I Love Knitting Sweaters...

I'm so close to being done with my sweater for NaKniSweMo. Just a few more rows at the top and the button band. I just went shopping for my buttons at lunch today and I'm so happy with what I found. I wanted to make the button band a little bigger than the last of these sweaters and if I want it much bigger the new buttons probably won't work. We'll just have to see. I am very pleased with this sweater though..... I miss knitting sweaters and I'm going to have to get back in the groove.

My honey wants a sweater vest, so that may be my next project....

NaKniSweMo Progress

Both sleeves are done, have more than 10" of the body done. It's going good. Now if only I didn't have to work and I could just knit all day....

Oh well...there is always my lunch hour.

I *heart* Colorwork

Okay, so it's a little blurry, but it was taken from my phone....

Back at the end of August, my honey took me on vacation to Florida. While in Florida I couldn't help but to visit a few yarn shops. I bought some really nice yarn. My honey also bought some really nice yarn...but not FOR me. For me to knit something for HIM. I don't have the label from the yarn with me, so I cannot tell you that much about it, except that it has camel, silk, cashmere, among other very nice fibers in it. While it is a lovely yarn, the color work was a little slow going even though it only took me a couple hours here and there to finish.

NaKniSweMo

I've joined the NaKniSweMo KAL on Ravelry along with my good friend Jennie. I haven't been knitting a lot lately..not very much at all actually. I moved in with my boyfriend at the end of October and I'm still transitioning. My knitting stuff is everywhere because I didn't prepare very well for the move and my knitting stuff was all over my apartment. It's all between about ten different boxes and bins and finding enough needles to actually start my sweater for the NaKniSweMo KAL was tough enough. Thankfully the yarn I chose for the sweater was already residing at my boyfriend's house... As for the pattern, well, I couldn't find my notes on the sweater anywhere. I've decided to reknit my Wine Sweater...So I took out the original sweater, sat down, and recreated it on paper. I did a pretty good job-jotting down the pattern in about an hour. Now to test out my ability to analyze my sweater and knit another from my improvised pattern. Once I've knit the sweater, I will sit down and write it up with different sizes and all and after a test knit, make it available on Ravelry.

So, back to the KAL info. I'm knitting the sweater, once again, with Cascade 220. This time I am using the Heathers in the color Dune. I cast on Monday night and knit about 5" of the first sleeve. I'm proud to say that I finished the first sleeve last night and will be (hopefully) casting on for the second sleeve tonight. If that goes just as fast as the first, then I could have this sweater done in little more time than the first time (granted it was in college, but I knit the sweater in less than a week)...it's a really easy knit. I'm so glad to have my sweater mojo back. I miss knitting sweaters. I love knitting sweaters. I think if I do finish this one pretty quick, I will probably knit another one.

Fun in the Morning

So I was getting ready this morning and my kitten, Hazi was in the bathroom with me. There had been a plastic grocery bag at my feet from the new curling iron I bought. Hazi was playing with it, making all sorts of noise. Then I noticed the noise stopped. So I started looking around for Hazi and couldn't find her anywhere. I was starting to worry since I had the bedroom door closed and there would have been no way for her to get out of the room. I'm looking and looking and decided that maybe she was just under the bed. I continued getting ready. She's usually at my feet so I kept wondering where she'd gone. It didn't dawn on me to actually look INSIDE the plastic bag. Yep, she curled up inside the bag...I couldn't even tell she was in it. I was laughing and trying to get to a camera...by the time I grabbed my phone to snap a pic, she'd come out of the bag to see what I was doing. I wish I'd have gotten the pic while she was still completely in the bag; it was the cutest thing. I know cats do this all the time and there is no reason to get all "awwwwwwh" on you guys....but it was cute....and she is MY cat ;)

Have a great day!

Thank You

Thanks to Jennie and Lucas who have graciously offered to take care of Hazel when I go on my trip to Florida. These are good friends! Jennie is closing on her house on Friday of next week and I sure hope all goes well.

The boat thing flopped and we didn't get the boat....maybe more about that later, right now it kind of still makes me angry.

Another bad thing has happened. I don't want to talk about it. I do want to vent a little in anonymity though: You expect so much from people, or at least one person. And when you are totally let down for the tenth time you begin to wonder what is wrong with you. I know there is nothing wrong with me, except I am completely insane.

The definition of insanity:

Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

Guess what everyone?

I'M INSANE!!!!

Yep, that's right.

Tomorrow is the BIG DAY

Tomorrow my mom is getting married!!

TR and I are heading up (2-1/2 hour drive up north) tomorrow morning to have lunch with the *new* whole family. Afterwards my mom and I are getting our hair done (updos). Then pictures outside, then pictures inside....then WEDDING!!

I can't wait. I am so happy for her and wish her happiness through the rest of her life. And think this guy is going to give it to her. At least he'd better *wink* or he'll have to answer to me.

Did I ever talk about my new kitten on here? Well, if I haven't, let me introduce my sweetie:

This is Hazel. She is the cutest, feistiest kitten ever! Here she is in the sink. We've only had her for a month and she's my tiny new friend! I'm kind of hoping she's a small cat. She's a torti....so beautiful!

Bad thing about kitty #1:

Hazel likes to attack feet, legs, knees, thighs, whatever is available, whatever she sees. Hazel is too small to be declawed (well, she might be big enough now, but wasn't before and you'll see the reason in bad thing about kitty #2 as to why we are waiting). Wedding tomorrow. Feisty kitten who attacks legs. I really didn't want to look like trailer trash in a really nice dress with scratches and bruises all over my legs. And I was doing really well at avoiding it...until the last two days. Hazel has gotten me a number of times (maybe ten) on my feet and legs. Now my legs are totally going to look horrible. Not happy.

Bad thing about kitty #2:

TR and I are going on vacation (finally!!!) to Florida in a week. From Friday until the following Monday. More than ten days. I don't know who to trust with the care of my kitten. There aren't a lot of options either. One of TR's kids could do it. But they'd need to come every single day to feed her and keep her company for a little bit and for younger kids, that can be a lot to take on. I really don't want to take her anywhere, as several have suggested, because I will not trust the care of my kitten to someone who has no connection with her.

Yep, that's it.

Oh, and we bought a boat. Nothing fancy, nothing new. It's almost 20 years old, good condition....and will be a lot of fun. Can't wait to get out on the water!

Knitting and Friends

I met a good friend from my old job the other day for knitting and chatting. I taught her to knit last year and she's been doing great. She is knitting her first sweater and was having a little bit of trouble with knitting on cap sleeves. Let's just say I think she's conquered the wrap-and-turn concept. The sweater looks wonderful. She, of course, notices all her mistakes (we all do, don't we?) but it's still fantastic! I worked a little on my Clappy scarf from forever ago, maybe I will actually finish it before the fall. I am nearly complete with it; I've been knitting it for so long maybe I just don't WANT to finish it...? I cast on in the new yarn for the sweater I am designing. I'm so disappointed that I didn't have enough of the Interlacements yarn I was designing the sweater for. I bought that yarn years ago...and there is no way I could ever find anything to match it. The sweater would be beautiful in Dream in Color also, but I just don't have the funds to get any right now. Maybe I can convince the boyfriend to buy me some....after making saddles maybe he will oblige. We shall see.

I have jury duty this next week. I am not excited about it. I am going to try and take in some needles and yarn, but I'm not sure how well that will go over. Need to go to the bookstore just in case....

So, I'm not sure if I told you that my mom is getting married....two weeks from tomorrow. I am so happy for her! She deserves happiness and a man that loves her and worships her. I found the perfect dress for her wedding. Tonight, I am taking Olivia (my boyfriend's daughter) with me shoe shopping. This girl seriously loves shoes and I'm more than happy to have a shopping partner.

I was supposed to get my hair done last night as well. I didn't because my stylist's son got sick and she had to go. I haven't gotten my hair cut or colored in four months. I didn't want to spend the money while I didn't have a job. Now I just have to, especially for the wedding.

So, that's all I got. Not very exciting.

Update

Hello all. I am still alive. I got layed off in May and started a new job in July. I haven't really been knitting. I have been poorly tending my garden. My tomatoes are suffering from something, don't know what. My entire garden is suffering from rabbits, even though I have a rabbit fence reinforced with chicken wire. And moles. The trouble is never ending. I have been helping my boyfriend work on his house including putting up lots of new siding and soffit. I'm hoping for a vacation very soon. I am worn out from working all weekend making saddles. No, not horse saddles...

Oh, did I mention I'm sick. Tonight is knit night....can't decide to go or stay home...

Special Day

Happy Father's Day to all you great dads out there, and especially to my honey. He's a great father to his kids.

And a very, very special Happy Father's Day to my mother, who's always deserved praise on this day but has never gotten it. Thanks for always being there for me, mom....

Morning Snack

This is what it's about:

All fresh from the garden. Purple, red, and white radishes, green onions, and hot peppers....a wonderful little snack!

Bad Blogger

There has been so much that has happened in the last month that I care not to even go into it. Just know that I am alive, I'm not knitting much, and something is eating my garden and I feel helpless to stop it. And when I am not feeling lazy and I upload some pictures of my garden, then you'll get to see it. Until then, enjoy your life....it's shorter than you think.

Julia's Cardi

I have an FO....I know, it's unbelievable. I can't remember the last time I showed an FO.

The pattern is Rocketry (rav link). It was a kit I bought at the Fiber Event in April. I hated the order of colors so I changed it up and I am soooo happy with it. I hope it's recipient is as happy with it as I am. The recipient, Mignon, just had a baby (whom I've yet to meet!!). I figured very little knitting is/has gotten done, if any, so I decided to make little Julia a sweater. I have never knit baby things before...but I'll tell you what....I wish I had a ton of babies to knit things for!!

The yarn is Dream in Color Classy (love this yarn). I changed the pattern up a little bit, not too much. It probably needs to be blocked, or at least that is what I have been told...but I don't block. Hopefully I can get this sent out soon, before the weekend would be nice.

Contest Winner and Gardening

I planted my garden two weeks ago, before the last two weeks of rain (boy did I get lucky). From seed I planted:

radishes (a "gourmet" mix of seeds)
carrots
peas
green beans


The only thing that hasn't come up yet are the carrots....and I just can't tell if the little grass-like growth is my carrots or just weeds...

I planted 200+ onion sets:


Row 1 (at the very top of picture) are yellow onions. Row 2 are white. Row three: 3/4 of the row are green onions and the other 1/4 are red onions. My chives came back, I was really surprised to see them thriving more than a month ago.


All the onions are doing well. The red onions only started to sprout these last few days.

Everything else I planted:

Cubanelle (sweet) peppers
Hungarian Wax (hot) peppers
Jalapenos
Brussel Sprouts (1 out of six died so far..)
8 tomato plants of five different varieties (cherry, lemon boy and 3 others)
Red, green, and yellow bell peppers
Squash
Zucchini
It's not a very good picture, the sun was going down and I just wanted to get a picture....


The boyfriend and I are thinking about making another area for corn. We are also going to turn our pumpkin patch (very small) from last year into a watermelon patch. AND we are going to (if we can find the "seeds") plant potatoes. We'll see.

I want to thank the three participants of my very weak and uncreative contest for participating however, there will only be one winner....

Lizz who's guess was Frances McTwitchyeye

Loved your answer Lizz. The actual answer was Galileo. Lizz, pm me on Ravelry and give me your address and I'll send you out something special ;-)

Jay Day

The reason May 1st will now be "Jay Day" is....

My mom got engaged yesterday!!

Since her name is "Jay" I decided that May Day become Jay Day.

(sorry to disappoint your husband, M)

May Day

From now on, this day will be known as Jay Day....

...more info to come....

AND

Last chance to anyone who wants to participate in my blogoversary contest from a few posts ago. I will anounce a winner of my choosing (probably) on Monday.

Have a great weekend!!

Rocking It

Since I haven't taken pictures of my progress on the Rocketry sweater, I will show you pics from the very beginning of the sweater:

Isn't it gorgeous? I just love the colors...I put them in a different order than the pattern called for and I changed a couple other things in the pattern. I was surprised that I was even able to somewhat follow the pattern. It is extremely cute and I get compliments from everyone that sees it. And check out my new(ish) harmony interchangeable needles. They are NICE.

Fiber Event Goodies

This is my small but wonderful take-homesies from the Fiber Event a few weeks ago. Clockwise from top left:

Brian Rose 1500 yards wool (not sure what kind, don't have it with me) in a lovely red/little bits of pink/maroon. Sweater yarn, of course.

The two braids are yellow/orange/red and are merino...there is no "brand" if you will...just gorgeous colors that I could not pass up. Total of 8 ounces.

One pound plain white merino for dying, whenever I get around to it...squee!!

Two four ounce balls of 70merino/30alpaca roving that are heathery and wonderfully soft in a burnt orange and dark maroon. The plan is to spin these separately and ply them together. That's the plan when I bought them....who knows what the end result might be....

Below that is the Rocketry baby sweater kit. A friend of mine had a little girl and figured she probably isn't getting much, if any, knitting done and wanted to make this for her. The sweater is coming alone fine (of course fast, it IS a baby sweater). I will have finished photos soon. I need to go buy buttons for it.

And last but not least is the bag of blue/orange roving. I believe it is merino, not sure. Purchased from the Trading Post for Fiber Arts in Pendleton, IN. It was a steal, as it was priced wrong.

As you can see, most of what I purchased was "warm" except for the one "cool" bag of roving. This was unlike me and I was thrilled to have come home with colors that I don't normally gravitate towards. I love warm colors but always find myself buying cool colors. I have not done anything with any of it besides the baby sweater. I'm nearly finished with the sweater, I have one and a half sleeves to go plus buttons.

I missed my Birthday

My blog turned 2 on Sunday....I knew it was in April sometime but didn't bother to check. I've never had a contest of any sort so maybe it's about time....

So, leave a comment and a way for me to get a hold of you (ravelry user name would be great)...I'll pick a "winner" and send you something nice ;-) Wish I could think of something cool....like....hmmm....something for a contest....yeah, I suck...ok.

Name this person:

OR give it your best shot.

Have a great day!

Please

Please go read these two posts in their entirety.

Kate

Pam

Weekend Accomplishments

While I did not accomplish everything I wanted to this weekend; I did clean out my closet like I said I was going to. It's hard putting all those nice clothes into the donation pile when you know you've only worn them a couple times, but I did it and have a nice pile of stuff for goodwill.

I was doing good on Friday night, cleaning and such, until I turned on the tv...then it all went downhill. I was tired and the couch was calling my name and I gave in and layed down and man, it was nice.

Saturday morning I woke early went and had breakfast alone (that can be very nice at 7 am) and then to the store to look at nice green plants for my apartment. I've killed every plant I've had. I don't know why. So, I bought two very healthy looking plants and big pots and good potting soil and hope that I can make them thrive instead of die...

I also did a little experimental dying on Saturday. I dyed three skeins of sock yarn that will be up in my etsy shop as soon as there is good light to take pictures. It's been raining like crazy here the last two days. It's miserable and this morning there was snow mixed in. The average temp for this time of year is 59 and it's only 39!! BS I tell you!

Yesterday, my yarny friend Jennie came over to hang out. While she was there very little knitting got done. I dove into my fiber stash, not looking for anything, just to see what all I had and I found a bunch of rovings and fibers that I forgot I had. Baby camel, cashmere, cotton, tons of wools and wool blends, soy silk, ingeo, silk hankies....there was tons of interesting stuff. Tons of stuff I bought just to try and then it all got stashed away. I did do a tiny bit of spinning on a roving I already had started and that was the Picaso colorway of Louet Northern Lights. Mindless spinning is good and Northern Lights is perfect for that. Jennie did start a hat though, and it's beautiful.

A couple weeks ago when Jennie was over, I busted out my hand spindles and gave her one and some roving and told her to try some spinning. I think she liked it. I sent her home with the spindle and a bad of wool. When she came over Sunday, she brought more than a pound of hand dyed rovings that she had gotten. I think she hopes to pick herself up a spindle at the Fiber Event this weekend.

Well, that's all I got. Not exciting, no pictures....it doesn't help that my up close and personal yarny photos all suck. I'll get pics soon!

Stuck

There is much going on in my head and not much going on with the needles.

The sweater in which I am designing is still ongoing....while I know the direction I am going in, the motivation to knit the sleeves has waned to the point of no knitting...or knitting two rows and stopping. There is a reason I like to knit the sleeves first and this is why...no knitting gets done when they are done last. This one included, my last sweater progressed the same way. The body went reasonably quick, even designing as I went...the sleeves took 7 months (most of that time the project slept in a basket, forgotten or purposely forgotten).

I have been contemplating spinning, a lot. Along with the purchase of several braids of roving recently there is a fiber fest next weekend. Although I can swear that I won't buy a lot of fiber...I know the chances of me buying more fiber than I need are really high (cause I don't really need any). I just finished spinning a yarn in which, while intended to put a lot of twist in, too much twist was put on the yarn. Not even a good soaking will relax it and I don't know what to do at this point. The color is lovely and right now it just seems a waste to let it sit there, all twisted up. Help?

Along with my thoughts of spinning....a whole lot of llama fiber is on my mind. While in college, a friend of mine who wanted to borrow a very expensive book and knew of my fiberish creations mentioned that his grandpa owned llamas....and that when they were sheared the fiber was bagged and.......thrown...in...the...barn. WHAT?!? Um, give me some, PLEASE!! So, he brought me three garbage bags full-one brown/black, one white, and one mixed in exchange for said expensive book. I held on to the bags for about two years (not knowing how long it had been in the barn and fearing for infestation). When I determined that there was no infestation I took the bags with me to the Fiber Event one year and dropped them off with Wooly Knob to be processed. It took over 15 months to get it back, but I finally did get it back last summer. Since then, the gorgeous wonderfully soft llama has been sitting in a box in my closet. The three distinct colors are so gorgeously natural and would be perfect alone or used for colorwork. The only problem? I must actually spin it first.

Humpff....the only problem with wanting to spin the llama is the Fiber Event next weekend. I want so badly to spin so many rovings and fibers that I currently have and I also want so badly to purchase more... The obsession with finishing things unfinished and spinning current fiber stash has put such a halt on my motivation to do anything at all. Sad, I know.

What's a girl to do? Housework. I really need to do some housework. When I get home from work this evening, I won't turn on the television, I won't bother opening the laptop. I am heading straight for my closet and sorting out clothes...starting a donation pile (which will be huge, FYI). I entertain the idea that I will wear this or that at some point and I know deep down that I never will...and well, it's time to just let go. My hobbies and thus hobby supplies are more important than that Bob Marley tee mom bought me on vacation which the image came off in the first washing (sorry mom!) and countless other articles of clothing that I will NEVER WEAR AGAIN.

Just talking about it makes me feel like I've accomplished something. When the house is in order, I may even knit or spin something.

-OH! Did I mention that I found a box of blank yarn for dying too? It's amazing the things you let slip your mind...ah, dying, I've missed you.

Performing Surgery

I love to design sweaters. There is absolutely nothing that gives that feeling of accomplishment like working on and finishing a sweater that you've designed yourself. The only problem with me is....I can't work from patterns. I never follow them. I have issues when it comes to reading directions and sometimes I feel a lot like Stephanie; like I want to shoot my foot off rather than keep making the mistakes I am making.

Okay, here is the deal. Normally, when I design a sweater, I pick up needles and yarn, and just knit. I knit what my heart desires. Sure, there MAY be a sketch but there usually isn't a write up. I have gotten a lot of requests for certain patterns of mine and since I find it so difficult to write up a pattern after I've knit a piece I decided to write up the pattern (charts, etc.) before hand. The only problem with this is I CANNOT FOLLOW A PATTERN. Even though it is MY pattern, I cannot seem to follow it. I tend to do my own thing, and the only problem with that is figuring out what the hell I did after I've done it. So, instead of trying to figure out what I've done, I've been doing a bit of surgery. First I wanted to change a design element, without ripping-accomplished! Then, last night I realized that I crossed a cable the wrong way (on all three cables) so I wanted to fix it without ripping (and this was like 8 rows down with other crossovers in the mix)-accomplished! Finally, after fixing the cables, I realized that I screwed up something else in the cables (I should have learned to read the pattern I wrote by now) so I fixed two of the six mistakes this morning and hope to finish the other four at lunch and finally be able to make some more progress.....AND learn to read the charts I've made.

Did I mention that I love designing sweaters?

Things

I have been sick for well over a week. Not sick, sick. Just sick. Sick of things for one, yes, just things. One thing I AM happy about, though, is that I got the yarn I ordered last week:

The color isn't really actual in either of these. I did the best I could. It's Madelinetosh Worsted in Olivia. I love it. Unfortunately, I cannot start knitting with it yet. I have yet to make much progress on my in-design-AND-knitting-phase sweater...having had to change some of the design elements without ripping. I did a reasonable job doing so, it just took me a week to actually want to do it. So, now I am back to the point where I can knit away. And at some point I am actually going to do that.

I missed knit night last night. I'm not too happy about it, but sometimes you just have to take care of things. Things for me would be my personal life that is hanging on by a very thin and breakable thread. I'm doing what I can.

There will also be a mystery project I am going to start working on either tonight or tomorrow. I'm excited and yet scared of starting this mystery project. It means knitting when it might all be pointless. Taking time, money, and effort when it could all be for not. But, I am going to do it, if for nothing else than, to save my sanity. It will be worked on in tough times. It will be worked on instead of having nights like last night. And I'm hoping it doesn't get knit as fast as it seems it would for all the reasons I have to actually knit it. I will hopefully be able to post some progress on it, and maybe a small picture or two.

Workin' it Out

I was sick all weekend. Not sick in the way most people would think this time of year when they hear the word "sick." Many times over the last five days I have wished that I had just gotten the flu. I think I would have rather been bed ridden, vomiting, and unable to eat than what I had. I had a sore throat. I had a throat that was so sore it was bleeding. I couldn't stand the thought of swallowing. And, NO, I did not have strep throat. It started on Friday night with that feeling in your throat when you KNOW something is coming your way. By late morning Saturday, I knew I was going to be laying on my couch in sweats for the rest of the weekend. It was terrible. I'm still not at 100%, but I'm getting close.

Saturday morning I went to a "craft day" hosted by a woman who works in my office. She, as well as most of her friends, are quilters. Last craft day (over the summer) hanging out with the quilters and being the only knitter, I bought a quilt kit and started sewing my first quilt. Shortly after piecing my quilt, my machine died. Having not bought a new machine or getting the old one fixed, I brought my quilt along to use someone's machine. I got all the quilting done, all I have left to do now is the binding. But that won't get sewn on until I find someone's machine to borrow. But currently the quilt looks like this:

My friend Jennie (knitter, pictured right) came with me on Saturday and worked on her Malabrigo sweater. Since it's been a while since I have designed and knit a sweater I told her I was going to do so. And I actually did it. Because I was couch ridden (hehe) I spent the whole afternoon Sunday working out a design and casting on for a new sweater. I'm pretty excited about this one. When I am finished writing up the pattern Jennie is going to test knit it for me.

That's What I'm Talking About...

Oh yeah, you can't beat that.

ARRRRRRGH!!

Cameras. They are useful. They take nice pictures of yarn and fiber and projects and friends and good times. Oh, wouldn't it be nice to be able to take all of those nice pictures? I think it would. But cameras need charged batteries. Without a charged battery a camera is about as useful as a lead paperweight. To have a charged battery, one must have a battery charger. What does one do when they lose said battery charger? Besides freak out, people....there's a lot one can do. One can, like me, run to every electronics store within a ten miles radius (for me, that's a whole hell of a lot of electronics stores) and search high and low for the very mysterious camera battery charger. All these stores carry tons of cameras, why do they not carry the "matching" battery chargers? Sure they have generic chargers for each brand; Nikon, Sony, Olympus, etc. So I bought one, the one supposedly made for my camera. And it didn't work. Nope, let that thing charge for two hours (was only supposed to take one)....and nothing. It did nothing. First of all, I bought the thing for $45. It should work for that amount of money. So, I had to take it back. Reluctantly I just went to Olympus' website and bought one on there. I was trying to avoid this because I'm leaving for a cruise to the Bahamas on Friday morning and NEED the charger asap so I can take pretty pictures of gorgeous water, fruity drinks, etc. I ended up paying more than $60 for this charger. I had to have express shipping of course, which upped the price an ungodly amount. Can you believe that? They should offer at least one free replacement of the charger....that's just my opinion, I'm sure Olympus disagrees as they do not actually do that. If that charger doesn't come in the mail by Wednesday, Olympus will have a MAJOR problem on their hands....ME.

Pics of recent fiber related projects to come soon.....or else!

Wednesday

It's not about Wednesday...it's about it being February 4th.

What happened to January?

Monday, Monday

It was a tough weekend for me. I managed to get some knitting down on Clappy, but I have no pictures for you. I am convinced some one who shall not be named stole the part of my camera battery charger that the battery slides into. But no matter what, he that shall not be named will not admit to it.

I spun this weekend. I am exciting about this. I had started to spin this roving from Hello Yarn back in the summer (I think) but never got very far. I picked it up yesterday and spun the rest of it. I am thinking I am going to ply it with this fiber from Poppy Flower Fibers. I am going to spend the evening getting started on the second roving. I predrafted it last night. I think it will work out great. Whether or not I will actually ply it together will depend on the feeling I get when they are both spun up and sitting next to each other.

Knit night is tonight and I'm thinking about taking my wheel, as long as it's not precipitating. So, I should make some progress.

Making Progress

It sure is nice to have a company phone. I lost my phone Wednesday. By Thursday morning I had a new one. The only thing missing is my personal phone numbers, but I'm working on that.

Jennie came over last night to hang out and knit. I got several more repeats done on Clappy. She's coming along nice and while I'm happy with it, I do wish I would have made it wider. I should have plenty of yarn left over to make a nice hat and possibly some mitts, though, so I can't complain ;-)

I went stash diving last night and found some good stuff. While I am finishing up my scarf I am seriously pondering my next project. It's not that I don't already have other projects on the needles (like an old sweater, a million socks....) but I need something new, something fresh. Shuffling through skeins of sock yarn, sweaters-worth of worsted yarns, even a long jacket's worth of some fingering yarn. I just don't know what direction to turn; I want to knit something I haven't before. Something complicated and easy. I don't want to knit a shawl (although looking at the Kauni I have in the stash makes me want to make a lacy wrap, but not right now. I'm just at a loss. I love knitting the basics: hats, scarves, mitts, sweaters, socks....but I want something different.

Perhaps I will do some spinning...

What are you knitting that's different?

I am Lost Without You

O Phone, Phone! wherefore art thou Phone?

I lost my cell phone. Lost. Gone. Never to be seen again. Unless the snow melts and I miraculously find it (doubtful). I got to work yesterday morning and didn't have it on me. I thought maybe I just left it at home so I didn't bother looking in the parking lot for it. When I got home and couldn't find it, I was kicking myself. I had people call it, I stood outside my house and listened, hoping I would hear it vibrate (yes, it was on vibrate), no chance! It's gone. I have to come to terms with that. I have lost all my personal phone numbers. Oh, did I mention this was a company phone? Yeah, not fun. So, the company is working on getting me a loaner phone until I can get me one of those new Blackberry's with DC that the boytoy was going to get me. I'm still hoping that he will get it for me...but I'm thinking I'm going to be getting it for myself.

Oh well; such is life. Things happen.

On a lighter note, there has been more knitting. I am coming along on Clappy and by the end of the evening I should be at least, if not more, half way done with her. A friend is coming over this evening to knit. I'm excited as this will be only the second time we will have met. She's sweet and I hope we form a solid friendship.

I've also been talking about designing another sweater. I have at least five or six sweater's worth of yarn in the stash (and I'm talking the good stuff). I am going to come up with a design and then choose which yarn to use.

Edited to add: I just got a replacement phone....but I have no personal contacts :(

If You're Happy and You Know It...

I'm way past this point, but I don't have a more current picture...yet. I'm enjoying the simplicity of the pattern and really loving the outcome. I wish I had made the scarf a little wider, I think I will have a lot of yarn left over. But in the case that I do, I will make a matching hat. And if I make it to a yarn shop, maybe I can find worsted or chunky yarn to match for some mittens.

I've also pulled out an old sock to knit on. No pics of that yet either, but I'm thinking that I'm going to work hard and finish them up. It'd be really nice to have a new pair of socks for the first time in forever.

I went to knit night last night and had a really great time; though there were few in attendance. I have missed knit night. Before last week, I hadn't been there in over four months. I've been missing out for sure. Luckily my local knit night is held at a Panera Bread (yummy teas and coffee drinks) and it's every Monday. It's awesome.

On Cloud 9 (and other projects)

I finished this sweater back in October. I just never got pictures taken. These two pictures aren't very good and you can't really see the sweater all that great but at least I can prove to you that I did it. The yarn is Dream in Color Classy in Black Parade.


I also started on Clapotis (Clappy). I'm further now than I am in the picture. I'm using lace weight on size 4 needles. I'm going more for a scarf effect rather than a wrap. This is the yarn the Jennie gave me and it is beautiful.





I knit this scarf a long time ago. It's silk garden in two contrasting colors. 4 skeins to make this simple entrelac scarf. It's very warm. I just wanted to show it off.




I've also done a little bit of spinning. This is just 38 yards of a bulky weight yarn. 50% merino 50% baby llama. It's very soft and the llama gave it a nice halo. It was just an experiment. I am going to (eventually) spin enough yarn for a matching hat, scarf, and mitten set. Hopefully I will get a jump on that this weekend if I don't spend too much time with Clappy.

Ravelry

I love Ravelry. I do. I love it for many reasons. I love seeing what people around the world are knitting. I love seeing what projects people are knitting with what yarns. I love finding new shops and new dyers. But most of all, I love that I can find people that live near me that share in my obsession. After chatting back and forth a bunch of times on Ravelry, a woman and I decided to meet. Being somewhat new to the area and working in construction it has been difficult to find friends that (1) are not male, (2) are my age, and (3) knit. I was ecstatic to learn that this woman doesn't live far from me. And on top of that, we seem to have so much in common. She was so sweet; she even brought me a skein of Dream in Color Baby. I wish I had thought to come bearing gifts. I want to do something special for her. Not only did she bestow upon me a wonderful skein, but has given me the inspiration to knit something that I have always wanted to. Clapotis. I wound my yarn last night, I have my needles, and I will cast on at lunch.

Support

For those of you that know me, and those that don't:

I've had a few rough patches the last year and a half and I hate to say it, but here I am again....another rough patch. I could use your support, in any way. It's always nice to know that you are cared about; especially when the person you care most about has just shown you the door, told you to walk through it, and, literally, right now.

The upside to all this is that I have high hopes for returning to my true love--knitting and spinning. I'll be going to knit night tonight, which I have not been to in months, and I am going to have fun with (hopefully) very little crying.

Wish me luck, I need it!

I told you so

I told you I have been knitting; I even took photos to prove it:

"Keep me Warm, Please" hat--Noro Iro

"Scarves and Stripes"--Universal Inc. Deluxe Worsted LP in Sea + Sand.

Hump Day

I just love this sweater, so I thought I'd just post a pic of it. I have been knitting recently. I have half a scarf done but I've run out of yarn. I knew that ultimately I would need another ball....but still haven't purchased it. I started another pair of mitts (I need to stock up on these. My family likes to give them away to various people that express their *likes* of them on the street, in a store, etc.) so I figured I would just knit up a stock. I might as well go purchase the yarn I need for the scarf while I'm thinking about it.

It's been two months...

I don't have much today, or much to explain why I haven' posted in nearly two months. But I have an old FO to show. It's a sweater that I knitted long ago. I don't know what yarn, except it's cotton. It was the second sweater I knit (both the first and second were of my own design) so it does have some flaws but it's okay. I never really wear it, it's been worn once or twice. I take it out of the closet to pet it or try it on but it rarely leaves the house. Enough of the jibber-jabber:

I've done other knitting as well. Hopefully I will get some pictures taken soon!