Kaitlyn Update

I just wanted to post a quick update on Kaitlyn. I have gotten about 3.5-4" into her, and she's coming along swimmingly. Tonight I need to finish up Ivy's baby blanket but that shouldn't take more than half hour or 45 minutes, then the rest of the night will be Kaitlyn all the way! I WILL FINISH ON TIME!!!

I have also sketched out some ideas for a few designs that I will work on once Kait's off the needles and on my body.

I haven't heard anything back from CGOA yet and I'm getting antsy. I don't know why, maybe because I like instant gratification? Also, I'm really anxious to get into the Associate Professional program and I can't read jack on it until I'm a member.

Patience is a virtue apparently.

CGOA and Kaitlyn

CGOA.
I finally broke down and joined CGOA (The Crochet Guild of America) again. I have tossed this around in my head for a couple weeks, weighing pros and cons and here are my thoughts.

I did not join for the camaraderie since that is what my Ravelry groups and Crochet Group are for. I did not join to take the Crochet Masters Program (yes, it exists) because a)It is not available right now and b)I'm happy being a "Professional Crocheter" and do not need "Master Certified" in front of that. I did not join to get a nifty new CGOA Member pin since I still have my old one.

I did join because they offer an Associate Professional designation, which is free, where they pair you with a mentor (and usually someone REALLY COOL!) and that mentor gives advice for aspiring designers and is available for me to ask questions of. I also joined because I would love to go to some of the Conferences (even though reality says that I'm too po!).

So... $65 of my designing money went to a 2 year membership. As soon as I get my login stuff I'll get moving on the AP thing and see where it goes from there.

Ahh, Kaitlyn.
As you know, I am doing a sweater for the Knitting Olympics and the Ravelympics (2 groups doing the same thing in different places). My sweater is called Kaitlyn and I'm testing it.

Kaitlyn had some directional issues with the size I'm knitting which have since been ironed out and now I'm working my way through her again, and right now I'm at about the 2" mark of the neck. It's a Top Down sweater, with raglan sleeves and a lacy bit down the center front. It. Is. Beautiful. Kudos to Christine who designed it.

She said I could post progress pics, so here you go... Kaitlyn #1:

Let the Knitting Begin...

Tonight at 9pm, along with MANY of my fellow knitters and crocheters will begin the Ravelympics and the Knitting Olympics. A Challenge to each person that starts at opening ceremonies and ends when the torch is extinguished.

My Olympic run may be hampered by a non-knitting related injury to my purling finger (hang nail that hurts like heck), but I am hoping that a Performance Enhancing Apparatus (band-aid) will be allowed in these circumstances!

I had originally planned to make my Grandfather and Travis a pair of socks. However.... I have decided to test knit a sweater called Kaitlyn by Christine Buhagiar and it is BEAUTIFUL! I can't wait to have it done and on. I am waiting on confirmation if I can show you a pic or not (sometimes designers aren't allowed to show before it's published), but if I can I will post one soon.

I am making Kait out of Simply Soft Brites Blue, a really pretty color that will look fantabulous on me! I can't wait to see how it comes out. I swatched last night to make sure my gauge was correct (Yes... I... Swatched!) and good thing because I had to go down a needle size.

That's really it for now. I hope you all have a fantastic Valentines Day!

Busy Bee

I have had a great week with lots to do and good times with old friends. I've had a meds scare, 1.8 lb weight loss and a pretty darn good report card from the 8 yr old. Life group and Crochet group - great conversation and some awesome design ideas that have been well received by those that I've mentioned them to. I heard from 2 old friends that I haven't talked to in 18 and 15 years respectivly. I had a day off work on Thursday with the intention of going to Disney with my hubby and/or doing some housework and ended up sleeping until noon... but it was great none-the-less.

That is a VAST improvement from last week with all the mourning.

How about a project update? Here ya go:
~boring boy socks - 80% done but has sizing issues and is being punished and will soon be forgotten.
~ladybug socks - 80% done, but I'm ignoring because of other things that I am working on.
~Submission Quilty babyghan - the center is done and now I need to do the 1 seam and crochet on the border.
~Submission Girls skirt - still in the planning phase, and I am so happy that my friend Margarita (aka Thread Queen) is willing to work on this with me!
~Ivy's baby blanket - I just got this commission decided on Wednesday and I've bought the yarn but have not started working on it. I will though... once the submission babyghan is done. It's a baby granny ghan so it will hopefully go quick.
~Commission purses - I have 1 started but these are on standby because the buyers have not told me what they want yet.

See... busy! I hope that your week has gone well. For those of you having troubles, I've got my LONG list of folks that I'm praying for, seems like my friends and family are all being attacked lately. I hope this passes, and the sun shines for them again soon.

Updates... minus pics.

First off, Stephanie has raised $1,000,110 for Doctors Without Borders. !. !!. That is the magic power of the yarn community. That rocks, and I am so excited to have been able to be a part of it.

Secondly, I am still ignoring the boring boy sock, I have vanquished it from my knitting bag and it is in time out in my sock yarn drawer.

Third, with the publication of Purse-Onality Plus! and my showing off of said magazine, I have been commissioned to make 3 purses. And 2 baby blankets because they are so related. ?. I have no clue what the covers are gonna look like, waiting on input from the buyers. But at least this is giving me another chance to get some project pics of the purse... and yet another chance to show off the fact that I CANNOT COUNT TO 50. Nope. Chain 50, sc a bunch of rows and about 6 inches into it I start to think you know, this looks a little bit big. Hmm, that's odd. Let's count my stitches. 52 (plus the turning chain) so I actually chained 53. Sometimes I amaze even myself.

Fourth, related to third I am going to try to persuade baby blanket gal to let me do my quilty design so that I can write out the pattern as I go and have 2 examples of it - one of each gender. I will find out Wednesday night. If not, that's ok but it would be really nice to kill 2 birds with 1 stone.

Fifth, I cannot spell fifth (I did fith... ugh) but also I am doing some knit lace research for a little girl pattern floating in my head. I know I could do it in crochet and have it look like my vision but there's a Call For Submission for a book coming out for warm weather knits for kids. We'll try it and see what happens.

Can you tell that I'm gonna be too busy for any sock knitting in the near future? Yeah, me too. I'm ok with that. On a side note I cleaned out the "hidden" yarn corner. My "hidden" yarn corner was a pile-o-crap behind my stereo speaker 3 ft high. I rescued 5 project bags, 1 scarf-in-progress that I don't like, 4 un-used balls of yarn, 10 skeins of acrylic yarn in various stages of use including 1 connected to the Cliffyghan (which is also being ignored), my design notebook (which I really had been looking ALL OVER for), my 2 Pee-Wee Parka samples and the quilty babyghan sample that I had been ignoring but pulled back out so I could work on it more. Yeah. I took pictures but I'm too lazy to pull them off the camera. But... yay me for cleaning out the corner! Anyone need some acrylic?

It's one of those days..

I am having one of those days where I am in mourning for a recent passing, and one long ago but I am so excited about the magazine coming out with my pattern in it. It's been a rollercoaster day. So, I will share what the mag looks like so you can be excited with me. I sent a letter to the editor of this mag to see if it is ok for me to create a knit version to propose to one of the knitting magazines at their company. You could do so much with this purse in either craft and I hope that she'll allow it.















This past week also marked my triumphant return to Crochet Group. It's been almost 3 years since I've gone and they welcomed me back with open arms. And a cake!










In other yarn-related news, I think I'm done with the boring boy socks. Not because I have 2 completed socks but because sock 2, although closely resembling sock 1, is not its twin and apparently my shapping took a tragic turn for the worse around the heel area. So, I can either frog back 6 inches of sock or toss it in the corner and ignore it soundly.

Also, I have finished the proof of concept swatch for my quilty baby blanket that I've been avoiding and it works, sort of. I was trying for no seaming but I think that adding a couple seams (not a lot) will look much better than how I've done it now. So, I'll swatch that up and write up the pattern. I like how it's looking and I can't wait to finish up the full size model.

Not done yet...

But here long enough to get pics off my camera and post some. Today is day 12 of my 14 day work week... that means it's almost over and after 1 day's rest it'll be back to "normal". Yay normal.

First, let me start off my saying that I donated to Doctors Without Borders and if you are able, you should too. Nothing big and huge, but together we can save lives.





Stephanie issued a challenge to the knitters. She did this because of the awesome nature of the collective for the power of good and the fact that so far in the last few years, we've raised over $600,000 (!) for this worthy cause. On her website she shares how to donate, who gets the funds and why doing so is a wonderful thing. She says it way better than I ever could. Go read it, you'll be a better person for it. Her goal is 1 million. Easy peasy~!

Have some pics. Before and after of mine and my Mom's French Press Slippers. No, apparently I can't sew and mine are more like fraternal twins than identical:




























Christmas. Sean and his guitar, Jake with an awesome shirt and me with 2 of my faves - yarn and Laurie's new book:































Sean's 3rd Birthday and real, genuine ice (or snow, ahem) on my car window):












I'm sure you've had enough pics to last a while. I hope that you have had an awesome year so far. Next time I'll talk about my New Years Resolutions. Stay tuned.

Radio silence

I've been working away from the office since just after Christmas and will be there until 1/17 so no real posting. I have a 2nd sock of a boring boy pair, plus the lady bug socks that are languishing away in my bag. I've finished 2 pairs of the super adorable French Press Slippers and have bought the wool to make 3 more pair. I really like them a lot!

Sorry, no pics right now, that would require them to come off my camera... but I promise when things get back to normal here I'll update. I hope you had a great Christmas and New Year!

French Press Slippers

I started a pair of French Press Slippers last night and they are going swimmingly. Not in the 90 minutes that Some People can pull them off in but still pretty good. I have about 3 hours into them and all the pieces are done and waiting on seaming. Hopefully tonight I'll get to do that and give them a bath to do the felting. Here's what they look like right now:










That's it for me. I'm ignoring the last 3 inches of the ladybug socks and the last 4 of a pair of boring guy socks for right now and am focusing on these little darlings. Maybe tomorrow I'll get to show you the finished project! Fingers crossed.

What I've been doing while not blogging...

I have been working diligently on a wedding quilt. I finished it 45 minutes before we had to leave for said wedding and I still had to go out and buy a card, gift bag and panty hose - then get ready!

What's all the fuss about? Here is the quilt with the corner turned up so you can see my little tag:









And a closeup of my little tag:









And the happy couple Bridget and Amer:









Let me just say that I am so happy to not be quilting today, I didn't even bring any socks to knit at lunchtime. Poor little fingers! It was a beautiful wedding and we are thrilled to see them tie the knot!

In other news...well actually that's been about it for me. No Christmas sweater for my mom, no socks for Damarys. I actually had to buy them stuff! I know!! As of today at lunchtime when I went to walmart, I am offically done with shopping. Yay. I hope you are too.

Oh my poor blog,

How sad you must be that you have been so ignored! Ok, here's a flood of pics to show what I've been doing...

We went to Disney for Mickey's Christmas Party and had a great time.










The boys and I visited Grandma in the nursing home and they had a great time.









Jake, Sean and I went on an airplane to NY for Thanksgiving week and had a great time.









While in NY we visited with my siblings and we had a great time together (that's my sister Jennifer, brothers Jeff & Kerry, and me.) Jeff got the scarf for his birthday but I, of course, forgot to take a pic. I LOVE how it turned out by the way. I threated to scalp him if he put it in the dryer. Yay angora blend.









Also while in NY, my othermother Joanne, the boys and I went to the Hudson River Walking Bridge. It's the tallest pedestrian bridge in the world. They ain't kidding. Also, it was cold. It was a great time.(me freezing, the 4 of us, view to the left)





















Sean found some fall leaves at the base of the bridge:










And the boys hamming it up at my grandmothers house. They had a great time.









And finally, I wished for it our whole trip... snow! The boys had never seen it before, and even though it didn't stick to the ground, it did stick to my jacket! Also, they boys enjoyed it, and even though this isnt a great pic of them, do you see the HUGE snowflakes?













That's been pretty much it. I started a basic guy sock and am on the foot bit, haven't finished the 2nd ladybug sock... and am on the foot bit, and I haven't done anything with the wedding quilt that is due in 18 days. Gonna boogie on that this weekend (along with post-vacay cleaning and introducing our house to Christmas).

I hope that you all had a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving.

Birthday Week

I had such a great birthday week. I had saw some old friends, here's pics. This is my friends Angela, Jen and myself in 1989. Angela gave this to me framed, it is so cute... I cried. The next pic is of us on Saturday:













I also got a Small Upside Down Banana Split from my friends Tony & Nette - it's from my favorite ice cream shop - Bo's, but it's far. It was so sweet of them!

Anyway, enough about that. I went to Joann's and got the Boye interchangable needle set. I like them - I started using them on my scarf. The only problem I have is that the needles are kind of long so when it's on the shorter cables it is too hard to knit with. I worry about how a hat would do, and that's the main reason I got it. I do like the pointiness of the needles though!

Speaking of the scarf, I'm into my 2nd skein of the Aslan Trends. It measures about 3.5' right now. I've gone 17 out of 20 repeats of the pattern. Not too shabby but I really need to get a move on if I am gonna get it done in the next 2 weeks. Wait, less than 2 weeks! I have not finished, nor have I worked on, my ladybug secondsock. If I finish this early I'll work on them. This HAS to be done, those would be nice if they were done.

I am going up to see my family for Thanksgiving week and I am thinking about travel knitting. I will have both boys and I'm not sure how much actual knitting time I'll have, but I'd like to be prepared. I don't want anything with a pattern that I have to memorize, so I think I'll just dig into the stash and find a nice stripey yarn that is ok with plain rib or stockinette stitch. I have a lot of awesome yarn that is semi-solid that I can't wait to work with but those I want a pretty pattern for.

I will show pics of the scarf next time, really. For now, have a great week.

The Last Day...

I was testing a hat pattern, and I really love it. I leave for NY in 3 weeks, and this will be for there... Not here in 90 degree Florida.

Today is the last day of 33, tomorrow is my birthday. Today will be busy, I have a kid party to go to at a park in Tampa, then superfast dinner before trick-or-treating in my in-laws neighborhood. I also need to work on my scarf, which is half done but got sidelined because of the hat. I really like how it's coming out, defintly not girly which was my goal.

Tomorrow, I'm making homemade spaghetti sauce and cleaning the house. Throw in some yarn-paly and it'll be a pretty good day.

Sean has been working on potty-training, and this is a joyous thing. He'll be 3 in January so it is WAY PAST TIME. I wish he'd finish up before our NY trip but I kinda dont think that will happen. Oh well, guess diapers are gonna go with us.

I hope that you have a wonderful Halloween filled with adorable ghosts and goulies. I'll post pics of my own in a few days. See you on the other side!

Great day!

Today I walked for Making Strides with the American Cancer Society. I was able to raise $360, walk over 5k and got a cute t-shirt to boot! It was a beautiful day, finally cool in Tampa so perfect to walk in. There were over 5000 people that turned out and it took just about an hour to do the whole 5k so that wasn't too bad.

I haven't really been working on anything except the scarf. I have decided it is not to girly for a boy, although the angora content does tend to shed a bit. Oh well. It is wonderful to work with, SOOOO very soft! I love the pattern too - His (Birthday) Scarf by Monika Steinbauer. I've got about 2.5 feet worth so far and still have a little left in the first cake. Soon I'll have to cake up the other hank and keep on truckin. I've been spending too much time on Facebook - I've gotten a chapter and a half into my newest book and already have a second book from the library. Also... not much knitting. I do work on it at lunch every day and I am usually able to get 1 repeat a day done, that's 18 rows. I love the woven effect. Not plain but not frilly either. Perfect.

I have managed to cut all of the pieces of the wedding quilt, even sewed up a couple of them until my machine decided to start eating fabric. I am giving it a little bit of a time out to think about it's actions!

Well, I can smell dinner so it's time to work on something to go with the chicken. Have a good night, and on Monday I'll try to remember to post pics from today. It really was an awesome event that made me feel fantastic to be a part of.

Pictures!!!!!

The ladybug socks (including a closeup, not including the spots or faces).










My completed Brainless socks. I Love Them.










A scarf I started with Aslan Inguena. This is angora/merino/nylon and is SOOOO soft. What's your opinion - too girly for a boy? The color is really a dark chocolate brown.











My Boys seeing a firetruck up close and personal. Maybe next time Sean will be bigger than the tire!

That's all for me right now.

Such a bad blogger!

I still have no idea where my camera thing is but so far I want to show you pics from Convention, pic of the Brainless socks, pics of my ladybug sock (1.5 done), pic of my Wubbzy and Walden dishcloths (1.5 done) and pics from Feed the Bay which was awesome.

I have also started cutting out the pieces for the Wedding Quilt, and hopefully tonight during House I will finish it. The cutting that is.

This weekend Jake is getting Baptized and he's pretty excited about that. I will take pics, but I'm not sure I'll be able to share! I really need to tear the house up to look for the stupid thing. Maybe this weekend.

I am also still collecting pledges for my Breast Cancer walk in a few weeks.

That is really it for now, until I have something better to talk about. Have a great day.

A picture...

I got my picture from convention and it looks great. Love you touchups! I still cannot find my camera thing and have my photos trapped in the camera so this is the best I can do.

On a project front... lets see. I finished Brainless - yay!!
They don't fit me as perfect as I would like so they may become a gift. Still thinking about that one.
I have not finished the Lady Bug secondsock but I am at the heel flap. I am having a hard time trying to make it the same as the first one, since I had obvious deviations from the pattern. Why do I do this to myself?
I also just got done testing a Wow Wow Wubbzy dishcloth for a gal on Ravelry. It was easy enough but since pretty much the only cotton I had on hand was variegated blue... you really can't see Wubbzy all too well. I think I have enough undyed cotton to do another cloth, and she's got Waldon to be tested so I'll give that a go. Maybe he will look better.

On my to do list: I have to finish the Lady Bug second sock, start a friends wedding quilt and finish the quilty baby blanket that I was designing and then dropped for some reason.

Also coming up... This weekend is Feed The Bay that I'm volunteering at. It's always a very humbling thing to be a part of. Jake's getting Baptized next Sunday - we are so proud of him for his decision! I go to a bridal shower on the 10th and have the Making Strides walk coming up the Weekend after that. Can you say crazy busy??

Hopefully I'll find my camera thingy soon - I'd love to show you convention pics and sock pics and washcloth pics (although, admittedly those aren't great and just look like a square... but still). If we all pray together maybe I'll be led in the right direction. Ok? Ready... go.

Making Strides Againsst Breast Cancer

I am participating in the Making Strides walk on October 17. I am excited about it for a number of reasons, most of all because it looks like I will actually be able to walk! After trying for the Breast Cancer 3 day and not being able to do it because a) I'm too out of shape to walk 60 miles, b) I was not able to raise $2200 and c) I got pregnant.

This time... I only have to walk 3 miles (SOO doable), raise $250 (but it doesn't look like that is necessary) and I cannot get pregnant!

Anyway, if you are able to, please consider sponsoring me. Go to my page here.

Thank you!

Sorry, sorry, sorry.

I know it's been, uh, 15 days since my last post but I am just now getting settled sorta since Convention. It went well and I will show pictures once I have some. I keep leaving my connector thing for the camera at home and that is doing me no good at all!

Lets see. I've sold a total of 9 pirate hat patterns. Yay! I have almost gotten to the heel flap of the Lady Bug second sock. I have about 2 inches left on Braniness. I cried over the ruins of my Convention Quilt and gave thanks that I had a baby blanket in the Sale Box in the shed that would work in a jiffy for something to sell. It sold for $35. Not Great, Not Terrible.

About the quilt... sigh. I finished quilting it, binding it and decided that I needed to wash it to really set in the seams and hide some of my lovely sewing "uniqueness". Apparently I forgot to quilt about 12 inches of one corner section. In not quilting this area, a seam of the top came open just a little and without the quilting to hold it together the batting it really disintegrated. It is lumpy in some places and bald in others. I will try to scoop out the yucky fluff, and try my best to salvage it. It really is a pretty quilt and I was quite proud of it. Lesson learned. I did wash the fabric for my friend Bridget's wedding quilt, that will be the next project. She's getting married 12/20 so I have a little bit of time... wish me luck!

I am going to be walking in a breast cancer walk next month and will be posting a link here begging for donations! It's not the 3-day, it's only 3 miles which is definitely doable. I only need to raise $250, also doable. (Unlike the 3-day which is 60 miles and $2200). And I solemnly promise not to get pregnant and drop out!

Also, for those of you in the Tampa Bay area, my church is participating in Feed The Bay, an event that we started a few years ago where on a certain Sunday they give us a shopping list and after announcements send us on our way to the local grocery stores to buy items for the food banks and shelters in the area. They park big moving trucks in the parking lot of the store and the stores know ahead of time to stock up on these items. The first year, with only our church participating, we raised enough food for our main local charity ECHO (Emergency Care Health Organization) to be stocked for more than 6 months. That is HUGE! This year the goal is 300,000 lbs of food, and they have more than 30 churches in on it. Anyway, if you would like to donate money or find a store near you that will have a truck or even find a place to volunteer, go to www.feedthebay.org for more information.

That's it from me. Back to the pile on my desk. Have a great day!

I got nothin.

I have exactly 1 week before I leave for my convention and my office looks like a war zone. But, everything is almost ready and that is a good thing.

I am still on a reading binge punctuated with the ladybug sock. I'm about halfway done with the foot and that'll be it until secondsock. I really love the pattern and the look of the sock. I am grateful that this will be almost the end of the hand-dyed sock yarn because it's a little splitty to work with. It makes me miss my sockotta. And actually looking back at my projects, one of my favorites has been Lion Brand Magic Stripes. It was not splitty at all! Those socks went to live with my Step-Mom and she loves them as much as I hated to part with them.

I am not finished with the convention quilt (see first sentence. Yikes.) but I have finished the quilting portion I think. Now I need to even up the borders and sew on the binding. Wonder if my in-laws will keep the kids on labor day any so I can get it done?

Um...um... nope, that's it. Back to work. Have a good one.