Pink Knitting Adventures

The Crafty Home

2009-04-20T20:20:00.001-07:00

My blog has been moved to The Crafty Home. Please stop by!

The Crafty Home

Stay Tuned

2009-02-19T09:47:00.000-08:00

Well I haven't posted in awhile because I am in the process of creating a new blog. Now I was going to make it simple and just create a new one on blogger, but my hubby is a programmer and a website developer and he really wants to create me my own customized with an interface and everything. I think it is pretty sweet of him. So I won't be posting much until we get it created. It will be a blog were I will write about so much more than just knitting. I want to write about all my crafty adventures, homeschooling, child rearing, homemaking, cooking, and other such things. It may take awhile for it to take off in the way I would like but I have a vision in my head and it excites me!!! :)

Stay tuned.

Not Much Knitting

2009-01-28T07:13:00.001-08:00

So it's hard to knit with a newborn. :) Whenever my hands are free I'm cleaning or cooking or doing home school with Ben. I am trying to add a half hour of knitting in after I read my Bible every night as I listen to Homemakers by Choice. I just started doing this so hopefully that will help me finish a few projects this year. Of course Hadi wont' be a baby forever and soon she'll be running all over the place and not want to cuddle with me. Time goes by so fast. So since I have no knitting to show you I'll distract you with pictures of the children.

Ben loves his little sister so much!! I just love watching him play with her and hold her. We are blessed with great kids.

Ben playing with Hadi's car seat box. Nothing like a big box to entertain.

Proud daddy.

Another one of Ben holding Hadi. I just love the look on his face. He adores her so much.

I love this one. I was trying to catch her smiling at Grammy but I missed it. You get a smirk instead.

And last but not least Hadi in her rain forest gym. She is getting used to playing in it more and more. So cute.

She's Here! :)

2008-11-16T12:16:00.000-08:00

Here is our newest little one. She was born on November 12th at 8:16pm. She is such a blessing!! She weighed in at 8 lbs. 11 oz. and was 21 inches long.

Ben (big brother), Nana, and Hadassah the night she was born.

Sleeping in her bassinet.

Sucking her thumb while waiting for Mommy to feed her.

No Baby Yet

2008-11-10T10:16:00.000-08:00

No baby yet but we do have a new home! 9 more days until my due date and I am not so patiently awaiting her arrival. At 2:20pm today I will be more pregnant than I ever was with my first. :) She is just warm and comfy in there. Anyway, just wanted to write a quick update that the baby isn't here yet, in case you thought my absence meant she was.

Tulips

2008-10-16T11:09:00.000-07:00

Here is the finished Tulips Cardigan. It is made out of Dream in Color but I don't know all the colors. It was a kit from our trip to Seattle on the Sea Socks Cruise.

Ben's New Hat

2008-10-10T11:15:00.000-07:00

Project info
Name: Ben's New Hat
Pattern: Kim's Hats by Kim Hamlin
Craft: Knitting
Made for Ben
Size: Women's Modified on the Length

Needle and yarn
Needle: US 8 / 5.0 mm
Yarn: Rowan Soft Baby
How much? 1 skeins = 164.0 yards (150.0m)
Purchased at: My Yarn Shop in Coos Bay, Oregon

Ben lost his red hat from Christmas last year at a soccer game. He was super sad and cried for days about it. So we went and picked out new yarn and I made him a brand new hat. He immediately put it on when I was done. He keeps saying I love my new hat mom. And he just said "Mom, I think I'll wear my hat to bed." How can you not knit for a guy who loves his hand knits so much. :)

A Finished Blankie

2008-10-04T18:53:00.001-07:00

I finished Haddassah's Baby Blankie. I am so excited. I just love the Moderne Baby Blanket pattern. I actually just ordered more yarn from Knitpicks so I can knit one for Ben for Christmas. The colors were not exactly what I had in mind but it grows on you after you spend lots of time with it. :) I will definitely order a color card before I randomly pick colors again for a baby blanket. I told my DH that we had to have lots of kids so I can try out all the color combinations I want to of this blanket. Well that is about as much as I can coherently write right now since I am on pain killers. Happy knitting!!

Lace Oh Lace

2008-09-19T14:02:00.000-07:00

So I have learned that I do not like knitting lace. At least not in BIG stole like sizes. This is how far I got on the Secret Stole before I realized this was not my cup of tea. I mean why was I spending all this time knitting something that I knew I would never wear. Now someday I may be a lace stole type person but not now. I may do some lace in socks or in scarfs or whatever but not in this variety. At least I know I can do it though.

Here is a close up so you can see the beads.

So there is my lace story. :)

Drive By Posting

2008-09-04T22:32:00.000-07:00

I know it's been way to long. So you are going to get the quick drive by posting done out of guilt. :) I am still pregnant. We are sure it is a girl. We are due in November. We are in the process of buying a house. We have an offer down. We will find out hopefully by Tuesday. I have finished my Clapotois and almost finished a baby sweater. Last week I sliced my finger and now have five stitches which made knitting impossible for awhile but we are now up to the task once again. Ben has turned four as of yesterday. And that's all for now. Gotta run. :)

Does It Count?

2008-07-22T20:50:00.000-07:00

Well I knit away today for at least an hour probably more like two. But does it count when most of the time was spent knitting back and then knitting about three rounds and realizing that when you cast on for the sweater for your son it would have fit but now there's no way? :) So we have frogged it. I didn't really love the pattern anyway so I'll just figure out another pattern to use later. Now it's on the Clapotois that was meant for the Sea Socks 08 Cruise last May. :)

It's Working!!

2008-07-22T11:17:00.001-07:00

So keeping my goal of knitting one hour a day is working. I am not legalistic about it, I just make sure I knit everyday and the results are great. It feels so good to get some things done and to realize if I knit like this I could actually have many finished objects and get it all under control. I guess I am more of a object oriented knitter than I realized. And once I get going I usually knit more than an hour. Right now I am needing to take it easy because I have had some cramping and lots of back pain from baby so the doctor said to take it easy. So I take that as sit and knit. :) Thankfully, Ben is content to sit and play in the living room while mom knits. It means he can talk to me and show me what he is doing and he is perfectly okay with the fact that mom can't get on the floor and play with him. So life is good. I'd better enjoy the calm while I can because I know it will all change once I have two children. But I am sure I can still achieve my goal of one hour of knitting a day it just will have to adjust when in the day I do it.

So what have I accomplished? I'm glad you asked. :)

Here are the completed Basketcase Socks. I just love them. They are at the fair and I can't wait to go on Thursday and see if they won a prize.

These are a quick pair of baby socks to go with my Baby Surprise Jacket so I could enter it in the fair. It had to be a baby set so I whipped these up real quick.

A dishcloth I knit while I was waiting in the emergency room while my uncle's mom was being checked out. She is 87 (I think) and had high blood pressure but they changed her meds and all is well. It's always nice though to be able to be there for family and just sit and knit contently.

And my 4 Corners Dishcloth. Such a fun little knit. I just love short rows in garter stitch.

So as you can see I've been productive. I know none of these are huge projects but the fact I have 4 FO's in a week is HUGE for me. It feels so good. Alright back to the knitting. :)

Contest Alert

2008-07-18T08:42:00.001-07:00

Knitting Giraffe is having a comment contest on her blog. Go read her story and see how you can sign up. The prize is a $25 Loopy Ewe Gift Certificate!

Update Time

2008-07-11T12:07:00.000-07:00

So it's been awhile since I updated you all on my knitting. And since I just finally updated my projects page on ravelry I thought it was a good time to also update you here. By the way if you are on ravelry my user name is pinkknitting. Come and find me. :)

First of all I have two finished projects!! Both of which I will enter in the fair this year. The Baby Surprise Jacket has to be a baby set to enter it so I am going to do the little booties in the Opinionated Knitter.

This is the Baby Surprise Jacket obviously. I knit it with Bunny Hop from Crystal Palace. It took me three and a smiggden of a fourth to make it work out. Crazy!! But it's cute and I like it.

And the best part of the sweater is the super cute pink sheep buttons!! I found these in Seattle but I can't remember the name of the store. :(

And this is my second FO. A baby hat. I just love knitting baby hats they are so cute. This is bunny tails from Itty Bitty Hats, my fave knitting book of all time. :) This pattern was super quick and super easy. I am going to enter this in the fair as well. Oh and I used Cascade 220 Superwash on size 7 needles.

Now on to the parade of WIPs.

Tulips Baby Cardigan

The kit for the Tulips Baby Cardigan

Patriotic Socks

Rock n Weave Socks

Ben's Hoodie

Clapotios

Bascketcase Socks

Mossy Socks

And hibernating until I am no longer pregnant we have the tree jacket

So as you can see I have a few things that need finishing. My goal is to knit an hour a day with the goal of using up stash and getting more finished things. On tap for today is knitting on the Basketcase socks and updating my stash on ravelry.

Cute Sayings

2008-06-26T20:06:00.000-07:00

"Oy. Oy. Oy. I don't know what Oy means." - said by Ben

"I don't know how to read. I need to learn." - said by Ben

19 Weeks Pictures

2008-06-25T11:39:00.000-07:00

Okay here you go. I finally got around to taking pregnant pictures. Sorry they are not that great. It is a lot harder than I thought to take pictures of your belly in the bathroom mirror. :)

Covered

Uncovered

Gender.....Maybe

2008-06-20T08:52:00.001-07:00

So I have been horrible at this whole blogging thing since pregnant. Partly because I am tired and forgetful and because I haven't knit a whole lot. But now that we kind of know what the baby's gender is I have started knitting again. I had lost most of my drive to knit but it is back in full swing and not just for baby stuff although that is mostly what I am thinking about.

So what's the gender you ask? Well we are pretty sure it's a......GIRL!!! So bring out the pink. (Yeah not much yarn shopping had to happen to get pink yarn at my house.) I say that we are pretty sure because the ultrasound was about two weeks earlier then they normally do them and the baby is a little shy. She had her feet crossed right in front of where we needed to see. Once we did get a somewhat good view we didn't see anything but we didn't get the best shot. It looked girl to me though and the tech. But the tech said to make sure we saved receipts. :) So I will happily knit for a girl until further notice.

I am working on a Baby Surprise Jacket right now and have plans for most of the hats out of the Itty Bitty Hats book. I just love the girly type hats in there. Anyway, off to knit. Someday I'll get pictures up I promise.

I'm Alive

2008-05-29T21:25:00.000-07:00

No worries I am still alive. I have cruised. I have thrown up. I am finally knitting again and the veritgo from the cruise is almost gone. I promise to share about knitting and cruising eventually.

For now the baby news update. :)

We heard the baby's heartbeat last week. It was 157. You should have seen Ben's eyes light up when he heard it. He was so excited. He gives the baby hugs all the time. So cute.

15 weeks and I have felt the baby move!!! :) When I lay down to sleep at night I get the delightful little tickle of baby movement that will turn into the pain of baby kicking. :) Oh the joys of pregnancy.

Okay so back to blog reading and catching up.

Oh and I almost forgot we find out in three weeks the gender as long as the baby cooperates. Stay tuned.

Too Sick To Knit!?!?!?!?!

2008-04-03T08:27:00.000-07:00

It seems as though this morning sickness has made me not want to knit. Sitting and knitting actually makes me feel more sick. How this is possible I am not sure. But it's killing me. I don't know how I can make it another 6-7 weeks with morning sickness that lasts all day and all through the night. Okay just wanted to complain. Off to eat more saltine crackers.

I Did It!!

2008-03-28T11:28:00.000-07:00

I've been in the Rockin Sock Club since it started and this is my first finished pair of socks from it. :) Of course they don't fit me. :( I knit the first one and couldn't even get it on my foot. I ended up having my Aunt try it on and she could squeeze it on somehow with much persistence so I knit the other sock up for her a little bigger. I can get the second sock on but barely. :) I guess I have larger ankles than I thought. Anyway she is coming over later today and I know she will be thrilled that they are done. Now it's on to some socks for me. I haven't knit myself a pair since my very first pair!!

Project info
Pattern: Inside Out by Kaci Kyler Hays
Made for: Aunt Annie
Size: Combination of Sizes :) to fit size 11 foot

Needle and yarn
Needle
US 1 / 2.25 mm
US 2 / 2.75 mm
US 0 / 2.0 mm
Yarn
Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock - Mediumweight
How much? 1 skeins = 380.0 yards (347.5m)
Colorway: Monsoon

Notes
I knit the first sock with size 1 on the toe, heel, and cuff and size 0 on the foot. The second sock I knit the toe and heel with size 1, the foot with size 0, and the cuff with size 2. I must knit tightly because this sock still is very, very, very tight. I think most of it though was the cables on the cuff because when I got done with the heel and tried it on it fit wonderfully. I think next time I’d do the same idea but just a ribbed cuff.

Monkey Baby

2008-03-21T13:20:00.000-07:00

I have two FO's to show you today. I've been busily knitting on these Monkey Socks. I had to get them done this month for SAM5 and I did it with tons of time to spare. :)

Here is another pictures on my foot. They are just a smidge to big for me which is good because they aren't for me and I love them. :)

These are of course the Monkey Socks. I started them last August. Knit a little bit of them on my honeymoon but got serious about them when I needed a pair for a swap and was worried I wouldn't get done in time. These fit the bill so that's when production picked up. I just finished them. :) The yarn is Shibuknits from KnitPurl in Porltand, OR. I just love it. I need to buy more of this colorway for myself. It is great yarn.

My other FO is the Baby Surprise Jacket. It's been finished for awhile but without buttons. Now it has buttons and has been gifted. I find it kinda funny that I got pregnant while knitting my first baby item. :)

Here is a close up of the buttons. They are little basketballs. So cute!! The dad of the new baby is a basketball and football coach so they are perfect.

I have gotten farther on my Cruise Claptois too. I really love this project. The yarn is STR in the Raven Series. I didn't think I'd like it has much as I do. It's great!!

And of course the best part of the Clappy is dropping stiches!

I knit my mom a Clappy the first Christmas that I started knitting. It was quite the project for me then. It is fun to see how much I have progressed since then. It is such an easy pattern. It's nice to know my skills have grown.

Well that's all for today folks. :) Make sure to check out my etsy shop for $12 hand dyed sock yarn!

Going Out of Business Sale

2008-03-20T18:42:00.000-07:00

Etsy
Buy Handmade
pinktiff

I am having a going out of business sale in my etsy shop. For right now I will not be doing handdyed yarn because of baby and I know that I will be having more so I want to wait until they are older. Take advantage of $12 sock yarn!!! Even if you don't like the color you could overdye it and you would still get a great deal. Plus I am going to use the profits to help pay for a spinning wheel hopefully....or yarn for maternity sweaters. :)

Can you figure out why I'm excited?

2008-03-18T13:44:00.000-07:00

Productive

2008-02-27T21:10:00.001-08:00

Well I've actually been productive and have been meaning to post here but was putting it off. Ravelry is just too much fun. :) But for some reason I can't get to it right now so this post is brought to you thanks to ravelry not being up.

I finished my Tomato!! I even wore it today. It has been sitting in my knitting basket waiting for the size 8 harmony DPN's to arrive from Knitpicks. It is so great. I do believe I will knit another one out of calmer (love this yarn) with a little bit longer sleeves at another time I love it that much. I actually wore it today. It felt so great to wear something that I had knit in public other than socks. I don't have a picture of me wearing it yet though. Sorry.

(Just so no one panics I am finishing this post today, Thursday, which is the day after the night I couldn't get on ravelry. Ravelry is up and running no worries.)

I also finished my first Baby Surprise Jacket. Well it's not completely finished I still have to put the buttons on it. It was so easy and cute that I am sure I will be making many more of these for my friends and for our Pregnancy Resource Center.

Here is my progress on my monkey socks. I really love the pattern but someone else knit some for me and they fall down a lot. Maybe they just aren't long enough. I'm not sure. Anyway, they are fun to knit and aren't for me so it doesn't really matter. :)

And this is my Tree Jacket (I think that's what it's called). I don't think I've even talked about working on this. Now that my Tomato is done this will be my sweater project for awhile. I like to have one on the needles all the time so this is it for now.

And this is the yarn that just came in for a Clapotois just for me. :) I've knit one for my mom before and now it's time for mine. This is Socks that Rock in heavyweight in Rauen from the Ravenclan series. I am going on the Sea Socks cruise in May and wanted something that would help keep me warm and go over one of my formal dresses. Just getting the yarn into balls was quite the task. My mom came to help me and I wound a bunch of her yarn first and then started in on this. It was too much yarn for my little ball winder and my old ball winder was such a piece of junk. It would even stay on the table. Yes I said old ball winder because it has now been passed on to someone else and I have a brand new one. I love it so much. It actually winds the yarn without any problems and stays on the table. What a novel concept. :)

See I told you I'd been productive. I've been struggling a lot lately with depression and have found that knitting helps a little. It's still tough but knitting at least makes me feel like I am doing something and it is relaxing. I know that others struggle with the same thing and have found that it helps as well. So my knitting finished objects should increase....or at least the number of projects on the needles should. :) But actually completing things makes me feel even better so I am going to focus on just knitting a couple things at at time and finishing things.

While I was taking pictures of all my work Ben wanted his picture taken too so I thought I'd end the post with the cutest baby....I mean big boy in the world. He won't let me call him my baby anymore. :(

Etsy Shop Updated

2008-02-18T11:04:00.000-08:00

I have updated my esty shop. Stop by if you haven't in awhile. I have sock yarn, destashing of needles and other yarn as well. Lots of great deals going on right now. Without further ado here are the new colors.

Barely Pink

Pink Fire

Rose

That's all for today folks! :)

Look an FO!

2008-02-13T10:54:00.000-08:00

I know I am in just as much shock as you. :) With all that has been going on it took a long time. These socks were knit mostly in the hospital while I sat with my mom during her back surgery. The whole time I kept thinking how I am so blessed to have knitting. My poor dad kept getting up and walking around and was all restless but I was just fine sitting and knitting. So without further ado I give you the Autumn in Oregon Socks by Chrissy Gardiner.

This is such a great pattern. I eventually understood it really well and pretty much memorized it which was great. You start off with this great leaf cuff knit flat and then join it in the round and then pick up the stitches to knit in the round.

Then the sock has these great falling leaves on the front.

And on the back it has raindrops.

Both are so perfect for Autumn in Oregon. It rains here and leaves fall, especially in Portland where Chrissy is from. So these socks were like knitting a part of me. They were for my swap pal in the Apres Christmas Sock Swap. It was Pat of Pumpkin Knitter. She loves fall colors and so I thought these socks were perfect. And they were she loved them and they fit just right.

Now on to the next project. A Baby Surprise Jacket for my friend who is due anytime with a baby boy. I'd better knit quick.

Etsy all Updated

2008-02-12T08:45:00.000-08:00

My etsy site is updated with new destashing and new pictures and a banner finally!!!! Please go take a look and tell me what you think.

Pink Knitting Adventures Etsy Shop

Destashing!

2008-02-06T14:51:00.000-08:00

I am destashing some stuff so I can afford to buy more stuff. :) It's the circle of yarn. (okay bad joke). So I am listing stuff on etsy but I also have some stuff that I won't post on etsy just here. So here's my list.

Non-etsy listed items: (just comment that you want them or send me an email)
1. Brand new DVD Rent - $10
2. Alias Season 3 on DVD - $20
3. The Happy Hooker by Debbie Stoller - $7.50
4. Stich 'n Bitch Nation by Debbie Stoller - $7.50

Items listed on etsy. Go to my store to see the pictures and to purchase.
1. Austermann Pinot in color 003 (don't you love numbers for color names?) -10 balls- $2.50 a ball
2. Marks & Kattens Dream in white - 12 balls - $4.00 a ball
3. Berroco Tassel FX Black/Silver - 2 balls - $5.00 a ball
4. Chic in Picasso - 2 balls - $2.00 a ball
5. Berroco Suede 2 in pink and 1 in white - $2.50 a ball
6. Patagonia Nature Cotton Colro 203 (salmons and pinks) - 3 hanks - $5.00 a ball
7. Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk in color 25011 - 2 balls - $3.00 a ball
8. Knitpicks Andean Silk in Cinnamon - 1 ball - $1.00
9. Cascade Fixation in Color 9862 - 1 ball - $3.00
10. Cascade Fixation in Color 3077 - 1 ball - $3.00
11. Cotton Classic 100% Mercerised Cotton in Black - 4 hanks - $3.00 a hank
12. Cotton Classic 100% Mercerised Cotton in White - 2 hanks - $3.00 a hank
13. Jaeger Matchmaker Merino 4 ply - 2 balls - $4.00 a ball
14. Rowan Cashsoft DK in a Lime Green - 1 ball - $3.00

MIA

2008-02-05T10:28:00.001-08:00

Here is why I have been MIA. We just moved. Here is all my yarn all packed up. Two large UHaul boxes full. :) It all made it safe and sound and is set back up.

We moved into a three bedroom apartment for the same price as what we payed for our two bedroom. It really works a whole lot better for us and is all on one floor. :) We also now have a fireplace. Here is my view from my knitting chair.

I really love it. I even put a vase with yarn on the mantel. I need to get some special needles to put in there poking out. :)

And since this post seems to be all photos let's look at the snow we had. I can't believe we had snow on the coast. Now I know that those of you in the midwest are going to say..."What snow!"....but to us Oregonians on the south coast this is snow. :)

And here was our deck.

Well there you have it. Now you know why I haven't been around. :) I do have some socks that I finished to show you but I have to wait until the recipient receives them. So hopefully just a couple more days. :) Until then...

Apres Christmas Sock Swap

2008-01-11T08:40:00.000-08:00

This was the only bright spot in my day yesterday. It was a really tough day but I did get my package from my Apres Christmas Sock Swap pal.

This is a close up of the star on the package. Very cute.

Here is the inside of the package. More little wrapped up goodies! :)

And here it is all opened up. Ben had great fun opening everything. My chair ended up being covered in little sparkles from the paper. It was like a little party. :)

So has you can see I got some French Vanilla Hot Cocoa, a notepad, soap, the cutest little scissors and tape measure, some samples of soak which is great because I've been wanting to get some I just wasn't sure on the scent I wanted, a Keychain Sock Blocker kit (I've been wanting one forever!), and last but not least the cutest little stitch markers.

Here is a closer shot of them. They are made of clay and are so cute.

And then of course the socks. They are Monkey Socks!! I just love them. The color isn't something I would normally pick but I really like it and have gotten lots of compliments!

Thank you Amanda of Mistress Stash Enhancer.

I'm still working on my socks. I got a little behind because of my mom's back surgery and my family being sick. But I got one sock done and the other one started. It shouldn't be long now. I wish I could show you pictures because they are so great! But it will have to wait. :)

More Needles

2008-01-08T09:34:00.000-08:00

I just uploaded the rest of the needles that I have for sale to my etsy shop. I have added DPNs and straights all bamboo. Enjoy!!

Pink Knitting Adventures Etsy Shop

Needles for Sale

2008-01-06T16:10:00.000-08:00

Okay so I have a lot of needles that I am getting rid of to help provide some money for my yarn business. So go check them out. There is Addi Turbos and Clover Bamboo, DPN's and circs. Enjoy!! Oh yeah here's the link. Pink Knitting Adventures Etsy Shop

Thankful for Knitting

2008-01-06T08:22:00.000-08:00

Once again I am thankful for knitting. My mom had to have back surgery on Friday. We went in at 10am and her surgery was supposed to be at 1pm. So I had lots of time to sit and knit while we waited. Except she didn't go into surgery until 3:30pm and then I was there until 10pm while they settled her in since she ended up having to stay the night since the surgery was so late. I was so thankful I could just sit and knit and be there for mom. My dad was restless and kept leaving and coming back but I was able to just sit and enjoy the time and keep my mind off of everything. I am so thankful I knit! *I'd show you what I was knitting on but it is for the Apres Christmas Sock Swap so you'll have to wait.*

Here's a cute picture from Christmas to leave you with.

Ben brining me my present from the tree. :) He was such a gentleman.

Happy New Year

2008-01-02T10:36:00.000-08:00

Happy new year!! I just went through my posts from last year and a lot happened this year. :) I graduated from college. I got engaged. I got married with two ceremonys. :) It was a busy year. Of course there were not so great moments too but who wants to think about those.

So I saw on another blog were someone had chronicled how many items they finished in 2007. That's what got me going through last years archives. And man was it pitiful. I did a lot more starting KAL's then finishing them. I did a lot of swaps. And I did a lot of yarn buying. But not much finishing of knitted objects. So without further ado here are my totals. I know there are a few more that didn't get chronicled on my blog.

1 Sweater/Coat
1 Bag
1 Scarf
1 Pair of Fingerless Gloves
2 Pairs of Socks
4 Hats

So in 2008 I need to knit more and buy less. I also need to blog more and make sure I document stuff. So I guess you could say those are my knitting goals. I would also like to at least start the Master's Knitting Program this year. But I don't really want to set resolutions as I always break them. But knowing how last year went was a motivating and enlightening experience. Hopefully it will motivate me in all areas of my life. So here is to a great year in 2008!

New Yarns

2007-12-30T15:35:00.000-08:00

So I have finally put some more yarn in my etsy shop. :) Here are the colors I just added and I have three that are still in there. Go check them out.

Tortillas

2007-12-29T18:29:00.001-08:00

We are all domestic at my home today. I made bread today. Yum Yum! And my hubby made us some wonderful tortillas tonight. It all started when I suggested we have burritos for dinner. I looked in the fridge and realized we had no tortillas. My clever husband said he could make them. Boy are they good and simple to make. I think we will stop buying them and just make them. So much better for you too. We used whole wheat flour for ours. I think next time we will roll them out on white flour because the wheat flour stuck to it real bad and made them really flourly. My hubby likes it that way but it's not my favorite. :) But they are really good.

All rolled out and ready to fry.

Frying them up.

Yummy! A bowl of homemade tortillas.

Time to eat. :)

Christmas!

2007-12-26T13:34:00.000-08:00

Well this Christmas was great! I wasn't alone. God is so good. It was so nice to have a family. Last year I didn't have my son with me or a husband and this year I had both. It was great! At church on Sunday my friend played a song she had wrote the year my ex-husband left me. That Sunday I had been sitting in church all alone with my ex a few rows ahead of me in church holding our four month old little boy and listened to the amazing song she had written. It was a lullaby that she wrote thinking of what Mary might sing to Jesus. I hadn't heard it since that Christmas until this year when she pulled it out again. I was all of the sudden overwhelmed by the memories and God's grace. My heart was filled with gratitude and my heart just worshiped the Lord for all He has done. I was standing there holding my son with his head on my shoulder just so thankful. God has restored. He has redeemed. I have so much to be thankful for.

So without further ado here are the Christmas projects I knit that I couldn't show until now. :)

Fetching from Knitty for my mom

My Dad's Hat. It is knit flat with shortrows sideways. It was fun to do.

Zeb, DH's hat. It is just a simple hat made with Malibrigo.

And another simple hat for Ben made with Cascade Baby Alpaca Chunky.

And then for Christmas I got lots of great knitting things from my parents.

I received the first three Stichionary's from Vogue Knitting, One-Skein Wonders, the Harmony Knitpicks Interchangeable set, the Harmony sock knitting set, The Knitting Glossary DVD by Elizabeth Zimmerman and Meg Swanson, and a Knitpicks chart keeper. I was spoiled!! :)

Wedding PIctures

2007-12-14T08:32:00.000-08:00

Well I was going to post some wedding pictures from the photographer but I can't. So if you go to Browns Studio and type in "tiffany" and push login you can see our photos. :)

Here are some that my friend Gabi took.

Getting my hair done. :) I borrowed one of my husband's shirts since it buttoned up. The flannel looked the most cozy so I was really stylin.

Here I am putting some powder on my mom.

My dad and my son. They sure do look handsome.

Zeb and I.

Us again. :)

Look it's us again. You'd think this day was about us or something. :)

Us and the parents.

Us and my family.

The Wedding Party

The cake and my bouquet

Me and the maid of honor who is my best friend Corrie

And just in case you haven't gotten enough. :) Here are some pictures from Grandma.

Dad and I walking in

The cake topper

My son, the ring bearer, and my niece, the flower girl at the reception. They have the cups on their ears. Strange children. :)

That's it folks. I'm exhausted. :)

There will be more knitting content eventually I promise.

Busy

2007-12-02T21:19:00.000-08:00

So most people are just starting to feel really busy because of the holidays but I am breathing a sigh of relief. We just had our big public wedding ceremony on Saturday. What a relief. It was a lot of fun and I am so glad we did it but it is also nice to not have to plan that anymore. So now it's on to holiday knitting and decorating and baking. I am really excited to make this a great year for my son this year. What a great Christmas we will have!! I will post more later with pictures of the wedding and then perhaps I will even let you in on some knitting because it has been happening and this is a knitting blog after all.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2007-11-22T08:29:00.001-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! This year I am so thankful to God for my husband and my family. He has so blessed me this year and restored ten fold what the enemy took away. He is so good!! He has turned my morning into dancing that my glory may praise Him and that I may not keep silent about all the good in my life! (Psalm 30)

I must say, however, how sad our country has become. Every year it bugs me that they put out Christmas right after Halloween or sometimes at the same time and glaze right over Thanksgiving. There are Christmas decorations all over town: in people's windows, on our light posts, everywhere. It is a sad commentary on our country. We go from give me candy to give me presents with no thanking in between!! So please join me in celebrating this most wonderful of holidays by giving thanks for all the wonderful things in your life. And remember where it all comes from. Every good and perfect gifts comes from the Father. He has blessed us more than we can ever know. It doesn't matter how bad your life looks you can ALWAYS find something to be thankful for.

THANK YOU JESUS!!!

Pay it Forward

2007-11-19T09:09:00.000-08:00

I read this on Tammy's blog (who read it elsewhere) and thought it sounded great!

I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

I love the pay it forward idea and I love that it gives you 365 days. ;)

Me me me

2007-11-11T19:53:00.000-08:00

So I haven't posted in awhile. That seems to be the story of my life. I saw this on Chrissy's blog and thought it would make a great post. Happy reading!

1. Name one person who made you laugh last night?
My son. We went swimming and he was splashing me and having so much fun which of course made me laugh with him.

2. What were you doing at 0800?
Getting ready for church.

3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
Giving Ben a bath and being proud of him because he went poop on the potty in the middle of his bath. We have been working on this for a long time. We then had to call his Daddy and his nana and his papa. Calling Nana was most important though because she told him she would get him a new toy when he finally went. He wanted to go now but he has to wait until tomorrow.

4. What happened to you in 2006?
Ummm...I went on a mission trip to China and Thailand in the summer and ended up selling most of my stuff to move and finish Bible College. I also went to court and lots of other trying things.

5. What was the last thing you said out loud?
"Be more gentle" Ben was jumping on his bed because Dora was saying to jump. :)

6. How many beverages did you have today?
Ummm....well I had some water and a soda at lunch and a soda at dinner.

7. What color is your hairbrush?
Light blue.

8. What was the last thing you paid for?
Well I just went to Wal Mart and did some grocery shopping so lots and lots of stuff.

9. Where were you last night?
At the swimming pool at the gym and then at my parent's eating pizza and then at home with my husband.

10. What color is your front door?
Brown

11. Where do you keep your change?
In my cute little sock change purse.

12. What's the weather like today?
It was overcast. Now it is dark.

13. What's the best ice-cream flavor?
Chocolate Peanut Butter

14. What excites you?
Jesus!! And missions. Seeing the nations won for Jesus. Thinking of heaven and all of us worshiping Him together. Awesome!!!

15. Do you want to cut your hair?
Nope not yet.

16. Are you over the age of 25?
Yes

17. Do you talk a lot?
Not usually

18. Do you watch the O.C.?
Nope I never have.

19. Do you know anyone named Steven?
Yes I do

20. Do you make up your own words?
Not very often...and usually not on purpose

21. Are you a jealous person?
I can be.

22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter 'A'.
Aunt Annie

23. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter 'K'.
I don't know if I have any friends whose names start with K.

24. Who's the first person on your received call list?
Mom

25. What does the last text message you received say?
You are so beautiful. (My DH sent it while I was grocery shopping.)

26. Do you chew on your straw?
No

27. Do you have curly hair?
I didn't used to but not if I let it dry naturally it will be. That's what having kids does to you.

28. Where's the next place you're going to?
The gym in the morning for aquacise.

29. Who's the rudest person in your life?
I dunno.

30. What was the last thing you ate?
3 Musketeers Mint

31. Will you get married in the future?
I just got married on September 7 and we are doing a formal wedding thing on December 1st so I guess I am getting married again. :)

32. What's the best movie you've seen in the past 2 weeks?
Umm....the ONLY movie I have seen in the past 2 weeks is Pride and Prejudice and we only watched half of it and then we took a nap. We watched it today actually. It was the movie we went to on our first date. Oh....I guess I did watch a bunch of Star Trek last weekend. Three to be exact. I had never seen any before.

33. Is there anyone you like right now?
Ummm sure. I like my husband and my son and my family and my friends. I like lots of people.

34. When was the last time you did the dishes?
The dishwasher did them last night. :) And I put them away and started refilling it tonight so I guess I "did" them tonight.

35. Are you currently depressed?
Not at the moment.

36. Did you cry today?
Yes I did.

37. Why did you answer and post this?
Because I thought it would be fun.

38. Tag 5 people who would do this survey.
Ummmm....no. :)

Life is Grand

2007-10-20T16:09:00.000-07:00

So I have the sweetest husband in the world. I got on the phone with my friend and plopped down in my knitting chair and glanced over and saw the above (well the letter wasn't opened) but my husband had left me a love note in the middle of my knitting. So sweet!!!

So as you can see I have been knitting the Tomato from No Sheep for You. I actually had finished knitting it and was getting ready to do the ribbing for the neck and I couldn't figure out how to make it a square neck. I was at knitting group so I asked for an opinion. It was super tight as well but I was just going to finish it and then give it to someone or wait to get skinnier. So finally Judy the yarn shop owner read it over and over until we figured out I had forgot to add the stitches for the bottom of the neck when I joined it in the round. That is a lot of stitches that I missed. So I had to rip it back to there. Craziness!! Then of course I got married and all that and didn't get much knitting time but now we are zooming right along again.

So here is a better picture of my progress.

I am using Rowan Calmer and I LOVE THIS YARN!! I am getting so many wonderful comments on it as well.

This is my first attempt at fair isle and I love it. The first time I knit this sweater I just did it with one hand and had to keep unwinding it. But this time I learned to do it with two hands. It is much better that way. I love it!!!

So here is what the back and the front of the color work look like. I'd say it looks pretty good even from the back for my first attempt.

I am also working on some Monkey Socks for my travel knitting. They are slow going but I do love the pattern. Okay time to go play on ravelry. Come find me. I'm pinkknitting.

We're Married!!!

2007-10-01T15:16:00.000-07:00

Yeah I know I've been MIA but it's for good reason. We got married! :) We were married on September 7 in a private ceremony on Sunset Beach. It was so fun. We are still having a formal public ceremony and reception on December 1 but we were ready to be married now. I'm so glad we did it this way. Here are some pictures from the wedding to distract you from the fact that there is no knitting content to be had around these parts. :)

Rockin Girl Blogger

2007-08-27T12:51:00.000-07:00

Roxanne nominated me for Rockin Girl Blogger! What a cute idea. I'm honored. :)

So now it's my turn to nominate.

1. Knittin Mom (Chrissy)-Because I've actually met her in person and I love reading her blog and keeping up with her kids. She was very sweet to me when I went to Yarn Harlot last year and didn't know anyone.

2. Bulldog Knits- Also because she is local and I love looking at the baby stuff she is knitting right now.

3. Katrina- Because she is local too. :) Are you detecting a trend? And she has been very sweet to me. She was also my first etsy customer.

Presents!

2007-08-20T12:49:00.001-07:00

I love getting presesnts. :) This week I got a great present from Roxanne of Zen Yarn Garden and Yarn Gift Bouquets. She rocks!!! I was her first customer and Zeb bought me yarn from her a year or so ago. If you haven't bought anything from her yet what are you waiting for. Her yarn is gourgeous and even better she is super, super, super nice. :) Anyway, she made me a yarn bouquet. You have to check those out for gifts. It was so cute. The yarn is called pinktiff! It's my own color. I love it. It's merino and seacell and is uber soft! Here is a pic.

It was a good mail week for me because I also got my movie swap pal package from Gina. We both were so behind on this and feel like awful swappers but we sent them out to each other at the same time even though it's like two months late. :)

I got some coffee, Breakfast at Tiffany's the book (super excited about this), Barefoot in the Park the movie (looks very good, can't wait to watch it), and Dream in Color sock yarn. I've been wanting to try this yarn for so long. I am so excited!!!!

Thank you so much to Roxanne and Gina. You girls rock!!

I'm Engaged!!!

2007-08-06T16:40:00.000-07:00

So that guy that may or may not be taking time away from knitting and raverly proposed on Saturday!!!! His name is Zeb and I am so in love with him. And he asked me in a yarn shop!!! I am so excited!!!

Here is the happy couple at the store right after we got engaged.

Here is the side view of the ring.

Here is the top of the ring.

Of course we also did some yarn shopping. That morning I had given Zeb some yarn and needles because he has been wanting me to teach him to knit. So he bought some yarn for his "stash". I think it's cute that he has a stash and he hasn't even learned how to knit yet. I did let him know that there would have to be some ground rules on sharing my stash...the rule is I don't do it. :)

Here is the yarn Zeb bought for his stash, Brown Sheep Handpainted.

Panda Cotton for socks for me.

Malibrigo for matching hats :)

I'm Back and I'm In

2007-07-23T09:29:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I've posted, but that's normal so oh well live with it. :) So just before my trip to Disneyland I got my invite to ravelry!!! I am so excited. I just got back from vacation so I haven't been able to get much done on it (I may or may not also be spending a lot of time with a certain boy which may or may not be causing me not to have as much time to play with ravelry). I did do some stuff yesterday for ravelry though. I put in one draw of my stash. A small dent but it felt good to get some on there. It helps me remember what I have. I have been knitting a ton. I will try to get pictures today so I can give you an update of my WIPs. Now that I"m not in school full time I've been getting lots of knitting in. So that's my little update for now. Come find me on ravelry. I'm under pinkknitting (go figure right?). And since no post is complete without a picture here is me with bug glasses on before the Bug's Life 3D show.

Swatching, swatching, swatching....and more swatching

2007-07-02T23:08:00.000-07:00

Well this is the sign that some swatching has been going on around here. I took my new Rowan Calmer and knitpicks needles to knitting group tonight and started swatching for the Tomato sweater from No Sheep for You. I just love this pattern. So I swatched with the intended needle size and I had 25 stitches to four inches instead of 18. So what do I do I go down a needle size. I still have around 25 stitches. So I go down another needle size I STILL have 25 stitches. Now most of you have caught on way before I did. I exclaimed out of desperation....THIS IS CRAZY I HAVE GONE DOWN TWO NEEDLES SIZES AND AM STILL NOT GETTING ANYWHERE CLOSE TO 18 I KEEP GETTING 25 OR MORE!!! Then Judy, the owner of my LYS, says try going up. I look at her with an astonished look. I say to her, "will that work?" She keeps looking at me like "I know the light bulb will come on any minutes." And then it did. Duh...if I need less stitches then I need to go up a needle size! Did I feel stupid or what? :) Unfortunately the next needle size up in my knitpicks set was at home so I packed up to leave. When I got home I tried with the next needle size up and what do you know I got less stitches. :) I still had to go up one more and I haven't finished that swatch yet to see if perhaps we have found the perfect fit. Sometimes I am a little slow. :)

I Did It!!!!

2007-06-30T21:26:00.000-07:00

Can you believe it???? I made it!! It's still so unreal to me. Not only did I graduate but I actually spoke in front of people and did well. :) People even told me afterwards that I really ministered to them and quite a few said my story made them cry and gave them hope! God is so good!!! Now on to Disneyland!! (okay so I have to wait two weeks)

3 More Days

2007-06-20T13:02:00.000-07:00

Did you see the tracker at the top of my page? 3 MORE DAYS UNTIL I GRADUATE!!! I can't believe it. In between now and then I have 3 finals, one last sermon to preach, and a presentation. It's almost over!!! Well, see you on the other side. :) I probably won't post again until after my friends leave. Three of my friends are coming down after we graduate for a little mini vacation. I'll make sure to post pictures of me graduating after that...and soon we will get back to more normal knitting content. And just because I hate a pictureless post, here is a picture of my at the Tiffany & Co. window. I just thought it was appropriate. :) I should have been eating a bagel though.

Look What I've Been Up To

2007-06-12T16:50:00.000-07:00

I've been dyeing yarn!! It has been so much fun. I'm hoping to make a little extra money since I work from home and have to be creative on ways to get income as a single mom. :) I know I will get better with time but I think I'm doing pretty good.

To see the rest and purchase them go to my etsy store. Thanks for looking!

Knitting in Public Day

2007-06-12T14:31:00.001-07:00

Saturday was world wide knit in public day. My friend Gabi and I went to the Rose Festival Grand Floral Parade. It was great. We had indoor tickets so we got to watch and stay dry. :) We also saw the coronation. There was plenty of time to knit. I finished a sock while we sat there.

Concentrating on my knitting. :) (And there were other people there just not all around us yet. They came later.)

"Okay I'll look up and smile....but I'm busy!"

"Oh wait! Take a picture of me holding the sock up like the Yarn Harlot." "The who?" "Never mind just take the picture."

After we were done with the parade we hopped on the bus to go to OMSI for the Body World 3 exhibit. Well I make that sound easier then it was. First of all it was raining and we had one small umbrella. Secondly, neither of us knew for sure what we were doing. Imagine a Romanian and a small town girl trying to figure out city transportation system. But we always seem to figure out the way to get to where we are going. A couple friendly transit workers later and we were there.

The exhibit was amazing. If you get a chance to go to one do it! I learned so much and was in awe of how creative they were. This picture was taken as we were leaving. We couldn't take pictures in the exhibit so we had to settle by the sign. I could have got some great shots while were in there....especially if they would have let me put the sock...oh I don't know...in a hand or something. :)

As we were walking to the bus stop we walked past the OMSI sign. I thought Gabi needed a picture with his head through the "O". Did I mention it had been raining? Which means water. :) He humored me and did it. I was a little more enthusiastic and stuck my head on top of the opening and held up my sock. As we were walking down the street I said "I think it's raining again. My head is wet and I feel drips on my shoulders." But silly me...it was the water that was all over the top of my head. Sometimes I'm not to quick! :)

In non-related news.....I SOLD MY FIRST BIT OF YARN TODAY!!! I AM SO EXCITED!!! Go check what is left at my etsy shop. I will do another update in early July.

Knitters' Coffee Swap Pal

2007-06-12T14:18:00.000-07:00

Thank you Sharon! Sharon was my Knitters' Coffee Swap Pal. She put together a great package for me and for Ben.

She gave me some great yarn and a pattern to go with it. I love the pattern and I love that she paired it up for me so I don't have to. :)

She also gave me some coffee (of course), a note pad, a journal, soap, wax thingies, and some great stuff for Ben.

She also had all of this throughout the package:

Thank you Sharon!! You're the best!

Starlight Parade

2007-06-08T22:54:00.001-07:00

So I am a bad blogger and am just now posting about last weekend. :) But I need to so that I can blog about all the exciting stuff I am doing tomorrow. Last Friday night we went to the fireworks for the Rose Festival. It was a lot of fun. I'm really glad we did it. Then the next night one of my friends and I decieded to go to the Starlight Parade. We got down there three hours early and still couldn't find a good spot. We found a little corner that was just big enough for the two of us and waited for the parade to start. It was fun. We saw some "interesting" things and I knit on his sock while he read me a book that he was translating from Romanian into English for me. (And we are just friends so don't get any ideas) We had a great time. When the parade started we ended up standing so we could actually see. It was a lot of fun. I am so glad we went even though I was so exhausted from two very late nights! I will leave you with pictures.

Knitting away on the sock.

My friend Corrie and I sitting waiting for the fireworks last Friday night.

All the people waiting for the parade. Notice how light it is and we still had to wait for dark.

One of the floats.

Oh I almost forgot one of the most exciting things of last Saturday is that I got a phone call from my best friend Sarah and she is engaged!!! We have been friends for a really, really, really long time (sixth grade). And I get to be a bridesmaid. I've never been a bridesmaid before. I am so excited!!

Thank You Felted Spring Bag Exchange Secret Pal

2007-06-05T11:59:00.000-07:00

Yipppeee. I received my first package from my Felted Spring Bag Exchange Secret Pal (wow that's a mouth full). :) I still don't know who she is yet and I can't wait to find out. The package was wonderful. I got some great pink and brown hand dyed yarn, a super cute piggy postcard, a great package of note cards (I've already used one), a great little note pad that now has residence in my purse, and a fabulous wall flower air freshener thingy from White Barn Candle Co. It smells lovely and is plugged in in my room.

Here is a close up of the yarn.

I also got these great colored chocolate covered nuts (mostly sunflower seeds my absolute favorite). Ben promptly found them and wanted them and spilled them all over the table.

Here he is very happy with himself just before they are all over the table.

She also included this great trucks book that Ben just loves.

Thank you so much!!!!

What Finger Are You?

2007-05-30T23:02:00.000-07:00

You Are a Ring Finger

You are romantic, expressive, and hopeful. You see the best in everything.
You are very artistic, and you see the world as your canvas. You are also drawn to the written word.
Inventive and unique, you are often away in your own inner world.

You get along well with: The Pinky

Stay away from: The Index Finger

What Finger Are You?

Memory of the Past

2007-05-29T10:04:00.000-07:00

I know that I'm divorced but I just feel like I need to in some way acknowledge that today would have been my 8 year anniversary. It is still a special day to me. I definetly do not regret having married him. I learned so much and we had some great times. Lately I have found myself thinking about the good times. I was so hurt when he had the affair and so hurt by the words said to me that I hadn't really ever looked past that hurt to the good times. It's been hard to look back but good as well. I really miss my best friend. We really enjoyed each other. He was so sweet. If I could have that man back I would so take him. Not the man that he is now but the man he used to be. I've also been thinking about what it would be like to get remarried. I've always thought, "of course I want to. I'd remarry in a heartbeat." But lately I've been discouraged that I may never meet someone that I love more than I loved him. I also know this time it will be a lot more work because I am much pickier and more set in my ways then I was at the ripe young age of 19. :) Anyway, this is to the good times. The times that deserve celebrating and remembering. So raise your knitting needles and toast to the good times in your life and the love you've shared.

Busy

2007-05-19T09:26:00.000-07:00

I've been so busy lately! I've been trying to stay motivated to finish school, working so I can save money to get my own apartment, making plans for my future, and dying yarn!! I'm not ready to show the pictures of the yarn yet. I'm not sure how great it is yet but I will list it on etsy. I'm playing around right now with kool-aid so that I can get a feel for how best to do it. I think that with the next order I will get some actual dye and do some of the things that I am planning in my head. I love doing it and want to use it as a way to fundraise for my missionary endeavors.

Like I said I"ve been busy planning for the future. I graduate in June and had some BIG decisions to make. So what I've decided is that I will stop going to Vancouver on a weekly basis to finish my masters and just go up for intensives once every six weeks. This will put me graduating with my masters in June 2009 and we are aiming for my doctorate by June of 2011. How exciting to actually be accomplishing my goals!! I will get an apartment which will be great for Ben and I to have our own place again. I am really looking forward to that. I will be working from home so I can stay and raise Ben which is also great. I am also going to be volunteering for the college to do some admissions type work. They need someone to follow up with potential students and to go to college fairs and be the spokesperson for the school. I am excited to do this. So life looks good to me right now because I feel as though I am really taking control while following the Lord and making things happen. Oh and I will be going on every missionary trip I can since that is what my hearts desire is and I can't actually go be a missionary full time in a country at this point in my life. God is good!!!

And so that it is not a pictureless post...here is a picture of Ben sleeping in my hamper....well pretending to sleep. :) He had a pillow in there and was snoring. He sat up for the picture though and said cheese.

Knitting Meme

2007-05-15T12:23:00.000-07:00

Bold for stuff you've done, italics for stuff you plan to do eventually, and normal for stuff you don't intend to do.

Afghan
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with bananafiber yarn
Domino knitting (=modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Baby items
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffitti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dying with plant colours
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cosies...)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items)on two circulars
Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone elses handspun yarn
Knitting with dpns
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dying yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Knitting two socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars simultaneously
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac
Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with selfpatterning/selfstriping/variegating yarn
Stuffed toys
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mits/armwarmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Hair accessories
Knitting in public

This list made me realize how many things I have done and the abundance of things I want to do! I'd better get knitting. :)

Tag I'm It

2007-05-15T08:16:00.000-07:00

Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about themselves. Those tagged need to write in their blogs the 7 facts, as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag seven others and list their names on your blog. You have to leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and to read your blog.

Here are my facts:

1. I drive at least 15 hours each week.

2. I love Gerber daisies.

3. When I was in kindergarten, and well actually on through to third grade, I had a boyfriend and we were going to get married and he was going to carve ducks in the basement to sell and I was going to teach school.

4. I make really good tuna salad.

5. I hear "mommy" at least 100 times per day.

6. I used to love Pippy Longstocking. So much that I wore different color socks and slept upside down in my bed. :) I also tried mopping the floor with sponges on my feet but that didn't work so well.

7. I love the color pink! (Okay so the last one isn't so random.)

I'm tagging:

I hate actually tagging people unless it's one that I really want to know this about them. I've seen this one go around on most of the blogs I read so if you want to do this then tag yourself and leave me a comment to know that you did. Maybe I can get my seven that way and not feel like I cheated. :)

Contest Winner

2007-05-09T11:04:00.000-07:00

Wow I am such a bad blogger! I offered a prize for my two year anniversary of blogging and completely forgot to announce a winner. I didn't actually decide to do any of the patterns given to me. I bought one on the Shop Hop but I didn't get the yarn so I still have yet to make it. :( Anyway, through a random drawing Ericah has won!! So Ericah (I can't find a link to your blog on the blogger profile page for you, I read your blog all the time though so hopefully you read this and know that it's you or once you update again and send an email to Blogs by Knitters I'll post a comment on your blog, of course if you don't know it's you you won't be reading this until I post a comment on your blog so I guess it is irralevent) please email me with your address. Thanks and congrats!

Shop Hop

2007-05-09T10:46:00.000-07:00

Wow I am really late on posting about the shop hop. It's been almost three weeks!!! I thought it was about time to post all my loot. :) If you want to read more about the Shop Hop and see some pictures of me you can go to Chrissy's blog. She was one of the organizers along with Katrina. They were so great. Amanda was also there, who is about to have her baby on Mother's Day (the day after my birthday). And I met a new blogger (well she's not new just new to me) Jenni. It was a fabulous time and if I actually lived in Portland I would so join the guild. You can read more about the Shop Hop on the above blogs. I'm just mainly going to stick to posting pictures of all the wonderful things I got!

So the first stop was All About Yarn. What a great little shop. It doesn't look like much from the outside but inside it is great. Now at this point I was still set on not buying a lot at the beginning and I was planning on not buying any pink which we will see later on I failed miserably at! :) So I wasn't going to buy anything and then on my way out I spotted the Lucy Neatby DVD's on sock knitting and I grabbed those right up. I had actually been thinking of ordering these online if I had money left from the Shop Hop so to find them on the Hop with a 20% discount was perfect!!

The next stop was The Knitting Bee which was my second favorite store on the whole shop! I would definetly go back there. Here I bought a circlular needle case, a drop spindle, and some pink (I know it's a shock) roving.

The knitting case was a Dharma Q. Here is a closer view of it. It's pinkish purple!

Here is what the inside looks like. I would highly recommend it!

The next stop was Knit Purl. This is a beautiful shop and they carry some sock yarn that is exclusive to them. I was sucked in and bought some in this great orangish, pinkish, redish colorway! And a pattern for a hoodie for Ben.

Then I went downstairs to eat my amazing boxed lunch and they came down to the store room to get some more of the pink and green colorway. It was all I could do to keep eating before running up there and snatching some. :) And while I was at it I just had to have the Hand Maiden I was looking at.

The next stop was Dublin Bay. This was by far my favorite store. I loved the atmosphere. If you live in Portland or visit and have never been there you must go! I got kind of tired at this point so I sat down and looked at sock patterns and bought a whole bunch of them.

Then while standing in the long line (I was used to it at this point) I also had to buy the sushi wallet kit. :)

The next stop was Lint. My least favorite store. It's not bad just not my favorite. I probably need to go back though when I am not tired and see it with fresh eyes. I may really like it. I found some Koigu here that I needed!!

The last stop was Molehill Farm. I have been here before and I love it. How we shoved so many knitters in this store though is beyond me. It was craziness!! I changed my mind about fifty times but I had just enough money to finish out the day with this beautiful hank of Lorna's Laces!

While waiting in line I also saw this pattern for Christmas Stockings and it was perfect for Ben and me! My mom has been looking for one like this for quite awhile because my sock from when I was little is just like the Santa one!

So as you can see I didn't do very good at not getting any pink yarn! :) That's an understatement actually because ALL I got was pink yarn! :) Did you expect anything less?

I will leave you with a close up of my favorite part of the Rockin Sock Club yarn this month. I know that you have read about it everywhere and seen tons of pics so I just thought I'd put one small one on my blog. :) Have a great weekend! I know I will since it's my birthday!

Knitters' Coffee Swap Questionaire

2007-04-26T07:12:00.000-07:00

1. Whole bean or ground? Ground is easier but I can grind it if I need to.

2. Fully-loaded or decaf? Well....I'm a single mom and full time college student and I have two work from home jobs...what do you think? :)

3. Regular or flavored? I prefer regular

4. How do you drink your coffee? I drink it with flavored fat free coffeemate

5. Favorite coffee ever? The kind from my local coffee shop. I can't remember the brand name.

6. Are you fussy about your coffee or will any old bean do? I'm not fussy

7. Favorite treats to have with your coffee? I LOVE coffee cake (mainly for the yummy topping)

8. Anything else about your coffee preferences? I wish I had more time to drink it. I mainly end up drinking Starbucks drinks because I grab them on my way to school. I also am on the hunt for the perfect coffee mug. I love mugs where the inside is a different color than the outside and fun eccletic looking mugs. I also am looking for the perfect travel mug. I love starbucks ones with no handle but I haven't seen any in pink lately around here. :)

9. Yarn/fiber you love? I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE hand painted sock yarns. (think Loopy Ewe)

10. Yarn/fiber you hate? Anything rough (thing hemp or euroflax). I'm also not a fan of novelty yarns unless I end up having a specific purpose which I've only had once.

11. What's on your needles? Inside Out Socks, Double Moss Stitch Socks, Tempting Sweater (and lots of UFOs that I can't remember.)

12. Favorite colors? Pink :) I also am starting to branch out but it is mainly into really pretty saturated colors.

13. Allergies? Dogs and Smoke

14. Anything you really love, really don't like, or just need to get off your chest? I really love to knit socks and I love cool bags. I'm really into pink and brown and blue and brown. I also have been drooling over a few books. The Yarn Harlot's new one, More Sensational Knitted Socks, and the new Interview Socks book Favorite Socks. Oh and I've also been trying to find Dyeing to Knit. I also just got some roving and a spindle and would love to find a great book for how to spin.

Way Behind

2007-04-18T11:15:00.000-07:00

Wow, I am way behind on my blogging! I've been so busy with finals and then a big paper and then getting sick and then the first week of school. I do believe that life will be a blur until I graduate in June. But only 10 more weeks!!!! I'm so excited.

So I finished the Odessa hat about three weeks ago and just got around to taking pictures today. I always have these grand ideas for getting pictures taken by someone else and looking really great outside modeling my knitwear...but that never happens. :) So today you will get the obligatory mirror photo that I had never done before today. I also posed the hat on some other things just for fun. :)

It's really hard to take a picture in the mirror that you can actually be happy with.

The hat on my water bottle once again.
It really likes the water bottle for some reason.
And yes my water bottle and cell phone are pink...what else would you expect?

I think Winnie the Pooh looks smashing in Odessa!

Now I said awhile back that I was going to have a contest for my blogivesary, my 2 year blogiversary (I have no idea how to spell that and it's not in spell check!) which was on March 15th. So I'm a little late on the contest but better late than never. So here is what the contest is. I have this yarn:
Which looks like this when knit up and wet. :)
You should recognize it as the yarn I used for my very first sweater, the Hip Hop Jacket. This is Berecco Hip Hop in Beep Bop. I have four hanks of it. It would make great hats, scarfs, ect. So this is the prize!!! It's a biggie.

The contest is to leave a comment with a suggestion for a toddler sweater pattern for my little man. I am going on a Shop Hop on Saturday and want to buy some yarn to make him a sweater. We live on the coast so a cotton sweater will work for summer. I am thinking of making a hoodie, or a v-neck nice preppy sweater, or a sweater vest he could wear to church. Who knows I may make them all. So I know there are tons of places I can look for patterns. I am not looking for pattern sites. I am looking for patterns that you think would look good specifically on my little man. Whoever's pattern I choose will receive the Berreco. And I just decided that I will also draw a random winner. Not sure what your prize will be yet but it will be good...I promise! The deadline is Friday at 9pm PST. Good luck!

Here is a picture of him so you can see what might look good on him.

He likes the Odessa. I need to make him one in a boy color.
As you can see he really needs a sweater. :)

Spring Felted Bag Exchange Questionaire

2007-04-17T09:50:00.000-07:00

1. How long have you been knitting or crocheting? How did you learn?
3 years, my ex-husband's cousin taught me the knit stitch and then I got impatient and taught myself everything else

2. What are your favorite yarns to knit\crochet felted bags with?
Cascade 220....I don't like Lamb's Pride or Jamieson (to scratchy...they hurt my hands)

3. What are your favorite needles to knit\crochet with?
Knitpicks

4. What are the last 3 bags you knitted\crochetted (include URL for Yahoo! or flickr album or your blog if you have them!)? You can also link to patterns if you don't have pictures of your finished objects!
Well I can't remember the last bag. I've only knit two, they were the same pattern and I don't have any links for them. Sorry.

5. Do you carry the bags that you make, give them as gifts, or both?
Both bags were gifts.

6. What is your favorite felted bag that you have made for yourself?
I haven't made one for myself yet.

7. What are your favorite colors? Do you like bags in these colors or choose other colors?
Ummm pink of course. :) I love pink and brown together and I am really starting to love blue and pink together.

8. Chocolate: White, Milk, Dark, or not so much?
White and Milk

9. Coffee, Tea, or Milk?
Coffee

10. Do you prefer sweet or salty treats? What kinds?
I love sweet and salty....it depends on my mood. I like most all junk food. :)

11. If you went into Bath and Body Works and could only come out with one item, what would it be and what would it smell like?
I love the new fig and brown sugar and I usually buy the moisturizing antibacterial hand soap.

12. Do you enjoy any other crafts or hobbies? Do you collect anything?
Are there other crafts? Does collecting sock yarn count? :)

13. Are there any bag patterns you have not yet knit, but hope to someday?
Yes...the Brainwash bag. I have the yarn to knit it I just need to do it.

14. What is currently OTN (on the needles) for you?
Inside Out Socks, Another pair of socks in double moss stitch, and Tempting II

15. What is your most recent finished object before that?
Odessa Hat

16. What's cutest: Puppies, Piggies or Pixies?
Piggies

17. Do you enjoy reading? Books, Magazines, or both?
Both

18. Do you have any children? (kid-kind or pet-kind apply!)
Yes I have a 2 and 1/2 year old little boy

19. What are some of your favorite yarns for other projects?
I love hand dyed sock yarn.

20. And for the final question, one I see debated all over: Novelty Yarn: Love it! Hate it! or It depends!
It depends!

I promise I will have a real post soon. Especially after the Tigard Knitting Guild Shop Hop on Saturday!!!

Sockret Pal Package and WIP's

2007-04-02T13:21:00.000-07:00

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! I just love my package. I think I must have the best swap pal in the world. So first I got stitch markers (very pretty), a pink pen, a cute little key chain for a picture (wonder who I'll put in there), and of course chocolate. My little man loves the chocolate.

For yarn I got:

Regia Cotton in Surf Color. I have a friend who sweats a lot on her feet so I think I will knit her a pair of socks out of this and see how they work for her. It's colors she would love too. She likes wild stuff. :)

And I also got this yarn:

This is Skacel Merino Lace. It is beautiful!!! I have been wanting to make a lace scarf but all the laceweight I had was variegated and I wanted a solid so I am exhausted.

And last but not least...the socks:

They fit perfectly!!! I was so excited. I have had them on since I got them. They are so comfortabl. I just love hand knit socks!!! They are made out of only the best, SOCKS THAT ROCK in lightweight Watermelon Tarmaline. I just love the colors. They are very springy.

Thank you so much Tammy!!

In other news here are my two WIP"S.

The Inside Out socks in monsoon. I know you have all seen a million pictures of this but not my picture. :) I am right at the heel on the first sock. I really love how snug they fit.

And this is the Odessa hat. It is coming along really quickly. I love it!! I can see how fast this would be without the beads too. I am thinking of knitting some for a cancer center or a charity of some sort.

Lastly I will leave you with a recent picture of my little man. We went to the snow this weekend and it was really wet (raining) so we played outside for a little bit and then went into the toddler play area. We were the only ones in there and we had a great time in the ball pit together. We had never been in one before and he loves balls so it was like ball heaven. :) Stay tuned for my next post. There will be a contest in honor of my 2 year blogiversery that was on March 15th, better late than never. :)

March UFO

2007-03-20T10:53:00.000-07:00

Here is my March UFO. It is Odessa and as you can see all that it has done is the beads strung on it. But for any of you that have done that it is quite a bit of work. :) I finally got them all on there and then was done looking at it. That was quite a long time ago now. I took it to knit group last night and had to pack in a hurry so I just through my Knitpicks Options in their and then found out I don't have the right cords for it. :( So I ended up secretly knitting on my Inside Out socks from the BMFA Sock Club instead. I know have the right needles in the bag and it is all set for knit group. I have to have a special project for that with yarn from the store so I don't offend the owner. :)

Sockret Pal

2007-03-19T15:16:00.000-07:00

The rest of the stuff came today so I can put my package together for my Sockret Pal. I am so excited to get this taken care of and to see how she likes it all. I didn't do many little cute extra's but I think she will love the sock yarn!! Here are her completed socks.

And the extra sock yarn and pattern from Gardiner Yarn Works.

I also ordered a package to make socks for a friend of mine's birthday. I think he will really like them.

I will post more later. I have to get ready for knitting group.

Visual DNA

2007-03-19T09:49:00.000-07:00

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

I love this. I found it from Erica's blog. If you go read it you can read all about my personality. It fits me right on. I love it!!!

Catch Up

2007-03-17T10:20:00.000-07:00

I decided it was time to catch up with some things I've had laying around to blog about. I may post twice today because I have some projects that I am working on to show you but for now it's mainly yarn (lots of pics)!

This is a package I got probably a month ago (bad blogger) from Shana. Now I think she is my angel one skein pal and not the original one who was just running way behind. It has no note to say her blog or anything so unfortunately I cannot properly thank her and I hate that!!! But she made me two objects. The first is a little head wrap made out of bamboo, Dream Swatch by Wendy of Knit n Tonic. You can find the pattern at The Garter Belt. I love it. I have worn it a lot and get lots of great comments. I may make some in other colors. I love how you can stick the bobby pins right through the fabric. So much nicer than a silk scarf and it is narrow so I don't have to fold it over like I do with other scarves. I couldn't be happier. In addition to that I received a lovely scarf out of Noro. I love it as well. I wore it right away. The only problem is it makes my neck itch. :( I have yarn to make a matching hat so maybe I will see if there is someone it doesn't itch and give it to them so it can be used. Okay moving on....

This is Lisa Souza yarn in the Lime n Violet colorway. I love it. I strongly recommend her yarn!! Go check out her site. This yarn was for losing five pounds which makes it all the more special.

This next portion is regarding my February sock kit from the Rockin Sock Club from Bluemooon Fiber Arts. I didn't take a picture of the whole package as I'm sure you have seen it on other sites. I did take pictures of the yarn because....well that is the most important part!

This is the sock yarn I received because there was a problem with the binder for my package and so I just received my package yesterday and they threw in a hank of my choice because of the mistake. They are so great about fixing mistakes even when they are truly not their fault. The ladies over there are fabulous!! Of course they are Oregonians so that explains it. :) Oh I almost forgot to say that the yarn is called Little Bunny Foo Foo and as you can see is pink and brown!!!

This is the actual sock club yarn for this month. It is called Monsoon. I got a picture of both ends so you can see a little more of the color. Later today I will show you what it is starting to look like knit up and explain why I am so excited about what I have done so far and the pattern. My saying on the inside of the band is "Put your foot in your mouth." :)

This last one is sock yarn for my Sockret Pal. I know she will love it. It is from Monsoon Winds. Her etsy store is here. The color is Ablaze. I have some more yarn from Gardiner Yarn Works coming with a pattern for her. I am almost done with her socks. I should finish them this weekend and then the package will be off to her. I am so excited to see how she likes it.

I also packaged up some yarn today for the SAM3. Chrissy was needing some yarn for the final package. I had a bunch of sock yarn that I had tried to destash a few months ago but just couldn't. This time however it was for a good cause and I knew that I had so much yarn that I absolutely can't wait to knit that it was okay to pass this on to someone who would appreciate it and have earned it. I wish I would have taken a picture first but I forgot. Oh well, life goes on. I'd better get some other stuff done now. Talk to you all later.

Responses to Comments

2007-03-14T16:59:00.000-07:00

I decieded instead of trying to respond individually to each comment I would just respond to them here in a post. So I am going to respond to the comments from the last two posts.

In reponse to 5 inches gone

Roxanne says "Congrats on the loss...that's super! As for the exes, I hope it doesn't bother you too much - it probably doesn't bother them. I always say the best "revenge" is living well despite the exes and I'm sure you're doing just that!"

I couldn't agree more about living well despite them and I am doing my best! :)

CynCyn said "Wow! Go Tiffany!!! Continued success on the health goals. As for the other, tough call. The baby will be your baby's half sibling. You're one of the most generous and kind people I've 'met', and I'm sure your inner compass won't steer your wrong."

You are too sweet Cynthia!! Thank you so much for your kind words.

In response to Hip Hop Jacket is Finished

Mandy said "Great job Tiff! Love the sweater! I am going to have to go through all my Interweave and find that pattern!!"

Thanks Mandy. I went and looked it up for you and the pattern is in the Winter 2005 edition.

CynCyn said "Well, it looks great.. the color is fab on you. Maybe you can reclaim the yarn and reknit a smaller size?"

If I do reclaim the yarn it will be a few years before I will reknit it. I just can't stand the thought of redoing all that work yet. It's just too soon after I have finished it. :)

Knitseashore said "Congratulations on finishing your sweater! It looks great on you. I'm amazed you can do that and attend school too.

Also congratulations on your weight loss. I am sorry to read about your ex-husband and ex-best friend, and admire your taking good care of yourself in spite of that hurtful situation.

Do you like your mac? My husband and I just got one too and we are learning from the very beginning. But so far, I like it! One of the other knitbloggers advised us to use Firefox instead of Safari, and it is working much better. :)"

I do love my mac. Why did you switch to firefox? What problems were you having with Safari that are fixed with Firefox? Thanks for your help.

Okay that is all the blog admin stuff for today. I wil post some pics of yarn stuff soon hopefully and maybe even a FO!!!

Hip Hop Jacket is Finished!!!!

2007-03-08T08:04:00.000-08:00

So the Hip Hop Jacket is done. It has been done for a couple weeks now. I was postponing posting about it because I wanted to be one of those bloggers who put all the details nicely under it. I wanted to turn over a new leave and be organized. And suddenly I realized that wasn't going to happen so I'll just show the picture and move on with life.

I do know however that it is the Hip Hop Jacket out of an Interweave from last year. I think it was Christmas time 2005. The yarn is Berreco Hip Hop in Beat Box. The color called for in the pattern. The buttons were found by a friend at a Fabric store. I love the jacket. I don't think it will fit long. It is kinda big but I am so excited about it. It is my first sweater and is fabulous. I can't wait to knit another sweater although the next one will be a little smaller. :)

5 Inches Gone!!!!

2007-03-05T10:44:00.000-08:00

So I've been working really hard at curves and I lost 5 inches!!!! I am so excited. I just had to post a quick post about that. I've also lost 8 pounds in the last three weeks. I haven't posted each week about that I just put it on my little tracker at the top. In other news, I found out today that my ex-husband and ex-best friend are pregnant. I'm not quite sure what I thnk about that yet. Just thought I'd share. I will have some knitting pictures soon. I promise!

UFO Resurrection Challenge-Februrary

2007-02-27T09:17:00.000-08:00

I took pictures and did the whole thing for the resurrection challenge much earlier in the month but I'm just getting around to blogging about it now. It has been a crazy month. I have been trying to play catch up with school and still am. But I had to get this in before the end of the month.

My UFO this month was the second thing I have tried to knit. It was a baby blanket. All I had knit before this was a garter stich scarf. :) I didn't even know how to purl yet. A friend of mine was pregnant with a little girl and I thought it would be fun to knit it something. I figured a blanket was just a big retangular scarf so it should be no problem. It was from the book Knit Baby Blankets! Edited by Gwen Steege. I really like this book. I chose one I liked and thought shouldn't be too hard. It had a lot of things I'd never done but I was brave. I picked the Patchwork Blankie. It is knit on size 4 needles (I'd never used anything other than 10.5's). It is knit with fingering weight yarn (I'd only use handspun). It would required purling all the way back across (I had only learned knit stich). It was done with carrying yarn of multiple colors with strange things called bobbins (I had no idea at the time what those were so I figured little plastic bags would work. I used Knitpicks yarn and was very excited. I only got this far. :)

The first row!! :) I then decided this was a bit much for me but it away in a drawer and started in on the basketweave blanket. I am very glad I did the basketweave blanket since it taught me to knit and purl but it was huge and took forever and the beginning is terribly awful. It was very uneven. By the end though I had a consistent guage and still do to this day. My friend said she loved it and was very gracious. She know knits and who knows if she still had the blanket or what she thinks of when she sees it. :) If you look back through my archives I am sure you can find a picture of it.

So I decided that I would most likely not finish this baby blanket so it went to the frog pond and I recovered five balls of yarn and my needles and all sorts of good stuff. :)

And that is the end of the Patchwork Blankie! In my next post....probably later today....you will get to see my finished January project from the UFO Resurrection Challenge. That's right I finished the Hip Hop Jacket!!!!

Fixed

2007-02-20T14:08:00.000-08:00

Well I fixed it. I wish someone would have told me awhile ago that the formatting was all screwed up. :) I went to the website that made my design and found out they had changed it so you had to host the pictures yourself so I did all that and fixed it!!! Yipppeee!!!

Help!!

2007-02-20T11:24:00.000-08:00

I just got a new mac and when I go to look at my own site it is all white and messed up. Is everyone else seeing it okay. I think it may just be the Safari browser but I can see other blogs hosted on blogspot just fine so I'm not sure what is going on. Maybe it is the special template and I need to get a new background and such. Any advice/help is greatly appreciated. I will have some knitting content soon but I want to get this issue resolved first. Thanks.

Happy Valentine's Day

2007-02-14T11:25:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day to all my blogging friends. :) I went to Weight Watchers this morning and I lost 3.6 pounds!!! That is all the weight I gained last week. I am so excited. Only 1.4 pounds more and I can buy yarn. I already know what it will be so we will see if I can do that next week. Stay tuned.

New Motivation

2007-02-09T09:28:00.000-08:00

I have some new motivation. I was listening to Lime and Violet and Miss Lime said how she was going to reward herself with yarn for her weight loss efforts. I have been looking for the perfect reward for weight loss and thanks to Miss Lime I think I may have found it. :) So I am going to combine my regular diet with my yarn diet. I will not by any yarn at all until I have lost weight. So for every five pounds I lose (I have to make small goals) I can buy one skien of sock yarn. For every 20 pounds I lose I am going to allow myself a larger yarn purchase. That will probably vary from time to time. So there you have it. If anyone wants to join me in this let me know. We can keep each other accountable. :)

Frustration

2007-02-07T10:38:00.000-08:00

Well I made myself go to Weight Watchers today even though I knew the news would not be good. I was a total pig this week. I'm not sure why but I just felt like I needed a ton of junk food and to eat constantly. I've got to do better this week. I have found some motivation that may help. I'm not going to say what it is because who knows who actually reads this blog. :) The outcome of the awful weigh in is that I gained 3.6 pounds!! That means that after rejoining I've gained 2.2 pounds in 7 weeks. Not exactly the results I am looking for. I have to realize that I am spending money on this and I need to get serious or quit. My best friend and her roommate just started doing Weight Watchers so that should help me out a little bit. I also need to remember all that money that is going towards Curves and start going there more faithfully again.

The other thing I am frustrated about is how people think that I should be able to go to events are whatever and not have a problem with the fact that my ex-husband and ex-best friend are there. They are married now by the way...have been for over a year. I'm not mad or bitter anymore I just don't want to have to see them all lovey dovey and stuff. I don't think that should be too hard to understand but apparently for some people it is. Oh well, it's not my problem. It's just frustrating. It's like people have forgotten that I did love him and that she was my best friend and they did not do good things. I know they are forgiven and all that jazz but it doesn't make it any easier. What are people thinking!!!

Okay enough complaining. In knitting news, I am working on....well I did a couple rows on the collar of my Hip Hop Jacket but that's about it. I need to start my Sockret Pal socks. They will knit up super quick. I also don't think I mentioned that I am doing the Knit from Your Stash thing. I haven't bought anything but sock yarn in a long time and I want to keep it that way for awhile. I also need to start limiting myself on the amount of sock yarn I buy. We shall see how good I can be. Okay, I'm off to do some homework. Thanks for "listening" to me vent my frustrations.

2 FO's and Some Yarny Goodness

2007-02-05T21:25:00.000-08:00

I actually have a couple finished objects!!! How exciting is that! Last week when Ben was sick and I was sick I finished a scarf for one of my friends. She won the scarf in a Christmas gift exchange so it was about time I knit it up for her. I used Silkroad from Jo Sharp. I LOVE this yarn. It is 85% wool, 10% silk, and 5% cashmere. It is so soft. I used a simple diamond pattern from a Lion Brand book I think. I like the way it turned out and she wore it a couple times this weekend so I am guessing that means she likes it. Either that or she is being nice. :) Here is the picture.

The second finished object is a pair of Cable Footies from Oneskein. I love this pattern. I knit these up for my "second" Oneskein pal. They put all of us who didn't get our packages the first time around in another group and we all knit things for someone. It was a great way to do angels. We all knew who are new pal was so it's not a secret...so that means if my pal is reading my blog she will already see a picture of what she is getting in the mail, but a picture never does a knitted item justice so I'm not too worried about it. I am actually getting ready to cast on another pair with the same yarn, different colorway for my Sockret Pal. I love this pattern!! The yarn is Handpainted Artyarns. I love how soft it is. The only thing I don't love about the pattern is how pointy the toe ends up. I may modify it for the next pair and see how I like it. Anyway, here is the picture.

And finally. I acquired some new sock yarn. I got my cingular rebate finally and I just had to go check out this yarn store. I got some Koigu. I can't remember the color number but I really like it. It's not typical for me. I also got a Lantern Moon bee tape measure!!! The yarn store is Molehill Farm and a big thanks to Katrina for leading me in that direction.

TTFN

Thank You Secret Pal!!!

2007-01-30T19:57:00.000-08:00

Thank you Amber!!! You were a great secret pal. She sent me some awesome yarn throughout the exchange and topped it off with SOCKS THAT ROCK!!!! And not just any Socks that Rock....BRIGHT PINK Socks that Rock. The colorway is called Hot Flash. I have never seen anything like this. I was so excited. Not only that but notice how the whole package is pink. A pink handknit bag (by one of her friends), pink gum, a pink package of NoPudge brownies (she noticed I was doing Weight Watchers), and the card's picture is even in pink!!! I love it!!!! Thank you so much Amber!!!

Many Thanks

2007-01-23T16:34:00.000-08:00

Thank you to my Sockret Pal for the wonderful package. I got some great yarn, a box of chocolates, and some tea. Yummy!!!

In the yarn department I received two hanks of Knit Picks Wakashan in Wild Rose. It is very nice 100% Baby Alpaca. Then I received the beautiful yarn in the picture. It is Patagonia Nature Cotton. It is made in Chile and is hand dyed and spun. It is very cool and I have three hanks of it.

In other news I spoiled myself with this Regia Bamboo Color sock yarn. Speaking of sock yarn I have once again joined up for SAM this time number three. I have only ever finished two pairs one pair for each KAL but this time I am determined to do one per month. We shall see how that goes. I will have pics soon of my Hip Hop Jacket. I have both front sides done and the back and most of a sleeve. We are getting closer to the finish. :)

New Acquisitions

2007-01-14T20:12:00.000-08:00

I have some pictures of some new yarn acquisitions to show you. :) I have worked a little on my projects as well but I still need to take pictures of those. I had a lot of school this weekend and so I'm exhausted. This post may not be entirely coherent but at least there are good pictures. :)

This is some new sock yarn I bought. I love it!!! The lys owner was knitting some up and I just loved the colors and at only $16 I had to have it. :) It's Tofutsies and is made of 50% superwash wool, 22.5% Cotton, and 2.5% Chitin. Chitin is fiber from shrimp and crab shells and it's naturally antibacterial. Pretty cool!

Next is the awesome sock kit from Gardiner Yarn Works. Chrissy just got her site up and running and she has some beautiful patterns over there. Go check it out. She has partnered with some handdyers (I know it's not a word) to make sock kits!! They are fabulous and Chrissy is great (I've met her) so you NEED to help her get her store going which means you need to buy A SOCK PATTERN AND YARN....what a bummer. :)

And last but certainly not least is my sock kit from Zen Yarn Garden. She dies beautiful yarn. This one is merino and tencil and it feels amazing. But what really got me was the bag. She has parrtnered with other artists and has these kits. They are great. I got a bag, handmade wooden DPN's, a stitch marker, and yarn! Now most of you know how I feel about Zen Yarn Garden. I was her first customer and she is the best!! You couldn't ask for a nicer person to do business with so go check her out!!!

Okay...need sleep...must go to bed.....

Two Birds (or KAL's), One Stone (or Project)

2007-01-02T14:42:00.000-08:00

I have joined both the 2007 UFO Resurrection Challenge and Not a Gift 2.0. This month's UFO will be able to qualify for both. That is the only way I can do KAL's around these parts. :) So I will be working on the Hip Hop Jacket.

Some of you may remember this project. It is from Interweave Knits and I just love it!!! I loved the way it looked in the magazine so much that I even went all out and spent over $200 to have the exact yarn! But it has been worth it so far. I just love it. Here are pictures of my current progress.

(This is where I saved the post to go take pictures to add in here)

WE HAVE A PROBLEM!!! I CANNOT FIND THE WHOLE PROJECT!!! I HAVE LOOKED EVERYWHERE I CAN THINK OF. I JUST MOVED!!! HOW CAN IT BE LOST ALREADY!!! I WILL GO RE-CHECK AND TRY TO CALM DOWN!!!!!

(Post saved as draft to go look for missing parts)

Okay it cannot be found. I have no idea what happened to it. All I have is the back and the extra yarn. I am missing one completed side, the pocket for the other side, the needles, the stitch holders, and at least two skeins of extra yarn! Now I know when I bought the yarn I bought more than I needed. At the time I wondered why I did it. I can't remember how much extra I bought though.

My options are to just forget that I already finished other parts of it and do everything but the back hoping I have enough yarn. Now if I don't have enough I could order more and then maybe just use it for the sleeves hoping that any changes in color won't be too noticeable. My other option is to knit the other side that I didn't finish and the sleeves and then hope that somehow the missing pieces magically appear on my bed or something. I am so frustrated. I just moved here. How could it be lost??? I guess it could be in one of the boxes at the shop for storage. Dad could have put a box in there by mistake or I could have accidentally put it in the wrong (the last option is very unlikely but I am desperate enough to consider it an option). So I guess I will just knit it like I know where the other side is and then at some point take some time to painstakingly open each and every box in storage hoping that it will turn up!!!

Well I guess I can show you what I did find.

Here is the back.

BREAKING NEWS STORY!!!

As I was waiting for the picture to load I was thinking about this whole problem and how I know that when I backed it I put the other portion in it's own ziplock bag and they were packed in the same box. So I thought about that little box, and how it had spend time out in the office, and it had been partially open, and I have a two year old. :) Do you see the wheels clickin? So I went out to the office to see if Ben had stuffed it somewhere. And....guess what...THIS IS WHAT I FOUND!!

THE MISSING BAG!!!!

This is good. No interrogations need to be done nor search parties sent out! All is at peace in the world. :)

So now in addition to the completed back you saw pictured above we have...

Bag of yarn (this was not lost)

Extra yarn, needles, and pocket

Completed left front (or right front can't remember right now)

So now my main knitting bag is packed with this instead of the blanket that I was going to work on for a gift. It's time to finish this sweater for me before it gets to warm to finish it. All I have left is the other side, sleeves, and collar. Well then of course the finishing. It knits up very quick so I can easily get this done.

Now it's on to the case of Ben and the Missing Baseball. :)

Happy New Year!!! (I know it's a really clever title!)

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

This post is a potpourri of various things I need to blog about. :) I want to start off by saying HAPPY NEW YEAR!! I know this year is going to be amazing. At church Saturday night Dr. Greg preached an amazing sermon. God really spoke some things to my heart. Then Dr. Greg had a word for me that fit right in with what God had been saying to me. Basically that this will be an amazing year with lots of good changes and that this time next year I will have changed so much I won't even recognize myself. I think that sounds pretty good!!! :)

I went to get my mail while I was in Vancouver this weekend and I received this lovely package. I am guessing it is from my angel from the One Skien Secret Pal swap. Her name is Shana and unfortunatly I don't have her email or her blog to thank her. So I am hoping that she reads my blog!! Thank you!! I love the yarn. Also, my address has changed and so if you read this please contact me so I can get that to you. :) Thanks again. I love the yarn. It is Merline the Cat Yarns 50% Wool, 50% Silk, Lace WT, Pink Brownie, Hand Painted. Now I'm not sure if Shana dyed this herself or what. The tag is hand written. Anyway, the yarn is beautiful and it will make a great lace scarf at some point. :) I am thinking branching out from knitty but who knows. I love it though and for now it will have a loving home in my stash!

I also received this in the mail. It is the miss directed Rockin Sock Club package. This will be going into my Secret Pal's final package! I am sure she will love it. :) I love how different all the Rare Gem colorways are. I really like the one I am keeping. I also like the one I am giving away but not as much. :)

I received this in the mail awhile ago but was not allowed to open it until Christmas. It was a package from my Secret Pal. It included a very generous amount of Berroco Quest yarn in pink. I love it. Not sure what I'm going to do with it yet. Any ideas? I also received some great sock yarn. I just LOVE sock yarn. This one is blue and pink and it reminds me of cotton candy for some reason.

And here is a close up of the cute little figurine that says I love sheep and the great little pink pen that immediately went into my purse. :) Thank you so much secret pal!!!

The last little tidbit to add is that I just joined the It's NOT a gift! 2.0 KAL. This means I am putting aside the Cabled Footies (I may secretly work on them a little bit) and working on my Hip Hop Jacket. Hopefully, I can get it finished quickly so I can wear it while it is still cold. :) Okay so that's all for today. I'd better get some homework done. Have a great new year with lots of knitting!!!

2006 Blog Recap

2006-12-31T21:54:00.000-08:00

I don't remember whose blog I saw this on but it's an easy way of recapping for the year. You just take the first sentence of the first post of each month. So enjoy the recap and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

January

Title of First Post: Forgiveness, Letting Go, and Moving On with Life
First Line of Post: Today church was amazing.....very hard....but amazing.

February

Title of First Post: Secret Pal
First Line of Post: Okay first of I must say THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to my secret pal.

March

Title of First Post: KTC Mystery Swap Questions Answered :)
First Line of Post: My Mystery Swap partner for Knit the Classics asked me to post the answer to these questions, so this if for her. :)

April

Title of First Post: Sock Yarn Stash
First Line of Post: For the Sock Yarn Addicts Club we are supposed to post a picture of our Sock Yarn Stash today....this is not to be confused with Flash Your Stash.

I don't want to think about how much this has grown this year. :)

May

Title of First Post: It's Coming Off
First Line of Post: So the pounds keep coming off which is good.

June

Title of First Post: I Did It
First Line of Post: I did it!

(I thought that was kinda funny....doesn't really tell you much does it! And I had no pictures posted in the month of June....CRAZY!!!)

July

Title of First Post: Update
First Line of Post: Okay so a lot of people have been anxiously awaiting an update on my life (okay so maybe only one person I know of has been bugging me about it but I like to think there are lots of you out there who can't wait until I post again) so here it goes. :)

August

Title of First Post: Support the Troops and FO's
First Line of Post: I meant to post about this last Friday but life got away from me. :)

September

Title of First Post: School, Yarn, and Secret Pals
First Line of Post: Well yesterday was offically my first day of school.

October

Title of First Post: SP9 Questionaire
First Line of Post: Okay so I noticed today that we are supposed to post this by the 15th.

November

Title of First Post: Chocolate Swap Thank You
First Line of Post: I have been so bad about thanking people in a timely fashion but since we have two weeks off from school I thought I'd catch up on my swapping thank yous.

December

Title of First Post: What's Better Than One Sock?
First Line of Post: A pair of socks!!

That was fun for me but a lot more work than I expected. I was adding pictures a long the way which is what took so long but the formatting got all screwed up so instead of taking even longer to fix it you get a post without pictures. :) I hope it's not too boring. :) HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Sign Me Up!!

2006-12-28T13:51:00.000-08:00

I read about this yesterday and I dreamed about it all night (I know crazy). So I guess that I really must do it! It is the 2007 UFO Resurrection challenge!! I don't have enough UFO's to do all 12 months (at least I don't think I do...I know it's a little sick...I actually usually finish projects). But I do have a few and then I figure I will work on all the ones that I specifically bought yarn for a specific pattern and never have started it. In my book those are also UFO's. So the yarn will either be added back to my stash or the project actually started. I'm so excited!!! This means that projects that I actually was super excited about doing at one point can be finished or if I'm not so excited the yarn can be put back in the "personal store" (otherwise known as stash). Go visit the page and join in on the fun.

I Love Gift Certificates!!!

2006-12-26T19:50:00.000-08:00

Christmas was kind of rough but I did get a very substantial gift certficate to the local yarn shop!! I was able to buy what I have been dreaming about but thought there was no way I would ever be able to do it. I got this.

The Debbie Bliss pure silk book and 10 skeins of pure silk in pink!!! It's enough to make this.

I love this pattern! I love this yarn! I've been drooling over it ever since she got it in. Every time I would go to the yarn store I would sit and hold a hank. :) And now it is mine!! All mine!! I actually bought all the pink she had. I had to pay a little bit but with the gift certificate and the 15% off coupon I only had to pay $21!!! For this...

(I just had to show it again! I love this stuff!!!)

And I also bought some more Artyarns Handpainted Strips to make more Cabled Footsies for my Sockret Pal!!

I love this color! It has green, gray, gray blue, light pink. They are all very subtle and beautiful!! I am just in love with this yarn!! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!! My sister and family got here today so we are doing Christmas with them and my other sister tomorrow. This will also be when I get to do Christmas with Ben. I'm excited to watch him open his presents. Good night all!!

Spoiled

2006-12-22T23:20:00.000-08:00

I got my final 2006 Rockin Sock Club package today. I found out that they had sent them out a little while ago so I emailed them to make sure they had changed my address because when I updated it with them about four months ago they didn't change it. So they said that if I didn't get it by Friday to email them and the would send me out another one. Then I got an email a little while later to say they looked in to it and saw that they had the emails but through a comedy of errors hadn't updated it either time. :) So they immediately sent out another one to me, which I got today, and said that when I get the other one I can just gift it to a friend. So I'm planning on putting together a little Socks that Rock gift package for my Secret Pal. It will be the next and last package so it will be fun!!

So in the package we got, of course, the normal key chain (I have three of them on my keys at the moment), a certificate of something or other to say we were in the club, the normal letter, a wonderful pattern, and TWO skeins of BEAUTIFUL yarn!!! I just love this stuff. I'm addicted!!! Of course I haven't knit any of it up yet. :) According to the back of the certificate that makes me a sock poser...but I don't like labels so who cares! :) I will leave you with a close up of the yarn. The top picture is truer to the color but oh well.

Fourth Day in a Row

2006-12-21T15:44:00.000-08:00

Can you believe it? This will be the fourth day that I have posted in a row!!! Of course, no one has commented. Who knows if anyone is reading this? But four days in a row is a bit of an accomplishment for me. So I said that yesterday I needed to read for school but...I actually did this!!

This is the first time I have done cables and it is way easier than I imagined. A whole new world of knitting possiblities has opened to me now!! I love this pattern. It is super easy and quick. I accidnetly did 3.5 inches on the cuff though instead of 2. I really can't bear to rip it out so it will just have a little longer cuff. These are a gift for someone but I can't say who since I'm not sure if they read my blog or not. Here is a close up of the sock.

I'm really loving this. I think may start working on a pairs for Christmas next year. It's so easy and looks great. What a great gift idea. Oh, by the way, it is Cable Footies from the One Skien book. The yarn is Artyarns Handpaint Stripes. It is super soft 100% merino wool. I really love the yarn. I found it at my lys. Well it's off to finish laundry and all that good stuff.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

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

So as promised here is the Christmas Tree. I have another close up shot of the front of it but that will have to wait for another post in which I have no photo to show. I'm sure there will be one soon. :) Today is a day for....studying...ugghhh. I have to read a little. Although I have to make a crab dip for a Christmas party tonight and since I have to shop for the ingredients as well I kinda doubt I will get much reading done. :) I got my Christmas package from my secret pal a couple days ago. I can't open the gifts until Christmas so there will be pictures of the gifts then and a thank you...well I can say thank you now and then thank you later so she can be doubly (not sure if that is a word) thanked. So THANK YOU SECRET PAL!!! I can't wait to see what is inside all those packages. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good....well it's not night time so....day! :)

Merry Meme

2006-12-19T20:39:00.000-08:00

I got this from Domestic Bliss. I thought it would be fun and help you all get to know me a little better.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I enjoying opening wrapping paper but I normally wrap with gift bags because I am an awful wrapper.

2. Real tree or artificial? Real tree!!! My parents own a fake tree and for the last few years I have convinced them to get a real one! Dad got a beautiful one this year and we just decorated it tonight. I will try to get a good picture of it tomorrow. Hopefully it will even have some presents under it.

3. When do you put up the tree? The first week of December normally.

4. When do you take the tree down? After New Years

5. Do you like eggnog? No way!!! I can't stand that stuff.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? I'm not sure. I can't remember anything specifically.

7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, we have a Veggietales Nativity Scene so that Ben can play with it and not break anything.

8. Hardest person to buy for? My dad, he never wants anything. Actually my mom is the same way as well.

9. Easiest person to buy for? Ben, of course. :)

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail, but this year I didn't get any done.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Most gifts that came from my ex-husband's Grandma. In particular she got me and my sister-in-law those little saran wrap things that have elastic in them to cover bowls. We just looked at them and wondered what they were. We thought maybe they were shower caps in various sizes. Then we figured it out later.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? I love them all!!

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Christmas Eve....I still have plenty of time :)

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Yup...I'm careful to always give them to people who don't know the original person. :)

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, I love it all!!!

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Clear

17. Favorite Christmas song? Mary Did You Know?

17b. Christmas Song That, When You Hear It, Makes Your Eyes Bleed And Your Brains Start To Leak Out Your Ears, Because That Is Less Painful Than Having To Listen To That *&%^&$# Song One More Time! Those stupid dogs that bark Jingle Bells that I keep hearing on the radio!

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? It depends on where I am living, but I have mainly just gone to my parents who usually have lived in the same town as me.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeers? No

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? I like both, but I prefer a star usually because it is easier to find a nice star than a non tacky looking angel.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? That now everyone says "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas". We have forgotten that the whole reason for Christmas is Christ. That He came to this earth to die for our sins. What a joyous thing to celebrate. God becoming flesh to save us!!! That is good news and something to celebrate! SO MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

23. Favorite Christmas Tradition? Stockings

24. Outdoor decorations? I have never had a house to do it to myself but I love them!! My dad keeps telling me he will do it if I go get the lights so I need to go and get them. :)

Pictureless Posts

2006-12-18T17:11:00.000-08:00

I HATE pictureless posts. Which is why I don't post as much as I could. I think of something to post but don't have a picture and so I just don't post. I know it's silly of me. And then even as I am writing this and planned not to put a picture I was thinking "well I could at least put a picture of Ben or something." I know, I know...it's crazy! I haven't been keeping up with my posts as well as I am supposed to for the swaps I am in so I thought I'd better write up something. :) I just got mostly moved in to my parents house. It's a long story that I don't really want to get into. This will be the first Christmas that I don't have Ben which is pretty sad. I will make it through though with God's help. I'll be spending most of the day cooking Christmas dinner since mom has to work. I'm making prime rib with all the fixings!! Hmmm...that makes me hungry. :) We are making crab melt sandwiches tonight with tomato soup.

Anyway, in knitting news..last week while I was sick (on top of moving and finals) I tried to get something ready to knit because I felt guilty just sitting in bed even though I was sick and couldn't do much else. Anyway, I got some yarn out and start to wind it and well....let's just say it was a huge mess. A few days later though a friend came over and I untangled it all by myself while she talked to me. Now those of you who know me realize that this is a HUGE accomplishment. I HATE to untangle things. But I did it. I haven't cast on with the yarn yet...but it is ready. :)

Okay...I'm off to cook dinner for the family. And I am going to resist the urge and post without pictures!

What's Better Than One Sock?

2006-12-08T23:38:00.000-08:00

A pair of socks!! I finished them....very late...but they are done. It's good I had no real deadline for them. It was great because I was able to give them to her on our last day of school!! That's right today was the last day of finals!! I'm so excited...I made it!!! God is good. I have changed so much in these last few months. It can only be that God has done amazing things in me. We had a great Christmas party tonight. I was the organizer of most of it. We had 16 college age people. It was so great!! Well I'm exhausted. It's time for bed. (I can actually sleep and relax now without feeling guilty...well for a few days since I have a 15 page paper to write and three big books to read for an intensive right after school starts again.) I will leave you with a picture of some good looking girl who showed up at the party. ;)

I See the Finish Line (Sort of)

2006-11-25T21:38:00.000-08:00

First of I am sorry for no pictures. My camera battery died and since I'm not at home I can't recharge it. I thought about bringing the charger with me but it needs charged so infrequently that I thought I'd be okay. I brought the cord to connect it to the computer to upload my pictures but not the charger for the battery. It always happens that when you don't bring something you need it. :) Isn't that Murphy's Law or something like that? You'd think I'd learn.

Anyway, I only have about three inches left of the foot of the sock and then the toe. I think I will have it done in time for the birthday party on the 27th. I will not however have the other pair done like I wanted to. This will still be a huge accomplishment though. So I will still over a prize just not as big of one. :) It will still be sock yarn just not Cherry Tree Hill.

I have found out that I can't knit socks for too terribly long at a time without my fingers being in pain and one of my fingers goes numb. Then I stretch and rest and it feels better. The finger will not go numb if I stretch. I went to a massage therapist once and he said it was from muscles not from carpel tunnel. I've been checked for carpal tunnel before and have been told I don't need to worry. So anyway, all that to say...is there a way of knitting socks that is easier on the hands? I use DPN's...so I was thinking is magic loop easier, are two circs easier? Anyone have an opinion or some advice? :) I'd appreciate it. Okay I'd better get back to this sock. Oh by the way, did you know you can watch full episodes of TV on the internet. I am a huge LOST fan and have seen the first two seasons and found that on abc.com you can watch the first six episodes of this season. You can also watch all sorts of other shows. CBS as the same thing and I've watched a bunch on there as well. I think it's pretty cool since I don't have TV. I will once I move back in with my parents (I know I havne't said much about that. It's because I don't want to get into all my divorce/custody stuff on here.) but not yet so this is very handy. Okay now back to knitting and Lost!!! :)

Thankful

2006-11-23T11:36:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!! I am so thankful for all my knitting friends those I know and those I have never met. God has truly blessed me with great friends and family and a hobby that is fabulous!!! I hope everyone enjoys today!!

More Progress

2006-11-21T11:47:00.000-08:00

I am on the heel flap now. I have half an inch more until I can turn the heel and pick up the gusset stitches. I have to pack today to go home for Thanksgiving so I don't think I will get much done today but it should be done soon. The other project I'm working on getting done by the 27th should be much quicker since it is worsted weight yarn and little footsies instead of full socks!! I'll be happy if I just get this pair done but I know I can get all the way done. I'm excited!! I think if I do finish both projects by the 27th I will offer some sort of prize to someone. Not sure who are how I'll do it. Maybe by doing a drawing with everyone who comments on my posts since the motivation post. Yeah that's it. So post a comment. And I will put you in for each post you comment on! The drawing will be for Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn! This will be a big accomplishment for me when I do it so it deserves a BIG prize!! So start commenting and I'll get back to knitting.

Progress Report

2006-11-19T15:23:00.000-08:00

Okay so it's been just a couple days since I posted last and this is your update on my goal to get this pair of socks and one more done by the 27th. So far so good....at least I think so.

I have finished the first sock of the pair for my friend. All I had left was the toe but it is now finished and all the ends weaved in. There were quite a few because this was the only...yes I said only...self striping yarn that was made by Roxanne of Zen Yarn Garden. It's great yarn and I'm so excited that I'm the only person who ever got any. And now it will be a great pair of socks for a good friend. She has the same size foot as me so I tried them on.

They fit great and are so comfortable.

There is just something about the way that hand knit socks feel on the feet. I love the feeling of the stitches and the warmth. Every time I knit a pair I can't get over how great they are!

The second sock as been started!!!

I tried to make is so you can see on the tape measure how much I have done but I don't think that the camera cooperated with me. But it's 3 1/2 inches of the cuff. It will be 7 inches total so that is half way. I will try to update you again tomorrow with my progress but for right now I am getting behind on my knitting. :)

Motivation

2006-11-17T16:36:00.000-08:00

So as I was surfing around blogs this morning I read Yarn Harlot's post "A Sock a day?". I have been knitting this one sock for my friend since September. And it's just simple K2,P2 ribbing!! So I was thinking lat night as I finally started the toe (and no it's still not done yet) on the first sock that I must be crazy to think I could have these done by the 27th when it has taken me this long to finish one. Then I read the aforementioned post from Yarn Harlot. So I guess if other's can do a sock a day that I can do it in over a week. Right? And I need to do a present for my pal and according to the idea of doing one sock a day I should be all finished with both projects by Monday night or Tuesday morning. Now I know that this will not happen, but let's see if I can do it by the 26th. Both sets done. What do you think? Can I do it? Of course I can!!! (right?)