CarmelKnits, etc.

My 2011 knitting plan is already shot and I blame it all on my lack of self control and my need to give/force knitted items upon people I love, forgetting, that as the knitter I should probably keep a few things for myself......However,the bottom line is this...... I'm doing what makes me happy what I do makes others happy so it's a win win and if at the end of 2011 I only have half of a new sweater then that's okay because that means those I love the most are warm, comfy, and thinking of me as I thought of them as I knit......... Knitting has no expiration date

Mr. Brown has a routine and it's the same 7 days a week. 3 minutes before my alarm is to go off he comes over and sniffs my face, which results in my telling him to go lay back down. Alarm goes off......I hit snooze 1 minute before snoozed alarm goes off, *sniff sniff sniff* with a few grunts thrown in for good measure. So I get up, Gabby gets up, and Mr. Brown is at the ready. He has his bone in his mouth, Gabby has whatever animal she took to bed with her the night before and we all head down to the kitchen with a quick stop at the top of the stairs so Gabby can stretch and get a pat on the head, and Mr. Brown can get a scratch on the butt and a grab of his muzzle...........Out the door they go, the come racing back in, Gabby supervises the serving of the kibble watching each cupful as it dumps into the bowl at the ready to catch any strays, and it's at this point that Quintus goes downstairs to check for a snack of his own.......See Dale leaves a paper towel in the cuphold o...

First....the Hat.....Thelia designed by Kim Delacruz who I've become friends with over the past year and who I adore as a person as well as a designer and lucky me, she occasionally will ask me to test something fabulous like this hat.....the hat is posted for purchase and you can get the link here ....I used Cascade 128 chunky superwash and a size 10.5 needle. However, since I have a head the size of a jellybelly on steroids I need to make my next one just a little bit longer. I spoke with Kim this morning and she said that she extended the ribbing on her second one almost double and that did the trick. The quote of the day that showed up in my email inbox from RealSimple.com was this: “She’s got this real funny idea about a diet: you don’t get fat if no one sees you eating.” ― Gloria Naylor The Joke Portion of today's email comes in the form of my new desk calendar for 2011, given to me by my friend/co-worker Marcy....I love it, so far only one has made me blush....but ...

Another baby sock.........I'm currently working on it's mate....this one is for my friend Deena. Deena and I met in grade school and as life goes we went different ways as we got older, different crowds, different states of residency but thanks to Facebook I've been able to reconnect with a lot of people I knew when I was younger and am very thankful for that........Deena and a friend have written a few childrens book called Pinky and Peanut, you can find them here ..... So, all that being said, Deena and her husband are expecing their fourth child, a boy who they have named Oliver.......Oliver Cook.....this is Oliver's sock.

The first pair of baby socks, complete and ready to be slipped onto the feet of the nearest baby......or in this case the baby in the photo with the sock who lives in Minnesota, so I will pop them in the mail today and hopefully she will have them on her little tootsies by Friday........

The stash is in order and put away.....the plan is in place of things to knit including 12 pairs of socks for me at minimum and a number of small baby socks to get cranked out for all the little baby feet my friends are bringing into the world. What was the failure? I not only bought more yarn yesterday at the shop but I also cast on for the first pair of baby socks and am actually almost done with the first one......they are pretty damn cute actually......I bought some patterns as well in order to use up the sock stash...vanilla sock patterns in worsted, sport and fingering weight yarn......vanilla socks will be perfect, although I do have a few oat terns for favorite socks I will rotate through the mix just to keep it alive but for the most part the yarn i have is so beautiful that a vanilla sock will be perfect....so I am off to finish the baby sock, finish moms clapotis scarf from knitty.com, and my cassis cardigna by Thea Coleman, and a whole 106 QT tub holding all of the sweaters...

What D will say when he sees my stash? I'm not, because he has this parked in the garage......so we're even in $$$ output department (I might be ahead a little)

I was wondering when you were coming back for a visit............

It's a good one...It's just a matter of whether I can hold strong till it's all in place or will I be distracted as I travel down memory lane and wander along remembering what I was feeling when I brought this one home....curious yet? I'm organizing the stash this weekend........Really going to go through it and be ruthless about it......which is hard, I'd rather cut off a toe than part with my stash, but the truth of the matter is that the stash has the power right now, in all it's seductive wooly-silky-hand-painted-bulky-sport-lace-fingering weight blends.....I've given in to my Mistress and it's time for me to return to my throne as Queen of Pile....better than Queen of Piles ....hahaha. So, the trick will be to not become distracted by the power of the yarn and start casting on for something that isn't on my list for 2011 or worse empty out the crates, bags, boxes, and trunks only to become so overwhelmed that I faint into the pile only to be fou...

Over the weekend I not only added more yarn to my stash, which is going to get a going through this coming Saturday, I also added 2 more patterns to the list for 2011.....and I've taken a piece of advice from a couple other knitters.....1. I am going to try and be selfish and knit only for myself. This ones already gone down the crapper since I bought two different yarns to knit things for mom but she is exempt from these types of resolutions so in theory I haven't totally failed. 2. I am going to intermittently work on finishing all of my UFO's during this year along with the 9 sweaters I've decided to knit. Of course hats, sportweight socks, mittens, color-stranded cowls, and the like will be sprinkled about this lofty goal of mine but my hope is that by Christmas 2011 I will be sporting 9 new sweaters for myself at least............the new ones that I've added are Liesl by Cocoknits using a sparklie kid silk mohair lace blend, held together with another lace wei...

The chances of a baby coming in to the office yesterday that I would be allowed to hold were slim to none and that's when Savanah Banana came for a visit.....I held her, she didn't fall, if she doesn't graduate the fifth grade it won't be my fault......However, it's time to knit her another sweater as she's 4 months and growing like a little eggplant :)

because based on my performance thus far today I'll drop it for sure and then it'll get the dropped baby syndrome that my blackberry has.......essentially turning it from a smart phone to a dumbass in only 4 years..... 1. I wanted blueberries on my toast but when I opened the human proof clamshell I shot blueberries all over the floor leaving me with one freaking berry for my toast. 2. I dropped my pricey greek yogurt on the floor causing it to break on the bottom and shoot a little bit on the floor, so i popped it in a ziploc and off i went...... let me point out that Quintus and Gabby were both thrilled with my idiocy this morning, me i'm just glad I didn't pick up my iPad it would not have ended well...... 3. Had to slam my brakes on the freeway on my way in causing my entire bag and it's contents to fly to the front of the car exploding like a new years firework display and taking one more gig of smart away from my smart phone....... so if you have a baby t...

It's officially January 5th....I know this for many reasons along with the fact that i have at least 4 calendars on  my desk of different varieties all screaming the date at me and reminding me that I have yet to post a new entry for 2011.....well I've been busy and while that's no excuse to ignore all of you, that's the story I'm sticking with. We arrived home from snowy Minnesota on the 28th and I woke up in the morning to see.....snow not the least bit exciting for me, but there it was. Then it was work work work to close the year at the office, 3 day weekend begining with celebrating Christmas with the MIL and then watching a stunning football game....that's right folks, the Seattle Seahawks are in the playoffs....I think as many people stood and cheered as passed out when the game was over Sunday night......me, I just happened to sit in a seat on the train home that someone had peed in.......we'll leave that story alone, I sat in pee, it was gross, i s...