Animal House.

These last few days have been filled with multiple trips to the vets office. On Tuesday I had to take my cat Pepper Ann in because she hadn't been doing her normal upheaval of cat food. It was a lot worse. I found out that she has a severe urinary infection. It had reached her kidneys! Usually something that can be taken care of, but because she has been on medications before and it hadn't gone away. She is going to be on a special prescription only diet that alters her pH for the rest of her life. Good thing I will get this at a discount!


I then had to take my little Chihuahua Maggie in yesterday because she is starting to give out milk. Mind you I told my sister like a week ago that I thought she was getting a little pudgy in that area and she told me I was crazy. Well, Tuesday night I had her on my lap and all of the sudden it was wet on my leg and there was milk coming out of her! Mind you, my little dog is 11 years old and we thought she was spayed because she has this little tiny scar on her tummy. Aparently, she isn't. So went back to my sister's office on Tuesday and found out that Maggie is having a false pregnancy. Great! So, she goes in on Monday to get a hormone shot to stop it.

I have gotten a little knitting done. My goal right now is to try and get as much yarn used up from the stash as possible. So far I have knit up three little purses. I want to make something bigger, but I don't have enough yarn to make anything but purses or socks or mittens or hats. I figured that in Arizona the best option was to make purses. I was thinking about working on a few hats to send to my cousin and his girlfriend for the winter time.

Adam and Sarah live in Kentucky so they can get use of out them. Get this, my cousin and his girlfriend moved there so he can go to professional wrestling school! Yep, we all have a little hillbilly somewhere in our families!!!!! I am just kidding. I am actually really proud of him. He has been trying out for the pro wrestling circuit and made it to the final cut the last two times. One day he will be there. He is following his dream and this all that counts right?

Well, Happy Knitting

So, what happens when you clean up your yarn? You find some roving that you had tucked away! I found some lovely brown and white roving that I had set aside for when I got better at spinning. I am going to spin this up and send it to my secret pal as she is quite fond of brown shades.

Today, I have no real plans and I love it. I am off to the grocery store, we haven't done real grocery shopping in two weeks. So, we will see how much junk I come home with. I am then off to Bookman's to take a few more books that we have laying around and are just filling up space. I am not sure how much we will get for them but we can get them out of here. After that, whatever Bookman's won't take I am heading to the goodwill and dropping those and more junk off. It is a great spring cleaning day.

I was waiting for Amy to get out of class today and think I decided what to make with a wonderful skein of yarn that my secret pal had sent to me. This is the colorway that she sent to me. As always, the picture doesn't do the colors justice but you get the idea.




I have been itching to do some cable work and was thinking about doing a thin cabled scarf. I have a book of cable patterns that I will get the pattern from. Or maybe I can find one off the net.

I was also reminded that at Christmas time last year I had said that this Christmas everyone was going to get Christmas stockings. I am not sure if want to do that this year. Although, they would be a fast knit. hmmmm.. we will see.

Oh, Finished stuff to report. I finished up my soysilk purse yesterday. My sister, great loving person that she is, helped me sew the lining. I then machined sewed it in, I am not too crazy about the way it looks but it doesn't look bad so I think I will leave it. I also have some dpn holders that I knit and felted that just need to be adorned. Those are going to my SP, too. I can't wait to send them out. I think that I should have it all ready to send out by the end of the week.

I am off to run errands. Happy Knitting.

what purple, green and yellow and hasn't been touched in days?

You all guessed it. It's Testy. I thought that the front parts of the sweater would just be smooth sailing. WRONG!!!!!!

I have devoted myself to working on a purse in some soysilk. It was one of those hanks that I picked up when SWTC had a sale. I am not too crazy about the colors after I have been knitting with it. They are just patterning kind of weird. Definitely not supposed to be a purse with that yarn. The purse is going to be a gift and I am quite sure that the recipient will approve of both the colors and the patterning.


I stopped in to get the summer issue of Interweave and got Yarn Harlot's book. I have had it for just over 24 hours and have read the entire thing... Great Book.

I am trying to find some fabric that has yarn or knitting or sheep on it. Any one out there know where I can find it let me know...

Happy Knitting

Down with taxes...at least until extension time...

Okay, so being the total procrastinater that I am, I waited until the last minute to do my taxes. I went to go get my W-2's and two of them are missing. Mind you, I have it quite easy to pay taxes. I get to still use the 1040EZ form and all, but.... I misplaced two of them. One for my school info, the other from a place of work. Grrr. So I filed an extension online. Quite easy. So, I have to go and call on Tuesday and get the new forms sent out to me.

I am pretty sure that Amy or I accidently threw them away. They were in non descript envelopes. We both cleaned the top of the book shelf off twice since I got them in. We are both to blame for this...


I have no knitting to report. I just have been working on Testy. I don't think i will take another test knit for a while. I haven't been spinning. I opted not to get any roving. Although, a big thanks a lot for the peer pressure goes out to the girls in my SNB who whole heartedly agree that it is perfectly okay to buy roving on a yarn diet... What if I was going ruin a regular diet? What about jumping off a bridge? What about doing drugs??? HHHHMMMM HUH HUH HUH??? Okay, I see it's different now... Yea yea yea whatever ;) JUST KIDDING

My secret pal left a little comment for me asking me if there is anything that I really wanted or needed. Know what is nice about that? There isn't anything. I can honestly look at my life and see that I am rather content. Yes, of course there are the things that are going to be coming later in life... Secret Pal, I am assuming that you don't wanna marry me or give me kids... ;P

(Here is where I get cheesy...) Have you had moments in your life when all of the sudden everything feels good and feels right? I am having one of those moments right now.

I guess that wasn't too cheesy. But it has been a long night and I have to be up early tomorrow for a roller set... OOOOhhh the glamourous world of cosmetology...

Happy Knitting

Time Selfish?

Amy told me today that I am a home hoarder. What is a home hoarder? Well, Amy thinks that it is me... or to be exact- it is me slightly scrunching my face or a small amount of detest in my voice when she tells me that she is going to be at home for a couple of hours when I get off work.

She had taken a few hours of vacation and had to go in at 7:30 tonight. I guess that I must have mad a sound or something but in truth, she was right. As much as I love her, most of the time I enjoy having the few hours after work to myself befor she comes home. I have found it is a great me time for relaxation and just ahhh time. It's not that I am a house hoarder, it is just that well, when I get off work and she is home I have to start dinner right away and do other misc stuff. I can't just flop and play with the dog and just goof off. It doesn't happen very often so I shouldn't complain but I am and I probably will continue to get time selfish.

On to knitting. I finished the back of Testy. I have the pattern figured out. For the front part, too. The front pieces are going by so much quicker than normal. Yay! I have to just type out the corrected pattern, now.

So, I was asked to other day if I would barter. I said sure. I am going to make her a purse. I get to choose the colors and the style. I already have the yarn picked out, but I don't know what pattern to use. If anyone has some ideas on a purse pattern for worsted weight yarn, please let me know. I have searched the usual sights... Knitty, about.com, etc and not crazy about any of them. So, please let me know if you know something that I would love...

Happy Knitting

Oh. I almost forgot... here is the tip for yesterday...

Finding that some of your rows in knitting are a little uneven. That is goes from tight to loose to tight to loose? Pull out enough yarn for the row at the beginning of each row. That way you can keep your tension.

If you don't look at it, its not really there....

I have decided to use this wonderful method on my organization. If I just don't look at the whole pile of yarn, I will be okay... I have been feeling a slight knitting slump lately.

It is nice to know that I am not alone with my boredom. Kirsten was feeling quite blah, Shannon had the non-knitting fever, and who knows who else is out there.

I am going to meet up with the girls for dinner tonight before we knit. I don't know how long I can stay to knit , as I have to go to the Fiber Factory and pick up a pair of handcarders from a wonderful lady.

I am on day4 of the yarn diet. I am wondering how long this is going to last. Get this, I am even taking some yarn that I bought last week back to the store.. I realized that I just don't need it right now. The nice thing about being on a yarn diet, is that I have been looking at all the books and magazines I have. It's funny how there are some patterns that I had passed over time and time again are grabbing my attention. So, if I don't organize my stash today, I will at least organize my books.

Question: Does buying roving to spin break my yarn diet?

Happy Knitting

off to straighten the stash

Saturday night I forgot about a party that we had to go to. I remembered at nine o'clock in the evening. So, I threw someting semi decent on and we headed over there. A good time was had. I played this game.





It is called Killer Bunnies and the Quest for the Magic Carrot. Kind of hard to explain but you get to kill other people's bunny cards. I am so buying this game next week.

I am officially out of fiber to spin. I am awaiting hand carders for the alpaca. But everything else is gone gone gone... It is all nice little hanks of yarn. I have to set the twist in all them but it is spun. I was thinking of making some novelty yarn one of these days. We will see how it goes.

Yesterday was family haircut day and then it was off to my the movies with my sister and my niece. We saw Beauty Shop. My sister had passes that she one from work so we went and saw a movie that we normally wouldn't go to. It was alright but I am glad I didn't pay for the movie.

I feel like a have a ton of things to get done but I know that it isn't true.
Here is my to do list.

• Grocery Shopping
• Get Gas
• 2 loads of laundry
• organize yarn
• Drop off bags at the goodwill

A lot of driving today. I had just wanted to lounge around the house.. Oh well.

Happy Knitting

this and that

I worked on testy a little more last night. Nothing really new to report. I am once again considering buying the book Adorable knits for tots. I browsed through it again and falling in love with it... Maybe next week or next month.

I have also decided to put myself on a yarn diet. I am going to go through my yarn and sort it out.

I have decided to do the following sorting:

Pattern already decided
Looking for Pattern
Sock yarns
Bits and pieces

I will sub-catergorize the yarn from there.

I was thinking about the yarn that I have patterns for to put them in ziploc bags and the pattern inside so I don't forget what I want to knit. Well see, it just really depends on how much energy I have when I start to clean...

Happy Knitting

I am feeling quite testy..

So, I had to frog 4 inches on testy. The pattern was way F**KED UP! I couldn't figure out how to get the pattern to stay when I was doing my decreasing. Well, I happened to look at book that I had lying around and I found the answer to one of my problems with the pattern. With the type of rib pattern that it uses I can't do normal decreases. I have to bind off or the pattern will get fudged up way bad.

So, that was taken care of, but I still kept ending up with a purl 2 on the end and I needed a knit two on the end. Well, looked and looked and read and read and read and read the patten over and over again and then it hit me. It was off by two stitches. The math decrease was wrong. It was right for the small and the large but not for the medium. So, know that I have that taken care of I can knit my little heart away... at least until I get to the front panels of the sweater...


I got some yarn today to start working on a small fairisle project. I had to only buy two skeins, so I won't get into too much "trouble". I am going to force myself to finish the back of Testy first before I try to work on the Fairisle project...

Happy Knitting my friends

It's getting smaller....

As much as I wanted to spin last night I diligenty worked on Testy. Okay okay, I confess I did finish up a bat of roving and plied it, but I did get a lot done on testy. I worked on the decreases for the back and it is taking great shape. I am just about finished with the arm hole decreases, the next part will be to work on the neck and shoulder shaping. I don't think I will get a picture of it up.

I did learn about decreasing in a rib pattern while working on this, so that is quite helpful.

I am working until 8:00 tonight. Blegh. All my clients are later in the day, so I think I may be able to get some good knitting time in...maybe, just maybe...


Happy Knitting

Tip Tuesday and kids stuff...

Today I am feeling rather lazy about putting a tip up. So, I give you this site. It is one of my favorites. The tip that I am linking is how to decrease evenly across an row when there aren't an even number of stitches. Quite helpful. I have used this site a lot in my knitting and I hope that it helps others out, too.

I was going to meet up with Brooke and Jack today for some knitting this afternoon, but my sister called me when I was sitting inside Lux before they got there. She was stuck in a meeting and Logan, my nephew, was barfing all over the place. So, duty called. And being the safe driver that I am I was logging onto my email from my phone while driving to send an email to Brooke, hoping that she would get it before she left.... Once again, I am soo sorry about that!


Speaking of nephews, we found out today that Amy's little sister is going to have a little boy. She isn't too sure what she is going to name him yet. They just can't pick out a name that both of them like.

And speaking of babies... my aunt called me last night to let me know that my cousin's wife had a little girl. She was a month early but is perfectly healthy. They named her Jaeden (JAY-den). They couldn't decide on a middle name so they are going to fill that in later.

Which brings me to baby names... When we do have kids we have decided on the names Garrett Jaeger...(no not the liquor sillies) and Indigo Pary. We also like the name Chloe Vedette for a girl too. Brooke had challenged some of you to ask me what I wanted to name my future child. Since there was no one out there willing to take the challenge I will just tell now. I wanted to name her Ute Svetlana. (Prounonced OO-tah) I just love love love that name. Amy refuses to let me name our kid that so maybe on the third one...

Oh well, happy knitting

wind wind wind the bobbin, unwind wind wind the bobbin....

So, as my sister watched me put my wheel together she was singing that little ditty and got it stuck in my head for the last few days.

I must say that I am quite proud of myself. I decided to get an unfinished wheel to save money. So, when the wheel came I had to pick out a finish for it, then sand it, wax it and put it together. Thanks to the helpful employee at Lowe's who only muttered nope after asking if they carry a wax stain, I learned uber amounts of info on stains and finishes. When we got back I sanded my wheel down, this wasn't really a task as I used a 4" X 6" sheet of sandpaper. Then with the wax that lowe's supposedly didn't carry I waxed and polished every piece of wood. Then came the production. Quite easy. The hardest part was putting in the last two screws where I had to screw into a piece of silicone for the treadles. But it is beautiful and working and I am so dang proud of myself.

Kirsten asked if it is possible to actually raise alpaca's out here. I know that there are a few farms in Arizona but most of them are in the northern part of the state. You are supposed to shear them every 15-18 months but we couldn't let them go that long. As we were shearing them I stuck my hand down as far as I could into Joe's fluff and it was at least 10 degree's hotter than outside of his body. Poor guy... good thing he's "naked" now.

I was going to meet up with the other knittin' mom's today with my nephew Matt, but he wasn't feeling his best. The poor kid has our families immune system. He was getting over a cold, so I didn't want to infect all the other little one's out there. Maybe next time.

If anyone is interested in meeting up tomorrow around 11:00 to go knit let me know. I put a post up on the yahoo group list. But let me know either way.

I am off to work on Testy. I have got to get that thing done.

Happy Knitting

I am the proud owner of a spinning wheel, or at least my apartment complex office is... Now here is the frustrating part... I didn't expect my wheel for quite some time at least another week, so after getting my hard earned cash on payday, I headed out to some stores to see if I could find a few new work clothes... Nuthin'.... I figured that I should mosey on home and there was the little sticker on my door.... Dang it... if I hadn't lollygagged around, went to the normal bank, and went straight home I could be spinning right now. I then couldn't pick it up yesterday as the office is closed on Saturdays. So, here I am sittin' and waiting until 1:00 to pick up my spinning wheel. So close, yet so far away...


On, the spinning front, we sheared my sister's alpacas yesterday. What a sight that was to see. I didn't get any pictures, but it was a good thing. I hadn't clipped anything besided human hair in 9 years and boy was I rusty at it. Shearing alpacas was definitely not the same thing as clipping dairy cattle. They were as good as they could be, I mean how would you act if someone creature was coming at you with a motorized thing and you had no form of communication with them? I am not too sure how great the fiber is, but I am going to give it a try. I was going to send it off to be carded and turned into roving but I think I am going to pass on that one. I really have this desire to turn the big bag of fluff into some pretty little balls rolacks to spin. A rolack is hand carded fiber that looks like a great big fluffy dust bunny. Nice description huh?

I am off to work on testy..I fear that I won't be getting much done on her in the next few days...

Happy Knitting.

Tip Tuesday

So here is you tip of the week.



Ever see a stitch pattern in a book or online or in a magazine and want to knit it? Then you see that is says "multiple of 8 stitches + 2" What the heck does that mean?

Quite simple to do. Let's say you want a total of 4 repeats of the pattern. 8 x 4 = 32. So you cast on 32 stitches and then two more stitches for the "+2". You will have a total of 34 stitches. It's that simple. As for why it is done? I haven't gone that far into learning about the tip, but I can tell you that from the knitting I have done, it is usually used when you have an offset pattern. Cool, huh?


I ordered my wheel today. I can't wait for it to come in.... This will be the longest time waiting for it.

I haven't done any real knitting lately. Just a few rows on "testy". I have decided to call my test knit that, as that is how I become when I work on it. I am also trying to refelt a bag from a while back. WE will see how it goes.

I found a purse yesterday that I had knit a while back. When I first started knitting. YIKES. I can see so many mistakes in it. While quite amusing to look at it is nice to know that I have come quite far in my knitting.

I am off to the fiber factory today. I want to pick up some roving for the new wheel and get a couple of other things. Not that I need it though.

Happy knitting

and the day has come...

So Easter was a nice day. We went to Amy's mom's and then out to my sister's. We had a really good time at both places. We played Cranium at my sister's house. I love that game. Totally rocks.

But, here is the best part of my post for today... I am getting this.......

Isn't it beautiful. I have waited sooooo long for one... Over a year. But today Amy succumbed and said that I could get one. I am checking first to see if it is available at the Fiber Factory but if not I am ordering it from a place online. I have researched them out and haven't seen any problems with the place. OOOOOOHHHHH I can't wait.


That is just about all I have to say for the weekend. I will post more tomorrow.

Happy Knitting.

Done... (redux)

I realized only today that my post for Done.... was never posted. At least, the words weren't posted. So, I thought I would re-type everything over. I can't really remember what was all in the post except for one thing.

I finished my sister's birthday socks. They look super awesome and they are matching. I am super proud of myself. I am going out to her house tomorrow night to decorate easter eggs so I will get a picture of them on her. I think that with the left overs I am going to make her son a pair. I wonder if I can finish them before easter? Surely little kids socks are a lot quicker than adults right????

The toe-up German round toe socks are coming along quite nicely. I have about three more inches to do before I can do the heel. I am doing a reverse short row, so I will see how it goes.

Hmmmm... I was trying to think of what more I have to say, but alas I can't think at all. I had a long day at work and just want to relax and knit a while.

I will post more tomorrow.... happy knitting.

Toe-day

I made my own version of the toe up german round toe. I have been wanting to learn to knit toe up for the longest time and I have been lazy about it. So after I knit about 20 rows on Test knit I decided to go for it.

It looks pretty good so far. I think that it makes it look a lot nicer. I am also going to learn how to do a backwards short row. Cool huh? I was going to do an afterthought heel but I think that they look sloppy and my stripes won't match up. On my plate today I have work and then heading over to Amy's moms. When I left work last night I had 4 back to back clients and am going to be in one position until like 5:30 tonight. Ah well, that's one of the downsides to the job.


Of to work. I will try to get a picture posted of my sock toe.

Toe-day

I made my own version of the toe up german round toe. I have been wanting to learn to knit toe up for the longest time and I have been lazy about it. So after I knit about 20 rows on Test knit I decided to go for it.

It looks pretty good so far. I think that it makes it look a lot nicer. I am also going to learn how to do a backwards short row. Cool huh? I was going to do an afterthought heel but I think that they look sloppy and my stripes won't match up. On my plate today I have work and then heading over to Amy's moms. When I left work last night I had 4 back to back clients and am going to be in one position until like 5:30 tonight. Ah well, that's one of the downsides to the job.


Of to work. I will try to get a picture posted of my sock toe.

Done....

knitting accomplished... and tip of the week.

I got to sit down and knit last night. I met up with some of the ladies at Essenza. A nice little place. Not somewhere I would take my first date to but it was cute. I cast on for the Denim Drawstring baby pants from LMKG. Tres Cute! *thank you again secret pal* They are moving along rather nicely.


I found my Southwest test knit. It was in my living room the whole time. I was asked where the three places it could have been were... My sisters, my work or somewhere in my house.... I am not too fond of knitting that but I know I need to get it done.

My sister's socks are begging to be knit. I have to do them! They just have a few more inches and then the toe is complete. Oh, Jen, the link to the German Round toe is on my sidebar.


I also wanted to share a knitting tip of the week. I am sorry about not doing one last week. I forgot..... So, in making good I have a few little tips to share with you...

Did you ever wonder why those size 7 bamboo needles are great and you can get gauge with them every time and those size 7 plastic needles make a big ol mess of you knitting?

Well, they probably aren't the same size. As much as we love our American sizing, there really is not rhyme or reason to it. It is a general estimate of the size of the needle. So that size 7 needle could be 4.5mm, 4.3 mm, 4.75 mm. So, always check what the mm size is on the needle. As that will be accurate. If it doesn't say the mm size on the package, you can bet that it probably won't be a "true" size.

Bonus Tip: We know that when you want to have a loose bind off you can just go up a needle size and bind off right? If you are find that your cast on is too tight, think about going up a needle size for you cast on too!


Have fun with these tips....

Happy Knitting.