Wow wow

Wow it has been 3 weeks!! Ok it has been crazy here, from remodeling and all of the joys of that (we are doing it ourselves) to fighting with insurances and doctors and flaring fun! I had much I wanted to do and then there was much my RA said I wouldn't be doing (the bastard!) Yeah '08 is going out like a lion.

So here is to the new year, may it be better then '08. I would be happy with less flaring!


So Happy and healthy to you and yours!




I have a ton to show so 1 thing I will be doing more of in the new year is blogging. =)

Let it Snow Let it snow Let it snow

I heart snow! <3 Last night it was snowing here on Long Island

I was out for Snicky's last walk and it was also her first snow. She was born late november and we got her in late January so she wasn't allowed out until after the snow season was gone. She really did not know what to do. Last night it freaked her out (which is very easy to do to my beloved scaredy dog)

This morning she was a little better. I had to walk her around other dogs' footprints and then she got the idea it was ok to go about her business. She also learned snow was edible when i scooped some into my hand and offered it to her.

I am hoping this is a sign of things to come! Bring on the Snow!!!!!

Here is a comic from todays paper.

(you can click on it to make it bigger)

Need I say more?

=)

OMG it is December already!!!

Am I the only one that has a problem with it being December already? Where did the year go!
I was going through my pictures in Flickr and found some I did not blog about. So I think now is a good time.

Here are pictures of some fiber I got from Loop! (love her batts and Thank You Aunty!)


Platinum - 100% bamboo. I have a few ideas on how to spin this. 3oz

These are my favs from Loop. I have 6oz total in this. Called "Beauty Berries" it is a mix of bamboo and wool and alpaca in lovely colors.


I know it is hard to see in the picture but there are many shades of color in the batt. I learned the hard way to leave the batts in their wrapping until time to spin, so when I get to spinning these beauties I will post pictures.

6X6

I was reading my blog feed when I came across this 6x6 meme on Stitches of Violet. This lovely lady make amazing sweaters in what seems like no time at all. I thought it was interesting and off to flickr I went.

rules: go to your 6th folder and pick the 6th picture and post it. Hope you remember the details and tag 5 others. (Do not worry I am not going to tag anyone, feel free to tag yourself)

So here is mine.



A picture of Hubby back during baseball season this year. I had brought my camera and was trying to get "nice and normal" pictures of everyone. Yeah that does not happen in this family. All the kiddies kept making funny faces. I tried to get a picture of Hubby and sure enough he made a face too! =)

I so love him!

=)

Baby J socks

My dear friend at work has found out that she is having a girl!! When I need a pair of socks for November for Sock a month I thought of her. So I made a little pair of newborn socks. I used Knitpicks Essentials in "Meadow" on size 2 needles. It took only a few hours and these are the most adorable socks. I can not remember my kiddies feet being this small.



=)

Thankful

Today here in the US we are celebrating Thanksgiving. This year has been interesting to say the least but there are many things that I thankful for.

These 3 top the list.




Each are wearing the their hat that I made them for this winter. Skywalker's hat is made from my Sharkboy handspun and some black Swish super wash form Knitpicks. Buddah's is made from yarn I bought at Rhinebeck in 07. (same yarn I used on my hat from last year) Drama Girl wanted a red hat with black hearts. So she got a red Wool of the Andes hat with black swish hearts. All that is left to do for hers is to add the pom pom to the top.


and of course this guy, who know how to make me laugh.



I am thankful for my family, friends (online too!) and how well everything is in my life. For in the big picture it could be worse.

So to all of you I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving.

It is a Girl!

Well one of them anyway. One of the 3 people I work with is about to have a girl (and my bet is we will not see here on Monday morning) Each time she has passed by me she jokingly said " Are you making booties?" Well the last time she said that I was making booties for her little girl. Of course the next day when I handed them to here she laughed. She had no idea what I was working on and at the stage I was at there was no way to tell what I was making. She loved them showed each of her classes and anyone she could stop in the hallway. She told me her hubby got all teary eyed when she showed them to him that night. She also bestowed the honor of bringing them to the hospital so her baby girl can wear them home.


there is a tube of Burt's Bees lip balm for sizing
Saartje's Booties(Rav link)
These cute little booties are quick and adorable. Almost makes me want to have another one ; )

1 baby down 2 more to go

=)

It is a Girl!

Well one of them anyway. One of the 3 people I work with is about to have a girl (and my bet is we will not see here on Monday morning

Happy Belated Halloween and Yeah!!

Ok a happy belated Halloween everyone I hope you all got more treats the tricks. We did good here and got way way too much candy.

Yeah on I hope everyone who could have voted did. There was record turn out this election day and that is such a good sign.
I woke my son up this morning telling him to remember today because today was a turning point in American history. I do not really go into politics here (or religion) but I have my views (trust me I am very opinionated ) and one of the most is to use your rights (like voting)

Just to prove I do still knit, not as much as before though I am filling in for someone at work while she takes a month leave and do not have as much time as before.



I made Drama Girl fingerless mitts. Really quick knit (she has very petite hands) and to break up the boredom of ribbing I cabled them.


=)

Crosshatch socks

Well the crosshatchs are done! Yes it took me longer to do one toe then the rest of the 2 socks.





Can you see the difference?

I can not see the difference in the dye lots on the toes. Of course the dye lots are not what makes the toes different. I did a round toe on the first sock and when I got to the second toe I of course "knew" what I did on the first and proceeded to do a pointed toe. Yeah. Of course the first sock was sitting right by me in my bag and it would have taken a second to check but I tempted the knitting fates. It really is ok with me . The sock fit great and are keeping my feet nice and toasty as I type.

=)

Rhinebeck 08 part I lost count

Hey we are folks the Fiber Part!!!!! Yeah!! Woohoo!!! Ok I need more sleep. Anyway here we go.



Creatively Dyed Yarns. I have seen her stuff and all I have heard is great stuff. The booth was crowed could barely make a head way into it. This lovely braid of 50/50 Tencel/wool in blues and greens was right by the register and I grabbed it and payed for it and the preceded to get pushed out of the booth by the crowd.


Ooooooo was all I could say when I found this roving. It is another 50/50 mix but this is silk and baby camel mix. So so so soft.
I bought it at Shadyside farm. The only down side is that I only bought 4 oz. (smacks forehead)


This is natural colored Llama down. (Hubby and stepson both play war video games where you hear Man Down! every so often after we left this booth there was a lot of Llama Down!! jokes) This was my first purchase and I was happy to just stand there and snuggle with it. Over 8 oz (they were very nice and generous) of llama down bought at West Mountain Farms (already added to the 09 list)


2oz Merino balls (huh huh merino balls... Why yes I use to watch Bevis and Butthead) from Timbre Ridge Farms. I bought a few balls last year from them and was very happy to have found them again. I bought navy, orange, pink and purple.



This is the only yarn I bought (can you believe it! I couldn't and kept checking my bags) Mist Mountain Farm's Prime alpaca/ Heaven! Very generous hanks - talking 665 yards here people!! and so soft and squishy. I originally wanted the dark brown but walked away from the booth. about 3 booths later I yelled at myself what was I thinking get yourself back there and buy it!! By the time I did get back (had to fight the people traffic) they only had 1 brown left but the lovely lady was putting out black so I grabbed 2.


From Black Sheep Designs a needle felting kit to make 4 penguins. My Kiddies school mascot is the penguin so I thought it would be cool to make them and use them as ornaments on our Christmas tree.


2oz of potluck from Puckerbrush farms. Last year I bought the yarn I used to make my monkey socks so I was looking out for their booth. I told the lady (forgot her name) about my socks and how the colors were wonderful. This time I bought this potluck. basically it has everything in it. This ought to be fun to spin.



This lovely stuff that looks all nice and fuzzy is Bunny!!! I stumbled (really I almost fell) into it. I bought 2 2 oz baggies. I have no idea what or how I am going to spin it but oh it will be so wonderful. I kept petting it and showing the family how soft and wonderful it was. I am kinda afraid to spin it do not want to mess it up.

Well there you have it my Rhinebeck experience of 08. I think I could totally go without buying anything until next year.(Of course if anyone should happen to give me gift certificates to yarn places I would gladly accept) I am also seriously thinking about doing just that. I have lots of stuff I want to knit and when I buy something it gets pushed further back into the stash.

=)

Rhinebeck Goodies Part 1

I so had to split the goodies into two posts. I have uploaded the non fiber ones so that is what I will start with.
First up is the basket. If you look at the teaser picture from last post you can see it is almost as big as the shopping bag. I wanted one last year but there were a little pricey and I didn't want to spend the money. This year I wanted one and I got the oblong one.(Of course later on I found round ones I really wanted too, next year?)


It came in really handy while shopping =)


These lovely hand made things are WPI gauges. That is Wraps Per Inch. You wrap your handspun around the cut out part (which is already an inch) count the wraps and that tell you what yarn weight your handspun is.


I was afraid I would not get one of these. I kept asking and asking and those vendors who had were sold out. I finally found one almost at the end of the day . Of course every time I asked someone about this hook the Hubby and Stepson start laughing and joking. To their amusement it is called an Orifice Hook. It is for my spinning wheel. It threads the roving onto the bobbin.


Some lip balm. Hand made lip balm. I can tell you that this stuff is amazing. I wish I bought more. It is already on my list for next year.


This is an inside joke with us. We love Snick very much, but she is a dumb dog. I could go on and on about all of the things that she has done. I showed Hubby and he said we have to get this. Almost every car here has one of those "My child is an honor student at fill in the blank". We also got her some all natural dog treats that she loves very much.


This is Sheepy the 3rd. She is made from wool and a few pipe cleaners. Really cute!


Buttons were also on my list of things I wanted. I bought 3 sets. They are made in South Africa. The company gives woman in impoverish regions employment. That right there was good enough reason for me to look and I found more then 3 but I had to leave some for the other people.

This is a set of 3

This is a set of 5 and so is this one


Well that is it for non fiber purchases. Next time fiber!!

=)

Mammals (and some are famous)

Ok in this edition of Rhinebeck 08 I will be going over some of the mammals that we met.
Let's start with the human kind

I kinneared the Harlot =)

Well kinda kinneared her. I saw her walking grabbed the camera from hubby and took a picture of her back. I know she has been on tour and has had a hectic schedule so I didn't want to bother her.


Hubby took a picture of Franklin I love his cartoons and really want his book (HINT HINT).

Well now onto the fiber kind.
Jacob sheep- one of the oldest breeds. They can have up to 6 horns.


they are naturally black and white and I think that is kinda cool. They look kinda like cows. =)

This girl was the softest thing I ever petted.
.
Llama want to come home with me?

She was sweet and let hubby take a few pictures. He was like a foot away from her face and it didn't phase her.(I finally found out the the bigger ones are the Llamas and the small ones are the alpacas.)

=)

Rhinebeck 08 part 1

Rhinebeck 08 was GREAT!!!!! There will be several posts about it cause well I have over 140 pictures to go through.

Today I am starting at the beginning and showing the best part.


Hubby was such a good sport about the whole day, including over 6 hours of driving.


Stepson on the way there


Stepson on the way home


We are here!! (traffic was bad and it took another 40 minutes from this point)

And now for the best part of the whole day

Heather!!!!

Heather has been a internet friend for a few years now and we got to meet. (She is the 2nd from the right, the other 2 are her friends) It was the best part of the day.

Preview:


=)

Houston we have a problem...and another reason to LOVE Blue Moon

Ok I had this around half a skein of Socks That Rock heavyweight in Lemon Grass that I really liked. So I looked in my sock books picked a stitch pattern and headed off to the races. I made the sock short so I would have enough for both. After I finished knitting the first one, I took a look at the remaining ball. It looked about half. To be sure I pulled out my scale.



53 grams (my scale is not the greatest it margin for error is + or - 1 gram)

Then I weighed the ball


50!!!! and with the margin of error that means I could be 1 gram short or 5 grams. This was not good. I refused to frog the first sock and make it shorter so I did what any knitter in her own little world would do. I started knitting the 2nd sock. I hoped that the scale was wrong and I would be able to squeak out the second sock.



Nope

well I was 3 pattern rows and the toe short of a sock. What was I going to do?!?!? I asked around ravelry and also posted asking if anyone had a little bit left over. No luck. Well I then went over to the Blue Moon website and looked for it. Panic set in as I could not find the colorway. So I sent a panic email to them. Wonderful Joann emailed me back telling me not to panic, the colorway was discontinued but they would not let me go around in half knitted socks. They dyed me a hank of Lemon Grass just for me. I have heard stories about how great the women over there are but here I was someone who has only ordered a couple of skeins being treat like I was there number one customer. It is customer service like that that makes me like them even more then I already do.


Yeah I can finish my socks! I know I only need a few grams and will have the majority left over but have no fear there is a rush of babies coming where I work and would like to make a little something for 3 of them. So I see baby socks and hats in the future.

=)

Spinning

This is the last yarn that I spun. (Right now I am spinning one of my Blue Moon Sheep to Shoe kits, 2 bobbins down 1 more to go. It is 8+ ozs so It is taking me much longer then normal. I am also trying to spin it as thin as my fingers will let me. Why I wonder do I always feel the need to spin thinly when my hands hurt?)





From: Knitty Gritty Thoughts Designs.
Name: Lavendar Fields
What: 90% superwashed, 10% icicle
How much: 3.8 oz

I have no numbers what so ever on the yarn other then it is 2 ply. I lost my little sticky with the info on it. I am thinking it was around 200 yards and around worsted weight.


My helper

3 days until Rhinebeck!!!!!!!!