sheep in the city

SSRP Beta Box has landed!!

Do you want to peek insidethe box? I know you do!!! Wow! How fun is it to come home from work and see a HUGE box on your porch that you know is filled with yarn!! I was a little bit excited to say the least. The loot was awesome...lots of Rowan, A Philosopher's Wool Sweater Kit (that just might need to stay with me), books and mags, and a ton of fun yarn! Now comes the hard part of deciding what I'll keep. I am going to mail the box off Thursday morning for sure, so I have one more day to think about it! A big thanks goes out to Jenn over at MonkeyKnits for organizing this whole thing!!

**I finally took a picture of what I took out of the box! Click hereto see for yourself!

That wasn't the only knitting item I received in the mail...I also got my Meathead Kit.

What's a meathead you ask? Go check it out at Stitch Marker's blog! This seems like the best time to be a knitter! There is so much going on...knitalongs, secret pals, fiber art installations, yarn redistribution, you name it and some blog has it! A lot of my friends think that I'm crazy...but I love being a knitter!

Knitting Kickoff at DCC

About a year and a half ago I started going to a new church called Denver Community Church. Right away I felt at home, there really is no other way to describe it! I can be a shy person when I am put into new situations, so I decided to jump in with both feet, and I asked if they thought anyone would be interested in learning to knit! From there "Knit Nights" were born! Many people came and went over the last year...giving knitting a try...a few have stayed...props to RayLynn, Katie, and Meghan!! We would meet twice a month at a fun coffee shop called Stella's. There is something so cool about getting together and knitting in public (notice button on sidebar,thanks Missa!) that makes people stop and talk to you, it's great! So friday night was the second kickoff night, gearing up for the Fall. The first night, no one, and I do mean no one, showed up! I didn't take it personally, but I also struggled because I didn't understand why people don't get into this as much as me! I got over that pretty quickly though...because everybody showed up the second night! Whoo hoo!! It made my heart glad! Only two of the girls had knit before, so I recruited my mom and RayLynn to help out with the hands on stuff. Overall the night went smoothly and I had a great time! Watch out world there are new knitters on the loose!

I leave you with a picture of me teaching...I never realized how fun it is to teach people something you are passionate about! What a fun night, awww, yeah...new knitting buds!!

Change on the way to Klaralund

I had decided to use Noro Kureyon from my stash to knit Klaralund...but the allure of Silk Garden was too much for me! I gave in, what can I say...I'm weak!! I love the color I chose, it's #87...bright and fun...two of my favorite words in the English language! I don't know what it is about this sweater, but I am so excited to knit it up!! I love the neckline, I love the flare at the cuffs, the stripes are so fun...needless to say I'm getting antsy about waiting to start...but I need to show that I indeed do have a little willpower. So Sep.11th it is, official start time here in Denver!

Here it is, color #87 in all it's glory. My apologies for the bad lighting:)

Harry Potter, with a dash of Salt Peanuts

Updates, get your updates here! Salt Peanuts, oh how I love thee! This sweater, though not very far along, is knitting up so nicely! I have enjoyed working with the Rowan Cork, and I highly recommend everyone giving it a try. It's soft and stretchy, and the stitches lay so pretty all in their little rows! I don't have to beg, twist, or stretch...they just go where they are supposed to. Take a closer look. That's my kinda project.

Poor Harry has not been getting the attention that he deserves. Three pattern repeats done, 11 to go...what else can I say? Here he is...what do ya think?

Teaching others...

From August 2000-2003 I worked at a residential treatment facility with teenage girls. It was a huge growing experience for me, and it was the best 3 years of my life so far. I lived and ran a house, 24/7, with up to 18 teenagers and about 12 college graduates who were their "big sisters". At some point during those 3 years, to save my sanity, I learned to knit...and the rest is history! Since I left over a year ago, I still go back occasionally to teach people to knit, and that's how I spent my Saturday night. It was really fun! I love to see the light dawn for people who have no knowledge about the knitting process. It reminds me why I love it so much. I love to create with my own two hands. Knitting has not only brought a lot of fun hats, sweaters, and scarves into my life, it has provided a way "in", if you will, with people that wasn't there for me before. I would be riding the lite-rail to school and strangers will come up to me and start conversations. People want to know what I'm making, what yarn I'm using, and they want to feel it. An older gentleman stopped me the other day when he saw me knitting socks and told me his mother used to make him socks and it made him happy to see a young girl doing that. Awww! How cute is that! Then there is the world of knitting blogs, which has helped me make many new friends. I have much more confidence in my knitting skills due to all the positive feedback I get in my comments. So thank you to all of you who read and comment! You know who you are! My advice to anyone who loves to knit, is to pass it on!!

This is my goofy friend RayLynn modeling a few of my finished projects that I brought as examples to show the girls. I taught her to knit about a year ago and she is my #1 student! She's the best!!

Knitting Update??!

Where does the time go? It seems like there are not enough hours in the day! I have been working on my squares for the 81 Squares of Love project...hopefully I will finish them this weekend and post pics soon. It has been interesting working with beads and sequins for the first time. I'm also making some chemo caps for a foundation my friends Whitney and Allison started in honor of their little sister, Kendall, who was my friend as well. Do you have any favorite chemo cap patterns? I would love to try some different ones out. Let me know! This was just a quick update...more knitting and pics later...this weekend maybe.

A Bucket and a Baby!!

We now interrupt your regularly scheduled knitting discussion for an important baby announcement...Alice Lauren was born yesterday at 4:40 pm. I'm an aunt!!! My sister and I are about 20 months apart, and have always been close. We have houses just down the street from each other. Do you see the pattern? She's my best friend! I was able to be in the room while she was having contractions, but left when the delivery was at hand so that she and her husband could share that moment together. (If I'm honest with myself, I don't think that I would have wanted to be in the room, that is some scary stuff.) I was in awe of the whole process though. My sister was so strong and Drew, her husband, was so patient and gentle with her...wow, all I can say is wow! Alice is is the most precious baby, so teeny tiny! I'll leave you with a few pictures...because I don't need to tell you how cute she is when you can see for yourself!!

Let's say it all together now...aaawwwwwww!!!

If you are really into this and just have to see more pictures of my family and baby Alice you can visit my sister and drew's homepage!

Now back to your regularly scheduled knitting discussion...For months I have been reading about them...and now every time I turn around someone else is makin' one! A bucket hat that is! (Babies too though, it seems like everyone I know is pregnant) I decided just before the cut off to try my hand at knitting a Bucket O' Chic care of the very talented Bonnie Marie and the knitalong hosted by that crazy little rabbit we all know and love Fluffa. So I dug around in my stash and came up with one skein of Recycled silk from Mango Moon and off I went. The silk yarn is really bizzare to knit with...bizarre good, not bizarre bad. It's soft but as you knit it, (this is hard to explain) it gets thicker. I can't really describe it, but it makes a very sturdy fabric. I was pleased with the end result. That's the important thing, right, that I'm happy with it since I have to wear it?! The one draw back was that the brim seems to not stick out as much as some of the other hats I've seen, I'm going to try to block it and see if that helps. Overall this was a quick and easy knit, I'm thinking?.....christmas buckets anyone?

Klaralund here I come!

I signed up for the Klaralund along today over at Froggy Knits .She is hosting this knitalong with Wendy of Wendy Knits fame. It should be great fun, and the sweater is just beautiful. A group of us here in Denver from the DenverKnits yahoo group are going to be knitting along together on this sweater. Our kickoff date is September 11. We are going to get together and have coffee at a local knit shop, compare color choices, look at swatches, and have a good time of course! Luckly I had enough Noro Kureyon in color #95, in my stash. I've been waiting to find just the right pattern to knit with this yarn. I love being excited about using up stash yarn. It's great.

Noro is such an amazing yarn. Seriously...I love the bright colors and the way it stripes up all by itself. I think that's what makes it so fun to knit with, I always wanted to make it to the next color! Previously I have made two felted christmas stockings out of Kureyon, they turned out great. I'm hoping that I can substitute Kureyon for Silk Garden though. It will be a trick to see if it will drape the right way because Klaralund looks very drappy in her picture. What do you think?

I think that September will be here before I know it so I need to get rolling on my other UFO's. And then it's next stop Klaralund!

R2 and Koigu

Last week I recieved some gift certificates in the mail, to be used at my favorite local yarn store. (A Knitted Peace...if you visit Littleton,CO it's a must!) Some people might save them for a rainy day, or a month where they are low on yarn or money. But nope, not me. I barely lasted a week before they burned a hole in my pocket and I was running to the shop. Ever since the new R2 yarn came out, I have wanted to make something with it. Especially when super knitters like Jenn and Jennifer (look at her finished projects/R2 paper hoodie) with their oh-so-cute paper hoodies! This blogging thing is both a blessing and a curse...I find too many fun things I want to make! So...back to the gift certificates. I went into the shop looking for R2 yarn and was so sad when I walked in and didn't see the display. It was my lucky day though, because they had just boxed it up to make room for fall stuff...and it was 20% off. Whoo hoo! It gets better though, because I was debating on how many balls to buy to make a hooded sweater big enough for me (the models in the mag are teeny tiny) she gave me 30% if I bought the whole bag! I didn't even hesitate. I walked out with a bag full of yarn and a credit left at the store. It feels so good when you leave a shop with lots of stuff and haven't spent a single penny!

Here's the loot and my pathetic little swatch.

I have also been working on these little goodies. They are fingerless gloves for my mom made with one skein of Koigu. Bonus! You don't find many projects that use just one skein of this yummy yarn. The pattern is called Eric's Glovelets from Green Mountain Spinnery. They are actually cabled fingerless gloves. I was feeling lazy and decided to not do the cables, especially since Koigu is so pretty all on its own. I am knitting them on two circular needles, which is new to me. It took me a little bit to get used to it, but overall I like working with them and for this project find it easier than DPN's. That's my mom modeling the half finished second glove. She always has cold hands, so this way she can wear gloves even while she's knitting and her hands will be a little warmer!

What kind of yarn am I?

You are Cashmere.
You are sophisticated and luxe. You can often be
found in high-end boutiques and hobnobbing with
the upper crust. You are one of the beautiful
people and you don't let anyone forget it!


What kind of yarn are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Mmmm...cashmere...I have yet to ever knit with it, but I have a feeling it would be lovely. I love these tests!! Let me know what some of you turned out to be!

Vacation part II...

When I arrived home from Boston, I quickly drove home from the airport, grabbed some more knitting stuff and my NetFlix (which I couldn't live w/out...forget Blockbuster) and headed up the mountain to Vail for a small family reunion. Everyone else had already arrived, my grandparents, my aunt and uncle and there 4 adult children. And my immediate family. Knitting was the hot topic all weekend...my grandma recently started knitting again, and my cousins all wanted to learn, so much knitting fun was had by all.
I knitted mainly on my Harry Potter scarf. It's easy and very mindless since you just keep knitting around and around and around. There is a cute knitshop in Minturn, Colorado called The Yarn Studio It's always a "must stop and shop" when I'm in Vail.

This picture is of my grandma teaching my cousin how to knit. She is one amazing lady! She just retired last year from running a preschool full-time! I want to be just like her when I'm a grandma!! She's like super woman to me...seriously...she can do anything. Make curtains, done! Wonderful cook (even though she hates it), done! Knit, done! and the list could go on and on and on. I think you catch my drift though. She's awesome, and I love my grandma...I can't wait until October, when she and my grandpa are moving out here!

This pic is to show you that yes, I actually do knit!! This is where I was for a number of days. Sitting on the comfy couch, watching whatever was on, and knitting on Harry Potter! Vacation is over and I have to head back to the real world, ugh. It sure was a great vacation though.

Vacation part I...

Vacation Part 1:
It always takes being away for me to appreciate being at home! I love to travel, but nothing feels better than that first night back home. Jesse, my cat made his opinion known that a week was too long to be away! He followed me everywhere I went the first 36 hours I was back. Here he is sitting in my fabulous new chair that I got for my bedroom, it's a big comfy knitting chair!

My flight out to Boston was fairly uneventful, I worked on my Harry Potter scarf (I was hoping that the airline wouldn't seize my knitting for some freakish reason, I've read horror stories about that happening, but I chatted with a fellow knitter on the flight and we both had chosen to use wooden vs. metal for the trip). So I was seated next to the most precious 3 year old and her dad. Across the isle was his wife and his other two daughters who were 6 and 7 years old. His wife was also holding a three month old little boy. When I sat done I was sure that it was going to be a miserable time, but the baby didn't cry at all, and all the girls, including his wife, had never flown before. So take off and landing was really excting for them. It was kind of fun experiencing someones first flight! The days that followed were filled with lots of walking, historical sites, packing (that's the reason I went to Boston...to move a friend home), more walking, and more site-seeing. The city is a lovely one, with
beautiful public gardens and the history is everywhere.

To borrow one of my favorite Boston terms...it was wicked hot out there! Good Lord...you'd think growing up in Missouri would have prepared me, but Colorado has throughly spoiled me for any other part of the country!

Knit Shops...I wasn't able to see as many shops as I had hoped,only two, but I did ok considering I was along for the ride on this trip. I tagged along with my roommate and her family.
I visited Arabella Yarns in Salem, Mass. A bizarre little town, but a fun shop. I found some really cool big needles(size 15 and 17)that I just couldn't pass up. They are made in Rhode Island by a company called Serendipity Designs. I have a whole collection of fun knitting needles. I find it is an easy thing to pick up in my travels, and they are fun to decorate with. They had a great poncho knit up as a sample, it was basically two aran rectangles sewn together, but I loved the aran patterns they had chosen. Well...I was super disappointed to when she wouldn't sell the pattern to me. You get the pattern for free when you purchase the yarn. Aarrgghh!! I wasn't in the market to buy yarn since I just brought a carry-on suitcase with me. Oh well, that's the way it goes...i'll have to keep my eyes open for an aran poncho...anyone have any suggestions/favorite patterns??
The second shop I went to was brand new, and had only been open for three weeks!! It's called Newbury Yarns (on Newbury Street, imagine that:) and the owner was really personable and sweet. I found one of the cute sheepy needle gauges featured in the Fall 2004 Interweave Knits made by Goose Pond. And believe it or not...that's all the knitting stuff I bought! 2 pairs of needles and a guage tool.
Oh....but wait the coolest thing purchased on this trip was my new Swatch Watch!!! It brings me back to my Jr. High days. They were filled with Swatch Watches, Pop Swatches, Converse High Tops (pink and green, so of course I had to wear one pink and one green one...I was soooo cool:), splatter painted everything, followed by florescent everything. The watch has little white sheep all over it! Of course I had to get it! The face of the watch has 2 sheep jumping and it says sweet dreams in a bunch of different languages around the sides. Upon closer inspection, I saw one little black sheep on the wrist band. Too cute! Sorry for the crappy picture, my camera is acting funky.

Hopefully Genia's mom can share some of her pictures from the trip, so that you can actually see me knitting in public! I do knit,I don't just buy yarn, I swear!!! I'm moving right along with my Harry Potter scarf, Genia is still in the lead, but in my defense, I have been working on multiple projects!! I finished a Christmas stocking made of Noro yarn. (I'll post a pic soon) The second half of my vacation will have to wait until tomorrow. Until then...

Strawberry Cutie

This started out as a strawberry hat for my sister's baby, Alice (she's due in 2 weeks). I started it on the drive to a shower for her in Missouri. I was about 8 rows from being finished when we arrived at the shower. I would have finished if I hadn't "accidently" fallen asleep in the car. Oops!! So I did what I always do, which might be tacky, but I wrapped up my unfinished gift and gave it to her anyway:) I only do this with family and really close friends...so if you ever receive an unfinished gift from me, know that you are very loved and very special! Anyway...before we left Kansas City, my cousin's wife Christina went into labor and had a baby girl. So with the promise that I would make another hat for her baby, my sister let me give the now finished hat to baby Alyssa. My cousin, Shawn, has been promising (since June!!) to send me a picture of said baby wearing the strawberry hat. So here it is...can everybody say...Aaaawwww what a cutie!!

And one more...because she's sooo cute!