McDonalds at 3am...

Saturday, June 30, 2007

So I was just about to post last night when something came up...

Yesterday Chad stayed home from work because Thursday he came home from work with a 101 degree fever. He felt much better after some rest and medicine. Nick though was started to get it, with a runny nose. Then he started doing something odd. He was letting all the spit build up in his mouth and then spitting it out, instead of swallowing. So we assumed that meant he had a sore throat. At 8pm we noticed he was burning hot and checked his temp. It was 101, and so we gave him tylenol. Then at 11, bedtime finally (later than usual b/c he was wired for some reason) and he was still hot. So we checked his temp again, and it was 103. So I was on the phone waiting on the line for the aftercare thingy to see what else we could do to get it down and the temp went up to 103.8. So off to the E.R. we go. Four hours later we left, nothing was wrong. Just sick. Anyway, so we are keeping an eye on him, and hoping he'll ride it out. And we found ourselves at mcdonalds on the way home since we were all starving. Yum Big Macs!

I was disturbed last night (before the incident) to find that after I had almost finished the foot on my spiral sock, that I did the heel wrong. It didn't look like the one on the first sock. So turns out I did one of the rows a little off, and it messed it all up. I had to rip it all back out. I had hoped to finish the sock last night so I could start my mystery stole already. I've been forcing myself not to cast on for it till I finish the sock. So now I've got even more to do on the sock, and MS3 will have to wait a bit longer. Anyway here is a pic I took of the two mis-matched heels before I ripped. See how the left one looks different, smoother? It should be more textured like the right...ah well.Other than those two mishaps, not much is happening. I started a quilt along for the quilts I want to make the kids. Did I mention? I think not. It's over at quiltalong.blogspot.com and the email to join is quilt_along@yahoo.com. No deadline to join or finish. I just thought it would be fun. Well ok, I suppose that's it for now...

Oh wait! I forgot to mention, when I went on my sock buying spree (ok not spree, but still) I got on ebay some Socks that Rock yarn. To see what the fuss was about. It seems nice, not incredible or anything. Soft, springy feeling, the normal price is ok for the yardage. Which there is less of than most of the other sock skeins I've seen. Anyway I like it though. Just not blown away is all. At least it's superwash! There is more blue-green in it than the picture shows. It's called Sapphire.Ok now I'm really done...

Link to my button!

Thursday, June 28, 2007

I made a new button for my blog. The old one was...old.
Here is a progress picture of Catalina. This is going to take a while. It's not a hard pattern, but it requires more attention and concentration than some. I can only really work on it when no one is bugging me. I'm not very far but I'm making progress. This (if you can tell, the pics suck) is the bottom of some hearts that are upside down at this part.
I'm making great progress on my sock though! I'm halfway down the leg I think. Either way it's a great pattern, I love it and I'm going to be so excited to finish a pair of socks! I've started quite a few socks and never ever finished a whole pair of them.

More mail for me!

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

First off I just want to say that I finally got my secret pal's last box sent off today. I have been gathering things together and really hope that she likes everything I sent. This secret pal stuff is soooo much fun. :D

I got some fun mail today. Some stitch markers for the summer swap! These are from Lia and so pretty!I also got a few things from the getstitchy mods for hosting the along a few months ago. There is a yarn cutter and a really cute tape measure. These will really come in handy since I'm always losing my scissors or tape measure that I have.The best thing I got today was my first order from The Loopy Ewe. I got two skeins of sock yarn and both are to die for! They also included some cards to keep track of the needles I have, a loopy postcard, and yarn samples. The first yarn is Dream in Color Smooshy yarn in Deep Seaflower. Lots of blues and purples. Very springy and soft. It's a bit darker than the picture shows.
This one is my favorite. I saw it on the site and fell in love. It's Seacoast Handpainted in Sahara. Copper and peach and sage greens, along with light and dark rose and cream. Beautiful, shiny and soft. I have been petting it all day.So now I just need to find the perfect patterns for these. I'm still hunting around, though I've got a few in particular in mind. I just want them to be extra special socks!

Next on the agenda:
I finished my first sock for the six sock knit along. It fits perfect, and hopefully I will finish the second one soon too!I started my second spiral boot sock. I need a pair! This pattern is so easy, I'm already a good bit further into the pattern than this. This yarn is also growing on me...
Here are pics of my progress on the turtleneck tube top for the fitted knits along. I've got at least five inches of ribbing left to do on the bottom to get it to a comfortable length for me. It's coming out nice though! It's also much more dark red than this. Gotta love flash.

Well I think I covered everything so, more later!

Meme

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Valerie tagged me for birthday meme. This is what you do.
The rules: You go to http://www.wikipedia.org/ and type in your birthday (only the month and day). Then you write down 3 events, 2 births, 1 holiday, and then you tag 5 friends

Here is what I found
Events:
1. 1770 -Ludwig van Beethoven is baptised at Bonn.

2. 1903 - The Wright Brothers made their first powered and heavier-than-air flight in the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

3. 1989 - The first episode of The Simpsons aired on Fox in the USA.

Births:
1. 1975 - Milla Jovovich, Ukrainian-born actress
2. 1964 - Ginger (singer), British musician (The Wildhearts)

Holiday:
USA – Wright Brothers Day (by Presidential Proclamation)

I don't feel like tagging tho, so if you see it and want to, do it.

I went to a wedding shower for my cousin today. I gave her my clementine shawlette in addition to the candle things we bought. And of course everyone was impressed and oohed and ahhed over it. I just hope she uses it!

That was pretty much it for today. I was exhausted when I got home so I haven't done much all evening...

Titles are over-rated...

Saturday, June 23, 2007

I only say that because I can't think of one.

I'm looking forward to the Summer Stash Swap, there is still time to join if anyone else is interested. Imagine trading stuff you don't want and getting something new and fun!

I am also anxiously awaiting the first clue of the Mystery Stole Along. We haven't been given very much info yet, and there have been a lot of guesses to the theme. Seeing as the colors she gave us were white and black, and how she insinuated it might not be appropriate as a wedding stole, my guess was that it was based on Othello. Othello was black, Desdemona was white, and they, along with many others, died at the end. So we'll see soon. Less than a week from now anyway.

Here's my yarn for it and beads. I got 1260 yards of zephyr wool-silk in white, but it's more of an off-white. Just a little. So I took it in to the local bead shop to match beads to it and found some almost the exact color of the yarn and they sorta look like pearls.I started another top from Fitted Knits. The turtleneck. From the red pima tencel I was using for the drop stitch tank. It's going really fast and I love it! Here is a pic of where I was earlier. I'm quite a bit past that and I should be done in a day or two. I have about 7.5 inches of ribbing left on the bottom. That's about it.
Oh yeah! Guess what I got! My spindolyn came and I loooove it. It's so easy to use, it's almost impossible not to get lace-weight. I'm very excited about it, but I still like my spindle too. Here it is in action!
I also got some roving that I ordered a while ago. She was out of town when I got it, but I told her I would wait and I got it the other day. It's merino and silk, and sooo pretty!So that's about it for now. :D Hopefully my next post will have a FO in it!

A Finishing Day

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Today feels like a productive day. I got a few things done that I really wanted out of the way.

1. I finished the back of my Isabella top. FINALLY, since I started that back when that knitty had just come out. It looks good, the cotton is nice, and I hope to do the front soon!2. I finished my secret pals scarf. Now it needs blocking and I've got one other tiny thing to knit her and I should have her box packed off by friday at the latest.

3. I finally finished the one sleeve left on my Carie Cropped Cardi from the fitted knits book. I still have all the ends to weave in, but the point is, the knitting is done! I have a button for the front also but I don't know if I'll like it, I may find another. I might also ship this off to my sister, she'd wear it more than me.So that's what I've been up to. Oh here are some pics of clem, still not blocked, I'm really gonna try tomorrow though. And my sock progress.

Annnnnnd we're off!

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Stashology is officially up, running, and let's hope fully functional. I'm still collecting patterns, and adding them site by site. So don't be alarmed if you visit and notice there is something major missing. If anyone out there has any patterns for sale, or know of any on a blog somewhere...email me at contact@stashology.com and let me know!

And in other news, Clementine is finished!!! Yes, even kitchenered. Pictures will come when blocked.

Stashology.com

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

I realized today that I've really come to depend on sites like Knitting Pattern Central (a site that lists lots of free knitting patterns available on the web). But sometimes the free patterns don't do it. There are so many patterns available to buy out there, by great designers and companies, and it can be a real challenge to find them sometimes. So after a good long discussion with Melissa, I decided to start a site for this. A site that lists all the patterns available for sale. Melissa also came up with a great name for it. Stashology, which is the shortened version of Stash Anthology. Basically meaning stash collection, treasury, selection, etc.

So I've had a bit of a challenge with the site, it's currently for some odd reason pointing to my other site that is not up yet either. I hope they fix this soon, I was on the computer for hours with live chat help (which didn't help, these ppl don't know crap). Then I sat on the phone for an hour before I got to talk to anyone at all. Then he puts me on hold for ten minutes to investigate. Finally he says that he doesn't know why it's doing that but he will send it over to support and that they should have it fixed within 24 hours. They better...

I suppose for now I'll work on building the site offline and upload it later when the figure out what the heck is up. So, if you've got a great pattern for sale leave me a comment and I'll add it to my list!

Sore hands!!!

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

My hands are killlling me. I spent part of today spinning up the first little bit of lace weight yarn for my spun stitches shawl. It's seriously bad on my back, neck, and hands. Especially because I have horrible posture. Anyway this is what I've got done...and it's not much, but a start for sure! I am debating plying it but I don't know if that would make it too thick? I probably should since I have some very thin threadlike areas, but at the same time I really want more yardage. So that's my dilemma right now. I guess when I wind it off I'll see how bad it really is. I would rather have less yardage and yarn that won't break on me...I've already learned some very important things in regards to spinning. Here they are for ya.

1. Don't spin the spindle too quickly or the twist runs up into the roving and won't draft so well.
2. Don't draft when your spindle has stopped spinning...(duh I know but I didn't realize it had stopped!)
3. Keep your pinched fingers closer together, because it gives you more control, and keeping your fingers holding the roving closer to the twist helps too. I don't drop and break it as much because my fingers are still pinching it.
4. If and when the spindle drops, it tends to untwist quite a bit of what you spun, and if you're not careful, it rips off.
5. It really hurts when you spin for 2 hours straight...

Anyways, I started my lace sock for the along. It's going well, but the sock may be too small. I can always ship them off to my sister!More repeats done on clementine today. I'm so close to being done I can taste it!!! I'd like to get my size four needles back for a few other things...I really should just buy more. I also don't have enough sock needles either. In my case that's probably a good thing since I tend to start way too many things...

Well that's all the updates for now!

More roving!

Saturday, June 09, 2007

I just got this stuff in the mail today, and I am in hog heaven with it! The colors are so gorgeous, it's super soft, and it's seriously to die for. I got it from etsy, seller copperpot. Shipping was fast too! I know where I'm going to buy all my roving now! I'm seriously fighting the urge to go buy more now. I started some leg warmers, or as I call them (I have no idea why), leggers. They are a modified version of this Snowdrop pattern. I cast on a different number to match my gauge and did stripes on the ribbing. It's also a different yarn, some elann esprit, since it's stretchy. Other than that, same pattern. I plan on doing some for me in green. And the colors in this pic are off too. They are more of a tan beige and dusty rose color. The flash messes it all up. These are for my sister. On other fronts, I have yet to cast on for my other spiral sock. Mostly because I owe my sister her leggers. I did take a break from the cables and am to the repeat section on clementine. The rest should be a breeze now! I'll be thrilled to have that done. I need to start my socks for the six sock knit along. The pattern is so pretty! I'm going to use a handpainted yarn that is yellow green. Really fun spring colors. Ummmm I've got a million other pairs of socks planned now, along with all my other projects. I am trying to get these out of the way though so I can finish up a few UFO's including my isabella top, my mint julep top, and my molly ringwald top. These are all summer tops that I should be wearing now! Grrrr, darn me and my procrastination.

Ooook off to do some late night work on my class stuff so I don't fail miserably. :D

Spinning is FUN.

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Imagine my surprise this morning to wake up to a nice package from amazon. My book came today!!! I'm so excited about it. Everything is beautiful. I have till July to decide what I'm going to make first for the knit along.

I went today to Paradise Fibers. It's not really a knitting store. They are an online retailer, but if you call ahead of time to check, they let you come on down and buy from them. It was so nice! The couple that owns/runs it is sooo nice. I got help picking a spindle and got a light cheap one to practice on. Here is the spindle, and what I've spun on it so far. It's some green blue merino that I got a while back and it isn't really too soft but great to use up while I get the hang of this. I think I might be able to use it for socks, if I ply it.Here is the other roving that I bought there. The light blue in ingeo, corn fiber, and feels like silk. The rose pink is the softest merino ever. Seriously, I can touch it to my neck and everything. Kinda like malabrigo, but maybe just a little less soft than that. Well I won't know till it's spun.Yay for spinning! I'm in love already, I haven't even touched my knitting since I got home I was so excited lol. :D

Boring Day

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Today was the most uneventful day ever. Like every other day. I got up, ate and fed the baby, knit some, did some school stuff, ate some more. The highlight of my day was making cookies. I also got past the heel on my first sock. I'm happy about that and impatient now to finish the sock and get going on number two. Here are a couple of progress shots since the last post.I also finished the first half of my clementine shawlette and started the second half. I'm in chart b somewhere. These are pretty much the only two things I've been knitting. I knit on one for awhile and then the other. I think I like only focusing on two projects. Or three. I think my goal is going to be to finish up all my wips and only have a few at a time. I like having a lot of things going on but sometimes it's stressful and overwhelming. I think I will get more done that way.

I finally went ahead and ordered my spindolyn. I'm excited to get it. I am not sure when to expect it but hopefully it's soon. I bought some roving off of etsy so I have some more variety. Oh and I plan on buying a drop spindle tomorrow to keep the impatience at bay while I wait for the spindolyn. And practice a bit, since I'm part of the spun stitches along. I am hoping to spin enough lace yarn for a shawl but it may end up being sock yarn lol. My book that I ordered should be here on friday. Yay! I'm wicked excited about that.

I'm supposed to hear about my partners for the next stitch marker swap. I gotta get some more beads, I'm running out after all the ones I've made for the last few swaps and for friends and stuff. It's so fun though.

Ok well that's bout it.

Spiral Boot Socks

Monday, June 04, 2007

Here's a little progress on my spiral boot socks. I started them the other night and it's a very fast knit so far! The yarn is a little rough on my hands so I can only knit for so long. Once it's knit up though it feels softer. And my feet are much less sensitive than my hands are.I have just finished the leg spiral decreases and am on to the ankle already. I have about four inches till I reach the heel flap. I am so excited about these socks! It will be my first actually finished pair of socks, that is, if I finish lol. So other than this not much else is up. I'm making progress on clem too but it doesn't look very different from the last pic.

Mail!

Saturday, June 02, 2007

Today I got two surprises in the mail. The first was a gift certificate to Amazon.com from my lovely secret pal. I actually almost threw the envelope out. I had just woken up and went to the counter and saw it sitting there, and thought it was junk mail. Anyway I usually open junk mail to be sure it's really junk, and decided to look real quick. Good thing I did! So I knew right away what I was going to do with it, and later on I got on amazon and ordered a book. Knitting Lingerie Style by Joan McGowan-Michael. I should get it by the end of next week! I'm thrilled to death because I wasn't planning on being able to get it for a while. Thank You secret pal!

I also got a box from Melissa, which I was expecting, but was still great! Here is a picture of what I got!Underneath all the goodies is a bag she sewed up for me. It's for my to-be-built swift that I have plans for. This will make storing it easy! The print is just soooo pretty too. I love the bright colors and I also love flowers and gingham. There is a little polka dot tin, which is awesome, I can put stitchy markers in it. A honeydew melon scented yankee candle. Loooove candles. The skein of yarn is a hank of Malabrigo Lace in Olive. This stuff is sooooo soft it's unbelievable. I forget until I touch it and then I'm in love again. I've had it in my lap all day petting it like a cat. And sitting there on the left is a little vial of beads to go with it! I love beading my lace and the beads look a lot like hematite to me. A nice shiny stone black color. Perfect! I love getting stuff in the mail. It was a good day for mail.

Hmm here is a quick progress pic on the Clementine shawlette. I've been working mostly on it, I figure I'll go back to chad's vest when I get the yarn exchanged. I don't have to hurry anymore. I keep trying to get a close up of this and it's always blurry...
And here are some pics I took outside today. More of our flowers are blooming and they are just gorgeous. This first one especially. It's a peach color, not as pink as it looks. The sun was setting so the pics are darker.

And more kid pics just because. They are in strollers and we push them around the yard. We have a lot of yard lol. Anyway they just love being outside. Alexis was especially excited. Nick was smiling, till I took the pic....
Alexis trying to eat her foot.
And Alexis doing a little dance. She curls up like that and shakes herself real fast side to side. It's so cute.