Well, Happy New Year, everyone. I enjoyed mine with friends in NY and it was a really great and relaxing couple of days. There were even kittehs to be met for the first time!

Actually, both the cats don’t seem to mind being dressed up — except when there’s headgear involved. As evidenced above, lol.

Also meet this beautiful boy – those gorgeous eyes!:

I did a lot of work on my second Sox Appeal sock over the mini-vaca, getting to and past the heel and a little bit up the cuff. I might actually have a pair soon!

It didn’t get to be the last FO of 2009, but it *did* get to be the first FO of 2010 – Blood Orange (Rav link) aka Citron from the latest Knitty.com!

It was an easy enough knit, though I don’t know what crack I was on for the duration of it because I kept counting wrong and ending up with extra stitches at the end of the increases — but sometimes still getting the right amount of stitches. It was very weird and I thought there must be typos in the pattern, but it still was coming out ok and no one else seemed to post having issues on Ravelry. So, I said, whatever, it looks good and kept on. I decided not to block it in the end since I kind of liked the look of it as/is and figured I’d let the recipient decide for herself. And she likes it as/is also, so it’s all good!

And now I *know* I must have been on crack when I was counting for Blood Orange because I started Avocado (Rav link) and have had nothing off in the counts. *facepalm* Whatever!

Can’t wait to finish it – it’s the same Malabrigo colorway as my Star Crossed Slouchy Beret (Rav link) (Olive) and so close in the dye job that you’d think it was the same lot. So I’ll have a matching set when I’m done! Yay!

(All photos are linked to Ravelry for full information on each project.)

Well, it’s not been as a productive year as in the past, but I’m still kinda surprised at how many items I actually finished. There would be one more in there as well, if I had time to finish the Citron Shawl (heck, I may finish it today before New Year’s anyway…guess I’ll have to amend my post, then! I’m only 7 rows and the bind-off from finishing.)

For New Year’s I’m going up to Saratoga Springs, NY to party with friends and I can’t wait to see everyone. Bringing my Sox Appeal project in case there is sober knitting time. Heh.

So, Happy and Safe New Year’s to all and I will see you all next year!

Well, this month flew by and all I did was collect photos to post. This is even my 501st post. I’d meant to do something special for #500, but I forgot and got busy. Heh. Oh well.

So, since I’m still busy, here’s them pix, and a few words here and there, while I have two seconds.

Been working on my Dad’s sweater…

I finished five out of the five Red Scarf scarves in time and sent ‘em out.

My friend S. came down from upstate NY for an IKEA run and I met up with her for it. And yes, I found a beetle there. It was hanging out on the sheepskin rugs, lol. We particularly loved the chalkboard drawings.

There’s been snow…

I saw a disturbing diet product (I hope that’s not a front view of a waist. Ew.)

I worked on my Sox Appeal sock #2…

…and finished a pair of Artyarns socks. They were made in a class I taught making two socks at a time. I have leftovers, so I may pick up from the cuffs to lengthen them. Or just make them over again toe-up. I think I’m going to change my class to being toe-up. I hate having leftover sock yarn.

Started a new project. I will be gifting this one and making myself one afterwards!

And had a good holiday with friends. And their 18lb House Cougar.

If I have time, I may actually write a serious year-end-type post. Can’t believe it’ll be 2010 in just a few days…

So, the other day a customer came into the store and we got on the topic of the Red Scarf Project. I mentioned how there were posts that they were only counting about half of what their goal is and were worried that they wouldn’t make the goal this year. The customer then asked if The Yarn Barn was a drop-off point for the RSP…so I asked the boss…and she said ok! I’m going to mail them off myself.

And so, here’s the deal. Drop off your Red Scarf Project scarves at The Yarn Barn of Connecticut in Woodbridge by December 11th (so I have time to pack it all up and send it out. Complete guidelines for colors, sizes and pattern ideas are found on the official website.

ALSO, if you buy yarn for the Red Scarf Project at The Yarn Barn between now and December 11th you’ll get 10% off that yarn.

You can, of course, mail it off yourself if you like – they are due by December 15th and you can mail them to:

Orphan Foundation of America
The Red Scarf Project
21351 Gentry Drive
Sterling, VA 20166

Also, you can make a monetary donation by visiting Norma’s Red Scarf Project page.

I have to say, I’ve been loving the extended nice weather this November. It gladly allowed me to do some work on my little deck before the winter comes. I’d meant to strip and repaint it all summer, but either I wasn’t home when the weather was good or I had too much work to do when it was. Unfortunately, the Behr stripper stuff was completely useless. I don’t recommend it. I’m especially annoyed since it required that I buy a $30 NIOSH respirator mask with organic vapor cartridges. It did NOTHING and I followed the directions to the letter. Grrr. And, yes, I’ll be contacting Behr to complain. So, there went my plan to have a semi-transparent, more natural looking stain. Just used the 2-in-1 wood brightener on the exposed wood (which *was* gladly effective) and went with a solid color. Looks pretty ok and it’ll do for now. Hopefully it’ll last at least two out of the five years they claim as an ideal, so I don’t have to deal with it again for awhile!

Did anyone else get a Domo cup/straw from 7-11 while they were available? I’m so glad I got this cup – it makes me smile.

I really wanted the Domo straw where he’s got headphones on and holds a Slurpee, but my local 7-11 either sold out immediately or never got any at all. I did find the one where he’s holding all the candy at another 7-11, but I still covet the first one.

Remy is happy with his own toys.

I’ve been knitting a lot more often lately, which is good since I’ve been generally feeling that wintery bleah, even with the nice weather. First off, I made a pair of Cocoknits’ Prairie Boots (Ravelry) – and I love ‘em!

The buttons came from The Yarn Barn and it was seriously kismet as I’d admired these buttons before and there were exactly 12 buttons in the tube.

The pattern was generally good, although I think that the increases on the soles should also be within a stitch or two like the decreases are – or else the decreases should also be on the edge. One or the other! I had some row gauge issues, so I made the sole for the small rather than the medium to get the right length, but it still works out to the right size in the end.

I also tried out this cute pattern (Ravelry) that I saw worn by a fellow knitter – made mine from one skein of Plymouth Baby Alpaca Grande Tweed, held double and it’s perfect!

I also found the best button! It was the last one of this color at the store and is a slice of petrified wood (I think made by Blue Moon Beads). It just perfectly brings out the little tweedy nubs in the yarn!

I’ve also be working on a long-term WIP of mine, Bel Air Cables (Ravelry) and I’m just a few rows away from the armholes now on the back. I’m a little concerned on the size since I was heavier when I started it and cast on for the 40/42. So, I’m not sure whether I should continue that way and just have a slightly oversized sweater or should I make the front smaller and just take the back in a little on the edges when I sew it together. What do you guys think? Is the latter crazy talk? I’d just really rather not rip out the back to start it over. :-/ At least the sleeves seem to be fine.

And speaking of frogging…

Boy, do I fail at blogging lately. It’s been quite a summer – the regular business along with some personal crap = not really feeling like blogging. Also, wasn’t getting a whole lot of knitting done anyway! But, that’s all changing and now I’ve got a big ol’ pic-heavy post for ya’ll…if ya’ll are still out there, lol.

So, for the first time, Stitches East was in Hartford, so the store went and got three booth spaces and I worked on the Saturday. I have been to trade shows before, but wow – as a vendor, this was crazy busy (which was awesome!)! I did get to wander around for the last hour and was really only looking for stuff I couldn’t get at the store (because why would I do that? I like my store!). So, all I got were some Blue Moon Fiber Arts stuff: a skein of lightweight in The Witching Hour, a skein of heavyweight in Spinel and a bag of Sheep to Shoe in Rooky.

Most of my recent knitting has been small projects for friends. A pair of quick mitts for C.P. (failed to get a photo, but it was a simple garter stitch rectangle, sewn up the side with a thumbhole – used one skein of black Berroco Smart Mohair)… a pair of gauntlet fingerless mitts for K.Y. made from Cashmerino Aran…

…and a pair of fingerless gloves for K.K. inspired by the ones worn in a promo shot for BBC’s Being Human by one of the characters.

Then I worked on a store sample that I really wanted to make – a fair isle hat by Crystal Palace Yarns using Mini Mochi. The pattern shows it made up in two of the rainbow-type colorways, but I wanted to see how it would look in one of the fewer-color colorways. I am quite pleased with it!

It turned out to only use one ball’s worth, but it was definitely easier to deal with using two separate balls. If you were to use just one ball, I’d recommend splitting it into two 25g balls, and to make sure that the sequence of colors is going the same way in both.

And then, just this afternoon, I finished the first of the pair of my Prairie Boots (Ravelry link)! I’d hoped I could squeeze the whole pair out of two skeins of Lamb’s Pride, but that didn’t happen and I have to hope there’s one more skein at the store in this color. Worse comes to worse, I’ll redo the sole and use a different color for it since I’m sewing leather soles on them anyway.

Halloween morning, I found this lovely creature on my friend’s doorstep, just hanging out on the pumpkin. I love praying mantises.

The day after Halloween I caught a beautiful sunset when I was leaving the library…

And in the rain one day, I spotted this on my way out the door…

Remy is much happier being all cozy indoors. Even when I haven’t vacuumed. *grin*

*emerges from the ether*

And I’ve even been knitting! It’s been a busy summer between performing at a faire in July, working at NYRF for August and September and now working at CTRF.

Cute little guy – landed on our guestbook quill at NYRF

I did finish the dress for that first faire and it came out great. The belt is made from a curtain swag (yep – her waist is that small, lol) and it was a hit (face blurred to protect the “innocent” – or rather because I hadn’t gotten to ask her if it was ok to show her face, lol).

I altered the pattern so that the sleeves were split on the outside and connected with pearly buttons in three spots. I also made it so it bustled in back so she wouldn’t drag it in the mud or trip on it while swordfighting (she’s in my swordfighting group).

Also, as I previously posted, I made up a bunch of new spindles to be vended at the NJ Sheep & Wool at Zarzuela’s booth. The remainder are on their way back at which time they’ll be posted for sale in my Etsy store. Here’s a sneak preview…

Another special project was a rushed one, but successful (finished it in a week!). Here’s where I started…

…and here’s where it ended up!

The recipient is a friend’s darling little daughter who turned 2 on September 19th along with her mom (yes, they have the same birthday!). The pattern is the Swing Coat, a free pattern from Little Turtle Knits (Ravelry link) and I made the 2-3 yrs size, which ought to fit her for at least the next two winters, if not longer as she’s a wee little thing. And she LOVES the sweater – wore it nearly all day (until it got warmer!). Because it’s a little big on her, her mom is going to run a ribbon through the top of the collar to tie it shut better. When she gets older and fills out the shoulders more, the clasp will be sufficient. I will miss seeing her (and her parents) after getting to see her every weekend for nearly all of August and September.

The yarn was stash yarn, so I was pretty proud of that, but that also led me to reevaluate my Ravelry stash and have added a bunch of new things to my trade/sell page. All are priced with free shipping within the continental US, but I’m willing to send elsewhere for whatever the shipping costs. Please check it out and pass the word – there are many goodies in there!

In the diet realm, I’ve kept my cholesterol down (latest test in July was 186) and since last October, I’ve lost 30 pounds. I can barely believe it, but the clothes sizes do not lie. I gave away all my size 12 & 14 stuff to a friend who has reached that point in her weight loss and I currently have a large pile of size 10 jeans to try and eBay, or else give to Goodwill. This is because now I’m down to 4s and 6s. *grin* Now, to just keep that up – especially with winter / hibernation mode coming. I’ll be starting up the regular Wii Fit sessions again since I won’t have running around faires to keep me active.

An additional awesome thing is that my knitting projects require less yarn and are therefore less expensive! To that end, I treated myself to some new yarn recently. One is Rowan Lima in a wonderful dark green heathery shade. Don’t know what I’ll make yet, but the yarn is SO soft and cozy.

The other is Mochi Plus, a superwash color-changing yarn from Crystal Palace – I couldn’t resist the Autumn Rainbow colorway!!! I just want to make this into a simple turtleneck sweater and let the yarn “do the work.”

I have also been given the go-ahead to make a store sample of Mini Mochi using Crystal Palace’s free pattern for a Fair Isle hat that I thought was REALLY cool. I’m trying a colorway not shown on their site, so we’ll see how that turns out.

I’ve also been working on a pair of fingerless mitts for a friend of mine. She blogged about loving the gloves she saw on Mitchell in a promo for Being Human on BBC, so I decided to make them for her. Found some Elsebeth Lavold Silky Cashmere in the perfect shade (and in the clearance bin!) and I’ll post a pattern as soon as I finish the second one to test my directions (and to finish the pair)

So, have I been busy enough, lol? Aiiiiggghhhhh!

Drive-by Post! One of my daily comic reads is Girls With Slingshots (NSFW…often, you’ve been warned, lol). Recently there’s been a somewhat unusual bachelor party for one of the characters, and I had to share the end of it, since it includes the bachelorette party as well. Hee hee.

Faire is going well (although we need more business! Stupid rain!!!), knitting is sparse, spindles are being made for Zarzuela’s booth at the NJ Sheep & Wool in September.

And now, back to work, of which there has been MUCH. Here, have some photos.

Not dead. Crazy busy. Will post as soon as possible. If anyone’s even still out there.

Phhbbbtt.

Oh, how this time of the year cuts into knitting time. And on top of that I’ve been fighting with a website in a battle that has been struggle-struggle-struggle-WIN! Continue…BLOCKADE! Struggle-struggle-struggle…rinse & repeat.

I did finish that cabled tank top. And I hate it. The stupid hem flares out ridiculously and even adding a row of half-double crochet AND then folding it back for a hem didn’t help.

Witness the FAIL:

So, the project was UGH-ed on Ravelry and frogged last night. Today, it started to become the Ribbed Yoke Top (from Jo Sharp Knit Issue 2 – Rav link) instead. The pattern is meant for Soho Summer, which is DK weight, but I decided to tempt fate and use the Desert Garden Aran ANYWAY. I determined that at 18st per 4″, about 90 stitches would give me the right width…and as fate would have it, that’s what you cast on for the size Small! Perhaps there is hope…putting my best foot forward! Or whichever foot is handy at the moment:

Could he be cuter? Yes, he could. I caught him literally holding his beloved crinkly chipmunk (it’s a Fat Cat toy). I often catch (or rather HEAR) him just sitting there *licking* it. Heh.

In other news, Salvation Army and Goodwill have been frequented lately in my quest for Pants That Fit. Since I lost weight over the winter, all my pants are too big. Many shirts are also, but pants are harder to deal with, lol. Have I even mentioned that progress? Well, back in late October when I started a better diet and doing the Wii Fit and all that, I weighed 162-164. Now I am hovering between 136-138 lbs. And, am apparently a size 6. I’ve even found some “relaxed fit”-style pants that fit that are *size 4*. Eep! One of my neighbors said the other day that I looked like a whole new person – and, heh, if he was thirty years younger he’d ask me out. ‘Course, he’s a total smart-ass, but it was nice to hear (even if it made me think OMGWHATDIDILOOKLIKEBEFORE???). And I told him his wife would kick his ass, lol.

Anyway, so, I’m in the Salvation Army store and I come across these jeans.

Gee, I wonder why they’re here? I mean who doesn’t want to look like they’re farting a giant sparkly butterfly out of their ass?

We’ve been getting a lot of rain lately (including a severe storm that blew through CT yesterday evening), which has sucked for mood and motivation, but gave me some good visuals to capture…so I’ll leave you with that…