The Good, The Bad, and The Wooly

The last few days have been a bit of an emotional roller coaster. So many ups and downs and turns and complete 180's that leaves me with my head spinning. Life sure can be crazy sometimes. Anyways, I'll start with some good- my awesome Mother's Day! I actually got to sleep in late, thanks to my darling husband. He and The Monsterette got me some really great gifts, as well. Along with two skeins of dishcloth cotton and a kacha-kacha that I've been wanting forever, they also got me two skeins of this: Debbie Bliss Merino Aran in a beautiful chocolate brown. I'm planning to make this hat, and if there's enough left, maybe some fingerless gloves. Yum! I also got this beautiful blooming cactus: Awesome, isn't it? Totally my kind of plant- pretty and hard to kill! The rest of the day involved lots of relaxing, a great trip to the park with my sweeties, and a delicious steak dinner. Such a great day! I hope all of you mothers out there had an equally wonderful day. Monday and Tuesday were pretty uneventful- just work and knitting and that's about it. Wednesday started the same, until I got a call from my boss about an hour and a half after getting home. For some reasons that I don't really want to discuss, I was fired. The only thing I want to say is that I was very wrongly accused. Anyways, as you can imagine, the put a bit of dog shit on my afternoon with Monsterette. I decided to do some retail therapy, and stopped at Borders for the new Interweave Crochet magazine- yeah, I want to make the granny square purse that everyone seems to be doing now. I also took a trip to the yarn store and came away with two skeins of this: Nature Spun fingering weight in Cherry Delight- the color is just a touch brighter than in the picture, and more pinkish. I love it! I'm definitely going to make some socks out of this stuff. Yeah, I know, I haven't even finished one sock, and here I am planning for more. I actually bookmarked a good 15 sock patterns yesterday. I am really enjoying the whole sock thing, though, and it is going considerably faster than I thought it would! I did have to start over once because I was very confused by the short row heel (maybe because I was trying to knit and beat Hubbster in Tiger Woods Golf on the PS2 at the same time), but I've worked well past that point. Alright, I suppose I'll show you: Aren't the colors great? I am really loving the yarn. My biggest paranoia about the whole sock knitting adventure is the sock fitting. I am trying it on religiously every 5 rounds (it fits fine) and struggling to not do it after every single one. It is amazing to admire it on my foot and the luxury of hand-knit socks definitely keeps me motivated! There are definitely more socks in my future. Adios for now...

Wollmeise

A few weeks ago I won a contest for some Wollmeise sock yarn over here. I'd never heard of it, but was happy nonetheless! She asked me to pick my favorite color, and I swear, I couldn't narrow it down past three. I told her my three favorite, and told her to pick on for me. so, today, when I got the yarn, I was so excited! I opened the package, and the skein was beautifully wrapped: Don't you love the little skeinlet? Anyways, I got a little giddy opening it, because not only did I not know what color it was inside, I really had no recollection of my top three. I was pleasantly surprised when I found this inside: Isn't it yummy? The picture doesn't even begin to do it justice- the colors are so gorgeous and rich. Here are some yarny stats: Wollmeise Sock Wool Superwash 100% wool 150g US size 2 needles 350m/100g (an amazing 574 yards!) I am really in love. This stuff is buttery soft. Like Malabrigo, but smooth. Mmmmmm. Smoooooooth. So, go check out the website (make sure you click the little "english" thing on the bottom right, unless, of course, you read German) and buy some stuff! I know I will! Oh, and a huge thanks to E. for turning me on to such a great new yarn!

Knitting List

I've seen this a few places, most recently over at Lyndsey-Jane's blog. I figured now is as good of time as any, so here you go! If you want, you can skip over it all and just go to the end for some exciting news. A warning, though- you may be quizzed on this later! Edit the list, bold for stuff you've done, italics for stuff you plan to do one day, and normal for stuff you're not planning on doing. Afghan/Blanket 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 banana fiber 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 Knitting with your own handspun yarn Slippers (halfway there!) Graffiti 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 colors Knitting items for a wedding Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cozies…) Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars Olympic knitting Knitting with someone else’s 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 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 self-patterning/self-striping/variegating yarn Stuffed toys Baby items 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 mitts/arm warmers 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 There you have it! Not much I don't want to do, is there? Alright! I'll see you later! What? Oh, right! I promised you exciting news! Oh, all right then. Guess what I did last night? I started my first sock! I'm using Knitty's Universal Toe Up Pattern. Genius! I'm finally using the awesome yarn from the Dye-O-Rama swap, and size one needles. I only got a few rows into it, but I'm loving it so far. Pictures will follow soon! HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

A Study in Stripes

Saturday we were out of town, and silly me, I forgot my knitting! A quick trip to Micheal's remedied that, though- I picked up a needed size of bamboo needles and a few balls of Paton's SWS in natural geranium. ( I was very temped by the natural denim colorway, but I'm trying to stick with Project spectrum color rules here.) I used the curvy short row scarf pattern from one of those scarf books- I'm not really remembering which one. (ETA: The scarf pattern came from the book Scarves: A Knitter's Dozen.) Anyways, the SWS was wonderful- the long color repeats worked really well with the pattern, and the yarn is soft and snuggly. (also ETA: I can not stand this yarn knit up against my skin. Too itchy!)Not to mention, this scarf was super easy to do! I finished it today, so about 6 days. The majority of it was done today and yesterday, since I'm stuck home with The Monsterette (she has a rash, so no more daycare this week). I'll quit blabbing now and leave you with pictures!

Thank You Secret Pal!

This post is long overdue, and I've finally guilted myself into taking some time to take pictures and share my goodies with you guys! My Secret Pal from SP10 is absolutely the coolest, and I am so grateful she is putting up with my crappy blogging habits! Around Easter, I received a book from amazon from my lovely pal- One Skein Wonders. It rocks! I have an unnatural love for books that have patterns that I can make with only one skein of yarn, that isn't composed completely of socks and scarves. Truly genius. Shortly after I received my wonderful book, I got an awesome package from her, as well! It included this yummy yarn from Goddess Yarns. A very cool concept, to name yarn after Goddesses! Very fittingly, my yarn was named after the Goddess of gratitude. Here are the goods: There were two balls of the turquoise and one of the purple in my little package. The turquoise color isn't quite that bright- I had a hard time capturing the true colors. The purple is pretty spot on, though! It's really yummy stuff, though, and I can't wait to start knitting with it! She also sent me this little guy: Isn't he cute? He found a home right away, far from the grasp of little fingers that like to hide magnets. He smiles at me every morning. My pal also included some yummy flavored coffee samples that are long gone. I have this sinking feeling that i'm leaving something out, but dammit, it's been a long day and my brain is fried. So, dear secret pal, if I forgot something, I deeply apologize and I promise I loved it. Please gently remind me and I'll make sure the world (well, at least the people who read my blog) knows you sent something I forgot to mention. I'm really, truly sorry if I did forget. ETA: I knew I forgot something! She also sent me a few back issues of Interweave Knits and one of Creative Knitting. Such a great idea for me, who doesn't subscribe to anything... In other news- man, there's been lots going on here! I've been knitting when I have the energy, and finished a little gift for my secret pal. I've also started another little goodie for her, and really trying to knit something more than dishcloths for myself. I really should be working on UFO's, but who really wants to do that? I've been itching to try my first pair of socks, especially since the yarn I have fits this month's Project Spectrum colors pretty well! I'll try to blog at least once more this week, to fill you all in on the rest of the fun stuff from the last few weeks. Once again, I apologize profusely for being such a crappy blogger as of late. I'll try to be better, I promise!