Wonder Woman of Knitting

I've been busy! Here is some Celtic-inspired knitwear for a special little friend:



Made of 100% Cotton, it's Knitty's Trellis pattern (for those living in a cave, Knitty being a FREE website full of patterns published on-line--if you knit or are thinking about it, check it out). This is the back of the sweater. Look at how bent the needle under it is? Weird! Not sure if it came like this or my knitting is that powerful! All I need are some bracelets...

Here is my new fibre from Knitpixie:




Allhemp in Brick, 4 skeins. It's hanging on the coat rack for my guy's nephew which is now finished and ready for delivery.

This week is kinda insane. My sister comes up for a visit, strategically planned around St. Patrick's in the hopes of outdoing the fun we had last year. Can't wait to hear some bagpipes and penny whistles.

I planted my holly bush in front of the house, I hope it lives. I've heard I need other holly if I want it to bear berries but am not sure what sex the bush is so I guess I will need to buy two more to be sure, a male and female. Anyone out there know how to properly sex a holly bush? Maybe one day I will get this gardening stuff! In the meantime, you can find me knitting...

Catching Up with Old Friends

This Saturday my guy and I planted our seeds for our very first in-the-ground garden! We planted Bill's heirloom tomato seeds in half of a large plastic storage bin, the other half of the bin now occupied by some eggplant varieties. The other storage bin consists of green bell peppers, mixed variety bell peppers of many colors, and hot peppers of five varieties. My guy also hooked up a fluorescent light above the flats. Madison Penelope, the Official Inspector for All Things Entering the Premises promptly appeared during planting and stuck one of her four white-socked feet in the soil, reminding us that she LOVES to eat any plant that dares to come inside in the first place. My guy saved the day and used some wire fencing to cover the flats, letting air, water and light in but keeping Ms. Madison Penelope-Pants out, much to her chagrin. We sowed on the full moon, hoping to increase the seed-sprouting potential as much as possible. Here's our set-up in our basement:
Here's a vegan lasagna I made tonight:
It looked better on the table with the salad and bread but I was too hungry to take a picture until after the feast.

So what's the what on the knittery front? A whole lotta dis:
6 skeins to be exact-Classic Elite Yarns Imagine, a cotton/rayon blend. Some old friends that have been hanging around the stash. So what have I done with them? Nothing yet-except for winding one skein into a ball over the weekend. The rayon makes it kinda shiny in places, the cotton muting it a bit. I love the colors in it but I'm not sure about loving it on me.

I DID order some fibre for a House Project. Meaning a project for The House. I can't wait until it gets here! I received a package on Friday much more quickly that anticipated from BPAL. I ordered Shango and Depraved. Love the Shango; Depraved smells, honestly, like dirt to me. Soil with motor oil. Of the two, guess which my guy likes? Dirt (aka Depraved). I could have saved some money and slacked on the hygiene for a while, it seems.

Speaking of my guy, I'll leave you with this:


He's making a small coat rack for a certain little baby nephew of his. The monkey goes on top. Isn't he cute?

Awake but Dreaming...

Going through some E (television network) withdrawal, I posted two items on E-Bay this evening during my new-found excitement ridden free-time. Maybe it's cheating to go from one E to another, don't judge me, OK? If anyone out there has some fabulous cocktail parties coming up, please don't hesitate to check out my items for sale: Vintage Silver Dress with Coat and J.Crew Floral Dress. These were two items from my recent closet-cleaning extravaganza.

So I'm up and I can't sleep. I feel like my head is a pressure-cooker right now. I was dreaming about work and woke up in a panic and could not get back to sleep. With a lot of stuff going on at work, worrying about Kay and then arguing with my guy, I'm on stress overload. At least spring is on it's way! It rained tonight without any freezing, isn't that great?

What about the knitting? I've been gazing at 6 identical twin skeins, wondering what to work up. Could I squeeze a quickie sweater out of them? A shawl? What? I feel I am stuck in a rut in a lot of places right now. Maybe I'll start with a swatch and see what it feels like. With the full moon coming, it's the perfect time to start a new project.

Speaking of, I plan to start my tomato seedlings with this full moon. They are a heirloom variety that Bill grows and has passed them down to me. They take a little longer to bear fruit than your regular garden variety. My guy seems a little more excited about them this year. It will be our first real garden (aka garden that is not a potted patio version but is set into the actual ground) and he was outside earlier in the daylight before I got home from work, digging around in the ground a bit. Our plot will be quite small, so we will probably grow tomatoes and peppers and not much else (except hopefully a stray punkin that may grow from our Jack O'Lantern's carcass which we put on the garden). We need to re-grade our patio, put up a new retaining wall and fix the flower beds around the patio as well so I am thinking of making part of the bed an herb garden. We definitely need basil with the tomatoes--any other herbs out there you recommend for cookery and spellery?

Cold Turkey

That's right, tonight I am going cold turkey: no daily E fix for me anymore. I used to come home, eat dinner and space out and watch E for a full hour. A full hour of mind-numbing updates about people who I probably would not really like very much anyway were I to actually meet them. Do I really need to worry about Britney's latest rehab stint or what Jennifer Hudson wore? Sure, I will of course continue to catch snippets of this info whilst watching The Soup but I am now freeing up a daily hour for more exciting stuff. Living my OWN life. Life is too short to worry about people who are selfish and wasteful. So what did I do so far with this hour? I cleaned out my closet and there are two bags of clothes by the door to take to the thrift store. Look out excitement...
Here is Quandary Bartholemieux:

Here is Quandary Bartholemieux + hat:


MUCH cuter! He at least can wear it...it's a bit too small for me (lengthwise). I may try to find a child it fits rather than unravel it. Any takers out there? Who needs Hollywood anyway--I'm the designer to the Cat Stars!

HOORAY!

Kay is out of the hospital! She came home today, hopefully she'll keep resting and be much better soon. Will update more tomorrow...thanks for the positive thoughts! Blessed be~

THINK POSITIVE

I haven't been writing or for the most part, knitting much as Kay is in the hospital, went to the ER Saturday and has remained in the hospital since. I've been visiting her, visiting Bill, helping Bill write out the checks cause Kay has always done it. Laundry will be next for me and Bill. They live about and hour and a half away which makes it a little more difficult. I did make them some Fat Tuesday Fudge, vegan of course, but alas, put in some peanuts which Bill did not appreciate. I'm also working, in the midst of trying to change jobs and dealing with a chipped molar that needs crowning so there is not much time between. I did start a small new design, will take pics of it and post soon. Please send some positive thoughts into the universe for Kay!!

The Big Reveal

Package received! Now I can show you what I sent without ruining the suprise:


Scarf, sleep shorts, Birthday Fortune Telling Book, Pacifica soap and hand-kit soap caddy.


Closeup of soap caddy/sachet/etc I designed