Cure for a Hang Over?

Needless to say, I woke up this morning with a raging hang over! Wine and I do not mix! So, I started my morning slowly, got my hair cut & colored.. best haircut and color I have had in years and years.. that made me happy.. despite my upset tummy and pounding head - oh yes, and the parking ticket for an expired meter!

So, what is a girl to do? How about visit her Local Yarn Shop? Yep! Just a few doors down from my new hairdresser is the LYS Castaway (castawayyarn.com) - visiting was a must!

The shop is lovely! Open, bright and full of wonderful fibers. The selection is amazing and the feeling of the shop the same. I left with a little bag of cheer - also known as blue sky alpacas Organic Cotton - 2 skeins in hot hot hot pink (color 617) and two in an off white (color 80). The shop owner had them right at the front of the shop, I was taken the second my eyes spotted them.



I also left with a class schedule .. I think it would do me good to take a class or drop in on Knit night.

Tonight I checked for ideas of what to knit up with my new stash item, and found wonderful FO's, seems this is a pretty popular fiber! I must have great taste! ;-) I am thinking of knitting up a hat using the Cloche du Bois pattern on Ravelry. You know how much I love hats and a crochet flower, I am head over heals!

So, to summarize... best cure for a hang over? Visit your LYS and pick up the prettiest fiber you can find, then cruise Ravelry and pick out the perfect pattern! Yep. That's my story and I am sticking to it...

Oh.. and sorry Erin for the drunk dialing! You were a good sport.. and sorry for inviting you to all these crazy groups on Rav... I was in the zone! - oh yeah, and had WAY too much WINE! I shouldn't be left home alone! ;-)

Taking comfort in Ravelry & Happy Thoughts of Stitches 2009!

Here I am... up to my ears in my "to do list". To do.. everything... and I am overwhelmed and feel like a complete failure at all of it.. so where am I on a Friday night with a glass of wine? .. cruising Ravelry.com .... adding patterns... adding myself to new groups... finding comfort in the companionship of Ravelry.com!

What does that mean really? I guess if it was lunch time, I would take a trip to my LYS for a quick fix... or do a little online shopping at work.. but instead.. I find a sort of comfort and companionship in looking at the various groups.. and the recently posted finished objects (FO's), recently posted stash... it somehow makes me feel better.. I feel connected.. to fellow knitters, yarn enthusiest... to my friends...

It is a place of safety and comfort.. and enjoyment.. I love thinking about the pretty things that others have created.. that maybe someday I can create... it is just such a wonderful place to be...

THANK YOU RAVELRY.COM for giving me somewhere to be on an evening when I feel unsure and overwhelmed!

Meanwhile... I am in the middle of finsihing my last Christmas gift.. yet another Boyfriend Hat.. this time in Cascade Heathers - Green.. it is quite lovely actually.. I even made a mistake somehow along the way.. but it looks great anyway! So I decided to not rip.. but just keep going.. I mean, really do we need to rip every mistake? Can't it be part of the process.. and look good anyway.. you know what? In this case it does.. so I am moving foreward...

Happy Thoughts...

Here is a pic of Erin and I from Stiches West 2008 last year.. we were wet from the rain but happy from the day at the market... when I see us, it makes me happy and for tonight.. that is exactly what I need.. a good thing.. wouldn't you say?
I can't wait for Stitches 2009! Classes, market, girlfriend time... yarn, bags, tools, new friends.. again, it is a time away from our real life.. a place where we can share in our special passion for yarn, knitting, and everything fiber related.... counting the days..

HAPPY THOUGHTS TO ALL!!!

Being Quiet

Funny thing. I haven't felt much like talking. Lucky for me Liz fills in the blog for me.

Work has been stressful, and I've been plagued by this vague feeling of not doing things right. Both at work and home. That's not very comforting. Maybe this is the reason for my inward grunting.

One thing that's going well Celtic Cable Neckwarmer with my handspun camel.

This is an instant gratification project, as far as any cable projects go. This goes to my mom, if I can part with it.

What I should do is to spin. It does me good, always.

Mad Hatter!

I am MAD for hats these days.. I can't seem to get enough of them. I seek out and find hat patterns, find yarn that would make the perfect hat.. and yes, as strange as it sounds.. actually cast on and knit hats!

I have a new pattern I am MAD for.. a very simple yet, may I say, PERFECT hat pattern. The pattern knits up very quickly and the finish project looks great. Here is a link to the blog.. it is a free pattern. I found it on Ravelry (of course!)

http://limulusknits.blogspot.com/2007/11/boy-hat.html

So far I have knit it using some Cascade Heathered yarn, in a Camo brown/green color. And I did another in a Black Hemp/Wool mix (I just have to weave in the ends - I will post again because there are some noteworthy comments about the use of this lovely yarn and the pattern).

Let's talk about my finished project. I used Cascade 220 Heathers - brown. It is sort of a CAMO look, brown but hints of green along the way. I think it turned out GREAT!

The only issue I really had wit this has was on the decreases. You can't really see the problems from the pictures - so the good news is no one else will notice them .. aside from me! I will try not to get too picky when I see him wearing it! I am doing something wrong with my SSK - so my thought is I will watch a video on knittinghelp.com and keep making hats until I have a perfect SSK!

I say, if you want to make a great hat for a boy or a man or heck even for yourself - do it trying this pattern!

Happy Hat & Fingerless Mittens

Have you ever picked a yarn that well... just made you feel happy when you saw it, touched it? Yet, it isn't really something you would expect to invoke such emotions? This is how I felt about this lovely little lime green - The Alpaca Yarn Co., Snuggle, #6878 Pucker AKA HAPPY GREEN, GREEN, GREEN! It doesn't make sense, I know. And I didn't just buy 1 skein, no, I bought like 4! On two different trips to my LYS Balls & Skeins in Sebastopol.



It was just one of those things. Then also unlike me, I cast on straight away, that very night. I asked my 7 year old daughter if she liked the yarn and she said she LOVED IT! Well, that was all it took. That yarn never even hit my stash. I found the perfect pattern, my new favorite hat pattern because I can use whatever yarn I happen to have in hand - paired with whatever size needles and wah-la.. I have a recipe for a great looking, pretty hat! The pattern is from Ann Norling #54 Spiral Rib Hat by Song Palmese and again I love it!



Now, all of you who know me, I take a very very long time to complete a project. I only have 1 project going at a time and it takes me a while to complete. Well, I even surprised myself on this one.. I was finished in two days! So quickly that I wasn't finished with the yarn, so I quickly cast on matching fingerless mittens. I took the pattern repeat and with my best guess I cast on and created the mitts. I think they turned out GREAT! Nicole wanted LONG fingerless mittens.. so I just kept knitting until they met her liking. You know I liked them too! I finished the pair in two evenings, they knitted up so quickly. I then decided to crochet a flower for the hat and crochet a finishing on the mittens.

I still have more Snuggle left in my stash, I am thinking about casting on for me! This was the perfect project because I learned that when I am inspired, I really can create and finish a project with ease. So, the project is finding the right project and the right yarn AND to be inspired! Of course, it doesn't hurt when I find myself working with the softest and happiest yarn ever.. and knitting something for my daughter who is so happy to show off to her friends at school.

I will be posting more FO's, as I have had great success with another hat pattern that I must share! Meanwhile, I wish you HAPPY YARN as part of your every day! ;-)Liz

WELCOME 2009! STASH NITE

So what better to do to celebrate a new, wonderful and very hope filled New Year? Cataloging One's Stash on Ravelry! Yes, indeed!

Yesterday Erin and her wonderful boys came over for a visit. Well, before we knew it we were deep in the bowels of my stash.. tubbies and tubbies of stash! I even dug deep into the closet in the back room where one does not go without an escort.




There was too much... it was overwhelming.. but Erin - The Braveheart! She said we could do it.. she said she had all night. Little did she realize it would take ALL NIGHT! Yes, she left just before Midnight - with the majority of the stash cataloged on Ravelry. I have 1 tubbie left to put in - all Cascade which should be easy enough for me to handle.

In the end, I have 25 miles of yarn - four space bags full - and 1 tubbie left to enter. It was an AMAZING experience - and I feel GREAT when I look at my stash online. I feel inspired to knit from my very own Local Yarn Shop... Lizzy's Stash! ;-)

I did do the right thing, and nominated some of my stash for Goodwill, after all, we all make mistakes when buying yarn time and again. I even have 4 skeins on the sell/trade list - it was a "what was I thinking" purchase.

The evening was so much fun.. reminiscing over the yarn purchases - Stitches West 2007, Stitches 2008, Knitterly, Balls & Skeins, Cast Away, Gifts, Game Wins.. all of it was so much fun. And you know what I discovered, I have EXCELLENT taste in yarn! I love it all.. I could see my color themes over time.. Heathered wool, Blue Malabrigo, Yellow/Green.. Pink, Pink, Pink. It was really a visit down memory lane. And now what do I have to show for it?

I can go to my stash anytime and see all the lovely yarn. I know how much I have.. I can search for patterns and inspiration.. I don't have to wonder, or be afraid to dig deep in a closet, where I might feel compelled to clean. It is a WONDERFUL, HOPE FILLED NEW YEAR!!




Thank you Erin for all your help. I would not have done it without you.. and now I owe you big time!!