I shouldn't.....

.....post this because I'm supposed to be packing, but I saw this today on Kim's blog and thought it was pretty cute.

I am....creative (when I want to be)
I want....a lot of things, but mostly to always be happy.
I wish....my husband and I could travel around the world without having to worry about money.
I hate....cleaning, especially doing dishes, yet I can't stand a mess.
I miss....the carefree life I led in college, yet by that same token I cherish the life I have now.
I fear....heights.
I hear....music, all the time.
I wonder....if I will get pregnant when Doug and I decide it's time, or if it will happen on it's own.
I regret....not finishing school.
I am not...responsible with money.
I dance....in my apartment when I'm cleaning (hey, something has to make it more enjoyable).
I sing.....constantly, sometimes I'm not even aware I'm doing it..
I cry....at sad movies, sad books, and strangely touching country songs always get me choked up.
I am not always....on time.
I make with my hands....knitted items, beaded jewelry, happy puppies (petting and feeding and such).
I write....on this blog, but that's about it. I used to write short stories and occasionally poetry, but not in a very long time.
I confuse....others easily, because I frequently interrupt myself when talking.
I need....more yarn. (Do I really need to justify this?)
I should....stop browsing the blogs now and continue packing.
I start...new projects, all the time.
I finish....hardly anything.
I tag....anyone who is inspired by this.

Remember, keep those comments coming for the contest. The name doesn't necessarily have to represent all my crafts. Knitting is pretty much the only one I'm obsessed with, so it can be focused on that if you want.

Whee! A contest!

I have some very exciting news to share! I haven't blogged about this yet because I was afraid to jinx it and get bad mojo and stuff. Doug and I are buying our very first home! We just signed the closing papers and got the keys this morning! Here is a picture: I can't tell you how excited we are. We have been renting for 3 1/2 years and had to deal with landlords, cream-colored carpets, parking lots, and beige everything. Finally we get to personalize our own house and make it a home. Which brings me to the next exciting thing....I get my very own room for my crafts! This room will containg nothing except my knitting, scrapbooking, sewing, and beading. I will probably spend a large portion of time in this room so it will also contain a daybed for when a knit myself to sleep. While I knitsleep in this room, my husband will be oh-so-lonely with nothing to do out in his new playroom: We have both been acting like 6-yr-olds with exciting plans for our new space. I've already got paint samples and am coming up with a color scheme, he's been deciding where to put his tool box and which car gets which space. So, this is where the contest comes in. I need a name for my new craft room. I love little tongue-in-cheek witty kind of names, but I'm no good at coming up with them. So, leave your comment and suggest a name and you could win a skein of Karen-dyed sock yarn. In fact, we are in the process of moving so this yarn will be the first yarn dyed in the new house! I will pick my favorite name suggestion, and that person can tell me their favorite colors for a custom-created color. I'll take suggestions until Saturday evening, so leave your comment!

Speaking of dyeing, I have joined Scout's Dye-o-Rama. Sign-ups have already ended (sorry) and it's a secret swap, so I can't post any pics but I'm really getting into this dyeing yarn thing. Very fun. Has anyone out there tried acid dyes? I'm hesitant to try it since Kool-aid is safe to use in my cooking pots and stuff.

Whew! I'm pooped from all the packing and moving. Next post I'll have some updates about knitting, I promise.

Ribbit (or why you should ALWAYS check your guage)

This is a sock. I have to clarify that because had I not told you it was a sock, you might believe it was a sleeping bag for small children, just sock-shaped. I got a little bored this week with my hubby's sock and decided that I needed sunny socks since it's been so rainy and yucky lately. I also was excited to try toe-up socks and had found a fantastic worsted-weight toe-up pattern for beginners. So I pulled out some beautiful ArtYarns merino superwash in a sunny (Project Spectrum-friendly) color and cast on. I love making socks with worsted weight yarn-so fast and instant gratification. Unfortunately, I failed to guage before I made the sock. I know what you're thinking, I deserved it. You are probably right, the knitting gods are against me for not checking me guage. Anyhoo, as I turned the heel I thought they looked a little big but I could give them to my mom for mother's day since her feet are bigger than mine. As I started up the leg I thought they might not fit my mom, and maybe they'd work for a friend. As I started the ribbing at the top of the sock I thought that maybe Doug would wear some pretty yellow socks. Finally I took the sock of the needles and put it on Doug's foot. Yep, perfect fit. Call me selfish, but I don't think this yarn is destined to be Doug socks. It's not a color he would ever wear and besides that this yarn is calling to me-but I can't stand the thought of ripping work out, so I started thinking about experimenting with Kool-aid to come up with a similar colorway. But then I thought even if I manage to match the yarn I will NEVER be motivated to do a second giant sock that he will never wear. So I was all determined to rip it out and start over. Today when I got home from work, what did I find waiting for me? My sock yarn pal sent me sock yarn in almost the exact same colors as this yarn that is calling to me! I love these colors! I can't tell you how excited I am, no Kool-aid experimenting needed, I have the answer. Only one question remains-what do I do with this sock? Should I rip it out and save it for another pair? Should I trudge through another sock and Doug and I could be sock twinsies? (Note: when I say trudge please understand that this one sock only actually took 2 days of dedicated knitting, so trudge isn't exactly accurate) I don't know what to do!

In the meantime, I cast on for something different. My friend Shining (whose wedding I'm in next weekend) just announced that she will be having a girl! I'm very excited because lately everyone I know who's been expecting has been having boys. Pink yarn! Woo-hoo! I don't have a picture and I'm not sure if I should post one because I'm not sure if she reads this blog, but I don't think so. Shining, if you're out there-show yourself! I'm knitting a blanket of sorts, but until I'm sure it's safe, I'm hestiant to reveal more. After my snafu with guage on the sock I decided I'd do a swatch for the blanket. It also involves a pattern I've never done before and I wanted to practice. I think I might use different yarn than what I have. I was trying to stash-bust but what I have just didn't do the pattern justice. No matter, Beth and I are going to knit this weekend and I'm sure it wouldn't take too much convincing to get her to a yarn store. ;-)

By the way, I wanted to thank you all for your wonderful comments last post. I never know if anyone actually reads this thing (other than the people that I force to read it-tee hee!) and I heard from some of you that I haven't before. Part of the reason I started this blog was to find a community of knitters and yarnaholics that I could relate to-and it's amazing what a strong community knitty blogland is. I just think it's so neat that there are people out there all over the world making the same things and communicating about them and sharing. Ok, that was such an "it's a small world afterall" moment. I've been seeing a lot of contests on the blogs lately (none that I've won yet-pout pout) but I'm pondering having a contest of my very own, with a skein of my hand-dyed as the prize (but not the Seafoam-I've decided that's for me). Speaking of my own hand-dyed yarn, I think that my pal received my April yarn, so here's a pic:
The orange looks pretty red in this picture, but it's acutally a bright candy-colored orange. Just another example of my incredible dyeing skills (just kiddding). I have really gotten into this dyeing thing. I'd love to have some sorte of contest, but I have to cook up the theme of the contest though, so stay tuned.

Aaaaaaaaaaah....

.....(as in a sigh of relief, not a scream). I finally got my computer back. It caught a little bit of a virus last week and had to be sent to rehab (aka Circuit City). I managed to sneak a little computer time to check all the blogs I read so I didn't go completely mad, but I drove my husband crazy with the constant whining about the computer not being there. I automatically walked into the computer room at home each day after work, only to see a painfully empty desk. When the comptuer finally came home on Saturday he called me at work to tell me he'd brought home the crack and he was sorry my pipe had been empty for so long. Yep, definitely addicted. I'm beginning to think I might be more addicted to knitting blogs than knitting itself. I'm going to try to cut back a little. Just a little. Maybe just a smidge. I learned something last week though. No computer=more progress on knitting stuff, cleaner house, more time spent with hubby. Hmm....food for thought.
Anyhoo, here's some of the stuff I accomplished this week. (Don't get too excited, no finished objects or anything.) In the pictures you saw of the DC Knit-out you may have noticed I was working on something I have not blogged about. It wasn't meant to be a secret or anything, I just hadn't mentioned it b/c I didn't have a picture of it. Now I have one: This is the tank and cardigan set from the latest Family Circle Easy Knitting. (In the magazine it was blue.) This is the first thing I've knit using stash yarn! Granted, this yarn had only been in my stash for about a month, but it was not purchased just for this set. I'll have to order more for the cardigan, but that's down the line. It's the Knitpicks' Shine Worsted yarn in salmon. (Project Spectrum-friendly).
While in DC I cast on for some hubby socks because I was bored with the tank top thingy. These are just going to be very basic 2x2 ribbing socks in Trekking XXL self striping yarn. I'm just using a pattern created from this book I have where you enter your guage and size you want the FO to be and it spits back a pattern at you. (Well, technically it's a book and it doesn't spit anything, but you get the point.....) On Wednesday I convinced my husband that Kool-aid dyeing is tons of fun and we created a mess together:
which turned into this: Each pot is a mixture of blue raspberry, lemonade, and lemon-lime Kool-aids. We had a lot of fun getting each one to be just right. If this knits up right it should gently transition from a brightish green to aqua then to blue and back. If I were to name this color it would be Seafoam. It reminds me of the way the ocean looked in Jamaica. I've been dreaming about Jamaica a lot lately, could be this rainy weather. This yarn is conveniently the colors for next month's Project Spectrum Sock Yarn Swap, but I can't decide if I want to part with it. It's so pretty!

Last, but not least, at work we have a volunteer committe of which I am co-captain. (Don't ask me how I got that position, it's still sort of a mystery to me.) Our first volunteer activity was to buy yarn. That's the kind of volunteering I can get into! Actually the yarn was to make chemo caps and preemie caps for local hospitals. We bought tons of cheap-o yarn and a few circular knitting looms at the local craft store to crank out the caps. We'll be meeting once a week to work on the caps and the project will keep going until we run out of yarn. So I decided since I've now officially formed a Target knitting club that we needed a banner of sorts, so I designed this: I'm going to make a small-ish wall hanging with red and white checkerboard, and the white checkerboards will feature the Target logo. Let me tell you, I used to think designing intarsia grids were a piece of cake and I was proved wrong. How hard could a few concentric circles be to graph? The answer? Pretty freaking time-consuming, but not that difficult. It took me about an hour to lay down the graph and then another 15 minute writing out the pattern. The knit itself is pretty quick, and I hope to have square #1 finsihed soon. In the meantime, does anyone have any recommendations for EASY hat patterns for very very novice knitters? I'm hoping to encourage my fledgling knitters to venture beyond the evil loom and try some needles, but I've not been able to find any hats that didn't involve DPN's and I don't want anyone to run the other way in fear. Preferrably a pattern that works only decreases because I think the concept of k2tog is much easier than increasing.

Hope all of you had a wonderful Easter and got lots of knitting time in!

Weekend Recap

Hello everybody! I bet you thought I'd disappeared into the horrendously unorganized pile of yarn that I displayed last time! I actually went out and got some plastic storage boxes on Friday night and divided up all my yarn (acrylic and non-acrylic) to organize. I came up with two 56-qt tubs of acrylic, a huge basket with my WIP's and all of my eyelash yarn (like Fun Fur and cheap-o Target yarn), and one measly little halfway filled 56-qt tub with all the "good" stuff (like anything non-acrylic or the expensive stuff from actual yarn stores). Sorry no pictures of the organized yarn, I was too excited about getting it under control. I have a question for all you former acrylic knitters out there....what did you do with your acrylic once you saw the light? I was a yarnaholic way before I was a yarn snob and unfortunately that resulted in me buying a lot of crappy yarn that I will probably never use. (I'm talking Red Heart Super Saver here people.) Beth was trying to convince me to part with it because I will feel refreshed, but I can't seem to let go...I mean, yarn is yarn, right? Any suggestions on what I should do with it? Or is there some wonderful knitter out there who is allergic to all natural fibers and only wants to knit with acrylic that wants to swap out some "good" stuff for my cast-offs? Tee-hee!

I did manage to score some new yarn this weekend. Beth and I had another one of our weekend yarn trips, but this one was multi-purposed. We drove up to DC on Saturday evening and caught Knit Happens in Alexandria just before closing time. I purchased some Koigu (finally!) in a lovely muted greens and blues colorway and a cute sheep measuring tape. Beth got a skein of Synchronicity but was really lusting after a bunch of some beautiful sproingy yarn (forgot the name) but decided against it. Later that knight we went to the airport to pick up her mom who just flew in from Oregon. On Sunday it was time to conquest another store so we went to Stitch DC, the Capitol Hill location. I got two balls of Rowan Kid Silk Haze. I've been wanting to try my hand at a mohair lace stole or shawl of some kind, something that would be perfect for spring. I was inspired by the River stole that Estee made awhile back and thought that would be great. Beth got 5 balls of the most beautiful green varigated yarn I have ever seen. I'm so jealous of that yarn, I can't wait to see what she does with it. Then it was off to the Festival Knit that Lolly put together.
That's Lolly and the Knitting Nurse behind her. I didn't catch the Nurse's name, but she came from Ohio for the Festival and the knitting. That's Sarah, working on her Bed and Breakfast sweater...check out those cables! I'm in awe..can't wait to see how it comes out. Also check out her Project Spectrum pants, very stylin'!
Finally, that's Beth and me, trying to knit fast to keep our fingers warm. There were a few other knitters (three, I think-Holly, Becca, and Coleen) that I didn't get good pictures of, but there are more pics on Lolly's blog. Beth and her mom hung out for a bit then went to check out some monuments and walk around. I stayed and knit a while longer, then joined them. It was so cool to meet these wonderful women in person and see their fantastic knitting up close and personal! I can't wait to go to MDS&W and spend even more time getting to know them. Thanks ladies, for a wonderful time! Once I met up with Beth and her mom, we saw what was left of the cherry blossoms along the river and I got a few good pictures. I'll try to post some more next time, but for now I'll leave you with this picture to demonstrate the persistent wind we were fighting all day.
Check out those flags, snapping in the wind! What a beautiful display! I wish all of you could have been at the knit, but I'm sure I'll meet even more people at sheep & wool! Can't wait!

Flash it!

What a weekend. Sorry for the late flashing, but here you go:
All the good stuff is in the last picture, though most of it is buried. The stuff on the floor is mostly acrylic (cheap-o yarn from Target and some Lion Brand) and the second picture is a mix bag. We'll just call these the before pictures and the motivation for me to get my yarn better organized. I'd promised some April P.S. pictures, but I'm not feeling exactly motivated at the moment. I'll get there eventually.

So Sleepy

Today is Flash Your Stash day and I had this grand plan to get out all my yarn, but there will be no stash-flashing from this knitty girl today. Why? Lots of reasons, the main ones being that I'm exhausted and have to be at work at 5 am tomorrow and don't feel like dragging out all my yarn and taking pictures. So I figure the list of people flashing is so long that it will take most of you a day or so to mosey on over here, so I have a grace period, if you will. So...update tomorrow, I promise, with lots of yarn-flashing going on. Plus, I have some pretty tremendous good news to reveal, and the line-up of April's orange/yellow projects.