HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Here's my little princess! The perfect Snow White.

It was hard to get a good pic of the Circle Afghan because of the enormity of the thing, and it's not even half done yet!! Well, maybe I'm more than half done. I've completed round 98, but it increases every 4th or 5th round, so it seems like it goes on forever. I have to say it is gorgeous, and will be hard to part with! It's such a huge undertaking I doubt I will be up to making one for myself. This is my at home project. My car project is the Spa Cloth below.

That's all I've been working on. I've imposed a moratorium on working on non-Christmas related projects.....which is driving me crazy!! I want to start my shrug, or my Marilyn's Not So Shrunken Sweater, or my Ella, or work on the Vintage Bolero, or Clapotis, or one of a million other projects. But I feel like I have to get some Christmas presents done first.

But a knitting moratorium does not mean a shopping moratorium. My church nursery proceeds go to my yarn supplies. I just received my October check so I've been online! I've been searching high and low for Crystal Palace Merino Frappe to make a shrug in FCEK, but haven't been able to find it anywhere. So I finally decided LB Colorwaves would work. I also picked up a few little goodies for my Secret Pal, and some sock yarn. I am bound and determined to make socks, and I think I have enough books, patterns, and different types of sock yarn to make 10 pairs of socks!

A bad picture but the best I could do at this hour. My second Spa Cloth. I'm using Crystal Palace Cotton Chenille once again, this one is a rich, deep blue. Too bad the pic can't capture the rich, soft texture.

Aaaahhh, the memories

I've been reading Lauren's blog about her trip to Oahu, and thinking about our wonderful trip there. We took Noey to Hawaii when she was 2 1/2. What a great trip! Noey was just barely potty trained, it was her first time on an airplane, DH's first time to Hawaii (my 7th!!), and it was just the best trip ever!

We went to the Honolulu Zoo, the Honolulu Aquarium, a luau, and lots of shopping, eating, and swimming! The highlight for Noey was the hotel pool.....she'd never been in a full size pool before!!

This is Noey at the Dole Pineapple Plantation checking out the same type of pineapple Lauren talked about.

Yes, you all saw this pic of me and the old man back in August for our 16th anniversary. Rox is having a little contest, so here it is again. It's my favorite pic because I am so young, innocent, and THIN!! (unfortunately, DH looks like a dirty old man....he looks much better and younger now!)

Today was our annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch in Torrance. We have gone to this same PP every year since Noey was born! The only thing that has changed is the price of the pony rides.....it's now $5.00 for a 2 minute ride!

The ponies!

FO and Stash Enhancement

It's the Spa Cloth. One down.....about 13 more to go. (that is if I give everyone 2 cloths....they may end up with one each)

and my order came in from Jimmy Beans Wool. It's Rowanspun DK for Wendy's Marilyn's Not So Shrunken Sweater.

So I write this whole post about not being able to upload pictures to my new blog, (see below) and then I forget to upload my pictures here!

Here's my Spa Cloth using Crystal Palace Cotton Chenille.

The front? The back?

Well, maybe not

I can't post pictures on my typepad blog, so if I don't figure that out, I don't want to move.

Anyway, here's my knitting progress. I've finished the front or back of Klaralund. I think it will be the back. It was a pretty fast knit, and I really like the color pattern.

I've also been working on the Spa Cloth. This one is for my sister in law. If all goes well I'll make her a chocolate brown one as well.

Noey's Mommy is moving!

I'm in the process of moving over to typepad. I think it will take me a month or so to convert everything over. In the meantime I will update here, but go on over and check out my new blog. It's pretty cool if I do say so myself!

P.S. My stash items for sale will remain here, so if you're interested please leave me a comment here! Thanks!

YARN SALE/SWAP

My stash hording has gotten out of control and I've come to realize (sadly) that I will not use some of my beloved stash. So I am having a Stash Sale and/or Swap.

I have listed all the items I am parting with below. I have listed sale prices, but I would consider comparable swaps.

If you are interested in any of the items, please leave a comment with your email address. I would be happy to send more pictures or provide further information.....just let me know.

All items include postage. All items are from my personal stash, and come from a smoke free and pet free home.

I will accept PayPal only. Thanks for looking!!

Nine Skeins Crystal Palace Musique

Color #9130 Lot #9311D4H01 65 yards each

45% Acrylic 40% Wool 15% Cotton

All nine skeins are the same lot

$20.00 for the lot

Eight Skeins Wool Ease Thick & Quick

Navy #110 Lot #60358 108 yards

80% Acrylic 20% Wool

All eight skeins are same lot number. All are brand new, although one lost it's label

$16.00 for the lot (includes postage)

Two Skeins Wool Ease Thick & Quick

Charcoal #149 Lot #29058A 108 yards

Sky Blue #106 Lot #30634 108 yards

80% Acrylic 20% Wool

$6.00 for the lot (includes postage)

Highland Peruvian Wool from elann.com

Dark Teal Color #1112 Lot #273 109 yards

Light Teal Color #2699 Lot #495 109 yards

100% Highland Wool

$5.00 for the lot (includes postage)

Four Knitting Books

Ponchos & Wraps a Knitter's Dozen by XRX Books $6.00

From Scarves to Ponchos by Bernat and Scarf = Poncho by Patons $4.00 for both

Chick Stuff It's a Wrap by Kelly Wilson $3.00.

10.00 for the lot (includes postage)

10/19/05 Update: SOLD

Three Crochet Books

10*20*30 Minutes to Learn to Crochet by Leisure Arts

Crochet Hats, Mittens, and Scarves by American School of Needlework

Cool Stuff Teach Me to Crochet by Leisure Arts

$10.00 for the lot or $4.00 each (includes postage)

Next week I'll be sad

when no packages arrive at my door!

Today I received my amazon order. First up 365 Knitting Stitches a Year. What a great book! A new stitch every darn day! Very cool! This is a great resource for me to learn new stitches. I also got Holiday Knits by Sara Lucas and Allison Isaacs. I just leafed through it briefly, and a few things caught my eye.

Things are much better this week, although we have been crazy busy! We've had an activity or two every single afternoon. But, the good news is Noey has gone three days straight without crying at drop off! Could it be the sticker reward system we implemented three days ago??! Seven more stickers and she gets a toy!!

No real knitting done yesterday or today. It is just too darn HOT!

P.S. Hi Shar! No, I'm not going to make it to the Knit Out in Pasadena. Although I would love to go, and it would be fun to see you again, I am just exhausted! I can't deal with Noey, and the drive to Pasadena, and the heat!!

I loved the 80's

Big Hair, even bigger earrings, lots of makeup...but John Stamos???

Your 80s Heartthrob Is

John Stamos

Who's" Your 80's Heartthrob?

The goodies keep rolling in

My parents always bring us lots of souvenirs from their world travels, but they don't like to distribute them all at once. They give you one, then days, weeks, even months later, my mom will casually bring out another one, and say "Oh, I got this for you in London or Paris, or Austria". Earlier this week my mom gave me the yarn from Austria. Today she handed me this Liberty bag with 2 skeins of Rowan Spray in it. It's a beautiful soft blue. I've never seen Spray before, is it unique to the UK?

Then I found the holiday issue of Vogue Knitting in my mailbox. I haven't had the chance to look at it yet, but I'm sure there will be more items I must knit!

and waiting on the doorstep was my package from HandpaintedYarn.com. Four skeins of beautiful handpainted, laceweight yarn. At least 2 will be for Ella, and maybe all of it, depending on how well she goes. Check out Wendy's Ella. Beautiful!

and to top it all off I got a cute ecard from my Secret Pal saying there was a package on the way! I can't wait!!

I don't know why I chose this colorway, other than I just love the green and pink combination......I have nothing to wear with it!

I unfurled the purple one to see how it looked. Very pretty, but the two skeins look completely different. I chose this colorway to go with my purple bohemian skirt that I got in San Diego. Too tired to go get the skirt to see if they match!

Yesterday was a banner day for knitting here at Chez Noey. Noey wanted to stop at the "art" store a.k.a. JoAnn's last night to pick up some construction paper, so I took the opportunity to purchase the rest of my Wool Ease for the Vintage Bolero. Then when we got home I found the latest FC Easy Knitting Magazine in my mailbox, along with my Webs order of 2 patterns, my Lion Brand order of 3 patterns, and two yarn catalogs! Kept me busy all evening. I found several, make that many, more items I want to make! I don't know when I think I'll get all these projects done. I also purchased Wendy's Marilyn's Not So Shrunken Cardigan pattern, and have been surfing looking for yarn!

Meanwhile in actual knitting news I've been slowly progressing on the Vintage Bolero, I've finished 17 repeats. I also pulled out the Circle Afghan, my parents' Christmas present, and worked on it for a couple of rounds. It's starting to sink in just how close Christmas is!

My parents returned safely from Europe this week, and look what they brought me!! Schoeller Stahl Grazie purchased in Austria. It's a beautiful pink, although the picture makes it look more orange. It's incredibly soft! If I have my metric conversion correct.....I have about 160 yards, so I think this will be a scarf.

Sunday Night Finished Object

The Diagonal Scarf is finito! I needed that sense of completion, so last night I finished it, weaved in the ends, and blocked that baby. It's a little short, only 36" long, so I guess it's ascot length. I'm kinda stock piling scarves to use as Christmas gifts. I have 4 or 5 already.

We are exhausted today. We went to the Baby Shower yesterday. Amanda (the mom to be) loved the Baby Afghan, as did everyone else! It made my heart feel great to give it to her! The shower started at noon, and we got home at 9:00pm! Now that's a party! Actually we ended up staying and having dinner and birthday cake with the family. I have known the Miller's for 36 years, they are my extended family. I grew up with their kids Mike (the daddy to be) and Sandy (the aunt to be). It was great to see them all and everyone was spoiling Noey with attention. She didn't want to leave.

Today we worked in the church nursery and then afterward we had a carnival at church. They had an In and Out truck, and Noey ate a hamburger for the first time!! She jumped in the bouncer for literally 2 hours! I'm noticing she's been flirting with the big boys a lot lately. Last night she really turned on the charm with Mike and Bob, and today it was with the high school boys running the carnival! mmmmmm.....it starts at 5?

The YesterKnits Vintage Bolero has been my traveling project. This is about 14 pattern repeats. It's coming along. I still don't get how it goes together, but I'm hoping once it's off the needles I'll figure it out.

Did you ever have one of those weeks....

.....when nothing goes right, nothing feels right, everythings WRONG???

That's the kind of week I'm having. From Noey crying everyday when I drop her off at school, to my knitting not thrilling me. I'm bored with Clapotis, I'm bored with the diagonal scarf. I'm having trouble with the gauge on the Berocco Shrug, I don't feel like starting Klaralund. My car is in the shop, the one with air conditioning, so I'm driving the one without air conditioning and of course we're in the midst of a HEATWAVE.

Sorry to whine......I'm usually not a whiner....

So this is what I've been working on lately. The Yesterknits Vintage Bolero. I had one skein of LB Wool Ease in my stash, so I thought I would just experiment with gauge, and I finally got it right by casting on fewer stitches! I never would've thought of that if I hadn't read it on Ghetto Knits. It's actually pretty nice, except that I will need at least 3 more skeins!

A little remodeling

of the Blog, that is. Thought I tried a little something new. Little did I know how much work it would be......I don't really like the ad at the top of the page, but I can't figure out how to move it.

I got packages today! I got my Silk Garden from Jimmy Beans Wool.....Wow! that was fast.....I just ordered last Thursday night I think. I also got my Berocco Soft Twist from YarnMarket.

No knitting today, but hopefully I can swatch tonight.