My, how time flies!

Hey everyone! I know it has been a while since my last post. I have gone back to school and knitting has kind of gotten put on the back burner. No more though. As soon as I fire up my trusty digital camera, I will put up updated pics of my most recent projects including my first sweater design!

I wonder........

what kind of project a yarn this special could be used in? ;)

The charade is almost over

At least the first one is! I have made it down to the end of the gusset decreases and I am counting the rows until I can bind off and have Craig try it on! I think I am more excited about this than my hubby is but then again, as this is his first handknit, (I know, I know, I should be ashamed of myself) he can't yet comprehend what the perfect fit of a handknit sock feels like. I love working with the Fixation, although I am glad I went with a very subtle pattern because complicated stitch pattern don't seem like they would show up very well in this kind of yarn.

Sticks and Skeins

Since I have finished Sahara, I have been really torn about what to cast on next. I have a design of my own that I have been itching to try, but I also needed some kind of mindless knitting project for those days that working out a new pattern would put my brain into overload. So enters my trusty Mason-Dixon Knitting book to solve that problem! I decided to make a log - cabin baby blankie as a way to put legs to my faith as my hubby and I are trying to start a family. I chose Caron Simply Soft in four muted pastel colors and this is the first little block.


I have also been working on a pair of socks for hubby. It's actually the first thing that I have ever knit for him so I am kind of nervous. I am doing the Charade socks using 72 stitches instead of the 64 called for. I love this pattern because it is interesting enough that I am not bored with it but it is a totally guy-friendly pattern and easily memorized so I don't have to carry around the pattern with me.


I'll keep you posted on all my progress!

The Saga of Sahara

Well, I am sorry for the lack of updates but I have been busy completing something to show all of you! Here is the finished Sahara! This sweater has been more drama then I care to admit. It started off really well. I got through the back and forth of the top and completed the rest of the body of it, bound off, then eagerly went to try it on. What I found was that although the top part of the sweater fit beautifully, the bottom (in the round) part of it was WAAAAY too big! I guess my gauge in the round is different than my gauge back and forth. Who knew? So I was heartbroken and mad and I put it down for a while. (Like almost a month kind of while!) When I got over the grief of having to frog it all back, I actually got through the knitting part pretty quickly. Then comes the next bit of drama.....I pick up the stitches for the sleeves and knit them up, go to try it on and the sleeves are too big as well! At this point I am ready to just frog the whole thing and pretend that this pattern never existed. But a little bit of inspiration saved me from that. I decided to knit some I-cord and thread it through the YO's at the base of the diamond rib on the sleeve and see if that would fix the problem and thankfully it did! I actually really like the tie on the sleeves and it finishes the whole thing off for me! YEA!!! I don't know what I am casting on next but I can't wait to do it!

I'm Baaaackk!!

Hey everyone! I am back from the land of the internetless! There were some major problems happening with the phone wiring of our house that caused us to ditch land lines all together and just go with our cell phones and our brand new, pretty cable internet! It was rough not even being able to check my email but I am back on now! I have got lots of things to show you and I can't wait to do it! But for now I will just say it's nice to be back!

WIP's, FO, and the rest of the alphabet

Well, I finally have a FO to show you! This is my first pair of toe up socks done with Opal in Flamingo on size 2 dpn's. I am loving the toe up socks!

Next is some yarn I traded for on the Knitty board. On top is a silky skein of yellow wool/nylon and on the bottom are 2 skeins of Lorna's Laces! The color is Baby Stripe and I am really excited about it because this is my first experience with LL!

Next is the ballband dishcloth from MDK which I finally got! I seriously think I was the last person in the world not to have a copy, but now I do and I love it! There are so many useful and pretty patterns in there that I have to make, including the mitered square blankie!

Next, (see, I told you I had lote of pics to share!) the Andean Treasure Shawl that I am knitting for my Mom. It is a really fast knit and the pattern is super easy to memorize. I'm using the Aruacania Nature Wool on size 15's but the same stitch pattern for a more open lacy feel with the wool than the yarn and gauge called for.


And finally, the beginnings of Sahara! I decided to make it and do Rusted Root later. I am using KP's CotLin for it because I figured that it would match up better drape wise with the silk than if I had used the Shine. I am loving CotLin and want to buy tons more of it! The red yarn is just some waste yarn to do the provisional CO with but I do like the two colors together and was almost convinced by my Hubby to use that color down the neckline and the sleeve rib (almost being the operative word here) :)
There it is! All of my pretty pics and more to come!

Seven Random Things....

Ok, I've been tagged and it has taken me forever to come up with my seven randoms but here they are!

1.I was born in Nevada but left when I was 5 mos old so I've never seen the West Coast. The farthest west i have ever been in my memory is Kansas City!

2.I have never seen the Wizard of Oz. In fact, most of the classics that everyone in the world seems to have watched, I have never seen!

3. I have an AWFUL sense of diection! Like seriously awful! It's a big joke in my family becasue I will come up to an intersection, go to turn left and someone will inevitably tell me that I need to turn right. If I am by myself tying to go somewhere, I will try to go the opposite direction I think I should be going and it works!

4. I love pretty notebooks and collect them yet never seem to write in more than the fist few pages. My 16 year old sister is in the process of writing a book (I know, she's very ambitious and she has been writing this book for the past 3 years which just blows my mind) and it drives her up the wall!

5. I love spy shows and books of all sorts and kinds and secretly want to be Sydney Brisow from Alias. I also think it is fitting that the show premiered on my birthday! Someday I want to get an autographed copy of the pilot script!

6. The bookshelves in the study at my house are overflowing, shelves bowing under the pressure, with books stacked on top of the shelves and I still can't stop buying more! When I am talking about my bookshelves, you have to understand that one of them is about 6 ft wide and 7 ft tall, which is completely filled and overflowing. I have plans to line the walls with these bookshelves. (My hubby doesn't know about this however!)

7. I have a horrible time finishing anything! I will leave the last inch of a sock or the last level of a video game for weeks just to put it off. There's really no reason for it, I just can't bring myself to look at it any longer, so I put it down. I know that when I finally finish it, I'll love the end result, but it still doesn't stop me!

So I am now tagging The Knitting Mafia, and PixieRiot . Have fun!

Teehee! This is awesome!

Your arch-nemesis is: The Princess Bride Why? Because they dug up your garden The winner will be... They already have too many arch nemeses, so you are on their friends list. Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

Blogger hates me........

Sorry about the time between posts and the delay about announcing the winner of my contest! Blogger decided to go pyscho on my Mac and wouldn't let me do ANYTHING, even look at my blog, let alone post.

The winner of my Purl Blossom stitch markers is.......Rachel! She has won the Purple Fluorite markers in any needle size and number of her choice!

I will post lots of pretties a little bit later! TTFN!

Spot the elephant

In my attempt to somewhat be organized, I bought myself a handy dandy binder to keep all of my various patterns in.

I have to admit, I love knowing that all of my stuff is in one place and I can keep track of all the projects I want to do. Right now I am torn between casting on for Rusted Root or Sahara. Plus I am working on the Andean Treasure Shawl for my mom and my first pair of toe up socks out of some Opal yarn I got from a swap on Knitty. This is the first time I have ever used Opal and I am loving it!

Wicked is Complete!!!

Yes, my faithful readers, this is the completed Wicked blocking on my handy dandy blocking board! Words cannot express how excited I am to be done! Knitting the laceweight version was not nearly as difficult as I expected and the Colourmart cashmere filled out fantastically once I was done washing out the oil. Because it knit up larger than I thought, I was afraid that I wouldn't have enough yarn to finish so after I was done with my hip increases, I broke the yarn off. I then finished the sleeves off with the ribbing and then started the rib on the bottom which worked out really well. I knit the rib until I had enough yarn for one more row and bound off. Yea!

Lots of pretty pics and a contest!

Well, I finally have lots of progress pics to show you and a contest to help get the word out about my Etsy shop Purl Blossom!
First pic up is my MIL quilt almost done! I completed it yesterday but had to ship it out before I could take the FO pic. My MIL will send me a pic to share with you all!

Wicked is finally being nice to me (even if the camera isn't!) so I am finally able to try it on! It is fitting much better after frogging those rows, although next time I am definately going to knit the next size down.


And, finally, the contest! I am giving away a hand made set of stitch markers of your choice. Go to my shop to look at what I have, then post a comment on my blog telling me which set you would like to win and I will pick a winner at random! If you post anonymously, please leave your email so I can contact you if you are the winner! I will pick the winner on May 21! Good luck!!!

Edited: Stitch markers are light so all you internationals, have a go! This contest is open to everyone!

On my way back....

from the frog pond that I have been calling home! Sorry about the lack of updates this past week. Life has been crazy as always. My DH (after numerous interviews and lots of prayers) finally will be employed again starting next week! He will be starting at Home Depot in the plumbing dept. which he is thrilled about because the money is good and Home Depot is one of his favorite places!

On the knitting front, Wicked has not been so nice to me. I worked through most of the raglan increase rows only to stop 10 rows from completion because it just looked HUGE! I put it all unto scrap yarn and tried it on and I decided to just stop the increases there because it was already on the edge of being too big and I didn't want to risk it. So, I start knitting the pattern again after putting the sleeves on holders and get about halfway through to where the waist will start to decrease and I decide to try it on again to check that I am on the right track. Lo and behold, it is about 3 inches too big on either side! I comtemplate trying to just work a lot of the decrease rows to get it to fit, but in the end I just slowly and carefully rip the progress I had made out and go back another 10 rows on the increases to start there again.

Here is the monsterous piece before I frogged it. It may not seem big laid out like that but trust me, it was. Other than that, knitting this has been really fun and I hope now that I have gone back, it will work out much better. If not, then you'll have to save my a seat on that liilypad and I'll start over. We'll see......

I Heart Swap Packages

This is my swap package from the Black, White, and one other color Swap on Swap-Bot . My swapping friend really spoiled me with fabric, yummy yarn, even stitch markers! Thanks so much Shopping Sherpa! I really am spoiled!

Other pretty things

These are some stitch markers I made yesterday and this morning. I ordered some stitch markers from Neabella on Etsy and I loved them so much that I decdied to try to make some myself. What do you think? I am going to make a few sets up and try to sell them on Etsy myself to try to save enough money to start handpainting sock yarn to sell.

Dye-No-Mite swap package!

I got a package from my Dye-No-Mite secret pal today and it is wonderful! The yarn is cashmerino and it is divine! I wish that you could come over just to pet it! The fabric behind it is an all black background filled with knitting terms! I don't know where she got it but it is awesome! And I love the embroidery floss as well! Thank you Secret Pal!

The wheels of progress

Just so you get to see what my sanity-relieving knitting is producing, here is my progress on Wicked thus far! I am about 28 rows from putting the sleeves on holders and actually being able to try it on. I am very excited for this point as this is my very first top down sweater! On other notes, I am still plugging away on the Mother's Day quilt for my MIL but Wicked has been calling my name so not so much progress there. This is a quilt that I designed using fabrics that belonged to her mom before she died so I am making kind of a memorial for her in quilt form. I will post pics as soon as there is something to see!

Yeah so...

knitting is just about the only thing keeping me sane right now! Between some family drama (just gotta love it) and work driving me up the wall and into the looney bin, hubby lost his job on Friday. It was kind of to be expected. He was working as a temp for this company during their busy season, which apparently ended, and he got laid off. He started working for this company after his other job (which paid pretty well and gave him lots of time at home) started bouncing his paychecks and "forgetting" to pay him. So lots of prayer coming this way would be very much appreciated!

God had to have invented knitting for times like these and I thank Him for it! It is hard to just learn how to let go and trust Him with things like this. (Not like I have much choice heehee!) but I now realize what this growing period that I have been going through with Him is all about. He has really been stretching me and calling me to put my faith where my mouth is. I guess that God thinks that I am up to the challenge!

Wow! I totally agree! :P

You Are Sensual Sexy

You exude a luxurious sensuality in your everyday life Turning heads everywhere you go, it's all about your sexy attitude. You're naturally hot - gorgeous in both sweats and stilettos. Your biggest problem is that your ultra sexy self sometimes scares men away.

What Kind of Sexy Girl Are You?

I had to post this again after blogger ate it earlier today!

Cobwebs in corners

Here is the blocking goodness of my finished Cobweb shawl! This is my first lace project and it was really enjoyable. the lace pattern was easy to memorize and the only snag I ran into was running out of yarn 1/3 of the way into the edging and having to frog it all back very carefully so the whole thing wouldn't unravel at my feet. (The lace edging is worked perpendicular to the shawl in short rows adding one stitch of the body in every other row) I used the alternate crocheted edging and then the single crocheted finish on the straight edge of the shawl and I really like how it turned out. The bamboo worked up beautifully and was perfect for this project. All in all, an extremely satisfying experience! Lace and I, we will be fast friends from now on!

Wicked fun!

Here are the first pics of my newly completed collar for Wicked! I used the Colourmart cashmere that Hubby got me doubled over for the worsted weight collar part and just dropped the 2nd strand when it called for changing to the laceworreight yarn. So far it has been really easy knitting and the yarn is just so yummy! There is no way to possibly describe how soft this yarn is, even when it is oiled down like this is. Sorry about the miscolored pics but it was the only way to get any kind of stitch definition. click the Colourmart link and scroll down to the color 2/20NM g121/g303 to get a better idea of the color.

Hmmm... I wonder what the other 28% is?

You Are 72% Lady

Overall, you are a refined lady with excellent manners. But you also know when to relax and not get too serious about etiquette

Are You A Lady?

Spin Spin Sugar!

As if I didn't have enough to do, I found this in a gift shop at the Old Sturbridge Village where we met the in-laws for the weekend! I am looking forward to learning how to enhance my stash for old-school way. Ever since I found out that Gwen was learning how to spin, I have had this uncontrollable urge to find a drop spindle and try my hand at it, so when I saw this, I HAD to have it! I couldn't go another day without learning how to spin. Uncontrollable, I tell you!

April showers???

SD530398
Originally uploaded by snshinegurl.

This, my dear friends and to all that are looking is what spring apparently looks like in Maine this year. This was taken at 6:30am this morning after a storm dropped 8+ inches on us poor Mainers last night. Spring must have forgotten that it had already sprung! :) Good thing I have my (finally!) completed butterfly socks to keep me warm! What's the weather like in your neck of the woods?

*Sigh* @>----

I could not be married to a better man. Not only does he do the, no lie, 6 loads of laundry (eep! think of what it'll be like when we have kids!) sitting around the house while I worked this weekend, BUT he also remembered that my favorite green cozy armchair socks from Weekend Knitting that I (accidently) tossed into the hamper were hand wash only and would felt beyond recognition if washed, so he pulled them out. Isn't he great?

Happy Easter!!!

This is how much God loved the world: He gave His Son, His one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in Him, anyone can have a whole, lasting life. God didn't go to all the trouble of sending His Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. *John 3:16-17 Message Translation*

It is so nice....

to finally be able to post pics! After my old digital camera died a horrible death (shutter wheezing out its last digital breath) I decided to get a new one to chronicle all my knitty capers. One fantasic find on ebay with less than a minute left to bid (thank God for DSL!!) and my new digital camera was delivered by my trusty UPS man today! I hope ya'll enjoy my WIPs. I am finally done being mad at my butterfly sock for not picking up its own gusset stitches and am finally ready to start work on it again. Meanwhile I have been ordering yarn like mad, my last purchase being some beautiful silver grey silk off of Colourmart.com...... I must stop going there but how can you pass up 1500 yds of silk for $16 shipped? Oh well!

 

The prettiest shawl in the world! This is Cobweb by Magknits.com done in my beautiful black and silver bamboo bought for a song on etsy.com

 
 


My pretty WIP butterfly socks!

 


This is the first shot of my newly dyed KP sock yarn which is soon to be swapped away thanks to my new obsession....swap-bot.com

blog-stalking

I have to admit, I just don't know how they do it. I am doing well to keep a couple of projects on the needles, and still find time to pay attention to my hubby (who regularly accuses me of being married to my yarn and just having a fling with him). I cannot imagine how much time it takes to keep those blogs running with enough yarn p*rn and WIP's to satisfy the demanding public. Please tell me your secrets, pretty blog people!!!

ARRGGHH!!!

I have been working on the butterfly socks from the 2nd Chicks with Sticks book and I am about halfway through the second sock. I got all the way through the cuff and finished my 3rd butterfly (or so I thought), transferred all of my instep and heel sts to their respective needles, started knitting the heel flap and.........realized that I still had 4 more rounds to go on the butterfly before I could move to the heel!!! I can't just keep going because I worked my first sock correctly so the second one will be too short!

My only comfort is that I just placed a huge KnitPicks order (my first!!! Yea!!!!!) and I bought the patterns for both Wicked and Sahara to be done with my beautiful KP stash! *sighs* I think I am in love........

OK....let's try this

This is my first foray into the whole blog thing. I love to play online and stalk other people's blogs so I decided to take the leap and do it myself. Oh, well. I guess we shall learn together.