...May Flowers

It's unbelievable how warm it's been here the last half of May, high 90's. I don't know if records were broken but personally I don't ever remember using the air conditioner this early in the year. Project Spectrum is now 1/2 finished and I've really been having fun with it, I especially love doing the monthly mosaics.

It's Not Easy Being Green

My big project spectrum job for the month was to paint my bathroom gReEn. And as you can see I didn't hold back. I originally chose orange which was quickly vetoed by Kyle and then I chose a lighter shade of green but in the interest of avoiding a pastel look I went with the color Kyle chose, Spring Green. I do like it but it's still a shock considering I've lived nearly 10 years with a white bathroom. I am enjoying accessorizing the room with bright colors such as my orange & green hand dyed yarn, and framed candy wrappers from Molly in Japan. I have a quilt in the works which will hang on the wall opposite the mirror.










And since I've been lax in the blogging department, I'll sneak in a few of my favorite green photos from my archives. R, do these look familiar?














I know this is already a bit long but I have to catch you up on a few things...Colleen won the drawing from my Sip, Stitch & Pitch contest. I haven't forgotten you Colleen!! The prize will be sent shortly!

Tonight I met up with Rebecca for some knitting at Borealis Yarns. The shop ended up being closed after their big sale weekend so we knit & chatted outside the coffee shop next door. It was a great evening to be outside and I am happy to have finally met Rebecca.

Memorial Day

Casey says "Please remember those who have died serving our country".













"My mommy will be back in a couple days, she's been working hard on a BiG project."

Adiós Calcetines

I am thinking of ripping out these 2 pair of socks since they're just not doing it for me. The jaywalker on the left started out on a wrong note, I messed up the pattern right off the bat and I'm not sure I'm patient enough to knit the 2nd one the same way. Plus when I knit the gusset decreases I messed up, I can't even remember specifics. I LOVE the way the yarn looks with this pattern but it's killing my hands.

Then the socks that rock sock, I feel like it's too sproingy. Maybe I should be knitting it on smaller needles, I'm using a size 2 for both socks pictured. I LOVE the way the stripes are showing up but I'm afraid the socks are too thick. I was thinking of decreasing the number of stitches and going to size 1 needles, in person the sock seems huge but in the photo it looks OK. When I see both the socks in the photo...it makes me want to keep going but my heart says RIP. Thoughts?

Orange Sky

We're in the middle of a thunderstorn and I've watched the sky go from green to yellow to orange. Too bad I wasn't thinking to get all the colors on film.

No Sockapalooozas ...

I've been trying to be SO patient while waiting for my sockapaloooza socks but I can't handle it anymore...sockapaloooza pal, I haven't heard from you for 3 weeks, did you forget about me?????

I'm a Beginner Spinner

Were you just dying to know what I bought at the Shepherd's Festival??? Well, I've been wanting to try spinning with a drop spindle for a while now and I saw a kit for sale at one of the booths with this Ashford spindle, a book Spin It: Making Yarn From Scratch and ~3 ounces of roving. I also purchased the smaller balls of roving from the same vendor to use mainly for needle felting. Later in the day I got the 2 ounce ball of undyed roving so I can try to dye it myself and then I got 4 ounces of hand dyed Merino roving for when I get better at spinning...it's super soft & pretty.













So does anyone have any tips for me???










If you haven't seen Splatgirl's new turtleneck shrug get on over there...

Special Delivery

Guess what my friend brought me today? A moto-knitter t-shirt!!! Just for me!!! Thank you Splatgirl!

Sip Stitch & Pitch

Last night a few knitter friends and I took in a ball game at Midway Stadium. The St. Paul Saints hosted a sip, stitch & pitch night thanks to Borealis Yarns and Ginkgo Coffee, both of St. Paul. Before the game Borealis planned a yarn swap in the tailgating area. I met up with Susan of ZenKnit and had a nice chat, hi Susan! I'm a bit shy so I apologize if I didn't approach anyone else, although I didn't recognize anyone else. Did I miss anyone???? My friends and I were very pleased with the outcome of the yarn swap, thank you Borealis!

Here I am with blogless April with our knitting bags by the pig, it's wrapped in yarn!! Splatgirl is a bit camera shy but you can see here shadow in the foreground. Since we were one of the first 500 knitters to enter the game, we received a free ball of Plymouth Encore yarn in a perfect shade of Saints blue.
ETA: Here we are knitting before the game started! Thanks for the photo Cori!













When I ordered tickets I placed us right in front of Rusty, the very funny & cute announcer for the Saints. Here's Rusty high 5-ing Mudonna the fluffy mascot. The Saints also have a real pig mascot who is new each season. This year it's Bud Squealig.













I was lucky enough to come home from the game with all this great stuff!!! I came away from the yarn swap with 4 balls of sock yarn, I got a little pig stitch marker during the game thanks to Splatgirls quick moves and the free ball of yarn is on the right side of the frame. The t-shirt came from the yarn swap/Borealis since the number I had for the swap had a big red SHIRT written on the back of it! Yay for the sip, stitch & pitch night!!!!!!

Huh?

Guess what this stands for and I'll randomly pick a winner and send a fun prize!!














Contest ends Friday night at 7:05 pm (CST).

Cotton Hurts My Hands...

...but I can't stop knitting the ballband dishcloth from Mason*Dixon Knitting. I made these for Mother's Day this year, in fact my mother-in-laws is still on the needles...oops.

Honey, Can I Get a Sheep?

The next barn over from the llamas/alpacas at the Shepherd's Harvest were the sheep. Oh my gosh were they noisy, there was one little black sheep that was LOUD! I managed to get a video of him/her baaing.

I really liked the way these 3 were cuddling with each other, Casey always rests his head on whatever he can find so this scene reminded me of him.













Awwww, a baby lamb. ETA: This is a goat kid not a lamb, obviously I'm not a farm girl. ;-) Thanks Jess!

I Am Casey's Mommy

While I was away yesterday Casey somehow made his way to the store and picked out this super cool iDock for me for Mommy's Day! I didn't realize he could do so much without opposable thumbs!










The blue LED lights are my favorite part!

Honey, Can I Get an Alpaca?

This afternoon Splatgirl & I spent some time at the Shepherd's Harvest, our own little Sheep & Wool festival if you will. After perusing the vendors and making a few purchases we swung over to the alpaca barn. Those buggers were awful cute! What curious animals they are too, each time I pointed my camera one would come right up to it to check it out. I had several foggy lenses and I have oodles of close ups of alpaca noses.










The little one on the left of this photo was humming like crazy!










And here's an unsheard alpaca. I like the brown spots.













ETA: I think I mistakenly called these animals alpacas when they are indeed llamas...I think. They're cute all the same IMO.

Dear Dye-O-Rama Pal,

Questions specific to this swap:
Your favorite colors? pink, orange, green, blue, bright
Preferred yarn weight (Fingering, Sport, DK, maybe even Worsted)? Any weight
Do you prefer solid or multicolored yarn? Either
If your buddy is able to do so, would you like a variegated, self-striping, or self-patterning yarn? I don't really like self-patterning, all the rest are great.
Would you be interested in a wool blend sock yarn (nylon, tencel, silk, acrylic, alpaca, etc.)? Alpaca makes me itch a little...
Imagine the perfect colorway. What would you name it? Shoot for the Moon
What was the biggest appeal to you for joining this dye-along? Who wouldn't like someone hand dying a skein of yarn especially for them??

General yarn/fiber questions:
Have you dyed yarn/fiber before? yes, I've used Kool-Aid and egg dye.
If so, what’s your favorite dye and method? I really liked how the egg dye produced such vibrant colors.
Do you spin? No, but I might buy a drop spindle tomorrow...
Have you knit socks before? Oh yes!
Do you use sock yarn for just socks or in other patterns too? I've used sock yarn for baby booties but mostly just for socks.
What are some of your favorite yarns? I like Cascade 220, Koigu, Malabrigo...
What yarn do you totally covet? Koigu
Favorite patterns? I enjoyed knitting the embossed leaves socks pattern for my sockapaloooza pal, I like Fiber Trends patterns.
Any pattern you would love to make if money and time were no object? I can't think of one
Favorite kind of needles (brand, materials, straights or circs, etc)? Brittanys. I'll knit on just about anything though, I have a wide variety of needles.
If you were a specific kind of yarn, which brand and kind of yarn would you be? Koigu ;-)

Nothing to do with knitting/yarn/fiber in any way but seemed kinda fun:
Do you have a favorite candy or mail-able snack? I've really been into peanut M&M's lately
What’s your favorite animal? Dog
Do you have pets? yes
What are their species/names/ages? Weimaraner/Casey/8
If you were a color what color would you be? Red
Describe your favorite shirt (yours or someone elses).. a brown t-shirt from my favorite ice cream shoppe, it says "snap crackle chocolate" in blue & pink
What is your most inspiring image, flower, or object in nature? Everything, I'm always looking around me for inspiration...especially up, most people forget to look up.
Tell me the best quote you’ve ever heard or read. "There wouldn't be so many stars if we all had the same wish"
Do you have a wishlist? yes

And because a post isn't complete without a photo...

Cool Stuff Today

Spell with Flickr!

Pho-tog

Lilacs from the front yard, I cut a bunch today and they're smelling up the house!! Mmmm. I love how each tiny blossom has a hint of blue on the petals. The lilacs were originally from my (~70 yr old) neighbors parents farm. I think that's neat.





















I planted these tulips last Fall, I love the inside of the blooms. I got lucky with the variety of colors. Hopefully the moles will keep their moley mouths off my bulbs this year!














I've got nothing on yarnstorms tulips, all I can say is WOW!

I've Been Up To Something

I've been knitting a basic 3 x 1 rib sock from a skein of Socks That Rock. I won't tell you who they're for in case she's reading. Yesterday at the OWD (One Whole Dollar) yard sale I started knitting a fortune cookie. Have any of you tried this? I'm confused about the large cookie directions where on line 5 it reads: k15, sl1, k14. I only have 15 sts on the needle, how can I k15, sl1, k14? That's 30 stitches. Any thoughts??













You're wondering about the scale right? I've been using it for the gazillion and 1 things I've listed on ebay this weekend. Check it out! If there's something you need, I'm sure I have it...you saw that yard sale pile right?? ;-)

Impromptu Yard Sale

I spent the entire afternoon and evening yesterday clearing / cleaning my upstairs. The 2nd level is just one large room with a guest bed, some bookshelves and a closet. It tends to be our dumping ground for things that don't have a place in our living area. I gathered oodles of things which will most likely go to Good Will. Since I had to haul this stuff outside anyway, I figured why not try to sell it 1st? The sale wasn't huge but I thought it was pretty good for one day's worth of purging. Apparently no one else thought so.










This is my gross earnings for the day. Yup, $1. I guess I'll be making a trip to Good Will tomorrow...













Not all was lost, I was able to knit for 3 hours in the sun & fresh air.

The Cleanest Restaurant I've Ever Seen

Some of you won't have a clue what I'm talking about and even some who do won't agree but I love White Castle, always have, always will. I think it's a Midwestern thing. I grew up with these babies, many times when we went to my Grandma & Grandpa's house we would have White Castles. And they're always good as a late night snack ;-)
It's also the cleanest restaurant I've ever seen. As I waited for my food this evening (we try not to make this a habit) I noticed how clean everything was in the kitchen. All the polished stainless steel screams clean and the chicken rings rock.










I wish this photo was clearer but I was being pressured by another car as I left the drive thru line...

Do any of you love White Castles???

Sky Fly Bye Rye Pie Dye My O My

It's not the most exciting sky I've seen but it is from today so I'm using it. It's the next best thing to my non-existent knitting these days.










I've been doing a few projects around the house lately so knitting has been sparse. I am knitting a pair of socks though so maybe I"ll get a photo up soon. I heard from my sockapaloooza pal today! The socks will be making their way to me very soon, yipee!