Secret Pal

Wow, I have not posted in forever! I guess time got away from me. I wanted to post about my final secret pal package, here is a picture of its contents



Here we have some yummy shower gel and lotion, the cutest pens ever and post-its, shower gloves for exfoliating, a cool nail filing block (it makes your nails really shiny), a sheep pez dispenser (so cute), some awesome sock yarn, and a kit for a carry-it-home bag which I have been wanting to make, I love it all, Nikki was a great pal you can find her here,Thanks again!!<

Question of the Week #11

"What's the best thing you've ever received in the mail?"
Wow, that is a hard question because I have loved everything from secret pals, past and present, swap partners, etc. I remember placing my first yarn order online from knitpicks, when I got that it was pretty exciting!!!

Life and Knitting...An Update (picture heavy)

Where to start.....Well let's see one of my cousins got married, congratulations to Michael and Michelle



I bought a new car, isn't it cute!! I think I need a name for it so if anyone has suggestions.... It's a Mazda5 and it gets great gas mileage (bonus)


I also had a birthday which started out crappy but turned out to be quite nice.
My daughter and her friend baked me a cake:


Don't laugh, it was delicious

I also received some flowers, handmade by my DD's friend's mom (thank you Jeanette)



I received a birthday package from my secret pal that day too! Thank you again SP! Here is a picture of it's contents, what fun...I love it!!



I finished some Monkeys out of Lace Wing Sock in the Tropical colorway


Phew! We're almost there...

Finally, poor little son of mine has been to the ER 2 times in 2 weeks, first time was a possible growth plate fracture, so he had a splint and crutches, that turned out to be negative. This time he was cracked on the head with a piece of wood that had a screw in it. All of these things are accidents that happened at the neighbors'
house. Here are the pictures of the last visit, don't look if you are squeemish:


Here is my little man waiting for the numbing medicine to take effect so he can get staples:


Here are the staples


I think that about sums up what I've been up to, never a dull moment around here lately!

Lost

I have lots to show you, as soon as I find my camera cable! Kids!!

Question of the week #7

What is(are) your favorite place(s) to knit? I have my place on the corner of the loveseat by the end table, usually I have stuff piled everywhere there, everyone knows not to sit there!

What supplies (besides yarn & needles) make the setting perfect for
knitting?
Usually I have a big glass of ice water and my Zune so I can catch up on Lime and Violet episodes

Question of the Week #5

1) Where is your favorite place to go for vacation/holiday? I hardly ever go on vacation but my favorite place that I went was Cancun.

2) Where is one place you'd like to go? Here

The Garden Gate

This is a picture I wanted to share of my beautiful roses that are blooming over my back gate, aren't they pretty!!

Black Sheep, SP12, Argentina

So this is going to be a huge update post... First of all, I got a package from my SP 12 on Friday and want to say a big thank you! I was having a horrible day and you cheered me up. Here is what i got:

It's a skein of Trekking hand art, which I have never seen before so that's exciting plus the colorway is gorgeous. There is also a cute bookmark which I actually needed, so thank you so, so much SP :o)

This weekend I trekked over to Eugene for the Black Sheep Gathering. At the gathering I purchased many skeins of STR millends, I love these because they cost less and the flaws are minute. I also got a skein of tofutsies and one skein of Lace Wing sock yarn which I have never heard of but they have many colors, I'll let you know how it knits up. Here is the huge haul picture:


Also of note, my friend Juanita went to Argentina to visit her daughter and she brought me back some yarn! EXCITING!! 3 skeins of a cobweb weight silk and alpaca, I was scared to touch it at first but casted on for the candle flame shawl:



I also want to say congratulations to my SP 12 hostess who had the cutest baby boy last week! Congrats Robyn! Until next time.........

SP 12 Question of the Week

What is your favorite summer time beverage? Well this sounds totally boring but water! I don't drink alcohol (doesn't mix well with my meds) and I can't have too much sugar like in lemonade and such, and frankly, water is the only thing that will quench my thirst!!

SP 12 Questions

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? I love handpainted superwash sock yarn and I love soft natural fibers What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? Not a big fan of scratchy acrylic

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in? My straight needles are in a vase for decoration and my others are loose in my knitting bag

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? 2.5 years, I taught myself Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced? Intermediate

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

5. What's your favorite scent? I love tropical fruit and citrus smells

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Yes but I'm not supposed to have high sugar foods. Before my favorite was Reese's and anything with peanut butter.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? scrapbooking and stamping Do you spin? No

8. What kind of music do you like? Most all types except country Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? yes

9. What's your favorite color(s)? I like pretty much any color, I'm not hard to please in this department.

10. What is your family situation? married with 2 kids ages 17 and almost 9 Do you have any pets? yes, 1 cat

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos? Yes to all but ponchos, and hats usually fit my head weird but I wear them.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? definitely socks

13. What are you knitting right now? 1 pair of socks and a sweater.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts? Yes

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? I like bamboo mostly and use both straight and circular, depends on the size of my project.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift? Yep, I got them for christmas

17. How old is your oldest UFO? 1.5 years

18. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas

19. Is there anything that you collect? just yarn

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 get Interweave Knits

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn? Hmmm..... maybe entrelac

22. Are you a sock knitter? Oh Yeah! What are your foot measurements? 9 inches long and about the same around.

23. When is your birthday? 7/28

24. Are you on Ravelry? Yes If so, what's your ID? neldyg

Some FO's

Well I told you I have been knitting a lot due to not sleeping so here is the evidence, first off we have my first Jaywalkers, I know I'm late jumping on the bandwagon. They are made from Claudia Handpaint in the Roasted Chilies colorway

Next are the Retro Rib socks from th "Favorite Socks" book that Interweave did. These are made from Louet Gems in the Cream colorway. I figured I needed some socks that were a color that would match anything, they are very soft.

Next up is a pattern that I found online called "Little Shells" I can't remember where exactly I found it but it knits up so cute. I made these with my Mama E's cyeber fiber, it's the colorway called Gayle.

Here is a close-up of the stitch pattern.

So as you see I have been a sock knitting fool, I am sleeping better now thanks to the miracle of Ambien, but I am still knitting more socks. I cast on some River Rapid socks from Sock Bug.
And now I leave you with some art from my son, I love this picture, but this dude needs his thyroid checked ;o) Have a good one everyone

A Quickie

Just a quick note to say that I am still alive, I haven't jumped off of a bridge or anything :o) I'm on the road to better and I have knitting content to update you with soon. I guess one good thing about insomnia is that I have knit 2 pairs of socks in a month or less, pictures to come.

Insomnia Sucks!!

I have insomnia these days and it's driving me crazy! I hate the feeling of being so exhasuted and then not being able to sleep, it cranks up my anxiety level to epic proportions, but I have been given some medication from the ER last night that should help reset my internal clock and get me to sleeping. Right now, at this moment, I feel like I'm strung out after a week long bender.
Here's what's been going on for the last week though, last Saturday was the Winter Formal at our high school. This is my DD and her beau before the dance

She's such a beautiful young woman, and very happy!

Monday she got her braces on, doesn't she looked thrilled!?!


I got a you make my day award from Shelly, thank you for that, although I am too wiped out right now to award it to someone else. Shelly, are you coming to our little fiber market in Prineville in March? If so we should hook up for lunch or something.

I have been knitting, I finished my retro rib socks from Favorite Socks, no pictures yet though. Have a nice weekend!!

Cocoa Swap Received!

Last night I received my cocoa swap from the awesome JoAnn and I am blown away! I love It!!! Let me show you what she sent, here are the contents in their entirety:

Yummy cocoa and handmade marshmallows from Williams Sonoma, Knit Picks Harmony DPN's, chocolate, Popcorn (because I'm addicted), 2 books, a cute Tinkerbell mug, 2 candles, cute crocheted Oreo cookie magnets which I already put on the fridge, monogrammed note cards, journal and note pad, and C*Eye*Ber Fiber coordinates sock yarn, oh yes, you heard me correctly!! So pretty. Here it is close up, I've been lurking on Mama E's site for some time now but haven't been able to get any, so I'm excited to try it out!


Here is a close up of one of the Oreos, how cute are these!!


Oh and I almost forgot, she also sent these cute, springy stitch markers, very cool!

Thank you again to JoAnn for making my winter brighter, I love everything!!

FO's!!!!!!!!!

Finally I have something done to show you! First of all, I finally blocked my chevron scarf, the poor thing has been waiting for ever to be done. It's made out of Socks the Rock in "Highway 30" and "Lunasea" colorways. It was very hard for me to use that yarn for this due to my sock addiction but I persevered and here it is, socks for my neck!!





I also finished some socks. These took a little longer than normal for me due to the fact that I finished one, didn't like the fit, started the other one with modifications and frogged the first one, whew! but now they are finished. This is the slippery pattern from the new Knitty. Let me tell you, this is designed by a high school girl and she is way smart! She is definitely an A+ math student! Here is the finished pair, I just so happened to have in my stash a similar and almost identical colorway to the one used but mine is Pagewood Farm



Here is a close up of the stitch pattern


The first picture shows the brightness of the colors better but they are too cool. Now I have cast on for the retro rib socks in the Favorite Socks book that I got for Christmas! See you next time!

Cocoa Swap Topic of the Week #2

Question: Now that we're in the thick of 'Winter'... has your knitting changed to match the season? Are you moving on from dishcloths, and tank tops to afghans, hats and mittens? Has your yarn changed from silk or cotton to wool, superwash or heavier cottons? Not really, I am an avid sock knitter, good knitting for all seasons!! I have made some fingerless mitts though in honor of the cold weather. Next week I'll be thinking about knitting warmer things though when we dip below zero!! brrrr......

One Of Those Days...

OK, so I am a public health nurse and we have a mobile medical unit at work that we use to take to outlying areas to do WIC and immunizations,etc. So this morning I was supposed to take it out for a WIC clinic 50 miles away. Everything that could go wrong did! First the mobile would not start, dead battery. Then the generators would not work, so we got them fixed, we take off. We start out of town and I notice that we need gas so we turn around and head to the station. We get there (it's one of those card lock systems) the driver card that I brought says invalid!!! So a co-worker brings us a card that works. We get gas and on the road again (we are supposed to be there by now). We get about 10 miles out and the road turns to ice!! OK at this point I'm thinking that it's just not in the cards for us to get to Post or Paulina today so we turned around and went back to the office. Let's hope the rest of the day is better!!!

Cocoa Swap Scavenger Hunt

1. Who's favorite animal is an Otter? Criquette
2. Name someone who prefers whipped cream with their hot cocoa: Alex E.
3. Find 3 people who live outside of the United States: Alex E., Ana Sofia, Tricia R.
4. Name a fan of Harry Potter: Lesley
5. Name someone who crochets: Alice A.
6. Name someone who DOES NOT have a healthy supply of notions: Ana Sofia, Clarissa
7. Name someone who has NOT put up their questionnaire yet (just put a date with your answer in case they put it up after seeing their name listed somewhere ;-) )Emily H-K 1/8
8. Who likes to have Kahlua, Baileys, or Peppermint Schnapps in their cocoa?
Annemarie M.
9. Name someone who knits fingerless gloves as a 'quick knit': Rachel C.
10.Name someone who's looking forward to gardening this spring. Michelle
11.Who's favorite way to drink cocoa is with a gorgeous Frenchman, while overlooking the eiffel tower from a French Cafe? (I'm right there with you... well at the table next to yours!): Kris L.
12.Name someone who's favorite animal is NOT a dog or house cat: Heather P., clarissa R.
13. Name someone who's favorite treat is NOT chocolate. Alice A.
14. Who plays Candyland? Criquette
15. Name someone who DOESN'T get the winter blahs: Criquette

Cocoa Swap Questions

Cocoa:
1. What is your favorite way to drink cocoa? Prepared with milk; from home made recipe or store bought? hmm, haven't had home made before, maybe I'm missing out, In a tea cup, or big mug? big mug!!
2. Marshmallows or whipped cream? marshmallows

Yarn/Knitting/Crochet
1. What is your favorite type of yarn? sock yarn in any color
2. Do you knit or crochet (or both)? Knit, haven't learned to crochet, maybe someday
3. What are your favorite type of needles, would you like to try something new? I like the bamboo best but I'll try anything new
4. Do you have a healthy supply of notions? Not sure what a healthy supply is, but I have a handful of things
5. What one thing do you keep thinking you need to buy for your knitting habit (outside of yarn)? well, I wanted a winder and a swift but hubby got me that for Christmas, so I don't have anything else, at least not yet!
6. What is your favorite 'quick knit/crochet' pattern (quick gratification)the London Beanie was quick and easy so I guess that

Miscellaneous
1. What is your favorite thing to do in the Winter? watch football
2. What is your favorite animal? my Cat
3. Do you get the 'winter blahs'? not too bad
4. What is your favorite way to beat the blahs? at home curled up with my knitting and a cuppa something (coffee/cocoa) and watching football
5. What is the thing you are most looking forward to this spring? all of the trees and flowers coming back to life
6. What are your favorite treats? I am addicted to popcorn, I try to stay away from sugar
7. What is your favorite board game? hmmm, I guess Sorry, we used to play that all the time
8. Do you have any children (furry or human)? yes 1 cat and 2 kids
9. Do you have any allergies or special considerations you partner should know about?nope