WIP's Galore!

I've been working on mostly socks as you see below.

The two on the far right are done waiting to get Kitchener stiched. (BTW the back ground is our new floor that my husband is putting in!)

Since I'm going to attempt to complete a Branching out scarf, I decided to try a small lace project as you can see in the above lacey sock.....the pooling is awful but I think the lace turned out ok. The sock will be sent off to an aunt who is very pregnant. (Btw I think that I'm going to join the Branching Out Knit along, if you want to join the fun go here)

As we can see this is a later photo all Kitchenered.....it was my first attempt ever and man did it look BAD! But it's the toe and it's small so it is good enough! I did it via tutorial online by the Stitch Diva.....it was by far the best one I found!

In other knitting news, my dad's sweater that I've been knitting went into blocking. I wasn't going to even block it (since it is done in Wool-ease) but the rolling up of the Stockenette was not going to be fun during seaming.

Here we see part of my mess, the trick to doing this in my house was finding a flat surface big enough that won't be danced on by cats.....as you can imagine the furry children just *LOVE* to explore my knitted peices. Taking the picture above was difficult since I had to stand on the toilet to get everything in.

The back side had to blocked in a completely different room!!

So since we now have wonderfull new floors, my hubby and I discussed the rug situation. I said that I wanted to knit us a rug from the below book, but that it would take me a while. He said "Well then I think we should just buy a rug", because he doesn't want to wait. I must have had a horrified look on my face, because we re-negociated that one quickly. He said I could buy the yarn if I knitted it quickly....works for me!

So I think that we've decided to knit the Mitered Square Patchwork Rug from the cover of the book. My only issue now is what yarn to use.....since the Artful Yarns' Dance that the designer used is discontinued. I got online and the two yarns in the running are Wool Pak 14 Ply Baabajoes or Reynolds Lopi. Any imput out there on these two?

Fun stuf for toady!!! More pictures from the new cat tree!!!

Hi Mom!!!



I like seeing you eye to eye!!!


Here we see Pierce and Annie having a spat. Comments heard were "You are a jerk, and I will NEVER share my greenies with you again!" and "Your fur makes you look fat!!"

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!!!

Gotta love Half Price!

Here in Texas (and possibly one or two other states) we have a little store called Half Price Books....you go in with your old books they buy them from you and then resell them for half the price on the cover (plus they sell other brand new books). I usually go to Half Price looking for non-knitting related books, because the knitting section sucks because no sane person would sell their precious knitting books......well imagine my surprise to find:

I don't already have it either!!!

And this!!!!



And what about this!!????

This last one I got at Hobby Lobby but it was still half off because they were having a sale.

Finally, I got a knitting related thing but I can't share here because it's for my Secret Pal for the International Scarf Exchange 2. I finally got my assignment!!! I am so excited. I am still in the thinking stages of figureing out what to make....my pal prefers lace scarves. Any ideas? I have done ZERO lace, and am at a loss.....I am thinking a basic intro to lace type scarf with a little heavier than lace weight yarn? Any help would be apperciated. :) Really I could just make a ribbed scarf in a fluffy cuddly yarn but why waste the chance to learn something new? Or am I deluding myself?

Well some of you may have noticed that there is a lack of updates on WIP's. Well it's not because I'm not working on my WIP's.....it's just that I'm working on all of my projects and not making extraordinary progress on any one of them. Does this happen to anyone else?

Beautiful PA! And Newsflash!

I have work in PA this week and let me tell you it is beautiful up here.....anyone who appreciates color (and what knitter doesn't?) is in heaven up here....the leaves are all different colors. It's been so long since I've seen these lovely sights!!!



Newsflash! I've joined the International Scarf Exchange 2 today! The cutoff date was today so it was literally at the last moment! I am so excited.....I can't wait to get my secret pal info....we should be getting them by Nov. 15.

Since I know you can't have enough Alpaca....these are the photos that blogger wouldn't load no matter how much I begged.

Here are some other new buds.

I'm ready for my close-up (In reality, I'm pissed off....see my ears?)

And this was the only way this one would be friendly with me....I came with bribes (I am definately not above bribery.....ask Brynne. )

Look what I saw the other day!

And it's a good thing because I saw these guys heading for the curb!!! I love seeing our tax dollars at work!!!

Boerne was a blast! (WARNING PICTURE INTENSIVE!)

Kid n Ewe this year was fun for me.....not for alot of other people. The Festival people didn't get the contract signed securing the space untill very late last month, so alot of the vendors backed out and not many people showed up to browse. However, this was good for me because if there were alot more (i.e. vendors, people) my eyes would have glazed over and I wouldn't have known where to start. I bought yarn (of course), but I am most proud of my newly aquired drop spindle!!!! Yes I have gone over to the dark side!

Here are some shots of some new friends.

Here is my hubby with Mr. Alpaca......

Here are some ladies who had just bought new wheels!!

One more shot.

Ironically there were not kids ewes, or llamas at the KID N' EWE AND LLAMAS TOO fest....however as you can see there were alpacas.

On the way home we stopped on the side of the highway (yes very classy showroom) and bought this. We'd been looking for a while and when ahead and took the plunge.

Good thing the kids like it.

Mememe among other things.

Ok, as Marlanea has explained, since Brynne tagged us both for meme's we decided to post meme's about our friendship. Please feel free to ask us questions about the more confusing points. :)

1. Our house in Rockport was known as the “sausage board of the south” thus all sausage related decisions are made there.

2. No commercially available sausage in Texas is good enough for a Polish recipe

3. I have made a joke funny enough to make Marlanea snort lemonade through her nose.

4. The only blind date I’ve ever been on (the one Marlanea set me up on) asked me to marry him on the first date…..there are so many things that went wrong that evening.

5. One other thing that went wrong that evening is that M&M (Marlanea and Martha), and Blind Date ate seafood and then immediately afterwards went on some sort of vomit inducing carnival ride.

6. Marlanea taught me that soy sauce and egg drop soup do in fact go together.

7. Cranberry juice is not only M&M’s drink of choice, but it’s also a known aphrodisiac.

8. My parents’ nickname for Marlanea is “Malina” which means Raspberry in Polish.

9. Contrary to Marlanea’s belief, I AM THE LEADER AND I SAY WHEN! This has been a source of dissent ever since we saw the Aristocats for the first time.

10. Marlanea has seen our “Deca Dad” take a picture of my back side as I was half in the fake stream at the putt putt course trying to retrieve a stray golf ball.

11. M&M have been on a couple of airplanes WITH Mickey ears firmly on our heads.

12. Marlanea choose Martha to her date at the fancy schmancy Christmas dance in high school since her boyfriend (now husband) was in Austin.

13. Because of Marlanea, I will forever have nightmares about consuming sushi….she demanded I try it by jamming some sort of fish roll down my throat.

14. M & M have an erie knack for preparing the exact thing that the other’s spouse hates for dinner.

15. The other card game at the “house of sex” was VC aka Vietnamese Cards…. which has different rules depending on who you ask.

16. No matter what anyone says, making animal crakers pose in pornographic positions is never appropriate behavior during a film in government class.

17. If one enters a discussion about wearing make up completing a woman, with Marlanea, prepare to see steam come out of her ears.

18. I don’t think anyone will ever forget the day that Marlanea asked “I wonder what would happen if I took my top off in here?” at the Calypso Café at the Corpus Christi Half Price Books.

19. Never ask Marlanea what something means….go look it up….she will lie to you.

20. M&M have won state Championships in high school for DECA, which is a nationwide competion for marketing. Our event consisted of preparing a lengthy marketing improvement proposal.

21. Winning this championship enabled us to go to Nationals, and thus missing our senior prom…it was definitely for the best, because I didn’t have to find an excuse to say NO to Billy who asked me to prom! Whatever happened to him? Do you k1. now Marly?

22. Marlanea is very amused when I talk to my parents on the phone in Polish and throw in an English word every now and then…..I think it reassures her that we are not in fact talking about HER.

23. The first time I met Marlanea I, too thought she was a bitch.

24. At one point in time, we both belonged to the RFHS Science Club (yes we were total geeks). For one unfortunate period I was President of said Science Club.

25. If possible, the magic of yarn and knitting have brought us closer together…. with many more memories to come!!

After the tragedy of the socks that won't come out to be the same size, I started questioning my skills as a knitter....and frankly wheather I should actively carry on the obsession. I am really excited to report that I have launched into a new Sock that included THREE new techniques that I have never tried!!! I decided baby socks were just right, because they are small (so not as much of a time commitment if things go south), and one of my aunts is VERY pregnant at the moment so they make handy baby gifts......well I looked online and found this pattern. It was great!!! They are toe up socks with short row heels, neither of which I have attempted before. The pattern also calls for a lacey leg part and I tried it but it didn't work with the cotton yarn that I was using, this was a new concept for me and it worked but just didn't look right (and I don't recall the name of the yarn at the moment). I am so excited that I have these new skills, and I am in love with these tiny socks, but I need some advice from the ladies out there with children. The yarn in 100% cotton and has almost zero give....is the momma gonna be able to stuff the foot into them?

Sorry about the quality of the picture but I finished them in the car on the way to Boerne, TX (and just had to take a picture and blog about them) for the Kid n' Ewe and Llamas too fesitval! So as you can see I am not giving up the obsession! I'll be sure to blog about this event next time!

Life would also not be complete without a cute cat picture either...so here goes.....

Mario In a Box (close cousin of Jack-in-the box)

Our sweet furchild loves to jump into empty boxes. As a side note, you can see the book "The Knitted Rug" by Donna Druchunas trying to get in the picture. I bought it because we are putting down flooring, and getting rid of carpet so I am looking forward to knitting a bunch of area rugs! Does anyone have any experience in this area? Does anyone have any advice on yarn type or yarn brand I should use? Any advice would be appreciated.

Well I'm off to pet the woolie creatures! Ta ta!

In Mourning.

In my Oct 14th post I described an event that causes sadness in every knitters' heart....the socks I've been knitting do not match in size and shape. I had the sock ripped and I quickly reknit it so I could send off the socks to a dear Aunt in England for her birthday this month.....and horror of horrors the sock did not match again.....FOR THE SECOND TIME!!!!! I've decided that the sock pattern that is plaguing me should be put aside to defeat another day. I made this decision while having a minor break down that I decided was entirely caused by knitting. I mean what else could have caused my breakdown? Could it be that my house is complete ruin due to painting and putting down floors? Nah! Could it be that all the "renovations" need to be completed by Thanksgiving, because I am hosting the whole family? No WAY! Could it be that I am traveling the whole month and thus unable to help speed things along? Definitely not! Maybe it's the fact that I have no "thanksgiving-type" recipes to make for the family that I love? COULDN'T BE! It must have been the cursed sock!

Ok enough of that.....Next time.....a mememe that I got tagged by Brynne to do.