Thank you Veterans!

Tomorrow is Veteran's Day and I do not want to forget to say a big Thank you to all our Veterans out there!

There was a Fiber Festival this past weekend very close to me.  It is called "Kid 'n Ewe and Llamas Too"...it is located in Boerne, TX, which is just about a 30 drive from me.  I went with Darlene, and Carol (a lady that faithfully comes to my Stitch N Bitch and also runs the Sunday SNB).  When I first got there, I got one picture with some friends....and from that point on, it was like I forgot I had a camera.  There were many, many gals from all over Texas from the online group of LSSK (Lone Star State Knitters)......Here is my only picture I got (from left to right....Shama, Alice, Alice's husband Richard, and me)

But here are some other pics I snagged from friends......

Beverly (Sexy Mod), Vicki (Chief Mod), Alice (GrandMa Mod), and Joyce

Couple of cute alpacas

The three mods, Beverly, Vicki, Alice

Shama and Alice

It was a great time had by all!  I bought some Brooks Farm Yarn...in the SA17 colorway...I love it because of the specks of black and of course specks of orange.

I also got some transitions yarn....this is yarn by Done Roving (the makers of Frolicking Feet) and the yarn changes color and is specifically for a shawl.  I am going to make Danielle with this colorway.  I also want to get the Campfire colorway to make Noelle, but I need to probably wait till after Christmas before I buy anything else....plus, Shannon (the owner of Inskein) has not written up the pattern yet.

You can see a picture of the Octoberfest Colorway knitting up here.

I also got a cute ChiaoGoo dpn case....I love my Hiya Hiya's....but the case is a little more cumbersome and this one zips close...so now this case holds my Hiya Hiya dpn needles.

Scarf Swap.....my scarf swap sister received her package, but has not yet been home to open it....she should be home tomorrow....but, I did get my scarf swap from Mary P in the LSSK group...she lives here in San Antonio and she way out did herself.  She knitted me a gorgeous cowl in Malabrigo Worsted in the Vermillion Colorway...it has gorgeous cables and I have already worn it in this chillier weather we are having in SATX.  She also got me a mug that says "hooker & ball tickler with a needle habit", some tea, hazelnut chocolate (that is all gone already), a reusable bag, and some Birdy's Baubles Stitch Markers....I love it all!  Thank you Mary!

Now to take you back.....way back.....to the days when I was crocheting 3 different bags....it was around August of last year....and I finished my 2nd crochet bag....and Darlene was working on one too....well, we all went to a knitting retreat at my sister's lake house, and one best friend, Ailene, did not have anything left to crochet on, so she was going to take Darlene's Crochet bag and work on it.....well, Ailene got busy and she never worked on it, and I recently saw Ailene and was able to get Darlene's bag.....I worked on it some.....then noticed a mistake (do you see the thinner row in the purple section about 7 rows down?)

So I ripped..... 

and re-crocheted......I still have a little more to do to finish this for Darlene (she did sew in the lining of all three of my bags, so I owe her big time....and am happy to do it) but I ran out of yarn....so I will get more yarn from Darlene today and hope to finish this week. 

Then there is the Stephen West MKAL.....I finished clue 1 last week and showed you....well, clue 2 came out about 7 pm on Thursday (a little early) and the first step is brioche.....I have never done brioche knitting before, so he recommended a swatch:

Then, on to the shawl:

Here is a little:

Close up:

Now some more: 

And some more:

Will this ever end?

Yes!  Brioche section finally done!

But this is not the end of clue 2.....I have 26 rows of stripes I need to do, then black trim....so I got about 7 rows of stripes done yesterday....19 more to go......ARGH!

I am not sure if you noticed that somewhere in there my shawl went from a clear cord to a red one.  I was using my dyakcraft needles, but the dark green seemed to rubbing off on the needle, so while at Kid N Ewe, I got a 47" size 6 metal needle so I would not have that problem anymore!

The only other things I knitted on this week was Paige's never ending Breezy Cardigan sweater, and I did line one repeat on these socks...I need to have these done by end of November so I better get with it.

Lastly, my Strickmich!Club package 4 came in today!  I am pretty excited!  I love the little poncho, but I am not much of a green and blue gal, so I am not sure if I will knit this or sell it.......

That is really all I have this week....It may be picture overload, but I know I prefer to see more pictures than words....so I hope I did not 'over talk'.

I leave you with a picture of Antonio "cutting my hair"and some knitters stuff....most of you know his mom is a barber and he sees his mom cut lots of hair.....so he was doing the motions with a nail brush....thankfully not real scissors!


Have a great week everyone!  Happy Happy Happy Knitting......

Another with no end in sight....................

Yup, I have had many more crazy weeks and I think they continue for a few more weeks.  It has been two weeks since I wrote (so sorry Ruby...and thank you for being a dedicated reader) so I have lots to share!

My mini-vacation to Big Bend was Awesome.  We did not even go to the Chili Cook off (the whole reason we picked the first weekend in November).  It appears the cook off is more for the contestants and judges, and not really bystanders.  We would have paid $10-$20 per person to get in and then not even get a bowl of chili....crazy!  The weekend was not wasted....we rode on the motorcycles and enjoyed the scenery.  Here is a picture of "The Window" from the lodge in Big Bend National Park at sunset.

Here is a small red fox that greeted us on the way to dinner....I think he really wanted to see people leaving with a to go container, but the park had several signs that said not to feed wildlife!

While in Terlingua, Jaime saw a rug he really wanted.  It was $110.00.  I told him that maybe if I could get into weaving or borrow a loom I could make him one....what was I thinking?  Take away from my precious knitting time?  Who knows...maybe I will like it as much as knitting (I doubt it).....here is a picture of the rug:

Now....my Nuvem is.....drum roll please.....DONE!  I started binding off while in the hotel room...then I got some pictures of it 1/2 bound off on the drive home...the table the Nuvem is on looks terrible because it is at a rest stop at the Pecos River...then, I have a picture of the 9 grams left....and a picture of it blocking.  I did wear it to the wedding this past Saturday and I love this shawl....I am ready to cast on another one right away!

I should have had someone snap of pic of me and Jaime at the wedding, but I forgot....so sorry!

OK, so do you remember the Imperial  Sand color Paige picked out for the house we are moving into?  Well, against the pinky/orangish teracotta tile in the house, she said it make the walls look too pink.  So we had to get another color...she picked Brooklyn Brownstone (far left) and Posh Red...but we went with Sea Lion Brown and Posh Red...I was afraid the Brooklyn Brownstone would be too dark and I am glad we went with Sea Lion Brown because I think it is dark enough (at times, I think it is too dark, but I like it).

Then....after vacation, I had one crazy day at work (trying to catch up) and Jury Duty on Wednesday the 6th...and as luck would have it, yup....I got picked on a 6 person jury duty for a DWI charge (we, the jury, found the defendant not guilty)......it took Wednesday, Thursday and 1/2 the day Friday....it was a very interesting process for me.  It was also very educational.  Here in Texas, the Jury summons specifically states no "knitting/embroidery needles" but I put the cardigan I am knitting for Paige on some plastic Denise Interchangeable needles and I was able to knit a little on Wednesday when in the Central Jury room.  Once the trial started, I was not able to knit.  My BF Darlene also got me the COOLEST row counter that is a ring......I LOVE IT and it is orange....here is a picture of my knitting on Wednesday.

Now is about when I would wrap things up...but I have MORE to talk about.

This past weekend was a fiber festival kind of event called Kid N Ewe and Llamas too.....it is only about 30 min from San Antonio.  I went with Evelyn, Barbara, and Darlene.  I saw SHAMA from LSSK!  This woman is the greatest most inspirational person I have ever met....I love her so much!  I also ran into Stacie from the Must Stash Podcast (I was hoping to see Steph too, but I only saw Stacie).  Stacie had some of her hand dyed yarn...it was enough for her to walk around with, but not enough for a full update at her store...so I snagged an awesome skein of Candy Crush.

I got to see Alisha at the Alisha goes Round area and snagged some Thrace colorway yarn....I love this yarn!

In the first building there were these awesome baskets that are made by farmers in Ghana, Africa....I got this big beauty for $35 bucks....yup, $35...I could not believe it.  I have the yarn inside and outside the basket so you can see how big this basket is.

I had a great time at Kid N Ewe with Darlene, Evelyn and Barbara....I hope they had just as good of a time as I did (my feet were hurting when we were done).

Lastly.......I finished a pair of fingerless mitts I have been working on as a test knit.  Paige offered to model them while I took a picture, but Antonio thought "If my mom is going to model them, I am going to model them too!" and he did....and while I love my daughter to death....I must say that he is a much cuter fingerless mitt model!  What do you think?

OK, I am finally done!  I am sorry it has taken so long for me to post....it has been crazy for me and I think it is only going to get crazier as I get closer and closer to moving (hopefully in about 2 weeks).  Plus, with vacation and jury duty, I almost felt like I was not even me...I was so far out of my routine, it felt strange!

OK, I leave you with one of the buttons I got at Kid N Ewe....it is my favorite:

Happy Happy Happy knitting!