Do the Puyallup...

The Puyallyp Fair was a lot of fun this year.  We picked a night that was cloudy and rainy but the weather cleared up and it was a beautiful evening.  The picture above is Hailey standing in front of a 994 lb. pumpkin.  The thing was HUGE!

Kiddo's on the rides.  

 These gigantic carved pumpkins were pretty cool.

Kids resting their feet and getting a massage after all the walking.  I need one of these at home :)

Picture of the day...

A pink tank... interesting... bet that would go over good with the military :)

Football Socks

Fall, rain, football = warm cozy feet... I started a pair of slipper socks last night and finished them up today while watching football.  Have you ever knit a pair of socks in a day?  I didn't think that was possible but I did it and I'm loving them.

These will come in handy for soccer season too when the weather gets really cold, I think I can probably wear them with my boots.  The yarn I used was Dream in Color Groovy and I think the colorway (Bayou) is beautiful.  The pattern was also from Dream in Color as part of their sock club.  It was my first purchase from The Dizzy Sheep.  Have you checked out The Dizzy Sheep yet?  They have daily specials that change at midnight everyday.  It's been kind of fun to follow the deals... I hate to admit it but I find myself a little addicted to checking out the special every night since I'm always up.  Anyway, as you can tell, they knit up really quick with the bulky yarn.  I loved the yarn but didn't exactly love the pattern.  There were some mistakes but I had to adjust for using magic loop anyway so it wasn't really an issue with me.  For a beginning sock knitter it might be a little more frustrating.  All in all though, if your looking for a quick knit for a last minute gift, these are perfect!  My feet will be nice and toasty warm this winter and, from what everyone has been saying, it looks like I will need it!!

Soccer season is here...

Rain, rain go away... at least for tomorrow anyway!  Soccer season has arrived which means rain too.  I decided today that Hailey needed a new hat for her soccer game tomorrow.  After all, I can't have my baby getting all wet and cold can I?  At least her head will be warm.  I was browsing new patterns on http://www.ravelry.com/ and saw this cute hat called Bella's Striped Hat from Eclipse.  Now, I'm not a fan of the Twilight series but I do LOVE this hat.  Hailey's team colors are green and white so a green and white hat it is.  Luckily I already had yarn on hand in my "massive" stash :)  This pattern was so perfect and so quick I just might have to make more.  For now I must go give my arm a rest.  All that knitting today didn't help the carpal tunnel!  Dang I hate that stuff.

Project bags...

Can a knitter ever really have too many projects bags?  Are you addicted to project bags?  I LOVE project bags and have a small addiction myself.  Although my husband would probably not call it a "small" addiction.  My latest find was at one of my new favorite shops in Gig Harbor called Indigo Plum.  I went there last week to check out some rain boots.  After all, this is Washington and the rainy season is just getting underway.  While I was there I saw some cool reusable bags... it does seem to be the rage these days.  While digging through the different patterns I noticed there was also a "mini" sack.  Thought this would be perfect for socks or other small projects.  Trying to decide which one to buy was the hard part.  This is the one I picked:

The colors remind me of fall and I love the flowers on the front and polka dots on the back.  The cool thing about this bag is it has a good size pocket on the inside and it folds up into that pocket when not in use.  But, I won't be needing that little feature because this bag will get lots of ongoing use. 
What kind of project bags do you like to use?

Picture of the day...

What do you think they are making?  I need to find me some of these needles... how fun would those be on the wall of my craft room?

Farmer's Market...

Today was a fun day filled with LOTS of laughs, GREAT company and TONS of chocolate... what's better than that?  Lisa and I tried to keep the spirit of summer alive by going to the farmer's market in Tacoma.  Dark clouds or not flip flops were still the footwear of choice and I didn't even have to wear my coat.  The smell of yummy food, fresh fruit and flowers filled the air while most people still wore a smile.  It was a GREAT day!  I filled up my reusable shopping bag quickly with fresh flowers,

and colorful, fun pepers to hang in my kitchen.

And I couldn't leave without throwing in some fresh bread and spinach.  Then it was off to the Almond Roca outlet to stock up on some chocolate.  And stock up we did... who can pass up .05, .10, .25 and .99 cent deals on all kinds of chocolate from regular Almond Roca to cashew and macadamia nut Roca?  I think I now have enough chocolate to last a year :)  I know where I'll be shopping at Christmas time. 

What a fun place!  Not a yarn store in sight and I still had a GREAT day!  Thanks Lisa... you ROCK! 

Football Season...

Football season is here... yeaaaaaa!  I love fall and I love football.  Football (and fall) is a great time to get lots of knitting done.  It's one of those days that you don't feel guilty sitting on the coach in front of the TV all day.  Throw in some knitting projects and football junk food and I'm in heaven.  This cartoon gave me a good chuckle this morning.  It's from Franklin Habit's Stash of Knitting Cartoons 2011 Calendar that I saw on Interweave Knits.  I just might have to buy it!

Knitting frustration...

OK... it's time to get mean (just kidding).  I was so excited to make the Cyclamen sweater and I've been having nothing but trouble.  Seems to be on ongoing theme with me these days.  Knit...rip...knit...rip... what's wrong with my hands?

This sweater was supposed to be a nice, easy, quick knit.  It started out easy but by the time I was done with the back the thing had grown like wild flowers.  You can definitely say that a size 10 needle is wrong, the gauge is wrong and the measurements are wrong.  I ended up ripping out all my hard work, going down to a size 9 needle and a smaller sweater size.  I have now finished the back, left side and left sleeve which I seamed together to see how it fits.  The sleeve seems a little bulky and the sweater is still a tad too big.  Do I want to rip again or just go with it?  I think I'll take it to my knitting group tomorrow and see what the "experts" think (AKA Lisa and Sue).  For now, I think I'll just sit and wallow in my own frustration.

Stamping...

I've been having too much fun with knitting so I've decided to give up stamping. I have Stampin' Up and Close To My Heart stamps that need to go. Most are brand new or barely used. Some are lightly stained (only a few have major stains) from use but are still usable. I have photos but you will need to email me if you would like to see any. There are way too many photos to post. Here is the list of what I have available. Make me an offer if anything looks interesting to you, it's too time consuming for me to research prices. I just need them out of my craft room to make room for all my yarn :) Email me if you have any questions. I accept Paypal (including debit/cc cards), actual shipping charges would be your responsibility. Thanks!

STAMPIN’ UP

Fintastic

Circle of Friendship

Elegant Ornaments

Totally Cool

Perfect Timing

Bitty Boos

Fishy Friends

Priceless

Sweet Serendipity

Snow Swirled

Say It With Scallops

Heartfelt Thanks

Very merry

Alphabet Mini

Deer Friends

Alphabits

Love Ya

Sprinkles

Seasonal Icons

Short & Sweet

Kids At Play

Happy Winter

“Love” (large definition stamp)

Make It Count

Small Snowflake wheel

Small Arachnophobia (spider) wheel

Small Fishy Friends wheel

Large So Swirtly wheel

Large Whimsy wheel

2 large & 2 small plastic wheel cases (storage cases)

Pastels (new chalks)

Set of 3 Blender Pens

Heating Tool (embossing - new)

Powder Pals set (new)

CLOSE TO MY HEART

Storytime (lowercase)

For All You Do

Spunky Greetings

Funky Chunky

No Peeking

Speckled Eggs

School Days

Seasonal Thoughts

Christmas Tags

Reminders

Funky Confetti

Tag Charms

Start Your Engines

Rustic Flowers

Kids Will Be Kids

Just Like You

Words To Live By

Kid Power

Random Thoughts

Brushstroke Flowers

First & 10

Fairy Dust

Childhood Boy

Made By Me

Picture of the day...

At my knitting group today there was some surprise when the words "knitted lingerie" came up. I saw this picture the other day and thought man, my husband sure wouldn't complain about me knitting all the time if I was making something like this! I COULD do it but he certainly wouldn't be seeing me in it... maybe I should make HIM something and see what happens :)