Its good to be home....

After a long week of travel its good to be home!

And what great contest entries!! Its fun to dream and to see what everyone else dreams of....
The winner of last week's mini-contest is: Selana!
E-mail me with your address and I will get your prize in the mail!
(Tianne, your prize went into the mail today!)

Now that boxes are being received, I am going to hold off on another contest. I know that my pal's box is going out tomorrow. So hopefully there will be lots of spoiling here soon!

And anyone who dressed up this year and would like to post your picture here (or your kids pictures), have at it!! I LOVE costumes!

Remember to keep talking to your pals and doing nice things for them!! And on an admin note - all final boxes are to be received by the 15th of November!!

Happy Halloween!!

Melinda is still the best

Holy cow, another huge package from my pal. It is so cool from floating skull candles to a handmade wash cloth. As you can see it is kind of overwhelming, but that Interlacements is just so great!! EE!! I needed a photo frame for my work desk, and now I can stamp everything with bunnies (so punk rock in my book!). And check out all the yarn, so much stuff, I feel like a princess.

THANK YOU!!!

This was a great swap :)

PS: My box is going out soon, it is packed and ready!

my must knit list

I have it in my head to knit a funnel neck top like the American Apparel funnel knit shift dress...only not a dress, knit, and with sleeves.

I design my own patterns [and sort of on the fly] and I tried to do it with this sweater but with no luck...mostly due to a lack of yarn but also a misscalculation as to how this neck was made. Now, after driving all the way to the store [over an hour away] I have disected this dress and I am totally going to try again for my next sweater project :)

[the current flub up was frogged back to the bodice and is now a pretty scoopneck in the making so no real harm done :)]

I wish..

I'm a VERY slow knitter. Everything just seems to take me forever to do. And, in recently starting the Secret of the Stole, I've been bitten by the lace bug. I'm already a big fan of socks, they do take me a little longer than the average bear, but it's fairly instant gratification. I've even done lace socks (see Hedera), and been very pleased. But these babies? Ooh yeah. If only I could increase my stitching speed, they might not take three years to finish. And of course, I'd have to make it out of cashmere. Do they make fingering/lace weight cashmere? I'm sure they do. See, I've never researched cashmere, that's how far out of my budget it is. Now I have to go buy some just on principle. Anyway, cashmere stockings. Super soft, nice and warm, and lacy. What's not to love?

And I'd add in a lace shawl for every outfit. Because, if I had infinite knitting skills, it wouldn't take me a year and a half to knit a lace shawl. It'd take me a week. So I would make several. :)

Someday Knit

What would I knit if I could? Without limitation?

Definitely the One Piece Wonder from the Knitting Lingerie Style book, it's on the cover. And I will. Some day.

And this. Even if I have to reverse engineer it. Or...unvent. (seriously. hit the link, it's worth it)

My wishlist for when Maverick puts me on my allowance

I have a couple of things I want to make when I can get time to do as I please. I call this when Maverick ( my mate) gets financial enough for me to stop work and have an allowance and get to knit to my hearts content.

I want to make Prince Williams Christening set and the shawl to go with it The Heirloom Shawl. One day I will get them done and try to win a prize in a show with them.

I'd love to knit...

... a birch shawl. But I hate the thought to cast on lots of stitches, so I'd prefer the pattern variation started at the bottom. I will give you a link to the pattern later, I'm not at home right now.
As for now, I don't have enough time to knit something big in a lace pattern, so it seems I have to wait a while longer before I own one of those...

NEW CONTEST

These are two of the many things I have on my list, for someday....they are Rowan designs by Kaffe Fassett...

IMG_5073

IMG_5073
Originally uploaded by sunneshine

I am a bit late with this - but this is my favorite knitting tool. It is a counter for rows, increases/decreases and times. It keeps me motivated through mounds of stockingette and measured decreases....

Sooo.... the winner of the mini-contest is Metal and Knit! Tianne e-mail me with your address and I will get your prize out between trips on Friday morning!

Thanks to everyone who entered. I think its so interesting the variation in knitting styles and things that we all do, with pretty much the same results!

Sooo, for this week's mini-contest, if you had all the time, patience, money and knitting skills necessary, what would you make? Please provide a photo or a link to the pattern and tell us what yarn and color you would use... I know there are several of these projects in my queue that take more time, concentration or money for amazing yarn then I can offer right now....

Happy Knitting!!

The New Home...

Here is my mommy's new blog - Girly With A Twist. See you there!

The Sock Tool

A friend taught me this but one of my favorite tools is a sock. Not a sock I knit, just a normal, ordinary, comes from the store sock. I put my ball of yarn in the sock while knitting and it prevents my cats from gaining access to it and attempting to rip it to shreds. (They have a particular love of Noro Big Kureyon...) It also makes good secure storage for the knitting project if it is small. (Although, I suppose it would look kind of silly carrying a bulging sock full of yarn around town...)

Ummmm. I could add a picture here but y'all know what a sock looks like. Heh!

My favorite Tool Box

My best item I use and carry nearly everywhere I legally can is my Tool Box as I call it. It is just a tool pouch from the Simply Knitting magazine and it has enough stuff to help me out of most muddles.

As you can see it holds plenty of essential tools and bits n bobs from sock needles to hand cream, buttons and needles even bandaids just in case of an emergency to help hold somehting together. It has helped fox shoes, items at work even on my car the odd thing was used.

I cant live without my tool box.

Favorite Tool

My favorite tool would be POST IT NOTES. I love my stack of post its. I use them on every pattern I work on. I make notes about mods I make, I make hash marks for number of rows or rounds complete OR I write out the number of rows to complete and mark them off as I finish them. I even use them to mark my place on charts. The sticky back comes in very handy there. Post It Notes. . . my favorite knitting tool.

Favorite Tool

This is rough. My big projects bag is full of cow-patterend items. A DPN case, a needle roll, a notions bag, even stitch markers! But, my favorite is my cow tape measure. Originally, my SP (from SP 8 I believe) bought it for me. It tickled me soooo much!! Even after much abuse from children, and being chewed on by my cat, I still used it. Finally, the tail fell off, I taped it back on. Then, my oldest pulled too hard...and it refused to retract the tape measure. It was time to give it up.

I was so sad that I went online and hunted down another tape measure. Exactly like the first one. My notions bag is usually in my purse (my on the go knitting bag), and I love having that little cow buddy with me to measure whatever I need!

(I'll add pics later, apparently I don't have any good ones right now)

Contest - my favorite tool

I finally managed to take a photo of my favorite tool I use with my crafts... Besides my knitting needles and crochet hooks, it is definately my old, worn wool winder. It makes great center-pull yarn cakes out of my skeins or left-over yarn and helps when I frogged something to create a ball again of the yarn.
And center pull balls are absolutely great, no more yarn that is rolling around in the room, you can knit everywhere without problems... Knitting got a lot easier for me when I got this great tool.

Goodies from Down Under

Today was a good mail day. I received these goodies all the way from Australia. The chocolates will be gone by the end of tomorrow. I love the yarn. It's really soft and its a great color. Thank you Leanne!!! The package was well worth the wait. My oldest (5 year old Nathan) liked the wraping paper.

Got my package!!!

Yahoo! My pal is awesome :)

I got my first package yesterday, all the way from the NETHERLANDS! That just totally rocked my socks off, lol.

What did I get? Well, first of all, everything was wrapped up so pretty and it was so fun guessing what things were by squishing them :P



Then, upon tearing madly into all the packages, this is what I got!



The book, "Knitting Lingere Style," which I have been wanting for awhile now. Totally awesome patterns inside *happy dance* A skein of Opal sock yarn, which is sooo soft :) Some mystery candies that I believe will be strawberry because they have strawberries on the label, lol and some orange and green stitch markers. Yay!

Thank you so much, my pal. You're awesome and I love my goodies :)

Kind-of a contest

The blog here is getting quiet - all but two packages have been posted... BUT that doesn't mean that you should ignore your pal, by all means, keep in touch, send an e-card, do something fun, post on their blog, send them an awesome book on CD, something......

To stave away the boredom during the lull between boxes, I think we should do some mini-contests. The prizes will be small, but there will be one given each week. I am not going to post them here, so whoever receives them, can post them - although I can guarantee there will be a set of stitch markers in each... All prizes will be chosen from the Shriners hat at random, for all who enter. (And if you have a fun topic, let me know!!) A new contest will be announced next Monday - provided there is participation....

This week - What is your favorite knitting tool/knitting aid? Please post of photo of said tool/aid... Who know maybe we can all learn a couple fun tricks!! This contest will end on Sunday night at midnight Denver time. A name will be drawn Monday night...

Thanks for playing!!

KrispyLove says-

Here's a pic of what my secret pal Shannan sent. The cookie container WAS full of homemade Pine Nut Biscotti and was stolen by my DD and DH. I'll stab em' with my new 0 DPN's when I get the chance. Rhinebeck is next weekend and I will be shopping for Megi again, fun fun fun.

Thanks Twisted Knitster!

Despite the mail strike, which is all still partially ongoing (supposed to be off but I was told today that there's no guaranteed deiveries) I had a wonderful surprise today when the postman knocked on my door about an hour ago.

There was some lovely yarn, a really great personally made for me project bag with pockets, chocolates (really lovely) and more than a dozen CD's to listen to. Oh, and a badge!

Thank you twisted knitster for a great package. Off to my own blog now!

Contest Swag!

So the mailman just came (6:15pm! How can he be that behind from one federal holiday?!?!). Anyway, he brought me funness!
In addition to the yarn & stitch markers Sunne told us was in the package, I also got delish smelling bath salts, sparkl-y iron on skulls and a do-rag! Thanks so much Sunne, for being such a great hostess! And the do-rag totally gets in touch with the motorcycle momma in me when paired with my brand new sunglasses.
Whaddaya think?

Now if only I weren't petrified of motorcycles. . . .

Spoilt Am I?

This is what I recieved from Selana. She really spoilt me.






She sent me some nice stitch markers, Lindt Chocolates, yummy yarns, a badge, skull pendant, sweets and a funky card. Thank you soo much Selana. I recieved the parcel last week but had trouble getting into this site to post. I did however post a thank you on my blog.

Yummy goodness...

is how I would describe the wonderful package that ShadKitty sent to me. She hand dyed the sock yarn and the scarf is a Technicolor dream. She also knit me a hat, which I wore this morning on my walk and a necklace that is o-so-cool. There are far more pictures blog!

Thank You Sunneshine!

Look what arrived this week. A gift box from my Punk Rock Gift Exchange partner. This is a half secret and half open exchange so we know who out partner is after the first package arrives. I was blessed to draw the hostess as my spoiler, Sunneshine or Prue as her secret pal name. She has been very giving to me and this is the third package so far. Soaps in the first box and then some Man yarn in the second box and now this.


She went above and beyond this time because she included a gift to Mrs. Twisted as an anniversary gift to us. The Organic Cotton was her gift to us staying in the theme of the 2nd anniversary. So soft and inviting to just cast on but we need to find the right pattern.

A ball of Tofutsies sock yarn in multi-blue and grey that will make some wonderful socks for me. Chocolate pop-rocks that I haven't ever seen in this flavor before but I'm sure will be fun because I loved them when they came out 20 years ago. Keeping in the PRGE theme there are some cool iron ons and wonderful patterned tissues. How she knew I needed a new pair of scissors I will never know. My nice scissors were borrowed and used on paper by some other knitter a few months ago. Why people don't respect someone else's property but live and learn I guess.

I loved the illustrated cartoon post cards because they show the style of the giver so well. I was reading your blog too. Thank you so very much Sunneshine!

Jerry

AKA Twisted Knitster
http://twistedknitster.blogspot.com/

Thanks, Angela!

Hi All - Today was apparently yarn from the universe day :) I got my first package from Angela today. Lots of fun goodies, including a handmade pirate project bag!

A full description is on my blog. I love it, Angela, and it really made my day!

I got my goodies...

Check it out!!



And who, you may ask, has been spoiling me rotten? Meg(aphone), of Till Death Do I Knit. More details on my blog. wOOt!!

Contest winner!!

Soooo..... The contest ended on Monday and last night we pulled out the Shriners Jeep Patrol hat - and mr.sunneshine did the honors.... and Carly's name was pulled out of the hat! (Carly, e-mail me with your address, so I can get your prize out to you!!)

Okay, back to all the spoiling! Such great boxes being passed around!
Thanks for playing!

Package from Stellify!

I got my package yesterday!! There are some amazing goodies in there, and it made my day.

The image doesn't seem to be working, so redirect to my blog here for all the details.

In my original post on my blog last night, I mentioned that I still didn't know the name of my Secret Pal. Well, she saw it and filled me in. Thank you so much, Stella! Also, after reading Stella's answers to the Questionnaire, I completely agree with her - we have a whole lot in common.

Happy Knitting to everyone!

My Pal is Wonderful and I am slow in posting.

I've been lax in posting my awesome package that I received from my punk rock gift exchange secret pal Lindsay. The package is lovely and it helped to cheer me up a bit when I am so down and depressed about my doggy.



Lindsay included some incredible Frog Tree Merino. It is so so so soft. I want to just squish my face in it! Then there is a skein of Scarlet Fleece Painted Merino. It's a hand-dyed yarn in the colorway "I See Red!". The colors are just so beautiful in it. I love it. There was also a cute bee tape measure, sour patch kids, and a box of sprees. The little pin that is clipped on the the Scarlet Fleece is one that my pal designed herself. It's fabulous! Finally, because my pal is just so wonderful she sent me a book off my wishlist! The book is Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead. I had read some of Richelle's other books and I know I am going to love this book too. So as anyone can surely tell, I love my package!

Box 1 Revealed

Yes, yes!! Goodies from Knitdaisyknit! she rocks! that is some scrumptious alpaca and some Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn. I am in tactile heaven. She also included a pattern for a lace wrap (for the lace yarn) and a cool vest pattern that I wanted using Blue Sky Alpaca yarn. Some notions in a very punked out zip pouch and a skull stamp. Cause I have been known to stamp from time to time;)

Thanks, Jackie!! Much love!

It's Here!

My box arrived last night! Yippee! My spoiler is Knitting Knut and she is more awesome than words! In my box were two skeins of Lorna’s Laces sock yarn in the Hawaii colorway (hey! I used to live in Hawaii…how’d you know?!) – it is a beautiful combination of vanilla, purple and turquoise – it looks like an orchid. A hugely yummy (and huge) skein of Scarlet Fleece hand dyed fingering weight in the Purple Mountain colorway (hey! I love mountains…how’d you know?!) – the color is a combination of rich plums to an almost deep blueberry color. Also included were a gummy tongue, a skull magnet/bottle opener and a little 1” x 1” compressed square that you add water to and it becomes a Pirates of the Caribbean towel. Cool! (We’ll be conducting that experiment at work for sure!) Finally, a bag of German Black Forest truffle squares…totally delicious dark chocolate with a touch of cherry to it…I have always loved chocolate cherry anything so this is a real treat!

Thank you so very much Cheryl! I love everything and can’t wipe the smile off of my face! A more verbose version of this will be available on my blog. (and maybe I’ll use even more exclamation points)….ehhh, here's a few more for good measure. !!!!!!

Amidala Rocks!

My box arrived with lightning speed today! It was an amazing box!!
There was beautiful Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn - in this really pretty purple/red colorway! And the Favorite Socks book - how did you know that I was sock surfing Ravelry yesterday and everything I loved was from that book?? DPN holders, a beautiful purple silk project bag, some notebooks (I have I notebook problem - I love 'em!), tatoos, and an amazing little shopping bag that folds up into nothing (would also double as a good project bag - hehe). I love it all! And I am so excited to start a new pair of socks - Embossed Leaves, Mock Cables, so many choices!! My pal is Knit-Kat! Thank you so much!!
And we have the same favorite candy bar!

Happy Knitting and Spoiling!!

PRGE For Me!

My first PRGE package arrived today!! To find out what I got from my pal Dawn (of Wild Yarn), go read my blog!! It totally rocked! Thanks Dawn!!!!!

Down under delivery

I hav returned from camp in Kurri Kurri to find my parcel from Christine. It was Full of really top treats for me to enjoy. I have some blue Cotton to use and some fearless fibers sock yarn in the marrekesh way, russian military buttons, a skull, some chips that I have never seen but are extremely yummy like Smiths chips light n tasty to me. There is even some dark chocolate hersheys forme to indulge while I read my book of a night.

After a realy good weekend I get this to surprise and treat me more.

Thank you Christine.