Wonderful Wollmeise

I was lucky enought to hit an update or two a few weeks back, as well as make a few trades and have almost all of my WM that is meant to live with me lately...so these are the groups of packages..

Most of the Gummy Bears that get sent along with each package, I ate one(hey I needed the energy to open the packages)
And the very beautiful Wollmeise....I present
4-Terra di Siena medium intensity 100% Superwash 2-Honigtopfchen 100%SW
Serpentin Laceweight 4-Serpentin 100%SW
4-Der letzte Versuch-Medium-100%SW (1 to someone else)2-Poison Nr 5-Medium- 80/20 Twin 2-Der letze Versuch-Dark-80/20T (1 to someone else)
7-Ebenholz SW (4 are going to others)
3-Schwarz 100%SW(1 traded) 1-Versuchskaninchen 2 100%SW(NEW FAVORITE!!!) 4-Admiral 80/20 t(1 traded)
1-Campari Orange laceweight-Dark 1-Miss May Laceweight-dark(traded)
4-Herzblut-100%SW 3-Indisch Rot-medium-80/20T
2-Tiefer See Wild Thing 80/20 Fluffy-medium 2-Amazonas Wild Thing -medium-80/20T 2-Pfefferminz Prinz-medium-80/20T 2-Farn(from trade) 2-Barist"O" laceweight-medium(Iwould get a better pic but both have gone to new owners in trade)But what a beautiful color... VergiB(purchase from Ravelry) and my first yarnissima Kit Spina de Pesce(?sp)
Ok, I must go and pet my yarn...another update regarding knitting tomorrow.

Hi Mom, all this yarn comes from Germany. pretty neat eh?

Warmer weather, Wollmeise and Weary Wednesday

I have started three updates in the past two weeks and never finished them. I have been stalking WOllmeise, yes yarn. Not just any yarn, Wollmeise, wondrous, wildly colored, wool Wollmeise. If one were to peruse my stash they would take note I have some, much compared to some stashes. I am not so much into sock knitting at this time and want quantities to make sweaters and shawls. I stalked for 8 months before actually hitting an update three weeks ago and two weeks ago I hit two(with the help of DH). At times, it is very convenient to have a DH working the same schedule as you especially when an update happens in the very wee hours of the morning. I obtained a bit, a bit more with DH help after having hit an early afternoon update. I am still waiting for the delivery of all the yarn and some has been promised to others in repayment for trades or just because they were looking and had looked for me. That is how it works. I am actually stalking as I type and hope not to miss another update even with all the yarn coming,lol. Truth be told if i miss it is ok, there are a few people I would love to grab a skein or two though. But there will be other updates and Claudia will make more yarn. I was lucky enough to get in on the first round of her sock club. quarterly we receive two exclusives colorways and a pattern. The shipments have always been gorgeous and we all went in with the very common sock club understanding of maintaining the exclusivity of the yarn until the club was over. Sadly there has been controversy as someone sold the current shipment on EBAY for more than $300!! Economic hardtimes were stated as the reason but the controversy that arose and the subsequent listing of sock club shipment has caused a sad feeling. It is only yarn but people agreed to behave a certain way and then add in the factor of hardtimes and wow!! Hopefully this will not sour the possibility of another club.
Here is this month's shipment the colors are glorious and I hate to use them as they will be offered down the road and I would like more,lol.
As you see the colors are very Oriental, rich and candlelit colored. The little pouch holds a stitch marker. I love these colors and can see them combined with more solid colors.
This is also Wollmeise, Schwarz-an almost solid black
and Herzblut-a red red
I obtained in a trade these two wondrous skeins...I have wanted to see them live for some time and they do not disappoint
Sultan

and Iris
I am hoping some of the other packages start coming in today.
Also, as always, the Loopy Ewe Sock CLub in all its magnificence

Yes indeed that IS Handmaiden Casbah...pretty awesome, eh? Sheri always tops the previous shipment, not sure how but she does. See the extras. a needle gauge and a tape measure with a built in pen on a caribiner...how ingenious. Love the color!
And we have the latest in the Chameleon Colorworks Sock Club, lordy this is too cute. I was looking at the yarn and the pattern and thinking great how exact the placement must have to be to get the yarn just right to come up in pattern...nah!! The skein is two half skeins, each being one of the two colors needed. These may get cast on immediately
and it is the BAMBINO, love bamboo, love Bambino..love Chameleon Colorworks.
This is the reverse side of the mittens for No More Humdrum Mittens Swap 4. I love these but will happily send them along as my pal is a cat person

Madli, poor poor Madli, she got frogged due to this

Too dang difficult to pick up with all the yo's so restarting, this time with beads. Hopefully a picture worth posting by Monday since I got a daylight lamp and hope to be able to see at night to knit.
Moving on to infinite coolness
The Zauberball, it looks huge doesn't it, naw about the size of a softball but alledges to have very long color sequences...here is another view

That came from the Loopy Ewe along with this limited edition Nyoni from Fiesta

Very limited run , very good yardage, very inexpensive($20)
While stalking for Wollmeise with the crazies over on Ravelry I was turned on to two new yarns, this being one,Squoosh Fiberarts the colors are Tangelo, Blackberry(both merinos sock) and Fissure(fat sock) very fast shipping, very "squooshy"yarn.

The WM Crazies also have me convinced I must learn to spin, drop spindle first. I received this from Vampy in the UK made for me as I "talked"with her online. Is it not gorgeous?
Can you see the sparkle in it? It is a batt that will I will spin into yarn...what am I thinking?
Another lovely from the Loopy Ewe

I love SheepPaints yarn, then I discovered it is also a German or European yarn which I seem to have a hankering for lately
OK one of the pups in their new beds, I ordered them thinking they were sherpa free but as you can see...almost sent them back but the pups do seem to like them

A big hullo to Mom, we went to a family bridal shower this past weekend, very lovely.

LINKS will be added over the next few days

Sunny Springy Sunday

Hmmmm...wonder if that is why it is called SUNday? OK let's see...well the cardigan is finished and as cute as the buttons upon it...
The pattern is a Ravelry download(pay) and is called "A Cardigan for Merry" It has the most delightful reversible cable border on it. It is a child version of the Arwen sweater. I loved making it. I used Lionbrand Microspun, a sportweight washable oh-so-soft yarn. the pattern asks for toggle buttons but seeing as I really couldn't find any I liked and the Mom of the the little girl I made it for loves butterflies....

A little tip from me to you: Since I put on a flat button I sewed a shirt button between the butterfly and the sweater for added height so the loop would sit correctly around the button.

These are the cat mittens I am making for my pal in the No More Humdrum Mittens Swap 4. I love this swap a lot. Deb does such a good job keeping us all the straight and narrow. Deb has started designing socks as of late. Do take a moment and check out her patterns. I am using Louet gem fingering weight. I initially planned a Lorna's Laces pinky yarn for the background but it was swallowing up the design so redid it in blue and black and am quite happy with the results.

Have you seen this magazine? Yes it does say Debbie Bliss. I, and others have had some problems with her yarn, splitty, knotty, broken, etc. but I do so love her yarn and patterns. Long long ago in a galaxy far away..oh wait...long ago when DS2 was born, actually even a short time before that when I didn't know he would be DS2, I made a jumpsuity outfit from a DB pattern, just the cutest...I have recently come across that pic and must scan it into the computer.

I have gone off the wagon...eleven weeks of no yarn purchases for self and I broke...yep...I finally, FINALLY caught a Wollmeise update, woot!!! I can't wait for the new navy yarn from Claudia. Lordy what fun that was to be in on the rolling update. it was a search and destroy mission. But I got some that I wanted so I am a happy camper. Unfortunately while waiting and stalking the other WMers turned me on to two other sites and I bought some of their yarn as well. OK fingers start knitting....

I found this yarn at Joann's...it is Merino superwash if I remember and under 5 dollars a ball!!! I love the colors and can't wait to see how it stripes up!

This was a birthday gift from my good friend, Michelle. It is rayon and has a metallic thread running through that is copper!!! COPPER FPS!!! I love it and will make a beautiful shawl from it!!

This is the yarn from my latest Chameleon Colorworks Foot Club...it is the bambino blend which is incredibly soft!

I am expecting the third installment of the Wollmeise sock club and the first of the third round of the Loopy Ewe sock club. WOW, what a great week this will be!!!!

ETA: This is the Sock Club shipment from the Loopy Ewe , what wonderful goodies Sheri always includes. Look at the carabiner with needle gauge and tape measure/pen! So cute and useful!!
I am also casting on for this shawl, Madli. Dear Bev asked if wanted to join her and Helen(both mermaiders)in an impromptu KAL...the date was March 1 but I have been to busy and am ready to go now.

I have loved this jacket since first seeing it a year or so ago at Kpixie ...today I got an email it was 40% off, another savings code and nearly 50% off!! I got it in the black colorway...it doesn't say if I need buttons or they come with but either way!!
Funny thing, Kpixie is in the same town as me but no storefront,however it means very quick shipping!!




We closed on our refinance of the house and did quite well so have started the projects going again. Soon it will be warm enough to finish painting the house, then the porch, the barn(but first install a new garage door and a new window in place of the hayloft door). Also the plans are drawn up for the deck and once we check into permits that will be a go. it will be a rather large deck, possibly as large as 22' x 24'. We have purchased a screened gazebo to set upon it at one corner and some Victorian looking resin wicker furniture. We thought about the standard table and chairs but will get much more use out of the sitting arrangement. Of course the dogs will have outside beds.

Ahh the dogs...so darn cute. Poor Phineas has come to need a diet, he is 5-10 pounds overweight and has been definitely diagnosed with lameness. I knew it from day one. SO he is on a lower calorie food and we are trying to get him an extra walk or three a week. He seems to already have slimmed down a bit. I will take him in for xrays in a few weeks and see how bad things are. Luckily for him, this is what I and DH do, radiology, so we will look at the images and not be talked into something we don't feel is necessary. Of course we do love his vets so...but he has been taking glucosamine and his food has some in it. He seems springier than before and has managed a few jumps onto the bed. Great yes, but not good for his hips so we almost have to discourage the jumping. Poor little guy. I heard dome whimpering a week ago and tracked it down to the kitchen. there sat my little guy with his paw on his bowl and his head on his paw whimpering for food. Saddest thing I ever saw. Yes I did give him something. he is a puppy...and he has me wrapped around his finger...and he is a puppy... They both got hoodies today, LOL. I have to reorder as they are a tiny bit small. But this is the boys modelling them. Phineas looks striking in his brown and green seems to be Oliver's color!!

The pups also got some new stuffed rabbits. What fun they are having! The rabbits seem to land on their feet when tossed around, most of the time. It is well worth the money spent on them for the entertainment factor alone.

We have a new 52" HDTV...lordy...the people on the screen have larger heads than mine, it is freaky. The boys are enjoying it for video games and I am sure I will like it for exercising once I get used to it. We have a new tv stand coming which is very period appropriate for the house.

My DM, Hi Mom! was to come for a visit this past week but we got hit with another storm and the visit had to be postponed. I love the winter, love the snow, love the gloom and darkness but enough is enough. I want to paint and plant some around the house and ride my bike. Enough!

ETA: As I writing this(Monday) it hs started to snow yet again!!! Perhaps 6-8" is the latest guesstimate.

In January I was fortunate enough to get the Zuma bag from Namaste in eggplant. Sheri has them at the Loopy Ewe. This is the Buddy that goes with it to hold notions. The inside cover is magnetic to keep your needles in place. It is a worthwhile purchase!!

I was given this yesterday as a somewhat belated birthday gift from DH...can you see what it is? I am sure it will get some use very soon.

OK I think that is enough for you all to digest for the moment. If the sock club shipments are here in the next day or two will add pics.

I will add links and more pics later tonight (Monday)

Take good care and tell your children how special they are.

Happy Birthday Mom!

So today is my Mother's birthday, we will not mention how many although I believe she would not mind. My Mother and I share a birth month, love of sparkly things, handcraftiness, interior design and Victoriana, among other things. I was the first girl after two sons and my room was appropriately girly. Apparantly I spent most of my young life in frilly dresses,LOL. I am sure this is where my love of purple stems from. So today Happy Birthday, Mom and thanks for your part in making me who I am.
I will depart from knitting a bit more to say Happy Birthday also to my SIL,Linda(also today) my sister,Dorene(tomorrow) and my newest SIL, Kim ( a bit later in the month). Hmmm...there may be one BIL in there as well somewhere. Happy February birthday to us all. May they be filled with sparkly amethysts.
OK tomorrow this will return to a knitting update, lol.

CABLES

I guess you love them or hate them...I, for one am in love. Always have been. Many many moons ago I made Aran knit sweaters for Mom and Dad and children from acrylic. Lordy.....Mom gave me back Dad's sweater after he passed and I treasure it. It is acrylic and it is old, but I made it with love. Now I make most things from wool, bamboo,alpaca or some combination of...However, today's fiber folks have done wondrous things with acrylics. The "Cardigan for Merry" I am making for Ana is a microfiber, it is so soft and perfect for a baby. It has the cables from the Arwen Cardigan. They are magnificent reversible cables and I want to put them on everything. They are sturdy and tactile and this is the kind of cable I want on a sweater I will design. It works grandly when there is a hood where both sides of the cable band are visible. The same knits and purls you use for everything moved around a little produce these wondrous things we call cables. I have always loved them braids, gum wrapper braids, all of it. Look at what I am gushing over...

I finally have a picture of where the mittens have stopped as well.....
Just a brief interruptioon...I fully anticipate the sweater being done by Monday night and then back to the mittens. It will be good to have some things finished. Next week also will show progress pictures of the swap mittens....
OK just a quickie post, getting ready for work and will post again Sunday night.

Hi Mom, right now 90 percent of our snow is gone, I will not be fooled though I know there is more coming. But when the snow melted we had a sudden blossoming of dog toys. I picked up 20 so far that were buried so they are currently in the dishwasher.

Hot Dawgs!!!

will add pics Friday morning....promise...please check back

I don't mean my puppies all snuggled under a blanket, I mean real hot dogs!!

I am watching the travel channel and they are on Coney Island eating N*th*n's hot dogs....is it me? I LOVE HOT DOGS!!! I love them boiled with a soft bun, onions,mustard, relish...grilled with a toasted bun and onions and cheese,sliced up into spaghetti and a small amount of sauce....but the very best way to eat a hot dog is raw...peel it like a banana and eat it, it is like a very little roll of bologna. And yes I do love bologna...the best is on two slices of lightly frozen white bread with a slathering of yellow mustard. I have not had raw hot dogs or bologna in years! You get to be a grown up and the medical community says these are bad things...I have had hot dogs on a plate no bun, or IK*A hot dogs, c'mon they are like 2/$1.00 or something like that....Perhaps my birthday meal of choice this year will be hot dogs or bologna sandwiches or fried eggs and fried bologna or spaghetti and hot dogs or....

Knitting is moving along, I wish I could report the mittens were done, but I cannot but I do have this much done...

They are warm and beautiful...

They were not done as we spent a lot of time getting ready for the appraisal and then I worked. I have been knitting a lot the past two days as I am making a sweater for a friend's very young daughter (This sweater is the pattern, not my sweater,lol)
...I had aspirations of finishing this by Saturday, we shall see...I just cast on Monday and am through the back and 1/3 of the way through both sleeves. I am saving the cabled parts for last but don't anticipate much trouble. I am just not sure I have adequate time for finishing but I will try very very hard. You never know what people are willing to put on their children or have much time they have to devote to care so I am using a microfiber acrylic yarn. It is very soft and drapey and splity, but it is a small sweater so I will deal.

I have received my Wollmeise from my anniversary gift order, look...yes that is Poison Nr 5
and Barista
...gorgeous eh? AND In hopes of doing some color work I procured two skeins of Schwartz.
Claudia is doing some solids and I keep missing her updates but my stash is telling me not to complain so...I have held off other yarn purchases, have made it through one month so far, 5 to go.(except Wollmeise, DH says it doesn't count, LOL).

I am again in the No More Humdrum Mitten Swap and have decided on these mittens
with these yarns(from stash)
I will use the top yarn in the Lorna's the pinks.
I have been observing others mittens and they seem rather short to me so I will be adding length and hope for the best.

SO let's see, working on sweater, mittens and then finishing Love Song which I have added another skein to...yea!!! I cannot wait to get to the saddles at the shoulder. I also got the new Vogue Knitting and really want to make Jared's new gloves.....have you seen them?
I ordered a 000 circular needle once I discovered this scarf
in this magazine
is made from yarn in my stash....I think it makes a very lovely male scarf and will make one for DS1.

We have been buried again in snow, yesterday we were hit hard again. DS2 slid over a small median and we had to tow him off, he was fine, thank goodness and his car was fine. When he was taking driver's education his dad enrolled him in a class that takes place in the winter. It teaches driver's how to react in winter situations, they have them speed up and slam on the brakes to spin, etc...it is very weather dictated as they want similar conditions . Such a unique and worthwhile class to take. DS1 and DSGF both slid in the exact same place DS2 had gone over the median but they managed to stay off it. Again, thank you. This is a snowman DS2 and I made after a long day. We splashed some of the red food coloring accidentally on his chest which then became intentional and murderous.
OK my latest stash entry is up to 615, not skeins just entries, FPS...that is a lot of yarn!!! I will add the individual skeins and post a total as soon as I know it...prepare yourself.

I have two incredibly sweet puppies hoping for a walk even though in is in the 20s so I will end here. I had them weighed last week and Oliver, 13 months is back up to 87 pounds, and Phineas, 7months yesterday, is 71 pounds. That is a lot of dog to walk when I hold them in one hand, LOL. But here we go.....
That is not a picture of Oliver, it is on a pet magazine and is frighteningly similar to Oliver. The closest I have ever seen....

This sugar syrup
Whips up into this fluffy sweetness
Which becomes these chocolate dipped marshmallows, decadent.....


Hello Mom, hope you are all dug out, do they make snowmen on the golf course? they should..

A little sidebar, I am so disappointed they suspended Michael Phelps. I realize what he did was wrong, I am so against drugs, but there are so many more important things to focus attention on. He was a young man giving his all in a sport that is suddenly in the forefront. he brought much honor to his country. You cannot overwhelm someone so quickly with fame and attention and not expect to find a flaw. We spy on and harrass our superstars to the degree that no mere mortal person could ever measure up to. It had nothing to do with the anti doping standards. Yes, it was a mistake, but especially in a country where the laws regarding marijuana are loosening ... It is a shame he had to be made an example of. I wonder if he would have been had this been prior to all the gold he won? Just my opinion on my blog. I am confident he will come back from the three months stronger than ever before, and also a little wiser.