matching clutch

well since miss ella's birthday gift is going to be late and i have an unused zipper bought especially for her i attempted this great gathered clutch from noodlehead.

thank you noodlehead for such a great tutorial.

little ella's pillow

happy birthday lady ella.

this is, of course for little miss ella.

i started with an angora feel yarn~ trendsetter viola in a wonderful orange/peach color.

us needles 6/4.00 mm

1 skein total = 180 yards

i also used a 12” pillow form, 1/2 yard of a soft fabric, store bought yellow pipping and this angora feel yarn. c/o 60 stitches and given my past luck with eyelash yarn i decided NOT to keep track of my stitches. i knit until 12” and sewed to piping.

(no zipper)

I bought a zipper and had intended to put one in but i kept thinking the yarn would get caught in it.

time to box it and get it off so that it is not too late for miss ella’s birthday.

happy birthday little ella and miss chi.

i love you both.

welcome to your new home

 vaja cases has this customizable ipad cover. the happiness my little ipad feels..

woo hoo

i know- it is sad to get so excited about a painted fence....

really we have stained it multiple times with little success and then... wow. the powers of a good painter and latex paint.

mer thank you for helping me with the color selection.

banberry place

 my new finds :)

1) amy butler rainy days rain jacket
2) lola goes shopping..... all the goods~

1 yard Splashy Rose Persimmon 

1/2 yard Henna Garden Brown
1 yard Daisy Path Celery

 

and dont i love my new store??? banberry gave me a couple of yards of my favorite blogger/designer how about orange's

designer ribbon.

happy anniversary

happy 15 years of marriage to my kind and loving husband.

to finish what i started

or not...

honestly i spent the afternoon in search of projects not finished. where do they go? i have so many i am sure they could occupy their own island of misfit knit projects.

on the productive side i found and decided to frog my first "frogged" project. i had committed 5 skeins of rowan big wool to storm by kim hargreaves.

not sure what i was thinking when i decided to knit this. it really is not something i would wear. not flattering and a little boring to knit. i think instead i will use the yarn to make wrenna and see how it goes.

the only other find is a keeper~ from the same pattern book.

i began knitting "ward" back in 2008. back then i chose to knit a size medium (really i am an extra small)~ but i think i was thinking that the featured picture draped over a long sleeved top looked appealing. i have one skein of yarn to go. it is worth finishing even if it is too big in then end.

some kinds of fruit

 happy mother's day to all of the wonderful mothers we love.

still trying to rid myself of this horrible cold. the idea of sleeping all day had occurred to me~ but idle hands.....

i have more tape measures than i know what to do with. almost every knitting project has put me in a position to need one when one is not handy... so i own more than i need. 

thank you to fellow blogger poppy lane for her tape measure cover tutorial.  

at least i can have fun covering them. 

our loquat tree now has fruit. it is an amazingly short period of time we have to pick them before they over ripen or the birds have them.  i am going to stew and freeze them for later ...

maybe time for a sunday nap...

at home sick

i am out sick today, exhaustion turns nasty cold, you know how it finally catches up with you?

and to the joy of my husband... no voice.  just a sad whisper without any means to inject meaning into my words.

happily i sleep a home and in between naps i complete the second to my pair of knit slippers.

my feet hurt

 but are these shoes not worth it?

in an attempt to make friends with my feet after what i put them through i decided a nice sunday afternoon of knitting just for them might do the trick.

my first thought was how cute and seemingly simple these little slippers are.

a few minor changes to the gauge to use a substitute yarn, minor mathematical calculations and then car crash.

first i would like to thank fellow ravelry knitter tiny owls knits for her amy march's slippers


i did have the yarn the pattern called for but i had some cascade yarn pastaza left over from the log cabin socks i made for my father in law and i wanted to make something similar for myself.

the mods began by adding two more increase rows at the beginning, minor mathematical equasions to get the rest to self adjust and then i hit the heal.

it was like reading a foreign language. i love new techniques and i enjoy learning them even if it is the hard way. through around forty repetitions i called it quits on the instructions and decided to spend some time working short rows but ripped it out and decided in the end to cast off the 24 stitches i had remaining by splitting them in two (12 on each double pointed needle) and casting casting them off together using a third needle. it took me most of the afternoon to figure it out so i am done with it for the day.

i happy

work/life balance?

no.

after two weeks of me attached to my iphone as my only usable communication outside of work for.. well work.

really i dont even leave work because my need to be connected keeps me at the office but at home this mac user communicates via phone.

stressful.

today, when i came home from work i had awaiting me this beautiful 27 inch LED backlit display with a wide screen monitor computer with a wireless keyboard and magic mouse.

what a great hubby.

this machine capable of allowing me to work remotely (commute time = extra sleep) greeted me with the new broken bells album.

i happy.

super-chic

 

ok “super-chic” was the name of the feature in my lucky magazine that inspired me to find a yarn that would give a similar result as their fantastic “popcorn” cashmere blend scarf. (cashmere-blend scarf, $275, autumn cashmere. the tannery, cambridge, ma, 617.492.1811)

certainly not a reference to me or my scarf.


this is for miss peggy. i think the pink scarf will no doubt look better on her !

the goods again:


needle us 10-6.0 mm

yarn: plymouth yarn poppin (66 yards)

color  09

pattern here

blog nods

yeah- another external lsbs web feature.


if you knit and you blog about knitting consider joining this wonderfully supportive group who shares your interests.

and congratulations to all lesser known skein bloggers for spending the time and commitment to sharing their personal knitting stories by blogging and for taking this group to a new level by creating a website specifically for us. i am lucky to be featured and thankful for the their supportive community and especially for those dedicated to the upkeep and maintenance of the LKS website.

happy knitting & happy blogging

happy easter. happy me.

happy easter!

the pattern for these cute little white chocolate and milk chocolate egg cozies can be found here at drops designs website

the goodies:

2 skeins naturally harmony 10ply in brown 03
2 skeins naturally harmony 10ply in cream 02
needle us 6

absolutely no modifications. what a fun pattern to knit. even better they found stardom! you can find them on americas knitting website in their project section. for those of us who don't own a yarn shop and secretly wish too this is a website dedicated to the support of yarn shops with a knit shop directory, yarn shop spotlights and projects~ like these little cuties.


today i am going to make soap. i just bought another copy of soapylove to send across the pond to an english friend who just came for a visit and fell in love with my copy.


her highness soapylove just came out with her new spring news letter. you can get a copy here. 


happy easter. happy knitting. happy soaplove.

today is the day

welcome home little ipads. we are in love with you both. yes twins!

it is also the day i have played with the design of my blog. i cant seem to find something i really like but it needed a face lift. feedback is welcome.

happy ipadding

sister and yarn goodness

last weekend dad and i drove to austin to see my sister who was visiting a friend. our plan was to have brunch at the south congress street cafe which turned into lunch because we got off to a late start. i highly recommend this joint and even more so i highly recommend not going over the weekend. however, should you decide to offer your custom to this popular SoCo eatery over a saturday or sunday~ expect a 45min plus wait. this worked out for dad and i because we were 45 minutes late.

sorry sarah...

amongst all of the retro airstream turned gourmet catering vans, old motels which used to rent by the hour turned nostalgic sleeping accommodations and over populated good restaurants is hill country weavers. known for their huge supply of almost any make of yarn including imported japanese yarn goodness producers habu~ this place will keep me occupied for hours.

the above recently acquired:
grey- berrocco ultra alpaca fine
brown- habu cotton nerimaki slub
gold/cream- habu silk mohair kusa
raspberry- habu non twist cotton boucle

a little something for the new year

i have been looking for a yarn that would make a scarf that my mother in law bought a while back.. it was chenile and soft with little light weight puffs in it.

i found something similar when i fell in love with sageyarns poppin scarf and checked out her blog~ what wonderful and clear instructions on how to knit with this yarn. i checked my locals and as it turned out i had to order the yarn on line.

the goods:

1 full skein plymouth yarn poppin in white
needle US 10
pattern: poppin goofballs

i love the pattern but i have had 4 knots in one skein thus far…. not cool.

and we are in a new year...

finally taking down the christmas decorations.... and i still have not sent all of my gifts out yet(!) it has been unusually cold here in texas~ not good for motivation. i am in my second week of weekend couch potato'ness'.

my holidays were tested with what patience i have while knitting lace, try as i might i went through many "learning opportunities" playing with different patterns. the project was lace trim for pillowcases. for the bamboo pillowcases i chose bamboo blend yarn and for the silk pillowcases i chose silk blend yarn.

i have yet to declare my resolutions for the new year.... but for my family and friends who have yet to receive their christmas presents, i am sorry.

so here it goes everyone~ for 2010 i resolve to start my christmas presents with time to finish them (again)~ and i apologize for spoiling your late (again) gift.