I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was trying to “go green”. This has been a far more challenging project than I could have ever imagined. Almost all of the products that I use for skin care/beauty have Parabens in them, which has been found in breast cancer tumors. So just trying to become Paraben free has involved much research and trips to many different stores. Some good sources of Paraben free skin care include Whole Foods (formerly Wild Oats). They care a limited amount of skin care/beauty items and I think they are all pretty much Paraben free. L’Occitaine is another wonderful line that doesn’t add a lot of extra chemicals to their products. Origins also is a great source. Just reading the labels on products has been quite the eye opener.
Onto knitting, I finished the Coffee Shop Socks. I simply can not convey how much I enjoyed knitting with the Numma Numma Baby Boo yarn. It was a joy to knit with so soft and silky. I will be ordering more when it comes back in stock at The Loopy Ewe. Here is the finished product.
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I used Wendy Knits Frog Warts pattern and knit them on my Harmony Size 0 double circulars. I really liked everything about this project.
I started my Tempted Socks. When I started out I was going to use the Bavarian Rock Star Sock Pattern. I quickly realized that this was way too complicated to be a traveling sock pattern and it just really didn’t look very good on such darkly colored socks. I started again with just a garter rib pattern and then realized that the colorwork is the star of these socks and they should be just plain. Here is the first one so far.
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Here is a close up of the colors. I still have not decided if the dark is navy or black. Too close to tell in my opinion.<a href=”http://
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They are moving along quite quickly.
I was glad Kristie won DWTS last night. I think I picked her at the very beginning to win. I don’t know who is going to take home the Idol tonight. If you’d ask me before last night’s show, I would have said David C. for sure, but the format of that show really played into David A.’s strength’s. Big ballad singers have the edge on those kinds of shows. I really don’t know who is going to win.
I have some quick photos of the boys because their fans have been clamoring for them. Here is Simon checking out my photos of the Tempted Socks.
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And Oscar being shy?
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I have a new music alert for you all. The artist’s name is Duffy and the CD is called Rockferry. We are carrying the CD at the coffeeshop and we had a free download of her video “Mercy”. I really like the CD. Our information compared her to Amy Winehouse, I don’t really agree with that, no one is as dark as Amy Winehouse. It sounds very retro, like 60’s soul. If you like female pop singers, check it out.
And finally, thank you so much for all of your kind words and deeds regarding DHC’s brother. It meant so much to both me and Carl. We are very fortunate to have such kind and thoughtful friends.
Everyone have a fun and safe race weekend.
Sorry I haven’t posted in two weeks, bad blogger. There have been a lot of things going personally and I just didn’t feel inspired. But the good news is that I have been knitting like crazy and I have some things to show you this morning. I finished Mike B.’s Earth Day Socks. He loves them and says they are very comfy. I’m waiting on him to take an excellent photo so I can share it with all of you. I quickly started on the Coffee Shop Socks. I’m using my Numma Numma Baby Boo yarn in the Spinach and Brown Rice colorway. I love this yarn sooo much! It is a blend of merino wool and Bamboo. It knits like a dream. I’m using Wendy Knits Frog Warts pattern from The Loopy Ewe. I love Wendy’s patterns, they are written clearly and are easy to understand. This has been a very fast moving pattern, here is the first completed Coffee Shop Sock.
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And I turned the heel on the second one while watching tv last night.
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Here is a close up of the yarn and the frog warts pattern.
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I have also been working on the hemp blend socks. They are not nearly as much fun to knit. I turned the heel and am working up the leg.
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You would think that with two pairs of socks currently in play that would be enough for me, but as usual, I’m already thinking about my next pair. I have some yarn I’m considering using. It is Tempted Yarn purchased from The Loopy Ewe in the Paris colorway. Here is what it looks like.
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Sorry about the crummy photo. This is very strange yarn. I originally bought it thinking it was shades of black and grey and that I could knit it up as socks I could wear to work. When it arrived, I realized it was shades of grey and navy and more like the colors of Georgetown University. Today when I took it out to photograph it, it really looked black and grey again. I can’t figure out what colors are in it, maybe it will show up more when it is knit up.
I also made the most meager attempt at starting a Perfect Sweater from Mason Dixon Knitting. I wound up a ball of the Cascade I’ve had in my stash for a year and a half. I knit a gauge swatch people! And I knit maybe 3 rows. It’s in my knitting basket, making friends with Icarus. Maybe I’m just not meant to do big projects. We’ll see.
I think the right people are in the finals of DWTS. And I think that tonight the David’s will be in the final of the Idol. I voted for David Cook last night. I have loved The Kid through the whole show, but I don’t think he has enough range in his voice. The songs all sound the same to me. I would buy an album by David Cook I think. I remember thinking that about Taylor Hicks too, yikes!! Anyways, I like David Cook to win it all.
Finally, please keep my Darling Husband Carl in your thoughts. He lost his brother Rick last night after a very long period of illness. We are relived that the suffering and pain are finally over and he is in a better place.
I hope everyone has a good week. I’ll try to be better about posting, promise.
- I thought about blogging yesterday and honestly could not think of anything interesting I had to say. Today is not much better. On the knitting front, I’m still working on Cara’s poncho. I really like it, it’s just taking a bit of time to knit 54″ of length. I also am making another pair of the Fetching mitts for a co-w0rker at the coffee shop. I was thinking that I wanted to make her some for her birthday, February 15, and then she ask me to make her a pair after she saw mine. So then I knew I had to make them for her. I’m using a Paton’s Classic Wool in a really pretty pinky color that is almost mauve. I’ll take some photos after they are done. Speaking of photos, Mike B. is still tweaking his website for it’s big unveiling. Technical gremlins are giving him fits, but he assures me it will be ready soon. I bought a book last week called “2 at a time Socks”. It is about knitting both socks at the same time using the Magic Loop technique. I don’t know how I feel about knitting two socks at the same time, that sort of takes the portability out of them, but I am using the Magic Loop to make the mitts and I kind of like it. After finishing the first mitt, I tried dipping my cable from my circular needles into boiling water to make it more flexible. It actually worked! I was a little surprised.
- On the television front, my favorite new show to watch is called “Ninja Warrior”. It is on the G4 cable network. It is from Japan (duh), and involves these crazy challenges for people to complete to become “Ninja Warriors”. You can tell this isn’t an American program, because most of the time, no one wins. The challenges are so difficult, I’m kind of surprised anyone can do them at all. One of my favorite parts of the program are the ads, their tagline is “Ninja Please”. Makes me chuckle everytime I hear it.
- I have the entire day off today, no classes to teach and no working at the coffee shop. I feel much better the last couple of weeks with the extra day off. I think I was pushing myself a little bit too much.
- As was mentioned in the comments of the last post I’m very, very excited about the outcome of the Superbowl. So happy to see the cheater Patriots get their comeuppance in the only game that really matters. No one will remember that they were 18-1. Everyone will remember that the Giants had the biggest upset in Superbowl history. I loved that the Giants defense put a beat down on the “greatest” quaterback of all time Tom Brady, and proved to all the tv talking heads that the dude is human and falls on his butt like everybody else. I was happy that Peyton’s little brother Eli could finally tell the NY media to “shove it”. Good for him.
- Hope everyone has a great Thursday!!
So yesterday I promised lots of information and hopefully today I will be able to deliver. I have the pictures of the first finished flame sock.
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I have not gotten very far yet on the second sock. I have been busy with work and when I get home I’ve been staring off into space and sleeping. Not very good excuses, but it’s all that I’ve got. Maybe I’ll get the first section of color work done today.
Today is my day off from the coffee shop but I am teaching a new yoga class at the Y at 10:45 a.m. That seems like a kinda weird time to me, but that is when my students and the Y are available so we will see. I hope I have at least some students.
I am crazy about Dance War Bruno vs. Carrie Ann! I watched the premier that I had recorded yesterday. I already have people I’m rooting for. I haven’t watched the very end so I didn’t see the live performance, but I’m not sure how the show is going to work. Are the viewers going to vote people off? If anyone knows, give me a holler in the comments. I also watched a little bit of the season premier of LA Ink. I don’t know if I’m going to be into that show as much as I was last season. We will see.
Now I also promised a little bit of Britney talk. I’m really worried that this girl is going to go all Anna Nicole on us by Spring. I don’t understand why someone doesn’t just get a hold of her and commit her somewhere until she gets well. She is obviously sick either by chemical means or real mental illness. It’s just so sad.
On a completely different and happier note, I made my first yarn order of 2008. I ordered some Noro sock yarn from The Loopy Ewe. I’ve been looking at it for weeks and finally decided to use some of my Christmas money to get it. I’ll post pictures for you when it arrives. Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone.
Remember how I was saying that my best day ever was 197 hits? How I was hoping to go over 200 by the new year? Yesterday, I had 561 hits and I have already had over 190 today. People love Helio. Unfortunately, now that Dancing With the Semi Famous is over, I don’t know how much news I will have on Helio at least until the racing season starts again. So we are back to the knitting. I’m halfway done with the last dishcloth. I will be excited to get the projects I’ve been working on for awhile finished up so I can start some new things. Today I have drive thru training at my new job. My old store didn’t have a drive thru so this will all be new to me. I’m a little bit nervous. I’ll let you know how it goes. Happy Thursday everyone!!
I have to admit, I was nervous. I really thought that maybe Mel B. was going to win Dancing with the Semi Famous. I would probably have been okay with that, she was my favorite of the women from the very first week. But when they announced that Helio and Julianne had won, I was so happy for him. He is such a nice person and always smiling and willing to give a fan an autograph or pose for a photo, you just can’t help but root for the guy. My favorite line from last night was when he said he was going to put his mirror ball trophy between his two Indianapolis 500 trophies. That is pretty high company for the mirror ball. He was lucky, Julianne is probably the best of the professional partners right now, she’s won the last two seasons in a row. So Hooray for Helio and Julianne! <a href=”http://
“> Even tho I am having kind of a busy week training for my new job, I did start the last of the holiday dishcloths yesterday. Nothing really to show yet. Just a little FYI, yesterday was my biggest day ever at BigSkyMind. I had 197 hits! I’m aiming for over 200 before the end of the year. So thanks to everyone who is reading, I really appreciate it. Feel free to comment anytime, I’d love to hear who you all are and where you’re from. Have a fantastic Wednesday everyone!!!
That is what the call employee orientation at my new job. I’m not really a “new” employee, since I worked for the same organization several years ago. My first impressions are that I’m going to like my new store. It’s busy, but they seem to have lots of staff so it’s never overwhelming. Everyone seems to be busy cleaning and stocking when there aren’t customers which is good. I’ll keep you posted as to how my retraining is going. I did some knitting over the holiday weekend. I completely improvised a hat for baby Reece. I made one for his dad last year for Chirstmas. It’s pretty darned cute, if I have to say so myself. What do you think?
Can’t wait to see him in it! I made another holiday dishcloth yesterday, I’m down to one to go. I think putting them away every few days, then picking them back up is really working in getting them finished quickly. I worked on the Argosy blanket all day on Saturday. Except when Simon was sleeping on it. I think that Darling Husband Carl may have to wrestle Simon for that blanket when it’s finished. Or he may just have to get used to Simon sitting on him constantly!
I mailed my knitted squares to Kay at Mason Dixon Knitting today. If you made up some, send them to her asap, they have to be to her by the 30th.
And finally tonight is the finale for Dancing with the Semi Famous. Please don’t forget to vote for our favorite dancing race car driver Helio. Maybe if we all get together and vote he will win, I sure hope so.
We always get a lot of catalogs in the mail. Generally, I like this. But this time of year, it is really redonkulous! We get at least this many every day we get mail.
It is madness, I can’t even read them all. I think in the new year I am going to look to get myself and Darling Husband Carl off of some of the catalog lists we have been on. You’ll remember I was trying the other day to get a photo of Simon hanging out in his favorite place, his tube. Yesterday, I had some success. Sorry about the slight red eye, it’s dark in the tube, probably why Simon likes it so.
Now for all the crazy Oscar fans out there, I know you’re out there saying “What’s up with all the Simon photos? Sure he’s fluffy and all, but we want our Oscar!” Well, here you go, he was helping me when I was taking the catalog photo.
There, hopefully that’s enough Oscar to satisfy you all. Now for just a few random updates. I am having 22 people for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, but I feel like I need to quantify, only 15 are adults, 7 are kids, and they never eat anything much anyways. We are acutally buying them a platter of chicken tenders. Very, very relieved that Helio made it to the finals of Dancing with the Semi Famous. I must say I am COMPLETELY over Marie Osmond! She is not a very good dancer and it is just wrong that she is in the finals over Jennie. Marie better not win or the show will lose it’s credibility, think Sanjaya people!!! If you’ve never voted before, please vote for our guy Helio! He’s good, he deserves to win. Tomorrow on BigSkyMind, things I’m grateful for. Now if you will excuse me, there is a turkey breast calling my name.
Darling Husband Carl and I are hosting his family for Thanksgiving this year. We finally came up with a count of people last night. 22. This is a major undertaking. I’m happy that his Mom doesn’t have to deal with all the stress. And actually, I feel confident that we have things pretty well under control. I’m off to the store for more provisions, so here is a quick knitting update photo for you.
Not too much getting done these days truth be told. I worked on the holiday dishcloth last night during Dancing with the Semi Famous. How bout our buddy Helio? Two, count ’em two, perfect scores! I don’t even have a guess on who’s going home tonight. Hopefully it’s Marie, but as everyone keeps reminding me, she does have the Mormon vote. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
What do you know, yesterday I wrote about UFOs and today I have a FO to show you. After posting yesterday morning I realized that I need to formulate a plan and get organized for my Holiday knitting. I decided that I needed to finish Ken’s Dishcloth. So I did, lo and behold, a dishcloth for Ken.
Sorry about the superdark photo. Don’t know what is up with that. Then I started on my holiday dishcloths.
These are for family gifts. I’m making a total of 6 and they have to be mailed out of state, so I need to get these finished first. Then Argosy is next on the block.
I’m glad that Cameron got the boot on Dancing with the Semi Famous. It should have been Marie, but she must have the massive Mormon fan vote working for her. I think it will come down to our guy Helio and Mel B. Not sure who is going to win.
Have a fantastic Wednesday everyone.
Big Sky Mind 