graham cracker crust and then a chocolate filling. Sooooooo good.

Tomorrow

2009-03-02T20:09:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow, I turn 21. Honestly, I'm shocked that I made to 21 without seriously injuring myself. I am very dopic and klutzy, I somehow manage to stub my toe, hit my head, bang my knee or something dumb like that almost every day. So the fact that I've only had 2 broken bones (one of which was not my fault) really surprises me. Not that I want to break my bones, but that I haven't broken more.
I half excited and half terrified about this birthday. Excited because OMG!! I'm 21 and can now legally drink and buy alcohol and terrified because, well, I'm turning 21. I don't feel 21. I still giggle whenever someone says butt (I'm sopshicated like that) and I still squueee whenever I see something with scooby doo or finding nemo on it (I just bought a cute little bowl with wall-e in it and I buy the scooby doo cheese). I still act like a 5 year old a lot and I doubt turning 21 will change that.
I have no idea what the next year of my life will entail, but I will say one thing.

BRING ON THE BOOZE!
Even though I don't like it. I can drink it!
As for knitting, well

It's my birthday and I can knit what I want to.

I think I might have a new addiction

2009-03-01T16:43:00.004-05:00

Yesterday, I went to a bead show. I got all this there

Look at the panda's! Aren't they adorable? The little green beads and the panda's are going to be earrings. Everything else will probably be necklaces.
I also hung out with Jesh, who came up to see the bead show and get some spindle whorls (I keep wanting to type whore) and Heather, who was here with her mom and sister. We met up and then were knitting at Haut Chocolate which has the best bathroom.

How cool is that? I recommend the Mo-cho drink if you ever go there. It's yummy. Heather won a little dino where she at lunch and it tried to eat my Raspberry chocolate amazing cake thing.
That was taken without my food setting on my camera.

This was taken with it.

Notice a difference? I can. I really should play around with the settings more often. I counted and I have 25 settings. I've had it for over a year and still don't know what they all do.
Instead of knitting my mom's christmas socks, I was working on this

2 ounces of a merino tencel blend I bought up at Rhinebeck. Spun on a spindle mom got me for christmas made by Jesh. This is going to take a LONG time to finish I believe. But it's a ton of fun so I don't mind.
I would like to point out that my last post, I wanted lots of snow. And guess what we're going to get tomorrow?! SNOW!! .

It's not fair

2009-02-27T23:20:00.002-05:00

Today it was 60 degrees. 60!!! Which I wouldn't mind, but it's the end of february (which means my BIRTHDAY is only a few days away March 3rd!!)and I have all this pretty wooly things I want to wear. Like this Calorimetry.

96 stitches on 7's. I forget how many repeats I did. Yarn is Filatura Di Crosa 127 Print. I still have some left over. I love making these. It takes a night to knit one up and hardly takes any yarn. I'm going to make another one out of handspun sometime.
But do you know what really isn't fair? That Mother nature decides to turn the heat up as soon as I start to seam my HUGE alpaca sweater. Which does not help at all. I want winter back. (and you know as soon as I post this, we're going to get hit with a HUGE storm. I'm ok with that;)

Spinning is addictive

2009-02-20T14:18:00.004-05:00

I am finally on the heel flap of my mothers christmas sock. For a while, I thought I was in the black hole of knitting. I just kept knitting and knitting and knitting away and it refused to grow. But I beat it! take that sock!
When I wasn't working on that sock, I was spinning this
Sunny side up

The roving is from knit witch. I forget the name of the colorway but I know it's superwash merino.

I think it's about a dk weight. I loved spinning this up. the color is just so happy looking!
I also spun up 8 ounces of some roving from Dizzy sheep. I haven't finished it yet (I need to steam the last skein) but look at how nice and even it is!

As I spun more and more on this, my spinning got a lot better. So the first skein I spun, is somewhat thicker and less spun then the other 2. I think when I knit with it (maybe a scarf?) I'll just alternate the skeins so it looks even. But other then that, I adore it.

Sweater for a dog

2009-02-09T17:46:00.004-05:00

A few days late, I finished Asta's sweater. I don't think she cared.

After I finished it (and wove in a ton of ends) she wore it all night. Normally she finds a way out of clothes within 3 minutes. But she loved it and didn't even try to get out of it. I think I might make a few more sweaters for her soon. It doesn't take a lot of yarn and she looks so adorable.

The pattern is my own. Knit on size 9's. The yarn I used is Valley yarns Berkshire in colors Pumpkin and red. I had bought 2 of the pumpkin and one of the red and didn't even touch the 2nd pumpkin and only used a tad of the red.

I knit it in two pieces, the back and the belly, then I seamed them and picked up stitches for the neck. The cable I did in intarsia. The reason I did that is that cables pull in fabric and if I had done it in fair isle, it would have pulled in even more. The belly was done in a k1p1 rib all the way, as was the neck.
I think it turned out great. Fits her wonderfully. And the most important thing, she loves it.

February 1st

2009-02-01T18:43:00.000-05:00

January was hell. Hence the not blogging. Everything was going wrong. If it was bad, it seemed it happened. We moved my grandfather from a crappy assisted living place that did a bait and switch (they said one price when he moved in, and within a week, said that he need so much care and doubled the price (by the way, they didn't give him any extra care) into a much nicer that he can afford. That was an ordeal in itself which is a story for another post. All this time I'm still sick (still am, but mostly better) and all these other things are going wrong, like the pipes freezing when it was -4 outside, well, I really didn't feel like blogging. But today is the first of a (hopefully much better) month. So I'm going to hope that all that dreadfulness stays in January. During this craptastic month, I was doing a bit of knitting and a lot of spinning.
Zest for life

4 ounces of Rambouillet from Flawful fibers colorway Zest. It's about a sport weight, around 150 yards.

Frostbite

3 ounces of a SW merino Hanks in the hood Batt colorway Argyle. About 78 yards of a worsted.

Sherbet

4 ounces of some roving from Spinners hill that I got from Dizzy sheep. 130 (i think) yards of a worsted/dk.
I finished my hand spun scarf. All 104 inches of it. Yup, 104. It's so squishy!

This is my first ever wheel spun yarn. Spun from 8 ounces of some potluck roving in Vine maple from Paradise fibers. Double plied, I have no idea what the yardage was. Knit in a k1p1 rib slipping the first stitch knitwise on size 8's. Did I mention it's 104 inches?
I also knit a calorimetry that needs a button and to be sewn and photographed.

But everything has been pushed aside to work on this.

Now, some may think I'm insane for knitting this (and might I add, designing) but I figure people knit for babies, so what if I'm knitting a wool/alpaca sweater for my dog? It is her birthday after all. And well, I am insane.

First FO of the year!

2009-01-07T20:26:00.004-05:00

There is ice everywhere outside. I hate ice (unless someone is skating on it. I love ice skating). Maybe it's because ice storms cause the power to go out more often then not. Or maybe it's because I can't step outside the house with the chances of breaking a bone going up significantly (seeing as how I'm very klutzy, this is already a pretty high risk without the evil mean ice). I do love snow tho. Snow is lovely and NEVER makes you fall down steps on your ass spraining your tailbone. I still haven't forgiven Ice for that yet.
Having a cold(I have that chest cold thing and the inability to breathe that's going around) and ice everywhere makes me miserable. the other day I decided to make some tea and finish up a Christmas present. I went and made tea for my mother and med (English breakfast for me and sweet ginger peach for her in case you were wondering) and as I was handing her the handle less mug that she just HAD to have for tea so she could curl her hands around it to warm them, I asked her if she wanted a cup sleeve for it. Of course, she did. So within minutes, I had the needles and yarn and started casting on. This is what I had a bit later

Size 7's needles and Cascade 220 in super wash. Simple K2p2 rib. Oh and the gorgeous mug? She got it from the knitwitch (who is having a sale this month on some things including yummy roving). This is the one I got. I love it. I think that it might be jealous of the neat cozy though. Maybe it needs one of it own;) But that isn't the first of the year.
This is.

That would be a pair of fetchings for my mom for Christmas.
Size 6 needles, Knitpicks Adrean Silk and the color is Sangria. Mods~ I added a fourth cable to the bottom and bound in the rib.
I bought two skeins, and had to use a bit of the second. So you could make a pair out of one, but I'd buy just in case.
Now, I just have some of a remote cozy to finish, half a purse and a sock. Someone remind me not to make a million things next christmas. Please.

New year, new addiction

2009-01-03T15:40:00.001-05:00

I have a new addiction. Spinning. For Christmas, my parents got me a Kromski Sonata and I'm in LOVE. If I'm not knitting (or umm finishing up Christmas gifts) I'm spinning. The first thing I spun up was 8 ounces of some potluck roving I got from Paradise fibers. The color is called Vine maple.
This is the singles (crappy photo but my first ever wheel handspun)

Which I then plied

And is currently being knitted into a scarf.

(See the needles? Those are also a Christmas gift from my parents. They got me a Knitpicks options kit, which I've been wanting for quite some time)
I wanted the yarn to be the main focus, not the stitch pattern, so I'm doing a simple ribbing.
Then I went and grabbed a merino/silk (80/20) blend that I got from etsy and spun it up. It took some getting used to spinning with silk, even that little bit. But I think I did pretty good. I love the colors
Singles

Then plied

Then I went stash (umm fiber?) diving and came up with a Hanks in the hood batt, also from paradise. It's 3 ounces and it's SW merino. I'm thinking about a pair of fingerless gloves
(the color is called birthday)
Singles (I swear my thumb is not that huge. It's a perfectly normal sized thumb)

And then I plied it up

How purdy is that? (the photo with miss Marple is closer to the color.
Now I'm finishing plying this. It's 4 ounces of wool in sea foam (also from paradise, I love that site). I tried to go for a worsted weight, and I think I got it. Kinda.
Singles

plied

I'm already planning on what I'm going to spin up next. See? Addiction. Total and complete addiction. I'm in love with it.

Acceptance

2008-12-24T23:08:00.001-05:00

I accept that I will not finish in time. I accept that I should have planned better. I accept that my last post was filled with denial. I accept that next year, I'll have a better idea of how much time I'll need for everything. I accept even tho I won't have everything finished, I'm still awesome for doing so much.
Have a Merry Christmas!

Christmas knitting sucks

2008-12-22T06:56:00.001-05:00

The problem with doing nothing but knitting gifts? There isn't much time to blog about said gifts. Although you should stop every now and then so you don't get a charlie horse in your pinky. Ask me how I know. I did knit 2 non-Christmas things. Both hats. Both I designed. The first one, I cast on to try not to freak out about everything (Christmas, my grandfather, my stupid car that is only a few years old and was refusing to start, christmas knitting and I do realise how backwards that is) and finished it in a day or so.

Yarn: Plymouth Baby Alpaca (I think grande? whatever the bulky is) I have no idea what the colors are, the orange was a skein I had laying around and the tan is from the simple cowl I made.
Needles: 10.5 US and the top was knit on 8's because I had some and was too lazy to go get other ones.
Pattern: My own.

I love it, it's so warm and soft. I might have said this before, but I adore this yarn. Yes, it does shed, but I want to roll naked in it no matter what. It's that nice. The 2nd one is closest to the color.
The second hat I made for my dad's birthday. I was so worried while knitting it that he would hate it, but thankfully he loves it.

Yarn: Patons Classic merino in a brown and green, which might have been called Dark deep? olive.
Needles: 7 US
Pattern: My own. I'm thinking of writing both of the patterns up next year sometime.

Doesn't it look like camouflage? I'm saying that I totally planned for it to look that way. Makes me seem even more awesome.
I have one gift down and 5 to go (shut up I know). 1 of them will be finished sometime today (while praying that the power doesn't go out cause of the winds) and another one I'll knit tonight. I finished one of my mom;s socks so I'm hoping to finish (ahem, and start) the other one soon. That leaves 2. One of them will take a few hours tops, and the other is just a very very long strip of crochet (Stop laughing. It's doable) which shouldn't take that awfully long (STOP LAUGHING). If I can keep to the plan I made up, which should be a shock since I haven't been able to, everything should be finished by Thursday. Why are you laughing? I can do it. Probably. Maybe. Oh god
freaks out

We interrupt your previous scheduled knitting to bring you

2008-11-16T06:20:00.001-05:00

Christmas knitting. Which is what I'll be doing for the next few weeks. I'm hoping to have it all done before December. Very optimistic of me huh? I'm only knitting for my parents so it shouldn't be that bad. Right? Never mind, don't tell me.
For my mother, I'm making a pair of socks
, a pair of mittens or fingerless gloves, and maybe a hat or scarf. Dad is getting a felted fedora (the pattern is from folk hats), a remote cozy, and a felted lunch bag. Also I'm making a bathmat (shower mat really, since it's for the shower). I can do all that. Right? Again, don't tell me.
Here's the sock so far. the yarn is Opal rain forest, color is lilly, I think.

The needles are 2 mm, size 0. If you didn't know, 2mm needles are very pointy and sharp. How do I know this? Let me show you.

My first knitting related injury! I sat down and the needle scraped my foot. It looks worse then it is. It's just a scratch, but my camera makes it looks worse.
I did manage to spin up a small batt I got as a sample from flawful fibers. I borrowed a Jesh spindle from my mom and did this in about an hour.

I'm going to use it in a pair of fingerless mitts in some fair isle.
Miss Marple, it seems, can't wait for her first christmas here.

She was very pissed at me after I took that, but really, how cute is she?

Drop spindling in an ER

2008-11-06T13:53:00.002-05:00

Will cause you to get lots of stares. And no one will talk to you. I know this because I have done this not once, but twice in as many weeks. The first time was about a week and a half ago. I took mom to the ER because her migraine was really bad. The second time was Wednesday. Mom's blood pressure was very high, so I took her (yet again) to the ER. They did some tests, had her hooked up to some things and gave her some shots for her migraine and a pill for her BP. I think it's time they gave us a card. You know, one of the "after 10 ER visits, your 11th is on us!" thing.
I did finish my "fall is almost here" socks, just in time for fall to be almost over. The yarn is Happy feet, which so far, seems to be very nice. Other then a bit of fuzzing. Pattern is garter ribbing from Sensational Socks, and I cast on 64 stitches on 2.75mm.

I decided to make a quick knit, which turned out to be a calorimetry. The yarn I used is what's called for, 127 print. I don't know what color since I lost the band quite some time ago. But it's very yellow. Does that help?
After casting on 120 stitches and getting more then halfway thru, I was thinking it might be a bit too big. So I threaded the stitches onto some scrap yarn and looked. It could have been more then half of a sweater for me. It was crazy how big it was. Off to the frog pond. Then, Wednesday, I put it in my knitting bag for the ER. I had read thru some of what people wrote about it on Ravelry, so I cast on 94 stitches and knit almost the whole thing in the ER. I got home, cast off and it was promptly stolen by my mom. It still needs a button, but she has to pick it.
Here it is being modeled by Miss Marple. I believe the look on her face says it all.

And here's a photo of it laid out

I have some of the same yarn (different color then this, the color I have is the tan like the original) which I can't wait to make for me. I know it's been said, but this is so fast and a lot of fun to knit. Also a plus is that it doubles as a neck warmer. I really want to make one in some nice bright hand spun. How great would that look?
As for WIP's, I have a baby sweater that needs to be finish this weekend, mom's Jaywalker sock, I'm hoping to seam my sweater, which is waiting not so patiently in a very pretty soft pile some secret knitting (NO I won't tell you. Stop asking Stop. Ok, tiny photo. And it is not what you think. ) and this

It's the cable braid for Coronet. I'm in love with it. There is a chance I might be dreading picking up the stitches then, but we won't talk about that. We will talk about this

Which is my pretty spindle (that I got at rhinebeck) and yummy malabrigo-like yarn. I got the roving up in Rhinebeck from Holiday Yarns and it doesn't seem that they sell roving on the site. Which is such a shame. Asta thinks it great nomming yarn

NO YARN WAS HARMED IN THE TAKING OF THESE PHOTOS I was trying to get Asta to sniff the yarn for a cute photo and she didn't seem to keen on that so she attacked it without hurting it

RHINEBECK!

2008-10-19T22:43:00.002-04:00

I'm back from rhinebeck! My mother and I went to the festival, which was amazing. I got some awesome stuff like STR mills end and rare gems (which I stood in line for twice, once to get into to booth and then I stood for about an hour to pay for it), Ellen's half pint, some spindles (my mom got me a spindle from Jesh for Christmas! It's so pretty), fleeces (Umm, I kinda went INSANE in the fleece building and got ummm 7. Yah. INSANE) my parents got me a spinning wheel that I'm not allowed to touch till Christmas. I love it. It's a kromski, the traveling one. I haven't named it yet, I figure I have time. I met Franklin, who's so sweet

(he signed my book, "Love you, love the boobs! (in case you don't know, I'm known in the cpa group on rav for having huge boobs). I didn't take a lot of photos because I was having so much fun, I forgot. But I had a blast. And now I'm sick. I had bronchitis before we left and thought I was over it, but turns out I wasn't so it came back. Now, I can't visit my grandfather since I'm sick. I didn't blog about that hellish ordeal did I? Here it goes, the short version. On Monday, (the week we leave for rhinebeck) my mom is told that her dad is getting kicked out on Thursday. This was after being told on Friday that he would be in there for another few weeks. She has 2 days to find a place for him. While doing things for rhinebeck. So after spending all of Tuesday on the phone, she has some meetings to see places the next day (Wednesday). She tours them and picks one (which we'll talk about later). Thursday, she has to pick him up and take him to the new place, sign a billion papers, and stuff like that. She's done with everything at about oohh 7pm? We then drive to Weavers (country store, think department store) to get sneakers (I got silver and pink) came home packed and then Friday, we left for rhinebeck. Needless to say, we were pooped.
About the place he's at now. When my mother went to tour the place, there were people playing games and having fun, she assumed that he would like it there. All he does now is call up and say how bored he is and that there's nothing to do. Now, every time she goes there, no one is playing any games or in the common rooms. My parents are going to talk to the people tomorrow because there is a move-in fee of $750 and mom is thinking of putting him someplace else since he hates it so much. You have to give 30 days notice, so whats the point of paying the VERY large "move-in" fee if he's going to leave next month? We'll see how that goes.
Since it's been quite a while since my last post (I swear, I'm going to post more, now that I don't melt when knitting with wool, or when I touch anything) I do have some FO's. I need to get some photos for some of them, like my dads balaclava. It's DONE! Took about a year to make, and I might have been crying in joy when I bound it off. That's the only thing I worked on at rhinebeck, I was so determined to finish it. It's sooo perfect and he loves it. Over the weekend, I'll try and get a picture. I made a cowl that I also need a FO pic, I knitted the Subway mittens which need to be sewn up and photographed (since I don't ride the subway, I've decided to call them Runny nose mitts. I'm going to keep tissues in the pocket)I did finish the Swirly O's socks from the knitters book of patterns (if you don't have the book, you have to get it. It explains so much, and the patterns are great. And it's on sale at knitpicks this month!).

Yarn is Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Wild raspberry, needles were 3.25 mm (what was called for), and I don't think I did any mods. There are 3 repeats on the foot which isn't the 6'' they called for, but I like it better this way.
I also made my very first pair of fetchings! I now get why this is so popular. When I was finished binding off the thumb, I had this much left.

The yarn is Noro Cash Iroha in a gold color, needles 6 (as called for) Mods~ I knit 15 rows instead of 18, 3 thumb rows instead of 4, and I bound off in the rib pattern.
Love the pattern, we'll see how the yarn holds up. I'm wearing them as I type. Incredibly warm. I think I'll be making a lot of these this winter.
I have been doing a bit of spindling. I got this batt from an etsy seller since I bought some of her yarn.
I think it's an ounce so I'm trying to think about what to make out of it. Maybe a headband? Bookmark? Right now, I'm spinning up some roving I got at Rhinebeck. O.M.G. Its like spinning malabrigo. And I'm using one of my new spindles! It's beyond yummy.
Now that I caught you up, I need to get to bed. Tomorrow, I'm seeing Meatloaf! YAHH!!!!

Fall!

2008-09-27T03:17:00.003-04:00

I love fall. The changing leaves, the crispness in the air, wearing wool sweaters once again. Apple pies, pumpkin pies, hearty stews, the ability to cook in the kitchen without melting. I am so glad to be done with summer (but I'm sure by the time new years rolls around, I'll be bitching about how cold it is and that I want to move to Hawaii) and I can tell that fall is coming, the cats are covering their nose with their tails, I feel the need to bake, and the most overwhelming thing is it's cold! Since it's changing into fall, I thought I would do a change. I got my hair done the other day, and I had strawberry blond reddy highlights put in.

LOOK!it's me!
I also got a brighter blue in the back (you can't see it when my hair is down, but when it's up you can). It's somewhat darker then my eyeliner.
And in knitting news, I finished a sock!

I'll be casting on for the other one tonight so I don't get SSS. Which I think I have on my mom's Jaywalkers. They were supposed to be done for Mothers day, but I kinda got sidetracked. I'm going to try and finish them soon so maybe she can wear them at rhinebeck! Which is about 3 weeks away. gulp

Some knitting, crocheting and spinning.

2008-09-18T18:11:00.003-04:00

Life is so hectic, so I haven't had time to blog. A while ago, I said that my grandfather had a stroke. Well, we were told all along that he probably would never be able to go home again. Then about 2 week ago, the rehab place where he's at, said that they wanted to do a home evaluation. This came a day after we were told, yet again, that he would need to go into an assisted living home. So, that's what we did last week. It didn't go so great. More to the point, he didn't do well. And he can't understand that even though a few things need fixing (carpeting needs to be tacked down, another banister needs to be put in) why he can't go home. He leans to the right (and since my mother knows how much I abhor that song, every time she says to the right, she sings the damn song) and can hardly walk up the steps. Right now, the rehab is showing him use a cane instead of a walker so he can maneuver better. And then in about a week, we have to find a place for him to live until he gets better. So that is whats been going on. Rather boring huh?
I haven't had much time to knit, but I did manage to knit the Foliage hat. I love this hat. the pattern was great and very easy to follow. It's a pretty quick knit and I bet you could have it done in a weekend. I won the yarn (which is yummy) at Stitches east last year. It's Mmmmmmalabrigo in red.

I did knit a bit on a sock. I'm on the gusset now. And yes, that is magic loop. I know I use 2 circs, but I when I cast on, it was the nearest needle in the right size.

After I finished my Autumn leaves hat, I realized that I didn't have any crochet WIP's, so I went and dug in my Stash, and came out with a skein of Paton's Wool in Good earth. I decided to do one of those tiny very long scarves. Using an H, or 5.00mm I did a single crochet. This is what I have so far. So fally!

I have been SPINNING! On my spindle. The roving is from Flawful Fibers and it's Corriedale in the color Coma Garden.

How pretty is that?! I love how it looks like a Monet painting. I'm thinking about making a scarf out of it. Maybe the Yarn Harlot's One row hand spun scarf? Or perhaps My so called scarf? I'll have to wait and see what it looks like knit up.
That's it for now. I did make shortbread last week. Want some?

September??

2008-09-03T02:17:00.004-04:00

No! Already? I won't believe it. Change it. I still have a gift to knit for last Christmas. I refuse for it to be September. *taps foot, waits for time to reverse* No huh? Guess I should knit more then.
Speaking of, I finished my Ravelympics bag on time!!!

The pattern is Felted Fair Isle bag by Pam Allen and the yarn is Cascade 220. I did change how the handles go on. The way the pattern had me doing it, I felt that it wouldn't hold. So I just did little tabs at the bottom of the i-cord and then (my mom) sewed them on. I'm not that good at sewing.
I love it! I'm going to make a coin purse and a cell phone carrier sometime soon. I was thinking of making the cell phone carrier in the top design, the yellow and black. And the coin purse in the V and + design, which I think even though it was the hardest one, is my favorite.
After casting off the bag, I went and cast on for a sock (of course). I had this pattern all picked out, easy, mostly k2,p2 with one row requiring me to use my brain. So after trying to knit the damn pattern 7 times (frogging and knitting frogging and knitting, I did this for an entire day) I decided to knit a garter ribbing. I have no idea why the pattern wasn't working. But I really like how the garter ribbing is turning out in the yarn. It's Happy Feet, color 9. I love how fally it looks.

I was planning on knitting this rather quickly, then I decided that I'll knit a sweater, hat and booties for my father's friend, who just had a baby. Mason, weighing in at 9 pounds, 10 ounces. For the sweater, I got Cotton Kisses. It's a VERY adorable kit with everything you need to make a baby sweater. Yarn, 2 patterns and buttons. I'm not too sure I like the yarn though. If you drop a stitch, it's very hard to pick up. We'll see how it works out. I've finished the back and have the front and sleeves yet to do. I'm knitting the 12 month cardigan.

I did FINALLY finish my granny blankie that I've been knitting for almost a year. I have to get a FO pic as soon as I find a place that's big enough to lay it down.
I'm going to try and finish some UFO's this month. Like my sweater, my father's balaclava, my mom's jaywalkers and maybe even my cat bag. So here's hoping!
And Desi is doing great! He has a cold, but he's getting over it. He's SO big now! Asta loves him so much. It's so cute how they play together. He's learning how to be bad from Miss Marple, who is looking so healthy! Here's Asta and Desire sleeping. How cute are they?

2008-08-20T01:41:00.001-04:00

I've been tagged for the 6 quirky things meme by Erqsome.
The rules:

1) Link to the person who tagged me
2) Mention the rules
3) Tell six quirky yet boring, unspectacular details about myself
4) Tag 6 other bloggers by linking to them
5) Go to each person’s blog and leave a comment that lets them know they’ve been tagged

The meme:
1. Somehow, I most always wind up picking up the second book in a series to read first.
2. I've had fake nails for years and I got so sick of them so I took them off this month.
3. I'm addicted to tote bags.
4. I'm double jointed.
5. I have high insteps and have a hard time finding shoes.
6. I have Eosinophilic Gastroenteritis

So, I'm tagging:
Beth
Susan
Lista
Robin
Heather
Nicola
So, I have a summer cold. Which is awful. All I'm doing is sleeping all day and then knitting my ravelympics bag for a little bit and sleeping again. I think I'm doing ok with my bag. I'm on row 65 out of 78. I have to knit the icords and felt it and then it's done. I'm thinking I might even finish ahead of time! Which finishing anything BEFORE I'm supposed to is a small miracle.

The game is on!

2008-08-13T01:44:00.002-04:00

I started my Felted Fair Isle bag for the ravelympics. I've never done fair isle before, and I really like it! This is the bag yesterday!

And this is it tonight.

Pretty huh? Oh and see the little kitty in the bag? That's Desire, Dezi for short. Our newest kitty! Last Monday, my mom went outside to walk Asta and there were these two kitties! Which is so weird because the night before my parents were talking about how there are no outside kitties anymore. then BOOM! we have them.

So, my mom comes in the house screaming "OMG OMG OMG OMG! KITTY! KITTY! KITTY!" (not the letters OMG, Oh my god) we go out and see these two little kitties. I go in to get ready to go get my hair done and a few minutes later, mom comes in the house with a TEENY TINY kitty. He could hardly walk, since he was so little and underfed. In under 5 minutes, he had a name and a Vet appointment in a few hours. He had ear mites, fleas and worms, which is normal for an outside kitty. It's been a week and he's already grown! He loves playing with yarn (I see a big problem with that) and running and chasing things! It's amazing how much he's grown in a week. The cutest thing? Asta Adopted him! She barks if one of the cats tries eat his food or if she thinks the cats might hurt him. Isn't that ADORABLE?!?! I think I should explain about Dezi's name. A few months ago, my father said that the next cat we found, he wanted named desire. As in A StreetCAT named desire. I think it's so perfect for him.

Other than the bag, I haven't knit a thing! I did finish my scarf, pics to come soon. I have 1 and a half edges to finish on my HUGE granny square blanket, I started my second O sock, which I have the picot edging done, and half a repeat done. I need two repeats before I can do the heel. I did....... wait for it.... WAIT..... You ready?

SPIN!!! On my spindle! It looks ok for my first time. I think. I already ordered more roving! I think I might have a new addiction!

I did that in a day.I should have been knitting my bag, but I was having so much FUN! this week, I might try one of my mom's wheels.

I was tagged by emmus, so I'll try and do that in the next few days!

Catch-up!

2008-07-30T21:36:00.003-04:00

Sorry about not blogging. There's been so much going on. Like,

A tree fell thru the house

The tree is gone now, but there are still holes in the ceiling. It was right next to where I sit in the family room.. Very scary. I was up in my bedroom when it happened watching the hail (yes there was hail) and lighting. No one was hurt, thank God. My hermit crabs got a dusting from the roof stuff, but they're ok. The animals were freaked out but ok. My parents cats (Autumn, Mouse and Lassie) all hid for a day. While mine (Sherlock, Miss Marple and Asta) all refused to leave my side for the rest of the night. It was very cute.

My knee. It still hurts. And since it's sprained (twisted whatever) I injury it more since it's weak. I slipped on a bag (that ironically I used to ice my knee) and twisted my knee and sprained my ankle. On my other foot. I am so good at doing things like that. Now, I'm on crutches and basically sitting around knitting and crocheting all day. Which I love, but I really want to get out and do stuff.

My grandfather had another stroke. It happened on Monday. We still don't know how bad it is, but as of now, he can't talk and has lost his balance a few times walking. He can mumble and stuff and he doesn't know my mom's name. He's going to be in the hospital for a week or more going to rehab. In fact, if he wasn't going to be going to rehab, they would have sent him home by now. Can you believe that? Not even a day after having a stroke, you would be sent home? That's awful. So if you could, please send some good thoughts his way.

Oh and since my mom took him to the ER, she took my car since hers was being worked on. And she had to use the valet. Who put HUGE freaking dent and scratch in my car. We're trying to get them to pay for the repair. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Since I've been sitting and knitting a lot more, I have a few FO's to show you:
My Baby Cable Rib socks

Knit in STR Spring fling. Look at that pooling! So cool!

Strawberry Fields Forever

still have to felt it. Felting means walking down to the basement, which I haven't been able to do.

Isn't Miss Marple a great model?

And a pair of Fingerless gloves named Ktb38 Hobo Mitts by Landolista.

Pretty huh? I made the pattern up, so just in case someone wants to make them, here it is. I used Moda Silk 'n Wool blend but you can use any worsted weight yarn.

On size 8's cast on 3o stitches. Join in the round, being careful not to twist it. Place marker. *knit 4 purl 2* around until it measures 4 inches, or however long you want it. For the thumb, knit in patt to the last 6 stitches. Bind off these 6 stitches. Continue and then when you get to the bound off stitches, cast on 6. Continue in pattern until it reaches 6 inches (or whatever you want). Bind off in pattern. Weave in ends.

It's so easy, and I made mine in a few hours. I hope that if you make them, you like them.

I'm going to making a purse (Felted Fair Isle bag) for the Ravelympics, so I'm trying to finish up a few UFO's before it starts. I finished one of my O's socks. It was my first time doing a short row heel, so it's a bit wonky.

I need to do some decreases on my sleeve, and then just knit the neck and seam and I have a sweater! I'm very excited.

I had to frog the toe of my mom's Jaywalkers. When I was doing the toe, I was really tired and didn't get the pattern, so I just did it my way. WAY to short. So I'm going to try again soon.

I was bad and did cast on one thing. A basic seed stitch scarf. Here's Miss Marple modeling again (I try and get Asta and Sherlock to model, but they don't like it.)

That's it for now.

No cupcakes yet!

2008-07-14T13:48:00.003-04:00

You know how you think "I'm going to do this and it's going to be great!"? Well, that's what I thought about the cupcakes. I have everything I need to make them. But a few days after the polls closed, a propane (or as Carry says proPAIN) kneed me. I never get the cool injuries. I went and I saw the PA (yes, that PA there was no one else) and he said "Oh you just banged it". And that was it. This was about 2 weeks ago. It still hurts and it feels hotter than my other knee. I had an appointment with the Doctor today. Then I went to get X-rays on my knee. I was told it wasn't broken, so that's good. I might need to get shots to bring the swelling down.

Want to know why a propain tank kneed me? I was chasing after my new cat, Miss Marple. Heather's sister had this cat hanging around her house and didn't want to give it to a shelter so she asked her is she wanted it. Heather already has an a cat (Zuzu who is SOOOOOO cute) so then she asked if I wanted it. I said yes. Oh and if you go to Heather's blog, she has some kittens that need homes. This is Miss Marple Isn't she adorable? And she fits in great with everyone else.

I'm almost done knitting my little strawberry purse. It's been put on hold for a bit to knit some secret knitting things, but I am going to finish it very soon. I have one half already done, but I don't have a pic of that. This is just as I was getting into knitting the green ( or the stem)

Love the pattern. And it's just adorable.

On Ravelry, Gemnah and I started a group for a knit-along for the Seascape Stole. It's going to a lot of fun, so come join us! You don't have to knit it, you can be a cheerleader!

Just a quickie

2008-06-30T03:06:00.002-04:00

Cupcakes won! I have everything to make them. I'm going to make chocolate cupcakes with 2 different frosting's. One will be a peanut butter frosting (made with fresh peanut butter) and the other is a yummy butter cream frosting/filling that my mom used to make. It's fantastic. I know I said I would make it on Saturday, but my mom's very good friend mother died. So I wasn't able to. But I am hoping to make them Monday or Tuesday.

My strawberry clutch is almost done. I finished half, cast on for the other side, got a bit into it, and messed up. So I frogged it. And then I re-cast on. Now I'm almost halfway through it. I LOVE it. I can't wait to use it.

Ok, that's all now. Here's a cute picture for you to look at! It's Asta crocheting!

June?

2008-06-21T19:50:00.003-04:00

Already? Oh boy, I'll have to be a better blogger huh?

My nose is unbroken! Healed! Well, mostly. It still hurts every so often but nothing like it did. And I might not be having surgery. I have a deviated septum that drives me insane. On Monday, I'm having skin tests to see what I'm allergic to (I had a blood test already) and then my Doctor is going to treat it. If the septum doesn't get better with allergy shots and meds then we'll talk about surgery.

My mom is still getting migraines, though not as bad as she was getting. She's going to try and take things out of her diet and see if a food triggers it. Keep your fingers crossed we find out what's causing them!

Since my nose was broken, it was hard to knit and crochet. I couldn't look down for more then a few minutes at a time. I crocheted a few washcloths and finally finished the back and bottom of my cat bag. I'm now working on the sides. I am hoping to finish it up this week so I can felt it and use it.

I wanted a rather quick knit that was a bit more than mindless, but not so much that I couldn't watch a movie. So that's why I casted for the Strawberry Clutch. Which I'm calling Strawberry Fields forever.

Cute huh? I love it. I haven't gotten much done so far, but I was only working on it for about a little bit.
I did finished a sock today. The pattern is Baby Cable rib and the yarn is STR in medium weight, the colorway is Spring Fling, and it seems that you can't buy it anymore. So HA! I love the colors. So nice, and of course I love the yarn. I just looked on their website and fell in love with pride. It's so bright and colorful.

I've made a bit of progress on my other WIPs. I'm almost done with the gusset on my mom's mother's day present, Jaywalkers. Yes, I know it's past mother's day. Your point? In my defense, she has yet to make me this one shawl in Wrap Style. From Christmas.

I'm past the heel on my O's socks. Which brings me to something. Now, so you can understand what I'm going to tell you I guess I should say a few things. I'm 20 and I took a year off going to college to decide what I wanted to do. Then, last year my grandfather had a stroke and my mother started getting sick so she asked me not to go to college or get a job so I could help her out. I said yes. I help my grandfather out and my mom. Ok then.

About 2 weeks or so ago, I went into Yarn Gallery and asked for help on my O's. It had a short-row heel and I had never done one before. The owner wasn't there, but 2 employees were. One was off helping my mom getting yarn to make a lucy bag and the other was "helping" me with my sock. I explained what I needed help on and the woman's response? "Oh, I never did one off these. Just do a heel flap." So I explain to her that I don't want to do that I want to do a short-row heel. Her "You should just do a heel flap." At this point, I'm getting a bit pissed off. So I tell her no, I'm going to do a short row heel. And then she "helped" me. By helping, I mean telling me what I already knew. So I said thanks and decided I would look it up on the web. As my mom was paying for her yarn (and a skein of sock yarn for me) the employee who "helped" me asked in a very bitchy I am so better than you could ever be tone "Katie, do you have a job?" I said no, I help my mom and grandfather out. She (I swear) shook her head and did this tsk tsking sound and went back to her knitting. Then, as we were leaving, she said in the same tone "Katie, how old are you?" I said 20. And again she did the whole shaking her head and the tsk thing and went back to her knitting. This woman had no right to judge me like that at all. That she would say that at her place of work just boggles my mind. How could an owner let someone who treats her customers like that work in her shop? In this day and age when I could easily go on the web and buy the same yarn cheaper, but instead I went to support my local businesses. Well, no more. I'm never going back there again. And I urge you not to go either. Go to The Soxy Lady, or Oh Susannah in Lancaster, Yarn Calling in Kutztown (I've never been there yet, but I hear the owner is very nice). Some yarn shops think that no matter how they treat their customers, they will keep coming back. I read how people walk into shops and no one greeted, much less are asked if they need help finding something. I get that yarn shops can't compete with some of the online prices, but they can at least find it in them to be decent at the very least to their bread and butter. Right?

So anyway, I've decided to have a poll. See in the upper right hand corner? You get to vote for what kind of dessert I'll make on Saturday. The poll will close on Thursday, so I can get everything to make it on Friday. And bake it on Saturday. The choices are Lemon Bars (as requested by Hopi), Souffle, Coconut cake, Cupcakes and a surprise! So go vote!

It's been a busy month so far

2008-05-14T13:56:00.000-04:00

I've been so busy! This might be a very long post. Bear with me. My mom migraine's did go away for a little while. But during the month she had the migraine, it cost a small fortune to get rid of it. And do you want to know why? At the family doctor's, there's the doctor and the physicians assistant. Now, since it's a small practice, the nurses and everyone knew why we where coming. Every time we went, she would get the PA. Here, the PA can't right certain prescriptions. Like strong meds that someone might need to get rid of a migraine. And she kept getting the PA. He would write out something for a drug and it would cost a lot. But we thought it would work. And then he would shoot her with some drugs. We did this at least 5 times. Every time she called to make an appointment, she would say this drug blah bub isn't working. You would think that they would say "I think the doctor should see you". You would think. But nope. The pa. The last time she went, she begged the PA to have the Dr. give her stronger meds. He refused. Ass. Since it seemed nothing was working, my mom tried alternative methods. Like this honey/vinegar in spring water thing. Which worked. So to sum up, it took over $900 dollars to help get rid of it. And a 3 cent remedy worked. Needless to say, we're a bit ( A LOT) pissed off at the doctors office.

So then, Monday morning (Sunday night whichever you look at it) at 1 am she started vomiting and guess what came back? Yup. Migraine. She couldn't even keep water down. Around 8:30 she had me take her to the ER. We got there and they gave her IV fluids (since she couldn't keep water down) and some shots for nausea. And since her migraine was coming back, they shot her up with pain meds. And they kept doing this. For hours. And hours. And I had to sit in some of the most uncomfortable chairs every made. But I did get some knitting done. We finally left at 6:30. I still cannot believe that they didn't admit her! If you can't keep water down something isn't right. Right?

Anyway, Sherlock disappeared last week, around Saturday. I looked everywhere. She was nowhere. Now, this is a cat who if she does get out, in a hour or two she would be crying to come back in. I had thought something really bad had happened to her. But something amazing happened. After almost a week of being missing, she came back. I still can't believe it.

Hmmmm... What else happened? Oh yeah, MY NOSE IS BROKEN. Yup. Broken. Well, fractured. Tuesday, I woke up really late (since I spent hours in the Er on Monday with my mom) and saw a wolf spider and told my mom to kill it (OK, so it might have been more of a "Oh my god!!! It's A SPIDER! KILL IT!) and she went to go kill it, lost her balance, and her elbow hit the bridge of my nose. I saw lightning and then collapsed to the floor in so much pain. I went to the Er (twice in as many days) and found out that it was broken. So much fun. I went to an ENT Friday and she said that it might take a month or more for it to mend. But the good news is that I didn't get black eyes. Though, I could have made up some good stories about how I got them.

Yesterday, I was out to eat with my mother and her father (it was his birthday) and my nose started hurting. I didn't think anything of it. But then, half of my face felt really hot. And I felt like my nose was swelling up. Which it was. So I called the ENT, got the nurse and she said to go to my Dr. right away. Which I did. He gave me antibiotics and Tylenol 3. It could be a sinus infection. But he doesn't know. So now, I have to ice my nose for 10 minutes on, 20 minutes off. I might be seeing the ENT again next week but I don't know so we'll see.

Since my nose got broken, I didn't finish my mom's Mother day gift. Which is going to be a pair of Jaywalker socks.

I didn't want to knit them while in pain and on pain meds because my gauge would be messed up. So instead, I crocheted a blue washcloth (cause you can never have too many)

and I knit a pair of fuzzy feet for myself. The yarn is Lambs Pride Worsted and the color is Ocean waves, which is somewhat new. It's shaded a little bit which is very nice. I love them. They're HUGE! I'm going to felt them tonight.

And when I felt them, I'm going to felt this. It's the Sophie bag (from magknits when magknits was still around). I made this a few weeks ago. I was sick over the weekend and wanted to knit something that I could finish. And not mess up while I was sick. The yarn is Cascade 220 and I forgot the color.

I think it's such a cute summer/spring purse.

Speaking of purses, I finally finished the front of my Cat on the bag. I'm now knitting the back and then I'll knit sides and a bottom since the gauge is messed up. This was my very first Intarsia.

And now I must go ice my nose.

I got tagged!

2008-05-01T14:28:00.002-04:00

Heather tagged me for the for the Seven Random things about meme.
It's my first tag.

The rules:Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.Let them know they are tagged by leaving comments on their blogs.
I'm only going to tag 5 people though.

1. I have lived with at least one cat since I was born.

2. I believe that Jif is way better then Skippy. Also, Coke beats Pepsi any day. But if I had to choose a soda to drink, it would be Cranberry Ginger Ale.

3. I can curl my tongue both ways.. And I can touch my tongue to my nose.

4. I have a birthmark on my hip. It's 3 dark freckles that form a triangle. I also have a strawberry shaped birthmark on my neck. My mother and my grandmother have them too.

5. I got my car before I got drivers license. It was a gift from my grandfather.

6. I cannot, for the life of me, fold a paper airplane that flies right. Mine just go pfft.

7. I cut the tip of my index finger on my left hand off about 4 years ago. You could see my bone and muscle and everything. Very gross. I went to the ER and they put this fake skin thing on and most of it grew back. I named the finger Stinky. I still have a scar. And if I press something with it, it really hurts.

Ok, so I'm going to tag:

Marvie
Penny
Regan
Kelly
Jay

How much knitting can you get done in an ER?

2008-04-17T00:46:00.000-04:00

About 3 inches on a sock it seems.
So my mother has had a migraine for 3 weeks now and last week it was so bad that at 2:30am Wednesday night (Thursday morning) I drove my mom to the ER. Two hours later I had 4 inches on my sock. I did have one inch. I think that's pretty considering how much you get shuffled around. This is the sock. I finished the first one last year and am just now getting around to the second one. Yes I know. I had a bit (OK a lot) of SSS.

It's just a 2x2 ribbing using Crystal Palace Maizy Print in Springtime. Which makes me want to sing "Springtime for Hitler and Germany Deutschland is happy and gay!" from the movie "The Producers". Bet that song is stuck in your head now huh? Anyway, the cool thing about the yarn is that it's 82% corn fiber, 18% elastic nylon! How cool is that? The yarn is a bit splity but so far it hasn't pilled or anything.

So, I casted on for my Cat purse using the same weight yarn and needles that the pattern called for. But I didn't bother to do a swatch (I hate swatching!) so I was looking at the pattern yesterday and it said the gauge should be 11 stitches for 4 inches. And that is not what I'm getting at all. I'm getting 5 stitches an inch. Do the math. Yeah. But I think that 11 an inch is too loose. And since the pattern calls for doubling worsted weight wool and using size 9 needles, I'm going to guess that unless you knit VERY VERY VERY VERY loosely there's no way you'll be getting that gauge. So I decided to keep going. After all, it's going to be felted. As you can see, the cat is almost done! Not bad for my first intarsia huh?

I actually finished something! It's the Spring Spiral Hat from the new Interweave Crochet. It called for two colors but I decided to use one. I used Punto and the color was 283. It's a bit big on me but if I roll the brim up it's fine.

And here's me with the brim rolled up.

It took about a day to crochet. I love it. It's such a cool spring/summer hat.

So, I was bad. I cast on(yet) another sock. The sock is from the book "The Book of Yarn" and it's called Swirly O's. I'm knitting them in Mountain Colors Bearfoot in the colorway "Wild Raspberry" I cast on 2 days ago and haven't had much time to knit them but this is how far I got so far.

It's my first time doing a picot edging. I love it. The photo doesn't show it but it has little holes (yarn overs) in it.

And as soon as I finish my corn socks (which I hope is soon), I'm going to cast these socks on.

Using this yarn.

I can't wait!

Now I have to go. Someone else wants the computer.

Hot off the needles!

2008-04-01T04:57:00.000-04:00

My Halloween socks! I love them!

They are so nice and warm. And with the nights being in the 20s this week, they'll be worn a lot! The yarn is Halloween in Dk weight from White Oak Studio. I knit them on Size 3 US needles.
Now I have to go and figure out what to socks to cast on next!

I just know it

2008-03-29T02:33:00.001-04:00

So, my sweater isn't finished. And the reason for that is that I know that the second I finish it, after getting all the ends woven in and making sure everything is just right, it would be too hot to wear it. So I have been delaying finishing it for as long as I can. I just have 1 sleeve and the neck to finish. And it's just laying there, waiting patiently for me to finish it. And one of these days, I will. Hopefully very soon.

It was my Mom's birthday last week. And I made her a pair of socks. And I also gave her a pair of blown glass earrings. So the socks are made with Blue Moon Fiber Arts in the color "Fairgrounds and the pattern is a Garter Rib. The first sock took me a day and a half. Which is a record for me. The second one took a little bit longer. Maybe 3 or 4 days.

Here's a close up of the heel.

I love love love this yarn. I made my mother a pair of Christmas socks out of it and she has worn them so often and they don't even show it.

This photo was taken just a few hours ago. And look at how nice they are!
Now I did finish a sock for me. It's been on the needles since last year. I casted on a few days before Halloween and I keep messing up the pattern. No reason why. Well, anyway I finished one of the socks. I'm almost done with the second one. I'm past the gusset and am now on the foot. I'm hoping to finish it tomorrow. I wanted anklets but a bit longer. And that's what I made these to be.

The yarn is from White Oak Studio and it's in the color "Halloween". And it's a dk weight. I love it. It's so warm and the color is beautiful. I can't wait to finish the second one!
Like most people, I have a cell phone. And I can never find it in my purse. This is my purse.

So you see the problem. It's a HUGE purse. And I have a rather small phone. So, about 2 weeks ago,I decided to make a cell phone carrier. And that's what I did. I used Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in the color Tulip and it's my own pattern. This was my first time I tried knitting anything using the magic loop method. It was a bit odd at first but after a while I got the hang of it. It took me about 3 hours to knit and then felt it. I still have to sew some Velcro on it but other than that, it's done. I'm calling it Celly.
This is before felting.

And then this is after.

Cute, right? The pink phone isn't mine. But the silver (shown in the before photo) is mine.
I'm still crocheting (and crocheting and crocheting) the pink and purple afghan.
I'm (finally) down to my last 2 skeins so I should be able to finish it any day now. I hope.
Oh, and I have one (or two) last thing to tell you before I go. I'm starting a new purse for the spring/summer. It's from the book Kitty knits (which is a really cool book. I want to make everything in it) and it's the Felted Carpet Bag (Ravelry link). And it has a cat on it! It's so adorable. I can't wait to knit on it. Also, if you look on the cover of the book, you see this cute hat. Well, I got the yarn needed to make it and I should be casting on for it soon.
One more thing. I'm starting my very first lace shawl. I'm so excited! When I was at Stitches last year, I won a gift certificate from Lisa Souza and I bought this. I got the yarn in the color Spumoni. Right now, I'm swatching it, but I'm hoping to cast it on this weekend.
OK that's it. I swear.

EKKKKKKKKKKK!!!

2008-02-18T01:27:00.000-05:00

Look a post! I know it's been a long (long long long long) time, and I am going to try to post more.

So, to start out, I'm knitting my very first sweater! It's called Womans Simple Pullover from the book Cables Untangled

I'm knittng it using Blizzard, which I love, in a greenie blue color. I have the back done and I'm now working on the front. I'm (hoping) to have it done by my birthday on the 3rd.

I'm still crocheting my mills end blanket. It's pretty big. I'm hoping to have it done to show you this month. I am still knitting my Chevron scarf. I had to frog a bit of it, but it's going along very nicely

This was taken a while ago. I'm futher a long than this.

I also am making another scarf that is so pretty, but I don't have any photos. Speaking of photos, I got a (amazing) camera from my parents for Christmas that I have been taking photos with. I don't think my pets like it though. I keep taking photos of them. Pictures like this

How cute is Sherlock? And I also knitted a Harry Potter Beret that Asta loves to wear!

I love this hat. I mean beret, sorry. It's from the book Charmed Knits which is all about.. Harry Potter! I used Galaway and I forget what the names of the colors are.

Tomorrow (or tonight) I am going to cast on for the Brioche Gaiter from the interweave holidays knits from last year. I have this beautiful camel hair (Blithe from Classic Elite) that I bought just for it. I'll have photos for you soon.

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-24T22:30:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good knit!

2007-12-04T01:17:00.000-05:00

Oh my gosh. I'm a bad blogger BAD. But I have good reasons. They are:
My dog broke my mother's nose (no, really)
My camera decide to take a bath in some root beer (and now no longer works)
I had a fight with a trash can and it kneed me (it fought dirty) (fought dirty hehe)
The giant time suck known as Ravelry (really, it should come with a warning label)
It's countdown to Christmas (I still have 8 things to make and some shopping still)
Most of my knitting time is spent knitting my dad his present a Bala Clava.
Using Hauk by Dale of Norway, I'm knitting it on size 3 needles.
I'm also knitting a pair of socks , this, this, and 2 other things for my mom.
And I'm knitting a few other things that I can't talk (type) about here.
For myself, I'm crocheting a giant granny blanket using mills ends that I bought at A.C.Moore, a Chevron scarf, socks(of course), and the Super-Easy Legwarmers from Last Minute Knitted Gifts using Cascade 220 in Blue Hawaii and Rowan Kidsilk Haze in a really pretty blue.
That's all for now folks. Must go and knit.

so much

2007-10-24T22:45:00.000-04:00

To talk about. OK, I haven't had much time to blog lately, but I will do better.

So to start out, I am on Ravelry!!!! My id is ktb38 .

I went to Stitches!! And boy, was that soooooo much FUN!! I got way too much yarn. Wait, is there such a thing? I took 5 (I think) classes and loved them! Here is a pic of my 2 day stash

You can see I went crazy. And that was only the second day!! As you can see I bought some roving because my mom (who's ravelry id is spinnermomk8) says that she will teach me to spin. And the light blue and dark blue in the bags are going to be a sweater! FOR ME!!!! I got yarn to make Asta sweaters ( 4 or 5 I think) And I also got this yummy yarn to make me a sweater. RYC Cashsoft, i think it's called. So pretty! Let's see what else did I get? Oh yeah, SOCK YARN!!

Some from blue moon fiber arts including 2 Rare gems which are one of a kind,

some ellen's half-pint farm sock yarn which is sooo pretty, and a couple other things, ok alot of other things.

And tomorrow starts Skate America, so I am trying to finish a pair of baby cables fingerless gloves so I can wear them in the arena to knit and crochet and read while I watch ice skating. How great is that?

2007-09-14T23:03:00.000-04:00

So, I have been very busy frogging. What have i been frogging you ask? My Maggie felted tote(which by the way is big enough to be a sweater). It's very easy to knit , and I had to frog it because I accidentally put it down and then picked it back up and knitted the opposite way in the round there by turning the right side into the wrong side! And the yarn I'm using is 85% wool and 15% mohair and let me tell you it's SO much fun ripping 15 rows with the yarn!! Oh yeah, there's like over 150 stitches in each row you do the math. But
I'm hoping to get it done and have it felted over the weekend.

I finished a SOCK!!! Photos to come soon.

So Yarnhog is having a contest to see where we knit. And the prize is SOCK YARN! YEAH!!! And I just love yarn (but you knew that).

This is where I knit and crochet for the most part. The blanket on the Ottoman

was my first BIG crochet project. It's about 10 by 8 feet and it took me less then a week to finish. So I sit here and watch movies (those are my DVDs I have about 500), drink tea and tell Asta not to bite Sherlock's tail. I say that alot.

Today I got my stuff for the stitches east!!! I am SO excited about going !! It's in less then a month. O.M.G.

2007-09-07T22:35:00.000-04:00

First off, Happy Birthday to my cousin!!! And second off, I got the Tvyarn Sock Club kit and it is so awesome!!!! The kits are chick flick movies and this months was Thelma and Louise (which I love!).It's from White Oak studio and here is what I got

A pair of sunglasses, a bag that is handmade by Jana, a cowboy hat stitch marker in honor of brad pitt (ahhhh) and (of course) the yarn!!

Which is so gorgeous! I am in love with it( that's not wrong, is it?)!!

I finished a pair of socks!!! Pictures to come soon.

Drool, baby,drool

2007-08-30T07:56:00.000-04:00

I'm a Loopy Groupie!!! Look at the cool bag I got

And this is the yarn I got

Cherry Fizz by Seacoast

Peppercorn Blend by Spritely Goods

Spring Tulips by Spritely Goods (please disregaurd my sprained ankle)

Windblown Mallow by Spritely Goods

Watercolor by Seacoast

Mango Tango by Seacoast

Bittersweet by Lorna's Laces

Militia by Spritely Goods

Arizona Ironwood by Spritely Goods

And look at the yarn that i got for becoming a looopie

I love this yarn!!!

Ok that was the loopy ewe. Up next, Simply Sock Yarn Company

Roses and chocolate by sleeping dragon

Winter thaw by sleeping dragon

I also got Tiger and also Peacock from Opal rainforest

I ordered this from webs.It's Blizzard in green and it's by Reynolds

This is going to be a very pretty sweater(my first)
I also got some yarn for Christmas presents so I can't show you the yarn, but trust me it's so pretty.

I also went to my LYS and got a skein of Handmaiden Sea Silk to make a montego bay scarf

I LOVE this yarn! It's so gorgeous.

I also got some other yarn (well,duh) that might be for presents, but i don't know yet.

Now, guess what this yarn is. It's from yarnmarket.com

It is Possum lace yarn!!! It is made from 60% merino wool, 30% Possum and 10% silk! Cool huh?

I am still waiting for some boxes of yarn, so when I get them I will post some pictures of them.And I am happy to say that i know have 137 skeins of sock yarn!!

And in knitting news I frogged the coat for Asta. I didn't have enough yarn. So i think i might make a purse out of the yarn.I hope to finish the Maggie felted tote by the weekend so keep your fingers crossed!

2007-08-25T03:11:00.000-04:00

So it has been very cold here. Well, cold for the middle of august which has made my asthma pretty bad so i haven't been blogging. But i have been knitting.
Here is Hermione's cable and bobble hat from Charmed Knits i started the cables but not the bobbles.

I also started a new sock (photos coming soon) with soxx appeal. I got the yarn at Yarn Gallery. And i just cast on STR Spring fling which i love.

I going to knit a diagonal scarf with this

cool, right?

I got the yarn at the soxy lady and I forget what it was but this was the only one left.

I also read A Secret Rage by Charlaine Harris which was great. I love her books and if you haven't read any of hers please do.

And now i will show pics of my little baby Asta

Isn't she adorable?

I named her after Dashiell Hamment's Asta in The Thin Man (the book not the movie, although I LOVE the thin man movies ) but when I tell people her name they say oh, what a odd ( weird, different) name.

Look at the little tongue! And yes, she does have hand knit sweaters.

And this is my other baby, Sherlock ( named after Sherlock Holmes)

You can't tell, but she is wearing a Harley Davidson collar. I think she likes it, she has yet to get out of it.
Also, I have six ( yes, six)boxes of yarn coming to me in the mail. So when I get them I'll post photo's for you to drool over.

What yarn?

2007-08-17T01:57:00.000-04:00

I found my camera.

dream in color, lunamoth by woolly bully. tomato salad by Urban Gypsy

This sock yarn was hand-dyed in Lancaster, Pa

Here's all my sock yarn

Still sock yarn

In case you were wondering, you are looking at 93 skeins (well, socks)

This is almost ALL my yarn.

I went to my first S&B (which was great, i loved it and we were really freaking the muggles out) and took pics but my camera didn't like them.

Not much in knitting to report, it's very very very very humid here.

over the weekend

2007-08-13T02:04:00.000-04:00

Over the weekend, my friend had a beautiful baby girl. Her name is Ruby Mae.

And here is the hat that I knit her (please excuse the blurry. I put my camera somewhere so that I wouldn't lose it, hence I can't find it.)

Over the weekend I went to Reading Fair. And my cousin, who is from Seattle

saw a cow close up for the first time. EVER.

It's hard to tell in this photo, but the cow kept trying to eat her shirt.

Let's see what else did I do? Oh yes, that's right!! I felted a purse!!

It's purples and blues (again bad photos) The pattern is the Quick felted bag out of the 101 one-skein wonders.

Also over the weekend (boy, I was busy) I started a hat.

Hermione's cable and bobble hat from Charmed Knits

I started a little bit ago so there's not much there.

I did finish a sock but the camera doesn't like it. So when i find my camera you can see it. Which should be very soon. I hope.

meatloaf

2007-08-08T22:19:00.001-04:00

here is the stage at musikfest where meatloaf was playing(this photo was taken a few minutes before he started)

See that little white blobby thing? Guess who that is? MEATLOAF!!!!!!!!

The concert was great. Though very very very hot. And that is the reason i have not been knitting and crocheting as obsessively as i usually do.

Today the heat index was 99 degrees, so needless to say, i really don't feel like doing anything except sitting in front of the a.c. and listening to my ipod.

I'm hoping to have a sock done tomorrow, so keep your fingers crossed.

yarn

2007-08-05T15:50:00.000-04:00

Here is the yarn i ordered from the loopy ewe. And the blond is my cousin drooling over my yarn.

The picture didn't get my Urban GypZ in Tomato Salad which is so cool. I cant wait to knit it.

what i'm up to

2007-08-04T00:48:00.000-04:00

I've been busy visiting my cousin. Shes here for 2 weeks and I'm trying to get her to knit and crochet. I think I'm winning.
So anyway, I have not finished anything which is very, very rare for me (i blame the heat it was 98 today) i have on the other hand bought yarn. And books.
I have been looking over the interweave knits fall 07 and went to Yarn Gallery and bought the yarn to make both of the hats and scarfs (though i might wait a little to knit them up with them being wool and all)
I'm waiting for my package from the loopy ewe with antici----pation(rocky horror reference)
Also I'm designing a hat for my dad (he says he wants a jaunty hat) so if you have any ideas id be happy to here them.

what I'm on

2007-07-29T17:20:00.000-04:00

I have a couple different things on the needles (and hooks)
for starters I'm crocheting an afghan that's huge!!! but its really fun to do (except when its 95 degrees ) The colors I'm using are Caron one pound purple and Violet.
i always have a sock in progress(for knitting socks i use 2 circulars needles) this time i have Regina bamboo in a beautiful green and blue and pinks.
I'm also knitting a coat that will i will then felt (no matter how many times you felt something its still terrifying ((or is it me)) that you could mess it up and turn a huge tote bag in to a coin purse) and will make an adorable fall jacket for my dog. (shell find a way out of it in 2 minutes flat)
some people (muggles) think it odd (read crazy) to be knitting with wool in summer when its 94 degrees outside. i think its perfectly sane to prepare for the coming season's. That is why i am knitting a pair of gloves. using valley yarns Berkshire in plum I'm knitting the wave warmers i have one done and will be starting the second one soon.
the other thing that's a wip is Maggie's felted tote from fiber trend's. that's fun to do. very mindless.
i think that's it there might be a project or two that I'm missing.
but for the most part that its.

the start

2007-07-28T09:44:00.000-04:00

hi im bea and i love to knit and crochet and thats what ill be blogging about.
i will also discuss the books ive read(theres alot of them)