Goodbye...

to blogger... And hello to wordpress!

It's time for a change. Future blogging will be at http://kazkitty.wordpress.com/ from now on.

Weekly progress...

My Gram passed away last Sunday night.. I found out about it on monday (thanks dad, for letting me know while I was DRIVING). I've been sad about it, but she was 92, and had a great life. At least she isn't suffering in the nursing home anymore.
Gram, you will be missed. <3

The funeral was in New Jersey, which meant a 3 hr drive there and back. Gave me plenty of time to work on my Mrs. Darcy Cardi. It's knitting up really quickly and I think I'm really going to be happy with it when it's done. I'm not too thrilled with the pattern itself. It's rather poorly written in my opinion... more like guidelines to what the author did for herself. There's no sizing options, and half the time I have no idea if I should be on the front or back of the thing. I'm pretty sure I did the buttonholes on the wrong side, and I don't think I did the last row of the back correctly. I may rip it out and redo just that last row and bind off. Eh. I'm fudging it and OMG I DID MATH and SWATCHES to make sure it would fit.

And just because I feel the need to say it again.. MALABRIGO TWIST IS AMAZING.


Last Sunday I planted seeds....
Some of my plants have sprouted!

Here's some cute lil tomato seedlings, they're so teeny!


And most of the soybeans have sprouted. Some of them were getting too tall to be in the little greenhouse container, so I replanted them in peat pots. I'm thinking I'm going to have to give some away once they're larger, since I doubt I need that many plants. :) Anyone want some soybeans?


<3

Back on track!

Hello blog!
So sorry to have neglected you for the past few weeks...

I have actually been working on ONE project fairly steadily these past few weeks. Geared up for the Ravelympics with a kickoff party at Laura's, where I cast on the Aeolian shawl. I tried my best to finish it in the two week time span.. but came across too many mistakes and found myself at Lisa'a cast-off party still working on the edging charts. One month after casting on, Aeolian is off the needles, blocked and ready to go!



I am really happy with the way it came out, and I already want to cast on for a larger one. I'll wait a bit before I start that. No lace for a little while.. it gives me a headache!

Besides, I have some uber lovely Malabrigo twist waiting to be transformed into a sweater. I cast on today for the Mrs. Darcy Cardigan. It should be delightfully warm and squooshy. :D



I have not been up to much else lately... and will not be working on too much else in the near future either, seeing as work is going to be extra stressful for the next couple of weeks. Yay. -_-

BUT... I did buy some cute little seed starter kit things so I can pretend that I am good at growing foodstuffs. I am going to attempt it again this year, and maybe this time I'll have something edible at the end of the season.

I bought this little "salsa kit" with seeds for cilantro, jalapeno, cayenne pepper, roma tomato, and onion. I'll honestly be happy if ANYTHING makes it to be harvested.



And I bought this little pot kit to grow strawberries. It was only $10 and way too cute to pass up.


I know it's not much of a post, but there will be more next week, I promise!
<3

Webs, Guild, and general yarny goodness...

I finished the Quickie Socks. They're squooshy and delightful and I am IN LOVE with them.


Fastest. Socks. Ever.


I also went to Webs on Friday. I *tried* not to spend too much money since I knew guild was Sat., but I couldn't come home empty handed!


I was apparently in a blue mood.. lol The Di.ve' Zenith is destined for the Beaumont Tam by Jared Flood (which I cast on today). The Malabrigo lace (YUM!) will be a Geodesic Cardi. I think I'll probably end up needing 3 skeins though. Oops. I see another Webs trip! The Arucania is destined to be the Baroness Beret. And the Madeline Tosh was bought just cause it was pretty. I'll find something awesome to make with that. ;)

I also nabbed a stick shuttle for the Cricket loom since I seem to have misplaced one... and a roll of blue highlighter tape for when I start the Aeolian shawl again.


I also found these adorable magnets at the register and they *had* to come home with me.


Guild was Sat. This month was the bi-annual auction and potluck, which is a ton of fun. Last auction I managed to snag a Turkish spindle and a crochet amigurumi book. This year I was lucky enough to nab cotton carders and some Manos wool. :D


I haven't actually spun cotton yet.. but the carders should be good for all the angora fiber I've been collecting.

I also recieved the silkworm cocoons from the silk reeling workshop I went to in Dec.


I visited the Painted Sheep table where Kris tempted me with her lovely wares.. and got a skein of sock yarn in pretty blues, and an alpaca/merino/silk blend worsted yarn which will be another pair of squooshy socks for me.


And then I hit up the Extreme Spinning table and oogled the sparkly batts. Of course I was unable to resist their siren song.


I also bought all of the silk hankies she had left.. about 3.2 oz I think. Me and silk don't get along yet.. but silk hankies I can manage. And I like the shiny yet nubby texture you get with them.


I definitely enjoyed my weekend thoroughly. This coming Friday I have the Ravelympics kickoff party to look forward to... yay!
<3

Farewell January. Hello February!

I'd like to be able to say that the month went by fast, but it really seems to have dragged. Possibly because the past two weeks have been just shy of awful. Massive amounts of stress at work combined with having some sort of flu sickness didn't help. And there's so much to look forward to in Feb! Guild auction next weekend... another Wolfpack outing is in the works... Ravelympics... Nico's brother's wedding... I think my plate is full. :)

Aside from knitting at SnB on monday, and over the weekend, I didn't do anything during the week. Again. I was too sick to move wed-fri and didn't even pick up any yarn or needles until fri night. I finished Nico's socks that were supposed to have been finished by Christmas... they were SO boring, I just couldn't bring myself to work on them. He specified NO PATTERN. That's what he got. BORING stockinette socks. I used Happy Feet variegated for the base, and a solid for the heel, toe and cuff. No decent pics yet because he won't sit still and let me take any. He did however, put them on immediately upon receiving them, and declare his love of hand knit socks. :D I guess he can have another pair. (he has no choice this time of pattern or yarn)

I also cast on the Quickie Socks from the Joy of Sox book I picked up last month. Quickie socks is right! It's an easy pattern in worsted weight yarn, knit on size 5 needles. I don't know why I don't do worsted weight socks more often. They're going to be so warm and cosy!

I'm using Painted Sheep Lambie in the Mocha colorway. Pattern calls for 200 yds. I have 180. I also have little feet. It should work out, right? *crosses fingers*



Last week I mentioned starting my sock club socks. I haven't really signed up for any sock clubs, although I would like to. Most of them are just too darn expensive. Not saying they're not worth it... just way out of my price range. Someone had mentioned to me that they were part of a group on Ravelry that makes up their own sock club from their stash. They put together the yarn and patterns in baggies and randomly pick one each month to knit. Viola! Instant mystery (kinda) sock club, and no extra cost, since you've already bought the yarn. Also bonus points for using up the stash.

We toyed with the idea at my Monday SnB and took it an extra step. Anyone that wanted to participate was to bring in several patterns and skeins of yarn. Let the other girls know how many baggies you would like, then they would pick out which yarn and pattern went well together for you. Baggies were numbered and you would go in that order. And no peeking!

I only elected to do 4 for myself this round. On average, it takes me 3 months to complete a pair of socks (mostly because I have knitting ADD and cannot focus on any single project!), so I figured this would get me through the year.

My first surprise baggie contained a skein of Cherry Tree something or other I had gotten on ebay a few years ago, and the Spiral Eyelet Sock pattern. I finally got around to starting again last week (first attempt was only past the cuff and I frogged so I could reclaim the needles). So far I really like this pattern. Its easy to memorize and looks pretty, especially in this yarn. I'm loving how the color repeats and the eyelets swirl down the leg. I hope the second sock pools as nicely.


Hope everyone else has a great week!
<3

Multnomah

... is finally finished!

Multnomah by Kate Flagg
BMFA Silkie Socks That Rock (I *think* it's Valkyrie.. not really sure): 1 skein



I must admit, I really didn't like working on this pattern, especially towards the end. It was just so.. boring. Seemingly endless rows of garter stitch. And I only did a shawlette! I couldn't imagine making a larger size.

When it came off the needles, I wasn't impressed. I thought it was cute but didn't have too much promise.



And then I blocked it.



It's like magic, really. I have new appreciation for this shawl, and while I still don't think I'm going to keep it for myself, I do like it more at this point.

I've had an overly stressful week, so I haven't been working on much of anything.. I pretty much was just making my way home and stuffing my face with food, then crashing. I did restart my "club" socks but no pics yet. More about that in my next post. :)

Here's hoping this coming week is better!
<3

Winter Blues

Kinda.. but not really. ;)

I really really dislike the cold. Thankfully I have the fiber arts to keep me entertained and warm!

Two more squares for the 2009 blanket are done.

July (Bright and Cheery)


August (Aran Square)



And I did the first square for the 2010 blanket. I'm using Vanna's Choice again for this blanket, but only two colors: dusty blue and chocolate.

January: Ravelry 12" (E-zee V-zee Granny Square)

Also got a little bit of spinning in this weekend. I've been working on this yummy batt from Xtreme Spinning called Chocolate Kisses. It's being spun on the Bird's Eye Maple Bosworth I got at Rhinebeck this past year.


And a close-up.


That's it for the week.. not much, but at least I'm getting some stuff done!

Now, to go back to watching The Office, and hoping that it doesn't snow as much as the weather channel said it would. But of course, random kitty pic first. ;D


<3