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Cactus is done!

Okay, mostly done. He needs his prickles and a flower pot, but the tricky part is done. I stuffed and sewed last night, which is never my favorite part of making tiny cute things. I’m not convinced I stuffed the main cactus body firmly enough but whatever. He’s fine. He even got two cute little flowers.

img_6071Yesterday was also a really good mail day! I had some credit in my Loopy Ewe reward account that was due to expire, plus I had enough points to get 25% off one skein of yarn. I chose a colorful skein of sock yarn from Western Sky Knits because I feel like I’m running low on fun sock yarn, mostly because every time I get some, I knit it. It’s a good habit to have, I think. Anyway, it arrived yesterday and it’s so pretty!

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But wait, there’s more! I have no idea how this happened but I also got some “Loopy Groupies” goodies! I got the cutest little printed canvas bag and FREE YARN!

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I was an unofficial Loopy groupie before; it’s nice to make it official! Brown and green aren’t really my colors but I’m not about to turn down free sock yarn. These will become gift socks for someone, I just have to figure out who!

WIP Wednesday: Cactus

After a few nights, I have all the pieces of my gift cactus knit. They’re small, simple seed stitch tubes, so super fast to knit. Now I just need to stuff and sew together! And maybe add a tiny flower or two. Then I’ll add some straight pins for the thorns or needles or whatever those prickly things are called on a cactus.

img_6064It’s a good thing this one is going quickly because for some bizarre reason I thought it would be fun to do a test knit. Now. Right before the holidays when I’ve also decided to do another Christmas gift knit. And also I got the pattern this morning and it has tiny cables. Of COURSE it does. Sigh. Where’s my brain these days? But it’s a DK weight cowl, and I just bought a gorgeous skein of DK, so it’ll be fine. Just fine. Everything’s fine!

Happy Wednesday, friends! The weekend is in sight!

Keep the party going!

You would think that I would get a lot done during a crafting weekend. I certainly thought I would. I packed six projects plus my journal plus my computer. Now, my portion of the “weekend” was only about 24 hours, and part of that was spent at the yarn store, so maybe I can justify why all I did was finish a sock and work a few inches on my purple Boxy. But the upside is that I had so much yarn energy built up that I came home and cast on three new projects!

img_6046You can probably tell that the top two are new socks. The bottom one will be a cactus, which I’m making for my work white elephant gift exchange. It will get a flower pot and everything.

I also snuggled with dogs a lot yesterday. Jack was offended that he was not invited to my getaway. I told him maybe next time.

Happy Monday, friends. Hope it’s a good one. At least as good as Monday can be.

Crafting weekend

This weekend reaffirmed my growing understanding that sometimes it’s a good thing to do scary things. I met up with a blogging friend and a few of her friends for a crafting weekend. Meeting new people is intimidating for me, and given the extended nature of the plans, it could have gone very wrong if we didn’t hit it off. Thankfully that was not the case and today has been SUPER fun! Since she’s from out of town, I had to take her to my favorite LYS, Yarn Social.

img_6035And my bag of projects broke while I was walking up to my hotel room, so of course I had to get a new bag. And a little bit of new yarn maybe. And a pin. Whatever. It’s a rainbow sheep, of course I’m gonna buy it.

I originally had no purple yarn picked out. Instead, I had two pretty blues. Then I saw this gradient set hanging by the counter and well, you know how it goes. At least I put one of the blue ones back? I also will come home with a new project bag because my new buddy is super nice and made me a gift!

img_6038Isn’t that the cutest?? And oh yeah, we spent the day knitting and talking and laughing, and watching HGTV and a little bit of football (not by my choice but it was fine) and there was the cutest baby that I didn’t have to be responsible for. There was junk food and maybe a little alcohol and pizza. Tonight I get to sleep in a big bed all by myself. But mostly it was fun to hang out with like-minded people. I’m just so so glad I was brave enough to come. So the next time you’re apprehensive about doing something, maybe just do it?

40 Odd Things

40 odd things about me . . . join in with a comment or a post on your blog.

1. Do you like mustard? Yes but only on my cheeseburgers.
2. Choice of carbonated beverage? Cherry Coke.
3. Ever traveled to another country? No, but I’d love to go to Ireland!
4. Whiskey, Tequila, Vodka? I like vodka but it gets me in trouble. Tequila / margaritas tend to work out better for me.
5. Hot dogs or Cheeseburgers? Cheeseburgers
6. Favorite Type Of food: pizza
7. Do you believe in ghosts? Ish?
8. What do you drink in the mornings? Tea with milk and sugar.
9. Can you do a 100 pushups? HAHAHAHAHA!!! no.
10. Summer, Winter, Spring, Or Fall? Spring
11. Favorite hobby? Knitting, obvs
12. Tattoos? One. Thinking about another.
13. Do you wear glasses? Yep, since I was 10.
14. Phobia? Heights. Deep water. Bit of claustrophobia.
15. Nickname? Bunny, Bonbon, Bmose
16. Three drinks you drink? Tea, Water, Wine
17. Biggest Downfall? I worry ALL THE TIME.
18. Rain or Snow? Ugh. I’d rather drive in rain but snow is prettier if I don’t have to go anywhere.
19. Piercings? Just ears.
20. Age? 43
21. Taken or Single? Married. Can we agree that taken is an antiquated term?
22. How long taken or single? married 22 years, together…26?
23. Kids? 2
24. Favorite color? If you have to ask, you don’t know me at all! (purple)
25. Employed? Yes
26. Can you whistle? Yes.
27. Where were you born? Kansas City, MO
28. Brothers or Sisters? 5 sisters, 1 brother
29. Ninjas or Pirates? Pirates, I guess, but only because of Johnny Depp.
30. Surgeries? Foot surgery, wisdom teeth removal.
31. Religious? No
32. Shower or Bath? Shower
33. Like gambling? No
34. Are You Loyal? Yes
35. Broken bones? Once (maybe twice, but one was a toe and those are hard to know for sure)
36. How many tv’s in your house? 3, but only one gets used
37. Worst pain ever? Dry socket after wisdom teeth removal, I think. I’ve mostly forgotten labor plus epidurals are great.
38. Do you like to dance? With my kids or when no one is watching.
39. Are your parents still alive? My mom is. Dad’s been gone almost 8 years now.
40. Do you like camping? Only on the couch with my knitting and my dogs.

Thank you Mildly Granola for posting this. It was fun to fill it out.

WIP Wednesday

I still haven’t taken good photos of my finished cowl (it’s been SO COLD the last two days…okay, I’ve just been lazy about it. Whatever.) so I thought I’d share a couple of WIP photos. Can you believe I only have four WIPs at the moment? Clearly there is something wrong with me. I got to the third color of my Color Me Happy cowl last night.

img_5973It’s hard to see, but there are a few rows of the solid purple up there. I think I’m going to love this once it’s done, but it’s an awful lot of stockinette right now. Maybe I need to go to a movie so I can knit on it in the dark.

And I made a swatch! It’s a little swatch but it’s a good start. This is for my Penny sweater with my birthday Malabrigo.

img_5974I’ve been waiting to start it because I’ve been trying to eat better and exercise lately, and I thought maybe I’d want a different size. But then I thought, Heck that, I want a pretty pink sweater and I can still wear it even if it’s a little big.

But here’s the best news of the day: I get to have a crafting weekend this weekend!!! One of my blogger friends is meeting a few friends at local hotel for the weekend, and she and I decided we needed to finally meet, so I got a room for myself and it’s going to be DELICIOUS. I won’t spend all weekend with them, because that might be too much, plus why wouldn’t I take advantage of a comfy quiet hotel room all to myself? But we’ll knit together and visit the best LYS and I’m super excited.

It’s also a little scary because I’m an introvert who hates meeting new people, but apparently I’m pushing myself lately. Last weekend I went to a birthday party where I only knew two people, and I had a blast. Maybe that was enough to nudge me toward the crafting weekend. Or maybe I was just drawn by the opportunity to have an extended period of time to myself. Either way, the room is booked and I just need to plan my projects. I’m pretty sure I need to a new cast-on! Sock or shawl??

Knitting for the holidays

Are you doing a lot of gift knitting this year? I’ve done some in the past but this year I’ve got a whopping ONE knit gift planned, and I’m just fine with that. I needed someone new to make socks for — the girl and I both have a ton, I’m not convinced the husband wears them, and the boy only likes boring solid dark colors — and I have a nephew who loves handknit socks. Perfect! The only downside is that he’s growing up and his feet are discouragingly large, but when you do a simple pattern, it goes pretty quickly.

IMG_5955Pattern is my favorite Vanilla Latte socks. The yarn is some self-striping Patons I picked up at Joann, and while it’s not the softest, it should make warm and durable socks. Now let’s just hope they fit!

Simple Knitting

I went to Joann yesterday for one thing, just one skein of green acrylic so I can knit a cactus. (Or crochet. I haven’t decided. Can you believe I didn’t have the right color in my stash? I can’t!) But of course I had a $10 coupon so I had to get something else, and I happened upon some lovely lavender Bernat Velvet. It is SOFT. Soft is comforting, and I like comforting right now. But I’ve also learned that when working with novelty yarns like chenille, it’s easier to hold another yarn with it, so I grabbed some Paton’s wool in almost the same color. And since I finished a project this morning (it’s blocking, pics will be another day) I decided I need to cast on something new and soft and snuggly.

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I tried crochet first, but it didn’t give me the depth and texture I wanted, so I switched to knitting a 2×2 rib. Hopefully I can avoid the chenille “worms” I learned about when looking at Ravelry projects with this yarn! This is for me of course (it’s purple!) so even if I get a few worms, I figure I can deal with it. I just might have to call them something else! Have you had worms in your knitting before?

Happy Halloween!

It’s Halloween! But my kids are older so I don’t have to go out in the cold to trick-or-treat, and I don’t have to answer the door over and over while listening to my dogs bark. As cute as my kids were when they were little, I confess I don’t miss the chaos of Halloween. Instead, I’ll leave my porch light off and just keep knitting like it’s a normal night. I’ve got another bottle sweater on my needles, but today I wanted to show off my latest FO, my Not So Lacy Lace Scarf.

fullsizeoutput_2412After blocking, it was 72″, and at first I was afraid that was too long, but now I think it’s perfect. Plenty of length to wrap around however you want!

fullsizeoutput_2417Sorry for the less than stellar photos; it’s been a little chilly and I’ve been too lazy to get outside for a proper photo shoot.

The yarn is Schachenmayr Fashion Soft Mix, a nylon/alpaca/wool mix and it’s super lightweight and soft and fluffy! It’s a gift, and I really hope they aren’t sensitive to alpaca or wool.  I haven’t made a scarf in a long time, and I was afraid it would drag on forever, but I finished this in a week! Once I memorized the 4-row repeat, it was fast and fun.

Hope you all have a safe and fun Halloween!

Sweater Weather

Yes, we all know it’s sweater weather, but the fun thing about being a knitter (okay, one of many) is that we can make sweaters for all sorts of things! People sweaters of course, but also dog sweaters, maybe cat sweaters, even chicken sweaters. And now…a bottle sweater!

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This was my first time doing cables. I’ve resisted them for years because you know, “cables are hard” and they’re fiddly and complicated. Well, guess what, they’re not hard or complicated. They are fiddly, but gosh darn it all to heck, I LOVE how they look! No wonder people persevere with cables; they look amazing. This is a gift for a coworker, but I might need to make one for myself just for a fun winter decoration.

The pattern is Wine Bottle Sweater and I found it easy to follow. Yarn is just acrylic from the stash. This was so fast to make; I think I got it done in one day.