Feelin' Better

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

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



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

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

I finished Kaity's mittens.



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

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

I also finished the Cross-Stitch Block socks.



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

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

Knitting, No Spinning

I haven't been able to spin these last few days. Some how I managed to mess up my knee. I can hardly put pressure on it or bend it so pushing the peddle on my wheel is out of the question. I may need to go to the doc if it doesn't start feeling better in the next few days.

Since all I could do was sit on my butt these last few days I managed to finish my Cable Rib Socks from Favorite Socks.



The yarn is Knit Picks Felici, color Arugala. These were a quick knit. It took me a few days per sock. The Felici is really soft and pleasant to work with. I didn't find any knots. If you like to match up stripes on your socks when using self striping yarn you may go a little crazy with this yarn. It's tough to figure out the patten repeat. I tried to match them up but decided it wasn't worth the loss of my sanity.

I also started the second Cross-Stitch Block sock using the Madelinetosh sock yarn, color Umoja.

Jen sent the sock back so I could finish the pair. I'm working on the gusset decreases right now. After these socks are finished I'll get a good pic of them when the sun is out and shinning.

Yarn in the mail. I received this from Jen Saturday.



Smooshy sock, color: Blue Lagoon.....I'm addicted to this stuff. The other skein is IN-SYNC sock yarn from Zen Yarn Garden, color Island Ruby.

I have another skein of yarn from Jen to knit a sample. I'm very much looking forward to starting and probably will either tonight or tomorrow.

Now it's time for me to get Bree some lunch so I can get her down for a nap. She's extremely fussy today.

Goodie Filled Post

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

The lunar eclipse from the other night.



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

The mailman brought me a box filled with Loopy goodness.



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

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



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

Oh look, cute baby.



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

My baby still in her packaging.



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



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

Here she is all put together.



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

Oh look my very first skein of over twisted fluff.



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

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

An FO & A New Sock & A Sample

Weeee! I can post about my sample knit for Wool Girl now.

Here's a few shots I took before sending the sock to Jen.

I love how the sock turned out. My photo's do not do this sock justice. The yarn is by Madelinetosh, color Umoja. All proceeds are being donated to a great cause. You can read about it here. Go check out Jen's post to see more photos. I used the Cross-Stitch Block stitch pattern from More Sensational Knitted Socks using a 64 stitch cast on.

The colors are gorgeous and the money is going to a wonderful cause. Go buy yarn....enable, enable, enable! You all know how much I love being an enabler.

I finished my Marie Antoinette socks. Love em, love em, love em. Here's a close up of the sock.



Love the pattern, love the yarn, it's true love all around.



Sock Stats:

Pattern: Marie Antoinette socks by Knitspot
Yarn: Dream in Color Smoosy, Color: Ruby River
Needles: I used a combo of DPN's and a 32" circ, size US 1/2.5mm. I used the DPN's to knit most of the first sock. After becoming familiar with the pattern I knit the second sock magic loop.

Since I finished my Marie socks I needed another sock project on the needle.



Monday night I started the Cable Rib Socks from Favorite Socks. I have about 2.5 inches left before starting the toe decrease. This is turning out to be a quick knit. The yarn is Knit Picks Felici, color Arugala. This yarn is really soft so I'm curious to see how well it holds up.

We've been invaded by Girl Scout cookies. Kaity's pre-orders came in so we have been overrun by a couple hundred boxes of cookies. My craft room has been hijacked by the cookies.

Goodies

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



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

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



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

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



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

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

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

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

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

Today I leave you with Kaity.



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

Happy Valentines Day

Wishing you all a Happy Love Day.



Shawn ordered these for the girls and I. I was completely shocked when the delivery person brought them to my front door this morning. Bree kept saying "Wow" and pointing. Kaity's still at school but I can imagine she'll be excited to see all those balloons.

I finished the sample knit and it's winging it's way home as I type. I'll post about it when I can.

I also finished a few things for Kaity. She's been pestering me about these for days.

First up, her hat.



Norwegian Star Earflap hat, minus the earflaps and one full star repeat.



I did a provisional cast on so I could pick up the stitches easier and knit the hat to push inside the hat. The hat has been washed and blocked so both sides are the same size now.

I finished Kaity's Monkey socks.



I used a pink/white TOFUtsies. Knit at a slightly tighter gauge then the pattern states will give you a sock small enough for a 6 year olds foot without the need to modify the pattern. Ah, the powers of gauge.

I ordered my wheel this morning from The Woolery. I've heard they have great customer service. The guy I talked to this morning was really nice. I can't wait to get my wheel.....weeeeee! Now I need to start thinking about names.

I've decided to knit the Celtic Knot Stole but I need to enlarge the charts. If I tried to read them as is I'll go blind. I can't wait to get started. I'll probably be starting this by the weekend.

Hello, I'm Still Here

No I did not fall off the face of the earth or take a secret mission into the Amazon jungle. I've been working on the sample I'm knitting. I should be finished with that here in the next few days.

I did get my final shipment of the Loopy Ewe Seasonal Sock Club. I don't want to spoil it for anyone who may not have received theirs yet so if you want to see it go to Flickr to check out the goodies.

I've decided not to knit Twist, for now. I haven't started yet and keep putting it off. I'm going to work on dropping some weight this summer so I'll start Twist in early fall. Plus I'm itchin' to start a shawl.

I have some beautiful green Zephyr wool/silk laceweight yarn that I'd love to use. I originally purchased it to make the Civil War Shawl but decided not too after all the issues people were having with it. I've narrowed my choices to Emerald Isle (Rav link) or Celtic Knot Stole pdf link (Rav link).

We're still waiting on the IRS to give us our income tax refund. Nope I'm not one bit patient. I want my new wheel and I can't order it until we get our refund.....ack!

In lieu of knitting photos here's one of the girls playing in their Playhut Megaland.

They are having tons of fun with this thing. I'm thinking about getting some more add ons.

Time For An Update

It's been 4 days since my last post so I think it's time for an update. If I go to long I'll end up with a 5 mile long post.

I finished Kaity's hat, ripped it out because it was too big and have restarted it.



I took out one repeat of the Norwegian Star pattern and the hat now fits great. The hat is a little farther along then this pic. I've started the crown decrease on the second hat. I didn't have Kaity try on the hat the first time around....thus the hat that didn't fit. I thought about trying to shrink it but decided that I didn't want to take the chance of ruining it so to the frog pond it went.

The Marie Antoinette socks are coming along nicely.



I'm working on sock number 2's heel flap. I'm a little less then halfway through the heel flap. I can't wait to get these finished.

This is what the mail man dropped off at my door this morning.



Don't you love the plastic. Wouldn't want the box to fall apart. Shoot, why didn't they just use duct tape....that stuff fixes everything. Course duct tape isn't  see through.

Here's what the box looked like under the plastic.



It appears that the box was dropped in a puddle of water. Judging from the water stains and the condition of the box it sat in the water for awhile. The box was practically falling apart. Either that or someone dumped their coffee on the box and then sat on it.

This is what came out of the box.



Doesn't Jen wrap stuff up so purdy? I thank my lucky stars that she puts the goodies you order in a plastic bag. If not I'm sure that everything I bought would have been soaked.

Goodies unwrapped:



I got a skein of Family Pendragon Treadsoft superwash merino sock yarn in the color Iñigo. Geeeeorgous! I also purchase some Almond Honey whipped lotion, lip balm and a Wool Girl stitch marker. Jen sent a sample of Grapefuit sented Eucalan.

Here's a close up of the stitch marker.

Isn't it cute!

Now on to my insanity. I'm getting ready to jump off the deep end and purchase a spinning wheel. Hey, you all know I never do anything halfway. I'm almost 100% positive it will be the Ashford Traveller, single drive, double treadle. It's calling to me. I know that sounds weird but it is. I've looked at quite a few wheels now and I keep coming back to this one.

I also received a second box today but can't talk about the contents. I'm going to be knitting a sample but need to find out if I can post about it while I'm working on it.

Yarn & Knitting Progress

I've been trying to dig out the mess here in the house that has accumulated since I got sick. Next week is going to be a busy cleaning week for me.....wish me luck.

First up, Kaity's hat. Here's the shot of the inside of the hat.



I think its coming along nicely.



I'm knitting another hat to tuck up inside the other hat. For the second hat I'm knitting a stripe instead of the star.

I bought a skein of STR lightweight from a Ravelry user who was destashing.

The color is a 07 sock club color, Flower Power. I want to buy a few skeins of BMFAs shaded solids and maybe some laceweight for Irtfa'a. I want to make that shawl....bad!

I finished the first Marie Antoinette sock.



I'm in serious mad love with this sock pattern. I'm going to start the second sock tonight. I think I'll use this pattern again to make a pair of socks for my mom. I'm the designated sock knitter right now because mom is going in for surgery for her carpal tunnel next month. They're going to work on one hand and then after that ones healed they'll work on the other hand. Hopefully the surgeries will be successful and mom can go back to knitting. She's going crazy not being able to knit right now because of the pain. (hi mom, I know you're reading.)  :)

I received this from Cara (January One).



I won these cards in her blog contest. They are gorgeous. If you're interested in buying some, heres the link.

I bought some yarn from Wal*Mart this afternoon.



Our Wal*Mart still has the 1lb cones of Peaches & Creme cotton for $6.64....can't pass that up. I picked up two cones and a skein of Bernat Softee Chunky to make Zeus some more toys. I'll use the Peaches & Creme to make skirts for Kaity. This yarn is very durable and easy to wash so it should make some great play skirts....plus it's cheap.

I also have some boxes coming in from Knit Picks and Wool Girl and will blog about them when they come in. I bought some of Knit Picks new longer needles for sock knitting and a few books....yes I threw in a few skeins of sock yarn. I needed to get the price up there for the free shipping. The Wool Girl order was a splurge. I destashed a skein of Yarn Pirate merino to a fellow Ravelry user who was desperately wanting it. I needed to replace the destashed skein so I bought a skein of Family Pendragon treadsoft sock yarn, plus a few extra goodies. Who hasn't bought yarn to replace yarn they've gotten rid of? Sounds very logical to me.