Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!  Are you done with all your shopping?  I am not...I need to sit down and get organized and make a list of what I have and what I still need to get....YIKES!

I have been working on Paige's sweater and the body is done....I have been working on sleeves, then I just have the collar, pockets and belt....so close, but yet so far!

This week had a couple of surprises in it for me.  I participated in a Secret Santa exchange with my online knitting group.  I mailed my package to my recipient on the 5th of December...more on that later.  I got my package from my secret santa and it was super awesome!  I got a book on Yarn Farming, a gorgeous hand sewn project bag in my favorite color (orange) and a super soft skein of Madeline tosh yarn!  I love it all!

As I stated, I mailed my package on the 5th of December with a scheduled delivery date of December 9th.  Well, on the 16th, when the package still was not delivered and I still had not heard from the post office (I opened a case number on the 11th) I decided to get together a second package....it was not quite as personable as the first one because I did not have enough time...but I do hope she still likes it.  I mailed it on the 17th and it should be out for delivery today.  Then guess what happened.....On the 17th, the tracking item of the first package was finally updated.....the package was in Illinois?  It was sent from Texas to Texas so how it got to Illinois I have no clue......hopefully my secret santa recipient ends up getting both packages....she deserves it for being so patient and waiting so long!

I added to my stash this week.....I got some Miss Babs Coffee Break Yarn.....I could not help it.  Every since it went up on the website, I have been eyeing it like crazy!  When I ordered the Knitting Tour I told you about last week, I broke down and ordered this yarn too.  See, a lady at my work that knits with me at lunch made this shawl pattern.  The shawl really did not catch my eye that much......but after she made it, I fell in love with it.  The pattern originally calls to work it in two colors...she just used a variegated light neutral colors and it looked awesome.....soooooo....I am planning on making the same shawl in this coffee break color (We are calling it the Suzi Shawl since Suzi already knit it) ....look at these skeins and cakes....GORGEOUS!

 I have also been working on my sock for a HiyaHiya KAL.  I told you guys that I was a hostess for a KAL and I did not know it when I signed up to be a hostess or till about 2 weeks into hostessing the KAL that you get a hostess gift.  Well, my hostess gift has not arrived yet...but the lady who runs the Hiya Hiya group (her name is Qianer) is so generous that she sent me a Christmas gift!  Can you believe it?  I LOVE IT...it is a magic loop needle set for socks.  So it has each of the sock size needles in 40" cables in the prettiest case ever.  Thank you Qianer and thank you Hiya Hiya!!!!!

They are always having KAL's for socks and they have some awesome prizes if you ever want to join us!!!!!
Here is my sock for the KAL I am doing now and the Magic Loop set:

Lastly I leave you with a picture of a tape measure loving grandson and my wish list for Santa.....I hope you all have a very Merry Merry Christmas!!!!

Happy Happy Knitting everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

10 days of the same thing.......

10 days of doing the same thing can be good and bad.  10 days of knitting....good!  10 days of moving....not so much!  Okay, so I did not actually move for 10 days straight, but I am still moving stuff and it was about 10 days ago that I posted about the move.  Here is some of the stuff I have to go through in my room and in the garage....and also, the living room is starting to come together....but I keep adding more 'crap' to it.

The living room actually looks completely different since my daughter has put up the christmas tree.  Speaking of my daughter, Paige, she wore a hat I knit her over a year ago......the weather has been cold enough for her to use this hat.

I also finished knitting a pom pom blanket for her as a surprise present for Christmas (no, her sweater is not done yet...but the blanket it).

I am pretty tired of knitting on Paige's sweater and it has gone into a little bit of a time out.....I have been knitting on some socks for a Hiya Hiya KAL and I hope to finish them by the 24th of December (the deadline for the KAL).  A friend of a friend asked me to crochet her a baby santa hat and a baby christmas stocking.  She wants to use it for photography of babies.......Here is what the pattern kind of looks like, but I have been having problems getting it started, I really am not a very good crocheter......

I also had my gift exchange with my knitting bff, Darlene....she got me the most awesome gifts ever!  The Loopy Ewe has these fall giftables that has a special and exclusive hand dyed yarn and she got me the October kit that came with a skein of Wollmeise in Confidence!  It is gorgeous!  It came with a pattern and I cannot wait to cast on!!  She also got me one of the exclusive sets from Little Skein.  This kit came with a skein of yarn, a project bag, a pattern, and set of stitch markers.....the stitch markers (and yarn) match the project bag.......YUP!  It is so perfectly cute!  I cannot wait to make a pair of socks with this awesome yarn.  While I absolutely love all the yarn and knitting paraphernalia, the best part was the card.....it says "A good friend will tell you when you're being silly.  A great friend will join you."  Darlene is a GREAT friend!  Thank you Darlene!

These last 10 days have flown by.....it seems like every day I am just either packing and moving more stuff or I am unpacking and putting things where I think they need to go......I did manage to order one more yarn club.  This is the Miss Babs Knitting Tour 2014.  It is very similar to the Strickmich Club I just joined, but this is the 3rd year (I think) that she is doing this....I really wanted to do it last year, but I just could not swing it financially....so this year I knew I had to do this club.  Thankfully each club mails in different months, so for 8 out of 12 months next year.....I should be getting a package of fun!

I leave you with a fun Knitter's Christmas Picture.....and my favorite picture of Paige and Antonio (that smile melts my heart)  :

Happy Happy Happy Knitting!!!!!

Moving Stinks!

How was everyone's Thanksgiving?  I had a great Thanksgiving with family, but the days before and after were crazy pants!  I have not posted in 2 weeks and I am very sorry.  Last week was a short week at work for me.  I was off Wednesday, Thursday (Turkey day of course) and Friday....then my regular Saturday and Sunday off and I was in chaos for 5 days.  Did I knit a lot you ask?  How many projects did I finish you ask?  The answer is a big fat NONE!

So....what was I doing you ask?  Moving!  and it STINKS!

I worked harder these last 5 days than I have worked in my last 5 years!  No joke!  I wish I had lots of pictures to show you, but the truth is that I was just too exhausted to remember to even take pictures.

I hurt my foot sometime Saturday (the movers were doing the heavy furniture moving on Saturday).  I have no clue what I did and I do not know why it is just my left foot and not both feet.....but my left foot is super swollen and very hard to walk on.  I took this picture late Saturday (I think, it is all kind of a blur), and I think the swelling got a little worse, then I put ice on it and it has stayed the same.

In the midst of moving craziness, I did ask my BF, Darlene, to text me at certain times so I could sign up for a yarn club.  My favorite designer, Martina Behm, is doing a yarn club for 2014.  It is a little pricey, but she is my favorite designer and I knew if I did not sign up, I would regret it later.  Jaime said he wanted to get me this yarn club as a Christmas Present.....he is so awesome!  Anyway, Darlene texted me at all the right times and I was able to get a membership (here if you are interested).  I am super excited and I cannot wait for February to get here for the first shipment.

Prior to the moving craziness....I had a bit of a scare from my daughter.  I get this text out of the blue from her that says "Mom thank god I'm okay".  So I am thinking to myself, "Holy cow she has been an a car accident!" (this just after I have a long talk with her that the insurance is going up because of all her fender benders).  I call her right away and send texts at the same time to see what happened.  Turns out a car drove into her school....seriously.  A suburban was in the middle of the school and thankfully my daughter is fine and was on the other side of the school doing a hair cut.  You can read about it here.

Oh, and some really great news is that I did not need to move Tito with us to the 'new' house (it's not really new, but if I call it the old house then it gets too confusing).  Paige's friend took him and things are much calmer in the dog area than before.  I do miss him (sometimes), but I am glad he found a good home as I just could not give him the patience and attention he deserved.

So my blog is a little here and there today but that kind of matches how I have been the past few days....disorder and lack of organization....but we did end up sleeping at the 'new' house Saturday night.  Antonio's dad watched him from Thursday to Saturday evening so we could get as much moving done as possible (it was a great help).  Paige's TV in her room is not working yet, so she and Antonio came to my room and we decided to have breakfast in bed (Paige went to Chachos as we do not have a working stove or microwave yet)....here is my handsome grandson having breakfast in my bed....and then later after he found my q-tips (Don't worry, I made him take them right out after I snapped the picture as I did not want him walking around with anything sticking out of his ears).

Lastly, I leave you with a picture for all my OCD friends....I have OKD.....and I think I have a few friends that have both of these disorders!  Ha, Ha!!!

Happy Happy Knitting!!!

I am 0 for 2!

I had a great weekend...and I felt like I got a lot of knitting done (even though I should have been packing). However, by the end of Saturday and the end of Sunday, I felt partially defeated.

Saturday, I was knitting on my daughters cardigan/sweater when all of a sudden I see the end of my circular cord and look and my cord has broken from the needle...no warning, no "SNAP", nothing....just my stitches slowly starting to drop more and more......and this was my Signature needle.  I am not sure if you remember, but back on March 25th of this year, I blogged that this happened to a Signature needle and I lost all my work and had to start over.  Now, if these were cheaper needles, maybe I could accept and/or expect it...but these needles are not cheap!  I have spent a pretty penny on all the Signature needles I have and now I am kind of scared to use another circular one.  I lost about 4 rows, tinked a couple more to make sure my lace pattern was on track, and then had to re knit.....I was frustrated.  I contacted the company with a pretty lengthy email and since this has happened to me before, I knew they would ask for a picture, the needle size, and cord length along with the address to mail a replacement to.  I put all of that in an email.  I got a generic email back saying that breaking cords is not the normal and to please send them a picture of the broken needle, the needle size, length of the cord and the address I want the replacement mailed to....I feel like they did not even take the time to read my email and just gave some crappy standard response....even more frustrating!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, I put my work on my Chiaogoo's (which have NEVER broken) and moved on .....

What did I move on to you ask?  I moved onto socks.....I wanted to do LOLLIPOLOOZA!  This is the first year I have been able to get any Lollipop yarn.  I have 3 skeins.....Doo Wah Diddy, Witchy Woman, and H"owl"'-o-ween.....I decided to use Doo Wah Diddy (DWD).  The pattern for Lollipolooza was posted and I got to work....

12 rows of ribbing....Check

Start pattern.....Check

See pattern starting to show.......No Check!  I was looking at my sock and thinking, "There is no way a diamond is going to appear out of this!".  The pattern is called Fruit Stripe Gum.....I LOVE the pattern...it is SUPER AWESOME, and the designer is super awesome for sharing it for free.  But it was not working for me.

I posted in the KAL forum, and she got back to me....the size I had cast on for was not test knitted and I needed two more stitches for the pattern to show.....I also realized I had cast on for the wrong size....so what did I do?  Yup, I had to frog the whole thing.

Then I recast on at lunch today and used a 3.25 mm needle instead of 2.5...I'm telling you, I cannot win!

Paige also asked me to make her some leg warmers......I'm pretty excited about it, but need to try a few things before I try to design a pattern (of course I also have to finish her cardigan first!).

Well, now that I did not wait weeks to post again, I do not have a mile long blog....that is really all that is going on with knitting.....I have lots of packing I still need to do to get ready for "The Move"!

I leave you with two super cute buttons I got at Kid N Ewe:

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!