I swear!!!

I swear at Blogger. I swear at my internet connection. I swear. I posted yesterday. Do you see it? Nono, don’t bother looking, it’s not there. Because right as I clicked post, my phone line protested the internet and shut down. The whole post…gone. I usually have no problem with Blogger but yesterday? I was already frustrated and in a ‘mood’. This didn’t help.

‘Kay. ‘Nuff of the bitchin’! Let’s talk some knitting. I can’t tell you what I have been working on but I can show you a picture (sort of):
Isn’t it pretty?? I wuff it! I have pretty much set aside the Rebecca sweater (boring!) to knit this. Also, I started up a new project, the Rusted Root sweater. I am using Debbie Bliss Cotton DK Tangerine. And it’s from my stash. How great is that!! My gauge matches Exactly, row AND stitch count. It was meant to be…





I did receive yarn this week. I bought a bunch of Lion Brand Homespun to knit this blanket. I hate knitting with Homespun but I am willing to put my prejudice aside to make the blanket. Chaun made me one about two years ago and I Love it. It’s huge, it’s warm, and it’s made with love. So, I think mine will end up being a gift for someone. :) In fact, I found a photo of mine and Chaun's:
I have to tell the story behind this picture. It makes me happy and sad at the same time. When we found out about my mom's cancer, I planned a trip to visit with them. Conveniently, it was the same weekend as the wedding of Chauntel's high school friend that just happened to be 10 minutes from my parent's house. And I needed her with me because I didn't know what it would be like to see/talk with my mom after her diagnosis. And because my mom was such a crafter, they do not have a guest bedroom. So, the dining room usually gets converted to my room when I visit. So, this picture is mine and Chaun's 'bedroom'. :)
Anyways... whew, that took me back there for a minute.

Let's lighten up the topic for a moment and talk shoes. That's right. Chaun tossed out a throwdown and asked for shoe stash pictures. And you will get one, don't you worry your pretty little heads, just not yet. I need to organize first. Now, let me take you back. I met Chauntel, oh, about...14-15 years ago. When we met, I was the girl of jeans and tshirts (okay, I still love jeans and t's, I am just a woman now) and maaaaaybe 5 pairs of shoes. No joke. I think I had a pair of tennis shoes, a couple of flip flops, and two pairs of docs for work. That really didn't change until I moved down here to Santa Barbara and she Really got ahold of me. :) I now have 38 pairs of shoes:
5 pairs of tennies (including slip on's)
3 pairs of flip flops (I am surprised! I thought I had more...)
7 pairs of clogs (Dr. Scholls and Dansko's)
16 pairs of heels (Just got some new Carlos Santana's)
5 pairs of flats (I really shouldn't wear flats; makes me looks short and stumpy)
2 pairs of boots
I love my shoes. Almost all of them. But I find myself reaching for the Crocs, the flipflops, or the tennies before any of the others.

Okay, that recreated this weekend's lost post and then some. Peace out!

Just call me Little Miss Organized.

I am sure you remember this list:

Rebecca #15 Lace Sweater, EcoWool cream
Michael Kors sweater, Mainline Cream
Candle Flame Scarf , HPY Merino Rose/Brown
Felted Slippers, Noro Kureyon
Clapotis, Lion & Lamb Vera
Socks, Unknown manufacturer, Fake Fair Isle
Jaywalker Socks, HandDyed yarn
Cotton Washcloth, Sugar & Cream
Morning Surf Scarf, Cashmere Brown/Green
Irish Hiking Scarf, Drops Alpaca Pink
Brown Cherry, WotA & Merino Style
Ruched Blanket, Silk Natural (Officially the oldest project on needles)
Legwarmers, my own pattern, Andean Treasure Summer Sky & Woods
Kyoto, CottonEase Pink, Blue, Black
Mix n' Mingle Blanket
Babette Wool of the Andes multicolor
Blanket
Blanket
Mason Dixon Bathmat
Suzanne's baby gifts
Soapsocks (2)

I have slowly been working on either finishing the projects or making the decision to frog, give away, get rid of the rest. Everything in black is on the needles and I have only added four projects (and three are completed) to the list. Now, limiting myself to "Projects on needles" does not mean I have to limit the "Want to knit's". :) Take a look at this.

These are all projects for which I have the yarn and the pattern. I decided last night while at Chaun's (because this is what she was doing and it's brilliant) to bag up the patterns with the yarn. That way when I am ready to start a new project, there is no scrambling around trying to figure out what to start. In this pile I have 10 projects: gloves, socks, bags, blankets, shawls, and sweaters. Also, I recently decided that sometimes it is better to use the yarn specified in the pattern than it is to try and substitute. So...I have been on a buying spree. Don't worry, I earned some bonus money at work and I also got my taxes back. And after making some credit card payments, paying rent, and the bills, I found some good deals on yarn and bought. I bought 10 balls of Noro Silk Garden (no project yet), 10 balls of Debbie Bliss Cotton DK (no project yet), 1 cone of Peaches n' Cream cotton (for a mesh bag) 3 cones of Angora/Lambswool (no project yet), 6 skeins of GGH Soft Kid (Rebecca lace sweater), and 9 skeins of Homespun (for a blanket). AND one of our lys was having a 30% sale this weekend. So, I bought 7 skeins of GGH Soft Kid in a different color for another sweater, a cone of Aunt Lydia's cotton for washclothes, and 2 more skeins of Homespun. I really do think I am good for awhile... :) I have enough to keep me busy for a long time.

On a side note, I just got finished watching The Departed. Excellent movie! I was never really a fan of Leonardo Dicaprio...but that boy/man is Hot! Good thing I was only working on stockinette stitch... And we watched Casino Royale twice yesterday. George likes the action, Chaun and I like Daniel Craig. Hope your weekend was as great as mine was!

Lazy Sundays

I mention lazy Sundays because Saturday was far from lazy. Suzanne had her baby shower at 1p at the Montecito Country Club. What a great location! Beautiful views everywhere you looked. We had a very nice time. After that, I was off to Kmart to get myself a new bookshelf for my bedroom. I have an odd little niche where a headboard would normally go. I have been using it that area as storage for, well, what turned out be a whole lotta nothing. I cleaned out that area of blue bins and replaced them with a Leaning Ladder bookshelf. And after just a little bit of swearing, a lot of sweating (that lamp in there gives off a surprising amount of heat!), and a some minor scratches, I had myself a nice bookshelf. Take a look!

So today I am working on the Absorba Bathmat from Mason Dixon. I am using Peaches & Cream Chocolate in double worsted weight. From Elmore-Pisgah, you can get 395 yd cones of this stuff for $6.64. The pattern calls for 3 strands held together but I really didn't feel like fighting with that on size 15's. So, 2 strands on 13's should do me just as well. I do believe Chaun finished her's up the other day. That's the plan, to work the bathmat and watch B movies until my meeting tonight. A well deserved Lazy Sunday. Hope you all have a lazy one as well!

It didn't save.

18-20 sts5 hours. I worked on that Excel spreadsheet for 5 hours. I did save it at 7:36pm but continued to work on it. Apparently, I have it set to NOT save when I shut it down. What a pain in my ass. Pardon me, while I go yell at the computer.

EDIT: It's now 11:29 pm (Or 12:29 am if you have already changed your clocks!) and I recreated the entire spreadsheet. And yes, I saved it. :)

I love organizing. And I love Excel.

I am sure you all remember way back in December when I had the WAY brilliant idea (that was sarcasm) of organizing my yarn stash. I went so far as to do a Word document of quantities, colors, yardages, gauge, etc. Well, the lightbulb went off while sitting at work today. Why did I not do this in Excel?? I have spent the last two hours transferring all the info over and let me tell you something. I love lists. :)) And Excel makes the perfect list! It is much easier to add in a new yarn (of which I have acquired many in the last week... but that's a post for another day), cross out yarns used for projects, and change quantities. I even have a different page for projects that have large quantities of yarns (like my blankets) and for those yarns that I have multiple colors like Wool of the Andes and WoolEase. You may not care much about me and my organizing but it greatly satisfies my slight OCD tendencies. I actually am very glad to have done this organizing. It has been much easier to plan for upcoming projects. So, if you decide to take on organizing your stash, I highly recommend using a spreadsheet program, Yarndex, and any other website that will help with your organizing.

A little blog updating.

I added a progress section in my sidebar and realized when I linked the photos that some of those projects I haven't photographed in a long time. :) So, here are the Babette, Brown Cherry, and Legwarmers.

Maybe it's time for an intervention...

I did it again today. I bought more yarn. I know, huge shocker for a knitter. J But I finally found a company that sells a yarn that satisfies my crack habit. Every since Malabrigo stopped carrying merino on their website, I have been hoarding every scrap I can find. I just can’t see paying $10-12 for something I used to be able to get for $6-7. Well, Colourmart carries cashmere. 100% pure cashmere. It doesn’t get much better than that. And the owner, Richard, is kind enough to email me (I am sure he emails Only me) when he adds more yarn. Such as today’s email, which said he had added on some laceweight blends: A cashmere/merino/viscose and an angora/lambswool. I immediately emailed Chauntel (her crack habit is just as bad as mine) and we both bought. Had to because as I sat and looked at the screen, I could see the inventory being depleted. My number one choice of a lovely dark purple was gone in a blink of an eye. 12 cones! How could we not buy!! Especially when one gets 2300 yards for $16… C’mon!! And seeing as how it is a true laceweight, I had to buy 3 cones. So it would make, hopefully, a dk weight yarn. And Richard … ah Richard. He is even going to wind all three cones together for me. Isn’t he wonderful?? Oh, and the color I got was navy blue. 'Cause I love blue.

The Weekend. And some catch up!

I feel no need to post about my Saturday because Chaun did a pretty detailed post about it. Please, go over and read! I will say, one thing she didn't mention, :) I pretty much pooped out halfway through. Those tools are heavy! But we got it done and we also agreed to meet back up again in about a month to tackle their garage. We need to give ourselves some recovery time.

Do you remember when I found out I had like...18 projects on needles? And how many of them turned out to be smaller projects? Well, I have set aside the blankets and sweaters for some soaps socks (pictures in the previous post) and some presents for gifts. Not really interested in knitting these days. I am finding myself reading more often than not. But! I did promise some photos and knit talk.

I am still working the Rebecca sweater out of Cascade EcoWool. No a lot of progress but enough to keep it on the "Still working" list.

Also on the needles but not really being worked on, is the Rowan S/S Linen Sweater. I do like it and I like that it's on small (size 3) needles but that's also why I don't work on it much. It's on small needles. :) I also made the classic mistake of misreading the required amount of yarn. For my size, 36", I need 9 balls. Which I do have but I have added an extra inch to the length. See, I thought the 36" size needed only 8 balls. I should be okay still, I can always cut short the sleeves.

I also still occasionally work the Mix n' Mingle blanket from KnitPicks. It's a nice, easy pattern for those days when I have a tough day at work or am watching a really intense movie.

The next pattern I think I will work on is another Rebecca pattern. In fact, it's very similar to the EcoWool but done in GGH Soft Kid. Very lightweight but very pretty sweater.

I may have mentioned this before but I acquired some new yarn from Colourmart. It's a dk weight, 2/7 nm, 100% cashmere. Colour is Dark Meadow and there are 580yds per cone. It's wonderful! The swatch I did has been washed and fondled many times. Not sure what I am going to make with this but The perfect pattern will present itself soon enough.

And I will leave you with a picture of Chauntel's latest manifestation of brilliance. In all seriousness, that woman comes up with some of the best ideas! I don't know if she knows that I love her for that... but she will find out when she reads this. :) We both have the standard Ikea chair and we both occasionally knit off cones. She drilled two holes in the leg of her chair and found dowels that fit the holes. Which made our chairs...Cone Holders!

A Story.

I told you I was an HP Freak!

Whew! I started getting a little nervous with some of those questions and my reponses! I have a snarky, scarcastic streak within me... And I love that I am 22% Luna Lovegood

You scored as Albus Dumbledore. You are very wise, observant, and analyctical. You have a very "well-organized" mind, which makes you function in a calm and fair manner. Though you get angered easily, its rare of you to ever act our of temper. You are constantly seeing the good in people and are naturally forgiving because of it. You're easy to please and a great person to learn from. Albus Dumbledore 53% Bellatrix Lestrange 50% Remus Lupin 47% Ron Weasley 44% Neville Longbottom 44% Sirius Black 44% Harry Potter 41% Oliver Wood 38% Draco Malfoy 38% Hermione Granger 38% Percy Weasley 31% Severus Snape 31% Lord Voldemort 28% Luna Lovegood 22% Harry Potter Character Combatibility Test created with QuizFarm.com