Oh So Sunny!

The weather here has turned off nice although it's definitely getting a little to warm for me to hang around outside. We went through almost 2 weeks of thunderstorms and cloudy days so great to finally have some sunshine again. Thanks to this lovely weather my tomato plants are doing well and I now have tiny little green tomatoes.

Thankfully summer here in Montana is normally mild with low humidity. I can handle the higher temps but throw in the humidity and it makes you feel like you're melting. I spent 2 years in Biloxi, MS and the summers there are miserable but I sooooo miss the food!

As most of you probably remember, I've posted a few times on some of the things we've done as a family to be a little more "green". We're still chugging right along and sticking with the things we started. We were extremely happy to see that the plastic recycling has been started back up again here in town. My guilt level increased with each plastic bottle, container, and bowl I had to throw away in the trash.

I've also kept my eye out for new products to try. It's not that 7th Generations products aren't great but if I can find one that works just as good, is environmentally friendly, keeps the tons of chemicals off my kids, and saves me money then it's a great bonus. I noticed that Arm & Hammer makes a "green" line called Essentials which includes laundry soap. Now price wise for me (remember that I shop in a military commissary so prices are probably cheaper for me) the 7th Generations soap runs a little over $7 per 32 wash load bottle....kinda pricey I know but it worked, is environmentally friendly and the skin irritation we were experiencing with the other soaps have disappeared**. At 5-6 loads per week the bottle lasted me over a month so no to bad when you think about it. The Arm & Hammer is $5 per 78 load bottle. The only thing different is that Arm & Hammer doesn't say it's HE safe. Several years ago we replaced our dead top loading washer with an HE front loader. I didn't realize until after I washed 2 loads that the soap wasn't deemed HE safe. It suds a tiny amount which was the same amount of suds I've gotten with all the supposed HE safe soaps. The clothes came out clean and soap free. So even though it's not claiming to be HE safe I'm going to keep using it. Course these results could vary between the various brands of HE washers. I'm not an HE washer expert but it does work in my Kenmore HE machine.

** We've tried various regular laundry soaps to include different types of free and clear soap and the skin irritation was still there. We didn't notice the decrease until we swapped to the plant based soaps.

I've been up to a bit of knitting and spinning since my last post. You know me, just trying to stay busy so I don't go insane.

First up is the baby blanket I knit for my cousin who was due this month.

She had the baby several weeks ago. A healthy 8lb, 3oz (if I remember the ozs correctly I know he was 8lbs) baby boy. Very adorable I might add. So needless to say they haven't gotten the blanket yet. I have to wait till payday to send it off to them. I used the concept from the Grandma's Favorite cloth pattern. I knit until I thought the stripe was wide enough and then swapped colors. It took 1 ball of each color with the exception of the off white which took 2. I used Peaches & Creme worsted cotton but any yarn will work. The blanket is measuring in at 32"x32".

I've finally kicked it in to gear on Shawn's cabled hoodie (ravelry)(non ravelry).

Ignore the pink yarn on the bottom. It's just waist yarn. I used a provisional cast on so I could make sure the bottom of the hoodie was stretchy enough. I'm using Cascade 220 Heathers. I went with the XXL size since my gauge is slightly tighter because I'm using a thinner yarn then the pattern was written for. If Shawn I did my math right this should come out at about 50 inch finished chest size which would make it the same size as Shawn's favorite pullover hoodie. I want to finish this up so I can start a sweater for myself. I refuse to make something for myself until I finish this. If I don't, it will keep being thrown to the side and Shawn will never get his sweater. It ended up getting set aside awhile back to work on some test knits and I never picked it back up. I want to make sure he has it by this winter.

Another dishcloth. This one is from the 1 Jun Monthly Dishcloth KAL.

I used the dark blue cotton I originally had set aside for this cloth for baby E's baby blanket. I'm working on the mid June KAL cloth right now. I don't care for the way it's turning out in the variegated yarn so I'm going to swap to one of the striping yarns.

I finished a Jane Austen dress for Bree.

The pattern is in the second Mason Dixon Knitting book. Cute pattern but I needed to adjust it because the armhole depth was way to small. I don't know many toddlers who have toothpicks for arms. I used 2 skeins for Rowan Cotton Glace. Obviously the dress isn't finished since there is no fabric sewn on to make the skirt portion. This payday I'll pick out some fabric to match. I'm in the process of making several of these type of dresses for the kiddos. They are a lot faster then a dress that is all knit.

I received my Wizard of Oz Over the Rainbow sock club kit.

I only signed up for 4 of the kits. I wished I could have signed up for all of them but it just wasn't in the budget. Woolgirl puts together such wonderful kits. The yarn was dyed by Zenstring and is even more gorgeous in person.

I also received my Lord of the Strings sock club shipment.

This time it's the gradiance yarn and a cabled pattern. Once again, another great shipment from The Unique Sheep. I think I'm going to sign up for next years club when it rolls around. The stitch markers were an extra goody this time and I love them.

I've also been spinning.

I finished up the purple BFL and the superwash merino dyed by Yarn Pirate. The two skeins on the left are spun from the Yarn Pirate merino Pretty Pirate colorway and the two purple skeins are BFL.

Here's the 2ozs of superwash merino roving dyed by Yarn Love I've spun so far.

I'm going to (hopefully) spin the other 2 ozs at a similar consistency and then try my hand at plying the two together. I'm really starting to get the hang of it. Merino is a dream to spin. It's a tad slippery but I think I've gotten the hang of it now.

I can post this now since my swap pal has received her package.

This is progress shot of the scarf I knit for her. Stupid me, I forgot to take a picture before I sent her package off. The pattern is Boing! by Anne Hanson (ravelry)(non ravelry) and the yarn is Jade Sapphire Silk Cashmere in the color Hydrangea. It's a lovely yarn to work with....very soft! It knits up beautifully and it blocked out without a problem. I really wished I would have taken a picture of this in better light.

I also finished up a test knit for Woolgirl and hope to show it off here soon actually I have two to show off. It should be safe to post in a few weeks. The packages have gone out but not everyone has received their packages yet.

I think I've pretty much covered everything for now. I'll be back soon with updates on my current sock projects and most likely some spinning.

Happy Crafting!

Spinnning Again!

I have to say I think I've found my forever soap. We discovered Windrift Hill's goat milk soaps and decided to give them a try. We've been in search of a new bar soap so when Hubby saw these in the main billeting office (billeting is a military hotel) he picked up a couple of bars. This soap smells good enough to eat but the fabulous thing about it is it lathers well and rinses leaving you feeling clean but yet when you dry off your skin feels so smooth and you have the lingering yummy scent of the soap. They're sold in generous 5oz for around $5 which is actually a pretty good deal. I have no affiliation with this company just a super happy customer who wants to share with friends. The bonus is this a small business based out of Conrad, MT so we're supporting a some what local business. I do believe that Conrad is about 2 hours from here. We are trying really hard to support more small and local business.

I've been spinning and here are the results so far.

This was the first attempt the other day. I had about 3oz of Sakina Needles BFL that I purchased from TLE. I can see I've made some good progress from my last spinning attempt.

This is attempt number two.

As you can see I'm still working on this one. It's some yummy BFL I purchase from Susan before she closed up her etsy shop. I really like BFL it's soft and easy to spin but I think it's time to branch out into some different fibers. Soooooo.......

I picked up this with my TLE credit.

The one on the left is Yarn Love Marianne Dashwood roving, color is Bayfield Apple and the one on the right is Yarn Pirate Superwash Merino roving, color is Pretty Pirate. I can't wait to start spinning them.

I had some stickers here at the house so I decided to put a few on my wheel.

My wheel has a clear lacquered finish. I know some people like to stain or paint their wheel but frankly that's just not my thing. I'll stick with stickers since if I get sick of them I can peal them off and pick out some new ones.

I'll be back in a few days with a knitting post. I have a few progress photos to show.

Happy Crafting!

Almost Summer!

I'm trying to get back in to a more normal posting schedule. I'm still not posting as much as I'd like but I'll get back to more regular posts eventually. I'd be happy with once or twice a week.

I do believe that we're finally on our way to summer. It's been warm and it looks like there will be no more snow *knock on wood* 

I received my Mother's Day contest winnings from Woolgirl.

It was stuffed full of wonderful yummy bits of leftover yarn, two different full skeins of sock yarn, stickers, dpns, chocolate (had to throw those in the fridge....they were all melty), sticky notepads, and the cutest handcrafted cards. I was having a bad day when this came in. I didn't sleep very well the night before so I was super tired and all worn down. I mugged Shawn as soon as he walked through the door holding the box.

I finished a pair of socks.

The pattern is Gracious (ravelry)(non ravelry) and the yarn is Miss Babs Yummy Sock in the colorway Suede Rose. I really enjoyed this pattern and the yarn has a tight twist, is soft and was really nice to work with. This is my second pattern by Terry Ross. I really like her sock patterns. They're well written and nice to knit. The Tangled Faeries pattern I used to knit my last TLE swap pal was a Terry Ross pattern. I do have plans to knit another one of her patterns in the future.

I've cast on and frogged the baby blanket twice now. I was originally going to use some solid colored Plymouth Encore but have now decided to use Peaches & Creme. Here's the colors I'm going to use now:

I'm going for a simple garter stitch striped blanket. I'm not sure if I'm going to use the ombre colorway yet. I haven't made up my mind yet. Decisions decisions! I'll get that cast on some time today.

The tomato plants are doing great now that the weather warmed up.

They did unbelievably well for the two weeks they spent in the garage but they really took off after the weather warmed up and they've had a chance to be in the sun all day. We're seeing blooms on all three plants....some are opening up and others are still closed. Hopefully this year will be another good tomato year. This year we planted them in organic soil designed for container growing. It cost us a bit more but I think it's going to help.

We bought them during Home Depots Earth Day sale which happened shortly before we got the 25+ inches of snow. Boy did that snowfall make me really glad we container plant our veggies. Home Depot had a deal where you bought one plant got one free so we picked up 3 tomato plants, 1 spring onion plant, and 2 salad mix. I'll be going back this payday to pick up some strawberry plants. I don't know if we'll see any strawberries but the girls really want to plant some so who am I to argue. For now I'll keep buying the strawberries from the grocery store.

That pretty much sums up what I've been up to. I should have my first Wizard of Oz kit from Woolgirl next week and I'm going to be casting on some new socks in the next few days. I'm going with the Hearts & Flowers socks from the book Socks from the Toe Up and I need to pick out a new yarn for my "on the go" socks. I've decided that Noro silk garden sock does not make a very good sock yarn. I'll see if I can't use it for something else but it's definitely not going to be socks! Ugh! And to think, I have a second skein sitting in my stash. Sheesh!

I'm planning to place an order through TLE for some roving. I did a little spinning the other day and I think I'm finally getting the hang of it. I have a $25 credit so I might as well use it. I'll try to post about my spinning in the next few days.

Happy Crafting!

Spring Is Finally Here!

Well I think it's here anyway. The weather here has warmed up quite nicely. We had grand plans to have a picnic on Sunday but the stupid rain came in and ruined those. Hopefully next weekend will be nice and we can try for that picnic again. We're want to get out on the trails with the bikes and do a little riding around the river.

My friend Patty has opened up an etsy shop for the jewelry she's been making. She has some really pretty stuff. Check her out....I'll wait till you get back, promise!

We've been contemplating a new car and will most likely replace the one we have before the end of the year. We've been having a lot of electrical problems so it's time to get rid of it before we go broke trying to fix it. The stupid thing is shutting off at low speeds which is not life threatening but we keep thinking "what's next". I won't even tell you all how much the brake lines, rotors and brake pads cost me. Lets just say that several cashmere sweaters with enough to spare on a few pair of cashmere socks....painful? Oh you bet! No I didn't take it to the dealer because it would have cost me 3 times that. So anyways we were thinking really hard about the Subaru Forester until we realized that you have to put Premium fuel in it....ah yeah, nope don't think so. Am so not going to have that bite me in the butt if the gas prices shoot back to Mars again. The $4.20 per gallon was bad enough I don't want another 20-50 cents per gallon tacked on to that. We have it narrowed down to a Toyota Rav4, Camry or Corolla. We like the space of the SUV but we like the lower price of the car. We'll make our final decision after we take a peek at the trunk space of the Camry and Corolla. We were originally planning to get a vehicle that can tow but now it doesn't matter. We've decided that we're waiting until after Shawn gets out of the military to buy a camping trailer and we'll look for a used truck that can tow the trailer we want. For now we just want something that is reliable and you just don't get much more reliable then a Toyota.

So lets see, what have I been up to since the last post. A post which was what, 2 weeks ago. I'm to lazy intent on getting this post finished to pull up the site to see when the last post is. That's neither here nor there. You all are here to see what I've been up too.

I finished my Glynis socks (ravelry).

Man this yarn is seriously yummy! It's Zen Yarn Garden Serenity sock and I got it from Woolgirl. It's worth every penny. Last time I checked Woolgirl still had some in stock. I finished these in a record breaking 6 days and I knit them one at a time! The yarn was so delish I couldn't put them down. The pattern is from CookieA's new sock book Sock Innovations. If you love knitting socks and don't have this one yet you need to pick it up. It's worth it!

The Daisy cloth (ravelry)(non ravelry) from the Monthly Dishcloth KAL.

I think the colorway is lavender and the yarn is Peaches & Creme. This was a cute pattern and I definitely wouldn't mind knitting it again.

I finally got a picture of Kaity in her lacy cardi.

Don't ask me why she's not smiling. Normally the kid is smiling all the time. She likes the cardi....I swear she does! I'm planning on making a wool one for her for winter. I'm thinking maybe Cascade 220 superwash.

I finished the stripey Regia socks.

I kept them plain stockinette so I could show off all the stripes....well that and I didn't feel like knitting ribbing. There goes that laziness again.

Look at this kick butt birthday prezzie I received from my friend Colleen.

It's a knitters kit from Slipped Stitch Studios and some samples of fiber for spinning. Colleen, it's probably a good thing we live on opposite sides of the US. I think we'd get into some serious trouble if we lived near one another. I'm working on your gifty so you're going to have to wait just a tad longer for your box.....Muh-hahaha!

We finished the puzzle!

Kaity and I have been working on this every evening since she won it at Bingo night. It's been taken apart and put back in the box. We're getting ready to start a Tigger photomosaic puzzle that I have a feeling is going to kick our butt. This one was bought by my parents and I have a Winnie the Pooh one that I picked up a long time ago.

Well that covers it for now. Hopefully I'll be back to show off some goodies here soon. I won the Mothers Day contest on Woolgirl's blog and I'm hoping to see my first Oz kit here in the next week or so. Plus I'm working on a few other things that I haven't gotten progress photos of.

So with the wrap up of this post I'll leave you all with this picture of a photographer taking a picture of a photographer photo.

Happy Crafting!

Coffee, Bikes, and Knitting...

sounds like a pretty good combo to me. It's no secret that I love Starbucks coffee. Hubby and I are both addicted and normally get a coffee several times a week. We have a gold rewards card and try very hard not to think about the obscene amounts of money we spend on coffee. I figure it's better then the pack a day smoking habit we both had and it's way cheaper. Cigarettes are getting friggin' pricey and the prices on base aren't much cheaper then in town....I think they're almost up to $6 per pack....ouch! Boy am I glad I quit! But I get sidetracked...back to what I was talking about. I generally get either an iced caramel mocha or a caramel frapp, both of them come in plastic cups which I was more then happy to recycle. The problem comes in is that the company that use to recycle plastics around here stopped because they were taking a loss so we no longer have a place to recycle plastics which of course made me feel guilty every time I bought a iced drink because I knew I was going to be throwing the plastic away in the trash when I was done.

Shawn the Wonder Hubby brought home this beauty! It's the new Venti reusable cold cup from Starbucks. From what I understand these babies flew off the shelves quickly. Thankfully there will be no need for me to feel guilty anymore! Plus I get 10 cents off for using a reusable cup. The cup is double wall insulated so it keeps the drink cold a lot longer and the cup doesn't sweat so no more wet hands from holding a sweating cup. So I have a Venti cup, hubby has a Grande cup and all is right in the land of Luvs2knit.

I also got a bike.

The doctor wants me to exercise more and bike riding is definitely good exercise. The thing that sold me on this bike is the way the frame dips down making it a lot easier for me to get on and off the bike. We bought it from the House of Wall so the bike is getting a tune up at the local bike shop since frankly I don't trust the people who put the bikes together at Wally World. My luck is I'd get on the bike and break an arm because some moron forgot to put a bolt in where it should be.

I did receive some yummy goodies from Woolgirl the other day.

I picked up a Knit Kit, some Unique Sheep Pima Petite to make myself a tank top, and a skein of DIC Smooshy to round out the box and get free shipping. For some reason two of the skeins of cotton look different but all four skeins are the same color. Crappy weather = crappy pictures. Ah, spring in Montana! The Knit Kit is bigger then I was expecting but I love it. It's in my knitting bag now.

This is the yarn I'll be using to make my cousins baby blanket.

She's due next month so I really need to get my butt in gear and get started on this blanket. The yarn is Plymouth Encore worsted and its actually a lighter green the the picture. I picked this up from WEBS on sale for like $3.75 per skein. I'm going to be using the Angle Wings Baby Blanket pattern from the May 09 issue of Creative Knitting. I was going to start it the other day but I keep getting distracted by my Glynis socks. I can't help it....how can you put down cashmere laced sock yarn. The stuff is more addictive then crack....not that I've used crack....lol.

Speaking of my Glynis Socks (ravelry).

Here's my progress so far. I've finished on sock and have cast on the second one. It's a very easy pattern but the beginning of the round shifts so I opted to knit them one at a time instead of two at a time to make things easier on myself. I'm lazy, I can't help it!

I also finished the lacy cardi for Kaity and she loves it. The pattern is called Bounce Lace Cardigan (ravelry). I don't have a picture yet since she grabbed it as soon as it was washed and it's now sitting in the bottom of her dirty clothes basket. I'll catch a picture of her in it after laundry day. I'm sure it'll be one of the first things she'll grab when laundry is done.

I finished the test knit for Woolgirl but it's going to be awhile yet before I can show that one to you guys. I'm also working on my swap pals project which I need to spend a good afternoon or two on to get it finished up. I'm planning to send the box out next payday if everything goes well.

I'm making pretty good progress on my "on the go" socks.

They now have heels. I'll going with a plain stockinette leg for these and will put a couple inches of ribbing at the top before I bind off. I'll be done with these in the next few weeks.

I think that sums up everything that's been going on around here. Not overly exciting but at least I'm getting some knitting done. Even with all the crappy weather we've been having my tomato plants are doing great! They spent over a week in the garage thanks to the heavy amounts of snow we got. The final total on the three day storm was 25.4 inches of snow. The snow is gone and has been replaced with rain. Dear Mother Nature, could we please dry out just a tad before you hit us with more rain? All the snow and rain has the falls here in town flowing really well. Wonder what the falls look like at Ryan Dam?

Happy Crafting!

Snow! Seriously!!

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

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

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

I received my second LOTR sock club shipment.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy Crafting!

Lots of FO's

OK, where do I start? It's been so long since I posted about anything (not counting my post on the Bee Fields shawl). I'm not sure where to even start. Guess I should just jump in feet first and go from there. This is going to be a long post so feel free to grab a beverage and a snack. I'll wait....I promise!

Guess I'll start with finished projects for todays post. I have quite a few of those. Then I can cover new projects and goodies in the next post.

First up is my cashmere cowl.

I used Zen Yarn Garden Cashmere DK, colorway Truffles and the pattern is the Marvel Cowl (ravelry)(non ravelry). I had to add a few extra pattern repeats because the cowl was coming out to small. It's super warm and of course the weather has been warm so I haven't gotten a chance to wear it.

My Rainbow Baby Cable Rib Socks.

I really like how these turned out. The yarn is Paca Peds with the heel and toe yarn, colorway Tye Dye. I actually had more then enough yarn to knit the cuff too but I worked a short row heel instead of a heel flap. The pattern is the Baby Cable Ribbing from Sensational Knitted Socks. I worked this toe up, toe at a time. There's enough yarn left to make some shortie socks for Kaity.

I finished my toe up bamboo socks.

These were knit using Regia bamboo sock yarn. I can't remember the colorway and frankly I'm to lazy busy to look it up. They're just a basic toe up sock with stockinette foot, short row heel, and k2, p2 ribbing on the leg. The Regia bamboo was nice to knit with although it was a tad splitty. I haven't found a non wool sock yarn that isn't a tad splitty.

My Sweet Lime Monkey socks.

These were knit for the April Makin' Cookies KAL. I've knit this pattern several times but never for myself so I figured it was about time to make a pair of Monkeys for myself. The yarn is Yarn Pirate merino/bamboo/nylon sock yarn. The colorway is one of the Booty club colors called Sweet Lime. I bought it from someone who was destashing on Ravelry. I love how the yarn striped with this pattern.

Simple Garter Stitch Shawl called Mara.

This was my test knit for Madelinetosh. Kaity was kind enough to help me model it for pictures. It's a comfy garter stitch shawl with a simple ribbing. The pattern should be available soon. It uses 3 skeins of Tosh worsted and is super comfy.

Fauxbious test knit for Woolgirl.

This was the first shipment for the Woolgirl lace club. I test knit it awhile back. The yarn is Malabrigo Lace.

Easter egg dishcloth.

This was the 1 April KAL cloth for the Monthly Dishcloth KAL group.

I think this sums up most of the things I've finished here in the past few weeks. I'll leave you with my little princess modeling the new tank top her grandma (my mom) made her. She loves it!

Happy Crafting!