Friday, November 30, 2007
The Secret is out!
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Fug from the pot
Moving on.
My cell rang the other night and there was a kid on the phone for MG. they talked for about 20 minutes. after which time MG said she was going to meet this girl Saturday at a local arcade. I still have not heard from the kids Mom so we will see about this. Seems the talking on the phone phase has started. I have told her to give her friends the land line so she can talk away. If no one answers the call waiting, try my cell...
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Tam2
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Shop Update
In knitting news the 2nd tam will be done today and I have cast on the 2nd sleeve for the Cobblestone. I am hoping to get it done during knit night so I can get that thing done. I will feel pretty bad if it is not under the tree before Christmas as Hubby has been so great to me this year and he deserves a nice hand knit sweater. I am also going to get Hubby a new fryer cuz his is too small and dying.
Well that is all the news for now... I'll be back later with pictures of the tree trimming and new yarns. We have a little sun here today but are not too likely to have much more of it this week.
Monday, November 26, 2007
One Down
This yarn was meant to be black but the dye split in the pot. The result is so pretty. This is The Staircase Tam. Someone will find this under their tree Christmas morning. I need to block it before wrapping. This was so fun and easy to knit I am making another. I should have it done later today.
In other news Miss V is having a big stash sale and I have a little $$ socked away so I think I'm gonna go and check it out. It will be like going to play poker... I will only take the cash I can spend and walk away when its gone. I hear she is selling spinning fiber too. ooo pretty...
Sunday, November 25, 2007
My Hubby
And let me just say for the record: I have the best Hubby! He loves me and wants to see me happy. He knows I really want my shop to work out and wants to help me. He is a great Dad and my Best Friend. I love you Baby! even if you do leave empty pop bottles all over the place.
I had better get that sweater finished!
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Holiday list/Holiday blog
1 Finish Cobblestone for Hubby
2 Finish sock#2 for MG
3 Finish tam
4 Knit 2 pair fingerless mitts
5 Knit 1 (or 2) drawstring gift bags
6 Knit and felt 1 pair slippers
7 Stuff 2 knitted balls
and if there is time:
mittens for the kids
and two more knit balls
That is quite a list. I think I have the yarn for everything on it but do I have the time? I have to ship a bunch of this stuff so I figure I have until December 20 to get it out. Should be doable. Keep telling me that....
I am using my own hand dyed yarns for some of these. The first project is coming out really nice. Now I just need to sit and knit. This sounds simple I know but the MK's are not really interested in letting Mommy knit when there is a tree to put up and cookies to bake. I am looking forward to the cookie baking time. I have not had enough in recent years and this year I am doing all my favorite Christmas cookies and sweets. MG's school has a bake sale coming up and there will be cookies for gifts as well. Yummy!
One more thing before I go. I am going do a series of post for December called the 25 days of Christmas. Each post will be about something I love about this time of year. Recipes, movies, music. All kinds of little things that make life a little sweeter during the holidays. What are some of your favorite Holiday things?. Feel free to join me in the 25 Days of Christmas. Drop me a comment if you do. I would love to read them and maybe discover some new things. I will start December 1. Happy Holidays.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Black Friday
I got what I needed and went home, I'll finish shopping later when the crazies have gone home for a nap.
In knitting news the first sleeve is done on the Cobblestone, one to go then we join it up. MG's socks are moving along, I am at the heel of sock #2. Won't be long now.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Happy Thanksgiving!
I hope you all enjoy your hoilday as much as I know I will enjoy mine.
I have to run there is blueberry buckle to make!
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Snow!
Gotta go wind 700 yards of Merino.
ETA: yarn wound looks very nice. Snow now covers grass and car. Where did I put that smowbrush?
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
GAH Your yarn is done.
Here it is sorry the pictures are so bad but there is no light. The pink is perfect if I may say so. Light to bright pink in soft waves. I love it. It is soft and washable. I rinsed the heck out of it but just to be safe wash in cold water all by itself the first time. The other is a little brighter than the picture. It is still wet so we will see a better photo tomorrow. The blue could be darker. You should get stripes of the blue/peach/brown The peach is a little more orange than I had intended but I like the result. You can't tell from this but there is a real depth of color that should play nicely in the striping. I have to wind it again and that takes some doing. I'll get a picture. That's 1320 yards of yarn coming at ya!
Up next yarn for my little bros gift. Kettle dyed all one color. Much easier dye job. I like the single color dyes lately. I love the slight changes in the resulting fabric.
The Ick
Monday, November 19, 2007
One Sock Two Sock
I am making slow and steady progress on the cobblestone. It is mindless sleeve knitting for now. I will feel a lot better about it when the sleeves are done. I need to get my dye pots going if I want to get them out in time to ship this week. This will require a lot of walking in a circle for the next batch... Stay tuned.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Sock It Too Me Twice
How long have you been knitting?I learned when I was little but I have only been knitting regularly for about 2 years.
Do you consider yourself beginner, intermediate, advanced? I would say intermediate. There is always some new thing to learn.
How long have you been knitting socks? About 8 months
What are your favorite fibers to work with? Wool and natural fibers.
What is your favorite color? Red is my favorite but I love color. I do not like pastels, and I look bad in yellow
What are your current WIPs (works in progress)? Cobblestone for Hubby, Socks for both kids, mittens
Name your favorite yarns, (brand, fibers, colors, etc.). oo this is hard! My favorite for socks so far is Lorena's Laces, That said, I love to meet new yarns. I would like to try STR, Yarn Pirate, Mountain Colors. I love hand painted yarns.
What are some yarns/fibers that you stay away from. Furry yarns and acrylics
What is your family situation? (Married, kids, pets?) I am married 2 kids and a large dog.
Name some of your hobbies. Movies, reading Theatre
Name some of your favorite movies? I love old movie musicals. Other faves include The Godfather, Singin' in the Rain, Spinal Tap and A Christmas Story.
Do you like to read? Oh Yes all kinds of things
Do you collect anything? Yarn, art glass
Do you own an iPod or mp3 player? nope.
What are your favorite type of knitting needles? I love my Harmony DPN's for socks. I use circs for almost everything else
What knitting notion could you not live without? Tape measure
Who are some of your favorite designers? Ann Budd, Euny Jang, Brooklyn Tweed
Do you subscribe to any magazines? (Knitting or otherwise.) nope
When is your birthday? May 4
Do you have a "wishlist", (on Ravelry, Froogle, or Amazon)? I have a very long list on Raverly
Do you have a Ravelry ID? sandyknits
If you had a sheep, what would you name it? Aran
This will be fun! Time to plow through the stash.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Update
The Cobblestone has me worried about fit. I knit tight and I am getting gauge but I still think its not gonna fit. I always think its not gonna fit. I have this feeling with everything I have made so far. However my knitting always seems to be like theatre...it always works out in the end. Sure you get bad knitting as well as bad theatre sometimes but that's how we learn right? Yeah, somebody please tell me that Christmas morning when Hubby is swimming in wool.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Knit night at the junkyard
Thursday, November 15, 2007
play date
Yarn should arrive today for GAH's order. I need to put it in to soak if I am going to dye it this weekend. 6 hanks of worsted shouldn't be too hard. I am going to leave the sale up for another week. So if you would like some pretty hand dyed yarn go check it out. I have 2 Christmas colorways up and it is not too late to start socks for Christmas!
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Knit Night
In knitting news: Still have not picked up the Cobblestone. Gotta get on it. 1St kaffe sock has gusset and foot needs toe. I am working my way through the gifts slowly but surely. I might make it I have something like 41 days. Gifts need to be shipped so I have more like 33 days but whose counting?
We are going to save some $$ and use our old tree this year. We had it and a real tree last year. Last years tree sat in the yard till summer cuz Hubby did not take it to the drop off place. And no one picks them up. So it is all for the best. The MK's are ready for the Christmas stuff to come out. Won't be long now. This year I have decided I will try to finish all the half done projects of Christmas past. I have kits I bought a few years ago I never did anything with. This is the year to get them done instead of buying more stuff to sit around. I cleaned out my closet yesterday, can you tell?
I will be sending my last SP11 package today. I hope it does not take 4 weeks to get there.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Monday, November 12, 2007
Family Knitting Weekend
So Saturday morning we all got up and went on a little adventure. I had printed some directions from map quest for 2 yarn shops in the area and we are knitters after all. So we went about 20 miles up the road from our hotel to Coralville, IA to visit Crazy Girl Yarn Shop. The shop is in a cute little shopping area near the train station. They have a huge wall of Cascade wools as well as some nice sock yarns. Mom gifted me the one seen here. I love it. The color here is pretty good. It is Trekking Pro Natura. The fiber is wool and Bamboo. Pretty.... GAL picked up a Spun magazine with an article on striping yarns. It is mostly about spinning. I would love to try spinning someday. Seems to me, hand spun yarns add one more element to a project that one can do oneself. Making the item that much more special. But I digress...
After we left the Crazy Girls We set off to find a shop called The Fiber Hut. I had seen an ad for this shop on line somewhere and it was said to be inside a German restaurant called Der Shammershmacken. ( this is not the name of the place but what I said when I mangled the German in the car. We all laughed.)GAH said the name meant something like The Good food or The Good Chef something like that. Anyway off we go onto the highway. We take the exit on my sheet. ( I like a dork did not print the map, nor did I bring one.) We take what we thought was the turn and end up somewhere in central Iowa farm country. It was a lovely drive but no towns,restaurants or yarn shops to be found. We stopped at a small community center to ask for directions. The people were very nice and got us back on a paved road toward town. We drove along and still did not find the place. We did find a great little gift shop in the middle of nowhere. All I remember about its location is that is it somewhere near Old Man Pass and Old Lady Creek. The very nice lady there gave us directions and we were off again. By this time we had given up on the printed directions and were just going with it. The dude with the long ponytail at the gas station told us the restaurant was up the street. "just look for the big chicken" he tells me. Ok ladies lets find us a big chicken. Here he is.(this is the only photo I took. I keep meaning to and then we all kept right on yakking)
In case you are wondering he is as tall as me. We went in to find no Fiber Hut. The girl had no idea what I was talking about.Ah well. We had a very nice lunch, where we stuffed ourselves with good food. Off we went again down the Iowa Highway. The trees still have some color and the weather could not have been much better. We stopped in Little Ammana and looked at the shops. Jan(Moms Guide dog) urpped in one shop so we did a little clean up and then went to taste some wine. Finally worn out with our travels we went back to the hotel for some knitting. GAH helped me with my little toe problem and showed GAL the finer points of Christmas Stocking knitting. You must under stand that her Stockings are among the most treasured items in so many family's including mine. I helped Mom seam up her ribwarmer, and we all knit away.
After a while we thought it would be fun to get our shop on so we went across the street to the outlet mall. Here we had a grand time shopping for all kinds of things. We got some great books I will share later. We shopped for kid stuff too. Soon it was time for Pizza and more knitting fun. We had the Wizard of Oz on the TV, wine, food, yarn and each other. It was as near a perfect evening as we could ask for and over all too soon.
Sunday morning brought brunch and more shopping. We had a grand time. MG is getting a new winter coat from the Gap that we got a great deal on. Gotta love the outlet mall. There were many great buys I won't go into it. However. My Mommy who I love so much got my part of my Christmas a little early. I love them. They are the most comfortable pair of heeled boots I have ever had. Classic cool. Did I say how much I love them? I Love Them!
We are already thinking about our next trip. This spring. This kind of thing is just too good to do only once a year. The yarn shop tour of the US has begun! We are thinking of St Louis next time. I promise to bring a map next time!
Ladies, I miss you already. I am so lucky to have you all in my life, and so is my little girl. We love you!
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Good Times
Friday, November 09, 2007
Today is the day!
Spamalot last night was good but a bit of a let down for me. The Broadway cast is so much stronger. The leads seemed winded for much of the show. Still pretty funny thou...
Knitting update: Have not touched the Cobblestone for a week. Really need to get at it. I washed my swatch and it set up a bit so I think the item will fit. I may cry a bit if it does not.
The first KF sock is up to the heel. I love the color but the yarn is a little bit rough. I have read that it wears great and softens up in the wash. Is this true? I think MG is getting these. I owe her a knit and she loves them so.
I joined another swap. I know I said I wouldn't but I have till 3/31/08 to get it all done. It is Sock It To Me Twice. It is really like SP with a pair of hand knit socks at the end. I am hoping to challenge myself after the holidays with a really great pair of socks. There is still time to join. It is a small bunch so it should be fun. This is the only swap I am going to do for a while. I have some great yarns in the stash so I shouldn't have to buy too much yarn. Click the link to join in. Looks like fun.
Thursday, November 08, 2007
The Owl has landed!
I received my HSKS3 box from Laurie today. It was so great! Check it out!
We have some coffee and candy. A yummy apple pie bar. some cute stitch markers, a note pad and a set of Brittany 3.0mm dpns. There is not pictured a pattern for Acorn Lace Socks from Fiber Trends. The bag is great. I love the fabric. Very fun. and she also sent a matching needle roll for my dpn's. I really needed one of these! The Yarn is Cherry Tree Hill Sockittome in Champlain Sunset. I love it!. Thank You Laurie! I can't wait to knit it up.
Gimme Gimme Gimme!
We will start with Hubby. He needs: A pair of long johns, warm socks and a good travel mug for the morning coffee. He wants: a smoker (like for ribs) The Simpson's video game for his PS2 and a new dvd player for his projector.he wants one that will do the 5.1 sound thing.
MG is pretty easy. She needs warm clothes for this winter. She wants: Chapter books. she is in the highest reading group at school and she gets to read chapter books. She loves them. Anything to do with horses. She also wants the Barbie MP3 Player thing and crafts. She loves to make stuff. I don't know about the Barbie Girl thing. Seems a bit much for a 7 year old.
MB needs winter boots, warm clothes and a desk for his room. He wants anything to do with Spongebob, Superhoreos or Curious George. He also loves books and crafts. I think a RC car would be fun for him now. He loves cars and trunks.
Both kids need jammies, socks and long johns.
As for me I want The Harmony Wood needle set from knit picks. I would love both the sock set and the Options.
Books: Poems of Color, Sensational Knitted Socks ( MSKS), and Knitted toys to name a few. Maybe a book on dyes.
Yarn: Socks that Rock (I love the new Raven Series)and Lorna's Laces for socks and something beautiful for a sweater for me.
I would like to learn to spin next year so a spindle and fiber might be fun.
A laptop would be good too Santa if you're out there.
Oh yeah I need: new jammies,snow boots and a new(regular size) coffee maker. Hubby buys himself a coffee every morning, no reason we can't make it here.
Mostly I want everyone to enjoy this Christmas Season. I plan on sucking up minute I can gift making and cooking baking with the Kiddos. I'll remember that a lot longer than the coffee pot.
Here is a nice Mountain Sunset to distract from all the Gimme gimme gimme!
Much better
I started a new pair of socks last night with the Kaffe Fasset yarn from Simone. Love the stripes. The color is called Storm. MG wants them so we will see. I might be able to get socks for both kids out of these 2 balls of yarn. That would be too cute.
I think I have my Christmas gift knitting list done and I am in pretty good shape. Almost everything is started and I really only need yarn for 1 or 2 little things. I am almost done with the Mitts I am working on. They are so soft! I find myself just petting them. I also have one purple kid sock done. Getting there. I want to make my MIL a Santa so if you know of a good pattern? I might just make it up as I go along
I am dreaming up new colorways for BunkyBoBos, thinking ahead to spring. I want to move into acid dyes and maybe try some natural dyes as well. I am taking my BBBs stock with me to show off to my family this weekend so if you happen to order anything I will not get it out until Monday. I am going to leave my sale up for a while and see if I can get some of these to sell before Christmas. If they don't sell everyone will get socks next Christmas!
I am off to eat some graham crackers and watch Blues Clues with my boy. Yeah, I'm lovin being home.
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Dear FDA,wtf
He is drinking lots of water and resting but the river of ick from the nose just keeps flowing. Called the Doc and the nurse said "just let it run its course" Thanks lady! How many kids do you have? If he is no better tomorrow he gets the cold medicine I have used for him his entire life. Hasn't hurt him yet and I only give him part of the dose.
In related news the MK's will be seeing a new doctor starting with the next visit. I have changed offices all together now. So with a little luck the new guy will be better. The last guy told MG when she was 5 that she was fat. She wouldn't eat for 3 days after that. The new guy comes highly recommended.
2 more days till girls weekend!
1 more day untill Spamalot! I got Hubby tickets for his birthday and the show is tommrow. I saw it in NYC but Hubby was not with me so he missed out and was more than a little bummed about it. So tommrow is the day!
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Look What I got!
She sent some candy for the kiddos (which I am hiding for now) a very nice postcard and yarn. First is 1 ball of Regia Galaxy. This colorway is very soothing. I really like it. It is called Jupiter Syil. The next is 2 balls of the Regia Kaffe Fassett. I love it, and it stripes! Thank You so much! I love them. The colors are so different from anything else I have. Yea! btw I have your last box here but I think I will send it when I get back from the weekend. I want to find one little thing...
Ooooo Scary!
Monday, November 05, 2007
Pretty colors
New Yarns! These are both Superwash Merino Wool. There is 220 Yards of the dark purple and 440 yards of the blue and burgundy. I love both of these, but alas they are bound for the shop. This is the last undyed worsted left in the house. I hope to order some more when some of the other yarns sell. I do not have names for these yet. I'll get to that later.
In other news Hubby had today off and went to the school to have lunch with MG. She was so happy and Hubby said it was pretty interesting to see her there with all the other kids. Next time he if off on a Monday I will go. Gotta do it while she will still let us!
Only 3 days till I leave for my weekend with Mom, GAL and GAH! I am so excited. I have found 2 knitting shops near where we are staying. Should be lots of knitting and hanging out together. I need to make some cookies.
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Argggg!
Ah good times.
Hubby is taking the kids to see Bee Movie today so I get 2 whole hours of quite! Oh the joy! what to do? what to do?
Quick Cobblestone update: Body is done and I started the first sleeve. I left the body otn for now. The pattern calls for me to put the underarm stitch's on waste yarn and the rest on a holder and join up the sleeves and knit up the yoke. I have never done this before so it should be interesting.
Saturday, November 03, 2007
100 Things About Me
1-I have a thing for red shoes. I have red ankle boots, chuck Taylor's, crocs, flip flops and my clarks.
2- I am the oldest of 27 Grandchildren on my Dad's side, and 2 on my Moms side.
3- I once played 2 dead guys in the same show. It was Arsenic and Old Lace. Teddy only dropped me on my head once. Poor guy next night he broke his leg during a performance of Noises Off.
(When he got home he found he had gotten bit by a tick and had Lime Disease.)
4- I have walked the bases at Wrigley Field in a party dress while carrying my heels.
5- The first thing I saw the first time I set foot in New York City alone was a guy peeing on the sidewalk, in the middle of the day. Gotta love NYC
6- I feel the only place to get a proper pizza is in Chicago. and don't even get me started on Italian Beef and Hot Dogs
7- I have a little brother who is a foot taller than me. I went away to school and by Christmas he had grown a foot. My SIL is about as tall as I am
8- I chipped my tail bone when I was 15 because of a cute guy and a rattlesnake.
9- I am a lifetime member of the Girl Scouts.
10- I once spent the night at The Museum of Science and Industry with the Girl Scouts. It was a long time ago but I remember it as being very cool.