loopy Swap

So I participated in teh Loopy Ewe Swap on Ravelry and here's a direct copy/paste of a post about what i got (typing=hurty so I'm only doing it once with no re formatting-you understand I assume)

Ok so! I got my package a few days ago and was waiting for either good weather (it's been over cast here) and/or my arm to stop hurting enough to type. Since the two have yet to coincide I decided to just take the pictures anyway. :)

To here's the overview of the package that [MidnightD](/people/MidnightD) sent me I love it!!


Summer is movies and ice cream (which she sent but we'll get to that) so she got me blazing saddles (squee!!!) and everything came in the adorable woven bag! (I love it desperately btw) A little bowl, pen (I've used to write to my husband with) a "s" clip (already useful for my keys SO HANDY!!) and and and the best smelling soap EVER. Apparently her friend makes it and they are divine. One is Lavender and the other is sheer yummyness. My bathroom smells like an apothecary and I'm so delighted by it!


the knitted item was a pair of perfectly fitted socks (My left foot is a shoe size larger than my right) in all of my favorite colors! pardon the crappy photo lol:


She also sent me malibrigo off my loopy wishlist that I had wanted for...somethign in my que. But of course I forgot which. I'll jsut ave to look through it again! In purple, drool. J'adore purple!

And there's a "silk" hanky she dyed herself:


And the most amusing aspect- She sent me **ICE CREAM**!!


It's freeze dried and I can't wait to dig in. Hubby has already asked me to mail him one but I can't decide if I love him enough. :D :D :D (I do but it's *mine*!)

Thank you so so much!!!!

Projects!

Hello! Happy Friday! Guess who has some projects to show you? :D The first is my most recent finished object; Swirls Socks in Fleece Artist (Cedar).

They were a nice, busy-work sort of knit. With everything that's been going on you could say I've needed easy thigns. :)

My current project otn is Carrie's Scarf (rav link). It's inspired by the new Sex in the City movie-of which I've never seen the prior or the show. But I got it as a lovely gift from my friend and it's in MALABRIGO! A bunch of us are doing it at knit night as a pseudo KAL. The color is Ravelry red and I'm well into the second ball of the 4 I got. The picture was taken when I was still working on the first ball so imagine it way longer! And sadly, the second ball is NOT the same shade of red despite begin in the same dye-lot. Way to go Malabrigo. Ah well. I'm really not that picky and also, so not willing to rip out the work. :)

(but longer) That's really all I'm working on currently, I've packing and school to attend to as well as deployment (ah, yes, that's coming up again) and COLLEGE GRADUATION! :D

Knitting

Well then. Knitting. I've done it.

First up: St-St Socks in Cashmere from Zen Yarn Garden:


Lovely stuff to work with. However They didn't ease the pain of the Kai-Mei socks so I then grabbed some hand spun and knit a scarf.



I think it's Lorna's Laces Roving. Anyway, that also fulfilled my 101 in 1001 to knit an item from hand spun. Not sure what to do with it per say. it's not really my style or anything but It's short (yet wide) so I don't know that it'll fit any adult I know. Ah well.

I've also fixed the kai-mei socks but I'm getting to the toe bit and really don't want to mess it up (again) so I'm going to have to wait until I can go to Monday knit night and get some help there. So for the duration, I've started on another pair of st-st socks in a forgotten colorway by Yarn Pirate. It's all blues, grays and silvers.

Oh! And I didn't get a picture at the time but I finished sewing a needle roll for myself when I did the star quilt. :)


I've had that material for years with the specific purpose of making a needle roll and I finally finished it. :) All projects of which are stash busting. How awesome is that?

Quilting

I've been quilting because, quite frankly, my knitting is ticking me off. More so today than yesterday. Anyway, yesterday I went to my moms and we went to various quilt shops looking for material for two baby blankets I need to make. Afterward we went her her house and I started on a wall hanging kit I've had for years and jsut never did. And by years I mean since before Fall 2006 since I bought it before I knew how to sew.



Taaa Daah! All that is left is to do the binding and a strip of material so I can hang it and it'll all be finished!

I've also completed my st-st cashmere socks and started a scarf in hand spun since those bloody socks that shall not be named are in knitting purgatory until they've learned their lesson. The hand spun scarf, henceforth called the "Crazy Lady Scarf" is going to be very colorful and well, crappy. But it's an easy two row pattern repeat and my hand spun isn't at a decent level or consistency yet. What else would I do with it? And it's taken the rage off from knitting. Gah.

Nesting

So I've been nesting more so than knitting lately. Although, since last week I have picked up the needles but for 2 weeks, I had ZERO (no, I'm not lying)projects OTN. I guess my creative energy only has enough to go around for one project at a time and moving, decorating the house and getting through finals was simply too much for it. Not to mention cooking, cleaning and baking.

(Smiles) However, finals are DONE, and school is DONE...er, for a month anyway. Then I'm back in for an intensive Latin course-a years worth of Latin in 9 weeks. Ahem. No I'm not crazy per-say, but it'll put me ahead of schedule by a year. That is, if the school doesn't drop all the freaking courses I need. Classes are scarce and I don't even have enough for 12 units (Have to take them in a certain order) Bah. Don't get me started on them raising tuition by $300 either.

But Knitting! Yes knitting! I started on Cookie A's Kai-Mei from Sock Innovation (In DyeDreams Sox (LOVE! Mad crazy LOVE!) and I am having a heck of a time. So, in between knit nights when I get help on the blasted things, I'm also working on a pair of Cashmere st-st socks and they are DIVINE! Really, the heavens parted and the angelic chorus sang. Ahem. I'm on the second sock of those (still the first on Kai-Mei) and once I finish that I'm either going to CO the Shetland Triangle Shawl or the Dream in Color Shrug. (All rav links btw) The Shetland Triangle is going to be done in the Sundara Yarn Silky Merino Aran and the DIC in DIC Classy (Tea Party).

I've knit night tonight and then home to bother and pester the hubby. :) I hope you all have a lovely day!

Aaaaaand I'm Back!

It was quite the month I must say! Matthew is doing well and I'm doing well. I've kept stupid busy last month (!) and am looking forward to some down time. I am so happy it's November. We've gone one month already and now only 6 more to go! SO what exactly did I do the past month, and why didn't I blog? Well....:

1: I read 36 books in 28 days
2: I finished 2 pairs of socks (all that reading kept me from knitting)
3: I worked.
4: I talked with Matthew fairly frequently.
5: There was some stupid drama involving his parents.
6: I was in a craft swap.

I'd list all the books, but really, it's just too many. However they ARE series so: *Stephanie Plum Series by Janet Evaonvich
* Hanna Swenson Series by Joanne Fluke
*Fever Series by Karen Marie Moaning
* Random non-series books

Now the socks: Ugh. I hated the color on the first pair, Red, Black and White are not my favorite by any stretch. I've done the pattern Before (Swirls by Monica Jines) and while I like it, it was just boring to do the same pattern for the 3rd time. The yarn was BMFA STR and it was the Knitter's Without Borders colorway (which was the only reason I bought them).


The second Pair was from the Loopy Ewe Sock Club kit. I was doing fine on it until I got stuck on the pattern after you start the gusset decreases so it sat there for over a month. Again, the color is not my scheme really, but it was a sock club so there you go. It's was Dream In Color Smooshy: Spicy Smooches and the Pattern was Hug's and Kisses (it's X's and O's not that you can tell from the pic) By: Debbie O'Neil.


I'm currentally working on a scarf for my aunt for X-Mas and it's coming along nicely (and in a color I love). It's an easy pattern (The Waltz by Sarah Dupuis) to memorize so I'm finding my knitting MoJo again.

And just because I'm a total braggart:


It's a 2.10 Karat Topaz with smaller white topaz in a yellow gold setting. One of the jewelers at the mall near my house is going out of business (OK FIX THE ECONOMY PLEASE) and so everything was 50-70% off. I got that ring for $150 with tax. Matthew hasn't seen it yet, but who knows, maybe he'll buy it as a gift for me. Our anniversary *is* next Sunday. (Ok so our tattoos are the real anniversary present but I can't hardly resist good jewelry for cheap).

Anyway, I hope everyone has been having a lovely month and i'll be posting MUCH more frequently now. :)It's back to knitting for me.

Finally!

I have a FO/Picture to Blog about!



Blarney Stone from BMFA-LW. Yes I'm better, but hurried since i need ot run to work.

Pssst, Go give Pat some lovin, she's a new Grandma!!! (But totally isn't old enough to be one)

Vacation

Good morning everyone. Knitting has finally decided to be my friend again and I finished the 1st sock of my 5th pair of SoS08 (also known as my Cousin's Xmas gift). Pretty stuff and it feels so soft. (Cherry Tree Hill). I also embroidered a tea towel the other night but don't have pictures because I'm waiting to wash all the blue ink off from what I didn't cover with thread. It'll be a set of Weekday towels so I still have Tuesday-Sunday to do.

I'm leaving for vacation tomorrow with Mathew to drive up north to visit his mom and step-dad in Monterey and then head to his dad's Family's cabin in Mammoth for a few days. Bitter sweet I think because while it's great to get away, it's for his pre-deployment leave. Sometimes I can't keep the horrible thoughts at bay and I can't help but think, "Where the hell did the year go?" He joined his Company Feb. 2nd, and now it's almost time to deploy?

Granted, it's in October but He is gone training all of august and part of September, home to do legal paperwork (Trusts, wills, PoA, figuring out what he'd want at his funeral) then he's gone. For 7 months. He is still applying for Officer's School and if he get's accepted, he'll be going from Iraq to Virginia in January, but due to how long that lasts, he'll still be gone the same amount of time. So while yes, it'll be a good trip, I'd rather be stuck here in the daily swing of things and have him here with me.

On that positive, upbeat note, I'm off to knit for awhile. xoxo

FarmGirl Crafty Bits

Not much has been going on around here in the knitting world. I started on my cousin's socks for christmas and had to frog them 4 times before I just went with it. It's probably still too big but there is no way I'm frogging the same damned sock 5 times. You couldn't pay me.

However, in terms of sewing, I have been doing very well. :) First up, my SIL asked for a set of sewn coasters as part of her wedding present (we also got them nice bedsheets and the Martha Stewart Home Keeping Handbook) so I went ahead and made some yesterday (perhaps the day before?)-She likes blue so that's why I picked these colors:


And I snagged some for myself and made:


Aren't they beautiful? I LOOOOVE the material. Love. Also, I've been waiting rather impatiently for the next FarmGirl update/project/whatever so I went to the store and bought material to make this:


It's a pretty Purple gingham with roses pattern and green gingham for the sashing. I apologize for the quality of the pictures, It's a bathroom shot since I'm home alone. :) I love the material and the apron is great considering i made it with out a pattern, but I can't wait until my sewing skills are much improved.

And speaking of sewing, lookie what I got for $50.00 at an antique store for a christmas gift:


I KNOW! FIFTY BUCKS! It even comes in it's own sewing stand:

I'm not sure it works but who cares? A: It'll be for decoration since damn near every woman on my mom's side of the family sews (save my cousin of whom I'm knitting socks for her hubby for x-mas) and so we all have excellent new machines. And B: It's not like we can't take it to our friends shop to have it repaired. :) My husband was at the antique shop with me and was like, "Get it. Get it now, $50.00 we can do". Clearly, I'm going to rock the christmas gifts this year. Perhaps I should start this early every year? (smug smug-lol) Have a great day/night!

Swapy Goodness

So i was involved in the Loopy Ewe Swap over on Ravelry and my awesome partner (not sure I can say who she is) completely, totally, utterly spoiled the freaking rotten out of me. No, seriously. Check this out!


That is a whole bunch of stuff right there. SO here are the edible goodies:



matthew totally jumped on the honey and claimed it for himself (I think he was feeling left out...the box was freaking huge):


Then we have the fairy and moon bar soap (the detailing is amazing), soak wash samples (yum!) and a cute sock blocker key chain (which is on my key ring as we speak):


A namaste pouch (love, love, love) and Punky's Place bag (the cute one with the handel) a tape measure with butterflys and flowers on it, and gorgeous stitch markers:


Here's the close up of the stitch markers:


BUT! That's not all! (I save my two favorite's for last because they are A-freaking-mazing). Twisted Flower Sock's by Cookie A. done up in ChameleonColorworks color Cobalt (I own a skein of it myself) and they fit like a dream!! I want to be as talented as her for she knit me socks that are to die for!!


And Oh. My. God. My head EXPLODED when I opened this:


She spun me 300yards of Crown Mountain Farm's roving in the Layla colorway. For me. Hand spun yarn (and a ton of it) for me. I may have teared up a little (I'd explain why but then we get into that whole self-esteem crap) and the color is exactly what I would have picked. And it's so even! I could totally make a pair of house socks out of this (if i knew how many stitches to co in sportweight and on what size needles.
I can't believe how amazing this package was. My head kind of exploded with I had finished opening it all (which is why it took me so long to write this-I totally had to calm down).

In other news I finished another pair of socks but more on that next time, I've been chatty enough I think. Happy knitting!

Just a quickie

So, I'm still too hyped up on my swap package I got so I'll finish editing those pictures tomorrow and write a blog post worthy of my AWESOME package. :D

But i wanted to make sure I got this up for my plurketts:

Here are my first finished pair of socks for Summer of Socks 2008. They are knit with Yarn Pirate (I want Candy) and I used Cookie A's monkey pattern. I have it memorized now. lol. They are all wrapped up and ready to get sent to the person I made them for. :)



YOu can see them from space but I love the colors.

Wherin I get Sucked Back to the Land of the Living

So ok, I finished my shrug a week ago. Yes, a week ago. I've worn it twice, once to a going away party (where I got allot of complements but no pictures) and once to knit night. Love. It's so soft and comfortable. But what kept me away from here was plurk.com Eeevil site that is. (If you scroll down this page you can see some of mine) So, without further ado, my b0obalishis shrug shot!



It is so comfortable and soft. It's Debbie Bliss Cashmerio yarn in a dark navy blue. I don't think I've updated with pictures of my new yarn, but that can wait for another day I suppose. Tonight is the kick off for the Summer of Socks 08 and I'm itching to start....

..which reminds me Summer starts tomorrow and I've done nothing in preparation. bah.

Stitch and Pitch

I went to a baseball game. Yes me. No I'm not joking. I know! Me! Sports! And I had fun (mostly). It was for the LA Dodgers Stitch and Pitch game againist the Colorado Rockies and we won 8-1 (It had to be the knitterly mojo)! I even have proof!


And here is Loopy and my complementary S&P hat:


We were fairly hight up though and so he never really turned around:


And because I'm so eloquent today, here is my current project (sock stash busting blanket) at the game and then at home:


I'm actually working on the Two Toned shrug from Stefane Japel's book Fitted Knits again. Anything to keep me from knitting socks right now. :)

Stash Busting!

So! I have decided to stash bust some sock yarn so that i can pare down the sock heard and *ahem* buy more. :D Thus far, I am taking all my leftover skeins and knitting (loosely based on the Maison-Dixon book)a log cabin blanket-ish. I'll take some pictures shortly. Other than that I've not don emuch else, other than try to stay away from socks until summer since I joined The Summer of Socks 2008 (linky-linky) so that I can be all geared up for knitting socks, socks, socks. Oh, and socks. My goal in de-stashing is to get all my current partial skeins knitte dup and then I can buy 3 skeind from BMFA I'm thinking this one, this one, and this one to start! I especially love the last one. I'm thinking Monkeys out of them.

Eta: I just bought them. Hubby Said I could buy yarn. :D

Where have You been?! IMG Heavy

Hi everyone, long time no hear...er, type. I hope things are going well for all of you. My life has been lovely crazy and while a ton of knitting has been getting done (a whole bunch of which I can't post about since it's for a secret swap) I've just not the pizazz to post about it all. So! First up, I finished my Secret of the Stole 2 KAL by Nautical Knitter And while Savannah (that's the stole's name) is done, do you think I have a finished picture of it? Of course not. I did try though, and Matthew helped me take some pictures of me holding it (all of which were awful) so I'll have to wait for a nice day and try for later.

Speaking of Matthew, he won't wear most knitted things (ie the bloody socks I slaved away over) but that boy loves himself a beanie. So after the last black one I made him was stolen, for our 6 month anniversary I knit him another one. This time I embroidered a T on it so he'd be able to tell what was his. Surprise, surprise it came home when he got back from the field. Now his friend wants one.
It's just your typical k2p2 rib beanie.

Next up we have a pair of st-st socks in Cherry Tree Hill yarn I knit for mindless enjoyment. :)

And my new favroite pair (in progress still) of socks, in CTH again is March's shipment of the Loopy Ewe Sock Club. The pattern is to die for and I'm now through the cuff of the 2nd sock despite my pictures showing the cuff of the first sock. (because oyu know, I'm super amazing at proper photography.


And very long over due: dmop on Ravelry sent me the most gorgeous skein of sock yarn ever! It's such a beautiful deep rich green that made me all squeely. Why? Well I had sent her off some Wollmeise I had won in the last Loopy Ewe sneakup and decided to share the love. I think I made out way better but that's because dmop is awesome!


Also this month's shipment happens to be Wollmeise in a bright lovely red color (that I'd never would have picked out myself but love!) and a beautiful pattern...that calls for knitting it toe-up and on 2 circs. Can't do either. But I'm sure I could learn?


And lastly, I joined Summer of Socks 2008 and so took a picture of my sock stash to see where I was:


I'm thinking I don't need to buy sock yarn for the summer....Not that that'll stop me or anything. :)

Knitting for a year

So on April 1st I have been knitting for a year. Neat huh? Although lately, not much knitting has been going on. It's been attack of the creepy crawly's, moping from missing the hubby (gone for 8 days), and quilting. I did manage to finish my first pair of Wollmeise socks in Cookie A's Monkey pattern (even on effing size 0's dps they are *still* too big). I was worried that they wouldn't stripe beautifully the second sock around but *sigh* gorgeous. Where did I get this lovely yarn you ask? From Pquetsch as a gift because the woman is simply amazing (nod nod).



And this is what else I've done this past week:


The Strawberry Quilt!!!! I love strawberries! They are my "thing" along with fairy's. :) I was sooo freaking happy to get all the blocks done. All that is left to do is sew the borders and then take it to the quilt shop and have one of the guys quilt it for me. :)



So happy...

At least some things are getting Done

Matthew is gone for a week for work (boo-lonely) but it's given me a ton of free time. I picked up quilting and am almost piecing together a strawberry quilt. Then I'll add the borders and send off for the actual quilting. :) That's pretty much taken up my time but I did pick up my monkey socks again- I'm on the last repeat before the toe decreases. Yea! I'll post pictures soon.

Well some things at least have been getting done

Hello! Here at Casa de Tabor things have been rather hectic this past week. Lots of cleaning and re-cleaning as Matthew brings home is junk from the field and messes up the place. Alas. :)

I started another pair of monkey socks this time in Wollmeise-the colorway being Suzanne that my friend pquetsch sent me from a blog contest. The picture doesn't really do the color justice but once I finish both (I'm halfway through the 1st) Ill make sure to show them off in grand style.


And speaking of Wollmeise, Sheri from The Loopy Ewe sent me a skein of Krauterbeet For being the 1500th post on Ravelry.com. :) The woman is beyond Generous so go buy yarn from her. She rocks.

It was on my wish list on her website and that was the one she sent me! The purple and green is gorgeous!

And then because I'm a sucker and such I plunked down $60.00 for a skein of chasmere from Noro that i'll make a scarf out of...Never you mind that we are out of scarf weather. Sigh. but it's pretty.


There isn't great lighting right now in the apartment so all the pictures are less than desirable. But I'm sure I'll manage. Have a great day!

Happy St. pattys Day!

I finished socks! I finished a Project!



They are a wee bit big but that is ok! And lookie what I got in the Mail today from The Loopy Ewe:



My new namaste clutch is HUGE as well as my two skeins of Wollmeise I stayed up all night for. :) See? huge!


But I love it. And the hubby got home SUPER EARLY from work today so we are off to spend some quality time together! Yea!