Day 1 – 3KCBWDAY1

Day 1 - Colour Lovers

Colour is one of our greatest expressions of ourselves when we choose to knit or crochet, so how do you choose what colours you buy and crochet or knit with. Have a look through your stash and see if there is a predominance of one colour. Do the same with your finished projects - do they match? Do you love a rainbow of bright hues, or more subdued tones. How much attention do you pay to the original colour that a garment is knit in when you see a pattern? Tell readers about your love or confusion over colour.

I am mostly attracted to color over type of fiber.  I will be drawn in by the color before I even think about the fiber or weight. 

Green is my major color, it’ll always draw me in first, after that, it is shades of purple and the autumn colors, the deep red, burnt orange, pumpkin, browns. But I am also very attracted by variegated yarn, I have more variegated and striped yarn in my stash than anything else.

So taking a look at a small section of my stash (and I have very bad lighting)

It is mostly greens, teals, purples, and variegated (sorry about the bed covers underneath clashing)

I don’t shy away from brights, like the Giaia’s Colors up in the top left corner, but it’s not the first thing I reach for…I rarely work with pastels, unless it’s a request from a Mom-to-Be, although I do have some in baby yarn.

I rarely buy anything in the peachy colorway…it doesn’t look good on me and I own no clothing that color.  I will do strong pinks, but the softest pink I have is a rose color.

Now my projects need a bit of a disclaimer….there is an abundance of blue and silver/grey….while I love silver/grey (I wore it almost exclusively my junior year of high school) I am not a big blue fan.  However, since joining Nerd Wars and being on team Stargate, I’ve made several things to match the colors of the gate…

So some of my handmades…

Hats

Cowls

Sets

Scarves and a lone green cowl

Fingerless gloves (with the mate missing to the bottom one)

My favorites:  The fingerless gloves are the yellow, variegated.  This is a yarn from Creatively Dyed.

My scarves is my Kathy Merrick Chain Lace Big Fat Scarf made with Kiogu.

My sets is the Mission Falls granny square set.

The hats: The green one on the bottom left, the striped purple in the middle and the blue/purple one in top right with Nerd Wars pin.

My cowl is the black one.

When looking at patterns, if it is made in a green yarn, I will usually stop and take a look at it.  It is definitely the yarn that attracts me to a pattern first.

Awards–Long Post- Overdue

We all like to receive awards, knowing that someone has recognized something good about something we did (come on, you don’t get that little puff of pride in your chest when someone nominates you for something?)

Well I was nominated awhile ago…during the month of darkness known as November 2011 (award post) for the

by New End Studios.

So I need to tell you 7 things about myself and nominate 15 bloggers for the award.

I’m pretty open, but here goes…

1.  In high school I had more than 25 penpals.  I had 6 American penpals and many international penpals. And I still have all my letters, I’m thinking a book…

2.  I am still in touch with one, Tone of Norway, although we Facebook more nowadays.

3.  We also hosted 2 foreign exchange students at my insistence. Vladimira (Mary) from then Yugoslavia, now Croatia and Francisco from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  Mary and I keep in touch, but infrequently…

4.  I spent two months visiting Mary in Croatia after high school.  I put off college for a year.  Glad I did it, otherwise I would not have later.

5. My engagement ring was bought with my husband’s loan to go to Alaska, so I owe him a trip to Alaska. We were engaged after 6 weeks of dating and married a year later.  21 years this year.

6.  My favorite movies are Wizard of Oz, Jaws and Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth.

7.  My favorite book of all time is The Secret Garden.

I also was given the

from SuddenExpression and I just realized I was also nominated by ReneeAnne at Confessions of a Yarn Addict.  So thank you both!

Since I’ve already told you the 7 things about me, here go the 15 blogs…I’ve actually been thinking about the blogs I read recently….and most of them are about people totally different from me….and many are international…as I shared above, I have always wanted to learn about different people and places.  I am going to share a couple of popular blogs and some lesser known ones.

1. Lucy of Attic 24 – because really who can resist her enthusiasm and eye for color and pictures.

2. Kate of Foxs Lane – so very different lifestyle than I lead, but fascinating

3. Ginny at Small Things – again a very different life than the one I lead.

4. Linda at Natural Suburbia – this one is newish to me, but heck South Africa!  Awesome!

5. Belinda at Aunty Mum – we’ve been reading each other for some time and I like reading about her unexpected journey into mommyhood

6. Kate at Greedy For Color- another one with a fantastic eye for color and I’m jealous when I read she and Belinda got together.

7. Lori at Thrums – Lori is living a life I have thought and dreamed about, living in New York City and the wonderful surprises that city holds, plus I’ve met her in real life.

8. Suzanne at Chickens in the Road – her adventure at becoming a self-sustaining farmer and her funny animal pictures.

9. Pat at Mille Fiori Favoriti – another New York City based blog…I want to visit many of the places she blogs about

10. Sonia at Peaceful Knitter – I actually met her before she moved out to the Northwest and she is a new yarn shop owner…

11. Andrea at Wisdom Begins In Wonder – alpaca farm owner, enough said!

12. Mimi at EskimimiMakes – Mimi is back after a long absence and she was missed.

13. Annie at SheepishAnnie – she’s a teacher and sometimes you just have to laugh at this stuff.

14. Gingergread Lady at Gingerschatz – she’s funny and an Irish lady married to a German.

15. Becca at Nutmeg Knitter – a local girl and someone else I have met in real life.

Some of these bloggers have no idea who I am, but I enjoy their blogs nontheless, I also tried not to repeat bloggers that also received the award, so some of my regulars were left off the list…but you can check them out in my sidebar….

Third Pair of Socks

Am I a sock knitter now?  They still aren’t perfect as the foot is a tad short on one and both, the feet are too wide.  I was just reading The Yarn Harlot’s Knitting Rules about socks and I think I will know how to make the feet narrower next time.  Although I’m going to see if going down a needle size, as I am with the Kai-Mei,  will help….

So without further ado…ta-da!!!!!!!! My Shifting Sands socks……

The pattern is Sifting Sands by Diana Vance.

The yarn is Nerd Girl Yarns Dingo in “You Call This Archeology?” A random fandom color.

I did cables for the first time!!!!!!

Hooking up with…..

2012 Pay It Forward Handmade

I just discovered this yesterday on Nomes’s Brag-a-long and decided, sure why not…So who else would like to play?

Here’s the rules:

1.  I will send a surprise gift to the first three commenters on this post. The gift will be handmade by me.  It will be sent sometime in the next 365 days. It will be a surprise.  We all love getting surprises in the mail, right?

2. To sign up and receive a gift, you must play along, too. Pay it Forward on your blog, by promising to make a surprise for the first three people who comment on the post.

3. You must have a blog. (That is updated, as I will blog stalk you to find the right gifty for you)

4. After commenting here, you must repost this or something similar to your blog in 48 hours.  If not, I will chose the next person who comments…

Would you like to play?  It seems like an awful lot of fun!
Once I have the first three comments, I will notify you via email or Ravelry PM for an address….so please have a way for me to reach you….

Let’s Pay It Forward with a Handmade!!!! Will ship internationally!

Closed..I have my three, but please check with the other players.  I know Nome still needs one and Erin

WIP Wednesday and Yarn Along

Yesterday I went to Barnes and Noble and picked up a couple of magazines.  The Interweave Crochet had the second part on crocheting socks, this time toe-up.  I’m wondering if I had crocheted socks first, would it have been easier to understand how to knit them?

One of the blogs I read, the author has a pattern in the Knitscene, she discusses it here. 

I’ve also been catching up on my blog reading, I got pretty far behind.  Unfortunately it seems as if several of the regular ones are taking breaks or even stopping….I’ve added a few new ones….

Next week is 3rd Annual Knitting and Crochet Blog Week, so I’m sure I’ll find some new ones to read.

And the projects…I added a few rows to the Kai-Mei.  I took this picture last night and I did finish the second Shifting Sands right before bed…woo-hoo!

So I now have three pairs of handknitted socks…and still learning with every sock!

Please join us at

Avery’s

The Hubs came home yesterday and made me get dressed and go out. (I was reluctant, as I have socks to finish!)  We ran a few errands and on the way home we stopped at Avery’s Beverages. 






It’s still made in the original building.  They have all the regular flavors and then some Totally Gross Soda.  I got Zombie Brain Juice and we also got Kitty Piddle and Toxic Slime for the Hubs sister. We ended up with a case…I really haven’t had Avery’s since I was a kid.  My stepfather used to buy a case every couple of weeks.

Calum

My first Critter in Nerd Wars Cute Critter War.

I need to pull his right ear up a bit.

The pattern is free and here