I'm such a moron.

I'm not going to post about anything else today save for the SUPREMELY AWESOME SWAP PACKAGE I got LAST FREAKING MONTH. It was for the Loopy Ewe Spring Fling Swap and I got it right before Matthew came home. You remember how much I blogged then right? Well, then the Fling came along and I got to meet my AMAZING partner LynnZimm (Rav Link). But (hangs head in shame) I still hadn't blogged about it. Then I moved. Then this and that and a whole bunch of other life-getting-in-the-way things. SO. I'm sorry Lynn, please don't hate me (and that bag I made you? It's somewhere in the boxes-I didn't forget).



Gorgeous Roving!; The green/purple/blue is Kaleidoscope by Freckle Face Fibers and the purple bag of holy goodness Merino w/ sparkle. I'm saving this and not spinning with it until I'm really good. (Trust me, in the next post you'll see).

Yarn; Yeah , she spun that. It's simply amazing. It's so even and perfect. I am so eternally grateful I didn't spin up any to give to her (I just bought some) because she is amazingly perfect (and I'm not exaggerating in my shame, I said do to her face-so there :P) and, and...it's so EVEN! I bow down.

The red black and white bag; She made that too. She gave it to me at the fling actually, and it's next to my red Ladybug spinning wheel holding my spinning supplies.

There's an adorable sheep felting kit as well as delicious chocolate (I held on to that until the hus-beast started eying it after he ate all his chocolate he brought back from Germany), tea (completely gone)and the adorable yarn card.

But seriously? The best part; the blue bubble wrapped sticks. She gave me a portable niddy noddy! OMG! I shrieked so loud when I saw it that the cat ran out of the room. My brain went sploody and I started babbling at my mom-who I might add looked at me like I was crazy... (a niddy noddy? That's nice dear). She does, thankfully, get my brand of crazy-ness.

So Lynn, thank you so much again for the lovely swap package. And I'm really, horribly, sorry it took me forever and a day to blog about it.

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!

Spring Fling

So I went to St. Louis to visit Sheri and Her elves at their Loopy Ewe Spring Fling! I met a TON of new people and finally got to meet people I knew from online. It was fabulous to say the very least. Allow me to do a picture montage for you since there was just so much that I couldn't possibly write it all:
Here is myself at Loopy Central!!

It was fantastic! Oh Man, there was so much YARN! (drool) And to be quite honest, for an ONLINE store, it's much nicer than many brick and mortar stores.



Here is the WALL of Cascade 220. I refrained since my LYS carries a huge ammount (and I don't felt enough of the stuff I have).


And one of my favorite pictures:

Sheri and I! She totally had to bend down to my height, she's tall. I'm short. Sigh. I'm ALWAYS short. :) She is FANTASTIC by the way. She knew people on sight and asked about things going on in their life that they've blogged about and such. Now THAT is excellent customer service. But more so, she's so welcoming from the get go that you feel like you've been friends forever! And now:


The Loot. :D There is Fleece artist, Dream in color (Classy and smoochy), malabrigo lace, and Antenti bag (a story will be given in the next post since that is so worth blogging about and patterns and so much more!

So right as I got home, we had to pack up everything in the house because we moved into our own place again. I'll have to get pictures for you once it's all done. :) I enjoy moving. New places, people, sights etc.. but still close enough to family, friends and good yarn stores (though I'd totally move to St. Louis for the Loopy Ewe). More to come!

Chevron Scarf

...I get the addiction now. I'm finally making a Chevron Scarf from Last Minuet Knitted Gifts out of BMFA STR Lightweight Blarney Stone (I love that colorway) and Jabberwocky. Gorgeous colors. Here's Jabberwocky:


And I CO'd the scarf around 12, so after 4 ish hours I am here on the scarf:


I'd be further along but I did want to finish:

THis pair of Monkey's. I think it's a Fleece Artist colorway but I am not 100% sure.

But the Chevron scarf? I have a feeling I'll be making a few (not all at once). It also helps me work on my 101 in 1001 list item #79 which is to complete 20 projects from my Ravelry Que. I'd knit more on it but my hands are starting to hurt and I've work soon. Have a great day!


(I'm drooling over the colors).

Best Way to End the Year

1: Got a call from the boss; we are going to be on TV next week (which should help with business)

2: FINALLY got my 3 skeins of BMFA STR;2 for a chevron scarf 1 for socks

3: (And the best): MY AUNT IS PREGNANT!!!! They've been trying for 10 or so years, did the invetro-fertilization and on the 4th time they took! They are going to have babies! I cannot think of ANYONE who'd be better parents!


(And for the person who asked -sorry I forgot who did, I'm all hopped up on the excitement- Spring Fling is a knitting retreate hosted by The Loopy Ewe in April. Hard to get into as hundreds try but there is only 50ish spots and it's all lottery picked. I got uber lucky).

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Finished Projects!

I finished my first Cabled Project! Not only did I knit this in 7 days, (really more like 6) but it also completed the last of my knitting goals I had set to learn at the beginning of the year!

It's Fifi (Rav link)By: Kristeen Griffin-Grimes. I used Rowan Calmer that the pattern called for, but only used 3.5 skeins instead of the 5 it calls for.



I'm uber proud and it's lovely!!!

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!

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. :)

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!

Life-Such as it Is.

Mom's Monkey Socks are finished! My first non-st-st socks! They are dome in Blue Moon Fiber Arts STR Blue Moonstone Medium weight. It was lovely yarn to knit with! I may just have to buy more in the future.

So Would you like the good news first or the bad? Me, I like the bad news first so that the good news can cut the crappyness of the bad down. Let's go that way.

Bad First:

See that handsome man? He graduated from School of Infantry this past Friday and joined a unit that is Deploying in September. That is very, very bad news. It's "Well fuck me" news. I'm still in lovely denial and have hope that his Officer Packet will be picked up before the Unit deploys (We are using "The Secret" and Positive thinking because that really works) which would be either June or September. So please, add your positive thoughts of him getting in to OCS before then for me. Which is really weird asking the general public, but any prayers, wishes or good vibes you want to throw my way, I'll take. :) Thank you.

So! Super crappy right? What could possibly make that any better?


The view from our soon-to-be bedroom window. I just got the call in (which is why I was waiting to post) saying we got approved for our First Apartment!!!! Oh my god we both are over the moon about it! It's a 1 bedroom/1 bath on the bottom floor (we also get a covered single car garage!) that has a waterfall and stream right past the porch out side of the living room:


With a Bird Avary just past that (which is the round structure you see from our bedroom window)> The WHOLE complex is like that. And we have ducks! They walked right up to our porch! Our cats, are going to go crazy! The place has 600 units so there are 5 pools (2 are "award winning for best design"-one is a 30 second walk from our place but far enough away that we don't see it) 2 clubhouses (with a billiards room up top-we love our pool) gyms, tennis/racquet ball courts and 5 laundry facilities). It is with in a 5 minuet walking distance from my bank and the grocery store as well as a 15 minuet walk from a Theater (a movie theater as well as theatrical) and a 10 minuet walk from a mall that is apparentally a huge tourist attraction. It's full of expensive stores like Prada, Bloomingdales, Louis Vuittion-you know, stuff I couldn't afford if you gave me money. Lol.

So that is the brief rundown of what has happened this weekend. Oh boy. Up's and Downs much? For my SOTS2 KAL I haven't done the 3rd clue but I will hopefully get to it tomorrow after I get my hair done (for what will probably be a long time). :) Talk to you later!


P.S. Thank god for knitting or I'd be unable to cope with life atm. But-that's life such as it is.

Lots of pictures!!!

This past week was a good mail week. First it was the Wollmeise, then my Lace weight from Sarah's Yarns, then Yarn Pirate (a GORGEOUS color way) if it were not for Barnes and Noble's weird shipping policy I'd have 2 books too but that means something to look forward too on Tuesday. :)
Here are the icky socks of doomy doom and my cat. He's about as impressed as I am...More so perhaps:


The yarn was so bad that I threw the rest away and I had allot...see?


The new Yarn Pirate color is amazing. It' reminds me of antique lamps and Victorian Homes. I don't know if I can knit with it!!


I'm in the Secret of the Stole 2 KAL right? I got my yarn on the day the first clue came out and cast on...3 hours later had a mistake I don't know where and ripped it out. Saturday evening after frogging it I re-cast on and worked for another 3 hours before crashing into sleep with my husband (I wish I could say I sleep better when hes home but he snores too loud-lol). Today after breakfast (IE: noon) I started working on it and didn't stop until I finished the clue (IE: 5 hours later). The yarn is JaggerSpun 2/18 Silk/Wool Blend. It's adream to work with! Here you go!



And finally (I'l wrap this up quick) I finally finished the Split-Neckline Cap Sleeve Tee from the Fitted Knits book. Here it is:


Have a lovely night/day/afternoon or what have you. Now, I'm off to claim my knit wars points!

Pictorial Goodness!

It was a good day today. A very good day. But re-winding to yesterday:

Here is the Cherry Tree Hill I got from The Loopy Ewe for becoming a Groupy:

It's called "Salt Water Taffey!
Here is my stupid sock (I'm on the ankle of the 2nd one-anyone want whatever is left?) along with my bea-u-tiful nails that I finally got fixed (acrylics are teh suck).
height="375" alt="DSCN0418" />

(You realize Pquetsch I'm taking my time to just be a tease right? )

And then!!!! Today saw me sitting my computer f-5ing on Ravelry and my email to see if I got into The Loopy Ewe's Sock Club....You bet I did!!!! There were only 100(approx) Spots avaiable and 500 (ish) people trying to get in. I am a very thankful, lucky lady.

AND THEN! THEN the mail arrived....

And now I am the happy owner of 2 skeins of Wollemise:


Poison Number 5:

And Mitternact (midnight):

And I still have mail coming! My Sarah's Yarns for my SOTS2 and my Yarn Pirate Club which I'm staying in until March (My bargian with god/spirit/karma so I could get into loopy) and 2 books!!!

All I need now is for Matthew to call and tell me where on earth we are going to be living!!!

And oh my god what am I going to knit with the wollemise?

Pictorial Update

I am killing time prior to class to bring you this Pictorial Update. Weee!

Finally here is a picture of the Alpaca Scarf I knit for my cousin:



Yea! Next up we have the socks I made from one of the 2 skeins I got in a swap (because I have teeny tiny feet)


And finally! Here is the sock yarn I'm going to be knitting up next:

Zomg, isn't it beautiful?!?! Can't wait!

Especially since i have NO PROJECTS ON MY NEEDLES! I have some in the que list but not actually on the needles. Weird. I am next knititng up a purple bag from Stitch and Bitch for my future SIL for christmas. That being said, I'm off to cast on!

Finally

Well the husband has just left to see the movie Beowulf with a friend (I was invited but it's so not my thing) so I am alone after 16 wonderful days of not alone-ness. Hazza.

Not too much knitting has been done. I frogged the Mad Crazy sicks from Fleece Artist (cry) because it was jsut too think of a yarn for my size 3 DPNs. I did however receive 2 skeins of self-patt yarn from a Fall Swap I did:


So I started that one. Currently the damn this is on hold because the "frickin dag-gone" stitches kept committing knitting suicide and hurtled themselves off the DPN and I've not had the patience to pick up the 9 or so stitches. Buggers.But the color way is neat: reminds me of the cotton candy vendors at the summer Fairs.

I did a K2P2 scarf for my cousin (male) for x-mas out of alpaca yarn (no pictures because I'm a lazy wench)...do you think that's enough of a gift or do I need to add something to it? Let me know!

My sock yarn club for Yarn Pirate just shipped on friday so it ought to arrive on Monday (yea!) but have I knit with the first shipment yet? No.
I also have Lisa Souza, STR medium weight, Ocean Wind Knits, Fleece Artist and lots of pretty sock yarn I'd like to knit up but my problem is this:

Some of the sock yarn is lightweight. I've only really knitted with medium weight (Jitterbug, Cherry tree Hill) and so always cast on 48 stitches for my sock patterns. When I did this with the Fleece artist (Madder) the stitches were too loose. SO!! If i knit with smaller needles and lightweight yarn: DO I NEED TO CAST ON MORE STITCHES THAN MY 48?!

If not I'm good to go, if I do I'm so screwed. Math and I are not friends.

Tra La La Avoiding the Homework

I only have 6, count them SIX DAYS until I see my Hubby again!!!!! I hate boot camp. Minor panic earlier in the week, with all the fires going on in San Diego I had heard rumors that Graduation was going to be held off but, HA HA I didn't believe them and turns out the rumors were wrong. Thank god. So my hubby will be a Marine on Nov. 2nd. Which means I get to se ehim on Nov 1st!!!! Whew.

I finished my Pumpkin socks (alas, no pictures yet) and cast on another pair from previous skeins of yarn to use them up so I can take them off my stash.

No new news on Intolerable Cruelty being completed, I haven't had knitting class in 2 weeks since the owners husband had cancer removal surgery from his stomach. I think I'm going to have to figure out the rest on my own and I am TERRIFIED that I'm going to F it up. Sigh. I'm sleepy for some unknown reason, so I'm going to go look at the amount of homework I should be doing and then start knitting.

Homework Avoidance

Morning. So I have this homework due and it doesn't look like I'll actually be doing it...Just sayin. So!

Intolerable Cruelty: The knitting is DONE! YES! All I have to do is sew the elastic waist band in and make the little loops for the lacing and I'm all set to go. This isn't the best picture but I'll get more once it's all said and done.


Now the Pumpkin socks: Broke one of my bamboo needles. sad. Very, very sad. I only knit with 4 at a time so I was able to switch it out using the 5th one, but still. I'm one needle short of a set (lmao).


And finally! I got my first shipment in of yarn pirate sock club. The yarn is smoochy and I love how soft it is. The colors are not a combo I would have ever picked out for myself but none-the less I'm looking forward to seeing how it's knitted up. It's called "Killer bees". LoL.


I've joined a KAL for sock knitting/sock yarn de-stash if only because I've always wanted to do a KAL and I'm really looking forward it it!
http://sockstasheliminationcampaign.blogspot.com/