Monday, January 14, 2008

Uhhhh, somethings wrong with my socks dude.......

So, I am loving the bumblebug sock pattern. I have finished the heel and am halfway through the foot section( with a modification, I am not doing the lace pattern on the foot, the yarn Im using isnt the softest, and I dont want the pattern bugging my foot) and Im knitting and thinking, yep, youre good. The I try the sock on, and yes, it fits perfect, BUT....... my heel is wrongside out. Somehow when I did my heel turning, I must have started going in the wrong direction, because my heel is in garter stitch....... Now, I thought about tearing it all the way back and redoing it. But I am not gonna. The yarn is very dark and it wont really be noticable by anyone but me. Im gonna leave it, and make sure to do the same mistake on the second sock.

Also, gonna be opening my etsy shop, yaaay! Mariah is coming over in the morning, and we are going to have a store together:) Im very excited! And, I promised a contest, and I shall deliver a contest. After I get my shop open, I will runa grand opeing contest, for.... well something cool. So, this week sometime, I will be letting you know what kind of goodies some lucky person will be winning:) Dont worry, its not a contest where you have to buy anything. All you will have to do is visit my new store, come here and leave a message about what you think, and you will be entered, hence having to wait until I open our store to enter:) I know, Im such a tease!!!

Well, my lilman is sick, running a fever, coughing the whole nine yards. Im not much better. I spent most of my night and this morning throwing up. If it was JUST throwing up I could handle it, but my stomach hurts so bad in spasms that I swear it feels like contractions. Sooo, hope we feel better tomorrow:)

Other wip updates.

Rainbow fall coat: I have figured out what I am doing with the lapel, have gotten passed the lapel, got passed my first chevron peak, got listening to the kids, and screwed up on the sleeve chevron, so, rippity rip rip. I am thinking about tearing all the way back passed the first chevron peak, because I dont think I can tear back to exactly where I need to start again and not mess it up.

Spinning... Oh yes, there has been spinning, but you will just have to wait till I open my store to see what I have been so hard at work on!

I have also been busy making knitted items that are secret, for the store, so no peaking till I cut the ribbon:)

Oh yeah, I did make a small present to go into my Valentine Swap partners package. But it hasnt been mailed yet, so I cant show you yet. But if you hang tight, I will post pics. Nothing much, just something sweet and valentiny!!!

As far as I know, that is all for right now. Here are some random pics of cool stuff to make up for the lack of wip pics!


OMG~!!!!!!! I cant believe I forgot about Prince. I picked him up from Donna on Saturday, and he is just perfect. Here is a pic of my oldest boy holding him!


Well, sorry no pics, blogger is not being very nice tonight! I will post them tomorrw, promise:)

Friday, January 11, 2008

A little of this and a little of that:)

I promise I have been busy spinning and knitting, but I cannot show you all that I have been working on!!! I am going to open my Etsy store in a few weeks, and don't want to give away any of the secrets:) I can tell you, I will be offering hand spun art yarn, and hand spun yarns. All spun on my spindles. I will also be offering hand made stitch markers and spindles. I am thinking of venturing into handmade pins and little gifties as well. I am very excited to do this, and cant wait to start!!! I am hoping by having my own shop it will help pay for some bills, being a stay at home single mom who gets no help form the state or anyone else is a bit hard. I do get child support, and, well we all know how that go's:(



Oh!!!!!!! Guess what? I'm getting anew bunny! His name is prince charming, and I will be picking him up tomorrow ( Saturday). He is a satin angora. I cannot wait to hug all over him!!! The woman I am buying him from is a spinner and knitter, as well as a member of a local homestead group. I will be going to a meeting with her on the16th. I cant wait!!!



Oh, and guess what else??????? (yeah, I know, full of surprises today!!!) I finally got to meet Mariah. Her blog and shop is
http://www.dragonflyknitdesigns.com/

She is a wonderful woman, and she even brought me a spindle she made for me!!! We met on Ravlery.com and then found out we live in the same town, literally right down the road from each other. We also discovered that her daughter and my son are in the same class at school, hows that for a kowinkeedink???

Well, I hope everyone is having a great New Year. I promise not to wait so long before my next post. And I will keep you updated on my new etsy shop. I am waiting on my credit card, as you have to have one to open it with. And you know me, I just don't do things like banks and credit cards. Had to bite the bullet on that one though. Leave me a comment, let me know I'm not all alone!!!!!!!

I am going to be running a contest next week sometime, so be sure to keep your eyes open!!!

Friday, January 4, 2008

Fo Friday!!!

Looky!!!!!!! I was in the Ravelry Christmas swap, and my original swap partner had sent my gift, which was stolen by my neighbors (along with Christmas cards with gift cards, packages, the whole Christmas nine yards!!!) So, an "angel" sent me a package to make up for it:) I want to thank both people, my original swap buddy, and my angel! This is some bamboo yarn all the way from Australia:) It is called cleckheaton The natural Choice, 100% bamboo. I love it!Also, do you see the adorable kitten card? So sweet.
Ahhh, yes, another unexpected surprise for you!!! I didn't have a pair of sock otn's, so I started these awesome bumblebug socks!!! This will be my first sock pattern, and my first with following a lace patter. I really like how this is knitting up, and I wish my camera would pick up the awesome design that is being made in these socks! I am using the unknown sock yarn I have, it is in earth brown colors. It is turning out awesome!!!

What are those? You didn't say anything about keeping an eye out for these??? Well, no I didn't! i forgot till yesterday morning that my stbx's birthday was yesterday. I spent the majority of the day knitting these, and neglecting as much house work as possible. Again, I did not follow a pattern, just knit what i though would work for his size. They turned out perfect, and he really likes them. I used a Mary Maxim worsted weight yarn, and a vintage worsted weight wool in the contrasting blue stripes. I had never cast off in the middle of a pattern before, and when I cast back on for the thumb opening, it looked sloppy. Soooo, I ended up crocheting around the thumb hole to give it a neater look to it. Worked like a charm:)


And, here we have the DREADED panta, that I had the hardest time with!!! I ended up NOT following the pattern whatsoever, and just knit what I saw while looking at the picture of the head band. It did turn out perfect, and does look just as the pattern pic does. But, I must admit, I will not be doing another one of these.








Well, my sister wanted me to make her some warm headband that covered her ears, but not much else. I used some fun fur type stuff I had lying in the bottom of my stash, and mixed it with some Lions brand micro spun for the green and pink one, and some feather type fun fur by moda dea and some bernat pink bulky alpaca for the pink and white one. She just loves them, and it only took about less than an hour each to make.
Oh yeah, and guess what else? I have a few major changes going on in my life that I just did today.
1) I enrolled in college!!! Oh yes I did. At the ripe age of 31, a single mother of 4 children, I decided to go back to school Monday thru Friday 5:30 pm till 9:30 pm!!! I will be attending Elmira Business Institute, and the admissions advisor has no problems working around my "mommy" schedules!!! How cool is that? Yep, the coolest:)
2) I am filing for a legal separation next week. It was a hard decision to make, but one that had to be done. My marriage has been awful for 9 miserable years. He has kidnapped my children, he has stolen my cars, he has turned my power out in the middle of the night, he has been a no good drunk, oh my god, I could go on and on to all the crap he has done to me for 9 years, but I wont. I am tired of trying to save a marriage that never should have been a marriage to begin with... I am done, and I am going to make the final step in freeing myself from him. You know what the clincher is for ME? My children are starting to treat me the way he does, and always has. THAT is something that opened my eyes. I want my children to grow up and have loving families, I don't want them to think that what they see in their father, is how families work. It breaks my heart to think the damage may have already been done. That cant be the case, I still have time to make a different, I know I do, I have faith in my kids:)
Well, I will post in a few days about my progress with my bumble bug socks!!! I am not good at linking inside a post, cant figure it out, so I am gonna put the link list to the patterns I have talked about below:)

Monday, December 31, 2007

Warning! FO pic HEAVY:)








Well, I have been a busy little girl! My kidddos are still on Christmas vacation until Wednesday. And did you know??????? I found someone who lives in the same teeny tiny town I do, on ravelry??? I wasn't even looking! When you pass your mouse pointer of someones avatar to get somewhere (which was my case, I happened to just be moving my mouse to a post) and saw her!!! I am sooo excited! She is going to give me some pointers on spinning, and I am going to give her some pointers on dying! I cant wait till the kids go back to school Wednesday, (I know that's not nice to say.......)


Anyhoo, here are some fo's I have been working hard on.
Awareness ribbon dish cloth for my weekly dish cloth kal. Sorry for the crappy pic, I sooo need a new cam, but it just isn't gonna happen:(

Just some plying practice with my spindle spun yarns. This one is just a baby, 11 yards long, some leftover from my Christmas ply job. And we have some spin wip, silver 50% merino, 50% tencil blend from Winderwood Farms I am spinning up for January's spin challenge. The name of the challenge is indulge yourself, well, silver is an indulgence!!!


Ah yes, and the matching/contrasting hand towel to go with my ball band dish cloth. Want to know a secret? The dish cloth is a wash cloth, my kids claimed it!!! I really adore this pattern, and am thinking of doing many things with it:)


Last but not least, we have a finished Chevron scarf. This seemed to take me forever, but in retrospect, was only a few days. I am very happy with the way it turned out! I just love the colors, and cant wait to get it washed and dryed so it will lay nice and pretty:) I was gonna use it for a gift, but....... it matches my head cover and I think I want it for me:)



Guess what? After raining for like a week, and all the snow (14 inches of it) melting, it snowed 8 inches last night!!! So, I guess I cant complain about having to shovel first thing this morning, I did have a week break from it:)


Hope all is well! Keep your eye out for these upcoming projects!

Panta for my one skein kal


And I will be casting on the second sock for bil


And, of course a new dish cloth for next week:)

I know, not much happening, BUT, kids are home still, and I am lucky to have gotten done what I have, so I don't want to start any major projects just yet!!!
Talk to me baby, talk to me!!!

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Couple of wips and an fo!!!



Well, I have frogged my hand painted chevron scarf. The more I worked with it, the more I just didn't think it was soft enough to wear on someones neck. So, I ma using some yarn I got for Christmas. Red Heart.
Yeah I know what your thinking, that stuff is rough too, but I know for a FACT that once you wash it, it is uber soft. I love how it is turning out.
I have also finished my first (of many!!!) ball band dish clothes, and have cast on for the second in contrasting colors of the first.
I balled up all my yarn I will be using for the fall rainbow coat. But, man I am having the hardest time getting through this lapel. If someone kind and wonderful has already read through this pattern and has written down row for row in lamens terms, could you please share with me? I think I have frogged this thing like 17 fricken times now, and no I am NOT exaggerating!!! I WANT this coat, I WILL do this coat, but it seems to be kicking my arse in the process.
Well, I hope everyone is doing wonderful, and enjoying all there Christmas goodies! I will have you know, that I finally just this morning got my house back in order. And my bedroom does not count, so don't look in there!!! Leave a comment, say hello, let me know I'm not here talking to myself:)

Monday, December 24, 2007

Started my Chevron scarf, I like it:)


Well, I started my chevron scarf, and am about 30% through it. It is a quick easy and midless knit. I love how it looks!!! I am using my own hand dyed worsted weight wool, using wiltons cake dyes. And hope to have it done tomorrow. I think I like it so much I would like to make alot of them, in all sorts of colors:)

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas! My boys are real excited, and cannot wait for Santa to visit tonight:) Now, if only Santa stays awake long enough.......

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Socks socks and more socks!!!

Here is the sock i was making for bil, out of worsted weight acrylic. It is HUGE!!! I know he is a big man, but I do not want to make him a pair of socks that don't fit well, and fall down, that would sort of defeat the purpose of why I was making them! Gonna frog it. But that's ok, cuz.......
Here is the sock for my 7 yo ds. It is in Bernat sox yarn. Working perfect!!! I have already cast on the other of the pair, and am past the cuff. If I don't have it done tomorrow, I will have it done Sunday. Maybe it wont be done tomorrow, Saturdays are our spinning days. We will see.
Here is the sock I was making for my kids daddy, and guess what? It is too BIG!!! So, I am going to finish this pair and give them to my bil, and make another pair for the kiddos daddy using.......
This awesome yarn from http://www.pagewoodfarm.com/, hand dyed sock yarn in Bird of paradise colorway. I would tell you who I traded it with, and I really wish I could. But I accidentally erased the pm on Ravelry, and I cannot remember her name! She was an awesome lady though!!! I wish I knew her name! If I don't get to post again before Christmas, Merry Christmas too you and your family:)Happy knitting, happy spinning, happy dying, happy crocheting, happy ... oh goodness I could be here all night saying happy! Happy everything to you!!!