Sunday, December 16, 2007

Stockings...

This is how my knitting basket looked this morning - stuffed full of finished, woven, blocked, sewn, and looped stockings! Yes, there are two that are still in progress and one yet to be started, but those are not for my family and the timeline on these was not to be finished by Christmas.

I thought all day about how to try to get them all in one photo - and then I thought of the big brick wall of the neighbors house that it in my back yard... To be nice I did use those hooks that come off the wall without leaving a mark. It was the perfect backdrop! (Or would have been had the tuck pointers done a better job...)

The first photo is all together. The next photos are how they will be gifted by household. First, the grandbaby and his parents - then my dad and his girlfriend and her dog - finally mr.sunneshine and myself. Last there is the skull stocking that I love, but currently has no place. I am
working on that...

I can't wait to get the other three finished and off to their new homes as well :) There is one stocking missing from all these photos and that is the red one that I am giving to my grandma for Christmas. She is doing better - attitude is improving (but feisty-ness never leaves) - and she will get home from the hospital Monday night. I told her she could open her present when she gets home, and that has been a good carrot to get her to try harder, do her therapy and such! I really appreciate all the thoughts and prayers!! She is not out of the woods, but she is
making progress every day!

And on one other cool note, I had two of the knitters that were in my stocking class, drop by the store with their complete/almost complete stockings to show me. Both Nse and Anne did an amazing job - I was so proud!!

Happy Knitting


Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Blocking stockings...

Mubs made it through surgery and through the night. Thank you everyone for your prayers and well-wishes!! I talked to her for a minute this morning, she was kinda cranky and not feeling well from all the drugs. I took cranky as a good sign - she has a sparky spirit. They are only keeping her in the hospital for 4 days, so I am just waiting to see how things go today - to see if I fly back to see her Sunday and Monday. She has such great friends where she lives, they are all stepping up to help her, which is so comforting since we all live far away. By Sunday, she will be surrounded with family as well. If you could please keep her in your prayers, I would be so grateful!

And on a lighter note, I leave you with the first batch of stockings blocking. Three of these will be send to Omaha tomorrow!

Happy KNitting!!

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

She taught me to knit...

My grandmother fell this afternoon and fractured her hip. She has been mentioned many times here and is the most wonderful woman. She was taking the neighbors trash can in and slipped in their driveway and fell. Thankfully, someone found her quickly and took her inside where it was warm and got her to the hospital. She goes into surgery tonight at 8. If you have any spare prayers or good thoughts you could send her way, I would really appreciate it. She is the strongest woman that I have ever met, but she is scared. She is the matriarch of the family and she could use more prayers and love then we can give.

Thank you so much!!

Monday, December 10, 2007

Let the drama begin...



Sorry that i have disappeared, it has been a long and stressful couple of weeks since I last blogged!

There have been a couple really fun things too! Mr.sunneshine and I went Christmas tree hunting with some friends and bagged a great tree. The Ent gods pointed this one out for us to grab - we came to a clearing where everthing was shaded but this tree and the bottom 4 feet were dead. That was great for us, since our house doesn't have super high ceilings. Now its cut down to about 6.5 feet and looks great and the forest has one less dying tree...

I ripped back my ex-christmas stocking a bit and have my new one almost finished. I spent a couple hours weaving in ends yesterday, so I will be blocking the stockings for my grandbaby and his family tonight. I also started one of the two paid stockings that I am doing. I would like at least one of them to be done by Christmas.



Happy Knitting!

Friday, November 30, 2007

Stocking disaster

It was stocking disaster this morning - okay disaster may be a bit of a stretch....

While I was finishing the third band of colorwork this morning, I looked at my stocking and realized that it was quite long - then I set it with the other stockings and realized that somehow it was REALLY long - longer then any of the other stockings and I haven't even gotten to turning the heel! YIKES!! I realized that if I ripped out the last band of color work, that it would be about the right size, so I did. Now I don't like the way that it looks.... So I have decided to set the stocking aside and start another one for myself. When all the stockings are done, stuffed and sent and my two paid stockings are finished, I will then go back to this one and figure out what to do to make it right... And who to gift it to.... The sucky part is it was almost done and I loved the way it was looking, the good part, I have plenty of yarn to make another in the same colors and slightly modify the pattern to something I think I will like even better... The glass is always half full, right?

I love the way all the stockings look together - so even though, you can't see the freakishly long length of the stocking - I leave you with the pretty fair isle all stacked...

Happy Knitting!!

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Santa Hats are done!


Grabbed this pattern from someone else who did them on Ravelry - its the HoHoHat from Cider Moon. They were so fun, so fast and so soft made out of stash alpaca and cashmerino chunky!
Hopefully, there will be a good photo of me and mr.sunneshine in them finding our tree!!

Happy KNitting!!

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Land of the unfinished - v.2

Here are two more of the stockings - that are almost finished. When I am done with mine by the end of the week, it will be all weaving and blocking. Then one photo of all of them together! Then we get to stuff them and send the three off to the Grandbaby and his parents... and hang ours and our guests, so Santa can easily find them.

Then there will be two more stockings to do... more on that one later...

Happy Knitting!!

Monday, November 26, 2007

Living in the land of the unfinshed

So I am living in the land of only mostly finished projects. Here are two of the newest - Santa Hats for our photos during Christmas Tree Hunting on Sunday and the the cuff of my stocking. The upside is within the next ten days - all my holiday knitting should be complete!!

Happy Knitting!!

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Go Cougs!!
















Apple Cup 2007
Washington State - 42
Washington - 35

Go Cougs!!
Ho-Hoo!!

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Happy Thanksgiving!!


Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!!
There are so many people, I am thankful for - including all the knitter and knit bloggers who have inspired me with inspiration, ideas, tips, and friendship!!
Much Love to you all!!

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Chocolate Covered Cherry Box!!


This last week has been crazy stressful - and we are just getting into the holidays... Then I got this great box from KnitKat!! It is so well thought out - Thanks again Kat!!

It is comprised of the Little Miss Sunshine messenger bag, the Daily Stitch and Bitch Calendar, two skeins of SWS by Patons with a pattern suggestion :) a skein of C*EYE*BER Fiber sock yarn, a cherry card and Cherry Hershey's Kisses (devoured mostly by mr.sunneshine). I LOVE all of it and now get to use my new Favorite Socks book after I finish my Christmas knitting!!

Thanks so much Kat!! You were a great pal and I really appreciate everything that you sent!

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

One more stocking and some progress...

One more stocking down! I finished the stocking for my SIL. With a few modifications, it is the Scandinavian Stocking from IK holiday 2006. I have to admit I got a little bored at the end. I do like the color and think it turned out well and he will be happy.

The grandbaby's stocking is coming along. I was really nervous about the colors, but I think its turning out really well. Now that I am back to the fair isle, it should go quickly...

Finally, there is Emma's stocking - she is my dad's girlfriends dog. I wanted to do a colorful stocking that used up my scraps. She was the one designated to get it, since I was unsure about how it would turn out... However, its great! There is a little 70's vibe with the heel (and soon to be the toe), but I am really happy with it! And I made it smaller then the giant people stockings, so its going really quick.

Now I am closing in on the end of the stockings - I would like to do 5 more, but really only HAVE to do one - mine, which I haven't written the pattern for yet... Of course, once they are all knit, I have to weave all the ends and block all of them except three... Oh the excitement...

Happy Knitting!!

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Catching up again....

So mr.sunneshine and I spent three lovely fall days in NYC. Now I am paying the price catching up.... Our trip was for mr.sunneshine's birthday - which is actually in a couple weeks, but both of us working retail - its hard to properly celebrate. It felt so good to have the weather be in the 40's. We got to see the Rockafeller Plaza Tree when it was raised off the truck, we shopped and ate well. There was very little knitting... I leave you with the photos of the view from our balcony (yes, we had a balcony!! Granted it was 3'x4' and looked out onto a LOT of construction, but it looked great at night...) and mr.sunneshine with the RP tree in his knit wear!

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Coffee swap winnings....


I want to send a huge thank you out of Knittymama J (great swap hostess) and Knittindiva (check out her etsy site) for my coffee swap contest prize! Its beautiful mostly solid dark brown sock yarn in a colorway called coffee bean... Thank you both so much!!

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

a little bit of everything...





So, while things have been super busy around here.... I have apparently needed some retail therapy. And yarn shopping in my world doesn't count if (a) you are also buying for your swap pal and (b) you can pay with the paypal balance. I think I need to re-think this doesn't count thing, I seem to be accumulating a lot of yarn... Today I spent an hour cataloging the new yarns that I have purchased. I did leave out the Noro cashmere that I bought for my short row scarf - oops...

So while going through this much larger then anticipated job. I think Ravelry should allow you to copy your yarn entries - so after you enter it once you can have some in the used section and some in the stash section. Since I know that I have used more then 4 balls of yarn since I stashed everything, but I haven't used up all that yarn, so it is still sitting in my stash section. And at the same time, if you could use the stashed yarn when entering projects, so everything doesn't have to be double entered... That's just my rant...

I did want to share some pretty yarn pictures... The brown and purple are my alpaca from a local farm in Morrison, it is softer then cashmere.... mmmm.....

Then there has been some knitting - of course its mostly stockings but I am closing in on my stocking count of 12 - there are one small, two big and three partial left! Yippee!!

Monday, November 05, 2007

I just have a sec...





I just have a sec.... So I thought I would share some photos from my last trip. The LA part was work - enough said. The Washington part was glorious! Seattle was amazing, as always. And this trip more then most, made me want to move to Eastern Washington - beautiful scenery, great fall weather, a wonderful visit with my 88 year old grandma who I adore, and WSU beat UCLA and we were at the game! Here are some photos of our trip...

ps - Mubs loved the Hemlock Ring Blanket, she curled up in it while we watch the Rockies lose in the World Series...

Sunday, November 04, 2007

Thank You!!


I am still here - really!! Just spread a little too thin at the moment... Hopefully, I will get back regular posting next week...

I do want to send a HUGE THANK YOU!! out to Laura, my coffee swap pal! She rocks!! My box had tons of chocolate - and yes, some of it is already missing, two kinds of coffee, two little Soak packets and YARN! There is local JR Alpaca, beautiful purple Cabin Cove Merchantile sock yarn and - the best - yarn that she dyed using coffee and tea!! So beautiful and thoughtful! Thanks Laura!!

Happy Knitting!!

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

So many cool things...

Yesterday, I was surprised by an envelope from my PRGE pal, Kat with A Tale of Two Cities from Charles Dickens on CD. Its from a cool website called LibriVox. I haven't listened to books on tape while knitting yet - but I love them while driving! Such a cool gift! Thanks Kat!

And our Colorado Rockies are going the the WORLD SERIES!!! Its crazy! I am really bummed that I won't be in Denver for the Series - I had already planned a trip to Seattle that I cannot change. But I will be watching - GO ROCKIES!!!

My cell phone finally died - it had been almost three years since I bought it, so its been a while. I decided to pony up for an iphone. I have needed a more comprehensive pda for a while, and only having four minutes of talk time before my phone would die was the final straw. Wish me luck - I am not good with computer stuff...

And for your pleasure, more pictures of unblocked lace. The second Hemlock Ring blanket is right at the beginning of the feather and fan. I am not going any further, since I am traveling for most of next week, and its a great airport project.

There is also my Secret of the Stole with the second installment done. I didn't take out the lifelines, again since I am traveling, and I don't want to take any chances of unraveling. And airplanes with the ipod on are good lace knitting venues...

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Progress...

So, there has been a bunch of progress around the sunneshine's this week.

There are four baby hats waiting for their finishing (they'll look like lil Hershey's kisses).

The first clue plus 10 rows is done in the Secret of the stole - I hate photographing lace before its blocked, it looks like gobblie-gook.

I got the blog really going for my Friday ladies - if you have some time and nice comments for some beginning knitters who are beating the odds, head here. They are really excited about
the blog and tracking their progress (read successes) online.

mr.sunneshine is in Omaha for our grandbaby's second birthday - guess I can't call him the GB for much longer... We got him a little mini-drum set at his mom's request!! (mr.sunneshine is in the photo for scale - hehe!) And a bicycle and helmet :) I am sure there will be more photos when mr.s returns. Since I am the crafty grandma, I made (assembled) his halloween bucket - of course the front had a skull and the back was too funny!

Started a second Hemlock ring blanket today. I am just starting the feather and fan. Love how quickly these knit!!

Okay, off to make some more stocking progress, while the mr. is away. There will be lots knitting...

Happy Knitting!!

Friday, October 12, 2007

coffee swap!

Its coffee swap time again!!

1. Whole bean or ground?
Doesn't matter - I have a grinder and am not afraid to use it...

2. Fully-loaded or decaf?
Fully-loaded!!

3. Regular or flavored?
Regular - I take my coffee strong and black.

4. How do you drink your coffee?
Its my morning ritual with mr.sunneshine - a couple good black cups to start the day!

5. Favorite coffee ever?
What I am drinking right now...

6. Are you fussy about your coffee or will any old bean do?
I am only medium fussy - I won't go for Folgers, but had Dunkin Donuts coffee last week and enjoyed it!

7. Favorite treats to have with your coffee?
chocolate

8. Anything else about your coffee preferences?
Nope

9. Yarn/fiber you love?
Natural fibers - alpaca, merino, cotton, tofu, bamboo... Worsted weight or thinner...

10. Yarn/fiber you hate?
Acrylic, angora, mohair, anything scratchy...

11. What's on your needles?
Fair Isle stockings, Hemlock Ring Blanket, Vinnlands Socks, Baby knits...

12. Favorite colors?
Natural, neutral, purple and black

13. Allergies?
I am allergic to wheat - not a really big deal, and if I can't eat it, mr.sunneshine will...

14. Anything you really love, really don't like, or just need to get off your chest?
I am so excited about this swap - I have had such great pals!! I am easy to please and love anything thoughtful!

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Another FO...

So the schoolgirl socks are done. This project is so disappointing. The socks are different colors - more evident off then on, but I know so it sucks. On the upside, they fit amazingly! I love the way they feel on - good thing I have lots of tall boots. And my short row heels are getting better, but you can still see the little lines of o's. Maybe after I wash them, they will be better... At least I now know that I can make tall socks - next time, I will try two socks at once...


Wednesday, October 10, 2007

birthday calendar


Snagged from Angela's blog...
31 July 1969

Your date of conception was on or about 7 November 1968 which was a Thursday.

You were born on a Thursday
under the astrological sign Leo.
Your Life path number is 9.

Your fortune cookie reads:
Something you lost will soon turn up.

Life Path Compatibility:
You are most compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 3, 6 & 9.
You should get along well with those with the Life Path numbers 1 & 5.
You may or may not get along well with those with the Life Path numbers 2, 7 & 11.
You are least compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 4, 8 & 22.

The Julian calendar date of your birth is 2440433.5.
The golden number for 1969 is 13.
The epact number for 1969 is 11.
The year 1969 was not a leap year.

Your birthday falls into the Chinese year beginning 2/17/1969 and ending 2/5/1970.
You were born in the Chinese year of the Rooster.

Your Native American Zodiac sign is Salmon; your plant is Raspberry.

You were born in the Egyptian month of Paopy, the second month of the season of Poret (Emergence - Fertile soil).

Your date of birth on the Hebrew calendar is 16 Av 5729.
Or if you were born after sundown then the date is 17 Av 5729.

The Mayan Calendar long count date of your birthday is 12.17.15.17.9 which is
12 baktun 17 katun 15 tun 17 uinal 9 kin

The Hijra (Islamic Calendar) date of your birth is Thursday, 16 Jumadiyu'l-Avval 1389 (1389-5-16).


Celebrities who share your birthday:

Eric Lively (1981)Dean Cain (1966)J.K. Rowling (1965)
Jim Corr (1964)Wesley Snipes (1962)Bill Berry (1958)
Barry Van Dyke (1951)Geraldine Chaplin (1944)Curt Gowdy (1919)
Milton Friedman (1912)

Top songs of 1969
Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In by Fifth DimensionIn the Year 2525 by Zager & Evans
Get Back by Beatles (with Billy Preston)Sugar, Sugar by Archies
Honky Tonk Women by Rolling StonesEveryday People by Sly & the Family Stone
Dizzy by Tommy RoeWedding Bell Blues by Fifth Dimension
I Can't Get Next to You by TemptationsCrimson & Clover by Tommy James & the Shondells

Your age is the equivalent of a dog that is 5.45988258317025 years old. (You're still chasing cats!)

Your lucky day is Sunday.
Your lucky number is 1 & 4.
Your ruling planet(s) is Sun.
Your lucky dates are 1st, 10th, 19th, 28th.
Your opposition sign is Aquarious.
Your opposition number(s) is 8.

Today is not one of your lucky days!

There are 295 days till your next birthday
on which your cake will have 39 candles.

Those 39 candles produce 39 BTUs,
or 9,828 calories of heat (that's only 9.8280 food Calories!) .
You can boil 4.46 US ounces of water with that many candles.

In 1969 there were approximately 3.7 million births in the US.
In 1969 the US population was approximately 179,323,175 people, 50.6 persons per square mile.
In 1969 in the US there were approximately 1,800,000 marriages (9.3%) and 479,000 divorces (2.5%)
In 1969 in the US there were approximately 1,712,000 deaths (9.5 per 1000)
In the US a new person is born approximately every 8 seconds.
In the US one person dies approximately every 12 seconds.

In 1969 the population of Australia was approximately 12,407,217.
In 1969 there were approximately 250,175 births in Australia.
In 1969 in Australia there were approximately 112,470 marriages and 10,930 divorces.
In 1969 in Australia there were approximately 106,496 deaths.


Your birthstone is Ruby

The Mystical properties of Ruby

Ruby is said to open one's heart to love.
Some lists consider these stones to be your birthstone. (Birthstone lists come from Jewelers, Tibet, Ayurvedic Indian medicine, and other sources)
Carnelian

Your birth tree is
Cypress, the Faithfulness

Strong, muscular, adaptable, takes what life has to give, happy,content,optimistic, needs enough money and acknowledgment, hates loneliness, passionate lover which cannot be satisfied, faithful, quick-tempered,unruly, pedantic and careless.


There are 76 days till Christmas 2007!
There are 89 days till Orthodox Christmas!

The moon's phase on the day you were
born was waning gibbous.

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Hemlock Ring Blanket

Generally I consider my photography pretty sucky. This little lap blanket is so pretty, I actually enjoyed trying to get some photos of it!
I found this in a Ravelry group - she took such amazing photos - I had to knit it! The best part is that it was a super quick knit - maybe 15 hours, maybe less... I started it Sunday night and blocked it the next Sunday night. I am giving it to my Grandmother for her 88th birthday in two weeks. It measures just over 4 feet across - a nice little lap blanket. You can find the pattern from BrooklynTweeds blog or Ravelry page. Its a doily (the one he chose is called the Hemlock Ring, although in searching the net, I found the exact same pattern copyrighted to at least 6 people, under different names) knit with size 10 needles and Cascade Ecological Wool yarn. This project more then most REALLY needed blocking. I loved this project!

The worst part of the whole thing, is I found my "large" blocking board is too small. Even for a small project like this, it was not enough. So sometime in my future, there will be a second blocking board to give me more room...

Happy Knitting!!