adventures, aquisitions and exhaustion

I never thought it would come to the day when I looked forward to, and enjoyed a Sunday morning that involved being up and awake before 10am and laundry. The Tall Guy and Annie are off on a bike adventure, so the house is full of nice sunlight and is so quiet! Anyway...
Yesterday was a superfun day from start to finish. Crafty Bastards had its first Silver Spring fair here so, Jessie came up with an old friend of hers and we walked over to check it out.
Amongst the highlights and purchases of the day included this t-shirt (which I just realized I paid 5$ less for at the fair then it is on the website...sweet!), some awesome coasters (Christmas presents, I think so I'm not sharing!), this yarn from woolarina
: Its a new base for her, I think, and is merino, bamboo and nylon. Sweet!And, at the last table we hit in the circuit had these funny bags sitting on them. I didn't get it at first... but, its a yarn ball holder that you can still take the yarn out of if you want to!!! How cool! The creator doesn't seem to have a website, but she's oldballandskein on Ravelry.


Here's a shot of the inside. Ingenious!
After CB, Jessie hung out and we got to just sit around and knit for a few hours before her sweetie and few others made their way over. We cooked out, drank plenty of beer, played MarioKart and had an all round good time.

Scout's Sock Club's shipment came in this week as well! This month is called "Stocker Pond", which sounds funny, but the back story is that the color was inspired by a Pond in NH. Pretty sweet, huh?! :) I'm still mulling a pattern, and I like this offering a lot more then the last one.

Last but not least... I've started working on the big jaywalkers again. When I was in California, I had Erica try the first one on, to ensure it would fit before I did the second one. It fit just right, which is pretty awesome and I'll be turning the heel today. I want to have it done before I see her in August and that shouldn't be an issue at all!

Okay, back to folding laundry. Its hot and muggy out and I need to start packing for NH (we leave Wednesday morning)... Happy Sunday!

stalling...

Yup, I'm stalling on the knitting content. I have a ton of things to show, but none of it is photographed...new yarn from Michigan, new yarn from Scout's Yarn Club, progress of projects, a new project, a finished sock or two...you get the idea.

Instead, I'll stall with a cute baby shot. This Peanut can make anyone smile. (Quick repeat of the disclaimer...There will be no babies in this household anytime soon, this little one is plenty and we get to give her back!!!!!)

Sorry Tall Guy, you're in the blog today... it was too funny not to share.

home to do laundry

The Tall Guy and I got home today from Michigan. We're here for a week before we head up to NH for the 4th and a family party there. Whew!
I have no photos of anything to show you, not even, at the moment, of the cutest peanut ever (aka my future niece).
I did check out a yarn shop in Grosse Point Park called Artisan Knitworks. The Tall Guy was kind enough to come to a screeching halt when I spotted the shop out of the side of eye as we did a windshield tour of Detroit. Awesome shop. It had yarn I've never seen outside of Maryland Sheep and Wool. Pretty sweet, if you ask me, if that's your local store. I'll show you photos of it soon. I promise.
Now, I'm going to hug my dog and finish watching a movie.

packages are the best!

I was having a rough day last Friday and fell into a bit of retail therapy. The package came today. I looove the Loopy Ewe andI love Shibuknits Yarn. Great color, great twist, great stitch definition.

And.... Yup! I got a Namaste bag (a purse that's also fantastic for knitting projects)

It's RI-DIC-U-LOUSLY hot pink.

The Tall Guy just about fell over when I showed it to him. I'm not sure if he was impressed, shocked or if the purse burned his retinas. Anyway you dice it, it's clear you need fellow knitters to appreciate a Namaste Malibu purse. Personally, you can make fun of me for my hot pink purse, but I think its the cat's pajamas.
I've been between a few socks recently. This one has lain dormant for a few weeks, but I picked it back up this weekend. I turned the heel and its a pretty interesting construction. I mentioned
this one here, but the heel is done with an increase on the sides (using magic loop), the back of the heel done in pattern and then the decrease on the heel is equal to the increase you did on the sides in the end (does that make sense?) It actually fits pretty well too.

I'll leave you with a funny photo for the day as well. I tell you all what a weird dog I have all the time, and perhaps you think I'm just joking or doing that thing where a person always thinks their animal or child is really special/smart etc. Well.

I was cleaning out the kitchen and found a spud that had overstayed its welcome in our house. Annie came in to inspect my work, I showed the potato in my hand to her and she promptly took it from me like I had just handed her a treat.
Until the mess got to be a bit much, Annie tossed the potato around the living room like it was the best doggie treat I had ever given her. An easily amused only child. Just like her mom.

a psa and other ramblings

The past few months have seen an increase in coverage about the Nalgene bottle = cancer issue.
I've read a ton about it and made a decision to move away from my beloved Nalgene bottles for the eco- friendly Sigg recently. The cynical part of me is quite certain that in a few years, someone else will come up with a study that sends us scurrying back to plastic and away from aluminum. That said, I also figure that I'm not the best statistic when it comes to cancer (close close family proximity on both sides) so, I'll spend part of my George Bush money check on a new water bottle or two.

That's my new baby (photo). You have to admit the design and prints are way more visually pleasing then a Nalgene as well!

and I hope to pick up another one soon at REI or Moosejaw when we're in Detroit this weekend.

Also, a shout out to EmilyinFrance who posted about this earlier this spring. I'm quite sad that the Hello Kitty Sigg is quite out of stock last I checked...

In other unrelated to knitting news, I just got a text from my step-mom that our wedding invitations went out in the mail today. Guess there's no going back now! (Just kidding Tall Guy!)

As I mentioned, we head to Detroit this weekend for a Tall Guy's family visit, a little soiree' in our honor and world's cutest niece is going to be christened. All in all, it will be an adventure, with car knitting aplenty.

keepin it real

It's been a totally chaotic and crazy few days and when I have actually had a few minutes, I've been totally uninspired, thus the lack of posting. Every day I've been running and every night I've had something going on. (Yay for hanging out again, internet friend Jessie!) Most nights this week have ended with my passed out on the bed, not in my jammie's with with the dog harassing me, only to wake up totally disoriented when the Tall Guy called to say goodnight from his work travel in Houston.
So, sorry. I'm done bitching and moving on to knitting!
Last weekend was not that nuts, and I spent most of it either on the back porch with a friend who's staying with us or parked on the couch in the nice cool a/c. I finally finished this scarf and it went to Yve who came done on Saturday...

So much more her then me...
Details:
Yarn: Socks that Rock Silkie in Rocktober
Needles: Size 5 Crystal Palace Straights
Pattern: Domesticrafts version of the Chevron
Comments: This is the third time I've used this pattern. I love it.

And, the Juno Regina is progressing. I'm just about done with the last chart before the straight section. There are definitely mistakes and at this point, I just don't care. Most people won't be able to see some of my creatively shaped diamonds and that's a-okay with me.

The colors are fairly true here, but as always, the sheen of silk is just not done justice by photos.
This weekend starts the true chaos of the summer, with two of my old Mayorga crew getting hitched (the only two I actually still talk to... dark days those were..). From there we start traveling, which means lots of car knitting! Yay!!!!

wacky wednesday

Currently, I'm at my house, trying to do a bunch of online training that would be nearly impossible to get done at my desk given the amount of phone calls and drop-in traffic I have. That said, I can't log in and am waiting on two different call backs that will assist in my issue. So, in the meantime, I'll entertain you with some pretty pictures and a few random stories.
In April, we had a housewarming/come see the backyard and/or meet Annie party. We had lots of friends bring booze (thank you, all) and one couple brought us an Ice Cream maker as a housewarming gift (Thanks again Eric and Suzette!!!!) ! If you know anything about me, you should know I never turn down ice cream. So, I decided to give it a whirl this week. The first attempt wasn't so good, as I was impatient and didn't let the bowl freeze long enough. The second attempt though? YUM. I followed the basic vanilla recipe, but as usual, used my Mexican vanilla, not bourbon or from the grocery store. Incidentally, if you or anyone you know is going to Cancun, Cozumel or anywhere near there anytime soon, if they can bring me back some vanilla, I'll pay them for their troubles. No joke.
This is what the final product looked like. I added three kinds of chocolate. Milk, dark and cocoa nibs. Tasty!
Annie didn't like that she wasn't allowed any.
Before it's six months after the trip and I haven't shown you anything, for the fiber folks, here's what I got while in California!
A cone from Artfibers. I'm thinking I may make this with it, but I'm open to suggestion. The material is 87% bamboo and 13% silk. You can't tell from the photo, but its mostly a pine green with a fleck of brown/gold in it. The sheen is just gorgeous on it.

4 skeins of Koigu (I know none of them are the same) came home with me from Imagiknit. I've never seen the amount of stock that this place has... yarn floor to ceiling in a store the size of my house! I figure I'll make striped socks or another chevron to replace the lost forever one... I've decided the chevron I had been making out the Socks that Rock Silkie is going to a friend. They're much more her colors then mine and she needs a new scarf. It had been hibernating for some time, but now I'm seeing her this weekend so I better get going!!! I realized this winter that the scarf she seems to wear the most is one I made out of LionBrand Homespun 5+ years ago. She needs an upgrade:)
I know its June, but these are just her colors... it will be an early birthday present for her!

And, a sock!!! See, I have been knitting. I'm working on perfecting my short row heel. It's so much faster and less fiddly when you get it down then the heel flap for on-the-go knitting, which is what most of my socks are, so we'll see how this goes in the future. I love a tricky sock pattern, but when I just want to zone out on the train or in the car and still be able to carry on a reasonably intelligent conversation, a simple sock is the way to go.
Aren't the colors great? This is the Elizabeth Bennett sock yarn from Yarn Love I mentioned last week . The base is merino, silk and bamboo. SO soft!!!
Okay, back to fiddling with the computer. Hopefully this training will get done today. Otherwise, I'll be doing it on my own time this weekend! Grrrh!