Merry Sheepmas!

ALSO MAJOR after Christmas Yarn Sale ALERT!!!!

Knit Wit in Olathe, KS (no website to link) 1815 S Ridgeview Rd, Olathe KS 66062
Dec 26th 9am-4pm
I think it's 25% or 30% off yarn, there's a sale on knitting bags, needles, patterns all on sale & SUPER AMAZING $3 tubs of yarns. YARN, PEOPLE!! I will be there at 9am and may or may not knock over anyone standing between me and the mohair. Just a warning. I'll be polite and talk AFTER my hands are full of yarn. :) (those that don't know me think I'm kidding here, you have been warned.)

Yarn Barn in Lawrence, KS Yarn Barn Website
Dec. 26-29th Sale on yarns, mill end cones, selected looms & spinning wheels.

Merry Christmas Eve!

I've pretty much come to the realization that the Christmas Sweater will probably be a New Year's Sweater or a Valentine's Day Sweater...or next year's sweater.... no, I'll just knit on this thing straight and true, not deviating to that pretty sock yarn calling my name, nor the beautiful lace scarf waiting for my attention, or wrist warmers, or the 43,082 things I'd rather be knitting.... I WILL finish this thing, it just realistically can't be completed in the next 24 hours. Ah well. I'm good with it.

Proof that I embraced the sparkle in Vegas.....

My husband and I had such fun, I was so very, very proud of him at the awards dinner! As each bigwig stood up to speak, they each thanked their super salesmen and then the wives as we hold the family together, etc while the men are out selling their arses off. I think they told it more eloquently than that, but you get the picture. My husband was the first one to accept his super saleman award. In his little speech he said that those presidents and vp's were all right and he wanted to say how much his wife was a part of him getting such good sales. I got all teary, I couldn't believe it, it was soooo sweet.....then he said his wife was always telling him to hit the road selling if he was home more than 4 days in a row. Cripes. He's totally right. HA! He'd be driving me insane and I'd casually suggest that the big client out in McPherson would probably be expecting him soon....or how are those guys out in Garden City doing? You know, it's been a while since you visited your clients in Iowa....

Ah well, I was still proud of him, smartass and all. It was a GLORIOUS trip and I was very thankful that we wives got to go enjoy the vacation as well. I hardly left the spa, slept in each morning and ate and drank to my heart's content. (and that's saying something!)

Merry Merry Christmas to you all, happy sparkle too!

Hang in there Christmas Knitters!!!

I feel a time warp coming! Actually, there's a photo of me JUST AFTER dancing the TIME WARP from the Rocky Horror Picture Show in full gold sparkle dress at a piano bar in a casino.....but the photos are stuck on my husband's i-phone. I know. I have to say in all modesty that I ROCKED the gold sparkle dress. ROCKED it. AND there's photos of me rockin that same dress with ELVIS people! STUCK ON THE PHONE. Cripes.

In the meantime, all I have to share is this pitiful Christmas sweater in progress. It's actually a fine sweater out of cascade 220 wool for the husband. But it's for THIS Christmas. I know. Yes, it's the 22nd of December. I'm aware of that fact. Thank you for pointing it out. Please stop wasting my Christmas knitting time.

I was feeling quite smug on December 14th as I'd decided it was insane to knit 7 pair of wrist warmers for Christmas. I've done that. I barely survived. My family barely survived. I gave teachers felted flower lapel pins that I happen to still have a ton of. The teachers were happy, my wrists were fine and my soul wasn't shattered. It was going to be a nice, normal Christmas season.

But then I got the itch. It was the 15th of December. I had a sweater's worth of cascade 220 just sitting there looking at me. So I cast on. What the heck, right? I had 10 days. Well, after MUCH restarting and reknitting and taking off the needles on and trying on and reknitting and knitting and knitting it's now the 22nd of December and I have this. The problem is that since I had TEN WHOLE DAYS I figured I didn't have to knit all the time. I took a nap or two, I wrapped gifts, I even READ A BOOK WHILE TAKING A BATH. Looking back, I see I was just in total knitting denial, tempting the fates of time.

This doesn't look like a sweater ready for blocking and wrapping does it? At least the minor heart attack last night at knit night where I laid the sweater on the table and even held it up to me and thought it was STILL too small......but when I tried it on the rather grumpy I'm-tired-of-trying-this-stupid-thing-on-and-don't-think-I-want-a-sweater-anymore man of mine last night IT FITS. What do you MEAN you don't think you want a sweater anymore? Forget it, I don't have time for this...I've got to KNIT man!

A reminder...check your knitting in the DAYLIGHT once in a while...

Crap! Ah well, at least it's a quick fix, just drop down a TON of rows and fix the purl that's supposed to be a knit and the knit that's supposed to be a purl....except the stitch in the middle of the seed stitch will be a bit more of a pain in the arse, but still fixable.

I have come to terms with the fact that this may be a New Year's Sweater. I'm fine with that, but still can't seem to stop knitting. Just in case. There could be a time warp, right? It could happen. I just have to see how far I get before the big day. Just because.

ALSO----a very amazing person knit me a very amazing gift!!! It's ORANGE and it SPARKLES and it's just freaking awesome. I'll take photos and post after Sweaterpocalypse is over.

Did I mention they were ORANGE AND SPARKLY???? I *heart* them so very very much!

Another Christmas of wrist warmers

A few years back, I made about 18 pairs of wrist warmers for teacher gifts, mom's present, nurses gifts, etc. It about made me insane because OF COURSE I didn't start before December. Why would I? When have I EVER planned ahead?

This year I'm doing things a bit more sane. I actually knit this gray pair for ME and wanted mom to try them on to see if she'd like these a bit more than those shown below, the basic model of 3X1 ribbing with a thumb hole. Mom had pretty much worn her pair thin and needed a new pair. I've got a pair of the good old ribbed version ready in a pretty deep burgandy red (no photo yet) but she loved that gray pair so much that I had to send them with her.


I can't recommend this free pattern by Janelle Masters enough! Susie's Reading Mitts, a fabulous SUPER SPEEDY knit that was quite enjoyable also! I knit one mitt in one day and used one ball of Rowan RYC Cashsoft for each mitt with size 5 dpns. If you're looking for a quick knit for someone you forgot to add to your Chrismtas list, this could be just the pattern for you. I'll be knitting myself a pair but probably after Christmas...or I'll procrastinate the important knitting and make myself a pair NOW!

My crank-em-out ribbed version came from the book Last Minute Knitted Gifts but I changed the ribbing to doing 8 rounds of 1X1 rib at top & bottom, then knitting 3x1 rib in the body. Stretchy, fun and easy peasy.




I'm also going to start a sweater for my husband sometime this week, worsted weight yarn (cascade 220), raglan style in the round, have to learn some kind of intarsia in the round as he wants a point coming down on the front and the sleeves in one color and the rest in another.... and I may or may not have it done for Christmas. I'm not going to stress about it, just if it happens to get done, awesome. Right? yeah, right. I'm going to knit my freaking fingers off and stress and all the rest. Ah well. I think I need to quit asking people's opinions about what they'd like me to knit for them and just knit what I WANT TO so I'd have a pattern to follow...BUT I'll be having a little more knitting time as I'm headed to VEGAS BABY!! Jeff won the President's Club Award for sales in his company, so we're headed to the land of glitter on the company dollar! YAY! I think I'll pack some glittery yarn to get in the spirit. :)

Good luck to all my holiday knitting friends. Remember that sleep is important. It's totally fine to wrap a skein of yarn and a note saying what that yarn will become if the item isn't done by C Day. I've done it before. Heck, the man that I love ended up getting ONE SOCK for our first Valentine's Day and he MARRIED ME! How bout that? That must be the antidote to the boyfriend-sweater-curse!

I've gone a bit batty

Thin Mints Fluffy Batt...Kansas Corriedale wool, Kansas hand dyed alpaca and a hint of sparkle


Firey Sparkle Red Fluffy Batt...hand dyed wool, silk and a hint of sparkle


Va Va VOOM Fluffy Batt...hand dyed superwash merino wool with yellow, orange and HOT PINK sparkle!

More Fluffy Batts at the shop...TreasureGoddess Etsy Shop

They're all SO FLUFFY!!! And SO SPARKLY!!! oooohhhh the sparkle....just wait till you see the dress I'll be wearing next week in Vegas!!! It's Vegalicious, the entire thing is gold sequined. I laugh to remember that unbelievably anal girl that picked out each and every piece of sparkle, every little strand that DARED to make its way into her fiber her first year at Yarn School.....


You've come a long way, baby.....EMBRACE the SPARKLE!!!!