well, I didn't want to be bored if it snows!!!

Major score and yarn purchase this week.
Check it out.......

There are 6 books there, Barbara Walker stitch dictionary 2 and 3, Cat's new sock book, a couple of Norwegian knitting books (my new obsession), and a lace book.
They were all free, courtesy of weight watchers bar codes.
Last year, weight watchers announced a program that if you saved bar codes and sent them in, you could get "fabulous" prizes. Well, the points you had to have for the prizes just kept going up, and the program ends dec. 31st, so I just got a whole bunch of books from my wishlist. I MIGHT have one more book's worth left, we'll see if they give me credit for them.

The yarn on the right is the spoils from the Blue Moon sale. A pure black raven, Lunasea (to use with the raven, but I'm not sure it's going to work - I think I have a better one), and a couple of Strange Brew, purchased to be man-socks as a christmas present.

The colors are from the loopy ewe. The green is for a lacey, leaf pattern shawl, the other two for some endpaper mitts.
Last but not least, the final shipment of the RSC club. Love the yarn and the pattern, now all I need is the spare time.
There's still a bit more in the works. I ordered a couple of blacks from knitpicks. I'm trying to find a good, inexpensive pure black that I can use for stranded knitting. Hopefully they'll work out.

Making some progress on the Botanica Medallion, once I figured out all the errata and the screwey pattern. I only have 70 repeats to do on the edging. One takes about 15 minutes.


See, I won't be bored.......

Cinnamon Brown is 3!

This week is Cinnamon Brown's birthday. She was born 3 years ago, the day after thanksgiving. I still remember the day we first saw her, a tiny little puppy in a cold garage in the middle of January. We picked her over her sister because she seemed the friendliest. When we took her to the vet on monday morning, we were told that she was completely unsocialized, and would probably be a nervous biter. The vet said we should have never bought her. We were devastated.
Well......I'm happy to report that after a couple of obedience classes (HAH!), some fun days at doggie day care, and lots of lovin' from various pilates classes, she's pretty much perfect in our eyes. In everyone's life, there's one animal that becomes your "heart" animal. She's mine.
Happy birthday sister!

Here she is, a girl and her farty marmot! She loves it.
On the knitting front, the christmas knitting continues. Nothing much new.
Next week, all kinds of surprises in the works, stay tuned!

Sometimes you just gotta do it.

This week's motto: finish up!
I've spent my knitting time this week finishing up a lot of odds and ends and some holiday knitting.
The faery ring is done with buttons and all. The only thing it still needs is a little blocking around the hood.
The "holiday" socks are done too.
As you can see, they've all been boxer inspected and approved as well.
Oh, and that nice, bright yarn is the stuff from the sale last weekend. I've just been petting it all week.













The other thing on the finished list is the messenger bag. Isn't that parakeet cute?
I love how his little cheeks turned out. It's the logo of my friend's pilates studio. (don't worry, she doesn't read this blog). I think she's going to love her new bag. It's definintely one of a kind. The project today is to line it with that fabric there, reinforce the strap and sew it on. (I also need to remove the cat hair. Squiggi has somehow decided that felted bag feels SO good on his butt!) One more christmas present down!

Next up, finishing some fingerless mitts for one of my clients, and also a couple of felted bowls for some other clients. The bowls should go fast, they just need time to dry once they're felted. I plan to fill them with some odds and ends of goodies and sugarless peppermints. After that, I guess I can go back to knitting for ME!

P.S. Blue Moon Fiber Arts - makers of socks that rock, is having a 15% off sale this weekend. I had to spend money, I know you will too!

All Done!

The Fairy is finished. All it needs is buttons and a bit of blocking.
I'm loving it. It fits perfectly and is warm and comfy. I can't believe how fast it went. I can hardly wait for it to get colder so I can wear it, and it's definitely going to madrona with me in Feb.

Next up, I'm going back to christmas knitting. I've decided to make a felted bowl for one of my clients and fill it with sugarless mints, also, I found a cute pattern for some fingerless gloves made with one mini-mochi and I'm going to do those for another friend and client. I also have to finish up the christmas socks (pretty much there after watching movies last night), and a couple of man-socks - also christmas stuff.
The felted bag is felted and has been drying all week. It felted nicely, but it's really thick and makes the kitchen smell like a wet dog. I'll be working on the needlefelting as soon as it's dry enough, then lining it and adding the strap. I think my friend Amy will love it (she doesn't know about this blog, so it's OK).

I just have to add that I LOVE Ravelry. There were 2 happy rav incidents this week that just remind me that it's pretty cool. The first happened by accident. I stumbled on a thread that I wouldn't normally even read, but for some reason, I clicked on it. Imagine my surprise to find a person I worked with about 2 years ago, she moved to the UK, and is still living there. We friended each other and messaged back and forth a bit. It really is a small world. The other happy accident was when someone posted about a yarn sale in my town. Of course, I had to go. Bought some lovely sunny yellow sock weight yarn with no idea of what I'm going to do with it. Maybe it was the dark weather that inspired me. It's sitting on my desk right now, and I pet it regularly.

One final request, if you have a moment, drop by Bea's site and send some healing thoughts to Gus, her doggie. Seems he ate a small rubber ball. He had the surgery to remove it, but has ended up in the doggie ER. All of us pet lovers know what that's like, just sayin'.

Rockin" the fairy ring

I don't know why this project is going so quickly, but it really is.
The body of the sweater is complete as well as both the sleeves. It's mostly blocked (one sleeve left to do), and ready to start with connecting the shoulders together and picking up for the hood. It's turning out beautifully and I can hardly wait to see the finished coat.

That's pretty much been all the knitting progress this week. Worked on the christmas socks yesterday for a bit while faery was drying. Thinking about lining up the next project, but I'm just not sure what to do. I'm thinking 2-color norwegian knee socks, or, making some fingerless gloves for some of my clients. I don't know if they'd wear or like them, so I'm on the fence......


I'm already loving fall back. That extra hour just seems to make all the difference.
I also thought I'd share some pics of our visitor this week.
What's that sister? Something in the front yard?













Check out the rack. Nice little 2-point. It's amazing how they adapt. We live in a pretty busy residential area, and they seem to visit a lot - right now it's for the apples that fall from the tree.

fairy ring progress

This week has been totally devoted to fairy ring knitting-wise, and I have great progress to show for it. The bottom cable and hem is done, the garter stitch "skirt" is done, the lower cabling is done and also the left front. It went very fast and I'm extremely pleased with how it's turning out. This is my first adventure into this much cabling and this many charts. Just looking at the pattern and chart detail totally intimidated me for a long time. I finally just decided to go for it, since I'd bought the yarn back in july and I want to be able to wear it this winter instead of knitting on it next summer. Next up, the right side and the back. These kind of take a while because they require a bit of concentration since they're all cabled. I'm hoping to be able to finish the body this week, and then the sleeves next week. We'll see. It IS supposed to rain most of the week, but that bodyflow and bodypump are not going to learn themselves and I need to teach them both on friday.
Good thing next weekend is "fall back" and we get an extra hour.
I think my next project is going to be some "damensocken" - nordic 2-color knee socks. I've found some great solid color sock yarn at www.simplysockyarn.com and I may have to order it.
Next week, the classes should also be up for madrona. I've never really been interested in classes before, but sock summit gave me a whole new perspective. I'll be looking at the madrona classes closely to see if there's anything that catches my eye. Sounds like they have some great teachers lined up.

books, books, books!

Like I need any more projects......
This week brought some new books, not a lot of knitting progress.
There's some goodies here. The joy of sox (thanks Pam, you enabler, you)
The enchanted sole. I pre-ordered this one back in july. I was glad I did when I saw the "alchemest" pattern. It's gorgeous. Gotta make it. Just not right now.
The latest Vogue - some good patterns here
And a Norwegian(?) mitten, sock, and hat book. There's these amazing black and white knee socks in there. Putting them on my list. Good thing it comes with an english translation. I'm addicted to colorwork after the mittens. I don't know if I do it "right", or even well, but I'm loving it.

Speaking of mittens, they're all done, thumbs and all. Everyone that's seen them thinks they're great. They were a fun, fast, knit. I love them.

The big cabled thing there is "faery ring" by Mary Scott Huff. I fell in love with this cabled sweater-coat last year at madrona. Ordered the yarn, cascade 220 doeskin heather, from WEBS last summer when it was on sale, and promptly got scared by all the cables and charts. I was looking for a new "big" project to do on a rainy day, so I dragged it all out and dug in. It's not as hard as it looks so far. We'll see what happens when I have to pick up 262 stitches and start knitting miles of cable on the body. I'd love to have it done by the next Madrona in Feb. The designer will be there again, and I can wear it and show off!
This week, more faery ring knitting, some plain socks for christmas, felting the purse, and working on the new bodypump and bodyflow, since I have to teach them soon.
It's supposed to rain....