I never win anything. . . .

Ok, first off, this has nothing to do with knitting, but last night I was in the apartment, reading my email with all the lights off when I realized it was kind of glowing pink/orange in here. I looked outside and this is what the sky looked like: Hmm, I am imagine some yarn dyed that color soon. It's just so pretty! We shall see.

Next, Anne was running a contest on her blog recently (it was to raise money for Claudia's MS Ride). Anne was giving away lots of good stuff and I happened to be the winner of some fine STR Mediumweight in Sherbert, donated by her friend Gail:

It's really bright and not a color I think I would normally pick, but now that I have it, I just can't wait to knit with it! Hmm, maybe this means I need to get motivated to finish knitting some socks, so I can use it. Thanks again to Anne and Claudia and Gail. You all rock!

I have lots of knitting lists that I have made in the last week or so and since, you know, this is a blog about knitting I thought I would share.

First we have the Knit List (things that I am currently knitting):

1. Washcloths for the bridal shower I have at the end of July (these are actually almost done. hooray for not procrastinating!)
2. Soleil (as we know, this is off the needles, but still has some work to be done)
3. Wisp
4. Embossed Leaves socks (ugh. I am still on sock #1. I have lost motivation for this socks. It is sad because they are so pretty)
5. Lacy socks that I made up the pattern for (I think I am ready to start working on these again)

Ok, that list is longer than I would like to be, but I suffer from knitting ADD and, frankly, it could be a lot worse.

Then I made list of things I want to knit sometime soon:

1. Coupling socks from Knitty
2. Titania Revenge Socks
3. Flicker Socks
4. Tomato Sweater
5. Morning Glory Shawl

And, finally, I then made a list of what I would like to try to buy when I go to the Midwest Fiber and Folk Art Fair next month:

1. Yarn for Morning Glory Shawl
2. New sock yarn that is different from anything that I currently have.

That's a lot of lists! But, that is how I operate in life. Lots of lists.

Ok, that's all I have for today. My friends and I are going to have a day in the park! Oh the bocce ball! The frisbee! The knitting outside! It will be great.

Have a good weekend. Happy knitting!

Look! Some actual knitting!

Well, I have been in a yarn dyeing slump (i.e. I can't seem to find enough time to have a big dyeing party with myself), but I have been knitting in between the craziness that is my life right now.

What is this. . . .It's Soleil! The knitting is done it just needs some crocheted edges and some kind of blocking and I will be wearing this baby. Once it is all done and super pretty I will take another picture! I really did like this pattern. It's a lot of stockinette in the round to knit, but it looks so great.

I have had no desire to knit socks over the last week. I don't know what happened. So rather than working on socks, I started on this:

It's Wisp. I love the pattern and I love the yarn! It was from my Secret Pal, Shelley! I have a feeling it will not long before I am done knitting it.

That's all for the actual knitting. I got this in the mail the other day and I just have to show it off:

They are some notecards that I ordered on Etsy. I got them from Krafty1. It's a set of four cards that are blank on the inside. I love them--they are too cute! And hey, while your looking around on Etsy, why not stop by my Etsy shop? :)

And, finally, I am happy to report on the knitting blog that my friend, Jenny, just got engaged! She is one of my oldest and dearest friends and I just could not be happier for her. She came over Monday and we looked at wedding magazines and talked about all the crafty stuff she wants at her wedding. Oh, it will be awesome! So head on over to her non-knitting blog and leave a message. And, even though she reads this blog I am going to say it anyway, there will be knitted bridal shower gifts. Oh the plans are already swarming around in my head!

Happy knitting! :)

So much yarn. . . .I'm....on....overload!

Ok, so there is lots to talk about today.

First, I decided to sell the purplely-lovely-awesome yarn. I have named it Goodbye, My Love. Seems right. It will be hard to say goodbye to this yarn, but I will try to make some more in the future. I have so much yarn in this apartment, I can't justify keeping it. So, check out my Etsy site, and buy it! Remember, shipping is free through Sunday! :)

Speaking of more yarn--I got my last SP10 package today! My secret pal is Shelley! Head on over to her blog and send her some love.
Hmm, what could be inside?

Lots of goodness!

We have Mason Dixon Knitting (a book I have been dying for), some Elann Sonata cotton yarn (which is the same yarn I am using for Soleil and love), a couple balls of angora yarn from ice yarns (which I will use to knit Wisp from Knitty--the pattern was in the box too), and a felted bag. While I love love love everything, the bag is the best part. I have felted, um, one thing and I hope one day I can make felted bags half as good. I can't wait to show it off! There were also some candy and goodies in the box as well. It's such a wonderful package. Thanks Shelley! Best SP ever! :)

Finally, as I have been tagged for this by Crazy4Knitting, here is my birthday meme:

The rules are to go to Wikipedia and type in your birthday month and day only. Then post 3 events, 2 births and one holiday that occurred on your birthday, then tag 5 friends.

Events:
1. 1862 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act into law.
2. 1932 - Amelia Earhart takes off from Newfoundland to begin the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean by a female pilot, landing in Ireland the next day.
3. 1983 - First publications of the discovery of the virus that causes AIDS in the journal Science by Luc Montagnier and Robert Gallo individually.

Births:
1. 1928 - Jack Kevorkian, Suicide doctor
2. 1946 - Cher, American singer

Holiday:
1. East Timor National Day.

Hmm, that was fun! Ok, I will now tag the following people

• Sarah
• Shelley
• Amanda
• Lisa
• Carrie Penny

That's all I have for now. I must go pet some of my new yarn ! :)

Happy knitting!

Back and ready to knit. . . .

Well, I safely returned this afternoon from the Wisconsin Dells vacation. It was a very good time. There were Duck rides and jet skiing and grilling and a quest for yarn. You know, all things that I like to have happen on a vacation. I did not get much knitting done. Soleil is coming along ok, but no socks were knit on this trip. I had this awesome plan of even starting a new pair of socks, but seeing that the current ones are not done yet, sadly Coupling will have to wait a week or two. :(

Anyway, onto the yarn! Of course, before I left to go on vacation I did a little knitty research. I had a yarn shop in mind, No Barn Yarns, which was in Reedsburg, WI. It was not that far from the Dells, and my mom said she would take a trip out there with me. Even though the number for the shop was disconnected, I did not let that stop me for my quest for yarn. Here is what we found:Yeah, so the yarn store closed and now it's an antique store. The nice lady inside said the lady that owned the LYS closed not that long ago. My mom and I are not the shop for antiques people, but we looked around anyway. My yarn sensor was going off inside the store. At first I thought it was the fact that the LYS had recently closed and there was still some residual yarn left inside. But, then wait a second....could it be the crocheted blankets in the corner? Um, no. . . .It was yarn! Yarn in the antique store. That's right baby, the knitting sensor was right on! They had two large skeins and one small skein of this stuff, so I snatched one of the large ones up. The perfect souvenir yarn! It's wool and mohair goat. The goat hair is dyed with pink Kool Aid. The label even says it came from Sammy Sheep and Sue the Goat. We are talking some nice hand spun and dyed yarn here! It comes from Linda Schnor of Angora Pockets. I think she is in Wisconsin, based on the label. Anyway, it was super awesome. My mom was quite impressed with my ability to find yarn at an antique store. The owner of the shop was excited to have a yarn sale. A good day for all involved.

And now, onto what was waiting for me in the mail when I got home:

It's a circular knitting needle holder from Granny's Closet. She sells on Etsy. This is a very nice case and not that expensive. You know you need one! :) Right after I took these pictures, I put my needles in there--a perfect fit! There is lots of good stuff in that store. Want more. . . .must . . . .fight. . . .the. . . .urge!

Ok, and what would be a post on the Knitting Like Crazy blog without a plug for the Etsy shop? I am now offering free shipping through Sunday, June 24th. I will still ship via Priority Mail. I am hoping it will encourage people to buy some yarn. And, I think it is working because I already had a big sale this afternoon. Thanks Amanda! And now I even have business cards, so I am feeling all excited and happy and professional today! :) Okay, well I have off of work for the rest of the week. I am hoping that I can get some knitting done in between the cleaning of the apartment and listening to the new Bon Jovi cd over and over again.

Happy knitting and happy yarn shopping! :)

a real post is coming soon. . . .

A real live knitting post is coming soon. Well, not so much knitting, as a "Look What I Got!" post. Anyway, before I do that I may have to go to Best Buy and buy the new Bon Jovi cd. Just saying.

I just wanted to let everyone know that there is currently a sale going on on my etsy site. That's right....Free Shipping! This sale lasts through Sunday, so there is not much time.

Take a look around, buy some sock yarn and I will post to you later. :)

It's so hard letting you go. . . .

Well, I knew it would happen eventually--I would dye some yarn that I just can't let go of. It's so pretty. It was a random experiment with yarn and dye in my kitchen last week. I didn't think I would love it so. But I do. I keep telling myself to put it on my site, I could probably sell it. But I can't make myself do it. Not yet. I'm not ready.
Hopefully a few days away from it while on vacation will help me forget about how much I love it. Then, when I come back, I can try to sell it. Maybe it will just be that easy.

So, yeah, I am so going on vacation! My parents are celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary! The whole family is going to Wisconsin Dells, which is where we would vacation when we were kids. I think it will be a very good time. Here are some pictures of my parents:

Here they are on their wedding day (June 18, 1977):

Here they are at some other random time, obviously in the 70s (I am basing this off my dad's shirt, of course):
Man, it is crazy how much my brother, Matt, looks like my dad in that picture. Strange.

And here they are with my brother, Mike, at his college graduation last summer:

My parents. They rock!

Happy knitting. :)

This one time, there wasn't yarn everywhere. . . .

Things have continued to be busy here at Knitting Like Crazy. It is still a yarn factory in here. I like it. It's kind of fun. I did do some dyeing the other night and here is some of what I did:

The two on the right are already listed on my Etsy shop. The other two will be going up this week sometime. The one on the right is called Mountain Stream and the one second from the right is called Open Waters (I have two skeins of this one). The other two are not named yet. Although I think the one second from the left looks like a pair of knock-off Umbro soccer shorts I had in my youth. Ah, the 80s...they were awesome with the Umbros and what not! :)

My last post I made a list of knitting I would like to complete in the near future. I have decided to add this to the list as well: It's the sock I attempted to design a long time ago. I have one sock done and some ribbing on the second sock. I wrote pretty good notes on this, so I would like to try to finish it. So, I think it might have to go in the knitting bag on the trip with the family next week!

Work this week may be crazy again. I have the whole week after that off, so much must be accomplished in the next five days. Hopefully there will be time for knitting during lunch.

Well, that's all I have. I am trying to pull knitting projects out of thin air in order to have some content for the blog. Someday. Someday I will have FOs to show off. :)

Happy knitting, people!

You did what?

So, in addition to recently discovering podcasts, I also discovered the wonderful goodness of Knitter's Review. I am on that forum all the time, reading away. Anyway, there was one about worst project or something. So I posted about the twenty foot scarf I once knit accidentally. It was, I think, the second thing I tried to knit. I wanted a scarf knit longways and, knowing nothing of gauge and swatches I ended up with this disaster:
Sock included for scale.

Anyway, there were some people who seemed interested in it, so I said I would post some pics. Even though I knit this three years ago, I can't frog it or toss it(I mean, it's made with cheap acrylic so tossing would be an option). It's a reminder of the knitter I used to be. I like having it in my closet. :)

My Embossed Leaves are coming along nicely. A heel has been turned on sock number 1. We are getting there. I have not done a whole lot of knitting in the last week, but I am going on vacation on the 16th, so there will be a lot of knitting accomplished then. My plans in knitting over the next 2-3 weeks are as follows:

1. Finish Embossed Leaves socks
2. Finish Soleil.
3. Knit something for the bridal shower I have to attend in July (I got the invitation today). :)

Tomorrow afternoon I am hoping to dye some more yarn. Earlier in the week I got this: Oh, that is a lot of yarn. Guess there is no turning back on this Etsy thing. :) My plan is to dye up this stuff and then wait and see if I can sell it. So far I have sold one item. I was quite excited about it! Hopefully one will turn into two, two will turn into four. . . .

Happy Knitting!!!

A Science Haiku

And, now, a non-knitting, science related haiku:

Oh GCMS
Why must I call tech support
Forever on hold

You just need to work
So I can test some samples
Gross dirty water

Thanks for reading my haiku! I hope to have some knitting content this evening for you. That is, is I ever get off the phone with the tech support people. Arrrrgh!

And, hey, why not go check out some of my hand-dyed yarn!
http://knittinglikecrazy.etsy.com
Oh, you know you want the yarn. . . . :)

Blog Contest Winner and Birthday Knitting!!

Blog Contest Results are below. But, hey, while you're here, why not read my blog?

The knittilicious goodness:

Alright, so here we have the birthday knitting:
My friend, Angela, is celebrating her birthday today. Happy Birthday, Ang!! Ang had mentioned awhile back that one day she wants a watermelon-themed kitchen. So, what better for a watermelon-themed kitchen than some dishcloths. I used some various Sugar N Cream 100% cotton in colors that looked good for a watermelon-themed kitchen. They turned out well. I think Ang was pleased. I may try to make her a couple more with the leftover yarn. :)

Then we have some socks:
I am working on Embossed Leaves socks from Favorite Socks. The yarn is STR Nodding Violet in Mediumweight. I am loving these socks! I have been working on these socks all weekend while listening to some Podcast goodness. I had no idea about the knitting podcasts until yesterday. How could I have been missing out on such greatness? I have no clue. Right now I am listening to some Lime & Violet. They are great!

Now, the moment you have all been waiting for...the results of the yarn contest.

Now, you may be wondering, how on earth did you pick a random winner? I had many entries (well, I had 43 entries...not bad for my first contest). I wanted to do this in Excel, but, alas did not have the proper add ins or something. So, Alex wrote a two line program in quick basic for me to generate a random number.

The results?

You are dying to know, aren't you?

And the winner is. . . .

Kay!!

She has won one skein of my hand-dyed yarn in the Bubble Gum colorway!

Congratulations, Kay! I have sent you an email regarding your win! And thanks to everyone for playing along. I am hoping to run another contest soon...I will keep you posted.

That is all I have for now. If you haven't done so yet, please check out my etsy shop. There is another skein of the Bubble Gum sock yarn available for purchase.

Happy knitting everyone! :)