First I have to say that Windansea has alerted me to the fact that I didn't post a pic of my finished fake isle hat. Here's one. I guess I forgot to add it to the post. Should my mind go blank again and I fail to provide you with a link to a pic you'll most likely find one here. I just finished hakucho's hob nail cloth last night. And I casted on for my thermal. I think it's going to be slow goings. It took forever just to do the first round of the twisted rib. I'm going to email cosmicpluto to see if she can shed some light on how to make the neckline higher.
Last night, I also decided while working with kp's gloss that I could probably use it for my long-awaited ivy. Remember that thing?? lol. I thought about using kp's telemark (since it's cheaper) but when I went back to the ivy kal blog, I think I read that someone was using it but it was just okay. I don't want a just okay sweater. Now I just need to decide on what color I'm going to use. I figured I'd go with something basic that would go with everything so I'm debating between dusk and your basic black. I wish there was a charcoal gray in gloss..there's a grey wolf in telemark and I really like that shade. We'll see. I will most likely keep looking because I kind of want it in a charcoal gray since I'm doing thermal in the color I would've done my ivy!
Before I forget, my friend, knitting mama, is hosting a Spring Stitch Marker Exchange if anyone is interested in joining. Sign-ups are until March 15th. :) How's that for some free advertising? ;)
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After..
I received my ball winder from my sister today. I had her come home from work (where she had it shipped) so that I could start using it. She's flying out to the bay area tonight--luckily she was going to come home before she headed out the the airport. :) Now I just need a swift. She was my swift as I wound my first ball of yarn. It was so much fun. I absolutely love it and wish that I had gotten one sooner!!! My order from Joann's got here today as well so not only can I wind my yarn into balls for my thermal but I can actually start it now! Yay!!!!!!!!!!!! I've been dying to just sit and knit for a while and that's definitely what I'll be doing for @ least part of this weekend. :) I need to get all my packages together to be shipped next week. My package for my fcs2 partner is pretty much ready to go out. I just need to write a lil note about myself and what not. My puffy for my stitchmarker and friendship cloth exchange is nearly ready--it's just missing the dishcloth and the stitchmarkers! lol. But neither should take too long. I'm nearly halfway through with the hobnail dishcloth. I joined a couple of swaps at swap-bot too! One of them I'm really intrigued by and it's the squashed penny exchange. lol. I just recently started to really keep track of the squashed pennies that I've collected in the last year and this swap that I joined actually listed a link that shows you where you can make a squashed penny almost anywhere in the US!!!!!!! I plan to go to a few of the places that aren't too far from me and pick up a few for myself and for the swap!
Okay, I need to get back to winding! lol.
That's what I had yesterday! I had casted on for my fake isle hat Friday night but wasn't happy with it. I worked on it while I was at the teacher fair Saturday but ended up frogging it when I got home from the fair and I started it over. I finished it yesterday and I absolutely love it. I didn't use up as much yarn as I thought I would. The pattern says that you should have at least 100 yards of both yarns for a size s/m and 120 yards of yarn for size m/l. I don't know how much yarn I have leftover but it seemed as though I hardly used any of the lorna's laces stuff! I have plenty of that leftover and who knows what I'm going to do with it! Oh, I have to thank AR for making this hat and suggesting it. I really like how mine turned out and just might make one for my fiance too! Mine fits him and despite the tinges of pink in my hat, it looked good on him. :) Ohhh, and I have to tell you that I think I've finally figured out how to make the guts look right. Before, I would twist the two different strands of yarn to no end and at some point while working with this hat, I realized that I didn't necessarily need to twist so much! Yay!
I need to cast on for a dishcloth that I'm sending my partner for this stitchmarker & dishcloth exchange I'm in. I've decided that I'm going to make hakucho's hob nail cloth. :)I just need to pick out the yarn I'm going to use. I hate to say this but I haven't really been in the mood to purchase any yarn. :O Yes, you read correctly. I need to focus on knitting now! Those widdershins are collecting dust in the kitchen and what about that cabled wrap?? We just might need to frog that puppy since I haven't touched it since October of 2006!!!!!!!
I made my first elann purchase (this was definitely a month of first purchases!) and my little package arrived on Friday. I picked up some stuff for my FCS2 swap partner and I picked up some kid mohair to make my party lace scarf! :)I don't have the beads (yet!) but can order some soon, I'm sure. :) I haven't touched my traveling vines scarf in a little while. The last time I touched it was maybe on Valentine's Day because I was rewatching "Lucky Seven" on Lifetime. I absolutely love that movie. It is my favorite ABC Family movies! lol. Okay, I took a guilt photo of my traveling vines scarf thus far. :) I've only done 3 pattern repeats out of 20 so I'm slowly chugging along. 
How does it look so far in it's unblocked glory and all? I don't have an opinion! lol. I've got a pack of costco danishes on top of my circulars to kind of hold it in place for you all to see it!
Okay, I need to get back to work! I've got lesson planning to do my students that I will see tomorrow and I've got some letters to answer.
Yes, I'm still freakin' sick! :P I did not go to work yesterday and I didn't go to the school this morning but I plan on seeing my three siblings later today. I hope I'll be okay. I haven't taken anything for my throat yet. I'm kind of getting tired of taking stuff when it's not even going to work. I felt as though I was only coating the problem over the weekend. It's super hard to swallow. I've gargled with salt water, lozenges, liquids, etc. Nothing is working.
Yet in these last days of sickness, I've been able to get some knitting done. :) I finished two projects! So that's gotta tell me something-that I'm at least getting better. In the first few days of my sickness, I didn't want to do anything!
Oh, I finally got around to taking a pic of my stitch markers that I made last week too. :)
In non-knitting news, something is wrong with one my fishies. It's my smallest one and she's only using one of her front fins to swim. :( I'm worried!!!!
I am sick. I've been sick since I got home from a trip to both Joann's and Michael's. I was supposed to hit up both Yarns Unlimited and Wildfiber in Santa Monica and stop by work on my way home to leave some stuff there. Didn't happen. I felt weird at Michael's and thankfully I was pretty much done in there so I left. Once home, my head ached, my legs felt weak, and I had the chills. Fun stuff. I didn't take anything until the evening hit. Thank goodness I didn't have my Thursday afternoon clients and thank goodness, I don't have a Friday client anymore either. I thought I was okay today. My fever (didn't even realize I had one!) seemed to have broken last night because I woke up sweaty! :P So I spent my first Friday of no work being sick rather than knitting. I could've knit but I didn't. I was busy trying to untangle all my yarn that got tangled up while I was winding it onto a yarn daisy. (note to self: I need a ball winder, a real one. One that attaches to a table.) It took me all of two hours to work through the tangled mess I created (I couldn't even tell you how it happened!).
I did manage to work on this though:
It's my first handmade card! :) I also made a valentine's day card but I will wait to post it. My friend's bday is the day before Valentine's Day and I always send her a card no matter what. With other friends, my card sending kind of fell by the wayside but there are a few people who I do still send bday cards to. :o
I went to Target today too. I know, I'm crazy. I realized it after the fact that maybe going there wasn't a good idea! I had a feeling that my sister would want to go after work but I didn't think I'd make it that long. :( I picked up some stuff for my fiance for valentine's day and I picked up some stuff for my downstream favorite color swap 2 sp. :) I also ordered her some stuff online. My first elann's order! :) I hope it gets here soon!
Ohh, and this is a little message to my upstream sp. Have you seen the ginger crystallized in dark chocolate bars at Target????? I had some ginger tea (to sooth my throat!) earlier and thought of you too. :)
I have to say that I have participated in two other swaps aside from the favorite color swap 2 but I have to say that this time around, this swap is exactly how I imagined a secret swap would be like--emailing back and forth with my sp's, really getting to know them, etc. So thank you to the hostesses over at fcs2! :) Oh yeah, I can't wait for sp10 to start up! Speaking of which, I need to put up my sp 10 questionnaire! Happy Friday!!!!!!
I am so excited to tell you all that tomorrow I only have to go downtown in the morning and then my work day will be over. :) My clients whose home I drive to cancelled. Some even better news is that I no longer have anybody that comes into the center on Fridays so I will get three day weekends. Thank goodness!!!! With the added extra time, I'll be able to catch up on stuff like blogging, knitting, answering my mail, and keeping up with the blogs I read. I can't wait.
In other news, I discovered a thermal kal! :) I was at cosmicpluto's blog. Just what I needed. Others to enable me through this process. I realized last night that I don't have the right needles!!!!!!!!! I did cast on for my traveling vines scarf last night though. I couldn't wait! I also finished up the stitch markers I started last night at work this afternoon. :) I'll post a pic tomorrow while I'm lounging here at home. :) I will also post my answers to the sp 10 questionnaire tomorrow. I'm not quite finished yet.
1. What are your top three favorite colors? My top three favorite colors are blue, green, and coral
2. What crafts do you really enjoy? Knitting
3. What products do you really covet? Hmm...kiehl's lip balm #1
4. What other activities do you enjoy besides your favorite crafty things? sleeping, watching tv/movies, music, tending to my goldfish, gardening.
5. Is there anything you collect? I like watches (with faces!) and unique socks
6. What is your zodiac sign and/or Chinese zodiac symbol? taurus, rabbit
7.What are your favorite…
…scents/smells? citrusy scents..I'm not a fan of vanilla @ all. I like clean scents too..ginger, strawberries, oooh, grapefruit (which is citrusy..sorry!), apple-cinnamon, cranberry, pomegranate (I'm looking @ all of my body shop home fragrance oils!)
…types of music and/or bands? alternative, 80's, classic rock, soul, & r&b, punk. Bands I like...green day, new found glory, rbd, motel, muse, pixies, deathcab, morrissey, dashboard, jack johnson, bedouin soundclash, smallwhitelight etc.
…authors? Alice Walker, Emily Giffin, Shakespeare, Homer
…animals? ostriches, pigs, cows, sheep
…places to shop? Target!!!!!!
…season? Spring
…yarn/fabric/paper/other craft supplies? japanese stationery (not sanrio!), no favorite yarn really.
…candies or goodies? reeses peanut butter cups, dark chocolate, peanut m&ms, red hots, ooh, sour patch watermelon slices, jelly bellies
8. Do you have any wish lists? I believe I have an amazon wishlist.
9. Are you allergic to anything? just dust and supposedly pollen.
10. Do you have any pets? What are they? Yes, goldfish. :) 6 of them.
11. Please include anything else you would like your secret pal to know about you- anything that would be helpful in finding you little gifts that you will really enjoy.
Other stuff about me...I like mechanical pencils, ginger, pigpen from the peanuts. I want to get into card making. I like baking. I make stitchmarkers. If you want to know anything else, ask! :)
Sorry I've been mia the last week or so. I was on blogger over the weekend but I was working on this blog (see anything different about my sidebars??) and on my other blog! I was being a perfectionist over there and was labeling stuff. I think I might upgrade that blog template but I'm not sure when.
My yarn for my thermal has arrived!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As well as my yarn for my first lace project!
I have been inundated with work stuff but there's a light @ the end of my tunnel. This light would be a sort of day off this Thursday. I only have to go to the school in the morning and then I am free for the rest of the day. How I miss having my days free...but I wouldn't have had any money to make my first knitpicks purchase! :)
I made some stitchmarkers today. I try to make some on the weekends but don't get to them all the time. I just have to add the jump rings and my markers will be complete.
I am currently going back and forth about doing sp10. I've never done an sp swap and have heard soooooooooo many good things about them but we shall see. I am awaiting to hear who my partner will be for the favorite color swap 2...and I'm participating in one of the stitchmarker exchanges in my stitchmarker group though I haven't heard from my partner yet. :(
Okay, I need to go finish making dinner, pick up the laundry from the laundromat, watch some tv, and try to squeeze in some rest too!
ETA: Dinner's done (haven't eaten yet!), laundry's all put away, I watched Gilmore Girls and wondered why did they have to have such a sad episode tonight and I signed up for sp10!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I just had to share how it's looking so far! Obviously I stretched the heck out of my scarf (so far) so that I could see what it would look like once blocked. In person, it didn't look how it appears in this pic. As I looked through all the shots I took of it (just three), I can honestly say that I can finally see the vines! :)
Yesterday, these two things went out in the mail...
