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!!!!!!!!

Sockapalooza!

It has been said before. But....I am correct when I say that I have the BEST Sockapalooza pal ever!!! These are my socks!!





Are they not the most wonderful things you have ever seen? I love them! LOVE LOVE LOVE THEM!!


Stats: They are "Periwinkle Socks" (available for free on the Crystal Palace website). They are knitted in Crystal Palace Panda Cotton in the Strawberries-limes colorway.

They fit perfectly! And included in my package was this....


A lovely note from my sock pal, three different kinds of wool wash, what little left over sock yarn she had for "darning purposes", some adorable post it notes, a really cute retractable tape measure, and the most fantastic sock yarn I could imagine!!! Just look at it....




Apple Laine sock yarn in the Funny Girl colorway!!!

I am the luckiest sock pal ever.

Thank you Manda!!!!

A tale of a sock

Ahhhh the story of the sockapalooza socks. What a tale it is.

Here is where I was......looking as if I might make it on time!!



Certainly I could make it!! I was excited. Rounding the heel....starting the 50 rows leading to the start of the toe. Sweet anticipation.

Then suddenly.....I realized.








Here is where I was.......and I had 50 more rows total to go. And here is what I saw when I looked at my yarn.









Surely this was a joke. No way I was going to get 50 rows out of that bit of yarn. This was not acceptable. Quickly emailed my pal, hey the socks are a gonna be a little late but don't worry I'm not ditching you (so I'm paraphrasing). And I start calling my LYS in the area.


Got any Collinette Jitterbug in Blue Parrot? No. No. No. And finally, another No.

So....I ordered some on line and got it in the mail three days later. Now we are a week late on the date to send out the socks.

Yarn received on Thursday, knitting done on Sunday (I had "family issues" on Friday and Saturday, of course, it figures. When it rains....). And so....here is the status o' the diamondbacks.


They are freakishly long on me. I sure hope my sock pal's feet are way bigger than mine. Her foot measures a good 3/4 inch longer than mine, so I made the socks as such. And the heel was a little longer than needed for mine. I'm worried that these will be a flop, but lets think positive and say that they will fit perfect!







Next issue....can you see where I joined the new yarn? I was worried about the hand dyed yarn not matching but it looks (to me) like you can't tell. I am hoping again that this has worked out in my favor.

Here is the pattern on the back of the sock. Its soooo pretty. I love it!!!






Here they are, all snuggled up in their sock ball band. I'd hide her name, but hey she will get them in a matter of days and I doubt she will track down my blog and find her socks before then. (Fingers crossed)









Here are the goodies that I sent along with her socks. The ball band for the free jitterbug pattern and washing instructions. The socks (duh!), a sheep measuring tape (everyone needs one, mine is black as is appropriate for me being the black sheep all the way around), two balls of sock yarn with some bright colors and blues, and a gift certificate for an official sockpalooza 4 bag. And then, all of that got settled into this.


I made her a bag, a blue bag of course (man she is going to be sick of blue) and pretty lime green contrasting fabric because I thought it was pretty. All of this in an effort to make her forgive me for being late, and forgetting that I could very well be a sockapal-loser.

I hope you love them sock pal :)


Next time....MY SOCKAPALOOZA SOCKS!! I <3 my sock pal........

So its been a while....just a quickie

This rating was determined based on the presence of the following words:

• porn (2x)
• sex (1x)

Now that....is funny.

I'll be back....soon with updates and FOs!!!