I'm Alive, I Swear!

Yikes, it's been 10 days since I posted. Would you all believe that I was kidnapped by aliens over a week ago and they just returned me last night? No! All right I'm a slacker! I took my knitting with me when the aliens kidnapped me so I have some FOs to show you.

First up, the Phenomena Socks:

I finally finished them! Yippy! To recap these socks were knit two at a time toe up. I did a plain ribbed sock and the yarn used was from Zen Yarn Garden's Art Walk Sock Club. I love the socks it just took forever for me to complete them.

Next is the Bubble Gum Striped Dress:

Over all it didn't take all that long to complete. I started it the July 5th and finished 12 Aug. I did set it aside for a few weeks to finish some sample and test knits. The pattern (A Good Stripe Dress) is from Interweave Knits Spring 08 issue and the yarn is Knit Picks Shine Sport in Hydrangea, Blush, and Silver Sage knit on US2/2.75mm needles.

I finished another hat for Kristy's Hat Quest (Rav) (non Rav).

This is hat number three and this payday they will be winging their way to Colleen who is collecting hats for Kristy. I made this one with Di.Ve' Teseo.

Old Meow now has a new hat and scarf.

I used some left over Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted to make a hat that Old Meow requested. Since Old Meow requested a new hat he needed a new scarf too. He's asking for mittens but I'm not sure how dedicated I am to knit 4 tiny mittens for a beanie baby cat. If Old Meow ever wants another hat I now know that I need to start the decreases as soon as I finish the ribbing so he doesn't end up with a hat that looks like it was made for a gnome.

I bought a skein of Cascade Heritage.

I picked this up from my TLE swap pal who was destashing on Ravelry. I wanted to try the Heritage, it helped someone I know destash, and it saved me on shipping costs. Can't go wrong. Wanna hear something crazy, she mailed the yarn from Maryland via First Class mail on Saturday and I recieved the yarn on Monday. Talk about crazy fast shipping!

Oh look more yarn!

My box from WEBS came in yesterday! This represents my whole stash budget for the month of August but hey I got one heck of a discount. You need to get the big discount, right? The red yarn is Valley Yarns Berkshire and it'll be used to make the A-Line Child's Coat (Rav) (non Rav). The 4 skeins of blue is Cascade 220 Superwash which will be used to knit my cousins cabled baby blanket (Rav). To qualify for the higher discount and get a better deal I threw in (for me) some ShibuiKnits Sock yarn and some of the Kraemer Sterling Silk & Silver.

Does anyone else notice that I'm still on a green kick?

I have started a new pair of socks for myself but there isn't enough for a picture yet. I'm attempting the Twisted Flower Socks (Rav) (non Rav) again. Some of you may remember me trying to knit these in the middle of our big move from Idaho to Montana. It didn't fair well, I messed up the sock and it turned out to small so ribbit ribbit off to the frog pond it went. This time I'm using Dream in Color Smooshy color Lunar Zazzle that I got from Woolgirl.

School isn't far from starting back up. I for one can not wait! School means quiet time in the morning and afternoon which in turns means that my Bee Fields shawl (Rav) (non Rav) will come back out of hidding and My Preeeecious (my spinning wheel) will be dusted off. I can't concentrate enough to do either one with Kaity constently asking me for something.

I love Lord of the Rings. The books were awesome and the movies were pretty good too. So seeing as I love LOTR I've signed up for The Unique Sheeps LOTR sock club. I could not pass this one up! Now I have to wait till Feb for my first shipment....yikes! I for one can't wait.

That's about it for now. I'll try not to go so long without posting but I can't promise.

Yarn, Socks, & More

Looks like todays post is going to be another long picture filled post.

I went to the LYS to pay on my layaway. Look what jumped into my hand.



Brown Sheep Lambs Pride worsted. They had the brown I was looking for and I decided to get purple for Kaity's new mittens. There were a few more skeins of yarn that wanted to jump into my hands but I resisted and told them to stay and someone would give them a good home. The shop has been moved around and reorganized which made for a much more pleasant shopping experience.

I also found some cute fleece at Wal-Mart.



I'm going to use this for backing to make Bree a blankie. She loves Tigger, who is not always easy to find on clothing and fabric.

While we were over in the craft section at wally world I noticed they had tons of Peaches & Creme on the cone. Not just the 2-3 colors they normally keep but lots more colors....colors I'd love to get. I've never seen that much variety from Wal-Mart. I'm not sure if it was a screw up in ordering or if they've decided to keep that much in stock but I hope it last till next payday. If so I'll pick up a few cones.

I received this book in the mail yesterday.



It's Miss Bea's Rainy Day. I've already queue several things for Bree. I think I'm going to start with the Thinking Dress first. I bought this from a fellow Ravelry user who was destashing some of her books.

Next up, I received my order from WEBS in the mail yesterday.



I used what was left of my gift card to purchase yarn to make Shawn some hats and a helmet liner. The yarn I purchased is Valley Yarns Northampton, colors: Dark Navy, Dark Grey, and Black. I want to see how it compares to Cascade 220 since Northampton is $4.99 for 247 yards and the cheapest I can get Cascade 220 is $6.50. I also bought the Olive Branch Yoga Hoodie pattern (not pictured).

I received my order from The Loopy Ewe in the mail yesterday.



I bought a skein of Dream in Color, color Ruby River. I'm going to use it to make Marie Antoinette. Gorgeous socks, yummy yarn, should be a great combo.

Also in my TLE order was one of the little sheep they are selling. I decided to get the black one this time. He's sitting up on my monitor now.

How can you pass up something that cute?

I started a pair of socks for Bree last night.



Tiny feet make for a quick knit. I need to finish up the heel and foot on the second sock, which won't take long.

I'm expecting my box from JoAnn's today. Surprise surprise it actually shipped. Come to find out (from the third person I talked too) that there was an item I ordered that was out of stock. The lady deleted the out of stock item and what do ya know, it shipped. Why couldn't one of the first two people I talked to have done that? There's an hour and a half of my life I can't get back wasted being on hold.

I'm also expecting a few things small things to come in soon that will go into posts as they come in.

Updates

I have a lot of things to talk about today.

First up, I received two books in the mail.



The first one is 101 Designer One Skein Wonders. I've already found tons of things to add to my queue. The second book is my prize from the Fall Cable KAL, Cables Vol 1: The Basics. The Cables book is awesome. I do believe that Janet Szabo is a cable genius. If you love Cabley Goodness go check out her site.

I made a pair of socks for Kaity.



Simple sock pattern (my own). I used Opal 6 ply, color 1712. These were a really fast knit (3 days). I still have 100g of the 150g ball. I'm going to make a pair for Bree here in the next few days.

Last night I started a pair of wrist warmers for my mom.



I'm using Irish Hiking Wrist Warmers pattern. These are knit flat and seamed up when your finished. I doubt these will take me very long to make. I'm already halfway through the first wrister. I'm using Knit Picks Andean Silk, color Chocolate. I really like this yarn and I'd definitely splurge on some for a sweater.

I've also finished a few dishcloths but I'm not going to post them out here. If you're on Ravelry and want to see them they're in my notebook. My user name is luvs2knit.

Today we're going to head into town to finish up some shopping. I'm making a stop at the yarn shop and may find something. I'm looking for some Lambs Pride worsted but can't remember if they carry it or not.

New Project

**ETA: the pictures. I posted without the pictures. It's going to be a long day.

As if I really needed to start another project. I finished up my moms first sock yesterday so I celebrated by starting a new shawl.




The pattern I'm using is Show Your Colors Shawl. It's a very simple shawl pattern. I'm using to strands of Knit Picks Shimmer, color Grape Hyacinth.

Here's the first Penllyn Sock.




This one was a fast knit, three days for the first sock. Keep in mind that this is the socks I knit on all night long when Kaity was sick.

I've died and gone to....well you all can figure out what I was going to say. I just read out on the Ravelry forums that the yarn shops in Helena went out of business. The shop here in town is very limited...emphasis on very! So I guess Billings has my nearest yarn shop and Billings is like 4 hours away. Makes me almost want to cry.

I'm really kicking myself in the butt because there are like 3 shops located outside of the base there in Cheyenne, WY and that was our second pick. It was our second pick because it put us farther away from my family. Cheyenne is less then two hours away from Denver, CO. *sigh* Should have picked WY. Oh well, stuck here in Montana it is....guess I'll make the best of it. Internet buying here I come.

Time to stop feeling sorry for myself and get the kiddo out the door for school.

Fell Off the Wagon & Some Ranting

That phrase "The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions" is starting to become my phrase.  I'm still pavin'.  It was my intention not to buy any more yarn but Georgia - Yarn Pirate updated her new shop and I couldn't resist snagging a skein of Pretty Pirate.  :~)  Hey I could have bought more but I was good.  One skein, that's all.  Course that's what I said when I order my STR.

Anyone else having a heart attack over the gas prices?  Shawn put some gas in the car today to hold us over till we head to Boise, where the gas is a tad cheaper....since we have to go that way anyway.  I think this will be our last trip to Costco.  After this we need to start working on draining our freezer so we don't have a ton of food in there come PCS time.  Anyway back to gas prices, it was $3.04 here on base.  Shawn put in 5 gallons and it cost us $15.25....oh my heart.  Ok maybe it's not my heart but it's definitely anxiety over how high the prices are going to jump with the way they have been going up.  I know there are others that are paying more then we are. 
I know that gas is around $3.20 - $3.30 in Oregon but that's not a shock because the gas prices seem to always be higher in Oregon.  Course they don't have to pump their own gas.  :~)

Yarn & Cute Baby

I made my very first purchase with BMFA this afternoon.  My order was not super sized, though I could have put 4-5 skeins in my cart, I only bought one skein.....but I'm sure there will be more in my future.   This time I decided to go with Tide Pool.
Now on to the cute baby part of the post.  This is what I saw this morning when I opened Bree's door.

The girl is slippin' out of her jammies again.....this isn't the first time.  :~)




Baby in Jail.  I just love the look.


 

Another Monday

So far so good this seems like it's going to be a pretty good Monday.  I've had my coffee and shower...yes I had the coffee before the shower.  You all don't want me to fall and smack my head due to being half asleep in the shower, now would you.....must have priorities.  :~)
So now that I have my coffee buzz going and I no longer stink I can update you all on my progress and such.
First off, my CTH socks.  Here's  what I managed to accomplish last night.  The gusset is complete.  :~)




When you all seen it last (the 28th if I'm not mistaken) it only had about 4 inches on the cuff.  So I've managed to make some pretty good progress on it over the weekend.  I'm hoping to have it finished by the end of this coming weekend.  I have about 6 inches total left on the sock.... 4 more inches of foot and then about 2 inches for the toe.  :~)  I'm in the homestretch now.

I think I'll be working on my moms gift this afternoon.  Kaity will be at school, Bree will be napping, Shawn will be at work and all will be quiet in my world.  I'm also hoping to have this one finished soon.  My goal on this one is to have it finished by the end of next week so that gives me 10 good days of knitting on this, barring no unforeseen problems.  You know how it goes, something always comes up.  :~)

My mini freak out is over.  Shawn calmed me down....he always does.  I also had some great advise from some good friend....Thanks.    :~)  So now I'm not freaking out over money and moving and everything else under the sun.  I'll be posting as soon as we find out where we are going.

I ordered a few balls of Trekking sock yarn from Astrid's.  I've heard so many great things about her store that I figured I'd order some yarn.  I did email her earlier this year with some questions and she was so much fun to talk to.  I had mentioned that I would be ordering from her after I recovered from my daughters b-day and she sent Kaity an ecard....how sweet is that.  So I have some Trekking coming in....haven't used Trekking yet.  :~)

I also won a contest out on Jennie's blog.  WooHoo, I won....It's not normal for me to win anything.  :~)  It was fun.  We had to guess what the brand and color of the yarn she was using.  I won a ball of the Trekking Ombre 100.  I'll post a pic when I get it in.

I think Sheri was also going to try to have the Loopy Sock Club shipment out this week or next.....weeeeee!  I sooooo can't wait to see what she has picked out for this installment. **Trish is giggling like a little school girl**

So I have yarn coming in, I'm not freaking out, and I'm managing to get some knitting time in.  All is well in my world.  :~)

Patterns, Patterns Everywhere

I'm taking a break from my regularly scheduled knitting to show you all the cutie patterns I picked up last week.


The two Plymouth patterns were purchase from The Naked Sheep....great little place to find patterns.  They offer free shipping in the US on all orders, which is awesome in my book, I love the free shipping.  :~) 
The sundress pattern is for Kaity and the cardi pattern is for Bree.  Plus we just found out a few weeks ago that my cousin and hubby are expecting their first little one toward the end of the year....squee, two babies to knit for.  Damn I need to save up some money for more yarn.  Oh more yarn purchases.....Expand your stash, I'm stickin' with it.  Anyone use any of the Debbie Bliss yarns?  I know they are a tad pricey but are they worth the extra money?

These patterns were bought from an ebay seller Oregon Trail Yarn.
 

This isn't my first purchase from her.  Go check her out.  She's an excellent seller and she has some great items at good prices.  I bought that little jumper patter on the end for Bree, which is 1T-4T so it'll be good for a bit.  The hoodie sweater in the middle will be good for both the girls because it runs from 2T clear through ages 10-12.  Then the pattern on the left hand side is for my hubby.  Yup I'm going to make my man a sweater.  Since I have a ring on my finger I don't have to worry about the sweater curse.  :~)   It's just a simple Henley but it has Shawn written all over it.  He doesn't quite get the $20-30 socks but he rolls with it.  I thought I'd make a sweater for him to show him how much I appreciate the fact that he puts up with my obsession.  He's been hinting about wanting a sweater so I'd better make him one.  :~)
I should be seeing the yarn I purchased for some of these things here this week too.   I bought the yarn for the sundress from Discontinued Name Brand Yarns.  I think I've seen them selling stuff out on ebay too but can't remember the seller name they go by.   They said my order shipped UPS so I should be seeing that soon.  The yarn was $1.99 a ball there instead of $4.99....can't beat that.  Plus they gave me a pattern free with each color of yarn I bought so I have 2 other patterns I wanted coming in.  :~)  I also bought some of the Cotlin yarn from Knit Picks.  I'm going to see how it feels and if it works and feels good I'm going to use it to make the little Jumper for Bree.  I'll share everything when it comes in. 
Well I'm outta here ya'll!  I'm back to my regularly scheduled knitting.

Mail, Socks and Such

My wonderful mailman was kind enough to bring me my box from Knit Picks....WooHoo!  So you all can probably guess what I'll be knitting on constantly....yup you guessed it Monkey socks.  I've been holding out on the Monkey socks for my Knit Picks DPN's.  The only ones I had that are pointy are 8" long and that's too long for sock knitting, at least for me.

Last night I finished up the first plain jane socks for myself.  It fits great.  Doesn't Skitz make a lovely background for sock pictures?  This would make for an interesting entry into Sheri's photo gallery "Socks On Trees (and such).  I think this one would fall into the and such part....lol.  Now that I have my needles in these socks will have to sit to the side for now.  I need to get the Monkey socks done first.

Well I'm off to go get Bree down for a nap, get something to eat, finish the laundry, squeeze in some knitting time, perform surgery on Hello Kitty's foot, etc, etc, etc.  My list would go on and on.  A mom's work is never done.  :~)  Of course if you ask Kaity the only think important is to get her Hello Kitty sewed up.  The poor Kitty has a 2 inch hole in one of her feet.  This is the Hello Kitty Build-A-Bear stuffed animal that Kaity and Shawn made a special trip to Boise for.  She bought it with her B-day money my parents sent her.

And now I leave you with a cutie pic of Firefighter Bree.  Kaity had a Daisy Scout field trip to the fire station here on base and she brought an extra hat home for her sis.  Doesn't she look so serious?  :~)