This one's picture heavy. You've been warned.

My Christmas week was great. Matt and I flew back to Alabama to visit with our families. We were spoiled with tons of gifts. I got a lot of clothes and knitting books and a Sonic Screwdriver. Matt got Guitar Hero. He got other stuff too, but that's the one he can be found playing basically any time he's not sleeping, eating, or working.

Here's a rare picture of my sisters and me together and standing (mostly) still. From L-R it's Shelby (12), Megan (15), and me (don't wanna talk about it).


Some pictures of my Christmas knitting -

A Ribs and Ruffles scarf for my sister-in-law Liz. Made from Misti Alpaca Chunky Handpainted in Mauvelous.

A manly hat of my own simple design for my manly husband Matt. Made from manly Royal Tweed.



A Snappy Hat in periwinkle for Shelby. Made with Misti Alpaca Chunky. I made this in 3 hours!

A Snappy Hat in sage for Megan. Made with Misti Alpaca Chunky.


Randomly, this is me modeling Megan's hat and Liz's scarf.

These are the beautiful socks that my friend Olivia made for me. What an awesome Christmas surprise! They're gorgeous, and super snuggly. Thanks, Olivia!



Knitting plans for 2008? Finish my raglan cardigan and my fake-isle hat. Next up, the Tilted Duster, I think. And some socks. And a hat for me. Hat-knitting rocks. And maybe some of the awesome stuff from Felt Forward. That book rules. So. My New Years Resolution? Knit cool shit. Who's with me?

*sweeps away the cobwebs*

Sorry I've let this thing collect dust, you guys. (BTW, if any of you reading this are on Livejournal and want to read about my tv-squeeing or random day-to-day crap, come friend me.)

I got my Harvest Sock Swap package in the mail! My secret pal was Jenn from D.C.

The (beautiful!) sock is a Synesthesia sock:


The yarn is Cherry Tree Hill in colorway Cabin Fever, and it's totally gorgeous. In this picture, the yarn is sitting on the pretty drawstring bag the project came in. It's gonna be great for carrying around sock projects!


Jenn also sent me these adorable stitch markers:

and this gorgeous tea cup and saucer:

Thanks, Jenn, for being such a fabulous secret pal!

Success!

The Harvest Sock Swap package is in the mail!! It should be at its destination by Tuesday or Wednesday.

Pictures and a longer update to come later. For now, I'm off to South Carolina for... a reunion, of sorts. I hope everyone has fun at the Halloween party tonight! I'll miss y'all!

Harvest Swap update

After switching patterns to something better suited to the yarn I picked out, my Harvest Sock Swap sock is going swimmingly! I'm madly in love with the pattern, and the yarn is gorgeous. I've also started picking out goodies! I'm loving this whole swap experience so far.

I'm super excited about the class I'm taking this weekend at the best LYS ever - a top-down, no-sew, patternless raglan sweater made with Malabrigo! I get to go pick out my yarn colors tomorrow. So pumped!

In other news, I think I'm coming down with another sinus infection. Headaches, nausea, post-nasal drip from hell. Bluh.

New stuff!

On a whim, I took the Felted Baglet class at the LYS Saturday morning. It was a lot of fun, and now I have an adorable felted bag(let)!


It's made from Brown Sheep Nature Spun Worsted in Roasted Coffee, with some dark pink for the accent. Look at that cute little pocket!! It needs to be shaved, I know. It's still drying. I just couldn't wait to post about it.

I even learned how to do mattress stitching, after much moaning and groaning and cursing and kvetching. Big thanks to Kathe for not whacking me over the head after all the kvetching.

I've finally picked out my pattern for the Harvest Sock Swap. I've got the yarn, and now I'm ready to cast on! Can't wait!

After spending last night being an enabler for Corrina's Shiny Object Syndrome, I think I got my S.O.S. karma kick today when I stumbled across this beautiful cardigan. I even own the dress the designer is wearing in the photos. It's a sign, I swear. That cardigan and I are meant to be.

Fabulous new additions to the stash this week (click on the pics for a better size):

Misti Handpainted Alpaca Chunky. OMG so gorgeous.

Trekking Pro Natura, because I think I could use some more solid sock yarns (and it was calling my name).

Sockina Cotton, for wool-allergic giftees

Oh, and on a non-knitting note, look at this adorable sweater I got at Target this weekend!

Starter by nature

Now that the Who scarf is finally finished, I'm feeling free to start some new projects. First up is the Knitty LaceCap. I'm knitting it in Misti Baby Alpaca Lace, double stranded. Started it yesterday, but tonight I wound up ripping it out twice. First because I was doing the pattern repeat incorrectly and second because I didn't realize until 4 rows in that I had cast on too few stitches. Whoops. I'll try again later.

I also started my Big Baby Blanket, made with Muench Big Baby multi. I'm knitting it on my Daisy size 17 needles. They're actually too short, so I'm having to scrunch the stitches down real tight to fit them all on, but aside from that it's going fabulously! I started it tonight, and I'm a third of the way done. And the yarn is adorable and super soft.

Unfortunately I won't have my camera back until Sunday, so this post is pictureless. Sorry.

Oh, and I'm addicted to Ravelry now. It's the most useful site! I spent all day looking up either certain patterns and what yarn people use, or looking up certain yarns to see what everyone else was knitting with it. It's an amazing tool. How did I ever get by those many... months of knitting without it?

It's done!

DSCN0632
Originally uploaded by pescivendolo

After 3 months and 1040 rows of garter stitch, the Doctor Who Scarf is finally finished!! I'm so happy!!

Click here for more pictures.

Vacation time to get away!

I'm back from my long weekend in Flagler Beach. I had an amazing time. The weather was gorgeous. The beach was beautiful and practically empty. I even built my first sand castle! It made a valiant stand against the incoming tide, but nonetheless it eventually fell to its watery enemy. We had Thai food, ice cream, cannolis, fish 'n' chips, margaritas. Found a nice used bookstore and picked up some Nick Hornby books. It was practically perfect. I didn't want to come back. But here I am. *sigh*

Happy Day!

I finally made it onto Ravelry!! My username is "pescivendolo" so everyone add me!

I'm currently on vacation in Flagler Beach, FL. We're in a cabin right on the beach right beside A1A. The weather's gorgeous. The beach is empty. We have movies, Scrabble, food, the lappy. I have my knitting bag. It's a beautiful thing.

The pretty!

Tomorrow is my big work event. I comfort myself with the knowledge that no matter how it goes tomorrow, I'll still be coming home to 6 beautiful new skeins of Misti Cotton Silk. I think it might be the yarn of my dreams.

I'd have to live in a box and eat only lox and have a pet fox

So, last night, I may have... FINISHED MY FIRST SOCK!!! Woowooo! It's a traditional sock - top down, stockinette, heel flap. (Ooh, funny story about the heel flap - it's accidentally decorative. I didn't realize until halfway through that slipping purlwise =/= slipping with yarn in front. Oopsy. At least it looks nice. I'll just have to do that with the second sock as well.) It's in Louet Gems in Baby Coral. It's a bit loose in the leg because I've got scrawny ankles, but other than that it fits great! Yay! Pictures -





Currently I'm trying to finish up my baby blanket before the baby shower on Sunday. I'm almost there! After that I have to hunker down and finish my Who scarf by the end of the month. Then I can go hog wild on some new projects, including my first shot at lace!

Still waiting on my first issue of Interweave Knits. They need to speed it the hell up so I can start my Tilted Duster (which I'm going to make out of Malabrigo, so I can be like all the cool kids). They found the time to send me my bill, but my magazine hasn't arrived yet despite being shipped 2 weeks ago. Hmmm.

Signed up for the Harvest Sock Swap (linky button thing in the sidebar), which I think will be a great chance to practice my new sock skillz.

I also signed up for Kathe's top-down no-pattern raglan sweater class. My motivation has nothing to do with having priority pickins at the Malabrigo. I swear. *whistles*

Oh! I just got this beautiful etsy sock yarn in the mail -

The seller is kavatar0 and she shipped super super fast. The yarn is gorgeous, and I even got some candy with it! Yay!

For folks who asked for kitty pictures

This is a GKP - Gratuitous Kitty Post.

Big fat Coca-Cola

Coke doing what he does best - snuggling

Pixie (AKA Pixie Dixie Diddlydump or Pixie Lou Hoo Who's No More Than 2)

Matt and Pixie, his girlfriend

Maybe later I'll post pictures of the foster twins. And actual knitting-related content. For now, though... mrow!

Epic fail.

KnitPicks Crayon is made of epic fail. Or maybe I'm made of epic fail. I'm getting used to the 2 balls getting tangled since I'm double-stranding the baby blanket. But sometimes the junk just gets these massive tangles all within one ball, whether or not it's wound. Like tonight. I swear this was the biggest tangle I've ever seen in my life. It was a triumph of knottitude. Here's how I spent my evening - not knitting, just untangling and cursing...






Eventually I had to cut the yarn (twice!), but the knot is gone. For now. Tomorrow I'll find some way to appease the angry yarn goddess, so that this doesn't happen again.

(See my 30 year old couch? Lovely, ain't it?)

Pictures of my Who Scarf

It's about 50% done, which means I'm a bit behind in the Knit-Along. I'm going to work extra hard on it this week, as well as the baby blanket for the baby shower that's in 2 weeks.

(The creepy statues are located in San Marco Square.)

Blogs! Video blogs! Podcasts!

Well, despite the fact that I have a Livejournal, a Facebook, and a MySpace, I seem to have created a blog. It will probably be a knitting blog, primarily. So, yahoo for me!

Since it's a knitting blog, here are things I'm currently knitting -

Doctor Who Scarf
Aayla baby blanket for one of the doctors at work
Stargazer sweater
traditional sock