we moved!

all this ignoring the blog is completely due to me interviewing and then landing a new job! I finished working in Olympia on Friday, moved to Port Angeles, WA on Saturday, and I start working for the state tomorrow. Being the overachiever that I am, I decided to take on two of the most stressful life events in one week- changing jobs, and moving. I wouldn't be able to do all of this without my awesome family to help us out-packing, loading and driving the UHaul, babysitting Sureya until I can find a daycare, bringing us freshly baked bread and freshly caught salmon, etc, etc, and the list goes on. My knitting has come to a screeching halt, with just the beginning of my Craftsy knitalong Blue Angel Shawl on the needles. Half of my yarn, projects, and books are still in boxes because we moved into an old (1928) house with absolutely NO CLOSET SPACE, but as soon as we have some money in the bank we are hitting IKEA up for some storage solutions. Sooner or later I will be able to get back to the knitting thing, and maybe find some other knitters in the area- so far the nearest yarn store is the next town over!

Yay summer!

I know it isn't technically summer yet, but the sun is shining, it's June, and I am feeling particularly optimistic about everything in general. I am just ending an extended knitting hiatus, frogged the bejeezus out of about five works-in-progress and am starting fresh. That super cute flower petal hat from the previous post was my undoing, literally, and I pulled it apart and started knitting the Victorian Lace Baby Shrug instead. It was a weird funk, an inability to pick up my needles and want to knit so I just didn't touch my yarn for weeks. Now that that's all over, I am suddenly inspired to make all sorts of new things and even went so far as to sign up for a Mystery Knit Along on Craftsy! The designer is Stefanie Japel, and since I have kind of been internet stalking her for the last 8 years and like most of what she creates, I thought it would be a fun way to complete a project.
I don't have any pictures to share at this point because my laptop will only function in safe mode (I am debating paying for hard disk repair, or buying a new tablet), but I did knit that previously pictured WSU Cougar yarn into some golf club covers for my brother- which he loved.
Happy almost-Summer!

Mostly Fancy projects

Even though I haven't been coming here to share I went on a mini shopping spree at Fancy Image Yarns TWICE in the last month, and am happily plugging away at several super cute projects. I even managed to finish a few, all made with Fancy Image Yarn and all adorable! With the exception of Ryu's blue hat {which was made with an unlabeled yarn I received at Christmas}, all of these projects have (or will have) that signature soft and colorful Myra touch. Knitting an Easter Sweater for Sureya using Fancy Image yarn is on year two of becoming a tradition, and this time I picked a color that I thought might be difficult to match to a dress until Fate(a.k.a. Adrian) sent me more hand-me-down clothes from Savannah that just happened to include a dress in the perfect shade of bright purply fuschia. I love it when real life catches up with knit life! Here's some quick pictures of works in progress:

So, obviously the sweater still needs to be blocked and I still need to knit that WSU Cougar colored yarn up into something, but this is a lot of hours of meetings, trainings, and stolen-after-Sureya-falls-asleep time represented.The gray hombre hat/sock combo is for the next Thetford-baby-to-be, due sometime next month for my sister-in-law Alicia and brother Nate. The socks-I'm honestly not so sure about the socks, Myra had overdyed some patterned sock yarn and I wanted to give it a try. That collection of pastel colors on top of a sideways pattern, well that is actually the hat I am currently knitting for Sureya, the Flore Hat from KnitWhits. Myra allowed me to put together the colors in my own sampler pack of her DK yarn, and even though I have already had to unknit it once I am still hopeful and really do like the pattern!
Until next time

60 weeks, and moms birthday!

guess what? I have internet again! Thanks to the graciousness of Century Link, I qualify for an internet basics program that is affordable ($15/month) but not the quickest(1.5kb)-who cares, I have INTERNET again! The technician was kind of awesome because I thought my service wasn't being hooked up until Saturday, but he happened to call this afternoon right after we got home to say he was in the area and had some time to get our line going-Thank you Mike! Now it's time to do all the overdue updates, etc...

In knitting news, I made an awesome Valentine hat for Sureya- awesome because she actually will keep it on her head. I figured out the trick: earflaps and long braided ties (gives her something to hold onto, and there is no hat brim stretched across her ears). I used some leftover Haikoo Simpliworsted and Vicki Howell Sheepish yarn, with some slightly off centered hearts banding the body. Now that she is a "big girl" she picks out most of the clothes she wears and consistently chooses this hat as her official topper!

As an early-Valentine/super-late-Christmas/super-super-late-Birthday present for my sister Jenni, I made this cute buttoned headband. I wasn't quite sure of what to make for someone who could just as well crochet whatever she wanted, so I stalked her Pinterest likes until I noticed a trend- she had liked a lot of KNIT headbands! Voila, the super simple lace headband from Rewind Knits & Crochet. I used leftover Mountain Colors yarn in subtle rainbow shades, and it looks even better in person than what you can see in these pictures.

(please ignore my intense photo-face, I hate taking my own picture!)

We had a small round of uber-cold weather around the Northwest at the beginning of January, and in the midst of attempting to take a picture of a deer while out on a walk, I realized that I had to take my gloves off due to that whole conductivity issue. I went to four local stores to see if anyone was selling conductive thread that I could simply weave into existing fingertips, but alas the only option is online. Since I don't own a decent pair of fingerless gloves, I decided to treat myself to a handknit (double pun) for myself. I usually veer towards blue and green shades, but as I was walking down the yarn aisle in JoAnn (I am on a budget here, people!)this great orangish/reddish sunset colored yarn caught my eye. I dismissively said to myself "ahh, love these colors", then continued on towards my usual fallback colors, only to decide that I totally needed to bring the brightness and shock even myself with new hues for my suffering winter wardrobe. Here you have them, in a made-it-up-as-I-knit travelling cable pattern. The yarn is one of the Red Heart Boutique yarns, I can't remember which one, maybe Eclipse?

And now we get to my title-Today is not only the 26th anniversary of my darling mums 29th birthday (she's really 55, people, but no one knows that by looking at her), but also marks 60 weeks of Sureya! Sixty weeks, eight hours, 48 minutes (and counting) of loving that little girl to the moon and back! It's heartwarming to think that my mom once counted my days and weeks of life, too, now that I get to be awed and inspired by my own daughter. Thanks mom, for always believing and always being!

(she might make nasty comments for using a hottub picture, but this is the most recent pic of the two of them together!)



Now that I have wasted an hour of my sleeping-baby-mom-time, I feel slightly better about my neglected blog and hope that both you and I will be back sooner rather than later for an update.

P.S.:
If you are on Craftsy, considering giving a 'heart' to Sureya's hat that I entered into their Valentine Contest! The project with the most hearts by Valentines Day wins a free Craftsy class! Thanks!