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!

Bee Fields Shawl

Wow has it really been that long since my last post? Guess so! I decided to do a quick post with just photos of the Bee Fields Shawl (ravelry)(non ravelry). It's been blocked and ready to be posted for awhile now but I've just been way to lazy busy to post it.

Lets get all the pics out of the way first.

Kaity was kind enough to model the shawl for me. Getting Shawn and the weather to cooperate to get some nice pictures was hard then I thought it was going to be. I really enjoyed knitting this shawl and I'm sure if I would have worked on it more it would have taken me way less then a year to knit it. The shawl and I got in a few fights along the way and it had several lengthy time outs.

Kaity was shooting for a sad look. She tried to con me out of the shawl but I told her that I spent way to much time for her and and her sister to use it to play dress up. I'll give her an A for effort. She did try. I have yet to figure out what I'm going to do with the shawl. I'm not a shawl wearer but I love to knit them. Know anyone who would love a green lace shawl?

I'll be back in the next few days to post about some of the things I've been up to. I have lots to show.

Happy Crafting!

Gotta Have Some Bling!

I have some very shiny bling now. Thanks to the root canal I had a few months ago I needed to get a crown. The dentist and I decided to go with a gold crown since it's the back molar where there is a big chance of chipping it if I went with porcelain. Thankfully there was no numbing needed and my dentist appointment went quickly and painlessly. I love my dentist!! I still have several more crowns but only one more that needs to be taken care of fairly quickly. The other 3 are to re-enforce the teeth that have had a lot of work done to them in the past. The Sonicare toothbrush seems to be doing the job....it was definitely money well spent.

So anyway, you all are wondering what I've been up to (knitting wise) since my last post. Well the answer is a lot of things.

I finished the mid March Monthly Dishcloth KAL cloth.

The pattern is windmill dishcloth (ravelry)(non ravelry). I used Peaches & Creme yarn in the Aqua Mist ombre colorway. Exciting isn't it! OK, so dishcloths aren't very exciting but they are great fillers when you are working on big projects.

Oh look, a boring progress shot of my toe up bamboo socks.

I wasn't going to bore you all with this photo but I took it to update my Ravelry notebook so I figured I might as well subject you to it too. Actually there is another 2 inches or so on the cuff thanks to my dentist appointment. I always take my socks with me since there is the wait time plus it helps pass the time when they need to numb my mouth up for work....much better then boring magazines. I'm working a k2, p2 ribbing....boring yes but it doesn't require me to drag around a pattern. I have my basic toe up pattern memorized.

Oh boy! Here's an exciting one for you guys.

I finished the Bee Fields Shawl (ravelry)(non ravelry). It only took me a year to do it but it's done!!! Well almost done. I still need to give it a good soak and blocking. I'm going to try to get that done tomorrow morning after the kiddo heads out the door for school. There are a few minor errors in the shawl (my knitting errors not pattern errors) but all in all it came out great. I can't wait to see it after it's all blocked out.

I picked up some yarn from ebay from KimiK.

It's 440 yards of multi colored sock yarn (100% Merino non superwash) with 110 yards of coordinating kettle dyed yarn for the heels and toes. I liked the colors and the price was right.

I received my final Seven Deadly S(p)ins club shipment. Go here if you want to see it. I probably won't make the pattern so I need to find something else to use the yarn on. I loved the yarn and colors!

Well at least this time the post is shorter. I'll leave you all with Bree playing peekaboo!

She decided to sneak a peek out the window while I was taking some photos of projects and stash. She kept saying "peekie boo" and giggling!

Happy Crafting!

Better Watchin'

Our LCD TV now has a new home.

We bought a wall mount and got it up on the wall before Bree killed it. She has tried using it as a drum on more then one occasion. I'm figuring that LCDs do not like being smacked, so up on the wall the TV went. It was surprisingly easy. Now to get my cable company to add more HD channels. We are still contemplating going back to satellite. I still need to get the pictures back on the wall that were taken down and the speakers need to be rearranged a little.

I've knocked out a few FOs since my last post. I'm on a sock knitting kick again. Sock knitting seems to hit me in spurts. For awhile there it was taking me months to finish up a pair. My last pair took me 4 days. I know I can't believe it either. I knit them two at a time so that may have helped. Plus it was loaded with cables making each row different. I move through patterned socks faster.

First finished pair of socks are Baudelaire (Ravelry)(non Ravelry).

I used ZYG Bling sock yarn. The colorway is Cherry Swirl. I love sparkly yarn and Roxeanne has such pretty colorways. These took a little less then a month but there was a few weeks that I didn't work on them because I was working on a test knit.

Next is the Lacy Cable socks.

The pattern is Karen's Socks (Ravelry)(non Ravelry). The yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd sock, colorway Poppy. I really liked this pattern and look forward to trying more sock patterns by this designer. The sock pattern is a top down pattern but I reversed it and knit them toe up, two at a time. These took about 3 weeks to knit but I put the second sock to the side so I could start my Baudelaires. I didn't pick them back up again until the Bauds were finished.

The final FO (that I can show you that is) is my Absinthe socks (Ravelry)(non Ravelry).

These are the socks that took me 4 days to knit. I did shorten the leg by two pattern repeats. So that would have added another day to my knitting time. They were knit two at a time. There are some errors in the leg chart which hasn't been fixed on Knitty (as of 19 Mar) yet but have been noted by the designer and some knitters in the Knitty Socks Ravelry group. I messed up the cable on the foot but it wasn't to noticable and didn't bother me enough to rip out over 20 some odd rows so it stayed. I used ShiBui Knits sock yarn, colorway #7495 Wasabi. Shibui has a nasty habit of pooling. If you're not a fan of pooling then this yarn is probably not for you. I love pooling so I'm happy with the socks.

My rainbow bamboo socks now have heels. I'll spare you the pic since it would be rather boring. I also finished a test knit for Woolgirl but since it's from one of the club kits I can't show you until everyone has gotten their packages.

I started another pair of socks.

The pattern is Baby Cable Rib (Ravelry) from Sensational Knitted Socks and the yarn is Paca Peds HT, colorway is Tye Dye. I love they way it's striping.....no the yarn is not a self striping yarn.

Even the back is striping nicely. Hopefully it stays this way when I work the leg. I'm knitting a short row heel since I don't want the gussets of a heel flap to mess with my striping.

I do have a sample knit going for Madelinetosh right now with another one on the way. I should have a teaser pic in my next post along with a few goodies.

I got this absolutely adorable bunny in from Woolgirl as a thank you for test knitting for her.

It's so cute and the girls love it. Course they loved it even more when they found out it had M&Ms in them. Bree calls them bunny M's. They are stored in a bunny and there's only one M on the candy so why bother with the second M.....toddler logic hard at work.

I also bought some Rowan Cotton Glace from a UK ebay store.

I'll be using this to make a dress for Kaity. I'm making some half knit/half sewn dresses this year since they are much faster to make. Wow, is Rowan a lot cheaper to buy in the UK and have it shipped here. I paid like $3.50 per skein after the currency conversion. Then shipping was only a few dollars more. Way cheaper then the almost $8 per skein plus shipping it would have cost me here in the states.

I'll leave you with Bree and her new pony.

Wee monkey is so short she has a hard time scooting around on most of the ride on toys out there. We found this one out a Target which is rated up to 36 months so it's a tad smaller and shorter then some of the other ones. She loves it!

Happy Crafting!

Fasten Your Seatbelts.....

we're in for a long trip post. Go grab your favorite beverage and I'd grab a snack if you're starting to get hungry because this is going to be a long post. I've got my trusty Mac and a ice cold diet cherry pepsi so I think I'm all set for the post. Now to figure out where to begin.

For starters, we found out that the "we're no longer picking up plastics for recycling" was a misquote so I'm very happy. They are still picking up plastics but they are asking us to separate the #1 & #2 plastics into separate bags. No biggie I can do that! I'd be much happier if they picked up some of the other numbered plastics too but beggars can't be choosy so we take what we can get.

On another note, I'm having second thoughts about selling my wheel. Frankly I think trying to sell it right now isn't going to be a good decision. Everyone is buckling down on their spending and cash isn't as readily available. This isn't the reason I've decided to hold off on selling it though. I'm feeling like I didn't give it my "all" and didn't give spinning a chance. So I'm setting at least 15-20 minutes every afternoon for spinning. This will start this Monday (9 March). If by later this summer I haven't found a love for spinning, I will find my Precious a new home.

On a second note, Kaity is taking piano lessons now and is taking to it like a duck to water. She didn't feel like playing baseball so she asked if she could take piano lesson we said sure and she has done really well. She's actually sticking with the practicing every day too. I'm a proud Mama.We even managed to snag a full size Yamaha keyboard from ShopKo for like $79. It retailed everywhere else for almost $200. Don't have a clue why ShopKo had them marked down. Their loss is our gain.

I finished some dishcloths for the Monthly Dishcloth KAL. I'm trying to knit all the cloths for the whole year.

For the 16 Feb KAL there was the Circle Cloth (ravelry)(non ravelry).

You may remember that I knit this the first time in two colors and ended up cutting the dishcloth short because I got sick of the color changing. This time I used only one color and I have to say I enjoyed knitting it a lot more. It does make a very thick squishy cloth. I bet that this would make a great pattern for knit bathmat....hmmmm, must think about that for a few. I might try it.

For the 1 Mar KAL there was the Pot O' Gold Dishcloth (ravelry)(non ravelry).

Cute pattern. I used yellow instead of gold since I had in my stash and I think Shawn would kill me if I bought anymore cotton yarn. I have at least a metric ton. Some of it is from my pure lack of self control. I can't walk past the stuff at Michaels, Joanns or Walmart without through a few skeins in the cart. I can partially blame the enabling of Sue too. ;~)

What else have I been working on? Oh, I finished my sisters scarf a day or so after posting about the progress here on the blog. The Malabrigo was so yummy I couldn't put it down!

It's already happily keeping her neck warm although I don't think it's as cold in Idaho as it's getting here. The yarn is Malabrigo worsted, Oceanos and the pattern is My So Called Scarf (ravelry)(non ravelry).

I'm making great progress on my Baudelaire socks (raverly)(non ravelry).

I'm knitting these for the Makin' Cookies KAL (it's a ravelry link). The heels are turned but I still have several repeats before I can knit the ribbing and bind off. I'm confident that I'll be done with these before the end of March. I'm thinking about increasing the stitches to make sure the legs are big enough. I'm afraid they might turn out to tight. Guess I should try them on to see.

Since I finished my Stripey stripey socks I needed a new on the go project so I started another pair of socks.

Please meet my newest project, Rainbow Toe Ups. Their just a very basic toe up sock using Regia Bamboo, color 1062 that I purchase from the LYS here in town. I'm knitting a stockinette foot, short row heel and I'll probably use k3, p2 ribbing on the leg. I'm actually about 2 inches from starting the heels now. Plain socks work up so quickly.

Lets see, what else.....give me a minute to back track through my photos. Oh, here we go....Kaity's Silly Socks.

Every year the school does holds a sock hop after school with a Dr. Seuss theme. The kids are encouraged to wear silly socks so Kaity and I threw these together. Well actually I threw them together she just came up with the idea. She thought it would be silly if her socks wore socks. I knit 4 mini sock and attached one to each side of a pair of commercial socks and then knit a few rows with some fun fur....shudder! I hate fun fur....see I told you I loved my kids. ;~)

These are a couple of the socks I knit for Woolgirl here recently.

They are samples of a new cotton sock yarn she's getting in by Kollage. It's called Luscious. The rusty colored sock is Mona (ravelry)(non ravelry) and the peach one is a basic cuff down sock with a picot edge, k2, p2 ribbing and a slip stitch heel. I really enjoyed knitting with this sock yarn. I was afraid that the cotton would bother my hands but it didn't. The yarn doesn't feel very springy when you are holding the skein but it has some very nice bounce once it's knit up. I had problems with it being splitty and coming untwisted when working the cast on but after a few rows knit I didn't have any problems at all. I'll be buying some to make summer socks for the kiddo and I. I really miss my handknit socks in the summer so this will be nice to have to make some I can wear.

Alrighty! I finally made it through the WIPs and FOs. Now on to the goodies I've obtained since the last post. I destashed some yarn I wasn't using so of course I needed to replace said yarn with new yarn right. Well, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

First up is the second installment of the Yarntini Happy Hour Sock Club.

It's called Blackberry Kiss and is just as yummy as the first shipment. I have one more shipment coming later this month with my bonus skein of self striping Appletini.

Some Crystal Palace Panda Silk.

I picked this up from a Ravelry destash. I'm not sure what I'm going to make with this. I may go ahead and knit it into socks. Who knows!

Some Regia Kaffe Fassett sock yarn, color #4453.

I picked this one up from another Ravelry destash. I've been wanting this color but kept putting off buying it. It was reasonably priced so I picked it up. Plus I'm still going through a self striping sock yarn obsession.

Next up, I finally snagged some Sweetgeorgia sock yarn.

This is the superwash sport and the color is Berry. The exchange rates were in my favor and I had money burning a hole in my PayPal account. She had some very tempting colors.

Some Cascade Heritage Handpainted sock yarn.

I picked this up from 2 Old Divas ebay site. It was on sale for $10 so I picked it up. I'm a sucker for sales. The colorway is Cherry Berry. I know I know, I need more sock yarn like I need another hole in my head.

The piece de resistance, Zen Yarn Garden Cashmere DK.

The colorway is called Truffle. This is for me and only me. It's soon to become a yummy cowl. I can't think of anything better to keep me warm then a yummy cashmere cowl. Now if only I could afford a whole cashmere sweater.

Zeus really enjoyed the sun we had the other day.

This happens to be one content little doggie. If there's sun shining you can bet you'll find him soaking up the warmth. I don't blame him during the winter the sun tends to disappear a lot. We're back to snow, cold and cloudy here. Bree and I enjoyed the morning sun shinning through the living room window too.

Our living room Arctic Rec Room (well it's not really the living room but it's the room we use as the living room) has huge windows on one wall. It's actually several smaller windows put together but all total they are like 7 ft wide...needless to say our living room is almost like a sunroom.

I'm done! Finally!! I just finished up my Woolgirl test knit today so that will be on it's way to her very soon. I have a new test knit coming in from Madelinetosh soon. When I have enough progress I'll share a little with you. I'm hoping to have my Baudelaire socks finished soon so I can pick up my cable lace socks again. They got tossed to the side for the Bauds.

Happy Crafting!