Feelin' Ducky....

THIS is how I've been feeling lately-like I'm upside down with my head in the water about so many things that I've got on tap. Finished one of two shrugs for the girls for Easter and I keep coming up with more projects for them!! Ready to cast on for their Summerlin dresses, and I've got another summer dress pattern for them from a knitting magazine that I borrowed from a friend. However-for some odd reason, I've been occupying my time by experimenting with free-form crochet lately?? I've been working on some easy crochet booties-made the pattern up myself and it's working out great! Only problem is that I don't know what stitch pattern Is at all-basically, I have no idea about crochet but for some reason, I can't put it down!!?? Odd, right?

I'm even using valuable Ravelry time searching more crochet patterns: crochet bunnies, booties, dresses, blankets.....what is up with me?? Seems so strange that I would be doing that when I've got so much on tap to keep myself busy (just check out my queue on Ravelry). I guess I've got Spring fever???

Plans are already in the works to do some spring cleaning of the stash. Hubby is busy building me a "Craft Station" complete with room for stash storing, large table for sewing, blocking and beading and of course, workspace for designing. I'm really excited about this as I hope it will get me more organized and able to use my time more wisely when designing. I've got so much stuff all over the place. It'll be so nice to catch up, organize the stash and know where everything is....

On a family note, we have joined a CSA!!! I'm so excited about this-we are going to be doing some volunteer work this summer on a real farm!! The CSA is going to run for 20 weeks and we purchased a full family share. We will get weekly packages of whatever is harvested (seasonal veggies and flowers) and they are possibly going to sell fresh eggs and milk at pickup. Yay! On the farm, the kids will get to play with the goats, chickens, pick some veggies (tomatoes, peas and green beans) and pet the......ALPACA!! Yep, there are two on the farm that are the farmer's pets and he shears and spins their fiber and HE KNITS! How cool is that??? I've already asked to see if he'll let me watch when he goes to shear them this spring-hopefully, he'll let me! We are so excited!!!!

On a sad note, we spent the whole afternoon there, petting the animals, plucking the eggs from the hens in the chicken house and touring the farm. Wouldn't you know, that night, Madi was already congested and wheezing and the next morning, really stuffed up? Today she is really bad, coughing up a storm and cannot breathe through her nose. Her allergy tests came back with being allergic to dogs, cats and dust, but no trees/grasses so I'm a bit boggled by why the trip to the farm did so much damage to her. Yes, they did have a doggie there that she pet, but she LIVES with a dog?!? I'm just out of my mind frustrated with all of this sickness. We are set to go to CHOP in May to figure all of this out. The poor girlie-she can barely breathe today....

Can we say addiction??

Yep-it's official!

I'm officially addicted to:

1. Twinkle Chunky yarn
2. The stitch pattern k1, *yo, k2tog,* k1

I will be making plenty more of these beauties-in varying thickness of yarns for gifts, and for me!! I know just the laceweight yarn that is sitting pretty in my stash for the next one!!! Perfect for spring-it will be!!

Anyway-here's why I'm saying that I'm addicted to this yarn-it's soft, plush and lovely AND yours truly, who rarely knits a pattern more than once, already duplicated the scarf (from previous post) for one for my BFF. Banged this one out in a week's worth of school drop-offs and pickups (those 10 minutes of waiting really do add up to good knitting time!). This baby is done and in perfect timing as I am seeing my BFF tomorrow and will give it to her then!! Hope she will love it-as she does love peachy/pink colors!!

My next project is already on the needles.....simple shrugs for the girls for Easter. Also-just arrived, is beautiful fabric bought from www.fabricsupplies.etsy.com-awesome store-great, fresh fabrics, terrific pricing, and super fast shipping!! I'm using this fabric to make two summerlin dresses for the girls. Can't wait!!




Still debating the charity carpet bag-while it would benefit my daughter's school, I'm not sure I've got enough time to do it now and I really don't want to stress myself out with it.....we'll see!!

Instant Gratification!

Ok-I have a guilty pleasure.....BULKY, pills-while-you-knit-it, designer (shocking sticker price) yarn!!! But-only when on sale!! And boy, was it worth it!!!

To back up a little, I spent a glorious day in Milford, PA, taking a finishing class with Jill Deal, of JillDeal, Inc-a very lovely LYS right in the heart of the quaint little town of Milford. I spent my whole day there (while my DARLING HUSBAND watched the girls!-LOVE HIM!) learning great techniques, eating lunch that was provided by the Hotel Fauchere, and chatting it up with some lovely ladies. There were only 4 of us in the class so it felt like a private, all day lesson! Perfect! Then I sauntered over to the shop (the class was held at the Emerson House of the Hotel Fauchere) for some kid yarn that I need for easter shrugs for the girls and that's when I saw it....Twinkle Soft Chunky....in French grey....at a sale price that I just couldn't pass up. There was one left and I snatched it right up! Jill's very sweet employee (wish I could remember her name-she's always so pleasant!) rang me up and then proceeded to wind my skein into a cake the size of Texas! I told the super-nice employee that I was going to leave it as a centerpiece on my kitchen table for awhile...but i lied!!!

It didn't last there for long b/c I couln't wait to knit with it! I found a great pattern online from Jen Reilly at Sage Yarn Blog called "Super-Fast, Ultra Cozy scarf"-need I say more?? The scarf knit up in 1 1/2 hours and really is cozy!! I think I'll be wearing it a lot!!

Catching up...

So...what have I been up to? Well, certainly not blogging since I noticed that my last post was on 2/22!! Oops. Too much going on to remember to post-sorry. So, what has been going on??

Well, this, for one! Yes-as my daughter put it-we did a "science experiment" for St. Patrick's Day. We made home-made shamrock decorations to hang up around the house and I bought some inexpensive white carnations that we dyed with green food coloring added to the water. Pretty cool, right? I did this in second grade for my elementary school's science fair and I still haven't tired of the results!


So, what else?? Besides knitting little 6 inch squares for an upcoming knitting class that I'm taking, not much knitting is going on. I'm honestly sick of knitting these and I've got at least 7 more to go, but I know it will be for a good reason-this class is going to be good!! I keep dreaming of everything else that I want to knit though, including the following: 2 dresses for the girls for spring/summer (in my queue on Ravelry)-I can't wait to purchase the fabric for these as I'm going to pick something colorful and funky-my girls can surely pull that off!!, a wrap that I just queued up on Ravelry-something light and airy but warm enough for cool spring days...and a charity handbag for my daughter's school's casino night. Hoping to knit that one by 4/18?? We'll see...

On other news, I created something new for my etsy shop that I'm really proud of. I love it when I can repurpose something, especially for knitting and that is exactly what was done with my Recycled Wire Hanger stitch holders. Because of my upcoming class that I'm taking and the fact that I have to have 18 6 inch squares held on stitch holders, I was tired of running to Ac Moore and buying more and more stitch holders. I also loathe my husband's wire hangers from the dry-cleaners and one day, when I was putting away laundry in our closet, I got an idea!! I could make wire stitch holders from my hangers!! Yay!! We have so many that I have decided to sell these at www.yarnygirl.etsy.com It makes me so happy to see these wire hangers finally put to good use! No more wire hangers in our closet!! Now they are for knitting!!! So, check 'em out-they're in the shop!!

Ok-gotta run! Enough for now-more pics to come in my next post....maybe...:0)