what ?! no mail today ?!

no, no mail, as it's a holiday ...it's memorial day. it's been a nice three day weekend as well. i went home to visit family, and had enough time to finally finish this little monster ...


mom had picked him out from my big book of knitted monsters, on one of my previous trips home.

of course, i picked out yarn and started right away ... and got "distracted" by other projects. and, he got a bit neglected. how sad!

and i wanted to finish him as a surprise, but i absolutely SUCK at surprises. i'm so excited, i end up blabbing or confessing before the gift is given. what can i say?

this is Toothy Joe. he is the offical mailbox monster. maybe he's the reason you didn't get 'that' bill (thus, missed a payment)? maybe he's the reason the stamp "fell" off your letter and it was 'returned to sender'? maybe he's the reason there was no delivery today? (no!)

he's knitted with a couple of yarns from the Hobby Lobby.


both yarns make great monsters! the lighter green is called SPARK. it has a bit of glitzy nylon wrapped around the cotton, giving off an iridescent sparkle.

public announcement

alert! if you're within a reasonable driving distance of the NC State Fairgrounds, get on over there! this weekend is the nc ag fest, but more importantly, it's the carolina fiberfest (on the same grounds).

i'm always up early on saturdays (meaning, pre-dawn). nuts, i know, when most sleep in. my *to do* list today included this fiber festival.


i am very greatful to the vendors that will travel to these venues. Laura (far left in awesome gradience stockings) drove all the way from kentucky to be at the festival!

by the way, she seriously complimented my hair (as gray la gran's hair is mostly silver-gray). and looked at her and said, "i LOVE yours too!" (her hair currently has colors that coordinate with her stockings).

click on photo to get yarn information
i also had a lot of fun talking to the ladies of the unplanned peacock studio. they had driven down from virginia. i also purchased a brooch in her booth. it's about 3" long from tip to tip, and is forged.


and i'm glad i got to the booth of wolle's yarn creations when i did, as when i cruised by later ... it was really crowded.

click on photo for yarn information
this yarn is handdyed cotton, and is fingering weight. the "strand" is actually 4 separate strands of 2 ply cotton. i plan on using this for some summer shawl knitting.

so, if you're a knitting, spinner, weaver, or crocheter, head on out to the fiberfest. but if not, then there's lots of this:


at the fairgrounds this weekend =)

shawl knitting

i am quite scattered with my knitting lately. i don't know why. i just kinda go with it. knitting is for joy, not a job.

not too long ago, i picked up a shawl project i had started in february of 2009. i was indecisive about what needle size to use, and then i stalled out when i got to the center panel because it was true lace knitting (with pattern on both sides of the fabric).


this first picture is from 2009


and this is from last week
it is very slow knitting. i'm lucky to accomplish 4 rows in an evening. sometimes, i actually knit 8 rows! the pattern is the wedding shawl, and is free on the VK website.

the yarn i am using is schaefer's Andrea ... a beautiful lace weight handpainted silk. i bought this yarn specifically for this project, and i swear i'll finish it before 2020!

but, since i know it will be a long time before i see much progress, i cheated with a wee hank of malabrigo sock and cast on the holden shawlette.


i love triangular shawls/shawlettes. though this color is seriously out of season for spring, it will be pretty great for summer. imagine the hot colors of summer, or even the neutral shades, and a dark brackish shawlette?

and, because i cannot NOT knit socks, i did cast on sock #2 of my mystery sock. (i cast on the pink one!)

can't see!

i thought i'd get another little coco knitted from my monster book, but when i started to page through, i decided to make 'baldwin' instead.


i got the body knitted, and then kinda came to a grinding halt. i came to the point where i would stuff and put the eyes in, but ... i don't have the right size eyes, and cannot find the size/color i need locally.

thank goodness for the www. i'm going to order some eyes from 6060 on etsy.

my original goal was to see how many mini-coco-monsters i could knit from that 1 ball of mosaic, ... but i didn't feel like knitting the same pattern again. and baldwin is really cute!

one is done

i have finished one sock (from my previous post), but i've not yet made another monster ... hmmmm .... i think i will make a little monster this weekend!

a sock, and a monster

i'll show the sock first, just so y'all don't think i don't knit socks anymore ;)




you gotta just love it when you get to the point with a pattern where you don't have to refer to the pattern chart. it's nice when what looks like a complicated design becomes "mindless" knitting.

i'm knitting this as written, so far, without mods. but, i think i will knit a plain toe, as i don't like pattern on my toes. and even that wouldn't be a modification, as the designer gives that option in the pattern as well.

i often like a good solid heelflap with the standard slip stitches, but since this pattern was a gift, i wanted to knit it as written. plus, when the faux cable splits at the heel, it becomes yet another lovely design feature along the side of the flap (and side of the foot).

oh! and as joyceetta kindly pointed out, i forgot to mention what this pattern is! WHOOPS! (see what happens when you take pictures, upload to ravelry, create a project page, post in the "just because you need to share" thread of SKA, ... you kinda forget things after taking the cyber-tour)

this pattern is called breaking hearts socks (ravelry link), designed by Cristi H. Brockway, otherwise, in bloggy-land, known as turtlegirl.

i so admired her socks, that she sent me a copy of the pattern gratis! that really made my day!

i'm slowly knitting along, enjoying the rhythm of the pattern. (and, bouncing around with other projects, duh!)



such as ... a MONSTER!




my swap partner in the Danger Crafts group on ravelry had knitted me 2 monsters, and one of them was 'coco' the canister monster (on the left).




when i saw this yarn at the local craft store, i instantly thought "monster". i've seen some really pretty monsters knitted with knitpicks chroma, but i cannot place a knitpicks order right now. so, for $3, i got some instant gratification. (it's also a good substitute for noro! w/o the $$)

i only knitted through 3 transitions of colors, so i'm certain there are several more monsters lurking inside the yarn. i will knit more monsters, just to see how many licks it does take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop.

monsters!

i participated in a swap with the ravelry danger crafts group for the spring. i knitted bea for my swap partner, plus i sewed one of the rebecca danger sewing patterns.


in return, my partner mailed me 2 monsters as well, i got a wee 'coco' and a brilliant 'tony'. both are knitted with the super soft malabrigo.


when i first got my book, i totally fell for harold. harold is the house plant monster. what i loved about him most was his TOES!


so, when i started knitting him, i started with his feet. and today, i finished him.




i'm really pleased with how he turned out. i knitted him with a heavy worsted yarn on size 5 needles. i think it would be fun to make a mini-harold out of a sock yarn, knitted with size 1 or 0 needles.