Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Knitting Heaven.........

Happy Happy Tuesday everyone!  My knitting retreat this past weekend was a blast!  It was pure Knitting Heaven!!!  I finished my camp loopy #3 project, Groovy, on Thursday night before we left for the retreat and I was even able to block it so I could take it to the retreat to show everyone.




Now for some knitting retreat pics......great view, great friends, some texting (even though it was not allowed), lots of knitting and drinking and we even had a bird hang out with us some of the time.









I could go on and on with tons of fun stories....but that would make this blog into a novel.  The bottom line is that we had a great time!  I got 2 inches on my Nuvem done (about 27 grams over the whole weekend).

There were a couple of Wollmeise updates at The Loopy Ewe before I left.  I snagged some Regenbogen in Twin, some TuTu Light in DK and some Feldmäuschen.



I am not sure what I will make with these yet, but I do love them!

I leave you with "No Mom.....I do not know who got into your yarn!"



Happy Happy Knitting!

Monday, August 19, 2013

Setting goals with the Magic Scale!

Happy Happy Monday everyone....I have not been able to knit as much as I wanted to this last week.  I did finish crocheting the second awesome big crochet bag and gave it to one of my best friend's for her to line it with material for me (she sews and I do not even own a  sewing machine).  One of the things I did not like about either of these crocheted bags are the flowers....they are a pain to crochet.....but here is a pic of my bag and my 4 flowers for this newest bag.




Other than that......I've been knitting on Groovy for Camp Loopy #3.  I feel like I have been knitting on this thing for a year.  My BF that I mention above, Darlene, is also knitting the same thing and we wrestled in another lady from work to join us for Camp Loopy.  So we have 3 Groovy's being knit all in the same color.

Well, Darlene is kicking our buttox's (is that a word?)!  For this next part of the story, I have to take you back to when I was knitting Viajante.....do you remember how I said I did not know how big the Viajante would be so I had no way to set up a goal to knit per day (to finish by a certain day) except going by weight....so I made myself this little calendar that showed me what my ball of yarn should weigh (in grams) by the end of each day.  I was behind a few times, but always caught up because I knew where I needed to be with my little calendar of grams.

So, Darlene and I were talking and she was worried she would not finish her Groovy in time for Camp....so I told her that since we have 3 skeins of yarn, and there are 31 days in August, to be on the safe side, we would need to finish a skein of yarn every 10 days.  She was at the end of her first skein when we had this discussion.  So I told her to take her second skein of yarn, weigh it, divide the number by 10 and that is how much she had to knit per day.  He skein weighed in at 117.5 grams which is 11.75 grams per day....round that up to 12 grams per day and she would be good to go.

Well what does she do......she goes to town!  She loves watching those numbers drop on the yarn scale (she calls it a magic scale) and she knit one whole skein in less than a week.  I know......can you believe it?  She has about 56 or 57 grams till she is done and we are not even to the 20th of the month (where she should be finishing her second skein).  I am telling you, setting goals is always helpful!

I am only on my second skein and I do not think I will finish it tomorrow, but I sure will try (so I can make my goal).


One of my knitting groups, LSSK, has a scarf swap.  This is the second year for me to do the scarf swap and I am super excited.  I will probably not be able to post much about this super secret project as I am not sure if the lady I am making the scarf for reads this blog....so know that I am knitting on a super secret project, Scarf Swap, that I cannot show pics of.

On an exciting point, I have helped organize a second annual knitting retreat with my SNB group.  In the fall of 2011, a lady from our SNB group had to go move to the Houston area.......so, in February of 2012, a bunch of us regulars went to her house for a whole weekend SNB.  We had such a great time that we wanted to duplicate it.  I asked my sister if we could use her lake house for a knitting retreat.  My sister said yes and thus the plans began.....at the end of the retreat in February 2012, we said our motto was to drink more and tink less....because we all did a lot of drinking that weekend and hardly anyone had to tink back.

So for the 2nd annual retreat, we had shirts printed up.....


I am really looking forward to this retreat!  I need a break!

Lastly, I leave you with a picture I found on ravelry.  It is about goals so I figured it tied into this posting very well....it is a very good saying that I will try to remember more often:


Happy Happy Happy knitting everyone!

Monday, August 12, 2013

Crochet crazy for the Knitphomaniac!

Happy Happy Monday!  How was everyone's weekend?  Mine was great.

You know my Rainbow Crochet bag that I love?  Well, I am not sure if I told you, but I decided to make two more...but not in rainbow.  I think the Knitphomaniac has gond crochet crazy....not really, I am just bag crazy and I love these bags!  I went to Hobby Lobby and picked out two fabric patterns that I really liked, then tried to match yarn to the colors in the fabric.  I have a polka dot bag and a flower bag that I have started.  I am really digging the polka dot one because I love the light pastel-y colors.  I am not feeling the flower bag yet...but I think if I reverse the order of the pink and dark red (which I will do for the sides of the bag), I will like it much more...here is a bit of the process






Other than crochet bags, the only other thing I worked on is my Groovy for Camp Loopy #3.  It is coming along...just went to second skein.


I did want to cast on very badly for a new pattern by my favorite designer, Martina Behm.  It is called Miss Winkles, and she designed it based on an episode from The Big Bang Theory, and that is one of my favorite shows to watch!  I almost bought the exact yarn she used for the one in her pattern, but I was good and have not ordered it.  I pulled out my variegated wollmeise yarns and I think I will use the one that is the 3rd from the left...it is called Thriller....I was also thinking of the 3rd from the right, it is called Mäuseballett which I really like too.....but I was good and did not cast on at all...but I am itching to!




Oh....and I replaced my yarn bowl....what do you think?


I really do not have much else to report......I hope everyone has a great week!!!  And remember......


Happy Happy Happy Knitting!!!!!

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Happy Happy Tuesday!  How was everyone's weekend?

I had a great weekend.  I got to watch 2 of my grandkids (Antonio and Celeste) and I got to see Cataleya (Celeste's sister)....she is soooooo cute....look at those cheeks!!!


I wish I had more pics of Celeste to post, but we get so busy sometimes I forget to pull out the camera. Celeste did snap a picture of the dogs...this is Tito and Precious.


Do you remember those purses that my best friend Darlene made for her granddaughters?  Well, I knitted it and she put one together for Celeste too, and Celeste loved it!  Thank you Darlene!!


I am almost done with my Deep Purple Shawl for my SA SNB KAL......I have less than 1/2 left to bind off, and then blocking!!



I also started on my Camp Loopy Project #3 finally.  I have approx 8 repeats done:


And the Crochet bag is so close to finishing, that I am using it already.  Darlene lined the inside for me and now I just have to finish the flowers that go on the handles.  It is super AWESOME!  I think I am going to make one more just a touch bigger, I love this one, but I wish it was bigger....I love big bags!


I do have some sad news from the weekend....I broke my yarn bowl.  It was nobody's fault but mine so I cannot get mad at anyone but me!  I am super bummed about it.  Darlene bought me this bowl and it was my first and only yarn bowl....I am going to try to super glue it, but I know it will not be the same....I am also going to go look online to see if I can find a yarn bowl that will never replace this one, but that may be almost as great.


Well, that is really all I have for this past weekend.  I hope to report more to you really soon!!!

Do you remember when your teacher's used to say "There is no stupid question!"....well, I found one!

Happy Happy Knitting everyone and have a fiberlicious week!

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Happy Girlfriend's Day

Happy Happy Thursday to all.  I just wanted to put up a posting really quick to say Happy Girlfriend's day to all my Girlfriends.....You all do so much for me and I truly appreciate it!


I have been working on nothing but my Crochet Bag....I hope to finish the handles and flowers tonight so I can cast on for Camp Loopy.




Well, I told you this would be a short post....Happy Girlfriend's Day to all those great girlfriend's out there.

Happy Happy Knitting!