Bad blogger, no cookie.

Yes, I've been a bad blogger and no cookie for me. In fact, I've only come out of my hidy place to share a giveaway my friend is doing of some AMAZING chainmaille jewelry. I've watched her take her shop through it's paces and have almost more work than she can handle and she's inspired me to try harder with my storefront. So I've been working on some things and you can expect news on that sometime in the near future.

But in the mean time go visit Aislinn's Journey and check out her post and then go and drool all over yourself at her jewelry. 

Bad blogger - no cookie

Once again, I have committed a blogging fail. The 2010-11 winter season has been murder for the house and myself. Pneumonia twice, down with bronchitis right now (and it'd better stay that way). Mom was in and out of the hospital in February and they don't know why (again).


I've gotten 2 packages from my SP16 partner, Cricket, so far. Of course I've not managed to grab pictures of the mini skeins of sock yarn she sent me for the blanket I'm working on before they were knit into it but I do have a picture of the fingerless mitts Cricket made for my out of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino that she over dyed from a gold color to this beautiful coppery cinnamon color. Using black cherry koolade. I love them, they are super warm and I like to think I can feel the warm Athens sun in them. Cricket is in Athens Greece with the US embassy as a nurse right now, and has 2 adorable granddaughters. I'll admit to hunting her up on rav so I could tell a friend what pattern the mitts are. I've also received some amazing Tazo white tea with cucumber and a mug with adorable cozy and ooooo so nummy chocolate from Greece. Pretty stitch markers (one of which has been dubbed as for the blanket only, it's a skull) and the pattern for Fireside (rav link) which is a beautiful cabled cardi that I've lusted after. I will have that knit by next winter, and am thinking of spinning up Hopper for it. Hopper is a shetland fleece I picked up at the MI wool fest on 09. Currently having been pressed into use as a bolster pillow to keep me more upright than all the pillows I have can manage at night. She's been washed, it's all good.

 

This pic doesn't show the beautiful color that Cricket achieved, but does show off her stitch work. They fit me perfectly, not too long in the finger area (something I have problems with) and nice and sung on the thumb and finger area. I have small hands so usually go in the boys department for mitts and gloves. I love to have things that were made just for me, and these mitts will be treasured for years to come. 

Scott looking like his daddy, a few weeks ago. He's still with his grandparents, but J gets to have him for 3-4 days every few weeks. They are phasing Scott into J's house more and more, with hopes that Scott will be with him full time by the start of the school year, when he'll be in kindergarten.

The Dairy Queen up by the grandparents let Scott go behind the counter and fill his own cone. A perk of a small community. Seriously, the town the grandparents live in has less than 800 people. I think the entire county has only about 20,000.

He still loves playing pirates. That's been a constant with him since before he was 2. Also loves dinosaurs, and his favorite animal is a unicorn right now.

I meant this to be longer on him, but the little man decided to grow some. It is however supposed to have 3/4 length sleeves. Something I didn't notice in the pattern until I saw the picture. Knit from a bi-color blue twist yarn from Plymouth Encore. Scott told me he loves the hood, and both he and J said he didn't want to take it off. So I consider that a huge success. I made this for one of his Christmas presents. I'm just so happy he likes it.


On the knitting front for now, I'm slowly working on the Phatghan (the miter square blanket of DOOM) and mom's sweater (of doom) and have started a lace shawl KAL. I'm knitting In Dreams (rav link) by Susan Pandorf. I love Susan's patterns and am proud to say I'm still on track with the shawl, and on schedule. Of course I'm only on clue 3, but hey, that's on track. I'm not doing the full amount of beads because 5000 beads would be heavy for the person who's getting this one. I am beading the last clue as it calls for, because Susan was so sweet to leave a few clues unbeaded before the end so I can do it w/o having to figure it all out myself. I know Sally will love this, because it's one of Susan's LOTR patterns, and Sally is a huge LOTR fan.

The New Year

It seems only fitting that the first real post of the New Year comes as the folks all around me are still setting off their fireworks and yelling hurray! This year in some ways has been worse that '08 or '09 were, though they each have their highs and lows. but I'm not here to share the woes of the year, rather some highlights. No, Scott's still not with me, and he's not with J yet either. Soon, we both hope. But I did get to spend a good chunk of time on the phone the few days before Christmas and we had some fun. I knit a sweater for him and according to J he didn't want to take it off. Once again the midget needs new socks, so I'll work on some of those. Getting to play with him on the phone made me want to cry, yet I was so happy to get to talk to him it didn't matter. I love trying to tell him a story, because if you don't ask what the person's name is, and what animal they are, and what they're doing before hand he'll interrupt you and tell you that you're not telling the story right. He speaks so beautifully now, I can't get over it. I know he's growing up, just hard to remember that sometimes when you're away. I had the hardest time trying to find things for him for the holiday, as I didn't want to get just toys or clothes. I think I had a good mix going. A few books, stuffed dragon, couple of crafty toys. Yes, I'm a parent who gives educational and craft related toys. Some regular ones too, but what's the fun of that?

Christmas Eve I went with some newish friends to another friends house for dinner. By dinner I mean we got there around 12:30 and didn't leave until 10:30 that night. There was duck involved, you know I was all ready for that. I just feel bad because I dozed about 4 hours of the day. Didn't sleep very well the night before, haven't slept well in weeks. The big day our landlord/neighbor drove us to gamma's early in the morning. Mainly cause out car is deader than dead. Not sure if it's the engine or transmission. Doubt it's worth fixing the car, not with its age. But spent the day at gamma's house with a roasty toasty fire going. I'm the firekeeper at her house, had a very nice bed of coals going by 10, so I took a nap for an hour. Than I made dinner. Just being there with her, whom I hadn't seen since early November, made the tight holiday here in the house worth it. I got jammies and everyone knows that xmas jammies from a grandma are the best type.

Than Monday night I checked my email and there was 2 emails from Amazon, each with gift card codes of $98, for a total of $196. From a Rybecka Johnstone. I have no idea who this woman is, and I just want to wish her a huge thank you from the bottom of my heart. Honestly and truly, I started crying when i say those in my email. I checked with amazon and the codes are legit, so Wednesday found me laying in wait for the UPS man, who was bringing me a Wifi Kindle. I also got books for Scott (sent straight to J so there's books for him at his daddy's place) and a light box setup so maybe the pictures I take for work will look decent.

The kindle couldn't have come at a better time. All day I've been laid up in bed shaking like a newborn foal, and coughing. I'm hoping that this is just an upper respiratory infection and not pneumonia rearing it's nasty head again. Just got over that thanks, don't want it again.

Anyway, that's my Year end review. I will be trying to blog more often this year, now that I have a decent computer and all that jazz.

SP16 questionaire

1.      What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely not like? I love wools and cotton yarns, as well as some fancier ones. Not a big acrylic fan (not a snob, but it squeaks and sets my teeth on edge) and I'm super sensitive to mohair.

2.      What do you use to store your needles/hooks in? I have a few different cases for hooks, a large binder and smaller one too for my needles.

3.      How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced? I've been knitting for 13 years or so, a sub in school taught me. Crocheting for 18 years easy, my grandma taught me. I'd consider myself advanced on knitting, and advanced intermediate for crocheting

4.      Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? Amazon Wishlist

5.      What’s your favorite scent? I like clean scents, nothing fake. I'm actually fairly sensitive to scents so would prefer not to get any.

6.      Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy? I do have, though it comes and goes. I love dark chocolates and other things.

7.      What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin? I knit, spin, crochet, tat (needle) weave, make jewelry, do chainmaile. I also make soaps and lotion bars and have played with paper

8.      What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD) Anything but rap and gospel. I have a few mp3 players and the laptop can take them.

9.      What’s your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can’t stand? Darker colors. Blues, greens, reds (like wine, garnet, brick), greys. please no super bright ones and no pink, orange, or yellow please.

10.  What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? Live with family, 1 4yo son who's away from me. 8yo niece with me. We have a mutant goldfish and a turtle. The fish and turtle are both 6 inches, body length only.

11.  Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos? Yes, yes, yes, and maybe.

12.  What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? Socks actually. Started knitting them for Scott, and he loves them.

13.  What are you knitting right now? Scocks (Scott Socks)

14.  Do you like to receive handmade gifts? Yes a million times yes

15.  Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? Circs please, I like metal ones though bamboo are growing on me.

16.  Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift? I have a winder, no swift

17.  How old is your oldest UFO? I think a few years. I usually unravel them after a while if they don't get worked on. I can always find another use for the yarn

18.  What is your favorite holiday? What winter holiday do you observe? Halloween. Myself personally? Not really any winter holiday. We keep xmas in the house because of my niece. I'm agnostic with pagan leanings. By that I mean respect for nature, paying attention to the turning of the seasons, the phase of the moon and that stuff.

19.  Is there anything that you collect? Yoda, the little green muppet from Star Wars. Love him. Hummingbirds, rubber ducks. Yarn, pretty stones.

20.  Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? Soft squishy yarns, lace weight or up. Sock yarns with interesting colors or shading. I'd love odd balls of sock yarn if you have any. Anything over 25 yards in one type would be awesome. Knitting a miter square blanket.

21.  Are there any new techniques you’d like to learn? I want to get better at cables.

22.  Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements? I am, but I'm a noob. 8" ball of foot circ, 9.25 heel to toe, if you need more than that let me know.

23.  When is your birthday? October 6

24.  Are you on Ravelry? If so, what’s your ID? boosheeps

PayBox.me

PayBox.me is a site that sounds like it will be better than PayPal once the box is "opened" as they call it. Right now they are doing what I would call beta testing and for every day you log in you get $20 put into your paybox account, and you get more money put in for voting on debit card designs and taking the surveys. It only takes about 5 min a day to log in, do the daily survey and vote on a few cards. Once the box if opened you'll be able to use the account to pay vendors online, you'll have a debit card to use in brick and mortar stores, and you'll have all that money you earned there for your use. Lemme tell you, it adds up fast.


Anyway, wander over there, take a gander and join up, you've got nothing to lose, and the chance to gain some decent amounts of money to gain.

http://www.paybox.me/r/bbal

Le sigh

What's that saying about best laid plans? I had hoped to blog more, and then the craptop died and I got viral pneumonia. But now I have a shiny new laptop (thanks mommy and Sally!!) that was a b-day present and I'm all human again.

On the crafting front, I knit Scott a sweater for x-mas, pictures will come in the next few days. it's hooded and looks so cute. I'm also planning to knit little sock puppet type things for him, just not sure if they'll all get knit in time for the holiday. Mom and Sally threw a metric crap ton of yarn at me when they got their school grants. Mom wants a sweater and Sally has no idea what she wanted. Gee, thanks sis. At least I have plenty to knit and play with. I even got a few skeins of yarn for myself out of it. I love going to yarn and fabric stores with them when they have spare cash, I just stick a few thing sin the basket for me and they call it my knitting fee. I need to bust out the new sewing machine Sally got and play with it. She got an computerized embroidery machine *drool*.

Scott is just getting over bacterial pneumonia (like mother like son, no?) and I'm so thankful they got him to the dr as soon as he started to have problems, because his temp spiked to 105, according to Diana. He's still with the former in-laws. J finally has both a job and an apartment so I hope that Scott will start to be phased into his house again. 

August Phat Fiber Box.

I always mean to post the boxes when I get them, but I get so swept up on fondling the yarns and fibers, and before I know it I've spun or felted them all up, and can't remember who is who. I kept myself from that today....long enough to take pictures. I'm planning to start knitting either strips or mitered squares from all the yarn samples I have and start working on a throw blanket. Same with the little skeins of handspun I've gotten up. We'll see how long that lasts right?

All info I have on the samples is with them, and the descriptions of texture/feeling are mine alone. They only reflect my feelings of the fiber, and my weird wool sensitivity issues.

From All For Love of Yarn Beautiful squishy soft 50/50 merino silk fingering weight yarn, in an amazing tealy turquoise color. Perfectly solidly dyed. Amazing yarn.

Avalon Springs Farm Some of the softest mohair I've yet to feel. Silky and doesn't make me itch at all. Which is a great thing, cause I love mohair and most of it makes me itch like the end of the world is nigh. 

Color Bug Pin drafted Romney. For romney it's pretty soft. I'm going to dye it with some of the neon food colors and then spin it up. 

Farmgirl Chic A loverly mini batt of Border Leicester, corriedale cross, mohair, cotswold, and vintage fibers. Such beautiful colors, and the little threads and fabric in the batt are amazing. I would love spinning up a shawls or sweaters worth of this.

Fiber Diversions 100% alpace fiber. Just super soft and amazing. I love alpaca anyway, and this just makes me want to curl up in it.

Griffordables Masham wool and angelina. I'd never heard of masham wool before, but it's not too bad. I'd call it a medium softness. Love the sparkles!

Jag's Funky Fibers pretty recycled yarn in tan, brown and cream shades. Not sure of fiber makeup

Jenny Fields Fiber Silk noil and silk cocoons dyed in shades of gold. Those lacy bits there to the right of the card are the actual cocoons, and seriously look like wrought gold. It's stunning.

Light Brown Hare All I can say is WOW! Mini mini skeins of all 6 of her yarns, and a larger mini skein in the Red Desert colorway. Some amazing base yarns, and a great eye for color.

Mama Jude's Judy is an amazing woman anyway, and used plant dyes. This is super soft merino pencil roving dyed with indigo. I can't wait to see how this spins up.

Wild Hare Hand dyed Lambswool 58s top. Pretty soft and squishy. Not sure if I'd use is as a next to face fiber, but for a sweater it would be perfect. 

The Critter Ranch Two beautiful mini batts. This colorset is called Gorillas in the Mist. The black batt is natural black llama and alpaca, natural silver mohair and llama. The green is hand dyed llama, alpaca, wool, bamboo, mohair, silk, and fire star. AMAZING!!!!!

I'm now going to go set up my wheel and spin some of this up. I plan to aim for fingering weight yarns for the most part, so they will be either 2ply or 3ply it just depends on how thin the fiber wants to be spun.