Craftstravaganza!!

Ah, the rogue artsy-craftsy glory that was Craftstravaganza! I tell you now, if you live anywhere within reasonable driving distance of Saint Paul, next year you need to come. Really. Go look. Dare you to get past the vendors page with out getting lost in links for a good hour at least. Do yourself a favor though and stash your cc with some unfeeling, trustworthy soul first. It should truly not be in any possible way accessible before you click that link.

My hands down fave vendor was "I Like You", a local consignment for local artists with attitude. This sock monkeys with arm hair, swilling a beer. Or another with a pink tutu and matching mohawk. Lots of fabulousness along the lines of "reduce reuse, recycle". They even shared the secret of turning your old LPs into kitschy bowls. Love it. I exhibited marked restraint and came away with this "rescued sweater" bag:


and some "reclaimed" modern bibs for #3...love the vintage fabric patches:

And from Sassy Art Goddess, truly the goddess of felted sweater bags...I could have bought them all, but would have felt very badly about the bounced check that would result...this one begged to come home though:

It's now a sweet repository for my latest sock projects. (check out her homepage for the Mamarox animation...l.o.v.e. it.)

And then we come to Aisha. Oh my. Yes, there was yarn. A whole table full of handspun and hand dyed yarn. Spinning batts too...which I could blissfully try to ignore as I don't yet spin...but she teaches classes damn it! At Crafty Planet. In June. AGH!

This is her handspun. Actually quite atypical based on what else was there, but it screamed "make me into mittens" when I touched it. Loverly and soft.


And this. Hand dyed, locally grown wool. She has a local farm she's fallen in love with. They have fancy shamancy French sheep that start with an R...Ramboulitte or some such. Too lazy to go unearth the skein. I'm thinking fingerless mits and a hat. Perhaps a bag though...we'll see. Fabulous and soft and I love the double local as much as I love my CSA. Aisha Celia Designs. Check her out.

That was the extent of my haul, mainly because I made myself turn around and walk straight out the door after buying the second bag. It's a good think I went alone. If I had to stay any longer, I seriously would have bought something from every vendor there, and that's saying somethin'. I'm usually very discerning at most crafty events. Not much usually calls to me. These apparently are my peeps.

...of pointy sticks and hooks

Both have been seeing lots of action since the vacation...which once again we're not going to visit in detail. Just haven't had it in me to finish that draft. See, I have these times when I seem to fall off the face of the earth, but this time, not only did I leave the planet behind, I think I've landed both physically and spiritually somewhere out near poor defamed Pluto.

Can't. Face. Anything.

Have crawled into my shell with my yarn and I sooooooo don't want to come out to play. UGH.

Yep, it's a full-blown, world-class funk.

Trying to crawl out of it with house purging and bits of organizational paraphenalia. Will it work? Stay tuned.

However, I do so very much have projecty progress to share.

Yep, the round ripple is waving once again. I'm totally working out of my head this time, and the decreases are needing a touch of fudging each round, but hey, it's working. Every third row is worked even, with the other two having either 2dc or 3dc shells at the peaks. Still in Plymouth Fantasy Naturale, and I'm still loving it. There will be many, many hanks of this consumed by yours truly in the future, I can assure you. Simply lovely cotton.

And that's the other bit of crochet improv I have rolling at the moment. The idea hooked itself in my brain when it leaped off the pages of Mason Dixon Knitting, wheedeled it's way in through my ear canal and lodged in my cortex, jumping up and down, raising quite the ruckus until I got it on the hooks. (and thank you to The Yarnery for timing their yearly purge just in time to scratch my itch.) Love the rug, but man, that would be a ton of work. And I so hate finishing in all it's many guises. I knew I could spiral much easier in crochet, and I was so right. This is working up in sock yarn and mercerized size 10 thread. To get the look I wanted, I'm working 2 "live" rows consecutively. A tad tricky with the increases, but I really like the effect. Felted wool rug so definitely in the future.

Ah, the tentacles. I do love them. Finished it up while driving to and from Milwaukee. CrochetMe pattern here. Lisa Souza Yarn here. Run. Play. Just remember to come back by dinner.

Ah yes, the socks they are done!! I finally gave in and bought another ball of the yarn since the "just in case" third I initially bought remains mysteriously missing to this very minute. My gauge was a bit looser on #2, so the heel is a bit sloppy. Wish I had taken time to try it on more, but I was rushing to get them done and proceed with yet more socks. Two other pairs already on the needles. Oh yes, I've got it bad.

Sorry this bit's a tad blurry, the camera refuses to zoom and focus at the same time. Not a good sign. This is my scarflet. The one I'm sending off to meet the world in my first ever "scarf circle". WHEE! It's in Mohana, a loverly cotton, merino, kid mohair, polyamid blend of German origin, made in Italy. Don't you just love how the yarn world works? The pattern I've adapted from the "Not in the Round Scarf" in Sally Melville's "The Knitting Experience, Vol.2, The Purl Stitch." Fare thee well, little scarflet. Enjoy your adventures.

Hopefully more soon...need to share my Craftstravaganza...off to funk some more.

Catchin' up

Oh, but the posting has been S.L.O.W.

What's been sucking up my time? Here ya' go:

1. 2 kids that can't possibly not pick at each other for longer than 5 seconds if they are physically in the same building together. Thank gods the baby can't talk yet. They pushed the biggest boy (aka "the husband") past the breaking point the other day, when after an entire 6 hours filled with zoo-ish fun, they saw the neighbors come home (and just how they knew they were coming home from the local ice cream joint I will never know, the little buggers have extrasensory abilities, I swear they do) when they were getting ready for bed, which prompted #1 to announce that our family never has any fun and she now wanted to live with Lukas' family because they were better. Am forever grateful to have blissfully been ensconced in a steamy shower instead of witnessing the resultant "fine, you just do that", door slamming, jammies marching down the sidewalk circus. (of course, when #2 got wind of what was up, he pronounced it a fine idea and went along...skipping.) They actually got to their sidewalk (we're urban folks, so don't think they were marching through the streets...their house is all of 10 feet from ours) before turning back in tears. Oh the drama of the return. The wailing. I am seriously afraid for summer.

2. Daily making plans to unpack the suitcases from the trip we took 3 weeks ago now. SIGH!

3. Major planning and implementation of silent auction to benefit the scholarship fund at preschool. As usual was left shaking my head in wonder at the psycho dynamics resulting from a group of supposedly mature women trying to work together. Oh the game-playing. And also as usual am left saying I will think long and hard before joining such an effort again. Yeah right.

4. Which led to much mindless rippling. Have resurrected the big ripple, and I am so loving the new color scheme. Sometimes frogging is fate:

4. (cont.) The rumpled round ripple

is now frogged and awaiting it's next incarnation. Going to try this pattern next. It's all just so soothing. Calms me waaaaaaaaaaaay down. The ripplers are keeping me on my toes too...over 160 No End In Sight Ripple Alongers now, and more over on Flickr.

5. More yarnishy stuff. Made a secret project...yep, you'll just have to find a way to wait for it. It's felted. And it's granny-ish. Also started working out a crochet spiral. Took mason Dixon Knitting on vacation with me and was intrigued by the spiral rag rug, but oh gosh would it be oh so much easier to crochet...and yep, it is. I'm not working with rag pieces right now, but the technique is slick and fun. Will be sure to post about it when I have a good bit worked up. Started my scarf bit for the Scarf Circle I signed up for through the Lime and Violet message boards...this is going to be FUN! The idea is that you start out by knitting a 6 inch scarf bit out of whatever yarn you have languishing about. Then it gets rather chain letterish. You pop the stitches on some waste yarn and mail it to the person next on your list. They knit another 6 inches with whatever yarn they have, and mail it on. My scarf will visit 12 knitters before being bound off and returned to me Sometime in the fall. It will have been all over the US, to Canada twice and even to the UK...sadly much better traveled than it's eventual wearer.

6. And then there be house cleaning (much delayed by the fact that I smashed my shin up good in the process of setting up the silent auction...OUCHY and SWOLLEN...like 9 months pregnant with pre-eclampsia swollen. not good, but I can justify sitting about with my feet up!) and food making and bathtime moderating and nap enforcing and laundry ignoring. Some pressing social issues driving me nuts, but am not sure I want to rant of that sort here...

Anyhoo, that be what I've been up too. Catch ya later...and yes, the next post will I promise be about the trip, the status of the projects I took along...double pinkie swear promise!

I want to have a sectret pal FOREVER.

Once again, this whole Secret pal thing gets a tad eerie.

I literally came home from picking up #2 from preschool, hands full of baby and grocery bags...to find someone in my backyard in the process of disconnecting my power. Do you know how hard it is to make them stop that? To get them to listen for enough consecutive minutes to convince them they have the wrong house? HARD. For future reference, tears apparently have no effect whatsoever. I was like drowning, the kids were scared, it was awful.

...and then I found this in my spam:
Yes, my new SP10 pal hit it so far out of the ballpark it may reach poor Pluto. There just aren't enough words to tell you how this touched me today of all days. So, I won't even try, but know you have my undying thanks, mystery person of mine!

(and did I ever tell you my super-de-duper Lime and Violet Exchanger was NotScarlett? you should totally check out her blog, it's every bit as great as her presents!)

Getting post rules!

I tell you, this surprise package thing is just the best. If I could give myself amnesia, set up a bunch of mailings for myself throughout the year, then un-amnesia myself, I so would. This is just the bestest!

So, we got home from our "late Easter" celebration at my parents'. (Yep, the "Mom, we're going to be driving home from Milwaukee on Easter, sorry we won't be making it this year" conversation somehow mutated into Easter being postponed a week in obnoxious, definitely un-savior-ish style...complete with egg hunt, more chocolate than is good for anyone (not to mention my 14 month old), leg of lamb and for some reason brand spankin' new Razor scooters of the Barbie and Hot Wheels variety. I swear, my mom has lost her wits. She needs some sort of grandmother 10 step program...) Anyway, frazzled would be a good description of the condition of my brain...or maybe I mean scrambled...

Anyway, there in the mailbox is the tiniest, cutest mailer envelop I have ever seen, absolutely covered in Canadian customs forms. And inside? The cutest retro-80s-ish stitch markers made by Graphic Design Chick. SQUEEEEEEEEE! Thank you Secret Pal 10 Pal! I love them!

And what have I been working on? Well, something SECRET to be revealed at a later date. TO be a late birthday present truth told. So zip yer lips.

But there has also been this:

Yep, am rippling again, and it's gooooooooooooood. (and yes, that is the baby's easter rabbit adroning the Donna Kooler's. sans head...oops.)

(still working on the vacation post...those goodies to come!)

oh April.....

Let's just pause a minute to compare shall we? Do you mind? We'll get to the good stuff in the next few days, I promise.

April as seen out my front door this morning:

Poor, poor optimistically sprouting plants...how the 80s of a few weeks ago so cruelly tricked you.

April as seen from our balcony on Indian Rocks Beach, just outside of Tampa last week:

Oh, but The Fates are cruel...

NotScarlett, you ROCK!

LOOOOOOOOOOONG overdue SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE for Not Scarlett, my super-stupendous Official Lime and Violet pRon Exchange exchanger!

Not only did she send me the afore blogged super-excellent package and Loopy Ewe gift certificate, but when we finally traipsed home from Florida (no worries, mates, there are many, many more blog posts on that coming...cartrip crochet, balcony knitting, sun, waves, shells, Busch Gardens and oh so NOT fabulous-o Sea World, more sun, more waves, more knitting seaside yet more passenger seat crochet and even a kidless night out! oh soooo much to talk about!!!) anyway, home we limp, tired, full of sand, crabby after 5 hours in the car...and WHAM, BAM, BIFF, there on my floor lies BIG package. For ME. I was stunned. Poor thing, waiting forever to find out my reaction, but oh, the timing couldn't have been more perfection. One should always find such waiting after 2 days in planes and cars with small children. I believe I shall start sending mineself post.

Anyhoo, take a gander at this:

I mean, is that extra, extra credit or what? This gal, she's gained herself a huge mess of karmic protection with this one. Color me 5 shades of SPOILED!

To recap, that would be:
2 hanks of Lorna's Laces Shepard Sock in Lakeview (land o' 10, 000 lakes swoon!)
one hank of Lisa Souza Sock in Marsquake (otherworldly swoon!)
2 packages of mmmmmmm Dove chocolates
a sheepy journal and matching magnet
a sheepy keychain with sneaky hideaway pouch containing luscious lip balm (love me the burt's bees btw) and cuticle ointment I'm dying to rub in. (**wonders why she hasn't done that yet and resists the urge to trot off to indulge...must finish post!**)
AND one copy of One Skein Wonders along with one copy of Candi Jensen's latest, Knitting Loves Crochet. (love me the Candi Jensen, the woman just knows her stuff, knitting or crochet. will have reviews of both upcoming too btw...)

GASP, I may need to lay down.


I am simply totally overwhelmed.

Sarah, your generosity is astounding. My faith in humanity is restored. Strangers can be kind to strangers. We can all get along. We do care, damn it! The good DOES in fact outweight the bad. YEAH!

Let's take a closer looksee at the yarn, shall we?

Mmmmmmmmmm, Lisa Souza. And the Marsquake is absolute perfection for me. All warm and earthy and inspiration struck her when she was actually Looking at Mars in the heavens. Makes my geeky sci-fi heart go pitter pat.

And just look at the colors in this Lorna's. Really cool-ly lovely sock-ish wonderfulness. Soft as soft can be. Me thinks this may be my first pair of "jaywalkers"...YIPPEE!

More on the vacation later, must go bond with my new yarn...

Secret Pal 10 contest numero uno.

Robin, my group coordinator for SP10 has posed a question to the group:

Please post about your favorite yarn and your least favorite yarn (if you have one!) What have you made with it? Tell us about your experiences!

So here goes:

My favorite yarn to date is hands down the Lisa Souza Superfine Superwash Merino. It is sooooo soft, and her colorways are fabulous.

It's a treat to work with...now that I'm knitting I'm going to have to get me some to make socks out of! Here's what I've made so far:

(it's the sour grapes scarf from CrochetMe, loverly tentacly goodness. one skein is creating quite a monster. am hoping to finish it up on vacation next week...more pictures soon...)

The Pam Allen Misty Meadow scarf from the Interweave Holiday Knits 2006. Feather and fan is fun and can you believe how perfect, perfect the color repeats are?!?!?!? This one's going to take the other 2 skeins I think. I want it really long and loop-able.

Least favorite isn't hard at all , though it came as quite a surprise as I've really never really thought really seriously bad thoughts about a yarn before. But the Lion Brand Microspun pushed me to it. I had bought a bazillion colors to make a floral motif granny square blanket for my daughter. Soft and washable, right? Bright fun colors, right? Yep, but also splitty as splitty can be and the ends are weave-in resistant it apprears. The yarn is so slick they just worm their way right out. You can imagine how frustrating that is with granny squares. So I have a bag of it stuffed in a closet awaiting some greater purpose. No pictures, it was too painful.

Thanks for the game Robin, off to stalk other responses and hopefully oggle me some yarn!

Secret Sender Person Swag!

My Official Lime and Violet Pron Exchange Secret McSenderson (undoubtedly the greatest person in the universe) sent me a package! (button at left links to the Flickr group) And it came today! When the shock of finding a package to ME wore off (sadly now a rare occurence in kid-land), I sat right in the big puddle 'o sunshine streaming in the front door (freakishly 82 here today...in March. In Minnesota. Did I mention it was March still? And that it's 82 today? Dance of joy for warmth!) and sat there in the sunny-ness oggling. Then I ran for the camera. Here's the swag:

Be still my heart. Count them with me now, ONE, TWO hanks of ALPACA. SQUEEEE! I've never worked with alpaca! Some gorgeous stone stitch markers. YEAH for rocks! I've been rolling them in my hands and they feel soooooo good. And oh my goshness, ONE, TWO Knitpicks circs perfect for magic looping accompanied by a luminous bamboo US G crochet hook. And a very nice knitterly note card with very nice secret exchanger things written inside. And they say more is coming. I may faint! THANK YOU, THANK YOU SWAPPY MCSWAPPERSON IN TALLAHASSEE! (or then again maybe you're not there after all, but that's where the swag came from...I must say, the return address made my little Lost-infatuated heart skip a beat too...)

On to the details.

Stitch marker loverly-ness in snowflake and picasso jasper by Zero Markers. "Jewelry for your knitting." As seen in the latest Knitty! I got me a pal with great taste. The pics don't at all do the stones justice. Zero has a great pic of them here.


And onto the pRon itself. 100% hand-dyed alpaca from Atacama. Colorway 511. Full of mauve/pink/purple/brown with some loden green thrown in goodness. It's soft. I love it.

The pictures don't at all do the colors justice, not to mention the halo on this stuff.

I've got me 220 yards. What to do, what to do?!?!??! Gauntlets perhaps...dashes off to pattern search without even saying goodbye...

DANCE OF JOY, DANCE OF JOY!

MY LIME AND VIOLET SECRET YARN PRON PAL ROCKS!!!

Same lame song, much more excited lyrics:

"I've got a giiiift certificate. I've got a giiiiift certificate. To the Loopy Ewwwwwe. To the Loopy Ewwwwwe."

Dare to dream, but hide your credit cards first:

Ode to my new cookbook

OK, so me and my stuffed up head are really not up to an ode right now. But I would so write an epic one if I was.

I received Simple Suppers, one of the newer cookbooks from Moosewood Collective from my mother-in-law for Christmas. Or to be more precise, I told her to buy this and she did. In any case, I have it and it's mine and I am newly in love with it. Head over heels.

And I'm something of a food snob. Have I come clean on that yet? No? Comes from having an Italian-American mother I think. Everything from scratch spoils you.

I have several other Moosewood cookbooks and have several "regulars" I make out of them, and they are perennially a source of inspiration and desperation "what can I make with a few eggs, some condiments and the remnants in the veggie drawer" dinners. I was intrigued by the "simple" as the others, though I love them dearly, can be heavy on ingredients and not terribly easy to put together with 3 kids hanging off of me or even more likely falling apart totally at 5pm. Not able to concentrate on much else in my snuffly state, I pulled this off the shelf for some good browsing over the weekend and rapidly (OK, really pretty sluggishly) ran for the sticky notes (or just tore bits off of odd magazine inserts laying next to the bed) and easily marked up a weeks worth of meals to try out. Excited, but a bit leery of the very minimal ingredient lists, I slogged to the store and came home with the fixings for 5 new meals.

Normally I would reserve judgment until we had worked our way through them all, but man have we been eating well the last few nights with a very minimum of effort on my part. Pasta with lemon cream sauce and peas (who would think red pepper flakes would work, but they do!). West Indian red beans and rice (I have tried many recipes for this over the years and have always been disappointed, but with like 5 ingredients I had a taste sensation in the time it took the rice to steam). I gobbled them, my husband MOANED, and best yet THE KIDS ATE THEM TOO! And had seconds. I almost fell out of my chair.

And both recipes were almost "dump and stir".

Still in the wings, "Rarebit Risotto" (made with cheddar and beer!), a cheesy veg chowder and some yummy sounding rice noodle dish. Definitely will keep you posted.

(knitting aside: I dug this out of the depths of my WIP pile. Mmmmmm, love the Lisa Souza!)

Sock, sock, who's got the sock?

I DO, I DO!

Thanks for all of the words of encouragement that literally propelled me over my fear precipice of grafting the toe. Despite a few starts and stops and curse-filled tear backs, with many, many misgivings, I finally snugged it all up and presto-chango, here 'tis, my first grafted sock toe:

Sorry it's a tad blurry, but I was working solo. The wee ones are not to be trusted with the digital camera quite yet. Looks a bit like some sort of sock creature, doesn't it? Happy coincidence. The one side is a tad lumpy, and I think I snugged the stitches a bit too much, but hey, I can live with it. I think the yarn kind of masks it too. I still have qualms about whether or not the whole thing will unravel once I finally get #2 done and try wearing them. The whole tie off and weave in thing seems a bit dodgy to me. But overall, for my 3rd knitted FO, I am over the moon pleased.

Here be the details. Yarn is Crazy in color 013. Everything on the label is in what I imagine to be German, except for the word "superwash" of which it is 75%. The remaining 25% being polyamid. The skeins are 50g with about 125 m, which I now know is not enough to make one sock for my chunky foot and ankle. Needed probably 1/4 of another skein. Good thing I have 3 since I was crocheting socks at the time I bought the yarn. Don't ask me why I chose black and grey. For some reason I thought "well, I wear a lot of black so this will be perfect." It's fine, but will most definitely be looking for something a tad more exciting next time around. I do however, have a deep appreciation for the less than dental floss nature of this yarn. Thicker yarn, size 3 needles highly recommended for the beginner. Am now fighting with some Tofuttsi on 0s and am not really having much fun. Hopefully will get the knack soon. Worked it on size 3 40" Addi circulars, magic loop style and am pleased to say that you cannot tell where the cables went through at all. With the cursed Tofuttsi it seems to be another matter. Perhaps certain yarns work better with magic loop than others?

The pattern is the 4 stitch out of Charlene Schurch's fabulous Sensational Knitted Socks. I used the baby cables pattern option. Nice little stitch trick to get you some cabling action with no extra needles needed. I highly, highly, highly recommend this book for anyone wanting to learn socks. She walks you through everything. Her directions are very clear. AND she has directions for every sock style written out for 5 DPN, 4 DPN and 2 circular knitting. (and you can use the 2 circular direction for magic loop) BRAVO for recognizing there are many ways to do the same thing and making life just a tad easier on us all! I would only ask for some actual photos of the grafting process, as the illustration given helped me not one bit. My allergy stuffed brain could not follow it. However, the wonderful Sally Melville has precisely that in her equally fabulous second volume of her The Knitting Experience series: The Purl Stitch. Yeah Sally! (and if you want to learn to knit, I cannot more emphatically recommend her books to teach you the ins adn outs of how. These books are amazingly complete references, with actual photos of most everything...even weaving in ends!)

So, Mission Sock-o One-o completed, on to the sequel. (which may take a bit as I am ever distracted by the traditional crochet phenomenon keeping my inbox full of wanna-be ripplers and my hooks blazing with ripples and granny squares. must. make. time. to. knit!)

OK, so I've been a tad lost in ripple-world

The new blog, it's been gobbling up a lot more time than I had ever thought. It's really, really fun though. People keep popping out of the ether, crochet hooks or knitting needles in hand, ripples at the ready. There are even some newbies inspired to try it out. Ah, the power of the ripple. Here's what I have to this point:

A several times ripped back to this stage large blanket:

A star lovey for the babe which grew out of my obsession to figure out how to make a soft wave ripple work in the round:

(pattern here, thanks to Beth Parsons, whomever she may be!)

Click the button to get the way too long to repeat stories on those, and you should definitely check out the other ripplers. Creativity runs wild with the traditional crochet! It's funny,but I really don't think I've ever, ever done a ripple before. Never ever. Though I have some recollection of making those kitchen towels with the crocheted tops that hook around the fridge handle with my Grandma Allaria, and those tops may just have been a ripple. I can't remember for sure though, and I know they no longer exist, I've checked all my mom's drawers and hidey holes for them. Not that I really want them, they were awful. Cheap, cutesy hand towels replete with little animals and florid holiday prints. I do however, want to remember how to make them. I think there's huge update potential there...must remember to work on that. Done right, what a great hostess gift that would be!

And while you're at it, be sure to pop by the Granny-Along, hosted by the fabulous Kim Werker of CrochetMe fame and now crochet cheiftess at Interweave. Once she put the granny bug in my ear, these popped out of some languishing Plymouth Wildflower DK:

Gorgeous stuff on the blog, and yet another trip down memory lane for me. It's still hiding in the basement, that giant granny gone wild I took on at some point after my grandmother taught me to crochet oh so many eons ago. I wish I remembered more about working with her or what she made herself. I do remember how her hands looked holding the hook and the yarn, her filed to a lethal point nails picking out strands of yarn, pointing out where I went awry. Trips to I don't even know where to pick out sherbet toned scratchy acrylic. A g-hook of my very own. Hmmmm, those towel tops just may have been a granny-type pyramid...really must make a point to play with that a bit.

On the knitting front, am almost needing to figure out how to graft the toe of my very first ever sock. Thank the crochet goddesss for keeping me too busy to reach that point! Have also started knitting a coat out of my regrettably too small and now frogged cinnabar coat. Eco Wool knits BEAUTIFULLY btw. It's a pattern out of Classic Knit for Real Women that #1 caught my eye and #2 has instructions I can understand with one read through. Score for them. The book came home from the library with me this week, and while I am most definitely NOT in love with it as a whole, very little instruction/explanation, even of their sizing, and over all what I consider fairly frumpy patterns, there are a few like this coat that caught my eye. There's a super simple (or at least seemingly super simple) cable scarf that's clean and linear. And a knitted ripple scarf with a 2 row repeat that seems too goodly easy to be true. And a crochet motif they work into a bag and scarf that I will definitely play with. The sweaters I'm not in love with at all, just not my thing, and the pictures, while flatteringly posed, just don't give you a good clear look at the designs. In my opinion, worth a look, but not a buy.

It's all provided some much needed stress relief in some very trying mommy times. We had #1's 6th birthday which sent #2 into a tizzy of middle-child angst. We found out our classical school plans for the fall may just well be totally crumbling out from under us. And #3 has managed to fall just so and put his bottom teeth through the skin under his lip. At this point, am just hoping to make it through the week without anything else wonky. TGIFT my dears. TGIFT.

Happy dance, hap-happy dance!

The song goes something like this "I haaaave a paaaaaaal, I haaaaaaaave a paaaaaaaal, and it's gonna be fuuuuuuuun, and it's gonna be fuuuuuuuuun."

Lame but true.

Why all the jubilation? The Official L&V pRon Exchange is up and running. I'm stalking my pal and my pal is stalking me and soon packages will be flying. Whee!

And pal of mine, if you're out there, here be the survey-age:

1.What kind of fibers do you prefer? Naturalish ones. Buttery soft wools or cottons.

2. What kind of weight do you prefer (sock, worsted, bulky)? Sock or worsted, though come on now, it’s yarn and I love it all!

3. Do you spin? Lusting to.

4. Do you crochet? Compulsively.

5. Are there any books, patterns, magazines would you like to own that you don't? Am a beginning knitter, and Sally Melville’s respective knit and purl books are my ones and onlys.

6. Are you participating in any themed a-longs like the Project Spectrum? Violet’s Pink Ribbon and the No-End-In-Sight Ripple-Along. Project Spectrum was just too much purchasing temptation for me!

7. Do you have a wishlist on Amazon.com or Half.com? (provide a link)
Yep. Here.

8. Any Etsy stores that you would love to get something from? Oh baby, I’ve only heard rumors (and you know which ones…), but I’ve thus far kept myself from browsing and busting the budget wide open. I LOVE the idea of supporting individual artistic efforts though. Surprise me.

9. What other crafty things are you involved in (quilting, drawing, painting)? Some beading, scrapbooking (self-confessed Creative Memories snob though…), and then there a ton of wanna-be-but-don’t-have-the-time-and-resources-now-to-bes.

10. What is your favorite sort of scent? Soft and spicy. Earthy.

11. Do you have a sweet tooth and what kind of sweets do you like best? Bring on the chocolate! Mmmmmm, and icecream…mmmmmm…spumoni…which takes me to mmmm….cannoli….mmmmm.

12. What kind of music do you like? I’m fairly eclectic. Some days it’s rock, some days punk, some days world, some days classical…it just has to be good!

13. What do you like to knit? And for whom? I tend to knit/crochet for everyone but myself, though I’d like to start being a bit more selfish! I can crochet just about anything I set my sights on, but to date have only knit a scarf, hat and ¾ of one sock. Loved them all.

14. What sort of things do you like to collect? Rocks and stones…polished, plain, colored or not…love them. Rocks rock.

15. Do you want needles? And what kind do you prefer? I’m a beginning knitter, so have VERY few needles and would LOVE additions of any sort, though to date DPNs and I don’t get along so well…

sock, sock, sock, sock

Obsess, obsess, obsess....ripple, sock, ripple, sock, ripple, sock...

What am I doing to myself?!?!? This is NOT good. I've made a deal with myself...sock during my naptime break, ripple while I catch up with Oprah, Lost, Grey's and Studio 60. OK, Iron Chef America and Ace of Cakes too, but that's where I draw teh line! The laundry MUST get done! Damn yarn!

Clap for me please, figured out how to turn the heel today...all by my lonesome. BEAM!

This is like magic. It's so cool.

Secret Pal 10 Questionaire

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? I tend to go for yarns with a goodly amount of natural to them. They just feel so gooooooooood in my hands. Cotton is more my choice, but lovely buttery wool/blends are growing on me. I also had the unfortunate experience of having way too hot soup melt polyester into my skin when I was just a wee one…yeah, so 100% poly/acryl not so much on my list. SHIVER.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in? A pocket in my project bag or the vase on the mantle…depends on how purty they are!

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced? Knitting approx. 2 months. Took a mini class and ran with it. I am told I’m an advanced beginner, limited primarily by my lack of sticks. However, have been crocheting forever, and it’s been a very long time since I’ve seen a pattern I couldn’t tackle.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? Yup, Amazon knows the depths of my desires.

5. What's your favorite scent? Hmmm, lean toward spicy and soft…like sandalwood. Though when the weather turns warm, cool citrus, cucumber, tea scents are nice.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy? All of them be sweet my dearies, and chocolate is their fix o’ choice. Want to send me over the moon? Godiva chocolate cherries. SWOON!

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin? I do some jewelry and scrapbooking (Creative Memories SNOB here). I mentioned the crochet. And am INFATUATED with the idea of spinning…someday when money falls from the skies…SIGH! Same goes for hairpin lace. And weaving.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD) MP3s all okie-dokie. Also have an iPod. My musical tastes are hugely varied, just try me. (OK, though I run from metal and easy listening…faith-based not my forte either.)

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand? Color = all good. Though not so much pink, though there are exceptions. Or pastel. Or wildly neon. OK, maybe I’m more of an earth mother/jewel tone girl.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? 3 sproglets under 6, 2 bulldogs, 1 husband.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos? Living in the great White North, the first three are bare necessities 9 months out of the year. Ponchos not so much…they make me look like a whale.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? So far I’ve only knit scarves, a hat and thanks to the magic loop, have started a pair of socks. Liked them all. I tackle anything in crochet, but I really wanted to start knitting for the socks, the cables and the sweaters. Oh, how fast can I push my skills forward?

13. What are you knitting right now? Knitting a basic 4 stitch rib sock from Sensational Knitted Socks, magic loop style (loooooove it, but now need to acquire long teeny circs…) and the Misty Garden Scarf from IK Holiday Gifts. Crocheting the Sour Grapes Scarf from CrochetMe and have started the ripple afghan that may never end.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts? Yes, oh yes, bring on the handmade goodness!

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? Beginning knitter, not many preferences, but please, no DPNs. Simply can’t face the DPNs. I haven’t used plastic knitting needles, but I really don’t like the crochet hooks as they tend to have a ridge where the plastic comes together and it really bothers me. I like more weight to what I’m working with too, so metal and wood I find loverly.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift? Nope. Once again, am waiting for the money storm to begin.

17. How old is your oldest UFO? Less than a year, but not by much…but it’s frogged now so does that count?

18. What is your favorite holiday? You know, holidays are nice and all, but I’m really an every day gal.

19. Is there anything that you collect? I know this is odd, but I looooooove rocks. Polished, unpolished, pretty or plain, I’m a rock hound.

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? Now that I’ve made socks possible for me, I spend oodles of time ogling sock patterns and oh my oh the yarns you can find online. Pippi Kneesocks, Socks That Rock, Scout’s Swag, oh there are so very many…you know the stuff I’m talking about. And then there’s Koigu that I have never even laid eyes on. And the Malabrigo. And Bonker’s Handmade Originals has some GORGEOUS cotton that I imagine sweaters coming from. I have no knitting mag subscriptions and VERY few books…surprise me.

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn? Hairpin lace and Tunisian crochet high on the list. Want, want, want to spin. Need, need, need to learn oh so many knitterly things. At the time of writing I can knit, purl, yo and k2tog. Addendum: and slip and whatever it’s called to make the baby cables in the sock book work. Think basics, that’s me.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements? Burgeoning. I have chubby feet. 91/2 inch circumference at the instep, 9 inch ankle, 9” toe to heel, very chunky, muscly calves…14 inches thickest…GASP!

23. When is your birthday? September 2.

ripple, ripple, ripple....

It's actually not so much of a ripple as a chevron. A lattice chevron. The one from Donna Kooler's Encyclopedia of Crochet. One row of lattice, offset with one working even, so it does switch up a bit.

Oh, how I am very much loving this. It's so nice to have something working up easily, smoothly, mindlessly. I can just go and go and go and let my mind coast. Nothing to count, nothing to check on, nothing to screw up. (in other words, it's not my knitting!) Loverly.

Then there's the making something for myself part. I'm realizing that I don't often do that. Something that's just for fun and for myself. It's like one big treat. It almost feels extravagant, which is sad, but hey, it's where my life is at right now. The kids are little and they NEED all the time.

...and speaking of, I need to dash off for stories and bedtime and ignoring the dinner dishes so I can ripple some more!

On Stash Diving

Remember this?

Yep, it's the sad, sad now frogged remains of my sweet yarn that I had imagined making into a lovely Doris Chan creation that let's be real I would never wear even though I think the pattern rocks and it would be stellar worked up. Just. Not. Me. And the more I've been thinking about this yarn, the more I'm convinced it's just not meant to be a garment. While the tonal differences are lovely and that's what I love so much about hand dyed stuff, the end result all together drives me batty. Even worked alternating rows, which may I strongly opine is a pain in the you know where.

So, when this ripple thing took hold, I went stash diving. Strangely I thought I had little to nothing to work with. Guess I was wrong:

Yep, that's a goodly pile of various leftovers that coordinate roughly with the languishing sweet yarn I found at the bottom of the pile. The fates be smiling on me today.

LET THE RIPPLING BEGIN!

(and go here to ripple along...hehe...)

Oh the magic of the magic loop!

I've had so much to talk about and so little time to write it down...hopefully it will all come spiraling out eventually...

But here's what's currently filling up my mind:

Yep, I've decided that it's time to try some socks. This all was spurred on by the Knit Out and Crochet Too event at the Mall of America last weekend. (though I missed the Tunisian demo I was targeting...some day!) Very fun to see and hear so many "big" names in fiber, and talk to reps from the "scene". Also ran into the owner of a local LYS that is literally 5 minutes from my house that I had no idea was there. It's really not my fault though...see, it's "over the river". Yep, deep in the heart of Minneapolis. GASP!

Anyway, chat, chat, chat reveals that they have an active crochet community, whoo hoo, and also a sock club. Sign up and the first Monday of the month you go in early morning before opening, get a free pattern and 1 hour technical class and 20% off materials...all for $25 for the ENTIRE YEAR! Is that not the perfect way to learn socks? Motivation to keep working on them, all the help you could need, and discounts on the yarn you drool over. Had to have it.

So, I signed up and they set me up with all I needed to practice with until the next meeting.

Little did I know I would be cursing them backward and forward for the next3 days. See those long pointy sticks? Lovely aren't they? Yes they're Addi's. Size 1. And I hate them, hate them, hate them. Want to throw them in the Mississippi River so I never see them again hate them.

Turns out they are far from the optimal first sock-knitting DPN. Am guessing they "forgot" that when it was the only one they had left...sell her the looooooong slick sticks or sell her nothing...hmmmmm, what to do?

Trying to get cast on was like trying to tame live eels. Seriously. Horrible. Gritting my teeth, tension headache horrible. And the sad part is it took me 3 whole days to give up...though before I did, I went googling online to see what I could see. And I found out about the Addi's. And then I found out about the 2 circular thing...and THEN I found out about the magic loop.

Cha Ching! The loverly folk at Clover that very weekend has put some size 4 long circs in my hot little hands...and I had some thicker sock yarn in the stash...and KnittingHelp has a great tutorial...and about 5 minutes later I was cast on and cruising. Seriously. Magic. Epiphany. Orchestra playing in the background. Sun breaking from behind the clouds. Miracle.

Now, the Clover bamboo cirs, while loverly and free...not so great for this...lots of pulling and futsing. HOWEVER, some other loverly folk had handed me at 50% coupon for another LYS...and today, here I be:

I HAVE SOCK! ALMOST 1 1/2 INCH OF SOCK! THAT I MADE! MYSELF! ALL ALONE!

And yep, those are NEW Addis. 40" size 3s since I have a bunch of sportish sockish stuff in my stash, like the Crazy in the pic. And I got them for $8. And the book was the result of possibly the best Valentine's gift this mom could ask for ...$25 and 2 hours ALONE at Barnes and Noble. SIGH, he's so sweet!

Socks aside, there's been much cleaning, disinfecting and general mojo-working in hopes we can finally slip out of plague season soon. It really needs to stop. NOW. Can't go there again, just can't.

Your crochet link of the day...the ripple afghan that ate the world. (thanks again to Kim at CrochetMe)

Off to plot how to acquire enough odd balls to make a go of the same...if you've got some send some...oh, oh, oh, we could do it progressive...oh, oh, oh, or we could "ripple-along"...oh, oh, oh this could be so FUN! Oh, oh, oh, must plan!

Odd jobs

I just vacuumed out my washing machine.

Why?

Apparently, unbeknownst to me, I washed a pine cone.

Not highly recommended.

Oh yeah, and we have the stomach flu again.

Have I told you how much I love my stay-at-home-mom life?

Really?

Refresh my memory.

Please?

Childhood Nightmares, revisited

Oh, I am not going to be able to sleep for a long, long, long time.

I've read Tolkein through start to finish just about every year, with very, very few exceptions. Long before I ever saw the original animated version of The Hobbit, I was haunted by Gollum. The slime, the hisssssssssssss, the lake. The sneaky following. AHHHHHHHH! And now there's this:

Gollum Hat

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

It's 1 of the 2 new patterns up at CrochetMe. The other is a cool Georgia O'Keefe inspired scarf pattern that has tons of promise and creative spark:

Georgia on My Mind

Off to clean carpets...yes my lovelies, the GI virus persists.

Calgon, take me away!

Baby with the stomach flu = very, very, very bad.

Scented candles when the whole house smells like milk yak = very, very, very good.

And despite frantic efforts to pleasantly "layer" scents, I still have your link for the day:

This is funny. Spit milk through your nose funny. OK, shouldn't have thought of the milk, it's so very, very, very smelly yucky here...

Knit Rant

Imagine a little cartoon me, waving it's little cartoon fist whilst jumping up and down in frustration, perhaps tossing things about, cursing the day the knitting came. Cursing the good hearted folk that push it so underhandedly in podcast land.

It is simply driving me crazy. My brain is in overdrive, trying in vain to plan 10 projects I don't really understand at once, railing against the fact that I'm very supply short. It is maddening to need about 5 million different sizes and shapes of needles to do this! Straights, circulars, DPNs, yarn holders. DAMN YOU KNITTING GODS! I want them all and I want them NOW!

On the plus side, it's quite fun to have new things to learn again. It's even giving me some ideas to try in crochet...bwahahahahaha!

So, here's where I am so far (minus the 10 things I've started on the wrong sized needles for the yarn I have because I can neither wait to try every new thing I come across nor can max out the credit card buying a complete set of Options and every bamboo straight and DPN my LYS carries. Lots of frogging. Lots and lots and lots of frogging.)

FO#1, the Orange You Glad scarf. Lambs Pride worsted saved from failed felted slipper purgatory.

And a close-up as I'm quite proud of my stitches. VAIN be my name.

Yet more rescued Lamb's Pride. Hopefully a hat to keep my ears from freezing off this week. It's the Oh LaLa Loopy Hat from Interweave Holiday Gifts 2006. Now I just have to get with the Knit coach to learn the DPN magic to finish it off and make the I-cord loopies.

And there's LACE. Or quasi-lace anyway. Go see it here, posted today, February 6. There's some crochet goodness along with it.

Links o' the Day:

Repeat after me. MELISSA IS A GODDESS. This is going to be sooooo cool, this is going to be soooooo fun. Love the Inner Child Crochet! I l.o.v.e that so many designers are starting to put it all in place for us. The gaps are starting to be filled in, and it's all good. This would be a great place to send newbies, and those hooked should RUN to check out the beginnings of her How to Design Tutorial. Very different and very promising. Can't wait to see how it develops.

SO has nothing to do with the yarnishness, but DID YOU KNOW DANSKO HAS AN OUTLET!?!?!

MOM ALERT! Go listen to this NOW!

Episode 8 of the Knitting Cook. Mandatory listening for the knitting mama. Bring kleenex. Buy yarn. Make stuff for yourself.

Longer post about my last few weeks to come, I promise!