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!

Boring is Boring

Wow, I'm completely lacking in the blog department. No thoughts, no witty stories, nothing! Actually I don't have a lot of knitting to blog about either. I've been working on my sisters scarf and can't seem to put it down so it's the only thing I've really knit on since I started it the other day. It's made out of Malabrigo so can you really blame me.

Here's a not so glamorous shot of it in progress.

There's about 40" complete with another 15-20" or so to go.I'll get a better picture of it after I'm done with it.The scarf will probably be done and in the mail by Wed at the latest. Then I'll head back to the two pair of socks I have on the needles or finish up the last 8 rows of my Bee Field shawl.

After a lot of contemplating and some major thinking I've decided that my spinning wheel is neglected way to much. Knitting is my one love and I can't seem to split time between knitting and spinning. So I've sold off some of the fiber I had purchased and am now looking for a new home for the wheel.

It's an Ashford Traveller, double treadle, single drive with a clear lacquer finish. I'm asking $450 plus shipping of choice. I've posted out on Ravelry but thought I'd see if there's a spinner who reads the blog who may love the wheel and give it the attention it deserves.

I did receive some goodies in the mail.

I made a small purchase from Woolgirl. I was after the square needles to try so I bought a pair of size 8's and to justify the shipping I threw in a skein of Neighborhood Fiber Co Watershed sock yarn. It's a seacell sock yarn. Colorway is: Sheridan Circle. I really like the Square needles. The cable is very flexible....way more then Knit Picks circular cables and I thought theirs was the most flexible. The only problem I've had is the joins catching on the yarn I was knitting. I'm not sure how well these would work for lace knitting but I was knitting a dishcloth and it didn't really bother me. I'm going to pick up a pair for sock knitting to see if I like them for magic loop. The people who seem to be having the most problem are those who are really tight knitters. I only bought one needles because I didn't want to fork out a lot of money just in case I didn't like them.

I think that pretty much sums up my overly exciting week. I have more goodies that should be showing up on my doorstep to include a skein of Sweet Georgia sock yarn and a much anticipated skein of cashmere dk weight yarn from Zen Yarn Garden which will become a very yummy cowl.

Hello World

I'm up in the air over the 10 days it took me to get another blog post out here. It's not my longest quiet period but it's not the shortest either. I wonder if I'll ever get back to regular posts? Probably not. I do have some stuff to share with you so this post will most likely be picture heavy. Sorry in advance to those who have a slow internet connection.

I have a new toy! I got a brand new Apple iMac..... Yes, yes I know, I know, I'm spoiled.....thank you! (takes a big bow to the crowd)

Actually I've been waiting three very long years to upgrade my computer. Other more important things have come up. We ended up going to Helena because there is no where in this town that has
Macs in stock (only special order).....man do I miss Best Buy!!!!

We didn't buy from Apple because our stupid "soon to not be" bank has decided that I'm to stupid to know how to handle my debit card properly and put a very low spending cap on it and then proceeded to tell me that it will take 24 business hours to raise my limit. Plus I really didn't want to wait through the long weekend and I helped support a local business. We asked for the raise increase on our cards only to find out that it won't do us any good because they count all pending authorizations as part of your limit so everything has to clear before the purchase amount is good. They tell us it's for our protection but it's really just there to cover the banks butt. After we found out it that if for some reason we had our wallet stolen and someone used our card that it would take the bank 2-3 weeks (yes weeks!!!) to get the money back into our account we decided it was time to change banks. All this occurred because we wanted to buy an elliptical machine from Amazon. The stupid bank told us to use an electronic check since it doesn't have a limit and you can do that with Amazon so we tried but our bank works it so that you have to have both individuals names put into the system for the computer system to accept it but Amazon only gives you the room to put in one name which is what any other normal bank requires on a joint account. So here I am still waiting to spend my money because my bank doesn't think I have enough responsibility to manage my money correctly. As a responsible 30 year old adult I really resent the banks need to control me through my money. No this is not a little bank it is a very well know major nationwide bank with the word US in it!

OK, rant is over with! Now it's time to go back to knitting related stuff.

First up is my yummy shipment from The Lord of the Rings Sock Club.

The Unique Sheep didn't disappoint! The yarn sent with this shipment is Foot Prints and the color is Hobbiton. It came with a cool pattern by Lobug Design. If you want to see the pattern knit up head on over to the Ravelry page for a look. All I took a pic of was the yarn. We also got the pattern, tea, and a button.

I've picked up a few skeins of yarn here and there from Ravelry destashes.

The top pic is of two skeins of Shelridge Farms soft touch heather sock yarn and the bottom pic is of two skeins of Rowan Cotton Glace. The sock yarn I bought just because I wanted too and it was very reasonably priced. The Rowan Cotton Glace was bought because I have a dress pattern in mind for it to make for Bree. I'm making things easy for myself this year and am making some of the dresses that have a knit top and a cotton fabric skirt. This way I can make several dresses for both girls.

Yummy mmmmmmmmmMalabrigo!

Man do I love thee! Malabrigo is definitely knitters crack! This was also bought with a specific project in mind. Some few months back I promised my sister a scarf. I forgot about the promise and I'm pretty sure I made said promise before the holidays which makes me an even worse sister. Loving sis asked about said scarf the other day and I had one of those head smacking "doh" moments. Do you think this lovely Malabrigo worsted is enough to get me out of the doghouse? The colorway is Oceanos and I bought it from The Loopy Ewe. I'm planning on using the My So Called Scarf pattern (Ravelry)(non Ravelry).

Amidst all the yarn buying I did manage to finish a few things too. Wow, Shock and Awe, what a surprise, I finished something. ;~)

First up is the Inner Truth Scarf (Ravelry)(non Ravelry) that I knit for the Crystal Palace Yarns KAL. I used a little less then 3 skeins of Bunny Hop so I have two more skeins that I need to figure out what to make. I'm thinking I have enough to make one of the girls a hat. I've mailed off the scarf and when they're done photographing it they'll send it back to me.

A dishcloth!

I know, not exactly a challenging project. This was for the 1 Feb Monthly Dishcloth KAL. It's been thrown into the dishcloth pile until someone needs it. If anyone needs some dishcloths or knows someone who does, let me know I'll send you some.

Stripey Stripey socks are done.

I finished these the other day while we were out running around. There's still enough yarn leftover to make a pair of socks for Bree. I've put it in to the leftover sock yarn pile which is getting pretty big now. The yarn is Red Hearts sock yarn Heart & Sole and the colorway is Spring Stripe.

I've also finished one sample sock for Woolgirl and am about halfway through a second sock but I can't show these to you yet.

I started a pair of Baudelaires (Ravelry)(non Ravelry) for the informal KAL in the Makin' Cookies Ravelry group.

There's a KAL going on while waiting for the new CookieA book to be released. I've already pre-ordered my copy right along with the new WendyKnits book.

I'll leave you all with this.

We bought a bouncy ballpit for the girls. Well they paid for part of it with the money they've gotten for holidays and such. They didn't have enough so Shawn and I kicked in the rest so they could get it.

Happy Crafting!

Wow! Time Flies....

when you have sick kids and a house that has gone to pot while taking care of them. Not to say that Shawn doesn't do his part but he works 10hrs a day (sometimes more) so I can only expect him to help so much. I've been playing catch up and haven't had the time or inclination to post out here on the blog. I have been Plurking more so if you're on Plurk let me know and I can add you as a friend. Here's the link to my Plurk page. It's a lot easier to send out a quick plurk then to sit down for a blog post. Both girls are fine now although Bree didn't get as sick as Kaity did....no big surprise there. I'm been feeling run down and yuck so I think I'm trying to get what they had.

It doesn't help that this has been keeping me distracted, my new LG Voyager Titanium came in the other day.

I was finally eligible for an upgrade. Well actually I still had almost two months to go but the fab people at Verizon were kind enough to waive it and let me get the phone. Out of the 3 or 4 different cell phone companies we've used over the years Verizon has to have some of the best customer service. Which in this day and age is hard to find. Course that's a whole "customer service rant" blog post all in itself. Back to the blog post at hand.

Needless to say after this long of an absence from the blog I have a lot to post about. I actually had to pull up the post to see just exactly what I had blogged about.

First up is Lorna's Lace Shepherd Sock, color: Vera.

This was a ravelry trade with Somebunnyslove. Gotta love Ravelry.

Next is the first installment of the Yarntini Happy Hour Sock Club.

The colorway is Mint Chocolatini (variegated sock). The picture doesn't do the colors justice. There was no sun for several days so I had to make do. I haven't decided what I want to make with it so it's marinating in my stash right now. I will be getting a bonus skein of self striping in the Appletini colorway in March with my final shipment. I'm on a self striping yarn kick right now.

My 6th shipment from the 7 Deadly S(p)ins club came in.

We got a beaded fingerless mitt pattern by Sivia Harding, The Unique Sheep House Blend (silk, alpaca, merino blend) colorway is Envy, matching beads, pen, crochet hook, and goats milk lotion. The House Blend yarn is very pettable. I'm contemplating making something for myself with it, maybe a cowl?

Some more yarnie goodness.

I finally managed to catch a Twisted Fiber Art update. I went out to the site to check out some info and low and behold I found an update in progress. I decided to check it out and there is was, my holy grail of yarns, Arial in the colorway Warlock. For once I had money in my PayPal account. The pink skein is a some Lion Brand sock-ease that I bought from a Ravelry destash. I figured the colors were right up Kaitys alley.

Now on to some knitting, first is one complete Cabley Lace sock.

The pattern is Karen's Socks (Ravelry)(non Ravelry). It's a great pattern. I've made a few mods, I'm knitting mine toe up with a short row heel. I've found myself knitting more and more socks toe up. I'm using Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock that I won from Knittech's blog contest awhile back. I had originally picked out a beaded sock pattern but it didn't work out. The sock turned out to small. I liked the pattern but I will have to use a slightly thicker sock yarn for it then LL.

Another project I'm working on is the Inner Truth Scarf (Ravelry)(non Ravelry).

This one is for a KAL being sponsored by Crystal Palace Yarns. They sent me the yarn for free and I'm going to knit the scarf in the pattern and then send it back to CPY to have it photoed. They're going to send it back to me when they're done. It sounded like fun so I decided to join in. The yarn is CPY Bunny Hop which is extremely soft and nice to work with. The colorway is Strawberry-Lime, #0432. I wasn't sure how well the cables would show up in the variegated yarn but they seem to be plenty strong enough that they aren't being hidden.

I got another haircut.

This one is a tad shorter then the last one and I like it a lot more. Note to self: trying to take a pic of yourself could lend to chubby looking cheeks. Sheesh. You'd never guess from that pic that I've lost almost 10 pounds. 8.5 pounds to be exact. I'm really missing bread right now but we'll soon be adding whole wheat & whole grain bread back here in the next few weeks.

Wow....ok I think that sums it up for now. That was a long post. I have a few goodies that should be in here in the next day or two and I should have some more progress to show in my next update.

Happy Crafting!