sheep in the city

Mail call and yarn sightings...

I've been getting some fun stuff in the mail in the last week or so. First I received my July "One Skein" package...it's a beauty folks!

My pal, who calls herself Nan, lives in Colorado Springs. That's just an hour or so away from me! Crazy, huh?! Of all the people in this exchange, I'm paired up with someone that lives so close! I'll probably even get to meet her someday. Back to the yarn though, she sent me a beautiful skein of Manos Cotton Stria in color 205, a deep coral almost pink color. This isn't the best part though...in her note she was very encouraging about finding your passion in life. She told a story about her sister having lots of different jobs over the years and then learning to knit at 60. Three years later at 63 her sister opened a yarn shop! I love it! This yarn is actually from her sisters shop which makes it even more special! Thanks Nan! I can't wait to meet you.

Then a few days later I received a belated birthday gift from Jennifer, aka The Major Knitter. I was her secret pal last year (remember the camo bag I made her?) and we've kept in touch through our blogs ever since. I just love all the goodies that she sent. A KnowKnits "Go Knit" pouch in bright green. This is a color that I don't have and I've wanted, but I just haven't been able to find it locally! I have a little pink one and a brown one and I use them all the time. (for those of you that are going to ask...the brown one is from Highlands Ranch String and it's their custom made Go-Knit bag for the shop. It's super cute with a little pink tag on the side!) She also sent me some of her knit cards (that I've seriously been coveting!) in 4 different colors! Plus...she sent a little black sheep tape measure. Thanks Jennifer...your generosity made my day. I love it when birthdays just keep going, and going, and going!

Last, but certainly not least...I've been teaching a bunch over at Colorful Yarns. This is both good and bad. For the good, I get to spend time with some of the nicest knitters around, surrounded by the most colorful and beautiful yarns. Where's the bad? Well...I'm tempted by these kinds of displays:

Look at all that Lorna's Laces!! They have more Helen's Lace than I've ever seen all in one place. I've slowly been trying to decide what exactly I want to get because of course I want to get it all! So...if you've been looking for Lorna's Laces lace weight give them a call! But just wait until after I've decided what I want to get first!! Ha!

As far as my knitting goes, here are a few of the projects that I'm working on at the moment. I just need to finish the sleeves of my stripey sweater for Alice and then seam up the sides. I pulled my Koigu Clapotis out of the "work in progress" tub, this is the one that I started in May and I'm on the never ending straight row section. I also have my Mystery Lace project in my bag at all times. That doesn't necessarily mean that I've been working on it. It's still in the baby stages of Clue #1. I'm knitting it with Koigu (a pretty purple solid) on a US 4. More details on that when I've actually made some progress.

Crafting

I got to spend some time on Sunday doing a little non-knitting crafting. Michelle is getting married in a few short weeks and she needed some help putting favors together. Move over Martha...there are some new crafters in town!! There were boxes and ribbons and bows...oh my!

My favorite thing that we made though were the programs that second as a fan! Ingenious! She is getting married on the beach after all!! I do have to say that I am proud of my bow tying skills...those bows look good! We were all super sneaky and when we took a dinner break, some people circled back and let themselves back into the house to set up our wedding gift to Michelle. It's the 5-teir Lantern Moon basket. Her reaction was priceless and just what I expected...total shock! It looks perfect with all her yarn in it. Happy wedding Michelle!!

**By the way, I spent all Saturday rearranging furniture and cleaning at my place (thanks Mom for all the help!! I couldn't have done it without you!). I need to take some pics and show you the newly rearranged yarn loft!! I didn't get the paints out yet, but I'm determined to this week!**

I'm baaaack!

Well, it has been a week since my last post. I can't seem to pull myself out of this blogging slump. I have tons to talk about, but just taking the time to write something has required too much effort lately. Yuck! I hate being in a funk.

So, what have I been up to? I've been teaching tons of classes. (felted clogs and beginning knitting) Then last weekend was the second annual gathering of Camp Wannaknitknit! Remember last year? (if you didn't get to read all about it...look here and here! It was amazing to be in the mountains all weekend (friday through monday) with my knitting buddies. We rented a condo in Keystone. Just look at the surroundings: (thanks Nachaele for the pictures!)

Here is the super secret sewing project that we were working on last week. They are little drawstring project bags that Michelle wrote a tutorial for over at her blog.

The whole weekend was almost non-stop knitting...it was wonderful! Some of us took the occasional break to play a card game or two. You've got to rest the hands every once in a while! I made tons of progress on my little stripey top for Alice. All I need to do now is knit the little cap sleeves and finish seaming it up, and then it will be done. This weekend away with my friends was definitely what I needed.

On a more sobering note, my Dad has had some news from his doctors. He and my Mom are going to head to the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston for more tests and to see if he can be a part of any clinical trials that are going on now. For now the future is unknown...but I'm trusting that God is in control and things are going to work out. My Dad actually started a blog about his health. This way he doesn't have to say the same thing over and over to all the people that ask him about how he's doing or if there has been any news. They can just go check his blog. I think it's a great idea. Feel free to check it out if you want to.

Thanks everyone for all the kind emails that I've received this week asking how I'm doing and if I'm okay. I am. I just keep knitting. Hopefully my blog blahs will go away soon! This weekend I'm going to be doing a massive house/garage cleaning...yuck. But it must be done. I've also had a friend recently suggest that I need to start painting again. If I get done with the cleaning, I'm thinking that I'll bust out the paints and have some fun with that. Have a great weekend everyone.

Is it Friday yet?

This weekend is another weekend spent in the mountains. In preparation for the weekend away, I had a few people over last night to work on some little projects. We had all kinds of crafty stuff going on! I just love it when you have knitting, sewing, and the season 3 opener of Project Runway going on simultaneously! That is definitely a recipe for success. Our table was full to bursting with it all. I probably won't blog much over the weekend, hopefully there will be internet access at the condo where we are staying. If not, I'll have much to talk about and show you on Tuesday morning!! Have a great weekend everyone and thanks so much for all your kind words and encouragement lately! I really appreciate it!

**Jesse even got in on the action**

A case of the blogging blahs...

Why is it that when I am knitting a ton, I don't want to blog. Then when I have nothing to blog about, I post everyday?! It makes no sense. Life has been crazy for the last few weeks. My brother came for a visit, I was house/dog-sitting all last week, Liam was born, and my Dad's health has continued to be a source of anxiety to me and my family. He has continued going to the oncologist, but there is no real news about what is going on with him. So, what have I been up to through all of this? I just keep knitting, of course!

I started this little top, called Sugar and Spice, for Alice after I saw my friend Cassidy knitting one for her niece. If you follow the link, you'll see that I added a ruffle at the bottom of the top instead of having a hem. (great idea Cassidy!!) It is knitting up super fast out of CottonEase. I just started it a few days ago and I'm almost done with the back piece. I stopped by yesterday to see if it would fit her and it does! She was so cute and just had to have her hair like Aunt Stacey's, and of course I had more hair bands with me! She was very concerned with matching and that she had the blue one and that I had the pink one. What a crack up.

Over the weekend, my family went to the mountains (where it did nothing but rain, rain, rain!) for my Dad's birthday. It was so relaxing and just what we all needed. Lots of games were played and of course...knitting! I knit my Dad some clogs for his birthday because he's been itching for some new ones for a while now. Of course, I didn't start them until Wednesday, and even then I made the wrong size, so I was knitting like a crazy woman on them up until giving them to him. My family has come to realize that it just means I love them more when I give them a gift that is still on the needles. At least that's what I'm trying to get them to understand! Do you think that they'll buy it?!

Here's a picture of the manly colored clogs I made (I'll try to remember to get a picture of the finished felted ones). They are kind of boring, just plain blue and green...but I'm not sure yet how to spruce up clogs and still have them be "manly". If you know of a way, let me know.

And just because I can't help myself...here's another picture of Liam. What a cutie!

Finished projects in the house!

I see some finished projects...oh yea! I did it. I did it. Oh yea, yea, yea. No eating here tonight. (oops, I just slipped into my Finding Nemo mode. Alice and I have watched that movie a million times, so sometimes I just spontaneously burst into lines from that movie in my head) Anywhoo, I have some finished projects to show which means it's a rare day here at Sheep in the City!

First off, the Liam Blankie was finished just in time for his arrival. It was all seamed up and ready for Drew's mom to crochet a border around it. By the time he was delivered she was done! (I'm amazed at how fast crochet goes!!) Here's a picture after my sister and I were playing dress up with Liam and he's all wrapped up in his blankie!! Awwww.

He's wearing the little Baby Bolero (from the book One Skein) that I knit for him to match his little brown striped and polka dot outfit. For those of you that are going to ask...the clothes are from Zutano. They are the softest tee-shirty cotton and they just get softer the more you wash them. Click the bold letters to see a picture of the back of the baby bolero.

Yarn: Blue Sky Cotton in a bright orange that matches his little clothes perfect!
Pattern: Baby Bolero from the book One Skein
Needles: Addi Turbo's in ?? whatever size the pattern calls for *I'll fill this in when I get home*
Knit: Over the last month off and on. I had to rip the sleeves a few times due to silly mistakes on my part. As far as modifications go, I ended up knitting the sleeves in the round from the top down, instead of flat like the pattern calls for. AND, they were knit using the Magic Loop! Other than that, I followed the pattern exactly!

Once we put the outfit and sweater on him, he grabbed the edges of the sweater and was holding them close together. I, of course, declared that he was trying to get all snuggley in his new favorite sweater! Part of the reason he likes it, I'm sure, is that it is knit with Blue Sky Cotton. That yarn is so soft. It's perfect for a baby sweater. You can also see the edges of the blankie in this picture. She ended up doing a single crochet all around the blanket and then doing a single crochet, chain 3, slip stich thing (I'm positive that is not the official name!). Basically it made a picot edge all around the blanket.

The next FO is a project that I started months ago for Alice. I have had all the pieces, save one, done for a really long time. I finally got around to finishing it, so that I could give it to Alice at the hospital. When I asked her what we should name the kitty, she said "Yarn". So from here on out this kitty will be known as Kitty Yarn. What a crack up that little girl is!

Yarn: Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted in assorted colors
Pattern: Kate the cat from Knitty.com
Needles: Crystal Palace Bamboo DPN's in size 8
Knit: I started this project on my trip to Oklahoma in December of 2005. I have had all the pieces, except for one leg, done since that trip. I am such a procrastinator! I need to find the right yarn for the eyes, but I'm still going to call this thing done!

Liam Blankie:

Yarn: A combination of Tahki Cotton Classic and Butterfly mercerized cotton. We used 2 skeins of each of the 6 different colors. (a total of 12 skeins) Then we used 5 skeins of the Butterfly cotton in brown.
Pattern: About a year ago, Kay organized the making of an afghan for a friend of hers. The pattern was called the Jamie Blankie and it's all garter stitch. It can be found here.
Needles: INOX metal straights, US 6.
Knit: This project was a family undertaking. It was knit by me, Liam's mommy, his daddy, 2 of his grandma's, 1 of his great-grandma's, and 1 uncle. So, it was knit with a lot of love. We started it a few months ago, and finished on the day of his delivery...just in time!

Baby Liam is here!!!

*all the Grandma's and Aunt Stacey knitting and crocheting while we visit Whitney in the hospital! This image cracks me up!*

Long time, no blog I know. My life has been really busy these last few weeks and blogging has had to be put by the wayside. Lots of finished projects to report about, but the most important thing is my nephew Liam was born on Saturday afternoon! He is healthy and so is his mommy. Things went really well and I got to be in the delivery room. Wow. There are no words to describe the way I felt watching Liam being born. It was so amazing. I'm going to quickly post some pictures and then write more later.