Becoming me.

My sister and her husband are on vacation right now. They went off to San Diego with the babe to have some rest and relaxation. I am enjoying these days to myself. I am learning who I am as a person again. It is funny how being in a relationship, (or at least the one that I was in) who you really are. My likes my wants my dreams my everything. I didn't realize how much I was turning off or ignoring for the other person. 5 Things about the person that I am...

1) I don't like to be rushed in the morning. I like to have my coffee, sit a little bit and take in the sunshine, because I really am a morning person.

2) It is okay to "project" your feelings and thoughts on your animals.

3) Baseball. I really like that game.

4) Just because I cry doesn't mean that I am over emotional... It just means that I have feelings and I am not afraid of them.

5) I am pretty sure I was using my knitting as a subconscious hint about my relationship. I have been finishing projects left and right. Not flitting from one project to the other. Not that I was doing that in my relationship, mind you, but it was me not ending a project, needing something new and fresh and fun and exhilirating. hmmm...

Okay, enough of me being deep here. I have a few yarn stores to critique and rate...

I went to the Needlers Nest awhile back and the women in there awesome. Love them. The store is at El Mirage and Bell Roads. They do carry some rather exspensive yarns but they also carry other, more afordable brands too! Being a "young" person (at least near this area - Sun City) I was treated wonderful in there. They chit chatted with me for a while. Wound the skeins for me and put in me in there database.. spend 250.00 and get 10.00 off your next purchase or something like that... Or maybe it is 20.00, I can't remember. But anyways, if you are on the West side of town or make your way over here for some reason make sure to check them out.

I also went to the Knitters Nook yesterday and wasn't too impressed. They had mostly Plymouth yarns in there. A few from other vendors but not much. I was said hello to and that was it. A woman *much older than me* came in after me and was talked up a storm to. I walked around a couple of times, was asked if I knew how to knit but was really given a chance to answer before she was showing me acrylic stuff and where the needles were and how to knit books. I told them I knew how and then she walked off. I left. I would say that if you are in desperate need of a yarn store and have to have some Plymouth Encore on a Monday then head over here. Otherwise. Bleh.

I am hoping that some of you will show up at Coffee Plantation this afternoon. Brooke, I don't care if Jack is a grumpy sourpuss or a smiling cherub come and see me! All you other ladies too! Get your buns out to 20th Street and Camelback and seeme!

Happy Knitting

Sweater completed

I finished Matt's little sweater the other day. It is a little big, but it looks really cute on him. It will fit him perfectly this winter. I am adding a new feature to my posts when I finish a project. It will be something I learned from knitting it.

1) When working intarsia, you really do need to weave the ends of the second color into the coordinating stitches. I didn't think it would show that much but boy did it ever. I ended up wasting more time by pulling out the yarn and having to re-weave it.

2) Speaking of re-weaving ends in. When you make a mistake and cut your tail or even if you leave it too short, this little idea will help you out. Place the eye of the needle through the stitch that you want to weave your end in, being careful not to pull the needle all the way out, now thread your tail through the eye and pull the needle back through the stitch like you normally would. Voila...you have your tail weaved through one stitch. Repeat this process until you are sastified, then cut off what is left. I learned this trick a few years back, it is a little longer to weave in the ends but when you need to do it, it works like a charm.

3) If there are any parts on a pattern that are confusing or you had to change. Write them down. You will save yourself hours of refiguring numbers (or even worse reknitting) to work the other side. This is also helpful if you are making more than one or want to knit it later on down the road.

I have the afternoon free tomorrow and will be in central Phoenix. I was thinking about going to the Coffee Plantation at the Biltmore Fashion park around 1:00 or 1:30 if anyone is interested. I will post this on the SNB group too!

I am off to go run errands.
Happy Knitting

must... have...contact... with...other...knitters.....

Okay, so I am not really that desperate.. I mean I have my sister knitting but she will only do it after the babe's gone to bed...(Obviously she is not that taken with it!!!!) But I really do miss fellow knitters. I was trying to meet up with some other knitters tomorrow but it seems as though it really won't fit into my schedule. I have a lunch date with Lindsay, who I haven't seen in over a month!
Well, it is not really a lunch date I am getting my underarms and my legs waxed. She needs the practice and I got the hair to practice on.

So, I am almost finished with my Rowan sweater for Matt and have decided that I hate hate hate English written patterns. I know that I have written this before in a previous post but I feel it needs repeating. I have everything knit I just can't get the stupid sleeves to look right. I don't know what the problem is.
Hopfully the net will have some answers for me.

I am also going to see if I can find a place for people to meet up on the west side of the valley on Mondays like near Avondale or something. Maybe in the evening or even in the mornings...

Well, I have to head out for now. Dinner is waiting and I need to find out how to do that dang sweater. Happy Knitting!

Cult tally - 3

I forgot yesterday to add what I have been working on! I was having a self pity moment a while back and decided that I needed yarn. You know the really good stuff that I normally wouldn't buy for myself kind of yarn! Well, I picked up some recycled silk. 2 skeins. It ended up costing me about 40 big ones but I loved knitting with it. I made myself a cute little purse with some silk lining...Awesome!

I have also been teaching people how to knit. Last week I gave my niece some refresher courses and she knit 1/2 a wash cloth before she got bored. She then asked me to teach her friend to knit. So, when they came over on Sunday I gave her a lesson. They had fun and I am going to practice knitting with them at least every other week. Last night my sister Amy said, "okay, it is time for me to learn". So I grabbed my needles and yarn again and off we went. Amy has always been a perfectionist and within an hour she had learned how to knit, purl, do a 1x1 ribbing and seed stitch! I was quite afraid of teaching her because I thought that she would have issues with learning it. She is left handed and when she taught herself to crochet she came up with a new stitch that she calls the "oopsy" stitch. I was going to try to teach her to knit continental but, she is doing awesome with the "american method". She already held her yarn in her right hand so I figured it would be easier that way. She just had to learn to get the needles comfortable. So, I am off today to find an easy pattern for her to make that is not your standard dishcloth or pouch-esque bag. She was asking this morning about when she should learn to knit socks...I told her to at least get one project done first.

I forgot about a pal's birthday so I am going to make her a purse pattern I got off Knitty.com. I am hoping I can whip it out rather quickly. My next challenege is to make a sweater to fit a beagle. I think I will try the pattern from the SNB nation book. Well, I think that wraps it up as for what has been going on... I think I have my numbers in for the knitting cult requirments for this month! How about everyone else?

Life goes on...and so do I...

So, I am still living. Thank you to everyone who has sent me a well wishes. So, here is what is going on..

I am still working.. I am wating for my duplicate license to come in so I can take a second job somewhere. I am living with my middle siste Amy, her husband Josh and their little babe Matt. You may remember those cute little pics I have posted of him before... if not look back for previous posts. So total in the house right now there are the three of us adults, Matt, my two cats, and Maggie, their 4 dogs (a beagle and 3 greyhounds) and 3 cats, and for the last two weeks we have been watching Josh's moms greyhound. So needless to say that the house is a little full but it doesn't feel like it at all.

I carpooling twice a week with my sister and the other two days I am taking her husbands truck to work. I am trying to save up money for to get a car. It is kind of frustrating but hey, I could be worse off. I have family and friends that love and support me.

So on to what this post should really be about... KNITTING!!!!!!!!!

I am been getting a little bit of knitting done. I finally finally finally finished the first part of my flapper scarf. Wonderschon! I love it. I started putting on the beads for the 2nd part of the scarf and I realized I was about a hundred beads short of what I needed. After scanning almost every bead store in the Phoenix area I was finally was able to get to the bead store near my work... they have wonky hours but lo and behold they had my beads. They are wee bit darker but they still look good. I am moving right along on this one. I forgot the pattern I was working for my lace scarf and haven't motivation to find where I messed up at.

So, while my life is not back to what used to "normal", it is becoming a new "normal" and I like that. I think that next tuesday I will be in town so if anyone wants to meet up in the central phoenix area around lunch time I can do that. I would love to knit with people again....

Happy Knitting...

It's over.

I haven't posted in a while because life has been rather cray. In the course of a week, my life has gone from content to catastrophic. It has just been settling back down and I decided that I should let the world know where I have been.

A few weeks back Amy told me that she didn't love me anymore and that she wanted to break up. I told her okay, but I needed time to save up money to get a car and to move out. We had decided that I would leave in about 5 months. Well, that five months turned into about 10 days. We got into a riff a couple of Sundays ago and Amy told me to pack my stuff and leave. So, I did. I am pretty sure that she didn't think I was going to be gone but I left. I was tired of the fighting and the well everything.

I moved into my sister's house out in Buckeye and I am trying to get back to my normal life. Or at least what could become a normal life. I don't know how often I will be able to post but I wanted to let you all know what has been going on. The good thing about being so far away from the city is that I have my nights to myself now and I have been getting a lot of knitting done.

I wish you all the best.

happy knitting

Sandee the over achiever and Brooke the achiever...

So, Brooke and her mom are both well into swatches for the master knitting program and I still can't settle on a single type of yarn... Great!!! Thanks a lot ladies.... Hmmmppphhh! ;)

I am thinking of heading over to craft mart and checking out some yarn there. I was also going to try the last bit of Zara that I have. I figured that it can't hurt to try it out and if it looks decent I will pick some up at Jessica Knits on Sunday. The only downside to that is that she opens at noon and I have to be out at my sister's early in the day... So, we will see.... Here is the Zara.




I finally got the pattern for my "flapper scarf" again. So, I will be able to finish it and wear it this winter. I had to write to a store that gave me a copy of it and it took forever to get a copy again. I am plugging away at my lace scarf. It is about a foot long right now. I am pretty durn proud of it!

Well, off to pick Amy up from work. Happy Knitting

What has brown hair, likes to knit and hates written questions?

ME!!!

I met up with Brooke and her wonderful mom Sandee to work on my TKGA swatches. I have learned a few things from this escapade. In no particular order.

1. Encore worsted weight yarn is not the best yarn to use for making the swatches. It is just a little too fuzzy
2. Cream colored yarn is not good to knit with. It makes the swatches look like the crap ass baby sweaters you see in the goodwill. You know the ones that had the dog wee on them.
3. Jack loves me, okay he loves my pin, my glasses and my plastic page protector.
4. A knit 1 purl 1 cast on? It looks crappy at best
5. You learn just how bad of a knitter you really are when you know that others are getting ready to scrutinize your work.
6. The question's and swatches are open to interpetation. You just have to make the right one.
7. The best cast on method for swatch one is the knit cast on

So, I had a really good time. Jack was adorable as ever... he has the fattest little legs! So cute!

I also decided that I was going to get to work on some of my written questions. Before I knew it, I had half of the knitting section strewn over a desk and was well into finishing them. I have about 6 left to do. I tried to get as many references as possible but i found myself referring to the same books over and over again. In some books it is quite obvious how much the writer(s) valued certain aspects of the knitting by how much content was there for a subject.

I am going to try to get them all typed up. I can't decide on my cable pattern. I get really picking when I have to choose things... so it's a good thing I have a little time.

I am going to try a differnt type of yarn with my swatches.

Happy Knitting

ahhh yes master...

I have decided to complete my Master Knitting Level One program. Okay, I better say the truth, I have decided to start my Master Knitting Level One program. Thanks to the wonderful motivation from Brooke, I have decided that I need to get this done. We are meeting up on Monday to work on our swatches. I want to get to work on the written portion of the program as well. Knitty's new issue has a little blurb about it...

I worked a little more on my scarf. I ended up scrapping the one I was working on and starting fresh. Matt's sweater piece is still MIA and I have been to down trodden to start it over again... okay okay okay it is all just laziness.

I am off to find out some info on knitting...

Happy Knitting

Manic Mondays...Oops I mean Manicure Mondays.

Okay, so it seemed that last Monday I had a " Manic Monday" but last night I learned that I will be having "Manicure Mondays" ! I trotted over to Amsterdam with my pal Lindsay to talk to the manager about working on Monday nights for their Martini's and Manicures. They don't need someone right away but she said she would love to take both of us on! The cool thing about it is that I won't be doing a full manicure, just a file, buff and polish. I need to buff up on my polish skills some more So, that will be some nice extra cash in my pocket. The down falls? I have to be up until at least 2:00 A.M. that night Good thing I have Tueday's off!

I have no knitting to report. I have to go back a few rows on my scarf that I am working on. I was one stitch off and it set the whole pattern off center! grr! Oh, I was asked what the yarn size was. There are three different versions, but they are all done with different types of lace weight.

I am off to work my late shift today! happy knitting my friends.

weakness struck.

I knew that it would. I fell victim to some lovely silk yarn from Kaalund. It is so yummy to work with.





Of course, this doesn't give you any idea on how beautiful this color really is. I am working on a lace scarf for me!





It is the one on the far left. I had actually intended to make the middle one, but I started the wrong pattern and I really like how it is turning out, so I kept it that way.

Matthew's sweater side is still MIA. I have come to the realization that I am going to have to knit another left front piece. :(

I am working on invitations for Amber's baby shower. I have the cutest idea going right now! I am so dan proud of myself! I will get a pic of them if I can...

happy knitting

life or something like it...

I have been barely going through the motions of my supposed life. I found out why today. I went to the Doctor because it seemed that lately my heart would start racing and I would get jittery and zone out and almost want to puke my guts up. Well, I found out today, not only am I border line Bipolar (which I have known about for a few years) but I am also starting to develop an Anxiety problem. What the F&%^ is wrong with me? My wonderful Doctor (Dr. Cohen at Healthy Outlook Family Medicine Which was voted 7.7 of 10 points on City Search) tells me nothing.... that anxiety problems usually accompany depression and Bipolar, I just have to go on a different medication now. BLEH!

I had my little sweater for Matt almost finished. Unfortunately, I lost part of it somewhere. I have now idea where it is at. I am going to have to re-knit it. I am on day something for not buying any yarn. I think it has been over a month. I am quite proud of myself. I feel, though, that after today's news I might pick up some silk yarn that I have been dreaming about since I bought some for my secret pal.

Work has been good. I had a crappy day on Saturday, my boss made it all better though by telling us that we had a mini meeting he wanted us to stay for and surprised us with beer! Ya gotta love a boss that will do that!

Well, off to knit before I have to pick Amy up.

Happy Knitting

feeling quite accomplished, but...

I have gotten Matt's sweater almost done. He is going to look so Freakin' cute in it. I have decided that he will get it for his birthday. He is also going to get a sandbox from me and Amy. We have settled upon the turtle one.


How cute is that?

My nephew's birthday is a few days before his. We are pitching money in for a drum set for him. My poor poor sister... what is she thinking?????


So where does the but.... come in at?

I have decided to throw in the sweater and send back the test knit to SWTC. I just can't do it. I hate the yarn and I hate the pattern. I know that I won't finish it and I don't think that it is fair to them, for me to be holding onto something that I can't get done in time for them. Maybe in a few months I can work on something else, but not now.

Off to work on something...

happy knitting

what's going on???

I have been slowly working at decreasing my stash! Did you know that the only yarn I have bought in the last month has been for my secret pal! Cool huh? I have a few purses to show off for it but have decided to work on baby patterns. They are a quick knit and you feel more accomplished than you would with a purse.

I am working on this pattern right now. It is from Rowan Babies.









I am making it for Matthew.

I also have these two patterns lined up. The first one is going to be knit from some stash yarn and the other I am making to match the little pants I made for "baby Austin" when he arrives.
I am going to knit sweater all in one color so it doesn't look quite so girlie!









If I have learned one thing about knitting Rowan patterns it is that they run quite big. I have also found this to be true in Debbie Bliss patterns. Which will leave you to ponder this question....
Are babies and little kids bigger in England than they are in the US?

Happy Knitting

OOOOOOO yarn.....

I got my last package from my secret pal the other day.... Lovely! I forgot to borrow the camera from my sister yesterday so I will have to post of a picture of it later. She sent me some awesome stuff. Definitely things that I would have never bought for myself.

A sock making kit from Hello Yarn, in berry and purple and blue shades. Beautiful.
She also sent me some chocolate. A little happy face button that I have adorned on my knitting bag! Then there was some Mango lip gloss inside the box too! I love love love lip gloss/chapstick. I am literally addicted to the stuff. If I go out somewhere for more than two hours and I don't have any with me I have to go buy some... it is a sick habit... I also got a lovely little skein of purple yarn that was super mega soft. I had to knit it up right away. I will get a picture of that up as well. I made the shocking pink coif pattern from knitty. It is more a pastel purple coif. I love it. I can't wait for winter and it's not even that hot here!

I am sending out my last package to my secret pal. I had some family issues to take care of before I could deal with other life. It took me a long time to decide on what to send but I hope that she likes it.

I am just doing housework today. It has been put off for the last week and it really needs to be done. Oh, I finished the pair of drawstring baby pants that I knit up for Amber's baby. Everyone keeps telling me that I need to make a little matching vest or sweater for them. I look at them and realize that they are right. I am going to check and see if there is one out there for the yarn, if not I will make one myself.

Happy Knitting

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.