New Yarns for the New Year Blog Contest!

The moment you have all been waiting for, I finally am announcing my blog contest!

For the new year I want to try out 10 new yarns! I have picked out some of my very favorite yarns, but I want to know if you like them too! So here is the plan. Everyday for the next 10 days I am going to post up a new yarn here and list them in my etsy shop. All you have to do is comment on the post and let me know if you like it or not. Would you buy it or do you see absolutely no practical use for this yarn? You can't hurt my feelings, so give me your honest opinion!

So what is the prize, well, any skein of yarn from my shop! I will send you anything you choose free of charge and free of shipping! This includes any of the new yarns (think silk, think lace, think alpaca)!!!

The only catch is that there is only one entry available per post per person. Though you can get an additional entry for each skein purchased from my shop during the contest. Yarn will be added January 1 - 10 and the winner will be announced Saturday, January 13th, which also happens to be my blogiversary! I will decide which yarns that I am going to carry by January 31st and let all of you guys know what I have decided!

I will have the first yarn up tomorrow and they will be in no particular order, so stay tuned!

Note: If you are interested in what I am knitting during this time, please check out my Ravelry page! If you aren't on Ravelry, then sign up already!

New Colors!

I have 3 new colors to show off!


The first color is Mountain Sunset Blaze. I first had this color requested through my order form. After I created it I had another person that loved it so much that she requested it too. I figure with that much interest that I should add it to my permanent collection of colors. You can request it through my order form!


The second color is Lemon Lime, which I have been meaning to dye up for awhile. It is also secretly known as the Duck colorway, since I went to U of O. I really like how it turned out. It is so tangy and filled with school spirit. You can request it through my order form!


The last color is Bordeaux. This one was a color mistake. I accidentally dyed it while trying to dye another color. I just loved how it turned out, so I decided to keep it and name it. Woolgirl should have it in her shop very shortly!

I actually did a count and I have over 50 colorways right now!

Monday I am going to announce a very special contest, so please stay tuned!

Mystery Project Revealed!

So now that it is after Christmas I can reveal the Mystery Project!


Well, it is a sweater that I knit up for Sarah's daughter for Christmas. It is Sandy's Cardigan for Zylie from The Twisted Sisters Sweater Book. It is the sweater on the front cover, only with my own take on the colors. Just think that the whole thing started out as white superwash roving! I dyed it, spun it, and knit it. I am also feeling quite proud of myself for knitting it. It was a lot of fun. Anyway, on to more pictures:

Here is the front

The back

Left Sleeve

Right Sleeve

Believe me I tried to take as many photos as I could, because it is so pretty It was a lot of work and it needs a couple of corrections to the pattern, like the BO for the sleeve opening should be 25 sts, not 51. I ended up emailing Lynne Vogel, who was more than happy to answer all of questions and corrections! I also kept running out of yarn, but that could be because I decided to use 6s, instead of 8s. However, I did love knitting it. It was fast (as long as I had yarn) and was exciting to see how the colors changed and mixed together. I could see myself knitting it again someday!

Merry Christmas!

I had a very Merry Christmas for the past 2 days. I got a lot of gifts, so I thought I would share my knitting related gifts:


My dear Blair got me Stupid Sock Creatures and Dyeing to Knit. He got them off of my Amazon wish list and I am so thrilled. I first saw Stupid Sock Creatures on the Blue Blog and just loved it. With all the kids around I am sure to put the book to good use. Dyeing to Knit is one that I have wanted for awhile. I like how it has all sorts of colors, color theory, and even patterns. I definitely think that I will get some inspiration from this book

My parents got me a the first set of the new Miss Marple series. I am totally addicted to this series. Geraldine McEwan is definitely the best Miss Marple ever. I am a huge fan of Agatha Christie. I am sure that these dvds will get me through plenty of knitting. Not to mention that her knitting is quite inspirational too.

I also got some awesome things from my friends down at Knot Another Hat. I just forgot to take pictures of them while I still had daylight. All I can say is that the ladies down there rock and I am glad to be friends with each one of them!

I also have a couple of projects that I finished up in time for Christmas:

These socks I made for my mother. I just love the color combination! The yarn is Skinny Duet, though I can't seem to find the color name anywhere. The label disappeared too quickly!

I also finished up this baby surprise jacket for Destiny and her surprise baby. I went with neutral colors, because when I picked it out I didn't know the sex of the baby. Of course that changed as soon as I was working away on the project. So I will need to knit something specific in the new year. I also know 2 other ladies that are expecting this next year, so I see quite a bit of baby knitting in my future. This baby surprise jacket was knit out of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted in color Lakeview on size 8s. I adjusted the gauge so that it would be a newborn size. So, other than ripping it a couple of times, because I don't seem to "get" the patterns quite as easily as everyone else, I think that it was a great knit. I might even try it again.

Last Minute Knitted Gifts

I have a few things to show today and a couple of finished projects to show off today and I will have a couple more following Christmas.


I knit up these two hats for a couple of our friend's kids. Both of them are boys and around 2. I pretty much made up the pattern. CO 75 sts on #8US, knit 3, purl 2 for 7 inches, quickly decrease. It makes a hat in no time! I think less than 2 hours. I knit the bottom one out of Malabrigo and the top on out of Cash Vero in colors #020 Ruby & #008 Light Blue. If the colors of the top hat look familiar that is because they are actually the leftovers from the cat that I made back in September.

Next up I finished another pair of felted clogs. They aren't completely, completely done, but close enough. My plan so far has been to felt them a bit and then have the recipient try them on and felt them down even further to fit. I didn't want to gift them unfelted, but yet I didn't want them to be too small. They are knit with Eco Wool color #9012 chocolate/taupe, Cascade 220 #8555 Black, and Cascade 220 Tweed color #602 Evergreen.


Lastly, here is a sneak peek at the mystery project. If you know what it is, please don't put it in the comments. Let me just say that it was a lot of fun to knit, even if the pattern had a couple of wonky spots. I'll share full details after the holidays!

Coming Soon: More Yarn! More Colors! and a Blog Contest!

Good News

I have been rather busy lately!


On top of all of the Holiday rush, my husband's brother had his wedding on Friday. I was very excited to go and be there for the ceremony. They have been together for as long as Blair and I have been together, maybe a bit longer. What can I say the guys in this family are definitely one woman guys. Well, at least this generation...


Our other happy news, is that Blair and I got a car on Saturday. This is the first car that we have bought together. We have had our '94 Camry (background) for around 6 years now and we thought that it was probably time for a change. We will be selling the '94, which runs pretty well. It has a few quirks that come with age, so if you know anyone who would be interested, send them our way!

Lastly, I have a bit of sad and good news. I have been reading lately about the Black Sheep Creamery. Apparently in the recent flooding they have lost just about everything including sheep, fences barn, etc... Tina has a much better explanation of it on her blog. The good news is that a group of people are holding an online auction to help raise funds to help them rebuild. There are a lot of really good things, so please go and check it out and help out these poor people in their time of need. I know I have my eye on some of the spinning fiber...

Magic Bag of Holding

So, my gaming endeavors led me to make an adorable little bag to hold my dice.


I thought it was such a cute little bag that I had to share it with the rest of you. It is available in .pdf in the sidebar. I decided to name it a magic bag of holding because in the D & D world that is a magic bag that holds more on the inside than it appears to hold on the outside. Now if I only had one of those for my knitting!

I have also updated the website:
-Added a wholesale page for anyone wanting wholesale info
-New Patterns including the new Magic Bag
-New Projects in the FO Gallery (thank you Ravelry!)
-New Pictures of the Sport and Sock yarns

Girl Mitts

The weather has been looking a little like this:


Which makes it the perfect time of year to knit a pair of these:

I have just finished up a girl's version of the man mitts pattern. The picture was provided by my very first test knitter, Charlotte in the UK. I don't think she has a blog, but she is an awesome knitter! If she does have a blog, I'll make sure to share it with you guys. I have been trying for some time to get these knit up myself and I do plan on knitting up a pair just as soon as I get my holiday knitting done. My hands could sure use a pair about now!

Christmas Tree Hunting '07

On Saturday we went out into the wilderness to cut down our tree. We invited a group of our friends to join us. Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos of the group of us, but thankfully Amy and Amy did.Here is my dad cutting down our tree. Look at how perfect it is! My mom actually found it. We always pick a small one, since we don't have a lot of space to put one in. It probably is only about 6 feet tall.

We took it right home and decorated it all up. It was covered in snow, but because it fit in the backseat of our car it was all melted and ready to go by the time we got home.


I am using my tree topper from last year. I still feel like a genius for coming up with a yarn ball tree topper. It just is so pretty, and completely non-traditional. Not to mention the Yarn Harlot would be proud of the unconventional yarn stashing.

Here is one of my favorite ornaments. There is a local lady in town that is close friends with my grandmother. Every year I have bought a couple of her ornaments. They are just incredible and always make me smile. I will be very sad when she stops making them.

I hope that everyone out there is safe and sound during the winter weather. A happy Hanukkah to those that are celebrating it tonight. I also hope that those that go out tree hunting have a safe trip out there in the snow and have as much fun as we had!