Monday, May 30, 2016

Happy Memorial Day!

Hi everyone.....I hope you have had a fantastic week and are now enjoying a Happy Memorial Day!  I always feel a little weird when I type Happy in front of Memorial Day....it is a holiday and I want you to have a happy one....but I also remind myself never to forget those who gave the ultimate sacrifice and not really a "Happy" occasion.....So thanks to all of those who have sacrificed so much!!!



Okay, I hope that did not start off too gloomy....I am going to jump straight into stash enhancements....my first stash enhancement is tea.....from Plum Deluxe....I LOVE this tea.  There are so many awesome flavors I do not even know where to start....but if you like tea, you really should give them a try!!!!


Then, I was at Darlene's desk one day and she opened one of her desk drawers....being the nosey person that I am.....I saw yarn and said "Hey, what yarn did you buy?"  She had bought a bunch of DVD yarn and this yarn....Neeley's Knits.....it is BFL and Silk and the colorway is called Wildlings (a game of Thrones thing)....this is such a Carrie color!  Darlene gave it to me.....she is so awesome....I will probably make socks with it!!  Thank you Darlene!!!


Then, I got a package from Susan at DVD (Desert Vista Dyeworks).....it is my DVD swag for my instagram posts and participating in #thesecondannualdvdmonthlysockclub.


Okay.....now on to the knitting....I actually knit a ton...which I love!!!

I finished the Rye Worsted weight socks for Loopy Academy.


Then I knit like crazy on my Pure Joy...I was about 22% done with it....so I knitted....


And Knitted....

And knitted till I could bind off.......whew!  Here are pictures pre-blocking....the lighting is not that great.....sorry!

Here it is blocking!


The only other thing I knit on....was Paige's Hat....I started this hat in Nov of 2014....so while I was knitting away on my Pure joy.....I just needed something to give it a bit of a break and did a few repeats on this hat.....it is looking pretty good!


Well, that is really all I have this week.....next weekend is the great knitting retreat I have at my sister's lake house every year.......so be prepared for some awesome photos next week!  Oh, and Tour de Sock starts this week too......yeah!

Have a great week and knit like a maniac!  :)




Happy Happy Happy knitting!

Monday, May 23, 2016

Cramming for Finals.....Knitting style!

Hello everyone!  I hope you had a fantastic week!  My week was jam packed with knitting!  I am going to jump right into stash enhancements:


I got my yarn from the Maryland Sheep and wool show!  Thank you Sara for shopping for me and Peg for being my Yarn Mule and bringing it to SA for me!

I got the Miss Babs Exclusive Maryland Sheep and Wool Show 2016 colorway:


I also got my Verdant Gryphon Traveller Sport in the Downcast Donkey colorway......



Then, I saw this finished Nuvem in Ravelry where I really liked the edge....thankfully the knitter had some notes on her page and said she used the Peplum edge from "Knitting on the Edge" book....so I snagged a used one on Amazon!


My last stash enhancement this week is an awesome bag set from....Yup, you guessed it...Bags By Awesomegrannie....I had to get a shot of the inside too....so clever!  I've been saving my pennies for this set!



That is it for the stash enhancements!  Now on to the knitting.....First, I finally blocked my Masquerade Agleam!


Then I worked on Loopy Academy.....I know, I know, I know....I should be working on my "Big 4" but I thought there was no way I was going to do my 2nd semester of Loopy Academy...but I started feeling guilty...I had already bought the yarn and it was just 3 semi small projects...so just like a college student cramming for finals, last Monday I thought, "Let me see how long it takes me to knit the socks....if I can knit them fairly quickly, then maybe I can do the other two projects."  Well, I knit them in 6 days....plus, I was able to enter them into the GGFancyFeet KAL and the Expat Knitting KAL:




Then...still cramming for finals, I thought....well, let me see if I can get this hat done (used twisted stitches in ribbing for requirement)......I finished it in 2 days (worsted weight always goes faster):




Now I just have one item left....so for my last cramming of finals....a pair of Rye socks....again, worsted weight so they should go quickly....I have been able to use my new bag set for all 3 projects...and the bag set has books....you know, for school/academy :) (ha, ha, I crack myself up!)


Well......that is all I have!  I should be finishing those socks this week and then also working on Smooth Move and Pure Joy!

I want to give an extra shout out today to my Mommy!  Happy 75th Birthday Mommy!  I Love you and I hope you have a great day!



Have a great week!




Monday, May 16, 2016

Coffe (or wine). Knit. Sleep. Repeat.

Hello everyone....I hope you have had a fabulous week!!!  I had a pretty good week...there is never enough knitting time, but oh well.....I am going to jump into my stash enhancements first.

When I ordered more yarn for Paige's blanket, it was Earth Day and Knit Picks was offering a free mug...well, they were back ordered for a little bit but my mug came in on Friday!  I love my new mug and used it pretty much all weekend!  You could replace the word coffee with wine also....yes, I may have used my mug for a little bit of wine in the evenings.



I got a lovely gift from Louise at Biscotte Yans.....some self striping worsted (the base is called Griffon), and a Lumos skein of sparkling merino in a beautiful orange!  I think I am going to make a hat with the worsted self striping..it is sooooooo soft....and probably socks with the orange.  Thank you Louise!






I also ordered some yarn from Amanda aka Yarn Enabler.  it is called "The Wayne"....as in Batman!  I go it for Antonio to make him a pair of socks....so I only ordered a 1/2 skein (how much yarn can his tiny feet need?)...but since Amanda is sooooo awesome, she sent me a whole skein....so I could make him a matching sockhead hat or something like that....so thank you Amanda, Antonio is going to love it all!



Lastly, I got in a new skein of Desert Vista Dyeworks Yarn in the ZomWhere Over the Rainbow colorway!  I love it!



Now, for knitting....I do not feel like I have a whole lot to show, but I really did knit a lot.....I worked on my socks...and the pattern said "MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT read the entire pattern instructions, panic and give up!!!! Just START AT THE BEGINNING AND LEARN AS YOU GO!!!" so that is what I did.....BZZZZZ....WRONG!  The heel flap had way too many decreases and the decreases were not 'closing the gap' and it just looked all wrong...I only had 8 stitches left on the heel when I finished the way the pattern was written....too long and too narrow of a heel flap.



So, I ripped and did the heel flap I know....and it think it looks a hundred times better.



Well, they were so much fun to knit on....I finished them....I finished my monthly socks but the 15th!  I was so amazed!  I think my new "ZomWhere Over the Rainbow" will be my June socks!


What else did I knit on?  I worked a little on Paige's blanket and have determined that if I do 2 rows a day starting today, I should be done on June 16th :)


I worked on my spire off and on during the week but I forgot to take a picture of it...I was going to work in it for the weekend but decided I wanted more mindless knitting so I work a little on my smooth move...I am about 55% done now.....but still a long way to go.


Then I wanted to work on more socks....so I pulled out my Eeyore's Rainbow socks.....I was just a little past the toes...and now I am just a little past where the heel will go.  I did not realize this was a 12 stripe pattern...and I really wanted to get through a pattern repeat, I kept knitting and knitting and knitting.....I am really loving these!


Well, that is all for the knitting.....I had a small car fiasco this week (over heated) but I had my knitting with me, so crisis diverted!  Other than that....my life has been pretty boring lately....which meant some extra knitting time....Have a great week everyone!





Happy Happy Happy Knitting!