We have two winners!

Random number generator hooked me up! The winner of the knitted hat is: Celly B! YAY!!

And the winner of the skein of yarn from my stash is: Joy Michelle! YAY!!

Thank you to everyone who commented on my blog for the bloggy giveaway. It was a blast. Who would have thought so many people liked the idea of getting a knitted hat and/or sock yarn! I hope you ladies enjoy your prizes. I will have to be sure to do another contest soon.

Oh yeah, and anyone who commented and is interested in Forbidden Fleece, I'll give you free shipping on any order in the next two weeks, because I love that I had so many comments. Comments make me happy. :)

Don't forget to send me an email with your shipping addresses ladies! I will leave you a comment on your blogs with my email address.

And thanks again to everyone who entered!

Everyone loves free stuff, right?

I decided I am going to play along with the Bloggy Giveaway Carnival! So, I present a "contest." And I promise, its nice and simple.

What could you win? Well something hand knit by me, of course!! A hat. A really cute little hat I might add. In neutral colors so as to match whatever!! The knitting is in progress (started about an hour ago) and I'm 1/3 of the way through it. So, it will be all knitted up and waiting on you to claim it!

How do you enter? In order to enter you need to visit my Etsy page at http://www.ForbiddenFleece.etsy.com and choose your very favorite colorway. Then, pop on back over here and leave me a comment on this blog, to this post, telling me what your favorite colorway is. And if you really want to be impressive, give me a suggestion of a colorway that you think I should dye up!

Oh, I should also mention, tonight I will be listing a bunch of new yarn, so you might want to check later on tonight before you decide on your favorite.

Details, details:

• On Friday, February 1st at 11:59 PM EST, comments will close and a winner will be selected using a random number generator. The winner will be posted on Sunday, February 3rd.
• Duplicate comments will be deleted. (Gotta be fair!)
• This giveaway is open to bloggers and non bloggers alike.
• The winner will be notified on Saturday, February 2nd via email.
• The winner will have five days to respond with a shipping address. If I don't hear from the winner, another winner will be chosen by random number.
• Feel free to comment whether you are a knitter or not, but if you happen to be a knitter and might want some free sock yarn, leave me that tidbit of info also because you never know, I might be giving away some stashed sock yarn also.

So there ya go! Simple as pie. See ya in the comments!

I stink at it, and I'm ok with that

So..........felting.

I like the concept. Its a neat one. But out of five attempts, ONE has turned out decent. The first, well just research the blog to find that one. It was early in my blogging journey. And it was a KAL with some mommy friends. Lets just say......its tucked away in Maddie's closet. My booga bag, was a great success! Then Chris tried a double-sized booga. Not so good. Then he tried a regular size booga with non-Noro yarn. Again. Not so good. The other day I was going through my closet (read: trying to figure out what the heck to do with all of this yarn for sweaters that I *somehow* acquired), I found a bag that all I had to do was knit the handles and felt. This is my year to start what I finished so I spent two days finishing it and it just came out of the washer.

This is what it started out as (before handles)



Are you laughing? Stop laughing. Surely it would look better felted! Those pieces just hanging there at the top, well you just pick up behind all of those little tentacles and you knit the handles. Then you felt it. So surely, much better felted.

Um. No. I don't even have the heart to take a picture post-felting. My knitting ego is blown all to heck now.

This really sucks....cause I have the yarn for the Celtic Tote (Rav link here, non-Rav link here). Maybe I just need felting supervision.

Back to sweaters and socks for me.

First FO!

So, I guess this is my first FO of the year! WOOHOOO. How sad....its January 19th and I have one FO. I should be more on the ball :)

Here is the FO......
Pattern: Fetching, Knitty Summer 2006
Yarn: Cascade 220 (Stash yarn even!)
Needles: Size 6 DPNs
Date started: Cast on 1/18/08 in the afternoon
Date completed: Finished 2nd glove on 1/19/08 in the afternoon

Sometimes you just need a little instant gratification. I wish I was that fast on socks.

Next time I will go down to size 5s or cut out five stitches. My hands are freakishly small. So they are just slightly loose at the cuff and fingers. I still love them. Will knit them again.
As far as my other projects go....

CPH - I am done with the back, left front, and right front. I am now stalled. I'm so bored with it probably because I'm not sure I love the yarn. Its ok though, I will pick it back up tomorrow I am sure. I have only sleeves, hood, and button band to knit. I will block the other pieces and seam a little bit in the process. I've never blocked before. This should be fun.

Wicked - It actually looks like a sweater, and I even put it on some waste yarn and tried it on. It looks small but it appears to fit. We shall see. Good thing Maddie will be able to wear it if I don't fit into it. It would suck to frog it. I love the pattern, love the yarn, love the color. Its one big wicked love fest.

I got my yarn for the Harvest Pullover, Kaitlin Pullover, and I also ordered some yarn for Thermal. I know. Yarn whore.

Today I dyed two skeins of yarn, one of which will make its way into the mail on Monday. The other is for me. All mine. Its so pretty. I believe it is destined to become monkeys. We shall see. I do have two other pairs of Monkeys that are slated to be knit as gifts, so those will of course take priority.

Also, in my stash, I found the yarn for yet another sweater! Go me! Stash yarn!! Who would have thought? See, sometimes I do check my stash. (Why mention that I also found yarn slated for two other Dale of Norway patterns, two other sweater kits, and yarn slated for three Lily Chin patterns?) Oh....and I listed a boatload of stash yarn for sale on Ravelry. Hey, gotta pay for those new sweater yarns somehow ;)

Socks? What are socks?

Something weird has happened! I haven't picked up socks in several weeks! Instead....I have been working on sweaters.

I know. Its crazy isn't it? I thought for sure it wouldn't happen. But hey, there are so many great patterns, I couldn't resist.

On the needles:

(please excuse the bad picture)
Central Park Hoodie
Donegal Tweed, dark purple in color
Back is finished, and I also finished the left front just last night. That puts me at about 50% done. I LOVE THIS PATTERN!!!!!! Its so easy, but its so fun. Yes, I said a cabled pattern was easy. I told you, something weird has happened.



Wicked
Cascade 220, fantastically gorgeous amazing red
I just cast on last night after I finished my left front on the CPH. I wanted something knit in the round and I couldn't resist the red lusciousnesses of the yarn. I'm only on my second row. It looks to be a fun knit, and a quick one as its the worsted weight version. And I am doing the long sleeved version. Not a cable in sight on this one, just pretty twisted kinda stitch thing going on.


Also, I have Corsica on the needles.
Cascade 220 Heathers (noticing a fascination with 220???)
This one is going to be a bit more on the challenging side for me. I fell in love with this sweater the first time I saw it. It has an interesting construction to it as well. You begin with that cabled band in the middle, and the entire sweater is sort of built around it. I'm not finding it difficult so much as its just a lot of different stuff going on. So, this won't be mindless middle of the night knitting. This will be a Wyatt is napping and I have extra brain energy to burn kind of project. But it sure is pretty. I'm quite sure I won't be wearing it this winter though.

There are also two other sweaters in the queue with yarn on order for them (I'm such a yarn whore). This heavenly sweater, and then this equally delicious one (its the first one on the list). Colorwork and cables. Who'da thunk? The yarn was temptingly inexpensive so I was weak.

What else am I drooling over pattern wise?? Check these out!!
Olive branch - 2nd on the list
Glee
Poppy - this sweater makes me giddy!!
Equinox Yolk Pullover - cover sweater

Think I have enough ideas in my head to keep me busy for six weeks while Chris is away in Atlanta????

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.