Look! Its a.......a......a Sock!

And the start of its mate! I casted on the toe all by myself! Finished said sock while watching Waiting for Guffman and then a Mystery Science 3k episode. Have a friend who is happily lending me his DVD's and books....

I'm now mentally determining what type of socks I want to knit next.....May have gone down a dangerous path.....

Did finish the diagonal rib scarf as a being such a great Kitty sitter that even shy little Boo came out to play present. Recipient was very happy with her scarf and put it on immediately and noted the softness of said scarf.


D-fly sis dropped off present for another friend when she went to the parents house this weekend. Friend was thrilled with her scarf and hat set and couldn't wait to wear them-planning on wearing them that evening when she left work. Apparently she is a big lover of scarfs and hats....will have to keep that in mind. Made the set cause the past few months have been a bit rough and turbulent for her and I felt she needed something hand-made, warm and cozy (It was the unoriginal hat by Yarn Harlot and I did a matching scarf with the cable pattern).



And just so you all can see Cami's teensy stitch markers that I made for her as a Thank you for letting us stay with her and her herd.


Cute kitty pictures! Haven't done any recently.....aren't the boys so cute peaking out of the laundry basket? And then their very fluffy pretty mama all curled up for a nap.










Okay now off to do research for a paper/presentation that I am writing for Society of CA Archaeology (SCA) Annual Meeting in April before I go back to the knitting..... I did rough out an abstract already which is good since thats due before end of the month....

Oh the yummy yummy yarn.....

Since I got stuck with pukey nephew yesterday (good thing though-otherwise Sis couldn't go to her lunch) we went yarn shopping! First the Loop which we did go to thier old location when I was out here early Sept. Then onto Ruhamas....

First group from the Loop--I too got Misty Alpaca in a blue/purple verigated color which is going to become a diagonal rib scarf for a new friend who is being the best kitty sitter ever. Even my shy little Boo comes out to see her for playtime and lovies. The other skeins are Alpaca Silk by Blue Sky. Got peacock, black (night is the official color name) and plum which will become some type of striped lacey wrap of some sort with beads.... They are supersoft and they look really pretty together....

Now for the Ruhamas group! Got this pink and orange ribbon yarn (Duet by artful Yarns) because of this pattern that Sis found....Looks like a good top for me in the desert and this was knitted up at the shop and it looked quite nice. Then there is that bright pink and orange sock yarn-Bearfoot by Mountain Colors-Hand Painted Yarns called Sun River.....Think I'm heading down a dangerous path sock wise..... And speaking of socks since Sis has mentioned that I have started on the cuff well I suppose I should post new pics of my elf sock but its fitting wonderfully! despite lookin a little silly when off my foot....

Hard to tell its an elf sock in this pic....but it really does look like one

And there it is on my foot-doesn't look elfish at all when on my wierd pointy toed foot.... Have 'bout two inches of the cuff done--going to knit til I run out of my half skein but its almost a complete sock! That fits! Yeah me!

So many Knitty Tales to Tell!

First off Happy New Year to all you crafty people out there!

So far having a lovely visit to WI although glad to remember that I am not all that fond of winters here and gladly go back to the desert....

Big Sis spoiled me a bit this Christmas. Going to get me started on beaded knitting (which may involve a lot of swearing on my part....). She got me a book called Beaded Knitted Bags and some starter supples and a gift certificate for beads. So far have supplies to do the first two projects-a bracelet and a little purse. Nephew got me a book as well-Super Stiches Knitting with some fabulous stitch patterns. Get so excited for those.....

Been working on mohair wrap (Fonty's Ombelle in purple-no fancy color name just purple) called Wisp. Made quite a bit of progress on it since I've been here in WI. And I am quite excited that I have inspired another knitter to knit up her own version.










Had a wonderful visit with the Bechers along with Sis and nephew--although I'm pretty sure I shared my cold with the children-feel rather bad about that one..... Want to thank 'Boris and Clementine' for letting us stay with them over New Years.
D-fly and I had a blast haing out at Clementine's yarn shopping, knitting, and chatting with fellow knitters (Cami, Melly, Leeanne, and Robyn) and munching on Melly's yummy popcorn (which I relaly shouldn't eat with the braces but it was too tasty to resist....). Now for pics of two of my purchases

The first is a Crystal Palace yarn-Waikiki in Shell and its going to become a wrap known as Clapotis. The second of course is Lotus Yarn! I picked the Nirvana in the color Prayers for Rain (which we decided was a perfect color since I live in the desert...). This yarn will be socks--thats right I said socks! Which brings me to my third purchase and how the lovely Cami showed D-fly and I to knit socks toe-up using the magic cast-on with the 'magic loop' way. Took me a few trys to get the hang of the magic cast on but I got it! And it really does make a fabolous toe--I really have issues with sock ends and if there is no seem or anything the happier my toes will be.

The sock is being knitted with Opal sock yarn in Neon colorway. I have long feet with narrow long toes that slant towards the big toe (also known as monkey toes) so I had started with less stitches and didn't have to increase as much. I am almost to the point where I could start the heel (doing the short row heel this time around....). So very exciting! Big sis and I have discovered that she is a snugger and faster knitter than I (You should see her tiny little stiches in her sock!-my goodness!). I have more time to knit so I tend to get more done so we didn't realize that we were so different in speed until we got to sit around and knit together....

Well I think I covered everything.....Happy crafting!

--Mojave Knitter

Distracted by pretty rocks.....

Not a knitting post today....(although I made some great progress on my current project last night). No today is about jewelry.....There is a Gem and Mineral show here in lovely Barstow and people from all over S CA come to this peddling their pretty rocks....including ones for jewelry....Couldn't resist so this is what I got...... 'crazy agate' with man made beads and coral with turquoise and this would become....














The agate one I am quite pleased with, Looks quite nice on. The coral with Turquoise is quite nice and I have some chunky coral red bracelets. Like the chunky bracelets. So in the span of an evening I created my self two necklaces, pair of earrings, and chunky bracelets

Now there was a knitting related project that I did today as well but can't post about them just yet (x-mas present too)

Not very good at blogging....but I have been knitting!

I finished the baby blanket a while ago and with time to spare even.....There it is above looking all nice and pretty. The recipient was quite happy to get it. Finished the pink scarf-its even wrapped and ready to go. Started another scarf for a present with yummy silk yarn and have needles on the way to make a quick wool hat.... (using a pattern from Yarn Harlot's recent post available design, called Unoriginal hat) Will post pics of those two items later on after the Holidays but in the mean time here is the first scarf still on the needles when it was 'bout half way done.....And here it is all done!



Now for the kitties--They are all in new homes accept my two. I wasn't planning on keeping two but little Peek a Boo (formerly known as Normal Toes) just was too timid to be adopted and he has become my little 'SnuggleBoo' It's too bad cause he is a very lovely little kitten but alas he is mine to keep.....And of course I still have Felix--much more hyper kitty but thats alright. And Misty is still a good kitty mama even after her spaying and she is full of fiestiness her self.... Explorer went to home here locally in Barstow a few weeks ago. And in the process of determining how to get Tiger and Tubble to WI--I got Blondie adopted (now known as Boncelli who btw is a boy...all the kittens were boys...) Now for lots of kitty pics.....Here is one of my last ones of Explorer with Boo and Felix. And a lovely picture of Explorer at nine weeks--he is such a striking kitty with the softest fur ever.....He was hard to give up but 4 cats would certainly guarantee me the title of crazy cat lady....Least right now I'm just borderline..... Below are pics of my two babies all snuggled in for a nap. They settle for eachother when my lap is not avaiable (Boo will meow at me if I'm not sitting down for him to snuggle in.....They are a tad bit needy....).











For pics of Tiger well all you need to do is got to D-fly's blog....but here is a pic of Tubble who is turning out to be the brat of the pack (hee hee--thats why he went to Mom....) He also is turning out to be the biggest of the litter--already topped out at 7 lbs. Now lets not forget about pretty kitty mama, Misty--she her self is a pretty funny kitty...attacking the printer, carrying feather toys around the house, playing with her boys and defending her box..... Well that is all for now.

Have a happy Turkey Day!

A quickie.....my organic knitting project

Well I was going to work on the baby blanket during my travels this holiday.....but realized I was using non-carry on needles for this particular project.....
So instead going to work on a x-mas present for a family friend. Couple years ago I knitted her a pink lacey scarf complete with beaded fringe. Well according to mom, last winter its gettin a little ratty lookin so going to knit her a new and different pink lacey scarf which will have fringe and perhaps beads as well.....
Its an interesting pattern....actually I am knitting a lace pattern til its long enough to be a scarf. Pattern is from The Harmony Guides 450 Knitting Stitches: Volume 2. I'm using Volume 1 to figure out all those different yarn over techniques....didn't realize there were so many.....keep kniting and tinking, knitting and tinking.....
The pattern is shown to the left--its called Large Lattice Lace. We shall see how it and my scarf compares.....Its about the right width. Using size 15 US (10mm) bamboo needles. Using two yarns together--both are 'bout sport wieght yarns. Really when I do scarfs--I just cast on enough stitches til it looks like it will be wide enough and use what ever size needles are easy for me to knit with and give a nice pattern.....And I have no issue of frogging the thing until I have the right width and the right needles--this time I lucked out.....Although on this one I may be frogging anyway cause know I figured out what the pattern is telling me I would like to do the beginning of the pattern correctly. But I have plenty of time coming up. I leave for Vegas this afternoon and will arrive in the evening but my flight is in the morning. Yep just frogged it....It will bother me that two of the first rows were not correct....