Anticipation, Anticipation, is making me......

Stalking the mailman. My wheel(s) are on their way. Yes, WHEELS!!!!!

The lady at the Woolery was like "um, may I asked why you ordered more than one wheel"? So - why. Well - I had budgeted for Matchless, but then I thought. Hmmmmmm - I can get a less expensive wheel for a couple of other tasks. Plus - since wheels hold their value pretty well - I can always sell it and get the Matchless later if it was a mistake.

Soo... I ordered....

Well - I'm going to string it out a few blogs. Why should I be the only one waiting?

Let me get caught up on a few other projects.

First of all - I wanted to knit Jada a fall sweater. I found this cute pattern in the One Skein book, that had never caugth my eye before but this time I fell in love with it. I roamed around Cottage yarns for an hour searching for the perfect yarn. I decided on Malabrigo, where I should have started but didn't because I didn't think it was Chunky enough.



This project is full of colors I love - and for a baby it's pefect. Squishy soft, colorful (she won't get lost!), warm, loose, moveable, easy to take on and off. Plus - it was a fast knit.



See - fits her perfectl - ie. a little loose with room to grow! I decided to crochet the buttons with advice from Doreen and Jenny. I had a fruitless search for buttons, but they were right. Crochet buttons were perfect - I don't have to worry about lead in the metal buttons I was looking at and/or a choking hazard.



This is my favorite project in a while. It makes me want to make sweaters, something I've never wanted to knit before.

So - I stareted another one - Victorian Baby Tee - for Jada with Serendipty Tweed.



I love the color, the lace and the garter bands. I also love the neckline of the sweater. This is going to be another favorite project.



I'm working on a ton of lace scarves for Christmas gifts. My gift of choice this year. Not sure if I will make it on all of them. I get a little bored....

Have you seen the newest knitting magazine out? I am in LOVE with so many patterns in this little gem.



I'm not a fan of the DB yarns, to pricy with too little yardage for me. But she knows how to make an attractive patterns. Her sloucy beret is on my short list of fall projects. Just working on the perfect yarn for it....

Look at these little friends in our yard/garage:





Sorry for the blurry picture on the last one. I was trying not to get to close, he was a bit jumpy. Ha, Ha, Ha :)

What's up with Coat's and other company tring to get exotic on us? The Auntie Lydia line has come out with a Bamboo Thread - that looks exactly like a high price lace yarn. For $2.49!



So - of course I got some to experiment with.

I'm currently obsessed with My Onda shawl. You take 7 Koigu colorways that vary from dark to light or really anyway you want them to - and blend them.



I'm knitting each section obsessed with joining in the next yarn - I'm so excited to see them together. I think this will be my travel project over the next few weeks while I visit Dallas, St. Petersburg FL, and New York in order. Lots of plane, airport time to hopefully get her finished. And she will be a great conference shawl for the next batch of conferences I will have to travel to.

Let me end with some pOrn - of the yarn variety.



Camelspin, Vintage, Pure Luxury. Yum.

Next blog - I will be spinning. Squee!

A Golden Gift

Lookie Lookie what my sister gave me for my birthday. It just arrived, and I am sooooooooooo excited.



Ooooh - A Golding!!!!!!!



The excitment builds - which Golding is it. There is not a bad one.....



Aromatherepy? In a spindle? Lavender? So relaxing. What a great idea!

Let me describe my spindle. It has the distinctive Golding brass ring. You see it and know it's a Golding. It's quality in a spindle. Solid feel but lightweight. It has a little pot at the top to hold a bit of cotton with an essential oil. So you can receive healing aroma while spinning. It comes with a 1/2 fl oz. of Mood Mender - a mix of Clary Sage, Lemon and Lavender. Ahhhhhhh. I need that. After having a headache for a day and a half - non-stop - it's such a soothing scent.



The cherry wood is luxurious. The detail in the top whorl is a fan shape. It spins a lovely circle when the spindle is in use. The Walnut shaft (7 3/4") has smooth grooves about half way down to give the spindle a nice grip, but then is smooth and solid in the upper half to hold the spun yarn.




The whole spindle is .95oz - light.

And I almost forgot - this was not her only gift to me!!! She made a lovely trade on Ravelry for this beautiful lace yarn.



I can't wait to make someting soft and warm with it. As well as spin someting extra special on my Golding.



I Lurve it!!!! Thank you so much Doreen

I've been so lax in blogging and even worse in reading blogs. Between work, vacation, start of school - I'm so out of touch. Sorry my friends for not keeping up on your knitting adventures - I've got a lot of reading on Google Reader to catch up on soon.

My knitting has also slowed down - I'm working on Christmas gifts - lace scarves. I have several in progess - and started the final ones. If I get them all done by Christmas I will be so pleased.

I'm using a diagonal lace pattern that is easy but I like the look. The first one is in SWTC TOFUtsies - and I love the color and yarn.



I expecially love the mix of yellows, browns, oranges, and even a pale green. Beautiful. I should have picked up another ball for socks! This was a beach purchase at my Myrtle Beach shop away from home - Knit -n- Purl run by Phyllis and Terry. Once you meet them, you will love them they are so sweet. I'm looking forward to seeing them in December when we are there for Christmas, and maybe a bit of Christmas yarn shopping :)

And I loved the pattern so much - I started another one for my friend Connie who loves the color Red. It's hard for me to find Red yarn. I found some Red Alpaca, and am making a scarf in that too. But I think this one will work best for Connie. I'm using Baruffa Cashwool. Very soft, and tons of yardage for not a lot of money. And as I picked this up at Pacific Wool and Fiber when it was closing - it was even less expensive at 50% off! I want to make it nice and long, lacy, but light.



I started Hey Teach - but thanks to the Olympics had THREE holes in the stockinette portion. I frogged it back to before the wholes and haven't done much on it b/c I hate frogging and am a bit miffed. But I saw Doreen's and am getting over it - I think I'll start back on it soon.

Schools back in session. And I'm definately "Meh." about it. The weekly Monday onslaught of paperwork has something to do with it. So far - so good. I can't believe I have a 4th and 2nd grader!



I'll have to blog about our vacation - it was fabulous. We had a lot of time to relax as well as spend time with some of my college friends who were vacationing the same time as us. We enjoyed vacating at the same time and location with them so much, we are hoping for a larger group of friends next year. It was fun to get the families together, and to have our next generation develop friendships at the same time. I have a ton of pictures on our family blog.

I'm typing this while watching the DNC. I've been so impressed each night. I hope we get it right in Novemember as a nation. The stakes are so high. So - if you haven't registered. Do it NOW!

Thank you Mimi

My Purly Valentine really spoiled me :) She gave me a lovely, lovely shawl pin, Malabrigo, A cute shrug pattern, and Milk Chocolate Bing Cherries - Yum.





Not many FOs to show yet - I'm soooo close on several of them. But I did take a break to make a few headbands for Jada and Janeen. Here is Janeen sporting one of hers made with Cascade Fixation.

Joleen

Janeen gave me a well deserved tongue lashing for not getting Joleen done by the end of her birthday. Her lovely house gifted by her Aunt and Uncle arrived on time, but Joleen was not available to move in. I had to stay up on Saturday to finish her.

First of all - Joleen is my little made up pattern. Given that - I am very proud of how she turned out. I'm most proud of using sock making techniques to put short rows and decreases in her feet to turn at the heel! I need to write the pattern down before I forget - my next doll will be a lot better because I learned a lot. Her hair is crochet chains, looped and secured in her scalp. Better than my first doll for Janeen - Flo's hair turned out. Overall all I think she's cute. I'm not impressed with my stitch work on her face, but I have never been good at needlepoint.



Joleen is hanging out at her new home with another gift Janeen received - a Nientendo Dog. Her arms are a bit straight - that's another feature I will change next time. But her head is stable, much better than the knitted doll - Flo.

I finished Jo so late I didn't have time to make her any clothes - so she is wearing a little swatch for now :) I have to make her something tomorrow before I head to Seattle so she isn't cold during the week.



I have sort of resisted making toys, they aren't my favorite thing to knit for some reasons. But seeing how proud Janeen is in showing her friends her first doll and this one when it is in progress makes me feel so good. I have to make Jason a bear and Jada a doll now!

Perfect!

Can a Christmas gift get any more perfect than cute little stitch markers, a mini-wood swift, a yummy candle, and a offer of personally dyed lace-weight wool of the color(s) of my choice?

Thank you sis!

Christmas Presents - Caterpillar Scarves and Hat

I decided to make these cute scarves and hats from Merino Farms for Christmas presents for the little kids in my life. I still have to add the eyes and eye brows but they are a quick cute knit. I love using bright colors. The Brown/Yellow is knit in the Merina Farms 3-ply worsted. The Green/Blue is knit in Malbrigo. Ahhhh - that is such a lovely, soft yarn. Doesn't feel anything like wool. I have GOT to make a sweater in it. It's a pretty big hank too, 2X as much yardage as the Merino Farms at about the same price. I like MF too - it's very soft. But I like the variation of color in the Malabrigo and you can't beat the price for the ultra softness. It's almost like knitting roving though. Be careful - I broke the yarn trying to bind it off twice!!