Monday, April 28, 2014

Happy 101 Post....Blogiversary is a coming!!!

This is my 101st post....wow, I cannot believe it.  I looked at the calendar and I am also about to hit my 2 year blogiversary....I am not sure what the technical name is, but I will hit 2 years on June 7th!  Now I am going to have to think of a great prize give away to do or something!  Stay tuned...and better yet, give me some ideas.....what should I do?  A giveaway?

So I think I got a lot of good knitting time in this past weekend....I enjoyed it at least.  I mentioned last week that I started Spire for a new KAL with my SNB group along with the awesome bags that Darlene will gift as a giveaway for that KAL.  I have not gotten too far, but I did get to chart B.



Then I finished the Silver Fern Scarf on Thursday but was not able to block it till Saturday...It is pretty long...after drying it is about 88" long and almost 10" wide....do over 7 feet, it is very nice.





Mid week I hit a bit of a sock kick....I was reading the MustStashPodcast forum on ravelry and SupaSteph has been talking about this double gusset on the bottom of socks that she has been doing lately.  She got the instructions from TurtleGirl's blog....and has talked about how wonderful they are.  Well, I have also been on a self striping yarn kick lately so I wanted to see if I can do the double gusset on the bottom of the foot with a toe up sock (not cuff down) and use up all my awesome self striping yarn.  I think I have figured it out...however, I am not completely done with the sock, and I know this is not self striping yarn...I just wanted to give it a try with the awesome orange yarn Darlene gave me back in February......I am also moving along on Celeste's second sock...I really want to get that one finished too....so this may be a week of socks.




Stay tuned and I may have a pattern written up for you guys soon!

Speaking of socks and self striping yarn....I could not help myself....I got another skein of Stacie's Perfect Sock base yarn in the colorway Happy Snowman.....her shop has an update tonight at 6 pm...check her out...I have heard she will have some awesome self striping rainbow yarn....look at this awesomeness!




During SNB this past Saturday at my house I decided to pull out the Strickmich!Club Package number 2 project and work on it for a while....it is called Samadhi....It kind of got forgotten for a couple of weeks because it does not really have a set deadline......I got about 3 or 4 repeats done.



Then on to the project that sucked up my weekend.....the 12 foot Dr. Who Scarf.....you would think I would be at least a foot or two done.....nope!  I got to the point where the scarf should have been a foot.....and it wasn't...it was barely over 7 inches.


So I cast on another one two needle sizes bigger and when I finished the second color, it should have been 4 3/4" but tit was only 3 1/2" (This means it could have the potential of being 3 1/6' short...yes, I am a math geek)....so I started another one again 2 needle sizes too big and only did 25 rows and when it should have been 3 1/2", it was 3 1/4" so this was the closest.....however, the 3rd one was the most 'hole-y' (is that a word)....more airish and less dense.

I sent a bunch of pictures to my friend to see what she wanted (since the scarf is for her son) and we both agreed on number 2....she wants some denseness, and I think the sheer weight of the completed scarf will make up for the 3 foot shortcoming......I ended up frogging number 1 and 3......then went to end of the second color with number 2.






 So while I should be much farther, I am not.....My nephew has his confirmation this next Saturday, and Saturday is usually one of my biggest knitting days....so I may not get too much knitting done this next weekend, but we will see.......

If you are still reading.....thank you for reading my blog....I really appreciate it!  I had no clue I had hit 100 posts and this is my 101st....and in about 40 days, it will be 2 years since I started the blog.....wow, time does fly!  Now to think of an awesome give away!

Have a great week!




Happy Happy Happy knitting!

Monday, April 21, 2014

Hoppy Belated Easter!



I hope everyone had a fabulous Easter!  I was looking forward to doing an Easter Egg hunt with Antonio, but his dad had him this past weekend so I just got to give him his Easter basket and clean his mouth and hands of chocolate.....ha, ha!

The good news is that it made for some great knitting time!  Last week, I ordered some yarn from a friend.  I think you have heard me talk about Stacie from MustStash podcast and she owns MustStashSop.  She has some Perfect Sock yarn (and I do mean it is perfect) in a colorway called Anna & Elsa from the new Disney movie called "Frozen".  Well, Celeste is obsessed with this movie and loves all the songs and everything.  So I got some of this yarn and I wanted to make Celeste and her mother a matching pair of socks.




This yarn is my new favorite sock yarn....it is so scrumptious to knit with...I love it!  I ordered the yarn on Tuesday and had it Wednesday (Thank you Stacie!!!!).  I cast on that night and I finished the first sock on Saturday evening.  I was even knitting on them during bike night....Jaime spoils me and lets me take my knitting and a chair to events like this......I was going to do them two at a time, but I could not bear to break this perfect yarn....So I started the second one in pretty much the same spot of the yarn!.  And Stacie put in a snowflake stitch marker with a lobster claw that is too cute.  I put the first sock on a size small sock blocker so you can see it stretched out...but it is just a kids's size sock with an almost 3" leg.  I really think Celeste will love these.  I hope to finish the second sock this week.







I also finished my Hiya Hiya Diamondoid socks....in the Mochren (orange) colorway in wollmeise twin sock yarn.  I love them.


I plugged away a little on the Silver Fern Scarf for the first leg of the Miss Babs Knitting tour....I only have 24 more repeats and I will be done.....which is a good thing because I need it done before the end of April......the new craziness in my life is another shawl.....yup, you heard me right.  Darlene was on facebook one night and found this pattern and tagged me and then a few others commented to make it an official KAL for our SNB group so who am I to say no?  So I said Yes!  The pattern is called Spire and it is by Leila Raabbe.  I am using a skein of Wollmeise lace in the Confident Colorway....Darlene and I started during lunch today.  It is a bit fidly to start.  Mine is not even the size of a quarter yet.  You have to do a circular cast on and then you start off with only 8 stitches...but I am determined to get this baby going!




I know it sounds like I always blame these bright ideas on Darlene.  While this shawl was her fault, sometimes it is me and she goes along willingly....this time, not only did she go along willingly....she made us each special project bags to put this project in.....and, she is offering up a set of these project bags to one lucky winner of the KAL.  The bags are soooooooo cute and have matching zipper pulls!  There was one lady that really wanted to make the Leaves of Grass Shawl instead so we made the KAL to include pretty much any pattern from the Brooklyn Tweed LOFT Collection.....so if any of you out there want to win these two cute bags or just want to be crazy like me and start another shawl.....please feel free to join us!!!!  You can always make a hat or gloves, but try to challenge yourself and make something from the collection that is challenging for you!

These Bags by AwesomeGrannie are the best ever....and remember, there should be an announcement about Darlene, aka AwesomeGrannie, really soon!




Oh....and I have a stash enhancement......I heard about a lady name Cate that teaches Tibetan woman in China's Qinghai Province how to hand spin in China.  She has lots of hand spun yarn at reasonable prices.  I ended up getting some Helix, and while this is a mill spun, the dying is just beautiful.  The color is called Autumnal and it is no secret that it is the color of yarn that was calling my name....perfect pops of burnt orange all around.  The shop is called Infinite Twist....it is interesting to read about and see the pictures of the women spinning the yarn.....


Oh, and the last yarn related item of the week....do you remember going to the library and having to go to the catalog to find the book you wanted and where it was located?  And they had all those cards in those drawers......well, if anyone knows where all the libraries disposed of those card cabinets or a carpenter that can make me one....here is the best use ever for them.....I wish I had one!


I also have to brag just a bit.....remember I told you Paige was going to Barber College?  Well, she graduated back in February....but she was just recently able to take her practical exam (the March class was full) and she passed.....she has applied for her license (they really just want you to send them money) and she should have her license this week......I am soooooo proud of her.  I took her out to eat at her favorite restaurant last Tuesday.....She posted her test and a shout out to me on her Instagram.....I love this girl so much!!!!





Well, I think that is pretty much all I have for this week......I leave you with Aunty Acid......



Happy Happy Happy Knitting everyone.......

Monday, April 14, 2014

Happy Monday!

Happy Monday!  How has everyone's week been?  Mine has been grand!  Last week I told you that I finished the Waves Scarf...well, I got it blocked too....I love the stitch definition!  The second picture best captures the color of the scarf/yarn.



It appears I finished it just in time too.....guess what I got in the mail?  The Strickmich!Club package number 2.....it is delightful!


The Welthase yarn is delightful to knit with...it is soooooo soft and squishy!  I took the skeins home to wind them (mine and Darlene's...remember, she is a member of the club too) and she went home and sewed us custom bags just for this project.....remember, I am Darlene's sewing guinea pig so if you ever see something wrong on a sewn bag she made for me....no worries....I love them any way she sews them for me....Here is the yarn and the bags (the small bag has some upside down material)......




Let me tell you how awesome these bags are....I posted them on the Strickmich!Club forum and a lady that is also a member of the group loved then so much, she ordered some from Darlene.....this might have a little bit to do with the soon to come announcement about Darlene...but my lips are still semi-sealed......

I actually want to give a HUGE shout out to Paula Henderson in Tyler Texas......I found out that she reads my blog (we first got to know each other through the first shipment of this club).  In fact, she knew about this blog where Darlene made me the Eiffel Tower Pink Sock Sack!  She placed an order with Darlene for 3 bags.....the bags above (large and small matching) and a sock sack.  Thank you Paula for reading my blog and the awesome order of bags from Darlene!!!!  

The last comment on the Strichmich!Club is my current progress on the latest project....


This past Saturday evening, Jaime and I went to a Hot Rod Car Show.....Back in October of last year, Jaime bought a 1972 Chrysler Scamp.....it is the perfect orange color!  Well, we took the scamp to hot rod night at Soda Pops in Boerne.....it was awesome because Jaime brought me a folding table and chair....I sat in the corner and knitted on my socks (that match the car) and gabbed with the girls while the guys did car talk.....



One of the guys could not believe I was just sitting there knitting....he said "Really?" and I said "Really!"  A good friend of mine, Julie, came out too....I was able to give her the beautiful baby blanket for her grand daughter and she made me this awesome cup....I love it!  It is perfect burnt orange color....Thank you Julie!!!!!


I also got quite a bit of knitting done on the Miss Bab's knitting tour project number 1.....Silver fern.  I have the 1st 1/2 done and have cast on from the other end and am on the second color from that at....I am loving the way this is turning out.


I also got the yarn to start my friend's son's Dr Who Scarf.....I am using this pattern, for the Season 12 scarf....but I cast on 56 stitches instead of 66...it is 10 inches wide and I am sure it will block wider.....so far I only have 8 rows done...but hey, it is started!  I will probably need more yarn later, but this is a great start!


Lastly, I have a little bit of braggin' to do on Jaime....I got to do NOTHING but KNIT on Sunday and I loved every bit of it....he BBQ'd some awesome ribs....I brought some for lunch and I had 3 or 4 ppl stop by my desk to drool at them.....I know they do not look all that appetizing in the bag...but trust me....they were delish!  Thank you Jaime!  :)


Well, that is really all I have for this week......as always, have a great week and Happy Happy Happy Knitting!