Great minds think alike....

Well, I have been CRAZY busy with my company's move...but I finally finished my One Skein secret pal's project...yay!

It doesn't look like much, but it was a BIG accomplishment for me...first time using needles in 8+ years, first FO ever...first time using circular needles, increasing/decreasing, creating eyelets, making Icord...I frogged a lot, but it got done and I sent it off today in all it's splendor, lol. I'm sure my secret buddy will be dissapointed by it, lol...but it was a big accomplishment to me :)

I got MY secret pal's gift a week or two ago and it ROCKS, as usual :) I swear, I just got the most amazing Pal :D *happy glow*

She made me a green bag, very similar to the one I made, just loads better and bigger :D Inside, there were Wizard of Oz stickers and magnets and little goodies *happy dance* it was such a great suprise. She included the rest of her ball of yarn it was made from, so I have this gorgeous green, super soft yarn to do something with now...I just like to sit and pet it :) She finished the icord with two beautiful beads, as well....just such a lovely present :) Wouldn't you agree??

Here they are side by side, so you can see my secret pal's obviously better knitting skill...but I still ike my dorky little bag and hey! Great minds think alike ;)

Lack-o-craft

I'm certainly not without projects to occupy my time.

I have knitting on two needles and one loom (a dishcloth and two purses).

I have roving forever and a day to spin.

I have a fleece and several other partial fleeces to process and turn into MORE roving to spin.

I have jewelry half-made.

I have several sewing projects sitting in a pile, waiting to be finished.

What I don't have...is time.

I wish I was an insomniac, so I could get some of this stuff done.

Oh no, wait! I wish I was independantly wealthy, so I could stay home and do all this stuff, rather than sit here at a busy job doing stuff for money all day.

Yeah :)

That's what I wish...I miss my projects :(

Not so continental

I wanted to be continental. I wanted to wear a beret and eat a baguette smeared with brie while I knit. I wanted to be fast and one of the "cool kids," who all assert that continental is faster and just generally superior.

Know what? I'm an english knitter. I've tried continental for 2 months now and it's miserable and hard and takes forever to make just one stitch. It makes me HATE knitting. I throw my knitting across the room in disgust.

Pick up needles, yarn in right hand, knit, throw that yarn, I'm flying, I'm free, I'm happy. This is what knitting should be....

I think however we all knit is just fine, there's no "right" way or "wrong" way to knit (well, of course there is, but you know what I mean :P).

Anyone need a slightly used beret and a wheel of brie? :D

Crazy busy alpaca love

Hey there :)

Life has taken over for the past week...I'm so busy at work and in life that I don't know which was is up and which was I should be going in the first place :P

I have a bit of a breather today, so I wanted to post pictures of the AWESOME AMAZING FANTABULOUS package that my One Skein secret pal sent me for July :)


My super fantabulous secret pal sent me a skein of the alpaca that I was so in love with!!! It's a super soft, fluffy, creamy white color. She then sent me two packets of dye, a plum and a green, to play with dying the yarn myself and some little packets to wash the yarn with afterwards :D Such an awesome gift, I am just agog with it's coolness :) I haven't done anything with it yet, because I'm debating how I want to dye it...in sections, all one color, half one color, half the other, just random splashes everywhere of both or what! So many options, I'll think more on it while I just sit here and pet the alpaca yarn :D

I think, if I ever win the lottery, I shall buy 100 skeins of this yarn and make a little cushion out of it and stuffed with it that I can curl up on for naps :D :D I just wanna wallow in the stuff! Soooo soft! Soooo fluffy and squishy!! I even like the slightly animaly smell it has :D

Yes, I'm an admitted yarn sniffer :D

In other crafty news, I've been teaching myself to knit on circular needles. I have the BEAUTIFUL manos yarn my pal sent me in July on some size 10 metal circulars and I have some soft pink cotton on some size 5 bamboo circulars and I've decided that I ADORE knitting on the circulars. I don't know for sure what makes the difference, but even knitting a flat panel (which I'm doing with the pink cotton), it's just easier and more fun to knit on the circulars that on straight needles. You don't have to worry about losing any stitches and whenever I have to stop, I can just push the work down onto the cord and it's secure to just shove it in my bag :)

I just found a tutorial today here on how to make your own circulars, so I see a massive "making circulars of all shapes and sizes" crafty day in my future :) Luckily, I only have 2-3 pairs of straight needles and I can just keep them as back-ups and go on my merry way with the circulars :) *happy dance*

Oh, I'm trying to make a purse with the manos wool my secret pal sent me in June. It's SO EASY to knit, a REAL delight. It was my first attempt at knitting in the round on circulars, though, so I made a few mistakes and have to frog and start over again. Ah well, that's what learning is all about :)

Yay for yarny goodness :D

YAS strikes again

I stopped by the LYS at lunch today to buy the next skein for my secret one skein pal. I ended up getting her this wonderful soft blue tweedy thin stuff that's wool and silk and a few other things. Yum :)

While there, I wandered into the discount bin in the back and found three skeins I liked a lot, all with no price tags, of course. I took them up and asked for pricing and they were cheap! Two of them were around $4 after discounts and the third one, she looked and said, "Oh heck, I'll just give you that one!"

SCORE! It's a soft sports weight lime green something. I think it's part wool and part acrylic and part something else. But it's all mine :) I love the color and the price certainly can't be beat. I am thinking I might try to make a sock out of it, but as I havne't tried to make socks yet, I don't know if this will happen or not :)

YAY for new yarn!

Better late than never....

I started knitting the cabled purse I want to make for my sister today. I found this soft, fuzzy yarn in pale lavendery blue and medium brown. Those are essentially her wedding colors, so I bought the yarn and intended to make the purse for her shower present, but *ha* we all know that didn't happen.

The wedding is this Saturday. I have 3 1/2 days to make the damn thing, LOL. Something tells me I'm gonna employ the rule that you can give Wedding gifts up to a year after the wedding on this one :P

I only did the first 8 rows at lunch, lol. It looks really nice, though, and it's super soft. I know she is gonna love it!

The yarn is Bernat Soft Boucle in color # 26949, Westport Shades. The pattern I'm using is here -> Cool Cable Baguette

Love Glove

My sister's wedding shower was today. All in all, I think it went off pretty well :) I am pleased and SUPER GLAD it's over. Now, I just have to make it through the wedding next weekend and then I can have my life back. This is the last "thing" looming over me.

Besides throwing the shower, I made her a gift. WARNING: It's TOTALLY cheezy and sappy, but I also think it's a wonderful and amazing concept and hell, when can you get away with being sappy EXCEPT at a Wedding Shower :P

It's called the Love Glove :D Basically, it's a two-person glove. One person puts their hand in one side (through the ribbed cuffs I knit), then the other person puts their hand in and then you can keep yer hands warm and toasty in the fleece heart (which I sewed up) while holding hands :D

My sister and her beau live in Virginia, so it makes sense for those long, romatic walks in the snow :P

I think it's adorable and I'm SUPER proud of how well it came out :D

love glove pride*