All the pretty yarns...

They're mine all mine!

I got my shipments from Knitpicks and Amazon, boy am I excited! I also went to my two favorite LYS (Looking Glass Yarns and Lavender Lamb) and picked up some yumminess there.

Here's my haul. From the left, green linen from Lavender Lamb, Red Ultra Alpaca from Looking Glass and from the grey wool on is Knitpicks. The book is French Girl Knits and I bought it from Amazon, used. I don't know where I'm going to store it all, LOL the extra storage shelf I just added is already full, guess I'd better knit it up, huh?

I started my Lion Brand Jacket Deconstructed and so far I have about 5 inches. It's going pretty quickly. but that's because it's on such large needles, I think.

I'm loving the color and I can't wait until it's done. 

My house eats things...

Well I did have a couple of pictures of my lovely knitting group and my current WIP. But my house was hungry and decided to eat my camera cord. I've ordered a new one but it won't be here for a few days. It least it was crazy cheap!


So instead I'm going to post pictures of the projects I just bought yarn for.  I have 6 projects that are on my Ravelry queue. Most of them are things for colder weather, which is when I want to actually wear them, not just knit them. So with me being the slow, easily distracted knitter I am,  I started a wee bit early. 

I recently bought the book Pints and Purls: Portable Projects for the Social Knitter from my LYS. I'm in LOVE! Everything in it is so cute and I love the experience level ratings. They use beer bottles to rate the difficulty of each pattern. The hardest is 1 beer and the easiest is 4 beers. 

I loved this book so much that 3 out of 6 of my new projects are from it. What could be better then knitting and beer? 

First is the Raspberry Wheat Ale Messenger Bag from Pints and Purls. I'm using Cascade 220 in 9404 Ruby. The pictures on the website don't really do this color justice. It really is a brighter red, closer to rose red. 

The Absinthe Sweater really caught my eye, it's a pretty, simple little 
   sweater. It looks like something I'd wear and it's the first sweater I've ever knitted for myself. I'm using Knitpicks Wool of the Andes in Sapphire Heather. I don't have a lot of clothes in that shade of blue and I hope that it'll be complimentary. 

The last project form P&P's is the Two Fisted Tank in Wool of the Andes, Forest Heather. I'm really drawn to the heather colors, I think they have  more depth and color to them then the solid colors. I think that makes them more fun to work with.

Next is the Pretty Thing Cowl from the Yarn Harlot. I'm using a funky little yarn from Ironstone called Herb. It's a bright, funky pink and it's really soft, I think it has mohair in it. It seems to be discontinued and I've lost the tag so I don't have a lot of info on it. I did find this bit of info on Ravelry! 

I'm really excited about this knit, Wrenna: Leather-laced Cardigan from French Girl Knits. I love how chunky it is and I'm knitting it out of wool so it'll be warm. I got the yarn from Knitpicks, so it was really inexpensive and the color is pretty close to the original. Wool of the Andes Bulky in Pewter.

Last but not least is the Peacock Lace Scarf . I bought a pretty dress this weekend in a bright green and it has peacock feather cut outs on the hem. I thought I could pair this scarf with it and some tights and it would be a perfect fall outfit. Again the yarn is from Knitpicks (gotta get that free shipping!), Palette in Edamame. 

All in all, I think I have my fall knitting picked out and ready to go. I'm more likely then not throw in a couple of side projects here and there but let's see how this knitting from my queue thing goes!!

I like my martini knitted not stirred

I love quick knits! Making something fun and useful in a small amount of time really appeals to my inner instant gratification knitter. I was bored and decided to write a simple quick knit. It’s not perfect but it’s cute, a small dish cloth with a martini on it. It took me about an hour to knit but I’m slow knitter. 

I figure if you make a few of these they could make a cute housewarming gift, or just something neat to make on a lazy afternoon

I'm a wannabe..

Spinner that is and before you go and get your mind in the gutter I'm talking about spinning yarn. I got a brand new Ladybug spinning wheel for Christmas and I've yet to spin anything on it. I've been trying and I'm becoming seriously discouraged. I know it's going to be like knitting and sooner or later I'm going to get my lightbulb moment and figure it out. But this period of inability is annoying me to no end.

On to happier things! I've decided that my next tattoo is going to be knitting related. So far this is what I've come up with. I still can't decide on what colors to use so until that's done I'm going to wait to go see an artist.

It's a little blurry here but you get the idea. I'm so in love with this design! I just want to make sure it's perfect so I guess that's why I can't choose a color.

Knitting, finally!

So I actually have a FO! I made a pair of the cutest baby booties for my SIL's baby. I used the One Hour Baby Booties from Stitch N' Bitch's Knitting Nation. They came out great! They look a little like eggs but I guess that's just what I think of them, they are however harder then heck to get a pic of. So I gave up and here's a fuzzy one!

I started a baby blanket to go with the booties, my SIL lives in Phoenix so I knit it out of cotton instead of wool. It's the Wave Blanket from Loop Knits. I only have 2 rows of colors so far and I'm using thinner bands of them. But I'm love how ti's going so far!

I'm working on a few other projects as well, A cute little summer tank top for Bella. It's out of Sugar n' Cream worsted cotton and it's coming along well. I messed up a bit on were I started the color change for the strap but I'm not sure how to fix it and I figure she'll be grown out of it soon so it doesn't need to be perfect. Also, I'm lazy. =) I'm so glad she isn't talking yet, so she can't say if she likes what I'm knitting for her or not. Mathias on the other hand is very vocal and would like a green ninja hat, now, please.

Last but not least my messenger bag from Pints n' Purls. I'm really loving the color of the cascade 220 so far and I can't wait to felt the bag. Red is one of my fave colors and this is just the perfect version. I have a hope that this will be my new knitting bag and I think it's going to fit the bill well.  I've found the pattern to be super easy to follow (it's rated 3 beers in the book) and overall it's a fun simple knit. Just how I like 'em.

Tomorrow I get to go to my knitting group in Santa Fe and I can't tell you how excited I am to see my girls there! It's been to long and I have so much to talk to them about! Life has just been in the way lately and I'm glad I'm taking the time to go do something I love with people who love it too.

Knitting and Motorcycles

I started a post a few days ago on Ravlery about knitters who ride bikes. There are a ton who responded! There is even a group called Leather and Lace that is specifically for biker knitters. Hee, how cool is that?

In all my dorky glory here's a biker knitter. =)

In other news my sweet Bella is walking! It only took her 14 months, but she's got it! She walks more often then crawling and I can't tell you how excited I am. She seems to be on a much more mellow growth pattern then her brother and it's pretty neat. I love going through this all again, seeing your baby do something so new and exciting is beyond wonderful. I'm so proud of you my little Bellaboo.  ( This is after a long road trip to Phoenix, she's looking for her new outfit in this pic!)

Snow Day!

We went up into the Sandia mountains near Placitas for a a snow day. The kids haven't really had a chance to play in the snow and now that we live in Rio Rancho we don't get much snow at all. Levi had a great time, I froze my butt off, Bella slept through it all and Mathias made yellow snow. Yes, I took a pic, no I won't show you! =P

I did get a really neat picture of funky blue bird. I'm not really sure what species it is. My best guess is some sort of Jay? Hmm, not even google really had an idea, oh well he was pretty!

My SIL Olivia and her H Casey went with us too, they had a great time having a snowball fight with Mathias. I just stayed out of the way and took pics, snow in the face is not my idea of a good time.

Miss Bella was super tired and just slept away in the jeep we were close by and after a bit I joined her.

We didn't stay too long it really was cold up there but it was fun! I'm glad winter only comes once a year!

I have few projects going on the knitting department. A scarf for my sweet aunt in law and a some hand warmers for my friend Chris. I'm going to cast on for the Raspberry Wheat Ale Messenger bag from Pints & Purls.

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/raspberry-wheat-ale-messenger-bag

I'll have more pictures tomorrow, I have to find my camera....it somewhere between my motorcycle, car and office.