A few things I love

-Having a husband who cleans the snow off of my car in the morning before he goes to work
-Snow Days!
-Looking on Ravelry at other people's projects made from my patterns (this is so rewarding. I used to wonder why I published my patterns. I honestly didn't think other people would use them. I was so shocked when people did)
-A good deal on yarn or roving
-Getting packages in the mail
-Anticipation of a good swap (I have two in the works. The first is a Harry Potter altered book swap. The second is a spinner/yarn collector swap. The spinner spins up 8 oz of yarn and sends it to a yarn collector. The collector sends the spinner 8 oz of some other fiber. How fun. I get to play with new roving and then get some to keep)
-The sparkle of branches coated in ice
-Watching my dog frolic in the snow
-Petting the cat
-A big mug of PG Tips tea with milk and sugar

Some New Patterns

Added some new patterns to the blog. I appear to have been on a crocheting kick. Let me know what you think.

Ribbed Dish Sponge-Crochet
Basketweave Dish Sponge-Crochet
Felted Flower Coasters-Crochet
My Blueberry Hat-Crochet

A bit slow on the update

Sorry about that. It has been cold and yucky and without sunshine my pictures look awful. It is finally sunny here, but that means there are no clouds so it is freakin' cold. Like it was zero degrees when I left the house this morning. I don't think our thermometer takes wind chill into account either. And I've been working on the final touches of my loom knit slipper pattern. I finally just had to stop reading it or I would make myself crazy.

But I have been doing stuff. I've been doing a lot of buying, which after Christmas is probably not the smartest idea. But I maintain, that as long as we don't go hungry or forego paying a bill for me to buy stuff, I am ok.

-Michael's had their Patons Kroy sock yarn on sale so I got enough for two pairs for $10. Woot.

-I blame my mom for the next bit. I was visiting and we were driving along and she mentioned seeing a store that had "knit" in the name. Well there was so I bought some Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light in redwood and peat. Very decently priced for alpaca sock yarn. About $10 per skein for 440 yards.

-And then Michael's had another sale. This time 70% off of their Soy Wool Stripes yarn. Well I decided it would be the pefect opportunity to start a project considering the regularly $5.99 yarn was $1.80. Oh yeah.

-And last night, Aimee and I did our first Etsy Stalk. Essentially a product is released at a certain time and in a limited number. So you have to sit on the Etsy page and hit refresh until it shows up and buy it super fast. Well, we were stalking the Phat Fiber boxes. There aren't any listed anymore, but the blog that talks about them is here. Essentially they are huge sample boxes of Etsy seller samples. We didn't realize there were two different kinds, so Aimee got the yarn and fiber box and I got the all yarn box. It will be cool though because we can compare and I know we are both open to trading.

-And I didn't buy it, but I got a Christmas present from Aimee. Roving!!! Squee!!! The best part is I was totally there when it was being dyed and I had no idea. I am really excited about it because I was totally drooling over it at our dye party. The base is a natural light brown roving so the colors just turn out so much deeper and richer. Love!!!

I haven' t just been buying things, I also have been making things. Some of which might even get posted as a pattern.

I started the Fawkes socks in my rusty Ranco Solid yarn. And I can finally work on them again because Haley rescued me from only having 4 metal DPN's and needing 5 so I had to use a stupid blunt, grippy bamboo one. Unfortunatly she gave me a Knit Picks Harmony DPN, I sense I might have to make a purchase there once we have our tax return. But it is only fair, I did show her how to use the drop spindle she got for Christmas.

I also needle felted a little bunny alien thing based on an adorable picture Haley drew. Love it. I need to sort through my needle felting stuff. The ladies in my fiber clan want me to teach them how to do it at the next meeting. I should probably get some stuff together for that.

I started the Ithacowl and was having fun working on it, but my attentions has been sucked over to my SWS Striped Scarf. Actually called the Noro Striped Scarf, but I know there is so way I would ever be able to wear Noro, but hopefully the SWS will soften up enough when washed so that I can wear it

I also designed a hat based on the last hat Norah Jones wears in the move My Blueberry Nights. It is actually the one she is wearing on the movie poster. Unfortunately, apparently those style hats look stupid on me. But you all get the benefit of me writing up the pattern for you. I love Norah Jones, love love love so this hat is an homage to her.

I also made some art yarn out of some Surprise Baby Batts I got from Loop. I had this idea that it would look like the ocean and beach with sea shells. It is also possible the fiber fumes got to me and I am hallucinating. But other people (non-fiber people) have said they can see the influence too.

One last thing. I made this for the fiber clan Christmas party and had so many requests for the recipe, I thought I would put it up here. I actually got the recipe from our former roommate Steven's mom. It is delicious and easy and awesome. So I share

The Best Cheeseball I've Ever Eaten:

2 8 oz packages of cream cheese, softened

1 8 oz block of sharp cheddar cheese, grated

2 Tbsp of onion, mashed into a paste

1 clove of garlic, mashed into a paste

2 Tbsp of worchestershire sauce

Ok, so the onion and garlic, I mince them very fine and then on my cutting board with a big flat bladed knife I start to smoosh them. I add about a tsp of kosher salt (big and grainy salt is the best) and press down with the flat side of my blade, edge away from me. Then I move the knife towards me (edge still away). Keep working until the onions and garlic are a fine paste. You do not cook them so finding a huge chunk of raw garlic might not be so plesant. Once that is done, just mix everything together. It tastes better after it has sat in the fridge overnight. Serve with crackers. I also recommend grating the cheese yourself. It is softer and blends better into the cream cheese. Pre-grated cheese ends up being little hard lumps. So it is worth it to grate it yourself.

A good weekend

First off, I would like to say, how awesome is it that I have today off and Cartoon Network is having an all day marathon of PowerPuff Girl episodes leading up to a new one at 8pm? Oh yeah!

Had a great day on Saturday. Got together with a few friends and hung out. The girl time was nice. We traded around some yarn. Very excited about that. A ball winder was brought over so much yarn was wound. My swift got quite a workout. I think it was good for Zach to see it was loved.

I have also learned I am a snob. But I have to say it is the most random thing to be snobby about. Apples. I eat them like someone tries different wines. I got all excited the other day because Kroger had a wide variety for $1 a pound. So tasty. I refuse the "delicious" apples if I can have something like a Fugi, and I go gaga over Honeycrisp.

I also learned that I never told my husband my biggest scary movie fear thing. He knows I am terrified of scary movies. I can watch like 1 a year. But I must be prepared and Zach must go to bed at the same time as me for at least two weeks. Well, my scariest situation thing is someone sneaking up on me while I am showering. I mean seriously, you are naked, slippery, you can't hear them come in over the water, you are trapped in the tub, you can't see them coming because of the curtain. I seriously shower with the curtain kind of open and check every now and then, especially before sticking my head under the water to rinse my hair. Well, Zach was being super sweet and bringing me up a freshly washed towel. I had finished rinsing my hair and saw the shadow moving on the wall. I flung open the curtain and started screaming. I think I scared him too. That'll teach him to be nice to me. So yeah, don't ever sneak up on me in the shower. Make lots of noise and announce your intentions before approaching. I think he's learned his lesson.

Christmas List Key w/ Pictures

I am in the Selfish Knitters group on Ravelry. But I have a problem. Most people on the groups are good at being selfish. They refuse to craft for people who don't appreciate the gifts or who demand outrageous things. My problem is I have so many people who are knit-worthy. I have had very few, if any, bad reactions to my homemade gifts. Even if the person doesn't like it, they are often gracious about the gift. I think I'm too spoiled to be a selfish knitter.

So without further ado, here is the key to my Christmas present list. I'll just add pictures that haven't already made it to the blog. I'll give you the links for the rest.

1. Mom - Kitchen stuff

2. Dad- Wedding Cookies

3. Brian-Slippers

4. Haley- Needlecase set

5. Lauren- Blanket



6. Tiffany- Hat and snowflake

7. Becca - amigurumi squirrel









8. Tracey- Chihuahuas



9. Stephen- Mittens


10. Amber- Scarf

11. Work- Tatted Snowflake

12. Work- Tatted Snowflake

13. Work- Tatted Snowflake

14. Work- Tatted Snowflake

15. Grandma- Washcloths

16. Fiber Guild Swap

17. HP Swap

18. Grandma B - tatted snowflake

19. Grandma D - tatted snowflake

I am...

intrigued.

The Amazing Needle.

Over the past weekend we had our River Cities Fiber Clan Christmas party. It was so much fun. We had a couple of swaps and ate a lot of good food. I brought my SIL, Lauren. And as you can see from the picture, she was quite inspired by all the ladies there and wanted to learn how to spin. So she got sent home with a drop spindle and some roving. I can't wait to see how it will turn out. I said I would come visit when she needs to ply it.

They also brought their puppies Cain and Lucy with them. It is surprisingly fun having a couple extra dogs running around the house. Heidi and Lucy wrestle the whole time. Our neighbors probably thought we had some sort of dog fighting event going on. Cain just sits around being grumpy. Or looking at us like "Really? I need this hat on my head why?" He got a treat out of it, he can't complain too much.

I got some good stuff at the swaps. I got a cookbook as my kitchen item. Some very yummy recipes in there. And I got about 700 yards of heavy worsted/bulky weight blue wool yarn. I have no idea what to do with it. I also got some flax fiber to spin. That will be a fun adventure. I can't wait to try it.

I've also been working hard and not just playing hard. I finished both My So-Called Scarf out of Malabrigo and my Fleecy Felted Slippers. I love the needle felted sheep on the slippers. I think I am going to trim the cuffs a bit to make them less pointy. I am going to have to think about how to do that in the pattern. I think if I bind off the edge as I am working. Although I need to get a move on that pattern.

I also had an idea to add to my spinning wheel accessories. I figure since my wheel is made of pvc pipe, I can make all my extra stuff out of pvc pipe too. I needed to make a lazy kate that holds more than 2 bobbins because I want to do a 3 ply with my next yarn. And I decided that I wanted it to be tensioned to make the plying easier. Well, ta dah!

I think I am going to try to work up a tutorial for how I put it together