Best weekend ever!

Ok, so now that is has come to my attention that someone other than the spammers (hi Tracy!) is out there reading, maybe I should keep going with the blog. Who knows, let's see where this will take us. Ok this was if not the best weekend ever, at least a really, really, really, really good one.

To begin, feast your eyes on that b-o-o-t-y!

Yes, this weekend was Stitches and I think I did pretty good. There's only 3 balls of the berroco plush left because the 2 are already on their way to be the... well... that will have to come in a later episode. But the other stuff is a free circular case I got for subscribing to knitter's magazine, a whole bunch of noro silk garden that is going to be my very own clapotis (I can't wait, I can't wait!) and a lovely gathering of lovely sock yarns. Oh and oh yeah, my favorite...

How cute is that bag?!?!?!!! And I'm going to make it. Also, very very exciting. And aside from all the goods I also had a really fun time with my fellow knitsters Amy and Erin. We did run into a couple of colorful individuals (you never knew knitters could be so wacky!) yet managed to get away relatively unscathed.

As for Sunday, while not very boisterous or raucous I still had a lovely time attending the Harvest Home Festival at Holmdel Park. There are lots of funny animals there.

And there's also a beautiful house there. Check out the sewing room!!! Knitting needles on the dresser!

They also had demonstrations, lots of crafts, spinning, rug hooking, cross stitch. It was neat. Then I had to come home to a husband whose team lost not one but both quarterbacks this past Sunday. Not a happy camper. I'd say maybe better luck next year, but they are the New York Jets. I just know better.

What have I been up to?

I know. I've been a bad blogger, missing a week and all. Well, I did finish the cardigan for my sister's baby today.

I decided to go with the button and crocheted loop instead of the ribbon. I couldn't really find any ribbon I liked. So that projects done. And the cardigan I'm making myself from the knitpicks yarn is progressing nicely.

I'm happy with it but not excited. I dunno, today I'm just kind of cranky because ....

for chrissakes I just want fall to get here already!!!!

I've had it with this hot summer weather. And I know it's so silly and superficial, and there are so many unfortunate people in the world, in our country right now, I should just be glad to still have my life together and all. But... It's September 18! Stitches is next weekend! I can't think sweaters and knitting for the holidays while it's 80 degrees out here. It's like not hot enough to put the air on, but too warm for it to be cool. It's ridiculous! My husband is at the football game today. I usually love these days, I want to be cuddled up under a blanket knitting. Instead I keep like dozing and lazing about not doing what I wanted to get done today.

Oh well. Like I said I know it's silly. Stitches is next weekend. I'm sure I will have much happier things to report after that.

Fiberlicious goodness...

So I've begun my new work situation and so far so good. So of course with the improvement in pay a fiber influx is to be expected...

It's Andean Silk from Knitpicks in Slate and isn't it pretty? The one missing ball is on it's way to a cardigan for myself (more on that later)... I'm very pleased with it as I am with most of the stuff from Knitpicks. So far it's extremely soft but still seems to have enough body to it to make it as a cardigan. I guess from shipping the balls/skeins/whatever get kind of squashed into this funny flattened hot dog shape

But it doesn't seem to affect the yarn coming out of the skein whatsoever. I also purchased another skein of Rocky Mountain Dusk Sock Landscape yarn to be a pair for the lone skein in my stash. And I spent a whopping $1.50 on a very savvy piece of marketing from Knitpicks which will probably earn much more of my money

This is the color card for Andean silk. The pictures kind of show some of their colors but cannot convey their vibrancy or the yarn's lovely texture. In person though I love it. I have a feeling if this cardigan lives up to its expectations, that and this color card will make it much easier for my future gift recipients to place their orders...

This sucks...

What sucks? This sucks...

Now I have learned why not many people knit gloves. When I saw the pattern I was like, of course that makes sense. And when I saw someone saying on knitlist or something somewhere that they couldn't be bothered with all the fingers I was like whatever! Ah well, so now we have another lesson learned. Note how tiny the little finger is, too small for me to actually get my pinky in there. So then I figured I could make the ring finger fit better by picking up some extra stitches at the bottom, except now it looks like a stupid hot dog finger or something. Whatever! I guess it did what I set out for it to do- used up stash. I just never thought it would turn into garbage so quickly.

On a better note one of gigantor's socks is finished...

I swear this photo does not accurately represent the ginormity of the sock. Yet when hubby puts it on it fits fine and the heel is even a little shallow for him. I'll have to change that if I make another pair. For now I'll just start on the mate and see how much wear these get when they're actually finished. That will have to be deciding factor on the future sock gifts for him.

Heartbreak...

So even before I made my first pair of socks, when I was only planning my first pair of socks I was talking to one of the women in my knit meet up about them. I told her I had gotten the yarn, and the pattern and I told her that I already had a pair of Brittany size 2 dp's that I had bought for something else but never used, and that I would probably use them to make my socks.

"Yeah, um... They're going to break, you're going to want to get bamboo."

Definitely a message that should have been heeded.

Oh well. This is what happens when you are making socks for your husband who has ginormous feet.

Not only do they have to be ginormous socks, but chances are at some point you will have to come back from somewhere, and offer to drive and not think that as he's sitting there innocently snoring in the passenger's side those ginormous feet are going willy-nilly all over those poor little Brittany size 2 toothpicks.

But again. Oh well. There is a happy end to every knitting story. This was actually a welcome impetus to get me out of the house on my own this morning. A nice little trek off to A.C. Moore which was something I really enjoyed and needed. This is kind of a weird weekend. Last Thursday was the last day at my old job and tomorrow is my first day at my new one. So of course I'm kind of excited/scared/happy/nervous and nauseous. :( Add this to the fact that yesterday was my cousin's wedding so my sister is here visiting and my dad was here, and there is just more activity going on than usual makes things kind of crazy right now. So the fact that I had the time and an excuse to just go and spend some quiet quality time with just myself in the car and come back with a nifty knitting acquisition is definitely not a bad thing.

And this time the needles shouldn't break...

White, white, white...

This is my main knitting project right now...

It's a sweater for my niece/nephew who is on the way! I'm absolutely thrilled about the addition to our family. And I'm happy with the sweater, it's the pattern from the Summer '05 Interweave knits. But... well right now I'm working on this and a pair of white socks from the Kroy I got a few weeks ago. And... well... it's not that I've never been a big color person, I usually prefer all black or solids but still... It's a lot of white. And I think as far as the sweater it's also a LOT of garter stitch. More than I'm normally into. I knit to relax, I knit in front of the tv almost always, but still this is almost too mindless. Oh well, not to fear, the sweater will probably be complete today or tomorrow. And then I get to seam. Yay. Not my favorite thing either. Oh well, hopefully baby and mom will like it better than me...

Photo...

Home stuff, lovey stuff...

So this has been a pretty good week. This first week of August has seen this...

Become these...

Just some simple dishcloths/washcloths. Regular old sugar and cream yarn. They will be put with a gift card for home depot as a housewarming gift for my sister and her husband who just moved into their new house in Orlando, Florida. I am so excited for them, but if my 3 years of homeownship have taught me anything so far it's that you can never have too much money to spend at home depot and you can never have too many of these cloths.

The white one is an adaptation of the horseshoe cable as demonstrated on an episode of knitty gritty on the diy network. The 2 yellow cloths are "Grandmother's Favorite" and the "Honeycomb" patterns from my favorite, favorite dishcloth site. These cloths are so pleasing in the simplicity and utility. I encourage anyone who picks up a pair of needles to make a few in their day.

On another note I need to be a little sentimental. Emily from my knitting group got married yesterday! How cool is it that we got to be there to share that with her!

We wish her only the best. It was a great time and it was so wonderful to see her and John so happy together. There was lots of love, love, love. And how cool was it when people asked how we knew her to be able to say "We're in her knitting group!" Everyone knows knitting is very near and dear to my heart but a lot of times this is what it's about too. Not so much the knitting, or the finished objects, but just hanging out together, being girls, laughing a lot, going through our days...

Welcome...

A new venture into the scary world of knitting/computer stuff. Ok so today I'm feeling more knitter than nerd. So here is a cheery FO pic to start. Made with terrific Knit Picks yarn, in sock landscape-rocky mountain dusk, after tons of hats and scarves, and a few sweaters, these socks are definitely a milestone...












They are my first socks ever! I imagine though that they will be the first of many since this showed up at my doorstep last week.






I don't know what happened, I didn't mean to order 8 skeins of white. Ok, maybe it wasn't that innocent but hey, now that they're here, I'm not going to send them back.

And sorry, I know it's not the most photogenic stash photo ever. But it's yarn and I love it, for me it's still a thing of beauty.