Stuff

I didn't think to include all the information for the cardigan I started in yesterdays post, so I figure I would do that tonight. I needed something to post about anyways, and I'm too tired to think. Haha! It is located on page 81 of The Yarn Girls' Guide to Simple Knits, and it is called The Problem Solver. It is knit holding one strand of Crystal Palace Chenille and two strands of Classic Elite Flame. The gauge is 2 1/2 stitches to the inch. This pattern would be just right for a beginner, and I think the only difficult thing would be attaching the zipper.

I should have pictures of the Hot Stuff Scarf tomorrow night if I finally decide how I want to do the fringe or if I even want to do it. I am so totally indecisive. I think I may dig through my bead stash and see if I can find something that will match the colors in the scarf. We shall see :)

Quick Post

As you may know, I work in a craft store. Today was the insane day after Thanksgiving shopping day, so I'm pooped! This entry is going to be a short one, but I will be back on Monday with some pictures of sneaky knitting and the Hot Stuff scarf. I'm too tired to take pictures right now. I just wanted to let everyone know that I am starting a gallery of my finished projects. So far I only have the Fair Isle Bag in it, but I will be adding projects as often as I can. It will include the information on what yarn I used, pattern info, comments, and start and finish date. Here is the link for the bag. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I had a wonderful time with Rob's family. Have a wonderful weekend and see you on Monday!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I hope that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I'll be spending mine at my husband's aunt and uncle's house. I'm a little sad because this is the first Thanksgiving that I have ever spent away from my family. I just have to keep remembering all the things that I am thankful for and keep a smile on my face :)

1. I am thankful for my wonderful husband. He has stuck with my through thick and thin and puts up with all my BS. He is extremely supportive in everything I do including my fiber obsessions. He even goes to yarn shops and guild meetings with me. I love him more than words can say, and I couldn't think of a better person to grow old with. He is without a doubt my best friend in the whole world.
   
2. I am thankful for my family. Even though they are miles and miles away they'll be in my heart tomorrow. My brother Nick is stuck in Iraq, and I know he wishes he could be home.  Send some Happy Thanksgiving thoughts his way.
   
3. I am thankful for my friends the ones I left behind (I miss you so much!!) and the ones newly made. I have some really special people in my life, and I consider myself extremely lucky.
   
4. I am thankful for my furbabies. I know that may sound silly, but they really help to keep me sane. If I have a bad day, I can just cuddle up with one of them and I feel much better. Zoe appeared during a really hard time in my life, and focusing on caring for her (bottles every two hours and more!) kept my mind off of my troubles. I don't know what I would do without her.
   
5. I am thankful that my brother Chris made it out of Iraq alive. The bullet that went through his legs missed his main artery by about 1/4 of an inch. He had an angel on his shoulder for sure! Not only did he make it out alive he saved everyone in the truck with him. He is a hero!
   
6. I am thankful for my apartment with the crazy loud downstairs neighbors, the food in my fridge, clothes on my back, and the shoes on my feet. They may be too small, generics, hand me downs, and/or worn out, but they still do the job!
   
7. I am thankful for my beat up old car. Even though it isn't pretty anymore, it gets me from A to B. It has been a very good car, and I have had little (other than aesthetics) problems with it.
   
8. I am thankful that my husband is getting a good education so that one day I'll be able to get a new car, new shoes, new clothes, and a bigger home!! Haha!
   
9. I am thankful for my health and my family's health, and I am so thankful that my husband lands on the ground safe and sound every day.
   
10. I am thankful for knitting, crocheting, beading, spinning, etc, and my ever growing stash! Some people can barely buy food, so I know that it is a luxury for me to have these things. Knitting is the reason I have such incredible friends here in Florida. I would have never met them without it :) I have also met some really great people through my knitting blog and I am thankful for them too. Speaking of which, thanks so much for all of the wonderful comments about my FI bag. You made me smile!
    
11. Lastly I am thankful for all the things that I am forgetting to be thankful for! I know that I should have a longer list but it is 1am and I can't think of anything else. Oh yeah I can think of one more! Chocolate! I am thankful for Chocolate!

Here It Is!!

What do you think? You can click on the image for a larger view. You would not believe what I had to go through to get a decent picture of this thing! The lighting inside my apartment stinks! I would just like to say thanks for all the kind words and encouragement while I was knitting this bag. Keep your fingers crossed that the recipient will love it. I may just have to sneak it away from her otherwise :P

Pictures Pictures Pictures!

I had a great time Saturday with the girls. The battery died on my camara, but Dale came to the rescue. Armed with here handy dandy cell phone she took a few pictures for ya. Thanks Dale!

 

That is a shot of Janette and I weaving in all the ends on the bag. Thanks Janette :) Rob you got so lucky! Believe it or not, it didn't take us very long to get it done.





Here are all of the leftover scraps of yarn after we finished weaving. Doesn't look that impressive?




Dale took a picture next her coffee cup for scale. It was a pretty good sized pile of scraps. Rhonda immediately scooped them up for a surprise. Speaking of Rhonda....




Did I ever tell you she is one talented woman? One of her other loves is Polymer clay, and she makes some incredible things with it. This is the best picture we could get with the cell phone, but you can still tell that her stuff is beautiful. Here is another shot...





I plan on getting more pictures of her stuff when I get my battery. Actually I will probably be bringing my camera along with me to knitting more often. I would love to share all the wonderful things my talented friends create! Did I finish the bag??? Well I can't give it ALL away in one entry now can I?

Blocking

Here is the bag blocking on my living room floor. You can click on the image above for the super big picture if you want (Dial Up Beware), and check out the stitches up close. I think they are pretty even. If they aren't, oh well I am not froggin a darn thing! Anyways, I think I did pretty darn good for my very first Fair Isle attempt :) Zoe sure seems to like it...



I can't keep her off of it, and I'm worried she's gonna end up with a pin in her butt! I had to finally just cover it with a heavy blanket. I'm sure that anyone who has pets can completely relate to this. I will just take it as a compliment. Tomorrow I will be going to my knitting group and having an end weaving party. Photos will follow.

Are you sick of this project yet?? The plans are in the works for the next one. Remember this? I am swatching it as we speak.

Yahoooo!!

The knitting is all done, but as you see I still have to finish blocking it. I just got off of work, it's after midnight and I have to be up at 7. I don't think the blocking is going to get done tonight. I am planning on doing it after I get off work tomorrow. I want it all blocked so that I can take it to my knitting group on Saturday. Janette said she will help me weave in some of the ends. That way Rob will get a bit of a break. I'm off to bed. I'll post blocking pictures tomorrow.

So Close But So Tired!

Ok it's 2am, and I am 10 rows away from finishing this bag. Unfortunately, I can barely keep my eyes open, so I'm gonna have to go to bed. I'll finish it when I get up in the morning. I don't have to be at work until 2:30 so I shouldn't have a problem finishing it before I leave. Woohoo I can't believe it's almost done. Well it's only going to be partly done. There will be ends to weave, blocking, sides to sew, and a strap to make. I'm hoping for it to be completely finished by the end of the weekend. Friday would be perfect so that I can bring it to my knitting group on Saturday for show and tell.

Hot Diggety!

I only have 22 rows left of the Fair Isle Bag. It's moving along pretty fast now. I was able to work on it quite a bit today since it was my day off. Here is a picture of the progress.

Sorry about the ugly picture. The stockinette is curling up badly and there are 20,000 ends that need to be weaved in hiding under it. I don't think Rob knew what he was getting himself into when he agreed to weave them for me. Muhahahahaha!

PS
I also worked on the Sweater Pattern List today, and I now have 191 links!

Keep On Keepin' On

I completed the main chart on the bag after work today. (Thanks so much for the compliments) That means I only have 38 more rows left! That's totally managable. I am going to have lots of time to work on it tomorrow, and I'll post pictures of the progress tomorrow evening. I need to hunt some more sweater patterns too. Right now my eyelids are getting very heavy, so I'm gonna go get my butt in bed. See you tomorrow. Have a wonderful day :)

Ouuuuch!

I was incapable of blogging, knitting, sitting up, or anything last night after work. Unfortunately when I arrived home  I was accompanied by a blinding migraine. Have you ever suffered from one of those? They are no picnic I tell you what. Mine start out by making me dizzy then slowly but surely my brain begins to split. I become nauseous, and yesterday I was seeing spots!  The only thing I can do is take something and lay down in a dark room. Thank God I don't get these very often. I think I would go insane.

Speaking of insane, Christmas is in FOURTY DAYS! How did it sneak up so fast? Is it the warm weather fooling me? Is it denial?  Whatever the heck it is I have a bag to finish for my mother in law, a hat and scarf for my sister, an Eeyore for my nephew, and the list goes on! Can you say impossible? 

So now what? How is it possible to finish in time? Unless, I magically sprout another set of hands, I'll never finish on time. My good friend Janette had a great idea to help take some of my anxiety away. You simply figure out aproximately how many rows you have left of the project so you know how many you need to knit a night. I have 68 rows left on my Fairisle Bag. I could finish it in two weeks if I knit five rows a day. That realization makes me want to kick myself in the butt for not finishing it already. I guess I ought to cut myself a break since I work full time and teach at the store. I don't have a ton of free time.


Enough excuses! I'm going to get this bag finished in less than 2 weeks if it kills me! Tonight I knit seven rows which puts me ahead of schedule. Here is the progress so far. Go Stacie Go!!

And here is a close up of the bottom of the bag.

Oops!

I wanted to add more to my last entry and removed it instead of just editing it. I didn't think about losing the comments. Duh! Sorry if I deleted your comments.

TGIF

I'm off today! I won't get to meet with the girls tomorrow and knit, but I am excited about having a day off. I have decided that my new own personal hell is retail during the holidays and I must be getting punished for some past transgressions. Lord please deliver me from evil! I'm sorry!! Haha! I just run into the nicest people during their Christmas and Thanksgiving shopping crazes. I was told yesterday,by a very lovely lady, that if we ran out of a certain item then we should not be allowed to have it in our floral displays anymore. Oh shall we rip it down on Sunday and put it back up on Monday when it comes in?? Let me hop right on that ma'am! Sheesh! Wait this is a knitting blog....

I am going to use my much needed day off to work on the Fairisle Bag. I have dilly dallied (haven't used that phrase in a long time) long enough on it, and I need to get on the ball. All around me in blog land FO's are flying off the needles, and I'm stuck here in WIP land. How am I ever going to be able to play with all my new toys if I don't finish up these projects. So no messing around today. I'm going to put a serious dent in that bag if it kills me. I shouldn't even be typing thi

Rebecca Magazine

I have had a couple of questions about the Rebecca Magazines, so I'll try to answer them as best as I can. Up until recently, the magazine is originally written in German and has English translations printed up along with it. You aren't able to buy the magazine directly from the Rebecca online shop. It is completely in German and only sells to Germany, but there are different distributers you can buy it from in the US. Rebecca started offering their magazine published entirely in English starting with issue 28, and it is being sold in the US, UK, and Canada. One American distributer is Muench Yarns. Click Here to see a list of their retailers in each state. It may be coming to a yarn shop near you!

As for the ease of the patterns, I really couldn't tell you since I haven't knit anything from it yet. I can't say that I have ever payed attention to the difficulty of a pattern anyways. If I like it, I knit it. Even if there are things in there that I may not be able to do, I know that I will be able to learn how through books, the internet, or friends. My motto has always been Go For It! I don't consider myself an expert knitter in any way. I just always try to challenge myself and learn new things. What is the worst that could happen? If you mess up, just frog away. That is the beauty of knitting :) Well it's one of the beauties anyways.

I hope this answers your questions. Feel free to ask away if I missed anything. I don't mind at all. Also you can visit the Rebecca website to learn more if you like. They even have a few free patterns. Just be sure to select English up at the left corner of the page.

I love the mail man...

cause he brings me stuff! Here are my two latest acquisitions. You will notice that they are accompanied by my husbands big ole feet. He decided that it was a perfect opportunity to show off a pair of socks that I knit him. Unfortunately, the color didn't showing up very well. They are actually a very pretty green.

I knit the socks with Wool Ease on two circular needles, my weapons of choice. They are super warm, so he may not get much use out of them in this climate. Now for my goodies...

On the left is Reynolds Saucy color 960. The shade is actually lighter (my lighting stinks!)than it appears in the picture. It is a 100% mercernized cotton made in Brazil.

On the right with my husband's stinky feet sitting on it is the Rebecca 27 magazine I ordered after seeing it on other people's. tell you what, reading other people's blogs is dangerous. I wonder if I am causing someone to run for their credit card with this entry!

Goodness Gracious Great Balls Of Fiber!!

I didn't manage to get as much done the last couple of days as I planned. I did manage to start the organizing of the sweater links, and I added some of the links that Cathy sent me. Thanks again :) Also thanks to Jenn and anyone else that provided links. I hope I am not forgetting anyone.

I am happy to report that my house is much cleaner, and I organized some of my stash. You did notice that I said some didn't you. LOL! My stash has reached historical proportions(for me anyways), and my husband has been searching the yellow pages for Fiberholics Anonymous! Here is a picture of the yarn I was able to get into my cedar chest.

Goodness Gracious Great Balls Of Fiber!!

This does not include the huge clear plastic bag (the kind you use for leaves) full of yarn leftovers I can't make myself get rid of, the drawer full of kitchen cotton, the large shopping bag full of yarn, and the ummm five (or more?) other regular size bags that I couldn't get in the chest! (It's not a small one either. Too bad I didn't get Rob to snap a picture of my climbing in it) I made sure to stash all of my wool and natural fibers in here to protect them from bugs. I think that it is safe to say that I need to be on a yarn diet!

Not Enough Time In The Day

There really isn't. I am going to take a couple of days off from blogging, so that I can do some updates on my link lists. Thanks to everyone who has provided links. It is a lot of help, and I need all I can get haha!  I will leave you with a picture of Andrea's cutey patootey Lucky. Thanks for sharing with us Andrea :) I promise some fiber related photos in the near future. Take care everybody. I'll be back on Monday.

Tuesday

   GO VOTE AMERICA! 

Short One

I had a very long day at work today that started at 5am this morning. Needless to say at 10pm I'm pretty pooped. This is definitely going to be another one of my short posts, and I appologize. I did want to pop in to tell everyone to get out there and vote vote vote. I don't care who ya vote for just go vote :)

I thought I would give you something cute to look at. This is a picture of Zoe when she was very little and her big brother Keagen. Can you believe such a big dog could be so gentle with such a small kitten? One day I'll get some actual knitting time in so that I can post some darn project pictures. Take care everybody and get to those polls!