sheep in the city

Why not?! This one is kind of fun!

Since I have no pictures for you today, here are some random facts about me!!! Or should I say about "meme"?!

4 jobs you have had:
•Bookseller and resident costume wearer at Barnes and Noble. Oh yes, I got to dress up as Lily, Arthur, the Mouse from "If you give a mouse a cookie", and the Stinky Cheese Man!!
•Assistant Manager at Blockbuster...not my finest hour, but can you feel the power? I can't say I've ever wanted to wear khaki pants and a blue shirt again. They've been ruined for me.
•House Director at a residential facility for teenage girls. I lived in a house with up to 18 teens for three years...this was by far my most challenging and yet rewarding job!!
•Pre-school teacher

4 movies you could watch over and over:
•Pride and Prejudice, the BBC version
•Finding Nemo
•When Harry Met Sally
•any of the Harry Potter movies
This is just the tip of the ice berg for me...I love movies!!

4 TV shows you love to watch:
•absoulutely obsessed with Project Runway
•ER
•Gray's Anatomy
•Iron Chef America
•again...this list could go on and on and on...I have at least 30 season passes on my TiVo. That's a little ridiculous...but oh well:)

4 places you have been on vacation: (nope...I've never left North America)
•Disney World...the greatest place on earth. I love it there. I want to go back as an adult really bad, I haven't been there since I was 12. Does anybody want to have a knitting meet-up in Florida on Main Street at Disney World?! Oh man...that would be so fun!!
•The Bahamas...again, when I was 12. This was a Disney cruise that my grandparents took me on.
•Kauai, Hawaii. I went there for 10 days with my family back in 2000. It was the greatest vacation that I've ever been on. The house we stayed at had a magnificent view of the Ocean and was right on a golf course.
•Las Vegas with 3 of my good girl friends! We drove my dad's convertible to Vegas and stayed at the Venetian...by far the wildest trip I went on.

4 websites you visit daily:
•Bloglines, so that I can daily check on what the rest of the knit-blogging world is doing!!
•Gmail
•iTunes
•The Yarn Harlot

4 of your favorite foods:
•Macaroni and Cheese...I have to agree with Michelle...Kraft is the cheesiest!
•Kettle Corn, even better if you can get it from a fair and it's made in a big kettle!!! Mmmm.
•Cherry Coke
•anything with chocolate and peanut butter...preferably a Reeses Peanut Butter Cup!

4 places you would rather be right now:
•Paris
•Prince Edward Island
•San Francisco
•Sitting by a pool, sipping on a fruity drink, chatting and knitting with my closest friends.

4 bloggers you are tagging:
•Take it if you want it!!! I'd love to get to know some of you better!

Knitting Olympics and Injury Reserves

I have caved. I have given in to peer pressure! I am a joiner, what can I say?! I'm thinking about joining and being a part of Team USA in the Knitting Olympics! Am I crazy to try and knit something to completion in just 16 days? Will I drive myself crazy? Probably. Will I finish? I hope so. The good thing is...if I'm crazy, there are a lot of other crazy knitters out there too! When the Yarn Harlot speaks, the masses listen!

So, now it's decision time! What should I attempt to knit that will be challenging and at the same time something that I can accomplish? These are the options (and the projects that I already have yarn for in the stash!):

•Ene from ScarfStyle- knit with Lorna's Laces "Helen's Lace"
•Charlotte's Web #2- (because I'm going to have the first one done any day now!)- knit at a bulkier guage with Noro Silk Garden. This might be too easy, as it's a lot bigger than a real Charlotte's Web.
•I don't think that I want/should knit a garment because I usually don't do so well at getting everything seamed together and it has to be completely put together and blocked. Yikes!

Does anyone have any other suggestions? What are you going to make for the Olympics if you are participating?

**will insert picture as soon as I can**
Why am I on the Injury reserves list, you ask? Well, about a 2 weeks ago I developed this weird dry spot on my finger. It's right where I wrap my yarn around my finger! Cynthia thinks that it's a knitting callus...ha! That's a sure sign that I've been knitting too much lately!! It doesn't hurt all the time, but it doesn't appear to be going away. Weird, huh?

My computer is going in to the Apple store today, Drew says that it is officially a hardware problem. Dang. So...if anyone wants/needs to get a hold of me through email, they can email me at: sheepinthecity AT gmail DOT com . I'll be checking this address a couple times a day at work and a couple times through out the weekend. Everyone cross your fingers that whatever is wrong with my computer is easily remedied!

Do you believe in the Fairy Yarn Mother?

Because I do!!! This is what my secret pal has been calling herself! My Fairy Yarn Mother! She is a clever one. I ran by my mailbox on my way to my sister's house tonight and there was a fun surprise inside!! Yippee! I needed a little pick-me-up after a long somewhat boring (therefore tiring) day at work! Lookee, lookee:

*Click on the picture to see what was inside!!*
Everything was wrapped up in fun tissue paper with stickers and yarn! I have to say I loved the stickers on this package the best! It's a little piece of California...which is where the package was mailed from...hmmm?! Onto the contents...a book of really cool African photos and interiors of buildings (did she know that I dream of going to Africa?! I don't remember mentioning this lately?! Weirdo-rama!). Some fun pink soap, knitting notecards, a little pink sparkley magnet, a pink stripey notepad for my fridge, and there was a Reese's Peanut Butter cup which is always a good thing! Thank you Fairy Yarn Mother! Everytime I see that name it makes me think that one of these mornings I'm going to wake up with yarn under my pillow:) It could happen, right?

...and still no computer!

My brother-in-law is working so hard, I really appreciate it...and I'm sure he finds it annoying that I'm constantly standing over his shoulder watching him, silently asking him, "is it done yet, is it done yet?". Well, guess what? It's not. He thought that it was done last night...but it's not. Aargh. I can't post any pictures...double aargh. So I'm just going to ramble a bit.

On the knitting front, I've been alternating working on Charlotte and my scarf for the ISE. I really need to get the scarf done soon.The deadline is in February sometime. I guess I should look into that and find out the exact deadline, huh? Charlotte is coming along...the rows still feel never-ending, but it's getting there. I can't wait until I change to the last color! In my opinion I saved the best color for last, bright pink!

In other news, I had a fun night last night. I got to knit at a bridal boutique while I watched Michelle try on wedding dresses! It doesn't get better than that! The cool thing is that I met her through this blog and now we knit on a regular basis together and who would have thought that I'd be helping her pick out a wedding dress?! So fun!!! If you haven't done it yet...run over and congratulate her on her recent picking of a date!!

I guess I'm not in much of a rambling mood...let's all cross our fingers that tomorrow is the day that my computer will be fixed?! If you have left a comment about sending yarn for the afghan...be patient with me, I'll get back with you soon!!

We interrupt your normally scheduled blog...

...because my poor computer, Blanche, is feeling a little under the weather today. Apparently , I've been told by my computer-whiz/knitting-whiz of a brother-in-law that there is a problem with the hard drive. That's when I slowly back away from the computer and let him handle it. He mentioned things about a kernel and stress and some other big computer words that I didn't understand. What a bummer! He thinks that it will be fixed by tomorrow...so if you have emailed me in the last 24 to 36 hours this is why I haven't responded!

In other more exciting news....I won something! Not just something, it is handknit Latvian mittens from Stephanie, aka the Yarn Harlot! I can hardly believe it?! Seriously, go check out these mittens. I, and thousands of other knitters, (okay...so it's really 903, but who's counting?!) have been following and participating in her Knitters Without Borders campaign. Well...these are the mittens that she knit for the cause. I still can't believe that they are going to be living at my house?! I'll be sure to take a picture of myself modelling them when they arrive:)

We'll be back to your normally scheduled knit blogging *hopefully* tomorrow!

I did a bad, bad thing...

...but I have to say it was for a good cause. Not that my actions are justified by that but what can I say?! I guess I have no willpower. When you combine 3 skeins of GGH Touch Me Yarn, proceeds going to the Knit For Her Cure cancer research fund, and the fact that it was bubblegum pink AND in a little pink bag, what was I to do? The whole kit was $32. That's the price of 2 skeins of Touch Me normally. Even I can do the math on that one...that equals 3 for the price of 2. My friends and I joked before we bagan this whole thing that we would likely break the stashalong if we came across Touch Me and it was on sale. This was kind of a sale?! Right? Or maybe it was just a "souvenir" of Arizona? Hmmm...I'm trying to just be honest here. I need to check with Kim, the leader of the Stash-along to see if I'm kicked out of the group. I'm pretty sure that I will be. I'm not sure what happens now. But, if I was going to break my 3 month fast...at least I did it up good with a yarn like touch me. I'm going to cast on this weekend:) It's soooo soft:)

My big idea...

...well, it's a little bit my idea, but mostly I'm blatently copying my friend Joanne! A few weeks ago I finally got my hands on an afghan pattern called "The Rambling Rows". I've mentioned before that I had been looking for a while now, and every shop I'd go into would tell me, "oh yeah, we have that pattern, but we're out of it right now!".

So, when I saw it at Cotton Fields I snapped it up! Where I am I going with all this? OK...it all started when Joanne told me that she was going to knit up a friendship afghan. She asked different people to donate a ball of yarn to her afghan that would represent them. You can see the square that is "me" in her January 11th post, I'm the pink (who would have guessed?) #10 square! Cool idea, huh? I thought so. This got me thinking about an afghan of my own. What I want to do is make an afghan that will represent all the people that I've met through my blog! I could have met you in person, or only know you through my comments! If you haven't ever left a comment and you read my blog regularly then you can participate too! Now is the time to introduce yourself! Here's what I need:

•a whole or leftover skein of worsted weight yarn (the yardage doesn't matter in that the squares are all different sizes!!). If the yarn is a little bit thinner than worsted weight that's okay, since I can double up the yarn and knit with it that way!
•any color yarn will do...it can be a color that represents you, or the colors of your blog, or just your favorite color in general. I'm not picky:)
•Your name and blog name so that when I'm knitting it I'll know which square goes with who! Plus your return address because I'm cooking up a little something for those of you that are going to participate!
•With the leftover yarn that I have at the end of this endeavor, I'm going to kick off my charity knitting of the new year. I'm checking into starting a knitting club at the retirement center down the street from my house and if that doesn't work I'm going to see about teaching knitting to long term patients at the local hospital. (Thanks to Jennifer for the great idea!!)

If you are interested in doing this, email me or leave me a comment and I'll send you my snail mail address!! This is going to be fun!!

Color makes all the difference

I got together with some of the girls from my knit group this past Sunday to knit on our Fair Isle Jazz scarves. Check out the array of colors!! Can you guess who's who?!

Isn't it amazing how just changing the color combinations can completely change the look of your scarf?! I can't wait to see how these progress. I am enjoying my scarf...but I have to say I'm loving the way that Wanda's is looking. I don't have much time to post tonight, but I'm hoping to post about an interesting idea I have in the next day or two. I'm back in Arizona, but this time it's for work, so I'm going to be on the run for the next few days.

Miles of knitting left to go...

•Charlotte: I have reached that point in Charlotte where I feel like it's not getting any bigger and I just keep knitting and knitting and knitting. I love it, don't get me wrong, but at this point I want to see it finished. I am on the 4th color (out of 5) and I have 41 rows left. Sounds like not that much, huh? Well...you have to factor in that there are now over 200 stitches on the needle. The more I type this and read it the more I sound like a whiney knitter. I hate that. I'm going to stop now.

•Fair Isle Jazz: As I have mentioned before I am knitting this project with a bunch of girls from my knitting group. I have done a little bit of Fair Isle knitting in the past, but I've been wanting to practice my technique for a while and thought that this would be a good way to do it. I knit the striped section on my trip and now I'm waiting to start the fair isle section when we get together this weekend!!

•Kate: I'm so close to being done. I just need to attach all the parts! It's my goal this weekend to finish this one and deliver it to Alice. If you haven't checked out her blog lately, you need to! She is the cutest girl around!!

•Twisted Rib Handwarmers: I started these on my last night in Arizona and haven't touched them since then. They knit up really quickly and I like the way they look...but I have been working on Charlotte for the most part any chance I get. There isn't much to take a picture of so you'll have to wait to see this one.

•ISE Scarf: Last, but not least, I'm working on my scarf for the International Scarf Exchange. I had started to knit a Backyard Leaves scarf out of Rowan Felted Tweed, but I just wasn't liking the look of it. So, I got some Rio de la Plata yarn and I like working with this much better!! It's going really quickly and I love knitting this pattern!

I'm looking forward to being home this weekend. I desperately need to clean my house and spend some quality time with my kitty. I also need to have some hang out time with my friends RayLynn and Genia, who I feel like I haven't seen in forever! I didn't remember that Monday was a day off of work for MLK until my co-workers reminded mea couple days ago. Bonus! This should be a great weekend. I have one last trip on Tuesday, this one is work related, but I'm going back down to Arizona for a leadership/board meeting. This one is pretty quick, leaving on Tuesday, flying back on Friday. Then I'm not going anywhere for a couple of months! This fall has been crazy and very unlike any other year...I never travel this much!? I think that since August I have been on 6 or 7 different trips. While it's fun to go to different places, it really makes me appreciate my home and routine. Have a great weekend everyone!!

Amy and me.

I was able to hook up with Amy while I was down in Arizona last Saturday. She took me to a great little coffee shop in Mesa called Coffee Talk. I totally forgot to take a picture of the funky teapot and teacup chandelier that they had hanging in their shop...it was so cool. It was something that I saw and then thought, "I could totally make one of those". Anywhoo, here we are:

Amy is holding the bag that I made her. The fabric was just perfect...it was orange and pink and had monkey's all over it!! This had to be a quick post, I'm swamped at work...hopefully tonight I won't just crash, I'll actually take some pictures of the knitting that I've done! This is a knitting blog, right??

SP7 Q&A

1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand?
•I think that for the most part I love working with nice natural fibers, but Red Heart and Lion Brand have their place in my stash. (read afghans and baby stuff?! Gotta love that you can throw that acrylic stuff in the washing machine!!)

2. Do you spin? Crochet?
•No...not yet. I'm resisting the whole spinning thing because I just don't have the time. I'm thinking that I'll take a crochet class soon though so that I can do some decorative edges on my finished knitted items.

3. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
•I have lots and lots and lots of needles. I store my circulars in a little wooden divided box (hard to picture, but it works), I store my straights in various pottery jars, my grandmas old tin water jug, and other various tins. I have a couple different travel fabric needle rolls which I love...I'm still waiting to find the perfect pink one.

4. How long have you been knitting? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
•I have been knitting for 4 years in March. I hate to call myself advanced...that just seems weird, but I have done alot of different techniques like fair isle, intarsia, lace, and cabling. So...I guess advanced?!

5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
•most definitely...and it can be found here!

Click on the word more to read the rest...this was such a wordy post, I didn't want to bore everyone!!

6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)
•I am pretty picky about smelly stuff. I only like citrus smells...especially grapefruit, anything else just gives me a headache.

7. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
•I have what you call sweet teeth! Ha! I love anything that is chocolate and peanut butter. I love, love, love Haribo gummy bears and Haribo gummy grapefruit slices.

8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do?
•I paint when I have the time...and sadly this has been less and less this year. I am learning to sew, my grandma just gave me her old sewing machine. That has been really fun! I'm also learning to quilt and just bought the first supplies to make my first lap quilt using Kaffe Fasset fabric, I'm super excited about it!

9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
•I have pretty eclectic taste. I like pretty much anything except for rap and really twangy country music. My current favorites are Frank Sinatra, U2, Foo Fighters, Tori Amos, Ben Folds, Ben Lee, and the Killers.

10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand?
•I like bright colors...but I'm a pink girl for sure. I love pink and brown, or pink and orange, or pink and green. The only colors that I really dislike are taupe or tan. Yuck.

11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
•I am single with no children. I do have an adorable niece, Alice, that is featured on my blog on a regular basis (since she and her parents live down the street from me!!). I have a ginormous cat named Jesse that I love to pieces. He's not fat though...he's just big boned!!

12. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
•I wear all of the above...but I've recently come to the decision that Poncho's ar not my friend. I have a couple that I just think make me look extra wide and that's not a good thing.

13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with?
•I have to say I love working with Koigu and Lorna's Laces the best. As far as what I've used for the most knitting projects...I'd have to go with Brown Sheep. I haven't used Blue Sky Alpaca for anything yet...but it's on my list of yarn to purchase after my 3 month drought is up. Have you felt that stuff? It's amazing!!!

14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
•I'm not a huge fan of a ton of "furry" yarns. I think that novelty yarn has its place, but I'd rather see it as an accent rather than the focal point!

15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s?
•I am really getting into working on my Charlotte's Web (my first lace project) and it has me thinking about other lace projects that I can do. I want to start getting some of the designs that are in my head out and onto paper and actually knitting them! That's a big goal for me this year.

16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
•I love making scarves because I love wearing scarves. I love shawls, lacy or plain. I have knit 14 pairs of felted clogs, so I feel like I could knit those in my sleep! I want to knit more garments in the coming year. I also love making bags!

17. What are you knitting right now?
•Charlotte's Web out of Koigu, scarf for the ISE (see my sidebar), twisted rib glovelets, Fair Isle Jazz out of Cascade 220, Kate from the latest Knitty out of Brown Sheep leftovers, and that's all I'll mention for now:) There are more, but these are the active ones!

18. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
•Absolutely! I love anything that someone else created by hand. I truly appreciate the time and effort that went into it.

19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles?
•I use circualrs more than straights, but both have their place and uses for different projects.

20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
•My first choice is always metal, preferably Addi's. Then I'd have to go with bamboo and in a pinch plastic. I'm not a huge fan of plastic needles at all. (only as a decoration!)

21. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
•Yes, they are the best knitting investment I've made, and I think that every knitter needs both in their house. It's soooo convenient! I have a wooden swift...and I've recently thought about buying the metal one too...because I'm psycho and I like to have different versions of the same thing. Does that make sense?

22. How did you learn to knit?
•I learned to knit almost 4 years ago at a local shop called A Knitted Peace. I took a class with my mom, sister, brother, and my friend Genia. I've been hooked ever since!

23. How old is your oldest UFO?
•Around three years old. If it doesn't get worked on soon...it's getting ripped!

24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird?
•I love cartoons. I love all the retro stuff that is back in circulation from when I was a kid. As far as characters go, I like Smurfs, Fraggle Rock, Muppets, classic disney movies (anything before pocahontas), Finding Nemo, Strawberry Shortcake (the original, not the updated version?!). I'm sure I could go on, but I won't!

25. What is your favorite holiday?
•Christmas for sure. But if I had to choose a second, it would be Haloween or Valentine's Day because they are candy holidays!!

26. Is there anything that you collect?
•Anything with the Eiffel Tower one it. I have an obsession with Paris and someday I'll actually make it over there! I also vintage postcards, fabric, and sewing notions. I'm kind of a pack rat...but in a good way. I love little bits of absurdity that other people might get rid of, but it's a treasure to me...and I'll use it in my art or as a decoration in my house.

27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
•None currently. I let my Rowan subscription lapse and I just haven't had a chance to order Interweave. That's probably my favorite one.

28. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on?
•Books: Anything off of my Amazon list. There is a book called Sensational Knitted Socks
by Charlene Schurch and I love the way it's laid out. They have directions written out for using 2 circulars, dpn's, and one other method that I can't remember right now. I just remember thinking it was very cool! I would love to get the first and fourth "A Treasury of Knitting Patterns" by Barbara G. Walker. (these are on the list as well) I have the 2nd and 3rd already. Honestly, I'm a total book person...I have hundreds of books at my house. I dream of one day owning a house that would have a library room in it with one of those ladders like you see in old movies. That would be so great...I can totally picture it in my head.
•Yarn: I hope to order some Socks that Rock yarn after my 3 month imposed yarn diet is over. I am loving all the Jaywalker socks that have been knit out of it! They have 2 particular colors that I am ga-ga over, Hard Rock and Rock Star. They are just so beautifully pink! I'd also like to find some of the Lorna's Laces shepherd sock yarn in the pink and brown colorway. My friend Cathi bought some last year and I loved it. I'm happy with any yarn though...I just looooove yarn.
•Needles: I do collect vintage needles of all varieties. They can be metal, plastic, bakelite, wooden, straight, circular, you name and I have some in a jar somewhere. These can be used to knit with and to decorate with!! :)

29. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
•I am taking a toe-up magic loop sock class in April that I'm very excited about. Right now I'm working on my Fair Isle technique. I am knitting a scarf...and then I'm going to restart my Poetry in Stitches sweater. I've thought about taking a crochet class at some point too.

30. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
•I am a sock knitter...I haven't become totally proficient at it, but I'm on my way. I'll have to get back to you on the foot measurements.

31. When is your birthday? (mm/dd)
•My birthday is June 14...that's Flag Day for all you American folks.

Quick post before flight time.

Here's my latest bag purchase:

**Click on the above picture to see a really cool feature about this bag!!!**
I am loving this bag...it was very affordable at $25. Look what will fit into this bag just perfectly?! (click on the pink words to see) Yep, that's my Fair Isle Jazz. I am headed home today, so I'll be posting more about my trip tomorrow. I'll also have some knitting project updates!

Yarn? We don't need no stinkin' yarn!

I have visited 3 yarn stores in the last 3 days...and I haven't bought ANY yarn!! Ladies of the stashalong, you'd be so proud of me! There were even sales at two of them! I'm kind of liking the feeling I have walking out with nothing...it makes me think that there were many times in the last few years where I would buy yarn just for the sake of buying yarn. But...to be completely honest I have been buying things for another stash that I have...my fabric stash! I have been looking for a certain quilt pattern called 'Yellow Brick Road' for a few years now. The shop I went to yesterday had it as well as the Kaffe Fasset fabric. I haven't seen the Kaffe Fasset fabrics at my local quilt store, so of course I had to pick some up!!!

These are "fat quarters". I only needed 12 of them to make a lap quilt, so that's what I purchased. (I may need to go back and get some more though to make a bag for myself!! Here are a few close-up pictures of the fabric. It's going to be all pink, orange, and green fabulous!! I can't wait to get home and start putting it together!

Kim, I hope buying needles is okay with the stashalong...because I desperately needed some Addi's to get gauge on my Fair Isle Jazz (of course I had the wrong size here with me!) and I found some metal teeny tiny DPN's! Now I can be just like you! Ha! If only I could finish a pair of socks as fast as you do I'd be set!! I have more to talk about...but I'm going to save that for a later post. As a teaser...I have decided to copy a friend of mine in a great project that she's doing! It's going to be tons of fun!!! Hope everyone's having a great weekend, I know that I am and I'm getting a lot of knitting done! Off to start a movie, knit some more, or maybe just take a nap.

Baby, it's warm outside!

Hello from Arizona! I made it down here all in one piece on my first flight with Southwest. Yesterday was just their second day to be flying out of Denver! Before I left town though I got a haircut. I've been letting it grow out (why? I'm not sure?!) and it just hasn't been cooperating lately. It wasn't really doing what I wanted it to and my solution was just to pull it back all the time. I made it through all the ugly painful short layers growing out stage so the stylist actually had something to work with. You can't really see the back, but there are more layers back there and it's slightly longer in front than back. Ta da! Here it is.

She was much more patient drying and difusing my curly hair. Can you believe how she got my curls to tame down?! I looked a little bit like goldilocks or Shirley Temple. Ha! Here's a funny shot of my mom and I that I took while I was trying to take a self-portrait. Enough about my hair...I need to get back to knitting!

**I'm able to receive email here, but I'm not set up to send mail out yet. I'll just answer any questions in the comments!!**

What? Knitting progress?

I have been working on a few projects over here at Sheep in the City and I just haven't had the time to blog about them. On my way home from Oklahoma a couple weeks ago I cast on for Kate (the kitty with pants!) from the latest issue of Knitty. This is destined to be a toy for Alice since she loves all kitty cats. Or as she calls them, "Mows".

I just need to attach all the arms, ears, and legs and add some eyes and she'll be done! I knit it all up fairly quickly and then stalled on the finishing. That's what I do...I'm hoping to change that this year. I need to finish and I do mean "finish", as in sew up, seam, and all the last little details, more projects! I used up some of my Lamb's Pride worsted scraps for this quick knit.

I've also been working on my Charlotte (I'm on the 3rd/4th alternating rows!) like a mad woman and my scarf for the International Scarf Exchange. I had planned on knitting the Backyard Leaves scarf for my pal, but I wasn't liking the look of it in the yarn that I had chosen so it came off the needles! I had many opinions on the subject, mostly ones that encouraged me to keep going and that it looked great, but I just wasn't feelin' the love! I knew in my bones that it would get down to the wire and it would be painful for me to work on it. Who wants to knit on something that they get no pleasure from? Not me! So, on Drought Day I bought some Rio De La Plata in the color Autumn Leaf to make a different scarf for her. It's already moving right along and I'm loving it...that's what I like to feel about an exchange project!

About two days before Christmas I decided to make a couple of the "sweater bags" from AlterKnits. (why do I always decide to make last minute projects?) I like the way they turned out...for the most part. One of the sweaters that I felted that said it was 100% wool decided to only felt in the middle! Ahh! (sorry mom...that one was for you! oops!) The ones for my grandma and my sister-in-law Jackee turned out great though. I used a Tweed sweater for my Grandma's bag and a blue striped sweater for Jackee's bag. I guess I should post these on Jenifer's Tote-along blog since I finished up some totes!!

Alrighty...that's all until I get to Arizona! Happy knitting everybody! Is it just me, or do you take way too many projects with you when you go out of town?! There is no way that I'm going to work and/or finish them all...but they are all packed and ready to go!

Projects I'm taking with me:

•Kate/Mow: attach arms, legs, and ears
•Charlotte's Web
•Fair Isle Jazz: I want to finish the first striped section so that when "we" (Cynthia, Wanda, Michelle, Marsha, Cassidy, and Judy...and anyone else who wants to join us!) get together to officially start I can dive right into the Fair Isle section!
•Wee Knits sweater that is almost done. I need to knit the sleeves and seam it up.
•Twisted Ribbed gloves out of my Soft Lux
•My so called scarf...for the ISE.

Do you think I'll have enough to work on?! :)

A New Year's to remember

First let me start by saying that I've made the decision to join Kim's Stashalong. What 's a stashalong involve you ask? It means that I'm not going to be buying any yarn for the next three months and I'll only knit from my stash. I know, this doesn't seem like it should be that difficult, right? Wrong. Visiting yarn shops and purchasing yarn is one of my favorite hobbies...and I think I'm pretty good at it?! :) But, I have a huge stash and I need to knit it up so this is my solution! Some of my local yarn buying buddies are also participating which hopefully will be an encouragement over the next three months! No new yarn until April!! I think I can, I think I can!

In anticipation of the big drought, I mean stashalong, I met up with some friends for a yarn crawl on December 31st. Otherwise known as the last day to buy yarn!! We had lunch to give us some extra energy and give us a chance to chit chat:

Clockwise around the table we have: Wanda, Michelle, Stefanie, Cathi, Jenifer, and Cynthia. The star of our little get-together was Stefanie though. She was in town for New Year's Eve and she was Cathi's Secret Pal 5 so they got to meet in person! How cool is that? And...how cute are they? After lunch we headed to Colorful Yarns where Wanda and I picked up Cascade 220 (on sale for $5.00/skein!!) for the Fair Isle Jazz scarf in ScarfStyle. Here are my color choices:

I went with mostly toned down earth tones. Aren't they pretty?! Ha, just kidding! It's a little bright...but what's new. The brighter, the better in my opinion. From there we headed to String where we convinced Cassidy to join our Fair Isle Jazz madness! Ha! I held out for the most part and only bought 1 skein of yarn while I was there. I picked up a ball of the RYC CashLux to make some of the twisted rib fingerless mittens from 'Last Minute Knitted Gifts'. I'm going to cast on for those this weekend while I'm in Arizona. I'm hoping that it will be cold when I get back so that I can wear them right away. Look at this fun yarn...it has sparkles in it!!

Judy, also known as Cassidy's mom, had some knit up at the shop and I just couldn't resist! It was the sparkles that got me. If anything has glitter or shimmery stuff, or by some miracle both, I am in love. Cynthia, Michelle, and I rang in the New Year at my place doing what we all love best, knitting and drinking a little wine. It doesn't get much better than that. Jesse made himself right at home on Michelle's lap and helped us ring in the New Year.

What a great day!! I picked up just enough yarn to help get me through the next 3 months...I think I can, I think I can. Since I didn't travel anywhere over the holidays I'm taking a few days off this week and heading to Arizona! I'll be blogging from there...and again, if any of you Arizona knitters want to meet up just say the word and I'm there!!