Dyeing update, Dish Rag Tag Begins, and the start of a KAL.

So, after some rinsing and drying I really like this fiber. :) It still pretty brown but it came out lovely!! What do you think? I need a name for the color too.
Today for lunch I came home and I had a package waiting for me!!
The Dish Rag Tag began! I am the team captain of the Purls n Paws so I got the box first. The box comes from Emily and she sent some really cute coasters and some candy!
I cast on the dishcloth on the way back to work at a stop light and am about half way done. I better get back to knitting...just have been a bit distracted! I have the box already packed and ready to go out in the morning. I just have to finish up the cloth!

Tomorrow is the first of September and since I've been eyeing this lovely shawl pattern and beautiful Hazel Knits yarn I have in my stash I decided to start a September Shawl KAL! So, here is my stuff all ready to cast on tomorrow!! I couldn't get the camera to work right so your getting two pictures of the same thing. :) The yarn color is better in the first but the rest is better in the 2nd. :)


If you want to join us come over to the Barknknit Podcast Ravelry group and join in the Sept Shawl KAL! You just have to cast on or have already cast on and promise to finish the shawl by Sept 30th!

ok..off to finish the dishcloth! Happy Knitting!

Sunday at Manda's...knitting, spinning, and dyeing oh my!

This weekend has been nice. Saturday, I met up with two of my friends and their kids for breakfast at my favorite place. The food was yummy and the company was nice. The afternoon was spend with Special K. We cleaned the house mostly but we did watch Cobb together.

Today was another fun day. I went over to Manda's for another Fiber Fun day! We had a good time sitting around and spinning and knitting together. We also got some dyeing in. Here are some pictures from Monica's camera of the fibery fun day!

A new friend came to our knit group and joined our Fiber Fun day today. Her name is Shannon and she's from New Jersey. She had never spun before so here I'm trying to giver her a lesson. Bless her heart that she actually learned from me! By the end there she was doing great! I need to learn more how to teach spinning. I'm just glad she seemed like she was having a great time!
Later we dyed some. I brought some BFL to dye up. The colors didn't come out as I was hoping but I like it!! It's a bit camo but I'm thinking if I ply it up with a different color it might look really cool! Even plying it up on its self will be nice too! Here I am preparing the dye.
I did a hot pour dyeing style..which Manda taught me! It's a lot of fun. I picked three colors, olive, brown and something else I can't remember. I think I put to much brown and not enough of the other colors or the other colors were too muted along with the brown that the whole roving kind of looks brown with little spots of other colors. Here's me pouring the dye.Here is my lovely roving! I actually like it a lot more now that I've rinsed it and it's drying. At first I was a bit disappointed but not anymore! ;) I think dyeing is fun because you never know what you're gonna get! Like Chocolate! hahaha
Here's our new friend Shannon...with her two skeins of worsted weight yarn.and here she is dyeing up her yarn in blue, black and red. She did a different style of dying. It was fun too! This is closer to what I first learned.
Well..hope you enjoyed the pictures. This week is going to be a bit hectic but I'm looking forward to it! My dad and step mom get her on Tuesday!! I am very excited to see my dad!

Hope you have a great week!!
Happy Dyeing and Fiber Fun day!

Dogs on Thursday!

For today's DOT post I wanted to share all the fun Swimming pictures and video I got of the pups this Sunday at Manda's Fiber Fun house!! Here are my crazy dogs in pictures! Yes, it is pouring down rain and neither one of them cared! Can I just say, when Jackjack first learned to swim he would never just jump in! He would only get in through the stairs. He's come a LONG way!! Enjoy!









So fun!! Here is the madness in video from my cellphone!

Hope you enjoyed the doggie swimming fun!! Don't forget to check out the other DOT posts!

Weekend Update! and some Fiber in the Mail! an FO and a WIP!

This weekend was a whirlwind of activity! Friday night, my friend Carrie had her 30th birthday party at a local Bingo joint! Yes, Bingo! We all realized pretty fast that your money goes fast! I only managed to spend about $3 but others spent more. One friend of hers managed to win about $100...but he was the only one winning. :)

Here's me and Carrie with our Bingo cards! ahaha

Then here's Darci and Crystal with theirs. :)

Saturday, I had to wake up at about 4:30 to take Kenny to the airport. A very special woman, Grandma Pat passed away last week and he flew up for the funeral. It was a quick trip as he was back here by 5:30 on Sunday. It was good that he went though, because his sister ended up in the hospital on Friday through today with some stomach issues. She is finally home and hopefully better.

The rest of Saturday, I spent with my sisters and then that night my cousin Nathan and I went to the Rays game and Big n Rich played afterwords! It was tons of fun!! We met up with Carrie, a friend Kim and their boyfriends to watch the concert. They played until after midnight! I was exhausted the next day!

Sunday, the dogs and I headed over to Manda's Fiber Fun House and the pups swam even while it was raining! You'll have to wait until tomorrow for those pictures! We had a great day hanging out. Abby and her dog Nala had a bit of a riff, but they were both find after. It freaked me and Manda out more than the dogs.

This weekend was also a great mail weekend! I got some fiber that I had swapped for. In the Spin or Dye Swapping Group on Ravelry, I swapped some of my raw fiber for some others. :)

I claimed the following Romeldale from Sockpr0n. It's a beautiful oatmeal color!

Along with her package, she sent me some beautiful stitch markers! I love purple!I also did a side trade with another Ravelry from Ohio! Hoping to meet her when I'm up there sometime! She sent me some BEAUTIFUL Corriedale for some of my cormo. Can I tell you I just drooled over this stuff! It's a beautiful gray color and it's got very little VM in it! I want to get my hands on some combs for this! I think it would comb up so nicely!!
She also sent me some goodies along with my swap package! She was great to swap with! Here's a close up of the fiber! YUMMY!!
I finished my step-sister Luz's Morning Surf Scarf this weekend. It is not as long as I had hoped but I'm going to see if I can massively block it out to get a few extra inches. We'll see how that goes. The yarn is my handspun Ramboillet, which I LOVED working with and the pattern is Morning Surf Scarf by Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer. I also loved this pattern. It's quick and easy and pretty!! Well...my model here is pretty lovely too so I how can it not be just perfect. :)
I also cast on for a gift for a friend. It kind of looks like a scarf but it's actually a lovely lace table runner! I made it longer than the pattern suggested and it's coming out beautifully. The pattern is Jenny’s Tansu Table Runner by Mel Clark Craft Knitting and the yarn is Arucania Ranco in color 105.

Hope you are having a great week!! I have lots going on but will catch you guys up one step at a time! :)

Happy Spinning, Knitting, and Dog walking!!

Dogs on Thursday!

Just a quick post with doggie pictures! Here are my two lazy dogs after a rainy day. :)

Jackjack
Abigail
They are in desperate need of baths but they are happy to be dirty! :) Hope everyone has a great DOT and don't forget to go check out all the other DOT posts!

FO alert!! and some Casting on!

Hello! How is your week going? This past week has flown by. This weekend was packed with family fun, friend fun, and knitting!!

Saturday, after meeting my friends Kelly, Sheryl, and Sheryl's baby Levi at Panera's for some girl time, I cleaned the house and then spent time finishing Sarah's sock! Yes, I'm a week late but they are DONE! I'm going to put them in the mail soon along with some other goodies! They came out so great. I really like this pattern.FO #1
pattern: Spring Forward by Linda Welch
yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy in Spring Tickle colorway.
notes: Love this pattern. hehehe

Saturday night, I cast on the Ribbed Vest by Sarah Punderson in my handspun Romney. So far so good. Here's me holding it up at my sister's on Sunday while over there for a family dinner.
Sunday, I headed over to my friend Manda's for Fiber Fun day!! I didn't bring my wheel but brought two WIPs to finish, the ribbed shawl, and yarn to cast on a new project. I got there really early because I knew I had to leave early to be at a pizza party at my sister CZbrats. They all started work this week so they wanted to do a last dinner party before school starts. Not that we don't have them when school is in session too. ;)

So...I was over at Manda's early and I finished my dad's vest!! YEAH!! Just in time...he'll be up here the first couple week's of next month. Here's a picture but I'll get a picture of him wearing it when he's here.

FO#2
pattern: The Subtle Stripe by Lara Killian
yarn: Knit Picks Swish DK in Merlot Heather and Cobblestone Heather
notes: Really liked this pattern. It's easy to follow and worked up quickly. It's got just enough interest to keep you from getting bored but is easy enough to do while talking on phone or watching tv. I can't wait to see my dad in it. Everyone I've shown it to so far has said that looks like your dad! ;)

After finishing the vest, I put buttons of my sister's February Lady Sweater which I actually finished knitting back in January or Feb of this year. :) I had to sew in ends too. I don't have a picture and I already gave it to her but I'll go over tomorrow and snap one. :)

So. the last thing I did was cast on the Morning Surf Scarf for my sister Luz. It's out of some handspun Ramboillet. This pattern is easy and a quick knit. Not sure how long it will be because it's eating yarn but hopefully it will block out nicely

Ok...well..hope you enjoyed the Knitting filled post! It's a bit much in one post but what can I say...seems like lately I only get one post a week in...so might as well make the most of it!

On a personal note, we put in an offer on a house yesterday!! It's in our neighborhood and has been on the market for some time but it's a great house! I can't wait to hear back! I'll let you know when we do!

Off to get a shower and get to sleep!

Happy KNITTING!!

Crochet at Knit Night Wednesday and Softball Thursday!

Last night was our weekly Fiber Fanatics meet up and I had a great time. I had not been in about a month and it was nice to see everyone. While I was there I worked on my friend's sweater some more and learned a new crochet stitch. The bottom is my single crochet practice and then the top next to the hook is my new skill...double crochet!
Sheryl brought my godson Levi and he was just so well behaved! He got a little fussy because he was hungry but for the most part he was a doll!
He's just TOO cute!! Look at that face!!
Sid brought me goodies!! She was at the bookstore and she saw these and since she knew I'm such a big fan she had to get me Edward and Jacob Skybars!! They are AWESOME! I think I laughed for about 5 minutes! She and Angela are not fans...they think Bella whines and Edward is a possessive stalker. :) They are half right but I STILL love him!!
Sid lent me this series about werewolves and it's awesome!! It's what I've been reading for a while. The series is written by Patricia Briggs. This particular series from her is called the Mercy Thompson novels and they are Moon Called, Blood Bound, Iron Kissed, and the book I'm reading now Bone Crossed. They are all really good! I've also read another one that Sid lent me called Cry Wolf and it's the first one in the Alpha and Omega series. It's with some of the characters from the other series in the same world. I love when writers do that! If you like werewolf/vampire books check out this series...even if you don't at least read Moon Called and give it a chance. She hooked me!

Well, tonight my family planned our second ever Family Softball Game. Everyone who wanted to and could played. We had a blast! My team won but mostly we all had good fun! Here's a pic of me up at bat!
Well...I hope you enjoyed this two post day! I'll try to come back sooner than I have been. I miss writing about my days and sharing pictures! I'm almost done with a couple projects so you'll get to see some FO pictures soon!

Happy Thursday! I'm off to bed to read and be glad tomorrow is FRIDAY!!!

Jackjack's Birthday week!

Ok, so forgot to post about Jackjack turning 6 this past Saturday!! Happy Birthday JACKJACK!!! My boy is 6 years old...he still acts like he's a puppy most the time!

He joined my pack when he was already 18 months old in January of 2005 and he was a skinny skinny boy...so skinny you could see almost every rib bone. He found me when I was looking at our local SPCA...just looking. He was so skinny and in need of a healthy happy home that I just had to bring him home.
When I first got him, I lived by myself and worked nights. We would go on walks and to the dog park during the day and then when I got home late at night, we would go for another walk. He was somewhat protective on a leash but it was more his dominance that took a while to figure out. We have gone to many obedience classes and our relationship has change so much in the years we've been together.
He is the first dog that I ever was completely responsible for. He is my heart and sole and always excited when I get home or even when he sees my car coming. (So does abby) But after some love and play he is a lazy lump on a couch. Any couch! :)
Or bed...he loves sleeping in bed
After about 2 years of just us, Abby found us and joined our pack. At first they had a couple things to work out...her food aggression being one of them and his healing from his accident with a car was the other one. But after a while they figured it out and became the best of buds. They rarely like to be a part and get so excited when they see each other again!

They like to go to the park together and ride in the car.
They also like do to training together because that usually means LOTS of treats!Abby even taught him how to have fun swimming! Now he's an expert!
After Abby joined our Pack, Special K found us. Special K helped carry Jackjack down the stairs when he was hurt and then eventually moved in and joined our pack officially by giving us all a new last name. :) Jackjack has a special relationship with Special K and they are two peas in a pod. The look that Jackjack gives SK when SK gets any where near him is priceless.

Well, Happy Birthday my first baby! You are my best friend and I love you very much.

Love Mommy!

Stitch n Pitch 2009!!

This year's Stitch n Pitch was this past Sunday. We played the Royals and even though we had won the 2 games before, the Royals won by scoring in the last 2 innings. Back to stitching, the bags were nothing compared to last year and there were no vendors and less people but I had fun either way. The crowd was friendly and nice as usual and I got a couple rounds of knitting done...and some crocheting as well!

Here's my group at the Rays game...and yes I wore a Cubs shirt. :) I had worn my Rays shirt to the game the day before with Kenny's family.
My shirt actually got me recognized by one of my podcast listeners and Mara came up and introduced herself! It was awesome! It was my first listener to come up and meet me!!

While at the game, I worked on the 2nd sock that I was hoping to finish before Sarah, my sister-in-law went home but failed that one. She did try on the first finished sock so at least I know she liked it and it fits! I'll hopefully have these in the mail soon, with some extra goodies!
I also worked on a dishcloth...a CROCHETED dishcloth! Yes, I learned to crochet! It's not as awesome as knitting but it's fun and I can't wait to learn more stitches. My friend Sid, Frankie's mommy, is helping me out. Here is my 2nd crocheted item ever! I'm getting better slowly. It takes a lot of concentration.
And since they are just too cute...Here are my pups. Abby following me around the house. :)and Jackjack making sure he gets a good resting spot. :)Ok...well...hope everyone is dong good!! Happy Monday!!