Quick update!! DOT make up!

Hope everyone is well!! I've been kind of busy and am babysitting this weekend so have been getting ready for that. Hope you guys all went over to the Dogs on Thursday post yesterday! I didn't get a chance to post a DOT post here but I did do the one over there. :)

To make up for it...here is some quick picture of the pups!

They are so cute. :)

Ok....I wanted to share this with you. A team member on my dishrag tag posted this story on her blog. I used to teach so I know they don't make much and when something like that happens to your dog it's great to get some help.

Also I've been playing on my community site at www.barknknit.com. Come join the fun and check things out. I set up the store and added a listing for the yarn swift but just note that there will be some new designs up soon for the swift. Special K has big ideas. :)

Hope you all are great!! I'll try to post up more this weekend as it goes on.

Happy FRIDAY!!!

Our first Dyeing experiment!!

So, Sheryl (knitidiot) came over today and we had our first dyeing experiment. We managed to do this all in my kitchen and not make a mess or dye anything but the yarn and fiber!! Yeah!!

So, this past week I've been spinning a bit with my new spindle and I spun up all of this certain color fiber I had. I wasn't a big fan of the color so I figured I'd just over dye it this weekend. The original color was this.

I decided I wanted to over-dye it a nice maroon so I used red, a tad of black and tad of blue. This was the results. I really like it. I did however learned that I need to tie it up a little loser for the dye to get in those spots.

We also kettle dyed some Domestic Wool that I had bought from a friend. I think this came out awesome!! We learned here that we need to make sure the colors get completely mixed before putting in the fiber.

So, this Saturday I woke up to my dogs having pretty much ransacked my poor office, which I usually close when we sleep. And they got into some of the fiber I had bought to dye so we decided we'd use it to play around. It isn't that pretty but the colors came out ok. :) Also a learning experience. :)

In our opinion, we think our first dye job was a success. We have learned and that is what matters. :) You'll have to see where we go from here.

Well, I'm tired now and off to knit and maybe take a nap. Hope you are all well on this weekend.

Happy Knitting, Dyeing, Spinning, and Dog walking!!

Gnat

Sleepy family and some fiber organization.

Last night, I was playing around with my webcam for a Virtual Spin/Knit for the Stitch-It Podcast Listeners group on Ravelry. When I went in to lay in bed and knit, I saw this....

They sure are cute. I am sad to say I had to disturb Jackjack's slumber so I could fit in bed. :)

Then the pups repaid me by getting into some of my fiber stash and ripping up the inside of my purse. Both are partly my fault since I left the office door open and I had chocolate in my purse. But this inspired me to organize my stash and put the fiber and yarn further up the bookshelf.

It's all neat and as organized as I can get it for now. I still can't figure out where to store my yarn swift and pvc niddy noddy but I will find a place soon.

This morning while watching Seinfeld during breakfast. :) We had pancakes. Abby cuddled with her daddy. :)

Well, off to knit and spend the day with Special K. I've organized and cleaned enough for today. :)

Happy Knitting!!

FO ALERT!!! Lady February Sweater!!

Last night I finally sewed up the buttons on my sweater and wove in the ends!! Check me out. I wore it to work today and took some good pictures in my VERY lighted office. :)

Close up of the buttons, which I purchased at Knit n Knibble, a local yarn shop that I like. :)

Well, I'm busy today but wanted to throw this up to show you my awesome sweater. I love it and it's comfortable. It's my first hand knitted item of clothing!! other than socks.. :)

I've starting spinning up some new fiber last night and am hoping to finish my clapotis soon. Still have a lot of rows left.

This weekend, Saturday I'm spending it with Special K and then Sunday we are going to dye some fiber and maybe sew some more bags to put on the etsy site. We'll see.

Hope everyone is good. Happy Friday!!!

Wedding Wednesday!!

4 months from today!!! I will be walking down the isle in 4 months!! I'm super excited and kind of freaked out that it's coming that soon. Seems like just yesterday it was 13 months to go and now it's 4 months and we have replanned the wedding and are trying to figure out the caterer. :)

I just got a call from David's that the dresses we've ordered so far are in and they can be picked up! Yeah!! That is awesome.

Well....other than that we haven't done much for the wedding. We've approved the amazing invites designed by my sister and let me tell you they are AWESOME!! We need to finish up the detail so she can print that along with them. :) I'm just trying to take one step at a time.

Well...have a great Hump Day!! and Wedding Wednesday!! :)

Gnat!

DishPaw Raggers are on the move!

My dishrag is knit and in the mail!! It's off to Kansas where the next team member will knit hers and send it along. The pattern is really nice. I enjoyed knitting it. Here's a quick picture right before I packed it up and took it to the post office!!

So, today we got the day off work due to the possible bad weather but the day has been really nice. We just are starting to get rain and it's about 5pm. It's been cloudy and windy all day but no real rain. Since we were off and the doggies were staring at me a lot, I called my sister and cousin and asked if they wanted to meet up with us at the dog park. We spent about an hour and a half there and had a great time. Check us out!!

Jackjack had a bit too much fun for his body to handle and is very sore this afternoon. He was limping a lot when we left. I gave him some pain medication and am making him relax this afternoon. I know he had a blast at the park so it was worth it. I just think I need to get him back on some joint supplements. We've kind of been off them for a couple months. I'm thinking of giving him human supplements now and called the vet today and figured out how much I can give him and need to head to walmart and get some for him.

Well...I'm off to finish a movie and spin up the last bit of fiber that I was spinning this weekend. Then I'm going to knit the clapotis the rest of the evening. I have a feeling I'm not going to get it done by Sunday but you never know. :) I still need to sew in the ends on my sweater and the buttons on! I'm slacking.

Happy knitting, spinning, dog walking and Happy Tuesday!!

I've been tagged!!

Today I came home to the box!!! Oh yes. There sat the box for our Dish Rag Tag!
I quickly entered the house and carefully opened the box and found yarn, measuring cups, a great recipe, the instructions and a pattern. Also some melty chocolate. :) I spent time sewing bags tonight for the store and a custom order but now I'm off to get ready for bed and cast on. Since the pending weather, work was canceled tomorrow so I have the day to knit and spin!! I'll keep you posted.

Hope you guys have a great night and a good day and I'll keep safe.

Happy Knitting!! GO TEAM DISHPAW RAGGERS!!

Spinning!! and a hurricane is a comin.

First thing today is spinning!! Using my new spindle that I built and painted, I was able to spin 38 yards of yarn!! I am so pleased with myself. Also check out the the niddy noddy that Special K cut the pvc for and I put together. We spent time measuring and doing math to figure out how many yards it was. What do you think of my yarn and niddy noddy? I'm still just exited that getting a better spindle has made the expeirience for me so much more pleasant. I am still itching to get a spinning wheel but this will hold me over so I have time to learn to draft and save for it. :)

So, tonight Sheryl is coming over to sew some more bags for our etsy store. We are going to have dinner and sew sew sew. I'm excited. We've gotten a good response to the store so far. Hope to keep it coming!! ;)

We are planning on adding some dyed fiber soon and once I finish doing my research on how to create a balanced spindle. I'll be adding some of those as well. Also keep in mind if you want a yarn swift, Special K still says he's willing to make one to sell.

Ok..well, I need to finish up work and get ready to head home. We still don't know if we are going to be working tomorrow. I'll keep you posted.

Happy Spinning!!!

More Crafting!!

So, after I spent hours and hours with Sheryl working on cutting, ironing, and sewing bags for the etsy store. I had dinner with Special K. French Toast for dinner...one of our favorites. Then we settled in for more building. We had stopped at Home Depot today while buying stuff for our sewing projects and bought stuff for Special K to make me a yarn swift. Isn't she pretty?


No working pictures but it was fun to see SK work on this. He did a great job!! If you want one like this, we might be putting them up on the etsy store as a made to order purchase. If you're interested let me know and I'll poke SK. :)

While he was figuring out the instructions and building my swift. I painted myself and built myself a new yarn spindle!! Yes, I decided that I was just going to make one. I didn't want to spend a lot of my spinning wheel budget on it but I really want to spin something. This new spindle isn't perfect but it's WAY better than the other one!! I can spin tons of yarn!!

Also look at all the yarn I was already able to spin decently well this morning!! I love it!! It's not perfectly balanced but it spins longer because it's a bit heavier and it's easy to park it as well. :)


I also got Special K to cut some PVC for my niddy noddy but I got the wrong size t-joints so I have to go exchange those today and then I'll show you a pictures of that too. :)

We did tons this Saturday and I feel very productive. I'm going to go to knitting group today and actually get some knitting done on the clapotis and maybe spin some more on my spindle. :) Special K is going golfing with his dad and then I'm meeting them over there for dinner.

Have a great day!! Happy crafting and knitting and spinning and dog walking and enjoying your sunday!!

New Adventure and FUN!!

I wanted to share with you what Sheryl(knitidiot) and I have spent all day doing. We first went shopping and then organized and then sat and sewed!! She's learning but it was fun!! We are going to be putting up more stuff soon but for now we've got a couple box bags. This is the first step in finding a way to save money for my spinning wheel. :)




Let me know what you think!

Happy Crafting!!

PS...as of right now my camera died and we can't get the baseball picture to download so that is coming tonight!

Ok..off to knit a bit and spend time with Special K. I'm hoping I can get him to build me something. If he does I'll share pictures of that tomorrow. :)

Dogs on Thursday!

This week's DOT post has tons of info so you should go head over and check it out.

The dogs have started to really enjoy our new bed. So, much so that they truly believe it's theirs. When we are finally ready to spread out and sleep...Jackjack has been spending more time making sure we are REALLY serious before he gets off the bed. I started keeping treats by the bed and using them to reward quick responses. :) It's been helping. But until we are ready to sleep they have free rein to join us, while I knit and Special K watches tv.

So, two nights ago while I was brushing my teeth and getting ready for bed. Abby jumped up first to cuddle with SK which she rarely does. Then Jackjack joined them and then I squeezed in to knit. I had to get a picture of my knitting and they just happened to be in the background.

The big black lump in the back in jackjack. :) They are so darn cute and I just fall for their cute faces every time.

Happy Dogs on Thursday!

Wedding Wednesday FINALLY!!!

Ok, so I promised you all an update on how bridesmaid dress shopping with my four of my sisters and my 2 nieces went. We got to the place around 7pm and the lady assigned to us sat me down and started asking me questions about the wedding and what I wanted the girls to wear. I quickly told her that anything they wanted in apple red. So, she pulled out the book and they picked a bunch they liked and told her their sizes. She picked one to start with and got all their sizes in that dress and set them up in dressing rooms. This process went suprizingly well and the lady helping was pretty good. Everyone tried on a bunch of dresses and some quickly decided on which they liked and didn't like. :)

After about an hour or so most had picked a dress but my oldest niece. They didn't really have any of the dresses their in her size that we had been trying on and she really wasn't sure how they would look in her size so she was having trouble picking a dress. We decided that she could look online again and call the other store and we would start checking out. Well, as we were checking out she saw a dress she thought was great even though it's long and decided to try it on. She did and she loved it. So, at the end everyone found a dress they liked. It was a fun experience but I was a bit stressed because I really wanted everyone to be happy with the dress they picked out. :) Afterwards we stopped and had dinner and enjoyed each other's company. I split a beer with my cousin who had come with us and that was a great half a beer and it was much needed!!

Ok...I'm sure you're wondering are we going to get to see what dresses they picked...well, of course!!

Here's the list of the four dresses that were picked. Several were picked by 2 people and one sister and Special K's sister still need to go and pick a dress but they don't live here.

Ok. Regina and Lucesita picked F12899
http://www.davidsbridal.com/bridesmaids_detail.jsp?stid=3319&prodgroup=110

Fleas and Surfer Girl picked 81591
http://www.davidsbridal.com/bridesmaids_detail.jsp?stid=3331&prodgroup=110

and CZbrats picked F12723
http://www.davidsbridal.com/bridesmaids_detail.jsp?stid=2986&prodgroup=110

and College Niece picked F12904
http://www.davidsbridal.com/bridesmaids_detail.jsp?stid=3318&prodgroup=110
and she is going to crop it. :)

Everything else is going really well. We still are looking at carterers but we've cut out of a few from the list so that is good. I still need to call about renting chairs for the ceremony. I did call my cousin's company and found out about ordering the cups, which are going to be used at the reception and people can take home with them. The cups will be 22 oz stadium cups half of them in red and half in blue with white writing. My sister is going to design it. She's also working on my invites so I'll be approving those soon.

I did order something fun!! I ordered a Cub's garter! It's the coolest. I ordered it from Garter's by Kristi. She has so many choices.
This is the link to the one I ordered with the throw away garter too. I love it!! Jackjack did get into the package and get a little bit into one of them but it's not that noticeable and come on...most things in my life have been touched by Jackjack. That is why he is rarely aloud around the stash and knitting. :) By the way, she has great service and is so very nice! If you are in the market for a garter please go check her out.

Well, hope you all enjoyed the wedding update. I'll try to keep them more regular. Things will be hectic closer to the wedding so should be fun!!

I had a long day today but am feeling good. I ended up making it to my Wed night SnB and it was tons of fun!! I got a bunch of knitting done and talking too! I'm off to bed to knit and sleep hopefully.

Happy Hump Day!

Thankful Tuesday!!

I am thankful today for the fact that I'm not heading into school to organize my classroom. I'm thankful that I have a new job that I really enjoy. As stressful as it can get, I am happy that I am not teaching. I enjoyed my time teaching and I will miss my students but I am thankful that I have a new job! I am thankful that my co-workers are friendly and nice. I miss my fellow teachers very much but these new folks are pretty good too! ;) Hope you find the thanks in your day!

Happy Thankful T

I have fallen and I can't get up!

I have fallen in love...(Yes, I'm still in love with Special K and this does not change my love for him)...but I have fallen in love with a spinning wheel and she is called a Suzie. This past week I posted on the Ravelry Florida Spinning board about where I could go to try out a spinning wheel. As of last week I had spun on two wheels, both where Ashfords. One was a single treadle Traditional and the other a double treadle Traveler. I really wanted to try several different kinds.

So, Allison, who works at Uncommon Threads in Palm Harbor, sent me a message and told me that she is teaching a class on saturday and there will be wheels there and that I could try hers. So, I spoke to my friend Sheryl and asked her if she wanted to go for the ride. She said OF COURSE!! I called my high school friend who has shown interest in learning to knit and lives up by the store and told her we'd meet her there. She didn't show but oh well. I'll keep trying.

Off we went on Saturday and when we showed up everyone was very nice. It was the first time I met Rosemary, the owner of the shop and she was very sweet and helpful. I waited until noon when they broke for lunch and Allison said I could spin on her Lendrum. For a visual click here. I sat down and had to relearn how to draft since I haven't been using my spindle as much I should be. But I spent 30 minutes getting to know the wheel, which is a double treadle. I liked it. It seems to be easy to use and a good height for my shortness.

After I had been sitting for a bit, Rosemary came over and said I could try out her wheel. She has a Majacraft Suzie, which is also a double treadle. I sat down and started to spin and OH MY was it nice. It seemed to be so much easier to spin on than any wheel I had sat down on. I spent 15 minutes on the wheel and I could have spent hours more. I realized then that I had found my wheel. After I finished trying her wheel and the class resumed I spoke to Rosemary a bit about the wheel and she is a dealer which is great. The wheel was really sweet and again perfect for my size. I left smiling and knowing that some how I was going to have to find a way to get me a Majacraft Suzie. There are three different Suzie's and I would take any of the three. :)

I now am in search for ways to make some extra money to go towards my spinning wheel fund. I have decided that any money I make on crafts will go straight to that fund. I know that right now it's going to be hard to save for a wheel while saving for a wedding. So, I have to categorize where this money is coming from. :) So, I guess I'll be busy for a while! :) You'll just have to check back and see how I decide to make this money!

Hope everyone is well!! I have been knitting on my sweater and am almost done with the second sleeve! I should be done tonight and have pictures for you tomorrow!! Ravelympics is going strong!!!

Happy Knitting, Spinning, and dog walking!!

Foot update!

Ok...yes this is late but I figured I'd start with an update on my foot. When I went to the doctor's office on Friday, he had to numb the bottom of my foot and use a scapel to cut off the top layer of skin to expose whatever was embedded in my foot. So, he did this and then was able to get this little white ball which had a circumferance of 2mm out of my foot. The most painful part was the actual numbing shot. The rest was fine. When I finally was done and was getting up to leave though...my world spun and I almost passed out. So, he forced me to laydown and wait until the feeelings passed. It took about 15 minutes. He said this happened because I was laying down and the blood rushed to my foot while he was working on it.

So, my foot is healing and dispite my little stubborness trying to play tennis on saturday, it's been going good. I will spare you pictures because come on it's pretty gross. :)

Well...hope all is well!!

Happy Healing!!

Ravelympics 2008!! Begins tomorrow!

Some of you who may have noticed that a bunch of projects have popped up with this logo as their picture on my side bar recently.

These are projects that I'm knitting for Ravelympics 2008!!

Oh yes, the fiber world some how got involved in this years Olympics and made it our own. :) You knew it was coming. I think it's great there is always something fiber related to go along with any event in the world or in life. I love how Knitters/Fiber folks step up and make themselves useful.

For a quick overview of Ravelympics, it's a team or individual competition per say. You pick projects that you plan to cast on during the opening ceremonies of the Olympics and finish these items before or during the closing ceremonies. You have to add your projects before 8/8/08 and have all the yarn and needles ready to go. You can however use projects you are currently knitting in the WIPwrestling event. I am hoping to finish my current sweater for that event and have a couple more as you see added to my projects to keep me busy. My main goal is to cast on and finish the green clapotis that I'm making. It's a lot of knitting but I think I can do it in 17 days!! Wish me luck. I'll be posting occasional updates so keep checking back.

Since you know I love Photoshop, I also make some cute ravatars for my team. I joined Team Bob, which had some of my fiber friends. For those of you not on ravelry, Bob is Casey and Jess's dog who is the Ravelry mascot!! Isn't he cute!!!

There are some great teams though!! I can't name them all because there are so many but just know...there are some great ones!! Not sure how the points and such are going to go so the more I learn the more I'll update you.

I wish everyone a safe and fun time during this Ravelympic time. I hope to finish my projects and be able to stay sane. Just need to figure out how to maximize my knitting time and keep the house and dogs clean! ;) That's always a tough one!

Happy Competing!!

PS...I think I may have a piece of glass or metal chip from Special K's work in my foot. I'm going for a doc apt tomorrow to see what he can find. I tried having SK dig in and take it out but I just couldn't handle the pain. I'll update you on this tomorrow!!

Fun, fun, fun!

I found this on Purlin' Goldens blog. I thought it was coola nd figured it would be interesting to see what my blog's wordle would be.

This wordle is for my blogspot page.


And this is for mypodcast.com page.

Thought it was cool!! Notice that Knitting is the biggest word in both. :) That's cool.

So, last night I finished the body of my February Lady Sweater. I had Special K take a picture but he's no photographer and I don't really want to share the picture. :) I'll try to take another one soon. It looks GREAT!!!! I'm picking up some dpns tonight so I can finish the sleeves. :) I'm going with my sisters and nieces and my cousin(the mediator) to go find a bridesmaid dress. I'm kind of nervous about this but I'm sure it will go ok. I really want them to find dresses that they like and are wanting to get. I just hope it goes smoothly. I'll post up tomorrow a Wedding Wednesday post to share what happens. :)

Hope you are all doing well...I'm working on catching up on other's blogs so you should be getting comments from me sometimes soon. :) There are so great posts out there. :)

Happy Knitting!!!!

Stash enhancements!!! knitting update.

First off I want to say a BIG thank you to (not so)Cynical Knitter for the greatest yarn!! She lives in Chicago and knows I'm a cubs fan and she sent me some Lorna Laces Sport weight in Cubby Bear colorway!! Now how great is that and how great is she that she did this!! So a BIG THANK YOU goes to her!!

I'm not sure what I'm goign to make with it but I just love looking at it!! Makes me smile!!

My new enhancements are for some clapotis I'm planning to make. I know you all watches as I knit the one out of Dream in Color Smooshy and loved it. Yes, I LOVE THAT YARN!! But not that I'm done I'm really not happy with the end result. I don't think it would be warm enought for who I want to gift it to and also it's just not the best I can do. Even if I keep it which I am thinking about I'd still frog it and reknit this one. I think it need to be bigger and longer if it's going to be made from sock yarn! I should have preplanned this but I didn't. So, I'm planning on remaking the one I'm gifting and I'm going to make it out of different yarn. I thought all last week what yarn I wanted to make it out of and called around to my local yarn stores to check their stock and then decided to head to Tampa to Knit n Knibble to see what I could find and....

I found this.....

This first one is to replace what I knit. I love this color and this picture does not do it justice!!

And this one for someone else who deserves something knit. Also a beautiful color that this picture does not show.

So, now that I've shared my stash enhancements...I'll talk a little bit about my knitting. I spent a lot of time knitting this weekend and I'm almost done with the body of my first sweater. I don't have any pictures but will post when I finish!! It's coming out beautiful and I love it!! I can't wait to be able to wear it.

Well...that's all for now. Hope you are doing well.

Happy Knitting!!

Week recap. no knit pics but they are coming...

Hey everyone!! Sorry I've been a blogging slacker. I've just been super busy at work and haven't been spending much time on my computer outside of work. I've spent a lot of time knitting and with my pups and Special K. I did manage to get a podcast up last weekend...and am planning on getting another one up Sunday.

I've been setting some knitting goals and I joined the Ravelympics, which I'll try to post about and share some cool ravatars I created. I'm on Team Bob.

Well, for this quick week recap post I figured I'd share some pictures of my desk at work. :) You have to understand that I used to work at an animation studio and had my desk FULL of toys and paraphernalia. (love that word) So, I have brought a couple but have toned it down. So, here we go...tour of the desk.

Starting from left...here is my line up of Pixar characters! Oh yes, my favorites. I have more of these but these guys made the cut. The box is from two summers ago when I was teaching summer school.

Next up is mid desk. Yes, if you notice I have two monitors. I LOVE TWO MONITORS. I'll share what is on my screen in a bit. The silver thing is something Special K made in one of his machining classes. I thought it was really cool. Then there is my favorite army dude...and you guessed it...another Pixar toy!!!

Then on further left. We have a picture of Special K and my babies!! And this cool flower pens that I created for my desk in my classroom so the kids couldn't steal them. :)

Then here is my cool bamboo plant that was given to me my first day. I LOVE these little water balls...I like to play with them...they absorb back the water that gets evaporated. It's cool.
And last but not least I have this picture as my wallpaper because who could resist the site of them two. I love to look at them to get a good smile. It took a lot to get them to lay there and sit for awhile. :)Ok...now off to finish up some stuff before I head out. Take care.

Happy KNITTING!!!