Purling Sprite

Destash Fundraiser for a zoomer!

A bitter-sweet moment today. I am really close to finally getting my license, I have been practicing every chance I get. I still can't park straight but I don't feel so afraid going from one side of town to the other. The time has come for me to get my first little zoomer!!! So excited! Anyways, I am parting with most of my stash--a lot of my ultimate favorite in the collection to fund my little zoomer. I hope you can find something in my stash for your stash. I will be adding stash all during the weekend. First up....my beloved sock yarn: think Yarntini, Vesper, SweetGeorgia, Blue Moon, Koigu...and lots more. The slide shows some of the yarn in the Sock Destash. Come to my Destash blog to see more.

I am official--check my new blog banner!

I am so official now...see my new banner and cute little button! I am officially the Purling Sprite in the blog-sphere! Cynthia hooked me up with a mystifying-sizzling web banner. For lack of better words---it totally rocks! Look closely--I am knitting socks (my favorite item to knit), it is purple--lots of shades of purple, and she even added a couple of knitting looms! I just feel so glamorous--a glamorous Purling Sprite ;).

To celebrate my new banner, I had to start a pair of socks--in purple of course. The stripey goodness is the self-striping yarn I got from Scout..I love the swirling stripes of black and purple. The design--my own crazy thing, I'll post the pattern when I finish the first sock, it is not difficult at all. I am using size 1 Crystal Palace dpns and a rib of k6, p2.

 

  In other projects, I am chugging along with the loom knitting projects...slowly but surely. I can see the end near....yay!

I have decided that every day, I am going to set an hour aside to knit on needles...an hour a day may not seem like much, but I can get a few rounds on a sock done, or even a small project done--time to take out the One Skein book out!

Reporting on the weird plant: It has some type of weird-looking-flowers now.  My neighbor next door (whom cornered me after coming back from Knitter's Nite) inform me that it is a thistle and I should take it out. So--the weird plant is not from out-of-space like some of you suggested, so no big money is to be made...sad news, I know, hahahaha. Come this fall, I am afraid a lot of the plants in the yard are going to be taken a one way trip to plant-heaven.

Checking out for now from the bunnies in Utah....the glamorous, purple,  Purling Sprite :). Thanks Cynthia for the great banner!

Patterns over here, patterns over there. Gorgeous patterns everywhere!

(Picture property of Cookie, posted here with permission)

I have been having the urge to learn how to knit socks toe up, but my mind keeps telling me that I can't do it....why would I bother with the method, the top-down method has been serving me very well. Not to mention, I am not very fond of short row heels--I really like my flap heels....BUT...I shall have a change of heart...why? The new knitty has the most gorgeous pair of socks I have ever seen--it has cables, it has lace...it is red!!! Hotty, Hotty, Hotty!

Meet my ultimate sock love--the Baudelaire sock designed by Cookie. The name stroke a chord right away--it reminded me of the Baudelaire children from A Series of Unfortunate Events and of one of the most influential poets of the 19th Century, Charles Baudelaire--yeah, I remember reading him back in college--no, not for a class but for personal enjoyment. I was crazy like that....was trying to get some culture....didn't work, tee, hee hee.

Be still my heart, I shall teach these hands to knit socks toe-up so I can dress my little tootsies with a pair of Baudelaire Socks.

Another must knit from this issue of Knitty, the Perdita bracelets, desiged by Elizabeth. It gives the children friendship bracelets a new  twist. I can see me knitting a few for upcoming gifties. They are knitted with DMC thread. Quick and beautiful project.

  (Picture property of Elizabeth, posted here with pemission)

Oh my...look!!

We interrupt your regular Saturday schedule to show you some precious things in my backyard.

I am not one with a green-thumb, but see what I have in my garden. I absolutely have no idea what type of flower this is, but it is beautiful! I have seen some gorgeous flowers in others blogs and always admired them, now I have some of my own to share! yay! I may become Isela of the Green Thumb Yet!! I have my heart set on Norma's Peonies (is that the plural for Peony?)...and I am getting brave enough to go to Home Depot and pick up some plants/seeds. Any idea what type of flower this is?

But wait, that is not all I have in my garden. My children came in excited about something pink/red that my daughter keeps calling "papple" but in reality is a strawberry! We found a red, succulent, plump jewel that we plucked away and Nyah put in her mouth, then decided against it and took it out and ran to give it to Dad, hahahaha.

Bryant on the other hand, he recognize the goodness right away and plucked a couple and proceeded to eat them...asking for more, but there are no more, the remaining jewels are still green.

We are so pleased with our little back yard...we keep finding little treasures all the time.

My question: do I need to do anything special to keep my precious little plants alive and producing fruit in the upcoming years? I may not have a green thumb, but I am willing to learn :)

 

Is that a plane? A rocket? Superman? No, no, it is an FO!

The little Princess Sundress is finished!! I had so much fun knitting this little thing. It took less than 2 skeins of Misti Pima Cotton/Silk. Timewise, about 2 days to complete. Little Nyah loved it! She didn't want to take it off when it was time to put it away for the day. She cried "dresss, dress, dress", the girl has good taste...she wants to use it as her pj's...I guess I would too if I had a silk pajama dress, hehehehe.

The yarn feels luxurious to the touch, and the drape is very subtle. Although, I did see that if I hold Nyah in my arms, the dress wrinkles, but the wrinkles come out very quickly by just smoothing the dress down.

I really didn't know how to block this type of yarn...so I went with the steam method, trying very carefully not to touch the yarn with the iron, then I just smoothed out any wrinkles it had.  I also sprayed the feather and fan area with water and pinned it down for a few hours to stretch the fans out.

Overall: The dress is a success. Little N is happy with it. I enjoyed working wth the yarn and I am thinking of making another one in pink!

I thought taking pictures of Nyah when she was 6 months old was hard...now, it if Mission Impossible! She wiggles, she runs, she squeals, she hides...she twirls around when you tell her to model the dress and then when you think you have the perfect shot--she sits down on the floor and shows you her diaper, hahahaha, or she runs to the camera and says "Nyah, Nyah picture." It is hard to explain to a 1 year old that you can't really show her a picture of herself if she doesn't sit still to have one taken.

Last resort--I took my old camera out and told her that she needed to take a picture of  Mom, Dad, or Bryant. That kept her still for a few micro-seconds...enough to have a few shots taken! Little stinker!!!

But, look at the picture on the right---->>>you see that picture....check the left side, that is Bryant dancing...his head is on the floor and his legs are straight up!!! He is a riot!

In our five minutes of "Mommy and kids time" today, we had a little foot spa, courtesy of Aunty Becky. She sent me a nice little gadget and lotion that smooths out all the rough spots on the feet (intended for me, but the kids want in the pampering too!). Well, the kids saw me putting the batteries in the gadget and they both rushed to my side, both of them taking their socks off without me asking! We all gathered around a little towel taking turns with the miracle foot gadget. Nyah just giggled every time I touched her with it and Bryant wanted to take it for a spin on his truck!!  Although they both enjoyed the little widget they thought receiving a foot massage with the lotion was the best thing ever...Nyah kept coming back for more...I think I gave her at least 7 foot massages today!!

We are off on a little mini-vacation, as you read this, we are probably driving out of Utah into Colorado for a little road trip that will take us to Estes Park Wool Festival, yippeee!!! (Yeah, I plan our  family vacations around Fiber Shows, hehehehe...Rhinebeck you are next on the list, hehehe!!) I am so looking forward to this trip...there will be a Utah-Colorado Bloggers Meet on Saturday, I can't wait to see all the gals from SLC's SnB...and of course get some yummy yarns!

Have a terrific weekend!!!

A Little Sunshine

As I sat at my computer two days ago, I realized that although the sun was shining  outside and the world around me seem very happy, I wasn't with the world. I had been cooped up in this room typing away and looking at chunky and bulky weight yarns. My hands missed the feel of slick, speedy needles and thin yarns. In the spur of the moment, I grabbed a skein of Misti Pima Cotton/Silk and put it into a center pull ball, next thing I knew I was sitting in my couch knitting away, oblivious to the world and my kids.

What was I knitting, no idea, I just sat there and knitted a test swatch of 28 stitches. The yarn passing through my fingers, the feel of the slick metal on my hands and eventually the warmth of the needles was too intoxicating to give up. After finding my gauge, I quickly casted on 130 stitches....what for, no idea, I just went with my gut feeling. What started as a garter stitch edging, quickly grew into a feather and fan pattern. Still, my mind was blank as to what I was knitting. Next thing I knew, I was decreasing at each side and realized that my mind was working a pattern--I had always wanted a sundress for little Nyah and while I had not planned to make one for her, my mind, my hands, and my heart knew what I wanted to accomplish.

The pattern had been developing all on its own...my hands just felt at home with the needles and the yarn. Even the feather pattern design that I tried a few months ago just popped into my mind without even having to look for the stitch pattern or stitch count! Dare I say it...I may be a real knitter!!!! If you know the pattern stitch count, you may know that I casted on 2 stitches extra, but I just shoved one at each side of the "project" which helped quite a bit in marking the beginning and center of the work.

I must admit, work (both house work and looming work) has been neglected, but if the Knitting Muse is on your side, you shouldn't leave her there screaming at you, let your fingers do the work and let the yarn glide swiftly through your fingers.

I don't know how this would look on my little princess, but I am hoping for two things:

1. It will fit

2. She likes it!

The dress will have a ribbon through the eyelets. It will close with buttons by the shoulders. I need to pickup buttons and ribbon to finish it....and of course finish knitting the front!

May the Knitting Muse continue to be in my home for at least one more day, so I can finish the A Little Sunshine!

Sky pictures were taken thinking of Sandy. I took them one afternoon last week when it was about 9pm and the living room all of a sudden had an orange/red glow. I had to get up and see what was going on. Nature is so divine and every day we have special moments like these two pictures...sometimes, we are too busy to notice, but they are there for all of us :)

Shorty Blues

I had to do it. It was driving me crazy. I went 3 weeks without picking up my needles, but Monday afternoon, I broke down. I needed a bit of a break from loom knitting. Although the looming deadline is upon me, I just couldn't keep going without getting some "me-knitting-time" in there. I found my escape in a pair of quick shorty socks, inspired by all the cute little shorty socks from KnitPastis.

Margene expressed my sentiments on her latest post about socks...they are my escape to paradise!  I find that whenever I need to escape or to get a sense of fulfillment, I pick up my little needles and some gorgeous handyed yarn and a sense of relief quickly feels my knitting heart. 

The yarn called my name from the drawer...it said, "knit me, knit me, I can bring you a sense of peace and fulfillment". As I knitted each tiny little stitch, I felt like a vase being filled with happiness. Happiness that now I can disperse around little by little.

Now, I can go back to my daily schedule loom knitting...looming deadline No. 1 is around the corner!

Shorty Blues Specs
Yarn: Sunshine Yarns
Needles: 1.5 from Crystal Palace
Pattern: My own--hahaha, I feel so proud to say that!

I have the knitting Blahs!

It must be all the work I have to do around the house, whatever it is, the knitting blahs have come to visit me. Blahhhhhhh!!!!

No Knitting or Loom Knitting Content....Blahhhhh, BORING.KNITTER.AT.WORK.

Found something cool over at this blog--Smartpatterns software! I would like to give it a spin and see what is all about.

Send the good knitting vibes over to me.......FEEL.UNMOTIVATED.

Must.get.to.work.on.loomknitting.book.must.go.work.

Belated Blogiversary!

It appears that I missed my own Blogiversary. Too many things happening this month that I can hardly keep my thoughts straight. Well, happy blogiversary to me, happy blogiversary to me! hahahah. Thanks for hanging around with this crazed loom knitter for the past year. It has been fun, and it has been real.  And dare I say it--it has been REAL FUN!! ;).

I finally found the camera--actually, hubby found it. He forgot he put it in the car's glove compartment. I don't know what he was thinking by putting it there--we never, ever look in there!! I was ready to take out the Visa and get me a new one--terrible that he found it before I smoked the card!

In the move, I lost my slippers, I think I accidentally threw them in one of the bags that went in the garbage, so yarn and needles came out of their forced vacation. I am making a pair of Fiber Trends Clogs. The yarn is all odds and ends I had in the stash. I have used the child size pattern for a pair for B last year and I remember having a bit of trouble remembering the row I was on, well, nothing has changed. I still can't keep my eyes focused on the pattern--last year was my listening to Eragon on tape, this time was a little one clammoring at the top of her little lungs that she was the baby and she wanted milk! It was really cute and I was enjoying it, until I realized that I had knitted the same row 3 times!!! Let me tell you something--frogging rows that have all those M1, SSK, and K2Tog, and W&T are no fun, no fun at all!

Well, I am off to bed, here are the promised pictures of the boring craft room...and Mim, look at what I got to amuse myself :)...Bunny Suicides! They are just awesome! I have a sick sense of humor, lol. I also couldn't resist getting Furry Logic on Parenthood a good laugh....oh dear!

Woosh--I am moved in!!

• 5 Rolls of Viva Towels
• 1 Mr. Clean Bottle
• 1 Lysol Disinfectant Bottle
• 1 Windex Bottle
• 6 Mr. Clean Eraser pads
• About 50 boxes of stuff (some worth keeping, some have me wondering!)
• 2 weeks worth of energy spent in 3 days!

Results: Priceless=One humongous move from one little apartment to our new place.

Hoooray!!! It only took us about 3 days of moving stuff from one place to the other. Lots of cleaning was involved--my poor knees are feeling it from the kneeling down to scrub floors.

Well, I was going to share some pictures of the craft room, but--Bad news: It appears that the camera is nowhere to be found, hubby packed it, apparently in the same bag as the camcorder--the bag has the camcorder and the PDA, but no camera...hmmmm.  I spent the last hour looking through boxes and I cannot find it. Pictures of the craft room will come as soon as I find the elusive camera. Just picture a bright blue room for the moment.

Have you read the latest on knitting needles: Knit Lite--The new needles have glowing L.E.D. at the tips to make it possible to knit in the dark--think movie theater. They will be debuting down the knitting isles next month...price: about $20. Looks pretty fancy--I wonder what the other movie-goers would say about the flashing little tips....hmmm