Electric with Ideas

Do you ever have so many ideas that you aren't sure where to start? Or stop, for that matter?

According to Ravelry, I have 6 WIPS. A couple of them just need seeming or finishing and they'd be done. If my anal self were in charge, I'd require myself to finish these before casting on or buying anything else. But we all know, Anal Nell is so NOT in control at the moment.

Yesterday I went to a baby shower in San Francisco. Good excuse to go to Imagiknit. Not good for the wallet and all the ideas already buzzing in my head. I went there specifically to buy yarn and the pattern for this. My friend knit is and it's lovely. I already have a single ply laceweight in this champange/bronzy color. And I wanted something softer to warm it up.



I think the silk with the malabrigo lace will be perfect. Now I just need beads and I can jump in. Unfortunately, Imagiknit didn't have the pattern. So I had to order that online anyway, plus a little something else. You know, for free shipping.

Also, this may have jumped into my basket yesterday.



Totally squishable.

Also, yesterday the June Shipment of the Rockin' Sock Club landed in my mailbox.



Sweet Pea- Gorgeous, of course.

Amoung other projects I want to start...
1. Tea Leaves Cardigan- Maybe the tiny version
2. Ptarmigan
3. Anther pair of Leyburns
4. This gorgeous baby blanket.
5. A Traveling Sweater

I'm also talking myself out of placing a MASSIVE Blue Moon Fiber Arts order. The little devil on my shoulder is mentioning something about a sock club discount code. So I'm being swayed bigtime. I know I should fall back in love with my stash. But new yarn is so... delicious.

In case you were wondering, I have been knitting a little.





Pattern: Bamboo Socks
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepard Sock in Zombie BBQ
Needles: Knit Picks Circulars in Size 1
Date Started: April 2010
Date Finished: May 20, 2010

So there. I am getting something done.

Where to begin? Or end? Or... Or.... I'm spinning a little at the moment. Secretly, I'm really excited to be so inundated with ideas. I haven't been knitting much lately. And I hope this means my mojo is back.

Ze Germans

Have you seen the movie Snatch? Well, there's a great running joke through the movie that the characters have to be protected from Ze Germans. It's kind of silly. But it seems fitting to mention since some lovely German yarn landed on my doorstep this week. When Handgefaerbt showed up on the Lime-N-Violet Chum, I knew I had to get my hands on some. (This is a pre-clutter free commitment purchase!)

Here's why...



HydraPound



Green Elve



Atlantis



An extra skein included in my order!!! Love that!

This yarn is squishy and lovely. Too bad Kirstin is on a little vacation for the next couple of weeks. Apparently I wasn't the only person to see her skeins on the chum...

The latest installment of the Rockin' Sock Club came this week too. Click here to see a spoiler picture.

You might be thinking that these latest posts are kind of all over the place. Well, I found the fabulousness that is scheduled posting. Blogger lets you write a post and publish it a couple of days from now. My Dad has been in town since Thursday. So I pre-wrote all my posts last week. It worked really well and took the pressure off coming up with something witty when I come home exhausted.

Anyway...Not much else happening here. Although I did go to Borders (with a gift card- no money spent!) for Eclipse. This is the third of the Twilight books. I was so excited when they found one in the back. Apparently these books are popular! HAHA! If you don't hear from me for a week or so, you know what happened.

Matchless

I went on a treasure hunt while I was at home. Not only was my mother a knitter, she was a spinner. And I knew there were wheels around that no one was using.

But we live on a farm with many barns. And finding the wheel I remember would not be as easy as if it were sitting in our living room.



I started in the barn next to our house.



As you can see, finding a particular item is sometimes challenging. But I managed to spot them.









But these weren't the one I remembered. I actually thought she had an Ashford Joy. But I couldn't be sure. At any rate, it wasn't in this barn. So I tried another location knowing that there were 4 wheels I could use if I couldn't find the one I remembered.



My parents have a cabin in the woods. There's no electricity or phone. It's their getaway. There was a chance that my mom had the wheel I remembered out here. But, like the jackass that I am, I forgot to bring keys with me. I had to go back to my house and collect the keys.



I'll distract you with a mushroom in the woods picture while I collect the keys. Pretty, huh?

Well, it was worth another trip...



I found a Schacht Matchless Single Treadle wheel. This is a picture after I cleaned MANY cobwebs off of it. It's gorgeous. Now, it made the long (and expensive) trip to California to my living room.



Here's another picture to show the loveliness. I looked up the serial number and this wheel was built in 1987- which means my mom owned it for almost 20 years. I think it'll go another 20 for me. I even got it going a little last night. We'll see...



Just so I don't get too far behind...
Click here for the latest Yarn Pirate Booty Club pic.
Click here for the latest Rockin' Sock Club pic.

Boston Extravaganza!

OK- Get comfortable. Pour yourself a cup of coffee. Because this is going to be long.

I had a WONDERFUL trip to Boston. I took off Wednesday from SFO.



Lucky me with a window seat!



I finished the Anastasia socks on the way there. Just had to wait until I landed to bind off since I didn't have a needle on the plane. Official FO pics later on...

My friend Laura was nice enough to let me crash in her adorable Beacon Hill apartment for a couple of nights before we headed West for the wedding. We had all day Thursday to hang out in Boston. I'm supposed to tell you that the trolley tour was my idea. But really, she's always wanted to do it and needed someone to visit as an excuse. Good enough for me! We hit the trolley circuit for 6 hours on Thursday and went all over the City. Here's a sample of everything we saw...



Laura's street- I miss East Coast architecture.



The field at Fenway. Too bad the Sox were away. I would have loved to see a game.



The Citgo Sign



Pizza and arancini in the North End. California is also seriously lacking in good pizza.



Laura digs in!



The Waterfront.



More Architecture.



And, of course, Make way!!!!

Friday, we headed out to Western Mass to Laura's family's house. They were kind enough to host us for a night. Check out her amazing house.



It's built in the 1800's and her family has meticulously decorated and maintained it to preserve it's historical integrity.



This is their front yard! It's a lovely place to enjoy coffee and a newly cast on sock. But more on that later too!



Laura's dad is an art professor. And this is his studio. I'm so jealous!

Saturday was the wedding and (since I'm an idiot) I didn't get any pictures until later in the evening. Needless-to-say, it was lovely. The bride glowed. The groom looked at her adoringly. And everyone danced until very late. See...



The camera phone doesn't hold up in the dark!

The night ended in a little bit of pain for me. Someone had broken a glass earlier in the evening but I thought it had been throughly cleaned up. As the evening wore on, my shoes started to hurt and I took them off to keep dancing. You can see where this is going, right?



Yup- that's my blood on a napkin. Luckily, I have a doctor friend who was thinking more clearly than I was. She took me into the kitchen of the country club where we pulled a nice hunk of glass from my toe. It was pretty funny actually since no serious harm was done.

After brunch on Sunday, we headed back to Boston to catch our flights home. The drive back gave me plenty of knitting time...



Mass Pike and Marigold socks!!!!



Finally, headed home to San Francisco on Sunday night. It was a wonderful weekend with lots of time with my best girlfriends. I couldn't have asked for a better vacation. More pictures on my Flickr Set.

The Contest... Thanks to WiKnit, I had 56 votes. Holy cow! I hope some of you decide to stick around.

25 votes for Marigold in STR.
20 votes for Tessarae in YP.
11 votes for Jenny Wren in Noro.

I officially cast on for the Marigolds on Thursday night while Laura tried to ignore me.



I used the random number generator to pick a winner from those who voted for Marigolds... Congrats, Andrea! I'm emailing you today about your surprise package!

FO...



Pattern: Anastasia Socks by Minty Fresh
Yarn: The Knittery Merino Cashmere Sock in Orchid
Needles: KP dpn's in size 2.5
Date Started: 10/5/07- Can you believe it???
Date Finished: 5/28/08
Mods: None. The pattern is so great!



Even the swirls match up!

Finally, the May edition of the Rockin' Sock Club arrived while I was gone. Click here to see a photo. I'm sure you've seen it already but I'll still hide it just in case.

Did you make it all the way? Thanks for hanging in! I think I need a nap.

Last Day Off

Boo! I have to go back to school tomorrow. But only 9 weeks to go! Can you believe it!?!?!?! It's going so quickly. Just 4 more weeks of this rotation and then 5 weeks of preceptorship. Then... graduation... YAY!!

So I had a lot to accomplish today. Mostly homework, laundry, and other really uninteresting things.

But I did break out the bread machine to see if it works. It does!



It's basic white bread. Just a test loaf to get the machine going. Sorry about the missing top but I had to test it! I have a wheat with pumpkin seeds in now. It looks like the wheat cycles don't work. But the basic cycle does. And that's all I need for now.

I also received the March installment of the Rockin' Sock Club. It's here if you want to peek. I LOVE this color. It's probably my favorite color of all the STR that I have.

I mentioned Destash on the last post. I think I'm going to hold off for a bit on that. My dad is in town this weekend. And that always makes things busy. Plus, going back to school will keep me on my toes. It's coming. Just don't be hitting F5 thinking you missed it.

Why is My Nose Runny Again?

Seriously?!?!?! This being sick thing is ridiculous. Suddenly today I got stuffy again. I mean really. It's been a month already. ENOUGH!!!

Also, I can't wait for the Feb. 5th election to be over. Enough about term limits and Indian gaming. Political ads are putting me over the edge! It's every other commercial. Why do they think we can't make up our own minds. So annoying!

Rant over. I have an FO!



Pattern: Basic Mittens from The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns
Yarn: Jo Sharp Silkroad Tweed Aran in Ivy. About a skein and a half
Needles: KP Options size 7
Date Started: 1/25/08
Date Finished: 1/26/08
Mods: I made them longer than the pattern calls for. Hopefully my hands aren't as freakishly big as my head and they'll fit my friend Liz.

I love the look of this yarn but I didn't love knitting it. Maybe it was because I knit at a tighter gauge than called for. But it just didn't seem like it had a lot of give. And the ribbing is not as stretchy as I had hoped. Overall, I'm happy with the outcome. These are a quick knit and came out pretty well for my first mittens.

This week, the first shipment of the 2008 Rockin' Sock Club arrived. This isn't really my color. But I do like it. Maybe this year I'll actually knit one of these patterns. I'm such a sock poseur! Click here to see the yarn.

I have to send a shout out to Julia. I met her on knitty and she loaned me a pattern I've been after for a while. She even dealt with me changing our meeting time last minute. What a sweetheart! I never cease to be amazed by the kindness of knitters!

Only One Left

WARNING! At the end of this post I'll show the December package for the Blue Moon Fiber Arts Rockin' Sock club! I'll make it a clickable link (just figured that one out.) But fair warning. Read the rest while you decide whether you want to see or not.

I finished Odessa last night. That means I only have my MIL's scarf to finish and I won't see her until the New Year. And since we're traveling for Christmas, there will be plenty of knitting time! I think I'm going to get it all done!!



Pattern: Odessa by Grumperina
Yarn: Rowan Calmer in Onyx. I love Calmer!
Needles: KP Options size 4 for the ribbing and 6 for the rest
Date Started: 12/16/07
Date Finished: 12/21/07
Mods: I left off the beads because 1. my sister probably won't like them and 2. Joann's was a nightmare when I went to buy them.

I'm pretty happy with the hats for my family. I'm still worried that the Shedir for my little sister is too small. But I don't think she'll mind if I have to knit her something else!

I also a winner at Trish's blog contest! Just look at the great package that landed here yesterday!



A project pouch in perfectly seasonal fabric, knitted scrubby, knitted pouch (filled with chocolate!), and a North Pole dish cloth. But that's not all...



Perchance to Knit sock yarn in Deep Sea. The label says this is exclusively dyed for The Loopy Ewe. The colors are so up my ally! I love it!



Here's a closeup of the stitch markers. I love this style of marker because they don't hang down into the work very far. So I don't feel like I'm juggling them. Thank you so much, Trish!!!

Finally, the last package of the Rockin' Sock Club came yesterday. Click here to see the colorway. Don't click if you don't want to see! I have to say, this is my favorite so far. And I'm psyched to be in for next year as well. (Because we all know I need more sock yarn!)

I'm traveling tomorrow and for the next little bit. We have someone coming to stay with the cats. (In case you were planning to raid my stash!) I'll try to blog from my Dad's crappy dial up. But no promises.

Have a wonderful holiday!!!!

One Cable for Christmas

I ran out of yarn last weekend on this project. Luckily, my LYS had a skein in the same color. It's not the same dyelot but I don't think you can tell.



Yarn: 1.5 skeins Malabrigo Worsted in Continental Blue
Pattern: One Cable Scarf from One Skein
Needles: Daisy Straights in US size 10
Date Started: 9/15/07
Date Finished: 10/29/07
Mods: When I started the scarf according to the pattern, I thought it was a little narrow. So I added 2 extra ribs. And, thanks to you guys, I think 70" is about the right length. It hangs to my waist if I wrap it once around my neck. I think that'll be just fine.

I love this scarf and I hope the recipient will too. It's so soft and cuddley.

Of course, I got some packages in the mail too.

First up, from Sock Pixie.



Stormy Seas



Raspberry Cheesecake



Iris Garden

OK- Here's the deal. I ordered this yarn on October first. I paid the bill the same day. For about a month, I haven't heard a peep from Sock Pixie. I emailed her twice and never got a response. My yarn arrived yesterday in a nice package but without a note, invoice, or even ball bands. Needless-to-say, I'm not thrilled with the service. But I am thrilled with the yarn. It's soft, smooth, and the colors are so gorgeous. Please don't take it that I'm slamming this business. That's not the case. I know it takes time to dye yarn and this business is probably a very popular one. I've also had a time or two when I wasn't on top of my emails or orders. I just wish I had gotten a confirmation of my order or some little note that acknowledged she was working on it. Trust me. The quality of the yarn more than makes up for it!

Finally, my October Rockin' Sock Club package came...



STR Lightweight in Lenore. Black with deep purple highlights. Even plastic spiders to make it super creepy!!!

Also in the package was a pattern written by the incomparable Yarn Harlot! Very cool.

I don't have class this week but I have more than a week's worth of work to do. So I'm off to study for ACLS. Really fun, I know.