Say My Name, Say My Name...

Everybody, I would like to introduce you to. . .
(drum roll please)Yes, the new kitten has finally been named, and that name is Zoe, pronounced Zo-ee, rhymes with Chloe (the cantankerous cat we already owned), and she is starting to know-e her name already. Yay! In the photos above, you can see some of the process of cat and kitten getting to know each other...from big-cat-in-hiding to getting-used-to-it-being-here, they have even started to play a little...batting at one another and chasing each other up and down the hall, and up and down the stairs, and up and down the other occupants of the house! What fun!

By the way, I want props for these photos...it's really difficult to photograph a black cat that moves all the time...at warp speed! My photography and Photoshop skills are to be envied!

And really, that is about all the news that I have to report. A couple of knit-bits for you:

The CONTEST continues through today, and there will be a short blog post tomorrow, naming the winner. There are over 50 entries and I can't wait! Thanks for all the comments and follows!

I have finally started the sleeves on my CARDIGAN (but, sadly, I have not taken any new photos).

My second of the CANDY CANE SOCKS has begun, and I am nearly through the first lace repeat (here also, no new photos, sorry).

So that's it, Pretty Knitty Fans. Until tomorrow...

say it with me

Knit in good health!

Contest, with a couple Distractions. . .

So, Heeeeyyyyy! I know it's late in the day, but it IS still Saturday! Here's a reminder of the prize and the rules:

Boku Yarn, AND
A row counter (you pick 20-row w/daisies or 100-row w/cupcake), AND
A Pretty Knitty Surprise Gift!
More specs in this post!

Enter by leaving a comment on the blog, AND/OR
Following the blog, and leave a comment telling me that you do or did, AND/OR
Email me, and tell me something about you at PrettyKnittyJewelry [at] yahoo [dot] com.
Dont forget to tell me which counter you would prefer. . .more specs in this post!

Each person may enter up to 3 times, and the contest runs until Sep. 30th! I will choose a winner and post in a special blog post on Thursday, Oct. 1st! Yay! Good luck, Everybody!

In the Knon-Knitting Knews arena, here have been my weekend distractions:

My beautiful daughter came home from college for the weekend. She is in the business program at her school, and she needed some clothes of the business-casual category...all she had were jeans.

We shopped for a good part of the day, and we had a good time, followed by Coke icees from Burger King for all our hard work. AND, we have decided to save her dad from the stress of knowing how much we actually spent. . .but she is set now. ;-)

After the shopping, we went to pick up the latest addition to our little family...this very cute little kitten. Said kitten has been to the vet, and introduced to the cantankerous cat we already own, and we are in love. This is a picture of her in her nap state, which we saw all afternoon.

Now, she is up and at 'em, romping all over the house, playing with everything. Haha! So funny to have a "baby" in the house again! I wonder what the puggle would say if she were to visit again. . .

Our next challenge is to name the little cutie! I will have to let you know. . .so far the names Olive, Spud and Revenge have come up for discussion. . .not sure who she will be. Maybe someone altogether different.

So, enter the contest, and enjoy the rest of your weekend. Oh, and knit in good health!

Enter Today!...It's a CONTEST!

Follow me, everybody, on a journey that began some six months ago, right here at the Pretty Knitty Jewelry blog! That's when I decided to start telling the world about me, my knitting, my family and my etsy shop, and it has been fun! I hope that you are having fun, too...

Tomorrow, September 24, 2009, marks the actual 6-month bloggiversary of my very first post, so I would like to celebrate with a CONTEST! Here is the booty:

Your CHOICE of EITHER

20-row Knitting Row Counter (daisies, fits needles to 5mm/sz. 8 US) OR

100-row Knitting Row Counter (cupcake, fits needles to 6mm/sz. 10 US)

PLUS
Two skeins of Plymouth BOKU yarn (95% Wool, 5% Silk; worsted; 99 yds/50g ball).

This yarn was gifted to me by Dawn (thank you) for the contest, I believe the color is 12.

PLUS
A Pretty Knitty Surprise Gift! (I am really excited about this one...but it's a surprise!)

There are three ways to enter:

1. Leave me a comment telling what your favorite yarn of all time is. (Also, tell me which counter you want if you win!)
2. Follow the blog, and leave a comment telling me you have started to follow! (Also, tell me which counter you want if you win!)
3. Send me an email at PrettyKnittyJewelry [at] yahoo [dot] com, and tell me something about you, your knitting style, favorite projects, colors...anything at all! (Also, tell me which counter you want if you win!)

Each item counts as one entry, do one or all three - your choice, and you have until the end of September to enter! The winner will be announced in a special post on October 1st! Don't forget to include which counter you would like if you win! And good luck, everybody!

Knit (and play) in good health!

Glorious, Lazy Saturday

As the post title suggests, today was a good day. Not a day to go down in history, nothing super-terrific happened. Just a day to sleep in a little, spend some time with my sweet hubby, do some laundry, clean a bathroom, watch a little TV, and knit a bit. sigh! It has been a lovely day!

Here is what I have been working on today:
My Cardigan, in Knit Picks' Pallette (fingering-weight) and Shimmer (lace-weight, added in every 10th row) yarns. (You won't find this colorway in the Shimmer anymore, the pink-and-yellow Happy Dance has been discontinued, sadly.) This is the first of the two fronts, and it is nearly finished! I love the way the fronts go so much more quickly than the back! And I love how this is turning out!
I also love how my Candy Cane Socks are turning out. . .Look! I am almost ready to start my toe on sock 1! Yay! My mods are listed on my Ravelry Page. The yarn is Plymouth Happy Feet.

Most of my sock knitting today happened on the way to and from the movies. We saw Inglorious Basterds, directed by Quentin Tarantino. Now, I am not normally into movies with lots of violence, and this movie definitely had a LOT of violence, but I loved the film! Our DD had recently told her Dad that she had seen it and thought it was funny. I also found a good amount of humor. . .no, more like irony. . .throughout. He did not like the movie as much as I did. I'm glad we saw it, though.

And, since I only post twice each week, I will share some fun that I had yesterday, as well! See the twins? See the twins smell the flowers? Are they not adorable? Of course they are! I had the wonderful opportunity to play with them a little bit after work yesterday, and we had a good time. We walked to the playground, and stopped to smell the posies on our way back home! They are two, and it's so fun to watch them just explore everything. For those of you who go to church with me, I will let you in on the new phrase I heard all the way to the playground and back. . ."Goose poop ucky!" lol!

So, thanks for listening. Come back again soon! My 6-month bloggiversary is this Thursday, and there will be a contest, with yarn and other fun stuff! Yay!

Knit in good health!

Not exactly "Wordless Wednesday"!

But pretty sparse on the words to be sure! Short on time, but check out the brother and sister sweaters that are now finished! Yay!

Wonderful Wallbies bouncing all over the place! Yay!

Knit in Good Health!

Seeing RED!

And that is a good thing!

It has been ages since I have had a clay-play-day, but I had one today! I have already even baked and glazed the pieces and they are dry! Look to the right to see what I have come up with: some fair-isle looking sweaters and hats, a couple of socks and a mitten or two in the mix! The details are in white, blue and yellow, and these were very fun to make...and I have a couple of tiny pieces of the detail discs that I am going to make into stitch markers that will match perfectly! I should start listing these pieces in the shop in a week or two, so check it out when you have a chance!

Continuing in the red theme, these are my newest knitting project, Candy Cane Socks! They are knit in Plymouth Happy Feet yarn (I think the color is #4?) on size 1 needles, though the pattern is written for a heavier wool with larger needles. To adjust, I added some stitches between the candy cane motifs, and I made a few other adjustments to taste as well...like there is a row of straight purls between the motifs in the original pattern, but I replaced it with a plain knit row...and I will do two or three repeats of the candy cane (can't remember how many the pattern calls for) before starting the heel...I think that's it tho. I love this knit, and I am glad that I will finally have a pair of Christmas socks! With all the socks I know I have knit, I cannot believe that I didn't already have one!


In Knon-Knitting-Knews, this weekend we are Puggle-sitting! As a matter of fact, I was going to title this post "Watch! Don't Step in a Puggle!," up until I started working with the clay! My DIL has gone to another state to set up housekeeping for herself and Army Boy (when he returns), and her mom went with her, and they have two doggies. Sophie the Puggle (part Pug, part Beagle) has come to stay with us until her mom gets back to town! This is the first dog we have had in the house since our 12-year-old beagle passed in the spring, and the cat is not impressed! She tells us (and the dog) every time we see her! lol!

Well, it's just for a short time, and this is a really sweet dog (don't you agree?), so I guess the cat will just have to "man up" until the end of the visit! I think the funniest part of the visit so far was when the Hubster brought the dog up to bed the first night, and he let her sleep under the covers! Haha! I know he is great with kids and pets, but I was not expecting him to do that! My kids will understand that when they read it!

Well, I guess that's it for now. More details about the contest soon! (Don't forget that Dawn's contest runs until midnight tonight! Hurry over to enter!)

Knit in good health!

Another One Flies the Coop. . .

And another one's gone,
And another one's gone,
Another one flies the coop!

Hey!, It's gonna get to you,
Now you have an Empty Nest...

So, I knew they were movin' on out, one at a time, and I have bloggged about this before. I guess I did not think about them leaving in stages like this...it's a new level of out with each piece they take from my home, that used to be their home...sigh!

These are pictures of the latest load of Army Boy's things to leave our family's house. I am excited for the, "newlyweds" as they prepare to set up housekeeping on their own (finally, once said boy returns from the Scary Place)...and I am excited to have some reclaimed closet space, but I am also a little sad, like there are nerve endings in the "apron strings." You moms out there get what I am sayin', right? But, in the grand scheme of things, it is as it should be. ;-) And Wifey-Poo will be taking their stuff to the other state soon, and he will be "home," where his heart and his wife are, soon after that. And they will continue to build their lives together - Yay!

In Knitting Knews this week, I have finished Who?, the hat for our friend at the Coffee Shop, and I like how it turned out! I will wash it, and sew some little buttons on just one of the owls before presenting the gift, do you think he will like it? BTW, my model was my Dear Husband. However, said husband agreed to the photo shoot only on the condition that his face not show up anywhere online! lol! So here is the hat, sans Hubby!
The big project I am working on is Wallaby 2, for the sister in the brother-sister pair I mentioned in the last few posts! This one, being a mere size 4, is going MUCH more quickly than the size 8 in gray! It's a lot more fun in pink, though, so I am a little sad that it is going so fast.
Oh, well, when it is done, I can go back to my Cardigan!

Meanwhile, back in the shop, LOOK what I ordered from CatChic on Etsy! Aren't these the most adorable, tiny pieces of cutlery that you have ever seen? They are about 3/4" long, and there are even tiny spaces between the tines of the forks! Originally, I thought they might have just been stamped metal, and prepared myself that they would not look as good in person, but looky here! They look darn good. . .and I have a creative plan for including them in some holiday-themed knitting jewelry! Stay tuned to Pretty Knitty Jewelry to find out what they become!!!

Well, I guess that's about it for this post...except for patting myself on the back for posting on time this time! I mean, I try to post on Wednesday and Saturday, and today is Wednesday! Yay!

Oh, one more thing before I go...I haven't heard anything about what you all might like to win in a Pretty Knitty Contest. So, I will come up with something on my own, and the 6-month Bloggiversary Contest will begin later this month! In the meantime, my friend Dawn is running a CONTEST over on her blog. . .check out Dawn and her neat designs here!

Knit in Good Health!

If Idle Hands are the Devil's Playground. . .

Then I am in good shape!

I used to think that I would get less busy as the kids got older, but it turns out that. . .not so much, really! When they were teeny, tiny babies, the bottles and the laundry seemed to take over the house and my life. When they were little, there was always something around the house to pick up. . .and we taught them to help. When they were in school, there was PTA and homework we could help them with. In Middle- and High-School, sports-a-plenty.

And then it all seemed to be slowing down. One moved out. Got married. Is in the Army.
The other graduated High School and moved into a college dorm.

Yet, still I am a pretty busy lady. It seems like I can just fill up whatever time is given to me without any trouble at all. I have prepared myself for my empty nest over the last two years... taken up knitting...joined a group that meets weekly to knit...created knitting jewelry and started selling it online...started a blog (Can you believe it? I have a BLOG!)...well, I am pretty good at filling up a day!

That's why it didn't surprise people when I told them there would not be too much relaxing this 3-day, holiday weekend. There have been many things I enjoy, but not too much just sitting round! And it probably doesn't surprise my loyal readers that I totally forgot to post yesterday...it just slipped my mind! Here's what my hands were busy with on Saturday:

Jewelry for Pretty Knitty Jewelry! I started advertising last month on Alana's podcast (Never Not Knitting), and my orders have taken off! Yay! So, I got up yesterday, did some laundry, and made these. . .and helped my DIL clean out her husband's car. . .and went to the movies with the Hubster. . .and did barely any knitting at all! Weird for me, for sure!

But today I did have the chance to knit. . .yeah, I guess if you look at the hours of Little House on the Prairie that I watched on Hallmark today, you could say I spent a fair amount of time "just sitting around," but I was also knitting! And look what I finished:

Wallaby One (for JB) is done! Tonight, I think I will either start Wallaby two (for GB), or Who?, an owl hat for a young man I know!

Decisions, decisions!

But I am not making any decisions about that until I blog! Wait, it looks like I just blogged! That means that I have a date to be courted by yarn and needles! Will I choose the cool pinks on size 8s for the little girl sweater, or the warm browns on the size 6s for the tiny cabled owls with the perpetual question? Tune in next time to find out!

In the meantime, my 6-month Blogiversary is coming up near the end of this month! I am planning a giveaway, and I hope you will check back to find out what the prizes will be. . .wait! What would you like to win? The contest will not start for a while, but please leave a comment to tell me what you would like to win. . .yarn? needles? what size? brand? colors?

Now, the last couple times I asked for contest input, I did not get much. Soooo, this time I would like to offer you an incentive. If you comment on this post, and leave me your email in this format "name (at) provider (dot) com," I will offer you a 10% discount on any item in my Etsy Shop! I need the email address to send you a code for the discount, but if you are uncomfortable leaving your email address publicly, send me a message at

PrettyKnittyJewelry (at) ymail (dot) com.

Until I hear from you, Knit in Good Health!

G'Day, Mate!

Hopping in with no lack of pictures in my pouch today! There has been much knitting and much craziness since last I blogged! I am really loving the Wonderful Wallaby once again! This is still the first one, and I am plugging along, loving the knitting, but getting tired of the grey! But, even in the absence of bright colors, I am having some dump-truck fun, apparently! Yay! I am currently working on the second sleeve so I can finish the body of this thing, then on to the hood!
Here is the other reason I am tiring of the grey! It is my Cardigan in fingering-weight yarn. . .it is coming along, but going slow, as you might expect for a project in such a fine gauge. . .overall, I am loving it, and I cannot wait until I can wear it. . .this will be one of my favorites, I am sure! At least with this one, I get the pink-and-yellow peekaboo every 10th row! Yay!

And here is the bigger picture. . .back finished, first front started! Hey! Check out that cool jewelry on the knitting! haha!

Here's some more Jewelry to check out! I made some more hand-knit bracelets!

One with pink teardrops and green "leaves,"

. . .and one with beads of pink in many shapes and sizes!

Eventually, I will have bracelets like these for sale in the shop (along with their cousins that are already there), but these were for some friends that I spent the day shopping with today! (Sorry, no people pics. . .why did I not bring my camera?) Hi, Girls! It was fun! remember, make the "T" into an "I to remove the toggle clasp!

Now for some PrettyKnitty News. . .

You may know that my hours at my "regular job" were cut back a few months ago, giving me an extra day off each week (Wednesday). I found out recently that today is my last Wednesday off. Now, that's partly a good thing (more paycheck = more yarn and supplies), and partly a bad thing (more hours = less time for blogging and other fun stuff). I have been pretty good about blogging twice a week, and I will try my best to keep it up, but the mid-week update may be a little more sporadic from here on out. If that does indeed come to pass, I will compensate by making my "Saturday Evening Post" even funnier than it already is. . .

crickets

OK. . .well, it will be funnier to me. . .

crickets

Anyhow, yeah. . .

Knit in Good Health!