HYPERCRAZY ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's Done!  It's Done!  Did I mention it was done?

Yup....My Hypercrazy is off the needles and blocking.  The bind off took me over 2 hours.....I was texting it to show ppl I was almost done.  I am pretty proud of this shawl.  The lighting is not the greatest, but you can see how big it is.  I am also using my new blocking board made out of insulation board that a great friend, Anne, made me.  I love it!  When I soaked it, the water turned a little purple...but the yarn is just perfect for this pattern......look at the close ups....I have a picture of it as I started to bind off and then a close up as it is stretched out on the blocking board....I could have stretched it even more, but I was tired, and just wanted it blocking so I could take a picture.  I have about 82 grams left....so probably enough for a hat or pair of socks or mitts or something.

I will still finish my second Hypercrazy in the Biker Chick colorway, just not for a while.  This was for my SNB's 1st qtr KAL.....for the 2nd qtr, we are going to knit Hojas y Bayas shawlette.  It is a much smaller shawlette and uses about 260 yards (not 1400).  This Shawlette is designed by a friend of mine that I met at SNB many years ago.....her name is Dana and she has some wonderful designs.  Check out her blog too.  I ordered 4 skeins of chroma fingering weight for this shawlette from knit picks (paperback, prism, lollipop, watercolor)....I think I am going to use watercolor.....I am not sure yet.

I worked a little bit on my Miss Babs Knitting tour scarf....it is a very easy pattern to memorize.  I have made myself a calendar so I can be done with this by end of April...but I am already behind, but hope to catch up tonight.....

Paige starts her first day of work at a barber shop today, they will have her as a receptionist till she finishes her boards and is licensed.....I am sending her lots of great vibes, feel free to do the same!  Well, I wish I had more to report, but the Hypercrazy sucked up all of my time this week...but it was worth it.

Have a great week everyone!

Happy Happy Knitting!

I must have spoke too soon!

Sad news.....my contract terminated last Thursday.  It seems that not everyone files their tax returns in a timely manner.  The buyer that we were in contract with was pre qualified....so after they made the offer it was time for the lender to get all the fun documentation....bank statements, pay stubs, tax returns, etc.....but the buyer did not have tax returns for the last few years because he was in the field (military, va loan) and when he came back stateside he did not file...I do not know how long the time frame is that you have to file, but I think now that he is filing, he has too many penalties, or they are trying to straighten things out.....either way, it will take too long (we were supposed to close April 22) and they had to terminate the contract......so it is back on the market since buyers lending fell through.  There were a few showings this past weekend and one person said "interior needs paint"....hello!  I just had about 75% of the interior painted and have the paint bill to prove it....oh well, I know the perfect buy is out there somewhere....I just wish they would look at that house and make an offer soon....ha, ha!

Knitting.....well it is pretty much the same as last week.  I do not think I worked on the scarf or socks at all last week...only my Hyper Crazy....it is coming along and I am one row away from my 10th repeat (there are only 11 repeats, so that is good).  According to my semi-accurate calculations, I am about 70% done with it.

I had a little stash enhancement....remember the Miss Babs Knitting tour I signed up for?  Well, we are going to New Zealand!  I was so excited to get my package this morning.  Darlene got her package last Friday so we got to take a look at hers first.  Mine made it to my desk this morning and it is just gorgeous.  Darlene is on vacation today and tomorrow (boo hoo, I won't see her till Wednesday) and I think we will cast on then (because we have nothing else on the needles).....it is a beautiful scarf.....

Darlene also made me a new bag for us to put this new project in.  She is making herself one too....it has the cutest dogs and cats on it, I love it!  and it will fit all 7 skeins of our yarn perfectly!  She rocks!!!

Now I have another idea for you....I do not come up with all these ideas but see others teach them or mention them, etc.....When I was at Darlene's a while back, she showed me this this awesome quilting board/wall.  I told her it would be awesome for blocking....she had never thought about it for blocking.  I have blocking mats which are great for blocking but some items would block even better if you could let them 'hang' from some blocking wires and then pin out....like a 1/2 pi shawl or something.  Well, a lady that goes to SNB did a class at Inskein Yarns on how to make a blocking board out of insulation board from Home Depot or Lowes.  A regular insulation board is 8 feet by 2 feet....you can have Lowes or Home Depot cut that board into 4 pcs....each one being 2 feet by 4 feet.....then you will tape them together but in a manner that they can be folded accordian style....then just cover and glue it with a 1 inch by 1 inch gingham pattern fabric (it helps with measuring).....here is one pre material....when I get mine, I will take another picture...it folds and stores in a 2 foot by 4 foot area like under bed or in closet.

Well, that is really all I have for this week.....I hope to have more next.....Happy Happy Happy knitting....I leave you with some of my favorite knitting pictures.

And we have a contract!!!!!

I am so excited that there is a contract on my house for sale.  I was very excited that it only took a little over 2 weeks.....every month I have to make that mortgage payment, I cringe!  I hope posting it here (and I already posted on FB) does not jinx me!

What has everyone been up to?  I have been plugging away on 3 main things....and they are all KAL's.  There is my Hiya Hiya Waves Scarf KAL.....my Hiya Hiya Diamondoid Socks KAL....and the HyperCrazy KAL for the San Antonio SNB.

We had a tiny party for the Ravellenics at SNB this past weekend.  I made out like a bandit....but I did all of the number generations in front of ppl so they could see it was not rigged......however, there was an awkward moment....before the party started, Shannon was admiring some gradient lace yarn....and I said how pretty it was and now if I could only rig it to where I win it.....then, when my number comes up on the random number generator.....Shannon was like "Weren't you just saying you were going to rig it where you won that?"  Suspicious awkward moment!  I left feeling a little guilty (like ppl really thought I did rig it somehow) but I know I did not and hey.....I have always said in the past that I never win anything....this time all the luck changed and I won a lot....maybe next year someone else will want to take over....I can only wish!

So, we had 9 categories....Cross Cowling, Short Track Shawls, Sock Hockey, WIP's dancing, cable cross country, Junior/Modular Relay, Lace Luge, Single Skein Speed Skate and Stash Skeleton.  Here are the winners names along with a picture of the prizes:

1.  Cross Cowling - Winner is Sara, SerineKat on Ravelry

2.  Short Track Shawls - Winner is Danna, danna217 on Ravelry

3. Sock Hockey - Winner is Steph from MustStash Podcast, SupaSteph on Ravelry

4.  WIP's Dancing - I won, knitphomaniac13 on Ravelry

5.  Cable Cross Country - I won by default, I was the only entrant, knitphomaniac13 on Ravelry

6.  Junior/Modular Relay - Winner is Erin, ceres18 on Ravelry (there are 5 skeins, 3 more in the bag)

7.  Lace Luge - I won, knitphomaniac13 on Ravelry

8. Single Skein Speed Skate - Winner is Steph from MustStash Podcast, SupaSteph on Ravelry

9. Stash Skeleton - I won, knitphomaniac13 on Ravelry

It was tons of fun!  I also want to Thank all the Raveletes, and also a big Thank You to Yarn Barn of SA, Yarnivore, and Inskein Yarns for all their awesome donations!!!!!

I have a couple of stash enhancements...back in February I signed up for the Expression Fiber Arts Insider's yarn Club for March...the yarn was going to be a mystery and based off of one of three possible pictures, there was a gorgeous orange in one of them so I ordered and crossed my fingers....well, I got a BRIGHT b pink and blueish/turquoise and purplish color...I am not sure about this yarn...it is super soft but possibly too bright for me.  It may be a KAL prize for SNB in the future...I'm just not sure.....

My birthday was a couple of weeks ago and a friend of mine got me a gift card to Miss Babs.....so I ordered some Yummy Yarn in Shining City colorway and two small skeins of the Lip Gloss colorway for socks.  I do love Miss Babs Yarn....the first packages of her arm chair tour should be mailing this week.  My bags are packed and I cannot wait to find out where we are going!

I have a couple more stash enhancements.....when I went to Inskein Yarns this past Friday night to pick up their donations...LeiLani from Heavenly Fibers was there....and on the floor was the most perfect colored yarn....I was drooling....turns out she dyed this yarn just for me.....Can you say, "I love you"?  Well, I love LeiLani....thank you so much.  I bought two skeins of the "Hook 'em" colorway, in a gradient!

Now the next enhancement is not really 'stash'.  You have all heard me talk about Darlene....well, she loves stitch markers from Vanessa, owner of Vintage Rose on Etsy...She told me Vanessa was going to start selling necklaces with a large lobster claw that we can use as lanyards (I have to wear my badge around work all day).  I special ordered one with two balls of yarn and no leaf charm and it came in....I love it! Thank you Vanessa for such great items!

Lastly, a friend of mine from SNB had this cute little tin with hand cream in it that she got from a yarn store in Florida.  I loved it so I started looking for it online....she said it was like $24.90 or $24.95 for this tiny tin...well, I found some for $2.49 so I assumed it was a little sample size...so I ordered a few, then my friend was ordering more so I asked her to order me a few more....they came in and they are FULL SIZE....for $2.49.   I really love them and now I have at least one for each project bag....Thank you Carol for turning me on to these awesome hand creams that smell like beautiful jasmine!

Now I have a tip for you.....how many of you out there use lifelines?  I admit I a not that good about using them and I usually regret it later...but you have to go find some thin yarn or thread somewhere and it is never handy and well, too much of a hassle....till now!  My friends Suzi and Evelyn came up with these cute crochet thread holders....you can put the little ziplock baggie in your notions bag and always have an array of colors to use as a lifeline, or pop one of the small individual ones into a project bag and go....now you will never be without yarn/thread for a lifeline!  Lifelines are like umbrellas, you will only need them when you don't have one.

Well, that is all I have.....I am not off to find my ruby red slippers, and tap them three times with my eyes closed........

Happy Happy Happy Knitting!

What is with this weather?

Okay all you northerners.....go ahead and make fun of me....Like Tulio says in the animated movie Rio, "I'm not really built for this weather."

It is cold this morning!  I love wearing all my hand knit items, but I am ready for this cold to go away!!!!  It rarely gets this cold here and I want it gone!

What have I been up to?  Well, before this blast of cold came to SA, I was warm and toasty in Rockport, TX.  It it was Jaime's oldest son's 20th birthday (Jacob).....so we rented a house and it was me, Jaime, Jacob, Arran (Jaime's youngest), Robert and Antonio (these are two good friends of Jacob's and like son's to me as they almost always go on family outings)......

It was nirvana!  The weather was great...the view was wonderful, Jaime spoiled me all weekend by cooking for me and all I had to do was sit and knit and look at this view...

I also decided to start a new sock KAL with Hiya Hiya....the Diamondoid KAL.  Hiya Hiya also has a Peach Leaves sock KAL at the same time.  Qianer decided to do a little contest to see which one has the most participants finish.....so an extra gift to give away.....I can only do one sock KAL at a time (because I have other knitting craziness going on) and I chose the Diamondoid one....I am using Wollmeise Twin 80/20 in Möhren (gorgeous orange)....and use my sock sack that Darlene made me....she is doing the KAL too.  I started these while at rockport on the back porch (where I stayed almost the whole time).

I think I have also mentioned the Waves Scarf KAL I am hostessing for Hiya Hiya....well, I started mine on size 8's and the yarn was pretty dense...so I also started one on size 10's to see which one I like better...I really like the one on 10's better....but I do not have any size 10's circular needle in Hiya Hiya brand, so I had to put on my Dyakcraft wood needles.....which I am also falling in love with.

The boys did not catch any fish that were keepers...but they did catch a stingray and some 'hard heads'....here is one hard head that Robert caught....I hear they are not good eating...this one got thrown back......

On our way to Rockport, we passed over the bridge to Portland...I used to go on this bridge all the time (my mother had some apartments in Portland we rented out and went to almost every year for 10 years)...well, since my mom retired, I have not been on this bridge in years....it now lights up in all different colors...I thought I was at the old strip in Vegas with all the colors....it was pretty cool.

Well, there is my mini vacation.....oh, and in great news....Paige finished Barber College!  Yup!  She has 3 classes this week to prepare her for her boards exam, and then the boards exam is the 11th of March!  I am soooooooo proud of her!  For my birthday she sent me a text message telling me that it was picture day for Antonio....and she sent me a picture of Antonio.....well, I started to cry immediately....a good cry.....you see, she took a picture of Antonio standing by a tree in the front yard of the house we just moved back into....I used to take pictures of my kids in front of that tree on the first day of school every year from 1997 to 2007 (when we moved out).....so for her to take a picture of Antonio in front of that same tree was soooooo awesome to me...she even said "Look, it's our tree".  This is my favorite picture!!!

I have a couple of stash enhancements.....a good friend of mine who reads this blog religiously, Ruby, is a great customer of The Loopy Ewe, and when you reach a certain spending level, you get a skein of yarn dyed and named after you....her skein is "Nana Ruby's Jewels".  Another lady on LSSK got a skein of this and is making Martina Behm's 22 Clouds Pattern with it....I can't wait to see hers...and I may make the same  thing with my skein....or a cute shawl pattern of some sort....

Then.....because I did not want to pay $5.95 for shipping, I decided to spend an extra $59.50 and get two skeins of the Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere colorway for February.  It is exclusively dyed for The Loopy Ewe and it is called "In Celebration of the Games".....I love the orange in Ruby's yarn and the orange in this yarn.

I have told you pretty much everything I have knit on (socks and scarf above) during this past week except HyperCrazy......yup, I am still plugging away at my HyperCrazy in the Perfectly Wreckless colorway.....I got a lot of it done, but can you believe I am not even 1/2 way done....I have done a stitch count spreadsheet to help be figure out how many rows I need to do each day to finish this by the end of March...there are 92,712 stitches total for this shawl....and I am only at about 38,681...still have 54,031 to go.....argh!

But it is looking good (I cannot help but remind myself that I have a second one of these to make in the Biker Chick colorway).

Lastly I want to share some cute sayings that all apply to me....I hope they apply to you too!

Now....Happy Happy Partying!