Be My Valentine Swap 2008

Are you mainly a crocheter and/or a knitter?
Knitter

Are you a spinner? Would you prefer roving or yarn in your package?
Not a spinner, I would prefer yarn

Do you prefer to crochet or knit with fine thread, lace-weight or thicker yarn?
Prefer thicker yarn

If someone were to send yarn, would you prefer several different skeins of yarn with a variation of colours and fibres or would you prefer all to be one and the same?
All the same.

Do you have any favourite projects? (As in, do you prefer to knit or crochet afghans, pot holders, sweaters, mittens or socks, or amigurumis? Or … what else?)
I knit a lot of bags for felting.

Would you consider your skills to be newbie, intermediate or advanced?
Advanced, I’ll do anything and it usually comes out pretty good.

Which are your favourite yarns? (fibres, brands, colorways)
Wool, Superwash wool, Cascade 220, Andean Silk, Harrisville Shetland.

What are your favourite colors?
red, lime green, purple, blue

How interested are you in patterns? Can you read any language besides English? Can you read diagrams even if the pattern is written in another language?
I enjoy patterning but need it written in English. I can read the chart only after working a few rows following the written directions.

Dyeing? Any particular item in this area you would find appealing?
I dont’ dye.

Are you in need of any particular knitting or crocheting supplies? Or do you crave something in particular, a hand made crochet hook or perhaps wooden needles? A special book or magazine?
I could use those things for the end of your needles that hold on the stitches.

Fiber Allergies? (We wouldn’t want to send wool yarn to someone allergic to wool)
No allergies.

Why is Valentine’s Day special to you?
It’s a holiday devoted to Red, I love red.

Is there any particular item or symbol that particularly says Valentine’s Day for you?
Hearts of course.

Do you use hair pins, scrunchies and hair bands? Earrings pierced or unpierced? Necklaces or bracelets? Brooches?
Earrings, head bands, bobby pins.

Do you like vintage stuff? Thrifting? Sometimes.

Do you do other crafts, like scrap booking, sewing, create jewelry … you name it.
Nope, just lots of knitting.

Are you a collector of something in particular (Santa figurines, frogs or cats made of china, napkins, sea shells, spoons … you name it).
Does yarn count?

Dark or milk chocolate? Or (god forbid) no chocolate at all?
Dark!!!! let there be dark chocolate for all.

Favorite candy?
Peanut M&Ms

Coffee? Beans or ground? Tea? Bags or loose? Any particular favourites?
Hazelnut ground coffee.

Favorite fragrance(s)?
Unsented please.

Allergies, food intolerances? (We wouldn’t want to send chocolate with nuts to someone who’s allergic to nuts.)
Allergic to dogs. So please don’t send any of those. :-)

Maybe it’s impertinent to ask but it could be interesting for your swap partner to know how old you are?
27.

Do you have kids and/or pets?
I have two Devon Rex cats and a husband, he counts as a pet too.

Is there anything else you would like to add that you think your swap partner needs to know about you?
Futurama is one of my favorite TV shows.

If your swap partner messes up and needs to send you a gift certificate – what on-line store would you like it for:
KnitPicks or Webs.

Turbulence U-Neck Pullover

A Mile in January

I've decided to try to work through a mile of yarn in the month of January. This might be difficult as it's already the 12th and I haven't started. I will only include stash yarn in that mile, nothing that's an active project. So I'm off and running a mile in January!

It's DONE!!!

Books, Needles and all that yarn have been cataloged!!!! 39.8 MILES!!! It's embarrassing but it's eye opening. I need to face up to it. And admit that I have a lot of yarn. 4 years ago I had none.
It's not like I'm buying and not knitting. I'm a prolific knitter. I knit everyday. I need to come up with some stash busting tactics to work through this. I can't cut off my purchasing, I'll go crazy. I need to make some sort of rules, 2 skeins used up before buying 1 new skein? I had been trying to only buy for projects I would cast on immediately, but clearly that wasn't working.
I also owned up to all of my UFOs. All thirteen of them. That’s not as bad as I thought.
For the record, it took me seventeen hours.

Back to it

7am:
breakfast...check
shower.......check
coffee..........check
camera.......check
yarn............check check check check check...
Less than 10 hours ago I was in this same room organizing yarn. I couldn't sleep in this morning. Too much to do. I'm back to it.

Ravelry Wins!!!

The long hours of cataloging my stash have begun. I read a blog this morning that said it took someone 2 days 6 hours to do it. I thought she was crazy, my stash couldn't be that big or take that long to figure out.

This all started when we took down the Christmas tree. The area near the TV looked so naked. So I went shopping. Steve set a decorating budget and I succeeded in purchasing some tasteful baskets that would allow me to display more yarn in the living room. I am a firm believer in out-of-site out-of-mind. So the more yarn I have out at home the less I will buy. Anyway, I returned from buying the baskets and started to look for some stash yarns that would match my living room. Then I thought, why not organize it, everyone else is.

And so 9 hours later, I've cataloged the novelties, acrylic blends, and most of the cotton. I'm sorry to say that I own far more wool than anything else. At this moment I have 12.7 MILES of non-wool yarns!!!!

So it goes

So much better out of the ribbing. I'm enjoying the pattern. I can do 3 or 4 rows in a sitting but then the brain gets tired. Need about 10 more inches to reach the armhole/Vneck by the 14th. Perhaps?

Success!!!!

Good News Everyone!"




My Christmas wish came true. The job I wanted most, panned out and I'll be starting the middle of January!!!!!
So now I can enjoy a few weeks off, with lots of knitting.
Dad enjoyed trying on the five orange hats I made for him. As he was opening them at Christmas I told him, he could keep one and the rest should go to charity.
He insisted that he'd keep them all and have a different dog-walking-hat for each day of the week. Crazy Dad.
I've been knitting away on the Ivy League Vest. So far about 1 1/2" of rib done. I think I'm at about an hour a row, hey it's 272 stitches, of course it's going to take awhile. I hope it'll go faster once I'm doing the fair isle chart which is straight knitting with none of this silly purling every 4th stitch so I have to drop my yarn. What do you think, can I get this done by the 14th? I doubt it but maybe I could get to the Vneck split portion.

Job Application

During an online Job application today I was forced to do a personality test.

"Your responses indicate that you are steady, conscientious and mild-mannered. You persistently work toward achieving accuracy, and you show a great deal of interest in issues concerning what you feel is right versus wrong. You are a loyal and unassuming perfectionist who desires security and clear guidelines. Your sensitivity to criticism and caution of the new is qualified by your use of gentle persuasion and firmness when making your position known. You may prefer a few close friends rather than many casual acquaintances.

Your responses indicate that your Emotional Intelligence is exceptionally well developed. You tend to understand the emotional makeup of others, and to accurately sense what other people are feeling. Because you find it easy to see the world from another person's perspective, it is likely that you associate with a diverse group of people. You work for reasons beyond money or status. It is likely that you are proficient in both maintaining relationships and networking. You think before speaking, and form carefully considered judgments about people or situations. Furthermore, you are aware of the impact of your emotions on others."

I'd say that's pretty deadon.

But now I'm knitting yet another Ipod cozy. I will get this pattern just right and then share with my knit sibs.

And of course I'm still struggling with my Turbulence Pullover. So far one shoulder has been sewn. I just need to buckle down and finish it!

Presents!!

I received my ISE5 package yesterday!!! It was so exciting to find all of the goodies inside. The scarf is red alpaca. It's perfectly me. Rita also sent Bamboo size 3 needles. I think 3 is the only size I didn't have and Bamboo is my preferred needle type. I'm amazed.



So the Turbulence U-Neck Pullover struggles forward. I just need to put the rib around the collar and sew it up. It's ridiculous that I started this in the middle of September and still have not finished it. I really need to be more diligent when it comes to finishing up the big projects. I have all this momentum at the start and then seem to loose interest and the finishing stretches out forever!

Brewed Beer and made chocolates this weekend. Not my idea of fun but I went along to please the boyfriend, although we have been married for over a year we still call each other boyfriend and girlfriend, these were out nick-names for each other for 8 years, I don't think we'll ever stop using them.
Turned out to be a great time. I think the beer will be called "That's what she said" since someone seemed to be throwing this in after anyone said anything. Right now "That's what she said" is bubbling away in my laundry room, the warmest room in the house. The boys, don't quiet understand what "that's what she said" is for.