Another day gone.

Where do they go?? Time flies when you're having fun I guess, at least that is what I'm told.
So the weekend was mostly spent catching up on rest (mentally & physically) after a busy week with kids' school things. I did next to no knitting on Saturday because I was just mentally exhausted. I wanted to knit...but it just was not happening. However Sunday a nice part of the day working on Darling Hubby's sweater. I have gotten more than half of the front piece done - I'm into the arm shaping now - YAY!!!! :) Hip hip hooray for me :) Quite happy about that.
Then today I spent the day (between teaching the kids - during the 'hurry up & wait' portions of the day) working on the test knit for my friend :) I'm making decent progress on it I think and am really enjoying knitting it! I can't wait til I can share details!!

So, not a ton going on here at the moment as far as knitting goes - at least not new. Though I did have a couple of new fibery pretties show up on my doorstep over the past few days that I'm looking forward to sharing with y'all!! Nothing like yummy fibery goodness to drool over!!

Have a lovely night!

The wonderful thing...

The wonderful thing about knitting is that there are SO many options - so many yarn bases, so many colors and dyers, so many patterns & knit-a-longs (KAL's). Just so much! You can do anything, be anything, make anything.
The bad thing about knitting is all of the things I just listed. LOL. Every time I read a post on Ravelry or the knitting forum of my cloth diaper board or look at a new magazine ( LOVE that new November Creative Knitting!!) it just adds ten more things that I want to make or yarn I want to buy or fibers I want to spin. So it's wonderful that there are all those options - I just LOVE it!! But boy does it play havoc with me getting anything accomplished.
SO as I posted yesterday I started the Multnomah for my daughter. Then last night I read a post from a friend saying she needed a test knitter. OHHHHHH. Yes, please. I love my friend, I love her designs and hey I love seeing things before everyone else (don't you?). So I couldn't say anything but "sign me up please!" right? And since it is test knitting it is on a deadline so the Multnomah will have to go on the back burner for a bit (sorry baby girl). But I'm so excited to do the test knit!! I don't think L will mind too much because this will probably go to her when it is done as well.
Does everyone else have as much trouble with being distracted by all the possibilities out there or am I the only one?

Oh and on the topic of the new Creative Knitting (issue - November 2011) - WOW! I love this magazine! I should really get a digital subscription so that I don't miss out by picking them up at the grocery store. The items in this issue have already been added to Ravelry - you can find it by searching in the pattern tab (search 'Creative knitting November 2011'). It's nice to be able to see what is in the magazine if you are not a regular purchaser.
I am in LOVE with the little girls dress & jacket they have in this one - The Bianca Bolero & Jumper. I can just see that on my little girl.
Fresh Powder, Gryphon, and the Arbutus Swing Jacket are all very pretty. They really caught my eye as potential sweaters. The Winter Spice is another of the circular sweaters that are so popular right now. Really pretty. This issue was packed full of pretty things.
I do have to share a bit of a funny. So I'm sitting at the table last night flipping through the magazine - I like to look at all the ads and everything as well, not just the patterns. I come across an ad for a new yarn, Berroco Boboli. The lady in the ad was holding a HUGE ball (hand wound looking) of this yarn. The colors were rather jewel toned and this ball was just HUGE - think basketball. I then notice a QR code in the corner of the page. Right away I grabbed my phone, scanned the code and found the website. I got to looking and bam! it hit me, the yarn comes in 3.5 ounce hanks. Booohoooo. I thought maybe it was a new gimmick and they were selling it in these great big balls (sweater quantities maybe?). I so wanted one, lol. Now I don't want the yarn, lol. Though it really is very pretty. Anyhow, that is my funny moment for the day.

Bitten again!

Yes, I have a slight problem with casting on new projects. Well, I say problem...it's not a problem while I'm doing it, lol.
So a lovely friend is making a Multnomah shawl in Three Irish Girl's Alchemy colorway (from Sock Summit 2009). Alchemy is an absolutely gorgeous colorway!! I can not wait to see how it comes out.
However instead of just waiting to see I decided to cast on a Multnomah of my own. Yes, I know, I have four projects actively on the needles at the moment, two I plan to get to quickly and numerous others I want to do as well, lol. But I just couldn't stop myself. So last night I got out two pretty pink yarns from my stash:
This beautiful yarn from Dragonfly Fibers - it is Spring in Washington on the Naiad Sock base. I bought it at Sock Summit this past summer.


The second option I got out was some yummy Grant Creek Farms. The base is a wool/cashmere/nylon blend in the Raspbery Mint colorway.



So my little girl is a seriously girly girl and her favorite color is PINK. She is alll about pink. She loves all colors but pink is the best according to her. So I fully expected her to pick the dragonfly fibers with it's very pinky pink. However she (yet again) surprised me and chose the Grant Creek Farms. So my 3 yr old little girl is about to get her second Cashmere blend shawl, lol. How many three year olds do you know who wear cashmere shawls??

That is how I came to be bitten by the cast-on bug yet again and increased my number of projects from 4 to 5. Drat, lol.
The Multnomah is lots of garter stitch though and then lots of feather & fan pattern so it should move pretty quickly I think.
This will have to be my evening knitting. Darling Hubby's sweater is too dark to see well late and it strains my eyes to try to work on it. (good excuse don't you think?)
When I get a little further on the Multnomah I'll be sure to post a picture :)

Slow as a snail...

Yes my knitting this week is as slow as a snail. We homeschool our 5 children and our school schedule is different than that of the public school district we live in due to religious Holy Days. So we've just been getting back into the swing of things with school lately and WOW it has really killed my knitting time. So I did absolutely no knitting on any projects yesterday. Boo :(
However today looks like it may end up giving me at least a couple of minutes to spend on the sweater I am doing for Darling Hubby.
The pattern I am working is the Hooded Sweatshirt in the book Knits Men Want. The yarn I am using is a Three Irish Girl's yarn - the base is Springvale Bulky and the colors are Eaven, McNamara, and a club colorway call George Bailey. Springvale Bulky is the softest, squishiest, yummiest bulky base ever :) No other way to describe it. The colors - Eaven, a deep teal blue, McNamara is a really neat green with layers of colors in it, almost like gold when it knits up, and the George Bailey is a beautiful deep brown from the clubs.
I am really really loving how this sweater is knitting up. I'm not loving the idea of seaming it of course but I worked to learn backwards knitting before I started this so it is going much faster for me than it otherwise would have. I finished the back of the sweater a couple of days ago and cast on the front. So now I am working on the front - just lots of back & forth, back & forth. Not terribly exciting but something I can easily do while working with the kids or watching a show or video podcast (like the knitgirllls!). Here's hoping it turns out well because Darling Hubby is really looking forward to having a comfy sweater that he can snuggle into and I am kind of looking forward to being able to say I knit a complete man-sweater, lol!!

Let's see, I have fewer projects on the needle right now than I have in probably the past year and a half. I became so completely poly-minded in my knitting that I was getting very little done. But this summer I really worked towards having less projects on the needles. So as of writing (typing) this I have 4 things actually ON needles and two in the plans.

So the first thing - my primary focus is the sweater for Darling Hubby.

Then I have a sweater, What Cheer!, on the needles. It was designed by a friend. I am LOVING knitting it, but it keeps getting pushed aside for things that are more pressing - boo! If I don't finish it soon my poor little girl will not be able to wear it. I'm using some beautiful Three Irish Girls in a retired colorway for it.

Next are some socks that have been on the needles since about this time last year (oops). A pair of Chirality by Star Athena that I started during the KAL that they were done in. And a pair of Isaz that I started during the KAL where they were released. Both are beautiful socks, I just haven't had a chance to work on them. I want to love making socks but I just haven't fallen for it yet, lol. Though that certainly doesn't keep from trying repeatedly.

The two things that are planned are a pair of Argylers Handwarmers from some yarn I received in a magic yarn ball swap and the Hitchhiker that I want to do as part of the Knitgirllls KAL that will start in November.

So it is getting better, pretty soon I'll be down to just a couple of things on the needle...nahhh, lol. There are way too many things out there in the world that I want to knit! Sweaters, scarves and shawls for my darling little princess, sweaters, hats and mittens for my rugged little guys. Just lots of fun to be had.

Hope you are having fun knitting on whatever you have on the needles!!

Froggy went a courtin...

Yes, unfortunately my beautiful Purl & Zag socks have met their end...before they even reached completion.
Purl and zag is such a pretty sock pattern but unfortunately it just wasn't working for me. Maybe a case of taking too long (they were cast on November of last year - ooops). Ribbit ribbit ribbit...
So I've got this beautiful skein of Three Irish Girls Westerly Sea Sock yarn in a gorgeous club colorway - Aurora - which I am going to now frog and make a plain vanilla type pair of socks for me with. I haven't chosen a pattern yet but I think I just want to let the yarn shine.

This is the beautiful yarn:


So this evening will be spent frogging and re-winding the yarn while I sort through possible patterns. Here's to finding a suitable pattern to let this gorgeous yarn SHINE.


So what sort of fun things are on your needles these days?

Welcome to my blog!!

Once upon a time I had a blog about scrapbooking, Though I'll be honest it was not kept up very well. However it seems like so much more of my time has come to be devoted to the fiber arts instead of the paper arts that it just made sense for me to move on to a blog that is more about my knitting & spinning (and hopefully one day about weaving too).
I hope that you will enjoy reading about what is going on in my world when it comes to needles, yarn, fiber and wheels.

I'm sure I'll be a bit slow to get this going but stick with me and maybe it will be worth your time & patience.