Pirate Invasion!

The lovely Lily hosted a Gasparilla brunch this weekend, and we could see the boat parade from her place. What a great party!

Lilly hooking up the cuptags:

Our labels: The arrival of Jose Gaspar!
Mr & Mrs Purlygirly looking fat and happy

Yay for finished gifts!

Finished MIL's needle case!

Pattern: Kables

Knit with: Cascade 220 in Lichen and Natural

And Jenny's scarf!

Pattern: Irish Hiking Scarf

Yarn: Some pea green crap she picked out. :P

I'm glad these are done, because I'm really ready to move on to some more complicated things. I cast on for a purse for me and Renae's scarf is mostly done. Sweet!

Little lovelies

So since I am a ridiculous morning-insomniac, I have woken early this morning and started back on Renae's scarf. It's a bit hard to see the pattern in my sleep-deprived state, so I've been able to use my new lovelies. How gorgeous are these? I bought them the other day from Etsy seller Zero. I'll talk her up. Fast shipping, nice little freebees thrown in as well. Beautiful product. And nestled in among the fluffy yarn it's like little jewelry. So pretty.

Today is crafternoon at my friend Nicole's house, so maybe I'll be able to get some pictures of finished objects this afternoon. I'm so close on so many things!!

6 weird things

Ugh. I've been tagged. Thanks a lot Ashley. You're like the only person who reads this and you hit me up with a tag. Nice.

Ok, 6 weird things about me.

1. I make up silly songs when my husband is gone or at least out of earshot. This morning as soon as he walked out the door I sang about the yummy mint hot chocolate I was about to have. My dog Annie thought it was a great song.
2. The way I shower and clean comes directly from the movie Annie. "The windows, then the floors, that way if I drip". I therefore bathe from the top down so the dirt washes off right. If I go out of order I have to start again.
3. I am secretly thrilled that 2 of the cats love me the most and I don't feel bad about that.
4. I do not like cheesecake. Apparently I am one of the few women in the world who doesn't like it.
5. I am addicted to s'more flavored chapstick
6. When I was 5 I wanted to be a priest. I would practice giving communion with my baked potato. Seriously. "This is my potato, which shall be given up for you..."

I'll tag Michelle and Christine.

Something for me?

So last night the H told me I really need to knit something else for me. I lust and lust after all kinds of stuff though, so I have no idea what to make myself.

I do know that I will be adding this to the list:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kelly__m/345842661/in/set-72157594459657627/

That is so gorgeous.

I'm blocking!

Baby steps! So I'm blocking the cable bands for the needle case. How cool! I'm so excited to be this close to another FO. And I've never blocked before, so this is pretty cool. I handwashed them gently and then gave them a final spritz with rosewater to make them smell so pretty. I'm pretty excited but also realized I have a ridiculously small amount of blocking pins and will need more. Lots more.

In other news, I get new needles this week! I have a 40% off coupon for Joann's and while I desperately want the Knit Picks options, my frugal husband has rubbed off on me and I will be picking up a set there. They come with a case and have good reviews so....

Also, just to show how my middle child has gone from tiny kitten to big girl, here are some gratuitous pics of Dinah..

Before:

And After:

Red Scarf sent!

Yay for the UPS store being very close!

WIP update

It's amazing how quickly I've become just like every other knitter out there. I have 3 pieces in various states of finished-ness at the moment. I was so close to finishing Jenny's scarf, but I ran out of yarn so I started on the needle case for my MIL. And after running out on that one I started Renae's scarf. Now MIL's needle case has been felted and I am so close to finishing the last cable. I'll head to the store for buttons for that and more yarn for Jenny's scarf later this afternoon.

Until then, crappy photos of my works in progress. First up, the Kable needle case for my MIL:Not looking too bad. Still needs blocking on those cables but it will be done soon.

Next is Jenny's Irish Hiking Scarf. I started this as the basketweave scarf from SnB Nation, but hated the stiffness. The cables have really helped to soften up this yarn and I'm much happier with how it looks now. One more ball of yarn and a few hours should finish it up. Too bad it's Gasparilla weekend or it would be complete by Monday. Maybe it still will be... I have all day Sunday to recover and knit.

So if you look carefully you can see this is a modified version of the IHS as well. It was just way too wide with 3 cables, so I took one out. Still lovely and very soft. Those little flecks that are barely visable are beads. It's pretty but the yarn swallows up the cables. But, I have no idea what else to do with it other than boring old garter stitch so I will keep on going.

I want to be a selfish bitch

Seriously, I don't want to make anything for anyone else. I want to start work on something for me, damn it! And this whole stupid working for a living is getting in the way of me cleaning my house, knitting up a storm and working out. Sigh. If only my husband would become wealthy.

If I do nothing but knit this weekend I think by next week I can start something for me.

At some point, I will have time to make this

Check out this gorgeous knit top. At some point, I promise to make this for myself.

So I don't forget, here are instructions: http://knitbrooklynknit.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/07/a_lelah_and_a_l.html

And http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=26874.0

And: http://www.lotusblossomtankkal.blogspot.com/

A friend of mine from the fuge is making it. She'd better post pictures.

Project #1 down!!

Woot! It took 10 days, but I made the scarf for the red scarf project! (Ok, I need to weave in the ends, but I cannot find my needles and I suspect the cats have taken them) I was so excited, I snapped a picture. And yes, this is the view right outside my front door.

Not too shabby, if I do say so myself. I really loved this pattern. This scarf was made in Red Heart Soft yarn knit in the oh so popular on the internet Irish Hiking Scarf pattern. It knit up really easily but this yarn tends to snag quite a bit. Great and cheap for learning on though.

Get used to this pattern, I'll be using it a lot. I love cables more than life itself. Ok, not that much, but seriously have you ever seen a more beautiful thing than a bunch of cables? And they are deceptively easy. Shhh. Don't tell anyone.

Jen and Ren better like this pattern because I am making their scarves in it as well. But they will be very different because the yarn is different.

I've now cast on and actually made a bunch of progress on the needle case for MIL's belated birthday gift, but I'm running low on yarn. I didn't buy enough at all. Whoops. Back to the LYS. So today I frogged Jenny's scarf and started it over in this pattern. I have to admit, I still hate the color she picked, but it looks so much better than the original basketweave pattern I was using, and the cables help to give it some fluffiness.

Resolutions

Yes, I am going to attempt to make too many resolutions that I can't keep this year. Here they are.

1. Go to the gym on a regular basis (4x a week)
2. No knitting that night if I skip a gym appointment (exception - serious illness)
3. Get and keep my office organized
4. Vaccum more
5. Eat lunch away from my desk more often and enjoy an actual break.

I can do that, right?

Also, here is my list of projects for early 2007, in order. I'm going to be busy.

1. Red Scarf Project
2. MIL's needle case
3. Jenny's scarf
4. Renae's scarf
5. Bag #1 for me
6. A sweater for my husband who doesn't really want to wear sweaters.
7. Sweater for me
8. Yvette's bag
9. Kella's scarf and hat
10. Start Christmas gifts
11. Bag #2 for me
12. More Christmas gifts

I'm going to be knitting non-stop this year. Looks like I've become a typical knitwit rather quickly! I've even been asked by some girlfriends to teach them how to knit this weekend. Wow, I'm lame.