Knitting again

I have been knitting again finally. I recently went through a spell where it was difficult to get my hands motivated to knit. It happens every once in a while...usually on the heels of a particularly productive knitting spell. So I cast on for some socks....a little late for Soctoberfest, but what the hey.
These have no intended recipient as of yet, but Christmas is a-coming so we'll see. I'm trying to trick myself into some Christmas knitting this year. When I put a deadline on things they tend to fall to the bottom of the basket, so this year I am "just knitting" and if stuff is done by christmas, then Yay! If not, then oh well.

I did pick up a really really cool Denise Schmidt quilt book on Friday with some cute gift ideas in it. I love these "Dis-Cards". They are really simple and relatively quick to make. I think I will make a few sets of them for stocking stuffers or swaps or something. In case you can't tell, that's fabric quilted onto cardstock.

And, finally, pictures of my spinning attempts.

The ladies that taught me called this stuff "beast" because it's cheap and readily available. I kept thinking of Milwaukee's Best, which we called "Beast" in college for the same reason. Anyway, I'm still pretty rocky at this. My yarn is very "thick and thin" in quality and very fuzzy too, as you can see. But I like the way sometimes the yarn is all white, sometimes all black, and sometimes a twist of both. I have a bunch of roving in pretty blues and purples I will spin when I get more consistent. I think I have enough of the blues/purples to make a hat. Let's just hope I can spin it all before it gets warm again!

Bad Little Blogger

I have been such a bad blogger lately. I know I neglected to post 4 times in the month of October. Plus, I haven't updated my Ravelry notebook in about 40 billion years. There are projects on there that have been ripped out, projects that have been completed (ok, so not completed, but closer to being completed) and I still have not added my stash of yarn and books. Ugh. Not having internet at home really sucks. It takes a considerable amount of motivation to drag my laptop out to go sit in a crowded restaurant in an uncomfortable chair and relax. I really really really want to get internet at home again. I'm trying to convince my hubby. His thought on the subject is if I can get it for free at Panera and other local hot spots, why bother to pay for it? The end result is me not blogging regularly and not getting my email until three days after someone sent it. Snail mail would reach me faster people!

So....enough about me griping. This week was pretty good. On Tuesday I got a lovely surprise at work.

Everyone at work kept asking if it was my birthday, anniversary, etc. Nope, I just have a great husband. :) They were "just because" flowers. Now, I can hear you all groaning in that "that's so sweet it makes me sick" kind of way. This is an out of the ordinary occurance. I actually had people at work ask me what he did, or if we had a fight. First of all, way to put a negative spin on the highlight of my week, thanks, and second of all, how is it any of your business??

That night when I got home the good surprises kept on going when I opened my mailbox to find this:

Thanks Secret Pal! She sent me two skeins of some yummy Crystal Palace yarn in colors that just scream my name. A pair of super-cute knitting needles. I don't know if you can read them, but they say "I *heart* Knitting" with a cute little cat on them. She also sent a cute notepad, some stickers, a candle, and a yummy bath fizzy. Thanks so much SP! I can't wait to cast on for my hat! It's so funny that you suggested that's what I do with the yarn because I was just searching my stash yesterday for some suitable hat yarn. Thanks :)

Celebration

Just a quick post this time. I'm super-busy this week, training for my new position at work.

Last week my sister left for boot camp, take 2. Before she left we decided to do a big joint birthday party. Mom's bday was Oct 15, Heather's (my sis) is Nov 5 and mine is Nov 15. So we cooked a nice dinner and had a yummy ice cream cake.

It was a blast and it was nice to be able to celebrate with Heather before she left.

Sorry this is such a measly post, lots to do, lots to do.

Tour de Quilt

I know, I know...what a bad blogger I've been. Over a week and a half with no updates. Well. Now I'm getting my payback and I have sooo much to update on and not enough patience/time to get it all in one post.

This past weekend my mom, brother, and I went on the Tour de Quilt, an event put on by central Va quilt shops. It's really an ingenious idea, increases their business and makes us feel spoiled all at once. I actually stumbled upon this year's Tour by mistake. My sister Heather was getting ready to leave for Boot Camp, part 2 and we drove past my local quilt store (LQS?). I decided to stop in and browse and wow....it was hoppin'. The Tour consists of 10 shops and their is a central theme or challenge to the tour. This year the challenge was involving a new fabric line of 30 different fabrics. Each shop had to design a quilt using a central medallion and the new fabrics. Each shop also offered three of the fabrics cut into 1/3 yard pieces in a little bundle, so if you went to all 10 shops you would have all thirty fabrics, and supposedly enough to do one of the quilt tops. Each shop also gave a free black and white rough copy of the pattern to each person. There were door prizes and snacks at each shop. I figured that my sis would be bored by all the crafty humdrum because she usually starts complaining the moment I get within sniffing distance of any yarn fumes, but much to my surprise she said she was inspired. When she returns from BCT we are going to take a quilting class together. I was caught off guard at the first store so I don't have a picture of their quilt, but it was quite lovely.

Mom and Galen (my bro) came with me to the other shops on Saturday and Sunday. Galen was put in charge of the scavenger hunt that was part of the Tour and really got into it, racing around the shops looking for clues. The first shop we visited was That Little Quilt Shop in Madison.

That is their entry in the cometition. And this is my new project that I must. make. right. now.

I just bought the pattern for it, not the fabric, because I do have some restraint. Never mind the fact that I bought a bundle of the new fabrics at each shop we went too. And never mind that I got completely caught up in yo-yo makers and Christmas projects at another shop. But that's neither here nor there, right? So, anyway.....

After Madison we went to Patchwork Plus in Dayton, Va which is just outside of Harrisonburg.

Next up was Rachel's Quilt Patch in Staunton, Va. If you live in Staunton, I have nothing but respect for you. Every time I go to Staunton I get miserably lost. The fact that 250 snakes through the city and changes street names about a dozen time is ridiculous. Add that to the fact that downtown Staunton is nothing but one way streets, and whew. What a nightmare. This shop is built in an old railroad station. The whole atmosphere just screams quaint and is everything a quilt shop should be. Mom actually won a prize here but she didn't get in touch with the shop today before they closed so we don't know yet what she actually won. After stopping at Wright's for some yummy drive-in we went home.

On Day 2 we started in Midlothian, just southwest of Richmond.

After that we drove into Richmond to Quilting Adventures.

This shop has the whole "get the consumer at their weakest moment" thing down to a T. They actually had a table set up where someone was doing demo's of all their "make your life easier" products. Plus, they have a rewards program. You know, those little scanny things that you put on your keys that all grocery stores use now? They have one FOR THEIR QUILTING STORE! If that's not genius I don't know what is. (You hear that LYS? Rewards program!) It's not like a punch card that you will use or will expire. It goes on your keys and you never have to think about it again except to have the cashier scan your keys that are already on the counter as you try to exit the store without any more fabric making its way into your hands. Needless to say, Mom and I left that store with our pocketbooks significantly lighter.

Last on the stop was The Quilt Man in Ashland (just north of Richmond)

We only made it to seven of the ten stores, but next year we will plan better to make it to all of them. At each store you got your passport stamped and you could be entered into certain drawings based on the number of stores you visited. It was so neat to see how each shop turned the fabrics into totally different quilts.

Has anyone else seen this trailer ? This looks to be equal parts horrifying and funny. It's probably one of those movies that will have you laughing through your tears, if you know what I mean. It kinda makes me think about where my yarn is coming from though.

For those of you who play on Ravelry, check out the new marching band group I started. I went to the annual Charlottesville Cavalcade this weekend, which is a marching band competition for local high schools. I was involved in my HS's marching band all four years and love to go see them compete. They did very well, took home a couple of second places.

In Knitting news....
I picked up a bad habit today. I haven't had a chance to take any pictures yet, but I bought a drop spindle and some roving today. Yikes! This is so addicting. My yarn is so thick and thin and slubby and wonderful.

I also caught some sort of virus last week and the sudden desire to....SEAM!


Before everyone starts sending me unfinished projects to seam up, let me say. I suck at seaming. I only seamed one square before I gave up. It is such tedious work. So then I knit a few more squares.I have done zero knitting on the things that matter, like Christmas presents and charity projects, but have been whipping out miters like my life depends on it. Figures, huh?