sheep in the city

Time moves quickly...

My time this week has not been my own...and that is partly my fault I'll admit. I do have a tendency to overbook myself. But, I do have to say, one of the highlights of my week was spending the day with my niece and nephew on Wednesday. I think that I had more fun then they did! We played hospital, complete with bandages, scrubs, and everything else you need to wrap up a good head wound. Needless to say, it was great fun.

A few days ago, I was asked by KnittyOtter, just how many afghans I actually have on the needles. I decided to answer that question here since I'm sure there are more than one of you that are curious.

Here are my afghans that I have on the needles:

Lizard Ridge afghan: I have knit 3 squares, and then something else came up and took a higher priority (either class samples or some other sample for the shop that I work at). I have plans to continue to work on it, I'm just not in a huge hurry.

Baby Modern Log Cabin (from Mason-Dixon Knitting): All the girls in my knitting group were knitting this afghan and I jumped on the band wagon. I have knit the first little square and thats all. I'm knitting it with 4 colors of Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece.

Mod on Mod (from Yarn Play): I have finished 7 of the 20 squares. I'm about to cast on for the 8th square today over lunch.

Friendship afghan (using the Rambling Rows pattern): This is an afghan where people have sent me yarn to knit a square that will represent them. Most are knitters/bloggers that I've met through my blog. I have been working on this afghan off and on lately. I plan to do an update here on my blog about this project in the next week.

Patagonia/Nature Cotton Mitered squares: I'm not sure how much of this I'm actually going to knit right now. I've completed one whole square...but I know that I could easily get way into this afghan and I want to finish the Mod on Mod first.

Afghans not yet on the needles:

Harry Potter "House" afghan: (my own design) A bunch of the girls that I knit with decided to make an afghan using the Harry Potter house colors. I haven't cast on for this one, but all of this yarn, save one color, just came in to the shop and it's in my possession now. I'm using Plymouth Encore to knit it, so this one will actually be washable.

Tahki Cotton Classic afghan: I have been saving Tahki Cotton Classic for about 2 years now, with the thought that it will one day be a mitered square blanket like the ones that Kay, of Mason-Dixon knitting, has made a bunch of.

Cynthia Afghan: This is yarn that I picked up a couple months ago in a random moment. Love these colors, no plans to start this one anytime soon, so into the stash it goes!

Hope this is fun for you to see...it's at times a little overwhelming, but then I just remember that there is no deadline with any of these afghans....and that makes me feel better! Have a great weekend everyone!!

Bright Idea

Saturday morning turned out to be rainy and cold here in Denver, so for the first 2 or 3 hours that I was at the shop, I had 2 customers. It was very strange. I ended up re-stocking and rearranging some of my favorite yarns...and we all know what that means. I ended up shopping. How could I not, when I was left all alone, with all that yarn?! It was actually kind of fun if I think about it. I called and talked to my mom from my cell phone (I have decided that she and my Dad are never coming back to Denver...they have secretly moved to Arizona and just not told us yet. Seriously, they've been gone for what seems like forever. But they are coming home Friday! Yay!) What am I going to do with all that Cotton? Well...it's a secret...shhh. All I can say is that it might be miters. Okay, so it's not really a secret. I'm just not ready to admit that I want to start yet another afghan, when in fact, I have never finished a whole afghan in the first place. But by saying that...I guess I've confessed to the whole thing, haven't I?

I'm just in the thinking stages of this project. I knew on Saturday that all those beautiful tone on tone colors needed to come live with me, and that's as far as my mind went with it. Have I mentioned today how much I love Araucania Patagonia and Nature Cotton? Well, I do. More on the details of this latest inspiration to come.

Random thoughts...

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Last night, I was sitting in my loft...surrounded by all of the things that I love. My cat. My yarn. My vintage knitting needles. It was so nice to just sit and relax. I put my foot up, knit, and watched a few episodes of Dawson's Creek. (yes, I am a huge fan of this show. I'm in the midst of the end of season 3/beginning of season 4 Pacey and Joey drama. I love those 2 together!)

On a side note, did you know that Wal-Mart has a TV on DVD section where all the shows are $20? In the last 6 months, I've picked up the remaining seasons of Dawson's Creek that I didn't have, Season 1 of Party of 5, Season 1 of Grey's Anatomy, and a few others that I can't remember. For all you Buffy fans, they have some of the Buffy seasons there too! Bummer for me, I had already purchased all of them before I found the TV for $20 thing. Hi my name is Stacey, and I'm addicted to my old favorite TV shows. Believe me, there are many more that I love, Felicity anyone? What a good show. Which reminds me that I still need to pick up the 3rd and 4th seasons of that one. Okay...back to knitting, since this is a knitting blog after all.

One of my favorite things in my loft is a little ceramic sheep that my sister-in-law gave me last Christmas. It currently lives next to another one of my favorite items, a teapot filled with Crayons. These are the things that I surround myself with...little things that some people might think of as silly, but I think of them as whimsical and they make me smile.

Have a great weekend everyone!

**Yes, those are the Harlot mittens that Jesse is laying on. What can I say, he knows good knitting when he sees it!

Maybe TMI...too much information?!

**First let me say Congratulations to Kim U of Crafty Kim....you were my 5000th comment! Yay! Email me your information and I'll get some fiber fun in the mail to you!**

This post is mostly for my parents benefit, since they are still down in Arizona. I went to my dermetologists office today...and walked out with bandages on my toes. I actually really like my doctor (I just accidently spelled doctoe at first! Ha! I crack myself up!, but seriously, everytime that I go, they cut something off. Ouch! I should just be grateful that they are being very proactive...but at times I'm a big baby. The only good thing is that now I have a good excuse to go home and literally put my feet up. (bonus that it's Grey's night!!) Enough about my woes, I mean toes though.

Peek inside my project bag...

Oh how I love a good project bag! My current obsession is with Vera Bradley "Ditty" bags. I can fit a whole sweater project in one of these little drawstring bags, it's wonderful. I have been on the hunt for one in the new Peacock colorway for a while now...I just love the combination of turquoise and chartreuse green.

What you see inside is a Mod on Mod square, and my Sheep Shop Jawbreaker. My friends all make fun of me for having my knitting in a project bag, and then whenever I go to a knit group I put that bag in my big bag. So, essentially, it's like having a bag within a bag. What can I say...some things I like to have organized!

**on the comment front...it's soooo close, so keep commenting! I'm almost to 5,000 comments!**

ETA: Yay! A girl runs to the doctor and to lunch and what happens?! I went over the 5000 mark! Congratulations to Kim U of the blog Crafty Kim...you are the winner! Send me your snail mail address and I'll send you some fibery-goodness! Thanks everyone for all the comments and especially to those that had never commented before!

It's hip to be square!

I spent the weekend knitting on my Mod-on-Mod afghan. Made some good progress...I finished three squares.Michelle and Jeni both got in on the action too. They each knit a square for me! Thanks ladies! I am loving this afghan, and I can't say enough good things about this cotton. It's Araucania Patagonia and Nature Cotton. The pattern is Mod-on-Mod from the book Yarn Play.

As far as other knits go, here's what I am currently working on:

•Ariann: I haven't been working on this project in a few weeks, but I am still loving how it looks. I needed some time away from it, but I'm ready to pick it back up and work on it!

•Jawbreaker Cardigan: I have the back, and the two fronts done. All I need to do now is cast on for the sleeves.

•Jawbreaker #2: Have I told you all about this one? Umm, all I've done is cast on for the back and knit about 6 inches. I bought some Sheep Shop Yarn in the prettiest colorway...that totally reminds me of my favorite color of Manos called Wildflowers. I haven't had a chance to take a picture of it yet, but I'll get to that eventually. This isn't a project that I'm in a rush to finish since it's 100% wool and we're headed into summer soon.

•Entrelac Market Squares bag: I got the bag where it needed to be for my class...and I haven't worked on it since. This is not a high priority for me either.

Some projects that I'm thinking about for the future: a summer top for my niece Alice, since she's grown out of the one that I knit her last year. Note to self...knit larger sizes for a growing kid, duh! I'm thinking of making the Monica top for her out of some Cotton Ease that I have stashed away. Also on the kid knitting front I need to knit them some little cotton hats, a raspberry for Alice and a Pumpkin for Liam. This could lead to more fruit hat knitting...as I feel the need to knit for my cousin's kids who are the same age as my niece and nephew. We'll see...this could be a fleeting thought.

I see a recurring theme in my knitting these days....cotton. We've got the Nature Cotton, the cotton ease for the top for my niece, the cotton fleece for the fruit hats, the Patagonia for the Mod on Mod. I've gone cotton crazy it looks like! So has someone else I know! You have to go read about Cara's latest obsession...it's amazing and inspiring. Go. Read. Now!

**there are two huge milestones coming up for me here at Sheep in the City. My 5000th comment, and my 500th post. If you happen to be the one that hits it as my 5000th comment, I'll send some fun yarn your way. I can't tell you how close I am...so just comment!**

Sheep+Mug=Cuteness!

Last weekend was my friend Genia's birthday. One of the things that we did was visit a "paint your own pottery" place. You know, you show up, study the wall of ceramic items, finally choose one. Then you study the wall of paint, for what seems like forever. Then you have to actually paint said item. This can take a really long time if you aren't careful. But I loved it! It was totally fun and relaxing. The best part though, is that I love how my sheepy mug turned out!

Here is a picture of the inside of the cup...pink of course! I'm seriously contemplating making a whole set of these mugs in different colors. Wouldn't that be so fun?! Have a great weekend everyone! I'm headed to a show opening of Denyse Schmidt's quilts tonight. It should be a nice change from the normal Friday night knitting. I'm hoping that they let me take pictures!

All cotton, all the time...

That's what is happening around my household. It's all cotton knitting, all the time. I've got my Jawbreaker Cardigan, knit out of Patagonia Nature Cotton. I've finished the back, the right front, and I'm almost done with the left front. That's what I like to call the home stretch. I can't wait to wear this sweater! I even have the perfect button to go with it. (thanks to Cynthia, who gave it to me for my birthday last year!) Knitting with this particular cotton has made me long to knit on my Mod-on-Mod squares, which is knit with the same yarn. I had put them away when I started my Ariann sweater, but I've brought them back out. They are such a great portable project. Here's a shot of the squares that my Mom has finished already. Her afghan, of course, is shades of green, with a little blue thrown in. Mine looks just like the one in Yarn Play...all pink and orange and wonderful.

The wonderful news though, is that my local yarn shop, Colorful Yarns, just got in a huge shipment of this cotton. Like, a crazy amount. So, all week long I've had cotton on the brain. What else could I knit out of this yarn? Hmmm....it's one of those things that make you go "Hmmmmmm". And because it's just the kind of person that I am, I decided to share some of the loveliness with you. The folllowing are pictures of Araucania Patagonia Cotton. This is not even a fraction of the colors that they have...it's just some of my personal favorites. Enjoy!

Gotta blog...it's Friday!

I'm teaching a class this Sunday on the Market Squares bag. The pattern is from an old issue of Knitters Magazine, but it has been reissued in the book Bags: A Knitters Dozen. I knit this bag about 4 years ago for my Mom, remember? I decided to knit one for myself for two reasons. One, I've always wanted to make one that I get to use. Two, I needed a little refresher on how to knit Entralac. It's all coming back to me...I love it! It really is such a fun technique.

I babysat for the kiddos last night, and as always, it was an adventure. I put Liam to bed and headed downstairs with Alice to clean up the kitchen a bit. Well, I wasn't at the sink more than a minute when Alice came over to the doorway, sat down, and pulled out her knitting. It was just too cute. She has this little bag that says,"My Tote!" on the side of it (yes, from my Mom of course!). I can't resist taking pictures of her when she's playing with yarn.

Meanwhile, on the sweater front...I'm knitting away on both Ariann and the Jawbreaker Cardigan. Making progress on each of them a row at a time. The crazy thing is...I'm thinking that I'm going to love the Jawbreaker Cardi so much...I've already bought more yarn to make another. Crazy, yes. But I have my justifications. The first version is knit with Patagonia Cotton. The second one will be knit with Sheep Shop 2 yarn, which is a 100% wool. See. Totally different!

*My parents are down in Arizona...with no planned return time. I say good for them, they'll both be able to relax and rest. My Mom does like to see what I'm up to though, so maybe this will motivate me to blog more!**

Something to talk about...

Today is the last day of my Dad's radiation. I know that he'll be glad to be done with the everyday treks to the doctors office. I'll be sure to let you all know what the next step is going to be. As of right now, the doctors are going to let him recover from this round before they start any other treatment. Thank you all so much for the prayers and encouragement that you've shown me and my family this past month. It has been such a blessing in more ways than you'll ever know. Thank you, thank you!

On the knitting front...well...things didn't go exactly like I had planned this past weekend. I kinda, sorta, finished the back of my Jawbreaker. I couldn't help myself. I was so close I just couldn't put the needles down. The picture below was taken earlier this week, and is what a typical morning looks like at my house.

Jesse wakes me up at the crack of dawn by rustling the blinds, or messing with stuff on my dresser (that he knows he's not supposed to touch!). So I get up. Move to an upright position. Drag my knitting bag, that I just so happened to drop at my bedside when I fell asleep the night before, up onto the bed, and knit. Jesse promptly goes back to sleep, usually on some various piece of knitting. Sheesh. You can tell who is boss around my house.

**come back later for a new book review!! It's another keeper!**