Nutmeg Spinning Guild - April Meeting

Abby Franquemont was the guest speaker. I'm totally bummed that I had pre-decided to leave at lunch and made a commitment to go to the car dealer because she did ABSOLUTELY no spinning in the first half of the meeting. I'm not sure if she will spin after lunch but i will be evilly jealous of my friends if she does. But, alas, I need a new car......
I finally learned to spin with a spindle today. I have been spinning for just over a year on a wheel. I tend to jump into things with both feet and usually put the cart before the horse. So, this backwards learning is normal for me. HAH! I bought a "beginner" spindle at Rhinebeck last year and had yet to dig it out and try. So, I packed it up this morning with some Coopworth fiber that I have an ass load of and skipped off to guild. After about 20 VERY frustrating minutes of trying to spin and draft that fiber, I gave up (I know I'm impatient!) and went back to the vendors and bought a beautiful, but inexpensive smaller spindle that would spin faster so I could try lace weight and some BFL from "The Painted Sheep" that would be easier to draft. I tried spinning with that for about 20 more VERY frustrating minutes and found that it wobbled too much. So i went back to the vendor and asked if she would consider taking the spindle back for an upgrade to a more expensive spindle that would be easier for a beginner to use but still light enough to do lace weight. I settled on a beautiful all wood spindle that I would tell you the name of except my fiber is currently wound over the top of the name. ;0) I'll get back to you on it!

But here it is.....

Sundara Yarn Collection

I finally got into a Sundara Sock yarn Collection. I signed up for Summer. The description of the colors sound like they will lean toward what I like, so my fingers are crossed. These will be my first skeins of Sundara Yarn so I am excited. The sign ups are here, if you are interested. They just opened today.

New Fluevogs...

I got my new shoes today. Aren't they loverly????

My Whole House is Full of crazies....

...but these two are probably the craziest (and yes one of them is the dog!)

Even though she thought it was creepy, "E" couldn't get enough of my "disembodied" foot "mannequin". She thought it would be fun to model with my new Peeps Socks. Narrative by "E"

and then who can resist taking a picture of the most beautiful dog in the world???

"Wouldn't it be funny if I took a picture of myself smelling the foot???"

"Well, if it's good enough to model socks, it's good enough to rest my head on" (yes that is the foot)

This girl is seriously deranged....

"Hey! Why don't I take a picture of the dog looking at me upside down?" (isn't this the CUTEST picture ever??)

No photo shoot is complete without a wet kiss!

I love these two NUTS!

My New Pot Rack

My mom and step-dad have a pot rack in their kitchen that he built himself. I loved it so much, I asked him to make me one too. I've always wanted a pot rack and thought it would be perfect for my new kitchen. I even bought my first really nice set of pans in anticipation of being able to display them. I want to add to the pan set. There aren't nearly enough saucepans. But, this is a good start. Before now, my pans were a mismatched set that I collected over the years. I feel like a "grown-up" now!

After we hung this up and got the pans on, I felt like it was a real kitchen for the first time since we moved in 8 years ago. "E" said that it felt like home now. LOL Took long enough huh? Who knew all it would take is a couple of coats of fresh paint and a pot rack??

Woolgirl 2009 Sock Club - 1st installment

I got the first package of the new club year. The theme is "Queen of your Knitting - Cleopatra"

For the first time (since I have been a member) the kit included not only a sock pattern but also a scarf pattern. Jen wants us to stretch ourselves and knit something else with fingering weight besides yarn...

The yarn is a nice gold color (of course) and is Zen Yarn Garden. I love the rich color.

This is a small box shaped like a pyramid that had two chocolates enclosed. The chocolates were dusted with gold and silver powder.

Next is a note card with art by an artist who is local to Jen. It's pretty cute and right on theme. Love the sheep!

She also included an annual calendar magnet complete with all of the 2009 shipment dates. Clever girl!

Of course, she included some soak since no good sock kit comes without a sample of soak. ;0)

Her kits usually include a stitch marker and this one was made by Mama Llama. I really like the design. Snag-free!

The project bag is rich looking. It's from Lantern Moon. I love the color combo!

Hand made hand cream...

and finally, a pen that says Queen of Knitting.

Happy Easter to All My Peeps!

My newest sock design...

Glenda the Good Witch Sock Kit

Here is another installment in the Woolgirl Wizard of Oz Sock Kit Series and I don't know how Jen will ever top this one!

Glenda the Good Witch

So much thought and care are put into these sock kits. If you have never gotten a sock kit from Jen at www.woolgirl.com, you need to! I don't have a separate picture of it, but this kit even included a sparkly magic wand, just like Glenda's in the movie.


The pattern is called Twisted Cables The Glenda Sock and it is designed by Bethany Whitney. The sock yarn is Tosh Sock by Madelinetosh and the color is Glenda the Good Witch. I am not a huge pink person (even though my stash looks like I am) but this pink is awesome. It's really muted and dusky.

This is a picture of a pencil that was included. Look at the inscription. LOL

Jen has included a stitch marker from WeeOnes in most of her kits. This one is adorable just like the rest. Now I have a Bad Witch AND a Good Witch!

She always includes candy. I hate Black Licorice but my daughter skarfed them up with no problem!

This is some handmade soap. There was a lot of attention to detail put into this. The packaging was classy and so much a part of the overall theme of the package. I am thoroughly impressed with it!

Next is a Sugar Cookie Recipe with 2 cookie cutters; a crown and a star.

I am in love with this bag! It is completely lined and all edges and seams are invisible. When it is closed up, the bottom is a square. It's perfect for a mitten or sock project to take on the go. I just started a new mitten project and needed another bag this morning!

This is a bookmark and it says "only bad witches are ugly". (I know a few of them, trust me!) I got the Wicked Witch kit too and it had a similar book mark in it. I love to read so I can never have too many cute markers!

Finally, here is a notepad. Too cute! Jen never lets me down!! This made my day!!

That's REALLY weird

Is it possible that it is just a coincidence that both Private Practice last week and House this week but have kids that are BOTH male and female and the parents had to make a choice which one to raise them as???

How IGNORANT!

Check out this post.

I cannot understand why people feel the need to label activities as feminine or masculine. I think this woman needs to find herself a hobby. She sounds bitter. LOL

Estuary Socks

Well, one month on the couch seems to equal four Sock designs, folks. Here is my fourth design, Estuary Socks.

These socks were inspired by the place where a river runs into the ocean. This place is called an estuary. A river will just pour out and become one with the sea and I find that fascinating. My design shows rolling hills on one side of the estuary and cliffs on the other. Try your best to imagine a beautiful woman (or man) with long flowing hair flapping in the breeze standing on the highest cliff looking out over this amazing natural wonder....(corny huh?)

Boogie Wunderland

Here is my newest design. My family and I have fun trying to name them as I finish them. We wanted to name this one Creamsicle, but I explained to my kids that I could get into some hot water if I chose a name that is probably trademarked. So hubby (who is the king of fun nick names) came up with Boogie Wonderland since it is another retro design. I changed the spelling so they would not be named after the song.

The cuff is made with the Latvian Twist technique. It was surprisingly easy. My inspiration for the design was some wallpaper in a movie I watched during my recuperation this past month. I think they would look awesome with dark purple instead of the orange too. If you give it a try, send me a link to a picture when you are done.

Bella Mittens

I finished these mittens in 2 days...the benefit of knitting with Chunky Yarn! I used my first month's Malabrigo Club yarn. Not my colors but my daughter loves it so they are hers. The pattern was made to resemble mittens worn in the movie Twilight and this daughter loves those books. She hasn't seen the movie yet.

I warned her of the value of the yarn and when she can and can't wear the mittens so they don't get ruined. This was my first time knitting malabrigo (believe it or not) and it's scrumptious.