Technology is so cool

Now if I could only get my I-whatever to knit my sweaters I'd be all set. This is really cool any way. I can blog from anywhere on my iPhone. Oh yeah!

One of THOSE days!

I just said to my husband, "where has the day gone?" His response was :" you spent the day knitting". But I have nothing to show for it. Do you ever have one of those days when you frog just as much as you knit? Well, that was my day today. I wound lots of yarn. First I was trying a new technique on the knitting machine and after three tries of it not working it was time to quit. then I knit an entire vest from "Knitters" magazine. And it was awful! Ugly and heavy, more like a blanket than an item of clothing. So to the frog pond it went. Now to think about what to knit tomorrow. :-) How was your Sunday???

One of

Happy New Year / Happy Stash Busting!

My goal for this year is to stash bust! I know many of us set this goal each year. I am going to post about my stash in order to hold myself accountable.

Here is my start to 2011.

A felted hat. Used an entire skein of worsted weight wool. It is now my favorite hat as it is quite cozy and warm. It also does a great job of keeping my ear buds in place while hiking with the dog.

The Market Vest. Now, I had to purchase some yarn in order to use up stash yarn, so I basically break even on this one. But, I love it!

And lastly, I used the rest of the yarn left from the vest to make a felted bowl. It's cute, pretty and not very functional. I'll most likely use it as a "drop" spot for knitting stuff.
Well, I hope you enjoyed my stash busting, I hope to post quite often this year as I would love to actually put into use some of my gorgeous stash yarns. They really don't do me much good sitting in a box. I may even find some that I will post for sale, so keep your eyes open.
Have a Wonderful 2011!

New Etsy Listings

I have been a busy bee! I have been sewing up some new handbags. I love them! They are a little smaller, now that my kids have grown and I no longer need to carry extra snacks and other such items. No more big Mommy style bags for me. I want to be a lady again. Thus the new bags. Stop on by the Etsy Shop and see what's new.

These bags are 11 1/2" wide at the zipper and 13" at the base. They are 3 1/2" deep and 9" tall. They each have 4 inside pockets and 2 pencil/pen pockets. The handle is 25" long (an 11" clearance).

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Whew, glad that's over. We were all exhausted after the Halloween fun ended. And then I remembered "I haven't taken any pictures, back into your costumes!" That didn't go over real well, so we got only partial, but better than nothing.

Sarah, on the left, is Dr Who, the 10th Dr, but she no longer has her sonic screwdriver, tie, overcoat or Converse All Star Sneakers. She did look great!

Catherine was the "Human Dalek" from the 10th Dr Who series. She too looked great!
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Now for some accessories:
Buttons for Feb Lady Sweater

More Buttons

My first Shawl Pin - Love it, thank you for sharing your source Marcy!

Happy Yarnoween!

I was not able to make it to Rhinebeck this year, but I did make it to Stitches East '10 instead. Although it is quite a different venue, it was still a LOT of fun! I found some really nice things and thought I would share. First .... the YARN....

Starting on the left, the multicolor yarn is my first purchase of this sort ever. I never really had an appreciation for handspun yarns until my friends started to spin. I really LOVE their yarns and the way they knit up. So when I saw this skein I felt a warm and fuzzy feeling. I will have to take up spinning one day :-). It is called Krazy Skeinz from Still River Mills in CT. It is 50/50 Baby Alpaca/Merino. The coolest thing is when I met up with my friend Marcy for some lunch, she had purchased the roving (I think that's what it is called) from the same booth to make the same yarn and subsequently the same vest (free pattern came with the yarn). So cool! I feel another knitalong coming soon!

Next is my very first purchase ever of MissBabs yarns. It is Yowza in Smooch. It is a Superwash merino, hand-dyed and feels just yummy! It was great to meet Babs too!

Next is a tried and true Blue Moon Fiber Arts, socks that rock in Medium weight. I just could not pass up the colorway: Spy-say Guacamolay. I love everything spicy!

Next is Kitchen Sink Dyeworks, another never tried yarn. One touch and I could not put the skein back, not for nothin'! It is called Luxe Merino Fine in colorway Dexter and is 80% Merino, 10% Cashmere and 10% Nylon. I plan to knit this into something that I can feel around my neck. I also got to meet the dyer, Mercedes, in this booth. Meeting the real people behind the yarn was what made this trip so amazing!

Lastly, but not least is String Theory! OMG this is squooshy yummy yarn with the most gorgeous dye work. I wanted to buy it all. It was so difficult to just purchase one colorway for one project. I bought 5 skeins of Caper Aran in Shale to make my very first February Lady. I am not one to run with the crowds and knit what everyone else is, but this yarn is just calling out to be a February Lady and I can't resist.

I'll get to the accessories later...

Summer Sewing

Surfing anyone?

I've been spending some time sewing this summer. It has just been too hot to actually hold yarn! Look what I have been up to.

There's more too. Check out my etsy shop for more style bags.

Now I will move back to knitting.
Happy summer!

This is a test

This photo collage made with Smilebox

I have this new piece of software and thought I would play with it for a minute to see if I like it....

Am I back? or Just visiting?

iPad Cozy!

I don't know the answer to that question. What I do know is that blogging is alot of work and quite time consuming. I felt the need to step back for a while, but today I felt a desire to check in.

It is my 48th birthday today and I have had a wonderful day! The family bought me an iPad for my birthday. No, nothing fiber related, but an iPad. Hmmmm. Anyway, I will enjoy it. It means I can post to my blog or to ravelry any time. While waiting for the girls at their activities, while at playdates, when ever. That sounds pretty cool.

I wanted a safe way to stash it in my purse so it is always with me, so I whipped up this iPad case today. Yes that is what I spent my birthday doing, untangling a skein of wild yarn so I could make this.

I like it, what do you think?

Yarn: Socks that Rock, lightweight in Flower Power.

Needles: US1 or T10 on a standard gauge machine
Notes: I did a gauge swatch and used those numbers to plan how many to CO and how many rows to knit. Pretty straight forward as the iPad is pretty narrow, no need to calculate for depth.
I knit a 20 row hem (10 each side), knit 60 rows at regular gauge, 5 rows at a tighter gauge, 60 rows regular gauge, and another hem. Seemed the sides and voila! Then I though, hmmm, it needs a button. So I just picked up 10sts and added on a button flap. easy peasy.