Thanksgiving

I spent Thanksgiving in Pittsburgh in the land of no blogging. I had a great time causing my credit card to scream at Bloomin Yarns with my family. Matt and Emily are always a fun time and the food was awesome.
We may have gone to Bloomin Yarns a couple of times. Like always, it rocked. I wish I lived closer so that I could shop there more often. The owner is super nice and it turns out that my mom's friend Janice is working there. Some Smooshy and Claudia's slipped into the car. So did an awesome Christmas present from my mom. I just can't show anyone the Christmas present until Christmas (My mom has such harsh rules -grin-). I got lots of knitting done and I'll take pictures of it all as soon as I get it blocked.

So Cute!

Here's my teddy bear modeling the finished baby blanket. This pattern is in the November 2007 Magknits (www.magknits.com) and is called hooded baby blanket. I did everything as per the directions except I didn't bind off the main blanket and then pick up those stitches. I just knit them in the new color. I think it cam out pretty well.
Today at 3 p.m., we leave for PGH. I'm not going to take the computer. This is the last time I'll see Matt and Emily until summer, and I'm going to make the most of every moment (plus I have a ton of Xmas knitting to do). Leslie, I'm taking some Yarn Pirate sock yarn to make the Bellatrix mitts (I think I'll have enough to make two pairs).

Cold

So Nikki and I went to the outdoor mall of Cordovia. It's quasi cold here, so I got to wear the Noro Silk Garden Lite hat. I've added a button I got a few weeks back from http://lizstaley.etsy.com. Liz has a shop that sells all kinds of geeky stuff like buttons with quotes from Pirates of the Caribbean. I got that set and am currently wearing the button that states, "I am disinclined to acquiesce to your request." I love it, although others find it less amusing.
On the knitting front I finished the baby blanket during the Steelers game today (they lost to the Jets, the JETS). I'll put up pictures tomorrow before we head out to Matt and Emily's for Thanksgiving. I can't wait to see them and go visit Bloomin' Yarns.

Blogger

Blogger has been hating me and not allowing me to post. I tried posting several times with no luck this weekend. It's frustrating and I'm thinking about moving to Mac...
In other news, Mom and I are hosting part of the house crawl for the fibers guild which means cleaning up. Since the stash has gotten out of control lately, I've been knitting up lots of stuff like this:

And this:
Never mind the photo won't post.
I wonder what I was thinking to get so many single skeins of yarn. And then I realized that habit really hasn't changed much. Must clean up the stash by eliminating the bulky yarns...

Rockstar Package

Warning: This post is picture heavy, you should look away now, if you encounter symptoms of yarn/swap jelousy.






I came home from school sick today (I think my exact words to my principal were, "I think I'd better go home before I throw up on a child." He let me go home). I came home to see at my doorstep a super neat package from my secret pal. I was a little bit worried, because it had been opened and was almost falling apart. But luckily, nothing inside was damaged. My pal did an awesome packing job. I think it's safe to say, that it took a visit to customs land for a while. Inside were the best goodies a girl could hope for. I'm totally in love with kinder eggs and have been forever. They have really good chocolate and then a toy inside. It's like a chocolate Happy Meal. I'll have to post pictures of the toys after I eat the eggs (nothing is going in my stomach today). I also got a very cool felted bag with a pirate lining and a Steeler's colored bead on the outside. That was so thoughtful! Thanks Secret Pal! Of course there was lots of yarn. I can't wait to try the lace and sock yarns. I also got some kick a** stitch markers. Seriously, skull stitch markers. Freaking awesome. I know the tapestry needles will come in handy, because I'm always loosing them at classes and such. Thank you again Secret Pal! I've loved getting to know you and can't wait for the second package!

In Case You Were Wondering...

Becky (my lil sis) has her own blog, ravelry account, and Flickr. Look at the pictures I just stole off her flickr account. I guess you can figure out what we were doing while we waited for my brother's wedding to start. You can read about all her crazy knitting adventures and industrial design mayhem at http://halfbisqued.blogspot.com/. I'm trying to con her into another sock off this year. I wonder what I'll have her knit me this year :)

Needle Felting

I had a fairly productive day, Saturday. I knit the Sidekick Bag from Knitting Daily and went to the Fiber Guild Meeting to play by Needle Felting. First the Bag:

Here it is prior to being felted. It was a quick knit and I enjoyed the way that the handles were kitchnered together. There was no sewing involved in this piece, except for the weaving in of ends. I love that. It also used up less than 1 skein of Cascade 220.


Here's the bag after felting. I really lucked out on this one. I threw it in the washer with a pair of jeans and a bath towel, took a shower, and caught it at the right time. Perfect. I used a tapestry needle to sew on a bead I got over the summer as a button.

Then we began needle felting. I opted for the freeform method, rather than using a pattern. I liked making the spirals the best, although the dots were fun, too. Here's some pics of the finished product:



Edited to add: Apparently, Blogger is having some photo issues. All the pics are on my Flickr. You can check them out there until Blogger's hiccups are gone (Is it just me, or is this happening a lot lately?)

Whiplash

I've been knitting on deadlines so long, now that I don't have one, I'm experiencing what the Yarn Harlot calls "whiplash." It's a term she uses in her last book "Stephanie McPhee Cast's Off." Basically, it refers to one that has temporarily lost the will to knit. I've lost my knitting mojo. I actually went into a yarn store the other day and bought nothing. Nothing. This calls for some serious intervention. I'm going to a guild meeting today with mom. Maybe that'll keep my mojo back into gear. In the meantime, I've cast on 2 garter stitch scarves.One is for Emily's friend, who lost everything in a fire and the other is a shop model for Kathy.

Coffee Swap Awesomeness

Look what I got this week! Jennifer from http://www.rundpinne.blogspot.com/ sent me an awesome package for Coffee Swap 3. The yarn is lace-weight (5 skeins!) and Knitty just put up an extra pattern that will be perfect for it. The stitch markers are glittery (Oh, shiny!) and the coffee is delish (you can tell, we couldn't wait to get into it). I also got a Starbucks gift card, perfect for a happy on my drive to work. This was another great swap for me. I don't know how I keep getting such rockstar people.

Coffee Swap

I got my coffee swap package and it rocks! I especially love the yarn and the stitch markers. I'll take pictures sometime when I get home before dark (the plan is tomorrow). Thank you so much Jennifer!!!!

Freedom

I find myself with a novel experience, no project that I HAVE to knit. After I finish off the very cute baby blanket (have you seen the new Magknits?) that is currently on my needles, I am free of commitments. Yes, I do have Christmas knitting, but it's very little this year. I'm really only knitting Endpaper mitts by Eunny and several pairs of Fetching. That leaves me with the novel experience of being able to knit whatever I want. Wow. Now my question to you is, what should I knit?