I know, I've been bad.......

I haven't forgotten, or quit knitting. Just a bit overwhelmed with life, house and other stuff. In the mean time, I have been working on the bug out socks for camp loopy project 3. Honestly, I didn't think I was going to make it for this one, but some nice knitting time at the fair, and the farmer's market while I did some volunteering for the master gardeners put me back on track. They just need the ends woven in and a bit of blocking on the sock stretchers and they'll be all done.

My next project will be some nice cabled gloves for my sister for christmas. I have some great wollemeise that'll work. Maybe I'll wind it this week, but it's supposed to be cooler, and honestly, with the imminent move, my total focus has to be packing, preparing for our yard sale in 2 weeks (this is the big one), and yard work to prepare "old house" for the market. This week should really cut loose with the new house, painting, insulation, light fixtures, flooring, cabinets, and tile. YIKES!!!

I just can't believe the kindness of knitters!

So, last week, I mentioned how much I wanted to do the queen bee sweater (still do). I even went and joined the KAL group. I'm waiting for the sale, which starts aug. 1, to buy my yarn. Well...over on the group, someone had posted that they had a couple of the skeins that they wanted to let go of. I emailed her, thinking I could get a bit of a discount and feel pretty good about it. She gifted them to me! I was totally shocked, amazed, appreciatave, and humbled. I will certianly pay it forward....... So, here are the 2 skeins of BFL, and another wollemeise, purchased from a stash, to make my sister some custom cabled gloves for christmas. The wollemeise is actually a really, really dark blue.

Thanks to the destasher, and the amazingly generous KT. yogi says thanks too. He just LOVES yarn. (maybe a little too much)

Thjis week, I'll cast on for the third and final round of camp loopy. I've chosen a pattern that's been in my que forever. The bug out socks, nice colorwork knee highs, why not? I'll leave you with a little garden eye candy. This is magnolia "edith bogue". Many years ago, I went on a search for this specific variety after falling in love with its HUGE blooms and wonderful lemony scent. Yes, that flower really IS as big as it looks, almost a foot across.

knitting away

I've been knitting away on my color affliction, affection and it's done and cast off. Doesn't really seem to need blocking.....this was project 2 for camp loopy and there's one to go.

I've chosen the bug out socks. They've been in my que FOREVER, and I've really wanted to make colorwork knee socks. I know, call me crazy..... I also bought some wollemeise this week in a gorgeous dark blue for some gloves as a chistmas present for my sister. Custom gloves with one short finger. If you read this blog, you'll remember that she had to have a finger amputated due to a dog bite. Terrible tragedy. She's living with it well, but, it's permanent and not very pretty. I think she deserves some nice gloves that fit where she doesn't have to fold up a finger to make it work. I have a couple of patterns in mind, some nice elaborate cables. Why not? I had to have the watermelon socks from the KAL at knitter's brewing co. I'm just a sucker for watermelon socks.

I fell in love with the queen bee sweater over on ravelry, and I'll be joining the KAL come the first of september. I'll leave you with some visitors that came this week. Before you say "how cute", remember that they eat EVERYTHING in sight (even stuff they're not supposed to) and now they're REPRODUCING!!!!! They are cute, though......

you know you're a knitter when.......

- You go to sears to buy a washer and dryer and pick out the washer with an "old fashioned" agitator because you can felt in it. - You go to the furniture store and fall in love with a leather couch, and the only thing you can think is "wow, my rams and yowes will look great on that!" I know I've been a bad blogger here lately. It's all I can do to keep up with the house stuff. I mean, really, have you THOUGHT much about where you'd like the switch to turn that light on/off? It's a million decisions and totally overwhelming, but in a kind of fun way when you see it all come together. So, knitting-wise, I'm still working on my color affection (affliction?), for the second project of camp loopy. The third project will probably be announced this week. I also fell in love with a couple of things this week. Knitter's Brewing Co. is having a watermelon sock KAL. I'm a sucker for watermelon socks. The kit will be here on Monday. I also fell head over heels for the Queen Bee sweater, just trying to justify the yarn purchase. It IS almost my birthday, right?? This week, I'm planning on finishing the dogwood socks. (they had a little doggie accident, but it's all good now). It's supposed to be HOT, so small knitting is the order of the day. Keep cool, y'all. I'll try to be a better blogger, promise.....

playing catch up

I know, I know...... And I'm home sick today, so I really DO have an excuse since I pretty much slept all weekend, and just now remembered that I forgot to post anything. So...here is the completed camp loopy procect 1 finished and blocking. I have another week or so until I can cast on for project 2. Yes, like the lemming I am, it's going to be a color affection. The second project needed to be more than 800 yards and have a color from your native flag. I picked this gorgeous combination of purple and blue (blurple, really), and I think it's going to be pretty darned nice. The house is coming along nicely, in spite of a little (OK big) truss incident this weekend. We should have a roof and probably windows by the end of the week. I'll leave you with some garden eye candy. I just love oriental poppies. It's too bad they get destroyed the first time it rains.

camping with loopy

Last summer I had a great time participating in camp loopy. This fun little adventure consists of 3 projects over 3 months, each with a different challenge. There are prizes, discounts and just general fun had by all. Of course, I'm doing it again!! The first challenge this summer is to make something designed by someone who is not from your home country. I chose a canadian designer, and some very pretty green fingering weight yarn and cast on. I'm making OK progress, I DO have until the end of the month. No pics, though quite yet. The sock is at a stall. I had a bit of confusion over the language for the heel, and I moved on to the camp project. Over on squiggi builds a house......the slab is done and we're expecting walls tomorrow. We should have most of a house by the end of the week. Exciting!!!! Here's a little garden eye candy to help with the lack of knitting content. This is for you knitnana......your favorite color!

a little more sock

but not a lot of knitting....... This week was mostly occupied with meeting with the window folks and the plumbing folks to finalize those orders for the house. There was some progress on the sock, really, it's almost done now...(0ne of them), and the yarn is wound and ready for camp loopy cast on next week. I'll leave you with something I didn't make, but I think is beautiful.......

Onward to the long memorial day weekend! How did it get to be memorial day already???????

how to find your knitting mojo

1. root around in stash until you find something that makes you happy 2. prowl around on ravelry until you find a pattern that makes you happy 3. put the two together and knit. (repeat as necessary) The yarn is unknown, the pattern is the latest by Mary Scott Huff - dogwood. The first one is almost done, and it's pretty durned cool, although very thick. More winter than summer, I think.

I'm also participating again in camp loopy. I did this last summer and had a ball. Three projects in 3 months, and if you finish them all with yarn from the loopy ewe, you get a special skein at the end. The first challenge is to knit a pattern from a designer that is not from your home country. I've chosen the semele shawl by asa tricosa, to be done in this gorgeous schaeffer anne.

Here's a couple of bonus photos, because the make me happy too...... My 6 yr old tree peony, blooming in our 80 degree weather today.

And.....our dragonfly tiles for the fireplace. Won't they look good on the master builder home tour?

I'm making it my mission this week.....

to go dig through the stash and find a project that inspires me. Right now, I'm kind of in a knitting slump. I'm not happy with the colors of the pillow I'm making. I think it's destined for the frog pond......the bugga sweater is languishing..... My days are full of light fixtures, decorating decisions and watching contractors not show up. Not sure what I'll obsess with when this house is finally finished, probably the garden. Since there's no knitting, how about a doggie pic?

or maybe a little ozzie ozzborne. you can see he's VERY motivated.....

little prince all done

This week in knitting, I finished the little prince KAL. Don't you just love the colors? It reminds me of a sunrise.

in a bit of a knitting slump

It always seems to happen about this time of year, a kind of knitting slump. The weather is getting better, the yard is calling, and, especially this year, the house is taking priority. I did make some progress on the little prince KAL, but it's too squished up to show. It's going to be beautiful, though, and I just have the last clue to finish. I also started some stranded pillows with a fern motif for the house, and the bugga sweater is still waiting for me. No promises this week, though. Today is pressure wash the deck day, and I REALLY want to get my crummy deck pots replanted with some nice new spring things. (out with the old primroses) Over on squiggi builds a house, the beginning of a foundation (concrete tomorrow!), and a new and necessary acquisition. Go outside and play!~

done, done done done

DONE!!!! I know, it took FOREVER, but rams and yowes is finally done. here it is baking out on the top of the hot tub yesterday. Blocked and dried all in one day. Good thing, it's raining now.

Now I'm working on getting caught up with the little prince KAL, and, of course, house stuff. Should have a foundation by the end of the week!

happy easter

Cinnamon brown is very excited about easter, as you can see. Yogi wouldn't sit still long enough for the ears, and just wanted to tease the cat and have breakfast. You'll have to know that he's excited too. So, this week, I got the rest of the UK yarn to finish rams and yowes. I'm SO close. Right now, I'm securing the border. It's quite a wrestling match and too scrunched up to take a pic. I'm also working on clue 4 in the petite prince KAL, and the bugga sweater is growing nicely. Our week end has been consumed by big boy toys and a bit of stress as they clear the property for the house. It totally looks like a bomb site back there, and it's been kind of stressful hoping they won't run over the water lines, or cross onto the neighbor's property. (think they'll miss that holly tree that disappeared? probably not), and a bit of worry about how much this is all costing (we DO have a budget for it) It wouldn't be so bad if we weren't one of the previously mentioned neighbors. Up until this point, it was all fun on paper. Now it's real, big, and noisy. I know it'll be super cool when it's done, and it should be better by the end of this week.

Ready to move ON!

The rams and yowes yarn is still in possession of the postal service, so I took the opportunity this week to weave in all the ends and generally finish up where I was so far. Hopefully it'll be here soon and I can wrap that one up. I'm also still working on clue 3 of the little prince KAL. It's really turning out nicely, but too mashed up to take a pic. The bugga sweater saw some action this week too. I'm up to the armpits on the back. I'm getting the urge to cast on something new. Don't know what, thinking socks maybe. It'll have to be stash, though, since I'm trying to whittle that down and not spend too much on yarn. In house news, the permits are bought, the bulldozer will be here on tuesday! See that kind of leaning over tree to the left in the pic here? That's just about where our garage will be.

in a holding pattern

It seems like everything here is in a holding pattern......
the house is in city hall hell, the rams and yowes is down for the count waiting for more yarn, and, even though tuesday was the first day of spring, that's waiting for some better weather too.

The moral of the story is, not much progress on anything this week. I'm waiting for more yarn to come from the UK to finish rams and yowes, and I didn't have time to work on any of my KAL's because we decided to take advantage of the non-raining or snowing weather and do a yard sale. TONS of work, but we did make some good room, and get rid of some stuff that would just not have a place in the new house.


This week.....it's all going to break loose. I can feel it in my bones.

slogging along

well, the rams and yowes part of the blankie is finished and I'm slowly slogging along on the border. I'm sad to say that I'm going to run out of yarn, and will have to order more to finish. I had to use a slightly larger needle, and it made just enough of a difference to matter. That's OK, though, because I'll add some extra for another project and probably make a rams and yowes pillow as well. I'll have to take a break, though, while the yarn comes from the UK.










The little prince KAL started this week....
I love this color, it just looks SO happy!













I also got my yarn to continue with the flight path KAL, and finished the second clue. It's starting up again tomorrow, but the clues are small and easily done.

In house news......well, there is no REAL news. Still waiting for the city to finish up. Hopefully this week things will cut loose. (and it won't snow)

spring is sprung

for one day, at least.....
Last thursday it was 65degrees and sunny here. The crocus decided to make an appearance and it was wonderful.

Now it's 40 degrees and raining. Welcome to spring in the pacific NW. It'll be back, I'm sure.
By the way, have I ever said how much I HATE spring ahead? When you have to get up at 4am, it just hurts.

Not much progress to report on rams and yowes, I'm afraid. My time was sucked dry by house stuff this week and shopping for it. I bought a faucet for the laundry room, and all of the towel bars, as well as shopped for lighting, plumbing and house numbers. The good news is, the permits are only waiting for one more thing. We expect them to pick them up this week and get digging probably next week. Check out my rant over on squiggi builds a house if you dare.......

I do have to share this awesome fountain. This is just the bottom piece of it, which is about 5' across and weighs about 1000lbs. (seriously, we had to get it out of the truck). It has 3 more large stacking pieces and 2 matching benches. It'll be amazing in the new landscaping and I'll guarantee I'll be the only kid on the block with one of these!











Today I finally got the rest of the yarn to keep working on the flight path KAL, and on friday, the little prince will start. Busy, busy.......

yowes and rams and a few more yowes

this week, most of my knitting efforts were focused on rams and yowes. I'm obsessed and loving this little blankie. I'd LOVE to make a bigger one, and maybe make one for my sister for christmas. It's just SO MUCH fun!

The flight path KAL is still on hold, waiting for more yarn, and the Little prince KAL doesn't start until the 15th, so, I'll just have to knit sheep!

Kind of a holding pattern week........

I DO have to share this, though....
Ozzie Ozzborne on a rock. My incredibly talented sister made this from a picture of him. I'm so glad to see her wanting to do some stuff and get back into it after her terrible injury. I think she's on the mend. (and, I'm not sure, but for the right amount of $, she might just be inspired to take orders, ya never know.....It's hard to find good smooth rocks, though.)










I think THIS Ozzie is much better behaved!

rams and yowes

If you think you love this blankie, KNIT IT NOW!!!
It's a really, really fun knit and the yarn is amazing.
As you can see, I now have a few rams joining my yowes and I'm about 1/2 way there.....
Love it!











This week, we should be getting the rest of the yarn to finish the mary scott huff KAL, the little price KAL starts on march 1st, more rams and yowes, and possible some progress on the bugga sweater.
All in my spare time when I'm not shopping for the new house and getting a new crown.
(funny how that works out, huh, although I'm not laughing!)

well. I couldn't just come home empty handed now!

I've had the pleasure of spending the last 2 days knitting at Madrona. Our local knitting retreat that actually draws folks from all around the world and the country.
It never ceases to amaze me when I hang out with knitters. The sweaters! The options!
The talent!

On friday, I took a wonderful class from Gail Roehm on reading japanese patterns. I've been intrigued by this since I saw it at the first sock summit, but not able to get in. This time I was lucky. Very lucky. It was a day FULL of information, great handouts, knitting and learning. I highly recommend this to anyone who's interested. It also makes me feel pretty good to sit in a class that was probably half knitting designers (they take classes too, you know), and keep up. I did have to buy a stitch pattern book, and I'll keep my eyes peeled now for other books as well. (they're really expensive - shipping and all) It just opens a whole new world of knitting, and the japanese designers have some pretty amazing ideas. Oh, and on saturday, I learned intarsia. I'm feeling like I can tackle anything now!











The rest of that was my impulse buy.(like I NEED more yarn) Some nice abstract fiber. (It was in the clearance bin, OK?) and the grey is for some man-socks. This time I'll try to keep it away from the thieving devil cat.

Next up, some rams and yowes (I have the rest of the yarn now), working through the principles of knitting - THAT was waiting on my doorstep friday when I got home, the bugga sweater, and whatever catches my eye.

this was the week to finish

This week I decided that I needed to finish a few things before starting anything else. I finally got the yarn I needed to finish the violets, and I was waiting for that to be done to steek both the violets and the sweater.
I can happily say that the violets are steeked and done.........












and the sweater only needs a bit of the button band and some blocking.











I'll probably finish the button band today, but wait until the end of the week to block. It's going to smell like a wet sheep for quite a while. It's REALLY thick and heavy.

This week.......MADRONA. I'm taking 2 classes, japanese stitches and intarsia. I've wanted to learn both of these techniques for quite a while, so I was lucky to get in.
I'll need to spend some time getting my supplies ready.

I'd also like to start rams and yowes, and continue on the box jellyfish bugga sweater. We'll see how THAT goes.
Stay tuned next week for the madrona haul.

working on it

someone commented this week that there haven't been too many knitting pics on here lately. Well, I'm WORKING on it! Between the snow and no power, I lost about 2 weeks into the twilight zone, and I'm finally getting caught up. Now it's 60 degrees and sunny here. Who'd have thought just 2 weeks ago we were literally buried up to our butts in snow!

I started a sweater.....this is leaving by anne hanson in some beautiful bugga box jellyfish. The original plan didn't work, I think this one will. The pictures just can't do the color justice.














I'm finally finishing the violets scarf. Thanks to Mary Scott Huff, rockstar knitting designer and awesome person, I scored the yarn I needed to finish. It's almost ready to be steeked. I'll do the sweater at the same time. It's a lot of work to dig out the sewing machine.













I also started this fun little KAL, again thanks to Mary Scott Huff. Isn't it cute?











This week, squiggi goes to the flower show. (my other obsession - gardening) I always come home with the WORST case of spring fever and then it snows. ARGH! Last year, I didn't get to go because of the white stuff. We've had enough already, so keep your fingers crossed we're done.

In house news, the financing came through this week and we'll be closing in the next week. Let the games begin!!!!!!!

Over on squiggi builds a house - designing woman.......

Getting it all back together

After the power came on, late monday night, after 5 LONG days, I had to spend a couple of days last week getting it all together again. Tuesday was spent cleaning, shopping, and just basically getting my stuff together. There was a brief moment of panic tuesday night when the lights went out again durning a big windstorm. All I could think about was the $200 in groceries I'd just bought. Luckily, they came back on about 2 am and the groceries were fine.

I did do a bit of knitting before it all went to hell.....
this is sothia, with some gorgeous alpaca/silk from a little farm in oregon, zz alpacas. I could even tell you exactly which alpaca this came from and pretty much their whole life history. They're pretty cool critters.














I really, really, wanted to make water and stone for my next project with my box jellyfish skinny bugga, but, there seems to be some issues with the pattern. I don't know if it's just me, or the fact that it's european and loses something in the translation, but it just wasn't working out. The yarn was beautiful and had gorgeous stitch definition, but the instructions were weak. I'll have to find something else to do with the bugga. I'm thinking a vitamin D.

Next week, the mary scott huff colorwork KAL starts, and I'll hopefully get the rest of the yarn needed to finish the violets scarf. I've been holding off steeking the sweater because I want to do that and the violets at the same time. (gotta dig out the sewing machine). Maybe by the end of the week.

In house news, STILL waiting on the financing. They'll be a post about it over on squiggi builds a house.
Doggies are very happy to be warm and dry with no snow!

radio silence

also known as buried up to my butt in snow and no power for 5 days!
Along about martin luther king day, (was that only a week ago?) it started to snow.
Now, keep in mind, if we get about 1/2 inch here, the schools close and everyone hunkers down with soup for the long haul. This is what it looked like on monday.













On wed. It REALLY started to snow, like, blizzard whiteout kind of snow. We got nearly 21 inches in ONE DAY! This is what it looked like wed am.













Then, just to make things fun, we had an ice storm, the first one in 20 years, that deposited about 1/2 inch of pure ice on top of 2 feet of snow. That was the straw that broke the camel's back, or, in our case the power grid. I got to spend the next 5 days with no power huddled with 2 boxers (they ain't got no hair ya know) and trying to keep some semblance of warm. I'd like to tell you that I knit 4 sweaters or something like that, but, really, it was too dark and too cold to do anything.
FINALLY, yesterday, my bestest friend brad pitt turned the power back on.
(I say that because, after 5 days, ANYONE who can turn your power back on looks EXACTLY like brad pitt. I don't care if he has a belly, plumbers crack or 3 heads)

Today, I'll spend the day cleaning (looks like a bomb went off in here), refilling the fridge - had to throw EVERYTHING away, and basically getting back to business.
A hot shower never felt so good!

snow makes us psychodoggie

and pretty much shuts down the entire world here.
We woke up this morning to about an inch of snow, with more to come. I'm mentally watching my whole week go down like a house of cards. Pilates clients will cancel, especially the ones that come from a ways away, weight watchers meetings will close. (although I'm going to tough it out and go this morning), and, basically, the world here will shut down.

The doggies have a love/hate relationship with the snow. It makes them psychodoggie, but it's COLD, and we don't DO cold too well. (ain't got no hair, ya know)

The only good news is, more knitting time. I finished the sweater, except for the blocking, steeking, and button band. I'm going to wait until I can finish the violets scarf and steek both at the same time. (it's not so much the steeking as it is the getting out of the machine and sewing)
















I've set my sights on the next project. A lovely Sothia shawl with the 2 colors of alpaca. It really DOES knit like butter!












This week, I fell in love with the rams and yowes blankie. So much so, that I priced out the yarn. It'll cost about $130 for the whole thing. I'm SO trying to be on a yarn diet, but a girl needs a treat once in a while, right? I'm considering putting up a destash on ravelry for some of the yarns I'll probably not use too soon, and maybe some mags and straight needles too, trying to declutter a bit before the move. That would justify the blankie, which, would look awesome in the new house.
Maybe that would be a good snow day afternoon activity. This IS the year of the purge, after all.

In house news, we're in a holding pattern, waiting for word from the bank. The appraisal was due on friday (I hope that it was friday the 13th isn't some kind of sign), and now tomorrow is ANOTHER stinkin' holiday. Hopefully something will shake loose by the middle of the week, if the snow doesn't shut everything down!

Later, on squiggi builds a house, "the evolution of a plan".

some new year's progress

This week, knitting-wise, I worked on my sweater. Thanks to a completely boring 2.5 hours at work on new year's day (no, folks didn't come running to weight watchers on new year's day - go figure) I got quite a bit done on my sweater. Don't tell my weight watchers boss, we're not supposed to be doing "personal" stuff while we're working. I've now knit and attached both sleeves and I'm working on the colorwork top. Yes, by the way, that is a steek!












I also recieved this wonderful alpaca this week. See that pic there? That's the actual alpaca it came from. It's much less yellow than it looks here, and my friend Pam says it knits like butter. Honestly, I just want to pet it for a while.












I also purchased the kit for the mary scott huff KAL that starts in feb. (like I don't have anything better to do), and made NO progress on the violets scarf. I'm still waiting for word on some extra yarn to finish. I might just have to break down and buy it. ARGH!!!

In house news, we're still waiting on the bank to finish the appraisal, so keep your fingers crossed. I also started a second blog....squiggi builds a house It will chronicle the process of designing, building, landscaping, furnishing and decorating our dream home. I've posted the story of how we got to this point over there. Hopefully there will be more soon, so please join me as we progress.

I sad news, my sister had to have her right hand ring finger amputated yesterday from the result of a very serious dog bite on thanksgiving day. Please send her healing mojo, keep her in your thoughts, whatever works for you. She's got a long road to recovery.

I'm not really much for resolutions.......

I think they mostly end up by the wayside before march. But, there are a few things that 2012 is going to bring our way. The biggest will be our new house. (more about that later). I'm also looking forward to taking a japanese stitch class at Madrona in feb, and, of course, the garden show in seattle. I proclaim this year the year of knitting from stash (less to move later) and gardening. We'll see how that goes.....

In knitting news, the violets scarf is dead in the water, having run out of yarn. I've emailed the designer (she's such a sweetheart) and she said she'd send me some extras that were leftover from the class last year. I'm just waiting for those to appear in order to finish. Thanks to Ozzie's help, I didn't get nearly as far as I'd hoped......he's EARNED his new title of "eater of yarn".

I'm moving on and working on a sweater. The minute I saw this on knitty, I was in love. I'll be working on it today while I'm supposed to be working. (don't tell anyone) For some reason, weight watchers thinks that people will come STREAMING in the door this morning with their shiny new resolutions. (now, keep in mind, they didn't advertise we would be open, or tell anyone for that matter), so, it's going to be sweater knitting for me. Fine by me for time and a half!













Ok, for the house news. In a frightening moment this week, we signed a contract with our builder. Right now, we're swinging wildly between total excitement and complete terror. They're saying once we break ground, it'll be all over in 6 months. We will be in our new house by next christmas if the bank approves the financing.

We're meeting with the landscape design person on monday to see her preliminary plans, and this weekend, I fell in LOVE, LOVE, LOVE with THE most gorgeous custom kitchen cabinets. We'll know by the end of the week if we can afford them.
Let the games begin!!
By the way, here's the site of the house.....we're lucky, it's in our own back yard! See where that big tree is, right in the middle? that'll be our garage.












The doggies are unaffected by all the excitement, except they did get new redbones for the new year. We LOVE our redbones!.