Friday, December 18, 2009

Cheating

I've been cheating on my Christmas knitting. And I don't fell bad about it at all. I probably should. But I have run out of yarn for one thing (I plan on getting that skein of yarn this evening). And I have until New Year's to finish the other thing. And starting next week, I am on vacation so I'll have plenty of time to sit and knit. And there isn't even much left of it, just 5 more repeats then a toe.
But really if you had a pattern for this snowman, wouldn't you want to make an entire army of them. It is less than 2 inches tall. And it takes me a total of about 2 hours to make one. One hour for the body. Half an hour for the scarf and then maybe another half an hour for all the finishing. So worth it. I put a little loop on the top of its head so it would make an awesome ornament.
And apparently we are preparing to get a large snowstorm coming through here. It is probably a good idea I started these. And yes, I know what they were inspired by. And I don't care, they are cute. I decided it was silly that as a knitter I had a pair of fingerless gloves, but nothing that covered all of my hand. My fingertips have been getting very cold in the morning. As I am not yet brave enough to make these, I went for mittens in a chunky yarn. I have the first one done and plan to have the second done before I have to venture out into the snow tomorrow.
And because you can never have too much adorable dog. Here is mine at her most pathetic. Falling asleep in Zach's arms. Awwww... melty puppy.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Christmas time

Every time I go to make this post, I finish something and decide I need to take a picture of it or I just get distracted. And now that I feel I've caught up on pictures I realize I probably can't post them since most of them are Christmas presents.

And speaking of Christmas presents, from the list on my last post, I only have items 1, 2 and 5 left. Well, I've had to scrap one of the pairs of slippers and will be making armwarmers instead. So only 4 things left to make and just a handful of things left to buy. Yay! And I've been so confident in my crafting abilities that I've even added some things to my list. I didn't mention them above because they are already done. I made a hat and a wookie. I'm so ready for Christmas I've actually got the tree up and have presents wrapped. I think the snow we had over the weekend really helped me get in the mood. And the fact that I've found the Christmas Music radio station.
I was actually very productive this weekend. In addition to going to the Lion's Club Arts and Craft fair (which was fun, but much smaller than last year) I finally put all of my craft stuff in the spare bedroom that is currently being used as my closet. It was inspired by the fact that the corner of the living room where all my yarn resided is pretty much the only good place to put the tree. So all of that went upstairs. And I figured I might as well go through the stuff in the basement and take that upstairs as well. Now it is all in one place. I was able to clear out some of the big drawers that were down in the basement to spread out my yarn a bit. And I was even able to put all of my fiber in the drawers too. Well, most of it. The prepared stuff. Anything destined for the carder is still in a tote, but it is a small tote. I just need to get a table and a chair so I can actually work up there.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Christmas Knitting

Sorry this took so long. I started writing this at the beginning of the month and it has run away from me. The past week especially. I got to drive to Minnesota. And although it was a fun road trip, I had to leave Dana in there. :( Although I did get to try deep fried cheese curds. Yum. Then I went on a whirlwind tour of east coast airports. And I returned in time for my 3rd wedding anniversary and I am now finally getting over the flu. Although this cough sucks. Next week is Thanksgiving and then December. I'm glad I've been doing well on my Christmas knitting.

Dana, Zach and I were discussing my Christmas knitting list this year. It is much less ambitious. I have about the same number of people on it this year, but I'm doing less knitting. Although just about every time I sit and look at my list, it gets longer. Of course everyone needs dishtowels and matching scrubbies and perhaps some mug cozies. I am making about 10 big things this year. Not all of them are knit or crochet.

1. Socks 1/2 done already (I know there are a couple socks on there, but I gotta keep them guessing)

2. Cookies

3. A D20 This one is a maybe. Although I've started so I should finish

4. This one I can't put in a link because they would know it is for them

5. A Customized Rubix Cube If I can every find a rubix cube

6. A scarf, that is done

7. Slippers X 2, done except for sewing and felting

8. An Awesome hat, that is done

9. Armwarmers for guild, I have the yarn and pattern.

So I am almost there. Like I said, I keep adding little things. I picked up some cotton yarn in holiday colors and I think I am going to make some mug cozies and some of my dish scrubbies and call it a day.

Zach and I don't really want anything big this Christmas. We both have our usual Amazon wishlists. You can see what I have been crushing on Etsy. Although most of the stuff on my favorites list is sold, it can be used to get an idea of what I like. Oh and in case anyone is feeling intensely generous this Holiday season and ounce of this Qiviut fiber would go a long, long way. Although 2 oz would work too. :) I mean, at least I'm not asking for Vicuna.

Saturday, October 31, 2009

In which I talk about food

I was thinking about food a lot yesterday. Mostly it involved me wanting to bake everything in the universe. I still do. But I have decided to try and limit myself, because otherwise I end up with enough sugary things laying around my house to feed a small country.

But really, can you blame me after discovering Bakerella's website. I mean really, balls of cake on sticks covered in chocolate. So I've decided to give it a try with some pumpkin cake, cream cheese frosting and orange colored white chocolate and then I'm going to decorate them like pumpkins. I'm very excited about this.

I also want to make more Marshmallows. They are so tasty. Nothing like the kind you get in bags from the grocery store. My favorite marshmallow recipe is here. I've tried a few and think this is my favorite because she has done the math to split the recipe in half. She also has included a couple of great ideas for changing the flavor. Besides adding a puree or candy to the mix I replace part of the vanilla extract with some of the concentrated candy flavorings. My most recent experiment was with about 1/2 a vial of the orange flavoring. I added 2 tsp of vanilla extract and 1 tsp of orange zest. Then I dipped them in chocolate. ZOMG! good! You might wonder what to do with these pillows of awesome. Well, I just eat them straight or they would taste delicious in a cup of hot chocolate (especially with my next plan of replacing sugar in the marshmallows with crushed candy canes, peppermint cocoa, yum!).

I also have the ingredients sitting out for chocolate chip cookies. And I've been wanting to do some chocolate molds of pumpkins. I got a cute new mold on sale from AC Moore.

Another way I was thinking about food was I learned about the 3/50 project (I know, I am very behind the times). It is kind of an interesting idea. In a month, spend 50 dollars (total) at 3 local places. And then I sat down and thought about 3 local businesses that would suck if they dissapeared. Two of those are resturants. More food.

Java Joint. OMG! What would I do without them? They are kind enough to allow 10 or so crazy crafters take up there entire back room once a week. They have great coffee and drinks. Their food is amazing. I eat things there that I hate otherwise. Tomato soup, the olives and tomatoes on their greek pizza. I even love their vegitarian alternatives such as their veggie burgers. Nom. And the desserts, well, I can't really talk about those without getting drool on the keyboard. So good. And to be honest, if I spend my minimum amount there each week (usually about 10-12 dollars on dinner, drink and dessert) I have nearly hit my $50 mark.

Zach and I have recently discovered a relatively new resturant, Rib Station. The ribs are amazing, smokey meat popsicles. The turkey is moist and smokey and delicious. The banana pudding is superb. Their portions are huge and the price is great. You can get a 1/2 rack of ribs plus a side for about $9. Desserts are $1! I got a turkey sandwich last time and it was huge. My brain did not process the actual size of a 5 inch bun. Huge. So even with it being so reasonable priced, I think I've hit the $50 mark.

And then of course you add in the Yarn and More and I am well over. Although I haven't been in a while. I need to start saving for Christmas presents so I won't be spending much on me for a while.

And so this should be post number 198. Getting close to 200. I wonder what my giveaway will be. But no seriously if you know, could you send me a hint. That would be super. Now I am off to make some cake balls. Yay!

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Best Weekend Ever!

I have been quite slow in getting this up. Kept forgetting my camera to add pictures. Let's just say last week didn't live up to the weekend preceeding it. Anyway!

So our plans to travel to Athens to see Julia Mae were delayed for a week. I blame Zach and him bringing home the illness. I decided it would be a great opportunity to go to Charleston and pick up some stuff for my swap package. Mmmmm...chocolate. So I decide to go on Thursday and Dana decides to go with me. Yay for company.

We leave for Charleston and decide to head to Kanawha City Yarn Company first since they close earlier. She has moved the shop one street over. And oh my goodness....was that the best idea ever. The store is so much bigger and brighter and the yarn...I got to see many yarns I hadn't previously had the pleasure of touching before. I bought some Mini Mochi yarn in a lovely purple green colorway. Dana got some Mini Mochi as well and some Malabrigo sock. Oh the softness. She was also able to find the correct color yarn for a vest she needs to make. She had to order it, so that means another road trip at some point. Woot! So amazing yarn FTW!

Well, we lucked out because the store was having an Open House Tailgate Party (same day as the WVU/Marshall game). There was food and a bunch of people sitting around knitting. So we sat down to join them. So nice and so friendly and such yummy food. There was this date/walnut/cream cheese/sugar on a ritz cracker dessert thing that was so good. I need to do some internet scouring for that recipe. Found it! Excellent day to go to the yarn store.

After that we decided to try and find Holl's Chocolates. There is one way out of the way, which I had been to. And another one that appeared to be right off the interstate. We went with that one. So easy to find and lots of parking. It was in the middle of Capitol Street Market. So I got some chocolate for me and my swap partner. Dana was able to find some ingredients for a meal she had been having trouble finding in Huntington. And best of all...I found some sparkling apple cider from WV Fruit and Berry. It is what we had in lieu of champagne at our wedding (held on college property, we are normally drinkers). Since we ordered several cases for the wedding, we had been able to have extra and had shared a bottle on our anniversary. But we had run out and didn't have one for this year. So I saved our anniversary. Yay! And we managed not to get lost getting back onto the interstate. Oh and I got a Honeycrisp apple from the market. So tasty. Possibly my favorite apple. Very very descriptive name.

After we made it back to Huntington, we grabbed a bite to eat and headed to Gabes. I found a striped shirt and jacket I could turn into my vest for my Halloween costume. Very cheap.

Then we grabbed a bite to eat and headed to Borders to meet Jenn's posse to go to the corn maze. It was a lot of fun. Even if it was super muddy and just a little bit too long. We had bundled up because it was cold and drizzly out. Unfortunately trying to keep your balance and running around in mud is a pretty good workout. It is very hard to figure out what to do with a very long Gryffindor scarf when you are too hot. It made a sexy belt. You can see the dirty jeans below. My tennis shoes are still in the plastic bags that I had wrapped around them to keep from getting mud in the cars.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

My dog is adorable!

Awwwww


So when it starts getting dry around here, Heidi gets very sensitive skin on her back, towards her tail. We have an anti-itch spray we use, and we make sure to keep the area cleaned and use gentle soap. But she tends to take matters into her own hands. There is video, but I can't figure out how to post it and to be honest, I am laughing like an idiot in the background.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Dangit!

I swear I miss it every year. October 7th was my 2 year blog anniversary. It is interesting to look back at some of those past entries. And this post will make number 195. I think post number 100 coincided pretty closely with my 1 year anniversary. Interesting. In the spirit of Haley, I think I might do a contest as well. Since I've completely missed the anniversary, I might try for post number 200. That way I'm not completely copying Haley and it will give me time to figure out a plan. Our Blog anniversarys are really close together (which is funny because we hadn't met at that point) and reading her post got me to thinking about how similar our lists are:
  • I didn't know how to knit (or spin or felt)
  • I had just picked up crocheting after forever not doing it and loom knitting as something new because I had burnt myself out on scrapbooking
  • I had a black cat named Ashes and a roommate named Steven
  • I had no idea how to keep a blog or what I would even talk about that would be interesting.
  • I started this to keep track of my projects (which for all I knew might suck until I figured it all out again) and assumed that the only people who would ever read it would be my mom and MIL. As I've mentioned before, I use Google Analytics because I like to see how many people read my stuff and how they find my blog (I know I'm a nerd). I noticed yesterday that my pattern blog had a huge spike on October 7th. Almost 90 people. Considering I average about 10 on that blog, I was intrigued to say the least. I was linked from http://www.whipup.net/. There are some awesome patterns and tutorials they have gathered. I was so excited they included my pattern in Halloween roundup. And who would have known 2 years ago I would be a pattern writer with patterns published somewhere other than my self-indulgent blog. And with other people actually making them. Considering I didn't know how to knit, writing knitting patterns seemed a little out of my league.
  • I have commitment issues, I've also discussed this. So I'm shocked I've kept not only with this blog, but with this hobby. Granted it is constantly evolving with the addition of loom knitting, regular knitting, felting and spinning to my fiber skills over the years, so I'm less likely to get bored. It also helps that pretty much my entire social life revolves around fiber. And some of my best friends have been made because of this blog. I started this blog and really got back into the fiber arts and found Ravelry. Through Ravelry I found my girls. I don't know what I would do without them.

So it is kind of fun to see where she's been and I've been. So stick with me, at least until I get to post 200. There might be something in it for you.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

What you can accomplish

while you are laid up on the couch. Neither Zach or I moved much this past weekend. We were both hit with some sort of flu-like illness. But it made for a lot of crafting time.


I finished my first Christmas project of the season. Stephen don't look here. Tracey, make sure he doesn't look.


I finished my fingerless mitts from the yarn I spun. One is just a touch shorter than the other and the thickness of my yarn is noticably smaller in the second one. So they aren't quite perfect. But they are warm and squishy.

And a few other small items that those with delicate sensibilities and my swap partner shouldn't look at. Unless they like body parts and to have surprises spoiled. I just need to find some lip balm for this (Not suitable for work). This is safe to look at unless you are my swap partner. This view is safe for all non-swap partners but this side is a bit more risque.

And someone at work was wearing this amazing shawl and I apologize if no one else gets a Christmas present because I am so enamored with this project. It is going to take a while because I have to write the pattern myself with just the notes and pictures I took while she kindly let me borrow it to take said notes and pictures.

Oh and I even added two new patterns over in the sidebar over there. Got the patterns and PDF's up for my Fleecy Felt loom knit slippers and my Round and Round Toe-Up crocheted sock. Enjoy!

Friday, October 9, 2009

Is it fall?

Zach was mocking me the other day when I got all excited that Dairy Queen had pumpkin pie blizzards. I decreed that it was therefore fall. He pointed out that yes it was October so it was fall. I feel that the return of fall is determined by food. It begins with the return of the Starbucks pumpkin spice latte. Then Cold Stone Creamery had pumpkin ice cream again. Then apple cider came back to the grocery stores and therefore Java Joint has hot apple cider again. The clincher was the pumpkin pie blizzard. So it is officially Fall. Yay!

Look I finished something. It is a cross stitched patch for my Halloween costume. Yay! I hate back stitching. But it has gotten me infatuated with cross stitch again. I want to make all sorts of subversive cross stitches. The contrast of a pretty flowery border with a completely foul and depraved message is pretty hilarious. I've been looking through this flickr group for inspiration.
The new Interweave Crochet magazine is out and I am very, very infatuated. I pretty much want to make everything in this issue. So I cast on for the socks. With this yarn.

I also have plans to make some fingerless mitts. I am in love with this yarn. I want a pair of elbow length mitts for work that do that long color fade. So I decided I would dye some fiber, make some batts to spin to make the yarn for them. Yeah, I make complicated plans. The fiber is dry now. But I managed to turn my hands bright pink. Very impressive. Yeah so that didn't work. I made the batts and spun up one of them. Loved the batt. I wanted to make a fingering weight single and well the batt didn't cooperate. Ended up very lumpy and bumpy. So I Navajo plied it to maintain the colors. I ended up with a worsted weight. One batt gave me about 100 yards. I am currently debating my choices. I don't really want heavier weight fingerless mitts. So I can spin up the other batt and try a lot harder to make it even and fingering weight and should end up with about 300 yards. Or I can do the same with the second batt as with the first and have 200 yards of worsted weight. I think I am leaning towards trying for another fingering weight. And to be honest, if it still doesn't cooperate, I can just Navajo ply to match. Although I wanted to speed up the color changes if I go for the single again so it won't quite match the first. But the yarn is super smooshy and lovely even if it isn't what I want.
Now, I have finished other things, but a lot of them are presents for birthdays/Christmas. So I can't really show them off. Well except for this one. It is a present for Dana and she really shouldn't look. :) Imagine it in this yarn. I so hope she likes it.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

I'm an Aunt!

I would like to wish a warm welcome to Julia Mae who entered the world today. I can't wait to meet you and make lots of girly outfits. Yay!
Since many requested, I thought I would oblige with some pictures. I love this pictures. She looks like she is smiling/smirking. And am I alone in thinking how much she looks like Lauren's dad in this picture?
And then of course, because this is the way my brain is wired, I got to this picture and saw the hat first. So cute. But I really shouldn't be looking at more baby stuff to knit when I haven't even finished what I've started.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Nothing

I have nothing to update with. I'm working on a few things. But mostly everything is in progress. I hope to have a cross stitch done sometime this weekend. At which point, I can start on a cross stitch design of my own. It will make absolutely no sense to most people, but be fairly hilarious to Ravelry Rubberneckers. I was inspired by a cross stitch sampler that was "Internet" themed to make a Rubbernecker themed sampler. Hopefully it works out. I am having trouble deciding what color I want the background to be.

One thing I have finished, I can't show. Although it is only 1/2 of a pair, it is also a Christmas present. I just hope it fits. And look at me working on Christmas presents in September. I think I'll only have about 7 presents to make this year. I don't think it will be quite so crazy this year.

I went to the Greek Festival today. Spanakopita and Flogeres for the win. Mostly because they are like the only things I will attempt to pronounce. And the gyro line was about 45 minutes long. I did get some roast lamb. Although the mixed pastries box will keep me very very happy for a while. Nom, nom, nom...

I lied! Speaking of Nom noms, I made my chocolate covered caramel apples. They are so tasty. I get granny smith apples (the tartness goes really well with how sweet the toppings are). I use the caramel wraps from walmart (much easier than dipping into caramel, less prep and less mess). Then I get the chocolate wafers from AC Moore and dip them in. The first one is dipped in milk chocolate then rolled in pecans and then milk and white chocolate was drizzled on it. The second one is dipped in white chocolate and sprinkled with cinammon and brown sugar. So good.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Some Big Pimpin'

I would like to take a moment to pimp an awesome photographer/friend of mine, Justin Brock. He is currently showing some of his more artsy photography at the Java Joint for the rest of September. He also sells prints of what he is showing at his fabulous Etsy store, here.

I'm not sure, but I imagine most money from being a photographer comes from doing shoots for people and weddings. At least when I was looking for a wedding photographer, it seems like they would make a lot of money that way. Anyway, Justin wanted some practice taking pictures of people. In exchange for being his practice, we got our pictures free. We definitely got the better end of the deal.
We got some great pictures. I liked so many of them, I had trouble narrowing down to 4 to send as samples to my family. And they all loved them and want more. It helps that we know them, but everything was very easy going. And in between all the cheesy, loving couple pictures he was able to capture more candid ones that were great. Of course, the cheesy ones looked really good too. I just like the more candid feeling. Less posey. And of course we just looked more comfortable and better when we weren't posing ourselves.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

It's Here!


My Fancy Kitty Kitten drumcarder has arrived. Actually it got here on Monday. I loves it. I've already been playing on it. Zach even said how fast my carding was going. He seemed very impressed.








The first batts I made on it. I had been trying to do some fiber blending with my handcards and sort of gave up because there was so much. Took me one night. It is a blend of some blue and brown corridale and natural brown alpaca. Lovely smooshy and soft. Yay!





And just to make myself feel even better, I finished my socks. Yay! Now I can start working on some Christmas socks. If I start now I might finished by Christmas.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Happy Birthday to Me!

My birthday was back on the 16th and I just wanted to say super thank you to everyone. I felt so spoiled and loved. I know I'm not supposed to be selfish and "it is better to give than to receive" but I really love my birthday and getting presents. But even without all of the presents, it would have been great. I really felt the love. And that pancake sundae was huge!!!

And to my SnB girls, you probably saw most of this on Ravelry already, but you get it again just so you know it isn't just the fiber fumes and PMS making me all weepy. I have been blessed every day since you first came into my life a year and a half ago. I hadn't had any really close girl friends since college and I was getting to the point I really needed some and POOF there you all were. You all make me a better person and a much happier person just by your presence. Pretty much the highlight of me week is Thursday and seeing all of you.
But now to the swag I got, because some people have been bugging me to see the pretties I got.
First I'll give the hubby some props. A ballwinder to go with my swift. yay! And a really neat crochet motif book. I think that was added on so he could get free shipping when he ordered the "Colour of Magic" DVD. Very worth it.
I got some fabulous sock yarn. It is by Christina Marie Potter. The colorway is in her Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy line and is called "Marvin". Perfect colors.
Jess got me a book of crochet patterns. Looking through it, it seems to be more stitch motifs than actual patterns. But they have some really neat lace patterns and seeing how I am obsessed with crocheting lace right now. Very cool. And she knit me another square for my blanket. If I ever get out from under all the stuff I HAVE to knit, I need to make a few more squares and start to get that sewn up.

And some fabulosity from Butterfly Girl Designs. My goodness these batts are scrumptious. Especially the Rocky Road (bottom one), it is filled with every sort of softness. Not that the purple one is in any way not soft.

Hobbledehoy Batts. I've been lusting after some of these batts for a while. Now that I have them, I was totally justified in my lusting. These ones have some yak fiber in them. Batts I've been wanting for a while, fiber I've never tried. Win, win.

Ok, first, these socks are hilarious. We can't quite figure out what went wrong. They appear to be Christmas oriented socks that should have said "Ho, Ho, Ho". As you can tell, they do not. Unless you are the person wearing them. When I look down at my socks, they are spelled right. I call them my "Oh" socks. (Office Space reference, ftw). Becca also got me Friday Night Knitting Club (which I have not read) and a super cute window decal that I did not get a picture of. It says "crafty geek" and here is the store she got it from. They are all so cute. It is a shame she doesn't have one that says "Craft Hoar". I think Dana would approve.

And although no one got this for me, I consider it a present. It arrived from the publisher on my birthday. My pattern is in the 2010 Crochet Pattern-a-Day calendar. Woot!

And there are unfortunately presents I didn't get pictures of (yay for fiestaware), but I loved them all. And I was even able to buy myself a little present. Ta Da! She shipped today. ZOMG! I can't wait. Funny story. My friend Grace and I had been wanting drum carders and have been talking about them and trying to find used ones and all that. Well, I finally bit the bullet last night. I had to make Zach push the "Commit to Buy" button because it was a lot of money. But I found out this morning that Grace bought hers last night too. Great minds really do think alike. I also picked up some silk noil and a llama fleece. Cause I really need more fleece before I even get what I have processed. But I am thinking of starting an Etsy store selling fiber batts. I think I need some practice before I do that. Anyone have any suggestions of what they would like in a batt that isn't already out there?

Monday, August 24, 2009

very busy

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Life has been busy to say the least. Lots of traveling and just some general laziness when I get home from work. I haven't even had enough time/motivation to play Farmtown. Plus in our travels we were able to kidnap all of Zach's Terry Pratchett Discworld novels. So I have been distracted by those in the evenings.
Here is where we went to visit Bill and Lauren in their new house. Didn't get any pictures of the house but I did get a picture of Zach snuggling with Heidi's arch-nemesis. :) Actually I think it is totally fair that Pixie is showing Heidi how pesty she was when she was a puppy. Pixie always wants to play and fight. So to be honest I don't think this picture was really snuggling more than it was holding Pixie down so Heidi could have a moment.
And they like a day later, we went to Zach's parents so we could attend a wedding of a college friend. Doesn't Zach look handsome in a tux. Awwwww...
They also gave us some yummies from their garden. I can't wait until I can attempt to not kill plants. They gave us a ton of tomatos and the biggest zuchinni I have ever seen. We were able to get 6 cups of it shredded for zuchinni bread and we still had enough to have a very filling meal of just grilled zuchinni. Craziness.
And I finished a hat. It is the Hermione Loves Ron hat. It is based on the hat that Hermione wears in the 6th Harry Potter movie. Her's is grey, but I really love this yarn. It is Knitpicks DK swish in Clematis Heather. It is mostly purple with pretty much every other color in there somehow. I do love Knitpicks heather colorways.
I have become obsessed with crocheting lace shawls. This one is the Crocus Bud Lace Shawl. I am using Skacel Merino lace that I dyed myself with wilson's cake icing dyes. Love. After the chain cast on and the first row, it is just a repeat of row two until you run out of yarn or your brain falls out. Considering how in love with this yarn and color I am, I am prediciting the end of the yarn. It is a great project for SnB since it is one row consisting of two stitches. I can, for the most part, work on this and talk without screwing it up. For the most part.
The only thing with crocheted shawls is that they require a lot more yardage than knit shawls. But again thanks to Knitpicks I was able to get about 1300 yards of merino/silk lace weight for about 12 dollars. Love (1) This will someday become the Solaris Shawl. It is undyed because I plan to attempt to dip dye this to get a gradiated color change from the bottom edge to the top. Wish me luck on this crazy idea/endevor. It seems like a really good idea now. But I can overdye if it sucks.
And then there was more traveling for my birthday. Here is my dad riding an out of order horse backwards. We were waiting to go to dinner. I didn't get a good picture of my brother otherwise you would get one of those as well. I'll be doing a separate post for my birthday. I felt very spoiled and want the chance to shout out to everyone.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Piggyback

A friend is having a contest in honor of her birthday, to get donations for the Interim House Inc. in the form of yarn and knitting and crochet implements.

In honor of my birthday, I am going to help spread the word. So go here to find out more about how to enter to win. I am in the process of putting my box together, which is conviniently coming at a time after I just went through my stash. Woohoo!

Friday, August 7, 2009

Blanket time

Sorry it has been so long. The last time I tried to do a post, Blogger wouldn't save and there are a lot of pictures to upload and I didn't want it all to go to waste. So today I shall regale you with my awesome Ron blanket squares that I received from all over. Mostly it will just be a lot of pictures with some links if I have their blog and stuff. If they have what appears to be a strange name, it is because I am using their Ravelry name.

This is my ballband dishcloth. I decided I liked the colors so much I was going to turn it into a blanket square








Another square by me. Knitted Bobbles the Sheep square. I have decided I do not like knitting bobbles.






This square is from the swap and is by SpinningAthena.








Square from swap by SamSaraKnitter









Square from lovely knitting group member Sam. This is made from some of her first handspun. I love it.







Swap square by MOEgirl198.









Swap square by Kreachr









Square by knitting group gal, Jess









Swap square by Jane-H-Potter









Mitered square by me out of some of my first handspun.









Square by knitting group gal, Haley











Square by knitting group girl, Dana










Random square by me.











Tapestry crochet square by me.









Swap square by Biogrrl









Swap square by Angie01









Swap square by Apicklenose







Swap square by Befriendmantic





*