time to go!

Okay, I lied, there will be no more picture posts to this blog -- well maybe, this may become the secret blog, maybe -- anyhow, please direct your attention to my new beta blog http://sunnelite.blogspot.com/ it will have all the newest of the new, all the knitting, all the posting, all the fun. Sorry for the inconvience, but it is very nice there -- you will feel right at home once you switch your links.

Thanks for reading!
Have a nice day!

the count down continues . . .

Everything is in the works to switch to beta on thursday - forever! I have at least one more post for this blog, but with Bill's surprise party and all, I forgot the camera this morning. Then there is LA tomorrow for work, wednesday will be lost to short-trip-recovery and merchandising, and thursday, I will probably have a little posting time between interviews - just to get you all linked, switched, settled and introduce you to the new digs.

There has been a bunch of crafting going on - working on my punk christmas trees, flowers to go on the boxes at the store and knitting. While I swore there wouldn't be, a couple of new hats have turned up. However, it is only a scarf and knucks that are making it on the plane with me. Photos soon . . .

Happy Monday!

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!
Sending you lots of love, good birthday wishes and many more fun filled Bill Meyer Days to be spent together!
I Love You!

kinda boring . . .

Well, its kinda boring, but this is what I am doing right now. Its just hats. I have so many small christmas gifts and I have been working on so many big projects that I have been just knitting hats. I am using Lornas Laces shepard worsted - so they are easy and fast. I am getting one or two a day done. It is really fun to start a hat in the morning and finish it by the time I am ready for bed. Although, I am starting to get the itch for bigger projects. I still have knucks, fetching and mittens to do, so we will start with them next.

Have a great week!

done . . .

Here is a less then inspiring photo of the amazing blanket that I finished for my MIL. The photo doesn't really do it any justice. It is the Ombre blanket from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. She asked for the blanket and chose the colors and it really was a fun knit! The blanket turned out slightly larger then intended. It is 54" x 78". The alpaca has a great weight to it, so I will be really sad to see it go -- it was a joy to knit! (this is the project that I posted by husband winding all the yarn for back in Sept.)

And I am officially announcing that I will keep this blog till the 30th of November then I will be moving everything over to my new Beta Blog - Sunnelite. It is too much work to keep up with both, so soon you will have to come visit me there. By then I should have the beta site looking a little better, just like with this one, it is all a learning curve. . .

Tarot Cards . . .

You are The Wheel of Fortune

Good fortune and happiness but sometimes a species of
intoxication with success

The Wheel of Fortune is all about big things, luck, change, fortune. Almost always good fortune. You are lucky in all things that you do and happy with the things that come to you. Be careful that success does not go to your head however. Sometimes luck can change.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

a relaxing weekend in virginia

So here are a few of the photos from our very relaxing weekend in Virginia. We have Maeve with her "crazy hair day" braids -- Avalon actually smiling for the camera (rare for any 12 year old!) -- Faerin climbing on the tree -- me and the little girls on the swings -- and Foamhenge!!
It really was a very relaxing weekend! The weather was perfect - I got to knit with Jules (five hats done over the weekend!!) and go to this really wonderful yarn store/berry farm in the middle of nowhere (too cool!!) - go antiquing - run through the backside of W&L's campus - see Robert E Lee's tomb - and just generally decompress. Thanks Jules, James and girls!! I think that Bill really enjoyed himself too!


Now we are back to planning for the holiday - finishing up our Chirstmas shopping and knitting - working - and getting the house ready for our Christmas tree -- we go Christmas tree hunting in three weeks.

knitters coffee swap questions

Here are my coffee swap questions -

1. Whole bean or ground?
It really doesn't matter, the coffee fairy manages to brew both.

2. Fully-loaded or decaf?
Definately fully-loaded!

3. Regular or flavored?
Regular

4. How do you drink your coffee?
I take my coffee black and my espresso as a latte

5. Favorite coffee ever?
My favorite coffee ever was not so much about the coffee as the pot. One of my college roommates had this super old coffee pot that brewed coffee on the stove (I think, a little fuzzy on the details, it was a long time ago). This coffee pot made the best coffee! It was amazing with really good coffee, but it could also take icky cheap coffee and make it taste great! We think is was something about the seasoning on the pot. Never in all my years of thrifting have I seen a pot like that, or had coffee that tasted that good! I supposed its about the quest now . . .

6. Are you fussy about your coffee or will any old bean do?
Medium not fussy, I won't drink Maxwell House, but don't discriminate between Kona and Ethopian or the like.

7. Favorite treats to have with your coffee?
I like chocolate with my coffee. Sometimes its a little square of the real thing, sometimes a small cookie. I am allergic to wheat, so I have to be careful about my intake of wheat - which is in everything - so I small portions are key -- along with brown rice flour.

8. Anything else about your coffee preferences?
No

9. What treats do you enjoy with your coffee?
please refer to #7 - chocolate!

10. Yarn/fiber you love?
This might be a little long. . . I am kind of a hippy girl at heart so I love the organic, low impact, natural yarns as long as they are not scratchy. Also, the yarns that are creating a sustainable economy in villages across the world. It is comforting for me to think that I am doing something that I love and helping someone else at the same time. On the regular knitter girls side, superwash merino is right up there too! It is not itchy, can be used for just about any project, and there are so many beautiful color options. I really like yarn produced by small manufacturers (local artists, Etsy shops, ect.), I like that people can live their dreams.

11. Yarn/fiber you hate?
Novelty, acrylic, mohair and angora

12. What's on your needles?
Right now I am down to mostly quickie holiday gifts - I have two hats on needles, one pair of knucks (fingerless gloves), a scarf, the ombre blanket from Last Minute Knitted Gifts and on the back burner Hush,Hush dress by knitty for me. I have about 7 more sets of knucks to finish, and 5 more hats after the ones I am on right now, and my holiday knitting will be complete!

13. Favorite colors?
I like all the earthy colors; tans, browns, greens, blues, and deeper reds. Being pale pastels, oranges, pinks, and yellows tend to make me look a little dead.

14. Allergies?
Just wheat.

15. Anything you really love, really don't like, or just need to get off your chest?
This is my first not-secret swap! I think it is going to be so fun to chat with my swapee and not have to be so secretive. Fun!Fun!

Too cute!

I sent this hat to my friend Paul for his new(ish) daughter Lexi. This picture came with the thank you. It was too sweet to not share! Who doesn't love a cute, smiley, chubby baby?

And slowly I am conquoring the world with punk striped baby hats, one friend's baby at a time. This one is a little girlier then usual in pink and white.

hats and knucks, hats and knucks

Well it is that giftie time of the year - or it is if you are making a bunch of your holiday gifts!
Since there hasn't been much knitting posting here for a bit - I am posting the flat hat that I made for Piper Maurer, 12 days old. It was my first flat hat. A very quick knit, even with the stripes - it was just the seaming that took a little time. I do think that it turned out really cute!

Then there are the holiday knucks in progress. We are leaving for VA this weekend and it is a long flight so I am hoping to whip out a few more knucks, so that one night next week I can just finish them all off! The tan ones are 100% alpaca - it is soooo soft, but it has no give. No more solid alpaca knucks! I accidently made them one size larger then I meant to, but that turned out to be great, since they would have been too small otherwise! The other are Lorna's laces shepards worsted, which is great! I am very excited about these since I dropped two needle sizes for the cuff - and it worked! No more floppy wrist!

Have a great week!

Happy Birthday Mubs!!

This is my grandmother (and me Easter 2006) who taught me to knit. I love Mubs, that is what I call her. She has lived a wonderful life and seen so many things. She grew up on a farm in Montana, had to live in town away from her family to go to school, skipped two years of high school, graduated at the top of her class, worked till she married, raised two great daughters, did a ton of Volunteering for the American Red Cross, has always been a wonderful grandmother, mother and wife of 60 some years to Mac, a devoted Washinton State Univerity Cougars fan, Mariners Fan and Seahawk fan. She taught me to knit when I was 9. I think I still do it because she is so cool and it makes me feel closer to her. She is 100% Bohemian (so I was very excited to join that surf ring and again honor her.) She turned 87 on November 4th in Colfax, WA, where she still lives by herself, drives safely, gardens, goes to Pullman for all the WSU home football and basketball games, meets her two best girlfriends for coffee and to talk politics every Sunday, knits and sews occasionally and loves fast food restaurants (Arby's and Taco Time). Happy Birthday Mubs!! It was great to see you two weeks ago!! I love you!!

Halloween Re-cap

So here was our Halloween last night! The very scary pumpkins on the porch - that photo does make the porch look a little scary, actually. The pumpkin to the far left got a little munched on by squirrels - it used to have 8 teeth upper and lower, oh well.

Then we have my cute husband (cute in a rugged and manly way) on the porch with the cocktail of the evening - Grandma Baileys Dirty Bush. It seemed that all the neighbors came to our porch to hang out and have a cocktail, which was fun! Unfortunately, there weren't too many trick or treaters as it was really cold!!

And finally we have Josh, who lives downstairs, and Bella his 8 month old Boston Terrier, who is the sweetest dog ever (as long as you don't mind having your fingers munched on occasionally!)

Fun all around, except that we have a whole huge bowl of candy left over from the non-existant trick or treaters!! At
least we buy the good stuff . . .

Hats

It seems that right now, I am making a lot of hats. I think that its because it is getting really cold out! I finished this one while waiting on non-existant trick or treaters last night. It is for me and the best part is, I have enough yarn left to make a matching pair of knucks -- yikes! I am getting old, thinking of wearing things in matching sets! The funny thing about this hat is that the yarn looks really blue to me - and pretty blue in the photo too, but in person, I think it looks very green . . . magic, I guess.

this weekends fun . . .

was a great package arriving from my prge pal - Thanks Whippy Gingersnaps!! It is the amazing knit picks yarn - Andean Silk - in black. The four skeins are perfect for the aran scarft that I have been wanting to make - and it will be sooo soft!!
There is a really cute measuring tape - and I am always looking for one of those! The knitticisms book, which my husband and I laughed about through breakfast yesterday and a cute Halloween card! And it came in the cute envelope, too (I had to picture that too, since it was so bright and happy!) Thanks again, Whippy!

Then there was Halloween for adults! Nothing too racy, just a black tie Halloween bash. It was very un-Denver. There was drag-queen karioke (sp?), an ariealist (sp?) who wound herself up in these long pieces of fabric and danced her way back down, an opera singer, and a firebreather. It was very cool and masks were required - the amount of time that people spent on their masks and outfits was amazing! Of course, I forgot my camera, so this was the after photo of Bill and I. If I get more photos from Andre, I will post because they were great!
Happy Halloween!!

Another quiz

What Color is Your Brain?

GREEN: At work or in school: I work best by myself. I like to focus on my ideas until my desire for understanding is satisfied. I am easily bored if the subject holds no interest to me. Sometimes, it is hard for me to set priorities because so many things are of interest. With friends: I may seem reserved. Although my thoughts and feelings run deep, I am uneasy with frequent displays of emotion. I enjoy people who are interesting and of high integrity. With family: I am probably seen as a loner because I like a lot of private time to think. Sometimes, I find family activities boring and have difficulty following family rules that don't make sense to me. I show love by spending time with my family and sharing ideas and interests. Take this quiz! Quizilla | Join | Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

CAKE

I personally believe that cake is its own food group -- good cake anyway! When I stopped to give myself a treat (yummy skinny chai) for driving to Boulder at 7:15 this morning -- the coffee shop had these cupcakes. (No, its not wheat free, so I should not eat it, but I promise I'll be good for a long time after this) Cake and skulls, does life get any better?

snow day!!

I Think that someone in a high up place read my last blog entry (before today's three). Yesterday my number wasn't chosen for jury duty, so I got to get some house work done -- not fun, but definately made me feel better! And today I have a snow day, so work is slow and I can work on getting my office caught up - yeah!! Of course, what am I doing - posting on blogger -- typical procrastinator! No, really time to work, now that everything is posted!

Have a great week!

the stash

Yesterday, I had a free day. My jury duty was cancelled! Yeah!! So I decided that as a house cleaning project, I really should organize and re-stash my stash. It was slowly taking over the whole house! Not too hard to believe when you see the photos - keep in mind that there are no before and after - there is just multiple photos because I could not fit it all in one. There was yarn that I had forgotten that I had, that I knew I had but couldn't find, that is for a project that was next on my list and then got pushed down because there was something else I HAD to make, and then there was just yarn. After 5+ hours it is now all organized into 8 bins and two
xxl zip lock bags. I know that I have all the yarn that I need for making all the christmas presents that I had planned - yeah!! There was even the gold sparkly yarn that my mom requested in her knucks (scary but true). Hopefully, I can keep it nice and organized and use some of my stash up! Now I remember why I am on a yarn diet -- it is either that or opening up my own yarn store with what lives under my bed! :)

things that I have been meaning to post

We are having a snow day today - so I am getting all my posting done that I wanted to do.

These are the hats that I was so excited about in the last posting!! They are all gifts and were so fun to make! An easy Ann Norling pattern with slipping a stitch on just a basic rib hat. They are made out of Blue sky alpaca scraps from Lou's blanket. I couldn't believe how fast they knit either - fun, fun, fun!

Finally, I got my offical volunteer's badge from the Gathering place! Very exciting! I do love teaching knitting!

Have a good week!

time . . .

Okay, so I am back from my big trip, back from my little work trip and I have not posted in a week! Yikes!! I will post again - I am just really short on time. My real job and husband have been taking more time then usual right now. I have these really cute hats that I knit on my way to LA sun/mon - I am really excited about them, but alas, too much real work to do to take the time to fight with blogger to get them on. And to cap it all off - I have jury duty tomorrow!! Itsn't that how it always works, when you are stupid busy -- there are all kinds of peripheral things that start sucking your time as well! At least I should have a bunch of time to knit while I sit there and wait for them to call me . . . More on jury duty tomorrow, I am sure . . . Will post hats soon . . .
Have a great night girls!

the last trip post

Last trip blog post!!

So here is the picture of me and my dad at the auction. I like this photo of us, so I wanted to post it!

Finally, when in Seattle, one of the things that I really wanted to do was go to the Fiber Gallery. They have tons of earth friendly, low impact, organic, veg dyed yarns. This is my stash that I purchased there. Most of it is for gifts for the holidays. (Yes, I actually got organized enough to go in with a list of gifts, yarn weight, and yards needed - I am a geek! And can't believe that I was actually that organized!)
I can't tell you what is for what, someone may have a surprise spoiled! But I can tell you that there is organic, veg dyed merino, veg dyed cotton, recycled silk, recycled cotton, hemp, this funky soy that is a by-product of making tofu, undyed camel and undyed yak (ok, the last two I didn't count on, but they were too cool to pass up!!) So now I can feel like a good hippie girl, as I am knitting my holiday presents!

Like I said in a previous post, I am bummed with myself for not getting a photo of knitting with my grandma. Mubs taught me how to knit when I was nine. We had so much fun going through her old pattern books and talking about the things that she had knit for us and others. We found an old pattern for a baby afghan that didn't make sense to either of us while just reading it, so we decided to start it and see how the pattern worked. It was great sitting there with her and we were both knitting the pattern. She hadn't picked up her needles in two years, so it was a great moment. I will cherish it always, but am hoping that there are more moments like that to come in future years! And I was purling backwards, which looks the same but was twisting my stitchs, so she straightened me out, which is a little slow right now, but better in the long run!

Have a great week!

More of the Northwest

Every year, I plan my Seattle trip around the Pilchuck Glass Art Auction
It is always a really fun auction, a lot of the artist who donate the pieces are there. And there is everything from emerging artist to amazing well know artists, so pieces range from $100 to $40,000. And everything sold goes to support the Pilchuck Glass School, which supports the artists, it is a good cycle. The auction is black tie, which is fun, because in my life there are not too many black tie parties that we attend. So here are the photos from the auction - I clean up all right, but my husband looks great in his tux!!
This top photo is Bill and I (kind of) with Dale
Chihuly. He is one of the famous guys. He did the ceiling at the Bellagio, a big installation at the new Wynn hotel in Vegas, and tons of other amazing glass work. He is also one of the founders of Pilchuck. He donated an amazing piece this year - which you can see by clicking on the Pilcuck link.
And here I am with my very serious husband - it is too bad that in this photo you can't see that my hair matches his bow tie. Its all in the details!

The day after the auction, Bill and I had to get up early and drive across the state to meet my mom and grandma for the WSU homecoming game. Grandma took the photo below, demonstrating that not only do we clean up well, we dress down well too!

The bottom picture is from the dining room in my dad's old place with the Dale Chihuly centerpiece in the picture. It was fun to watch the boats go by the windows. Although I
think that we get a different view of the same thing in the new place. You'll have to wait a few months for those photos though!
Again, blogger has kicked the rest of my photos out - so one more blog to come!

My Trip

So here is the beginning of my trip - notice all the nice smashed bugs on the windshield! I
actually took this photo when I first crossed over into Washington! It was the end of the long drive. And I had this beautiful view of the back side of Mount Rainier. It was such a treat driving through Prosser up toward Yakima where it disappeared. Unfortunately, my camera needs better vision (and it probably would have helped if I would have stopped and got out of the car - instead of trying to capture it at 80 miles an hour!)



These next photos are from the rooftop and the
windows of my dad's old house on Alki. It was a spectacular view, and I am thankful that I get to go to Seattle a couple times a year and take advantage of it! The first four days of my trip after the drive was spent helping him move out of this house and to his new diggs in the Millenium Tower downtown. That place has a different but amazing view as well - I just didn't take any photos from there yet . . .
(I believe these are the Olympic Mountains)



The space needle - gotta have one of those
photos!













During the move it was Linda's (the Linda of wavy shawl fame) Birthday. So here she is with my dad in her birthday hat! And yes, she did show a lot of enthusiasm for the shawl, so she will continue to receive knitted gifts -- and she is sweet, fun and makes my dad happy. So really what more could I ask for . . .



Blogger didn't want to take all my photos at once so there will be more Northwest trip blog photos posted later!!!

Home Again!!

Sooo, these are the photos that i was trying to load when I was trying to get on the road! Bill's black cashmere scarf, which turned out great! It was such a quick and easy knit - and it is COLD here today, so he took it to wear!! I love that!

And here is my huge table (4'x6') covered with drying herbs. There is basil, sage, thyme, oregano, and parsley. The basil was dry by the time that I got home, the others are still on the table!

It was a long and intense trip. Of course I packed my camera charger on the bottom of my
suitcase - so no new photos till the battery charges. Till then, it will suffice to say that it was a really good, really intense trip! The highlight of which was getting to sit on the couch and knit with my grandma "Mubs" who taught me to knit!! I didn't get a photo of that - but it will stay with me forever! More on that and the trip with the photos later!

Getting on the road

Well, once again blogger hates me and won't upload my photos! I am off to the pacific northwest for a couple days of semi-relaxation! I won't be working in the store, but my dad is moving and I am nervous about going away. It seems that everything that can go wrong in the last couple days, has! Hopefully, this will be a good trip!!

Blogger won't let me post the photos of all the herbs that we picked out of the back garden and are drying on the kitchen table. There is so much parsley, basil, oregano, sage and thyme! Our house smells amazing!

And in an effort to get things taken care of before I leave, I finished Bill's black cashmere scarf! I had a photo to post, but again -- blogger! When I get home I will post it! It turned out really nice!

I am off - have a great week!

Bill's hat and progress

So here are the latest! There is the progress on my MIL's blanket. I was so bummed a couple nights ago I had to rip out almost 6 inches for a mistake ( I knit 10 instead of k1, s1) . It is back on the needles and I got a couple rows done last night, despite working really late!

And here is the photo of Bill's Punk Hat. This is my ususal baby gift - but he wanted one super sized for his full grown noggin! So this one has been in the works for about 3 weeks now. It is the project that I carry with me all the time and work on while I am in the bank, grocery or anywhere else I am forced to wait. It takes all my waiting anxiety and turns it into something posative and tangable. I am off to work!
Have a great weekend!

rock star hair and my dress!

So I went to get my hair cut and colored today and it is always an adventure with Andre -- but today he outdid himself! My hair has a large purple patch on one side. It is actually pretty cute, I just can't get used to seeing it. It is much darker and blue/purple in real life and the not purple is actually a dark black with blue highlights - I just couldn't get the camera and flash to cooperate. So now the joke at work is - its my rock star hair!
I can only imagine on my road trip, I will be stopping somewhere in the middle of nowhere and the truck drivers will just all be staring . . . Not that getting stares for looking different is unusual - its just ususally the clothes more then the hair. I may even have to start wearing make-up again to keep up with my hair . . .
So on my road trip, when I am in Seattle I always go the Pilchuck glass art auction.
It is a super fun black tie affair, many of the people who go are artists so it is always interesting to see what people are wearing. This time I am so excited because I get to wear my wedding dress. A friend and designer that I work with in my store, Gary Graham
made it for me. He tried to do something not too wedding-y and I think that he suceeded. I just took my skirt into the tailor to have the small train turned into a bussle (not sure how you spell that one!). I couldn't be more excited to wear the dress again! I really really loved it! And the best part is that it is not as tight as it was for the wedding!! The deconstructed lace corset top is to the left. My hubby is going to wear his tux, so we will be quite dressed! Its so fun because it is like playing dress up!
Only this time the clothes fit . . .

And another photo of the purple hair - just couldn't get the lighting right!!

moonlighting

As if my real job doesn't take enough of my time, I have been moonlighting at my LYS for yarn. I finally rolled all my trade last night, since I am about done with my big projects - so I can start on my christmas gifts. There are 4 market bags -- the green, brown, taupe and blue, four sets of alpaca knucks and two skeins of alpaca and silk that I will roll with some cotton Wool in the Woods yarn for a rouched scarf. With the holidays coming, it is all small projects till the christmas lists are all marked off!

I used my market bag at the grocery last night. Now I really have to rewrite the pattern! It hung to almost 4" below my knee. And it only had a couple pounds (dinner for two) in it. Imagine if I was doing the weekly shopping -- it would have been dragging on the ground! Curse that pattern. I have started to re-write it, so I will probably start knitting the new handles tomorrow. As for my current bag, I am going to try to undo the seam between the handles and tie them in a square knot to bring it up! I may try to wash and dry it (in a lingerie bag, of course) to see if the 100% cotton yarn has any shrinkage :)

Thanks for reading!

SP9 Questionaire

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I like knitting with any natural fibers, wool, alpaca, soy, cotton, ect. I am not into the fake fibers and novelty yarns.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
My needles are stored in buckets, the metal ones that you get at the hardware store - one for straight, one for circular -- not ideal, because I am always searching for sizes, but I haven't come up with a better system yet.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
I have been knitting since I was 9, there have been some off times, but mostly on. I am somewhere between intermediate and advanced. There is always a new skill to learn or medium to try. Next summer I am hoping to knit a screen door for our house.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
Yes, there is an amazon one, not too complete but its a start

5. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products, etc.)
Clean, natural scents, nothing too sweet - Lilies, lilacs, aloe, lemon, ect.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
Doesn't everyone think that cake is its own food group? It is the reason that I work out! I love chocolate (milk or white) in pretty much every form, just not too many nuts.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
Knitting is most of my crafting problem, there is a little sewing, making invitations (even though it usually isn't necessary), a few other minor crafty pursuits.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
This could be a long question -- folk, punk, pop boy punk, some metal, pop, acoustic, old country, singer songwriter, blues, new wave -- there is a long list of artists under my profile for my blog, but I would say just stay away from jazz and rap - since there is so much I didn't cover and so much that I may not have heard yet. And my computer does not play MP3's - maybe there will be a new one before this exchange is over . . .

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?
My favorite color is purple, but that is hard to wear. I tend to like black, neutrals, earth tones and jewel tones. I can't stand pastels, neon, and am not good in yellows and oranges.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I am married to the love of my life! We do not have any pets, yet -- a chocolate lab is at the top of my christmas list, but probably won't happen till we buy a new house next spring.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
I wear and love scarves, hats (and they look better with my new short hair) and shawls but not ponchos.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
I love knitting scarves, hats, gloves, shawls and bags (more of the market bag then the felted bags.)

13. What are you knitting right now?
There is a blanket for my MIL, a scarf for my hubby, a couple baby hats, a market bag, a dress, and a couple scarves - and a list of projects to start that is a mile long!

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
Of course!

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
I am an equal opportunity knitting needle user, whatever I need for the project - given my choice it would be straight, but that is not always the easiest. I prefer bamboo or bakelite for my straight needles and metal for my circulars.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
Yes, I have both - knitting time is too precious to waist on winding yarn

17. How old is your oldest UFO?
about 6 months old - I don't think it will ever be finished as the project that I started, so I am trying to figure out what to turn it into that gets me interested in it again

18. What is your favorite holiday?
Christmas -- presents, family, fun!

19. Is there anything that you collect?
Is there anything that I don't? Salt and Pepper shakers, 30's and older knitting patterns, yarn, vintage clothing, anything with a skull on it, red wine from Washington State, and the list goes on!!

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
I don't have any knitting subscriptions, I seem to be able to get in enough trouble with books and free patterns online (knitty, the anti-craft, ect). There are a couple yarns that I am interested in trying nettle, recycled yarn (silk, soy, ect.), possum/merino blends and I am always game for a fun organic or handspun, handpainted. There aren't any needles or patterns that come to mind and probably none that I wouldn't try . . .

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
Not that I can think of, I am trying to use the skills that I have a little more (fair isle, intarsia, ect.) but I am open to trying anything. That is the fun part of knitting there is so much to do, try, master. I knit continental.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
I haven't knit any socks yet. I just received some wicking yarn (wicks moisture away from the skin) in the mail that I wanted to try making socks with and I am taking a sock class with Judy Ditsmore of Interlacements in November, so I will be . . . My foot is a size 8 1/2 or 9

23. When is your birthday? (mm/dd)
July 31st

another one done!

This is the shawl for Linda! It is the Wavy Lace Shawl from Vogue Knitting - Fall '05. This is the second one that I have done. It was so much more fun to do this one, by the time I started, I knew the pattern so well, it was much easier. I don't think that I had to frog even a row because I messed up the pattern and with 28 rows of pattern - there is a lot of messing up potential. The shawl right now is 26"x 70". So it is fairly substantial. I had to change the border to a feathered lace - the cabled lattice border that was called for didn't look like anything with the Inca Alpaca that I used. I think the yarn needed more twist to show pattern for something more intricate. Plus, I knit continental and think that I may twist my stitch's on the purls, but I don't know anyone else that knits the same way I do (that I haven't taught to knit). So I am waiting to see my grandmother in two weeks and ask her, since she taught me (and even that may or may not work.) The nice part of the Alpaca is it feels like cashmere! I have blocked it once, but will do it at least one more time with my steamer, it is still curling on the edges and it seems to me that my first one required three blockings before the alpaca was happy to lay flat and live as a rectangle. One more big project off my list!!

I'm trying!!

Blogger does not want me to post photos of Linda's shawl that is finally finished!! I am really quite excited to show it off. So keep checking back - as soon as I am able, I will post it!! Promise!!

Look who has a cute hat!

Gatsby Van Gutsch came to visit sunneshine today and he had such a cute hat on I had to take a picture and post it! Of course, I made the hat, so I may be a little bias about that! Although, I love the way the organic cotton knits, great nubby texture and feel!
Happy Monday!