You Win! You Win! You Win!

Turtle! You Win! Isn't that too funnier than the dog with the hat? (Seriously, I was posting you as the winner while you were leaving that comment. . .too, too funny!) Congratulations! And thanks to everyone who played!

Turtle, who commented on Happy Anniversary Pretty. . ., she won! Yay! Turtle has several blogs, so I have linked you to her profile, and I am off in a minute to dash her an email spreading the joyful news of her good fortune!

For the rest of you, here's another bit of randomness:

I guess it's good that they both don't want to s-t-r-e-t-c-h out! Haha! But why, do you suppose, does the little cat always curl up to the big cat's butt? And why, do you suppose, is Pretty Knitty so obsessed with cat-butt lately? sigh!, and lol! Wait! I have Knitting Knews, too!

Remember that I started my That-a-Way Mitts? Well, I finished them, and have been wearing them this week! (Yes, apparently I am a super, speed-knitter!) lol And I started another market bag, which will undoubtedly appear in the Saturday blog!
Congratulations, Turtle! And. . .say it with me. . .

Knit in Good Health!

Contest Closed!

Please check back on Wednesday, March 31st for the Winning Announcement!

Our Place in the Sun. . .

I love that the cats always find their place in the sun!
I love it more when their place is on the floor!
Really, what is better on a sunny day than basking in the glow of the sunbeams? Whether you do that outside in the summer or inside on a crisp day in early spring, ya just gotta love the sun!

Know what else I love? . . .

That's right! Winning contests! Don't forget to enter the Pretty Knitty Jewelry contest if you have not already entered! All the details can be found at this link!

I entered a contest this month with WonderMike of the Fiber Beat podcast, and look what I got in the mail today:

It's Mmmmmmmalabrigo (softer than I could have imagined) Rasta, a super bulky, super squishy, super purple yarn! Super YAY!!! Back off, Michelle!. . .MY Yarn! ;p Use one of those links to check out Mike and his podcast. . .he's a funny guy, and he also does some video supplements that are quite informative! Thanks, WonderMike! I already have a scarf project in mind for this yarn. . .I cannot wait!

And, because I promised that I would blog about him today. . .DA, da da Daaaaa! Say hello to my little friend!

He and his mom were manning the face-painting table at the Easter Egg Hunt today at church, and the Hubster and I stopped in to take a look around. It was a great time, with the Easter Bunny (who is a bit camera shy) and games and music and many happy families! I am glad I stopped in, and glad I got to see the painters, because they all grow up so fast. . .I had absolutely no idea this kid could grow a moustache already! Yikes! :o)

In Knitting Knews, my Thursday group said that I would probably finish the April socks by the end of the week. . .I said, "No, I won't. It's not like I am a super, speed-knitter or anything!" But, apparently I am. And here they are:

These are the Catnip Socks (in Lion Brand Sock Ease, Rock Candy colorway) I pulled from the sock-a-month kits I had prepared for 2010. So that means that I have now finished 4 pairs, and these were supposed to last me into April! I could get out another kit, or I could start a new and different project. . .

New and different. . .I like that. So, here are my "That-a-Way" fingerless gloves! Started them this morning in leftover Araucania Ranco Multy yarn (purchased a couple summers ago in North Carolina, I think).

The pattern uses an arrow lace from some other pattern, and the charts and lace directions all mention the use of beads. Beads are not, however in the list of materials. According to the bead placement as I read the chart, I think the lace pattern assumes that beads are placed with a crochet hook, but I strung them all on, and I am placing them as I knit. That means that I place beads on the row after the pattern tells me to, but so far, so good! I am using tiny, blue, glass beads, and I think they will stand out just enough!

And now, one more gratuitous shot of the cats, both of them this time, on the dining room table:
Thanks for all the comments last week on ways to solve the problem of cat-butt where I eat. I guess I will have to break down and take a trip to the pet store for something that works. . .it does not appear that the spray-bottle of water is much of a deterrent. sigh!

Knit in Good Health!

Happy Anniversary, Pretty. . .Contest on my Mind!

Throws confetti. . .dances. . .turns music up. . .takes a swig. . .looks around, laughing. . . Notices crowd. . .turns down music. . .

Well, hellooooooo, everyone!
It's so good that you came for a visit today.

Why?, you ask. . .Because today is the 1-YEAR anniversary of both my Blog and my Etsy shop!

. . .she pauses until the applause fades just a bit. . .

I know, right?! I am sooo excited! Know what I'm gonna do to celebrate?

Yep! A contest! The winner will get to choose ANY ONE ROW COUNTER from the Etsy Shop! OR, if you don't knit, you may have your choice of two bracelets (shown below), made by Pretty Knitty herself!

Here's how to enter:
Leave me a comment, or
email me at PrettyKnittyJewelry (at) yahoo (dot) com,
letting me know
1. How did you first find my blog? and
2. Which counter-style (or bracelet-style) you like best, of the following:

The Knitting Row Counter that counts up to 100 rows, like this one:
The Knitting Row Counter that counts up to 20 rows, like this one: The Crochet/Knit Counter that counts up to 99 rows, like this one:
For the Bracelets, we have All Pink:
or Pink and Green: I will accept entries until March 30th, and I will announce the winner in the March 31st blog post! Please be sure to watch the blog to see if you win!

That's all there is to it. . .enter away! And if you want to see more examples of my work, check out the Etsy shop!


Knit (and Enter) in Good Health!

Spicy Saturday!

Wow! I look happy to be finished with the Salsa Sweater! Haha! . .and I am! It was a fun knit (sorry, friends! There is no actual pattern. . .I improvised, using a generic, Sweater-Wheel pattern generator I found online, and added in some lace that struck my fancy and some twisted stitches that I kinda made up for diamond effects in this spicy knit.) I love how it turned out, and the only thing I would change is that the distance between the waistband and armhole split could be a little short. I think I underestimated "the girls" for this one! lol


There are more details on my Rav Project Page for this one, and if you have knitted a sweater or two from any general pattern, you can do something similar. . .I just know you can!


I guess it all evens out, though, because I seem to have overestimated the size of my feet for the March through February socks (March Sock Kit that I eagerly started in Feb.)! These socks fit, but are a tad loose and long in the foot, to be sure, BUT my good friend and co-worker has graciously agreed to take them off of my hands so that I need not be reminded of my sock-knitting shortcomings so frequently! lol, and thanks, Friend! Wear them in good health, and then go knit your own socks! Wearing hand knit socks is the gateway to the sock-knitting addiction, and I am supremely happy to open that gate wide for ya! Haha!
Another reason I am so darn smiley in my Salsa is that the weather is starting to get a little spicy around here, too! Look at the hyacinth:

The sun is shining, the temperatures are coming up gradually over the last couple weeks (I am SOOOO in denial about the possible winter weather that threatens us before the end of this weekend!), and I am ready to see that sunshine on a more regular basis!

Another reason to smile is that I got to go scrapbooking last night! There is a group I crop with whenever I can (they meet once a month), but this is the first time I have been able to go ALL YEAR! (full time at work plus hobbies is starting to kick my butt a little! lol) Woo Hoo! So glad that I got to go, both because I love to play and because I love to look at pictures of the little people who seasoned our lives so long ago. . .just look at College Girl and Army Boy when they were little:

Soooo sweet! I got 6 pages done (pictures and papers stuck down) and my new plan is to try to do that part on a bunch of pages, and leave the writing and embellishing until another time. Look how little College Girl and Army Boy are in that photo! I mean, I have their albums finished (birth to HS graduation), but I have years of pictures to scrapbook before I am anywhere near caught up with this craft! Good grief, Pretty Knitty! How many hobbies do you have? Always just one too few. . .I haven't tried building model airplanes yet. . .


But, I digress. . .lol. . .back to the knitting! Since I finished a sweater and a pair of socks, I was out of knitting projects, so I started my fourth sock kit of 2010, Catnip Socks:

These are toe-ups, I am knitting with Lion Brand Sock-Ease in the color "Rock Candy" on 2.25mm needles, and so far, I like! These have a reverse heel-flap and gusset, and I have wanted to try one of these heels for quite some time, so here we have it! I will let you know how it goes. . .until then. . .

Knit in Good Health!

Wearin' O'the Green?

Yes, it is March 17th. Yes, that means it is St. Patrick's Day. Yes, people wear green on St. Patrick's Day. No, I did not remember to wear green today. . .oops! I thought about it two days ago, but I did not even consider it this morning.

It didn't even really dawn on me that I might think about wearing green today until I was noticing this beautiful sunrise on my way to work this morning, and listening to the DJ talk about the parade!
"There's a parade?," I thought. . ."I wonder what for?" Seriously. Then I changed the station and figured it out when another DJ, on another station, started to talk about green beer. . .sometimes I live (quite contentedly) under a rock!

Even though I completely forgot about the "Wearin' O'the Green," I have not forgotten about the Knittin' O'the Green! Here are my March through February socks in progress. . .just turned the heel on sock 2 a day or two ago! Yay!:

Not finished by St. Patty's Day, but then, I probably wouldn't have remembered to wear them anyway, so I guess it's no big loss. . .lol!

Something I did finish yesterday was my Salsa Sweater!

I am hoping to get some better pics with it after blocking, and in better light, and actually ON. . .that picture is just to prove that I did finish the seemingly endless knitting of fingering yarn! I mean, I loved the knitting, and because I finished the "skirt" in the round, there were not seams to sew at the end. . .but the down side to that is that EVERY ROW WAS 301 STS. . .for like 135 rows! UGH! But it's done. . .I thi-i-ink. . .

Do you remember that I thought about adding lace to the cuffs, lace to match the "skirt"? You don't? Well, then, I didn't! Yeah. . .that's the ticket. . . (I may go back later to add cuffs, but I am sooooo done with the sweater for now! lol)

And now, for some random, well, RANDOMNESS. . .

Why is the cat on the table? Does anyone know why the cat's favorite place in the whole house is on the Dining Room Table? Does anyone know how I can make it stop? sigh!

And why is the cat under the rug? Does anyone know why the cat's other favorite place in the whole house is under the rug at the bottom of the stairs? Does anyone know how I can make it stop? double sigh!

I guess one good thing about the cat being under the rug is that if I trip over her just once more, and I sprain my ankle, I might just be forced to stay off my feet for awhile, and then I would have more knitting time. . .just sayin'.

Watch where you walk this week, and Knit in Good Health!

Rainy Saturday! Yay?

This is what it looked like outside most of this past week, while I was inside this building at my work-a-day job. . .nothin' but blue skies and sunshine and temps way above normal, near the 70s (F) even on Thursday and Friday!:
When I woke up this morning, not having to work today, this is what it looked like. . .drizzle and dark clouds and around 40 degrees (F), no sun in sight. . .for the whole day! lol:

Do Rainy Days and Mondays always get you down? Not me, usually. . .and here is why:

You know that College Girl is home on Spring Break, and today is the first day of the whole week that we have all mostly been home together! Yay!

The other reason is, of course, that rainy mornings are good for watching classic movies and knitting on sweaters. . .no new photos of Salsa, sorry!. . .but the lace is coming along. . .slowly. . .and it was fun to work while watching Dorothy's adventure!:

And rainy afternoons are a good time to cast on all 100 needles of the knitting machine to knit up a super-quick, carry-along blanket for a new baby boy! Just a simple stockinette in gray, with a finished-by-hand, narrow, seed-stitch border in blue and the baby's initial duplicate stitched in a corner. 3 hours, start to finish, and most of that was the hand-knitting!:

Hmmmm, rainy afternoons are also good for practicing spinning! I got these new, resin spindles from Dragoncraft's Etsy shop! I am afraid that I have not really done them justice in this photograph, but they are all kinds of gorgeous! I have even spun a little fiber on the pink one! Happy, happy! Joy, joy!

So, what was the weather like in your neighborhood today? Whatever it was, I sure hope that it didn't get you down! I hope that you got some knitting done, and that you got to spend a little time relaxing and unwinding. . .

Knit in Good Health!

Sunshine Day!

I think I'll go for a walk outside now, the summer sun's calling my name!. . .can I get an "Amen"? LOL, but I am loving the sunshine lately!

As a matter of fact, my day started with sunshine today! Yay! It rained a little last night, and the weather gurus are calling for drizzles and rain right through the weekend, but the sun greeted me for my morning drive! I love what the sun is doing for the snow, as it melts and re-freezes, turning the snow into piles of frozen diamonds!
It's been warmer in the daytime this week, with highs in the 40s and even low 50s, but the evenings have still been pretty chilly. So, how do you warm your paws when Mom has the thermostat set at 66? Well, if Dad wears a hoodie, you could always cuddle up next to him with your paws in his pocket! Yep, Dad's lap is the place to be when it's cold outside. . .BOTH cats think so!

Another option to warm frigid fingers is to just DO SOMETHING! Not a problem for a knitter or new spinner! Here is what I worked on last night, chasing the chill by spinning and knitting!:

One of the latest Ravelry groups I have joined suggests that you spin "10 Minutes A Day," every day to get in the habit and help establish muscle memory for the process, so I have been trying to do that! Some days it's more than 10 minutes, and I have missed a day here and there, but overall I think I am doing well. Here is what I have managed to spin since finishing my first yarn:

I am not sure of the fiber content, but I believe it is in batt form. I am getting pretty good at setting up the spindle and spinning with the "park and draft" method. I am a little frustrated that I cannot draft quickly and smoothly enough to move past the park to draft while the spindle spins, but I am sure that will come in time. If any of you have any hints, I'd love a comment!

In Knitting Knews, I have started the lace on the Salsa Sweater! It's not going as quickly as I had hoped, partly because I am working on 301 stitches in each row, and partly because sometimes I would rather spin than knit lately. . .lol! In any case, the lace is a repeat of 16 rows, and I have finished 2.5 repeats so far. . .yay!

The other knitting I am working on is a combination of knitting and finishing! This is one of my Baby Steps sweaters, and all the pieces were knit on my new knitting machine. Now I am just working on the ribbing and seaming! Looking good, no?

So, all is well with Pretty Knitty! By the way, Alice in Wonderland was WONDERFUL! I want to see it again! The dialogue went pretty quick, and there were some accents to listen to, so I am sure I missed things, but it was well-done and very funny! I loved it! So, there's my un-official review! You should go see it!

And where has the time gone? It's already Wednesday, and it does not feel like that should be possible! Wasn't it just Saturday a minute ago? Oh, well! I guess the trick to seizing the day is that when you find a moment, you must make the most of it! I hope you find many moments this week!

Knit in Good Health!

SPRING BREAK - 2010!!!

So, as per the usual, I woke up around 6. . .yes, even though it's Saturday. . .what can I say? I am cursed with the curse of the Morning-Person-ness. . .that sounded weird. . .well, I have been up since, six. Anyway, you know the drill. . .make the coffee, get dressed, pour the coffee and settle in for some Little House on the Prairie, my Saturday morning indulgence. I just love to watch Little House, and I love it more with a cat and some knitting stretched across my lap!
This morning, on top of fresh coffee, vintage television and knitting, the cats and I got another special treat!

That's right! College Girl is home for Spring Break! Yay! I will pause here so you may observe your own moment of celebration to commemorate this glorious occasion. . .

. . .pause. . .

Sigh! So good to have her home! Bonus. . .we are planning to catch the remake of Alice in Wonderland this evening! Can't wait!

My own Wonderland included much knitting on the Salsa Sweater recently:

The skirt and cuffs are all that is left to knit. I was really struggling to decide whether I wanted one large button or several small buttons to close this empire-waist cardigan, so in pure Pretty-Knitty-Style I chose a tie closure. Reminds me a little of the Stardust cardi I did for my DIL some time ago. . .and I am loving how it came out! Yay! I have knit about 8 rows of the lace skirt since this morning, and I look forward to having this piece ready-to-wear by next weekend!

Of course, this being Saturday, I would have been farther along if it hadn't been

. . .Dum, Dum, DUMMMMMMM!. . .

TAX DAY at Pretty Knitty's house! So the Federal and State taxes are done, and filed for Hubs and I and College Girl, and all that's left is the City tax forms, which I will do online tomorrow. Huge sigh of relief, because now that the taxes are done, we can do our FAFSA. . .ugh! But, it's gotta be done, so it is what it is! I hope that you have yours done. . .refund = yarn, right?

Knit in Good Health!

Good Day, Sunshine. . .!

Aaarrrggghhhh! What is it?!?
It hurts my eyes!. . .I see spots!. . .Where did it come from?!?

Oh. . .I see. The sun, you say? Well, I suppose I will just settle down then.

Hey, Sun! Feels like "long-time-no-see". . .are you here to stay awhile, or are you just teasing us with the promise of Spring? Because, it's been a pretty long winter. . .I mean the weather guy said that February was the second snowiest February since they started keeping records. . .I believe it, too! The Hubs spent so much time moving so much snow. . .ouch!
Oh, how we have missed you, Sunshine! I hope you won't be a stranger. Come back anytime! There's only one kinda person I can think of that might not want to see more of you. . .

SNOW PEOPLE!

Of course, this guy was built, then buried the last time the snow machine kicked into gear, and he told me just the other day that he has had about enough as well. . .just sayin'.

I look forward to knitting in the sun again someday. . .it's still a bit too cold here, but there has been indoor knitting at least. No pictures of this, but I did manage to finish sleeve 2 on the Salsa Sweater, and I am into sleeve 3 (was sleeve 1 before a horrible, disfiguring accident and frogging became necessary to morph this piece back into a recognizable Salsa Sleeve. . .sigh!). I have just stopped knitting in the round, dividing the stitches to work the decreases to shape the sleeve cap. My next spicy decision with this sweater is whether to work the lace edging on the sleeves before sewing them into the sweater or not. . .I suppose I will have to decide exactly what kind of lace edging I want to use before I knit it, so perhaps the decision will be driven by the shape of the sweater? We shall see, and I am pretty sure I will have some photos of that for you on Saucy Saturday.

I DO have a picture of my March through February, Harris Tweed socks in Knit Picks Stroll (Grass)! I am loving these socks. They go quick. . .actually, I did the whole toe, and about 16 rows of that second cuff, yesterday while waiting for some car repairs, and I love that these are also a mindless knit! I love the texture of the stitch. . .I think it would make a lovely sweater for College Girl. . .I wonder if she would agree?

Well, that's about all for today. I am nearing the 1-year bloggiversary mark, and I hope to commemorate that in some way. Stay tuned!

Knit in Good Health!