Spread The Love

I received these handmade hearts in the mail recently from Viva Scrapper. It's all part of the Pay It Forward Handmade movement. I think they are adorable and may need to make some in a pillow size for my daughters room!
Do you want to spread the love too?
All you have to do is leave a comment and I'll mail a handmade gift to the first 3 to respond. I haven't decided what that gift will be, but I will get it to you in the next few weeks! All you have to do is promise to repeat the process. Post on your blog and offer gifts to 3 people who will do the same. You can sew it, knit it, crochet it, embroider it! Just make sure you ROCK IT!
ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE!

Circus Monkey

Last week was busy, glad it is over.
Bunco, softball, and making costumes for tomorrow's dance performance.
I did however find time to start this sock. My knitting group decided we should do a monthly sock knit-a-long, this is our first pattern.
Pattern: Monkey by Cookie A.
Yarn: Circus Tent by Yarn Chef
Yummy!

Reproduction

I've been knitting baby items lately. I like them because they are fast, easy, and cute.

Kinda like me 15 years ago.
My friend Pogo just had the cutest little boy named Tiber and I am working on the baby version of Cobblestone for him. The pattern is Pebble and I'm using Jo Sharp Silkroad DK Tweed in Beanshoot.

I just finished the Umbilical Cord hat for another friend. She has two boys and I am having so much fun knitting and shopping for girlie things for her. I DID NOT KNIT THIS SWEATER! I know. The horror. But I couldn't knit it for the price I bought it. Baby Gap has the best sales area and I got this regularly priced $34.50 sweater for only- drum roll please...

$8.23
Can you believe it was marked down to $10.97 and then had an additional 25% off all sale items ?
It's fully lined with t-shirt material and has a nice smooshiness too it. So I found some pink stash that matched the sweater and knit this hat to go with it. I think I have enough left over to crank out some booties before the baby shower too!

Rainy Day Beret

It's been raining a lot this past week, but today we had teeny breaks of sunshine. I decided to take advantage of this and photograph a recent FO. The pattern: Max's Staircase Tam. The yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in Hollyhock. This project was super fast. I love the finished product, but the decreases were annoying and plenty. My favorite part is that she loves it!

She wore it in public, she asked to have her picture taken in it, and she found several different ways to wear it. She even asked if I could try and find her some tinted lip gloss to match. Who is this girl and what have you done with my daughter?

Apparently, I'm a sucker for guys in eyeliner

and pink blazers who play antler sculpted keyboards in gold lame' shirts.

I've been listening to The Killers a lot lately and decided to research the band. I read about the singer and then found these photos. Not only can he sing, but he's not to shabby on the eyes either. This led me to post photos of other crooners who make me swoon.
Dave from Foo Fighters and Josh from Oueens of the Stone Age and Eagles of Death Metal.
Who are some of your favorite artist that you don't mind looking at as well as listening to? Do tell!

Pro-Active

I have never met a vampire personally, but I don't know what might happen tomorrow.
Bela Lugosi

Pattern: Cherry Garcia
by Hello Yarn
Yarn: Malabrigo Chunky

Sunshine on a cloudy day

It's been dreary outside the past few days, so I've decided to add some color with these photos. I've been out twice in the last 3 days, once to the grocery store for butter and once through the Carl's Jr. drive-thru for onion rings.

The positive side to this crazy weather is that is has allowed me to sit down and start on some new things, and we really need the rain!
I started some Jaywalkers with Lotus Yarns Hopeless Romantic and I cast on these cute Buccaneer's Booty Socks that my Winter Swap pal hooked me up with. Sharon gave me the greatest basket filled with goodies, like the pattern, the yarn and needles for the pattern, which are Knitpicks Harmony DPN's ( love, love, love them!). She also made the neatest skull stitch markers and indulged me with Pear Dark Chocolate, homemade cookies and other yummy treats.
I'm also looking forward to starting projects with these yarns from Wollmeise. I like this pattern for the Granatapfel (red) and maybe this one for the Poison No. 5 (black, pink, lilac).
The clouds are getting dark and the wind is picking up, time for more tea and wool.

Cheers!

Here's wishing everyone a fabulous 2008!
New Year's was fun, here are photos of me and my bestest friend pink purl at the beginning and end of the vodka-cranberry adventure. Great food + great friends = great times.
Cheers to you!

you'd better not pout!

santa claus is comin' to town... in one week!

or so I kept telling lollipop as I tried to photograph her for this years Christmas card. She was so bored with the whole process after 5 minutes. She tried really hard not to smile because she said "real rock stars don't smile, they just try to look cool."
After 20 minutes of begging, pleading, and bargaining (she gets to choose next years theme, WATCH OUT! she may have us all dress up in KISS gear!) we finally got a "cutesy" one of her to send to the relatives who see her once a year. this isn't it, but she wanted me to post this one instead, cuz it's cooler!

I hope to post a lot of finished knitting projects in the next week but so far I have this:

christmas works in progress invading my desk
an almost finished scarf for my dad
oh!, and some beautiful, squishy, colorful, yarn from pancake and lulu

Ho! Ho! Ho!

It's raining outside and there is nothing more I'd like to do than cuddle up on the couch and get started on some of this sock yarn. Instead I'll be leaving for work in about 20 minutes braving the commute ,which by the way, didn't work so well for me last night. I probably won't get a chance to play with this yarn until months end since I am still trying to get some Christmas presents finished. So I figured if I couldn't knit it, I may as well take a picture of it as a sort of motivational tool to get those Christmas goodies done. Can't you just here it calling - PLAY WITH ME!

Hitting the nail on the head

So here is the most fabulous yarn evah!

I know , I know, I've said it before but its for real this time! Melanie from Lotus Knits nailed it when she dyed up these colors and I love it so much that I might have to marry it.

Me: OMG I love this yarn soooo much!
Lollipop: Then why don't you marry it mommy?

Well divorces are brutal and expensive, and an affair seems easier and cheaper! So I'm just going to walk around fondling this yarn until "the" pattern comes along. My husband shouldn't mind, Lollipop already takes up room in our bed every morning, and the skein promises not to snore. Haha.
Anyway, anyone who hangs with me knows how much I love my Russian Red MAC lipstick, funky black glasses, and the White Stripes. This yarn is a tribute to these and all things red, black and white!
Viva la "Seven Nation Army"!

Sweaters, scones, and a big bad baby blanket

Started the Big Bad Baby Blanket from SNB. The pattern calls for 2 strands of Koigu held together, I opted for one strand of bulky. I started it last Thursday and I'm halfway done. It's a very mind-less, Zen-full project and I hope to have it finished this weekend.
I told myself I can't start another project until I finish the blanket so it has motivated me to get it done, FAST!
Although I am working on these:
Flair and Emerald for me and Drive-Thru for Lollipop. I've found another sweater I want to start. The Lotus Cardigan from Norah Gaughan modeled here by Cirilia from Skrilla Knits. Simple, stylish and looks good with jeans. I need one! I'm having trouble getting the pattern for it seems to be sold out everywhere, which may be for the best since I should finish the other 3 before I cast on another.
The photos in the middle are of fabulous food and friends. We had our Skeins and Scones get together a couple weeks ago. It was kind of like our Wednesday night meet-up of Chicks with Sticks but on the weekend with yummy food, mimosas, and a lot more time to knit! I really loved the fact that I didn't have to leave the house. Cheers to all who came and brought awesome treats. Can't wait for next month!

like mother, like daughter...

we hope you all had a fabulous halloween. we did!
started the day with coffee with a friend, then we got to celebrate in the classroom with all the cutest kids in the cutest costumes. had a fun neighborhood party and lots of trick- or- treating. the funniest part was hearing the group of 10-12 kids yell "trick-or-treat" each time someone opened their door, it seriously startled a couple of people. We stopped when the kids started complaining about their legs hurting and their bags being "too full". one boy said his bag must weight at least a million and two pounds!!! Lollipop was a "cheerless cheerleader" and my make-up was inspired by this cute Lillyionia doll that pink purl turned me on to, she also did my eyes for me. fun was had by all, we hope you had a nice night too!

must be something in the water

Contrary to the activity on this blog, I really have been knitting. I've been in baby knit mode, since it seems in the last month almost everyone I know is pregnant. My friend Jen, seen here wearing Jake's hat because we tried to get him to keep it on long enough for a photo, (which as you can see 3 kids and 1 adult could not get done) just recently got thumbs up that she'll be able to adopt him and then just found out that she's pregnant! Mel is having a little boy after two cute girlie girls and then Carla who I just recently caught up with after 1 1/2 years, is due soon with her third.
I found this cute pattern at Knitique by Mountain Colors and am modifying it just a little for each child. I am also throwing in some mittens, and maybe some booties too!
Here is the first set for baby Jake. He is turning 1 today and I wanted to give him a special welcome to his new family. He's had a difficult 1st year with addictions to several drugs, learning disabilities, and just plain looking for someone to love him. Jen and Damon are awesome people with great big hearts and I know they will make great parents for him and the baby on the way, just as they have for their son Logan. Happy Birthday Jake!

Scrum-dili-o-cious!

I didn't get much knitting done over vacation, but I did receive these scrumptious items in the mail. I'll be using Yarn Chef's Buttercream yarn in Merlot for a shawl for my mom. Lotus Yarns Nirvana in Hopeless Romantic will become socks and matching armwarmers for "lollipop" and Yarn Chef's Bouillabaisse in Circus Tent will be socks for me.

VaCaTioN

Hey all! I'm on vacation. Can you picture it? Sandy beaches, crystal blue water, a cocktail in one hand and a good book in another. Yeah, me either!
Instead I'm at home cleaning and organizing one of the last rooms affected by our April Fools Flood. It kind of sucks that I have to use vacation to "clean house", but it is something that must be done. The holidays are coming, and I love entertaining for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas, ( mostly Halloween though)! I have found some old WIP's during this process and I'm trying do decide if I want to finish 'em or frog 'em. See ya in a couple of days!

Quick Fix

This past week has been hectic! Work, soccer kick-off week, and numerous trips to the chiropractor found me wanting to work on a project that:
A. is mindless
B. is fast
C. uses yarn I already have

Where would I go to find such a thing you ask?
RAVELRY OF COURSE!
I searched their miscellaneous section until something caught my eye, and there it was:
Wellenreiter by Iris Wilde
of Strickmasche
Size 10 needles, 2 random balls of Noro Kureyon from my stash (one was rewound, it was a hat that was too small, and the other ball is leftover from a felted purse), and time. Lord knows I've had time this weekend. I can't really do much else but sit and knit or lay and knit with my icepacks. I started yesterday morning and it's almost done. It goes so fast and like a child I'm amazed at how beautifully each color blends in as I knit along.

happy

Knitting these socks makes me happy!

I'm already planning an outfit for work and I haven't even finished the first one.Why? Because when I work on them in the office everyone has to comment. What are you making? What is that? Why are those sticks so small? Oh, very interesting! Are those for your daughter? Nope! They are for me, Melanie nailed it with this color. A perfect blend of colorful, bold, and girlie.

"The Bag"

Here are the bags that I made for Kristie over at Chickbags. The felted clutch on the bottom was a simple knit and full. I love the way these bags turn out. I've made a quite a few and love how every one turns out, but I'm really fond of this blue/green color combo. The knitted bag, quite a different story. For being such a "simple pattern" this bag gave me a quite a few challenges. As you can see the bag is a combination of knit, purl, cables, and seed stitch, easy enough. HA!
Although the pattern is simple, getting ALL that purling to look even was not! After I finished the knitting there was the sag factor. With suggestion from my knitting group girls, we decided that I needed a liner. GREAT IDEA! Oops, wait I don't know how to sew.
So the lovely Taryn brought her sewing machine and the ever so helpful Laurie brought her sewing skills. Put these two together and what do you get? A liner for the bag!
Laurie gave both Taryn and myself a basic lesson about the machine since neither of us had a clue, though we both own brand new sewing machines that we've had for over a year!
Taryn machine sewed the liner together, and then I hand-sewed the liner in to the knitted bag. The funniest part of the process: the manager at Panera's looking at our knitting circle, wondering why there was a sewing machine on his table, as well as a swift and a ball winder.
The best part: the wonderfully friendly, helpful, and craftastic girls I've met at my Wednesday nite knitting group! You guys R-O-C-K!!!

All Grown Up?...

I'm not sure how this happened, but my baby is entering the 1st grade. I think I was more anxious than she was. She popped out of bed, ate her breakfast, got herself dressed. She even brushed her teeth and did her hair without me asking, and in our house that's a big deal (or usually an ordeal.) Today it was her Dad and I who were running around like chickens with our heads cut off. Where's the backpack? Is her info packet filled out? Is she having hot lunch or should we make her something? I'm sure it had something to do with the ridiculously early time they have to start school that threw us, 7:45 a.m. what the ----!
Anyway she made it on time, she got to see all the friends she missed over summer, and she got right back in to the groove without missing a beat. The smile in this photo is forced because she only wanted me to take a picture of her backpack, but after a little begging and pleading, she decided to turn around.
As for me, I'm sure I'll need a little more time to adjust to the time difference. But when I do I'll actually gain an hour before I have to drive in to work. Perhaps some extra time to enjoy my coffee and get some knitting on.