Can't stop

Oh my gosh, the 2016 Indie Designer Gift Along is so much fun, that I wish I had time to stop and chat with you...but I don't.

I am almost finished the vest.

Socks have been cast on.

TOB borrowed my camera to take pictures of tree frogs sitting on the sliding glass door ...

And I really don't have time to do anything with pictures of any of the above because, that chat thread runs at a million miles an hour..and I have knitting to do ....and garbage to put out....and dishes to wash......

Oh for an extra set or two of arms!

Follow the fun on Ravelry, or Instagram, it's the best you are getting today!

~M

Silent Night

Best of my Instagram.

~M

Knitting and Crumpets

A couple of days in and the Indie Designer Gift A Long is going great guns!

As of my typing this there are 89 Finished Objects and a whole lot of chat shenanigans going on in the Chat, Chat, Chat! thread.

Noteworthy events....crumpets have been declared the official snack of the gift-a-long, but one of the mods has been dubbed "a crumpet short of a gift-a-long."

After a hard day of cooking, eating and knitting, followed by a day of mostly knitting and reading a fast moving, non-stop thread, I am exhausted!  (To follow my knitting progress for the day check out my Instagram!)*

Note to self, all this talk of crumpets has made me hungry...maybe I can find some at the store.

~M

*Too much knitting to do to move pictures from my phone to my computer, but you can see it all unfolding there.

Thankful

Today is American Thanksgiving.  I hope, that no matter where you are, that you take a moment to be thankful for all the things we take for granted all year long.


It does seem kind of sad that most people only set aside one day a year to be thankful.  A couple of online groups that I belong to have a regularly scheduled Thankful Thursday - like a WIP Wednesday or FO Friday, and I might have to adopt that strategy, because really I have so much to be thankful for!

Like what?

So much that I couldn't possibly list it all, and I have been thinking about it for days now, what things that I am thankful for that I would share today.  So along with the usual of food, shelter and the ability to take care of myself, here are a few of the highlights.

Knitting designers that challenge my skills!

Test Knitters who knit my designs!

An editor who gave me the confidence to submit not just to her online magazine but to calls for submissions for books and other publications.

Ravelry and everyone on there for giving me inspiration, a selling platform, a place to hang out with "like minded people".

Multiple yarn companies for making sure my bank balance didn't get too high!  LOL

But most of all...I am thankful for these guys!

I am thankful they put up with the requests for modeled shots of knitwear, when the weather is too hot or too cold.  I am thankful that they all have opinions which, while sometimes different than mine,  are well thought out and can be defended during our dinner debates.  I am thankful that each one has a love of making and creating things, be that drawings or jewelry, scarves or socks.  I am thankful that they encourage each other, and me, to follow dreams and when any of us thinks that something we do isn't good enough that they are there to say that they think we are!

And lastly, I am thankful for the people who like my patterns enough to knit them and share their projects so I can see!

Happy Thanksgiving!  What are you thankful for?

~M

Drive By Posting- Can't Stop

Just a quick drive by posting, I can't stop to chat, as much as I would like to!

I finished up my contest piece for the ColourMart Lovers Group on Ravelry just in the nick of time to cast on for the Indie Designers Gift A Long.

Hope you checked out the links I posted before and joined us.  They (we) are an incredibly talented group.  Finished objects appearing in threads, patterns being promoted and knitted or crocheted...it is a wild ride and I need to get back to it...and my Thanksgiving Meal Prep.

So much to be Thankful for and we will talk about that tomorrow because now I have to run, the kettle is boiling, the knitting is waiting and the minions are ready for dinner!

~M

Monday's Plans

The fun and excitement begins tomorrow!  The Indie Gift A Long on Ravelry has an official start date and time of November 22 at 8pm EST and I am in!

I have big plans for this knit along, kind of like having big plans for all the things you can accomplish in a single day off, which sometimes end up a little unreasonable!  But...

There are 8 categories to compete in, with a special 9th called an Opadoo, which is to complete one project in each of the other 8 categories before the end, which is December, 31st at 11:59.  (Opadoo is what one of the participant's child called an octopus, 8 categories, 8 arms....get it?)

You can play along as much or as little as you like, but as an incentive starting at 8pm EST on the 22nd through 11:59 EST on November 30th, each participating designer is offering a 25% discount on select patterns using the coupon code giftalong2016.  My offerings are here but with over 330 designers participating, if I don't have the pattern you have to knit for your holiday amusement, I am sure someone else does!

And there are prizes, did I mention that there are prizes?!?!

I have been steadily clearing my needles so that I can cast on with the group, well a little after the group, unfortunately my mundane life will have me busy Tuesday evening!  But Wednesday I am going to be casting on this. I have a couple of yarn choices in my stash, and which one swatches best will determine which of the boys it will be for - they have very different tastes in colors!

I said yesterday I would tell you the plans for some of that yarn that I ordered during the Knit Picks Big Sale.....how does that go....

The laceweight will obviously become shawls.  I really do love alpaca cloud for shawls, so soft and drapy!
The Felici will be socks for myself and the kids....eventually.
The Stroll is for designing with (which is why I picked those colors, just light enough for cables or lace to really show up!)
The Wool of the Andes is for TOB for the holidays, he has some hats and fingerless gloves to knit.

The rest...well it will tell me what it wants to be.

~M

Stash Enhancing Sunday....

Tune in tomorrow for plans for some of that stash enhancement....grand total for the week is a little over 17000 yards in.  How much can I get back out before the end of the year?

~M

Well Played Knit Picks

So that big sale that underwhelmed me.....

Yeah, they added things.

Dollar yarns.

Dollar paper books.

I might have placed a second order.

Well played Knit Picks.

Get me in the first place with the Felici.

Then again with the great deals you offered today.

Now, I will have to sneak a peak tomorrow as well!

Well it wasn't all ....

That Big Sale I was waiting for? 

I keep telling myself that it wasn't all that I hoped it would be (for example, no dollar deals on aran wool or felici sock yarn) but somehow...somehow I managed to stash away a little over 11,000 yards of yarn!

Want to see how it played out?

Who am I kidding, of course you do!

Ready for the suspense...here is a box...
 
Once the tape was cut...
 
How does the quote go "I see wonderous things"...???

So what did I get in there?
 
I got...

What I consider to be some workhorse sock yarn - Stroll - in two colorways.

 Ash and Dogwood Heather.

 


Both great for designing with. (But only tax deductible when I actually do design with them, darn it!)






And, of course as Felici is back, I had to get some, including two colorways I missed the last time around because I dithered far too long about if I wanted them or not.




 
I have to say, I love knitting with the Felici and the stripes are so much fun, especially if you pair them with a design that using their so precise stripes to your advantage...but it really doesn't wear any where near as well as the Stroll.  But the feel and the colors make it worthwhile!

Alpaca Cloud in two colorways.  Both blue this time, go figure.  :)  Enough for one LARGE shawl in each colorway or several smaller ones.

 

Some Gloss fingering, because fingering weight yarn makes for a much quicker shawl than the lace weight.

 

And some sport weight Wool of the Andes for TOB to use for knitting fingerless mitts and hats.  (See how good I am about sharing my stash?)

 

In other news, we have slight progress on my ColourMart Lovers Contest piece, but only  a few more days to get it done!  Which with all the extra phone meetings and in person meetings and email threads that have taken over my life is getting harder and harder to do!

And finally, one obligatory picture of the Supermoon.  Monster Man, the new camera works just fine!

oops, nearly forgot about the extras!  I got 6 circular needles in sizes 1, 1.5 and 2 (two of each) and for purchasing quickly enough a small project bag.

I guess I wasn't as underwhelmed with that sale as I thought I was!

See you Friday when we will talk more in earnest about the Indie Designer Gift Along!  In the meantime I have some yarn to put away.

~M