Time at the Farm

I'm not sure if you know this about me, but I grew up on about 40 acres and we had cows & horses. My Dad had chickens. I come from a line of people who know stuff about farming & gardens - both of my grandfathers were farmers. As much as I love living in the city, I really do miss fresh veggies & having some domestic animals around that aren't cats or yard bunnies. (although this guy was in my yard this morning & he wasn't scared of me at all).

Bonus points that he is really cute & my cats were in the yard & never even noticed him. Apparently they are also city animals.

I honestly can't remember when I first met Cindy, but she was perhaps one of the sweetest people I have ever met. She lives out 30 minutes or so from me & she has a fiber farm in Parker, TX. My favorite Christmas present from Patrick this past year was a share in Cindy's farm, Jacob's Reward Farm. Here is a little info about the CSA program. Since December I have been wanting to go out & visit Cindy & the animals & meet the new sheep & alpacas that I hadn't seen yet. Cindy has a spin in type day once a month. People pile in her little red barn & spin, or for non-spinners like myself, knit. We went a few weekends ago - her recap is way better than mine. And I made the video AND blog photos.

Did I mention that I got a new camera? And I've been playing with all of the settings? How does that tie in to the farm talk? Because I took some pictures & had my camera set to "night" because I was busy taking pictures at the Grease Sing-A-Long a few weeks ago. The first 3/4 of my pictures at the farm look like they were taken in a dream state. Interesting though. I never claimed to be a great photographer!

The Little Red Barn (in dream state)


Alpacas! (in dream state)


Chicken (in a dream state)


Gizmo! (in a dream state)


Patrick & Kenny trying to pet Gizmo (in a dream state)


Jethro (who we named, poor Cindy) & other Jacob Sheep


Alpacas! And I finally figured out that I was on the wrong setting. See, it was a really gorgeous (and hot) day.


Gizmo - after petting. I think he is saying "back off right now, seriously"


The other sheep


I want to go back right now & often! It's a really fun place to visit.

Putting my great knitting skills to use

You know, I don't like to brag. No, really, I don't. But I'm a damn good knitter. I don't ever back down from a challenging project. I never look at a pattern & shy away because I think I can't do that. I have taken more classes than I can count. I have a ridiculously good knitting teacher that I know that I can go to when I get stuck & pay for a very reasonably priced private lesson. {Shameless plug for Alissa Barton aka Knitting Fairy who just opened a yarn shop/studio in Arlington, TX - go visit her}. So what I am I knitting with the years of knowledge & practice that I've accumulated over the past 5 years?



Yep-garter stitch washcloths. Not even a washcloth with any type of pattern. Just cast on 42 & knit knit knit. Turn & knit knit knit. I cast on the first one because my knit group was going to see Sex & the City 2 & I didn't have any idiot knitting that I could work on in the dark. So I finished the first one. Then the next night was Patrick's birthday & he wanted to go see The A Team - cast on for #2. I couldn't stop knitting them. I have a big pile of kitchen cotton in my stash because goodness knows I can't pass up yarn on sale & it goes on sale often. I think I parred it down to about 15 skeins of my favorite colors. When one was finished, I'd grab another & get to knitting. I think my last count of finished cloths was 10? I left a pile with my Mom. She will use hers for dishes; mine are for straight up washcloths.

The sad true confession? I've had to text & call friends to talk me down from hitting Walmart to buy MORE kitchen cotton. We are going to ignore the fact that I still have plenty in my stash. But those 3 balls that I secretly bought made me feel much better. (What do you want from me? I didn't have THOSE colors!)

I have no idea why I can't seem to do anything remotely complicated right now. I have two baby sweaters I need to be working on. I need to make a little critter for a swap by the end of July. I have 10ish active WIP & countless items in my queue that I want to make, but can't seem to start. I tried to cast on for a sweater & can't seem to cast on 110 stitches. No, seriously, I've had to rip out my cast on 3 times because apparently I have forgotten how to count.

I'm slowly pulling myself away from this new addiction & am working on my other mindless project - the nameless shawl. While not AS easy & mindless, it is really pretty & interesting because I keep getting to change colors. Please support me as I go through withdrawals of washcloth knitting. It will be a challenge, but I don't know anyone else that needs 17 washcloths.

Destin, FL - How Do I Love Thee?

I have been totally absent from blogging because well, I've been on vacation! And getting ready to go on vacation, which I totally needed a vacation from.

Destin is perhaps one of my favorite places on earth. When I lived in Louisiana it was a really easy car drive to get to the Florida panhandle. I went there...a lot - only as an adult since my childhood beach was more of the Grand Isle variety (which I'm going to show you soon - it's hilarious). What I discovered & really enjoyed this trip was that I feel really at home there. I know where things are, I'm familiar with the restaurants, the people are incredibly nice, the food is to die for good, plus I was on vacation so it's kind of always a party. But seriously, it felt like you do when you go home. Just relaxed & comfortable & happy. See?

Patrick & I at The Back Porch. It's a tradition & we have to go every single time we are in town. We hit it on the way in because Patrick's Dad claims he doesn't like it & wants to get it over with. I sure did see him enjoying his crab fingers & grouper sandwich though - just sayin. And you have to sit on the actual back porch because here is the view from our table

And do have a Bloody Mary, because they make a really good one. And smoked tuna dip. It relaxes me & puts me straight into beach mode.

Now, I have to say it. The beach is Destin is one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever set foot on. As a matter of fact, if you google "prettiest beaches" & look for some lists, it usually ranks right up there in the top 10 in the world. Usually. About 49 weeks out of the year. We happened to be there in one of the weeks where the algae was rolling in & it was.....soupy. The water was just soupy - there is no other way to describe it. I did attempt to get in the water a few days because hey, an algae spa treatment is like $200! But it was gross & I regretted that this trip couldn't be clear beaches & pretty water, particularly considering the upcoming oil slick....but I won't get into that now - I'll save it for next time. Back to the beach - here is my chair on Friday morning before the whole dang beach filled up:

(notice the algae line on the beach? Ick)

And from my chair:


See that one layer of algae on the front - then how it gets really pretty behind it? Well, my stupid scared-of-water ass tried to get out past it. I got about to my shoulders (which is really deeper than that when you account for rolling waves), got scared & ran back to shore. Never tried it again although my friend and his almost SEVEN YEAR OLD did & they were fine. Show offs (they also did parasailing, but I wasn't shucking out the $100 they wanted for the 8-10 minutes of fun in the air. Geeze).

Now for my showing off. I got a new camera & I took...let's say a lot of pictures. Or a lot for me - about 350. Usually I take under 50 so I thought that was pretty darn good. I made my friend Liz pick out my camera because she did loads of research on cameras when she bought her new one at Christmas time. Well, she looked at it & told me it had a cool fireworks setting. Well, as luck would have it, we went to a champagne party on Friday night complete with fireworks from the balcony so I got some really good pictures. I won't bore you with all of them (there are A BUNCH), but here are a few of my favorites picked very randomly.


At one point Patrick asked me if I was ENJOYING the fireworks & I told him "of course I'm not, I'm trying to get pictures of them!" Which pretty much sums up why I usually take very few pictures on vacation. When I do that I'm always sorry later that I don't have a load of great pictures. And I admit this time was more fun because I was playing with the new camera & I enjoyed it.

The whole reason we went to Destin at all is because Patrick's Dad was being sworn in as the President of the Louisiana Bar Association. It was a fun time but it was also pretty special & we are really proud of him.

(despite the lei. Although I think that proves he is both a serious yet fun person)

Then Saturday night Patrick's stepmom threw a party for family & very close friends at perhaps my favorite place to eat down there- Bud & Alley's.

Bud & Alley's isn't really in Destin, it is down the road in Santa Rosa Island. There is an upstairs open bar that is the greatest place to watch a sunset. Did you ever see The Truman Show? That was filmed in this community & it is just a great area. We have stayed there during the winter & it was a really great place to bike ride & walk around. Not to mention they have some really great shops. But back to the party. We had a great room & this was the view:

Most restaurants in this area have smoked tuna dip. I know that doesn't sound good but I'm hear to tell you - particularly at Bud & Alley's - I could eat my weight in the stuff. They serve it with these lavosh crackers* & dude, it is the best thing ever. Patrick hates mayo & he still eats it everywhere we go.

Sorry to ramble on & on about vacation. I realize this is a knitting blog but I knit exactly 8 rows on a baby sweater while I was gone. And that included airport waiting & the plane ride there & back. Or as Patrick would say "You knit those 8 rows 3 different times" I think he's a bit of a smart ass, but he's right - I did have some start issues with it. I'll tell you all about it when it looks bigger than a strip of tape.

*Disclaimer: Liz & I had a conversation about Lavosh - her mother in law makes it fresh & it's more of a bread than a cracker. Her husband is Armenian & it's a specialty there. I'm willing to wager that what Bud & Alley's isn't quite the same thing, but it's very yummy.

And the Winner is.....

So today is it. The end of the contest & I'm both happy & sad. I'm a little sad that it's over but I'm happy because LOOK WHAT I HAVE:

That is 72 caps for kids in all sizes & colors. I got packages from all over the U.S. as well as from Israel & the Czech Republic. Wow.

But you really want to hear about prizes, don't you? Here is what I did today. Last night I wrote out all of the prizes on a sheet in the order they are listed on the blog post. Today I went through & counted all of the hats & made sure I had an entry for all of them. I did, which shocked the every loving heck out of me! As stuff came in I put your name on an excel spreadsheet so you had an official "number". Today I put the numbers 1-67 (that is total without the ones I knit) in the random number generator & asked it to give me 10 numbers & voila! Here is what I got.

Wollmeise Vroni goes to Manda (knitpsycho)
Brooks Farm Acero in the aqua/brown goes to Sherilyn (sherilyn)
Scentsy Warmer goes to Tera (teammom)
Handgefaerbt Merino Extra Fine Superwash in Lord of the Vampires goes to Dawn (knittinwolf)
Yarn Pirate in Hawt Pink goes to Catilin (rabbidtriangle)
A Verb For Keeping Warm Organic Worsted Merino goes to Chana (chana)
Brooks Farm Duet** goes to Amy (knitterofhats)
Prism Lace goes to Julie (passioknits)
Madeline Tosh Sock in Fjord goes to Karen (sharptalk)
Sundara Sock in That's How It Is goes to Janet (jani22)

**This prize was going to be Brooks Farm Primero in a pretty brown/ivory colorway. Well, the donator contacted me & said that someone on Ravelry PM'd her & needed that skein to finish a project. I told her that it would be ok to let her have it - I figured that every knitter understands running short on a project & well, that just seemed like the right thing to do. So she put this Brooks Farm Duet in it's place & this is what I'll be sending to Amy. And then she also donated prize #11, which I promptly forgot about.


I realized I had 11 prizes so I did the random number generator again for one more number & got:
Chana....again. I thought it was weird no one won twice, and now here we have it!
Helen's Lace in the color Sand Ridge


Now....if you didn't win anything, don't despair. I don't want anyone to feel like a total loser & honestly, you have NO IDEA how pumped I am to be able to donate 72 hats in honor of Adrianna. I am planning to send out a little something to everyone who participated. Be on the lookout - I am planning to put all prizes in the mail this week because I'm going on vacation next week. I will be contacting everyone via email or more likely, on Ravelry to let them know what they won & when their packages go out. As for the hats- now what? I'd really like to deliver them in person. I'm going to Louisiana some time in the next month or so, but we'll just see how it goes as to rather I hand deliver them or just send them out. I'll let you know.

I feel a little bit like Christmas is over or something. You know, after you do all the shopping & wrapping & then open up all the gifts & then suddenly it's over? Yeah, kind of like that!

Congrats to all of the winners & thank you again for participating.

It's Almost Time!

Contest deadline is quickly approaching. I'll be doing the drawing on Sunday May 30th. Get your hats in - if you are mailing any time from today on, PLEASE let me know so I can be on the lookout for them.

I also got another prize in the mail this past week. Manda (aka knitpsycho) sent me this gorgeous skein of Sundara Sock Yarn in the colorway That's How It Is. It is so beautiful & nearly impossible to photograph in a way that flatters it best.


It's going in the prize pile along with everything else, so I will update you late Sunday on the final number of hats collected & who won what. I am so excited I am having a hard time waiting.

Stay tuned!

Thanks for the Fun Mail

Do you & your spouse have mail time, or is it just us? You know, one of you goes to get the mail & comes in & says "NO BILLS!" or "All bills & nothing fun" or "This feels like yarn" (I'll let you guess which one of us says that. One of us KNOWS when it's yarn, if you know what I mean). Lately at my house it's been "hat or no hat" days. If I'm not home when Patrick gets the mail, he'll call me & say "Looks like you got hats today." It's seriously more fun than getting yarn. Well, my friend Manda sent me hats & PRIZE YARN & yarn for me, so I won't say that wasn't fun because it was. Every hat that I get lifts my spirits & renews my faith in the good of people in general. I think, "These people don't even know me & they are sending hats for my cause!" I know I have prizes and you might just win something, but that isn't how this whole thing has felt. I've gotten to chat with people I would have probably never met & hear their stories. One lady shared with me that she lost her 6 year old nephew to neuroblastoma too. I just really don't know what to say that will convey how happy these hats are making me. I know it's not about me, but I just wanted you know, it is making me happy.

A few weeks ago I started to realize that I had only made ONE hat for my very own hat drive. How horrible. Admittedly, I don't want to make a ton of hats by myself, thus the contest, but I thought I could probably contribute more than one hat. I mean, since it was my idea & all. So I pulled out this super huge skein of James Brett Marble Chunky & my Last Minute Knitted Gifts book and whipped out some cute hats.


I really like this yarn. I actually made my first sweater out of the worsted version of this yarn & then I bought this skein at Rose Path Weaving (which is a great shop, BTW, if you are ever in East Texas, Lindale specifically). These hats are really easy & I whipped these 4 out over a weekend. I hope to crank out a few more before the deadline. Or at least before I bring them/send them to New Orleans. My point being: chunky yarn + size 10 or 11 needles = lots of hats fast. So it's not too late.

Drawing is SUNDAY MAY 30, 2010. I'm not sure what time - do you care? I just know I'm heading out for vacation June 6th, so I wanted to give myself a little time to get prizes mailed out. Email me if you still need the address - time is getting short! If you mail something late, let me know so I can be sure I have it on the 30th. Email is bijouxmaster[at]gmail[dot]com.

FYI: because a few people have asked. As of today I have gotten 34 hats from others & I have made 5. I had no idea what to expect, so I think that's not too shabby!

KNIT AWAY!!!!!!!!

What the Hell?

Are you kidding me? I RAN OUT OF YARN. I know you were all worried that might happen one day, you know, it's not like I have a big pile of it at my house or something. Ahem.

I decided this year that I really do want to make more socks. I'm not a huge fan of making them these days, but they sure did come in handy when the weather went below 40ish or so degrees. Usually if I cast on some fairly plain socks & carry them around with me, I will magically knit on them & before you know it, I have socks! I cast on for a pair with this gorgeous yarn. Yarntini Good to be Girl


I knit on it a little bit but I kept getting distracted, as I usually do. I was about half way down the cuff when I brought them to Spring Fling with me. I did overpack my knitting projects for Spring Fling, but mostly while I was there I knit on these socks. I finished the first one & some wise person said "Cast on #2 right this second." I really wanted to work on something else, but I did cast on for #2 & what do you know, before I knew it I was at the heel. When I was at The Loopy Ewe, I bought this cute bag made by 3am Enchantments. (I actually bought this bag because some sweet person was seriously coveting my kitty one that Amy made me & I wanted to give it to her).



I only mention this bag because I place the blame for my epic fail on this adorable bag. I transferred by yarn ball & the one finished sock & the pattern cards I was using & my stitch markers & such over to this bag & never even looked at it. And I knit on that sock & knit on that sock. I was so close to finished that I even put off other projects to get them done. And then this happened.



Yep, I flat ran out of yarn. I was totally confuzzled. I didn't make my cuffs all that long (6 inches). The yardage on the skein seemed right for socks. I know! I know! The dyer sent me a short skein. That had to be it. I was pretty self righteous about the whole thing. The total ball should be 113 grams, which is plenty enough for a pair of socks! I got home from knit night & weighed the finished sock. Shit. 60 grams. I'm pretty good at math so I knew right away that man, I SHOULD have had enough yarn, but I didn't. It was totally me. At Spring Fling my finished sock even went around the room with people saying "Wow, that's a really squishy & thick sock" & "Do you think that is going to fit in your shoes?" & "Those might end up as house socks" (which is fine with me except I think they are too pretty to only show to myself & Patrick). I guess I should have known, but I didn't. I used a larger size 1 needle (2.5mm) & I really should have used a size 2. If I had, the fabric would have been dense enough, but not nearly as dense as it is now. I also wouldn't have used up all of my yarn.

I pouted for a few days. I have plenty of scraps from other finished projects & I figured I could just use one of those. But this base really is different than anything else that I have & I love it. I hated to put some not as squishy yarn with it. Someone suggested I just get some more - yeah, it's not all that readily available so it's not like I could just scoop some up. So I emailed Jessie at Yarntini & begged to buy a little over 8 grams of yarn from her, even if it was plain white. She said she would be happy to send me some, just send her my address. Angels do exist. That is customer service. You should go buy yarn from her. Except maybe not the Port because I've been having my eye on it. (totally kidding, please save me from myself)

Spring Fling 2010 - Part 2

See that light bulb? It's miniature bottle of liquor that I got at the Midwest Miniature Bottle Collectors convention that was taking place at the hotel at the same time as Spring Fling. Now, I would think this was a weird hobby, but I had to remind myself that I flew to St. Louis to a knitting retreat with a room full of strangers. Ahem. Glass houses, stones, and all that jazz. PS - the lady I bought it from told me not to drink it because it's very old. Thanks for the tip.

I bought that bottle because, well, that's exactly how I felt after my 2 classes on Saturday. Particularly the Sweater Fitness Workshop with Anne Hanson. I'm going to swallow my pride & post this not very flattering picture of me with Anne because, well, it's a picture of me with Anne Hanson. Those lights were none too kind to either of us.

I really really try not to be a fan girl to any of the "knitting rockstars" because well, I imagine it gets pretty old for them. And I will admit that while I think Anne's patterns are beautiful, I don't faithfully stalk her blog or know all of her patterns on sight or anything. But DAMN, this woman is a genius. After I signed up for this class & saw that we were doing measurements & such I thought "why am I taking this same damn class AGAIN????" This is the third class I've taken on how to properly measure yourself & design / make a sweater for your shape. But you know, I still am not getting it right so I thought surely I could learn something & well, one day I'd like to not be frustrated with my finished sweater. I was really excited about it & I swear I spent the whole class nodding because everything she said made so much sense. I've tried to explain to people what I learned & when I try to explain it everything that comes out of my mouth sounds so obvious that I can't believe I didn't think of it myself. Anne gave us 7-8 areas of fit that I had just never thought of before. I don't know how to explain it other than to say if you are frustrated with failed sweaters, take this class! You know how sometimes you take a class & it's totally over your head? Or you take a class & you think "yeah, I know this." Well, I think I am at the exact skill level for this class to make perfect sense. I have made enough sweaters (10ish) & have had enough fit problems that I was ready to hear all of the material that was taught. Fingers crossed that this works for me.

The other thing I decided in that class that instead of deciding to do X sweater in Z yarn, I am going to swatch the yarn until I get a fabric that I like & THEN chose the pattern. I think I try so hard to force yarn/pattern combinations that just will never work. I also decided to frog October Frost. SHUT UP!!!!!! It's just never going to fit & I need to accept it & move on.

My second class was Two Handed Knitting, Forward & Backwards with Gryphon Perkins of The Sanguine Gryphon yarn fame. Wow. That's all I can say. My favorite part of the class is when she told us that you could knit lace forward & backwards without turning your work & a student said "I could never do that." Gryphon promptly said "Actually, you are going to do it in about 15 minutes." I cracked up. She made us do stuff that I think none of us ever dreamed of doing or thought that we COULD do. It was interesting & although I doubt I'll be knitting forward & backward without turning my work on a regular basis, I think it will come in handy for certain things.

Gryphon is about the cutest person I've ever seen & she was sweet to boot. Here is a picture of her showing me a different way that I could wear my Aeolian. Yeah, I think perhaps she could pull that off, me, not so much.


Other teachers at the Spring Fling included Wendy Johnson & Jared Flood. I was really torn on which classes to take, but I have taken classes with both Wendy & Jared before. I took some socks classes with Wendy at the Knit Out in Guthrie, OK & I took Jared's Seamless Sweater Workshop at my LYS, The Woolie Ewe. All of the classes got rave reviews & it was a stellar line up.

Sigh. I'm so sad it's all over. I wanna go back again right now! I'm so inspired to knit so many things that I don't even know where to start.

Spring Fling 2010 - Part 1

Wow. I don't even really know what to say. I had the most fabulous time with a pile of people that I had never even met before that I can't even express it right! I met Beth, the first Spring Flinger at the airport in Dallas - little did I know that it would be the first of so many great women all weekend. I got there & even walking out of the airport I saw a knitter with a bag under her arm knitting a sock & I thought "this is what real life should look like." From that moment until I got home Monday, every moment was spent around other people just as obsessed about knitting & yarn as I am. Not only that, but I could go into any restaurant, store, bar, etc & there were MORE knitters - people that didn't mind if I just plopped down at their table & joined them. I think that was my favorite part - that everyone welcomed just one more person to join the circle & hang out. How refreshing.

But really you just wanted to hear about the stuff, don't you?

Here is the goodie bag:

It rocked. And included a skein of Wollmeise Femme Fatale colorway that Claudia dyed just for this package. I was so sad that the ash from the volcano kept her from coming from Germany. I sooooo wanted to meet her & the other ladies that couldn't make it.

Thursday night the fabulous plazajen organized a newbie dinner because her first year she ate alone & it made her sad to think that someone else would have that experience. There were 63 of us and I must admit, my first thought was "clusterfuck". I mean, no way that would go well, but I have to say, they handled it with ease. I heard some people say that the service was slow as we expected, & I thought, Really? I didn't notice at all. I was talking to the most fascinating woman. I loved hearing about her life in a rural area of New York. She had so many questions about life in Texas & the South in general - and you know I love telling stories. I think we were both surprised about what life is like in areas were we have never visited. Then we went to the dessert reception. I found my swap partner Suzanne & she was AWESOME. I swear we have the exact same taste in yarn & I was relieved to know we wouldn't be going on the same shopping trip to Loopy Central. Cause I wouldn't want to have to take her out, seriously. This is what she got me:

Holy crap it was awesome! I want to do another swap with her pronto.

During the dessert reception I had a moment of clarity. I asked "what do we do now?" Everyone looked at me a little crazy & said "YOU JUST KNIT". Oh. I see. We just knit. It was the best thing I ever heard. I have been to quite a few big knitting events. Some smaller & closer to home, some larger & far away, but never has it been WE JUST SIT & KNIT. It was refreshing & I was really relieved. So I just sit & knit. And talked. And knit & talked.

If I had to participate in the Groundhog day phenomenon & live one day over & over & over, Friday would have been a really good day for that. Friday morning I was part of the first group to go to Loopy Central. HOLY CRAP. I have been to a crazy number of yarn shops. I have a really big & fabulous LYS called The Woolie Ewe. Often when we travel & I come back from a shop I'll look at Patrick and shrug - I mean, I'm pretty spoiled & it takes a lot to impress me. Color me impressed.

THIS IS ALL DREAM IN COLOR STARRY!


My new friends Elizabeth & Kim in front of the Cascade wall

More yarn (I hated my pictures in front of the loopy wall - I wish I had spent more time getting them right!)


More yarn!


AND MORE FREAKING YARN!


I got this:


I actually think I displayed some huge self restraint. I also didn't have much time to save for the shopping part & I kept trying to tell myself that I can order whatever I want later. Sigh. I could have filled my house with yarn from this place.

Friday afternoon I had down time to JUST SIT & KNIT. And meet new people. I was quite the table jumper - I wanted to meet absolutely everyone though I admit on Sunday morning at breakfast I looked around & found more people I hadn't talked to & even more that I hadn't even seen! Insane.

Friday my Loopy really started acting up. Apparently Sheri has said that some Loopy's are very well behaved but some are naughty. One lady told a story about how she got one & on the way to her house he ate all of her hersheys kisses! When her package got there there were only empty wrappers & her daughter thought that was pretty mean. I laughed about that so much! Well, mine is naughty too. It may have something to do with the fact that I think I'm the only grown woman to carry around a stuffed sheep all weekend, but my Loopy got into an awful lot of trouble & there is photographic evidence to prove it. My new friends said it could be because I let him share in the flask & that makes me a pretty bad Loopy mamma, but whatever.



Loopy's yarn barf

Loopy needed some rest too


You can see more of Loopy behaving badly at the following blogs:
Carolina
Kimberly
He's quite the character but he must be worn out because I haven't had much trouble out of him since we got home. Maybe he's scared of the cats.

I will come back & talk about the classes. So much to say!!!!

New contest prize

While I sort out the 784 things going through my head about this weekend I just wanted to give you a quick look at a new prize I added for the contest. Madeline Tosh - Tosh Sock in Fjord. Yum



I have to be perfectly honest. I was feeling kind of bad because I had intentions of buying some Tosh Sock as a prize at DFW Fiber Fest. I was tired & well, I guess selfish because I made 2 trips to the Madeline Tosh booth. I bought some for me. Some quite honestly I'm not sharing with ya'll! So I put that on my list for Loopy central because they have a big pile of it. AND I FORGOT AGAIN! In my defense, I was staying far far away from that area because I had bought my fair share & didn't want to be tempted. I asked Jen (one of the sweetest ladies I've ever met!) to bring me something pretty. Boy did she deliver. It's gorgeous & squishy .......I can't figure out why I didn't buy any for MMMMEEEEEEEE. I almost kept it. Man, that would have been wrong & I wouldn't have been able to sleep at night. Of course, that would give me more time to knit it up, wouldn't it???

Just a reminder - May 30th deadline, we are approaching the one month point. Get to knitting if you've been putting it off. What I have gotten already is highly appreciated & all so stinking cute!

Off to the Land of Loopy

In case you are unaware, there is this ridiculously good online shop called The Loopy Ewe. Sheri Berger, the owner, has done a great job of picking out the top tier yarn in the industry & stocking her shop full of it. She has a great reputation for working with & supporting indie dyers, along with carrying some great commercial lines. If my local LYS doesn't carry a yarn, The Loopy Ewe is where I go to shop. I know I am not alone in feeling like this is my LYS away from home.

Several years ago Sheri put together the first Spring Fling, a retreat where customers could gather to meet, knit, take classes from first rate instructors, and shop at the brick & mortar version of our favorite online store. It is a wildly popular retreat & it has grown even more popular over the past few years. So much so that entry into the fling is decided by lottery. This past December I threw my name into the hat rather thoughtlessly thinking it would be cool to get in, but not counting on it in any way. I got notice a few weeks later that unfortunately I didn't get in & to be honest, I put it out of my mind & never gave it another thought. Until......

...the second week of March I got an email from Sheri saying that I had been on the 2nd wait list & enough people had dropped out that if I wanted to go that I was in. YIKES! I was leaving for Disney in less than a month & really, the last thing I needed to be doing was is running off to St. Louis for a knitting retreat. Without knowing a soul. But.....

Teachers include Anne Hanson, Gryphon Perkins, Wendy Johnson, and Jared Flood. I mean, seriously??? First let me say that I am a total fan girl & I'm a firm believer in taking classes from people you admire. And that know more than you. Which is like a way lot of people. Then I looked at who else would be attending, and that list looked pretty fun as well. Honestly, though, you really had me at Anne Hanson.

I tossed it around in my head & made a half hearted mention to Patrick. He said what he always says, "GO." God I love that man. Easy for him to say because I handle our finances & had to pull the money out of my ass. So I did, or rather from Uncle Sam. Patrick had enough miles to get me a free ticket. Oh my hell, the stars kind of lined up for me to go. So I am going. Tomorrow.

I have 2 great classes:
Sweater Fitness Workshop with Anne Hanson (can you see my happy dance?)
Two-handed Knitting, Backwards and Forwards with Gryphon Perkins

Wow. and wow. I am so excited I could just scream. Wish me luck with keeping my sanity when I take my trip to Loopy Central. Because that's where the real damage is!

They are SO hilarious.

So I told you that I'd have stories from Disney World & figured they would be knitting related in some way. I have to tell you, from the time I left the airport until I got back home I didn't even touch a knitting needle. Well, I did, but only to show my nieces my socks that I am knitting. So no poking Goofy. It would have been funny though!

I could tell 100 funny stories, seriously, because my sister's kids are the bomb. I won't bore you to death, but I thought maybe I'd do quotable quotes bullet point style by child. Ready? ok. Here are the kids so you can see how stinking cute they are. Jordyn is 11 years old & has on the silver sparkly ears (don't know where she gets that from!) & Laken is 8 years old & is in the pink fuzzy ears with the tiara. The ears are very fitting. Just sayin.




Jordyn:
* When I saw her at the airport "The plane ride wasn't nearly as bad as last time. It was so good that I think I might go on the plane back too."
* After riding the Star Wars ride "Where was the fun? I missed it?"
* "Aunt Tasha, if somebody else give you a baby, can I hold it?" A little background - this was hours after the ride on the bus one morning - I offered my seat to a family & the mom said they were fine but jokingly asked if I wanted to hold the baby. I said SURE! So I did. Imagine the looks on Jordyn's face when she looked up & said "Aunt Tasha, where did you get that baby?"
* We talked a lot about the fireworks show at Epcot & how much that must cost every night. On Friday we were riding past parking lots & saying how much it cost to park if you drive. Without missing a beat Jordyn said "I bet that's where they get all of the money for the fireworks." And she doesn't even have an MBA from Harvard.

Laken:
* "I don't understand why they call it a runway. There isn't anybody running on it."
* "Everybody is happy in Disney."
* Declared both It's a Bugs Life & Honey I Shrunk the Audience as "absolutely horrible" - she hates the 3D shows, but there is something hilarious about an 8 year old saying stuff is "absolutely horrible." She has vowed never to enter another show that involves "those glasses"
* After riding Rockin Roller Coaster - "I didn't like it at all, I LOVED IT!"
* "I'm trying to get over my fears so I have to go on it." About riding a scary ride- I can't remember which one right now.

Notable quotes from the rest of us:
Stacey - "I'm in the happiest place on earth, I'm not going to be in pain!"
Mom - (upon me coming out of the shop in my leopard print ears) "She's going to grow up one day."
Me - (upon wearing said leopard ears for about 15 minutes) - "I think these might be sized for small children." (hates to admit Mom might be right AGAIN)
My favorite Disney themed tshirt worn by some random Dad at Magic Kingdom - "I'm Grumpy because you're Dopey"

Maybe my favorite story is that on the last night we went to the Fantasmic! show (which, btw, is maybe my favorite part of the trip & you must must go if you've never seen it). At the end of the show a boat comes out & it has every character you can imagine on it. Seriously, like everybody. So when we were walking out, Laken proclaimed that she was very worried about Daisy because there had been a lack of Daisy all week, AND she wasn't on the boat (I did not notice, but my sister said she looked for her too because she was sitting by Laken & never saw her either). Laken is terribly concerned that maybe they have fired Daisy. My sister said maybe she was at home with Huey, Dewey, & Louie. Laken said that maybe DONALD should be home with them & DAISY should be at Disney World. She wanted to ask somebody, but we assured her that the guy selling light up ears from a cart probably didn't know anything about Daisy's fate. So she said she is going to write a letter. And she asked if she could sign my name to it too. I said sure, knock yourself out. It's just the funniest thing I've ever heard. She's really for real concerned about it too! And in all fairness, we didn't see much of Daisy.

Let me leave you with perhaps my favorite picture of Cinderella's castle EVER. My sister took this when we hit the park on Friday at 7am - the weather was that ugly. Cool picture though.


And me with Chip n Dale


WHHHHAAAAAA! I want to be back there right now!

The Happiest Place on Earth

Hi, you have reached Tasha. I'm not here right now, I'm in Disney World with my Mom, sister & nieces. We are surely having a ball & don't really want to talk to you right now. Tune in next week when I hope to regale you with stories like "I poked Goofy with a knitting needle & lived to tell about it" & "no, I'm not a mouse, why do you ask?" Or not. Either way, I'm sure I'll have a little something to say about it.

I should be writing about how I finished that sweater....

but I'm not. Well, I technically did finish Vesper that I talked about a few weeks ago. Notice that "technically" that I threw in there? Because the knitting really is done - I just have to weave in ends from 14 balls of yarn. In linen. In the round, so not in some inconspicuous side seams. Sigh. It's cute though, and I might actually wear it one day. I think I'm going to bring it to my knit group tonight so my friends can beat me down until I do the finishing on it.

But what I am going to talk about is the contest. I'm terribly excited when people ask me about it or tell me they have stuff to send me. It's amazing how small the internet makes the world & how supportive people from all corners of the world are.

Look at what is coming my way:

Sherilyn whipped this hat out (and if you visit her blog you will see the cutest little girl ever!)


Deedee from California (knitnurd on Ravelry) asked about where to send hat so I went poking around in her projects & found this hat that she made for the contest:

I love this hat & actually have this book - I hadn't even thought about it. I might have to make one because it looks like such fun!

So contest details here, still plenty of time - I won't be doing the prize drawing until May 30. Thank you everyone for your support - it really means a lot to me!

Does This Pattern Really Exist?

In a time that we can find anything we ever wanted to see (& lots of things that we never wanted to see on the internet), I find myself in uncharted territory. I'm knitting something that doesn't exist. There are no pictures on the pattern. There are no pictures on the internet. There is no mention of this pattern on Ravelry. There is no "designer" listed on the pattern, no copyright notes. So does it even really exist?

Well, I know for a fact that it does because I saw it in the wild. I bought this kit when I went to Stitches East in October last year. I was in the Ruhama's / Isager Knit booth & I saw a woman walking around wearing The.Prettiest.Shawl. I asked her about it & she said "I just bought the last kit" really snotty like. I was kind of sad but figured it was fate that I didn't get the last kit & moved on. Kinda. I kept thinking about it. It was just SO pretty. It would go with EVERYTHING. It was simple and classic. I thought about it for days. I finally went & asked one of people manning the booth about it & they would be happy to ship me a kit as soon as they got home. HOORAY!



When I got the kit the next week I was so excited to see the pattern & remember what it looked like but...yeah, no picture, but I was ok with that. It did have a name, Sangre de Cristo Shawl. Last Tuesday night at about 11:30pm I had a burning desire to cast on for this shawl. (Don't ask me why I do this to myself but I have to tell you, every single time that happens I am so happy that I have a huge stash of yarn, swift/ball winder, & tons of needles at my house.) I started this shawl & now...I'm totally addicted. Wednesday I drug it with me to two knitting meet ups (yes, Wednesday is a really rough day for me, why do you ask?) and I had people asking me loads of questions about it.

* What are you making? Where is the picture? What do you mean you don't have a picture?
* But where can I find it online?
* Did you look for it on Ravelry (because seriously, every pattern known to knitters everywhere is on Ravelry, right? Apparently not.)
* But what is it going to look like?
* If it's a shawl shouldn't you be doing some increases or something?

It's like knitting a mystery shawl that isn't a mystery to me! It's a mystery to everybody else. It's a fun experience & I honestly can't believe how spoiled we have gotten to just pull up pictures on the internet or phone or put pictures on a blog. I have to assume that pre-internet there wasn't immediate information about every knitting pattern known to man. It's a new experience for me & for everyone I am knitting around. So here's a peek at what it looks like.



Now it's my personal mission to get this thing finished so it will exist in the world. And then everyone will know how beautiful & will have no doubt as to why I fell in love with it the minute I saw it.