I have two entries right now! C'mon peeps where you at?? I would love to see some more ideas, so I'm going to extend the contest to next Sat, 1/31. Here are the pattern ideas I have so far...



1st--http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/baby-its-cowled-outside
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/mermaid-scarf
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/crofters-cowl

2nd--http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/stacked-eyelet-cowl

The cowls are in right now. Thanks ladies, they are all beautiful patterns, this is going to be hard!

Contest!!

Because I have so many readers who are just for a set of my stitch markers... but more importantly because I got my Twisted order today and I have no idea what to do with my Shiny and I don't want to do another pair of socks. Look how pretty! So here is the contest: Find me the perfect non-sock pattern for 400 yards of Shiny in Lagoon and if I pick your pattern, I will throw your fave set of stitch markers from the Etsy shop your way! Leave a link to the pattern in a comment and on Saturday (1/24) assuming I have more than three comments (haha). I will pick my favorite and let you guys know the winner.

Here's the fine print:
Please leave me a way to find you, i.e. ravelry name, email, etc. (Comments will be set so that the public can't see them). I be sure to put a post up with all the links on Saturday I get too so that if you happen upon a skein of Shiny in Lagoon and you are wondering what to make you will have some ideas.

Okay here's what else is up. The BFL from Crazy Monkey is slowly going but here is my progress...

The shop has been updated with a new handspun and some markers, I also plan on adding a couple of hand dyed sock yarns in the next couple of days, stop by and check it out!

I have to brag. I *finally* scored some Twisted and not only did my stalking pay off, but I also got to it before the update was even posted in the Ravelry group. I splurged and got some Shiny in the Lagoon colorway and some Lively roving in Warlock. I will be waiting by the door for it too show up and in the mean time I will have to find the perfect project for the Shiny.

I have been working on some secret projects and spinning up some BFL roving that I got for Christmas, lace weight for a shawl.

It's going to take a while to spin up, but should be gorgeous when done.

That is all I have for pretties for today. I'm working on a few patterns, one for socks and one for a cowl. Might even have those up in the next few weeks!

Back in the saddle, or whatever...

Yep after almost three long months of nothing, I promise I am back for good. Well at least every couple weeks until I am so busy trying to write my thesis that I give up again.

What have I been up to...Well I had a baby!!

Isn't she cute? I'm so crafty I make people.

I dyed this

And I spun this.

I added some of my mom's handspun on etsy, an when I get a moment, I have one more to put up...

I'm going to build a light box one of these days so I can get some true to life colors...this is a little more red than the pic shows, but soft squishy and yummy.

Well it is ridiculously early and I think that monkey #2 is finally ready to call it a night, good thing tomorrow is Saturday and I can sleep in a little!

quick pics

From top to bottom--

• Merino sport weight in Briney

• Merino 4 oz roving in Zen graduals--the colors change from one end of the roving to the other. I am planning on spinning this up as a lace weight and making a triangular shawl to show this off. I am more than happy to do this as a custom dye job!

• Merino 4 oz roving in Briney, for my mom

• 2 skeins merino silk fingering weight and 3 skeins merino silk lace weight for my mom in Zen.

New yarn up on Ravelry and Etsy check it out! Got to run to class!

Got a few minutes...

It's been so long since I have posted that blogger forgot who I was and made me sign in...

Well life has been crazy busy since the semester started. I have been busy being lab mommy, trying to keep track of 4 undergrads and a dare I say one incompetent grad student. Only one more semester...

I have had a little bit of time to knit in the evenings though and have come up with a few new things. Kody's socks are coming along painfully slow. I really can't stand the colorway and have zero ambition to finish them other than I love my Kody and he needs some warm wool socks for hunting by November. I have put way Joe's sweater for a while, not that he will need it this year. I started on a sweater I won't be able to wear til next year of my own design and I must say I think it will turn out awesome.

I took a little time for myself this weekend and dyed up some yarn and a couple rovings. I did some for my mom by request, overdyed some alpaca for my aforementioned sweater for me, a skein of merino as a gift and a couple of 4 oz rovings, one to spin and sell and the other for my mom.

I have a couple of new handspuns, one that is on etsy right now and the other will go up by the end of the week.

This is a beaded version of the merino/cashmere blend that is already on etsy. I call it "Spring Chicken beaded"!! I loaded way too many beads and it was a pain to ply, but I muscled through it finally.

Here is a preview of another hand spun that will go up later on etsy later this week.

Unfortunately I don't have a very good place to take pics, and the pics of this yarn don't do it justice. Not a very big skein, only 120 yards, but this is one of my favorites yet for a seemingly ordinary yarn. The roving is blended with navy, burgundy and blue and was sitting in the box next to some red angelina which it picked up a little of. The yarn has little bits of sparkle here and there throughout the skein. It is incredibly soft too. It was spun worsted, but loosely so it has a lot of bloom.

Well I'm off to hobble upstairs and visit my poor neglected bacteria!

I WANT TO KNIT!!

I'm supposed to be working. I'm not sure what on, but it's a good thing that my major prof doesn't know about my blog... I'm daydreaming about the perfect baby knits browsing patterns and wishing I could go on a yarn shopping spree. If I had $500... hehe. I have a couple of projects in mind, a pattern that I want to write and at this moment I wish I was a stay at home mom again who got to clean house for a couple hours, play with the munchkin and knit for the rest of the day. Ah that was the life of laziness!

I have been working on a pattern though, for my honey's first sweater. I am really unexicted about the yarn, even more about the color which I think I will overdye either blue or black, but the pattern (the whole 6 inches I have worked) seems to be going okay. This may be a little over abitious and I'm sure that I am the only one on earth who would want to do this, but the idea is to write a pattern that has set in sleeve shaping, that is completely seemless. Unless some OCD knitter such as myself has already done this and I am not aware. Of course I will offer a seamed version of this when I get finished.

Another of my less inspire projects, Kody's socks are trudging along too. I was so proud when I reached 3.5 inches!! Then I realized that although I thought I knew my guage, I had chosen size 0 needles instead of size 1. So now I have to rip out that 3.5 inches of hell and start over!! Yay!

In reality I'm just trying to waste another 5 minutes before I have to go to class.