There is always an exception to the rule.

These are socks I just finished knitting, I had to make an exception to my New Years Resolution to only knit UFOs and gifts because I was dying to knit this yarn. So now there is an exception for handspun. I had never made plain jane socks before, they knit up fast! The roving is from Spunky Eclectic. It is Finn and the colorway is called Acadia. I spun it as a 3 ply and ended up with 210 yards from 4 oz. The socks were knit toe up on size 2 needles and I even had a little left over. They make me happy.

Fletcher is finished!!!

Woo Hoo!!! Another project finished! I love this coat, it turned out awesome. I got the fronts and the sleeves to match up perfectly. The size is just right, although it looks big here modeled by Maddie. I ended up using almost every yard of the extra skein I bought. I must have wove in a billion ends by the time I got to the hood and was knitting with all the little tidbits I had taken out to make it match up. I am so thrilled I finished it in time to wear it a bit before winter is truly over.

Substantial Progress with a slight Detour

I have no clue why my pictures are sideways, but anyway, I am making great progress on my Fletcher. These are the sleeves, I am working them at the same time and attempting to get them to match.

The back:

The fronts which I took great effort in matching. I am way to retentive to have it not match up. It wasn't that hard really, just a few extra ends to weave in and lots of little balls of Noro bits and pieces.

When you wake in the morning and your seven year old tells you that there is a detour sign right in front of your house, you don't really think he means literally.

These are the joys of having teenagers. I just have no idea where Ian should put the cones once he removes them from his vehicle. I imagine this is a direct consequence of the prank calls he made to his friends last night for a 3OH!3 contest.

And lastly is the yarn I spun up Sat. night at the Sit n' Spin I hosted. This is Romney in Eclipse colorway from Spunky Eclectic's monthly club.

This was a quick spin of heavy worsted/bulky weight, 100 yds from 4oz. I think I am going to make the Maine Morning Mitts out of it.

Have a great hump day and watch out for the detours.

Well Ian could not be the only kid sporting a new hat. I made these for little A and Madison, they chose the pattern and colors. I think the pictures speak for themselves.

(I never want to make a pom-pom again.)

So much extra time!

Well the one benefit of the economy is increased craft time. I got laid off from my job last week so now I have a bit of free time on my hands. I only worked 10 hours but it still consumed time, if I had a 10am meeting I didn't really have time to do anything in between dropping A off and leaving for the meeting, same deal in the afternoon...so essentially a few hours at the office would take up most my 8-3 time. Any way.....I've been busy trying to put my time to good use. I finally finished the tussah silk I have been spinning since this summer. I must say silk is a joy to spin, I love the way it has such strength and yet seems so delicate. I ended up with 770 yds of lace weight from 4 oz. I am thinking of making a shawl with it, just waiting for the right pattern to pop out at me. A triangle shawl might accent the long color repeats better but rect. shawl is appealing as well. Luckily Christie gave me another escape clause, casting on for this will not be a new project but merely a continuation of the same one. Thanks Christie!
I received a gift card for Joanne's from a friend for Christmas and finally got around to using it this week. I found this sock yarn there that is actually pretty nice, it is 50/25/25 wool, bamboo, nylon blend and was only $4 a skein. (blogger is posting my pics sideways again.)


So if you turn your head you can see I also bought some scrapbooking stuff. I think these will make some lovely cards and am eager to start working on cards and scrapbooks again. Those supplies in my craft room have been quite ignored, yet somehow they have managed to multiply. I also want to use some of my time to get making some more stitch markers and get my business back up and going again, I have kind of ignored it and haven't actively tried to get any new business, so now that I lost my yarn fund, I mean job the extra dough might be nice.

I also bought this at Joanne's. It is super cool and does an awesome job of making i-cord, the only drawback is it doesn't do worsted or heavier weights.

And lastly with my time I have been on another big organizational frenzy. I hit Staples and loaded up on P-touch tape and went hog wild in my closet and craft room. Now all my purses are labeled so I will start using more than just the one I always seem to carry.

And all my boots too. I forgot I had some of them.

And it had been quite a while since the shoes were updated with labels for the newest purchases. No more digging around trying to find the right pair or forgetting about the pair I love but somehow got lost in the masses. Dh drew the line when I went to put the "husband " label on his forehead. Someday me and my p-touch will organize the whole world!!

An escape clause!!!

Indeed I have managed to use my little escape clause to the maximum. Remember how I said I would not start any new projects until I finished my old ones? Well I also said EXCEPT for gifts. So guess who is feeling generous?

This scarf is a gift for my Aunt Maria as a thank you for letting us stay with her during our recent CA visit. This project was fast once the yarn finally decided what it wanted to be.

This was mystery yarn I purchased sometime ago on ebay. I had two skeins of it and wrongfully assumed that both skeins would be the same yardage. With that assumption in mind I knitted my way gleefully through the Hug Me Boucle Shawl. The concept was simple, knit until you finish half your yarn and then start to decrease to knit the other half. Well guess what, the two skeins were indeed not of the same yardage and this is where it ended.
Too bad too, because I really like the pattern. I think I may use it in the future with this boucle in my stash. However next time I will measure it out on my niddy noddy and give myself some room for error.
Frog, Frog, Frog was in my future.

After several different attempts at several different scarves with different needle sizes and gauges, I ended up doubling the yarn and using size 19 needles to whip this out. I sorta was at the end of my rope with this yarn and wanted to get this shipped out sometime this millennium. I kept with the yarn over pattern of the shawl and I think it turned out pretty well.

It isn't super long, but the yarn has a lot of elasticity to it, and besides it is more for accessorizing than utility given CA's mild weather.

The next gift was made at the bequest of my 17 year old son. Now it is a rare day when Ian takes any interest in my hobbies. The beautiful scarf that I so painstakingly made out of my own seat of my pants pattern, in my early knitting days to boot, alas ended up in the corner of his closet to be left behind when we moved. So although I was delighted for the request I also knew that this time I wouldn't be whipping out the luxury alpaca for this project, especially when this was the inspiration I was given directly from him.

He seems to be quite appreciative and happy with the end result. At least that is what I am assuming by the fact that he hasn't stopped wearing it. 17 year old boys aren't ones to gush their gratitude. I used Plymoth Encore and this pattern and heavily modified it, but luckily kept good notes because now both siblings want matching ones.
Btw, I did manage to do a few rounds on the infamous mom sweater, so I'm not slacking too badly.

I'm a Godmother!!!!

Now I don't think I am biased at all, but I do believe other than my children this is the most handsome little guy I have ever seen. Welcome to the world baby Grey Hudson. You are already loved by so many people. I am so thrilled to be your Godmother. Congrats Mariah, you will be an excellent mother. Just remember they do grow into little monkey boys! Ha Ha....inside joke. (well most mothers of boys should get it).

Grey Hudson

Jan 29th 2009

7lb 14 oz

20 3/4 in.

100% adorable

and he comes with that heavenly new baby fresh smell. My heart swoons.

Woo Hoo I finished something!

In sticking with my New Year's resolution I have been working on my UFOs. Monday night I finally finished these socks that have been in my knitting bag since April. I don't know if I was really stressed in April when I did the first one or super relaxed when I did most the knitting on the second one this past Sunday, but there is a huge difference between them. April sock has 18 repeats and Sunday sock has 16 and is also a wee bit loose. It also affected how the yarn worked up.
Anyhoo I am pretty happy that they are done and I can cross something off the list!

Socks for Veronique
Panda Silk
size 1 needles
Started April 2008
Finished Jan. 26th

I left my heart in San Francisco but came back with a full suitcase.

This past weekend I had the pleasure of traveling to Santa Rosa for my dear cousin Olivia's (2nd from the right) baby shower. She is expecting a baby boy this May and many of the family came together to celebrate. It was so nice to see many of the 25 cousins I have. (not to mention the 11, soon to be 12 2nd cousins). This picture is sorta a one of these things is not like the other. I swear I am related and I am Mexican, my mom just happened not to marry another Mexican, hence my gringo appearance. I must say we do have a good looking family.

Now in this picture everyone looks like each other. I swear the older they get the more my mom and her sisters look alike.

This is the hat and baby kimono I made out of Paton's cotton tots for Olivia's baby. I didn't know it was a boy until the shower hence the neutral colors. I brought along my trusty yarn shop travel guide and managed to sneak in a few visits to some LYSs. The first shop I went to in Santa Rosa was Cast Away. They had a wonderful selection of Blue Sky Alpaca yarns but nothing local, at least that I could find. The person working never addressed me or offered assistance the whole 10 minutes I was there, so hence I left empty handed.

Now Knitterly in Petaluma was a whole different story. It was a delightful shop with a very friendly staff who eagerly helped me find some local yarn. They even let me take pictures. I think if I lived here this would definitely be my hang out. I love the felted ball curtain that hangs in the front door, too cute.

This is the local artisan yarn I purchased. The Royal Hare is the indie dyer and this sock yarn is called Russian River Rose. I just couldn't pass it up with a name so perfect for remembrance of my trip.

I also bought this beautiful optim roving because I have been dying to try optim and the price couldn't be beat.

While on my mini vacation I did manage to fit in some knitting as well. I finished the Sweet Pea set for Mariah and am thrilled I completed it before the little guy has joined us.

On Sunday I traveled with my Mother and Aunts to San Francisco. I wanted to do something a bit different this time since I have seen Fisherman's wharf more times than I can count. So we headed to Japantown.

Here I was able to purchase some great presents for the kids and maybe a thing or two for me. I bought bento boxes for Maddie, Little A and I. All of the accoutrements are too adorable to pass up. I love the little sauce containers and the animal food picks. I also picked up a quirky little red notions bag, a tea bag dish (gifted to me by Aunt Esther) and some chocolate at Ghirardelli Square.

But the most awesome purchase was this kick ass bag that I fell in love with. Already my daughter has tried to steal it but I am resolved to keep it. It is made by Angry Little Girls and is just awesome. I have a feeling I am going to buy more of their stuff in the future, it is so hilarious and cool. You have to give it a look.

So overall it was a quite enjoyable trip spent with family and friends and a nice dash of fiber. Next time I will not wait 6 years between visits. My heart always belongs to San Francisco.

Please say a prayer

Yesterday a dear friend of mine lost her husband in the pile up on I70. He was only 37 years old and a father to two young boys, one of which attends 1st grade with my son. This is so very tragic, if you could all say a prayer for them and keep them in your thoughts I would appreciate it. Ladies, give your husbands a big hug tonight and tell them you love them. The world can turn upside down so quickly and we need to take the time to appreciate all we have been given.