So many possibilities, so little time!

Story of my life, so it seems! I have so many hobbies that I love to work on that when I finally do get time to work on something, it takes me so long to decide what to do that I sometimes just get frustrated and end up doing very little of anything. Besides knitting, I love to crochet, bead, needlepoint and read, and I have ongoing projects in each of those categories. Not to mention life is getting a little more stressful, and time is getting a lot tighter lately. Lots going on right now, and most of it is not great. But life goes in cycles, and this too shall pass. It occurs to me that this is exactly the time that I most need to rely on my hobbies to get me through. I can't even count how many times in the past that my hobbies, knitting especially, got me through some really bad times -- times that I'm not sure I would have made it through without the calming powers of knitting. My latest finished product this week is not a knitted one, but rather a beaded one. It is a rosary I made for a friend of mine at work, or rather for her daughter who is about to go through Confirmation. It is made out of moonstone beads. The picture really doesn't do the beads justice. They are so pretty - they appear to be glowing when they are in strong natural light. I have 4 more rosaries to make, 3 of which are over halfway completed. The rosary pictured is the fourth one I have made. The first was for my niece Megan's Confirmation a year ago, that one was made with rose quartz beads. The second one was made of hematite beads for Megan's boyfriend Jordan and the third was for my sister and made out of garnet colored Czech fire polished glass "Preciosa" beads. Those were Christmas presents. I haven't abandoned knitting! My current project is a knitted I-cord necklace made from silk yarn with sequins and beads. About to be cast on the needles is a baby sweater for a friend at work. Her little girl is due in July. I also can't wait to cast on for some Go Knit bracelet kits I bought right before Christmas, one in the Flamingo colorway and the other in Carribbean.

I'm trying to finish up some of the numerous knitting projects that I have lying around here. I ran into a problem with the first one I picked up last night -- it is a Noro Kureyon in color #74 and one strand of Trendsetters Me tal color #55 held together. Well, I didn't have as much of the Metal as I thought, so I ran out. Oh well, that is a pretty good reason to hit the yarn stores again!

So I dug through the embarassingly large pile of undone projects and came up with a shrug made out of Caron Simply Soft Shadows. It is the perfect weather to work on this - cold, dreary and rainy. Oh well, I guess I should be glad it is not ice. I still need to finish my sister Paulette's Farmer's Market Tote made out of Knit Picks' yarn Wood of the Andes. It is a little over half finished at this point.

What's in the rest of the pile? Yikes! It's a very long list..............

Long time, no see!

 

It has been a while since I have posted.  Life has gone on as usual, sometimes difficult, sometimes great.  This past weekend Rich and I took another trip to Rockbridge with my Mom and Dad.  Here is a pic of one of my favorite places -- the Orchardside Yarn Shop where I bought some lovely yarn to make another felted bag, and Mom bought some really dreamy yarn to make a scarf. 

Lightning Bugs in November?

Louis the Pug has his first handknit sweater!  It is a little bit too large for him at the moment, but I wanted a sweater that would fit him when he finished growing.  He looks a little like a Lightning bug or a wooly glow worm, but he is adorable in it. 

I have added a couple of pictures of finished projects I have done over the last couple of months.  There are more finished items to post, but I have to take "after" pictures of them.  One of the most exciting things I have knit lately has been the Starlight Shawl.  The knitting part is finished, all it needs is its fringe added. 

Time is flying by super fast.  I can't believe that Thanksgiving is just a little over 2 weeks away.  I have decided that I am NOT going to do a lot of Christmas knitting this year.  It always seems to turn a hobby that I absolutely love and turn to for stress relief into a source of stress and aggravation.  That is not to say that I won't do any Christmas knitting, I will just pick and choose a few handknit gifts to do instead of trying to make so many.  My knitting time is precious and what little of it there is is carved out of an already hectic schedule, so I don't really want to turn it into an exercise in frustration instead of an exercise in relaxation.  So who will I knit for and what will I knit?  Good question.  So many things I want to knit, so little time!

Found a New Yarn Shop!

The weather yesterday was beautiful!  After a long spell of temperatures in the upper 90's, we finally got a break.  The temps were in the mid 80's and the humidity had dropped to a much more tolerable level.  Rich and I were both off this weekend, so we decided to head up to one of the wineries that we had been wanting to visit, Rockbridge Winery.  We checked their website before we left and noticed a little link on the sidebar "what to do and where to stay."  Clicking on this link revealed a wonderful sight - a yarn shop not 4 miles from the winery!  We also saw a couple of other places of interest nearby we thought we might check out while we were in the area.  Little did we know that we were in for a glorious treat!  http://www.rockbridgevineyard.com/

Rockbridge Vineyards is located in Raphine, VA, not far from Lexington.  What a beautiful area!  We had a great time there sampling their delicious wines and relaxing in the porch swing in the picnic area.  After the winery, we headed down Raphine Rd. and continued on to what was without a doubt the most gorgeous garden we have ever seen at the Buffalo Springs Herb Farm.  We thought this little herb shop would be a quick 30 minute stop at most, but we were in for a big surprise!  Besides the little shop filled with wonderful things for gardeners, this place had a huge garden area filled with meandering pathways that take you through several different styles of gardens including the Mediterranean Garden, the Medieval Garden, the Celestial Garden, the Healing Garden, Paradise Garden and many others.  Besides these gardens, Buffalo Springs Herb Farm also offered a two mile long nature trail that took us by a lovely waterfall, and a peaceful labyrinth for quiet walking meditation.  What a relaxing and refreshing place!  I can't wait to go back!  http://www.buffaloherbs.com/

Continuing down Raphine Rd. we came to the place I was the most excited to see -- the Orchardside Yarn Shop.  This wonderful little yarn shop is located on a working orchard where blackberries are now in season.  There is a little babbling brook right in front of the shop and a family of geese was parading by.  One thing I noticed right away as we crossed the little bridge to the yarn shop was that the license plates from many of the cars were from out of state.  Once inside the yarn shop, I figured out why.  This amazing little yarn shop was filled with a fabulous selection of the most gorgeous yarns -- Fiesta, Debbie Bliss, Brown Sheep, Crystal Palace, Berroco, Noro, and many, many others.  Patterns and needles and knitting magazines abounded, and gorgeous knitted models adorned the shop.  There was a very welcoming area where some of the nicest people were happily knitting away and chatting.  Everyone there was super friendly and I thought I had died and gone to Yarn Shop Heaven!  I ended up buying some yarn that has been on my Yarn Wish List for a very long time -- I bought 2 hanks of Starburst La Boheme from Fiesta yarns in colorway Sapphire.  I also bought the shawl pattern to go with it.  I had seen this a long time ago in a magazine, and I had never forgotten it.  I had filed it away in my "Someday" Wish List.  Well, yesterday was that "Someday!"  There was a gorgeous shop model of this shawl elegantly draped over a rack, and I just could resist!  Now I must finish that Vibe Tote ASAP so that I can put those needles to use on that fabulous shawl!  http://www.oysyarnshop.com/  http://www.fiestayarns.com/html/4/index.shtml  (click on the La Boheme swatch -- top row, 4th from left and look for the Famous Shawl)  http://www.fiestayarns.com/html/2/index.shtml  (Starburst La Boheme is the 6th yarn swatch from the left on the top row)

Another stop we made was to Wades Mill which has been featured in the magazine Paula's Home Cooking.  It is another amazing little place filled with cool little hard to find kitchen gadgets.  Time was running short on us, so we had to cut the visit to the Mill a bit too short.  :(  But we plan to go back to Raphine for sure very soon!  A stop in Lexington on the way home to eat at The Palms Restuarant topped off our wonderful, relaxing day in the beautiful Virginia countryside.  http://www.wadesmill.com/   http://www.thepalmslexington.com/index.htm

Louis the Pug

Here are a couple of pictures of Louis taken right after we got him.  He is bigger now, but not by much.  He is a little sweetie, as you can see!  He already has begging and pitiful looks down to an art form.  He snores when he sleeps and snorts when he plays and he is without a doubt one of the most entertaining pets I have ever seen.  He is a real character!  I think that such a character deserves to dress like one, so I have been searching around looking for the perfect doggie sweater pattern, and I came across this free one from the Lion Brand Yarn website:

http://cache.lionbrand.com/patterns/kff-dogSweater.html

So I guess there is yet another addition to my "Waiting In The Wings" knitting list!  And of course, another trip to buy the yarn to knit it!  Of course, there is no real rush to start this one with the temps hovering at 100 degrees yet again and no relief in sight according to the latest weather report. 

I am off today, and I plan to do some knitting on a project I started during vacation.  We took a couple of day trips during our vacation, and I managed to increase my already "Outta Control Yarn Stash."  Two of those projects that I bought the yarn for, I have actually started working on.  One is the Vibe tote I mentioned in the last entry, and the other is a pair of Geisha socks. 

http://www.berroco.com/exclusives/vibe_tote/vibe_tote.html

http://www.spunmag.com/article/050605socks

I came across the pattern for these socks a couple of months ago, and I had to knit them.  What a great idea -- socks you can wear with flip flops!  As soon as I saw them, I thought "I gotta have them!"

Speaking of "gotta have," I got an email from Patternworks which featured new items.  Among those new items were these:

http://www.patternworks.com/PWShopping/partsview.asp?action=lookup&partno=256&subject=U301&catpos=1

Wow!  Gotta have em!

I'm Baaaaaaaaaaaack!

It's been a very busy few months since my last entry!  Rich and I are settling into married life very nicely.  The time has just flown by.  We have added to our little family by adopting a Pug puppy we named Louis!  He is absolutely adorable!  We now have my two cats, Cotton and Harley, Rich's dog Pepper, and now Louis.  Our days are pretty hectic, as you can imagine!  I have a longer trip to work now, and I started a small herb garden back in April, so I have lots to do when I finally get home from work in the evenings. 

I have been doing some knitting during this time, of course!  I try to get a little bit of knitting in daily, usually at lunchtime at work.  I have finished a Booga Bag, as well as a couple of other items that I will talk about in future entries.  And of course, I have bought more yarn!!!!  I bought some gorgeous novelty yarn in Gatlinburg on our honeymoon and I have added to it some glittery eyelash from my "Outta Control Yarn Stash" and have started a scarf out of that.  I have also bought some yarn on a recent trip to Charlottesville where I discovered a delightful yarn shop that I previously had not known existed! 

http://www.itsastitchcville.com/

 I have also managed to visit Backstitches, my LYS, and picked up some Berrocco Vibe and I am currently working on a tote bag on my lunch break with that. There are several projects waiting in the wings, several stalled projects, several on hold projects and a bunch I am trying to work on all at the same time (so what's new about that??!?!)  Some things change, but some things always stay the same, don't they?