Ravelry!

I signed up for Ravelry quite a while ago (when I found out about it) and now I am part of a huge and wonderful knit and crochet community. If you are already on Ravelry and want to find me, my Ravelry name is Sybina. I am having a lot of fun and if you haven't signed up for it (and you knit and/or crochet) you really should.

Knitting at Crochet Group

Last night at crochet group, I finished my first pair of socks and they fit really well. I have "stocked up" on sock yarn (no, really, I have a LOT of sock yarn...just ask Mindy and as soon as I get my Ravelry invite I will have pics there) and I am (almost) ready to dedicate myself to knitting more of these wonderful little feet warmers - I just need to finish a couple more crocheted items and then I will be off and running - with new socks, hehe. Also last night, I got to see Margie (a most awesome human being) who has been busy lately being a very good professional football player. We were all treated with a special "show and tell" by Mindy's friend Dale. She had three crocheted items with her, two that her mother made and one that her grandmother made. They were all stunning, but the last one that she showed us that her grandmother made took my breath away. I wish I had my camera, but I am not as organized as I would like to be.

Long time no see

Let's see, since I last blogged I went on a trip to LA with my niece, Becky. We went and saw the play Zanna Don't and it was even better than we expected it to be. The next day we went to the Santa Monica Beach and we both ended up sunburned but had a great time anyways. They also have a Harry Potter store that we went to and loved. My neice got a little tank top and on the front it says "I solemly swear I am up to no good" and the back says "Mischief managed".

I also got some new yarn from Sock Pixie in Lavender Garden, Raspberry Cheesecake and Royal. They are even prettier than I imagined they would be. I also got a skein of Lunasea from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. I need to finish my daughter's blanket of which I only have 18 more squares to go and then I can start knitting more on my socks and actually finish one whole pair. My friend Mindy is way ahead of me on finished socks and I need to attempt to keep up.

HMB

Let's see if this works. I am posting pictures of all of the Heartmade Blessings comfortghans I have assembled to date.

This first one is for a lady who was diagnosed with breast cancer.

This second one was for a lady who lost her husband.

This is the third one I assembled (EDIT: have to post it later, had the wrong one), was for a mother who lost her second son in less than a year.

This is my fourth one and it was very special to me. Sandy, one of our crochet group members, requested a comfortghan for her sister-in-law, Karen, because she lost her father. Karen's favorite colors are blues, tans and turquoise. So I decided to make the ghan in blues and then edge it in turquoise.

This is the last one I did so far. This one is for HMB's Operation Purple Heart ("OPH") where we send ghans to the immediate family of soldiers lost in action. I really loved doing this one. My grandson has decided that he likes the one with the stars on it so he wants a whole blanket of stars.

Now that I have this whole picture thing figured out (I hope) there will be more pics coming soon.

MS3 progress

Some of you might be saying..."No way" and some of you will be sure that I am knitting it in some shade of blue. Well, I am making progress (very small amount so far cause I forgot my knitting at home yesterday) and yes, it is in a shade of blue. However, the beads are not blue they are a very sparkly (mmmm, sparkle) white/silver that will pop out when the sun catches them as I am wearing my first knitted lace project (sometime in the year 2008?).

Progress on my second sock (first pair) is going good. I will be turning the heal soon. Woot! On the other hand, progress on my second pair of socks (butterfly lace) went backwards. So far backwards that they no longer exist. I realized that they were going to be too big and so had to frog them completely.

I finally got some pictures downloaded on my computer and will post pics of my HMB comfortghans either tonight or tomorrow (I am thinking I can figure the picture posting out, wish me luck).

The one where I take back the previous post

Sigh, what I thought was The. Perfect. Yarn. ended up being "the perfect yarn if you can knit with laceweight...apparently I am not in that category. The good news is, I am still confident that I will knit MS3, with beads. Just so happens it will be with fingering weight yarn instead. So, here I sit waiting for my newest stash inhancement and yarn to be used for MS3 getting further and further behind (fortunately we have a week off, not that a week will help me any, lol).

I have decided to do a knit-along with my crochet group (weird, huh) of a Harry Potter scarf (house to be decided by each individual). I am going to go Griffyndor but probably all the other houses as well - at least that is the theory, I am going to buy all the colors anyways. hehe

Cast off...er, on

As crazy as this may sound, I signed up for MS3 "Mystery Stole 3" (the knit-along along with 6400 + people) on the next to the last day possible. I ordered some awesome yarn which when I received it wasn't quite right. So I ordered some new yarn (meanwhile I am 3 weeks behind on the clues). I just got my new yarn today and it is beyond perfect! It took my breath away and I cried with joy. So, tonight I will be casting on and am hoping to make some progress (as I am now almost 4 weeks behind).

Too busy to post on my birthday...

Oh well, Happy Birthday to me - yesterday. I got so many flowers this year my office seems like a florist shop (it sure does smell nice). This year, my boss asked one of my co-workers if she had any suggestions for a birthday present for me. She kindly directed him to a pair of luxury knitting needles - Alba's Rosewood and Silver size 15. Oh my goodness they are beautiful (and yes, I tried them out at lunch and they are a bit heavy but otherwise exquisite). Pickings were otherwise pretty slim so I decided to take matters into my own hands. I had been watching a few things on Ebay and the scarves pattern book that Crazy Aunt Purl showed on her blog the other day was about to end so I placed a bid and won it (Yay!). There was also a set of bamboo 6 inch dpn's ranging from size 0 to 10.5 but that one didn't end until 30 minutes from the time I got off work. So I rushed home (and traffic was good to me for a change) and I placed a bid and won them too. Whoo hooo!!!! Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday dear meeeee, Happy Birthday to me. Yes, I am lame...but happy. :)

All books, all the time...(Hi, my name is Angie and I have not bought yarn for three weeks)

Since I returned from my trip to San Francisco/Petaluma on June 9th on a self-imposed yarn diet (serious stash inhancement went on while I was there), I immediately set to work ordering books, knitting books to be precise since apparently I am now a Knitter as well as a crocheter. I got Charmed Knits, The Encyclopedia of Knitting and Wrapped in Comfort from Amazon and Knitting in Plain English and Principles of Knitting from Ebay...stalking ebay for that last book was fun and I got a great deal. I suppose this large amount of books would not be so bad, had I not bought one or two knitting books a week for the last 6 weeks prior to my trip. So, now I am on a yarn diet and a knitting book diet (length of time as yet undetermined).

I promise I will get the picture posting thing worked out soon so you can all see my yarn porn, er, stash, that I picked up (hint: there is a bit of sock yarn in it). I also need to put up the pics of my HMB comfortghans that I have completed (I just sent the OPH one out today). I have three more squares to edge on the one for a friend of mine's sister in law who lost her father and then I can join them and edge it and then send it out too. Once I get that done, I will be working on finishing the second sock of my first pair and working on the first sock of my second pair.

Pitch (and stitch)

I am going to see the Las Vegas 51's tonight with my mom and nephew. Last couple of times I went with just my nephew on $1.00 Bud night and tonight is $1.00 Bud night again so I am sure we will have a great time...at least I will, LOL. This time, I am bringing my HMB (Hearmade Blessings) OPH (Operation Purple Heart) comfortghan that is almost done so I can maybe get it finished tonight (I am on the last row of edging, picots all around). Before I send it out, I will take a picture and post it for you all to see.

/hugs

It begins...

This will be my place to write my thoughts and share my crochet/knitting with others.

My name is Angela ("Angie") and I am part of the Las Vegas Hookers Chapter of CGOA and also a member of TKGA. I really enjoy getting together with other crocheters and knitters and sharing ideas and projects. I have a LOT of yarn and a LOT of patterns for both crochet and knit. I teach crochet at CCSN and really enjoy it. I will also teach anyone who is interested the basics of knitting.