good lord

Ok, how the heck did I become the top google hit for "porno tube 17 yaren"

Yikes,  I didn't know knitting was so risque.

So, there I was...

Just minding my own business.

No, let me back up a bit.  I broke my arm in December, and it healed up nicely.  With that came some unfortunate weather-wise aches and problems with my tendons. So, since Sunday night I haven't really been knitting.  I haven't really been able to use the hand because the tendons swelled up... and it put off the blog posts. 

I don't have any knitting progress since the tendons decided they needed attention, but I'm back to typing and I can show you what I got done last week at least.

So, this is where the big russet blob is:

And this is where the giant peach blob is:

I'm actually through 8 repeats of the center on this, and working up to edging...  I really enjoy this pattern, and want to try it in a tencel lace-weight next.

For fun, there's this blob:

It's a combination of 2 laceweight yarns, and it's in kid-mohair, alpaca and wool.  I may even get around to blocking it if I can stop petting it.

And last but not least, I';ve been test driving some possible patterns for quickie-gifts:

Aug 17 is coming quick!

I hope your knitting is treating you well & you're not melting in the heat.

wordful wednesday?

So, I'm in training this week and oncall this weekend.  I suspect I will not be free to blog for a decent chunk of this due to scheduling conflicts.  I'm going to make an attempt to get a couple of progress posts up between now and next Monday... but it's going to be based on how busy I end up.

My Mom was over today for a number of reasons.  The one pertinent to this blog is she's helping me choose the projects for the 1 yr anniversary and giving valued opinion on the yarns available.  So, things are happening.  But not things I can blog just yet.

la la la linoleum

So here we are and somehow it's not Friday.  Friday kind of got away from me there.

In between thinking evil thoughts and answering crazy questions this week, I also cast on for one of the new patterns.  With one of the yarns I'd skeined, even.  I know, that's crazy talk... but bear with me a moment:

See?  I almost managed a full repeat of the center instead of just the border....  craaaazy talk!

This picture is actually color accurate.  The above, not so much:

I just love this color, and I can't figure out why.  It's Molding Pink Grapefruit by Dye for Wool.


They do some amazing things.  Both their super saturated colors and their tints are just gorgeous, and the yarn bases they use are yummy.

But, since I can't hike 2 charts (large form for my tired eyes) into the next state and comfortably work from that, I'm taking the 2nd skeined yarn from the other day in gorgeous russet reds for a travel project.

These are the yarns shown side-by-side for comparison:

You're not seeing wrong.  The autumn reds single ply is thicker than the pale peaches 2 ply.  Both are considered lace-weight, but sometimes it's interesting to note the variation in a weight-class.  The 2 ply is not cobweb weight.  That's even wispier.  But, when you see the 2 shawls side by side, the single ply shawl will be more robust, while the 2 ply one will be more ethereal. 

To that end, I share the song that has been stuck in my head all week.  I hope your weekend lets you keep cool and knit in peace and happiness.

Thank you!!

Hokay, so as I mentioned yesterday I was having a craptastic week and I suddenly got an outpouring of unexpected goodies.  Everything was small and cute and just perfectly wonderful.  So, in order of the date they were posted, I'm going to upload photos.  Some of these were posted a while ago, so my postal hub is definitely experiencing technical difficulties.

I'm going to keep the senders identities for their privacy, but I know who you are and really appreciate all of the effort and affection that went into each of these.

First up was a really fantastical envelope and card.  Inside was something pretty fantastic!

Lookie, the other side is just as exciting:

Hehehe, I just love the puffy sheep!  I may have to admit that I've already got it helping me keep my spot in one of my Japanese stitch dictionaries.

Next up were these beauties:

Aren't they pretty?  They're soft jewel tones, and I just love them!  So much fun!

Next, I got an envelope with a weird squishy feel to it.  Inside was this little guy:

Hahaha, I love him.  I don't know if it's the pink or the squishy, but he's my laptop mascot now.

Here's all the loot together:

Seriously, thank you guys.  I was completely surprised and it was a complete 360 on how the last 2 weeks have gone.  You really brightened up my day, and I'm still giddy over it!

Thank you, for thinking of me and for sharing a bit of your whimsy and heart.  I really appreciate it.

For those curious, I used this as my staging for the photos:

Can't beat natural light for capturing stuff.  And the wooden bowl completely makes my questionable bread look decent haha.  I'm trying to do my photos in natural daylight so that I get accurate colors, and this will pretty much be my staging area for a little while.  Tomorrow, I will have a few progress shots on something new, and I am continuing to curse(?) fight(?) work(!) my way through the FO shots so hopefully I'll have some posts on that forthcoming (work allowing).

So thank you all again, I have to say that knitters really can't be beat for generosity of heart!

random driveby post

So, I had all these good intentions to blog more frequently this week.  I forgot I'm still covering for one of my coworkers, whose accounts are utterly filled with crazy people.  Those aren't the words I've been using all day today, but they'll work.  I'm too tired for vitriol tonight.

So, in no particular order, here are the things I photographed today.

In order to keep colors from blending where I don't want them to, I do a single color per day on each of these.  Today was yellow on concalls day.

I keep wishing for snow.  Thinking about snow.  Contemplating a nice fire and a white-out outside.  I think it has to do with these 2 above....  the left is knit with a single strand of elann baby peruvian lace and a single strand of elann silken kidd.  The right is knit in cashmere.  Touching them is like a pile of downy goodness.

As you can see, wishful thinking abounds here today.  Both of those are projects I'd like to see on the needles in short order.  But first I have to free up the 60 inch, size 3us needles for the red.

And finally I'm debating some possibilities for the 1 year anniversary.  I like this dyer a lot, and these skeins are random madness.  Gotta love me some random madness.

I actually want/need to do another thank you post because I got a buncha unexpected goodies in the mail today.  I can see that some of them were posted a while ago, so I know my main branch office has been behind(?) playing games (?) having a bad month (?) as well.  I'm just so touched, I owe them their own post.  I won't forget, but want to photograph in natural light so that everyone can see how cool and uplifting they are.

Hope your week involves keeping cool and knitting lots!

Friday Winners, and a Thank You

You guys are really too much.  I can't thank you enough for participating in these little give-aways.  I've had so much fun, and from what you've said you are too.  I'm grateful and happy that you all have enjoyed this as much as me.

This is the final prize I have to give out from this series, and I used child labor to pull names once again (don't worry, the child is rewarded with toast with honey on top so he feels it's fair).  I have to admit that this time only one of the winners expressed an interest in a particular object, so I also popped the yarns into a bag and let him pull them out to match them with the winners. 

So, for the Alice with Flamingo bag and the silk dk we have Penny who said:
WOW!! Look at these yummy giveaways!! Lovely. The yarns all look so breathtaking. I love all three project bags as well! :)

For the daylily bag and the prism blues we have Mujercita who said:
That blue laceweight and Daylily bag is beautiful. It's so nice of you to be doing giveaways like this!

And last but not least we have Girlieknitwit who said:
These giveaways have been the highlight of my summer (so far) These new prizes are just too awesome. Those project bags are phenomenal. You do beautiful work. Thanks to much for your generosity and the fun of this!!

I wish I had enough to give to everyone who entered, you've all been just wonderful through the whole thing and I love sharing :)

This brings our give-aways for the Fiber Fair to a close for 2011.  I hope all of you had as much fun as I did and that everyone gets a chance to go to one of these sometime soon.

I hope everyone will check back around August 17, as I'm working on a project giveaway for the 1 year anniversary of this blog and all the craziness and joy around it.  Just between you & me, I'm putting together a large project, a medium project, a small project, and a single-skein weekend project.

There will be some changes with the blog, and I've got a stack of FO to 1 block and 2 post about in the next few days of the 3 day weekend.  I realized I must block when I saw this waiting for me:

Erm, that color combination can't be allowed to continue, so the blocking must be accomplished.  Thanks again everyone, and congratulations to the winners.  You've really made this fun, and I hope to do it again next year after the 2012 fiber festival!