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)