Of dancing camels and FOs

I was driving down the highway this morning on my way to the mall and I saw the funniest thing. A camel was stretching it's neck as far as it could get out of the back of this horse trailer in front of me and dancing back and forth and back and forth and I just had to laugh. It was hysterical. I wish I could have taken video to share.

The knitting mojo is definitely back. I finished the "Just Enough Ruffles" scarf.
I'm glad I added the additional 50 stitches even if it was a pain to knit the ruffle stitches. It's exactly as long as I would want it to be when around my neck. And the yarn is so luscious. It's currently being blocked and for 2 sundays in a row, my house smells like wet wool.

In an effort to not let go of the mojo, I immediately cast on for another projects.

These are the Jack-in-the-Box mittens from Knitting New Mittens and Gloves in the child size. They'll be a gift for my neice for her birthday. The yarn is from Creatively dyed and I think the way it's knitting up is just beautiful and I wish I had bought more than just the one skein so I could make something for myself.

In other news, I saw Fame today and I'm telling you do not waste your money. I was ready to walk out of the movie by the end of Freshman year. It has none of the charm or fun dance scenes that the original had.

Other than that, it's been raining since early afternoon, so I made chili and napped and knitted. The perfect fall day.

There's crazy and then there's...me.

So, yesterday was a special kind of crazy...knitting 750 stitches per row. Today, a new kind of crazy...
...casting off 750 stitches. Yikes!

It was the insanity...

This is 750 stitches...
This is what happens when you knit in the front and back and then the front again of 250 stitches. 250 stitches, which is 50 stitches more than than the pattern calls for...which equals a staggering 150 extra stitches I'm knitting. Yes, crazy is rearing it's ugly head. OMG!

Got my knitting mojo back

I think I may have done more knitting in the past 8 weeks than the rest of the year. What's this???
Another finished object. It is the Chevron Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. This is a gift for a very good friend. It's 2 colorways of Koigu KPPM and it's fabulous. I will never get over the pure joy of blocking wires. You take a blob that's curling into itself and turn it into fabulousnes. Behind the swift and ball winder, they may be some of my favorite knitting accessory...who am I kidding, they're all my favorite knitting accessories...

Since I finished one scarf...and I only have like 8 projects on needles, I felt I need another...

This is Laura Chau's Just Enough Ruffles. I'm using the Miss Bab's Yowza Whatta Skein! in the Aubergine colorway. I went searching for yarn to make this scarf at Stitches Midwest and so far, think I made a great choice. Love, love this yarn. It's soo soft and easy to knit with. Love, love, love the pattern. I'm almost to the ruffle already and I just started it yesterday. Yeah for a quick knit.

Other than that, I would like to say, happily, that it's fall! I say officially in my world because I made my first pot of soup this weekend. Tortilla soup, which I'll be eating all week long. It's super yummy. I also bought chili fixin's for next weekend because it was on sale. I love fall!

The Haul

I'm back. I'm alive and I bought a ton of stuff this year, which your saying to yourself is no different from anyother year.... As you can see cranberry/plums & greens were the colors of the year...
So, what did I get:

• 5 skeins of Brae Tweed in the Berry Heat colorway - It's so incredibly soft. Not idea what I will make, but I could not resist.
• 1 skein Bamboo Baby in Tulipa from Miss Babs. Yummy Merino Wool/Bamboo blend.
• 1 skein Merino Bamboo DK weight in Light Grey from Miss Babs.
• 1 skein Merino Bamboo DK weight in Burgundy from Miss Babs.
• 1 skein Yowza - Whatta Skein! in Aubergine from Miss Babs
• 1 skein Woodbrook in the Dan Colorway from Creatively Dyed Yarns
• 1 skein Shepards Wool from Stonehenge Fiber Mill in Cherries Jubilee
• 2 skeins of Koigu - the edging for my Tahoe Sweater
• 1 4kz hank of Merino/Tencel roving from Creatively dyed
• 1 4oz bag of Merino/Silk roving from Ellens Half Pint Farm in Silver with pink and blue blended in.
• 2 4oz bags of Merino roving from Ellens Half Pint Farm in Cranberry
• A set of the new Hiya-Hiya Interchangeable needles in the red case - If you haven't tried these, they are fabulous!!!! So excited I found them.
• Verena Magazine Winter 2009 - Love the patterns
• Verena Magazine Summer 2009 - Again, love the patters. I will be subscribing to replace my lapsed Interweave subscription.
• Poems of Color - the history of Bohus Stickning including some of the patters. Hurrah, finally grabbed a copy after all these years
• And...the best for last...

Yes! Wall hangings in metal of the words Knit and Purl with little charms hanging on them. I could not resist!

Other than that, had a great time with Jenn, Colleen and Beth. It's great to spend time with old friends who know you and even though we've been apart, it seems as if we were never apart...as evidenced by the fact that not even 4 hours after we were altogether we were sitting in massaging chairs laughing our asses off. There may have even been tears of laughter involved. I think Beth and Colleen enjoyed their first stitches and they were a great addition to the fun. I took a class in the Long and Short of alterations and learned to put in some lifelines and cut into my knitting. It was a great class and I enjoyed it, but I do think that one small addition would improve the near heart attack you have when you cut into you knitting...Margaritas would make it all better. I'm not sure the people at Stitches will take my feedback into consideration, but it's out there...

There was also knitting this weekend. I finished the first of the socks in the Opal Dumbledore Harry Potter Colorway and I started Tahoe and managed to almost finish the back.

Yipee. The knitting mojo is back. I'm going to update my ravelry page and quite possible head to bed early. I'm exhausted.

Hapy Holiday weekend.

I love holiday weekend. Even more than that, I love the holiday weekend tv. So far, I got sucked into a "I love the millenium" marathon on VHI and now I'm watching The Sound of Music.

In anticipation of going to Stitches Midwest, I've been trying to actual finish some kniting projects. Last week, I finished a scarf with yarn I bought 3 years ago and today, I finished a kit I bought last year.
The kit is "Luc" from Bagsmith and since it's a toy and my nephew is named Lucas, I couldn't not purchase it. All that's left is finding the glue to glue on the head. But it's sooo cute.

I have another one for my neice, that I'll have to start. It will be a birthday present for her.

Other than that, lots of cleaning and cooking going on here. I made BBQ beef today, which was fabulouse and corn souffle, which was also fantastic.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.