web stuff

I finally got approved for the Knitting blog webring!

And I made another KnitPicks purchase today. Some for me, some for my SP.

I got some knitting done this weekend, which is shocking considering how busy we were! I got one front side of the baby bolero from the Debbie Bliss book that I'm working on for my daughter, and started the second side. These are the last pieces before I can put it together! I'm going to finish it this week. I am! Really!

nothing new

We just got back from our cruise, and we had a blast! I'm so glad we went, and that Nathan and Celia had so much fun. We spent lots of time running around, looking out the windows at the bubbles, and eating. I really need to go on a diet. Starting tomorrow, really!

Not much new on the knitting front. I took some WIPs with me, but didn't have any time to work on them. We came back home early because of Wilma, we were going to stay in Miami for a few days but decided it would be better to get home way before she made landfall in FL. At least we did get to spend some time with my aunt/uncle/grandmother, so that was great.

Hopefully will have time to knit this week...I miss it!

FO

My fingerless gloves are finished! I love them, and can't wait to start wearing them. It's starting to get a little cool here, so those days are just around the corner. I managed to finish two projects in a week, my socks and my gloves. Now I really have to start working on the baby sweaters before the kids outgrow them!

advice

I'm thinking of what project(s) to bring on the cruise. Any advice would be really helpful! Just 1 more week to go until we sail away!

socks!

My first pair of socks are done! The one on the left foot is messed up a bit. I made the heel too long, so it gaps a little and I ran out of yarn on that one. But I substituted with a similar weight yarn and it looks ok. The right one is PERFECT. I'm so excited!

it's been too long.

I realized today that it's been over a month since I have been to my SnB. I started my new job, and that was crazy, so I didn't go one week. Then another few times, Nathan had meetings late at work so I had to stay with Celia. Then I was sick, and today I had to stay home to help Nathan with Celia, since he worked all night last night, and got in a 2 hr nap before heading off to work this afternoon. Poor guy is exausted, and he's working again now.

I've been working hard on my socks, and they are almost done. The second one looks WAY better than the first one, but it's ok since it's my first pair. I'm hoping to get them done tonight!

jackpot!

Yesterday we went to take my daughter to her gymnastics class, and we arrived early so we decided to check out the library nearby. I walked into the non-fiction section and right away found all the knitting books! I found 5 that I wanted to check out, including Scarf Style, and a book on Xmas stocking patterns. I never get that lucky! And today I went to Michaels to pick up some yarn for Celia's christmas stocking. I ended up with some Red tweedy like woolease, and a dark green to match it.

here it is!

I finished my first fingerless glove last night, and I love it! I can't wait to get the other one done so I can start wearing them.
Here is a picture of my glove.

creativity

Since I had so much trouble finding a pattern for fingerless gloves that I really loved, I decided to try my hand at making up my own as I go along. I'm using this beautiful deep purple wool/mohair blend that I got from Anmiryam, and I absolutely love them so far! I put a cable on the front, and am about halfway up the first glove. I am going to try to finish the first glove tomorrow/tuesday, I really want to have them finished by the time it gets cold here. At least I have time still!

I did some shopping this weekend too, went to my LYS, Woolwinders and picked a little something up for my secret pal, and actually managed not to buy anything for myself! Then today at target I also found a few other things to add to my first package to send out. Hopefully I'll get to the post office this week.

SecretPal 5

Well, now that SP5 is over, I thought I'd comment on my experience. I had a lot of fun sending gifts to my pal, Hayley. I've really enjoyed reading her blog, and learning about her. I wish her all the best and hope we can keep in touch. My spoiler was Anmiryam, and she was awesome! I had a great time and it was a lot of fun seeing what she picked out for me. I just got my last package yesterday, and I LOVED it! It contained a great book called "Scarves- a Knitters dozen", a neat kit to make a felted flower pin, and a really pretty sweater pin. Here are some pics:






I want to send a big thank you to Anmiryam! You were an amazing SP! I'm also having fun reading your blog and learning a bit about you as well. Keep in touch!

neat poll

You are Merino Wool.
You are very easygoing and sweet. People like to
keep you close because you are so softhearted.
You love to be comfortable and warm from your
head to your toes.


What kind of yarn are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

DNA scarf

I was in blogland yesterday, and found the coolest scarf I've ever seen! It's a scarf with the DNA double helix cabled within it. I am absolutely going to make this one!

On another note, I've gotten a lot done on my socks in the last few days. I've turned the heel and started the foot, and should be done by the weekend. It's so neat to see it all come together. Soon I'll have a nice, warm pair of socks to wear this fall/winter.

SP-6 questions...answered!

1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you?
Sadly, I am a bit of a yarn snob. I do gravitate towards soft, natural fibers, but am certainly willing to try anything once.

2. Do you spin? Crochet?
I am a horrible crochet-er, and am dying to learn how to spin.

3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.)
Smoke gives me migranes.

4. How long have you been knitting?
I've known how to knit for over 20 years, but have been knitting seriously for one year.

5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
I have an amazon one, but I haven't updated it in a while.

6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)
vanilla, citrus, floral

7. Do you have a sweet tooth?
YES YES YES!!!

8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do?
I'm a scrapbooker and photographer, and I quilt.

9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
I guess that would be mainly rock if you had to classify it. I have an iBook/iPod, so yup, I love the mp3's!

10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand?
Blues, greens and purples.

11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I'm married, wtih a 18 month old daughter, and 2 cats.

12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know)
to travel a lot, have a big family and be happy!

13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with?
I love Debbie Bliss' collections, Knitpicks has some great yarns as well. I'm a huge fan of hand-painted yarn.

14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
anything scratchy.

15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s?
I have knitting ADD. I have at least 10 projects going at all times, and at various stages. I can't say that I have an obsession.

16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
I do a lot of baby clothes, for my daughter and for friends. I'm trying socks (still on my first pair) and fingerless gloves (still on my first pair). I do like instant gratification.

17. What are you knitting right now?
Um...too many things to list here.

18. What do you think about ponchos?
I like them, I'm making one right now.

19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles?
Circular.

20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
Bamboo.

21. Are you a sock knitter?
I'm trying to be...

22. How did you learn to knit?
My aunt taught me when I was about 5. She used to make the nicest fair-isle mittens.

23. How old is your oldest UFO?
about 1 year old.

24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird?
I love poodles (just ask my daughter who was dressed in a pink poodle costume last halloween).

25. What is your favorite holiday?
Halloween, followed closely by my birthday.

26. Is there anything that you collect?
yarn, scrapbooking supplies, and poodles. Oh yes, and wine...I have about 5 cases at the moment.

27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
None.

28. Any books out there you are dying to get your hands on?
Scarf style or wrap style.

29. Any patterns you have been coveting, but haven't bought for one reason or another??
Not really.

30. What are your foot measurements, and what kind of socks do you like?
I have a size 9-1/2 to 10 foot. It seems that when I got pregnant two years ago, my feet grew an entire size! I hope that doesn't happen next time!

Alphabet sweater

This weekend was a good one for the Alphabet Sweater. I have maybe 20 rows left befoer I bind off the sleeves, and then I have just the front to do. I tried doing both sleeves at the same time, so it feels like they are taking forever! I love how it's turning out though, the green is so lovely and I love the twisty/aran-like look of it. I can't wait to see my daughter wearing it!

flower basket shawl

So I decided after last weekend's yarn stash organization that I am no longer allowed to visit any yarn shops unless I am buying for somewhere else. Or if I'm out of town and go to one, since that's a souvineer! ;) I did get my knitpicks shipment a few weeks back, and in it was some lace weight merino yarn that I wanted to try on a lace shawl. I looked high and low (online, of course) and finally found a pattern I really like, for the flower basket shawl from Fiber Trends. So I'm going to give it a shot. I found the pattern on ebay for like 5$, so I bought it and it arrived yesterday. I am hoping to find some time this weekend to get started and see how it goes!

So big!

So yesterday I went to Target with the intention of buying a sweater hanger for our closet, so that I have somewhere to store my yarn stash. Last night, I decided that I was going to get the closet organized a bit, and I cleared out room for my new organizer, and started to fill it. It is full! I can't believe how full it is! And the sad thing is that almost all of the yarn is spoken for. It does look really pretty though, lots of different colors and textures. I love it!

I'll have to take a pic and upload as soon as my mac is back from repair. My husband made me promise not to buy any more yarn for a long time. ;(

knitpicks rocks!

I came home yesterday from a weekend away, to a lovely package from KnitPicks! My yarn has arrived! It was much quicker than I had expected, and I am so excited to try using it. The new Merino lace yarn called Shadow is beautiful! I love it!

Didn't get much knitting done this weekend but I'm hoping to recover from the drive tonight after the baby is in bed. And tomorrow morning I have to wait for the air conditioning guys to come see why we're having so much trouble with it. First a leak from the vent in our master bath, and now the thermostat isn't at all close to being right. It is set at 70, but the temp in the house is over 80. Yuck.

off we go

Well, I'm headed up to Rochester this weekend. Should be nice, we have a family picnic with my in-laws. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone, especially those I haven't seen since my SILs wedding, and they still haven't seen Celia yet. There were three pregnant ladies at that christmas so it should be fun catching up with everyone and having the little ones meet. I'm definitely taking lots of knitting with me for the car ride up there, hopefully I'll be able to make some good progress. Though I've had a headache for 2 days now, and it's hard to knit with that.

Unfortunately we're leaving right after work today, so I have to miss my SnB meeting. I was supposed to pick up some squares from our Constant Coverage contest where we all made a bunch of 7 inch squares and now it's time to put the blankets together, but I forgot that we're leaving so I have to get them next week.

I was hoping to get packages to my SP out today, but unfortunately that won't happen until monday. And I placed my first Knitpicks order this week, and can't wait to receive it. I heard yesterday that it has shipped!

Ok, so I finally got things worked out so I can actually upload photos again. Stupid mac has been acting up since I had the backlight problem and I let my hubby fix it instead of taking it to a Mac repair person. It works sometimes now, and I took advantage to upload some pics of the gifts my Secret Pal sent me! I feel so loved!

I opened my package to find this...a beautifully wrapped book, and a kit to make a bag out of beautiful green wool and purple/green/blue eyelash yarn.



I opened up the book to find this...Looks like it will be a great read! How did you know how much I love reading?!




Now, since I"ve been such a slacker, I'm adding the pictures from my first package. I got it a few weeks back. It's beautiful mohair/wool yarn in two shades of purple, a book called "Knitticisms" and a post card. As you can see, I had to start using the one purple yarn right away...I think it shall be a pair of fingerless gloves. ;)




close-up of the beautiful purples.

Just playing here.

I thought it would be nice to have a place to post knitting related info as a journal for myself. I'm curious to see how Blogger works...this could be fun.