sheep in the city

Progress pics!

As promised, here are some progress pics of the project that I've been feverishly working on. It's Seraphim. You'd think that I'd be done by now, this was the only project that I worked on in Boston, but I'm not. Surprisingly, this doesn't upset me that much. I'm enjoying knitting this shawl too much to let slow progress bother me. I'm in the middle of the second lace chart which means the rows are getting longer and longer. That could be why the progress has slowed down, huh?! I'm knitting this shawl with the "Plain and Fancy, Sheep and Wool" that I picked up at Estes last year. As far as I know, you can only find them at small wool festivals, they have no online website. This is a bummer to me. I love their wool and I'd love to get some more before next summer...but I'll just have to be patient and wait. I think I have enough yarn to last me 10 lifetimes, but that doesn't make the crazy obsession I have to get more yarn go away. Enough about that though, I love my Seraphim shawl, and I can't wait to wear it this winter!

Look what else got pulled out the project bin! I'm determined to finish this shrug so that I can wear it soon. My mom is at the point that I'm at...so we're going to finish them together!

Oops! How could I forget?!

I forgot to mention that I did get a bag on this trip...it's just a little unusual. It's not a brand name knitting bag, it's vintage baby! There was a woman selling vintage bags not too far from the Fold booth and I just couldn't resist this little pink one. It's made of some sort of tapestry yarn. I love the little wooden handles and the idea that someone "stitched" this years ago.

I also picked up a needlecase from Crippenworks. I love, love, love their designs! You need to check them out! The case that I purchased is used exclusively for circular needles, but they had them for straights, a combination of straights and circs, crochet hooks, DPN's...you name it, they had it! Very cool stuff.

Yarn details

This is what you've all been waiting for! The yarn details!

Socks that Rock...yes, indeed they do! We were within the first 10 people in the Fold booth on Saturday morning so I managed to get by greedy little hands on 4 skeins for myself, 1 skein for my mom, and 2 skeins for a friend that so kindly gave me money to shop for her. (it really is great fun to spend someone else's money!)

Details: From left to right, the colors are: 2 skeins of Rhodonite, Harlotty, and Lucy. Yes, I meant to buy two skeins of the same color...these are destined to be either knee-highs or a lacy shawl of some sort. I'm always happy to hear suggestions, so suggest away!
Website: Blue Moon Fiber Arts

Spirit Trail Fiberworks: This colorway spoke my name and it just had to come home with me. I wish that you could feel this yarn...it is so soft!
Details: 100% Superwash Merino, 200 yds, 21-26 sts/4" on a US 3-6
Website: Spirit Trail Fiberworks

Pucker Brush Farm: This was a total impulse buy and I have to say it is one of my favorite purchases. I bought this when I was trailing behind Cynthia and Jeni, taking my sweet time. This happened a lot over the course of the day, and then they would call my cell phone and ask where I was...and we'd find each other! This system seemed to work for us.
Details: I don't have many details on the yarn except that it's Merino and Mohair and approximately 230 yards. I bought both of the skeins that they had. I'm thinking that I may make mittens or Pop-up Paws out of this yarn.
Website: Pucker Brush Farm

Shelridge Farms: Another one of my favorite yarn vendors. They had so many samples to look at and touch and feel...even try on! I bought 2 hat patterns, the Carousel Cap and Riblets and 7 skeins of the Soft Touch Ultra. Why are there only 5 skeins in the picture? Because my mom snagged the 2 skeins of pink!

Details: Shelridge Soft Touch Ultra, 100% wool fingering weight yarn. The skeins are approx. 190 yards (I'm guessing a little on this!)From left to right the colors are: Green Apple, Lemon Lime, Pumpkin, Apricot, and Coral. The three orangey skeins are going to be made into a 3 color ribbed hat, going from dark at the brim to light at the top. The green skeins are destined for the Carousel Cap which has a pattern that swirls around your head and has beads at the brim. I still need to find the perfect beads to go with this one.
Website: Shelridge Farms

Skaska Designs: I came all the way to New York to buy yarn from Colorado! I think that this is rather funny...but I just had to have some and I really don't remember seeing this yarn at Estes last summer.

Details: 100% Fine Wool, 1200 yards (wow!), for $15.00 (double wow!) Colors FO3602 and FO3601
Website: Skaska Designs Limited

Here's the yarn that I picked up on the way to Rhinebeck at Webs:

2 bags of Elsebeth Lavold Silky Tweed in Color 06 to make a garment of some kind. I'm thinking sweater, I'm thinking cables, and I'm thinking that I love this yarn! If you want to see a close up of the colr and all the little pink flecks then by all means, click for a close up!

After seeing and trying on a store sample of the Falling Leaves shawl I decided that this was a great "souvenir" project. We all know what those are, right? It's Fall, there are lots of leaves in Massachuests, this was yarn that is exclusive to Webs...these are the things that go through my head when I'm trying to justify a purchase. So, I picked out some yarn for one of my very own. You can't beat the price, it's 3.99/skein...and for the large version you only need 7 skeins...so that's a shawl/wrap for only $28.00! I like that kind of deal.

Details: Bought from Webs, Valley Yarns Stockbridge, 50% Alpaca/50% Merino, 7 skeins in the color Kiwi

Posting all these details has worn me out! I'll have to talk about the Boston portion of the trip later...and I have some pictures of the project that I've been knitting on exclusively for the last week. It's almost done!

Here's the scoop!

I now totally understand why they call it a "red-eye" flight. Jeni and I flew on a red-eye to Boston on Thursday night. We arrived bright and early at 5:30 am EST, and dropped our luggage that we didn't need at Cynthia's place and headed out to grab breakfast and get on the road to New York.

We had to stop at WEBS on our way...because we just had to! It was everything that I thought it should be...and more. This place is huge! You literally have a shopping cart (like at the grocery store) at your disposal as you walk through the place. I actually didn't do too bad while we were there. I bought enough Elsebeth Lavold Silky Tweed (color 06) to make myself a sweater, 1 skein of Noro Kureyon for my Lizard Ridge, and some of their Vally Yarn Shelbridge to make a Falling Leaf shawl. From there we headed to our hotel about half an hour away from Rhinebeck. We tried to go to sleep early so that we'd all be rested the next morning...but we were all too excited. Of course, we got up way too early, but again with the excitement. The day of Rhinebeck was finally here!

The festival itself was huge. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but this place was gorgeous. There were beautiful Fall leaves and colors everywhere. The weather was perfect, and then there was the part about being surrounded as far as the eye could see by fibery goodness. I think we were all in heaven...yarn heaven that is! We had arrived a little...ok, alot early...so we browsed around, scoping things out, and taking cute sheep pictures. They really are so cute, it almost makes me want to be a farmer, almost. Who am I kidding? I'll settle for cute pictures.

I met tons of fun bloggers at the blogger meet-up. It was total chaos though. A lot of the people were running around trying to find bloggers that they had on their bingo card. Some were trying to have quick converstions with people that they've only known online. I was trying not to get lost in the shuffle and at the same time meet some of the people that I had in mind to meet.

Like Sarah! I finally got to meet Sarah...she's the girl who was a huge blessing to me and especially my parents while they were down at the MD Anderson Cancer Clinic in August. She is just as sweet as my Mom described to me. Since I only got to talk to her for about 5 minutes...we're going to be planning a trip for her to come and visit me in Colorado! Fun! That wasn't the only person I met though, I met Ann and Cara, Carrie, Beth, and Adrian and too many others to mention them all and...I did get to meet Stephanie. I just happened to have my mittens (that she made, remember!) with me for a photo op. Dang camera malfunction. I asked if I could take a picture of the two of us, with the mittens, and of course she obliged. Twice, the camera didn't take the picture. Of all the times to not work! Ahh! So, I had to be happy with catching a shot of her later. It works...I still got to thank her for the mittens in person.

And a shot of the back of the wedding shawl. (thanks Cynthia!)

I hardly took any photos at the festival, I think due to being overwhelmed by it all. I had yummy food, tons of laughs, and made some memories that will last a lifetime. I'm so glad that I went. Here's a shot of the yarn haul...more details to come in the next post, along with my thoughts on Boston. I'm convinced that I would get more knitting done if I lived there. I'll explain that too!

Click to see a slide show of the trip to Rhinebeck!!

I'm out of here!!

Rhinebeck...oh and Cynthia...here I come! I'm not sure that I'll be blogging from the road or not. I've thought about having my mom or sister guest blog...but then I'd have to explain everything, yada yada. So, you may hear from me, and you may not. If not...then I'll have lots to talk about when I get home next Tuesday! Have a great weekend, I know I will!!

6 AM and smiling?!

Why am I smiling you ask?! This is the first day that I've been able to wear a scarf, hat, and heavy coat when I leave my house in the morning! We had our first snow of the season yesterday. It's officially sweater weather...or at least it is for today Yay! Also, (this may have just a little bit to do with it) in roughly 42 hours Jeni and I are going to be flying to Boston to visit Cynthia and also go to Rhinebeck!

I've been thinking long and hard about what exactly I'm going to be looking for at Rhinebeck. I want to get yarn that isn't available to me in Denver. I'd love to get some unique knitting related items, i.e. a basket, or bag of some kind, maybe a shawl pin, or a sheepy picture. The one thing I'm sure of though is that we plan to bum rush The Fold booth because that's where the Blue Moon Fiber Arts is. That's "Socks That Rock" for all the non-sock knitters out there who might not have heard of them before. Are there really people out there still who haven't heard of them? Surely not! I've heard stories of how crazy this booth can get so we're just going to have to push our way through the masses to get what we want. This is going to be so much fun!! See you there...and be sure to say "Hi" and introduce yourself...unless we happen to be eying the same STR yarn at the Fold booth. Just kidding! I can't wait to meet so many of you that I have been "reading" for so long!

Remember...I'm going to be playing blogger bingo so be looking for me! I think that I'll be wearing my "Knitting is Knotty" tee, and some knited item, perhaps a shawl?! Just in case you haven't seen the million other pictures of my face around this blog, I wanted to give you a picture of who it is you're going to be looking for! I'm hoping that I won't have to be as bundled up when I'm there though. I'm crossing my fingers (and my knitting needles) and hoping for good weather! I hope to post an afghan update tomorrow, but it may need to wait until I return. If so...I'll have a couple squares to show you!

*Also...have you ever tried to take a picture of yourself and not smiled? I always feel so funny and ridiculous taking my own picture!*

A new bag? For me?

A few months ago, I was shown a bag by a fellow knitter/bag lover and I knew that I had to have one! Then I convinced Tiffany that she needed to carry them in her shop...and voila! I present you with my new Tepper Jackson bag! (these bags are not billed as knitting bags...but they sure work nicely.)

I love that it has that 70's feel...brown and bright flowers. The design kind of reminds me of wallpaper that used to be in my Grandma's kitchen. One of my favorite things about this bag is that it seems small, but in reality, it holds a ton of stuff! The inside has two clear plastic zippered pockets, as well as a snap off nylon zippered case. I chose to also buy the matching "notions" case...well, just because! Did I mention that the inside of my bag is pink?! That was an unexpected bonus and ended up being the deciding factor for me.

The shop has a couple other designs in stock, and more on the way...here's a peek at some of them. Tiffany is selling them for what I think is the best deal around. They are $55.00 for the bag and $15 for the little zippered case. Believe me, I searched the internet far and wide...this is a great deal! Besides...I know bags, remember?!

Look what else came home with me...(I know, I said that I wasn't going to buy any yarn in the months before Rhinebeck, but I couldn't resist. I'm weak.) Colorful Yarns is now carrying GGH yarns! Check out the pinkness! It's going to be a shawl. If you have the latest issue of Rebecca magazine, it's design 21. The yarn is called Bel Air and it is wicked soft. (I'm trying out my Boston adjectives...gearing up for this weekend!) I'm thinking that this shawl will be one of the projects that I travel with, along with my pink malabrigo sweater. Hmmm, I sure have been all about the soft knits lately.

Okay...enough, I've got to get working so that I can get out of here on time tonight and go knit the night away! Oh...and I guess I need to start packing too?!

Finished Malabrigo bag!

Can you believe it?! It's an actual finished project! This one took me less than a week to knit...and if I hadn't messed up the second strap, it would have been done days ago. Don't you hate it when you bind off and realize that one strap is about 6 inches (at least!) shorter than the other. Ummm...that's not going to work. I figured out the problem though and fixed it. Overall, I love this bag. I love the yarn, the color, the size and shape of it. Everything. All three of us girls, me, RayLynn, and my mom all bought the supplies for this bag after seeing the sample. RayLynn is almost finished with her bag, and I'm sure that once my Mom see's my finished bag she'll start hers. I just love instant gratification knits.

Yarn: 4 skeins of Malabrigo Aquarelle in color 16-Indy. How appropriate that the yarn was named Indy and that's also the city that I was in when I purchased it! I had about a 1/4 of a skein left when I was finished, so I think that I'm going to make a small coin purse with it. I also plan on lining the bag with fabric to help stabilize it since it's made with such big yarn and big needles. Of course, when I get around to this...who knows!

Pattern: "Malabrigo Bag" designed by the talented ladies at Mass. Ave. Knit Shop in Indianapolis, IN. The pattern came free with the purchase of the yarn...if you're interested in the pattern it's worth a phone call! They are super nice!

Needles: Addi Turbo's- US 15, 24"

Knit: Oct.7-12 This was a super fast knit. I started knitting after the wedding about 3:00 last Saturday on the way to the reception. (I put it away for the reception, I'm not that insensitive! Although, if I'm honest, I did want to keep working on it.) Then on Sunday, I knit on the plane ride home. I had the bag bound off anf finished, albeit incorrectly, on Wednesday night. So, Thursday night I ripped and fixed and finished!

Modifications/pattern corrections: After messing up the second strap and trying to fix it/fake it, I took a look at the pattern and noticed that it told me to knit 2 rows even. Hmmmm, that's weird. It should have read, knit 20 rows even! No wonder my strap was too short!! I'm glad I ripped it back and fixed it though...I'm much happier with it.

In other exciting news...as of this week...my VW Bug is paid off! I can't believe that I've had my car for 5 years already. What a load off to not worry about car payments anymore.

It's Thursday night...

...and look what came in the mail just in time! I've been coveting these little stitch markers ever since Amy made some for her knitting/Grey's watching friends. I knew that maybe, someday she'd offer them up for sale in her store. So, when she announced her sale, I pounced! Thanks so much Amy!

*Because of the travel this last weekend, I haven't been able to work on my afghans...so no update this week. It will be back to your normally scheduled Afghan Thursday updates next week!!*

**Also, Amy's store is temporarily closed because she is travelling in Europe! Lucky girl! Bon Voyage Amy...say hello to Paris for me!**

It's almost here!

I can't believe that it's almost time to head to Boston to see Cynthia...and go to Rhinebeck! I'll be leaving a week from tomorrow and I can hardly stand it! I decided to participate in a little blogger bingo while I'm there, so if you're playing too keep your eyes peeled!

I'll also be heading to the big blogger meet-up that Cara is arranging...so hopefully I'll see many of you there! Now I just need to get my Seraphim ready...I think I can, I think I can!

Indiana recap!

The purpose of my trip to Indy was to see two of my good friends get married. Plus, my Dad was officiating the ceremony which is always fun! I flew into Indy on Friday (with a layover in Kansas City where RayLynn got on the same flight as me! So fun!) We got all checked in to our hotel and then headed to the rehearsal. Of course, with every wedding there seems to be a lot of down time, and we as knitters know just the thing to fill up the time! Here are my Mom and RayLynn knitting away at the church. None of us were actually in the wedding, but since we just had the one car...we were kind of stuck. But, again, the knitting came in handy!

We actually managed to make it to two knit shops on the day of the wedding on Saturday. One before the wedding, and one after the ceremony but before the reception. We're sneaky like that! The first shop that we stopped into was awesome, it's called Mass. Ave. Knit Shop. It was a huge store that had tons of great yarn and samples galore! I love it when stores have samples...and obviously it worked on all three of us because we all bought yarn to make a purse that they had on display! I could kick myself for not taking a picture of the finished bag...oh well. I'm almost done knitting mine though! With this project, I decided to stray a little from my usual color scheme. I knew that I would shock all the girls that I usually knit with because these are so not my colors, and they are so the colors that somebody else I know loves! A couple people in fact!

The yarn that I'm using is Malabrigo Aquarella which I had never seen before. It's so fast and fun to knit with! It's a sling bag that has long straps that cross over your body. You start at the tip of one strap, increasing along the way, then you knit the body for the bag, and finishing with the second strap. I had most of what you see knit in the above picture done Sunday morning. (It kind of looks like a big knitted sting ray right now) The pattern is one that the shop designed and gave out with the purchase of the yarn. I'm sure that you could call the shop and ask about the pattern, they are calling it the Malabrigo bag. It's knit on size 15 needles...so it's flying! I have a knit group to go to tonight, and I think that I should finish it. Sometimes it's just good to have an instant gratification project. I also picked up a shawl pin to wear with my Charlotte...it's perfect! It's made by the talented folks at Moving Mud. This is kind of a crappy picture, but it's mostly a pale pink color, with a little splash of a deep burgandy wine color. Perfect!

After the wedding ceremony was over, and RayLynn and I had taken the first of many goofy pictures, we headed to the reception. Since there was a yarn shop practically on the way to the reception, we had to stop! This one was called Stiches & Scones. It definitly lived up to the cuteness of it's name. I highly recommend stopping into this shop if you are in the Indianapolis area. Check out the wall of Koigu! Holy moley!

Can you believe that I walked out without a single skein?! Could I be reaching maximum capacity in my Koigu stash? Maybe it was because I was so focused on finding the perfect shawl pin. I came pretty close I think. I will be looking closer at the packaging tonight, to see exactly who it's made by. I know that it is made by Urban Tribal Wear, but I can't find these on their website. I'll look at the package it came in again and let you all know. It's really cool...it's made of polymer clay and the pin is twisted metal and beads. I also picked up a skein of ArtYarns Hand-paint Stripes yarn.

Many of you have come to expect me to bring home a new knitting bag when I go on a trip. Well, I didn't want to disappoint you...but I didn't really find anything that was unique. But, check out the bag that Mass Ave Knits gives out when you purchase yarn from them! This is what they put it all in! How cool is that? So, I guess I did get a bag while I was away!

One of the highlights of the trip for me though was getting to see my friend Stephany. She and her husband currently live in India, so I don't get to see her very often. She was the "Matron of Honor" and came all the way from India just for this wedding. Our last night in town, the three of us stayed up late talking and laughing and just being goofy in general. This picture is a perfect example of how silly girls can be together! Overall, this trip was a roaring sucess and just what I needed. I didn't realize just how much I was missing my friends until I had the chance to catch up with them.

Hopefully in the next couple of days I should have a finished Indy Malabrigo bag to show you!

I'm back!!!

I'm home from Indy...and it was a blast! I haven't had time to post about the trip yet, but I plan on writing all about it tomorrow. There was knitting, laughing, crying, eating, shopping, and much more...stay tuned to hear all about it!

It's Afghan Thursday!

I've had much more time to knit this week than last...so I'm not even scrambling to finish a square by today! That feels kind of nice. I guess this is what happens when you stay home at night. I had laundry and Lost to watch last night, so I stayed home. I don't realize very often how many nights I'm actually out and away from home...between babysitting for the niece and nephew, teaching classes, and meeting up with my knit girls it's quite a few nights a week. Not tonight though...it's Grey's night!! Okay, back to the afghan.

Who sent it: Lauren, a.k.a. Almost Felted

Yarn: Lion Brand, Mystery Yarn. Lauren has knit samples for many different yarn companies and this was one of them. She sent me this yarn already knit up as a swatch...so I just unraveled one end and started knitting my square with it!

Reason behind it: As many of you know, Lauren is one of those wonders of the knitting world. She knits really fast, has a full time job going to graduate school at Yale, knits samples for multiple yarn companies, designs (click here to see some of the ones that she has designed for Alchemy...like The Academic, BFF Pullover, and The Naturalist to name a few), writes reviews of her favorite shows, and still has time to knit her own stuff! She is one of the first "out of town" bloggers that I had the privilege to meet. Remember my L.A. trip in March of '05?! We both happened to be in L.A. at the same time so we made a point to get together. It was so fun getting to meet her!

Thanks Lauren!

I'm currently knitting the right side corner square, it's another big square. When I finish it, I will have the whole top row of the afghan complete...so I'll be able to show you how wide it's going to be! Exciting times are ahead with this project! I just love how the pieces are put together and how it's asymmetrical...it's definitely not boring to knit on.

**For those of you wanting an update, Jesse was a good boy while I was at work yesterday. There was no yarn out of place when I got home last night. Let's hope that when I'm away this weekend, the good behavior continues!! Also...can you believe that I've blogged 4 days in a row! I'm thinking that the blogging-blahs are gone for good! Whoo hoo!**

That little *#@^!

My cat Jesse is very respectful of my yarn. He's a good cat. He knows that it is important to me, therefore he is not supposed to touch it. Well, this morning, I'm getting ready to leave for work, and I'm looking for him. This is a morning routine for two reasons. One, because I like to know that he's not shut in closet or stuck somewhere. Two, because he's my baby kitty and I have to say good-bye to him. (yes, I know that this makes me sound like a freak) So, I'm looking everywhere...in his special basket, under chairs and couches, under my bed, in the closet, basically everywhere.

Then I notice that there is an awful lot of yarn on the floor of my loft. Hmmm, that seems like more yarn than usual on the floor. Sure enough, he had scooted out all the feltable wool and left just enough for a little padding and a nice cozy nest for himself. This better not be some strange new behavior and become a habit! (you all know that this could get much worse if you are a cat owner) I mean, come on...he's 10 years old, almost 11. I don't need to have new behaviors showing up. We had a nice routine going here. Stacey gets to play with the yarn, not Jesse. After I found him, I slowly backed away to grab my camera and document the moment and he moved, of course. Then he gives me that, "What? What did I do?" look and the, "Aren't I so cute?" face. I'm such a sucker.

We'll see what the yarn looks like when I get home from work today, everybody cross your fingers for me!

Wait a minute, Mr. Postman!

I ran by my mailbox this morning on my way to work and there was a paper saying that they had tried to deliver a package yesterday. They needed a signature for it, so being the impatient person that I am, I ran to the post office to pick it up! Imagine my suprise when I noticed that the package was all the way from Australia! It was a total suprise, but Kylie, of The Lazy Knitter blog, sent me some yarn for my afghan and included some goodies! How cool is that?! Thanks so much Kylie! You totally made my day...I just love getting yarny packages in the mail!

The goodies included a little Paul Frank bag that is perfect for a small project like socks. (look below to see the inside of the bag!) I'm not sure how she knew that I have a secret love of all things Paul Frank, because I'm pretty sure that I've never talked about it on my blog. The yarn is ArtYarns Merino in a pretty shade of pink...click here to see a close-up. She also made me some cute sets of stitch-markers, both hearts and little purses! AND she sent me a needle holder that matches a little notions bag that I already own! Thanks again!

Pretty Log Cabins...

Yesterday was our second log cabin class...and I was so impressed with the ladies in my class! A few of them were almost finished with their Moderne Baby Blankets! I snapped a picture of some of the afghans that they are working on. Nachaele's is the brightly colored one on the far right. I just love her choice of colors, it's so bright and cheerful. Between my sister's birthday on Friday night, working at the shop and Tiffany's birthday on Saturday night, and teaching the class on Sunday I really didn't knit that much this weekend. What I found myself doing, was reading! I read almost 4 books this past weekend, each one being about 400 or so pages long. I forget how much I really enjoy the act of reading. I get so caught up the stories. My Grandma gave me a series of 5 books that are about one family...and they are so good! I couldn't put them down at night! I really need to figure out a way to be able to read a book and knit at the same time, my life would be so much easier that way!

This weekend I'm headed to Indianapolis for a wedding...does anyone know of a good yarn shop? I'm going to be with my friend RayLynn (who is a wonderful knitter!) and my mom, so of course we have to find a yarn shop so that we can bring home a "souvenir" from the trip! Let me know if you are in the Indianapolis area and have some ideas...or even if you want to meet up with us. If we get to go, it would Saturday morning. I haven't been on a trip in while, so I'm excited to go!