MAIL CALL Loaded with pictures

I received 4 books in the mail yesterday and thought I better get them posted before I get to involved with spinning some sock yarn. So here we go

Book 1 is Cooking Light Slow Cooker cook book here are some pictures.












MMMM Tiny french beans with smoked sausage and Picadillo



I think that this will be a cookbook that gets used frequently.






Book 2 is Ready Set Serge I really need to read this one closely while sitting in front of my serger for it gives instruction in threading it which I really need considering my children pulled all the threads out:( Here are some pictures.






Now who need's a rice bag for those soar stiff muscles from to much knitting or spinning or soon to be gardening aches and pains







Book 3 100 Flowers to Knit & Crochet





OK so if you don't garden but want to have one why not knit yourself one!







Finally book 4 I saved the best for last


is Dozens of ways to repurpose a Pillowcase












Are these projects cute or what. Now I need to go raid the Goodwill stores in the area and see if I can find some pillowcases worthy of the projects. HEY, anyone have some they want to unload??? I'll be happy to take them off your hands for you.

The socks that took me FOREVER to finish and Mail call

This is the sock that took me forever to finish. Why you say! Well, I got side tracked by spinning, Ravelry and well it was boring to knit. Now I know why I don't like to knit plain old stockinette socks..... Boring. But I like them and did learn alot from this pair of socks but first let me tell you about the pattern and sock yarn.

Pattern: Fingering Weight toe up socks with gusset and slip stich heel by Wendy Johnson
Yarn: Whimzy Pinzy Creations 100% merino superwash wool sock yarn in colorway Chocolate & Love.

Ok so what I learned other than the fact that it's a boring knit.
1. I need to add more increases into the upper part of the leg before the cuff it I want them to not cut the circulation off to my feet.
2. I hate the way the heel and heel flap is constructed. This is just my own personal opinion.
3. I do like toe up sock. What a great way to try them on and make sure they fit before being commited to 3/4 of the sock.
4. I will not do a 1x1 twisted rib again if it is at all possible that the sock will be tight. I do believe if I had done a stardard 1x1 rib or even a 2x2 rib that the cuff would not have been as tight. Not to mention that crazy me thought that I would want to go to a size 0 needle for the cuff. The rest of the sock was done on a size 1 addi turbo's.
5. I love them anyway because I do not mind the fact that I slouch them down on my leg as I don't want to cut all blood flow to the feet off. That would make fore even more intersting conversation at work.

Ok enough about the socks on to MAIL CALL

So Mail Call is basically me sharing what fibery/yarny goodness that has come to me via the USPS/UPS/FEDEX carriers that dare try to come near my door. ( For the German short hair named Daisy owns the front steps and they all know it)

Ok so here's the pictures .....








the first picture is of 3 4oz braids of Panda in colorway forcast and tahiti. the last picture is some sock batts each about 1 oz in superwash BFL heathered in colorway mermaid.

these are all from Spunky Eclectics March update. I love her dyeing and all her fibes and I will be getting more from her.

So the next Mail Call will have either Souther Cross Fibre or Spunky Eclectic club shipments or my books will be here. So keep checking you'll never know what I get in the mail.

SOCK MADNESS 3

I did a crazy thing (which really is not all that crazy for me) I joined the Sock madness 3 competition this year. You know how I like socks! Ok so I thought that I would share what yarns I have picked from my stash to use for each round I gave myself two options for each round so here they are.

ROUND 1
A. Wollmeise in Veilchen
B. Superwash 100% spanish merino wool from Tricot Treat on etsy in colorway Grasshopper



ROUND 2
A. Koigu KPPPM in color P538-19
B. Koigu KPM



ROUND 3
A. 100% superwash merino in Green tea by See Jane Knit
100% superwash merino in Green tea como also by See Jane Knit(etsy)
B Koigu KPM 2236-77 with Koigu KPPPM p623L-380



ROUND 4 ( only one option)
Knit picks Essential solids in Dusk and Cocoa



ROUND 5
A. Colinette Jitterbug in colorway Sauguin
B. 100% merino from handgefaerbt.com color way I think is Dark topaz dragon



ROUND 6
A. Claudia hand panted yarns in colorway Hawaii
B. Claudia hand painted yarns in colorway (Unknown lost the tag, I'll have to do some searching)



ROUND 7 ( only one option)
Knit picks Felici in colorway Arugula with knit picks Essential solid in Grass



ROUND 8
A. Lorna's Laces Shephard sock colorway seaside
B. Lorna's Laces Shephard sock colorway Vera




So there you have it all my choices do these look like good options or should I make any changes. Please let me know. Thanks a million.

It's been a while so here is what I've been up to......

Alright I have to get better at posting what I'm working on and doing more oftem because this is going to be one heck of a long picture heavy post put I promise it will be full of goodies for all of you. It will mostly be spinning related because that has been my obsession since the beginning of the year so here we go in no particular order just lots of goodies.


this is an order that I got from www.thesheepshedstudio.com I love Carol and all the goodies that she gets from the Brown sheep company. I got 5 pounds of sock roving that is superwash wool and nylon. I can't wait to start dyeing that. I haven't decided if I want to spin first or dye it first. I also go 3 pounds of brown and 3 pounds of dye soppers that I will use in my Louet Junior hand carder to make some yummy batts. Oh and the Black cat that is Shadow our rescued kitty that came to live with us just before Holloween.



This is a picture (not a very good one) of my first shipment of club fiber from David of Souther cross fibre (formerly Come in Spinner) in Australia. David can be found on Etsy. I can't wait to start spinning this but I have to finish up this first.......





this is my February club shippment from Amy King of Spunky Eclectic I have about 7oz of the 12 completed in a 3ply and am working on the rest of it. I love Amy's fiber club she is such an awsome dyer that she has inspired me along with Carol of The Sheep Shed studio's to dye some of my own fiber. So here are those pictures.......










that's alot of dyeing of fiber. Most of the fiber was from The sheep shed studio. The little cloud like fibers are some white alpaca that I had a raw fleece from and they are ohhhhhhh so soft. The yarn in the last picture is some mohair that I had purchased from Sarah's yarns in a large cone. I have more of the cream and I'll most likely dye the rest of it at some point. I had alot of fun dying all of that fiber and will be doing more in the future. Ok on to the next thing....





Ok of the three pictures above the first one is some Gecko colorway that I spun up in 2ply lace wt yarn. The fiber came from Come in spinner on etsy. ( now is Southern Cross fibre). The middle pic is the coveted Coripaca from Spunky eclectic in colorway thunderstorm; there is 12oz of that all spun up and super dooper soft. the last picture is the January fiber club shipment from Spunky eclectic also the colorway is Twilight adn it is an organic merino and is so delicious that words can not describe it you just have to feel it..... YUMMMMMMMYYYYYYY :)



this picture is of some Superwash merino/bambo fiber from Merlin the cat yarn on etsy. I do have this all spun up and plyed I just don't have another picture of it. I did it as a 3ply and it is wonderful yarn and I will be using it for socks.

Ok I think that is enough of the pictures for now. As for what i will be working on this week is finishing the Feb. fiber from Spunky fiber club and a toe up sock that I only have the leg and cuff to finish on the second sock. Then, I will be getting ready for Sock maddness 3 to start. It a contest that test's all your sock knitting skills and ability not to mention you ability to stay awak and knit till finished before anyone else with a unknown pattern that is emailed to you. This will be the first time of competing in this competition. I can't wait for March 19th.

LnV sock marathon 2009 and Autumn's B-day

I joined the Lime n Violet sock marathon 2009 challenge. What is this you ask?! Well, this is where you add up all your sock yarn and figure out home many mile of sock yarn you have and then set a goal to knit say 1 mile of sock yarn. The marathon starts Feb 1 and goes until Sep 1, 2009. Ok are you ready for my sock yarn stash? Here is a picture of it.


I have 64,372 yards of sock yarn which is 36.575 miles of sock yarn. I basically have enough to make 162 pairs of adult socks with left overs which usually get made into socks for the kids.

Thats a lot of sock yarn. So my goal is to knit 5 miles of sock yarn which is 8800 yards of sock yarn. There is 26 weeks for me to knit and I broke this down to be 338.5 yards a week that I need to knit. Basically that is pair of socks a week.

I'm glad that I am not limited to socks only. The rules state that You can make whatever you want but it just has to made out of sock yarn.
So, if you want to keep track of how I'm going I put a knitmeter just under the knit wars so that We all can keep track of how I'm going.


NEXT

I decided to again attempt the Monthly dishcloth KAL challenge of knitting all 24 of the KAL clothes. I got the 1st one of the January cloth done. Here is a picture of it.



NEXT

yep, I'm in a next kind of mood sorry. But, last but not least is my oldest daughter Autumn turned 9 yesterday, here is a picture of the birthday girl and her favorite grandma and aunt. Oh, and the cake.

Where is everyone???

Mysterious person say's.... "Pam, where are you???? Paaaammmmm, are you there???, Paaaaaaaaammmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, where have you been???? Do you here me??? PAM, ANSWERE ME, are you there????"

Pam finally say's " Where am I? Who is yelling at me? What day is it? What the heck is going on???"

Mysterious person replies.. " Pam, It's Oct. 30, 2008! Where the heck have you been your readers have been looking for you??"

Pam... " Readers?! What, who is this?"

Mysterious person... "I'm your blog you dufus!! where have you been?"

Pam finally comes to and realizes.... " holly crap black cat it's almost Holloween and I've been gone since when????

Mysterious person replies.... " You've been gone since August 28th. Where have you been?"

Pam .. "Well, Let me think.............. where have I been?"


mysterious music starts to play in the background......

OK, Ok, I'm back and this is what I've been doing since the last post.





I made this hat for my Nephew and Godson Braxton. I still have one more to make for his sister Emma in Pink and White.



This young lady joined our family. My children named her Shadow. I felt so bad for her that I just couldn't help myself because I, in my mind can't stand when people dump there animals out when they can't defend themselves. For Shadow was declawed. So, she is now in our happy home.



I made this Simple Lace Shrug by Lisa Sisk out of knit picks SIerra yarn for Autumn, my oldest daughter. I know.... that shirt is not a good fit for the shrug but it's what she had on at the time I took the picture. It turned out great and just as I thought it would.



I've been putting up with this man... My lovely Hubby. Doesn't he look just happy in this picture? He should be because Trinity and the dog (Whitney) are both alseep. I should say that he has actually had to put up with me!! Na, I like it the other way around!


I've been loading, unloading and stacking this lovely wood that my hubby cuts and splits so that we have a toasty warm house this winter without breaking the bank by paying way to high utility bills. ( I call this sweat equity... wouldn't you?)





I sewed this bag for my Niece and Goddaughter Leah for Christmas. She loves horses and when I saw this fabric I new that I had to make something for her with it. Now Kris, YOU BETTER NOT SHOW HER THIS!! Oh, and my oldest daughter is also going to get one for Christmas, I just have to make it yet.


I made these socks for my Sister-in-law...Pam... The other Pam that is. I did these just because she is always there when I need to vent. Thanks Pam.





I made this felted bag for charity. I is going to the 3Center silent auction at work. The money raised will go to those employee's of St. Lukes Hospital that lost there homes to the flood in June.


I had a birthday. I turned 35 on October 23rd and I got 18 red roses.

I also died!........ Yes, that is right I died in sock wars. That was a miserable experience that I am not sure that I will do agian. The only thing that I'm going to say is that is was very unorganized and the pattern sucked.

well, I guess I shouldn't joke about dieing becasue we did have a funeral also. Aarons uncle died and his Grandpa Joe is also not doing so great.

Let's see what else have I done...... Oh, I made lots and lots of salsa, yes, HOT, HOT, salsa. which leads me to the next picture but not of what I have done but now we go to the what I have to do....



Make applesauce! That I will start on Monday after I drop the kids off at school and then Trinity and I will peel, core, cut, cook and can these apples. who knows, I may just get up enough energy to make an apple pie.

Then I will fininsh the second sock of Leahs Birthday present and work on finishing my Lady February sweater that I only have the sleeves left to do. Oh, and all the rest of the Christmas knitting that I have to do yet.

And maybe soon I will have some really, really good news. I'll just keep you all in the dark on this one until I know more myself but it's really exciting.