Not Perfect But Better!

Dear Typepad,

I'm writing you to inform you of my unhappiness with one of your "improvements". You say that you're making Typepad better for everyone but you've done something that is driving me crazy. You have messed with the way my blog comments are emailed to me and it's driving me insane.

I use to get my comments emailed to me by a no reply Typepad email address. All I had to do was highlight the comment in the email and hit reply and something magical happened, the email address of the person who commented showed up in the To: section of my reply email. Now it no longer does that. Typepad's email shows up in the To: section and I have, on more then one occasion, hit send before changing the email address. If you get tired of getting my emails please feel free to go back to the old way of doing things. I won't mind one bit!

This saddens me deeply. Is there anyway, Mr(s). Typepad, for you to change this back to the way it was? I was so happy before you took that away from me. Please can I have my happiness back?

Thank you,
luvs2knit

Alright so maybe telling Typepad that I'll be forever unhappy in life because they messed with emailing comments is stretching it but it is rather annoying considering that it's work beautifully for me since I signed up for my Typepad blog in April of 2007 (I think it's Apr 07, I'm too lazy to actually look it up) and now whamo it's not working because they are making "improvements". What a pain!

Well now that I've gotten that out of my system I can move on to other things.

Good news, I've added my free knitting patterns to Ravelry and am now linked as a designer. I have no idea if anyone has ever knit these pattern with the exception of me but they are there for anyone who wants them. You can find them here.

I've done a little yarn acquiring. I've been rather good here lately so a little splurge was in order.

Harry Potter Opal sock yarn.



This is the Tonks colorway. I bought this from p2tog which is a UK yarn shop. She has a shop on ebay and a regular website. She has a nice selection of yarn, great communication, and ships quickly. The bonus is she sends a free sock and glove pattern. This isn't my first order from p2tog. It took about 5 days to get here from the UK. I picked this up for a little over $16 which included shipping. Here in the states this same ball of yarn would cost me $23 plus shipping. That's a pretty big savings when you are trying to make your dollars stretch. It's the only colorway I really wanted out of the Harry Potter collection and the price was right.

Some Crystal Palace Yarns Merino 5, colorway: Mocha Chai.



I've been wanting to try this one for awhile and I found someone on Ravelry who was destashing some at a price I couldn't pass up. This is going to become a pair of warm socks for me as soon as I finish up the girls Sock Monkeys and the baby blankie. Right now those two things take priority of my knitting time with the exception of the test knit which is the highest priority. The test knit is almost finished though.

JL Yarn Bamboo Zania (ebay)(etsy).



I picked this up on ebay pretty cheap. It's a 50% Bamboo/50% Wool blend sock yarn. I'm wondering how well it will work and if it has enough spring in it to make nice socks.

This final acquisition was a very generous gift from a friend.



Four very yummy skeins of Tosh Worsted in the Jade colorway. These skeins will soon become warm winter wear for myself. I have plans to make Habitat (Ravelry)(non Ravelry), Evangeline (Ravelry), and Birthday Cowl (Ravelry)(non Ravelry).

I've started the Monkeys for the girls. I'm at the body of the first monkey. I won't be posting pics until they get them for Christmas. Kaity frequently looks over my shoulder when I'm at the computer and the last thing I want her to do is see a picture of them in my iPhoto album or in my Ravelry Notebook. She knows how the Ravelry Notebook works and that most likely anything in it is for her or her sister. She's one sharp cookie!

Shawn is suppose to be getting some excess school money. Since his computer is less then a year old we decided to spend some of it on a LCD HDTV. The TV we have is a temp replacement to the TV that died when we moved up here.....I'm still not convinced the horrid movers didn't do something to kill it. If you'd have seen what they did to some of our stuff you'd most likely agree. We want to splurge a little since we can, so hopefully very soon I will have a 42" TV to watch NCIS and CSI Miami. It doesn't take much to entertain me. A little yarn and a big screen TV to watch my favorite shows on....what more could a girl ask for. :~)

I'd like to thank everyone who left me comments or emailed me after my last post. Most days I can easily ignore the bad things but after awhile it all piles up and it just starts weighing me down. Things are so much easier when you have friends to talk to. Although we haven't met I consider you all friends. (((Big Hugs))) I've taken to recording The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson so I can watch it in the morning. He's such a crack up and what better way to start the day then to laugh your butt off.

Happy Crafting!

Misery Loves Company....

So someone needs to get out here to keep me company because frankly I'm miserable.

Please forgive me but I need to rant about the extreme _______ that live in this town.....feel free to fill in the blank with your favorite insult, cuss word, etc for the people who annoy the living day lights out of you. I'm trying to keep it clean for polite company but I have some really creative words for the moronic population of this town. I've been through quite a few cities thanks to the military and I've got to say this one is at the top of my list of places I will never live in again.

I'm beginning to believe that they hand out drivers license in this town without individuals having to prove that they can drive. The police force here is pretty much non existent. We go into town frequently and I can count on one hand how many times I've seen a cop in the past year and of those times all but one time were on the main road near the military base. Guess the main priorities of the local cops is to catch the speeding military members. In the past year we have almost been hit 6 times. One of those just happened today too. Some crazy lady in an SUV was in a hurry and tried to get into our lane. If we wouldn't have honked the horn she would have hit our car. She then proceeds to be childish by riding our bumper until another car turns and then went flying past us giving us nasty looks...yup, real mature I know. As if her dirty looks hurt my feelings. I could care less.

The people here are generally rude and nasty. I had one lady practically cuss me out one day because I blocked her from going through the door because I was coming out of the door with Bree in the stroller. She starts telling me that I'm going "out" through the "in" door. Now the store I was at does not have doors marked for entrance and exit. You just go in and out of which ever door you want to.

I can't tell you how many times I've been smacked with carts or cussed at because I was in some ones way. Everyone here seems to be in a hurry. I haven't been in any stores in this town that this hasn't happened. I've been here a little over a year and I'm miserable. The base isn't bad but I hate the town! I hate it here because I'm so uncomfortable with driving in this town that I stay home all the time.

I'm one of those people who thinks that an military assignment is what you make of it. If you think you're going to be miserable you probably will be unless you do something to change things. I hated being stationed in the south because of the weather but I had a great time because of all the friends I made. Not to mention that there isn't anything better then some southern comfort food or better yet Cajun food.....man I miss the food. Idaho wasn't too bad except for the last few years before we left. Things were getting bad for Shawn at work and there were changes on the base that would have made it bad for us if we would have stayed.

What's really sad is that Boise is 5 times bigger then this place and I never had half the problems in the 9 years that I was there that I  have here. We've contemplated moving back to Idaho when Shawn's done with the military aside from the military base we had a good time in Idaho and enjoyed the people there. We have 4 years to go here until Shawn retired because our only other option to get out of here is to put in for a set of orders overseas and that's not an option. We only took this base because there was no way I was living in Las Vegas and we couldn't afford the cost of living in Southern California and who in their right mind goes to Minot AFB, ND. I've tried really hard to be happy here. I've tried to ignore the rudeness and general dislike emanating from the locals. I've put on a good face, smile and say every things alright but it isn't and I don't think there's much I can do to make it better. God knows I've tried. The rudeness is getting to me.

My saving grace is all the friends I've made through this blog and Ravelry. If it wasn't for you guys being here to help me through the hard times and listen to me rant, I don't know what I would do.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for being there for me. Super Big Hugs from me to all of you!!!! And I promise the next post will be knitting related and on a happier note.  :)

Just as I Promised

I'd better be careful or people are going to start accusing me of posting to my blog regularly. Actually I'm using a blog editor on my Mac so it's easier to write out the posts in advance. Now to see if it will actually help me post more frequently.

I tried ScribeFire (a FireFox add on) as suggest by Tammy but I don't think it likes the Mac version of FireFox. It won't allow me to edit the preferences and when I have it enabled I can't use FireFox to access my Typepad account. If it wasn't for that I'd be using ScribeFire.

Right now I'm trying to decide which program I want to use. One is free and one is $30 for the software after the trial. I really like the free one but it doesn't have an easy way for me to post using my Flickr photos which helps me keep people from snatching my pics off my blog. The one that costs me money pulls photos from my Flickr account but doesn't allow me to change the fonts in the post. Or at least I haven't found a way to change that yet. I think I'm going to go with the free one but I need to do a few posts to see how well it works. I've already sent them an email to see if they have plans for adding a way to use online photo storage places as an option for putting photos in your blog posts.

Anyway, enough of my yammering and on to the knitting. I have a few updates to show you.

First is the baby blanket I'm working on.



It's a smaller blanket but should be fine since I'm shooting for the perfect size to use in a carseat. This one is measuring out around 20 inches not stretched. I know it will stretch some when washed.

I hated having to lug around heavy blankets when the girls were babies. I always grabbed the smaller ones. The pattern is Baby Cables Blanket (Ravelry) and the yarn is Cascade 220 Superwash. I think this has to be my most favorite superwash yarn. There are several different cables in this blankie. I had each cable marked with stitch markers when I first started but once I had the first 48 rows of the actual cable pattern I didn't need them anymore since the cables were starting to show. I definitely recommend marking the cables when you first start this blanket to avoid confusion.

I also received a box from TLE.



It's some Cascade 220 to make Knit Sock Monkeys (Ravelry)(non Ravelry) for both of the girls. I really wanted to use Noro Kureyon but it was going to cost $25 per monkey plus shipping and I really couldn't justify the cost. I already had some pink and purple Cascade 220 so all I needed was some natural and red. Much cheaper then $55+ for Noro. If the girls really like their Sock Monkeys I'll make some accessories for them.

You all know about the plague head cold that we've been dealing with. For the most part we're over it, but poor Bree has developed a cough. She woke me up in the wee hours of the morning with her coughing. Thankfully she went back to sleep so she's not really tired. I, however, did now fair as well...coffee is my friend. Now if only I could sucker Shawn into going to Starbucks for a Peppermint Mocha Twist. I was really hoping that she wouldn't develop a cough. Shawn never did. I, on the other hand, developed a horrible hacking cough that made me sound like a barking walrus.

I received my November shipment from the 7 Deadly S(p)ins club. If you want to see it you can click here.

I have the updated copy of my test knit pattern in hand so I'm going to kick it up a notch and see if I can't get that finished up quickly. I'm pretty positive it will only take me about a week to get it finished. I'm not sure if I'll be posting on the blog during the next week or so. If anyone wants to chat with me send me an email (email addy is on my "About" page or PM on Ravelry since I'm on Ravelry off and on all day long. My Ravelry ID is: luvs2knit for anyone who wants to add me to their friends list.

Happy Crafting!

Free Pattern Update

Just wanted to post that I've updated the Free Patterns page (see right hand column). I've added the Cabled Cup Cozy pattern and tweaked the other three patterns. They had some minor corrections. I've also added the patterns to Ravelry's database. You can find them under Luvs2knit. I'm in the process of getting my name linked as a designer and then eventually I'll add them as free Ravelry Downloads. One thing at a time though.

If anyone finds an error please email me to let me know. My email address is linked on the Free Patterns page.

Oh the Shock!

It's only been a couple of days since my last post and I'm posting again....scary isn't it! How crazy is it that when I first typed shock in my post title it came out Sock! I can be silly from time to time. Now this is where I digress, please excuse me for one moment.

Dear Charities of the World,

It has come to my attention that you now feel the need to Spam peoples mailboxes. No I'm not talking about email boxes, I'm talking regular postal mailboxes. There hasn't been a day that went by in the last two months (with the exception of Sunday since mail isn't delivered on Sundays) that I haven't received a thick envelope filled with crap and a note begging me to send you money. You will not receive money from me. If I decide to donate my money to a worthy cause (and yes I do frequently) I will most likely pay for it via that charities website or stopping by to pay locally. One of my favorite charities is my local animal shelter so they get a nice chunk of money from me every year. Animals can't help themselves like humans can.
Here's a fabulous tip for you, please listen it might do your non profit organization some good, stop mailing crap out to people. I do not need to be enticed by calendars, mailing labels, Christmas cards, etc. I have 4, repeat 4, 2009 wall calendars and enough mailing labels to last me for the next 85 years, as for all the Christmas cards, well they are now being put to use by my kids. They draw and scribble on them before they are thrown in the recycle bin. These things cost money! Save that money to put towards the people who need it, you know, those people you are asking money to help....what a shock! For all of you who are mailing me pennies and nickles in the envelopes....stop, every damn penny counts so stop throwing money away by putting it in an envelope in the hopes that the person receiving the envelope will donate money to your cause. Uh, Hello, it's a penny, do you really think that's going to entice people to give you $20, 50, or even $5 in this economy? Your organizations need to take a hard look at their marketing plans. Are you getting enough donations to justify the costs? How many people would donate to you every year regardless of if you mailed them junk? I would be happy with a single letter explaining your cause, an envelope for me to mail money back to you (I understand that not everyone has easy or any access to the internet) and a website address, if you don't have a website I highly recommend that you get one.
By you mailing me crap, you have lost an individual who would have most likely give some money to your organization. Maybe it's time to rethink the way you advertise.

Thank you,
Luvs2knit Household

I feel much better. Alright, now back to our kinda sorta regularly scheduled blog post.

I've managed to stay busy even through the head cold, NyQuil haze. One bottle of NyQuil later I am now feeling better. The cold is still lingering but it's been diminished to a minor nuisance. The test knit is on hold awaiting some design changes so I've been working on my own stuff.

Kaity's Cowl is now finished.

The pattern is Darkside Cowl (Ravelry)....sorry, couldn't find a non Ravelry link. The yarn is Plymouth Galway Paint to match the mittens I made a little while back. The only mod I made to the pattern was to cut one pattern repeat out since it was being used to go around Kaity's scrawny neck. She loves it and has requested more. I do believe that this cowl is going to work a lot better for her then any scarf I could ever make. Thanks for the idea Colleen. If you wouldn't have made one for your kiddo, I would have never thought to make one for my own.

Of course we must now make a matching hat to go with the cowl and mittens.

Would you expect anything else. One must accessorize! Kaity's fat head won't fit into the hat I made her last year so it's been passed down to Bree who has been playing with it. She puts it on her head and tells me she's going to work....goofy kid! :) The pattern is doubleknitski (Ravelry) (non Ravelry). I'm using the Plymouth Galway Paint for the outside and the inside is being lined with The Unique Sheep Foot Prints which was also used for Kaity's inner mittens.

I have acquired a few things since my last post. What, me, buy yarn.....never! Ok, so you all know me better then that. Sometimes you just can't help passing up yarn.

I was at my local Michaels a week ago and this flew into my basket.

The Peppermint Mocha Twist made me do it. It's all Shawn's fault! Since he was off for Veteran's Day we decided to head over to B&N for a coffee and books. I can't go to B&N without making a trip into Michaels since it's only a couple of stores down. Plus hubbs like Michaels too....aren't I a lucky gal! Anyway, all the yarn was on sale which was oh so tempting and I found the sock yarn. Yup, Michaels has finally gotten sock yarn....woot! Well at least my Michaels has it. Here they are carrying Patons Kroy and Stretch. I hope they get in Lion Brand and Red Hearts too. I like having easy access to afford hard wearing sock yarns. Since Ben Franklin Crafts here in town is going out of business that leaves only the two very tiny LYSs. Both stores are great but they have a very limited selection of stuff.

Mmmmmmmmmalabrigo sock yarn!

As if you guys could honestly expect me to pass that up. Plus I had a $25 credit at TLE to use. Malabrigo + $25 credit = Luvs2knit getting some sock yarn. Yes it's worth the hype. This stuff is seriously soft!

Yarntini Varigated

My friend Sue was destashing this and I just couldn't pass it up. I test knit this for Woolgirl and fell in love with the pattern and the yarn. It made me sad to know that I wasn't going to keep the sock. Now I get to make a pair of my own. I don't think it will be long before this yarn is on my needles.

Books, must buy books.

I had some credits through my book club that allowed me to buy these for less then $5 each. Can't complain about that. Each book has more then one pattern that I'd like to make so I think it was worth the money.

I do have a baby blanket to show you all. Well, I'm not done with it but I did start it the other day and now have enough progress to show you. Unfortunately today is extremely overcast making it very difficult to get a decent picture. So the baby blanket will be in the next post along with a few other purchases.

You may also notice that my pictures are different. I'm using Flickr to post my pics on the blog now instead of using Typepad's photo uploader for two reasons:

A) Some jerk (this is not what I would call them when not in polite company) has stolen my photos and blog posts to put on their Spam site which incidentally is really hard to fight. What's the point of Copyright laws if we aren't going to enforce them. So I'm trying to make it a little more difficult. I'm not sure if this will deter them or not but it's worth a try.

B) The Typepad photo uploader thing is so slow. Now if only Typepad would put a little button in so I can add my Flickr photos without having to copy and paste each one. Sad part is, copying & pasting the html code is still faster then the upload tool.

Happy Crafting!

Test Knitting

I'm back for that post I promised you all. OK so it's a tad later then I wanted it to be. I was thinking I'd be back for a post within 2-3 days. In my defense, I've been down for the count with nasty cold. I've logged on to Ravelry but that's about as far as my attention span would go. The nasty head cold has past through everyone in the house and is ending with Kaity. Amazingly enough she wasn't the one to start this one....she normally is. Bree started the fun this time.

Guess I should show you those sample/test knit socks I was talking about. I have several of them now.

First up is the Cherry Tree sock.

This was for the October shipment of the Woolgirl sock club. I really loved the color and the pattern. Loved it so much that when my friend Sue decided to destash it I snatched it right up. I should have it some time this week. The yarn is Yarntini.

Next up is the Woodstock sock.

This sample was knit for the Woodstock kit that Woolgirl put together. Doesn't this sock scream Woodstock (from Peanuts). Next to Snoopy, he's one of my favorite Peanuts characters. Jen's kits are definitely worth the money. I'm hoping that I'll be able to partake in a few kits next year. She has had some great ones. The yarn for this sock is from White Oak Studio.

Then there was the Interlocking Leaves sock.

This one was knit for the September shipment of the Magnolia Society yarn club. The yarn is Madelinetosh sock and the pattern is the free Knitty pattern Interlocking Leaves. Great pattern and yummy yarn....doesn't get much better then that.

The last sock is Autumn in Oregon.

This was a sample knit using Miss Babs Yummy sock yarn in one of her new monochrome colorways Hemlock. The pattern is Autumn in Oregon (Ravelry link). Another yummy yarn and great pattern. I think I'm going to have to knit a pair for myself.

That's it on the sample/test knits for now. Sorry it took me so long to get this post out. I have another post forming in my mind right now. I have some FO's to show you and some progress shots of the things I'm not quite finished with. Plus I'm sure there will be some goodies to show since I know I have stuff coming in this week.

Happy Crafting!

Test Knitting

I'm back for that post I promised you all. OK so it's a tad later then I wanted it to be. I was thinking I'd be back for a post within 2-3 days. In my defense, I've been down for the count with nasty cold. I've logged on to Ravelry but that's about as far as my attention span would go. The nasty head cold has past through everyone in the house and is ending with Kaity. Amazingly enough she wasn't the one to start this one....she normally is. Bree started the fun this time.

Guess I should show you those sample/test knit socks I was talking about. I have several of them now.

First up is the Cherry Tree sock.

This was for the October shipment of the Woolgirl sock club. I really loved the color and the pattern. Loved it so much that when my friend Sue decided to destash it I snatched it right up. I should have it some time this week. The yarn is Yarntini.

Next up is the Woodstock sock.

This sample was knit for the Woodstock kit that Woolgirl put together. Doesn't this sock scream Woodstock (from Peanuts). Next to Snoopy, he's one of my favorite Peanuts characters. Jen's kits are definitely worth the money. I'm hoping that I'll be able to partake in a few kits next year. She has had some great ones. The yarn for this sock is from White Oak Studio.

Then there was the Interlocking Leaves sock.

This one was knit for the September shipment of the Magnolia Society yarn club. The yarn is Madelinetosh sock and the pattern is the free Knitty pattern Interlocking Leaves. Great pattern and yummy yarn....doesn't get much better then that.

The last sock is Autumn in Oregon.

This was a sample knit using Miss Babs Yummy sock yarn in one of her new monochrome colorways Hemlock. The pattern is Autumn in Oregon (Ravelry link). Another yummy yarn and great pattern. I think I'm going to have to knit a pair for myself.

That's it on the sample/test knits for now. Sorry it took me so long to get this post out. I have another post forming in my mind right now. I have some FO's to show you and some progress shots of the things I'm not quite finished with. Plus I'm sure there will be some goodies to show since I know I have stuff coming in this week.

Happy Crafting!

Oh the Fun!

I figured that a post is way overdue. Not that it's really a shock that it's be awhile since my last post. I haven't done a green post in quite some time either but never fear not we are still working on becoming more earth friendly. The recycling is still going strong and we try to help out anyway that we can. I have tried the fabric softener and colorsafe beach by 7th Generation and loved them so they've been added to my laundry regimen. I didn't care for the vinegar as a fabric softener. It worked OK but not as well a commercial liquid fabric softener. The 7th Generation fabric softener is much more comparable with other fabric softeners on the market.

We are also working on becoming a more healthier family. We are trying to cut some of the red meat out of our diet and increasing our exercise to become more healthy and to lose weight. We've swapped out ground beef for ground turkey. It tastes great and has less fat in it. We are trying to eat more vegetarian meals too although you'll never see us give up meat we are always willing to try new things. Thanks to Knit-R-Done I have some great Veggie meal ideas to try on my family. We've also discovered some of the veggie products from Morning Star Farm. Their website has some recipes I'd like to try too.

I don't think I mentioned that we finally got a Wii. We also bought Wii Fit and love it. It makes exercise a lot more fun. We normally play a few games together on the weekend as a family. Our favorite is bowling in the Wii Sports game. We rented Mario Cart for this weekend and I can definitely see buying that one soon. We never laughed so much watching Kaity try to drive the cart. She had a case of the giggles the whole time we were playing. So worth the money!

Now on to the knitting since this is after all a knitting blog. It's going to be another long post so if you want to go grab a snack and something to drink go for it. I'll be here when you get back, promise! Alright, are you ready? OK, here we go.

I knit a scarf for the Special Olympics Scarf Project.

Click on the link above and it will take you to the page with all the details. You have to use to specific colors of Red Heart Classic yarn which I will openly admit is not my most favorite yarn on the face of the planet but it's for a great cause so I dealt with it. I have enough yarn to make another scarf so I probably will. The pattern is Meandering Stripes (Ravelry) from the book Knitting New Scarves. I'll most likely make this one again with wooly type yarn. Bet it would be yummy in Malabrigo. Hmmmmmm, must go buy to color coordinating skeins.

I started a new pair of socks for Kaity.

These are in my "to go" knitting bag. I take them when we are going to be in the car or if I have a doc/dentist appointment. I haven't been anywhere so there hasn't been much progress on these
socks. I'm using Knit Picks Essential sock yarn, colorway Fruit Punch. It never fails, if you don't take something with you to a doc/dentist appointment you will inevitably be stuck there with nothing to do for 45 minutes because the doc/dentist is running behind. I made the mistake of not taking my knitting when I went to pick up meds from the pharmacy one day. I figured on running in and getting out in less then 10 minutes. I ended up waiting for almost an hour before someone finally got my prescription filled. It took them an hour to slap a label on a box, print up the info sheet, throw it in the bag and check my ID. Yup, gotta love military pharmacies. Oh well, at least I don't have to pay a copay when I use them.

Moms Errant (Ravelry) socks now have heels.

These have been put aside because I keep casting on other small projects. I hope to have them done and in the mail before the end of the month. A lot of that is going to depend on how much longer it takes me to finish up the current test knit I'm working on.

Kaity's coat is getting close to being done.

Please ignore the rag muffin look. I took the picture right after she got out of the shower and hadn't gotten a chance to brush her hair. I have to attach the hood and work the icord on the body. We've decided that we don't like the pockets and will leave them off since Kaity doesn't use them anyway. She says that she has mittens to keep her hands warm. Guess I'll use the leftover yarn to make her some thrummed mittens. I still need to find some cute buttons too.

A teaser.

This is the current project I'm working on for Madelinetosh. It's Tosh Worsted and that's about all I can tell you guys at the moment. I will post about it when I get the go ahead.

I received some yarny goodness in the mail the other day.

TLE was having a Halloween sale so I picked up a few things. I bought Cassidy by ChicKnits. I haven't decided what yarn I want to use to make this one but I've been thinking about splurging on myself so I may pick up some DIC Classy or Tosh Worsted, maybe some Malabrigo if it isn't to thick. I need to look at the pattern details a little better. I also picked up some Noro Silk Garden Sock and some Araucania Aysen. I only picked up one skein of Aysen since I can't really see this yarn being used for socks. I'm thinking about a pair of mittens or fingerless mitts. I haven't decided which one yet.

Knit some coffee cup cozies.

 

I needed something to replace the cardboard thingies that they use on the to go cups from Starbucks. I'm now totally hooked on the Peppermint Mocha Twists....yummmmmy! Anyways back to the post, I hate the cardboard thingies and wanted something better. The green/brown/white one is yarn from a kit I purchase from Woolgirl (the yarn is dyed by The Unique Sheep)((the kit can be found here)) and the purple ones are made from leftover Cascade 220. The pattern that came with the kit wouldn't work for me because of my gauge. I got 5sts per inch instead of the 4sts the pattern called for so I threw together my own pattern that has a cable on both sides. I'm going to be offering this pattern up as a freebie here on the blog. I hope to have the pattern posted here within the week. I'll post about it when it's up. There is enough yarn left over from my kit to make a second cozy.

Started a dishcloth.

It's the Circle Cloth (Ravelry)(non Ravelry). It's pretty cool and I love how the colors are working together. The only drawback is weaving in all the ends but it's not enough of a drawback to keep me from making it.

Started a cowl for Kaity.

She had her hair cut into a cute bob but now her neck is exposed and I think this is going to work better for her then her scarves. The pattern is Darkside Cowl (Ravelry). I'm using Plymouth Galway Paint which matches her mittens. After this I'll make her a hat to go with the cowl and mittens.

I got my final TLE Sock Club Shipment in today. I really love this one. You can see a picture and description out in my flickr photostream. I don't want to post and spoil it for anyone. I'll post it out in Ravelry some time next week. As much as I loved this club I will not be throwing my name into the lottery next year. I'm taking a break. I have tons of sock yarn and I already signed up for The Lord of the Rings sock club with The Unique Sheep. Plus this leaves one less name for competition so hopefully my slot will go to someone who didn't make it in last year.

OK, I think I got everything in on this post. I'll be back soon to show you a few of the test knits I've done for Woolgirl. It's safe to post about them so post I will. I also have a skein of Malabrigo sock and a pattern coming in. It should have been here today but for some reason it decided to take a trip to Boise, ID first. Hopefully it will be here on Monday since Tuesday is a no mail holiday (Veteran's Day) here in the US.

Happy Crafting!