Saturday, April 12, 2008

Startitis

Today was grooming day at Casa de Pugs.   Woody is modeling his lovely blue bandana.  Not only is he handsome, but he smells great now too.  He's a happy dude.  All the pups had a day of beauty and look and smell amazing.  


It was also grooming day on the Mom front too.  I giggle every time I look at my toes.








On the knitting front, the eyelet and flame chevron toe-up sock is still coming along.  I discovered (don't make me relive the awful details, please) that this is not a good pattern for riding the bus.  I also discovered that I am pretty good at unknitting.  I could have done without that lesson, but sometimes the universe needs a good laugh at my expense.  Chuckle on.
To make myself feel better, I started Cozy from Knitty in the yummy, yummy Malabrigo silky merino, only to discover yet another pattern that is not suitable for daily commute knitting.  More unknitting, more universe laughing = one grumpy knitter.
So I decided to make it a perfect 3 projects I can't work on during my daily commute.  Why you may ask?  To thumb my nose at the universe of course!  Meet the lovely Woodland Shawl started in Noro Sock Yarn.  I think I may actually like it.  While I adore Noro yarns, I was quite disappointed in the sock yarn for socks, but find it rather pleasing worked into a wrap.  Maybe Noro should relabel it as lace weight and put all the sock knitters out of their misery of trying to love the yarn that won't be socks no matter what pattern you try, no matter how many times you rip it out and start over, no matter. . . ahem, sorry, I'm just not having a good relationship with that particular yarn being socks at this particular moment.  But it is a lovely wrap.

But, while all this lace knitting is lovely and all, I still need a commute project.  Meet my new plain old stockinette stitch toe-up socks in a yarn that lost its ball band and so cannot be identified.  Too bad about the ball band, since the yarn is quite lovely, but such is life in the giant stash -- ball bands get lost, knitting goes on.


The house still hasn't been cleaned, but I'm starting to not care so much.  It is a cold and rainy day and I need to knit.  It is the only thing that will make me happy.  The dust balls and laundry will still be there tomorrow, just more of them.  I think I need to go start another project.  Perhaps a lovely cotton short sleeved top for the upcoming summer months.  Yeah, that's the ticket.  Happy Saturday and Happy Knitting.  Gotta go cast on. . . . . . . . .

Friday, April 4, 2008

Fabulous Friday

First, my new camera arrived so I can add real pics to the blog.  See my current work on the needles.   This is the silky Malabrigo I picked up at River Colors last weekend.   It decided it really wanted to be Cozy from Knitty and I thought that was a smashing idea.  I've just started, but so far it is making me very happy. Then there was another package in the mail:
SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.  My new Yarn Harlot book arrived.   Yummy yarn, a fun pattern and a Yarn Harlot book.  I was doing the happy dance by the mailbox, much to the dismay of the many folks driving by  -- they will get over it.   But then I looked at the mailbox again.  Could it be?  OMG -- the Spring Knitters is here!  Another Happy Dance by the mailbox which drove the pugs crazy.  They were barking and doing their own little happy dance in the house.  You just know it is going to be a great weekend when you get to have a double happy dance at the mailbox.  So I came in, tore open all my goodies,  and did another happy dance just for the hell of it.  I also took a picture of my Crazy Monkey Toe-Up Socks that are currently on the needles.  I'm not sure what the yarn is I'm using since somewhere in my massive stash I lost the ball band.  I like the sock, but next time I'll do it in a plain sock yarn so you can see the pattern better.
And now I must go read and knit.  But I'll leave you with a photo of Ho-Tei and Myoki wrestling on the sofa.  Hope you all have as great a Friday as I'm having.  

Thursday, April 3, 2008

It's been too long




Wow, I've been a bad blogger!  Can't believe the last entry was March 23rd.  Got some knitting done and have another sock in progress.  This one is the Eyelet and Flame Chevron Socks pattern and it is just a joy to knit.  See.  I am using Misti Alpaca sock yarn that just came in at River Colors Studio and it is so soft I can't wait to wear these socks.  I used the Turkish Cast-on which I am totally in love with right now.

You know, I love Ravelry, but find I am more of a lurker than a participant.  Something about having to have pictures and ball band info makes me tired and lazy.  Probably for the best.  My stash might crash their servers, (ahem).  For the observant among you, yes, I have once again fallen off the yarn diet and dented my credit card.
In addition to the Misti Alpaca, while at River Colors I picked up some Silky Malabrigo in Turquoise and some lace weight Malabrigo.  Some women collect shoes, I collect yarn and pugs, both of which are more comfortable than most shoes and will definitely last a lot longer (I'm really rough on shoes). 

In the pugosphere, I have fallen in love with the artwork and items on Pugnotes.  Melissa and Emmitt not only have beautiful items but also a fun and fabulous blog.  Go check them out and say Hi and add to your dog art collection.  They are the best!

Winter is finally receding and the robins and crocuses are giving me hope that I can wash the salt off my car for the last time this winter.  Just to keep everyone's spirits up, here is a picture of my friend's garden from last summer.  The dahlias just blow me away!



And with that hint of spring, I'll close for now.