Quick post on what's to come- Pictures added

Busy as a bee here at work but taking a quick break for this... hopefully I don't get in trouble :)

Happy late 4th of July to everyone! Mine was ok. P's sister came up to spend the day and 'party' with us. We went to a cookout and hung out with some cool people and adorable kids and ate some delicious food. Then we came home and shot off a million fireworks- and I only managed to burn myself once! Unfortunately, I had to work the next day so my festivities ended early. Darn those mid-week holidays!

So, I've dyed some more yarn and as soon as I get home I will post a picture. It's blue and green and pink and so bright! The color reminds us of the Baja Starbursts (minus the red ones)- so yummy!!!

Bad thing about dyeing yarn- it can be quite addicting! For example- My partner for the Swap-bot "I love sock yarn" swap mentioned that she likes the colors blue, white, and green. And she hates purple! Well, since there are no LYS that near by and I don't really feel like driving an hour for only one skein of sock yarn (and I really can't afford to go anyway because there is no way I'll be able to leave with only one skein of yarn) I started looking online- etsy and the sorts. She did say she like indie dyers. Well, I just didn't like any that I saw. Correction I like a LOT of it, but it didn't seem right for her. Either it was too crazy bright or not dark enough or, in most cases, there was purple in the color way. My solution? I ordered a 1 lb cone of Kona superwash to make my own... They always say, if you want something done right, do it yourself, right? yeah, well, we'll see how that goes.

Speaking of swaps, look at this gorgeous roving I sent to my Summer Fiber swap partner! I had a hard time parting from it, even though I haven't learned to spin yet. I just kept petting it and wishing I had a spindle, just to play with it. Gotta put that one on my next thing to do list. I also made her some stitch markers last night. I think they were pretty neat and they used the three colors she listed as her favorites. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture before mailing them off this afternoon. Blah.

All this swapping is so much fun. Of course, P doesn't understand but who does that surprise? It makes me happy though. And I just signed up for the best swap ever! In case you haven't got the memo, it's time for Secret Pal 11! Finally my chance to get in on the action! The hardest part is waiting to meet my pal, hopefully the month will pass quickly!

So my goal was to finish the Liesel scarf by July 4th. I was cranking it out there at a great pace for a while, but then the weekend hit- and P thinks the weekend is the perfect time NOT to knit... as if I get to knit much any time during the week, between working, feeding him, cleaning his clothes, and sleeping. Needless to say, it's not done, but I do feel like it could get that way in the near future. I had planned on using up the one hank of Cascade Sierra, but now it's looking like it might not be long enough. I do have a second hank, but I'm hoping not to have to use it. Hopefully it will stretch out nicely when it's blocked... *crosses fingers*

Only 10 more minutes until I can clock out and then go home again and get back on the computer to show you my pretties! Smiles until then!!!

Bonus pics: My gorgeous blooms!

(If you can't tell, I do love picture posts!)

Uh oh, more yarn! Pattern suggestion needed

Sorry no pictures this post. I know it needs them but I just haven't had time to get around to it recently. Take it as a giant IOU and in the next couple days I'll post nothing but pics. Not that anyone really has even be visiting this site besides myself... If you are out there, post me a comment or something!

I should let you know, up until now most of my stash was free. It was also mostly cheap acrylic, but what can you say when a person hands you a big bin of yarn to feed your fiber addiction? They didn't know any better, and it's great to practice with anyway, right? Still, I really haven't done much besides look at it and make up a few granny squares every now and then.

There is some yarn in my stash that I purchased myself- all the cotton for my dishcloths and the wool used on my felted Jeep hats, and a few other little odd balls here and there like the few things I acquired at my first ever LYS, which of course was during a going out of business sale. I would have bought tons then but the funds weren't there at the time. And now....

Well, now I have my wonderful job which means a wonderful paycheck twice a month. YARN MONEY! Sad to say, my yarn stash grew a whopping 30 balls last weekend. Granted, I got a deal. $50 bought me 20 balls of cotton for a few summer tops and 8 balls of sock yarn. Then I spent nearly $20 on a ball of Austermann Step sock yarn from "Ewe Knit" when I finally got around to visiting the shop I discovered a month or so ago. I would have gotten so much more, but for some reason my paycheck was unaccounted for at work and I didn't get paid until Monday morning. And then, while we were visiting my future in-laws we all went out to eat for Mexican- which I had a huge margarita that I sadly couldn't even finish- too strong- and was feeling a wee bit tipsy- and they decided they needed to go by Walmart while they were in the area so we go over there and I decided to buy some Lion Brand Wool because they don't sell it in my area and while it is cheap (in more way then one) it makes for good practice in dyeing. So, I'm wandering around a Walmart that I've only been to once, in a slightly intoxicated manner... by myself! Let's just say I got more then a few looks. Haha!

Speaking of dyeing, I had my first experience with koolaid/jello dyeing last week. We had a box of orange and strawberry sugar free jello in the cabinet and I had some leftover white Lion's wool from making the last Jeep hat so I just decided to have at it. I think it turned out ok. The colors took magnificently, but blended a tiny bit more then I would like. I haven't knit it up into anything yet- still trying to find the perfect pattern so any suggestions would be helpful. I guess I have about 2/3 of the skein left- maybe about 100 yards.

As far as works in progress, I'm still working on that Liesel scarf and haven't made very much progress. I actually sent it in as my item for the Completion swap on Swap-Bot (my newest addiction, you should check it out). I'm going to training next week away from home and I've decided that it is the only project I will take with me, that way I should get a good bit done on it. My goal is to have it finished by July 4... we'll see!

I also started another pair of ankle socks out of the leftover yarn from my first sock endeavor. Those were some fast knitting socks too. Less then 24 hours after I started the first sock I was stitching up the toe. And once I got around to starting #2 it went pretty quickly too... that is until I ran out of yarn half-way down the foot. That of course left me with a few options- have a permantant WIP (or I guess that would be UFO- unfinished object), pick another yarn just to finish the foot (it will be in shoes most the time and no one will see anyway), or order another ball. Which did I choose? After a quick search on ebay, I found and purchased yet another ball of Magic Stripes in Sea Blue. I must be crazy- I hated this yarn coloring and the patterning almost the whole time I was working with it. But I have hope that maybe I can find just the right sock pattern to justify the purchase- besides being able to finish that UFO sock.

The only other thing I have worked on any is that I "designed" (using some inspiration from random websites) a couple of hackey sacks for Patrick. I signed up for the XY KAL on getstitchy.com and that is what he requested of me. And I do actually have some pictures of those!!!

The P is a little wonky because of course, you aren't supposed to do intarsia in the round, but he insisted and I figured that since it is just a toy anyway so I don't care.

And I know that I was planning on keeping this a strictly "knitting adventure" blog, but I just want to add a big of my other passion- my flowers! They were looking amazingly beautiful recently so I just had to take a picture to share.

That's all for now folks. I swear I will get those pictures soon. Maybe I'll even do a full out stash flash!