RAINBOWS!

I know I said I was going to try and do as little stash-adding as I could this year but........

RAINBOWS!!!?!?!!

I am weak in the face of a rainbow colored mitten kit. So sue me. lol

I mean, LOOK AT THAT COLOR. *squeeee*

I'm not sure I have the energy to start another Fair Isle mitten so soon after the last one though. Might have to tuck this away until later this year.

First stitchy, no-longer-a-WIP finish of the year....

CCN's Sweetest Home. 

I started this last summer, enjoyed working on it while sitting on the deck, got halfway through and then forgot it existed. Whoops. So I only had to finish the other half, which went very quickly. My two hand-dyes for the hives weren't quite as different from one another as the sample would suggest so I did a little back stitching between the 'stripes' with a dark honey color to accentuate it. No changes otherwise.

 I'm thinking I may order the frame that is in the sample:

It looks very nice all together like that. (They are always happy to order these types of frames for you at 123stitch.com by the way.) Or maybe I'll have the hubby make it for me and get a little wood doo-dad from Michaels to jazz it up. He does like making frames.........we'll see. :)

So. One WIP down, many more to tackle. One per month in 2013.......wouldn't be a terrible goal, right?

Some sweet little primroses that I couldn't resist buying, even though I'm pretty terrible at keeping anything alive other than your standard 'hardy' houseplant like a spider plant. Again, I'm a sucker for the color. :)

This month feels like it has been crazy-insane-batpoo busy but we did find time to go see a hockey game the other weekend. I had forgotten how much FUN these can be. (Would LOVE to go back next month if we can!!) It was Connecticut (where I live) against Rhode Island (where I am from) so I didn't care who won - even better! lol (RI team won. CT team was.......uhhh.......kinda terrible. Wow. I will not be rooting for them anymore. lol) 

(Pinterest, uncredited)

Other than that, I think I have reached the point where I am tired of winter. I get so tired of feeling cold all day, every day. Anyone else?????

Oh spring, you can not get here soon enough for me!

Zoom.

Another week just zoom, zooming, zooming by! 

 I swear I don't feel like I've had more than a second to just sit and breathe in weeks. And then I realize that a lot of that is self-inflicted and get over it. lol

Case in point: the picture above. We went hiking the day after walking like 5 miles around Hartford. No one forcing me to do THAT. Heh. Can't beat that view in the fall though. There is a state park about a 1/2 mile from my house and, if you've got the legs, you can climb to the top of the cliffs and get treated to some spectacular views of the area. (I live in the green area to the left.) 

 It's quite the hike though because the first mile is straight up up up up, very rocky and very 'rooty'.

A good trekking stick is your friend here if you don't want to feel like you are going to tumble all the way down to the bottom. Thankfully, the last 2.5 miles are a lot easier on the feets. (And the knees.)

The hubby is still sore in the ribs but he powered through it and made it up there too. (He was slated to be on vacation this week even before he got hurt so he decided not to change that so technically he's on vacation this week, not out hurt, so he's trying to do what he can to enjoy it because, you know, vacation time is precioussssss. He's feeling better every day though and is hoping the doctor signs off early for him to go back to work before the 4 weeks is up.)

Stitches East Stash!

Probably disappointing though because I didn't end up buying all that much from the show. (Which is different than saying I didn't spend all that much. *ahem*) It can be so overwhelming, just aisle after aisle after aisle of stuff. It took me 30 minutes to get through the first aisle and my 'eyes' had already purchased hundreds of dollars of stuff, so by the time you get to the end you're exhausted! (And I never buy anything on my first go through - only on the second pass.) I was looking for some more Twinkle Toes sparkly yarn (above) from a local dyer by the name of Tucker Woods and it turned out to be the very last booth I came across. It was like a tall drink of water after being stuck in the desert. (A really wooly, really colorful desert.) OH THERE YOU ARE! I thought she wasn't there this year, which would make me sad, because I always buy something from her. And then I bought a box. 

Not just a box though - a goody box. It has the fixings to make a bunch of knitted pumpkins, including some faux floral leaves and vines. Very cute all done up! Should probably, uhhhh, get on that before fall is over and the pumpkins are gone. 0_o

There was even a super big booth of Scandinavian and Germany, etc. cross stitch items. So you know I had to get something from there. I liked a couple of the models they had from this book. (Which is German, I believe.) Very cute!

And finally, I got the fixings for another scarf. One that is Boy Approved (so far) so it should be a uni-tasker and be worn by the both of us. (Or so he says. We'll see.) That's a truly terrible picture of the Kauni yarn because look at the difference once it is caked up:

BOING! HELLO COLOR RIOT.

The scarf is knit sideways, in long long long rows, just back and forth with the lacier alpaca breaking it up a little bit. It's not so much a 'pattern' really because even someone who learned to knit, like, a day ago could probably manage really well with this project. It's more about maximizing the striping nature of the Kauni yarn. Knitting 350 stitch long rows is not for the short-attention span peeps though. I timed a couple rows yesterday and each one takes about 15 minutes to complete. Hahaha! For ONE row. 15 minutes! This will either be mindless/good or mindless/KILLMERIGHTNOW. Time will tell!! :)

Arrgggggh.

Totally failing on the blogging front this month! Things have just been so so so busy lately. It's that time of the year when I'm crazy busy with making beads for Halloween and the holidays and I don't have time to catch my breathe really. (To that end, I've taken my whole Etsy shop offline for the moment because I just don't have time for it this week. Sorry!)

The hubby is actually on vacation this week but he decided he wanted to build himself a new, uber-big shed instead of going away so he's, quite literally, knee-deep in that at the moment. Demolish of the old one was Saturday, yesterday was the foundation and floor. It's onward and upward with the walls today! There's no doubt that it's going to rain here Tuesday/Wednesday though so he'll have a couple days off to rest at least. So long as it's done by the time he goes back to work, so he can get all the shed stuff that's currently jammed up in his garage bay back where it belongs, it's all good. (Leaving your car outside for any length of time around here is never a good idea - unless you like mice  and or chipmunks living in it!)

Before he got started on that though he stole harvested the honey for the year from the bee hives:

YUM. Do you know how hard is it not to steal spoonful after spoonful of this when there are pounds and pounds of it on your kitchen counter? (At 64 calories per tablespoon, *SIGH*, one has to have some self-control though. *sad*) It's MUCH lighter in color this year - last year's was a dark amber - but the taste is better. Funny how that works, right? This year's is almost fruity. Very delicious! Now I just need to find time to make some labels for them so he can start selling them at work, etc.

 Our 21st anniversary (crazy!!!) was the other week and he surprised me with an iPad, among some other great things and HOW MUCH DO I LOVE THIS THING????? A lot! I'm only turning the computer on nowadays to do my work stuff because this thing is great fun for browsing when on the deck and stuff. I really like getting away from sitting in the office where the computer is, I tell you what!

On the stiching front....

Total, total fail at keeping up with the L*K mystery sampler. I started the second bit when it came in.............and then never got back to it, not even once. :(

And then this came in on Saturday so I REALLY REALLY REALLY need to set time aside for some serious thread action!!!

Somewhat better on the knitting front but feeling very scattered.........

I finished one mitten from the mitten kit I got last October at Stitches East. Yes, ONE. One is better than none, I guess, but I hope this doesn't turn into one of those situations where I don't cast on for the second one until months later - resulting in a second one that doesn't quite match. lol

I started a scarf (Flair in Mountain Vail yarn) for no other reason than I saw this yarn hanging around and felt like I needed to start it. I don't think I've done a project with lace weight yarn before actually? It's no different other than the fact that it's SLOW AS THE DICKENS. I knit on this at a furious pace for three days and that's all I've gotten done. Considering it's supposed to be SEVENTY TWO INCHES LONG I've got a loooooooooooooooooot of hours ahead of me with this one. *sigh*

I may have also done a very bad thing and purchased a couple bags of yarn. Yes, BAGS. Grab bags, to be exact, in my favorite sock yarn - Blue Moon Fiber Arts. I couldn't resist the pull of getting them less than half off but..........GEESH. I SO DO NOT need any more yarn in this house. :(

When they came in my husband texted me this:

*snort*

Why thank you, Ryan! You're pretty sexy too. :)

Picture Post!!

The past week+ has been sooooooooooo busy and I have lots of photos. :)

Working backwards.....

 I didn't get this done for the 4th - I finished it up last night, if I want to be honest with y'all. 

I didn't have any 40ct. linen on hand to finish this kit as a 'box' finish but I wanted to stitch it NOW (I'm not one for waiting) so I figured it would be easy enough to stitch it twice. I'll just whip it up again for the box once I have the right linen, right?! 

Stuffing a star shape is...............interesting. If  'difficult' and 'annoying' is interesting to you. Probably should have thought that one out a little more before I settled on a star shaped pillow. lol So it's a little lumpy in areas and the chenille trim hides some of the evenness of the points, but it's DONE so I'm happy. :) 

No changes to it other than adding in the 2012 over one near the flag.

Walking along the path that runs right along the coast line in Narragansett, Rhode Island on the 4th. My mother lives about a 1/4 mile away so I got to take a nice long walk and soak up some ocean winds and smells. (I'm not one for beach lounging. Sand. No.)Very nice!! If I lived there I don't think I would be able to stop myself from taking hours and hours long walks every day.

 

I, admittedly, hate gardening but I know how to grow these. One of my favorite flowers. My blue ones are doing great but my purple ones? Not so much this year. :(

No cuttings from those because there is nothing to cut. *sad*

 Road trip to northern Massachusetts where I couldn't help but swing by WEBS (America's Largest Yarn Store!). I had a gift certificate from Christmas that I've been hoarding, waiting to spend it person vs. online so I could pet everything first before buying. Can't do THAT when shopping online. lol

Also part of the road trip: a stop by Yankee Candle's flagship store. You can lost in there for hours, it's so so so so so big. Like a whole village of shops under one roof! They had tons of clearance tables out and you won't get me to admit (in public or otherwise) how much I spent. Nope! I'll take that one to my grave, or at least I will when I can destroy any evidence of the bank statement once it comes in. lol (I should probably note that at least I don't use credit cards. I take my financial lumps up front, thankyouverymuch. Credit cards are too easy to use.........and scary. lol)

Not pictured: 

2hr. 'road trip' to movie theater to see movie - only we bought the tickets for the wrong theater for the wrong time, oh, and we would have been late anyway because we got stuck in a hailstorm on the way, so the movie was not to be. *sniff*

Tried again a couple days and managed it much better. Prometheus. Good. Creepy. If they don't make a sequel I will punch someone (I DON'T KNOW WHO YET BUT I'M LOOKING AT YOU, LINDELOF) because that's just cruel to end things like that. *stare*

Lots and lots of knitting after logging lots and lots of time in the car. Almost done with my Dragonflies. 

All caught up now! Whew!!!!! Summer's going by fast, isn't it????? :)

Monday, Monday.

Hope everyone had a nice holiday weekend! 

 Quinebaug River Trail

I wasn't quite up to bike riding because my lower back was ouchie so yesterday I opted for walking the path here in town instead while *he* biked. I've never actually walked it before and it was nice - but took longer than I thought it would, clocking in at 1 hour and 15 minutes to complete it. (My Fitbit recorded it as 4.5 miles but I think that's wrong. It's closer to 3.5 miles according to GPS on my phone. /shrug.) I just wanted to get out and enjoy the PHENOMENAL weather while it lasts as it's supposed to be quite a bit warmer later this week. You really couldn't have asked for a better weekend, weather wise. :)

Ooooooooooo!!! MUST HAVE this new CCN pattern the SECOND it's available at my usual internet seller(s). Hives and bees? YOU WILL BE MINE. It's like it was created specifically with me in mind. :)

Our actual hives were in a bit of crisis mode this week as they BOTH were found to be missing queens for some reason. (!!!) One of the hives swarmed a couple weeks ago, which sometimes results in the loss of a missing queen but no clue as to what happened to the second hive's queen. It's a mystery and, per usual, the bees aren't talking. (Tight-lipped as always, they are!!) Above are the two 'emergency' queens had by a local bee keeper in the husband's Guild. So hopefully that puts everything back to rights. The workers from both sides will chew through the wax plug holding her in her cage in a few days time, at which point they will have forgotten she's an intruder and *should* accept her into the fold like nothing happened. High Drama in the Bee World going on over here. lol

Some yarny goodness from the Cookie A sock club. 

OMG how is it time for another sock club package already?? I'm still working on the one from February and I can't even tell you where the APRIL package is located in this house! I pulled the February ones out this weekend to work on but they are slower than molasses with all the cabling. (I like doing cables but you CAN NOT rush them!) 

Side note: this yarn is the exact color of my senior prom dress. And shoes. And purse. Oy. (That's how it was DONE in 1989, okay? MATCHY MATCHY.)

Home again!

Makes me equal parts sad/glad. 

I do so love being in a place where so much is within walking distance (downtown Arlington) and I love love love the novelty of the subway in DC. (I hate driving and rarely do it.) 

 (Don't always love the loooooooooooong escalators to get into some of the subway stations though. These epically long ones make me dizzy. And they take forever.)

But I miss my kitties and my stuff when I'm gone. If I ever 'happen' upon an extra half a million dollars or so (hahaha!) I know where I want to buy a condo in the sky. :)

Hotel view. Walk one block to the right for subway. Walk one block (or many blocks) to the left for lots and lots restaurants and markets like Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, etc.

My Fitbit tells me I have walked 35 miles over the last six days, with 25 of those miles walked between Monday-Wednesday. (And Fitbit doesn't lie. He doesn't know how.) I am...................very tired. I think I need a week of an epic amount of sleep to get back to feeling bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. (Also: I need to retire one of my beloved pairs of Merrells because walking 8+ miles one day in them has caused much heel pain in my right foot that does not want to go away.) 

So we are taking it easy for the rest of the weekend before getting back to work on Monday. Though everything is already unpacked, washed, put away and...........what was that about taking it easy?? Speaking of which...........

....my ridiculous candy colored new luggage I bought for this trip. My old luggage was falling apart at the seams and looking mighty shabby so I got a set of three of these COMPLETELY OVER THE TOP and OMG PURPLE (!!!) ones to replace them. So me. :)

I did work on some crafty projects at night in the hotel, getting up to the heels on a new pair of stripey goodness socks and the start of a little Queen Bee project. 

 The knitting created quite the kerfuffle though at the US Capital as I was refused entry by security specifically because of my knitting paraphernalia. Pfffftttttt! WEAPONS INDEED! I did not appreciate their suggestion to 'throw it out'. (I MIGHT BE A LITTLE BITTER over the whole thing because we never went back for a second go-round there. YOU DON'T DESERVE ME OR MY KNITTING US CAPITAL.)

Leave to me though to find a yarn store at any time and any place. *ahem*

I had taken brief note of a couple yarn stores in DC but had no particular urge to specifically hunt them down or anything. Fast forward to Wednesday when we were off looking for a textile museum (very interesting but WAY out of the way vs. the usual DC tourist trappings) and I noticed we were on Connecticut Ave. where I thought I remembered there was a store.........and I looked up and it was *literally* about 100 paces away. Hehehe. Too funny!

SO OF COURSE I HAD TO GO IN. It was meant to be! And I always love adding some new-to-me sock yarn brands to my stash. The drawstring bag is sooooooooooooooo soft. *pets*  I wouldn't take the saying too seriously though if you plan on going to the US Capital building. JUST SAYING.

Oh well, that's it for today. I have a lot of food shopping to catch up on because we cleaned this place out before we left. Nary a vegetable or can of Diet Coke up in the joint. MUST FIX IMMEDIATELY!!!!!!

Glad to see...

I'm not the only one hating on Blogger this week and the new word verification craptcha thingy-majiggy. Bleh. :(

Sore subject..................moving on...............

Well, it was a busy week trying to catch up on things and get back to normal after being so hurl-a-licious last weekend but I managed to finish up two more WIP's while catching up on TiVo stuff at night.

 Death by Candy Corn by Scarlett House.

I had started this one last fall when the pattern was released but those 'over one' candy corns threw me off and I put it aside after doing just one. Bad me. (I didn't like the 'half' stitch the pattern had for them, at least not on this linen, so I changed it to a full stitch, thereby increasing the work for them.) I can never, ever decide what color order I like the candy stripes to be so I switched them back and forth here to keep me happy. The glass candy corns I do are the same. Sometimes I like orange in the middle better, sometimes the yellow...........I've been making them for 10 years now and I *STILL* can't decide on the color order! lol

 This one is by The Trilogy, yes?

I did this pattern a couple years ago as part of an exchange, let me see I'm sure I have a picture here on Blogger for it deeeeeeeeeep in the blog innards........

Oh yes, here it is. But I always wanted to do it again for myself so now I have. Just took me a loooooooooooooooong time to get to it. :)

So yayyyyy for working through the WIP-bag! Very happy about this. All I have left now, WIP-wise, are three pieces................but they are all really big and involved so I don't expect I will finish them whiz-bang-like. I might need to..........mmm...........start a little something to keep me interested in the meantime. Just something small. Teeny tiny. Just one. (I can feel the WIP bag growing again as we speak! *sigh*) And I obviously have a lot of 'finishing' to do with all these new pieces but that will have to wait for the moment. My sewing table (if it's big enough to call it that) is a shambles at the moment and I don't have the heart to tackle it just yet. *ahem*

You know what February is?

It's the start of the Cookie A Sock Club!

Yes I joined again. I am weak and I REALLY liked the club last year. All of the yarns (6) and patterns (12) were pretty fabulous so I figured just one more year with it wouldn't hurt. 

 The first shipment is this luscious CASHMERE yarn. OMG SOFT! The only bad thing about it is that my camera is REFUSING to photo it properly. (And you can forget about *me* having the skills to do it on my own. Oh no, not happening! Point and click is my nickname. lol) It's a medium cranberry/magenta tone - none of this tomato red business showing up on my computer. Grrr! But I can forgive it, of course, because it's CASHMERE. :)

Okay, I'm tired of waiting around this afternoon for it to stop raining in Florida so I can watch the Daytona 500 so I'm outta here. (I was only half interested in it to begin with and the window has now closed and I'm over it. Going for a walk instead!)

Winnah Winnah, Chicken Dinnah!

 Random pick for the Roly-Poly pattern was Dee. 

Happy Stitching him!! :)

Of course, letting one pattern go created a disturbance in the force *shifty eyes*.............

Which I filled with not one but FOUR new patterns. 

DAMN IT! I'm doing this wrong, aren't I? Grrrrrrr.