Holidays are too busy

So its been a while since I posted. Quick update.

Currently on the needles (that have gotten *recent* attention):
Two pairs of socks for a friend. One pair of monkeys (cause her meanie head sock pal didn't come through for her in the Monkey Sock swap GRRR), and another pair just cause I love her.

One pair of socks for another friend. Monkeys. These are WAY over due.

Another pair of socks. Can't get motivated.

The Central Park Hoodie. I love this pattern, and its a relatively quick knit. I'm half way up the back, but distressed because my third cable is two rows too long. Chris says you can't tell. I know though. Will I rip back? I'm not sure. I'm not a big "rip it out" type of gal unless I am totally going to bag the entire project.

Yarn waiting to be knitted: (ok this is new yarn, so not addressing "the stash")
I have some Cascade yarn sitting by my knitting "spot" so that I can start Corsica. This will be a challenge and a half.

Yarn dyeing: We are in the process of dyeing up a wholesale order for a new shop that is opening up in the next month or so. We need to ship some yummies out to her so she has something to start up with, of course! I will, of course, provide a link when the page is up and ready to go.

On the home front: Chris - training in Atlanta for six weeks for his NEW JOB! YAY!
Wyatt and I are sick. What else is new.

Cool new friend news: My mommy friend had her baby on 12/21! A new baby boy to cuddle with for the holidays. What a joy. Congrats, sweetie!

I have been thinking a lot of about my goals for my knitting next year. I will be putting them down in a list so that maybe, just maybe, I can get some motivation to get all I want done. I do mean done. I don't mean 75% done then sitting on the needles for years on end. I have way too many projects like that as is.

I hope everyone had a fantastic Holiday! Bring on 2008. Lets have lots of good stuff happening this year, ok? I'm over 2007 :)

Fun photo meme

So Leigh made me do it. It looks too fun NOT to!

Just type in the answers to the questions on google images. Then paste the first picture that comes up. Ready? Here we go!

1. Age at my next birthday (do I have to admit this number????)













2. Place I'd like to travel










3. Favorite place








4. Favorite object









5. Favorite food









6. Favorite color









7. Nickname



(Ok...googling "Kel" is weird. I had to go with one that wasn't weird LOL)











8. Place I was born

Mmmmm....yarn

So I know I have been going on and on about my fantastic sock pal. And I know I have said she spoiled me. Truth is.....you can't even call it spoiling. I mean, this is down right over indulging me is what it is. Don't believe me? Ok fine. Here are some samplings of what I got in my package.



Dream in Color.....Smooshy sock yarn (Of course, I have been wanting this horribly)
Colorway: Dusky Aurora
Is it not the prettiest little thing you have seen?





Duet Sock Yarns
Colorway: I believe its Cowgirl
Know how I got this? I *mentioned* that I had missed out on it from The Loopy Ewe and it made me sad. She got it specially dyed for me. See? Spoiled.





Scarlet Fleece
Colorway: Antique Watermelon
Its embarrassing that I know the lady who dyes this yarn, but hadn't tried her Scarlet Fleece. My first pair of socks I knitted were done in her worsted weight yarn.




See. Told you. You might not have believed me. But, oh there is more. So much more. So much more, that I won't even put it all in one post. And it could take me forever to show you everything I got.

And speaking of wonderful.....have you seen this review of Forbidden Fleece? Awww shucks. I don't know when the last time I was speechless was <3

By the way.....that is a fantastic reference for those of you who are interested in supporting indie dyers. She painstakingly reviews the yarns...and she will definitely give an honest opinion. I might have been tempted (read: compelled) to buy yarn from some of the dyers based on her recommendations.

Ok, that is enough fun for today. I have yarn to skein and a baby to cuddle!

Speaking of baby.....my super awesome mommy friend should be having a new little bundle to cuddle herself in the next little bit. And I MIGHT have something for said little cuddly bundle in my house to deliver to her.

Spreadin' the love

I have pictures today!!!!!!!

First, just in case you didn't believe that I never take these off. More pictures as proof!



I still love them.









Can you tell?





And then we have a WIP. Nope. I can't take credit for it. Its NOT mine.

Knitting student (also known as ... Nikki). Yep. A CABLED scarf. Isn't it pretty? She loves cables. She is a SUPER tight knitter. Those two things just don't go together in my mind, but it looks absolutely fantastic, and she is the one that has to work with those rediculously, insanely, super tight stitches. Not me. I thought I was a tight knitter. Wow. But. The scarf has taken a backseat to.....


This.

A) Isn't she the cutest thing you've seen?
B) Can you tell that is a sock in her hand?
C) She is done with that sock. She is on her match for her first pair of hand knitted socks!
D) She loves them.
E) Did I mention she is adorable?


Q: Who is this????
A: Knitting mom (Cindy)
Q: What is she wearing?
A: Her first FO! (Well, her first KNITTED FO....she is a crocheter)
Q: When was this pic taken?
A: A few weeks ago. She currently has a hat (almost finished) on the needles, a sock (probably not remotely closed to finished) on the needles, and a baby blanket (I think currently frogged) on the needles.

So funny. Nikki is very much like me. I skip project to project, have to have a bunch going on at one time to suit my mood. So Nikki has a scarf, socks, and is grumbling about wanting a sweater on the needles. Her scarf stays here for "emergencies" such as leaving her knitting at home....so she will always have something to work on while she is here. (I told you she is cute...AND smart!) Cindy. Quite the opposite. She has all that stuff *on* her needles, and she did make a valiant effort to be wild and crazy like Nikki and I. But, she has decided that she will work on ONE thing at a time. So, her hat is almost finished (if not already), she mentioned picking up the baby blanket following the hat, no mention of the sock lately (I'm kind of worried), and she also has yarn for a full-sized blanket as well as a sweater. So, she will have an out of control stash (like teacher like student) and a full queue of things that she has *planned* to knit (like teacher like student, again). But I kinda feel like she might actually work through her knitting queue. Unlike her teacher. ;)

I still have yet to snap a picture of Chris' sock. I think I am going to start him on blogging! We also might need to set up a blog for his *other* masterpieces...there are some pictures that just have to be shown.

Oh yeah. What is on the agenda tonight?

Maddie (my 10 year old) wants to learn to knit.

I'm determined knitters will take over the world.

Also, I will be reskeining some yarn. And Chris might be busy.....dyeing some.

Ummmm....oops

Well, I never thought it would happen. But. I taught Chris how to knit SOCKS!!! YAY! He wasn't a fan at first. I though the was going to give up. But alas, he didn't. I was so excited! I sat down beside him on the couch and helped him clear up some pattern issues and then hopped up on my merry way, completely stoked that I had successfully converted him to sock knitting.

A GASP from the other room. What could it be? I run in to find out...and see him sitting there looking distressed. "Someone broke my needle!" There he sat, afraid to move, one DPN snapped right in half, little tiny loops just waiting to fall off the needle. I quickly ran over with another needle and swiftly grabbed the little loops mid air and got them safely onto another DPN.

It had to be the kids. The kids were clearly messing around, jumped on the couch, and SAT on his needle.

I guess my face had the "deer in the headlights" look. He looked at me and shook his head. "You sat on my knitting didn't you?"

I didn't know. Who sits their WIP on the couch anyway? (me, well and Chris too obviously) Who doesn't look where they are sitting? (me) Who could sit on someone's SIP and not realize they had snapped their DPN in half? (apparently me)

Stop laughing Pam. Its so not funny.

Ok maybe it is.

Oh yeah....check out this Etsy shop. Wonder what my announcement could be?

Monkey Love <3

These deserved a post of their own.

Specs:
Pattern: Monkey socks, by Cookie A.
Yarn: Woolly Boully's, Neopolitan Colorway





I wear them all the time. Can't get them off my feet. They take too long to dry from washing. That makes me sad. They are Monkey socks, knitted by my kick butt Monkey Pal. I'm sad she isn't my *official* pal anymore, but she is better than that, now a lifelong sister/friend. She is truly a wonderful person.

She spoiled me so rotten. Seriously. I can't even tell you how spoiled I was.

Now, lets speak about Woolly Boully. My love for Jenny's yarn is beyond words. It is amazing. Her colors are glorious. Its like little pillows of heaven on my feet. I want to swim in her yarn. I am a member of her sock club, and as a result, each month I get even more slices of heaven that I continuously fondle and pet. I encourage others who come to my house to see my fantastic yarn, and sometimes even allow them to touch it. They can't fondle it though. That is not cool. Cause....yes, you know. The stash is sacred. No one will fondle my stash. Except for me. Certainly not my Woolly Boully yarn.

Oh yeah....The Loopy Ewe has Jenny's Woolly Boully yarn. But so does her Etsy shop. Check her out. Seriously, you won't be disappointed. If you are, send it to me. And I will pay for your first therapy session. ;)

So next time...I have pictures of knitting student and her mom. Their WIPs and an FO even! Also....maybe an announcement? We'll see. No........I'm not pregnant. Its related to yarn. That's all the hint you get!

Today is a good day!

Well. I have known for a week that my sock pal package was coming. So, for the first time in a LONG time, I actually was looking forward to a Monday. It took forever to get here. But. Alas, it is Monday! YAY!!

Well, little did I know, that a phone call from Florida this morning was to inform us that Chris may very well be employed. We just aren't sure. Its funny! They said he was chosen for the January class. I think we are just so shocked that we can't grasp the fact that....he now has a pretty decent kick but job starting in January!!! WOOHOOO.

But, that wasn't my package!

Then, the mailman came. Chris looked at me as if I was walking in with my monkey package. Nope. I could carry this one! This package was from WEBS and was my yarn for my Central Park Hoodie!! YAY!!!!

But, that wasn't my package!

After stalking the door all day, I got on the phone with the ex to discuss some kid issues and my other line rang! Hmmmm, let me get that. Its from California!

Hello?
Hi, is this Kellie? (Totally sweet sounding gentleman, I gotta tell ya!)
Well, yes it is!
Well, I do believe you just got a package delivered to you!
I DID????
(I run frantically to the door)
OHHH I DID!!!!
You didn't realize that your package has arrived? Its been there for about ten minutes!
Oh no, I have been waiting all day long! (I am frantically waiving for Chris to get the package in the house because.....I couldn't lift it!)

My sock pal's "Hubster" had called to let me know my package was here! So cool!!! Then my super fantastic awesomely wonderful amazing best ever sock pal got on the phone!! And we ripped into the box together! It was so much fun! I was amazingly spoiled. We have spent months talking very regularly in email, getting to know one another, without me even knowing who she was. What is funnier, is that unbeknownst to me, I had forged TWO relationships with her. See.....remember when I might, maybe, could have possibly bought some yarn from Pam? Well, I emailed Pam every now and again, and we even commented on each other's blogs at times. Imagine my surprise when I learned today, after talking on the phone for some time and opening some pretty darn fantastic and well-picked out packages, that my sock pal was in fact Pam! I was shocked and surprised, and giggled hysterically at the fact that there were days when she responded from her secret email account and her regular email account because I never caught on that Pam and my sock pal were the same person! TOO FUNNY!! How she kept it straight, I will never know. And I even joked that Pam was probably sick of hearing about my sock pal, and my sock pal was probably sick of hearing about Pam because I did nothing but sing the praises of one to the other.

I am so lucky, I have forged a fantastic relationship with a fantastic woman, and I just don't even know what I have done to deserve such a wonderful friend.

So, my dear not so secret sock pal, I am so very lucky to have met you. Thank you for being a wonderful friend over the past few months and walking with me through some truly trying times in my life. I'm so lucky that everything aligned just right for you to be my sock pal, and even more importantly, a wonderful friend.

<3

Pictures later...

A quicky

I just got back from knitting student's house. They were having some people over, and they said come on by. So we wrapped Mr. Wyatt up and headed over.

Knitting student's mom greeted me at the door with squeals of delight. And then she showed me....her scarf that she is KNITTING! Knitting student taught her how to cast on and how to knit. She is addicted. She is wanting to come over on Monday so that we can knit together. So she can watch me.

I was astounded. We spent about 1 1/2 hours talking knitting. She was giggly. She was excited. She was intrigued. She wants more. Knitting student told me of her cabled scarf. She has had to start over for the third time. She loves cabling. She just missed three rows of the pattern and *had* to rip it all the way out. Clearly, must teach knitting student how we rip back a few rows instead of starting over.

Pretty cool!

In my knitting news, doing a little test knitting, doing a little finishing of a second sock, and I got Knitscene fall 2006 for the Central Park Hoodie pattern. And ordered Donegal Tweed to go with said pattern. In a color suggested by the husband. Clearly amazing that I got to purchase yarn and that he was interested enough to pick out what color since I clearly couldn't decide which color of yarny goodness would suit me.

Good day! I wish every day could be that full of knitting excitement!!!!

Off to knit some socks!

Thanksgiving sock

I finished it!


One Thanksgiving sock down, one to go. Not too shabby, fantastic pattern, I love the yarn and it fits perfect!

So, I need to start the second one. I might do that tonight. Right now, I have company.






My new knitting student is here. She needed some help with her pattern. And....she wanted to learn more so we pulled out another beginning scarf. Here is her progress on the first scarf.


I grabbed it and snuck away with it to take a picture. She wouldn't understand why one needs to document such events. One day she will learn. Don't want to push it.

Isn't that fantastic? She did all of that by herself!!!! She wasn't sure what the pattern abbreviations were to get any further than that, so now that she is clear, she is sitting in my living room casting on for another scarf.

Yep. The addiction is holding. Fantastic!

More when my company is gone and I have some of my own knitting progress to report.

Socks rock!

So lets see. I am working the gusset on my first Ampersand sock. FANTASTIC pattern. Can't say enough good about it. And I forgot how quickly sport weight socks work up! I'm loving it.

So...when I was knitting my monkey socks for my sock pal, Shanidy, we had a friend and his girlfriend over to watch movies. Well, she saw me working on a sock, and she was interested, but not all that interested. She wanted to *touch* it but didn't want to put it on. I was offended. How could someone not want to put on a knitted sock? But I gave up. Clearly, the future was destroyed. Here I was, with a 17 year old in my house, who did NOT want to try on a hand knitted sock.

But...I persisted. I continued to knit in front of her. She comes over frequently. I showed her the finished pair. Still, interested, but not TOO interested. I knew that somehow something had to get through to her.

Started working on the previously unknittable socks. She was interested. Pretty yarn! Wow, look at that pattern! So neat! How do you do that with all of those needles? Hmmmm, my plan seemed to be working.

Then, Friday I had new yarn and had casted on my Ampersand socks. She came in, and immediately said OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHH pretty yarn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes....the yarn is very pretty. Do you want to....touch it? YES!

I was taken aback! She touched the yarn. She petted the yarn. To be honest, I think she even fondled it. She looked at the sock that was just starting. Interesting. And then she said....

Kellie. Will you teach me to knit?

No words. I literally had no words. Within seconds, I had the swift out and ball winder in motion. She had needles in hand. Long tail cast on? A breeze. Knit stitch? Simple. She left with the yarn and the needles.

Returned today. And said: Kellie. I'm ready to learn how to do more. Purl stitch. Piece of cake. We moved on to yarn overs and K2Tog. Tonight, I showed her my sock yarn stash. I let her touch it too. I'm sure she doesn't realize that the stash is sacred. That no one else has gotten to look at much less pet my yarn.

The kicker......she wants to learn how to knit socks.

Just when I thought it couldn't get any better.......then she said....Oh yeah!! My mom said that she wants you to teach her too!!

There is hope for the future of knitting after all.

SIP

So, I figured I'd show some progress. Probably, if I just buckled down on ONE project it would be more impressive. But, I like to have a sock for the mood and here they all are. I have offered to be a test knitter, so if that happens, be prepared for immediate sock knitting progress to stop to allow full attention to said test knitting. I'm so stoked! We'll see :)

Anyway we have:

Pattern: Ampersand
Needles: Two cirs (gulp), size 3
Thoughts: I love this pattern!!!! And, seeing as I just started it, its obviously a quick knit :) The circs, I love them!! I'm sure there is a better way than I started, but I'm waiting for a book to show me the "right" way to do it.






Pattern: Thelonious
Needles: Size 1
Yarn: Louet Gems Indigo
Thoughts: Of course I'm a Cookie groupie, so I love the pattern. The chart is a little new to me, but its going well. I'm not sure I'm sold on the yarn is the problem.





Pattern: Southwestern Socks by Wendy
Needles: Size 1
Yarn: Chewy Spaghetti Saghettoni. This is the previously unknittable yarn. Its being nice, so I guess I'm making it happy.
Thoughts: I love this pattern SO much. And I love the toe up knitting I've got going on. Pretty fun!! And check out those stitch keepers!! Got those from a sock club!!! FAN-FREAKIN-TASTIC I tell you. Chris keeps telling me that he is going to yank the needles out because I'm not supposed to be knitting this yarn, as evidenced by five false starts, so this makes me feel better, just in case he is serious.

Also cast on, but not officially started, my Monkeys for my mommy friend. I just casted on and let them sit there. Nice Kel. Real nice.

And, I have picked out this pattern for my Woolly Boully sock club yarn. No pics of that though, cause you know its a club yarn and all. I feel better about having the yarn if I know that I have an *idea* of what I am going to end up doing with it.

So there we go! Fun times in Casa Fulton. The spirit of Soctober continues into November. You know, its always socktober here.

Quiet weekend, please?

Monday...doctor with Chris and Wyatt.
Tuesday...hospital with Wyatt (for dehydration, he is ok now :))
Wednesday...doctor with Wyatt.
Thursday...Interview for Chris (please please please please hire him)
Friday...Mailman with sock club yarn...in Thanksgiving colors.

I immediately wound and cast on for the Thanksgiving socks. I'm using the Ampersand pattern by Susan. And..........in case you noticed.......that pattern is done on two circulars. And. I'm doing the socks on two circulars.

Alert the media!

More later...trying to get little man to go to sleep. So I can knit. Or sleep. There has been so little of both these days.

October what?

I can't believe that it is the 29th. This month has flown by without me even realizing it.

My sock pal got her package.

And she said she loved it!

And, the socks fit.

Yay!!


She also loved her other hand made goody, which I will tell you is a double-pointed needle case that I sewed. It was fun, and I tried to make myself one and it didn't turn out nearly as well LOL Glad she got the prototype that turned out ok.





And, a few other goodies that I threw in. I won't bore you with the whole package, just a few things that I sent off for her.



Currently I have:

1) Three socks in progress.
A) Thelonious from Cookie A in my Indigo Louet Gems. This one will take me a while.
B) Southwestern Socks a la Wendy of Wendy Knits. Knitted in the previously unknittable yarn from my Holidays Sock Club. As of now, it appears to be behaving and I may have found a pattern that it likes. We shall see.
C) Monkey socks, done in Colinette Jitterbug. For a mommy friend.

2) A hubby still lacking a job, but newly acquired bronchitis.

3) A baby with an upper respiratory infection and bilateral ear infections.

4) Two full-time jobs that actually want me to do full-time work. What are they thinking?

5) Three tax bills in the mail today (shoot me now).

6) Absolutely NO Christmas shopping done.

7) Some absolutely fantastic sock yarn from the Woully Boully Sock Club. I think what has happened with this yarn, is that I have moved from a yarn addict to a yarn molester. I cannot keep my hands off of this yarn. I snuggle it up to my face, I smell it, I pet it, I look at it, I ask it what sock pattern it wants to be knitted in to. Woully Boully WILL be on my list of sock yarns that will regularly be purchased and knit. (Don't tell, but I think it has passed Lorna's addiction level).

8) Complete lack of sleep.

9) Discovered that selling yarn on Ravelry and Ebay, is very profitable!! I had some sitting around that I was never going to use, and lo and behold, people bought it! Of course, I've not been looking to recoup my money I spent on it, just to get a few dollars here and there and send some yarn to someone who will enjoy it. Its going well, it occupies my free time well with something constructive, and I'm meeting some really cool new people.

Its been a busy but surprisingly good month. And of course, my sock monkey pal who is knitting for me is back from vacation. YAY! I've missed e-mailing with her while she was gone. Knitter friends are the best!!

And lastly, baby eye candy. His new trick, which he showed me on Saturday pre-feeling crabby and fussy. I'm glad it wasn't a tape that I enjoyed listening to. Thank goodness all my stuff is on CD now, huh?

Monkeys, Birthday, and Unknittable yarn

What a busy few weeks!!!

First, I am addicted to Ravelry. Enough said.

Second, I had a birthday. I'm 29 (read 35). I had a great birthday! Now if I could just get that hair dye out and fix the Cruella De'Ville look I have going on, I'd feel better.

Third, I went to the post office today!! I mailed STUFF! Monkey sock package on the way to its intended sock pal! I can't wait for her to get it. I won't post pics until she does, but there is more than one handmade thing in there, some other things for her, and even something for another person in the house! I hope they fit! I hope she loves the STUFF! A whole two weeks before the deadline. WAYYYY better than I did with Sockapalooza!

Fourth, speaking of Sockapalooza, I signed up to be a sock savior. However, my designated pal is no longer blogging nor answering my emails. What a bummer. She must be AWOL. I have emailed Alison to see what to do.

Fifth, have you ever had yarn that just didn't want to be knitted? I have some. I don't know what the deal is. I have frogged twice. This time, I did exactly what I should have done, exactly the right number of stitches, exactly the right needle size and its as if I am making socks for someone with football player calves. I just don't get it. I don't care WHAT I do with this yarn, it will not knit up to save my life. I'm going to re-rip (I'm pissed cause I had tried the picot cuff for the first time and looooved how cute it was) and take the hint that I don't need Halloween socks. I'll just get another yarn from my stash and start something else.

Sixth, still no news on the job front for Chris. That stinks. He did have an interview, and it went well, but no job until January if they hire him. Uggggg.

Seventh, its been entirely too long since I have purchased yarn. Need. Yarn. Badly. Not because I have none to knit, but because I must be addicted to yarn. But, I do have some new sock yarn that was put in the mail today! I'm SOOOOO EXCITED! Oooohhh maybe I can wait for that to arrive and just start socks with that yarn. So many options.....

Eighth, I have two mommies who have given birth already and one about to pop any second. All packages successfully sent off today. I also have one awesome mommy friend having a boy in a very short while and there might be something in progress there but I would never tell if there was. What is with all these people getting pregnant?? I have one friend having twins, two others that are right around 20 weeks, another around 13 weeks. Its craziness.

Ninth, Wyatt is 10 months old today. Where has the time gone?????

Ok, that is more than enough to get you caught up. Pictures of my sock pals socks hopefully next time. And also, pictures of what I made for her other than Monkey Socks. I'm proud. Hopefully its as cute as I think it is.

WOOOHOOO!!!

I got my Ravelry invite!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Add me (whatever the heck that means, I will figure it out when I am done with work)

Knitstergal

Just a day shy of two month wait LOL Awesome!!! I can't wait to play around with it.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh Lornas

I got a package in the mail!!! Again. But, this was expected. It is a happy birthday to me gift. Well, I picked it out, mom paid for it. And it came from the lovely Pam. I now have proof, she really is the Yarn Goddess. See what I got?

That is one mass of yarny goodness is it not? See, Pam is destashing a buttload of yarn. I snagged some of her Lorna's. But fear not, she has more. LOTS more. And she has Opal. And she has a mass of others as well, so hop on over and check out what she has. Girlfriend will totally hook you up. Ahhhh Pam. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Happy birthday to me!!!

For those of you who are counting....that is TEN different colors of Lorna's. I have pictures taken of them individually, and I will gladly show those off. But just not in one post. I'm such a tease. Eight of these are slated for sock gifting purposes. Two are for me. I'm certainly one lucky girl!

I also got my very first yarn club offering. Its from Chewy Spaghetti, Khris' holiday yarn club yarn. Check it out. (I don't mind showing cause I've had it for just under a week, and not many people read my blog anyway so I won't spoil any surprises LOL) Here is what I got from her.

Adorable packaging, no? And it smelled yummy too, cause she had a good smelling candle in there mmmmmm






I refused to open the yarn quickly for anticipation sake. I checked out all the neat little goodies that she packaged along with the yarn. The yummy candle, a cute little bottle cap necklace that I am QUITE sure that Maddie is going to want to steal as soon as she sees it, and an adorable little pumpkin stitch marker!

Check that baby out!! My Halloween sock yarn!! How cute is that? I think I am going to make myself some cute little plain stockinette socks with a picot edging. Now that my Monkey socks are done (YAY!!!!), I can start on these! I better get cranking if I want to be able to wear them in time for Halloween!

Not a bad start to Socktober, huh?

As far as the Monkey swap goes (Oh, and I can't mention Monkey swap without mentioning how much I love my Monkey Sock Pal cause she ROCKS!), socks completed tonight! Now, I have some sewing to do for one of the goodies to go along. I have yarn and pattern waiting, and a few monkey gifts as well! If I can knock out my sewing this weekend, I am planning on popping the box in the mail on Monday. I LOVE MONKEYS!!!!!!!!!!!!

And, finally, good thoughts on Tuesday please!!! There might be something in the works that would be really good for us. That's all I'm gonna say for fear of jinxing :)

Its...........SOCKTOBER!!!

YAY!!! I have been waiting an entire year for October to come around. Not just cause its my birthday month, (this year, I officially start counting down not up BTW) but because I can officially be part of Socktober. I couldn't last year cause I was pregnant and Wyatt wouldn't let me knit, and the year before that I didn't have a sock obsession.

I am so stoked!! And, thanks to a super fantastic kick butt sock pal, I have new yarn to start new socks with. And thanks to a few sock clubs, I will have other new yarn to knit with. And I have asked everyone that I know for gift certificates or money for sock yarn for every foreseeable gift-giving occasion from here until I am 147 years old, hopefully I will continue to have much yarn to knit through Socktober and beyond! (I feel like Buzz Lightyear for some reason)

For my new yarn from my sock pal, I have this in mind maybe. Or the Firestarter socks found here. You will also find the Southwestern socks there, which are on my to do list.

And, I am finishing up my Monkeys for my sock pal, just past the heel decreases now. Then, when I am done with those, hopefully in the new few days, I can pop those in the mail. No more pictures! And no pictures of the goodies I am sending along, not until she posts them on her blog. Don't want to spoil the surprise in case she blog hops.

What is on your to do list for Socktober????

A friend stopped by to visit today

Chris yelled from the other room earlier.....

"The mailman brought you a package today! What are you expecting?"

I ran to the door all excited. Could it be the Lorna's that I might have bought? Or maybe I didn't buy any. Could it be yarn club yarn? What could it be?

It was a package alright. In an Amazon box. I was perplexed!! I haven't purchased anything from Amazon!

So I ripped into the package (I'm heck on Christmas morning, too)

And here is what was inside.

Carefully packaged. NOT from Amazon. Sneaky little gift-sender she is!!!!

Is he not the cutest thing you have EVER seen?!?!?!?!

And LOOK! He has presents for me!!!!!!!!

Beautiful yarn.........I mean beautiful!
The most delicious smelling soap a girl could ever imagine.
And a sock monkey card with the sweetest little message ever.



Another picture just cause he is so darn cute. Look at that yarn.


Who could it be that loves me so???


Mrs. Monkey Friend, of course!!!!

I love Mrs. Monkey Friend. She is the best, anywhere!

This is the best Friday EVER!

The cuteness just never stops

Lack of knitting progress pictures makes me post something so much sweeter.

Just cause

Just cause I'm a yarn ho....

Pretty red......








Pretty teal/blue....









Ahhhhhhhh multicolored yarn rules........









All from my stash. Just cause I wanted to pull them out and see them again.

Im so gonna start decorating my house with yarn.

For the love of the Monkey

Wanna see my finished Monkey? You have competition. See?

Oooohhhh Mommy! What is this????


I just wanna....touch it. (Wonder where he gets that?)








Can I have it??








Nope. Sorry buddy. It belongs to my monkey pal. I hope she loves it!! I know I do. For sure!!! Its resting on my homemade sock blocker that my hubby made for me.










And I couldn't resist putting it on my foot. Just to see. And feel. I didn't wear it for long. Just long enough to be jealous.

Speaking of being jealous. Check out Pam's blog. She is the Yarn Goddess. Her link is on my side bar. She is selling an obnoxious amount of sock yarn in an effort to destash. Its beautiful. I might have bought some. I might not have. I'll never tell. hehe

Now I'm hungry. I better go raid the the kitchen and figure out what I am going to make for my family.

Oh...I hope you had a great International Pirate Day yesterday! I did. Argggggggggggggg. Where's me Lorna's?

Comedy of errors

I would not believe this week if I hadn't lived it.

Had a surprise party for my hubby. In my travels, I fell down my front step and beat myself up pretty badly. Its a comical story, but alas my comical mood has flown the coop. Because....

Today he lost his job. This sucks big.

Good thing....I love Lorna's laces. I want to bathe in it. I finished a monkey sock. Pics to follow.

Hope ya'lls week is way better than mine is shaping up to be!!!

Where does time go?

Between work and kids back to school and completely redoing the kids rooms, my week has flown by. I swear I need more time in a day. Just me, no one else. Just an additional 8 hours for me to work without interruption on all the stuff to get done! Then maybe, just maybe, my life will be somewhat "normal."

Thanks for the comments on my question last post. I knew my girl Manda was a fan of the short cuff on her own socks. (Yes, I do stalk her blog. She was my kick butt Sockapalooza pal, so why wouldn't I?). After all, she lives in what I imagine is a hot climate...If I remember correctly (boy I hope I'm not mistaken) she lived in Texas and moved to Cali. I'd wear shorter cuff socks too. I was glad to see that she wasn't scared of the purl stitch either. I really had begun to think it was just me. And my friend Pam also commented and had good things to say. She loves her the socks as well, you know. If her recliner would just stop eating her needles. And as a side note, I am concerned that Pam is going to turn into an English muffin with ham. Might be hard to knit then, sweetie.

I will say that I have been considering trying out socks on two circulars because maybe it will help me feel better about only having two places to worry about loose stitches instead of four. Funny, I always worry about that but I don't think you can see in my knitting where there are any ladders or wonky stitches. I might just worry too much. So my sock knitting friends who use the circs.....is it harder or easier than DPNs? Or do you just knit exclusively on circs? Wendy has recently switched. I'm thinking if she can be converted, maybe I should give it a try. If I ever find time to knit again.

I'm shamelessly without pictures again. I am just organizing and not knitting. I am almost done with the heel on the monkeys and moving to the rest of the foot. I am so excited about this yarn I want to see what it will look like when it is finished. I need to get in gear. I hate waiting until the last minute. I have just under two months now. Yikes.

I am thinking of joining a destash group. I have some stuff that I have to get rid of. It just irritates me that it is sitting in my stash and I will never knit it. I have six skeins of Knit Picks Essentials, three different colors, that I know I won't knit. I have two other skeins of two different colors, but not sure if anyone would buy just one skein of that so those I may be stuck with. The matching skeins have already been knitted with so I won't try to get rid of those. And I think I have some Knit Picks Dancing in there that I will be getting rid of also. I am going through my stash from the kids closet. I have a bunch of Knit Picks Parade and Knit Picks Simple Stripes but I think I will keep those to use for gifting of socks. And then there is an entire tub of non-sock related yarn to be sold. Then I can get my Options and some more sock yarn!! And Hubby will think I have done something great by getting rid of some yarn. Its a good thing all the way around. Anyone have any experience with the destashing site?

OK....it is back to the rooms for me. I have much to do. I have promised to have it finished today. Have a great weekend!!!

I just wonder

How many people stick to a pattern? Of late, I have noticed many people have been shortcutting perfectly good patterns. Its really starting to get on my nerves. Case in point:

Monkeys.

They have six pattern repeats on the cuff. But I see a lot that are only four. Why? Maybe people like shorter cuffs, I dunno. Maybe I'm just being petty. But....I am working on my monkey socks for my pal and got to the end of round five and found myself thinking....I could totally do the heel. I immediately put my knitting down because I knew I was just tired and didn't want to end up doing something I would regret.

No purl stitch monkeys? Ok, now that is way beyond shortening the cuff because you like shorter socks. That is just, well its just wrong to me. Why do people hate the purl stitch?

My diamondbacks were one diamond short, mind you. I did it in an effort to not spend 40 dollars on yarn. But I still ran out of yarn. Then I was just ticked because had I know I was going to need two balls anyway, I would have done three diamonds like the pattern said. Lesson learned. Still, they ended up being as long from heel to cuff as they were heel to toe. Pretty darn long socks. Another diamond would have made them almost knee socks, fine for me but I wasn't sure how my sockapalooza pal felt about knee socks. (Not that I've heard back whether she even received them, much less liked them, but I digress)

I dunno, maybe this is a baby-always-somehow-attached-to-mommy-and-driving-her-bonkers-
so-I'm-extra-moody-post and really is pointless. It just really struck a nerve for me today when I saw a pair of socks made for a sock pal that were two pattern repeats short on the cuff. Maybe their pal requested shorter socks and I'm being crabby for no good reason. It could be my fault.

Maybe I need wine.

Details, details

Ok...first of all. Yes, I am a button thief. But Pam told me to do it. So now I have buttons to show off my addiction. And I also have a button so you can click to her blog from mine. One day I am going to figure out all this cool blogging stuff. Like how to get my very own button. Not that anyone links to me, but its still cool to have a button. Or like how to get some of those nifty little progress bars that knitters seem to have. Can't figure that out either. Oh well...I'm a yarn ho, not a blogger queen.

So.....details on my sock yarn that has me drooling. This is it. Try to control yourself when you see it. Its amazing, and unfortunately the pic does it not nearly the justice it deserves. Ready?


Is that not the most fantastic thing you have EVER seen in your life? The colors in ... person? yarn? Well when you get the yarn in your hands, its fantastically beautiful. I swear, I didn't even have any chocolate yesterday this did so much for me.

Stats: Lorna's Laces, Devon colorway

This confirms for me that I will definitely possess some of this (after I'm off of my no more yarn rule due to swaps) and quite possibly some liberty yarn too that I have been wanting in Lorna's. There are other colors too, but one has to start somewhere. And just when I thought it couldn't be more beautiful. It looks just as pretty in a ball!



Although, I'm not sure the pictures really show off how pretty it is in fact. I guess I need to figure out the whole picture taking thing as well huh? Darn rookies.





Here is how far I got last night. Wyatt had a rough night. Teething. It sucks. And just a helpful note to mommies. If you decide to give numbing gel (which I will never, ever do again) be smart, unlike I was, and give the Tylenol FIRST. Numbing gel numbs everything, and they can't swallow the Tylenol if you do it last. It causes a horrible choking fit. Sometimes, I am concerned about my lack of common sense.

Have a great weekend, and enjoy the extra day off!!!

I have a serious addiction

NEVER have I just freaked out over yarn. Until today. I got my Loopy Ewe order in with my pal's yarn.

Oh. My. Word.

I won't post pictures just in case she blog hops. But. I want this yarn. I seriously do. I have it in my lap at this very moment. Its so pretty. And I'm going to wind it in a minute. I just keep petting it and telling it how pretty it is. And it calls out to me. Buy some for you. Buy some for you.

I will resist. Because my kick butt monkey pal made a good point. Don't go buying stuff before the swap ends. You know, she is right. Cause that is like buying yourself presents before Christmas or your birthday. Just not cool. She's really a smart gal, my bestest sock pal ever ever on the planet.

So. I will resist. But, it will not make me love it any less. Have I mentioned I love it? The colors are exceptional. Just freaking amazing. I can't say enough. It looks pretty no matter where I put it. I could buy some just to sit around as decoration.

I'm going to have to find a 12 step for yarn. Seriously. I've got it bad.

How you know you are addicted

Ok so you know I love The Loopy Ewe, right? Well. They have their sneak ups. Apparently they USED to tell people when they were, but now she just puts them up there without so much as a word! That is fantastic, because it makes for much excitement. But, today it has made me become OCD. I keep checking. Must see the new yarn. Must buy new yarn. Only three orders away from being a Loopie Groupie! And of course, probably in that amount of orders I will also reach the ability to be considered a frequent shopper and get some goodies that way (I refuse to divulge if I am already a frequent shopper or not, I just won't tell). I am waiting for mail to show up in my box that would have the Loopy's name on it, containing sock yarn for my sock pal along with her Cookie pattern. I'm so jealous of the yarn I got for her. Its so pretty.

I am plugging along on my other monkeys, but the little fella has been teething, and that makes for little knitting time. Sooooo, no pictures for you because the progress is not terribly exciting. Now, progress on my hubby's new project? THAT is exciting! He is almost done with his second ball of yarn. He was knitting the other day and his friend came in. He looked like a deer in the headlights. His friend said "What on earth are you making?" Being the fast thinker he is, hubby says "Ummm, a hunting vest." His friend replied....."Uhhhhhhhhhhhh its pink, dude." Busted.

I am also closely eying Blue Moon Fiber Arts.....to make some Socks That Rock of course!! I've not tried STR yarn yet, and I think it is about darn time I do! We'll see. It depends on what Sheri puts up. If I go broke buying from her, the STR might have to go on a wish list for my birthday and Christmas!

Oh....and Hi Sock Pal!!!!!!! I am sure I haven't mentioned that my sock pal ROCKS! I don't know why I have failed to say that. hehe

Facing reality

So after searching some sock-lover's blogs, I had to face a harsh reality. I am but a rookie. Not that my ability is lacking, or that I do not take on fantastic challenges in my sock knitting. But...my stash. Well. Its embarrassing. See:
I know. Its bad, huh? Its in my dresser. So what do I have in there? On the left, front is Collinette Jitterbug. There are two bags behind it which contain one skein of Opal yarn, two skeins of Regia yarn, one of my Louet yarns and my Lorna's (obtained from the Loopy Ewe not too long ago). Beside it...my Louets and panda cotton obtained from the Loopy Ewe the same time as I got the others. Under that is my Apple Laine that I got from my Sockapalooza pal. Beside that is my Colinette Jitterbug and my Cherry Tree Hill that I got at the beginning of Sockapalooza. And one skein of Tofutsies that I got to knit some "Thanks for training me" socks for DH's trainer at work. Enough for 14 socks.

There you have it. That is my "good" sock yarn. I do have some of the other stuff in the closet in Maddie's room (none of this is the *good* stuff) but its Knit Picks dancing (which BTW I hate), some Knit Picks essentials (which again BTW I hate), Knit Picks Parade along with some other worsted sock yarn, and some other self striping yarn that I will never use because I hate self-striping yarn. Oh yeah I have four wound skeins of some sock yarn that I got off of ebay about two years ago. The end. Period.

To a non-sock knitter (ie. my husband) this sounds like QUITE the stash of yarn. But sock knitters know, this is just pathetic. And compared to my "regular"yarn stash, this is just a drop in the bucket. I have so much "other" yarn I could open a yarn store. So I was thinking.....maybe it is time to destash some of my other yarn in order to make money to buy a ridiculous amount of sock yarn. I need sock yarn. Desperately. And even more saddening, I just made an order from Sheri at The Loopy Ewe. And none of it was for me. It was all for my super lucky monkey sock pal! I love the colors I chose for her and hopefully she will love them equally.

And, on the monkey sock pal front, I still have the best sock pal EVER. I'm beginning to feel guilty, because I sincerely believe that no one could have a better pal than I have. She is quite possibly the coolest knitting chick ever. She sends me frequent emails letting me know she is knitting for me, thinking of me, and wishing me well. Clearly, this is the beginning of a fantastic friendship.

Oh and speaking of monkey sock pal swap.... fellow sock swap member Pam posted a comment on my blog! Check out her page. She is one bad-butt sock knitter. She really is a yarn goddess! I love her blog!! She has a pretty fantastic stash it appears too. I'm insanely jealous....so I will live vicariously through her and her stash. One day, my friends. One day.

Did you notice the other yarn in the picture? That is cotton yarn for dish cloths. That was donated by my mom. I have a dish cloth in progress, and as you know DH knitted one. Oh and apparently the pictures do not show clearly that the dishcloth has a dragonfly on it? Not a pot leaf. There has been some confusion amongst some mommy friends on this point HAHAHAHAHA!

And here is my finished sock. One lone sock. Why one lone sock? Because. Its knitted in Knit Picks Essentials. Did I mention its not my favorite? I love Knit Picks yarns, usually. I think I have just fallen in love with the other stuff so much that I've been spoiled.

It is the Breeze pattern from Knitty.
Nice little pattern. Works up pretty easily. Probably not a good choice of yarn color because it doesn't show the pattern very well. But I didn't mind knitting it. And its an anklet so it works up pretty quickly. I imagine it works up faster on yarn you like. I think I'm harping. Sorry.


Here is the heel. Pretty cute!! I am totally into socks that have patterns on the heel. These were to be for me, but I think I will see if one of my mommy friends wants them. I'm not a big anklet kinda gal.



And I have a monkey on the needles. Just to keep me busy until my sock pal yarn comes in.



I won't say what yarn they are. Cause that might be harping. Different from the anklets though.

See the pile of books? Those are from the library. They laughed when I checked out five knitting books, three of them being sock related. More sensational knitted socks (they didn't have the 1st one, odd), Socks soar on two circulars, Knitting Vintage Socks, Itty-bitty hats (I have 8 pregnant mommy friends, you know), and Cables untangled. The library really needs to up their knitting collection, because they do not have enough. We need Cat's new book, and the first Sensational Knitted Socks, and there are many others I would like to read too. Fitted Knits maybe? Get with it tiny little town library. Knitters have needs.

I'm a lucky girl

First, I will apologize for the moodiness that was my last blog post. I had just found out that a friend of mine passed away from cancer. I was very angry, very upset, very a lot of things. I'm feeling a little better, and I wanted to apologize for being so blue.

And in the midst of that, I got the SWEETEST e-mail from my Monkey Swap Pal!!!!!!!! She could NOT be sweeter!! It brightened my day immensely. Thank you super fantastic amazing secret pal! I hear rumors of spoiling and I am sooooooooooo excited! A pair of Monkeys made by a super cool secret sock pal? What could be better? I can't think of a thing!

I also got my sock pal information. I sent her out an email as well just saying hi and all that good stuff. I'm excited to see if she responds back. This whole sock swap thing is fantastic. I'm completely excited, can you tell? I am on a search for some beautifully bright variegated sock yarn because that is what she likes. And I tell you, she has one serious stash. And in there is......Socks That Rock sock yarn!!! Oh can you imagine? I don't even have ONE skein of that. This girl has no less than a gazillion. Ok so I exaggerate but in looking at her blog, its a heck of a lot of STR yarn. And Lornas. And oh, the sock yarn is abundant. One day I will have a sock yarn stash like that. Not that mine isn't impressive. But when I was considering knitting socks, I bought a lot of sock yarn that I probably wouldn't buy now. And its sitting in my stash just marinading but I'm not sure I see working it up any time soon. I bought a lot of worsted because I thought that knitting socks on "regular" sock yarn would suck. I like it better. Shhhhhh, don't tell the worsted sock yarn because it is awfully pretty and maybe someday when I'm wanting a quick knit, I will whip it out and knit something up. But....The Loopy Ewe is in my sights. I am trying to control myself. Last time I did a ridiculous order...remember? This time, I will try to contain myself, but you know I have to order at least $75 so that I can get free shipping. Its very frugal of me to do that, you know. Not selfish at all. Besides, I have to order some to make my socks for my pal and get her some sock yarn to make the Cookie pattern that I buy for her. There is three items right there.

In Sockapalooza news....I have heard nothing from my pal that I knit for. That kinda stinks :( I hope she liked her socks and goodies. Maybe she is super busy and will post or email later. I also signed up to be a sock savior! Hopefully no one gets bailed on to need one, but I'm ready and waiting in the wings should there be a need.

More later.... I have a finished sock to show! Just need to take pictures.

Another swap!

I am in a horribly somber mood today, so I will apologize ahead of time.

I had so much fun with sockapalooza......I joined the Monkey Sock Swap 3! Sign ups are still going on, but you only have until 8/31, so get your little butts over there and sign on up! It is guaranteed to be a blast.

Without any further ado (and because I don't feel like being peppy anymore) here is my questionnaire!

Monkey Sock Swap THREE Questionnaire

The basics:
Do you consider yourself a beginning sock knitter, an intermediate, or have you been doing this so long you could probably knit a pair in your sleep? I cannot consider myself a beginner anymore, so as scary as it might sound I think intermediate is what I would be.

The measurements:

Shoe Size: 7
Foot circumference: 8.5 at the ball of my foot

Foot length: 8.75

Yarn Preferences:
What colors do you love? Purple is my favorite, but I am drooling over a yarn that has brown/purple in it and I also love the orange/pink combination. However, my very favorite colors at the moment has to be brown/pink. I don't know why, but everything these days must be a combination of those colors.

Do you prefer solids or variegated? No real preference, I guess variegated is more interesting, but if you have a nice pattern to a sock, it should be solid to show it off probably.

Do you prefer wool, cotton or acrylic yarn? Wool or cotton for me.

What colors would you never wear? Cant think of a one!

What are your favorite brands of yarn? Louet gems, Collinette Jitterbug, the apple laine I got from my sock pal is fantastic, Lorna's laces, Claudia.

Are there any new brands you would like to try? Koigu, Duets sock yarn (I totally missed out on the cowgirl colorway that The Loopy Ewe had listed and I am heartbroken!

Cookie A. Patterns:
Which of her patterns have you already knit? Monkeys of course, and the pattern that she did on Knitty Gritty.

Which pattern(s) would you like to knit and don’t already own? I have been drooling over the Twisted Flower pattern for entirely too long. I also do not have Flicker, German Stocking, and Millicent.

Other pertinent information:

Would you be willing to have an international Monkey Pal or do you prefer one in the US? I would prefer US, just for shipping reasons.

Do you have any allergies? No

Will your knitting be exposed to smoke or animals? No

Are you on Ravelry yet? If you don’t mind having new friends, what is your Ravelry name? Talk about depressing.

• You are #23563 on the list.
• 13735 people are ahead of you in line.
• 3838 people are behind you in line.
• 34% of the list has been invited so far

A whole lotta knitting goin' on

So there has been knitting.....and you know it has been sock knitting for me. But.....this is a la my darlin' hubby.



I will be back...with picture of a finished sock from me!! Had to share, because I'm so proud of my sweetie!!!!!!!!