Waving Bye!

Evening time looking at Blueberry Hill!


borrowed from the camp's online brochure!

Take care everyone!

Wee bugs....Lady that is!

Too cute huh!

When possible, I love to help out fellow Etsy sellers.

I first saw this one via Plurk , and so did another Plurker first. Well lucky for me, she liked the yellow one!

Very well made and reversible too. Although I think it'll get more action with the wee bugs on the outside.

What's inside you ask? Sock Candy in Lapis which will become Cotty Socks for our STR Q3 KAL. (plus they count for SOS09, SAM8) It starts on July 1st (join in!) and since it's a great easy pattern, will be good hanging around knitting (read, not much of pattern reading/energy needed LOL!)

See, all ready to go..darn where's my needles???

You can get your own at Oliviaknits (I hear she's been sewing, so I'm sure she'll have more soon!)

What's going on Wednesday

Yep, still Wednesday in there parts :)

The Lady, she's getting her sleeves! Hoping to finish and have an FO shot by the lake.

What lake you ask? Well, one of these! Hard to believe almost 20 yrs ago, I lived there! 4...more days and I'll be there! :)

Summer of Socks 09 has started and I started a new sock to celebrate. (sshhh yes I know I have a few in progress, but I needed an easy, no reading a pattern knit for the car!)

Sportweight toe up socks with a gusset by Wendyknits. Yarntini self-striping in Luxury. So soft!

Finally finished No purl Berry Monkey #1. Yeah...it's done, not too thrilled with the colorway and pattern. I may just knit a plain sock to match as you so can't tell anything is there!

Anyhow! That's about it for my knitting I'll admit to! I've basically packed my knitting for the trip...although I worry, am I bringing enough...of all the things to worry about, huh ;)

Whoooopie!!!!!

Pies, that is! A favorite from my youth and well, not so youth! I haven't made this in a long time as I've not felt like baking much and I truthfully don't need the sweets in the house!

So, my father-in-law loves baked/homemade goodies for gifts. Yes, he's easy! I mean what do you give a man who can buy whatever he wants to...One of his treats from home! Yes, he's a Mainer too, or should I say an Exile like myself.

Here they are in their naked glory, cooling off before being slathered with filling. Making these amuses me, as you never know how many you'll get, or the size. Matching them up is fun, kinda like one of those kiddie puzzles. I usually have a lone one, but not today :)

As you can see, they are darker than the above picture.

These are for me and my friends. Dad got a bagfull for himself.

Bezzie! This one's for you!

Yummy!!!

I used a different recipe today. I like it in that I finally have found the darker cookie. Maybe it was the amount or brand of cocoa. The filling is different, as I'm used to the raw egg whites for the filling, and buttermilk (although I usually make sour milk) for the cookies. I suppose I could use the powdered stuff for the egg whites. I just don't like to use raw eggs anymore in things that aren't baked.

They still taste good and better be out of my house soon! This is the closest recipe to my Mom's, sadly I lost the index card with her writing on it :( .

YPF-Fiber edition

Heh, you all knew this was coming ;) If you would have asked me 1 month ago, would I be aquiring fiber and have a wheel, I'd have told you absolutely not! Funny how life turns out sometimes. I'm enjoying hanging out in the living room spinning while hubby reads. He's enjoying being through with school and reading for pleasure now.

Now onto the fiber!
A lovely gift from a local spinner who has her own farm. She has angora bunnies and sheep and not sure what else. My other spinning enabler buddy, the gal who let me know very quickly the wheel was for sale. I'm thinking cause she wanted another person to enable with fiber...yep that's her!

This is a mixed breed wool fiber....


I call it soft and 10 oz...hope I can do it justice!


So very soft too! It's called Licorice and Fluff, well that's my name for it!

I'm going to wait until I can spin this to a lovely worsted I think. I'm told the colors can spin up in a few different ways. Will be interesting to see just how! Stay tuned.......

Pink, Pink, Gray

Hey, remember that game in kindergarten? Duck, Duck, Goose...hehe I used to love that game. The bigger the circle you had to run around the better! Ok...onto some stuff ;)

Another set of....

Oh So Soft Baby Washcloths in Cottontots Very Berry, Strawberry, and white.

A bit o'spinning going on!


And the gray...boring I know after my pink one, but she died (ipod mini), she lived long and survived a few treadmill incidents. Here's hoping Mr. Grey doesn't get treated that way ;)

Door vs. Circular

And guess who won!

Sniff...while getting into the car to go see Star Trek finally!! (loved it!) My sock bag at my side when I shut the door. (of course I didn't realize at the time) I didn't think anything was amiss until I opened the bag and saw this...

My beloved HiyaHiya 2.75mm magicloopable stainless steel circs. These needles are so nice and light and stuff glides over them. Great cords too and 1/2 the price of addi's.... They seem to have those odd sizes (a friend got 000's and 0000 in them---heh, not me I gave away my 0's I refuse to knit on them!) I often need to knit my socks on 2.0, 2.25, 2.5, and 2.75mm's, sometimes more than one size on a pattern. Glad Sheri has restocked...pardon me while I go order another pair.

In the meantime, it's a good thing I still know how to use....

dpns! Don't like them much for socks, but they are a good backup to have....when one has so many socks, so little time....

WWKIP Day 2009

Whew, it was a hot one, but we were protected by a good overhang from the coffeeshop and a cool breeze. The killer was the popcorn smell wafting from the movie theater.

At one point I was told there were 45 knitters and 6 spinning wheels.. We had fun and got lots of looks.


Wonder who one of those spinners was?? Interesting comments as patrons walked inside to get coffee...(see she's got a sewing machine....um..what???)

I had some issues though, I so learned I am such a newbie! I was sweetly told to read my owner's manual LOL....I have and am ready to replace the drive band as it wasn't plying...I had a temporary fix, and now with more kitchen twine, ready to fix and be on my way....


More knitters...and spinners (my friend fixing my wheel)


Smiling faces, despite knitting a lace wedding skirt! She dropped about 5 stitches and we were worried she'd have to start over, but she fixed it, whew girl!

I did knit on my FLS and woot onto the bottom band finally!

A filled plying bobbin and one has to bring out her dusty trusty niddy noddy. I haven't used this since I dyed yarns for a swap like 4 years ago.



The finished results....not too bad...plenty of room for improvement.

Methinks I don't like spinning mohair though...

When you aren't looking for something...

You find it. :)

Case in point.....

You get some of this..... Mohair/Merino Mix


To make into this..


oh..let me show you another picture of this ;)


by using this....

*you can pick up your jaws off the floor now!**

An opportunity to get this slightly used wheel (Ashford Traveller, DD and DT) at a good price presented itself. After discussing it with hubby, he said "Happy Birthday" a month early :) So who am I to turn down a birthday gift, especially an early one. (yeah so I may not visit any LYS's on vacation, I'll live :)

I was truly content to wait a while to get one. I kept telling myself there was no room or no time...but see, about 45 mins can fill a bobbin. Ha! Well when you spin very fine and very thick you can ;) I do have a lot to learn though...

I haven't spun on a wheel since SAFF in October and I didn't do too bad. (sadly I won't be able to attend this year for various reasons) Hubby was impressed.....mainly with himself as he got me a gift I like (hey as long as he doesn't buy me clothes, we're good, he learned that early on ;) and he didn't have to leave the house to buy it!

A Confection.....

Baby Shrug that is! (what you thought I was gonna have something sweet and tasty here? Sorry ;) I have a few co-workers having babies lately. So you'll see a few more gifts coming.

Front view...

Don't those chocolates on the quilt make you hungry for some...huh..do they?


See the back, I guess I'm all about top down construction lately. This is my 3rd one (well I guess you can call it 2 1/2 ones as this is a wee one.) Not too much seaming either, just the arms.


I just love it together with the wee pants and shirt.

Too cute IMHO!

Confection Baby Shrug by Tonya Wagner
6 Month size
Less than 1 skein of Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton in Shell
US 8 16" Circular, US 10 for bind off

The yarn was really lovely to knit with. I did make a big mistake though..um..er...100% cotton yarn for a baby, won't it shrink like crazy if washed and dried? I will put a care tag on it, and I think just machine wash cold and lay flat to dry will be ok. Next time I'll use Cotton Ease or something like that to make it easier to wash...oh well ;)

What did you do on your Saturday?

Well for me and my pals Christine and Megan, we got to take a roadtrip to Charlotte Yarn to take a class and visit with......

Wendy Knits!

(sorry Christine, I have no idea why I'm standing so far from you...I know you don't have cooties! ;) Me, Christine, Wendy, and Megan.

I have to admit, I was nervous, I mean she's the first author I've met IRL. Wendy is really down-to-earth and I didn't feel too nervous anymore. It was a fun class, I learned a few tips and I know my buds did too!

Dani, Corey, and Megan trying to behave and follow along :)


Aimee who rescued me the last year after taking her knitting class (pssst...my car died). We safely made it home this year :)

Christine, who conquered the toe part of the toe up sock. Wendy gave her the start, and we'll finish from there....yes girl...you can do it!!


There were some shenanigans at lunch...

Look at Megan acting so innocent! She almost got put in time out!

There was some shopping...


And I met a fellow blogger, who recognized me right away..hehe..that was funny I looked up when she walked into class and said to myself there's Stacey! I was going to wait until after class but she looked over and said hey Z!


Sadly, no pics of Cristi who was there working :( (bad camera...I really tried!)and I got to visit her socks in progress, although she did put away the newest one she's cast on with her latest yarn pretty fast, guess she was a bit worried I'd swipe it ;)

It was a fun day and all three of us wished we lived closer to Charlotte!

WIP Wednesday

The Tomatillo...

She grows! 3 rows from joining in the round and I so look forward to no more purling!!! Could I finish by the end of the month...um..I'm sure hoping to!

Normally, I don't mind purling, but when you've got 2 projects with purling rows, one of which has 324 stitches to be exact, yeah, you know my pain...

I love this picture...you get a little pr0n and wip!

Denim...what could it be...

You'll see soon...

No onto my dilemma. Peeps I need your help!

The FLS (February Lady Sweater) is right now at the top of my hip bone (aka top of the crest for you fellow xray techs out there ;) I'm mid repeat and still thinking of another lace repeat, then the garter border. I am very short waisted too.

The yarn is Socks that Rock Heavyweight and I know it'll block and loosen and lengthen, but this is the part that always gets me. How long do I knit it? I don't like cropped tops/sweaters. Well that's a lie, I do like them, but they don't like me. :(

I most likely will still knit the repeat, then do the border...and try it on again with jeans and see. Gah...decisions, decisions....

Just amazed!

Pretty nice garter stitch huh! Very even tension too!



Trust me, there is a reason why it is amazing and something I never thought I would see!

Lion Brand Chunky Woolease in Grass
Size 11 Straights
Cast on Mother's Day 2009
Finished June 1, 2009

A very proud Mother-in-law with her first knitting project! Can you believe her tension!! Those even stitches. Shhh...yes she knows that she started out with 20 stitches and is such an overachiever in the increase department, she ended up with like..um..30 or more. Not too many holes and she's learned how those extra stitches happened. My hubby was like 2 when she last knit anything.

Ok, so now for the story behind this! Mom's watched me craft from afar all the 23 yrs I've been married to her son. She's done a few things, but she prefers keeping up with her house and gardening. That is until a few years ago when she broke her ankle getting out of her too tall bed. 3 operations later and we think this one is going to be the best one.

So, a few weeks before Mother's Day, when she knew she would have to be non-weight bearing for more than 6 weeks, I asked her jokingly, do you want to learn to knit (I ask all family members who say they are bored...she's the only one whose taken me up on it). Eeek, I was a bit worried, but I didn't need to be.

Guess what she got for Mother's Day, a skein of yarn and needles. I cast on 20 stitches and showed her the way. There were a few froggings and dropped stitches, but what amazed me the most is her tension, I mean don't you agree!

As we all know, our first knitting project isn't the prettiest, but she's pretty proud of her scarf aka shoulder warmer. Before I left her tonite, I cast on her next project (in alpaca), an 18 stitch scarf for her. I showed her purling, but she's happy with garter for now. Next project is a dishcloth and some purling.

As for my Father-in-law, he couldn't thank me enough, it keeps her busy so he can have a bit of a break in the entertaining department ;)

Now as long as she doesn't try to sneak some of my stash, we'll get along just fine!