I am busy. So busy in fact, that finding time to blog has been difficult. Packing, setting up movers, work, getting the stuff for the lawyer and insurance on the new home, and now the knitwear design course that I am taking has been super duper hectic and taking up all of my time. Such little time.

What am I working on now you ask?? I am making a new a-line tunic shirt for my knitwear design course, making a pair of socks out of knitpicks memories sock yarn in the Cape Cod colorway. And, I have my 3 skiens of Lorna's Laces in the Black Purl colorway (inspired by Johnny Depp's movie - Pirates of the Caribbean - Curse of the Black Pearl) with which to make Clapotis and I am waiting on the 10 skiens of Rowan Cotton 4 Ply in Ripple that I ordered for the Lucky Lace Wrap from SnB Nation.

So, as soon as that arrives, I suppose I will promptly pack it up and put it into the yarn box so that it will arrive at the new house when we move. I feel as though I have too many projects on my plate at the moment frankly, and need to slow down a bit. I think I may be taking too much on and am getting more and more stressed by the day. I simply can not keep up with packing, moving, work, and all the knitting I would like to do. Not to mention the fact that we are trying to squeeze in family and friend visits between now and the move and trying to think about planning for the flooring, painting, and Kalika's birthday in between. Sigh.

On the upside, I am working very diligently at making myself feel better. I have booked a spa appointment for tomorow at Oasis spa and will be getting the "Raindrop Therapy". Described on their website:

Like drops of rain, nine essential oils are applied along the spine. Each oil is layered one upon the other. Your back massage is completed with a hot compress treatment. Your legs are treated to essential oils and massage as well. Toxins are released and the immune system is boosted.

Pure yummm... I will float back home feeling renewed and re-energized right??

I am a Yarn Swapper!!!

I officially got my yarn out to my secret pal (who loved it!) and even though I had to give up some of the yummiest yarn that I have ever seen, I felt so good when I saw that my yarn pal had opened it and loved it! I have some more that I am sending out to her in the meantime, but I am so happy that she loved what I sent her.


Oh and I also got my yarn in the mail! What a total score. I am so pleased with everything! I got 2 skeins of a yarn that I have never even seen before and it is totally fantastic!! There is enough here to make a pair of socks and so I think that once I have perfected the toe up technique, I will make some using this super fantastic yarn. The yarn is absolutely gorgeous in a blue/green colorway called Caribbean Blue. I also got some amazing stitch markers and let me tell you, it irks me to no end to know that we have no battery for the camera right now (it was left at a friends cabin by that guy I live with) and as a result, no picture. I also got what I am fairly sure is a needle holder. Its a small wooden tube with leaves and the like painted on it. I can hardly wait to see what next month will bring!!

And, as if that wasn't enough, my spinning fiber that I ordered online came yesterday as well. I ordered some of the softest top merino in a blue/green colorway called "Under the Sea" and 4oz of pure silk in the same colorway. So shiny. Truthfully, I am not ready to be spinning with this yet, but, I intend to take some of the yarn that I have already spun out to the lady that I bought my wheel from and have her correct some of the errors that I have made. I also intend to buy some more cheap practice yarn and a set of combs at the same time. Soon I will be ready to spin this yarn. I just know it!

And, on the homefront, packing is a total nightmare. If its possible, I actually hate it more!! I am currently at 15 packed boxes (after packing for a whole freaking week!) and the kitchen is in a state of chaos that makes me want to crawl out of my skin every time I go in there. We are putting all of the garage sale stuff in the kitchen until I get my office cleaned out and we can stack it in there. Husband has been a total help... he has packed one box and is currently shredding all the extra stuff in his filing cabinet. Oh ya, some serious help there I tell ya! Still no movers hired yet, but he assures me that he has moved more times than I could ever count and he knows what he is doing. I will keep the updates coming.

Other than that, some misc housekeeping things going on in the house. Got the cats shaved. Romeo looks like one of those freakin hairless cats (or possible a bobblehead of his former self) as his fur was the same color as skin. Pretty freakin gross. Skinny cat with a big head. And, surprisingly, Indica is pretty svelte for a cat. Who knew? Not me. Seriously. Otherwise, all calm around here. packing, packing and more packing. What could be more fun??

I have a new Love

The Lucky Lace Wrap from SnB Nation. Remember the great book that I gushed and gushed over in that it included the schematics for designing anything (I Heart algebra)? Well, I want to make this next from the book since I think that it would make a nice cardigan for wearing to work. I just need to figure out what yarn to use since it calls for a fingering weight yarn (I think).

I also finished my One Skein Wonder and its currently blocking on the floor of my laundry room. I must confess to wearing it for a while before I blocked it, but I couldn't stop myself. The yarn is so dang cushy and soft!! MMMM Misti Alpaca (total yum!). I made it in a very natural color so that I will be able to wear it with almost everything. Now I want to make one in white and one in black. Oh heck, I want to make it in every color of the rainbow. Its such a fast knit and so easy. And, since it requires so little, you can make it in such yummy yarn that I normally wouldn't buy for larger projects.

I have also started packing. I hate packing. No, I abhor packing. I will be happy when its all done and all of the work is done and we have moved. It seems all at once like an eternity and no time at all. I have also been having crazy dreams that there are horrible things wrong with the house and we have moved in and find them. Things like a family of snakes living in the basement and the walls falling down around us while we run away in fear. Maybe the dreams will ward off any actual bad things from happening. Maybe. I will still be nervous until sometime after we are settled in. I worry. Its what I do.

Where Have I gone??

I haven't posted in a while and here's why -- we bought a HOUSE!! Yes, we already own a house, but this is a new house. Well, new to us anyway.... and its fantastic. But, buying a house and selling your own house is a big process and it takes lots of time. In fact, I haven't even knit anything in the last 2 weeks or so because of all the time I have spent looking at houses and getting ours ready to show. plus, we had to stay away all weekend so that potential home buyers could come and look at our house. Don't even get me started on that!! People are so disrespectful of other people's things. In the 2 days over the weekend that our home showed, the back door was left wide open and the soap dish in our bathroom was ripped off the wall! Nice.

Anyway, back to the new house. Here are some pics of it:












Nice eh?? We think so. Personally I hate the colors. I am already in the process of picking out new furniture and thinking about paint options. I can't wait to get started on making it ours. We take possession on the 21st of July (just 10 days before Kiki's b-day) and we have 10 days before we have to be fully out of our house. just 10 days to get the flooring and painting done. We want to paint all of the rooms (they all need it) and put laminate in the dining room and living room. We also need to redo the bathrooms and put in new tiles and a new sink and tub in each bathroom. It needs a LOT of work, but I know that with a little TLC, this house can be sooooooo nice.
Oh, and did I mention the best part?? It has a fireplace!! There is a sunkenn family room just below the kitchen and it has a fireplace and a walk out deck (actually, both the kitchen and the family room have walkout decks!). The fire place will also need some re-finishing, but once we do, it will look amazing!


Anyway, that's what I have been up to. I have just cast on a pair of socks, so not very exciting, but I am doing them toe up this time, so I guess that's at least somewhat interesting. Right? I will include a shot of them sometime this week if I get a moment. Otherwise, I imagine I will be fairly busy for the new few weeks/months. We are taking offers on our house tomorrow night. So, I am crossing my fingers between now and then in hopes that it will sell. Anything could happen between now and then!

Yesterday I had an epiphany!

No. Really. I was at an all day meeting in Edmonton yesterday and on my way home realized that I had a gift card for Chapters from the organization that I work for that I got as a thank you for special project work I did in January and February. So, thinking that I would buy a few knitting books with my free cash (something I would never do with my own money -- books are way too expensive, magazines cost so much less), I went in and spent an hour perusing the books that they had there. Mmmm... green tea frappaccino and knitting books; could there be any better way to spend an hour? Guess what I came out with?? Stitch and Bitch Nation and Special Knits: 22 Gorgeous Handknits For Babies and Toddlers.

So, why you ask, did I have an epiphany? Let me tell you, I didn't realize what a treasure I had until I got to Red Deer and stopped to have dinner. I sat down, ordered a salad and flipped open the SNB Nation and about fell out of my chair!! The first chapter describes in detail how to dissect, examine, and re-work almost every pattern out there. Booyah!! Why did no one tell me about this before?? Or, if they did, why didn't I listen?? So, now, I have had exciting visions of sitting down and creating the perfect fitted garment to flatter my figure and make me look exactly like a super model (well maybe that's a bit far fetched, but you get the idea). I even have a design idea in mind, and will be spending the day searching for the perfect yarn to make my dreams a reality. I am thinking something totally yum in a dk or lighter weight. And, it must be pink. Dark pink in fact. Oh, totally yum.

Oh, and I know that there has been a serious lack of knitting progression pictures posted lately. To explain; I have been uber busy with work and super tired when I get home at night. I also have started working out at lunch and have been unable to knit then too. And, I had to frog Calla (yet a-freakin-gain) and so, I am back on square one with her. And I promised myself that I would try not to do anything else until she was off my needles and on my body. Bah. I *hate* this tank now and if I hadn't (in my infinite wisdom) suggested that I do a KAL with the project, I would have thrown her on the floor, stomped on her and used the beautiful yarn to make something far less evil. So, no pictures of FO's, WIP's or anything else for the time being. Bah. And, given the way that this tank is going so far, me thinks that there will not be any progress pics for a good long while. Although, I can offer one small thing in the meantime, I have been spinning away and have a few skeins which I will take pics of and post once they have been wound and blocked. I may even knit a gauge swatch of each hank this weekend and post those too if I get some extra energy.

If at first you don't succeed...

Frog and Frog again! I am still working on the Calla tank. So far, I have frogged it twice already. I truly hope that the third time really is a charm. I am knitting it in the round right now. I figured if I have to do it all over again, I might as well do it as one piece and hopefully shave off some time. I have also not been able to get to it this weekend as I was outside doing yard work all weekend. I am happy to say that all my hard work has paid off. The flower beds and vegetable boxes have all been weeded and are chock full of seeds just waiting to sprout. As I always do this time of year, I will now walk by them daily on the way to my car and wait for little green shoots. I will water diligently and weed daily. And, in a few short months, I will hate the garden and I will water less and less and I will only harvest half of what I plant. I don't know why, but for some reason, I hate picking the dang veggies. And I especially dislike washing them once they come out of the garden. I really don't mind that my husband has never done any of the gardening every year either, but it sure would be nice if he did the work at the end when it came time to pick and wash. I would even mow the lawn all the time without complaining. (I do it now, I just complain a lot).

I am also at a cross roads with my knitting. I finished my one skein wonder a week or so ago and while I love it, I still want to make one out of a cotton or maybe a more defined yarn. I love my OSK, but would like a summer-y version as well. Pure alpaca (I used Misti Alpaca) isn't really so summer-y. Once I finish Calla (and I will dang it!), I don't know what to make. I would like to make something for the Bean, but what? She will be turning 4, so maybe a little jumper dress or a cute sweater for once it turns colder. I just don't know. See, cross roads. maybe it will come to me soon.

So much for De-stashing...

Last week I had 2 days off work... so, I hopped into my car, drove to my LYS and bought myself some Misti Alpaca... so soft and squishy. Total yum. Then, I sat for 2 days and knit myself a beeeautiful One skein wonder. I would have taken a picture, but I didn't have time this weekend. And, my great hu-band got me a gift certificate to perhaps the nicest spa in town here... ah, absolute bliss! He is truly a great guy!

I am still working on Calla and have had to frog twice so far. I guess that's what I get for trying to work on it while I am watching tv. I hope to be finished by the end of next week and think that I may just be since I am getting the hang of it and the pattern is going so much faster now. I am almost back to where I was before I frogged the first time. The real trick is remembering to make sure the yo's are done before any P2's. Otherwise, its a cinch.

I can't wait to be finished. I also need to get to my LYS and pick up the yarn for my yarn swap friend. Hmmm... so much to do, so little time!

Destashing? De-Lovely!

Well, I went on a major se-stashing expedition and re-sorted through the numerous (and overflowing) yarn purchases that I have made in order to find yarn for 3 items. It was time to re-sort, re-think, and ultimately it seems, re-stash... dang.

1. Clapotis - I have 2 possibilities for this. I originally thought of using that lovely handspun from Peru that I got last week for this, but I don't think that it will be a) the right gauge and b) shiny enough. Sooo... I think that I am going to track down 2 more skeins of black pearl (Lorna's Laces Lion & Lamb) to go with the one that I got off of eBay and use that. I really like the gauge/shine/color of the LL's for that and so Lorna's Laces, it will be.

2. This shrug from the soon to be defunct FCEK magazine (which I couldn't find a net picture of to save my life):

Is one that I have been wanting to make for about a month now, but since I only have enough mercerized cotton for about half. The yardage on it calls for 13 balls of "Shimmer" by Coats & Clark, which at 127 yards a ball works out to um... 1651 yards altogether. Even with the most mercerized cotton in the right gauge, I only have um... just under 1000 yards. So much for that idea. And, I know df is going to kill me if I buy some more mercerized cotton since I have 2 different colors just sitting in my stash with pretty decent yardage and no projects for them yet. What's a girl to do. Incidentally, I really like the apple green color of the one on the model in the magazine. Normally I wouldn't contemplate apple green, but I really think that it is a nice color for this type of thing. Thinking on it, I think that when I finally finish Calla, I will be looking for some dk weight mercerized cotton/cotton blend for this.

3. One skein Wonder - Now, this is a tricky one. I have absolutely no bulky weight yarn in my stash. Its not a gauge that I normally knit with. So, what to do? I really want to make this in a dark color like a really really dark blood color/wine color. I originally thought that the one skein of Lorna's Laces Black Pearl would be perfect, but now I don't think it will work, even doubled up. So, once again, I am off to the store to get some bulky yarn in this colorway.


Ok, now that I have the three projects that I am looking to complete, I am determined not to add any more to the cue. These are my summer projects and that is it (ya right... until the next magazine comes out).

Oh, one other very neat thing -- I joined a yarn swap and got paired up with someone from the US. I suppose I will just have to hit a yarn store sometime today and find her something very very neat while I maybe buy the yarn for one of these projects. I just made reservations at Japanese Village for lunch with Ter so I will probably go to my favorite knitting store after on the way home. Or maybe I will get my knitting buddy's yarn at the store and then order some for myself off of Elann.com/knitpicks... so many expensive choices... so little de-stashing. What is a girl to do??

Calla and other things new...

So, here is the progress I have made so far on Calla. I have to say that I am strongly thinking of frogging Calla and re-starting since I made some errors (which are very noticable to me) when I first started. I think that I have the rhythm down now, so frogging and re-starting wont be a huge deal and I think that I will be happier with the results. The more I look at it, the more I see the mistakes. I know, the picture is a little dark...

Even in these dark pictures though, I can see the dang mistakes. See if you can... sort of a "Where's Waldo?" sort of thing... LOL.

I also got some new yarn in the mail yesterday. All the way from Uruguay and still way faster than the (stupid expensive) yarn that I got from the US. MMMMM... so soft and so snuggly. I will use it to make Clapoits and I will love it and it will be mine. Oh selfish me. So many projects and all of them for me. I finished my mom's scarf and am still procrastinating on the blocking and weaving in of ends. I can so see myself doing that the night before her b-day.
I am also waiting on the super slow yarn from the US as I want to make a "one skein wonder" with it. I know, shamelessly jumping on the bandwagons here, but they are such cute, versatile patterns that I can't not make them. And the best part? The yarn for Clapotis was only about 25.00 from eBay. Love eBay.

Terry got a new job!! And, as a result, I have been away for a while because the guy and I have been shopping. Big shopping. Big big shopping. The kind of shopping that makes your financial advisor call you to ask what's going on...

We bought a big screen tv. A BIG SCREEN tv. 45 inches of pure evil. All I can think about is going home to watch it. Actually, it is really nice, I have to admit, but now it makes me want to finish our basement that much faster so that I am able to move the dang thing out of our living room.

I also bought something for me. (drum roll please). I got an Ashford Traditional spinning wheel. I wanted to document its arrival the moment I brought it home with pictures galore, but I got so busy spinning on it and totally neglected to take pictures. So, here is post, sans pictures. I love it, I really do. Its soooo beautiful and runs like an absolute dream. I am still working away trying to perfect my spinning, but I do have one full bobbin of very wonky yarn and am working away at making another so I can practice plying. I don't know if I am weird or what, but I am finding it easier to spin very fine yarn, while making it thicker seems very tough to me. I also spent a few hours dying (and then subsequently cleaning up all the dye that ran across the counter) some white roving that I bought off of eBay last year. Some turned out very nice in variegated orange/ yellow and pink shades, some turned out ok in a nice vibrant green, and some looks like cat hairballs in an odd shade of black with pink and blue pieces. I will use those first to practice if they aren't felted too much as I forgot about them and they boiled. Blech.

I am also having mondo problems with Calla. Somehow, I dropped a stitch or did one too many p2tog and am now short a stitch. The biggest problem is that I don't have a clue where and I can't keep going because all the yo's are off. I am determined to fix it at lunch today so that I can move on.

Otherwise, all is well here. The bean is starting to feel better and I am happy. Life is good.

Today I fell off a Segway

Seriously. I went out to do a field visit and one of my members has a segway and let me try it. They are uber cool and very amazing things, but wow, they have a lot of power if you are not used to them. I was trying to "park" it and I somehow got my hand stuck while it was going around in a circle and then I was on the floor! It was so funny, I have been laughing all day.

Other than that, I have no real knitting content for today. I am still working on the scarf that I have been making for mom's b-day and will be starting on the Calla tank as soon as it is done (as long as nothing else catches my eye first).

Terry has also said that it is ok if I get a spinning wheel, so I will be making my way out to Cochrane this weekend to buy and Ashford Traveller from Legacy Studios.

I am pretty excited since it comes with free lessons. I think that I will be spinning yarn in no time. As soon as I get it, I will post a picture.

I wish I had 3 hands...

So, in keeping with my new committment to posting, I thought I would put up some of the new yarns that I can't wait to work with (and as of yet, have no project set for them).

I think my favorite yarns are sock yarns... hands down! I love the vibrant colorways and I love knitting socks because they always seem to be so easy and come out so nicely. And, above all, I love that the sizing seems to be more of a non issue. I don't know why, it just does. I think that I am going to make my daughter (she's 3) some socks out of this yarn:

It started out as regular cream colored Regia stretch yarn and I decided that was too boring, so after some experiments with the Koolaid dying process, here is the new and decidedly un-boring stretch in a color way I have decided to call "sugar kitten". I love the names that yarn designers give their yarns on eBay so I thought I would give my yarn something as equally flamboyant.





I also finally got my hands on some Lorna's Laces sock yarn since I have heard that it is the creme de la creme of sock yarns. I bought 2 skiens each of camoflauge and pinstripe. I do have to say that it is super-duper soft and snuggly. I am fairly sure that I will be making some toe-up, knee high socks with it. I just wish I had more time and more hands to work on these future projects...

And the beat goes on...

Well, I have been somewhat remiss in posting to my blog, but that is soon to change. I am going to try very very very hard to post at least once a project so that I have some record of what I am doing and so that I can leave some instructions to myself when I abandon yet another project for something more fun. I have a terrible tendency to do that and then when I want to come back to a project, I find that I can't remember where I was in the pattern and end up frogging the whole dang thing.

Well, since I have come back to Calgary, I have been working on:

This is a baby blanket that I am trying very hard to finish even though the stitch pattern is pretty boring. I couldn't find a nice pattern for the yarn that I was working with and I got frustrated with trying to find something I liked, so I cast on and started working a 4k, 4p stitch. It knits up quickly with 2 strands each of shimmer-y baby yarn and I think it will be a big hit with my co-worker. I have until September to finish so as long as I stick with it, I may just get it done on time.

I am also working on a scarf for my mom for her birthday in July. I know-- so odd to be making a scarf for July, but what the hell, she needs a new scarf and the way that the weather is around here, she may just need it then :) It has snowed here before. I am using the "good 'ol cabled scarf pattern" and Peruvian baby alpaca from elann.com. It knits up nice and so super soft

I can't wait to see the look on her face when I give it to her. I hope it flattens out more when I block it. The pattern called for worsted weight yarn and this is dk weight, but in the spirit of de-stashing a little (to make room for something new of course) I thought it might be fine since gauge isn't all that important when making a scarf... I will post some pics once it is blocked.

I am also working on Calla in super 10 cotton. I have just finished the ribbing at the bottom, but as soon as I have something done, I will post pictures of my progress. I actually cast this on two days ago, but had to frog some because I couldn't figure out what "work stitches as they lay" meant. It finally came to me and I am off and flying now...

Something old... Something new??

I finally have a few moments to myself. I have been so busy here at work for the last little while that I haven't had time to write anything. I got a link today to my cousin Scott's weblog and what a rare treat. I got to catch up on what adventures he is having in Hanoi. I am so jealous sometimes that he is getting to live a life of adventure in a foreign country. But , then I look at my life and my kid and my husband and think of what I wouldn't have and it all fades away.
Besides, what yarn would I be able to get there??? :)
On that note, I finished the vest I was working on. One regret - I wish I would have bound off the sleeves a little tighter, but other than that, I think that I did a great job and I am super happy with it. I can't wait to wear it to work. I would have this week, but I had a meeting on Friday and it is a bit too casual for that.
Right now, I am working on the pink ribbed sweater that I started back in May of last year when KK had to go into surgery for her bronchoscopy. I am thinking that it sits really far off the shoulders and maybe if I get brave, I will try to re-shape the shoulders/ sleeves.

Still Sick

Well, I am still sick and it has been 2 weeks so far. I can't smell, I can't taste, I can't breathe and I don't feel like doing much of anything but sitting on the couch and knitting. I am working on my first felted bag right now and I have it about 3/4 knitted. I am making I-cord handles and it is starting to really take shape. I can't wait to felt it and post a picture.

I am using a green and orange wool that I bought off of eBay and had no idea what I would do with it as it is really scratchy. But, this is going to be perfect.

Well, hopefully I am feeling better soon as I have 3 papers to write in the next week and a half. Ugh.