It's All Traceys Fault

It really is. Tracey is a rather awesome person I met on Ravelry. She is wonderful and also a bit persuasive. She has told me I must post on my blog in order for anyone to read it. I am now blogging Tracey! So I have some yarn to show you, some socks, and I think that's all.

A whole bunch of the most wonderful yarn came this week from Bellamoden.
From left to right: Nori 1/16 fingering, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea sport, Chocolate artists proof sport, Possession sport. Rebecca makes the most wonderful yarn and has also made me decide that sportweight yarn is good.

Numma Numma in Whiny Butt and,
Numma Numma Blackberry Jam. Both from The Loopy Ewe naturally. The Blackberry Jam will be something for my mom, I think.
This is the work of three Ravelry friends. We have a little Loopy book club going- it's named The Loopy Nerd Heard. We read The Historian for June and July and it was decided that being knitters we needed a kit to go with it. So Tracey made the pretty dragon project bags, Sandy who has no blog made two stitchmarkers, and Rebecca dyed some of her Bellamoden yarn in a super special Historian colorway. Didn't they put together a great kit?
The yarn made me want to knit with it immediately. So I knit up a pair of Philosophers House Socks. I made them longer because the pattern is for short socks, plus I have that following directions problem... My first sportweight socks and my first pair of socks from Cat Bordhi's New Pathways sock book. I like 'em. Sportweight socks knit up way fast too!
Wollmeise. 'Nuff said. Rittersporn, Rhabarber, am kalten Polar. Probably spelled them all wrong. Love this yarn. I have the problem of choosing the perfect thing to knit with it. So it may be all skeined up forever. Also, it may not all live at my house forever, I might want to share it.

Got a phone call yesterday from a gallery owner in Colorado. She wants me to be a featured artist in their Art To Wear show. Yay! I'm so flattered. I am also a bit panicked. I need to get ten to fifteen bags to the gallery by September 2nd. That's a lot of knitting and felting. Also because Sheri does not at the moment carry any yarn I can felt with at The Loopy Ewe I have a minor yarn emergency. Like I need feltable worsted or bulky yarn fast!

Well, the awesome girls of Ravelry strike again. Tracey, Sandy and Rebecca dug into their stashes to find yarn I could use and are sending it to me. Honestly, I could not ask for a better bunch of friends than the ones I have made on the F5 thread on Ravelry. They are the most encouraging and generous people. Knitters are amazingly kind and giving.

So, even though I have maybe a dozen projects on needles I will be stopping everything to knit bags, bags, and more bags. And then I'll knit some more bags. I started one last night. Gotta get the fingers moving and the needles flying.

Been A Long Time...

I was surprised to see how long it has been since I've posted here. Oops! I have been getting stuff done though. Well, when I'm not wasting my time on Ravelry. I have finished my project for my Loopy Ewe swap partner. I can't show you pictures yet because it might ruin the surprise for my partner, but I will show you.

My newest order from the Loopy Ewe . Wooly Boully in Blue Bird and Alpaca With a Twist Fino in black. The alpaca is so soft, it's heaven. Of course that may be partially my love for alpaca talking, but I don't think so. I'm going to use it to knit the Honey Bee Stole. It will be my first big lace project so we'll see how that goes.

Monkey socks knit in Claudia Handpaints Peppermint Mocha- a Loopy Ewe exclusive colorway.
These are Spirited socks by Bellamoden. The yarn is Sunshine Yarns Soft Sock in Tree Frog.

On a unrelated note- I made gravy from scratch for the first time in my entire life last night! I was rather proud of myself. We won't talk about how long it took me to learn to make gravy.

Owl Landing!

Check out all the cool stuff I got from my HSS3 partner Mafalda Bagman. Here are shots of the whole package and my new socks. I wrote more about it on my character blog.

Some FO's, UFO's, and New Yarn

I've still been a bit AWOL from my blogging duties here. So I do have some stuff to show you.

A finished object! A Mr. Greenjeans sweater from Knitty.com. Sheri at the Loopy Ewe is having a sweater KAL with Dream in Color yarn. I know, a sweater KAL from a sock yarn paradise. Basically,Sheri really wanted to knit a sweater and thought that if she did a KAL and had all of her loyal customers knit with her she might actually finish it. There has been talk of prizes, but I don't know for sure:)


So here is my Mr. Greenjeans in Dream in Color Classy in their Good Luck Jade colorway. The button came from Mudcakes Etsy shop. It's not really that bright of a green in person. My mom will be proud. I knit myself something to wear and it's not black!

One of my current UFO's or WIP's- WIP is better since I am actively knitting it. I am turning some Sunshine Yarns soft sock in Tree Frog into a sock. I'm test knitting this sock, called Spirited for Rebecca aka Bellamoden. If you knew Becca, her yarns or this pattern you would know Spirited is the perfect name for it. This yarn is also the perfect yarn for the pattern.

Another FO! A pair of Jaywalkers in Paca Peds from The Loopy Ewe (of course). I don't remember the exact fiber content, but it's an alpaca/ superwash wool blend of some sort. Since it has alpaca I just had to try it. Not as soft as I thought it would be while knitting it, but nice and snuggly on my feet. The color is Mixed Berries.
Alpaca Jaywalkers again.

On Saturday I went on a quick trip to Fiberspace in Sterling, CO. My LYS- it's the closest shop to me and Linda, the owner, rocks. So in that pile of yarn-y goodness I have five skeins of Brown Sheep Lambs Pride Worsted- two in Chianti and three in Deep Pine. One pretty skein of recycled sari silk yarn that I've been meaning to try for years. Two skeins of Brown Sheep Wildfoote Handpaints sock yarn in Soft Jazz. That pretty blue yarn you see up there is Lonesome Stone Yarn- handpainted 50/50 merino/alpaca in Old Blue Eyes. It's so soft and I love the color, she only had one skein but it's 500 yards so I'm sure I'll be able to find something good to knit with it.

There yo have it. What I've been up to. Well, some of it anyway:)

I Am Soooo Spolied!

Please ignore my inability to load photos in the correct order:)

I got my package from my Loopy Ewe swap partner Dawne on Friday. Oh my gosh did I ever get spoiled! The package got delayed by customs on its way from Canada but it was well worth the wait. I can't believe what a sweet swap partner I got.

Those would be my feet in the socks that Dawne knit for me in a really nice color of Lorna's Laces. How can you go wrong with Lorna's laces?
Here's part of the whole out of order photo thing. My Knight Bus socks are finished, been working on them forever. They're soft, squishy and warm.

OK, here's the picture I wanted to be first. The entire contents of my swap package from Dawne. Have I mentioned how awesome she is???

Broken down a bit so it would be easier to see, here is half-ish of the package. A box of many teas in cool little colorful pyramids (yum), some Burt's Bees hand salve which she even went so far as to consult with the people in the shop it came from to make sure I wouldn't break out (no rash- yay) She sent gifts for my kids, Hersheys Kisses, which sadly did not live long enough to be photographed, and a cool Canada Rocks puzzle for each of them. Plus the book A Field Guide to Knitting, some really cute point protectors that look like a hat and a glove, a cute little sheep button, a set of four Harry Potter bookmarks- one from each house, and chocolate. That's not even all...
The next half of my treats. Two different sock knitting patterns, a really cute sheep tape measure- the black one even! Some Tussah Silk for spinning, some really awesome roving from Spunky Electric, gorgeous sock yarn from Sock Pixie ( I can't wait to get it on my needles) Last but not least my very own hand knit socks! Look at the little label she made for them...plus she sent along the rest of the yarn in case I should need it. Even the note card she wrote on is beautiful!
My awesome socks- which I wore on Saturday of course!

Thank you a thousand times Dawne! You are a wonderful partner and I don't know what I did to get such a good one!

In Over My Head

This past week I have started on so many new knitting projects, I think I may be in over my head. I have three sweaters on needles, rarely do I ever knit sweaters. I don't know for sure how many socks...

This is the start of the Gathered Pullover in the Winter 2007 Interweave Knits.

The first of a pair of 9-5 socks for the Loopy Ewe sock KAL- at least one is totally finished!
A start on a Plain Vanilla Pullover (from Knit Picks) Not sure why I picked that light of a color...
I cast on Mr. Greenjeans from Knitty.com yesterday. I'm doing it for the Loopy Ewe Dream in Color sweater KAL. I think if it's a KAL I'll actually have motivation to finish the sweater- it has to be done by June 1st! I love the yarn, but I have yet to meet a skein of Dream in Color that I didn't like. I'm in real trouble now that Sheri stocks more than sock yarn at the Loopy Ewe. Sock yarn from indie dyers was a big enough addiction, now indie yarn for sweaters too- drool!
Two pattern repeats done on Cookie A.'s Monkey socks- also from Knitty.com. These are for a swap so I actually have to finish them in a reasonable amount of time.
Finally another pair of Jaywalkers. I got some Paca Peds- superwash alpaca sock yarn!!! The Loopy Ewe strikes again. I love alpaca. Anyway, I had to try it out as soon as it came, it's alpaca for crying out loud how could I just let it sit and wait to be knit with??? I liked the Jaywalkers I knit before so I decided on that pattern since I already knew what to expect.

Holy links Batman! I sure put a lot of them in there:)

That's six projects that I started recently. That doesn't even include what I already had going, plus I have to rip out and re knit a pair of gloves for a customer since we had a tiny miscommunication about ribbing...

Told ya, way over my head.

To top it all off today is my daughters 11th birthday and she has her very first dance tonight. Makes me feel old.

Cute Boys and Socks

I don't really post pics of my kids, but this is too cute. They fell asleep like that. Do you think they're close?

My Twins. Chase in red and Aiden in blue. Too bad they're not that sweet when they're awake!

Mingus socks, pattern by Cookie A. Knit in Numma Numma Toasty- Red Raspberry Jam.
A close up of the pattern, for some strange reason it's hard to see.
Without the flash. Doesn't help much.
9-5 socks in Claudia Handpaints- Chocolate Cherry. The detail is hard to see again. I really like this yarn. The Numma Numma and Claudia both came from The Loopy Ewe. Where else would I get it???
Last but not least Knight Bus socks. Just a plain old sock patern in some pretty cool yarn. It's from an indie dyer- Shelby B. I have a rather large collection of her yarn, I think I have all Harry Potter themed colors, but she does other lovely colors as well.

See? I really am trying to get some projects done!

Yay Giants, and A Few FO's

I didn't want to but I watched the Super Bowl yesterday. I love football, the only reason why I didn't want to watch was the Patriots. I hate the Patriots!!! I'm so sick of hearing about them, their coach is a jerk and their quarterback isn't far behind him. So I was rooting for the Giants big time. Thank you Giants for showing the world that the Patriots aren't perfect. You beat them even with the challenge (that shouldn't have been allowed because the next play had already happened) they won to get a free set of downs. Thank you for putting Tom Brady on his ass repeatedly! I'm thrilled the Giants won, even though they beat my Packers for the chance!

I feel better now...

Knitting. I have five pairs of socks on needles right now. I need to knit socks, bad. Here are two FO's to show you. They have both been done for a while, one I couldn't show you because it's for a swap, the other I just hadn't gotten to yet. Now my Hot Cocoa Swap partner Sandy has her package, so her project doesn't need to be a surprise anymore.

This is Moe, my version of Mr. Dangly. The pattern is free and can be found here. I didn't get gauge, use the recomended yarn or anything like that, but she still turned out pretty good. She's supposed to make you smile and be a little silly. I think she meets those requirements. Sandy did think she was a horse, so she was happy that I told her Moe is a monkey. Sandy likes her anyway...
Another view. Moe was born to be a model. She's soft and floppy and snuggly.
The baby blanket I finished for my youngest sisters baby. It has been done for a while, but I'm slow with the pictures.

Now, I've got some socks to finish. Of course I have socks to start too for Hogwarts Sock Swap 3. Not to be confused with HSKS4. Same theme, two different swaps. I'm a Harry Potter dork, I can't help it. I did a few Harry Potter quizzes over the weekend. I found out that my Patronus is an otter- just like Hermione, and that my HP alter ego is Harry. I didn't think it would be Harry, I figured Hermione or Ginny or something. Imagine that.

Gotta knit...

Random

Would you believe that I ordered more stuff from The Loopy Ewe- but no yarn this time I swear. It's not even all for me- I have some secret pal shopping to do! I'm doing the Loopy Swap, HSKS4, and the Hot Cocoa swap- the only one I don't have my partner for yet is HSKS4 since the sign ups are still open. So I'm working on putting packages together, I have to make lists this time since I'm doing three at once and I'll forget what is for who.

Mushu, my cat, ate some salsa at lunch time. I doubt that it's good for her- that should be fun later! I should know better than to leave anything that could possibly be eaten anywhere that she has any chance of getting to because she is a huge pig and eats anything.

Purple crayon that has been washed and dried with the laundry does indeed come out! Following bits of all the advice posted by other victims of this tragedy online, and getting no help from my mom (even though I know that it happened to her at least once) I managed it. A nice long hot water soak, some agitation, more soaking, with about a cup each of detergent, vinegar, Shout, and Clorox 2. Do it twice just to be sure. After that remember to check all laundry for stray crayons! Crayon comes out of the dryer too. Some suggested soaking a dish towel in water and dish soap and throwing it in the dryer and letting it run. It works, but the process must be repeated several times each followed by scrubbing while the dryer is still hot. Just in case any of you ever need to know...

I started my project for my Loopy Swap partner last night. Then somehow I tangled the yarn up into the worst mess I have seen in a while. I have it untangled now, but I think I may have changed my mind about what to knit...

A Bunch Of Stuff

I know it's been a while since I've posted, let alone with pictures. Now I have pictures, well as many as I could take before my camera batteries died. So I've been knitting and signing myself up for more swaps. I can't help it. Plus I added a picture of the sock pattern I sold since it's available now!

Anyone who did HSKS3 should get their little wand wielding fingers over to the HSKS4 site and get signed up for this round. I just sent my information to the Headmistress this morning. Only 100 people get to join- hopefully some of my pals from last time will get in on it again! If you like knitting, swaps, and Harry Potter then this swap is loads of fun and you should join! I'm a Gryffindor again for this one. We're supposed to get house points for linking to the site with the logo/picture you see above. I, however am not cool enough to figure out precisely how one does that. So I posted the picture and links anyway, even though it probably won't count. Sorry Gryffindors!

I sort of improvised the pattern for these little Mary Jane booties for my little sisters baby. She's due in February, but her shower is Saturday. No baby with a knitting aunt can get away without wearing hand knits!

Vine lace hat for my sisters baby, to go with the little booties. Um, the baby is supposed to be a girl by the way...

I finished the blanket for my sisters baby too. It's a feather and fan pattern from a booklet for Encore baby blankets. I used Caron Simply Soft because I like it for babies. I used one strand of off white and two of soft pink held together throughout. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. Plus I got it done in time for her shower this Saturday.

A close up detail of the stitch pattern on the blanket.

I started on the blanket for my other little sisters baby yesterday. This one's due in February too. So far so good. Too many babies...

Remember a while back when I said I sold a sock pattern, well here it is. They're called Library Socks and the pattern was written for Cherry Tree Hill. It's not for sale everywhere yet, but here's a link to where it is. I imagine it will be up on Cherry Tree Hills site soon. Maybe it will even be up on the Loopy Ewe since she carries Cherry Tree Hill yarns and patterns. The detail is hard to see in the picture, I think because the yarn is so dark, but it has cables and bobbles and all sorts of fun things to knit into them.

I was going to post pictures of the gift my awesome husband made me for Christmas, but that will have to wait for the camera batteries to charge. Maybe I'll have some finished socks to show you too. I have four pairs on needles, I'm even on the second sock on two pairs! I really have to get knitting on them because I have to knit my Loopy Swap partners gift too. I have the yarn narrowed down to two, but I have no idea what to knit for her. I want to do the perfect thing even though I know that's not going to happen!

Some FO's

Yep, I finally have finished knitting a few things. I have both of my Jaywalkers done- it took me forever because I kept putting them down to work on something else! I knit them in Lime & Violet yarn which I love. I messed up and made the first one in one size and the second in another. Guess that's what I get for waiting so long to finish a pair of socks! Something sort of funny happened to them though. The first one I knit had stripes on the leg and pooling on the foot, the second one is exactly the opposite. I didn't do it on purpose, I don't know how I could have or how it happened at all. It's ok, I like them this way. Like my boys, they are fraternal twins instead of identical. They are way comfortable, one of my favorite sock patterns. Didn't they turn out pretty...


I finished my moms Christmas socks too! They are the Snapdragon pattern knit in Scarlet Fleece Antique Watermelon. Both the yarn and pattern can be found at the Loopy Ewe, of course. The pattern was a fun one even though it is a toe up pattern which is my least favorite way to knit socks. The yarn was nice to work with and is really soft and squishy, it was complete murder to wind into a ball though. Whoever was skeining yarn that day was either quite angry with the world or was smoking crack, I don't know which.

I love the way they turned out and I hope my mom does too. Now to get her package together and sent off so that it can make it to Ohio before Christmas since she can't come home this year. I'm going to try and send her a little Christmas in a box. I hate the idea of her being lonely on Christmas.

This year I have Christmas Eve off and work Christmas Day, well night really but you know what I mean. Usually it's not too bad to work on the holidays. Most of the patients are so glad to have someone there to take care of them when they have to be in the hospital and away from their families. The hospital can't close on Christmas. A fact some of my family and In-Laws just don't get. Oh well. The kids will be done opening presents and will have gone through several sets of batteries for their new toys by the time I have to leave them for the night, so the fun part of the day will be over and I won't miss much.

I still have one gift to finish knitting for my sister. Then an order for a customer, a shower gift for the same sister, and a baby blanket for another customer- all need to be done either by Christmas or shortly there after. Guess I better get my fingers busy!

It's Been a While...

Since I've had time to post. I've been knitting like mad and my husband has decided to hold the computer hostage from me all day long most days. The good news is his back is feeling better!

I did a little craft show here in town on Saturday and didn't do too bad. I did better at it last year, but the weather was crappy this year. Either way I still did better in six hours than I did in two days in Colorado.

Today I listed a bunch of new stuff in my Etsy shop. New gloves and about six new bags. Hope it's not too late for Christmas shopping! I really like the way most of my new bags came out. You just never know what you're going to get when you make it up as you go along...

I started on my Christmas knitting on Sunday. A pair of Snapdragon socks in Scarlet Fleece Antique Watermelon (the pattern and yarn can both be found at the fabulously addicting and wonderful Loopy Ewe) for my mom. I have two other gifts to knit as well, but I'm pretty sure that I'll make it in time. I'm already done with the foot and gusset of the first sock (knit from the toe up- yuck!) and I really haven't been working on it that much.

I went through my sock yarn (doesn't count as stash) yesterday. I have discovered that I have enough sock yarn to knit well over 30 pairs of socks. Oh I have such a sock yarn addiction! Good thing I love knitting socks and have no less than four pairs on needles as I type!

I better go feed little boys lunch. Sorry no pictures of FO's this time, but soon.

Do I really need a title???

I don't want to make up a title, so I'm not! Now for some posting randomness...
What did I do today? Posted some new items on My Esty shop which has been horribly neglected as of late. Too many galleries, shows, gifts, and other projects to knit I guess. No new bags posted though.
I do have four bags all knit up and waiting to be felted and finished, then they can come out and see the world. I have another show to do on December 1st, which is what I'm mainly working on things for at the moment. After that it's Christmas knitting. I think I only have three projects to do. How did I manage that? I'm sure I'll have some emergency holiday knitting to do that I just can't think of right now.
While I was waiting for pages to load on Etsy, I played on Ravelry and added dozens of sock patterns to the queue. The sad thing is that I likely have more than enough yarn to knit them all, just not the time. I will of course continue to buy sock yarn anyway. I wouldn't want Sheri at the Loopy Ewe to go hungry after all!
I am rather impatiently awaiting my Knit Picks order. Also I'm waiting to find the "real" copy of the sock pattern I sold in my mail box. I can't wait to see it, and then maybe I can show you guys...
One of my sisters and my dad are supposed to come for Thanksgiving. That will be nice since no one ever drives to see us, we always have to drive to see them.
It's cold here now, supposed to snow tomorrow and maybe on Thanksgiving. I'm off to find some coffee, chocolate, and knitting.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Merlins Beard!

My package came yesterday from my Hogwarts Sock Swap 2 partner Vicky. Wow! She completely spoiled me- more than spoiled me. I didn't manage to get a before photo, but I have lots of pictures of what was in all the little packages she tucked into the box. Being the thoughtful person that she is she even sent along a spell she got from the Weasley twins and treats for the three underage wizards in my house so that I could open all my things in peace! Check all this out:
This is the whole lot of it. I told you I got spoiled! The box wrapped in white with the card in front of it is one of the spells for underage wizards, I managed a photo since one of them was still at school at the time. It was like Christmas for a knitting Harry Potter geek! I had a hard time getting everything into the picture and had to have my husband do it because he is much taller and could get a better view of the whole thing.

Vicky had a good time at Honeydukes. (See the bag?) Exploding BonBons, Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, a packet of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum and four Chocolate Frogs. I've never seen some of these things before. She must have visited a Muggle sweet shop as well, because there were two tins of Choxie chocolates- dark chocolate mints and dark chocolate espresso beans. I have never tried these before either, but can't wait- I heard they are quite good! The spell for underage wizards presented them with a very cool box of candies from the movie Ratatouille (I've probably spelled it wrong) which the little wizards snapped right up and enjoyed. They loved it! Also you will see some cool Harry Potter pens and Harry Potter post it notes, yay!

Now for the knitting stuff. A set of stitch markers in Ravenclaw colors that she made herself, a set of five Leprechaun double pointed needles in size 1 (2.25mm), a new needle sizer (she must have read that I broke mine). There is a bookmark she knit in Gryffindor colors that came in its own trunk! Two skeins of Knit Picks Essential in Shoreline Twist (I love Knit Picks!) great Ravenclaw colors. As if that wasn't enough Vicky sent me two skeins of Maizy from Crystal Palace in the Night Shades colorway. I can't wait to try it out. Maizy yarn is 82% corn fiber! Very ironic since the Muggle village I live in is in the middle of nowhere Nebraska and I am surrounded by corn. Well, not now since it's all harvested... See the label on my socks? There is the Ravenclaw crest on it next to Stacks Socks, and it says "Bookish Ravenclaw, up all night reading for class at least have warm feet" The Hufflepuff crest is on the back, since Vicky is a Hufflepuff, and next to it is "Knit industriously for Minerva Crookshanks by Vicky Bladvak"

Here's the best part- socks! They are a really nice Ravenclaw blue and are nice and soft. Not to mention that they are flawlessly knitted. They fit perfectly too. I love them- thank you Vicky!

Another view.

Vicky, thank you so much for spoiling me in this swap. Everything you did was so thoughtful and creative. Treats for the little wizards, everything Harry Potter themed and so perfect and well done. This has been a great swap.

Thank you Vicky!!!!!!!!!