Hoppy Belated Easter!

I hope everyone had a fabulous Easter!  I was looking forward to doing an Easter Egg hunt with Antonio, but his dad had him this past weekend so I just got to give him his Easter basket and clean his mouth and hands of chocolate.....ha, ha!

The good news is that it made for some great knitting time!  Last week, I ordered some yarn from a friend.  I think you have heard me talk about Stacie from MustStash podcast and she owns MustStashSop.  She has some Perfect Sock yarn (and I do mean it is perfect) in a colorway called Anna & Elsa from the new Disney movie called "Frozen".  Well, Celeste is obsessed with this movie and loves all the songs and everything.  So I got some of this yarn and I wanted to make Celeste and her mother a matching pair of socks.

This yarn is my new favorite sock yarn....it is so scrumptious to knit with...I love it!  I ordered the yarn on Tuesday and had it Wednesday (Thank you Stacie!!!!).  I cast on that night and I finished the first sock on Saturday evening.  I was even knitting on them during bike night....Jaime spoils me and lets me take my knitting and a chair to events like this......I was going to do them two at a time, but I could not bear to break this perfect yarn....So I started the second one in pretty much the same spot of the yarn!.  And Stacie put in a snowflake stitch marker with a lobster claw that is too cute.  I put the first sock on a size small sock blocker so you can see it stretched out...but it is just a kids's size sock with an almost 3" leg.  I really think Celeste will love these.  I hope to finish the second sock this week.

I also finished my Hiya Hiya Diamondoid socks....in the Mochren (orange) colorway in wollmeise twin sock yarn.  I love them.

I plugged away a little on the Silver Fern Scarf for the first leg of the Miss Babs Knitting tour....I only have 24 more repeats and I will be done.....which is a good thing because I need it done before the end of April......the new craziness in my life is another shawl.....yup, you heard me right.  Darlene was on facebook one night and found this pattern and tagged me and then a few others commented to make it an official KAL for our SNB group so who am I to say no?  So I said Yes!  The pattern is called Spire and it is by Leila Raabbe.  I am using a skein of Wollmeise lace in the Confident Colorway....Darlene and I started during lunch today.  It is a bit fidly to start.  Mine is not even the size of a quarter yet.  You have to do a circular cast on and then you start off with only 8 stitches...but I am determined to get this baby going!

I know it sounds like I always blame these bright ideas on Darlene.  While this shawl was her fault, sometimes it is me and she goes along willingly....this time, not only did she go along willingly....she made us each special project bags to put this project in.....and, she is offering up a set of these project bags to one lucky winner of the KAL.  The bags are soooooooo cute and have matching zipper pulls!  There was one lady that really wanted to make the Leaves of Grass Shawl instead so we made the KAL to include pretty much any pattern from the Brooklyn Tweed LOFT Collection.....so if any of you out there want to win these two cute bags or just want to be crazy like me and start another shawl.....please feel free to join us!!!!  You can always make a hat or gloves, but try to challenge yourself and make something from the collection that is challenging for you!

These Bags by AwesomeGrannie are the best ever....and remember, there should be an announcement about Darlene, aka AwesomeGrannie, really soon!

Oh....and I have a stash enhancement......I heard about a lady name Cate that teaches Tibetan woman in China's Qinghai Province how to hand spin in China.  She has lots of hand spun yarn at reasonable prices.  I ended up getting some Helix, and while this is a mill spun, the dying is just beautiful.  The color is called Autumnal and it is no secret that it is the color of yarn that was calling my name....perfect pops of burnt orange all around.  The shop is called Infinite Twist....it is interesting to read about and see the pictures of the women spinning the yarn.....

Oh, and the last yarn related item of the week....do you remember going to the library and having to go to the catalog to find the book you wanted and where it was located?  And they had all those cards in those drawers......well, if anyone knows where all the libraries disposed of those card cabinets or a carpenter that can make me one....here is the best use ever for them.....I wish I had one!

I also have to brag just a bit.....remember I told you Paige was going to Barber College?  Well, she graduated back in February....but she was just recently able to take her practical exam (the March class was full) and she passed.....she has applied for her license (they really just want you to send them money) and she should have her license this week......I am soooooo proud of her.  I took her out to eat at her favorite restaurant last Tuesday.....She posted her test and a shout out to me on her Instagram.....I love this girl so much!!!!

Well, I think that is pretty much all I have for this week......I leave you with Aunty Acid......

Happy Happy Happy Knitting everyone.......

It's COLD!!!!!!!!!

I am running behind on my blog post....and I am going to blame it on the COLD!  I live in mid/south Texas and we just do not get that cold here....well, it rained and sleeted on Thursday with freezing temps overnight, so the roads and highways were full of ice....when that happens, this city shuts down (with all the northerners laughing at us)....we had hundreds of wrecks and people in traffic for hours and I think just about all schools were cancelled.  I did have to go to work, but I did go in late, I just was not going to chance hitting some ice and not know what to do (I did not learn how to drive on ice or snow).

Here is one picture going around facebook

Alice (a lady from my online knitting group - LSSK) sent this picture and I think it is perfect:

I have been doing lots in the knitting world.....I was able to block Paige's sweater, and she wore it to school on Saturday (I tell her I cut her face out of the picture, but she does not read my blog so don't tell her that I actually leave her beautiful face in the pic).

I also have a couple of stash enhancements......but there is a LONG story to one of them.  You know how I am making a Hypernova with some Miss Babs Katahdin yarn in colorway Biker Chick?  (here is a progress pic)

Well, my greatest knitting friend Darlene was going to make her in the same color type, but in a solid called Buttersquash.  Well, she saw my biker chick one, she and I both agreed that the pattern just screams for Varigated yarn.....so we checked out the Miss Babs website and found some Perfectly Wreckless colorway....so we ordered two skeins in the same order to save shipping......these two skeins could not be more different.  It is like one was at the beginning of the dyeing process (bright and vibrant) and the other was towards the end (more soft and lighter).  I have a picture of the two of them caked up side by side and they do not even look like the same colorway....so we are both going to make Hypernova's with this yarn.....so yes, I am crazy to make TWO Hypernova's and I am going to call them HyperCrazy (because I am crazy to try to do two).  Oh, and the skein is so big, it wound around the bottom of my ball winder.

Here is my progress so far on my second HyperCrazy

Also, while we are on the subject of Stash Enhancements and Katahdin yarn....Darlene got me another skein of this yarn in the colorway Masquerade.....she got it for me as a birthday present, but she could not wait till my birthday to give it to me (I could not wait till her birthday to give her her gift either.....)  It is gorgeous...I have no clue what I am going to make with it (but I am pretty sure it will not be a HyperCrazy)!

Do you remember all those crochet bags I made a while back?  Well, Darlene lined my last one for me and it looks AWESOME!

Then as an added bonus, she used some left over material and made me a zipper bag to match it....I love it!

I do have some sad knitting news...do you remember the pom pom blanket I made for Bizzle for Christmas?  Well, she sent it home one day with the mother of a child that she babysits for....and that mother washed the blanket...not only did she wash it.....she washed it in HEAVY DUTY...it is nearly ruined...I am going to try to save some of it, but I am pretty sure it will be much smaller that before it met the washing machine.

Switching topics back to the yarn clubs I joined for 2014....well, the Martina Behm First Package has shipped....it should be here this week.  Here is a picture in the English Spoiler Thread, and I will insert the Project pic that shows Martina Wearing it (but it is hard to see what it is).

I read that Canada already is receiving packages, so I hope it comes in this week!!!!!  I am super excited.....I just hope this does not happen to my package...I placed an order online with a different company and FedEx says my package should be delivered in 1969 (before I was born)....ha, ha!

Oh....and I also got things rolling for the 2014 Ravellenics.....I will be captain of the Team San Antonio Yarnies.  No requirement to live in SA....if you want to join, go right ahead...the more the merrier...more information here.  Thankfully, I have 2 more weeks before that starts.

Well, that is pretty much it for now...I had a lot of catching up to do...sorry if the blog is too long.

Sometimes when I know I am crazy (like my HyperCrazy Idea), I have to remind myself:

Happy Happy Happy Knitting!!  Stay warm!