More than Generous

If there is an award for best pal, mine should get it. Hands down. The original package my secret pal sent on Nov. 14th got lost in the mail. Once we figured out that it was lost my pal SENT ANOTHER PACKAGE!! And it was a super package. Look at what I got!!!

Yes you can believe your eyes. You are looking at one copy of "The Happy Hooker", a skein of Rowan Big Wool (in shade 32), a skein of Cascade Yarns 220 Superwash , One skein of Two Waters Fiberworks Cashmere Sock Yarn(so soft, and such amazing bright colors), a set of six double pointed needles (size 2), one anonymous skein of some gorgeous chenille yarn, SEVEN skeins of Catania Color sock yarn (100% cotton, very silky), a pack of daisy post its, knitting note cards, and a very very funny card with three sheep on it that says "Pass slipped stich over" My favorite thing to do with it right now is a little thing I like to call the "stash stack" and it looks like this:

I feel so lucky to have such a wonderful pal. I love all the yarn, and it is all so luxurious and special to me. This is ths sort of stuff that I pick up in the LYS, hold it, covet it, but never purchase it. The whole package was such a treat. I'm already scheming of the projects I will start! THANK YOU to my most awesome pal!

Designer to the ten year olds...

I have this friend, she's ten. My friend hates anthing pink, red, green, orange, ruffly, skirt like (this includes the infamous skort), things with pleats, things with darts, sparkles, fringe, and girly. Its cool- she's fun just the way she is, but I was starting to feel like she might need some accessories (disguised as functional wear, of course). Nothing in the store seemed to fit her unique sense of style-so I took it upon myself to design something for her. It is a one of a kind scarf, made with TLC, in a pattern designed by me (which I no longer remember). By the by, the ruffled looking edge is really not a ruffle. It is a small row of tiny crocheted triangles. And this photo does show the test end of fringe, but that has since been removed. It is a success of a designer project! Watch out all you people born in 1996, I may be your future scarf guru! :-)

Even Emily...

Laidies and Gentlemen! Come one, come all to see what Even Emily did...Yes sireee that is a sweater...sort of. What is amazing is that both pieces turned out the exact same size, both pieces are complete, and ah yes- this was completed in just over three days! Stand in amazement because THIS HAS NEVER HAPPENED TO ME BEFORE! I just have to get through two sleeves and (gasp!) I will have made a sweater. Ooooh Aaaah. Perhaps a sweater I might never wear, but a complete sweater nonetheless. I can taste victory already!

Hope

Sometimes you start something that you think will never be finished. And then all of a sudden its almost done. And you start to realize that you aren't really ready for this at all, but you still have to jump.

Best Gift Ever

Here it is! My early Christmas gift from mom and aunt Beth! I'm pleased to announce that I 'm the proud new owner of a 90 stitich function, all metal construction, super duper Shark Euro Pro Sewing Machine. I've already made a skirt and I'm working on a jacket! The best part is that I can do this, and it takes such a short amount of time. I love sewing. I've always resisted it because my mom is sooooo into it, but I've really found it to be relaxing. Yay for sewing!

In other news...

The House has begun! We've made it through the early construction phase, and are now the proud owners of a concrete hole in the ground. See!- that's my husband exploring the wonders of our soon to be basement. Thrilling isn't it!

Mitten Mitten, Who's Got the Mitten?

Ta Da! Here is my fancy mitten! Now, I know some of y'all out there HATE eyelash and fun furesque yarn, but I firmly believe there is a place in this world for all sorts of fibers. And this is truly one of them. A sassy fluffy and oh-so-warm mitten. It isn't that hard to make-two yarns together make a warm weave! However, here is my dilema- I made one pretty successfully. Heck, I even made two of them- but I had to frog the second one twice because it is consistantly larger than the first one! Not just longer, but wider. Let it be known that I attempted to make two!

The busiest week ever

No lie. I have been at work all day and meetings all night all week. I can't get out of my office. I did get to my first knitting meetup on Tuesday night, popped my "knitting in public cherry", it was great. I'll give my shout outs to the Newark Knitters tomorrow, Friday, which is my day off. WAHOOOO. I'm going to post some pics for y'all and go shopping for my secret pal. Um, and I'll probably beg my husband to take me to the waffle house, because thats just what you do on a day off right?

Treadmill dance

This is the funniest thing I've ever seen...giggle giggle...

Secret Pal Questions

Secret Pal 9 questionnaire....

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
So I'm really not that picky :-) I love cotton yarn, probably because of it is inexpensive and easy to use. I even do acrylic. So far the best yarn I've ever used was Debbie Bliss Cashmerino bulky. (I made one slipper) The problem is that I rarely finish a project, so I'm often hesitant (ahem, my sweet husband often raises his eyebrow me if I do) to purchase more pricey yarns.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
I have a "knitting tower" which is a large plastic drawer set up. The top drawer is really thin, so I keep all my needles and hooks in there. Right now it is in storage, because of the whole house building/moving situation. So I keep the ones I'm currently using in a basket under the coffee table.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
I have been knitting for just over two years. I'm an intermediate knitter, but rarely finish a project. I like to try techniques and increasingly difficult projects just to see if I can do it. I learned to knit from my mom, who learned from my gram. The problem is that mom is right handed, gram was left handed, and I have a small ambidextrous problem between my two hands. So, much of my knitting style is self taught from books and mom's crazy "right handed but really left handed" knitting style. Think continental with a twist...

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
Yes, I have an Amazon wishlist that I have not updated since 2005. :-)

5. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products, etc.)
This time of year I love things that smell like food: chocolate, cinnamon, vanilla, spice etc. I hate things that smell musky like dirt or old ladies.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
YES! I have a wicked sweet tooth. I could eat a whole bag of Oreo cookies- no lie. I also love Mike & Ike candies.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
I crochet-which is kind of the exact same thing as knitting (does it even count as an other?). I'm also a pretty decent baker- I took a cake decorating class once, that was fun. I don't spin, but mom has both a wheel and a loom just waiting for me to learn...

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
I love music in general- I listen to everything except heavy metal hair band type stuff. Seriously, rock, rap, mellow, r&b,country, pop, gospel, classical, indie girlie- all of it. My ipod is packed with everything- and all my electronics are MP3 compatible.

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?
Pink and green, hands down, best color combo ever. I love bright colors and rich colors. I'm not much for neutrals, unless they are combined with deep or intense color. Oh, and I own more navy blue yarn than anyone I know. I always want to purchase the navy blue...

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I'm married with no kids, unless you count my two adorable daschaunds. They are like my children.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
Yes. But not ponchos. I wouldn't know how to wear a poncho. If you knew me, you'd know how ridiculous I would look in a poncho.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
Mostly things that are square, or variations of square (like two squares sewn together to make a purse). Knitting is a tremendous stress reliever from my work, so when I'm truly in the knitting zone, I'm knitting things that are easy to repeat over and over again. When I'm in the mood for a challenge I like a project with one technique, like cables or lace that I can perfect before I quit.

13. What are you knitting right now?
A cabled cardigan. I swear I'm committed to finishing it, its made with navy blue yarn...

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
I love them. Even more, I love the idea of giving them-I'm just not fast enough to make them or able to keep my interest on a project long enough to finish them.

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
All of my needles used to belong to my gram. I inherited them. I have a ton of them, however every last one of them is aluminum. I have never knitted with anything else in my life. Except for a pair of daisy plastic ones, which felt like knitting with air. On a side note, I would absolutely love to learn how to knit with round needles. I always get confused about markers and such. I'm a whiz with the straight ones though...

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
A what? Does my husband count?

17. How old is your oldest UFO?
Two years. My first project remains a UFO- a pretty felted cabled tote that was too difficult for a novice knitter with HUGE aspirations.

18. What is your favorite holiday?
It is a tie between Thanksgiving and Easter. Both mark transitions into different seasons, and for me they seem to bring family together in the best ways.

19. Is there anything that you collect?
I have this collection of silver crest Fenton glass that my husband and I started a few years ago. It is white handblown glass (bowls, compotes, dishes etc) that has a rippled edge of clear or colored glass. I think it is beautiful, and we enjoy the hunt for unique pieces.

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
Honestly, I'm a sucker for anything with glossy pages. I buy knitting books, I love them, I love to read them and look at difficult projects and imagine myself trying them out with the fancy yarns, but rarely do I attempt. Right now I've got my eye on a copy of Mason Dixon Knitting. Once in a while I will treat myself to a magazine, but I don't have any subscriptions.

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
YES! I'd like to learn lace and fair isle and knitting in the round and I want to figure out how to make a hat. You know, stuff that isn't square. Even sweaters are pretty much squares with a little shaping all sewn together.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
I tried sock knitting once. It didn't happen. I would love to try again one day. I think it all goes with that whole knitting in the round thing. I don't know my food measurements...I wear a size 9 shoe?

23. When is your birthday? (mm/dd)
May 20

Sweet!

I would just like to tell y'all that I have finished two (2!) cable repeats in my navy blue cable cardigan. I can make a cable. Now hold your breath for a picture...maybe tomorrow!

no love

i started on row four
maintaining the pattern
click click click with my metal needles
row five
row six
the famous row seven.
The Cable Row.
Something is wrong-
an extra stich?
rip, rip, rip

Rolodex this...

I spent two and a half hours of valuable knitting time organizing the six thousand business cards I have recently inhereted at my new job tonight. Seriously, nobody throws anything away at my job. See, I was given a new rolodex so that the desk would look organized. I have to admit I was pretty excited about it. It was one of those wheelie ones and they (i.e. "the office") bought me a little rolodex hole puncher to make the business cards fit into the rolodex. Of course, this was NOT what I had requested. I wanted those little cards with the slots in the corner that fit in the rolodex and then you slide the business cards into the slots. This is different than the plastic sleeves, of which I also got 50 of these that I did not request. But the person who bought it for me was being extremely thoughtful, and it appeared to be a good system. I separated the cards alphabetically and even cross referenced some of them to other categories/names. I spent countless minutes deciphering what my predecessor meant by "Joan 353" and where this name and its cryptic number belonged. I pulled my new rolodex out of its box, only to find that the old rolodex was really old and the cards where about an inch longer than my new rolodex. Dilema here. Old, wide, dog-eared veteran cards vs. new skinny, glamourous, shiny, young rolodex. I was not about to hand write every business card and every old rolodex card onto the smaller one. The business card punch was a piece of crap that did not punch. Oh, and the plastic sleeves- too wide for the new rolodex. I ended up just putting my alphabetized cards back into the old rolodex. What a waste of an evening and a total waste of a dainty beautiful new rolodex. Hence, there is no new knitting progress and I'm quickly losing my interest in the sweater project!

frustration

I have begun a lovely project. To be honest, it is not difficult. It is a simple cable cardigan. The cable pattern happens to be for idiots- which is good for me. I thought, "Ha! I can make a sweater. This will show everyone that I do finish real projects." But I lied. Last night I hit the wall at row number 7. The cable row...Everything was going fine until I decided to talk on the phone while knitting. Normally, not a problem. Then I screwed up my pattern. Everything was one stitch off from where it was supposed to be AND I had managed to pick up a stitch. I frogged it back to my mistake and started again only to realize that it was still off and that I still had one extra sneaky stitch. More frogging. Back to row 4, where I had started my evening knitting. This incident took me four minutes to write about BUT TOOK ME 2 HOURS TO MAKE AND THEN CORRECT. Horrifying. Tonight is an overnight shift in the hospital, so hopefully I'll have a little time to add to this sweater. But the future of the sweater is not looking so hot. It is in grave danger of becoming a UFO....

No pain, no gain

I have started my project, but there are no pics yet. I have completed 8 rows, and only had to frog it 4 times thus far. It will be worth it soon though. No knitting tonight though, because my Jaguars were on and I was too involved in the game. Congrats to the Jags on their total annihilation of the Steelers!

New thang

Well I did it. I went my LYS, (shout out to Vulcan's Rest Fibers) where Margaret and Margaret helped me select an appropriately difficult project and set me up with yarn I could afford. (Remember I'm building a house folks...) Anyhow it is a sweater. And that is all I will say for the moment. Here's a teaser for you...My gauge swatch!!!!

I only had to do it twice before obtaining the correct size. If you know me at all you know that I never check gauge and most importantly, the last thing I need is another navy blue sweater...Let the adventure begin!

Happy photo

Sometimes I think we all need to stop and take a minute to appreciate the little moments we've shared in life. This photo was taken at the top of a waterfall that my husband and I climbed last weekend. We were camping in the Catoctin mountains. It was a great outing and provided some much needed rest and relaxation. Don't we look blissful? What you don't know is that 45 minutes into the future from this snapshot, I got us lost on a trail. Yes, it was paved, but we were lost nonetheless. Despite my husband's urging I refused to re-enter the forest. C'mon now, wouldn't you rather be lost on pavement than lost in the woods? And that is how we ended up walking 5 miles on the side of a country highway. It was a great trip, and I'm so happy to have a good picture to remind me of a great moment.

One door closes

Ninja Dachshaund says:

"Look into my eyes, look deep into my eyes...Go! Finish a project! Do it now! "

Yes, tonight was a night. After a long day at the office I came home to an empty house. I considered doing something healthy for about five and a half seconds before deciding that this gray chilly evening was best meant for the fibre arts. MMMHMMM break out the yarn. I have had several projects in progress over the summer, but tonight I finished one. It is the second one ever. (Yes I've been knitting for over two years now). Who says you have to actually finish a project??? I can no longer think about this scarf, and how difficult it was to make with my super lightweight Daisy #10s. Or how delicate the kid mohair felt in my hand. To some this is a moment of satisfaction, but to me it is downright sad.

Overall, it was easy and the effect was quite nice. It is a solid garter stich the whole way through. The only problem is that it doesn't look a thing like anything I would ever wear. The completion of this scarf lessens my current project count, and therefore I am availible to any new patterns at this point in time. I promise to passionately pursuit you for the first three days and then ignore your needs for months on end. Oh Geez. I am the "man" of knitting projects.

Good Yarn...Bad Girl

SO My new goal is to routinely publish to this blog. I've really really slipped when it comes to all sorts of things. First of all I'd like to say that I've offically joined a knitting group- The Newark Knitters- however have never made it to a meeting. I'm aiming for the next one.

It has been a super busy summer, but I've been keeping up with my knitting projects as much as possible (I've got four going currently). Of course none are finished. There is "the afghan" which I have a strong suspicion is a "winter only " project. Then we have the "I have too much pink acrylic yarn" granny square that has grown to an absurd size. Third we come to the one ribbon slipper booty thing- which I started on vacation. That was a great project. I finished the slipper, but somehow cannot bring myself to finish the other one now that I am home. Lastly we have the large pile of yarn my sister brought home from Ireland. It is soft and grey with tiny flecks of yellow and red and blue. Honestly, I'm scared to touch it. I really should finish something with this yarn but I don't even know what I will make.

Here is a blurry pic of my new yarn- I have a ton of it...Tivoli luxury tweed double knitting in shade 244.






Any Suggestions?

OKAY I'VE BEEN TAGGED BY YARNCOFFEE

Two Truths and a LIE.....

1. I grew up in a rural town smack in the middle of Texas where I spent my time in the 4H club- with my very own calf. He was brown and white spotted and I fed him from a giant bottle everyday.

2. I hate science fiction. Anything with a remotely mystical twist on it is dead to my soul. That's right. No Harry Potter or Star Wars or anything that deals with wizards, dragons, space creatures, and time travel.

3. I am an avid runner. I run two to three miles every morning, and if I don't get my run in- consider my day ruined. I love the rush at the end of a good long run. I run so much that I replace my sneakers every three to four months.

um...if I knew any other bloggers, you would be tagged...

WHOOPS!

OK, So I have totally neglected the blog thing for about a month and a half now. Whoops! Let me tell you why....

It all started in the beginning of June, Hubby said to me "I want a different house, one that doesn't have 80 years of dirt on the walls, one that stays clean when you clean it, one that you don't have to spend all your time and money fixing, and one that has a basement that I can finish and put a treadmill in it!" It was a sort of mini hissy fit. After all that the only thing I can think of is, "What, you want a treadmill?" It totally threw me off. SO, off we go "just looking" and wouldn't you know it...we found a house. The only problem is that said house is not yet built. Now I have never built a house, but let me tell you, I am finding out that it is one of the most complicated processes I have ever been involved in.

OK so we're building a house. I had recently started a new job-which I quit today- that wasn't a good fit, and here I am. So, I'm going to jump back in. I'd show you pictures of all my unfinished projects, but they are currently in storage. Thats right- storage. That is like a death sentence for the unfinished project. They aren't coming out until the house is complete, sometime in 2007.

Have no fear, because I'm already in the process of creating an afghan. It will be perfect for the new house. The pattern calls for 63 "motifs", which are about six rounds of crochet a piece, each round in a different color. I've made six. Classic start for me. I'm already getting bored. When I find my camera (also maybe in storage), I'll show you some pictures. In the meantime, please enjoy this photo of Dixie...

Do I make you proud?

Well, my season long, very unhealthy obsession with American Idol is now over....Yes, I know I'm too old for that crap but it is such a fun show! Last night Taylor Hicks was crowned the American Idol, and then he got to sing that really obnoxious song about making you proud. I'm avoiding the radio all day so I don't have to hear it. Now, right before Ryan Seacrest announced the winner he mentioned that American Idol had more voters than any US President. Now I know we're all shaking our heads and saying that is a shame but maybe it is a sign. Maybe America needs to get with the program...Think how many more people would vote if they could sit on the couch and text their presidential vote to 1-866-donkey1. Or what if the Democratic National Convention allowed the top three choices for presidential candidates to give speeches, a few news anchors ripped them a new one on live TV and then we get to vote by phone to determine the winner. Throw in a few stars like Clay Aiken singing the National Anthem and suddenly you've got yourself a blockbuster election season...

The First!

This is my brand new blog! I'd like this blog to be a place to meet other kntters and get some feedback on the knitting projects I never finish. That's my deal...I start projects, lots of projects but rarely finish any. I've finished two projects in the three years that I've been knitting. I'm famous for making the front of a sweater, then the back and finding out the the front side is two inches longer than the back side (yes, I know about guage). BUT I LOVE TO KNIT AND CROCHET!!!!! I think it is something about having something to do with your hands instead of just sitting there. Aside from knitting I am completely obsessed with trying new hobbies. They rarely stick-knitting is the only one I remain attached to. I have commitment issues. Currently I'm mountain biking and learning to play tennis. There are quite a few things that are constant in my life. My husband (who adores me), my family, my friends, and my dogs. These are my dogs. They're wrestlers and publicity junkies. When they aren't training for wrestling competitions they keep my husband and I company and sleep alot. They are also great at destroying balls of yarn. We keep them anyhow, because one day we know they will be famous wrestlers.