Rockstar!

Now I have Nickleback's song Rockstar ** stuck in my head. I totally felt like a rockstar when I saw my name in Amy's post showing the last sample knit I did for her. I have the pics I took but the ones in her post are way better then mine. Woolgirl also posted about this knit and has one additional picture that wasn't in Amy's post.

** Song has cussing in it, though this video has it bleeped out.

My pic was taken late at night so it's crappy. I took the pic at night so I could get the sweater packed to send with Shawn to drop off at the PO the next morning. Normally I just request a carrier pick up but USPS has a cutoff time for pickup the next day. The pattern is Amherst by Dolce Handknits. I really enjoyed working with the Tosh Worsted (Rav)(non-Rav). It's very soft and as always the colors are gorgeous. Woolgirl is carrying the Tosh Worsted and Dolce Handknits patterns. I definitely see some Tosh worsted in the near future. I'm thinking either a warm wrap/shawl or a hat/scarf set. I'm leaning toward the shawl/wrap since I stay indoors a lot in the winter.

I did acquire a couple of skeins of yarn since my last post.

I picked this up from a Ravelry user who was destashing. I'm planning to use it to make socks for the girls. It's time to get started on socks for them since winter is just around the corner.

I'm attempting the Twisted Flower Socks (Rav)(non-Rav) again.

Here's a close up of the pattern.

The socks are going much better this time. It's a little snug going over the heel but it's very comfortable on the foot. I'm using Dream in Color Smooshy, color Lunar Zazzle. I've actually finished the first sock and am about halfway through the cuff of the second sock. These were the better pics.

I knit a dishcloth.

Pattern is the Quilted Diamond Cloth by Rachel of Knits By Rachel (Rav)(non-Rav). I highly recommend her patterns. They're well written and she has some great patterns.

Another dishcloth.

This pattern is NunuYaya (Rav)(non-Rav). It's a tad fiddly to start but I really enjoyed knitting it. This is the yarn I was knitting the woven basket dishcloth with. I couldn't finish the cloth because it hurt my hands to knit it. I could only knit 2-3 rows before needing to put it up. So I frogged it and found a more hand friendly pattern.

I also made a pair of socks for Kaity.

 
A simple sock knit toe up. I used the Turkish cast on and a short row heel. The yarn is Opal Rainbow and I used 2.5mm needles. I'm not matching stripes for these socks since Kaity said she didn't care if they matched. I knit the foot in stockinette and added k2, p2 ribbing for the cuff and used a picot bind off.

For now I'm working on my socks and other WIPs that I have but soon I will have yarn for two more sample/test knits, one for Madelinetosh and one for Woolgirl.

No one can accuse me of not staying busy!

Happy Crafting!

Fun at the Park

We took the girls to the park for a picnic and of course these means heading over to the duck pond.

It's huge! The picture doesn't capture the whole pond there's more to the right and left that isn't pictured.

The girls had a lot of fun feeding the ducks, geese, swans and gulls.

 

OK, so Kaity had more fun feeding the birds then Bree did but Bree liked watching the birds flap around and make lots of noise. She smiled
and laughed. I think her favorite part was walking around the duck pond a second time. She rode in the stroller the first time around the pond.

After we fed the birds we headed over to the playground for a little swinging and sliding.

Bree didn't care for the swing but she did like the slide.

I think it helped that Kaity showed Bree how to slide down.

It probably helped that daddy was at the bottom ready to catch her. We didn't get any pics of her coming down the slide since Shawn needed to catch her and that's tough to do while trying to take a picture.

We topped off the fun day by stopping at The Popcorn Colonel for some tasty popcorn. My favorite is the caramel popcorn....yum.

All
in all we had a great time at the park. We're going to try to stop at
parks when we go out to let the girls play for a little bit before the
weather gets nasty. Winter's just around the corner here. The forecasts
have been showing a possibility for snow in the mountains....won't be
long before it's snowing here.

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.

Crazy Busy

We celebrated Bree's birthday the other day. This year we went with cupcakes instead of a cake.

We picked the Wall-E decorations (of course)!

The girls really enjoyed their cupcakes, not that that's really a shock or anything. What kid willingly turns down sugary cake?

Bree received a lot of fun things but I'm not posting all the pics out here on the blog. It would take up a whole post and frankly I'm way to lazy. Her favorite toys out of the group seems to be a talking purse and a guitar. It's hilarious watching Bree rock out with her guitar.

I've gotten a few things in the mail since my last post.

First up:

Some of the new Red Heart sock yarn, Heart & Sole. I think it's going to be a nice go-to sock yarn. It has a nice feel to it and at $4.99 per 50g ball it's a steal for a pair of socks. FYI, there is no acrylic in this yarn....I know someone will ask. It's wool, nylon and it's treated with aloe.

Next up:

PandaToes from Crazy Monkey Creations. Their yarns are very reasonably priced and I couldn't resist the color, Berry Cobbler....Yum!

My Yarnapalooza winnings:

I was one of the winners of Romancing the Yarn's Yarnapalooza contest. Barbara sent me two skeins of Noro Silk Garden (color 8 & 226) which is probably going to become some nice warm mittens for me, a magnet (already on the fridge), and a signed copy of one her books. I haven't read this one yet so it's next up in my book queue. I can't wait for her new book Casting Spells. I'm a sucker for a good romance novel.

Finally:

I bought one of TLE's second anniversary kits. There isn't a thing about this kit that I don't love. Coffee mug, Casbah yarn, extra little goodies and a great pattern.....what more could a girl ask for. Kaity has already laid claim to the Loopy tattoos. I can't wait to use my coffee mug.

I've done a bit of sewing.

Here are 32 more napkins. The fabric cost me a little over $16 so that roughly $.50 per napkin. Not a bad price. Kaity picked out most of the fabric with the exception of Mickey which Bree pointed out and the Flames/Water which was pointed out by Shawn. The Hannah Montana napkins will probably be used for Kaity's lunchbox unless I can find some Tinkerbell fabric. Her lunchbox and backpack are Tinkerbell this year.

I've been crocheting too.

I've made two crochet baby washcloths (Rav)(non Rav) and I'm making more. I can crochet a face cloth a lot faster then I can knit one. I'm making these to replace the wet wipes I was using to clean Bree's face after meals. The cloths can be reused where as the wipes are only used once and thrown away.

Kaity's dress is getting closer to be finished.

I think I need to do 2 more stripes after I complete the one I'm working on. I'm to lazy to get up and check the pattern. Needless to say the dress is really close to being done.

The socks are soooooo close to be done.

I tried them on earlier and I have about 2-3 inches left before binding off. I love the yarn and the pattern is simple so I can't understand why it's taking forever to finish these socks. I swear I knit on them and they don't grow at all.

I have a big order coming in from WEBS. I finally decided on the yarn for my cousins baby blanket and I ended up changing my mind on the pattern. I'm saving the Rambling Rows pattern for something else. I found a cool cabled baby blanket (Rav) that I couldn't pass up.

Happy Crafting!