Frayed Frisbee on a Fiber Friday

A wonderful way to end a long and challenging week... I participated in the Yarn Thing's swap on Ravelry, and was matched with Marly, the Yarn Thing, herself! And boy did she spoil me. Check out this package!!



In front of box:
WIP DPN holders (and I’m such a dpn girl for my socks!) fun spiral notebook & pink post-its
Peanut M&Ms (yes, that’s the opened corner… no comment on how much has been consumed
Clear ‘Creative Couture’ project pouch… I love clear bags for projects.

In the box:
beautiful blue/green/aqua stitch markers (can’t really see these in pic)
labels for the ‘hand knits’ to indicate as such - perfect for holiday gifts!
Two skeins of hacho sock yarn from Peru. I’ve been picking this up every time I visit my LYS since they got it in, but now it’s MINE!
Skein of a locally dyed Aspen Sock yarn in “It’s Candy” colorway… I love yarn from small/indies and these colors are yummy!

Back of box:
Fun booklet of Fabulous Felt with felting projects
And not to forget my pup, Bailey, Marly even sent a stylin’ collar and argyle sweater (too hot to get him to model today, but will be sure to post pic later…)

But although my Fiber Friday was delightful... sadly, it's also time to retire yet another Frisbee. Bailey goes thru these (and the rubber ones, too) rather quickly even though he's not allowed it as a chew toy. Note the clear tubing to the left of his paw? that used to be the inside!

Bailey says: I think this should be Frisbee Friday.

Happy Feet & Fear Be Gone!

Happy feet!! These Jaywalkers were actually the second pair of socks I ever started... over a year ago. No second sock syndrome for me... I actually knit the cuff and leg of sock #2 before they went to the black hole of my knitting bag (seriously... things mysteriously disappear and randomly re-appear from that bag!).

In my recent mission to finish up some WIPS, these rose to the top and didn't take too long. The only problem was that after languishing for 15 months... my new gauge is completely different. The first sock fits so well... the second, not so much! Oh well... they're done and will still be toasty in my boots and around the house this winter!


I'm not a big fan of Halloween (well other than the idea of chocolate and candy all around), but I love costumes. And it's darling costumes like this Gnome-on-a-Toadstool that make me wish I had kids... of course I'm sure they wouldn't want to wear something like this anyway, but it still makes me smile. I LOVED the Gnome books when I was young... the creativity, the artwork, the fantasy. I'm happy to say, however, that I have successfully avoided any semblance of garden gnomes!



And finally... I'm happy to say that 4 year old M has overcome her fear of dogs! Poor thing was charged by a large dog and has been terrified of all ever since. And who could blame her??! She desperately wanted to befriend my little guy... and sure enough, willpower overcomes fear when the object of desire is a cute as my little pup!


Bailey says: Momma, I like my new friend now that she doesn't run away from me. Can she come play again?

Monday Madness...

Whew! What a day...

It started way too early when the pup got sick at 3am... he went back to sleep, but I of course... did not. yawn. Pup was pretty sick so took him to the vet... xrays, fluids, anti-biotics, anti-naseous meds and a large visa bill later, pup is home and starting to eat a little. YAY! (not so happy about the visa bill!!)

But I finally finished the Baby Poonam for my cousin's baby... T was born on Wed, exactly 2 weeks past the anticipated arrival. Fortunately everyone is doing well and this little sweater will be on its way to NY very soon. And with it will be a copy of my favorite children's book The Gruffalo.


He's the first of his generation so lots of excitement! Unfortunately I don't see them very often so I'm not sure when I'll actually get to meet the little guy, but his grandmother and I will certainly keep him well dressed in knits! Baby blanket is in progress and I'm already thinking ahead to Christmas knitting.

I'm still working on my secret sewing projects... temporarily stalled, but pressure is on. I need to have them done in less than a month, but I've got a business trip in the middle of all that. So now that Poonam is done, it's back to sewing (... tomorrow).

And since it's a Monday... we'll play a Monday MeMe!

Back In The Day
1. When was the last time you went to a playground and swung on the swings?
In July I played on the swingset with my goddaughter and her sister... but I was pushing. My other god-daughter took great delight in spinning me around in my Sky Chair last week, though!

2. What is the first TV show you remember watching as a child?
Not necessarily the first show I remember, but one of my strongest childhood TV memories is getting to stay up an hour later once a week to watch Grizzly Adams. I was going to name my children after his animals...

3. What's your favorite board game?
I generally prefer card games over board games, but I've recently resumed playing CandyLand with aforementioned goddaughters!

4. How old were you when you started school?
I remember talking to my pre-school teacher about the annual field trip. In my second year, I wanted to go feed the ducks with the younger class but she told me that was the field trip for the 4 year olds. Since my birthday was in October, I was still 4 (therefore started school at 3) and thought I should be able to go with them. She didn't buy it and I didn't get to go feed the ducks. Clearly it was a traumatic experience and only fueled my appetite for rational debate.

5. If you could have given any one piece of advice to yourself when you were a child, what would it be?
Just because you don't like the trampoline teacher, don't quit gymnastics.

Happy Knitting!
-JavaNut

Bailey says: I'm starting to feel better, Momma... Where are my squirrels?

Apparently it's Pirate Day...

Personally, I'm just glad it's Friday, but decided I'd better join in the blogosphere fun of 'Pirate Day'...

My pirate name is:

Mad Bess Bonney

Every pirate is a little bit crazy. You, though, are more than just a little bit. You can be a little bit unpredictable, but a pirate's life is far from full of certainties, so that fits in pretty well. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

I actually started this post yesterday with "thankful thursday" thoughts... I'm thankful for:

• a bonus in time to pay property taxes
• L returning from vacation because I missed her!
• triple-chocolate brownie mix
• Trader Joe's grocery store
• ability to fill my gas tank for less than $60

And tonight I'm thankful for the chance to celebrate my friendship with M at a surprise party for his birthday! Although apparently it should have been a pirate theme instead of a luau!

Bailey says: What's a pirate?

Bravo! Bravo! (spoiler alert!!)

Usually I'm more of an HGTV-junkie, but tonight was a jackpot on

Bravo... Excellent entertainment while catching up on all my email overload.

First up - Project Runway! This episode had the designers creating an outfit for a recent college grad entering the workforce... Jerrel won with this outfit and I must say, this pose is less than flattering - it was definitely a winner and they will be in some ad in Elle magazine as an episode prize. Well done, J! (sadly the rest of the competitors really missed the boat on this one...)

Next... Top Design! I find the judges on this show pretty annoying, but love the show. This week, they were designing a window display for a Project Runway designer!!

There were two fabulous windows and two disasters... Kerry, aka Big Daddy, went home based on this horror. Frankly, I think his partner-in-crime, Wizit, should have been sent home, but Kerry took the hit...

Now that my inbox is relatively caught-up (ha!), off to spend a few minutes to work on the original Jaywalkers that have been sitting in a project bag for over a year waiting for the second foot. Now that I've got my STR pair done, I want to finish the first pair (funny how that happens... my head considers it a competition so fair's fair!)

But then again... my cousin had her baby today (2 weeks late) so must not procrastinate the sweater for little T. Front & back are done.. just needs 2 little sleeves and a few seams. It was/is a fun pattern (Baby Poonam), but for some reason it was put aside (I had nothing to do with that of course... it put itself aside. really.)

Saturday... I'll finish it on Saturday...

Happy Knitting!

- JavaNut

Bailey says: Can I have more treats in my kong, please?

Jay-Walkin'

Jaywalkers were one of those patterns that took off and were seen everywhere... I finally jumped on the wagon and started a pair with some great Lisa Souza yarn and got half-way thru the second sock. Those are still stuck in a project bag...

Jump ahead to last month when I was a the LYS that I visit infrequently, but they have lots of BMFA and I wanted to knit another pair of STR socks (it doesn't matter that I have enough sock yarn in stash to knit at least 25 pairs of socks!). I passed over the Chapman Springs colorway until I saw them winding it for another customer and immediately had to get it for myself. They yellow in this yarn makes the purple and turquoise really pop!!

These beauties are for me!! I knit and frogged the first sock because it was too big, and even these are a little loose in the smaller size, but will be great for around the house or under boots.

But the only reason they're done is because of the Q3 challenge issued for the Year Long Gift-a-Long... I put aside baby gifts for my cousin (who is still waiting for baby to arrive - he's taking his time!) to finish these socks, just so I could complete the challenge... which does nothing but get me an entry for a prize that is a mystery at that! But what a fun motivator...

Does the chance for a prize motivate you? I rarely enter blog contests and such, but then I see others' posts 'this is the 3rd blog prize I've won in a row' and I think... well wouldn't that be fun!

Happy Knitting!

-JavaNut

Bailey says: Not much would motivate me right now!

Fry-day Friday!

I'm fried! It's Friday evening and all I can think is how happy I am to have a quiet evening at home with the pup. (and TiVo and knitting of course!)

I keep hearing the infamous "This is drugs. This is your brain on drugs. Any questions?" (for those of you too young to remember, click to see a brilliant anti-drug campaign)

No drugs involved, but I'm fried!

After my spurt of creative chaos last weekend, the week was sadly void of any time to create... long days at the office and 3 nights out (including a work dinner). I have to say that Bailey surprised me with how well he did - never having been alone that long so often in a week. Other than thinking bedtime was playtime, that is!

I'm intending this weekend to be productive... some more secret sewing, painting furniture and yardwork top the list. If I'm really motivated, I'm going to tackle the 3 boxes of 'misc' in the garage that I stored out there when I 'left town' for 18 months. Since I've been home for over a year, it's about time I get that done. I suspect they have craft supplies and candles so a significant portion may end up in the garbage after 3 summers in the hot garage!

Bailey says: I'm going to stay outside in this cooler weather. I'll keep those squirrels away, okay?

Creative Chaos...

I can't believe it's already Sunday evening... It's been a good weekend, but I'd like another please! (if anyone know how to arrange that, please let me know as soon as possible!!)

First up... lots of secret sewing. It's not so much that the *what* I'm sewing is secret (really, not that orginal), but it's the *why* I'm making these... It'll be a few months before I can say much about it, but it's certainly testing my sewing abilities! On the otherhand, it's been good to learn about all the cool features of my machine!


Since I can't post a pic, here's the "working in progress" from my Flickr 365 Self Portrait project. Entering my 9th month it's often a bit of a challenge to keep taking the pics, but after this long I'm determined to keep going. I think I've only missed 2 or 3 days so far, and since it was a leap year, I think I'll take one as a 'gimmie.'


On to knitting... isn't this gorgeous?? It was an impulse STR purchase... it wasn't remotely apealing when it was skeined, but as I was checking out at the LYS, they were winding it for another customer and I had to go back and get it... The photo doesn't come close to capturing the vibrant colors. It's YUMMY!!

To highlight the colors, I debated between plain stockinette and Jaywalkers... and after knitting almost the complete first Jaywalker, I very sadly frogged the entire thing. Too big. sigh. Always tough to do, but I know I'll regret it later and just wouldn't enjoy them... but maybe I can sneak a few minutes to re-cast on tonight!

Still looking for another weekend (anyone??) - and preferably one that's not so beastly hot!
-JavaNut

Bailey says: I'll just rest here so you can recover from all that creativity.

Gotta-Getta-Gund

I always think of those commercials when I see cute and soft stuffed animals... it just rolls of the tongue 'gotta-getta-gund!'

Bailey got a long overdue haircut..and although it was hard to get used to at first, his personality and quirks came thru. I miss the curls, but he is so soft... I keep telling him 'gotta-getta-gund'

Before:

After:

Bailey says: Thanks, Momma! It's going to get hot this week.

Happy Knitting!

JavaNut

Labor Day Labors...

Yikes! Is it really September?? And has it been 10 days already since my last blog post??

sigh. yes and yes. But on the plus side, it's been a great 4 day weekend! Yep, took Friday off to enjoy an extra-long long weekend... and had a good balance of being productive, creative and social. Productive isn't worth sharing, but on the creative side (which is also productive, but just creative sounds so much better!):

I finished a second Dumpling bag! Such a fun pattern... these are both for Christmas gifts (LOVE having some gifts done already!!).



As much as I love the Dumplings, I'm happier to have finished these River Rapid socks for my friend L (another Christmas gift - whoo-hoo!). I hated knitting these... the yarn was too fine and a loose twist so why it was considered sock yarn is beyond me. Much more appropriate for a lace scarf or shawl... but it came in a sock-club package. Once started though, I was determined to finish. And I confess that the deadline for the Summer KAL-CAL was a good motivator (along with a 5 hour binge knitting during a Pride & Prejudice marathon!).



And a nice bonus was that both of these projects meet the 'Water' theme for this month in Project Spectrum. I love the idea of PS, but wish I had time to be more creative with it.. particularly with the Aug/Sept theme of Water and favorite colorways of purple, blue and black. But there's still September... I'm anxious to get back into some paper-crafting so PS would be a good challenge.

And finally, I also did all the prep work for a set of secret sewing projects... wish I could share more, but it's, well - a secret!

And now for the few remaining hours of the holiday weekend, Bailey and I are going to curl up and watch a bit of the Murder She Wrote marathon.

Happy Knitting!

- JavaNut

Bailey says: I'll help with the laundry!