For the Love of Crafts

Rainbow Bear Magic!

2009-01-09T15:18:00.000-08:00

As some of you know, the boy asked me to knit him a teddy bear out of rainbow yarn for Christmas. Well, my needles broke on Christmas Eve day, with only half the head left to go, so I missed the Christmas gift deadline and then I had him, so I couldn't finish it up without him seeing it until this past week!

I finished it today and once I stuck a face on him, he came to life! Amazing, I know! He's quite a little playful fellow and wanted to go right outside to play in the backyard until the boy got home!

First, he ran right over to the lemon tree (that had recently been trimmed WAY back by my gardeners!) and started climbing around on the branches, playing peek a boo with me behind the leaves :)

When he got tired of that, he asked me to get the hoola hoop off the fence hook and he played with that for awhile. It was a little frustrating, because he doesn't have hips to spin it around, so he eventually gave up and lay down for a quick rest.

He looked to his left and spied the boy's bike standing there, so he hopped on and tried to ride it around. His feet couldn't quite reach the pedals, so I pushed him up and down the driveway for awhile until he said he wanted to do something on his own! (Gee, he sounds like a little kid already! :P)

I carried him around the back yard and there he spied the laundry line! He was using it as a tight rope, walking back and forth on it, doing flips...he's really a very nible little guy! While I was trying to catch a picture of him mid-flip, he almost fell off, but caught himself at the last minute...phwew!

His near tragedy sobered him up some and he walked back across the yard and up the stairs into the kitchen, where we both decided it was time for a treat :)

Rainbow bear had some honey....but just a little! I didn't want him to get sick on an empty stomach!

I had one of my fancy new Liege waffles that arrived yesterday from Belgium!

I can't wait to see what high-jinks Rainbow Bear gets into with the boy tonight once they're introduced to each other. I think I'll have a fire extinguisher on hand, just in case :P

A headless....

2008-12-30T19:57:00.000-08:00

bear.

The boy asked for a rainbow teddy bear for Christmas. Sadly, my needle broke on Christmas eve day, when I was close to being done, so he sits here, headless, until after New Year's when I'll have time to finish him up.

And no, despite what my sweetums says, it's not a voodoo teddy bear :P

While not knitting, I have been traveling extensively back in time, taking pictures of T-Rexs and their young :D

stash

2008-12-04T10:36:00.000-08:00

I went through and inventoried my yarn last night, because I've been getting really busy in a arbitrary and random swap forum on Ravelry and needed to know what yarn I actually had anymore...my inventory sheet was woefully out of date.

All done and I added up the skeins and I have 282 skeins of yarn in my home :

I need to do some stash busting!!!!

Drops Babies

2008-11-13T14:40:00.000-08:00

All these damn adorable baby patterns on Drops with adorable babies IN the kint items are REALLY making my uterus twitch.

Just sayin' :)

Despite how it may seem...

2008-10-27T15:08:00.000-07:00

I have been being crafty! I am almost done with my green sweater-turned blanket-turned back into sweater :) I have about 2/3 of an arm left to go and then voila! I shall have my first sweater :) I also have almost a whole bootie knit and a swatch for a tank top. Of course, now that it's fall and summer is over, I'm not as motivated to knit a tank top, lol. I am hankering to start on a pair of fingerless gloves! My office is ridiculously cold (and this is coming from a woman who is always the "hot" one in a crowd!) and my hands cramp up and I can't type unless I have some sort of hand-covering :)

I also carved a pumpkin with my sweetie two nights ago! My sketch on the paper looked very spooky and menacing and then, transferred to pumpkin, it just looks jolly and Asian : Sweetie and I have taken to calling it Jackie Chano' lantern :)

Craftiness is still very much around me...I just had my camera stolen a few weeks back and so I can't take pictures of stuff right now and really, what's a cool crafty blog post without pictures?!

Usually never

2008-10-23T13:34:00.000-07:00

I'm usually never preachy on this blog. I'm usually never political. I usually never talk in depth about the fact that I'm a big ol' dyke. But elections are coming up soon and I feel like I NEED to take a moment to urge everyone in California to vote NO on 8.

If 8 passes, people like me will have our recently won right to marry the person we love taken away from us. That's all it is. Two folks who LOVE each other wanting to have the same basic rights as everyone else. Being queer isn't going to be taught in school. Being allowed to marry isn't going to end the world. We've been doing it for several months now here in California and life is just going on the same as usual for everyone else.

If 8 passes, regular everyday people like me, a single mom with a 6 year old son, won't have some of the same basic rights everyone else has. That's what it boils down to. Regular, everyday folks just living life, going to work, picking up the kid at the babysitter, making dinner, reading bedtime stories won't have the ability to legally marry the one person in the world that they love and want to spend the rest of their life with.

We are not second-class citizens. We have had our rights taken away from us long enough. It's time to take one step closer to the vision of the Declaration of Independance and recognize that all men (and women :P) are created equal and deserve the same rights. Please, if you are in California, vote NO on 8 in November.

Thank you :)

Blame a goddess

2008-10-01T13:12:00.000-07:00

I saw this on a friend's LiveJournal and I HAD to go play with it at yearbookyourself.com. A lot of the results were truly horrifying : I figured out I look best as a 1950's woman and a late 1970's or early 80's man, lol.

Don't believe me?

And I just look freaky/funny as a 70's woman, LOL.

Picture pages :)

2008-09-10T12:33:00.000-07:00

Finally took some photos of my goodies my Secret Pal 12 sent me!

Clockwise, from top left, you see the raw silk orangeish bag :) Next to that is the maroon comfy yarn, then the three Knit Picks Harmony classic circulars in size 1, 2, and 3! We cut to the left and see the cute orange and green washcloth she made me, on top of which is my new Harmony cable needles (so pretty!) and a grow a fish that is supposed to be for the boy, but...well...we might share it :P Above that is two more skeins of Knit Picks Comfy in a dark chocolatey brown and then in the middle is the cool, unusual scarf book!

Thanks again, Secret Pal :)

Got my package!

2008-09-08T15:37:00.000-07:00

Mr. Mailman brought my package today from my Secret Pal 12 pal :)

Thank you so much, my sneaky friend, for the goodies inside! I'll try to post a picture soon. But until then, I'll tell everyone what I got with good ol' words :)

1) The book "Knitting New Scarves." It was on my Wist and looks like some really amazing projects in there :)

2) Size 1, 2 and 3 Knit Picks Harmony classic circulars. Gotta love more needles :)

3) An orange and green ballband dishrag. It's so squishy! Yay :)

4) A pretty orange raw silk pouch-thing. Inside was:
A really funny "Grow a Fish" toy for my son
Knit PIcks Harmony cable needles...*swoon*

5) 5 skeins of Knit Picks "Comfy" cotton and acrylic yarn. It's SO soft! Three are a deep maroon color and two are like a dark, chocolatey brown. Did I mention how soft it is? MmMmmMMmmmMmmm.

Thanks again, Katie :)

Sappy Mommy Alert

2008-09-02T13:40:00.000-07:00

Today was the boy's first day of FIRST GRADE! I know he already had his first day of Kindergarten and his first day of Kindergarten at special ed. But but but! Somehow, Kindergarten is still a baby and FIRST GRADE is a boy.

The private school we got him into (got the green light at 4:30 PM on Friday, when the first day was today...nah, nothing like last minute, lol) is just great and I have such high hopes for the boy there! We met his teacher, the gagillion aids for his first/second/third grade classroom, his therapist and they were all very welcoming and friendly and spoke with the boy and shook his hand and he has his own desk and wrote his own name on the nametag and just. Gah.

Deep in PMS territory is no time for the boy to do something monumentous like this. Much crying and vaklempt heart squeezing abounds today :)

Don't question it...

2008-08-26T15:33:00.000-07:00

There's a scene in a Will & Grace episode where Grace is devouing a roast chicken and Will makes some sort of negative comment. She replies, "Hey! Jews and chicken. It's real and it's deep."

That's me today. Except it's baklava.

"Hey! swedish-french-dutch-irish-english-native-americans and bakalava. It's real and it's deep."

Okay, maybe it doesn't work as well, but it's still just as true.

MMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. *licks my fingers, loaded with honey and flakey little pastry bits*

Yay

2008-08-07T16:08:00.001-07:00

My pal got her package finally and she liked it :) Yay :)

The preceding post was brought to you by the letters P, M and S :)

Grumpified

2008-08-07T08:44:00.000-07:00

I sent my Secret Pal 12 Pal's package a bit late due to some extenuating circumnstances that I kept her in the loop on. Because of this, I sent a MASSIVE huge awesome package for July and August all together. I sent it Fed Ex so she would get it ASAP. and she hasn't received it yet. I keep checking the tracking every day. I even emailed her and told her it was in her town, she just needed to either be home to get it or go over to FedEx at night and pick it up. And yet, I check tracking again this morning and for the third morning, it wasn't delivered, it is still in FedEx custody. I don't know how many times they will attempt delivery before sending it back to me. I'm frustrated and impatient and I want my pal to get her DANG package!

This hasn't been the best swap for me, so far. Ah well.

*grumble grumble grumble grumble*

How to knit dissapointment

2008-07-31T11:30:00.000-07:00

I have been knitting like the wind on my circle cardigan the last few days. I finished the body (per the instructions) and started in on one sleeve. In my excitement, I tried it on with just the one sleeve hole opened up and I am pretty much 100% sure it isn't going to fit in any way.

But I followed the directions exactly! and they are based on my own measurements, so how the HELL can it be wrong? I think the error comes in with the fact that you're supposed to knit the front portion the same size as the back. Well, I have a lot more of me on the front than the back...you know, these breastual things...so I think I should have knit a LOT more on the front. As it is, the sides of the cardigan, when pulled taught, don't even come to my nipples :

I also think I made an error. The directions had me making a circle the diameter of my back plus 1"(which I did) and then knit in some waste yarn for the armholes, which would be done later. Well, the directions for where to put the arm holes were VERY sketchy and just didn't make any sense and, rather than email the pattern designer to clarify, I just assumed I knew where they should go and put them there. Now, the cardigan isn't right. You're supposed to wear it one way for a longer back and shorter shawl part and then you can flip it to make a shorter body and larger shawl part. Well, my arms are in the middle, so it's just...even and floppy.

As much as I wanted to have this cardigan, I think I am going to unravel the arm that I've knit thus far, kitchener up the arm holes and then call it a throw blanket and send it to my sister for her birthday.

*grump grump grump*

When can't I ever seem to knit clothing correctly? *feeling really down on myself today*

Jam fan

2008-07-28T13:34:00.000-07:00

Saturday, someone gave me a whole flat of raspberries! I LOVE raspberries, but I knew I wouldn't be able to eat them before they went bad. So, what did I do? I decided to make freezer jam for the first time in my life. I threw in one container of blackberries, just for the heck of it, but otherwise, it's amazing, delicious, fantastic raspberry jam! YUM!!!!!!

The whole time I was making it, I was remembering the Friend's episode where Monica makes Jam and Joey sits there and eats it with a spoon. Having only ever had store-bought jam and jelly before, I couldn't understand why he would do that. Yuck. Well, licking the spoon on my freezer jam while I was cleaning up, I now know why. Hot dayun, that's some AMAZING stuff! I almost wished some of it didn't set so I could pour it over vanilla ice cream :D Delish :)

Yay for jam :) My son even asked for a jam and peanut butter sandwich for lunch today, instead of the usual peanut butter and banana sandiwch :D

It's so different than jam in the store. It's slightly creamy, but firm and not too sweet and tastes like real raspberries with a tiny hint of blackberries at the back of your throat. God, it's good. I need to invent things to eat it with :)

Anniversary presents

2008-07-25T11:24:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was my partner and my third anniversary :) We went out to dinner at our traditional anniversary restaurant in Berkeley and had a wonderful time! Why am I telling you this? Because guess what I got for my anniversary present?

A swift!!!

And you know what is even cooler? My partner MADE it for me...like, from scratch! He's been taking wood working classes on the weekend as a hobby and he wanted the first real thing he ever made to be something for me and this is it :D :D :D

It is so pretty and wonderful and special and spiffy and I LOVE it almost as much as I love him :D

Yay for anniversaries and love :)

New Specs

2008-07-16T14:17:00.000-07:00

Guess I need to change my icon up there because I have new specs! The sweetie and I were joking last night that, what with my new eyeballs and a hands-free phone thingie in my ear, I'm turning into a cyborg! Oh no! I wonder what will be next.

I took some pictures (of course) to show off my new specs (of course). I LOVE them :) I can see so well and everything's so shiny and clear and I still get a kick out of the fact that the lenses are hydrophobic :P I want it to rain now, so I can see the water not stick :P

The pretty pose:

The non-smiling pose:

The cheezy grin, black and white artsy pose:

The Grrrrrrr, growly face grumpy pretend pose:

And the driving in the car and you can see the transition lenses working but it's early in the morning and my hair is still wet pose:

Also, I wanted to share two new additions to my bike :)

Adding these to my already schnazzy bike makes me a happy fraggle!

culinarily creative

2008-07-12T13:21:00.001-07:00

I know, I've been a bad blogger and SP 12 participant. It's just that I usually blog at work and the last week and a half has been RIDICULOUS! I was working till 8PM many nights, planning for a big company functioning I was throwing. And now it's over! yay! I am knitting away on my circular jacket, it just rocks :)

But I don't have much else to share that's crafty, except....

cooking!

I decided to get brave and make the boy some gluten free/casien free mac n cheese for lunch today. It used to be his favorite food and I know he's been missing it a lot since we started him on the GF/CF diet several weeks ago.

So, I started by cooking some brown rice pasta (Trader Joe's). Then, I melted some casien-free butter type stuff (Earth Balance) in a pan, added some gluten free multi-purpose flour (From Bob's Red Mill) and made a roux. I cooked it for a bit, then added a bunch of soy milk. Cooked it for awhile more, till boiling and slightly thick, then added pepper and a wad of casien-free grated cheddar cheese type product (Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet). I whisked vigorously while the cheese-type stuff melted (takes a little longer than real cheese, but it DOES melt) and it lightly boiled and thickened. Then, I poured some over the pasta and set it in front of the boy.

Two bites got a "MmmmMmmMM!" and a thumbs up. When asked if he liked it, he smiled, gave me nod and rubbed his belly. He ate the whole bowl :)I'm just thrilled :)

Now, I had a LOT of sauce left over, so I poured it into a container and put it in the fridge. I think it will solidify a la velveeta and I can cut some off, re-melt in a pan and have cheese sauce whenever he wants mac n cheese or cheese sauce on brocolli, etc :)

I'm just SOOOOO happy this worked really well and he loved it :) Yay for me!

Week three SP question & WIP

2008-06-27T09:46:00.000-07:00

What would you consider the perfect amount of stash?

Well, MY stash is just the perfect amount of stash, of course :P I have alpaca, wool, wool blends, silk, acrylic, cotton, bamboo, soysilk, and some misc. stuff. Three shelves in my fiber center and three space bags in the closet. Because, of course, I buy new yarn for any project, lol. Stash is just to inspire and pet :)

In other news, I decided to frog my Mr. Greenjeans sweater. I had finished the body and was about to start the arms and I realized, ya know...I hate this thing. It's too big, it's mis-shapen, it's just ICKY and I hated knitting on it. So, I sat down and ripped it all out and made a bunch of adorable yarn balls. I already had another sweater in mind, don'tcha know :)

I'm making the Circle Swing Coat found here (if you're on Ravelry) http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/circle-swing-coat. I cast on a few days ago and it's so totally fun to knit and I'm just really enjoying it. I need to knit about three more inches in diameter on the back, then I get to set up the arms and do the front.

As you can see here, I am doing it mostly in one color, Dark Horse Fantasy green multi, but I have two skeins of the same yarn in black/grey multi that I think I'm gonna do the last few rows in for an interesting edge :) I am doing an occasional stockinette ring in between the garter stitch rings to further enhance the circular nature of it :)

I just LOVE it :)

The above pictures were taken with my camera phone on the hood of my car whilst waiting to give blood. They were running an hour behind, so I got a LOT of knitting done. Unfortunately, my blood wasn't good enough, so they sent me away. I'm anemic :( I see Iron pills in my future today :)

SP 12 week two question

2008-06-20T13:49:00.000-07:00

As a kid, what did you look forward to most about summer vacation/break/holiday?

I can't think of a specific thing as a young child...perhaps being able to ride my bike around the neighborhood all day with my friends? Perhaps summer camps? But I know once I hit my teen years, the BEST thing about summer break was getting to sleep in as late as I wanted :) I would sleep until noon or 1:00 PM, then take a long bath and read a book and then stay up until 2 or 3 reading and talking with friends on the phone :)

I'm a night owl by nature :)

SP 12 Question of the week

2008-06-12T10:19:00.000-07:00

What is your favorite summertime drink?

Well, I pretty much only drink water. All the time. Water water water :) But when it gets summery, I like to have an occasional lemonade. My favorite is the lemonade from Hot Dog on a Stick :) I also like frozen lemonade that you get at the fair or other places of suspect cuisine. I just bought some frozen raspberry lemonade concentrate from Schwanns, but I haven't made it yet. I LOVE raspberries, so I expect I'll love this lemonade :)

Cold, icy, refreshing and slightly tart...mmmmmmm, lemonade :)

Picture Tuesday

2008-06-10T12:04:00.000-07:00

Here are a number of not necessarily related pictures I've been meaning to post here. Enjoy!

Two weekends ago, my sweetie reupholstered my kitchen chairs. I love how they came out :) He even reupholstered one with plastic sheeting on it for the boy's chair, so it's wipe-off-able :) Now, we want to make a linoleum rug to put under the table and hide some of the nasty renters kitchen floor I have going on, lol. Maybe an olive green with a brown trim?

Close-up of the groovy fabric I picked out :)

When I went to the Maker Faire, I got some great photographs of these sculptures that were placed around the grounds. They were two or three stories high and were just stunning in workmanship and beauty.

Close-up of the bird the metal guy was picking up :) It amused me, hehe.

You know I love animals, but these goats cracked me up, straining SO HARD to eat the grass on the other side of hte fence...even though it was the EXACT same grass as on their side of the fence :)

There was a posse of folks driving around in cupcake cars! This one was cool :P

This was stunning...the woman in the background was kneeling in prayer or subjugation of this massive spidery alien thing with one giant red eye. The woman had a fire in her chest, where her heart would be and the flame came up and down to a heartbeat. The head spun around and when the red eye lined up with the woman, her whole body went up in flames. It was AWESOME!

The eye

Regular heartbeat flame

When the red eye landed on her

There was also a robot giraffe that we saw last year :) He's just too cute for words!

Then, I have some pictures of the quilt my Great Aunt Lois (who died a few weeks ago) sent to me.

I thought it was just one of the many quilts she had around the house and was thrilled to get it. However, the story is even more poignant because, when I picked it up from my Aunt, she told me that about a year ago, she had visited Aunt Lois and helped Lois pick out the fabric for the quilt with me in mind. Aunt Lois was making is especially for me !!! and was going to bring it to me the next time she came to visit, but she passed away before she came to California again.

Although it isn't a color scheme I would normally go for, I love it so much and I will really treasure it for the rest of my life :) And even though I don't like teal at all and don't care for blue that much, every time I look at these pictures, it grows on me more and more. I expect I'll soon have it out on my bed, loving it and it's colors :) How can I not, when it's made with such love by a master quilter!

Voila! My camera is now empty....for a few days, at least ;)

SP 12 pal!

2008-06-09T10:47:00.000-07:00

Yay! I received my Secret Pal 12 downstream swap pal in my email this morning :)

*happy fraggle dances all around the office*

We seem to have a lot in common and my brain's already churning with ideas and plans for her packages! I hope she loves them and I can just tell we're gonna hit it off :)

Happy Monday, y'all :P

Secret Pal 12 questionnaire

2008-06-02T16:38:00.000-07:00

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I love almost all yarn *swoon* I especially love alpaca and can never have enough, lol. I am fond of knitting with wool, although I never seem to do it enough. It's just so sproingy when I get to it :) I also really like knitting with things like bamboo and soy :) I have nothing at all against acrylic or polyester...some of my best friends are acrylic or polyester, lol :) The only things I don't like are fun fur/novelty yarns or anything with mohair or anything that isn't soft. I'm a big tactile person, so it must be soft.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
I store my knitting needles in an over the door shoe holder on the inside of my coat closet in the living room :) It works wonderfully, one pocket for each size, plus extra pockets for Knit Picks cables, cable needles, etc. There's extra pockets and maybe someday I'll come up with a use for them as well :)

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
I have been knitting about 2 1/2 years at this point. I think I'm intermediate. I've done just about everything except for colorwork and entralac...mostly because I don't care for most colorwork things nor how entralac looks :) I love lace, cables, etc. Interestingly enough, I love knitting garter stitch the best of all :)

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
Amazon, no. But I have a Wist. It's located at http://www.wists.com/fragglefemme/ and I update it fairly regularly. If I buy or get as a gift something on there, I am sure to take it down right away.

5. What's your favorite scent?
Hmm. I love vanilla, lavender, powdery scents. I love anything citrusy - my everyday perfume is lemongrass tea from The Body Shop. I don't tend to go for spicy scents.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
Sure I do :) I like swedish fish and sweet tarts the best. I don't eat chocolate very much, as I'm allergic. I'm much more likely to enjoy a cinnamon roll than a brownie or a snickerdoodle over a chocolate cookie. I have been known to eat Dove milk chocolate on occasion, though :) I actually have more of a savory tooth than a sweet tooth. I love chips, rosemary potato bread, pretzles, beef jerky, etc.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
Yes, I spin. I have several spindles and an Ashford Traditional wheel. I love spinning and never have enough time to do it *grump* I also sew, make jewelry and other misc. crafty stuff. I wouldn't be out of place reupholstering a chair or building some make-shift shelves. I am in love with my digital camera and take too many pictures :)

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
I call my favorite genre "Chicks with guitars." Ani Difranco, Gina Young, Joan Osbourne, Jonatha Brooke, etc. I also love most 80's new wave, some punk, folk and broadway show tunes :) Yes, my computer is fully-functioning :) In fact, I don't have any CDs, having long ago burned them all onto my computer.

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?
I live in a cloud of green and orange...dark green, leaf green, pale khaki green, emerald, sea, grass, rust orange, traffic cone orange, brown-orange, any orange. I also am a fan of brown, grey, black, some darker purples. Basically, anything earth tones or foresty. I can stand some blue, but it's not a favorite. I really don't like yellow in any fashion or pastels at all.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I have a 6 year old son with high functioning autism whom I co-parent with my ex-wife. Yes, I'm a dyke :) I have a partner of 3 years, but we don't live together right now, although we spend an awful lot of time at each other's house :) I wish I could have a kitty, but no pets are allowed in my duplex, so *sigh* I have to make due with kitty time with my partner's two cats :)

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
I love scarves and mittens, especially fingerless mittens and gloves. I enjoy hats a lot, but it is difficult to find one that doesn't look dorky on me. Ponchos on a 5' 11" tall busty, broad shouldered woman is just so wrong I would be arrested, lol.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
I actually like knitting small things. Hats, slippers, purses, washcloths, scarves, etc. I don't have much patience for sweaters or blankets, although I keep saving patterns for these things that I want to knit, lol.

13. What are you knitting right now?
Right now, I have several things going on. I am about 3/5 of the way done with a Mr. Greensleeves cardigan. I have one slipper done and one fingerless glove. I am to the heel on a pair of socks. I am almost done with a hat. I just finished a washing mitt for my son and need to seam up the one edge.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
But of course :)

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
I only knit with circulars. I prefer wood or bamboo, but some metal are okay. I'm not a huge fan of plastic needles and only use the ones I have in necessity. My favorite needles are Knit Picks interchangeable wooden and metal needles and Crystal Palace bamboo...that swivel join is just to die for! :)

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
I have a yarn ball winder. I have been wanting a swift for awhile, and indeed have several plans for making my own out of my son's tinker toys or some PVC pipe or even wooden ones. However, I always seem to make due with my kitchen chairs or my partner's arms :)

17. How old is your oldest UFO?
Hmmmm. Probably the fingerless gloves. A few years old.

18. What is your favorite holiday?
I love fall, so I would have to pick Halloween :)

19. Is there anything that you collect?
You mean, besides yarn??? Yup :) I collect aprons, lizard and turtle things, Wizard of Oz stuff and books :) Oh, and spoons, like old silverware, not the commemorative little ones, lol. Oh, and I seem to have amassed a fair amount of octopi, lol.

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
But of course!!!!!! (remember, you asked for it!)

Books:

No Sheep for You
Walker's second treasury of knitting patterns
Zimmermann's Knitter's Almanac
Zimmermann's Knitting Without Tears
Beautiful Knitting Patterns by Klopper
More Big Girl Knits

Patterns: (to name a few...I'm a total pattern whore and have about 3 GB of pdf patterns on my computer, lol.)

Mentionable, Sizzle and Somewhat Cowl from Knit and Tonic
Flicca from My Fashionable Life
Justina skirt from norah gaughan, vol. 1 @ Berroco
Prairie Boots, Petra and Brigitta from Coco Knits
Wintergreen mittens from Kate Gilbert
Sandy Breeze cardigan from turitknits

Yarn:

Crystal Palace Merino 5 Print in 9809 Fall Herbs
Crystal Palace Maizy Print in Birch Bark or Iguana
Prism Lotus in tumbleweed
Indiecita worsted weight most any color
Misti Alpaca Chunky in Ember melange or tapistry melange
Sea silk in forest colorway
Knit Picks Andean Silk in any orange, brown, grey or greenish colors
Knit Picks Comfy in Pomegranite, Fedora or Honeydew
Knit Picks Shine worsted in Laurel or Fedora
Knit Picks CotLin in kohlrabi or coffee
Knit Picks Risata sock yarn in Umber
Classic Elite Cotton Bam Boo in toasted almond, tiger lily, raspberry sorbet, or willow
Patons Rumor in Fern Heather
Bernat Bamboo in dill or wicker
Bernat Cottontots in blue berry, grape berry, strawberry, lime berry
Lion Brand Nature's Choice cotton in pecan walnut or pistachio
Lion Brand Vanna's Choice in black, linen, taupe, chocolate, brick, rust, honey, dusty green, olive, dusty blue, dusty purple, mountain print, woods print, charcoal print, or autumn print
Caron Simply Soft Quick in mango, bone, dark sage, autumn red
Vickie Howell Love in Sarah & Maurice, Harold & Maude, Andrew & Sam, or Miles & maya
Vickie Howell Rock in siouxie, billy, thom or trent
Vickie Howell Craft in Libby, Cathy & Steve, Candi, Sandi, Kelly, or Suss

Other Stuff:

subscription to Interweave Knits (mine just expired)
subscription to Creative Knitting (I never seem to get around to subscribing)
Knitter's block set from Coco knits
non-dangly stitch markers

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
Some colorwork, I guess, if I could find a pattern I liked. Oh, also double knitting...I understand the concept, I've just never actually done it :)

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
I want to be a sock knitter. I've knit one sock. Okay, part of one sock. I want handknit socks, damn it! But alas, I can never seem to finish one. My feet are a size 11. They're 10 1/2 inches long, 9 3/4 inches around at the widest part (the ball of my foot). Also, I'll let you know that I have a huge head :) It's 23 1/2 inches around! I'm just a big, tall gal, what can I say? :)

23. When is your birthday?
February 16, 1973, so I'm currently 35 and an aquarius.

24. Are you on Ravelry? If so, what's your ID?
Yeppers :) I'm fragglefemme :)

25. OTHER things I want my pal to know:
I'm allergic to mohair. I don't have acrylic snobbery, as long as it's soft soft soft I love to knit with it :) I don't drink coffee or tea or most anything besides water. I am not a big fan of chocolate. I am a sci-fi computer geek :)

Most improtantly, I will LOVE whatever you send me!!!

KNitterly

2008-05-20T12:01:00.000-07:00

My Mr. Greenjeans sweater is still in the works, although TOTALLY different and customized and about twenty sizes too large. but I shall finish it, I shall :) I just need to do sleeves and button placket and then it shall be done.

In the meantime, I just made the cutest little orange hair kerchief with a dark green stripe at the front (can you say "I ran out of orange before casting off"? LOL). I wanted it for driving around this summer in my sweetie's car that is without air conditioning. My hair flys around and get all knotted up (the curse of curly hair!) and I thought wearing this would keep things in place until we get wherever we're going.

Well, it's ADORABLE! I need to make more! I think I look totally adorable in it, with my short hair curling out around the edges and framing my face, while all the annoying hair bits aren't on my face or tickling my ears and I just think it's adorable :)

I am quite picky about how things look on me, so you know it must be cute if I'm gushing this much :P

But I cast on for a quicky little rectangle bath mit/glove thingie for my son. I'm hoping that if it is something that he can stick his hand into, he will actually wash himself instead of just playing in the tub.

Can you tell I am doing lots of quick, easy fun things to give myself a break from the ginormous sweater? hehe.

Oh! And I joined SP 12, so look for all kinds of Secret Pal tom foolery to appear over the next few months :)

Listen in! You know you wanna :)

2008-05-16T09:26:00.000-07:00

Bad blogger

2008-02-20T10:51:00.000-08:00

I don't know why I have been so remiss posting on this blog. I need to get on the ball!

Last night, I went through all my stash and pulled out the stuff I don't expect I'll ever really use and organized what was left. I put all my needles away in their appropriate places. I sorted through WIPs and just generally organized and spiffed up my fiber area.

It feels so nice!

Next comes the fabrics and generic craft area in my bedroom. I have SO MUCH FABRIC it's ridiculous. I need to go through it all and my partner had the wonderful idea of donating all the fabric I don't think I'll ever really use to a college or local theatre group for costumes :)

I was the costume mistress for our theatre in college, so I love that idea...giving a younger version of me a bunch of fun new fabrics to play with :) Yay!

Then, I actually need to start SEWING again. I want to make some aprons. I've seen such cute patterns and I really do love aprons...I just don't have any right now! So, aprons it is :) And bags. And clothes, lol. I got some AMAZING giraffe print fabric for the sweetie yesterday and I want to make her pajama pants out of it for the spring :) I think she's just get such a kick out of that!

Yay for crafty goodness, organzing and recycling :)

What we won't do for our kids :)

2008-01-31T16:16:00.000-08:00

I turn 35 in 16 days. Pretty scary, eh?

Famous!

2008-01-22T16:08:00.001-08:00

On the way up to Mt. Shasta for vacation, I finished up my pixie hat...kitchnered it up expertly, if I do say so myself :P, and put it on my head...only to find out it was too big, lol. Ah well, I love it regardless.

Here are a few pictures of the hat and my most recent scarf in action in the snow, lol :)

My partner got some pictures of the back and sides of my hat and one with my hat, scarf and mittens all in the shot! Of course, when I'll get a copy of it to post, who knows, lol.

Mittens ho!

2008-01-07T11:11:00.000-08:00

So, I've never knit mittens before.

But, I'm going to the snow (as everyone knows and is tired of hearing about) and I decided I needed me some warm, bulky, squishy wool mittens. I found a knit-flat mitten pattern that looked interesting and cast on with some of my faaabulous new bulky wool yarn I got the other day. It's Plymouth Galaway Chunky in color 705...a very dark blue. I'm not usually one for blues, but this caught my eye and I thought it would make nice mittens :)

Here is the cast-on and ribbed wrist knit...going to start the thumb soon!

OoOoh! Making the thumb was totally cool :) But then, you can to crochet down the side to seam it up and well...um...I'm not a crocheter...so it's a bit wonky...but I love it anyway :)

Wonky crocheted-up thumb and some more of the hand knit...I was just all aglow :) Kept exclaiming, "I'm knitting mittens!"

Trying them on mid-hand length. Yes, my thumb curves weird. My sweetie's always making fun of my weird curly stick-out thumbs :P But the mitten fits perfectly thus far!

All the knitting is done! Now, how the heck do you do a three-needle bind-off again?

All sewn up and on my hand! Perfect fit...perfeect warmth...perfect gloves (even if the seaming is sooooo not perfect, they're still perfect to me! )

Mitten shadow puppets :)

Laid out flat and beautious on the couch :)

And because everyone loves kitties! This is Annie right before the flash interrupted her slumber and she glared at me then cleaned her toes :)

The other bulky yarn I bought on Friday :) This might become a hat? Maybe..... So soft! Bulky! Wool! Warm! Colors! Yay!

Yup. I made me some mittens :) Can you tell I'm proud? :D

Friday fondling

2008-01-04T21:25:00.000-08:00

After a pretty tough week, I decided I needed to fondle some yarn.

I went to the LYS for which I got several gift cards at Christmas. I started walking around the smallish shop, fondling every skein in sight with the following criterion in my mind:

1) worsted weight or larger, preferrably bulky even. I have waaay too much thin yarn in my stash.

2) Wool or a significant wool blend. I don't really have that much wool and whenever I knit with it, I find it a joyous, springy experience, so I wantes some more.

3) Soft. Duh, of course that one has to be in there somewhere :P You're reading this blog, you shoudl know I'm queen of the tactile-world!

So, I fondled. I squished. I read labels on things of sufficient girth and softness to see what fiber content I was looking at. I fondled and squished some more. When my short trip around the entire store was finished, I had four skeins of yarn in my arms. Huzzah! The week's dreariness and stress forgotten, I grabbed my bag o' bulky wool and left the shop revived and ready for whatever the weekend can throw at me :)

Pictures of the yumminess tomorrow :)

Luscious garter scarf

2008-01-02T14:17:00.000-08:00

I'm going on a vacation to Mt. Shasta in a few weeks to play in the show with my sweetie. I decided I needed a WARM scarf to wrap about my head and neck whilst pummeling said sweetie with snow balls :)

Digging through the stash, I came across a treasured skein of Chasing Rainbows Dyeworks tussah silk and merino yarn that I bought at Stitches West in February 2007. So soft! Such scrumptious colors. I knew this was my scarf. I'm a big fan of the garter stitch...it's so squishy and textured and just easy as pie, so I decided my scarf would just be plain garter stitch. This would also allow the yarn to shine, rather than a stitch pattern. It ALSO gave me the opportunity to practice knitting and purling backwards (easy as pie, really :) ) and holding the yarn in different positions while knitting. It was fun and easy and good practice.

Behold! The most luscious, soft, silky-draping plain ol' garter stitch scarf of love.

Holiday knit-o-rama

2007-12-29T19:33:00.000-08:00

Pictures of a few Christmas gifts I made this year. Nothing spectacular, just more utilitarian. But utilitarian is good :)

This was the Fuschia scarf o' doom I made for my Aunt. These first few pictures don't do the color justice, but you can see the stitch pattern better. It's the One Row scarf :) I do love this pattern and I expect I'll make another one for myself in a not eye-bleeding pink color one of these days.

Here's a better representation of the BRIGHT color.

I also used this yarn and some multi-pink Opal sock yarn together to make a groovy ear warmer/headband thing for my Aunt. Sadly, no pictures. She seemed to love them both, but after opening them, she decided to wrap the scarf around her head instead :)

Remember this shawl for my mother that I started back in April? Well, I finally blocked the damned thing so I could give it to her for Christmas. I didn't know until I was done soaking it and pinning it out on my son's floor that you aren't supposed to wet-block cotton. Ooops. Oh well, it came out nice anyway and my mom loved it!

The look on my mom's face when she opened the package was priceless :)

Each side is probably 5 feet long, so she had to wrap it a few times around her shoulders, but it looks good on her anyway. The coloring goes well with her skin-tone, just as I had hoped!

One day in passing, I found a pattern for something called the "Magic Scarf." It's just a plain ol' stockinette rectangle, but you cast off in such a way that, once you're done, you can pull the two ends of the scarf and it becomes three times as long and lacy. I wanted to try it out...and well, I had this Wool Ease Thick & Quick sitting around, so I put the two together into a scarf for my sister who just moved to Ohio a few months ago. I think it's really pretty!

I had another ball in the same color, so I also made her an ear warmer/headband thingie for walking my furry niece and nephew in the snow.

Currently, I'm working on a plain ol' simple as can be garter stitch scarf for myself. Why? Well, I have plans in a few weeks for a SUPER DUPER AWESOME vacation in the snow and I need a warm scarf. I'm using a skein of Chasing Rainbows Dyeworks tussah/merino dreamy yarn, so it's just scrumptious. So soft, an amazing drape to the fabric and I am in deep lust with the colors. No pictures now, but I promise once I'm done :)

Bad blogger

2007-12-12T09:39:00.000-08:00

It's cold.

No, It's really cold. For California...it's COLD. I have a heater going under my desk and my big heavy wool coat on and cords and hig heavy socks and...I'm COLD.

*shiver*

I am taking life in stride...which is surprising me. The ex wife and I observed a special ed class for the boy to go to yesterday morning. In a lot of ways, it was just a regular classroom...but it was also a SPECIAL ED class...only a few students, several teachers....and it scared the heck out of me that my boy will be in that classroom.

He starts on Monday.

Actually, it's a really great, mild classroom and they follow the school district curriculum, so he will still get his education and learn what he needs to learn. Yeah, it's a special ed class, but they were adding and subtracting when we observed...and the boy can barely count to 30 : He'll have some catching up to do educationally, but I think he'll like it. He said he thought the school looked a lot better than his current school and he was excited to start there next week.

I hope it goes well.

*fret*

Not a lot of knitting has been happening...which isn't a good thing, because I have to finish the hot pink scarf of doom for my aunt! That's the last present I have to make...unless I somehow whip it out and am able to make her the matching hat I wanted to make her :)

I'm stalled on my Mr. Greenjeans sweater because my needle broke and then I got into holiday knitting and haven't gotten a new needle yet. But, after christmas...yes! I'm up to where I start the cables on the body, so hopefully it will wiz by and I'll have a groovy new sweater to wear in 2008 :)

I also REALLY REALLY want to make myself this hat :D

Click on the picture for the pattern :) I will, of course, make it in orange alpaca with brown trim.

*shiver*

Did I mention I'm cold? :D

Decisions, decisions

2007-11-06T10:08:00.000-08:00

Well, I got to the point in my Mr. Greenjeans last night where I put it on some waste yarn and try the bugger on to see if it's ready for the cables. I did all of the above and, well, um, it's HUGE. I decided, okay, that's okay, I can just have a too-big, cozy wrap-up sweater instead of a form-fitting, cabled, delicious sweater.

It appears I was adding in ease for clothes that was probably already assumed in there and now I have a sweater that's huge.

Oh well. I will just knit it up in whatever way I want to and then have an entirely unique sweater just for me, lol.

*hits myself in the head*

Happy Halloween!!

2007-10-31T11:17:00.000-07:00

I just love this day :) It's fall, people get to dress up as weird as they want to, there's bats and skeletons and pumpkins in everyone's yard. And. I get to have my one big tradition with the boy.

The annual pumpkin patch photo shoot :)

Despite being sick, the boy was quite thrilled to go this year and we had a lot of fun! As evidinced by the pictures below :)

This is the "official" halloween shot this year...in other words, the only good one with pumpkins involved, lol.

After we ran around for awhile, he got to pick two rides to go on. The first one was one of those GIANT slides. He wanted to go on it...all alone. I was so proud that he traipsed up there carrying the blanket AND bear and got himself situated and down he came! This is near the bottom of the slide.

Can't see that ear-splitting grin close enough? How about this?

Then, he chose a ride that goes around and around and up in the air. This is the guy running the ride explaining to him that Bear has to be in the seatbelt too so he will be safe :)

He made his own costume yesterday. He wanted to be a ghost, but he refused to BUY a costume. He was adamant that it be a white sheet with holes cut into it. So, he decided where the holes should be and cut them out and this is the result. He's quite pleased with himself :)

I hope you all have a goulishly delightful day and may you not be attacked by zombies :)

Secret Pal 11 package! yay!

2007-10-16T11:40:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday, I got my Secret Pal 11 package! Wahoo! It was just great :)

Wanna know what was inside? Of course you do!

I got three skeins of some gorgeous rusty red Knit Picks wool and alpaca Cadena yarn! It's so soft and squishy and I can't WAIT to knit it into something warm and delicious :)

I got a GREAt looking science fiction anthology book, which I can't wait to sit down and read through. It's edited by Orson Scott Card, whom I love, so I expect the stories to all be fantabulous and right up my alley :)

And finally, I got a stuffed animal horse, which is a "Webkinz." Having never heard of this before, it is apparently something where you go online and create a little life for your stuffed animal. I think my son and I should have a blast playing with this cute little thing :)

Thank you again, my fantabulous Secret pal :) I don't know if I mentioned it, but I got my first issue of Interweave Knits last Friday and I was so excited! thanks again for that subscription!

*happy dance*

Awesome news!

2007-10-15T12:39:00.000-07:00

Isn't this totally awesome news? I can't wait to listen :)

Rock on, Vickie Howell :D

SP11 contest :)

2007-10-05T14:18:00.001-07:00

My SP11 hostess is having a contest and I'm feeling joiner-ish, so I'll play along! Yay :)

My Favorite:

Actor - Jeff Goldblum or Kevin Spacey
Actress - Michelle Rodriguez
Animal - Bengal tiger...or really, cats in general :)
Band - Ani Difranco's older stuff
Book - The Family Tree by Sherri S. Tepper
Bubble Bath - lavender
Candy - swedish fish
Color - orange with green being a VERY close second
Flower - Calla Lily
Food - popcorn specifically, mexican for favorite cuisine
Lip Balm - Jamba Juice orange cream lip balm
Lotion - St. Ives intensive therapy
Movie - The Lost Boys
Song - "Back When I Could Fly" by Trout Fishing in America
TV Show - Currently, so many! Maybe Bones or Kyle XY or Clean Sweep or Good Eats :)
Vacation Spot - Seattle or my bed :D

In which I visit the Frog Pond

2007-10-04T14:48:00.000-07:00

I've been knitting away on my FIRST. EVER. SWEATER. and I am so in love with it!

Look at this wonderful shoulder that took shape!

Look at the expanse of back stitches I've accomplished!

Look at this hideous, insidious, evil extra stitch turned ladder down the middle of the back that I ran into last night which made me weep :(

Rip-It! Rip-It! Rip-It!

Look at the sad little ball of yarn after I ripped out the ENTIRE sweater thus far to start over again :(

*sigh*

Off to cast-on again.

PS - All the above pictures? Taken in my lunchroom by my lousy cameraphone! Guess I found THE place to take good pictures with that thing, lol.

Mr. Greenjeans visits Pleasantville

2007-10-01T14:46:00.000-07:00

I had a scrumptious weekend...yay!

Saturday, I went to the Knit and Crochet Show with my awesome friend, Roklobster(She's so cool! Yay for getting to hang out with her :) ), and bought a bunch of scrumptious yarn :) Malabrigio was mine! My first skein of yarn with cashmere in it(merino/cashmere blend)...Mine! Loverly wool/silk blend with no tags...a total steal for 4 large balls in a bag...all mine! I also got a HUGE Lion Brand shopping bag with free yarn from Lion Brand and Coats & Clark. Three cheers for free yarn! Even if some of it was NEON FUSCIA! I kid you not.

Besides the amazing yarny goodness at the show, I cast on and started knitting on my VERY FIRST SWEATER ever :D *gleam* I'm using Dark Horse Fantasy yarn in a multi-green colorway. It is just so very cool to be making a sweater :D All weekend, I would put the little 2-inch strip around my shoulders where it will end up and announce to Scot, "Look! I'm wearing my sweater!" :D

This is the whole project as of last night. I did about 6 more rows today at lunch! It's a great, easy pattern and I'm really enjoying knitting it :) The yarn doesn't look nearly as "Camoflage" in real life, lol.

Look! It has shoulders :D (This tickles me to no end). As I had to tell Scot, It's a top-down raglan, so those holes are on purpose, lol.

But, sadly, this one is not. It's NOT a dropped stitch...I think it's just a really big, loose stitch, so I have to figure out how to fix it...maybe move the slack on that stitch along with a crochet hook and share it out with the whole row. I think that's what you're supposed to do :P

Other than knitterly yarny things, Scot and I watched a LOT of Bones episodes, since the 2nd season was finally released and Netflix sent them to us :) I sure love that show...all science geeky and smart and ridiculously funny and just smart. We had lots of groovy home cookin' and took a long bike ride around Alameda.

A few days before, Scot found this street....she calls it Pleasantville :) It was a showroom model block for the Sterling Lumber Company after the war. Returning soldiers would go to that block, look at the model homes and buy the one they wanted. The row of model homes are still there, now occupied like regular houses. But, for this one block of houses (all beautiful, well-maintained craftsmen homes), it's like you've stepped back in time. Walking down the street, everyone says hi to you. Everyone knows everyone else. Scot met a woman who was planting in her garden the day before and talked to her and found out that people don't even lock their house or car doors on that street. Everwhere was big porches, craftsman lines and immaculate tiny little yards.

There was a house for sale on the street (which,the gardening lady told Scot, already had a contingency offer on it) and everyone was already moved out of the house, so we skulked around the sides and the porch and the back yarn and looked inside at all the awesome built-ins and planned what we would do with the house if we were to win the lottery and buy it :) It was tons of fun.

*skulk skulk skulk*

It was really just a delightful weekend :)I hope you all had just as much fun and delight as we did :D

Electricity

2007-09-24T11:45:00.001-07:00

The electricity in my entire neighborhood was out this weekend, so I got a fair bit of knitting, spinning and reading done :)

First of all, I finished my mom's shawl...just in time to give it to her for her birthday on Sunday :) She LOVED the colors and put it on right away and was just thrilled :) See what a few skeins of cheap Lion Brand Homespun and some big needles can do, lol....

I also finished my partner's second slipper on Thursday night, so her toes are being kept warm and cushy as the Bay Area slips into fall and cool, rainy days :) I just LOVE this pattern and can't wait to make my own slippers!

Here's one mid-knit, so you can see why my partner dubbed them "Foot Canoes" LOL

Finally, I spun up the remainder of this sample roving for A Little Quacky and plied it...my first time Navajo plying and I LOVED it! I need a lot more practice to end up with an even, not overspun yarn, but yay! What a fun technique :P

Above is while spinning and below is the plied yarn :)

Then, I decided to start a small project this weekend because the yarn for my FIRST SWEATER hasn't arrived yet (hopefully, it will today!) and I needed something to knit while the power was out, lol.

Enter wristwarmers in Plymouth Baby Grande Alapaca :) I'm just sort of making them up as I go along and I LOVE them. They're soft and delicious and sproingy and soft and warm and did I mention soft? hehe.

I don't like the increases I did for my giant palms, so I'm gonna tink back a bit and try a different increase, then try to recreate another matching one, lol.

This Saturday is The Knit and Crochet show and I'm SUPER excited to go and buy delicious yarn and fondle everything :P I'm also going with my new fibery friend, so it's a double good day!

Knit Picks Needle Nirvana

2007-09-18T10:59:00.000-07:00

*sob*

I just wrote a HUGE GLOWING review of the new Knit Picks wooden needle tips and accidentally lost it!!!! *sob sob sob**

Quick re-cap because I need to get back to work.

Ordered them they day they were on the website. Got them yesterday :)

They're amazing. They're beautiful. They're the perfect needle. I am never using another needle again. So smooth they are almost laquered feeling, but not sticky like laquer. The yarn moves effortlessly along the needles, but also stays put enough to not have them all slide off when you aren't looking. Colors aren't as garish as they look on the website...more a muted, wooden colors. They're stunning to look at, warm in the hands, super soft and just a dream to hold. I didn't want to put them down.

Knitting with them is amazing. Stitches glides effortlessly with no resistance. The points are really pointy so they get under the most stubborn stitches with ease, almost as if they're reading your mind. Yet, they're not so pointy that they hurt when you press on the ends...much less so than some other needles I've used in the past.

Perfect smoothness yet clinginess.
Perfect pointiness without causing injury.
Perfectly smooth join that lets the yarn glide effortlessly around the cable.
Perfect weight and warmth.
Perfect colors and beauty.

PERFECT needles.

I brought my camera to take pictures for y'all but I forgot the card reader *duh* so you'll have to make due with an inferior camera phone picture :) This is some dusty green Wool of the Andes wool on the needles :)

Everyone should run out and buy these now!

Disclaimer: I'm in no way affiliated with Knit Picks...just a fellow fiber whore who know y'all would want to hear about the tips as soon as I used them :)

We now interrupt this program....

2007-09-06T14:55:00.000-07:00

for something slightly different :)

Decided to whip up a quick K1, yo, K to end of row shawl for my mother using some pretty and soft Lion Brand Homespun yarn I bought for just this purpose.

I'm using 11 needles and the resulting fabric is coming out so light and with a fantastic drape to it, but not holey at all. It's really warm and I see my mom using it around her shoulders a lot this winter :)

I am so perplexed by Homespun. Some of the skeins are soft and delightful, while others are stiff and plasticy and I feel like I can hear them squeak when I touch them. Even within the same color...it's a mystery. SO, I mostly buy it by feel at this point and hope that I like the color of the softer skeins too :) This was is really great colors for my mom...she'll love it!

Foot Canoes

2007-09-04T14:46:00.001-07:00

I am making a new pair of cool, kick-ass slippers for my partner, Scot. I got the pattern from Cocoknits....her website will be up soon at cocoknits.com! They're supposed to be knit in Malabrigio, but I decided to knit my first pair in something a little less spendy to see how they work out and so I don't use the Malabrigio on mistakes. I ended up using the Vanna's Choice acrylic I had in my stash. So soft and knit up surprisingly springy and warm...I am falling in love with this yarn!

I knit both of the soles first, then picked up the stitches on one sole and knit that upper. As I was knitting the sides, Scot claimed that they looked like "foot canoes," so that is what they're now called around my house...although someone a little less silly might call them Loafer slippers :P

On to the pictures!

First, you knit a sole like this. I did both the soles before I tried making the uppers :) They're quick and easy to knit.

One foot canoe in all its glory :P I didn't plan on the two yarns to pool that way and would have rather they didn't, but it doesn't look bad so *shrug*

Where the foot canoe actually looks the cool, kick-ass loafer slipper that it is supposed to be :P You can see all the crazy ends inside I still have to weave in. *sigh* I hate weaving in ends, lol...but don't we all? You can also see the holes and crazy twisties next to the ridge on the right. I obviously screwed up somehow, but I was so careful in following the pattern! Ah well, I still love them, even if they're flawed :P

Foot canoe in action...being worn by my size 11 feet. Scot's feet are size 6...but they fit her as well. Amazing, that stretchy yarn!

The money shot! I love how the cast-off looks and the little loafer curved bit on the top, even if mine is (for some unknown reason) lopsided.... Yay!

Now on to knitting foot canoe #2 :)

squeals of glee

2007-08-31T15:44:00.000-07:00

My Secret Pal 11 pal sent me an E-card today. It was very sweet and cute and I was totally excited to get it. Then, I about wet my pants because she told me that she bought me a subscription to Interweave Knits!!!!!!

I shreiked and started dancin' about my office in a happy gleeful spazzy excited flailing dance :D

Thank you SOOOO MUCH, loverly pal o' mine! :)

(Did I mention the glee?)

Punk Rock Gift Exchange Questions

2007-08-27T09:43:00.000-07:00

1. Why are you punk?

Because I married my ex-wife in a white dress and ten-hole doc martins. Because I got my 5 year old son a mohawk when he said he wanted a "cool" haircut. Because I am me and sometimes that means a leather corset and mini skirt with chains and zippers and sometimes that means a pink t-shirt and ruffly skorts.

2. What are your five favorite things? (these don't have to be knit related)

cheese
fiber
books
my son
my partner

3. What are your three favorite things that you have made with knitting/crochet?

A cabled purse (for a swap), a string market bag, a skull dishcloth for a friend.

4. What five things would you love to see in a swap box someday?

bamboo yarn
a swift
Andy Goldsworthy book
crystal palace circular needles
Grains of Paradise (spice)

5. What are your three favorite yarns? What are your three least favorite yarns?

Favorites: Joseph Galler Peruvian Alpaca tweed, Dark Horse Fantasy, Plymouth Baby Alpaca Grande

Least Favorites: Red Heart (nothing against acrylics, but all theirs are icky!), Berroco Memoirs (allergic to mohair), anything that could even remotely be called "fun Fur" or "novelty" yarn :)

6. What are your five favorite delicacies?

Pizzelles, Beemster Classic and Xo cheese, a good, crusty sourdough bread, baklava, chicken tikka masala

7. What are your three favorite guilty pleasures?

Barry Manilow, Kraft Deli Select singles, Hillshire Farms Cheddarwurst sausages

8. What are the five things you look forward to every week?

Wednesday nights (the one night each week when I don't have my son and I have no obligations or plans with my partner...just ME time :P) . Wearing my Oscar the Grouch t-shirt to work on Fridays (I'm an office manager), and making time to knit and spin.

9. What do you collect?

yarn, fiber to spin, science fiction books, fabric, lizards/frogs/turtle stuff, cheese (lol), octopi stuff, dust bunnies kitchen gadgets and silverwear.

10. When is your birthday?

Feb 16, 1973. *starts humming "This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius" *

11. Do you have any wishlists?

Heck yeah :) I have a Wist! You can find it here http://www.wists.com/fragglefemme or use the link on the right.

12. What would you like your pal to know that is not covered here?

I don't drink coffee or tea. I don't eat chocolate. I'm allergic to mohair. I hate yellow anything. My Ravelry ID is Fragglefemme. My website is http://www.noodlegirl.com. I LOVE swaps and will adore anything you send :D

Picture pages!

2007-08-20T12:36:00.000-07:00

Took a few pictures of some FOs and some recent yarny goodness that I hadn't posted on here, so...here you go!

I'm adding the strap to the string bag...almost done and then I shall have an awesome orange net bag for grocery shoppin' and the such! Yay :)

Finished one slipper at my garage sale this weekend. It's a TAD too long, but ah well...it's scrumptiously comfy. I don't even care about the mistakes...they're SLIPPERS for gosh sakes, lol. On to the next one now....no second slipper syndrome :P

A few more picot swirl dishcloths I've made...gosh, I love knitting this pattern :)

This is some great soybean yarn I got from a friend who was destashing! It's super soft, a woven hollow tube yarn and I just love the colors :)

Three skeins of scrumptious alpaca yarn from Blue Sky Alpaca. My swap pal sent this to me. I LOVE the colors and they're just all so soft :D

Manos!!!! TWO skeins my secret pal sent me...Delish, delightful, delovely :D

Okay, I saw this yarn at Michaels and I wanted to laugh. I wanted to make all kinds of jokes about vanna white yarn. But then, I touched it and it was so soft. Then, I saw all the wonderful colors it comes in. Then, I noticed it was 100% acrylic and was shocked because of the super soft texture. Then, somehow...these two skeins ended up in my shopping cart! :

I blame yarn elves :P

Yay for fiber :)

yawn

2007-08-16T09:53:00.000-07:00

No exciting pictures to share :( I've just been too busy to snap any! But I promise, there is crafty stuff happening behind the scenes...alllllll kinds o' crafty stuffs :)

I've been spinning some luscious merino for A Little Quacky. She offered up samples of her dyed fiber to any spinner who would spin it and send her pictures to put on her Etsy shop, so I volunteered :) It's slow going...I think I've discovered that I was right not to like to spin dyed roving...it always seems so much more...compacted and dense when I go to spin it. Ah well. It's beautiful stuff, orange and purple and cream. You'll have to trust me :P

Finished off a bunch more dishcloths and I actually got my sister to send me her new address, so I can send her the birthday goodie box with dishcloths and whatnot inside. yay.

My blocking wires for the elann shawl came a week ago. Broken in half : I kid you not! UPS came in with this tube all bent and twisted and looked at me and said, "I don't know what you want to do about this..." so I opened it and everything inside was all twisted and broken and bent and so I refused it. I'm not willing to wait another 3 weeks to get a replacement, so I just got my money back from the online vendor and I'll try blocking it with lots of pins and some fishing wire for the straight side. Wish me luck!

I've started knitting some slippers for myself using this pattern. I'll be leaving off the pompoms thankyouverymuch...but I like the basic shape enough and I needed some slippers quick because my feet have started getting cold at nights and cold feet = crampy feet and that's just no fun. I'm making them in grey acrylic and I've added picots on the top edge of the ankle just for fun :P

Of course, after I started making them, my partner decided SHE wants slippers too, lol. But I found a better pair for her....and now I want the loafer style ones too! Ah well. I can have two pairs of slippers :P

The drops ones are killing me, though....all seed stitch *twitch twitch*

Finished up my net bag, just need to put the handles on it...yay! Welcome to my crappy camera phone picture, lol. But but but! At least it's a picture, eh? It's also MUCH more vibrant orange than that, lol. It's super spiffy and I can't wait to carry groceries in it soon :)

In my non spinning and knitting world, I have cleaned off over half of my craft/sewing table and uncovered the sewing machine! Over the weekend, I made a skirt, altered another skirt that was too big and made some awesome flannel black with colored lizards pajama bottoms :D The PJ bottoms had been cut out for YEARS, just sitting in the sewing project pile and I am super excited to finally get them sewn up and in rotation.

Love me some flannel PJ bottoms. Love me some lizards. How can it be wrong?

Oh, and I still have no idea what I bought the Cathay yarn for :

Secret Pal 11 questionnaire

2007-08-07T13:04:00.000-07:00

Woohoo! On to the info to spoil me :)

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I am in love with all things alpaca! I also love wool, cotton, silk, bamboo, acrylic. I'm much more interested in texture and softness factor than what the yarn is made of. I want to try some yarns made out of corn and soy and stuff like that just for fun :)

Yarn I can't stand? Anything vaguely fun-furish, ribbony or scratchy, hard acrylic. I'm also allergic to mohair, so nothing with mohair please!

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
I store my needles in an over the door shoe rack :D It's inside my coat closet, which is right next to my fiber arts center :) I have one pocket for each size needle, with the extra pockets for cable needles, Knit Picks Options cables, etc. I only use circular needles, so they fit right in each pocket just perfectly :)

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
I have been knitting for about two and a half years. I started knitting on looms, then added in needle knitting once I felt like it was something I wanted to take on. My grandmother had taught me to knit when I was young, so about 18 months ago, I just picked up some needles and said, "Now, how did this go again?" and never put them down :)

I would say I am an advanced beginner or intermediate knitter. So far, nothing makes me afraid; lace, cables, short rows, increasing/decreasing, different stitches all come fairly easily to me. I haven't tried any colorwork yet, nor entrelac, but those are on my list of to-dos :) I knit exclusively on circular needles, so circular knitting doesn't scare me in the least - I'm a big fan of the magic loop method.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
No Amazon, but I have a Wist, located at http://www.wists.com/fragglefemme/ You can also click the link to the right for my Wist page :)

5. What's your favorite scent?
I love citrus-y cents a lot, as well as jasmine, lavender, vanilla, apple. I do not care for spicy scents and I have an aversion to the smell of coffee and tea. I know, I'm bizarre :P

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
Of course I do :P I don't eat much chocolate, though, so I prefer things like swedish fish, sweet tarts, anything citrusy or something savory and cheesy like cheetos or cheese twist crackers. I LOVE rosemary crackers. or oooh! Beef or turkey jerky! I love Pemmican original or terriyaki beef jerky and Snackmasters originial turkey jerky! Yummmm....I never seem to buy myself Jerky, even though it's a favorite. Favorite cookies are palmiers or pizelles. I don't drink any coffee or tea. Yes, I know...no chocolate, coffee or tea...I'm obviously a mutant :)

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
Besides knitting, I do spin and I love it. I also sew, make beaded jewelry, dabble in weaving sticks and basket making and just do general crafty stuff whenever possible :) I want to re-learn tatting and crochet at some point, but I don't have time to do the stuff I do already!

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
Yes, to the MP3 question...all my music is on my computer, lol. I like the genre of music I refer to as "Chicks with guitars." Basically, Indigo Girls, Garbage, Ani DiFranco, Gina Young, etc. I also like most 80's alternative rock...Erasure, They Might Be Giants, B52s, INXS, stuff like that. I'm also a huge broadway musical soundtrack freak. My secret love is Barry Manilow and Cat Stevens music, lol. Recent artists I like are K.T. Tunstall, Scissor Sisters, Evanescence, Bowling for Soup, Gnarles Barkley. Basically, I like most anything except for Country, Heavy Metal and Rap :D

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?
I love orange. I love green. I love orange and green together. I love browns, rusty reds, deep purples, earth tones. I do not like yellow in any fashion, most blues (except some cobalt blue) and any pastels.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I have one 5 year old son, which I co-parent with my ex-wife. If the tater tot isn't at my house, my partner of 2 years probably is, although we do not live together on a full-time basis just yet :) No pets, as I can't have cats :(

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
Noooo ponchos. A poncho on a 5' 11" 230 lb woman who is heavily endowed in the chest area is just such a bad idea, it should be outlawed :) I have very broad shoulders, as well...so...no. Just say no. LOL. Scarves are nice, as are fingerless mittens or gloves. I am a computer geek, so I need my fingers to type all day. I like hats a lot, but I'm a bit picky about them.... I have curly fluffy red hair, so when I wear a hat, it squishes it all down and then I look silly. Therefore, the hat has to have some poof to it somehow...a brim, something to compensate for the bulk around my head that goes missing under the hat. Yes, I know I'm weird :P

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
I like knitting all sorts of things :) Bags, dishcloths, blankets, scarves, shawls, shrugs, toys. Booties are so fun and cute and instant gratification.

13. What are you knitting right now?
At the moment, I just finished a large shawl for my mother. I'm making a bunch of dishcloths for my sister's birthday present and a mesh grocery bag for my partner. I'm also stuck at the same place on a sock I've been for oh...3-4 months now :) I'm about to cast on for a shrug :)

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
But of course, I'm no fool :P

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
I knit only on circular needles. Bamboo is my needle of choice, but I also really like the Knit Picks Options needles. I have size 4 and 5 in them thus far, as well as some size 2 Knit Picks classic circulars that I'm using for the great sock knitting experiment. I'm working on getting more Crystal Palace bamboo circulars...I just love the needles...and the cable join pivots, so the cables will always lay where I want them to go! I only have size 8 and 9 right now in a few different cable lengths....they're just so spendy! But they are my favorites... *drool*

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
Have a winder and have been drooling over the swift that I want... http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=6165919

17. How old is your oldest UFO?
A little over a year. A purse for my sister's wedding present. Her one year anniversary was in June :

18. What is your favorite holiday?
Halloween. Mostly for the season and time of year. I'm not a person who dresses up or decorates my house to excess for any holiday.

19. Is there anything that you collect?
I collect yarn and knitting patterns :D Oh, besides that...well, I have several hundred books...mostly Sci Fi, children's books and cookbooks...my kitchen is decorate in pears. I used to collect Wizard of Oz stuff, but not so much anymore, although I have a Oz tattoo on my right thigh...I think I have it all, lol. I collect lizard, frog and turtle stuff...I have a lizard tattoo on my right ankle and several lizard knicknacks around my house.

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
I want some more Patons Rumor yarn something fierce! The green stuff, I think it's called Fern Heather....besides that, I am always in love with alpaca yarn :) I want some cotonade yarn in colors Spruce, Lipstick, Nutmeg, moss, chocolate or plum. I would LOVE to try some sea silk in color Forest or Mineral. I have been drooling over Inca Cotton in color Oz for quite some time and I need another skein to make a top I want... I also adore Colinette Tao 100% silk in shade Madras 153, Colinette Jitterbug 100% merino in shade Sahara 135, Prism Lotus (wool, bamboo, silk blend) in color Highlands, Muench Touch Me in any earthy color, Malabrigo and Manos de Uruguay in anything earthy and Trendsetter Blossom # 106.

Can you tell I have a thing for yarn?!

I would like some Crystal Palace circular bamboo needles in any size other than 8 or 9 (5, 6, 7, 10, 10 1/2, 11, 12) and I'm always in the market for some more Knit Picks needle tips in sizes other than 4 or 5, as well as more cables (I'd like a 40").

I don't have any knitting magazine subscriptions, but I would certainly like to get Interweave Knits one of these days. Until I do, I just read them at the library and copy any patterns I want at work on the copy machine :) I also like Knit 1, Spin-Off, and Knitscene.

Specific patterns I've been wanting are on my Wist :D

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
I want to start playing with double knitting and colorwork. I also want to learn how to Navajo ply on my spinning wheel.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
Well, does casting on about 8 times, knitting a few rounds then ripping it out in increasing frustration...make me a sock knitter? I thought not. I'm trying! Really, I am! I am now up to my instep, but the toe is so large, I could fit both my feet in it, lol. I've re-cast on with different yarn and different needles and am trying a cuff-down sock at this point, but I've stopped right before the heel, because the ankle seems too big. Might need to frog again :(

My foot measurements are: 10 1/2 inches long, 9 3/4 inches around at ball of foot. I wear a size 10 wide or 11 regular shoe, depending on the manufacturer.

I also have a very big head, lol... 23 1/2 inches or 60 cm around. What can I say, I'm of swedish decent and I'm just all around big :D

23. When is your birthday?
February 16, 1973.

24. Are you on Ravelry? If so, what's your ID?
Yes indeedy :) I'm fragglefemme on Ravelry!

Dishcloth bonanza

2007-07-30T15:58:00.000-07:00

I found a circular, swirly, picot-edged dishcloth that I am in LOVE with. First off, it only takes me 2 1/2 hours to knit an entire cloth. Second, they're just amazingly cute and swirly. Third, they're really fun to knit. And fourth, they'll make great presents :D

The bright green/blue ones are for my sister's upcoming birthday (with a few solid-colored ones thrown in) and the lighter one is just going to be put aside for a possible future baby gift or swap gift :) I don't like seaming (who does?!), so I've decided to make a bunch of them and then sew them all up at one sitting...so that's why it's still gaping open at you :)

I think I shall be making MANY MANY of these because they're fun and pretty and it's almost instant gratification :)

Crafty mish-mash

2007-07-27T10:17:00.000-07:00

A smattering of recent knitting/spinning/yarn acquisition...yay!

My shawl...which is almost done at this point! Two more rows to go and then I can cast off! Yahoo! I ordered some blocking wires for this one and plan on blocking it on my son's bedroom floor on a Wednesday night, since he isn't back at my home until Friday night :) Yay!

The fortune cookie o' love for my partner :) She was SO in love with it when she opened the take-out box I wrapped it in :)

Loverly medium grey wool I've been spinning really finely. Thinnest single I've ever made...I think it's in the 30-something WPI range. I have two bobbins of it, gonna do a third and try my hands at a three-ply yarn :) It's amazingly soft, as well :)

Some hand-dyed wool my Secret Pal sent me. I LOVE the colors :) Really nice singles, but I don't know how I'm gonna ply it yet. It was a bit difficult to spin...seemed clumpy and hard to draft, so I flicked and combed a length of the roving until it was separated some and easier to draft before spinning. Have I mentioned that I LOVE the colors?

I bought six skeins of this yarn...pouring over the specs to match up to a pattern I wanted to make. I agonized over the color and finally picked this lovely purple. Then, by the time it was mailed to me...I forgot what I was going to make with it : Yes, I am that dense sometimes!!!

Amazingly soft acrylic yarn...HUGE skeins...great deal :) I got this color and a medium grey and while the rust is super soft and delicious, the grey is icky and rough. Ah well. I'll find something to make out of it :)

Bought a couple different variations on tan for my fortune cookies. I ended up going with "tan," but I also got this snickerdoodle and some nutmeg :)

Yay for fiber!

Reading!

2007-07-23T16:43:00.000-07:00

All knitting and general craftiness is on hold while I read the Harry Potter book I just got today :D

That is all :D

Fortune cookie o' love

2007-07-18T13:33:00.000-07:00

I finished the fortune cookie!

Which is a good thing, since my 2nd anniversary is this weekend :D

I forgot to take a picture of the finished round before felting, but here it is post-felt, with my poor attempts at blocking the felted item into a vaguely circular shape :) I was being angry and anal about it, until I realized it was going to be folded up and no one would ever know it wasn't perfectly circular :) I used Wool of the Andes in Tan. What a fun, sproingy yarn to knit with!

Here it is all happy and fortune-cookie shaped! Yay! I just need to print out the secret fortune for my sweetie and put it inside, then I'm going to wrap it up in a chinese food box and include some real fortune cookies and a gift card for Panda Express, one of her favorite chinese food places :)

Secret presents are fun :P

I've been bad...

2007-07-10T12:47:00.000-07:00

You should see the pile of new yarn I've been buying recently : A large box from Knit Picks...another large box from Webs just arrived today...I have no idea where I'm gonna put it all!

You KNOW it's bad when I remember I bought 8 balls of a really nice yarn for a specific project...but I don't remember what I bought it for now :

Yarn porn soon.....

*slightly ashamed, but feeling the nummy yarn regardless*

Recent FO and WIP

2007-07-09T14:06:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm still working on the shawl for my mother.

But in the meantime, I whipped this scarf out using a skein and a tad more of my Arucania Nature Cotton yarn :) My sweetie's house is cold and my neck needed something warm to cuddle with, so...voila! Quick, boring garter scarf.

Amazingly, this is the FIRST scarf I've ever knit. I know, crazy, huh?

I threw some YOs at each end so it wasn't TOTALLY boring. It's not blocked or anything, so they look a bit messy, but they're there. I can also use them as button holes and wrap it up and clasp it with a cufflink as a tighter scarf if I so chose.

Then, I CO for a fortune cookie today. You heard me right, a fortune cookie :D

It's an anniversary gift for my sweetie :) It will be knit (go, short rows, go!) and then felted and I will put something sweet and smarmy inside :)

The pattern is here: http://indigomuse.blogspot.com/2006/01/felted-fortune-cookies_30.html

They're SUPER easy and quick...I did those 4 wedges in the picture in about 10 minutes...and it supposeldy takes 14-15 wedges to make a circle. Then, sew up, felt and fold. Voila! A fortune cookie :)

New craft

2007-07-06T10:28:00.000-07:00

Because I don't have enough crafty diversions to keep my occupied (insert dripping with sarcasm eye roll here), I just purchased the implements to start a NEW, yet cousin, craft!

http://www.metahawk.com/weavingsticks.htm

Weaving sticks. I love weaving...took a class in loom, basket and tapestry weaving in college and it was one of my most favorite classes in all my years there. I can't afford/don't have the space for a floor loom, so I shall try some easy breezy, small equipment needs weaving :)

I figure, it might be something my 5 year old son can do as well, so we can be crafty together! Furthermore, once I get them and see how it works, I might try teaching my downs syndrome Aunt how to do it so she can have a craft to occupy her time :) She recently moved in with my mother and is bored a lot, I think. It looks fairly easy and like it doesn't require a lot of detailed finger manipulation, so I think she should be able to do it :)

Yay for exciting new crafts!

I think it would be an AWESOME way to make purse handles in coordinating yarn that won't stretch out and get all weird like a knit handle :)

Drat and Damnation!

2007-06-21T16:41:00.001-07:00

The needle I was using for my huge shawl broke two nights ago! It's a large circular (I only knit with circulars, even if it's flat knitting) and the plastic tubing where it joins the bamboo needle cracked and then eventually broke off entirely!

Harumph!

Oh well, I went to Kinky Knitting last night and transferred the shawl to another pair of needles and I'm back on track! I just didn't want to use those needles because they're my FAVORITE Crystal Palace needles and if they're being taken up by the shawl, I can't use them on anything else :P

*grumbles about evil breaking needle o'doom*

Fraggle's got a brand new (knitting) bag!

2007-06-19T09:30:00.001-07:00

I saw this large orange many-pocketed bag at Long's Drugs over a week ago and I haven't been able to get it out of my mind. I finally went over there last night and bought the darned thing!

It's amazing!

It's orange and baby blue (predominantly orange) and it has short-ish handles that just fit over your shoulder. And it's HUGE. And it has 10...count 'em...TEN....pockets. 6 on the outside and 4 on the inside, besides the large main compartment :D

It holds ALL my knitting projects, my book, my patterns, my lotion, my medicines, all my pending bills and misc. paperwork, candy, dental picks, playing cards, nail file, bottle of water and I still have 2 unused pockets and most of the huge interior space open and waiting.

I think I want to marry this bag :D

(insert crappy camera phone picture disclaimer here)

To give you a sense of scope, that little white bit on the inside right is the top of a water bottle :)

Swap whore

2007-06-14T12:29:00.000-07:00

I just mailed off my No Skeep for You Swap package!

I love swaps soooo much :) I just love the opportunity to give a total stranger something (hopefully) cool and exciting and that brightens their day. I love the secretive nature of swaps. I love creating the package and putting the label on and decorating the box.

I just love it all :)

I ESPECIALLY love when my downstream pal has a birthday during the swap :D

My no sheep pal's birthday is on Tuesday and I *koff* went a bit above and beyond, lol. I got her a knitting book, about 6-7 skeins of yarn, stitch markers, a cool funky cup, tons of candy, a notepad and glittery pen, lotion...oh, all kinds of goodies :) Some of it she may not like, so I'm a bit nervous about that, but I think she will like it all....but I just love going the extra bit and giving someone a great birthday surprise box of goodies, budget be damned :D

Swaps bring me happiness :)

Secret Pal 10 goodies pictures

2007-06-13T12:21:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks :)

My Secret Pal 10 pal is anxiously awaiting pictures of the goodies she sent me. I've been OVERWHELMED with life right now, but I snapped a few quick pictures late late late last night, so I hope this will do to let you all know how amazing she was to me :)

Here is everything I got in my last two final big packages, as well as everything I could find quickly that she's sent me along the way. Missing are some items she sewed for me, because they're in my room and a bevy of electronic patterns...some knitting earrings as well...oh, I'm sure other things too. I was SPOILED!

Here's some close-up pictures of the stuff I thought I should take close up pictures of really really really late last night when I was super tired and barely thinking, lol.

AWESOME scrabble earrings using my initial :)

Matching scrabble ring, some beaded stitch markers I think my pal made, a rubbery "M" stitch marker, a corner of the scrapbooking goodies she sent :)

Scrapbooking stuff! I think it's for a birthday theme...all I know is it's COOL! :) I've never scrapbooked before, but now I'll have to start...with a page for my son's recent birthday!

A really cool sheep broach she sent me early in the swap, some stitch markers where the beads spell out my name, some appliques you really can't see back there, a pattern, a cool sock knit-along on CD (which I havne't had time to listen to yet :( ) and some of the fun candy she sent me :D

Okay, let's see...so many goodies! Candy, stitch markers, Scrabble ring and buttons on the bottom there. Adorable knitting note cards! Some cream wool and silk yarn with what I believe is a russian label. Some paton's grace mercinized cotton yarn in a cool orange color. Some patriotic Sugar & Cream yarn (made me giggle because she's from Canada :P) There's some tea in there and more candy in the back. She sent a California postcard and sock shaped needle protectors and three sets of circular needles!

More of the yummy candy :) Some dark chocolate brown wool sock yarn that will become socks once I learn how to make them :) more point protectors. What I believe to be headbands (bottom right corner), but what I thought at first were weird thin purse handles, lol. And the big dissapointment, Plymouth Mohair yarn.

Why is it a dissapointment, you ask? Well, it was wild and crazy and fun in the big bag she sent it to me in...and then, I opened the bag and touched the stuff and well. I learned I am HUGELY MASSIVELY allergic to mohair yarn. Which surprised me, because I have one skein of yarn that is 55% mohair and it doesn't bother me. But this! Oy! Even if my skin brushes lightly against it, it feels like burning itchy pin pricks all over my skin that doesn't go away for at least half an hour. Imagine what my hands felt like when I grabbed the skeins and held them the first time! Oy!

I just LOVE the stuff, though, and my pal had no way of knowing I was allergic because, well, I didn't know it myself :) I look forward to passing the love of the skeins along to a future pal who will love and cherish them the way they ought to be loved and cherished :)

Thank you SO MUCH, my secret Pal :D You have REALLY outdone yourself with this swap! I can't believe I have one more package coming from you!!!! You've already done so much!

Thank you to the moon and back again :)

Knitty Gritty

2007-06-12T15:28:00.000-07:00

With the upgrade of cable I got over the weekend, I now get DIY network! And that, of course, means that Knitty Gritty was one of the first things I set my TiVo up to record!

I saw my first ever episode last night and I am just EXCITED! While I wasn't that thrilled with the subject being knit (men and dogs, lol), I was just so happy to be able to sit and relax in my living room and watch someone knit! Seeing the yarn, the new techniques, seeing how people do particular stitches...just brilliant :) I never knew long-tail cast-on was as easy as it appeared when they were doing it. I loved sitting on my couch, watching squishy, softy, beautifully colored yarn on my screen!

Yay for knitting TV shows!!!

WOW!!!!!

2007-06-07T14:53:00.000-07:00

I just got my final package from my Secret Pal 10 Pal!!!

It's just JAMMED FULL of stuff! I don't even know where to start!

Yarn! Candy! Stitch markers! Yarn-themed Playing cards! knitting notecards! buttons! Things I think are headbands!! AND!!!! A CD I've been wanting forever and a day - Amy Winehouse!!!

YAY!

YAY!

*dancin' about in excitement!

Okay, I'll stop now. (yay!)

My so-called life with yarn

2007-06-07T11:28:00.000-07:00

Craftiness is a slow but sure process in my house. I just have minimal time to knit, spin, make jewelry, sew, etc. MAYBE one hour a day. Many days not at all.

But I'm making slow-but sure process on my shawl...yay! It's just so very pretty, I don't know if I'll be able to give it up to my mom when the time comes. Yesterday, I sat out by the fountains at lunch and just knit on it and was at peace *happy content sigh*

I also finished my rat for my sweetie's kitties' housewarming present! Of course, it looks nasty, so I ripped out the tail and the eyes and I'm re-doing it again today at lunch so I can give it to them tonight. I know they're cats and it doesn't really matter...but ya know...just cause they're kitties doesn't mean they should have low standards! :P

I finished my brown blob o' doom as well...just need to weave in ends on the last half and it will be useable! yay!

I worked on my Ravelry site quite a bit yesterday and I have all my projects I've ever made in my project section, complete with pictures and blog links and everything...woohoo! I'm sure no one else cares, but I feel accomplished. I also think my knitting sucks, LOL...seeing it all there on one page...ug. I guess I tend to go for the quick little projects, rather than sweaters and big things since...as I said before, I get MAYBE 5 hours a week of ALL craft time in each week.

I do, however, want to start a sweater! Yay! The Everyday Tweed pattern my Secret Pal 10 pal got me...I just need to peruse yarn and decide what I should make it out of and then...cast on, woman!

Speaking of my Secret Pal 10 pal....I got one of two of my last packages from her on Monday. WOW!!!!! I got some great mercinized cotton yarn, a faaaaabulous "M" scrabble ring to go with my "M" scrabble earrings, several stitch markers, point protectors...maybe something else too, I can't remember off the top of my head. I loved the little card she sent...handmade with a flower on it :) She just has treated me sooooooooo good! I feel ultimately spoiled and pampered and just..wow.

When I get the second package, I'll take a picture and post all the goodness at once!

Did anyone else catch the amazing knitting book sale on Amazon? I got 6 awesome knitting books for $30!!!! I'm gonna use them as Swap gifts :P Me, cheap? Nah...just thrifty :D :D :D

I've been wanting to make something faaabulous out of big, soft yarn lately. I have no idea what, but I am a little tired of the thin mercinized cotton for the shawl. I want something that goes fast and is fabulous and fun and exciting! Maybe some wrist warmers? Maybe a scarf? I have three skeins of Plymouth Baby Alpaca Granda just BEGGING to be knit up.

I love yarn :D

Flash me, baby ;)

2007-06-04T13:09:00.000-07:00

My Secret Pal 10 moderator is running another contest. This time, we have to flash our stash :)

Enjoy!

This is where my yarn is stored, for the most part. It's my "Fiber Arts Center" in my living room and these bottom three drawers hold most of my yarn. The top shelf in the picture there holds a wooden silverware holder. In each compartment are things like stitch markers, cable needles, crochet hooks, straight needles, row counters, gauge meters, etc. To the left of the drawers, between the Fiber Arts Center and my bookshelf, are all my photocopied or printed patterns. I have QUITE a few :P

The bottom shelf of my bookcase houses these three baskets, which hold the yarn overflow, as well as another document holder full of printed/copied patterns.

This is sort of the misc. dregs of my yarn stash, in the two baskets on the left. Random stuff mostly given to me by my Aunt. The cones are leftovers from my college weaving and textiles classes, oh....14 years ago :) The bag of skeins on the left is my stash of Dark Horse Fantasy yarn...AMAZING stuff...50% acrylic and 50% nylon, but softer than most of the alpaca I have :) I'm using one skein to make some ankle socks and the rest I'm saving for a shrug or shawl or something like that :) Something warm and soft and cozy to wrap up in on cold evenings.

Next is the stuff I got at Stitches West that hasn't found a new home yet. From left to right, 2 skeins luscious Malabrigio, a 280 yard skein of worsted weight 50% tussah silk and 50% merino wool, Joseph Geller Peruvian tweed alpaca 600 yard skein of delight and 5 skeins of purple and green woven ribbon yarn. I think the ribbon yarn is going to become something for my sister. The tweed is destined for a small shawl and the other two are just pets at the moment :D

Here we have a mish-mash from the top drawer in my Fiber Arts Center. Many of the cakes on the right are my handspun. The skein top middle is handspun from my spin to knit pal. The pink and brown skein in the middle is a recent handspun of mine, kinda fun but doubtful I'll ever do anything with it :) Bottom middle-right is a cake of DELICIOUS Manos de Uruguay that I'm saving for just the right project. Misc. other stuff :)

This is some recent cotton purchases from the top drawer. Two skeins of Patagonia cotton on the left, delicious and soft, destined to become some arm warmers. On the right is my stash of elann yarn that Is in the works for a shawl I'm making. 2 skeins used, only 7 more to go : It's this wonderful mercinized cotton :) Bottom is two cakes of random other cotton...leftover peaches and cream and some TLC.

Second drawer and we get into the world of alpaca and wool a little more. Top left is several skeins of Knit Picks in various combinations of wool, alpaca and silk. They were all originally purchased for fingerless gloves and/or socks. Top middle-right is my stash of Indiecita alpaca. Sinfully delicious stuff. I'm hoping for a shawl or tank top out of it one of these days. To the right of that is some sock yarn I got in a recent swap. Bottom center is two skeins of Plymouth Grande Alpaca wound into cakes. I keep meaning to make them into a purse. Bottom left is some green denim tweed, some dark brown alpaca and silk laceweight (recent swap goodie) and some delicious green alpaca.

Middle drawer part one...4 skeins of some merino 2000 I got from my LYS intending to make two-toned fingerless gloves. On the top right is three skeins of sock yarn called "Dancing" in the colorway "Two-Step," which is cotton, wool, nylon and elastic...once I figure out how to make socks finally, I'll have some awesome self-striping socks with that stuff :) Below all that is my misc. cotton...sugar and cream, peaches and cream, King Tut, and CottonTots.

Rest of delicious drawer two: Top left is two skeins of delicious Patons Rumor, which is an alpaca and acrylic yarn. Next to that is another skein of wool sock yarn a recent pal sent me. Next to that is some rust colored silky wool. Two cones from college days follow that. Next row is a cream colored skein of Plymouth Alpaca grande, a delicious skein of Inca Cotton in colorway Oz, most of a skein of Rowan Plaid, which is a wool, alpaca and acrylic yarn. Bottom right is some Plymouth Baby alpaca brush. I don't know what I'm going to do with it, but it was alpaca and on a killer sale, so I bought it :)

Here we have the dregs of the bottom shelf :) Caron's Simply Soft in two different colors of blue, indended as either pants or a sweater for my son. Below that is some delicious alpaca from a recent swap and below that is this really soft fun stuff from No Boundaries (Wal Mart brand yarn) that I am almost out of. Super soft...maybe a airy scarf one of these days for a gift....

Next to my Fiber Arts Center is my coat closet. Inside the door is a shoe holder, where I keep my growing collection of circular needles :D One pocket per size, with the Knit Picks cables and some antique metal circulars in the top larger pockets :D

That about does it for the yarn stash, but I also have a spinning stash...which eventually BECOMES yarn, so I thought I should include it as well :D When the coat closet door is closed, my spinning wheel lives there :) On the tall shelf above my knitting stuff, you can see many of my spindles, my wheel bobbins and lazy kate and my wheel oil. Above that begins the fiber stash :D

Top shelf is wool. The orange and the blue on the left is "fancy" prepared wool from Carolina Homespun. The two on the right are natural wool I got for free and processed myself. Ug! What a pain! Next shelf down is dark brown alpaca, grey alpaca, cream suri alpaca and my flicker and combs. Bottom shelf is dark brown wool and dark brown alpaca and some more bobbins. Under the bobbins is a flat envelope full of silk hankies :)

On top of the bookcase is my large bags and bags of about 5 lbs of wool I recently sent away for processing after I got it all for free about a year ago on Craigslist :D I'm spinning the buttery light grey wool on the right plastic bag right now. On top of my Fiber Arts Center is my ball winder and PVC niddy noddy :D

And there you have it....my stash! After seeing everyone else's I just think I need more yarn :P

Ravelry!

2007-05-29T19:59:00.001-07:00

I finally got my Ravelry invite *squeal*

It's gonna take awhile for me to get allllll my stuff in there, but oh gosh, it's SOOO COOL!

I also love being a beta user :P It makes me feel special, even if I'm not really *cackle*

Check me out via the Ravelry link on the right!

Oh, also a quick "YOU ROCK!" shout out to my Secret Pal 10 pal who got me a pattern I've been longing for, Everyday Tweed (http://www.thegarterbelt.com/ms_tweed.html), which I do believe I shall be making for myself once I figure out what yarn to use :D

*just aglow in my happy goodies day*

2007-05-29T19:53:00.000-07:00

I finally got pictures to prove that my LiveJournal Secret Pal 4 Pal is flat-out amazing! This is the package that I received last week :D

Here it all is, in all it's glory! Wonderful roving hand-dyed by my pal in a colorway she calls "The Great Radish Famine" after a Fraggle Rock episode *gleam* Pictures of her dying the fiber. A pattern I've been wanting for awhile now. Monkey soap, bath confetti and a duckie filled with bath gel.

Yes, it's all beautiful and wonderful. But wait! Step into this picture and blow your mind away!

Greens, oranges, rusty earthy reds....GAH! The sheer beauty and magical wonderment of this roving is just beyond words :)

As I said before, I was never one for multi-colored roving before, because I couldn't find a set of colors that suited me. Well, this suits me. This IS me....lol. If I were roving, this is what I would look like :D

Thank you SO MUCH, Secret Pal...now everyone else know what I know...that You ROCK HARD!

I was also inspired by this amazing multi-colored roving to buy some more for myself :D
Feast your eyes on THIS beauty :D

It's called Felix the Cat and I love the name as much as the roving :D It's Blue Faced Leichster (or however you spell that,) which I've never spun but have always heard dreamy things about :)

I can't wait to spin up BOTH my new multi-colored roving blobs and then I will have to bore you all with a gagillion pictures of the amazing yarn I will have made :D

Anyone else heard of Wist?

2007-05-22T12:15:00.000-07:00

I made an internet-wide wishlist today...no simple Amazon for me, oh no!

There's this site I've been playing with for awhile called Wist (short for Wish List) that calls itself "Social shopping." Basically, you can add ANYTHING on ANY webpage to your list.... It can be used like a favorites list, a wish list, a shopping list, anything :)

Mine is my wish list, since so little of what I want is on Amazon these days...can we say yarn?!

http://www.wists.com/fragglefemme/

Yay for selfish promoting of goods! :P

WIPs

2007-05-19T17:07:00.000-07:00

Howdy :)

My Secret Pal 10 moderator has started a new contest! She wants to see pictures of all our Works in progress :)

My oldest WIP is this purse for my sister started on the green loom in April 2006. It was supposed to be her wedding present for last June...maybe I'd better finish that up :P

Next oldest is my brown blob, as I affectionately call it :) It was supposed to be a shawl, but I cast on waaaayyy too many stitches, so now it's a lap blanket. I just have the last super soft brown stripe on the end to finish up and then I have to weave in ends and then...done!

Next is my shawl. I cast on oh...maybe 4 weeks ago?...and it was going to be for my mother for mother's day. *laugh histerically* Yeah...new plan is getting it done by her birthday in September :) It's soooooo gorgeous, though...I might end up keeping it :D Just to give you an idea of it's length, those are 60" needles and I couldn't lay it flat all out on the length of the needles :

A close up of some of the shawl :)

Finally, it's my WIP swatch! This was a swatch that I made for some top-down socks I'm going to cast-on for shortly. I started out trying several different picot cast-ons on the top, then just knit a plain ol' stockinette swatch, washed it, dried it and took my measurements. It's soooooooooooooooo soft! Can't wait to try to make the socks :D

So, that's what I'm up to these days :) I wish I was a faster knitter, I'd have more done to share!

Cute pattern

2007-05-16T15:34:00.000-07:00

Isn't this the cutest pattern?!

http://www.thegarterbelt.com/ms_tweed.html

I may have to splurge on it next month....lol. It is just so plain and simple, yet interesting and fun. The neck would look faaabulous on me and I like the picot edges :)

I've been updating my craft links and came across it from months ago the first time I saw it.

Yay for cute designers :D

Bad bad leroy brown!

2007-05-15T13:17:00.000-07:00

So, I've been sick. Not death's door sick, just sick.

I blame my lack of blogging on that. Yeah, that's why I haven't writteon on here, even though I've checked email and written on my LiveJournal *makes angelic eyes and bats eyelashes at y'all*

First of all, I have to share with you all how AMAZINGLY SPLEDIFOROUS my Secret Pal 10 Pal is!!!!!!!

I have received SO MANY little odds and edds faaaabulous goodies in the mail, it's amazing. I feel so unbelievably spoiled almost on a daily basis, it seems like. And, amazingly enough, this is just little bits and bobs, while I wait for the BIG PACKAGE in June! *bouncywigglesnort*

I've received patterns, point protectors, needles, needle holders, two pair of earrings (awesome, totally awesome earrings!), a sheep broach, and all manner of other fabulous stuff I havne't the mind to remember right now. I seriously have the BEST pal I've ever had in any swap and oh gosh, I hope she's having as amazing a time with this swap as I am :D

*bows to her greatness*

That said, what have I been knitting? Weeeelllll, I'm ever-vigilent on my massive shawl project. It's coming along swimmingly! Of course, it's about 3 inches long at this point and it was supposed to be a Mother's Day present for my mom, which was...um...yesterday...yeah, so. Maybe a birthday gift in September? *grin* I'll have to post pictures soon because the yarn is just SCRUMPTIOUS and delicious and I love the way it's knitting up!

Other than that, I did a swatch for hte first time...yes, you heard it, I made a SWATCH! *giggle* I did a few different picot cast-ons (not picot hems, mind you...cast ons!) and then knit in the yarn of choice for awhile to get gauge on the yarn and needles I am going to make my try at top-down socks with. I got 5 stitches/inch and I love the fabric it makes...soft and warm and thick but squishy. I washed it and it didn't shrink (being acrylic and all) and didn't get fuzzy. It's even softer, if that's possible!

So, on to starting the amazing little I won't give up socks I am going to try to make top-down with a cute little picot edge :D

I was supposed to post by today about where I knit for my SP10 contest.

Well, I knit wherever! My two main places are 1) when at work, I love to knit on a bench outside next to a fountain. It's so pretty and peaceful and calm. When it's too cold to be outside, I knit in "my" chair in the lunchroom with my feet up on another chair :) 2) When at home, I almost always knit on my couch, legs crossed under me. I have the TV on to keep my mind occupied while I knit and the yarn, etc. on the couch to the left on me. A glass of water on the table to the right of me. Knit, lassie, knit like the wind!

And to amuse yer eyes,

Alpacas!!!!!!!

Oldest yarn post for SP 10

2007-04-25T19:57:00.000-07:00

Hi there :) My SP 10 moderator is running a contest where we have to post about our oldest yarn. Here's mine :) It's the cone of green stuff on the left!

This is yarn I've had since college, when I took a loom weaving and tapestry weaving class. Gosh, I LOVED that class. I used some of that cone to make a really itchy woven scarf, lol. I haven't done a thing with it in...oh...14 years :

Yowza!

Ode to presents

2007-04-23T15:17:00.000-07:00

Twas a bleak dreary Monday in my world. My boss had already brought me to tears and it wasn't even lunchtime yet. The candy I bought the night before to sustain me through a long day at work was stale and hard and unappetizing. It was my son's 5th birthday and I wasn't there to celebrate it with him.

Everything looked really dismal.

Then, my friend the post man came. In his arms, he had two packages with my name on them! One was BIG and one was small. I opened the small one first. EARRINGS! Earrings from my Secret Pal 10 upstream pal in Canada! They're silver earrings of a partial sweater with knitting needles working away on the collar :D I put them in right away and felt just a little bit better.

Directing my attention to the large box, I got out the box cutter and dug in. There were an assortment of wrapped goodies inside! *squeal* Opening them one by one, I found....

* A sweet card from my Knitter's Treat Exchange pal, Heide :D
* Not one, but TWO magazines: Knit N' Style (which I just drooled over the sweater on the front cover earlier this morning!) and Creative Knitting (which I adore, but never got a subscription to!)
* A HUGE bag of delicious swedish fish...yum! AND a big bag of Smarties...one of my favorite candies besides swedish fish. At this point, I had to bring over a co-worker because we spent a whole day last week opening up 30 lbs of smarties and packing them loose into pill bottles for a marketing promotion this week at a trade show. We both got a hoot out of the smarties bag and I shared some with her :) No one gets to share the swedish fish :P

* An exfoliating hydro towel for scrubbing your back in the shower. I don't know how to she knew, but I LOVE those things :) I have such an itchy back, it loves a good scrub down now and then :)

* A Stella Mare Italian Orange soy candle, which smells delicious enough to eat, a bar of In the Pink grapefruit and lemongrass organic bar soap, which I really do want to eat...I keep bending under my desk to sniff the soap :D and a tube of sparkling grapefruit body moisture cream :D

* Yarn GALORE! TWO skeins of Elizabeth Lavold silky wool in a rusty color, which I already have two skeins of, so now I have four and I can make something SUPER amazing out of it :) One skein of some delicious natural creamy colored alpaca that says "Courtesy of Dulae," so very super soft and it smells like a yummy soap :) One mystery skein of what I would guess to be wool sock yarn in this great orange and lime green and purple colorway :) So much fun, I can't wait to knit it up! and finally, one skein og Fearless Fibers 100% merino sock yarn in a gorgeous colorway called desert flower. It's creams and browns and rusty reds and mossy dusty green. Amazing, delicious yarn all....I want to lay it out and roll around in it :)

One would think that was enough, right? MORE than enough. But she also included a little wrapped toy for my son! It's actually his 5th birthday TODAY, so it's perfect timing :)

Thank you soooooooo much, both my Secret Pal 10 upstream pal and Heide, my Knitter's Treat exchange pal :)

You've really turned a frown (and more than a few tears) into a smile today :) I love my gifts and I am so grateful for being so wonderfully spoiled :P

Pictures will come in a day or two, once I get the stuff in front of my camera :)

Recent developments

2007-04-18T10:17:00.000-07:00

First of all...I am just ECSTATIC to announce that this baby is alll.......MINE!

I bit the bullet and bought her at the last guild meeting :D It's the Ashford Traditional wheel I've been renting from my friend since January...such a wonderful machine :D

Even though it's been in my house since Jan, I haven't owned it until now.... I feel like a new mother *proud spinning wheel gleam*

Happy happy joy joy dance of spinning wheel love :D

Wanna see some of the stuff I've spun on her?

Well, this is the magenta/pink and brown wool I spun and plied last week. It's kinda itchy, but it's a good hearty skein :)

The dark brown single is much darker in real life :)

Then, at my latest guild meeting, where I wrote the check to buy my new baby, I started spinning some misc. grey wool I got for free and had processed at the Fiber mill I sent stuff to back in September :) It is an utter dream to spin and I've been being very consciously trying to spin a thin, even single and...I've been succeeding! This grey stuff is around 32 WPI!!!!!

Finally, I wanted to share a picture of an amazing yarn I recently discovered!

You all know what an alpaca whore I am.... Well, this yarn is softer than most (but not all) of the alpaca yarn I have in my stash. What is it made out of, you ask? Well, believe it or not, it's NYLON and ACRYLIC! Not a natural fiber in site, and yet it's just...SCRUMPTIOUS! It has really great yardage for the price, as well! It's 205 yards for $5 for solids and $6 for varigated skeins :) I bought 6 skeins of this colorway and I'm going to make a fabulous wrap out of it :D Sooooooooooooo soft. Really, I kid you not. SOFT. SOFT. SOFT.

Oh! I also have Secret Pal 10 goodies to brag about! Last weekend, I got a pattern in my email that my faaabulous pal bought me! Then, today at work, I got an envelope with some sock needle protectors (so adorable!) and a gorgeous sheep broach. THANK YOU, amazing secret pal! I'm having so much fun being spoiled by you!!!

Yay for SP 10!!!

2007-04-12T16:29:00.000-07:00

I got my first little goodie from my Secret Pal 10 Secret Pal :D

She's going to be sending me one huge package at the end, with lots of litlte bits and bobs during the course of the event, because she lives in another country and doing it this was will be cheaper for her :)

I got a lovely card and a handsewn really pretty tissue cover for those little packages of purse tissues :D

THANK YOU, Pal :D

*happy dance*

We now interrupt this program...

2007-04-12T13:02:00.000-07:00

...for this mint commercial :P

These mints are my new favorite all-time mints :)

They're not too strong...they're not too sweet. They have a good burst of mintiness, as well as a nice creaminess in the center...well, it's a hard center, but it tastes...creamy :)

Added bonus: They're AMAZING for calming my stomach if it's being upset :D

Medicine and minty breath all in one, how can you not love them? I think i need to buy a case of them online! Maybe later when I get my expense check :P

Spin happy

2007-04-12T10:41:00.000-07:00

I'm in such a jolly mood today :)

Last night, I got to spin for two hours!!!! I spun up a whole ball of mauve/pink/coral roving I got back from the processing place (I wound the roving into large balls a bit smaller than my head when I got it back.) and then I plyed it with some dark brown mill ends fiber I spun last week :D

I have this awesome pink/mauve and brown 2-ply yarn sitting on two bobbins on my couch! I can't wait to put it on my niddy noddy and set the twist tonight, then maybe I can knit with it this weekend :D

*happy I got to spin smile*

Pictures of it soon, I promise!

FOs, WIPs, WPI and toddler drawings :D

2007-04-04T11:39:00.000-07:00

Howdy :) Aren't we just a bunch of acronym-lovers *giggle*

Haven't posted in awhile, other than yarn porn, so I thought I'd share what I've been up to lately :)

I have one finished item, a lace dishcloth made out of some King Tut electric blue cotton I was gifted. It's not blocked yet, but it is still pretty :D It's not for anything or anyone...the yarn just scremed out to me to be a lace dishcloth, so who was I not to obey?

I currently have three different projects I'm working on in my VERY limited knitting time.

My never-ending brown blob. When I very first cast on, it was going to be a shrug. But it quickly turned into a lap blanket, because I cast on too many stitches and didn't have enough of the brown yarn I wanted to make the shrug out of, lol. It's sooooooooooo soooooooooooooooooooo soft and warm and I can't wait till it's done and I can plop it on my lap when it's a bit chilly at night :D

Incidentally, I'm sure there is a way not to get that line of one yarn mixed up in the new yarn chunk...but I don't know how... (illustrated on teh picture with an arrow). Does anyone have a link to tell me how to avoid that in the future?

What the HECK is that, I bet you're wondering...lol. Well, it's another brown blob. It's short row practice using some of my handspun that's a bit too thick and a bit too scratchy for anything else. It will be a rat stuffed with catnip for my partner's cats when it's done :D It's so much fun knitting with my own yarn! I definately didn't put enough twist in the ply, I can see that by knitting it...and I'm finding it has...dandruff...when I knit with it. What's that from? Little crinkly brown bits fall off in a pile on my lap as I knit. It's odd. Reminds me of over-processed crunchy human hair. Is it a sympton of the fiber or my spinning, do you think?

Finally.....the sock. ARGH! Why are socks so damn hard for me? This is the first time I've been stymied by something in knitting and it pisses me off. A new friend *waves at Lori* sent me a really detailed sock pattern, so I should be better with my next one!

At least my stitches are REALLY neat and even....huh *proud even stitch smile* It's some Knit Picks yarn...alpaca and wool and maybe some silk in there? I can't remember offhand which yarn it is...but it is scrumptious :D

This is after about 10 attempts to cast on and having to rip out after two rows. I switched up in needle and yarn sizes and did a regular increase toe, rather than a short row toe that was just haunting me. I mysteriously got two holes in the beginning, after my magic cast on for the toe. Then, at some point, I obviously put my knitting down and when I came back, I started knitting the other way around...because my very tippy toe is opposite purl/knit from the rest of the sock. Rather than rip it out, I decided I liked the look of a defined toe area and I'm just learning anyway, so I just plugged on.

My foot is larger than the pattern I'm using, so I just kept increasing on the toe until it fit over my toe area. Then, I started knitting the body of the sock. Um. Guess I increased a bit too much, LOL. The black outline is my foot inside the massively too wide sock :D It's sort of like my sock has wings :D

I'm gonna keep persevering on this one, though, until I get to the heel...so I can practice a heel before I rip it all out and start over with a sock that actually might FIT and not have quite so many mistakes :)

Hey, it's handy for holding the yarn while I'm not knitting on it, at least :D

Well, there you have it :) What has been occupying my time of late on the needles. There are so many things that I want to make next, I am stymied by the decision!

I also wanted to share some fiber yumminess I have going on in my home :)

Here's some of my latest spinning...brown sheep mill ends dark brown wool that I've been spinning up like mad. I have over a pound of the stuff, lol. I've been spoiled by alpaca, however, and it just seems rough and hard in the singles. Ah well :) I'm still gonna spin and ply it :)

I do looooovveeee spinning on the wheel, though *happy dance*

Speaking of alpaca....

my fantabulous spin to knit downstream swap pal *waves again at Lori *giggle* * sent me a super duper surprise package the other day! She wanted to thank me for the yarn I sent her, so she went to a local alpaca farm and got some fiber for me :) She told me the name of the alpaca it came from....Gertrude, I think? Something like that, I can't remember right now...and I just can't WAIT to spin it up :) It's washed and vm-free, but it's just loose in the bag, not carded. I've never spun like that, so I'm excited to try it out...and I mean, heck. It's alpaca, how can it not come out deliciously?

Since I cleaned up and organized and re-decorated my bedroom over the weekend, I decided to get new curtains. Oh gosh, I LOVE the ones I ended up buying...they make such a difference in the done-ness of the room. I feel like a grown-up with a real bedroom...not just a renter with some thrown together space I sleep in :D

It's good to feel like a grown-up sometimes :D :D

I know, I know...I still have to iron them...but I wanted to put them up and make sure I like them before I ironed them because I HATE ironing....so, that will happen this weekend :D

I also wanted to share a drawing my little tater tot did last night :) It's him and me outside in the sun with a blue sky :) It was a surprise present for me! I just LOVE my puffy hair and long legs, lol. He may not be a Picasso, but nothing like a litle kid drawing to make this mommy's heart go all mushy *swoon*

Okay, I think I've overwhelmed you all enough for now :)

My favorite knitting accessory....

2007-03-29T15:49:00.000-07:00

My Secret Pal 10 host is running a contest this week where we have to discuss what our favorite knitting accessory is.

Mine?

Why, my brain, of course :D
Without it, I wouldn't find much joy in what I do with those needles!

Knitter's Treat Exchange questionnaire

2007-03-29T11:51:00.000-07:00

Knitters Treat Exchange Questionnaire

1. What's your favourite type of yarn?

I am obsessed with Alpaca yarn :D Alpaca yarn is just...to die for! But I also love wool, cotton, silk, bamboo, even some acrylics if they're SUPER soft. I'm a VERY tactile person and can't handle anything that feels plasticy or rough. I have a fair amount of alpaca, wool, alpaca/wool, wool/cotton, cotton, alpaca/silk, and some soft acrylics like Simply Soft and some Patons.

2. What's your least favourite type of yarn?

I do NOT like anything "fun fur" ish or novelty yarnish. No rough wool or scratchy acrylics, please. Otherwise, I think I'm pretty easy to please :D

3. What's the first thing you do when you visit a new yarn shop?

Wander around touching every skein to see what feels good.

4. What other crafts do you do / would like to do?

Besides knitting, I am a spinner and I make jewelry from beads. I also sew and do general crafty stuff :) I want to re-learn tatting and crochet at some point, but I don't have time to do the stuff I do already!

5. What magazines do you currently subscribe to?

Martha Stewart Living, is all at the moment. All my other ones ran out and I haven't had the cash to re-subscribe! I used to subscribe to Spin Off, Interweave Knits, Better Homes & Gardens and PC Magazine :)

6. Put this type of magazine in order of preference:
Knitting (most preferred)
Home
Food
Other Craft
Garden
Crochet
Fashion
Celebrity Gossip (yuck)

7. What items do you like to knit / crochet?

Ohhh, just about anything :) I've knit hats, blankets, purses, scarves, lace, cables, fingerless mittens, wrist warmers...and I'm currenly learning socks :) I havne't done any clothes yet, but a tank top is on my list of soon!

8. Are you allergic to anything?

Just dust and gold :) Chocolate, depending on the brand (see question # 14 below).

9. What do you like to* smell of?

I love citrus-y cents a lot, as well as jasmine, vanilla, apple. I do not care for spicy scents and I have an aversion to the smell of coffee and tea. I know, I'm bizarre :P

My everday perfume is Body Shop Lemongrass Tea (no longer sold, but I stocked up on ebay when I heard they were stopping making it!) and my fancy perfume is Casmir (also not made anymore, but you can get it online...lol).

10. What's your favourite way to relax?

Knitting, spinning or a long hot bath with a good book. Also, popping a xanax helps on occasion :P

11. You're stood in front of a Victorian style sweetshop, an Italian cafe, an old fashioned bakery and a dainty tea room. Where do you go first?

Definately the old fashioned bakery!

12. What do you come out with?

Something light and flaky, like a palmier...or something with cinnamon, like a snickerdoodle :)

13. Where do you go next?

The victorian sweet shop, I guess, as I don't drink coffee or tea, lol.

14. Any other words of wisdom for your pal?

I don't drink coffee or tea and I am not a big fan of chocolate. Sorry, I know this makes things harder! Chocolate I do like: Dove milk chocolate and kit kats :) As far as candy goes, I prefer things like swedish fish or sweet tarts :)

Secret Pal 10 Questionnaire

2007-03-27T09:20:00.001-07:00

Hi there, Secret Pal :)

I wanted to give you a link to my questionnaire that I filled out back on Feb 6th so you can find it easier :)

Please click HERE to be swept back in time and learn more about me!

I'm super excited to participate in this swap and thanks in advance for the great stuff I'm sure you'll be sending me :) I can't wait to meet you!!!

Amazing swap packages abound!

2007-03-09T20:49:00.000-08:00

I have to say, my two replacement pals in the LiveJournal Secret Pal 3 have REALLY outdone themselves!

I got my third and final package today from iangelofmusici AKA Danielle :D As seems to be the theme with so many people in this swap, I was having a ROYALLY bad day. I mean, so bad I had to take anti-anxiety meds to get through it. And then, what should my lovely office postman bring, but a bright fun puffy package for none other than MOI!

YAY!

First of all, it was in a really fun puffy envelope with green and purple circles all over it. I am in love with the envelope and it will have to be re-purposed for something crafty and fabulous :)

Upon opening the envelope, what did I see right away? YARN!!!

But not just ANY ol' yarn. Yarn I've been wanting for months and months and months now. Amazingly soft, beautifully colored acrylic and alpaca yarn. Dreamy, take to bed with you yarn :D 2 skeins of Paton's Rumor in Fern Heather - YAY! I am just so unbelieveably excited to get some of this yarn!!! It shall become something this weekend!

After rejoicing about the yarn, I dug in and pulled out two exciting things!

A fraggle rock DVD and an ADORABLE sheep measuring tape!!! The DVD is just beyond beyond cool...it's amazing and fantabulous and just spiffy doodle all rolled into one! I've been secretly coveting other people's sheep tape measures when I see them online - I can't believe I have one now! The absolutely cutest thing is it's tail is where you pull the tape out! I just about squealed when I figured that out!!! Okay, maybe I'm easily amused. But I just adore both of these things!!!!

Next, I pulled out an envelope that was kind of bumpy and wriggly. Curious, I opened it to find an adorable rubber ducky card and some beautiful stitch markers!!! They're made out of what appears to be sparkly, glittery buttons and Gah! I am just in LOVE with them!!!!

The entire package was just delightful! Thank you so much, Danielle!!!! Besides being amazing for stepping in and taking over when my pal went MIA, you figured out exactly what I would love and gathered it all together in an adorable envelope. You're just plain amazing!

Thank you thank you thank you, I can't say it enough.

THANK YOU!!!!

A hat only a mother could love....

2007-03-08T09:54:00.000-08:00

I knit a hat.

I didn't use a pattern, just made it up as I went along. My first hat.

I LOVE the yarn I used (Rowan Plaid in colorway "Spicy" - wool, alpaca and acrylic...softness!). I LOVE the end result hat. I am so FRIGGIN' proud of this hat!!! It's EXACTLY what I wanted it to be!

Unfortunately, when placed on my head, I look hideous :(

I shall wear it around the house, when no one else is around and love it anyway :D

Dishcloth

2007-03-05T20:10:00.000-08:00

I forgot to post a picture of a dishcloth/washcloth I made for a friend of mine. I haven't seen her in over a year and I was missing her, so I made her a little present and sent it over as a surprise :)

Yes, it's a skull & crossbones. Trust me, she loved it :P

Recent gifties & yarn porn

2007-03-05T12:54:00.000-08:00

I have been participating in a LiveJournal Secret Pal swap since November. My pal went MIA, so I ended up getting two replacement pals at the last minute. One of my replacement pals sent me a package last week and I just got around to posting the pictures of all the yumminess! It was such an amazing package, I HAD to post pictures so you all could see the fabulousness :D

First the yarn, which I am in LOVE with :D

This is a scrumptious skein of alpaca and silk in a rich dark brown color. I just sit and pet it and rub it against my cheek, lol. It's sports weight, so I don't know yet what I'll make out of it, but I'm quite content to keep it as a pet for the time being :D My pal said she loves alpaca as well, so it's just one big alpaca love-fest, it seems :D

This is a very scrumptious skein of mohair and wool. Now, I was SHOCKED when I pulled the label out of the center-pull ball, because as a general rule, I don't care for mohair...it's always itchy to me...but this! This is divine! I can rub it all over my arms, face, legs, and it just feels like softness and deliciousness :) I also love the natural creamy color of the skein! It's an all-around HUGE win, in my opinion!

And finally, the whole enchillada :D

As you can see, besides the yarn, she sent me oodles of goodies :D I got a HUGE bad of red swedish fish (my ALL TIME favorite candy!!!), the new Knitscene, which I had been eyeing, but hadn't purchased yet, an adorable brown soft, fuzzy flower, a really cute round card, a litle toy that I think is supposed to be for my son, but I'm gonna keep it (the green mushroom looking thing. It's one of those bug-eye things where you look into it and you see everything a gagillion times repeated!), some toy cars for my son that run on balloon/air power!, and a funny/funky orange and green plastic glass with a silly straw inside it :) I can't wait till warmer weather, I'll so be drinking on my patio out of the cup :D

All in all, an amazing, fun, exciting, thoughtful, interesting, delicious for all the senses, wonderful package! It's even more special to me because she was a last-minute replacement for my original pal who went MIA and dtale77 was SO on the mark with everything in my package :) I love and adore it all and I thank you, dtale77, from the bottom of my mushy little fraggle heart for such a great gift!

Then, I never posted a picture of the cotton yarn I received in my dishcloth swap package :)

The electric blue skein isn't a color I would normally go for, but when I saw it and felt it, it just screamed out in my hands to be a lace dishcloth...so that is what it shall become :) Then, I can give it away in a swap or something :D I really like the multi-colored cotton on the right! It's also something I would never buy, but I think it looks cute and fun and I bet it will knit up really interestingly....

And finally, just because I can...a picture from my mini vacation to Lake Tahoe this weekend :D

Sunrise on the mountains - view from our hotel room!

More knitting love

2007-02-25T18:07:00.000-08:00

I forgot to include pictures of one other thing I bought at Stitches West. A pattern! I NEVER buy patterns, I'm more an open source for knitting patterns kinda gal...but well, I was in a spending frenzy. And this purse was amazingly beautiful. Stunning, even. I had to have one. So, not only did I buy a pattern, I bought a TEN DOLLAR pattern. Not only did I buy a TEN DOLLAR pattern, I gave them $10 for a receipt for the pattern to be mailed to me because the 10 that they had printed out were already sold. 30 minutes after the show started. Yes, it is really that amazing of a bag :D

Then, I wanted to post two skeins of yarn I got on Friday from my Spin to Knit swap pal. I am just IN LOVE with them both, especially the bamboo. I have wanted to knit a bamboo skein for awhile now, but haven't splurged on any bamboo, so this is a wonderful, special treat :) The second skein is wool and I am just in love with the colors in the yarn :)

And then finally, just because I can, I wanted to share a picture of my new magnetic knife rack :D I am sooo past the knife block and wanted it off my counters, so I got this at Ikea and am quite a happy camper :D I just love how all but one of my knives match, even though the santuko knives are Chicago cutlery, the other large ones are Wustoff and the litte ones and kitchen scissors are from Ikea :D

Stitches West Yarn Porn

2007-02-24T19:53:00.000-08:00

Stitches West was this weekend. It's my first time going and I only had an hour to peruse the booths and soak in the amazing woolly wonderland :) Of course, I lost track of time and I was 1/3 of the way through the place when I realized I'd been there an hour and a half and I was late picking up my son from his sitter, lol. Luckily, my mother was cool about it and I got there half an hour late.

I was unbelievably bummed that I only got to see 1/3 of the booths, but I think, in retrospect, it was best for my wallet :

This is, of course, some Plymouth Baby Alpaca Grande in the rusty orange color I've been lusting after for a year or more :) I got a good deal on two skeins of it - YAY! I have a skein of cream that a swap pal sent me, so I am envisioning an orange bag with a cream cable down one side :)

This is a really unusual purchase for me, but I was really intrigued by it and it was disgustingly cheap :) It was 5 skeins for $16...how could I pass it up?! It's a pretty green and purple woven ribbon yarn. Not sure what I'm going to make out of it yet. What does one make out of ribbon-type yarn? Maybe a scarf for my sister...

*sigh* At long last, I have a skein of Inca Cotton in my stash! It's just soooo soft and amazingly beautiful, all natural cotton...and it's a dang HUGE skein :) I got a good deal on it, so I was pleased :D This might be destined for a summery tank top, not sure yet :)

MMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmMalabrigo! I love this yarn!!! I got a skein from a swap pal in a different colorway and I just adore the stuff. I saw this colorway and the relatively cheap price tag and picked up two skeins for something. Maybe a bag or a scarf? OoOoOoOoOOoOoOoooooo...maybe wrist warmers :D :D :D

More alpaca love.... This is the skein of alpaca yarn that I lusted after in my LYS for over 6 months. I finally went in to buy it and the store was closing down and they had gotten rid of all their alpaca :( BUT!!! A LOT of booths had it at Stitches and I got the cheapest skein out of them all :D Oh my god, I love this yarn. It's the softest thing in my stash and at 600 yards, I can make a nice lace scarf or shawl out of it :D I may have to sleep with this skein tonight ;)

I'm really glad I was able to get to Carolina Homespun's booth before having to leave, because I was hoping to pick up some roving :) I have a lot of roving already in my spinning stash, but it is all natural colored and I wanted to branch out a bit into some nice colored roving. The blue I'm gonna spin and ply with itself, but the orange merino/tencel I want to spin on teh thin side and ply with some of the natural colored fiber I have to make a nice striped yarn :D

A fun little skein on a massive discount, I couldn't pass up this wool/alpaca and acrylic fun yarn :) Besides, I've never played with any of Rowan's yarns before and this one is fun colors and really soft :D It was well over 50% off that sticker price *proud discount shopper*

The Soysilk booth was giving out little sample cards...an idea that I think many more booths should have adopted!!! These are the two samples I got...a sock yarn and a ribbon yarn. Dunno if I'll ever do anything with them, but they're fun to have :)

The first booth I stopped at upon entering the convention floor had rows and rows of amazing hanks of yarn in all kinds of gorgeous colors. I found one I was in love with, but at $30, I thought I should shop around some more and see what else other booths have. After an hour and a half, I was still thinking about this hank of yarn so on my way out the door, I stopped and bought it. It's 50% tussah silk and 50% merino wool. It's worsted weight and it's just shiny and soft and amazing and the colors are just...gah! It makes me breathless :D I figured that's a good enough reason to spend $30 on a skein of yarn :D It's fairly large, at least, at 280 yards :D

I also bought three pairs of circulars...a pair of Crystal Palace (my favorite needles of all time!) and two Inox circulars for magic looping because I've never used Inox needles before and they were affordable. Oh! And I got a back issue of KnitScene that I've been wanting! I was very happy to find it there so I wouldn't have to break down and pay for shipping (which costs as much as the magazine on most websites!)

Here's everything in all it's glory :D

Can you tell I'm still on a MASSIVE yarn high? :D :D

*off to sniff my yarn*

Hope you like the new look :)

2007-02-21T11:49:00.000-08:00

I thought it was time to change things up and have a new look for my craft blog :)

Green and orange....aaaahhhhh *relaxes, surrounded by my favorite colors*

I wanted to post a few recent craft projects and/or yarn porn and/or swap items received. I know, I know, I'm behind on the picturey goodness.

I just finished up a dishcloth swap and I decided to go out on a limb. Instead of making a dishcloth for my recipient, I turned it into a hotpad! She loves roosters and her kitchen is decorated with roosters and chickens, so I layered some batting between a dishcloth and some adorable fabric and hand-sewed it up :) I really hope she loves it!

This is the skein of yarn I got from my spin to knit handspun yarn swap I'm participating in :) There was a bonus skein as well, but I've already used it! Isn't this skein gorgeous?! It's so very soft, too! She gave me a hint that the brown and red would appear again in my next skein, so...yay!

This is my yarn that I got for almost free! I had a $10 gift certificate for signing up for Google checkout and the shop had free shipping, so I got both skeins for $4. *happy bargain shopper grin* It's all sinnnnnfully soft :)

I have more stuff to photograph and post as well. I got a CONE of black cotton for $3 at a craft reuse store over the weekend...and I want to post a progress picture of my big brown blob. I also got some Inca cotton in the mail yesterday I bought on eBay - yay for amazing soft beautiful cotton!

My fiber is supposedly on it's way back from the processing mill as well! I can't WAIT for it to get here so I can spin up some of the sheep that I saw get shorn :D

Happy craft day :)

Secret Pal 10 Questionairre

2007-02-06T09:44:00.000-08:00

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?

I am obsessed with Alpaca yarn :D Alpaca yarn is just...to die for! But I also love wool, cotton, silk, bamboo, even some acrylics if they're SUPER soft. I'm a VERY tactile person and can't handle anything that feels plasticy or rough. I have a fair amount of alpaca, wool, alpaca/wool, wool/cotton, cotton, alpaca/silk, and some soft acrylics like Simply Soft and some Patons. I do NOT like anything "fun fur" ish or novelty yarnish. Otherwise, I think I'm pretty easy to please :D

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?

I store my needles in an over the door shoe rack :D It's inside my coat closet, which is right next to my fiber arts center :) I have one pocket for each size needle, with the extra pockets for cable needles, Knit Picks Options cables, etc. I only use circular needles, so they fit right in each pocket just perfectly :)

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?

I have been knitting for a little over a year now. I was taught when I was little by my Grandma, but I could never get the purl stitch down and lost the skill all together over time. About a year ago, I was loom knitting and I decided to pick up some needles again and try to learn. It was easy and seemed to stick this time :) I am probably an advanced beginner or early intermediate. I can do cables, lace work, short rows...but haven't tried any color work yet. I knit almost exclusively on circular needles, so I have no problem with circular knitting. I'm a big fan of the Magic Loop method :D

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?

I do not, because then I would just have a list of things that I want and probably will never have and it would depress me, lol.

5. What's your favorite scent?

I love citrus-y cents a lot, as well as jasmine, vanilla, apple. I do not care for spicy scents and I have an aversion to the smell of coffee and tea. I know, I'm bizarre :P

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?

I guess I have a sweet tooth, yes, although I don't eat chocolate. My favorite candy is swedish fish...YUMMMY!!! but I also like things like SweetTarts or Smartees. Outside of candy, I like things with peanut butter or cinnamon...such as peanut butter cheerio treats (like rice crispy treats, but made with cheerios and has peanut butter in them) or cinnamon toast, lol. I always put in that I do not drink coffee or tea at this point, because I know those are common goodies sent along and I would hate to not enjoy your packages to their full extent!

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?

Besides knitting, I spin (mostly spindle, but I am borrowing a Ashford Traditional wheel right now and am in LOVE with it). I also sew, make jewelry, and other misc. crafty stuff.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)

Yes, to the MP3 question...all my music is on my computer, lol. I like the genre of music I refer to as "Chicks with guitars." Basically, Indigo Girls, Garbage, Ani DiFranco, Gina Young, etc. I also like most 80's alternative rock...Erasure, They Might Be Giants, B52s, INXS, stuff like that. I'm also a huge broadway musical soundtrack freak. My secret love is Barry Manilow and Cat Stevens music, lol. Recent artists I like are K.T. Tunstall, Scissor Sisters, Evanescence, Bowling for Soup, Gnarles Barkley. Basically, I like most anything except for Country, Heavy Metal and Rap :D

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?

My two favorite colors are green and orange. I love all darker earth tones...browns of any ilk, rusty reds, cobalt blue is okay, forest green, dark purples even. I'm not a fan of yellow in almost any format and pastels are just not me.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?

Does a toddler count as a pet? Okay, well in that case, no, I don't have pets :D I have one son who will be 5 years old in April. I co-parent him with my ex-wife (yes, I'm a big ol' dyke - Hi! Nice to met you!), so he's at my house half of each week. I have a partner of 1 1/2 years that I do not live with (yet) but spend an awful lot of time with, so we might as well live together :D

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?

Noooo ponchos. A poncho on a 5' 11" 230 lb woman who is heavily endowed in the chest area is just such a bad idea, it should be outlawed :) I have very broad shoulders, as well...so...no. Just say no. LOL. Scarves are nice, as are fingerless mittens or gloves. I am a computer geek, so I need my fingers to type all day. I like hats a lot, but I'm a bit picky about them.... I have curly fluffy red hair, so when I wear a hat, it squishes it all down and then I look silly. Therefore, the hat has to have some poof to it somehow...a brim, something to compensate for the bulk around my head that goes missing under the hat. Yes, I know I'm weird :P

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?

I like to knit just about anything :) Dishcloths are easy and fun, good for trying out a new stitch. I like making purses/bags. Fingerless gloves are good. Made a few lace scarfs that were a joy. I just did my first pair of booties the other day and oh gosh, they're so fun and easy to make!

13. What are you knitting right now?

Right now, I'm making a dishcloth for a swap, a large brown blanket, some ruffled wrist warmers and I'm TRYING to make my first pair of socks, but they could possibly fit an elephant...I think I increased a bit too much, LOL.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?

Of course, who doesn't?!

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?

I knit only on circular needles. Bamboo is my needle of choice, but I also really like the new Knit Picks Options needles. I have size 4 and 5 in them thus far, as well as some size 2 Knit Picks classic circulars that I'm using for the great sock knitting experiment. I'm working on getting more Crystal Palace bamboo circulars...I just love the needles...and the cable join pivots, so the cables will always lay where I want them to go! I only have size 8 right now in a few different cable lengths....they're just so spendy! But they are my favorites... *drool*

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?

I have a spiffy ball winder, but no swift. Just haven't needed one yet. My hands or a back of a chair seem to work just fine :) I usually prefer to make something that will work, rather than spend a lot on something already made...

17. How old is your oldest UFO?

Well, I have a purse on a loom that was supposed to be for my sister's wedding gift last April : Guess I better get on that and finish it up, LOL....

18. What is your favorite holiday?

Probably Halloween. I don't usually dress up, but it is in my favorite time of the year, so it wins by default :)

19. Is there anything that you collect?

I collect yarn :D Oh, besides that...well, I have several hundred books...mostly Sci Fi, children's books and cookbooks...my kitchen is decorate in pears. I used to collect Wizard of Oz stuff, but not so much anymore, although I have a Oz tattoo on my right thigh...I think I have it all, lol. I collect lizard, frog and turtle stuff...I have a lizard tattoo on my right ankle and several lizard knicknacks around my house.

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?

I want some more Patons Rumor yarn something fierce! The green stuff, I think it's called Fern Heather....besides that, I am always in love with alpaca yarn :) I want some cotonade yarn in colors Spruce, Lipstick, Nutmeg, moss, chocolate or plum. I would LOVE to try some sea silk in color Forest or Mineral. I have been drooling over Inca Cotton in color Oz for quite some time and I need another skein to make a top I want... I've also been on a search for some Joseph Galler peruvian tweed alpaca in color 111, 106 or 107 since my LYS went out of business right before I went in to finally buy the skein I pet every week! I also adore Colinette Tao 100% silk in shade Madras 153, Colinette Jitterbug 100% merino in shade Sahara 135, Prism Lotus (wool, bamboo, silk blend) in color Highlands, Muench Touch Me in any earthy color, Malabrigo and Manos de Uruguay in anything earthy and Trendsetter Blossom # 106.

Can you tell I have a thing for yarn?!

I would like some Crystal Palace circular bamboo needles in any size other than 8 (5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 10 1/2) and I'm always in the market for some more Knit Picks needle tips in sizes other than 4 or 5, as well as more cables (I'd like a 40").

I don't have any knitting magazine subscriptions, but I would certainly like to get Interweave Knits one of these days. Until I do, I just read them at the library and copy any patterns I want at work on the copy machine :)

Are there any techniques you'd like to learn?

Well, I guess I want to learn different/better ways to do short rows and explore those possibilities some more. Then, I want to start learning about double knitting and colorwork. Oh, and there are those damn socks I can't seem to figure out very well!

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?

Well, does casting on about 8 times, knitting a few rounds then ripping it out in increasing frustration...make me a sock knitter? I thought not. I'm trying! Really, I am! I am now up to my instep, but the toe is so large, I could fit both my feet in it, lol.

My foot measurements are: 10 1/2 inches long, 9 3/4 inches around at ball of foot. I wear a size 10 wide or 11 regular shoe, depending on the manufacturer.

I also have a very big head, lol... 23 1/2 inches or 60 cm around. What can I say, I'm of swedish decent and I'm just all around big :D

23. When is your birthday?

My birthday is February 16, so I will have just turned 34 when this swap starts.

Stymied by crafts

2007-02-05T12:35:00.000-08:00

I just want to pout.

Okay, so I AM pouting, lol.

I can't seem to get how to knit socks! *grrrr* I have cast on (using Knitty's magic cast on, which I love!) and I knit a few rows and screw up and have to rip them out and start over. I've cast on at least 8 times so far. *pout*

I think maybe I need to step up and make some in a thicker yarn for my first time....I'm using size 2 needles and some sock yarn...first time with both, so that can't be helping matters.

In order to feel like I have done SOMETHING lately with my knitting, I made an adorable bib and pair of booties for a co-worker who's leaving at the end of the week for maternity leave. We're having a shower on Wednesday here at work and I am jazzed to have these to give to her! I made them in mint green cottontots yarn...so easy and so fast!

I actually think doing the short rows on the booties helped me understand them better, so when I go back to my short row toes on the socks, I'll be better off than the first 8 times, lol.

I'll post pictures soon.

Also, I bought some super scrumptious yarn online for free shipping and $10 off! Alpaca and silk...mmmmmm....can't wait for it to get here :D

In other craft news, I'm in love with Elaine's spinning wheel. I spin and ply whenever I have a chance and I am just so proud and happy with the results. I do indeed love it much more than spinning with my spindle :D I took some yarn single I made, set and made into a center-pull ball and I plied it with some alpaca I just spun and it's just a delight. I should give it away to my spin to knit swap partner because I have nothing else spun up right now, but...I just love it sooooo much, I wanna keep it :)

In other spinning news, I heard from the Wooly Knob fiber mill on Friday and my fiber is done being processed and should be on it's way back to me this week sometime. YAY! I sent it in September, lol...didn't realize it would take this long. But I wanted to use them because 1) two gay boys run it and 2) I got a good recommendation for them and I wanted to make sure I got some decent, spinnable roving back.

sooo...all in all, just putting along in craft land. Next post will be more exciting, I promise :P

Recent FOs

2007-01-11T15:44:00.000-08:00

La-de-da!

I took a picture of the dishcloth I made for my Aunt Diana for Christmas when she opened it. It's perdy :D It's made out of Cottontots, my FAVORITE cotton to make dishcloths out of!

Then, I'm half way through a pair of ruffled wristwarmers. The pattern is from my spiffy new Magic Loop booklet and I made it using the magic loop method! My first Magic Loop FO! *proud*

I'm about half way through the second one....then, I'm sending them off to a friend for a surprise gift :) They're really warm and great for putting under your jacket sleeves to keep the wind out :)

Silk scarf

2007-01-03T13:07:00.000-08:00

I realized last night that I never posted pictures of my mom's scarf when I finished it! Bad knitter :P I just love how it came out. It's a short keyhole scarf made with some damn expensive wool and silk yarn that is delicious to work with and wear :)

My mother loved it - YAY!

The ends actually are the eame length if you pull it through all the way...she just did a quick job for the photo op :P

Pictures

2007-01-02T11:55:00.000-08:00

Took some pictures last night of the two skeins I spun and described in yesterday's post.

The alpaca/suri alpaca skein for my Aunt.

The crazy mish-mash skein I made from my friend's leftover singles :)

You spin me right round, baby, right round...

2007-01-01T12:21:00.000-08:00

I'm in such a good mood today.....how can I not be when I picked this up on Saturday morning!

I can't believe I actually FINALLY have a spinning wheel in my house!!! I am borrowing/ renting it from a friend and I think I am going to buy my own when I get my tax returns!

This is my first bobbin of wool singles on the wheel. It's a bit uneven, but it's different than a spindle, so it's going to take me awhile to get the drafting down pat. I LOVE pedaling it, though...definately a single treadle gal :P

My first two-ply yarn completely spun and plied on the wheel :) I LOVE it! It's about 80 yards...I can't wait to knit something up with it...or maybe it will become part of my brown wrap I'm working on :) Think I filled that bobbin up enough? LOL

Then, I cheated just a LITTLE bit and used the two brown bobbins of singles I had left over and plied them with a thin grey wool my friend had left on another bobbin to make this amazing three-ply yarn :D I have 58 yards of it and I love it so much! The grey is very subtle, but it just gives it the most interesting movement to the yarn :) So...I didn't spin one of the singles, but I spun the other two and I plied it...that's pretty close to being all mine :P

This was all done on Saturday afternoon, a few hours after I picked up the wheel in SF. Yesterday (Sunday), I made a totally awesome fun skein of yarn from all the various leftovers my friend left on the bobbins she sent with the wheel. I don't have a picture yet, but it's white and brown and dark brown and has a bit of pink silk winding through it and oh gosh, it's just such a fun skein. I know I didn't make it, just plied it, but I don't care...it's fun!

Then, yesterday I also spun some light brown suri alpaca on the wheel (oh my gosh, what a dream to spin!!!) and then plied it with the dark brown alpaca I spun on my spindle, measured it (30 yards) and skeined it. It's my Aunt Helen's christmas present...just a little bit late, but I know she's gonna love it! It's not a ton, yardage wise, but she can make some little something with it...the cuffs on a sweater, a pocket, something like that :)

I am SO IN LOVE with this wheel spinning! *happy spinnng dance*

Yarn porn

2006-12-28T14:23:00.000-08:00

Two recent yarn acquisitions....I just want to pounce into a pile of it all!

This is some delicious thin alpaca yarn I won on eBay. I got 8 skeins. It's called "Indiecita" and it's all-natural, not dyed. It's a very orangy brown with some greenish tan brown plied in with it. Pure heaven. I have a lot of it, so I need to come up with something extra good to make with it!

This is my Knit Picks order I was cheering about below :) The squat green and orange skeins are alpaca and silk (70%/30%, I believe). Super soft, delicious stuff, it's called Andien Silk. I have two skeins of each, but I couldn't find the second orange for the photo shoot :P The larger skein of orange and green are both Superwashed wool and nylon. I bought it to maybe make socks out of...green and orange striped socks :D The three stripey skeins are sock yarn called "Dancing" in the colorway "Two-Step," which is cotton, wool, nylon and elastic. It's a lot of oranges and greens and blues and I think it's gonna make some amazing, self-striping socks :)

Finally...how am I gonna make the socks, you might ask? Well, using the Magic Loop method, of course :D My sweetie got my the booklet on how to do it for Christmas, so I am all set to go!

Crafty update

2006-12-20T11:34:00.000-08:00

Hey there! Hi there! Ho there! You're as welcome as can be!

I got my yarn from Knit Picks and it's yummy and delicious and I have to take a picture soon to share :D

*soft alpaca love*

I finished my mother's lace scarf for Christmas and blocked it (my first time blocking something!!!) and it's wrapped up and ready to go. I forgot to take a picture of it before wrapping, so I'll have to take one when she opens it. I sur ehope she loves it!

I'm also knitting a dishcloth with the Breast Cancer Awareness ribbon on it for my Aunt who is in remission from Breast Cancer. I'm almost half way done and expect to finish it tonight :) I am having weird ladder issues when I change from purl to knit for the ribbon part. Ah well, I'm hoping it will come out in the washing/blocking :)

Yay! Holidays!

Other good news: A friend of mine is lending me an Ashford Traditional spinning wheel!!!! I am just gushing with excitement to have a wheel in my home to practice with and try out to see if I want to buy one. I'm getting a large tax return this year (I think) and I would love to spend some of it on a wheel, if I decide I like using one and can justify the purchase :)

Still left to do for Christmas knitting:

1) Finish the dishcloth
2) Finish spinning the alpaca yarn for my Aunt Helen.
3) Knit a nose cozy as a joke gift for my Butch :) :P

I can do it! I have Thurs and Fri off, so I have a 5 day weekend and the presents for my Aunts won't be given until the week after Christmas sometime anyway...so I can do it!

*feeling like the little engine that could*

Apparently, I don't have enough yarn :P

2006-12-04T15:23:00.000-08:00

I want to make these amazing cabled fingerless mittens...here's the pattern. However, I wasn't sure if I liked the yarn she made them in. I've also been wanting to try some of Knit Picks yarn because I love their patterns and needles and well...I just wanted to try some :) I found some alpaca blend yarn in a similar weight and bought 4 skeins....and some closeout sock yarn for when I start trying to make socks :)

7 new skeins of yarn on it's way to me! Yay!!!!

Yarn = love.

Picture catch-up :)

2006-12-04T11:56:00.000-08:00

I realized I never posted a picture of my Fiber Arts center! It is a bit different from these pictures now, but you'll get the idea :) Basically, that messy shelf in the middle is now neat and tidy in a wooden tray and the fiber to spin is in plastic zippered bags all uniform and matching. Still need to hang the spindles from that shelf, but I got cup hooks a bit too big and haven't taken then back to OSH yet to get the right size :)

I LOVE my fiber arts center...did you notice that the lower shelves holding my yarn pull out?!

I also realized I never posted a picture of the cables purse complete, with lining and handles attached, so here you go :) I think it turned out AMAZING!

*Happy crafty beyatch dance*

dreaming of needles

2006-11-28T11:26:00.000-08:00

Last night, I dreampt that I got an email from a woman saying that an elderly lady died in the house that this woman owned and she was a knitter. If I wanted any of her needles or yarn, I should come over and go through it all.

I went over and was rummaging around and ended up leaving with gosh, close to 100 wooden and metal needles, straights and circulars. Not much yarn, though...it was almost all fun fur *dread shiver* but I did snag this awesome skein of soft furry orange and rusty red yarn to add to the needles :D

Wonder what it means when you dream about knitting and knitting stuff? That you need to be knitting more? Perhaps....

FOs :)

2006-11-20T14:02:00.000-08:00

I spent a fair amount of time knitting the last week and especially this weekend and I have some loverly stuff to show for it :)

This is a dishcloth I made for a dishcloth exchange. It's Bernat CottonTots in color sweet green. My recipient has a light mint green kitchen, and that's pretty much exactly how I would describe this color :) I like the stitch pattern I chose. It was mailed off to her today - I hope she loves it!

This is a ridiculously easy knit scarf for my sister for Christmas. I got the yarn, Crystal Palace's Kiddo in color Violet, in the discount bin at my LYS when they were going out of business. It is her favorite colors...purple and green...and it is ridiculously soft. It was just plain ol' knit stitch on really large needles (size 17's I think) so it's loose and soft and warm and delicious. I think she's going to adore it :)

And finally, the grand prize of things I've knit thus far, my cabled purse. I've been participating in a knit purse swap for the last few months and this is what I'm sending to my secret pal!!! I am SOOOOO proud of this bag :) I love the first picture; you can see the cable definition really well there...but it's actually the color of the second picture...medium dark grey. I can't remember the name of the yarn off the top of my head, I'll post it later :)

The purse was supposed to be mailed on the 15th, lol. Oh well, it's a bit late, but I think it's worth it :) I hope she LOVES it as much as I do.... I am going to have to make another one for myself, lol :D :D :D

Next up? A few more dishcloths for christmas presents, a scarf for my mother and finishing spinning a skein of alpaca for my Aunt :)

For the Love of Crafts

Rainbow Bear Magic!

A headless....

stash

Drops Babies

Despite how it may seem...

Usually never

Blame a goddess

Picture pages :)

Got my package!

Sappy Mommy Alert

Don't question it...

Yay

Grumpified

How to knit dissapointment

Jam fan

Anniversary presents

New Specs

culinarily creative

Week three SP question & WIP

SP 12 week two question

SP 12 Question of the week

Picture Tuesday

SP 12 pal!

Secret Pal 12 questionnaire

KNitterly

Listen in! You know you wanna :)

Bad blogger

What we won't do for our kids :)

Famous!

Mittens ho!

Friday fondling

Luscious garter scarf

Holiday knit-o-rama

Bad blogger

Decisions, decisions

Happy Halloween!!

Secret Pal 11 package! yay!

Awesome news!

SP11 contest :)

In which I visit the Frog Pond

Mr. Greenjeans visits Pleasantville

Electricity

Knit Picks Needle Nirvana

We now interrupt this program....

Foot Canoes

*squeals of glee*

Punk Rock Gift Exchange Questions

Picture pages!

*yawn*

Secret Pal 11 questionnaire

Dishcloth bonanza

Crafty mish-mash

Reading!

Fortune cookie o' love

I've been bad...

Recent FO and WIP

New craft

Drat and Damnation!

Fraggle's got a brand new (knitting) bag!

Swap whore

Secret Pal 10 goodies pictures

Knitty Gritty

WOW!!!!!

My so-called life with yarn

Flash me, baby ;)

Ravelry!

Anyone else heard of Wist?

WIPs

Cute pattern

Bad bad leroy brown!

Oldest yarn post for SP 10

Ode to presents

Recent developments

Yay for SP 10!!!

We now interrupt this program...

Spin happy

FOs, WIPs, WPI and toddler drawings :D

My favorite knitting accessory....

Knitter's Treat Exchange questionnaire

squeals of glee

yawn